Under the Auroras (Cresten, Queen of the Toltus)

"Cresten, Queen of the Toltus," reprint with new title, 1892

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration 1. Introduction of the narrator, the man in the hair-cloth suit.
Illustration 2. Abroad in the storm season.
Illustration 3. An unexpected impediment.
Illustration 4. Terrible conflict in the vaporous valley.
Illustration 5. Portion of the base of one of the 96 columns in the antediluvian palace of Zu-Fra-Brad.
Illustration 6. The interior Earth as described by Cresten, Queen of the Toltus.
Illustration 7. Between the great winged moon and its terrible tidal wave.
Illustration 8. In the midst of the terrors of the burning zone.

Introduction of the narrator, the man in the hair-cloth suit.

PREFACE.

THE whole responsibility for this story is thrown upon the shoulders of the narrator, who hath departed this life, and is, therefore, out of harm's way. It appears from his narrative that if the unfortunate Arctic explorer, Captain Hall, had been enabled to advance even 100 miles beyond where he could see with his glass, that the land had put off its mantle of snow, he would have been rounding the earth's verge, and have fairly entered upon a land of eternal day, peopled by peculiar and hitherto unheard-of races. He locates the kingdom of that most remarkable woman, Cresten, Queen of the Toltus, on the interior of the globe, upon the Asiatic side and north of the 55th parallel. As the mere amanuensis, I have followed the history of this Queen, and been deeply interested in her wars, her adventures, and her nobility and amiability of character, and I have reason to be grateful to her for the wonderful information which she has imparted by the way. I have not the shadow of a doubt that, had this narration not been made to me, I should have gone to my grave without having learned how man and all other animals originated; where the white races came from; when the Deluge occurred, and what caused it; why men lived to count their years by hundreds anterior to the Deluge; when and why the ice-belt was once farther south on the exterior globe; when and how mountain ranges were uplifted; together with the causes of geysers, volcanoes, and earthquakes; what forces operate and how to turn the earth on its axis; how meteors are formed, and where they come from; and how many other phenomena, including the Auroras—Borealis and Australis—which have always troubled me to account for, are produced. I say: I simply desire to record my gratitude.

CHAPTER I.

THE MAN IN THE HAIR-CLOTH SUIT—THE AIR- SHIP—OFF ON A POLAR CURRENT—BEYOND THE MAGNETIC POLE—BENEATH THE AURORA BOREALIS.

I COULD very satisfactorily account for my own presence at Port St. Julian, in barren Patagonia, the guest, pro tem., of a resident priest, Father Pietri; but that is unnecessary, since I tell another man's story. I was engaged in reading a history of Arctic explorations, and I remember very distinctly just where I left off, on being interrupted by the entrance of the priest, for it afterward seemed to be one of those strange coincidences which occasionally cause us to wonder if much that we do is not at the suggestion of occult influence which we cannot distinguish from the operation of our own free will. I was reading the last despatch written by Captain Hall, from the highest latitude ever trod by the foot of a white man, being 82° 29′, from which he beheld land stretching to the northward as far as 83° 5′. I had just read the following paragraphs:

"We find this a much warmer country than we expected. From Cape Alexander, the mountains on either side of the Kennedy Channel and Robeson Strait we found entirely bare of snow and ice, with the exception of a glacier that we saw covering about latitude 80° 30′ east side the strait and extending in an east-northeast direction, as far as can be seen from the mountains, by Polaris Bay.

"We have found that the country abounds with life and seals, game, geese, ducks, musk-cattle, rabbits, wolves, foxes, bears, partridges, lemmings, etc."

The priest entered with a significant smile on his face, and covertly touched his forehead with the forefinger of his right hand. He intended to inform me that the creature who followed him in was crazy. Possibly, any one with Father Pietri's imperfect knowledge of English might have reached the same conclusion. The priest's judgment, however, had been based on the man's strange costume—grizzled, unkempt hair and beard, and emaciated body. To me his manner and speech both proclaimed the knowledgeable gentleman. Upon being introduced, he remarked:

"Unfortunately, sir, I can speak only English, Norwegian and one or two other languages which no one save myself, on this exterior globe, understands. I am glad to find some one who can speak English."

I noticed that his costume was peculiar. It was woven apparently out of a very fine and glossy brown hair, and consisted, beginning at his feet, of sandals, very heavily plaited hose attached to trunks below the knees, a sack with holes for head and arms, gathered at the waist and falling in folds to the knees, and over this a loose sack-coat, with sleeves gathered at the wrists. Beneath this hair-cloth covering was underclothing somewhat resembling linen. He held in his hand, with a certain indefinable grace that was noticeable, a tasseled cap, woven or plaited like the hose. It was encircled by a brass, as I supposed, but in fact light gold band, with the figure of a coiled serpent embossed upon it. He took the proffered seat, and perceiving that his clothes engaged my attention, remarked:

"My clothing is not familiar to you. My story, sir, will account for my appearance. To the southward I've met with the native Patagonians only, and on the whaling vessel which landed me upon this continent, the one man who spoke English at once reached the conclusion that I was a lunatic, when I attempted to tell my story."

"Yet you may reach the same conclusion when I have told it," he said. "And if you care to hear it, I wish to exact a promise from you, as a gentleman, that you will give it publicity."

"Certainly, sir, because I think it is something the world should know, and because I am in the final stages of that disease, against which all skill is useless. Only my desire to communicate what I have discovered has sustained me, otherwise I would have avoided the suffering I have endured in attempting to reach this port, and quietly have resigned myself to my fate in some Patagonian's hovel."

At first he had stood in the shadow, and I had not noticed what the fuller light revealed, that he was indeed a very sick man. I gave him my promise at once, for which he was so profuse in thanks as to confirm his statement, that the publication of his story was the sole purpose of his now short life. But first I explained to Father Pietri his condition, and the worthy priest insisted that he should be made comfortable before he began his narration. He was so eager to begin that he reluctantly yielded to our persuasion to refresh himself for his task. It was toward the evening of the same day, when, lying upon a couch in my room, he began the following strange story. It was not continuous, since it was frequently interrupted by violent fits of coughing, which threatened to cut it short in the middle.

"All my life long," he said, "I have been an investigator of natural phenomena, not in that systematic way which characterizes the true scientist, but with equal diligence and persistency. My name is Amos Jackson, and twenty-five years ago I resided in the city of Chicago. There were two of us, bachelors, who occupied the same room and were inclined to the same pursuits and studies. My companion's name was John Harding. One subject of special inquiry was air currents and another magnetic currents. I must give you some idea of our theories, in order that you may understand our reasons for entering upon so hazardous an undertaking as that which, if you will believe me, we accomplished. Permit me to ask if you have ever witnessed a cyclone?"

"Well, probably you know that the forward motion of some is quite deliberate and of others more rapid, but that their destructive velocity is around their own centres. Have you any doubt that the force which gives them that circular velocity is electricity?"

"True, sir; no other force in nature could. It organizes, shapes, and controls them. They are circular, hollow, have positive and negative poles, a terribly destructive, attractive force at each vortex, and have often been seen crowned with electric light as they moved."

"Very well; imagine one of these, composed for the most part of solid matter, with an atmosphere about it, and you have an approximate idea of our conception of this earth and of the force that controls it. I will not waste my strength now in attempting to explain what we conceived to be the operation of the electric currents in producing the earth's forward and circular motions, since they were but crude conceptions, as a higher intelligence revealed to us later. Suffice it to say we were of the opinion that the earth is a great helix, a hollow globe, but a few hundred miles in thickness. We assumed there must be some way of reaching its interior, and arrived at the conclusion that the way was clearly determined by the earth's air currents and isothermal lines. We believed that the polar air currents were quite as constant between the equator and the poles as are the trade winds, tending east and west, and more so. It seemed to us to be only a question of maintaining the proper elevations, either to go or come upon the upper or lower polar currents. We were of the opinion, also, that the isothermal lines increased in curvature toward the poles, in such a ratio that somewhere east of northern Greenland might be found a tract, within the boundaries of which the temperature would be endurable over the frozen region at any time. You are doubtless aware that the isothermal line which passes through New York touches London eleven degrees farther north, and that which passes through central Labrador touches northern Europe twenty-one degrees farther north. Our calculations were based on established ratios and other considerations not necessary to mention. You will infer, that in our opinion, should it ever be reached by man, this region about the true pole would disappoint the common opinion regarding it, that it is a field of ice. Thus far permit me to inquire, do you discover any evidence that I am insane?"

"Your theories seem reasonable to one who has given such matters no more thought than myself," I replied.

"Thank you! Then I may avoid establishing in your mind a conviction that I am a lunatic. I may mention that my companion and I were both disappointed lovers. The love passion, you are aware, absorbs some natures far more completely than it does others. We were both so imaginative as to fancy that life had in it thereafter, little worth living for, and we were consequently in a mood to devote ourselves to something which we deemed a high purpose. Therefore it was that we mutually agreed to give our lives and small fortunes to the demonstration of our theories. We compiled all the statistics of balloon ascensions on this continent, chiefly to determine the exact bearing of the polar air currents toward the northeast, that we might select the proper starting-point from which we would most likely be carried over the central portion of the Arctic Ocean where it joins the Atlantic. We were both sensitive, on the score of being called monomaniacs, and consequently selected a point in the wild portion of Franklin County, New York, about twenty miles north of the fortieth parallel, where we could make our preparations unobserved. There we made many experiments during the year 1860. I remember there was talk of war at the time. Much thought was bestowed upon the construction of our balloon, with a view to insuring lightness and durability. To that end we selected tempered steel wire, and constructed the framework throughout, on the mechanical principles applied in the building of trestle bridges; so that when completed the basket and entire framework of a balloon, forty feet in diameter, could be easily lifted by one of us. It was at the same time exceedingly strong and elastic. For a dome we decided upon thin, soft sheet brass, for the reason that it was at the same time lighter and more durable than any fabric, and in case of necessity would answer the purpose of a parachute. Our commodious basket was lined with the same material, and provided with an adjustable roof, against the possibility that the temperature or storms might require inclosure and a resort to the generation of artificial heat, for which we made preparation. From the central hoop downward the gas-bag was made of closely woven silk saturated with india- rubber. To raise and depress our air-ship was a most important consideration, since upon our ability to do that at will depended largely our hopes of success. Accordingly, out of the steel wire, with infinite pains and considerable ingenuity, we constructed a large wheel, immediately under the bottom of the basket. It was provided with fans set at an angle of forty-five degrees, which we were able, by an attached man-power, to turn in either direction with great velocity. Its lifting and depressing power gave us full command of our ship in that particular. The dome and gas-bag were covered with silk netting saturated also with india- rubber; and you will be astonished to learn that its weight was but a little over three hundred pounds, with a lifting power, when inflated, of over a ton. We stored our car with condensed food sufficient to last us for months if we were sparing, with alcohol, water and fur clothing, nautical instruments and a considerable quantity of zinc and sulphuric acid, in the event it might become necessary to add to our supply of gas. We took repeating rifles and a supply of ammunition—in fact stocked ourselves to the limit of the full carrying power of our balloon. It was on the eighteenth of June, when the sun, as you know, is near its extreme northern declension, and it is summer at the North Pole, that we found ourselves ready to start. Casting off the guy-ropes of our ship, we sat for some time in the car, which we had fastened to the earth by four ropes running through iron rings in the ground, and returning to our hands. At that moment only did a doubt of the correctness of our theories ever force itself upon my mind. My companion afterward acknowledged to the same feeling. Neither spoke a word, but we looked about us upon the little patch within our view of mother earth in the glory of summer clothing, as something we might never behold again. The balloon swayed back and forth and tugged at the basket, restless and eager to mount into the air and be free. We had the satisfaction of seeing that not a line or wire of our elastic contrivance threatened to give way, and it was with renewed courage that I gave the word to let go. We shot instantly into the air, moved toward the southwest for a few moments, and then, at an elevation of 15,000 feet, suddenly turned to the northeast in the upper current on which we had counted. The probable rate at which we were going we estimated at somewhat more than fifty miles an hour. We reckoned that, having started at seven o'clock, we would be by seven at night over southern Labrador or northern Newfoundland, where the days would be about sixteen hours long, which would give us over four hours more light, and that the space gained would reduce the night before us to about five hours. After that we would enter the continuous day of the Arctic regions. I remember that, while I experienced no dread of tumbling from our lofty height, the silence was terribly oppressive; yet neither of us for some time could command our tongues to break it. It was the longest day that either of us had ever spent, and at nine o'clock we had passed over what we assured ourselves was the southern coast of Greenland. Then the sun suddenly dropped out of sight, and we were over a vast expanse of water, in darkness. Our eyes were instantly fixed upon that phenomenon of the northern sky, for which our scientists have been unable to account further than to declare it to be an effect of electricity—the Aurora Borealis. I had never before looked upon an effect of light so beautiful. It spanned the firmament over the Northern Pole in a perfect arc, from which shot upward sheets of variegated light. So soft was the light and so delicate its tints, we seemed to know that the electric element was not exerting any destructive energy. It filled us with no dread, in view of the fact that we were hastening at the rate of fifty-six miles an hour towards it. Our theories and experiments had led us to the conclusion that its influence would not prove hurtful, but that, on the contrary, it was a harmless source of both heat and light. We reckoned our latitude and longitude every hour, and discovered that we were gradually veering to a more northerly course. We never thought of sleep during the short night of about five hours, but eagerly watched for the morning, that we might be able to see what was beneath us. When the sun arose, never to set again for us during our journey, we had passed the fifty-sixth parallel and were skirting what we judged to be the eastern coast of Iceland, where the denizens were enjoying their short summer. A few hours later we had crossed the Arctic circle. Thirty-six hours thereafter we had passed the frozen limit, and also the northern shore of the Arctic Ocean, when it seemed as if some omnipotent magician had struck the earth with his wand and suddenly transformed it before our eyes. We had counted on no such abrupt transition into what was evidently a climate of well-nigh tropical warmth. Arctic explorers had killed fowls flying southward with grain in their crops: we were over their feeding-grounds. Our free needle had for hours stood at continually changing angles, and the other twirled and vibrated, indicating no direction. Contending forces were shifting it first west then east of our course, which we supposed was north. From this on, sir, I must relate a tale of wonders that may strain any faith you may have in my honesty, assuming that I am sane.

"I have no knowledge," I said, "on which I could base a refutal of your story thus far."

"Our needle continued its uncertain motions for about two hours more of our journey. We passed over stretches of dense forests, of whose character we could not judge at our distance, and over plains, lakes, and streams. One thing astonished us. The forests and hills, if there were hills, cast no shadows. We had been so engaged with the earth beneath that we had failed to notice the sky above us. When I did so, it was with an exclamation of wonder and admiration. We were in an atmosphere so luminous that the whole firmament was the color of pale gold. I will not theorize on the phenomenon, but simply refer you to the flame that you have seen arched over the vortex of a cyclone. Here it was, not condensed into destructive force, but grand in its proportions, mild and beneficent, as the sun's rays, a source of light and heat. The circle of its influence marked the limit of the Arctic region, and we judged that it spanned a diameter of about seven hundred miles. In this strange atmosphere we were highly electrified, and filled with a lightness of spirit and increased energy of both mind and body, such as we had never experienced in our lives before. This luminous atmosphere took the form of an arc as we advanced, and our needle said it was to the eastward of us, a fact that completely confused our ideas of direction. We judged, from the action of our needle, that we had long passed the boundary of terrestrial latitude on the exterior; and that since, for a long time, its uncertain motions had ceased and its poles become steady, that we were far within the interior of the earth. We were antipodes, we believed, to what we had been twelve hours before, and resolved to descend. For twelve hours the sun had not been visible; yet every object revealed itself in a strong, mellow light. We began to work our fan vigorously, and slowly pull ourselves to the earth. Not knowing what we might find on the surface, or how soon it might be necessary to rise again, we resolved not to waste our gas, if we could land without doing so. We managed, by laborious effort, to get near enough the ground for our grappling-hooks to drag, one of which fortunately caught firmly in a small cluster of bushes, that here and there dotted the plain we had selected for our landing-place. The air being still, the balloon soon came to an equipoise after its sudden check; and when we were certain that the hook had firmly caught, Harding, who had often astonished me with his gymnastic feats, descended the line hand over hand, and was the first to set foot on the new world. He made fast the hook that dangled from the other side, and by means of a windlass, to which the ropes were attached, I easily brought our air-ship to anchor. It was the work of a few moments to fasten our guy-ropes and run up a light tent-cloth about our basket, when we felt that we were domiciled, and with leisure to look about us."

CHAPTER II.

WITHIN A NEW WORLD—OUR FIRST ACQUAINTANCE—A LAND WITHOUT A HORIZON, AND WHERE LIGHT CAST NO SHADOWS—A NEW RACE—EXPECT TO ASTONISH THE NATIVES—THEY ASTONISH US.

I TOOK out my watch, to note the time, and found it dead. Every detached piece of steel in it had become a magnet. Harding was the first to comprehend what was the matter with it, and was light enough of heart to laugh at what I considered a calamity. He had taken the precaution to have one made entirely of nickel, and I had laughed at his precaution. His watch showed that three days and ten hours had elapsed since we had let go our moorings in New York State. Certainly no journey of, as we reckoned it, 4,800 miles had ever been made in this world before, with like ease, safety, and rapidity.

"It is by no means likely," I replied, "with such conditions as seem to prevail here for sustaining life." I was sweeping the landscape with my glass when I spoke. Before I removed it from my eye I had occasion to say: "It decidedly is inhabited. Look off yonder, near the verge of this plain, and say what you think that is."

We looked long and anxiously at what, we made no question, was a long procession of human beings, some of whom at the front of the line were mounted upon large, heavy animals. I had seen, before we descended, what I fancied were droves of elephants, but could not assure myself of their real character. Now I had no doubt of it; but the humans, if such they were, who rode the animals and followed on foot, filled us with wonder. Whether it was an effect of the light or not we could not tell; but they all had a golden sheen, and all appeared exactly alike, except three or four near the head of the procession, who were mounted. These, we could see, were clothed in flowing drapery that shone with metallic lustre, dazzling the sight; while the others reflected, as I said, a soft golden sheen.

It was useless for us to speculate upon the object of the procession, save to ascertain if it were of a warlike character. We were glad to be able to assure ourselves that they carried no warlike weapons, and were probably of a peaceable race.

"It is not likely that our balloon, even at this distance, will escape the attention of all that crowd. We may as well make up our minds that we are discovered, and take our measures accordingly," said Harding.

"As we know nothing about these people, if they are people, I have no idea of what measures ought to be taken," I replied.

"It is always best to be prepared for war. Let us look to our guns and stay by our balloon. If they should want to sacrifice or eat us, it is our only salvation."

Since sooner or later we must make an acquaintance with the natives, if we would learn anything of the country, we concluded to prepare, as best we could, for any warlike measures that might be taken against us, and while awaiting events, to eat and sleep in turn.

"I say," said Harding, when our meal had been prepared, "is this breakfast or supper? It is now eight o'clock."

It required a calculation to determine that it was supper. The most unaccountable thing to us was our buoyancy of spirits, that disposed us to continually regard our wonderful situation in a humorous light. Nothing seemed too grave to be made the subject of a joke.

"I wonder if it is everlasting day here, and if it is, how we will ever get used to it?" said Harding as he stretched himself out on the floor of the basket, preparatory to taking his turn at sleeping.

"I make no doubt that this is a land of everlasting day, and we may prepare ourselves to observe some strange results of continued light," I answered, as rifle in hand I took a position as sentinel, from which I could command the entire plain with my glass. It was covered by a dense verdure of tall, broad-bladed grass, intermingled with a great variety of flowering plants, in whose blossoms yellow and white colors predominated. Although both grasses and flowers bore a general resemblance to those of our temperate regions, yet with the exact forms of none of them was I familiar. The green tint, too, of the landscape was less deep in color, and all vegetation had a changed aspect. I plucked the leaves of several varieties of shrubs and vines about me, and observed that the upper and under sides differed little in appearance, and that all were tender, giving the impression of rapid growth and decay. Without disturbing Harding, who had sunk into profound slumber, I obtained our microscope and was enabled to discern, on both sides of the leaves, the minute pores, through which they continually, as I did not doubt, exhaled oxygen. I concluded that the vegetation, unlike ours, took no rest. I was thus enabled to account for my exhilaration. The air was highly charged with oxygen near the surface of the earth. I turned my field-glass toward the nearest forest at the southwest, if our needle told the truth, and saw among the other growth here and there a mammoth trunk, which from its general form immediately reminded me of those relics of a former period found in California. A close examination later convinced me—so far as I could judge of the California product, which I had never seen—that they were the same. As I swept with my glass the further verge of the plain to the north, I saw for the first time a roadway, along which the strange procession had moved. So intent was I upon examining the immediate locality that I had not lifted my glass to the horizon. "Great Jupiter!" I exclaimed when I had done so. Above the nearest forest the earth rose higher and higher toward the firmament. It seemed to be a vast, stupendous mountain, whose summit could not be reached by human vision, aided by the glass. I turned on my heel, and all about me it was the same. There was no horizon! The mounting earth, growing more golden in the distance, mixed with the firmament. I thought of ourselves as two insects in the bottom of a huge golden-bowl. A moment's reflection, however, explained the phenomenon, and I wanted no further evidence that we were on the inside of the earth. Through a vista in the timber I could see a large body of water to the south; but before the limit of vision was reached, its colors blended with those of the sky so that I could not distinguish between them. The water seemed, like ourselves, to sleep in a great hollow. Looking farther to the eastward the effect was different. It was wonderful! My admiration found expression in involuntary utterance. "Grand! Beautiful! I saw the earth beyond the water; it was in the sky, a mountainside of green and gold! A fairy landscape, floating upon air or water, which I could not tell! In comparison with that without, this world within," I said, "is paradise!" I felt at that moment quite content to spend my life in it, and fell into a pleasant reverie, from which I was startled by a noise in the tall grass some fifty yards away. It was an elephant, which had advanced beyond the bushes by which it had been entirely concealed from view. You may be sure I beheld the huge beast with more alarm than wonder; yet I did not fail to note the fact that it was covered with hair, and to associate it with those remains which the Siberian snows have preserved for uncounted ages. The first object to attract its attention was the balloon, and the immediate elevation of its trunk, tail, and ears proclaimed the wonder which that unfamiliar object, with its brazen dome, inspired. I called out to Harding in alarm, lest the brute should make an attack upon our air-ship, tear it from its moorings, and settle at once the question whether we would ever return to the exterior of the planet. He jumped from the tent instantly, rifle in hand, and would at once have begun to pour bullets into the as yet unoffending animal, had I not interposed an objection.

We appeared to be a new subject of wonder to it, and it regarded us intently for some time, apparently without alarm. Having seen an enraged elephant on one occasion, I was somewhat conversant with elephantine expression, sufficiently so at least to know that the one before us was not disposed to warlike operations. I certainly expected, however, that he would either fight or run away. He did neither. The longer he looked at us and heard us talk, the less wonder he manifested, and at length alarmed us by approaching us with quiet deliberation, plucking grass and eating it as he advanced.

"Confound it!" said Harding, "it's coming. We had better fire before it gets too close."

"No, no," I replied; "that elephant has seen animals like us before and takes us for friends, as sure as you live."

"Hold on! Don't fire," I said. "I'll go out and meet him and see if his intentions are peaceable first."

Accordingly, in the grass, up to my waist, I went toward him. He seemed to take my approach as a matter of course. I had already concluded, from what I had observed in the strange procession, that the elephant was domesticated, and recognized in us some resemblance to his master or to some creature from whom he had received favors. Of this I became assured, when, on attaining a nearer proximity to each other, he paused and regarded me with apparent distrust, as though he had discovered a difference. There was no sign of ferocity about the creature's movements, and I became anxious to learn all I could, even from an elephant, of the new world. I remembered that they were fond of sugar on the outside of the globe, and that I had, but a short time before at supper, dropped a few pieces into my pocket. I spoke to the animal, calling him by the name "Sampson," which I had heard one in a menagerie called by, and at the same time holding out a piece of sugar. I was astonished beyond expression when he came forward in seeming response to my call, and held out his trunk to take the proffered sugar. I gave it to him and he ate it with an evident relish. It was a happy introduction.

"Harding," I said, "this elephant is as gentle as an old cow. Bring me some more sugar; he likes it."

"Ask him where he came from and who owns him," jocosely replied Harding as he entered the tent to get the sugar.

I stepped to his side with confidence and patted his shoulder at some distance above my head. Now, sir, I wish to say that in the atmosphere which I now breathe with so much difficulty, I could not then have raised my courage to the point of placing myself within the power of the most woe-begone elephant that I ever saw in a travelling circus; but both myself and companion felt quite as reckless of consequences as men who are what is called "half-seas over." We were drunk in the—or, rather, on the new atmosphere. The brute was covered with an inch-long coat of mouse-colored hair, and was certainly a decided improvement in appearance upon his kind on the exterior of the globe. As I stood thus upon his left side, I saw tied to his fore leg and dragging behind a thick rope of twisted fibre much resembling hemp. I saw, too, that his long tusks were rendered harmless by wooden caps on each point, and a thick netting woven from one to the other for nearly their whole length. On this was placed securely a soft cushion covered with a fabric woven of fine, yellowish hair. I ventured to place my hand upon it, and found it to be glossy as silk, but with a hard, durable surface.

I informed Harding when he had reached me with the sugar that the old fellow carried a cushioned seat with him.

"We might learn how to manage him," I said. "You win his favor, too, with some sugar, while I get one of our iron stakes and tether him. He responds to the name Sampson, but how he happens to recognize that name is a mystery to me."

The delicious morsels of sugar made the monster in love with Harding also before I returned, and, while he engaged the animal's attention, having forgotten to fetch a hammer, I looked about for a stone with which to drive in the stake. I found several scattered about among the grass, and selected one that I considered about the right size, but in attempting to lift it, found it by far too heavy for my purpose. It was well-nigh pure iron. I found a smaller one, and, holding it above the stake slightly inserted in the soil, the latter jumped upward to my improvised hammer and stuck fast. I had selected a loadstone that possessed the attractive power of a large magnet. I was forced to lay down the hammer and slide the stake off. The negative end of the stone served me better. After I had, as I supposed, secured the elephant, I examined other stones and found them all of the same character.

"Beyond question," said Harding, "this is the head-centre for the manufacture of loadstones."

Long afterward I listened to a legendary story regarding these stones that I will not waste time upon now.

We tethered Sampson about thirty yards from our air-ship, and, taking our camp-stools, sat down in front of it on the trampled grass and discussed the situation. We were thus engaged when we were startled by a peculiar voice, pitched upon a high key, calling "Te, kai! San-son!" It was the voice of one as yet hidden from us by the clump of bushes, and from whom both we and the balloon had thus far, as we supposed, been concealed. By a common impulse we slid from our stools, and crouched to get a view unseen of this first denizen of the new world, on whom, near enough to be clearly seen, our eyes had been destined to fall. "Te-kai! Heh, heh, heh!" laughed the voice. It was clear and bell-like. It seemed to utter its peculiar call, "Te-kai! San- son," very near to us, and to follow it with a joyous burst of laughter, "Heh, heh, heh!" Yet, when we first heard the voice, the creature must have been not less than a quarter of a mile away, since we lay fully ten minutes in hiding while it approached. It struck me for the first time that in that dense atmosphere sound must travel a long way, and possibly have characteristics to which our ears had not been accustomed. I remembered that Harding's voice, when he had called out to me at a distance, seemed to have changed its quality. We were peeping over the top of the grass, when the owner of the voice at length came into view, and saw at once that it was one of those creatures with a golden sheen we had observed in the distant procession. Its attention was wholly absorbed at first by the elephant, whose name it now appeared I had so fortuitously approximated, and I had time to examine our visitor through the glass. I saw a face whose complexion, by contrast, would render the fairest American girl I ever saw quite unattractive in that regard. It was a face of such wonderful transparency and freshness, as surpassed all my former conceptions; and it was one that, to use a trite comparison, might have answered the purpose of a classic model. I perceived that it was the face of a man, from the long, glossy beard that hung from his chin. Both it and the long, curled hair on his head were of a golden brown in color and reflected the light as he moved. So much as I could see of his form indicated that he had been perfectly turned out of some one of our varied human moulds, and that, if his hair had been confined to his head, he certainly would have passed with me for some superior human. But his body was covered thick with the same lustrous hair, not less, I should judge, than an inch in length generally, and much longer upon his breast. His hands, however, like his face, were free from this hirsute covering. I caught glimpses through the grass of some white, textile fabric about his loins, by which alone he had seemingly supplemented Nature's provision. Sampson, or San-son, as it seemed the animal's name was, knew our visitor, and, pricking up his ears at the very first call, elevated his head and uttered his peculiar roar of recognition. Our visitor looked about him and saw our air-ship, some fifty feet in height, towering at least thirty feet above the bushes. My glass was on his face when it first caught his eye, and I expected to witness an exhibition of terror, but I was disappointed. It was one only of wonder and astonishment, so that it was my turn to wonder. Instead of running away, after regarding it in silence for a few moments, he burst out into his peculiar laugh, "Heh, heh, heh," and approached it with the light, springing movement of an expert ballet-dancer, bounding so high, that I could see his feet were protected by a pair of sandals, at the material and construction of which I could only guess. He was within but a few yards of us, when we arose like two apparitions before him from our concealment. He stopped suddenly with an exclamation, but, to our astonishment again, not of fear but wonder. He looked at our faces, and his eyes, wandering over our persons, came back to our faces again. I had time to note that his eyes were violet in color. The expression on his face was so odd, that I could not help answering his look with a smile. It seemed to be what he was waiting for, as he instantly began to laugh heartily, and, spreading his hands over his face, bent forward until he nearly touched the earth with his long hair.

"Great Scott, it's funny!" exclaimed Harding, bursting out into an uproarious fit of laughter, in which the new visitor and myself joined most heartily. Perhaps Harding did, but I am sure neither the native nor I knew just what we were laughing at. It was certainly our best policy to make all the friends we could in our new world, and I stepped forward to make advances. The amiable creature bent to the earth, and remained in that posture until I touched him on the shoulder. Then he arose, and I held out to him the same peace-offering I had found most effective with the elephant, a piece of sugar. He took it, and looked me steadily in the eye. He was evidently at a loss to know what to do with it. The elephant had taken it with no uncertainty as to its use. I called attention to a similar piece, which I put in my own mouth. He comprehended instantly, and popping it into his mouth, began laughing again.

"Harding," I said, "I never saw before such an exhibition of fearless confidence on the part of any human."

"There can be no doubt about that," I answered, "a human who does not seem to know what fear is."

"I am sure I don't know whether his prostration was intended for adoration or for a mere customary greeting."

"Well, we ought to find out whether we are expected to play the roles of deities or commonplace visitors," he rejoined.

"It will be best to preserve a grave dignity at any rate, and try and impress him," I said.

"True, but as a mere pretence, it will be a sort of comedy," I argued. The fact is, we realized that gravity of deportment was well-nigh impossible in that climate. It was a strange feeling. Waiting respectfully until we had finished our colloquy, our visitor began to pantomime his wonder at our air-ship. There was certainly nothing better to overawe him with, and we accordingly removed our tent-cloth from about the basket, untied the guy- ropes, lengthened the anchor-ropes, and with the windlass, which you remember was attached to the grappling lines, allowed it to ascend about forty feet, with Harding in it. Wrapped in speechless wonder, the hairy native looked, while we explained by pantomime, that we had come through the clouds from the far east, our needle told us now. If he had a natural religion, I felt sure that the home of his gods must be in the direction of the great centre of their light, that electric dome that crowned the mouth of the great helix, 700 miles, as we reckoned, in diameter. The native fell prostrate before this wonder, and there was no doubt that we were regarded by him as superior beings.

"Harding," I said, "with the balloon we must impress the natives generally. Suppose we place the elephant under the basket and fasten the balloon to him with the anchor lines, and prospect the country in that way?"

The suggestion accorded with his opinion, and I explained to the native what we wanted to use San-son for by a tedious process of depicting the whole procedure. He seemed at first to get the idea that we wanted to take San-son away with us in the clouds. But he was quick to understand my intention when I desired to know where he lived and explained that he was to lead the elephant. San-son obeyed the native like a dog, and stood under the basket with perfect indifference until I had wrapped the anchor lines about him and padded them with blankets, so that they would not render him uncomfortable. Then I loosened the grappling lines, and by aid of one of them clambered into the basket with Harding. Where the native supposed we wished to go we did not know, and therefore we had no idea, of course, of where he would take us. We were in that frame of mind, as I have intimated, that we didn't care. San-son was somewhat puzzled by the huge bulk above him, which, instead of pressing down upon him, helped to carry his weighty body and render, him light of foot. But he raised no objection to the arrangement, and we started toward the southwest. We had not proceeded far, however, before we realized that if we expected to travel in that manner with any comfort, it would be necessary to stay the balloon against the resistance of the air, since it careened backwards at such an angle as threatened to toss us, and all its contents, out of the basket. We were forced to stop midway of the plain and consider ways and means. Fortunately, we had taken the precaution to bring with us some narrow wire trestles, one and one-half inches wide, which we had stowed by bending them like hoops around the inside of the basket. They were about fourteen feet in length, and when released sprang into their normal straight condition. With fine, soft wire we bound one of these at right angles to the other in the centre, and thus made a long, light, rigid pole. Having thus constructed two, we bound one on each side firmly to San-son's rope girths, so that they projected beyond his head some eight feet. To their ends the guy ropes were fastened, and such a purchase obtained on the balloon as kept it comparatively steady. A balloon forty feet in diameter, towering sixty feet above the back of an elephant, would have produced a sensation anywhere, and we did not doubt that these hairy natives would be impressed into reverential awe of us. Tet-tse, the name of our first acquaintance, as it was afterward pronounced for me, doubtless felt that he was in charge of superior beings, and watched our every movement with great concern, lest he should do anything wrong. Before we had reached the vicinity of the forest, some two miles as I judged from our starting-point, we had become quite proficient in sign language, and I had discovered Tet-tse to be a very intelligent animal, who at least understood us quite as well as we did him. I had noticed as we proceeded that flocks of water fowl, flying between their feeding grounds and the large body of water I had seen, would almost always veer from their course and come fearlessly near us to see the moving wonder, and I said to Harding that nothing we had thus far seen, with life, appeared to have any sense of physical fear.

"Don't be putting conundrums that you know I can't answer," he replied. "We haven't discharged a gun since we started. Suppose we try the effect of some shots, directly on the fowl and indirectly on Tet-tse?"

"No," I said, after some reflection. "We should be merely wantonly killing some fowl, while the more serious result might follow, of turning his confidence in us to distrust."

"I reckon you are right," was his answer. "Our guns had better be reserved in case we need a new wonder to serve us."

It was long afterward that the occasion came for discharging our weapons, and then their deadly missiles made a holocaust of human beings. That Tet-tse was leading us toward some centre of population seemed probable, from the fact that a short distance from the timber we struck a travelled thoroughfare, which shortly led us to where five roads, branching from a common avenue that ended at the forest edge, took their several courses through the large plain on which we had hitherto been.

"It is very evident," I said to Harding, "that these strange people use no wheeled vehicles, and that elephants are their beasts of burden."

"And the tamed elephants as well as the roads proclaim that they are not savages," was his supplementary conclusion.

From what was evidently an elephant pasturage, the land, from the forest line, gradually ascended to a higher level, and the rock formation of that portion of the interior earth began to reveal itself. From occasional glimpses of ledges, obtained through the glass as we moved, I could perceive that it was principally granite formation and quartz. The avenue was nearly 100 feet wide, and the grandest we had ever beheld. It was not paved, but ran over the native soil, which had been made smooth and freed from all obstructions. Even the ordinary growth, which, though not the same, yet resembled somewhat our beeches, maples, oaks, and elms, were not less than 150 feet in height as an average, while the mightier forest monarchs rose far above them, to the clouds it seemed, as we beheld their huge arms interlaced above us 250 feet in the air. The variety of growth astonished us. There seemed to be no life-and-death struggle between the different species, in order to reach their element of life, the sun. There was no sun, and the light which enabled them to manufacture nourishment continuously came from everywhere. There were no shadows, so perfectly was light reflected in that luminous atmosphere, unless the light was shut out from all sides save one. Since we saw several kinds hanging from the limbs of the smaller trees, it was evident that the fruits ripened as perfectly in the forest as on the plain.

"As we don't know how far we will go to-day," said Harding, taking out his watch, "I suppose there is no use consulting my timepiece. But it is past midnight and late bedtime. There isn't much satisfaction in carrying a watch in this country, is there?" he concluded as he returned it to his pocket.

"I am curious to know how these people measure time," I rejoined. "I have observed nothing yet that would enable them to form a basis for its divisions."

"I wish this creature could talk English, so that I could find out if he knows how old he is. That would settle the question."

"It seems to me that time is hardly worth measuring in this country," I said reflectively. "Nature appears to provide for every demand of animal life. Except these avenues and roads that were probably made ages ago, I see neither any evidence of labor nor demand for it."

Just then, whether time was of any value or not, we had none left to bestow upon that line of thought. We had advanced along the avenue about 200 yards, when suddenly the forest on both sides of us swarmed with natives. Their appearance, so abruptly, was magical. They sprang, apparently, out of the ground. We had expected to surprise the natives; they had surprised us. They were all hairy creatures, like Tet-tse, and of both sexes. Certainly the ancients of Europe did not get their conception of satyrs from such as these. These people were perfect in form and beautiful. Even at that moment of surprise I conceived of one of the females dressed in the manner of a European, and I knew she would outrival in beauty of face and movement the most beautiful of our women. As they appeared here, there, and everywhere, they severally almost touched the earth with their foreheads, as though each were a trained athlete, gazed for a moment—whether in wonder or admiration, we could not tell—and immediately advanced toward the avenue. Each carried a garland of flowers and leaves, and from the lips of each came the most musical greeting to which I had ever listened. It sounded like "Tat-o-lin-kee," and the peculiar quality suggested the notes of the bobolink. These calls were mingled with continuous laughter. Such a potent exhibition of joyous emotion I never witnessed, and doubtless never will again, unless it may be somewhere within the great unknown.

"Harding!" I exclaimed in amazement, "can you account for this? Here is concert of action that shows we have been expected for some time."

My companion could not resist the inclination to treat everything lightly, and replied:

"Oh, it didn't take them long to make their toilets. But they have been looking for us, and that's a puzzle."

Ahead of us, in the avenue, assembled a company of fifty, distinguished from the rest by metallic zones about their waists, short skirts of some glossy fabric, and metallic bracelets on their wrists and arms. They arranged themselves five abreast, and each of the ten lines was provided with a different musical instrument from the others. I could not see the forms of all, but noticed that the last line carried cymbals. Others had string instruments, constructed on the same principle as those in use by us; while there was a variety of wind instruments, some of metal, but chiefly constructed of reeds. They were the cymbals, bracelets, and zones that fixed my attention; since through the glass I made them out to be gold. This company of musicians, all females, marched, or rather executed a continuous dance before us, as we moved, assuming the most graceful attitudes, and timing the music with their motions. The rest, waiting until we had passed, fell into procession behind us. Our march extended along this that appeared to be a main avenue, from which others branched off here and there, about four miles; and I could see that we neared the borders of the body of water, of which I have spoken. Back of us, so far as we could see, the procession followed, and we estimated that there were not less than 5,000 natives in line. Yet still, to the right and left of us, in the forest, they appeared, ready to increase its length. Harding and I had ceased to speculate in regard to what it all meant. The demonstration appeared to be in our honor, and yet the disagreeable thought would intrude itself, that perhaps we were intended for sacrifice. The fear was not moderated by the reflection that, if our balloon were cut loose, it could not rise through the tree tops. On the other hand, it was assuring to note that among the large concourse of natives we had not noticed one warlike implement. I had observed, as we proceeded, that large sections of the forest, in the distance, were covered with a growth somewhat resembling corn. This was, as I afterward learned, a cereal altogether different from any that the outer world produces. It has a stalk somewhat resembling our corn, but the grain is about eight times as large as a kernel of wheat, and grows like corn on a globular cob. I correctly concluded, at the time, from the regularity of its growth, that it was cultivated. I noticed also that the fruit-bearing trees and vines with which the forest abounded were cultivated, notwithstanding none of the territory was inclosed.

I reached the conclusion that notwithstanding nature's liberality these hairy people did considerable for themselves. On the surface of the ground there was no sign of a habitation, and we wondered from whence they had all appeared so suddenly. The avenue we travelled abruptly turned to the right, followed the line of the lake shore for about 100 yards, and made directly for the face of a cliff.

CHAPTER III.

DO WE DREAM?—KAYETE-UT-SE-ZANE, QUEEN OF THE LIGHT—SOVEREIGN OF THE TOLTUS—HER WONDERFUL PALACE—ART AND SCIENCE SURROUND US WITH MYSTERIES—IN LOVE.

I HAD but barely time to note that the cliff was for the most part an exposed surface of glittering quartz, shaped either by nature or art into a castellated form, with many indentures on its surface resembling windows and doors, when its whole front became instantly transformed. There stepped from a hundred openings and niches on its face as many exquisite forms of female loveliness. They stood like statues, clothed in richly-colored fabrics aglow with burnished gold and diamonds. We would have been more than human if, under any circumstances of time or place, we could refrain from giving expression to our admiration of such an entrancing picture. Involuntarily following our own customs we removed our hats and bent low before the central figure, in whose face was combined sovereign dignity and saintlike gentleness. She seemed to be one from some ethereal sphere who had stopped for a moment to rest and must shortly fly away. On her person was lavished incalculable wealth. I venture to say that a single article of her apparel that flowed about her like a Greek himation, in New York City would have purchased all the property real and personal of that entire State. It was covered with disks of gold, alternating with diamonds, not one of which was less than two-thirds of an inch in diameter, and worth in the markets of this outer world from half a million upward. Beneath this outer robe, whose color was deep crimson, was a plain skirt of golden tissue. On her feet were gemmed sandals, and on her head a golden circlet in the form of a serpent, evidently her special insignia of authority. There were suggestions of both Europe and the East, and especially of antiquity, that flashing through my mind on the instant excited my curiosity as well as wonder. She regarded us for a moment intently, when San-son had brought us within a few yards of her and come to a halt, and then her features relaxed into an assuring smile. I am sure there was an expression of worship on my face when my eyes met hers. Certainly she was worshipped by all the hairy race; for every one of the vast multitude was bending in reverential awe. Had I at all been inclined to be superstitious, I might have been disposed to regard her as a sorceress, who had bewitched our senses with an unreal vision that was too beautiful to last. I say she smiled upon us, and immediately, in a voice of exquisite sweetness, that was peculiar to the race, addressed us in what I at first supposed to be a tongue entirely unknown to me. She uttered but a couple of sentences when I thought I recognized one or two words. For some years my father had employed a Norwegian on the farm, and from him I had acquired a fair knowledge of that language. They were words in that tongue that I thought I recognized, and I accordingly addressed her in return, very slowly. Immediately she clapped her hands in almost childlike delight, and repeated after me a few words, pointing the while to the objects they signified, to which I bowed, by way of affirming her understanding of them. The language in which she addressed me may have been spoken in Norway 1,000 or 2,000 years ago,—I do not know, for certainly some of the words were the same; while, if it were so, it had undergone such changes as made them, I thought, well-nigh distinct tongues. She seemed delighted, however, and made a sign to the hairy people, at which the vast crowd broke forth into a joyous shout, followed by a chant, in which the thousands of voices kept perfect time. It was taken up by others far down the avenue, and when it ceased near us, it continued to float back to us from a mile away. Those who appeared about her, on the face of the cliff, were doubtless her attendants; insomuch as they came and went at her bidding, and began executing a multitude of orders, as it seemed, altogether. What they were became apparent the next moment, when there moved out from the face of the wall beneath her feet a series of polished steps. Instantly the beautiful human statues disappeared from their several niches, and the majestic mistress stood alone. But only for a moment, when the cliff immediately behind her opened. A thin quartz wall slid back from right and left, revealing a portal, grand in its dimensions and magnificent beyond description. It was not less than fifty feet in width and sixty feet in height, and resembled no form of architecture of which I had any knowledge. It was not constructed on geometrical lines at all. For pillars, arches, capitals, and bases were substituted forms of animal life. On either side, as main supports, if such were needed in a portal cut out of the solid cliff, stood an elephant artistically carved and polished, staring at us out of large garnet eyes. Around them coiled monster reptiles whose bodies, in successive rings, rose to the arch, where they were locked in a deadly embrace. Their bodies were covered with alternate scales of gold and crystal, their gemmed eyes darted light and their garnet tongues, in the shifting light, seemed to move. The elephants were adorned with golden collars and girths, and on their backs were golden apes, as I supposed, standing on their feet and grinning at the contending reptiles. This was the first picture in an irregular setting of dazzling brilliancy, a vast mass of polished crystals, which threw back the light almost as effectively as so many diamonds mingled with burnished nuggets of gold. Beyond this, in the interior, I had time to note where two animals resembling camelopards in their general contour, presented a side view. Between their arched necks and forelegs formed one passage-way, and between their fore and hind legs, on either side, two others. By a succession of such designs the way appeared to lead into the interior of the rock. An instant after the revelation of the portal, a number of those whom we had seen in the niches appeared about their mistress, and completed a picture such as could only find appropriate setting in some fairy story. I certainly had never expected to look upon such a reality. The Queen, for such we knew she must be, spoke in her strange tongue to Tet-tse, who in turn addressed San-son, and the animal immediately got upon his knees. An attendant placed at his side some lightly- constructed steps on which we understood, of course, that we were expected to descend. With a smile of ineffable sweetness, the Queen herself stepped forward and extended a hand to each as we alighted. Harding, a most courteous fellow always, bent low before her and received a kiss upon his forehead. His polite manner had evidently met the requirements of a custom. She bent the fairest head we had ever seen, and he returned the greeting. In turn I received the same welcome, and we ascended the steps on either side of her majesty. Standing between us she harangued for a few moments the crowd of natives, who responded in shouts of joy. Then she waved her hand, and they instantly began to disperse. She motioned toward San-son, who had risen to his feet, and began talking in that tongue, some words of which I had recognized. What with her intelligent pantomime and a word or two that conveyed a meaning, I understood that she was somewhat at a loss what to do with our air-ship. Harding also understood and remarked:

"I suppose we had better let out the gas and make up our minds to stay awhile, if you are sure we are not bewitched, and that this is real."

"Bewitched or not, it is very pleasant, and I feel like enjoying it as long as it lasts," I replied.

Meanwhile she had been talking to Tet-tse, who had, as I supposed from his gestures, informed her of the upward tendencies of our ship, and I jumped at the conclusion, when she addressed me again, that she desired to see it rise. Accordingly, with many bows and smiles, I pantomimed our desire to gratify her, and proceeded to release San-son, and repeat the ascension to the length of our anchor-lines that Tet-tse had witnessed. She expressed no astonishment whatever, although her attendants bowed in adoration. This completed our introduction to Kayete-ut-se- Zane, which interpreted means "the Queen of the Light."

* * * * *

WE unloaded our basket, and gave its contents into the hands of attendants, to be bestowed as her Majesty should direct. Realizing that we had been made her Majesty's guests in a most mysterious manner, we felt that it might prove a wise discretion not to place ourselves in the power of even so beautiful and apparently amiable a woman, without some means of defense. Our rifles were out of the question, and we allowed them to disappear along with our other traps, but a brace of Colt's revolvers and several packages of cartridges we each had already conveniently secreted on our persons. Discharging the gas from the balloon, we put it in shape for convenient storage, and, borne by a number of natives, saw it disappear in an opening in the cliff. A moment after it closed again, so that from where we stood we could not point certainly to the spot. Then her Majesty marshalled us in, and the rock closed upon us in a like manner.

"It's the hair under the diamonds that I don't like," said Harding, as he adjusted the revolver on his left side.

Before we saw the outer world again, we had beheld some strange sights, been made familiar with a new system of civilization, and become actors in a tragic drama that began some six centuries before.

Many strange problems crowded upon my mind, asking for solution, when the machinery of this palace closed us in; so many, that I failed at first to note and wonder at the fact that we were inclosed in rock, with no apparent openings, and yet there was no diminution of the light. Every object within was as perfectly revealed as if it were in the broad glare of open day. I say, I did not notice, I was so oppressed with mysteries already. We had been three hours on a lonesome plain, where, indeed, our balloon may have been observed and wondered at by some native, but how did this strange woman learn of it and us; and how had at least five thousand natives, spread over ten square miles of territory, as I judged, been summoned to do us honor? Why were we received by them like a pair of princes, whose coming had been expected? Where were their habitations? Why was this Queen's palace quarried out of the quartz rock, instead of being built on the surface? Who cut and polished those diamonds, burnished the gold, and carved the numerous animals whose forms were composed into such a wonderful portal as we had entered, and along which we continued to pass for some distance? It was positively painful not to be able to converse with our fair conductress, and have the mysteries cleared away. We passed beneath a series of these fantastically-carved arches, between each of which we could see passages on both sides, leading to departments of the castle, and at length entered a large apartment, brilliantly lighted. Yet it was mild light, against which the optic nerve made no protest. From the dead white of the walls, seamed with gold, which accounted for the profusion of that metal, stood forth numerous fanciful forms, that glowed and sparkled with ever-shifting light as we moved. They were made of quartz crystals, cut and polished, and massed into shapes of birds, beasts, and reptiles. Then, for the first time, the wonder possessed me of whence came the light. Casting my eyes to the ceiling, I discerned here and there among the tracery of crystals, small disks that glowed like so many miniature suns, only the light was white. This was evidently a dining-hall, and one that had been furnished with no view to change of style. A long table, of antique pattern, that suggested Europe in the simple fact that it was a table, and occupied the centre of the room, was surrounded by seats at regular intervals, all of the same form, save one at the head of the table. This seat was larger than the others, more elaborate in design and carving, and gorgeously ornamented with such gems as made the Queen beside us a figure of moving light. Table and chairs had all stood there, literally, since the foundations of the earth; for they were severally carved where they stood out of quartz. The same was true of divers seats and tables of smaller dimensions stationed about the room. The seats were all softly cushioned with pillows, covered with the same fabric, woven of hair, that I had first seen upon the tusks of San-son. It was a fabric of wonderful beauty, and if, as I judged, it was not in use among her subjects generally, then the elephant on which we rode was hers. She approached the head of the table, and with a grace that combined the elastic movement of a savage with the cultured ease of refinement, motioned us to seats on either side, laughingly speaking to us in her unknown tongue. I heard no order, saw no sign, yet there tripped into the room three of the sweet-faced hairy attendants, in short skirts and sandals, one of whom divested the Queen of her gemmed himation, while the other two stood at our sides, subject to our commands. There was nothing else for us to do but follow our own customs, and give them our hats. It was but a moment,—they moved so quickly, these hairy creatures,—when they had made their low obeisance and disappeared, and the Queen stood before us in her simple chiton of gold cloth. For the first time had her arms and neck been exposed to our view.

"After all," said Harding, as he took his seat, "there isn't hair enough to hurt."

On her throat and neck was no hair at all, and that on her arms was like a thin covering of silken floss, through which her transparent skin shone like alabaster endowed with life. They were perfectly moulded, and seemed the more beautiful for their half-concealment. She took her place at the head of the table, and instantly came trooping in, as noiselessly as phantoms, a company of attendants, each bearing some article of food. We were becoming accustomed to the situation, and Harding grew humorous again.

"Good!" he said; "I haven't been quite sure whether these people lived on food or whether I have not been dreaming. It's just four o'clock," he continued, taking out his watch; "don't you consider this an early breakfast?"

I could not resist laughing, while the Queen looked on with an inquiring smile; and Harding, who had suddenly remembered that if his watch should run down he would lose all notion of time, began to wind it up.

I took out my own, now useless timepiece, and showing it to her, endeavored to explain how the hands went round upon the dial, telling us when to eat and when to sleep. She understood my signs, and the idea that we required anything to tell us when to eat and sleep was infinitely amusing to her. That musical laugh of hers rang through the hall, while she pantomimed that she ate when she was hungry and slept when she was sleepy. I tried to express some idea of time by signs, but Harding interrupted the unsuccessful effort with the remark that I was wasting my time, as they had neither day nor night, nor sun, moon, or stars, and possibly no seasons.

"But they grow old and die, and I assume they are born," I replied. "I can't conceive of people having no idea of time."

The Queen laughingly pointed to the watch, and indicated that it was telling us to eat, at which we all laughed heartily and began to partake of the first food-products of the new world that we had tasted. They consisted of a coarse, sweet bread, that I thought had the flavor of oatmeal; a species of grape, large and luscious; and a fruit much of the flavor of bananas, though of a different shape. Before each of us were goblets of wine and milk and a huge egg, from which the apex had been removed, and the contents prepared with salt and spices that made it delicious. There was also a shell-fish, which I supposed to be a monster oyster, that had been stuffed with sundry spiced condiments and baked. The meal, which was simple enough, was served upon gold dishes, varied in form according to their uses. I examined them closely, and concluded that beyond a doubt they had been beaten out of solid ore and shaped upon carved blocks with ornamental designs in relief upon them. Our meal ended, the Queen arose; the attendants appeared, and stood with bowed heads while she lifted her hands and gracefully described an arc of a circle that included us within its circumference. The attendants chanted some words in unison, and, bending low before us, again disappeared. It was evidently some ceremonial, by which they became devoted to our service. She motioned us to follow, and we passed into another and larger apartment. I had thought that there could be nothing more beautiful than the hall we had left, but I was mistaken. This I saw at a glance was the great reception-hall of the castle. The raised dais at one end determined its character. I was struck dumb with amazement when we entered, oppressed with a sense of its vastness and grandeur. Hitherto the light had been reflected from white surfaces, but here the air was flooded with the rich, red light given out by literally myriads of garnets, of which the designs and traceries on the walls were formed. I supposed at first that it was a mosaic work of colored crystals, but a near examination afterward made convinced me they were gems, each one of which with us would be a fortune. Against the white background flaming serpents seemed to writhe and twist with every step we made, and, as if they had been formed of livid flesh, the muscles of ferocious beasts seemed to work as if they made ready to spring upon their prey. In the centre the waters of a fountain arose nearly to the roof, throwing back in many shades of red the garnet-colored light. The throne was ascended by a short flight of circular steps overlaid with gold. Upon it stood, fixtures like all the rest of the furniture, three chairs of state—not on legs, but pedestals—on a line with the curved front of the dais, which brought the central and most elaborately designed one slightly in advance of the others. It towered not less than ten feet above the head of the occupant, and, as well as those beside it, was upholstered with the hairy fabric I have described. Its distinctive feature was the jewelled arc above it, from which rays converged to a common centre. This did not glow with reflected light alone. It had living light within it and shone like a veritable sun. I saw, however, that it was not an emblem of that luminary, but of the canopy of light over the North Pole, which gave the interior world its endless day. Back of it was an alcove of dead white, which gave it relief. Above it was a carved canopy supported by animal forms, among which I noticed that the serpent was conspicuous. The Queen ascended the throne, motioning for us to follow, assumed the place of state, and waved us into the seats on either side. Then, from opposite doorways at the further end, glided in a company of dancers clothed in chitons of metallic cloth that reached from neck to knee. They had cymbals and other musical instruments such as I had observed in the procession, with which they kept time, in a strange, melodious harmony, to the movements of an intricate dance. Their glittering forms moving in the colored light were like some vision that seemed only possible to an unrestrained fancy,—something that could not be realized. The dance ended, we descended from the throne, and, leaving the audience- chamber, entered a long passage. Stopping before a slight indenture in the wall, a solid rock door slid back, and revealed a gorgeous sleeping apartment. The Queen, once more pointing to the watch in my pocket, laughingly laid her head against her hand and closed her eyes. This invitation to sleep was gratefully accepted, but I wondered how she happened to know that we were sleepy. I had not slept for about twenty hours, and, besides, I wanted time to collect my confused senses. Harding and I were not destined to occupy the same apartment. We were ushered into adjoining rooms, which we found oddly furnished, yet provided with everything our needs demanded. Our strange hostess before leaving managed to inform us that by uttering the word "Tet-tse" an attendant would appear. Tet-tse, therefore, I concluded, was a word that probably signified servant, and that our Tet-tse belonged to the Queen's establishment in that capacity. Of course, this added one more to the mysteries that were as yet unsolved. I entered my room fearlessly, though aware that we were effectually imprisoned, and, divesting myself of my outer clothing, threw myself upon the softly-cushioned couch that invited me to repose. My head had not touched the pillow when utter darkness supplanted the light. I acknowledge to being so terrified that I leapt to my feet again. Instantly the room was once more flooded with light. I looked about me, but could imagine neither how the light was introduced nor whence it came. After all, it added but one to the wonders awaiting explanation, and, lying down upon the couch in the midst of darkness, I eventually fell into a slumber that, you may be sure, was filled with some of the most fantastic forms that ever peopled dreamland. Among the nymphs, satyrs, and fearful monsters which thronged through the vacant chambers of my brain that night, there came one in human form who put them all to flight and chased away sleep at the same moment. If this form had vanished with the others when my eyes opened, it would have neither given me cause for special wonder nor disturbed my waking thoughts, but the form refused to thus vanish with the others. I was unable to bar it within the limits of dreamland. I rubbed my eyes in the darkness to make sure that I was awake, and it invariably remained palpable to sight for a few moments. You will have concluded that this persistent phantom took the form of the mysterious and beautiful Queen. Not so: it was a very lifelike image of a young man, little if any older than the Queen. He had long, glossy, golden hair, like that of the Queen, only a shade or two darker. He had the same fair, transparent skin and regularity of features, but they were wanting in all those lines of expression which rendered the face of the Queen so spirituel and attractive. The form was clothed in tunic, trunks, and hose, with a loose coat over the tunic. The breast of the latter was richly ornamented with jewels, and all the clothing was made out of a fine quality of that same hair-cloth with which the palace was upholstered. If this phantom—which I tried to persuade myself was a mere waking phantasm due to nervous excitement—had taken the form of the Queen, or had not returned to disturb me at intervals, I should have thought nothing of it; but often it was the first object on which my eyes fell immediately on awaking from sleep. I spoke of it to Harding, who, of course, pronounced it a mere nervous fancy and laughed at me. I therefore kept my own counsel thereafter, and tried the best I knew how to account for the mental phenomenon.

You will perceive, sir, that thus far I have given you an imperfect history of our first day, you may say, in the new world. This was followed by many days, during which we were treated with the most careful consideration and had all our desires anticipated. How the Queen was thus enabled to respond to our unspoken wishes we could not understand. She spent much of her time with us, and her blue eyes followed us continually. They haunted us. Had their expression not been as mild as those of a fawn, I should have felt very uncomfortable. But a few days had passed when it became apparent that she was acquiring English far more rapidly than we were Toltu; in fact, forty-eight hours after we had become domiciled in the palace, she found little difficulty in communicating whatever she desired. She was not disposed, however, to declare her intentions in regard to us, but left us on the ragged edge of uncertainty. Nevertheless, her reserve aroused no suspicion that her ultimate object was evil; her benignant face bore no trace of cunning.

"Amos, old fellow," said Harding, when we were left alone after a long conference, "she's a witch. There's no doubt about that. I can't explain just how I happen to know she's a witch, but I'm expecting her to change into the form of an ancient crone. See if she don't before she's done with us."

"I never saw a witch," I replied, "but if the most beautiful face I ever saw; the most sympathetic and silver-toned voice I ever heard; the most dignified, yet gentlest expression I ever beheld on a human face; and, if the blending of the discretion of a sage with the joyous spirit of a child, are characteristics of a witch, then, my dear boy, this Queen of the Toltus is beyond all question a witch."

"Good-bye, old fellow; farewell! I didn't expect to lose you so soon. You are gone! She has you safe enough! Riding a broomstick is uncomfortable! I never tried it, but I know it must be! It's a difficult situation in which to make notes, but I should like to have a full account of your first trip. Promise me that, won't you?"

"I am lost in wonder," I said. "Here am I six years her senior—don't you think so?"

"Haven't you found out yet that we are mere children in her hands? She's schooling us. I have felt her eyes going through and through me. She has measured our souls."

"There's no one to say that but yourself, my dear boy. You may be sure she knows you as well as I do. It's not the palace, it's art and mechanism, not her mysterious surroundings, that impress me; it's the sphinx herself. She has some faculty of conveying thought without words that I don't understand at all."

I will pass over a period, which, as nearly as we could estimate, would amount to three months of our time, during which both Harding and myself had been diligently at work, and had so far mastered the native tongue under the instruction of the Queen, as to be able freely to converse with her on general topics. All this time the strange woman had communicated nothing of herself, save that she was "Cresten, Kayete-ut-se-Zane" (Cresten, Queen of the Light). She had been quite as eager for us to acquire the language as we ourselves had been, and intimated some momentous object in view of which we were ignorant. Within a week I had mastered sufficient words to inquire if the procession which we saw on our arrival was composed of her people. She answered that it was. It accompanied her sister on a journey to the East. Within two weeks this sister, who was but little younger than herself, returned. She was not less beautiful than the Queen, and devoted herself to Harding as instructress. After some attempt to harmonize my Norwegian with the ancient language which she spoke, we concluded that time would be saved by devoting myself exclusively to the native tongue and leaving the other to more leisurely examination. You will imagine that, notwithstanding the mystery in which they hid themselves, we severally became enamored with our fair teachers. While the Queen and Cetsen were with us, Harding and I were incapable of either retrospection or reflection. They absorbed all our faculties. We could neither reflect upon the past nor speculate upon the future. It was only when released from the spell which their beauty and rare wisdom imposed upon us, that we felt at all inclined to consider the strangeness of our situation, or the changes which it had already effected in our former conceptions of persons and things. Both realized that we had been very suddenly metamorphosed. Had Ruby Graham, the young lady who had enslaved the hearts of both of us in Chicago, shown a partiality for either of us, we might and probably would have become, if not enemies, certainly very distant acquaintances; but having been wise enough to reject us both, in favor of an enterprising young lawyer, our mutual disappointment had served to bind us together in a closer friendship. Heretofore we had not spoken to each other of Ruby. We mutually realized that to do so would serve no other purpose than unnecessarily to harrow up our lacerated feelings. Now, however, as we sat alone gazing at each other across the polished stone table in the Queen's study, we felt that we had sufficiently recovered from our disappointment to talk of Ruby without rendering each other miserable.

"You are correct, my dear boy. I put her away in a corner of my heart, and haven't taken her out very frequently of late."

"Shame on you, Amos. Now, while you were crowding her away into some obscure corner of that muscle, I was engraving her upon the tablet of my memory, where I could have ever before me a vivid picture of her peach-and-cream countenance, dark hair, and brown eyes."

"And I conclude that the picture has faded out somewhat, for her eyes were hazel green, and looked almost black in the shadow."

"Eh! are you sure of that? You might be color-blind, you know; or perhaps I am. At least there was a languishing look in them that I remember well enough. You can't dispute the languishing look."

"No, nor her look of terror when she was threatened by a mouse. She was always on the outlook for a mouse."

"Yes, I think she would rush into anybody's arms when she happened to hear a mouse. Were the mice very numerous ordinarily when you called, Amos?"

"I didn't say that; but there was a mouse always ready to afford Ruby the opportunity of throwing herself upon me for protection. I never saw the mouse."

"My dear boy, I have frequently invoked blessings upon the head of that mouse myself."

"Old fellow, I have suspected for some time that Ruby was a playful kitten, and that we were the only mice that ever visited that room."

That was the last conversation we ever held in regard to Ruby, and both realized that if we had been as unreserved toward each other six months before, we would never have experienced that feeling of despondency and consequent desperate courage necessary to trust ourselves to a polar current. Although Ruby was required to vacate the corner which she had occupied in my heart, yet from that time to the present I have remembered her with a feeling of respect; for was not she the instrument in the hands of the infinite? Had the kitten not played with the mice we should never have become denizens of the interior world, nor the worshippers of two royal creatures, by whom not only had our purest affections been engaged, but our highest aspirations had been aroused. At length the time came, I say, when we could talk freely and understandingly together, and the Queen chose her time for making some revelations. It followed upon a passionate appeal on my part for a return of my affection.

"Wait," she said, "until you and your dark-haired brother, who has made a similar request of my sister, have heard what I have to say, which will take but little time in the telling, and then if you shall still desire the Queen of Light for a bride, you shall be gratified."

The Swah, or sister of the Queen of Light, and Harding were called into the Queen's private apartment and informed of her intention.

CHAPTER IV.

A STRANGE STORY BY A STRANGE WOMAN—OUR COMING PROPHESIED—MYSTERIES EXPLAINED—RUDNORD, THE DEMON—WE PREPARE FOR WAR—OUR WONDERFUL WEAPONS—A WEDDING.

BEFORE beginning her recital, she went from point to point about the apartment, and examined several knobs of gold that I noticed for the first time.

"Save to the members of our own royal family, of which my sister and myself are the only survivors in the direct line, what I am about to reveal has never been told in a pyramid of journeys, and it is because a prophecy that foretold your coming commands me to tell it, that you will hear it now, my dark-haired brothers, but no other ear must listen."

"Permit me," said Harding, "to ask the meaning of a pyramid of journeys? It gives me no idea of time."

"The traditional knowledge of our family informs me that whence you came, beyond the limits of unchanging light, there are other modes of measuring time; but the measured step of our beast of burden, the elephant, determines ours. With so many strides he walks a measure, and so many measures make a journey, so many journeys make a flood. That is time; but my ancestors were acquainted with your system of numbers, and ours are, I have discovered, the same. A pyramid is the number of grains, measured in the largest royal cup, and emptied into the form of a cone on the table. It means a very large, but unknown number."

Harding bowed his thanks. The Queen brought from a recess in the wall a box made of gold, and, unlocking it, took from within a number of parchments, whose appearance indicated great age.

"These," she said, "apart from what we are taught by our traditions, constitute our knowledge of the land from which you come. They are written in that language which we have preserved for unnumbered generations as a spoken tongue among ourselves. This one was written by the first god King of the Toltus. His name, you see, was Nodroff, which is, therefore, our family name. By tradition only do we know that he passed the barrier where all nature is congealed by cold, and in which his companions perished, and was received by the Toltus as a god. He married their Queen that they might have a godlike race to rule over them. Whoever this ancestor of ours may have been, he evinced godlike wisdom. To his two sons he left as a legacy all his lore, and a knowledge, not only of the laws which he had established for his people, but of the laws that governed other races, together with very considerable scientific information, upon which succeeding generations have improved. His laws, however, have remained unchanged until this day. He found the Toltus a rude people, who avenged their own wrongs and slew each other; he made a simple law, that whoever took the life of another should lose his life. There could be no justification, though it were done in self-defense or by accident. Such is the law now, and every Toltu protects the life of his neighbor. There has not been one execution during my father's reign, nor of mine thus far." Just here Cetsen the younger smiled, we knew not why. "Only at the command of their God-descended King was it lawful to take life from man or beast. The life of every man not a criminal was declared sacred, except the lives of those against whom the King declared war. The result has been to make the Toltus not a timid, but a brave people."

"Have there been many wars," I asked, "between the Toltus and neighboring people?"

"At long intervals, yes. The last was twenty floods ago. The Toltus who die in battle go to the home of their sovereign beyond the arched light, and no other race have thus far been able to withstand them. Besides, the art of my forefathers and myself has provided them with better weapons than our neighbors, who now pay us homage as a superior race. Only to his elder son did this founder of our family communicate the knowledge of his human origin as a secret to be handed down from heir to heir. He was instructed how to hide himself in mystery, and cautioned that when he ceased to be a god to the people he would cease to be a king. He ordained laws of marriage and of social intercourse, taught them agriculture, and so much of art as enabled them to provide themselves with comforts, excluding them from those whose more wonderful effects would serve to keep them in awe. The earth was the King's, and he allotted them by turn to till it and garner its produce for their own support. In a word, he made them the happy, virtuous, and industrious people they have continued to be up to this time. I think there is not one in all my realm less happy than their Queen and her sister."

"Then must they be, I think, a very happy people," I said. "You seem so happy and so much beloved."

"Beloved, yes. Yet have I much care and trouble," she replied. "And even now my kingdom is menaced by a greater danger than any through which it has thus far passed. You will learn of it before I have finished. That in the persons of his successors there might be preserved that distinction which you observe between myself and the Toltu race, to whom I am half allied by birth, he required the elder son to marry an only sister. From this pair followed generations of knowledge-seekers.

"The Kings of each generation preceding me, for they were all Kings, not only added to the magnificence of our ancestral home, but each one also to the knowledge of art and science possessed by his predecessor. The necessity was upon each of them of demonstrating his more than human attributes by the creation of new wonders, on which his absolute control of the Toltus rested. That same necessity devolved upon my sister and myself. But there was a limit to mere grandeur of display and to its effects, so that necessity forced us into new channels of labor and inquiry. We began to experiment with the subtler elements of nature, and especially with that which we named the spirit of light."

"Yes. I do not know your name for it," she continued. "But the result has been that, after a long lapse of time, the Queen's ear hears and the Queen's voice is heard in every habitation within a journey's distance of my palace. This spirit of light we found pervaded everything, and loved to travel upon this metal you call gold; while there were other substances which it abhorred, and over which it would leap in angry sparks when they were placed in its way. We made highways for it to travel over, and at length discovered how it could be induced to carry sound."

"The mystery is solved," I exclaimed. "The atmosphere is so charged with this spirit of light, that when you have made a golden highway for it to travel on, it moves in a powerful current?"

"No," I replied. "Although it would not be so easily possible whence we came, nor have we yet induced it to carry sounds."

You tell me, sir, however, that during my absence this has been accomplished. These wonderful women effected it at first by placing loadstones, of which I spoke, within the circuit, and stationing them near vibrating iron diaphragms. Later they constructed magnets.

"I will show you how our highways are constructed, sometime," she said. "We found that the larger the road, the better was the spirit accommodated, and the greater the power it displayed. It would flame in anger across impediments, and even burn them up. You may be sure it was the greatest of all our wonders when we lighted our palace with it, and discarded the distilled spirits which in its day had also been a wonder."

I discovered that this Toltu Queen, sir, had manufactured plates of glass, heavily smoked one side of each, and then placing them together with strips of thin gold inserted between them at either side, brought them to a melting heat, and in that condition fused them about the edges, so that the carbon, excluded from the air, became incandescent.

"And through one of the Queen's numerous ears," I said, "you learned of our arrival?"

"Yes. Had you searched within the clump of bushes near which you alighted, you might or not have discovered one of the Queen's ears, placed there to communicate with the servants who guard the elephants, one of whom is always on watch. At that time it happened to be the one who has the care of my own animal. I instructed him to bring you on the elephant, and set others to watch and report your movements. You had no sooner started than I communicated to all the people the startling message that the prophecy of Nodroff had been fulfilled, and that he had sent two descendants of the God, from beyond the great light, to visit me. I instructed them, also, in what manner they should honor you. Thus far I have satisfied your wonder at things which have become commonplace to us."

"Before proceeding further, permit me to ask why the habitations are under the ground?" I inquired.

"Because of the storm which prevails at a certain time, when the people say the spirit of light is angry. It sweeps the earth on such occasions in sheets of flame, and strikes it with fierce destructive bolts. The underground dwellings are my provision against the wrath of the spirit. And now to proceed with my narration. Nodroff foretold your coming, I know not how, and you have been expected by every generation of Toltus. It may be that some are endowed with a prescience that reflects the world of spirit, I do not know; but you were to come at a moment of dire extremity to save the kingdom of the Toltus."

Love, awe, and admiration were blended in the feeling with which I regarded this mysterious creature, and I was ready to brave any danger at her command.

"My great forefather," she resumed, "left a son who, not having been made joint heir to the kingdom, fled the castle, vowing revenge upon his elder brother, and promising in time to overthrow his kingdom. Nothing was heard of him, however, during his brother's reign. But in the reign of his successor there were rumors among the people of an evil spirit, or god-descended demon, having been seen in the vicinity of the burning earth to the southwest. In the next reign he appeared with a company of fearful creatures about him, whom nature had covered with coats of shaggy red hair, which hung in long manes down their backs. On one occasion in my grandsire's reign, when all in the palace slept, it was pervaded with a deadly vapor, which penetrated all the chambers and destroyed the lives of over half the inmates. An old attendant who had escaped its worst effects, and was near the portal, was wise enough to throw it open, else all had perished. Fortunately the King, his children and several of his kindred escaped, and the royal line was not extinguished. One of the attendants, rushing to one of the openings by which ventilation is secured, saw this demon, and it was known to be his work. It spread among the people, whom it oppressed with fear, and almost undermined the King's authority. The people reasoned that the god of light had forsaken their King, and given him over to the power of an evil demon. Had the King not discovered, just at that time, the process of distillation, lighted his castle with his blue flame, and announced that the god of light had destroyed the demon with it, confidence might never have been restored. This demon's followers have become a nation beyond the burning earth, over which barrier they have found some easy approach to my kingdom. This is the danger that threatens me; for I learn that his art has supplied them with destructive weapons of war, and that they are being assembled ready to make an invasion so soon as the storm season, of brief duration, has passed, and it will soon be here. This creature is beyond doubt the son of my forefather, of whom I have spoken. While our father yet lived, we were accustomed to make, in secret, long journeys with a few attendants. It was on one of these that we saw him. We were exploring that fearful region of the burning earth, when from behind some crags, quite near to him, we saw him bend and thrust his arm into a quivering liquid, and, as we judged, inject some of it into his veins with a sharp instrument. He muttered the while in that ancient language which he alone, outside the royal line, could know. 'I must renew my life. Vengeance in time will come! Ha! ha! I feel it coursing along my veins on its way to arrest decay for another span of human life.' You shall see the place anon, and I will not describe it now. My story, so far as it is necessary to tell it, is finished. Now that you know who and whence we are, and what impending and fearful danger threatens my kingdom and may end my reign, what say you, O brothers of my forefather's race beyond the arched light?"

"Say," I exclaimed, "why, we will devote our lives to your service, O Queen of Light, indeed!"

"And we will conquer your enemies," cried Harding, addressing Cetsen, the sister.

"Then am I yours, for life or death, for joy or sorrow; myself and my kingdom are in your hands," she said.

Then we took in our arms—Harding and I—the two most beautiful and lovable women God ever made, I think, less than the angels, and our lips clung together in a long embrace. We were eager to do something to deserve such happiness.

Both Harding and I felt, however, that the Queen had thrown a veil over some great mystery in the lives of herself and sister, and that the greater, and probably the most wonderful, portion of their histories had not been told. That thought was uppermost in the minds of both, when we next met alone.

"Amos, old fellow," said Harding, "the Queen has told her story; but don't it seem to you that there is something rather mysterious that is unaccounted for—for example, doesn't it strike you as remarkable that, although this forefather established his kingdom nine hundred and sixty years ago, there are only two of the royal line, so far as we can see, alive?"

"That has been giving me some trouble to account for," I replied, "and I confess that, if I did not regard the Queen and her sister as embodiments of all the human virtues, I would suspect something terrible. Her age makes it evident that she has not reigned over five years, at the longest; yet she and her sister have perfected all this electrical mechanism, and acquired such a vast amount of information as makes me feel, at times, that I am but a novice, a mere ignoramus. It's a mystery, but I trust her implicitly."

"So do I, old fellow. If Cetsen is a devil, in disguise of an angel, I'm a goner. But blest if I wouldn't like to know something more of them. I never start any question that Cetsen is not more familiar with than I am."

"The Queen says the Toltus have not had a war for twenty years, but that they have always been victors, mainly because they have been furnished with better arms than their enemies by her ancestors and herself. Put this and that together—she hasn't reigned twenty years, and how could she furnish them arms with which to whip the enemy?"

"I was about to ask her what had become of all the lateral branches of her family; but when she said she had told us all of her history that it was necessary for us to know, she cut all inquiry off short."

"The story about that demon, too, the fellow who has lived for a matter of nine hundred years, or over, is pretty hard to swallow literally; that is, for a man who comes from the exterior world."

"And yet I am satisfied that the Queen has not imposed a falsehood on us. There must, at some time, have existed conditions under which animal life originated, and perhaps within that region of the burning earth there still exist conditions for preserving it," I said.

Thus we pounded away at a problem that seemed to have no solution, yet without shaking the implicit confidence which we had in the sisters. To Harding, the mystery surrounding the sisters was an interesting puzzle; to me, it was awe-inspiring. He had not seen a phantom.

Toward the middle of the next period of artificial darkness, which I may call night, in the midst of a dream filled with fantastic visions, I beheld the phantom, which I had by this time come to regard as my familiar genius. On this occasion his aspect was malignant, and he remained within my sight as long as a minute. His expression, of late, had been anything but amiable; his brow had taken on an ominous frown, although I had tried to be on as good terms with him as possible, and could see no reason why he should feel any ill-will toward me. Now, I could see murder in his eye, and although he was, as I was still able to maintain, a mere creation of my own, I was afraid of him. I almost yelled aloud in terror when, after motioning me to depart, he at the last moment rushed at me with an uplifted knife, which he seemed to thrust into my breast at the very instant of vanishing. How to regard this manifestation was a problem that troubled me greatly to solve, while I wiped the perspiration from my brow. I had the least possible trace of superstition in my nature, I thought, although I had a very sensitive nervous organism. I began to ask myself the question, whether I should regard it as a warning, and whether the actions of this creature of my imagination had not some reference to my relation as accepted lover and affianced husband of the Queen. What did it mean? I was several times on the eve of asking the Queen to explain, if she could, the mystery, but I thought it would only serve to reveal to her my own weakness, and I kept the mystery to myself, as I thought.

At the same time that we made arrangements for our marriage, we took our initial measures for war. I will not stop to describe, as it might be, the grand ceremonial of our espousals; how all the Toltu officials, who executed the Queen's edicts throughout her wide dominion, gorgeously costumed by the Queen for the occasion, were assembled in the great hall of audience; how I, dressed after the manner of an ancient Greek, wore on my person more and richer jewels than the Shah of Persia ever dreamed of; how Harding and the sister appeared in a scarcely less gorgeous array; how the hundred varied fruits and products of the realm loaded the stone tables of the dining-hall; how the Queen's dancers, in varied costumes, designed by us and new to the beholders, went through their mazy evolutions, in that wondrous light; how the Queen espoused me, and wedded her sister to Harding, before the officials, and from the steps of the palace portal, acknowledged me for her husband to a sea of delighted Toltus; telling them that we had been sent from beyond the arc of light, through the clouds, according to Nodroff's prophecy, to help them subdue the demon of the burning earth and his followers; commanding all who had worked in metals under the Queen's orders, to assemble at the palace; directing each official to enroll by lot every third man in his district for the war, and one hundred elephants, loaded with provisions for each contingent, and send them to the palace; how she reminded them of Nodroff's promise that those who fell in war against the foe, should live with him in the land of spirits beyond the arc of light; how, with words of fiery eloquence, she roused their martial spirit with recollections of the deeds of their ancestors. Aye, that was the strangeness of it all; a woman of twenty-five recalling events of centuries past, as if all were within her own remembrance! She seemed, indeed, a goddess talking to the people, and I did not wonder that they bent before her in adoration, and sent up shouts of triumph, as if the foe were already conquered. I think there was not one among those twenty thousand souls who doubted, either that she was God-descended, or that she would conquer the demon and his hordes. The officials, who were all dignified by age, instantly departed to fulfil her commands, and those from the more distant regions sent before them swift-footed messengers; so that, within a week, Harding had ten thousand men in line, drilling them in our modern tactics, and contingents were on their way from the remotest points. Within ten days, as I judged, for I had begun to take no note of time, we had not less than eighty thousand men at our command, and more on the way. I had inquired in regard to the nature of the country at the point where the threatened invasion was expected, and was told by the Queen that it was a vast, sterile plain. It was at once resolved, if possible to meet the enemy on that border of her kingdom, and defeat the demon in a pitched battle, where we could reap the advantage of our drill. Then for the first time, because necessity required its use, I learned the vastness of the palace. I had asked the Queen where our large army was to be sheltered when the season of storm should come. She smilingly told me to give myself no concern on that account, since within our palace and neighboring habitations was room for all. I found it was simply stupendous; Harding and I calculated that the excavation covered at least forty acres. I found one portion of it divided into workshops, one for carving in stone, and another for metal, in which were forges and a variety of tempered tools. The Queen's knowledge seemed inexhaustible; she knew where saltpetre and sulphur were to be found, and all the various ores in which the rocks abounded. I set forces to work to quarry iron, to dig for saltpetre and prepare it for use, and selecting one thousand of the most expert workmen, set them to work forging and tempering the iron, and constructing such tools and machinery as I needed to manufacture a simple, but by no means ineffective rifle and cartridges. The stocks of the guns I cast in moulds, and, strange as it may seem, one of my greatest difficulties consisted in finding a piece of seasoned wood, out of which to make a pattern. In fact, it was not to be found at all, and there were no implements for working in wood. I asked the Queen why, since wood was in such variety and abundance, it had not been used for purposes of general convenience, on account of its lightness? She mystified me with the reply that her ancestors had used it extensively, but she had found that, during the course of generations, it was subject to decay in the moist atmosphere, and that she herself had substituted for it those metals which were unchanged by time. How, I thought, could all this vast amount of work in metals have been accomplished in her short reign? I was forced to make my patterns out of gold, in order to economize time. Within a brief period I had my force turning out rifles, with bayonets adjusted to their muzzles, at the rate, according to Harding's watch, of five hundred a day. I was astonished at the facility with which the native workmen apprehended my directions, and performed the work. Powder was being manufactured and stored in large quantities, and, by the time the stormy season had set in, such system had been inaugurated that the work went on without requiring my oversight. The storm season lasts about a month, and is followed by a temperature reduced about five degrees below what I termed the summer heat of seventy-five degrees. Since it followed upon the withdrawal of the sun's rays from the Arctic regions, and continued, as near as we kept count of time, during their absence, I referred the difference in temperature to that cause. During this storm interval, the Queen proposed that we should visit that locality where her sister and herself had discovered the demon appropriating that marvellous element with which he had, at intervals of generations, renewed his life.

CHAPTER V.

THE STORM SEASON—AN EXPEDITION TO THE BURNING ZONE—FULL OF WONDERS AND HORRORS—WITNESS THE EARTH PRODUCING NEW FORMS OF LIFE—THE DEMON RUDNORD—A FIGHT FOR LIFE—A VALLEY ENGULFED—A LAKE OF FIRE—ITS CAUSE EXPLAINED.

WHAT I am about to relate will not command your credence, and you may let so much of it as you please pass as a mere delusion of mine if you wish. I asked the Queen how, in the raging storm, she proposed to travel either in safety or comfort. She replied that she had provided against all conditions, and that their visits had always been made during the storm season, when the face of the earth had no soul upon it but themselves and their trusted attendants, who were impressed with the conviction that their journey was made in order to hold direct communication with the spirit of light. I thought the spirit of adventure was strong in them that they should visit it so often. She produced, for Harding and myself, suits very carefully made of an elastic gum, which she said exuded plentifully from a forest tree, and which was one of the best non-conductors of electricity, at the same time that it was impervious, of course, to moisture. They had been worn by attendants on previous occasions, and were constructed of one piece, covering hands, feet, and head, except the face, which was protected by a plate of glass. The only opening was on the back, which, after they were on, was so closed that we were perfectly insulated. What might be the effect upon such conductors as our loaded pistols, which we wished to take along, as a precaution, we did not know. Therefore we treated them the same as ourselves, insulating them by inclosing them in gum bags, with sufficient room about the locks to discharge them if need were, without uncovering them. This proposed expedition, to me promised to be the most momentous event of my life, for the fact is I entertained the hope of being able to find the elixir of life, since I had no doubt, on the Queen's testimony, that the demon had found it. The inquiry thrust itself continually upon my mind, "Shall I, too, be supplied with the means of prolonging my own life at pleasure?" For a time, while we made our preparations, I was like the Toltus, who, perhaps I have not told you, sleep with their eyes open. In fact, I hardly slept at all. I should have been in a poor condition for our journey, had not Cresten come to my relief with her profound knowledge. She took from her secret depository, where her relics and wonders of art were hidden, a tube of gold, and directing me to give her my hand, as I lay upon the couch, she pressed the end of the tube upon my palm, below the base of the thumb, and instantly my nerves relaxed their tension, all fantasies vanished, and I fell into a profound slumber, from which I was awakened to make ready for our journey. In starting we passed through many unused chambers of the palace, which even the demands of our large army did not require, and entered a long passage, leading to the south. At intervals it was closed by walls of stone, that by a secret mechanism, the control of which the Queen showed me as we passed, slid back to let us through, and closed behind us. From this passage, of not less than half a mile in length, the last wall opened on the face of a cliff, and we faced a broad valley, of whose extent I could not judge. I beheld, at that moment, a picture of more awful grandeur than any denizen of the exterior globe could ever expect to witness and live. We were in the midst of a deluge of rain. An ocean of water seemed to be emptying itself, in a vast waterfall, upon the land. The winds twirled and wreathed it in the form of spray, after it struck the earth, into fantastic forms, through which continuous lightning played. The air was aflame with broad sheets of light, which played about us, manifesting a vindictive energy that defies description. It was appalling!

"Have confidence in your covering," said the Queen laughingly. "The Spirit of Light, even in his anger, has never harmed a tree that exudes this gum, and I believe the earth affords no other sure protector at such a time as this. I think I have tried them nearly all!"

Day by day, as you would say, I had become more thoroughly convinced that this remarkable, this beautiful, wonderful creature could read my thoughts. I was happy in the conviction that she therefore knew that my regard for her was akin to worship.

"It was appalling," I replied. "But your assurance, my love, makes it so no longer."

"My other soul!" she rejoined. "I know you love and trust me." Just then the lightning, discharged from two meeting banks of vapor, came hurtling near us and struck the earth, from which a dense steam arose through which we could not see. She laughed, and said:

"Such a bolt would consume that crystal you call a diamond, yet enveloping us, would leave us unharmed."

I saw that she gloried in her mastery of nature, yet never boasted of her vast knowledge. She permitted it to first dawn, then grow upon me, as the need for it demanded its employment. Through that fearful display of electric energy what pictures I beheld! The dense vapors obscured the earth, save when the broad sheets of flame lighted it here, there, and everywhere, in quick succession, each prospect an island in the clouds, over which the flame flowed like a lake of molten gold and then died out. From another opening in the cliff came two elephants and their attendants, all provided with the same coverings as ourselves. One of them roared in terror, but the other, which the Queen said was San-son, faced the storm with confidence. He, she said, had been with her frequently, through the storms. Appliances hung at their sides for mounting, and with an attendant on the neck of each, the Queen and I seated ourselves on San-son's back, and Harding and Cetsen on the other. Thus we started on a journey, of what I judged to be about fifty miles across the valley. Apart from the fact that there were fire and water above, beneath, and all around us, we had a comfortable ride, and one which, after we had become accustomed to the situation, we enjoyed. I noticed that we followed broad roads, and crossed the streams on stone bridges, arched from massive piers, and, as the Queen said, built to withstand the torrents that, swollen beyond the limits of their banks, now deluged the lower levels. Midway of the valley, on an elevated roll of land, we reached a great mound that covered perhaps an acre. Within it were commodious chambers of stone, comfortably furnished and kept in order by a family of Toltus, to whom the Queen's rare visits always brought a blessing. Into the outer chamber we entered, elephants and all. From the grey-headed grandfather to the youngest child, the simple people laughed and prostrated themselves again and again. Laughter was always on the lips of the Toltus,—a result, I am satisfied, of the atmosphere, as well as of the fact that they seemed to have nothing to sorrow for save disease and death. When we were divested of our gum coverings, and they were given to the mother and mistress of the household to place in the Queen's apartments, I observed that every member of the family managed covertly to kiss the Queen's garment, before the mother carried it out.

"Now, daughter of Her-zut, what blessing do you ask of the Queen? Whatever it is, she will grant it. Speak!"

"O Queen! Daughter of God!" she replied. "Your goodness has left us little to desire. But since you are so gracious, I will ask you to make my daughter an attendant in the palace when the next flood has passed."

"Nay, the daughter of God knows all things; yet will I say that she will be sixteen floods, one circuit, and eight journeys, according to the Queen's own time."

"Our God-Queen knows they are always ready. The couches are soft, and the wool of the texet lies white and clean upon the floors."

"O God-descended! The tables murmur at their loads of fruit, which you may transform to your use as you will."

"It is well," answered the Queen; and when they had all bent in adoration she made over them the sign of the arc, and we retired to our apartments to eat and sleep. The woman's statement regarding the age of her daughter, "according to the Queen's own time," reminds me that when we had explored the palace, under her guidance, she introduced us into what she called the chamber of record, and asked us how long the best of our watches kept the time. I had replied, that if carefully cared for and kept wound, they might keep fairly correct time for thirty years.

"But, if those planets of which our traditions tell did not furnish you with exact periods to adjust them to, how long would they keep the time?"

"Why, then, I suspect," I said, "that in a very short time every one would be measuring time by his own standard; in fact, I think time would soon cease to be measured at all."

"Yes, but necessity, my soul, would then produce for them some such watch as this. You see marked on this, dial you call it, that it began to record periods of time 363 floods ago, and it has, therefore, been running that number of your years, if, as you think, the interval between our storm seasons averages one of your years. Twenty intervals of storm seasons were noted to find the average. See, this dial records two circuits for each flood; this, ten journeys for each circuit; this, ten measures for each journey; and this, 1,000 paces for each measure."

On each wall of the chamber was one of these wonderful timekeepers, each recording its periods with like exactness. Each was enclosed in a glass case, from which the air had been exhausted, in order, as she said, that the weight of all metals within might be the same, or, in other words, that the main- wheel, which was the source of power, might be in equilibrium. "The attractive force of a magnet in a vacuum," she said, "remained always constant." Were my life prolonged, I think, sir, I could reproduce one of the mechanisms. It consisted of a wheel, upon whose periphery were arranged armatures at regular intervals, each of which was balanced in such a manner that the moment its axis passed the line of the perpendicular, as it was carried around on the wheel, the axis shifted, so that the end subject to the attraction of a magnet, stationed a little to the right of the perpendicular, became too heavy for the magnet to sustain, and it descended at the instant that its successor came within the influence of the magnet, to repeat the same results. These armatures curved toward the centre of the wheel, so that but one end came within the influence of the upper magnet, while the other end was, at the same moment, repelled by a magnet stationed within the circumference of the wheel, which accomplished the shifting of the axis. It was perpetual motion, sir, realized. Not only the journals, but axles of every wheel and armature were constructed of diamonds and other gems, between which there was so little friction, that no wear could be discerned, although one of them had run, as I say, 363 years. This is a digression. But it may serve some good purpose. It seemed necessary to explain what the Queen's time was. After being refreshed with food and sleep, we pursued our journey, until at the further verge of the valley we reached the borders of that region called the burning earth. Here the elephants and ourselves were housed within a great cave for food and rest. We were beyond the limit of Toltu settlement. None ever came willingly so near this dreaded region, within which uncouth and terrible creatures lived, and over which, as they believed, malignant demons ruled. The elephants carried every provision for our comfort, and when we had again slept and eaten, the Queen announced that we must from thence proceed on foot, and that the attendants and elephants should await our return.

"Neither will our coverings be needed, my love," said the Queen, "since our way is beneath the surface of the earth, not on it. We shall see no more of the storm without until our return. Ho, Lit-zer! son of Ma-ral, fear not the darkness, but cheer thy young companion when the Queen hath shut thee in from harm."

"We fear not, O God-descended!" answered one of the attendants, who, now that his gum covering was removed, I perceived was an aged Toltu.

"It hath been fifty floods since thou wert here, hath it not, Lit-zer?" Who, I wondered, had he come with fifty years before, and what for?

"Aye, my Queen, when I was but a young man. It is long ago with me; but with thee, O God-descended! floods are but paces in the flight of time."

"Aye, but have you not thought, Lit-zer, that I have ofttimes longed to rest within the arms of the God of Light?"

This conversation puzzled both Harding and myself, and we looked inquiringly at each other.

She took my hand and looked lovingly into my eyes, but made no reply. She handed to the old attendant an instrument, with a glass ball on the end of a long tube, and said:

"When thou needest light touch this thus, and behold thou wilt not be in darkness. When it shall cease to give light at thy touch, then do thou thus," directing him how to wind up a spring, "and it will again give light at thy touch."

The old man bent before her, took the instrument and kissed it; then taking my hand in hers, we went out of the cavern, followed by Cetsen and Harding. She showed us where, by moving a hidden lever, a huge stone rose or fell to open or close the cavern. The clothes we wore under our gum coverings, and in which we were now dressed, were virtual coats of armor, at the same time that they were most perfect non-conductors of electricity, being made of circular plates of the same gum, scaled over close- fitting garments of hair-cloth. The plates had, however, been rendered almost as hard as iron by some process similar, I believe, to that by which we vulcanize rubber. The suits were light and flexible, and protected every part of the body; even the head was covered by a hood, and being almost jet-black in color, we filled completely, as we wandered through infernal passages, a poetic description of malignant spirits.

"I apprehend," said the Queen, "no great dangers nor difficulties that our art cannot overcome; yet it is best to be provided as well as possible against the unexpected."

Again, I understood that this was in answer to a thought of mine that had at the moment intruded itself upon my mind. I had asked myself the question, "Against what dangers is this provision made?"

"Besides," she continued, "my sister and I have in our hands lives which we value more highly than our own."

"Yet, compared with yours, I begin to see," said Harding, "they are well-nigh worthless."

"You have your explosive weapons, whose effects I have not witnessed. They are doubtless better than ours for some occasions, although they may not be so generally useful. You see the caverns grow dark, and we would scarcely find our way without these."

The implements to which she referred, were two slender poles or tubes of the hardened gum, about half an inch in diameter, from one end of which projected two gold wires. On the other end was a hollow cylinder of the same material, within which was a powerful spring and some arrangement of revolving magnets. On the end from which projected the gold wires, the sisters now fitted caps, consisting of globes of glass. Taking the cylinders in their hands they pressed buttons, and the globes glowed with an intense light that revealed every object about us. I think so potent an instrument could not be constructed in this atmosphere. Its electric energy was wonderful. We must have proceeded several miles on our cavernous way, with whose tortuous course the sisters seemed quite familiar, never hesitating which way to choose, although there branched off from it a labyrinth of rugged tunnels in all directions. Suppose, by some casualty, Harding and I were left to find our way out, we could never do it. My thought was instantly read again, and the Queen called our attention to marks upon the rocky walls by which they were guided. I noticed that the rock was of a dark color, volcanic in character, a kind of lava I had never seen. The underground avenues were evidently not produced by the action of water, but by volcanic eruption. I soon became convinced of that fact; for as we proceeded we began to hear more distinctly the roar of subterranean fires, and from crevasses in the floors of the caverns fumes arose that proclaimed their origin. Over these the sisters, active as athletes, would laughingly leap; then hold their lights, that Harding I might be sure of our footing. They grew wider and more dangerous as we proceeded, taxing all my energy to leap them, as I was the least active of them all. At length we approached one on whose verge both Harding and I stood in terror. Its fiery jaws seemed opened wide to devour us. Ten feet, with a run, was the farthest I could leap and land with safety. This infernal mouth was at least twelve feet, as I measured it with my eye, and far down we could see a molten mass of fluid, rising and falling as if struggling to gush upward and consume us. The sisters laughed.

"Ah! you have not had our practice," said the Queen. "You dare not leap with me!"

"If you say leap, my love," I said, "I will obey you; but I never leapt so far in all my life."

"My soul, you make me happy beyond expression!" she replied, and kissed my lips. "Come, place your hand in mine."

I did as she requested. Some round, smooth substance lay between our palms, and instantly I seemed imbued with an unnatural strength. My feet were light as air, and I would not have hesitated to take the leap had it been twice the width.

"Great Jupiter!" exclaimed Harding, when the sister took his hand. "I could jump over Mount Olympus!"

We alighted safely, and when the Queen removed her hand I was my normal self again. As I looked back at it I was astonished at the result.

"Nay, not transformed, my love. We became of one mind that you could leap the chasm, and there is wonderful strength in an absolute conviction. We have all physical powers that far surpass their ordinary use."

My further inquiry was interrupted by a shuffling noise in advance of us. Instantly the Queen imposed silence, and extinguished the lights when we had ranged ourselves against the side of the cavern wall.

"During the storm season," she whispered, "strange creatures, which roam about the region, seek these caves for shelter, and sometimes wandering from their place of entrance become lost."

When the light went out the creature made no noise. It had evidently stopped confused, being under the impression that it had found a place of exit. It came forward, however, again using, as we could hear, a stick, with which it struck the walls, and thus slowly felt its way. It was the purpose, at first, to let it pass by. But the Queen, having ascertained what it was, suddenly turned on the light when it was quite near, and revealed an animal, at the first appearance of which Harding exclaimed, "The missing link!"

There stood before us a hairy creature, jabbering in terror. I did not know whether to call it an ape or human. It was hairy enough for an ape, but its face was that of a very ugly human, as well as the contour of its body. It seemed to me that the degree of its intelligence could alone determine the question. It gazed at us, I say, in terror, and falling upon its knees bent its head as if in fearful adoration.

"This," said the Queen, "is a Tan-ti-ze. It has no language, but signs, and what I have named sound-curves, with which to express its thoughts."

At that moment the creature illustrated her statement by uplifting its hands, as if to ward off danger, and with a most pitiful look on its face began to murmur in low, sorrowful tones, to which our own feelings responded instantly. The Queen smiled upon it and motioned it to rise. Immediately it laughed outright, and rising to its feet, began to make motions from which I was able to infer that it was lost. The signs concluded with an upward inflection of the voice that as plainly asked a question as if it had been uttered in a systematic language.

"And what mean you by the missing link?" inquired the Queen, as with a smile she motioned the creature to precede us. Then Harding gave a crude outline of the Darwinian theory.

"Ah, that is wrong," said the Queen. "You will soon see with your own eyes, I think, a refutation of that theory. The earth hath been the mother of all primal life, beneath or upon her bosom; that is true, and she has preserved a common design of framework and the same system of nerves and muscles throughout, but from no species of plant or animal has ever sprung another. The species may vary in kind but not in intrinsic character. I say you shall see for yourselves."

The strange creature went tamely on before us for some distance, and during the time, the Queen informed us that it was of an order of beings nearly extinct, for the reason that it could not compete with the more cunning and aggressive tribes beyond this burning earth, where was its primal home. "It is, however, a kind of our species, and it becomes us to treat it kindly," she concluded.

She motioned it into a passage that led off from our route, and by signs directed it which way to go to find the light. It duplicated her pantomime with many exclamations, and with a parting laugh started off. We had leapt many crevasses and looked into many a frightful vortex, when we saw before us a dull red light pervading the caverns. I knew that it was reflected from such molten material as seemed everywhere beneath us, but I was unprepared for the grand and awful sight on which, the next moment, we gazed in awe not wholly unmixed with terror. We stood upon a ledge, which was on the verge of an irregular basin not less in width than half a mile in its narrowest diameter. At a depth of scarcely 100 yards beneath us slept a veritable lake of fire. The heat was too intense to endure long, and before we had traversed the length of fifty yards along the narrow ledge, during which we were exposed to it, a sense of suffocation came over me and I would have fallen toppling into the livid mass, had not the watchful Queen suddenly placed over my mouth a pad of wool saturated with some fluid, whose evaporation instantly revived me.

"And when they told me of hell I thought it was a myth," said Harding, when we were safe once more behind the rocky barrier which shut out the heat and fearful picture at the same time.

"Think you, my Queen," I asked, "that between the inner and outer crusts of the earth is everywhere liquid fire like that, which has not had time to cool?"

"I think they err," she replied. "My sister and I explored this region, in hope of discovering the origin of this heat. It is not combustion, since that consumes what it feeds on, yet this lake has stood at its present level for 500 floods. Its heat has been unconfined, and yet even its surface has not cooled. We found that on either side of this region extends for long distances this rock, which the heat below us has converted into a molten liquid. It is a material which the spirit of light, your electricity, abhors. Between, for long distances, stretches a body of iron ore, broken through at intervals by this rock. Thus a great highway of the spirit is impeded, at a point, too, where it has the least room; for the broad iron track narrows here to points, and in its anger it fuses this rock that resists it, and keeps it forever molten."

"But, Queen of my soul," I said, "you have seen that once the whole earth was in a molten state?"

"I know not that. I have thought that in the great space of which our traditions tell, two bodies of primal matter, in its state of vapor, each charged with its opposite complement of the spirit, which you know is of two natures, met and twirled about each other and wedded, condensing the elements instantly. I know not how much heat was engendered, but it was cool, I think, myriads of floods ago."

Thus she talked as we pursued our way toward, as I hoped, the goal of that which every mortal would desire, when we were confronted by a monster, whose huge bulk and malignant aspect inclined both Harding, as he afterward confessed, and myself to make a hasty retreat. I stationed myself before the Queen and begged her to fly, while we endeavored to keep it at bay with our pistols. The monster was, I judge, about nine feet in height and not less than fifteen in length. It had legs resembling those of an elephant, but with great sprawling feet and a long head, terminating in a still longer snout. Tusks of four feet in length curled upward from its under jaws. When we came upon it with the light, it uttered a roar that drowned the hissing and rumbling of the fiery flood beneath us, and seemed to shake the rocks about us. It was a terrible voice to be heard in that resonant chamber and in that atmosphere. At the same time it opened its mouth and displayed a vast vortex, that could have taken in an ox and crushed it with ease.

"Do not use your weapons," said the Queen, as coolly as if no great danger threatened us. "Let me face it, my love. Cetsen, thrust your light near its eyes."

The sister did as directed, and the beast, which was advancing, blinded by its intensity, roared out its anger and halted. The Queen, snatching the cap of glass from her instrument, quickly planted the golden wires between its eyes, which were near together on its head, and it fell to the floor of the cavern, as I supposed dead.

Harding and I were for putting bullets in its brain through its eyes, for its skull was probably bullet-proof, but the Queen said, "No; life was not ours to give and should not be taken save in dire extremity." We felt ashamed of our barbarism. As we crowded past the back of the leviathan, which was much higher than our heads and the wall of the cavern, I wondered if from this source came the mammoth remains found on our Western prairies. Once more came a reply to my thought from the lips of the Queen:

"God or spirit in nature has produced many races of like species in the different portions of the earth, each modified by the conditions of locality. For its great monsters the earth's conditions have become unfitted, and such as this do not exist outside the limit of the burning earth."

We had passed through some miles of subterranean avenues, when we emerged and stood on the border of a low-lying valley, which extended nearly to the limit of our vision. In the central part I could see a body of water.

"This," said the Queen, "is our destination. Into this valley drain the waters from the surrounding mountains, together with their soil. It is always moist, and its temperature, which is that of animal life, never varies. All storms pass it by, and its deep mass of moist earth is full, as you would say, of electric energy."

While she spoke the smell of ammonia became so strong as to be disagreeable. The Queen, noticing, said that it was one of the chief elements of primal life. Harding and myself were hushed into silence as we looked and began to perceive what mother nature was doing before our eyes. From the earth continually arose a dense, white vapor, that for the most of the time confined our observation to the limit of a narrow circle. We could hardly credit our senses, wondering if in truth the vegetation grew so rapidly or whether it was an optical illusion. Not thirty feet from where we stood I saw the bare, green stalks appear above the tangled mass of fallen vegetation and gradually mount into the air, unfolding as they rose into broad-leafed palm-like trees. They were of many varieties and sizes, but all I saw had green sectional stems, some regular and others not so. There was a hum of growth blended with a continuous, crushing sound, as we perceived, of falling verdure, which came up to us from the valley. We saw mighty canes that towered a hundred feet into the air, whose stupendous growth had doubtless been attained in a few days or weeks at the farthest. Maturity and decay probably as quickly followed, and they were everywhere falling over the valley to make room for others. When the vapors parted and gave us vistas through which we could see the water, it was observed to be in a state of continual agitation. The Queen handed me a diminutive telescope, whose lenses were made of transparent gems of such a quality that, when I looked, monsters of most revolting forms and reptiles writhing and tumbling in perpetual war proclaimed the cause of the movement of the water. The instrument brought them almost to my very feet, and the Queen laughed when I stepped backward involuntarily.

I looked again and saw everywhere countless leviathans feeding upon the green verdure. Compared with some of them, that which we had met in the cave was but an infant. I could see them open their ponderous jaws, wrap their long tongues about the green stalks, and cut great swathes about them with every mouthful. I handed the telescope to Harding, who regarded them, like myself, in silent wonder.

"There is no life for them," said the Queen, "beyond the borders of this valley. It was not always so when the earth was younger. See, my soul, I think it is not well that we tarry long. There is something mingles with the vapors that I have never seen before. Behold! it falls upon my hand, and there is an element of gaseous form in the air which makes me mistrust that nature is preparing for some terrible convulsion. See you yon little pool of quivering liquid? There are the elements of life commingled. The time has come, my beloved and my dear brother, to relieve your minds of doubt concerning us. Your faith has been fairly tested. You would know what hath become of the descendants of Nodroff. At yonder fountain have my sister and I renewed our lives for 550 floods. We are but the eighth generation from Nodroff. The lateral branches of the royal line mingled their blood with the Toltus and were long since lost. Methinks you might have guessed we would not fail to renew our lives when Rudnord, Nodroff's son, showed us the way."

"Yes, my soul; we were stupid, Harding," I said. "This solves all the puzzles and reconciles all the statements."

"They tried to compound this stuff for about 300 years on the exterior, and failed, and here it is already prepared," continued Harding.

Harding and I looked at each other for a moment. We both understood that our affection and faith had been wisely put in the crucible of doubt and tested, and we also knew that our thoughts had been interpreted.

I looked to where she pointed. To our right, scarce twenty paces away, was a pool of fluid that seemed ever in motion. A dense canopy of vapor had for some time been gathering over the valley, and in the diminished light I could see a faint, phosphorescent flame playing over the liquid.

"Come," said the Queen, "you shall behold a wonder, indeed, in nature's workshop."

A few steps over a quivering mass of earth that seemed instinct with life, and we stood by the strange, living liquid. Not out of the pool itself, but the earth about it, which the liquid permeated, crawled innumerable forms of animal life, while on the surface lay others advanced in growth. They were all partially hidden from view by a white vapor that hovered near the surface, and on which the Queen said they subsisted for a time. A remarkable feature of this wonder was that all emerged in pairs.

"Nature," said the Queen, answering my thought, "is of dual character in all her processes. In the pool itself are organized such forms of life as are adapted to the water. Behold! I will show you a wonder!"

She took from her head a single hair, and, handing me the telescope, which I adjusted to the distance, she threw it on the pool. Enlarged and near to me, I could see that it instantly began to undergo a change. I plainly saw serpent heads forming on both ends of it, though one perceptibly differed from the other.

"It has the same effect upon all organized matter," she continued, as she tossed in a section of twig from a tree that she had brought with her for the purpose. Though it still resembled the twig in form and color, yet it had been converted into animal life. On the other side of the pool I saw struggle from the loose earth a reptile form, of quite two feet in length. It, like all the rest, was in duplicate. I was so lost in wonder that I had failed to notice the canopy of vapor gathering more dense and ominous, and sifting down upon us a fine ash.

"Quick, my love; we have no time to lose, I fear!" said the Queen, as she stooped to fill her little instrument and bade me hold my arm beneath the liquid. Cetsen was in the act of doing the same for Harding, when we were startled by a wild and vindictive yell. It came from the throat of a grizzly creature, whom I at once recognized, from the Queen's description, as the demon of the burning earth, Rudnord, the son of Nodroff. He was followed by eight of his hairy progeny, a scarcely human race, which he had begotten. The yell was one of demoniac triumph, for he had cut off our retreat to the cavern entrance, by which we had come. He addressed us in that unknown tongue of which I had come to understand sufficient to know that he was informing the Queen and all of us that the hour of his vengeance upon his brother's descendants had come. If it had been possible to love and admire the Queen more than I already did, it would have been at that moment, when she stood without a tremor of fear and defied him.

"Now to test your weapons, my love; it is an issue of life and death!" she said.

He felt sure of his victims, and took time to taunt us, that we might have a foretaste of death by anticipation. They were armed with metallic bows, which seemed capable of delivering their pointed arrows with a force that would test our armor. His shaggy companions, like the demon himself, wore corselets of thin gold, over sack-like coats, covered with plates of the same material. He seemed disposed, on the eve of her dissolution, to render her as miserable as possible by the reflection, as he informed her, that the Toltus should become the slaves of his race. His harangue was never finished. Suddenly there was a terrible rumble and roar above, beneath, and all about us, as it seemed, and the earth within the valley, on which we stood, began to tremble, while the ashes fell in showers, and a suffocating gas loaded the atmosphere. With a shout the demon and his followers drew their arrows to the heads and discharged them. We were struck by many of them, but all glanced from our armor and fell at some distance away, save the shaft from the demon's bow, which, with a perfect aim, struck the Queen fair on the breast. A moment afterward she fell prostrate. His shout of triumph was lost in the report of my revolver, and, leaping into the air, he fell dead. Harding's shot had been quite as fatal, for another staggered and fell. Before they could adjust their arrows for a second discharge, our pistols rang out the death-knell of another. I had missed my aim.

"Steady, Amos, my boy; we have no shots to waste." Harding was always cool in an emergency, and my nerves were not unsteady from fear. The Queen had fallen, as I supposed, pierced by the demon's arrow, and I had seen Cetsen bend over her, and quickly cast the arrow away; then a dizzy sensation came over me at the moment I fired my second shot. Our third shots were delivered with good effect, for my brain had cleared; but almost at the same instant, having been struck fairly by an arrow, I reeled, and fell upon one knee. I had an impression of hearing another shout of triumph from our assailants, and I became unconscious. It could have been only for an instant, for I seemed to hear at the same time the voice of the Queen in my ear, and feel her arm about my neck. Cetsen was doing the same for Harding. Our armor had not been pierced; but, as I learned later, there was fastened to each arrow-head some substances which, when mingled by concussion, produced a deadly odor, a few respirations of which put an end to life. Cetsen had quickly revived the Queen, and now they were holding those woolen pads to our nostrils.

"Quick, my love!" said the Queen. "We must gain the cavern, or we are lost! Hold the pad in your teeth!"

The earth was now surging like billows beneath our feet, and we staggered and plunged as we started toward the cavern and turned our backs upon immortal life. The four sons of the demon, who had escaped our bullets, seeing Harding and myself fall, and the earth ready, as it seemed, to engulf us certainly and themselves if they remained, retreated to the cavernous rock, which, though trembling, stood rigid against the fearful throes which nature was making to rid herself of some obstruction. They disappeared in an opening at some little distance from that which had terminated our journey. It appeared that the demon reached the locality by another route than ours. It was a moment of such terror for us, as mortals are seldom fated to endure. Above the rush and rumble of the elements the sulphurous air was laden with the roar of a thousand voices of terror. The mammoth creatures cried piteously to the unseen power that made the earth heave beneath them like a stormy ocean. We had not forty steps to take, and yet I well-nigh despaired of ever reaching the rocks. Almost at every step we would be thrown to the ground, which, elastic though it was on the surface, being tied together by entwined roots to a great depth, now began to yield to the strain upon it and open into seams, which closed again like mouths striving to crush and swallow us. I am sure that unaided I could never have escaped. Once more the Queen, as on a former occasion, took me by the hand, with that strange substance pressing my palm at the very moment that my foot was about to fall into one of the open mouths. With renewed vigor I overleapt it, and thereafter found myself better able to keep my footing. Cetsen and Harding had reached the rock, and the Queen stood upon a ledge on which she had just alighted. My hand was still in hers, and I was in the act of taking my last step from the rocking earth when it suddenly sank beneath me and left no foothold. I was about to go down, and, as I feared, drag the Queen with me, who would not release my hand, when Cetsen thrust her electric rod toward me. I was fortunate enough to grasp it, and she and Harding and the Queen drew me up over what already had become the face of a cliff. Thus safe for the time, we stayed only for an instant to see that the whole valley was being sucked into a great vortex, and then started upon a rapid flight on our homeward course.

"I fear," said the Queen, "that the valley is being swallowed, only to be cast up again. It behooves us to hasten, for we know not its effect upon the fiery mass beneath us. We must make speed, my love, to pass the lake of fire."

Hand in hand, Cetsen and Harding leading, we fled at such a rate as my feet had never carried me before. We passed in our swift flight the place where we had left the prostrate beast, and soon reached the lake of fire, whose livid mass had already become agitated, and was rising rapidly in its bed. Both Harding and I had lost the pads from our mouths, in our escape from the valley.

"Now do not hesitate, my soul; we must run along the ledge, for the heat is more intense."

Although I seemed to tread the air, and run with the speed of a deer, so that but a few moments elapsed while we were crossing, yet the heat was so intense that I felt I was being consumed, and that my lungs were aflame. They were not sturdy lungs at any time, as you may see, and when she released my hand on the thither side, I fell prostrate.

"Oh, my soul!" exclaimed this woman of infinite pity, as well, as it seemed to me, of knowledge. Lifting my head on her arm, she poured into her palm some liquid from a vial, and placing it over my mouth, I was instantly revived.

"It is evident, my love," I said, "that my lungs were never made for such a test as that. How often, already, do I owe you my life!"

"Nay, say not so. Our lives are one, although they will not be so enduring as I had hoped they might be," she replied.

"Nay, let us not grieve for that. The end of this must be the beginning of another and a higher," I said, as hand in hand again, we resumed our return journey, which was completed without other experience than such as I have described while on our way thither.

I had confidently expected that, after our marriage, and I had become more familiar with my surroundings, my nerves would resume their healthy tone, and that I would see no more of my evil genius, but I was mistaken. The very interval after our return from the burning earth, I opened my eyes upon him in the darkness. He looked, if possible, more malignant than ever. This was the fifth time since our marriage, and I began to grow tired of keeping to myself the mystery which I could not solve. Several times I had been about to call it to the attention of the Queen, who lay peacefully at my side, when my nerves would suddenly relax their tension, and I would almost immediately drop off into a sound sleep. I was conscious that the Queen had applied the golden tube I have mentioned, to effect the purpose, and I came to suspect that she was aware of the cause of the nervous start which the visitation always gave me, since she was always prepared to throw me into a profound repose. I wondered if she, too, saw the phantom.

CHAPTER VI.

AN ARMY OF ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND IN THE FIELD—FACING A TERRIBLE ENEMY—THE SONS OF RUDNORD AND THE SE-TON-SECKS—THE DEADLY VAPOR—THE DEATH-DEALING TUBES—THE BEASTS ON FIRE—THE DECISIVE SHOT—SCIENCE VS. FORCE.

TO an ordinary mortal, the failure of our mission would have been a sad disappointment; but Kayete-ut-se-Zane had so broad a knowledge of nature's mysteries as to stand, self-poised and fearless of events, in so far as they might affect herself. Even death's transition was an event most common, and to be accepted with composure; beyond it, in the light of the vast experience which lay behind her, she looked with confidence in a future state, not possible of acquisition within the narrow circle of threescore years and ten. She loved her Toltu people as she might a helpless child that wholly relied upon her power to guard and cherish it, and although she herself would stand, I verily believe, untouched by fear, amid the general wreck of matter, yet she was deeply concerned for the happiness of those she loved, and fearful lest she might be unable to save them from impending dangers. So, too, because she loved me, she would have had my span of life lengthened, until, like herself, I had gained such knowledge of the great unknown that the infinite experience which lies beyond us could be joyfully entered upon, through the gateway of physical change. It was evident that, independent of all circumstances of time and place, she was always her great self; since, even at the perilous moment when the gaping earth threatened to engulf us, she took advantage of the demon's attack to prepare her Toltu race against the onslaught of his invading horde. We had lost the pads from our mouths; but she had picked up and preserved the head of one of the arrows whose fearful effects she had experienced. I asked her if, now that the demon was dead, she apprehended that his remaining sons would invade her kingdom?

"I make no doubt," she said, "he has impressed them all with the revengeful spirit that possessed himself, which, like himself, too, each one has nursed for hundreds of floods. Whoever succeeds him as king will carry out the plans which have been so long maturing."

"Yes, that is something you should know. There are many tribes of Se-ton-secks—which means the beast-slayers—beyond the burning zone. It is the original race, over one tribe of which the son of Nodroff became the king, mingling his blood with theirs. At the first he kept, by stringent laws, his own descendants a distinct race, which alone he instructed in those arts that maintained their superiority. In the course of three hundred floods it had not only become numerous of itself, but it had subjected all the original tribes of Se-ton-secks. The latter regarded the demon as a god. His wisdom, and the means which he discovered of prolonging his own life, were to them a continued evidence of that; not only to them, but to his own descendants, save such of his own progeny as were trusted with his secret. I think we may count upon fifty thousand of his own descendants, and, of the inferior race, numbers beyond count. Fighting animals, too, they will have, and of such I hope they may be unwise enough to bring many into the field."

"No, my soul. There is no inferior animal but may be struck with terror. Leave them to me."

"Indeed, adored one! except Cetsen and thyself I think there is no superior creature but may be struck with terror."

"It is not for thee, my soul, to talk of fear, who hast dared to mount above the clouds and sail into unknown regions," she replied.

During the storm season our preparations went actively forward. Within the 420 chambers of the vast palace Harding was drilling by companies over 100,000 men, whom, he said, watched his every motion and obeyed his orders without question or demur. For was not his, too, the voice of a son of God? He said at the end of three weeks, for he always stuck to his own time and chronometer, that he had regiments so perfect in discipline that their ranks could not be broken, while they saw a descendant of the God leading. I saw that, apart from the deadly vapor, the metallic bows, with which the demon's forces were likely to be provided, would prove a destructive weapon when showered against the naked bodies of our Toltus, no matter what weapons we placed in their hands. I therefore set a large force to work making laminar aprons for covering them in front from neck to knee. To have turned out any considerable number of them, within the time at our disposal, would have been impossible had the workshop not been provided already with rollers for making sheets of iron or other metal. One day,—for I had divided the time into intervals of light, when we worked, and of night, when we slept with the palace darkened,—Harding found every man of his army engaged in fastening scales upon an apron. In every chamber they were squatted, each one duplicating the work of a workman from the shop. When the Queen informed us that the storm season was drawing to a close I had completed 22,000 cartridge rifles, upon whose effectiveness, I judged, the existence of the Toltu kingdom rested. I would also have made some larger guns, to be used on the backs of elephants, had not the Queen, very wisely, persuaded me against the use of the elephants in battle. She said they would prove an element of weakness. As in all her judgments, it transpired she was right. During those times which I had allotted for days you may be sure the palace resounded with a roar like the falls of Niagara, while in each chamber and the shops especially it was scarcely to be endured, so resonant was the atmosphere. You can imagine how like the rattle of heaven's artillery it was, when Harding gave his men practice with blank cartridges, teaching them how to aim at the enemy and fire all at the same instant, while with his own rifle, loaded with balls, he pierced the mark, to give them an idea of the effect. Meanwhile the Queen and Cetsen had not been idle. The latter, with a force of women, had constructed woolen pads for the mouths and nostrils of our army. The former retired to one of her laboratories, and, within a few hours, emerged with the information that she had discovered an antidote for the demon's deadly vapor. It was a substance that evaporated as rapidly as ether; and how to confine it, in a condition for immediate use, would have been a puzzle requiring me a long time to solve. With her it was the thought of a moment. It was placed in sacks of elastic gum. In each she made a small aperture, which remained closed, except under pressure. One of these was placed in each pad and the Toltus were instructed how to use them, when their comrades fell, by pressing upon the pads. The Queen had decided that even through the woolen pads sufficient of the vapor might be inhaled to destroy life. Having learned from the Queen that we were of her kindred beyond the great light, there was no question among the Toltus in regard to our divine origin; but if there had been, our explosives, and particularly our repeating rifles, with their large supply of ammunition within them, would have set the matter at rest. These destructive novelties filled them with infinite wonder. With the God-given weapons in their hands, and instructed by the God- descended how to use them, they felt invincible; covered by our armor they felt safe. These preparations for war, therefore, served the end of rendering the Toltus more devoted, if that were possible, to their Queen. The Queen, better than we, knew the danger of defeat. To them it would mean that she had been forsaken by the God of light, so that, out of their great confidence, might spring utter demoralization. They were willing to fight and to die, but after a single defeat they could never be rallied, unless new wonders were ready to proclaim that the God of light had come to the Queen's aid. It was in the preparation of such wonders that the Queen had occupied her time. Human nature was an open book before her, and she was conversant with all its lore. It was in pursuance of her object that she requested me to make for her 1,000 large, smooth-bore guns, with tubes an inch in diameter, and with blank cartridges to fit. What use she put them to will appear hereafter.

"My soul," said the Queen, "the son of Nodroff was too wise to bring into the field an undisciplined or ill-provided horde to wrest from me the Toltu kingdom. We must look, too, for overpowering numbers of the Se-ton-secks, who, in mere physical prowess, are superior to our people."

The Queen never exaggerated dangers, and I knew that a great struggle was before us. One of our chief concerns was to select, and our great labors to instruct, our officers. The Queen selected them from among the wisest of her civil officers, and Harding and I systematized their duties, and made them as proficient in them as possible. In the palace were stored bows, arrows, spears, swords, and many forms of weapons which had been used in former wars, from which we selected such as we considered the most efficient with which to arm nearly four-fifths of our force. But the Queen opened one of the storage chambers, and showed us some 20,000 of those electric tubes, two of which she and Cesten had carried on our expedition to the burning earth, and which she had used in war for many generations before the one over which she now ruled. These we substituted for spears and swords. It was the most deadly weapon at close quarters possible to be conceived of. A touch of the pointed golden wires was death to man, although it could but stun a mammoth. When the storm season had ended as suddenly as it had begun, there swarmed out of the palace ninety-six regiments, exclusive of officers and of 2,000 men whom the Queen had reserved to be armed and instructed as she desired, and who were to act as a body-guard for Cetsen, Harding, herself, and me. Before the storm season set in she had established lines of communication with the locality where the invasion of her kingdom must be made, by relays of fleet-footed Toltus, and from them it was learned that, if we wished to choose our ground for fighting, we must lose no time. The army was therefore put in motion, in two divisions, marching by different routes to the same point. It was followed by a drove of 4,000 sumpter elephants, loaded exclusively with provisions. For although there were abundant stores along our route, the Queen did not wish to strip any portion of her dominion, or have the women and children suffer from the effects of war. We had in each regiment 200 rifles and 200 of the Queen's electric batteries, and on these we chiefly rested our hopes of victory. The elephants which carried our ammunition accompanied each regiment. Our route was along broad avenues (such as that over which we were first led to the Queen's presence), on which the soldiers marched ten abreast. The Queen and I rode in state upon San-son's back, at the head of one wing of the army, and Cetsen and Harding in like manner at the head of the other. The Queen rode with bared head; and her long golden locks that, unconfined, wrapped her about like a mantle, were braided and coiled about her back- head, and held in place by jeweled pins and a gemmed fillet, that bore her insignia of royalty,—the writhing serpent. As yet I had seen but little of the Queen's dominions. Now as we journeyed I began to perceive that what I had seen was a fair sample of the rest. We passed over alternating hills and low- lying fertile plains. The upland was everywhere wooded; and amidst the giant growth of timber were cultivated a great variety of fruits, as well as the maize, of which I have already spoken, and several varieties of tuberous vegetables. In the valleys I noticed occasional fields of maize, but they were almost exclusively devoted to pasturage, not of elephants only, but of a peculiar species of goat, in large numbers. Using a farmer's criterion, one would say they were as large as yearling heifers. The males were provided with horns, nearly a yard in length, which, when their heads were elevated, lay upon their backs, but stood out like lances when the animal assumed a posture of defense, with its nose between its forelegs.

"They were not yet domesticated," said the Queen, "when I began to reign, and, indeed, not until about 340 floods ago, when I discovered a few of them in a rough section of my kingdom to the east, and perceived that their wool was preferable to the fibrous plants, which, up to that time, had been used almost exclusively for cloth fabrics. I saved them from extinction, my soul, and added to our comforts."

"But from the style of dress in vogue, my love, among your Toltus, I see very little demand for wool or vegetable fibre either," I replied.

The Queen laughed aloud, because she perceived what a ludicrous shape the idea took in my mind, not in hers.

"Nature has furnished the Toltus with such an abundance of clothing that more than they now wear would be unbearable. But you have not looked within many of their homes, else would you see that the demand is greater than you think. In them cloth fabrics are used abundantly for cots and their coverings, for cushions, mats, and curtains. The homes of my people are very comfortable."

The color of this wool was the same as that of the hair upon the bodies of the Toltus, but several shades lighter. I saw no animal whose hirsute covering was either white or black, and the Queen informed me that there were none. There was another domesticated animal grazing upon the valleys, of the cow species—an ugly but most gentle-looking creature of mouse color. Its body was nearly ten feet, I should judge, in length, and, standing on short, stumpy feet, it crawled along the ground well-nigh hidden by the long grass. It was hoofed, but hornless. The female had a large udder with six teats, and, as I learned, gave birth invariably to twins. It was taught by the natives to lie down to be milked. This, sir, by the way, for I wish to give you as good an idea of the country as I am able. The natives swarmed along our march, eager to catch a sight of their Queen and of the God-descended, who had come through the clouds to aid her in her war against the demon. They bent before her in adoration, exclaiming: "Ye, jet getuke! Kayete-ut-se-Zane! leeben le bleeten!"—that is, "Oh, God-descended, Queen of the Light! give us thy blessing!" You may be sure that it engaged the most of the Queen's time responding to their demands with the sign of the arc of light. Toward the end of the third journey, when we had proceeded—our march being rapid—as I judged, about eighty miles, we came upon the arid, rolling plain lying between the fertile country and the region of burning earth. The width of this plain was about one journey, or nearly twenty miles. The other division of the army debouched upon this plain an hour later than ours and at a mile distant. Here we learned from our scouts that the invaders were swarming across the barrier and forming, evidently with a view of reaching the fertile districts and carrying terror and confusion into the interior. The leader of the demon's descendants undoubtedly knew the superstitious basis on which the Queen's authority rested, and sought at the outset to undermine the confidence and with it the courage of the Toltus. Without stopping, therefore, we made about five miles upon the plain, when we halted, divided our force into three corps, extended it in a circle covering nearly a mile and a half, put it in fighting order, and then rested. By our relay system the swift-footed scouts brought us word every half-hour of the operations of the enemy all along their line. These reports assured me that they were disciplined and were not likely to be handled in an unskilful manner. You will understand that it is a peculiar country for military operations. In its dense atmosphere objects of the size of a man fade from the view of natural vision at the distance of half a mile, and masses at greater distances appear always as if they were stationed on a gradual incline until they become lost in the sky. Beyond this point of vision we threw forward a line of skirmishers armed with rifles, with orders to kill any creature that might appear who was not a Toltu. The object was to hide our movements from the enemy. Some five hours later, when we had passed over the ground, I discovered that our skirmish line had carried out the order to the letter; they had not only killed nearly fifty of our shaggy- haired enemy, but quite as many animals of a wolf species which infested that region, and which, fleeing to avoid one army, had run into the other. I was glad to note that the Toltu fired with great precision; every one had been shot through the body and was dead. The centre of our army was commanded by the Queen and myself, the right wing by Cetsen and Harding, and the left by two aged Toltus, for whose intelligence and courage the Queen vouched. The Queen herself was of course general-in-chief. Behind the centre was held in reserve a body of ten regiments. The elephants were kept half a mile in the rear, all except San-son, on which the Queen rode. It was in my mind to ask the Queen why she took San-son into the fight if he were an element of weakness, when, as so often happened, my thought was interpreted, and she said:

When the time I have named had elapsed, and the army was refreshed, the Queen and I rode forward to the skirmish line, where we learned from our scouts that the enemy was advancing, some seven miles distant. Thereupon, our whole line was advanced about two miles, to await their coming. Through the Queen's telescope, which was much stronger than my field-glass, we could see their dark masses some three miles away, coming, as it seemed, down a mountain-side. They were already deployed into a line of about a mile in length; their depth, however, indicated that they were double our number. I have said that the plain was rolling; the rolls of land extended, in lines more or less regular, toward the southwest, the direction from which the enemy was coming. I noticed that the extreme left of their line was advancing within one of the depressions, and the Queen, like an experienced general, immediately directed Harding to detach ten regiments from the right wing, send them beyond the land-wave on the enemy's left, and march forward, unless, by the action of the enemy, he should perceive that he had been discovered. She thus hoped to have a reserve, which she could hurl upon the enemy's flank or rear. Five minutes after she had resolved on this manoeuvre, Harding was executing it by drawing off the regiments, of which he took command, leaving Cetsen alone in charge of the right wing. You will wonder how this was so quickly accomplished. When the Queen had resolved to halt and await the enemy, she immediately laid one of her electrical highways for which she had provided, in the rear of our army, to which she attached by large spools of insulated fine gold wire, three of the Queen's ears, one for each division of the army. The wire paid out as she advanced, and, by a cunning mechanical arrangement, rolled up again as she retired. We watched the enemy closely after Harding had disappeared from our view, and could see no indication that the manoeuvre had been observed.

"It is well," said the Queen; "you see, my soul, that we have not overestimated their numbers."

When they came clearly within the range of my glass, they presented a sight that might well appall a stouter heart than mine had been; but I seemed to be rapidly losing all sense of personal fear. I could not analyze the process by which it was being effected; I only know that my pulse had not one more beat to the minute than ordinary, in the face of that terrible army. I saw that they were divided into regiments of about fifty men in depth, marching in solid phalanx, and evidently bent upon overwhelming us at the first charge by the mere force of numbers. To the depth of several lines they were protected by golden breastplates, with scaled aprons attached, covering their legs to the knees. These were doubtless the demon's descendants. They were armed with the metallic bows, and, as we did not question, with the deadly odor. Behind these were the Se-ton-secks, a race of shaggy-haired giants. Their legs seemed little longer than those of smaller stature who preceded them, but their bodies towered two feet above the front lines, and their long arms seemed able to hurl, with almost resistless force, the short spears with which their left hands and large quivers on their backs were filled. The manes upon their breasts were not less than a foot in length; the hair from their heads hung in a mass upon their shoulders, partially hiding their faces, which were cast in a mould more nearly that of the ape than human. I was afforded the opportunity of observing them more closely, and saw that their small red eyes glanced through their tangled hair with the ape's restless activity. Yet the creatures could talk and reason, after a manner. The thought came into my mind that they might not know enough to run away when they were beaten. The Queen answered that thought with the remark that "they would retreat when the descendants of Nodroff's sons gave up the contest, but not before." Between each regiment marched, three abreast, monster creatures, at least twice the size of the largest elephant I ever saw. In general contour they were not unlike the animal named, but were without trunks. They had broad foreheads and large eyes, with upturned grizzled nose and huge jaws, from which stood upright two sharp tusks of about a foot in length. They were in a sort of metallic harness, and in front of each projected a framework of spears. It seemed to me that, driven upon us by the Se-ton-secks, who rode and managed them, they must prove irresistible. However, I was satisfied that the Queen had made such provision as would render them the least dangerous of our enemies. Word was passed along the skirmish line, directing the officers to fire upon the gold breastplates in the front line so soon as they should come within range; then to continue firing, while retreating and keeping out of the range of the enemy's arrows. The Queen and I returned, and took position on the back of San-son, where we could direct the movements of our force. The first fire of our skirmish line was delivered with a deliberation that rendered it, probably, the most effective discharge of the battle. It was answered by a yell of fear and rage. So many of the God-descended had fallen by the unseen missiles as to strike terror into their hearts for a moment. The front ranks wavered, and their order seemed about to be broken, when their officers, rushing to the front, steadied their ranks, and they came briskly forward. The skirmishers continued to fire, as they retreated, but not with such effect as when they had taken deliberate aim and fired together; yet many fell beneath their bullets. To be so galled by a retreating foe but maddened the enemy, and brought them upon our main body with a rush. Their leaders had perceived, as they advanced, the danger of being flanked on their right by our left, and, by a precision of movement that was not encouraging to us, had extended their line so that they faced our entire front, with the advantage of having the inner circle. Their object was, in that order, to get within bow-shot of us, that the deadly odor on their arrow-heads might make an end of us. Our officers had been told not to order their riflemen to fire until the enemy was within easy range, upon their first attack. As a result, so fast as their line came within the prescribed distance, it was received with such a terribly destructive volley along our entire front as to check its advance, and cause it to waver both to the right and left of its centre. From our position in the centre, we could command, through our glasses, a distinct view of the entire field. Again we saw the officers of each regiment rush to the front, and urge the men forward. So deep was their line, that scarcely a ball went wide of a mark, as volley after volley was poured into them; yet they rallied after every discharge, and came on what you would call the double-quick, until within bow-shot of us.

Then it was our turn to feel the tug of war. Their whole line, Se-ton-secks and all, discharged their arrows, which fell upon us in a cloud. Save where here and there a man fell pierced in the head, or an occasional one was wounded in the arm, their execution was not effective on account of our armor. But the odor became terrible, so that, notwithstanding our pads, one-third of the entire army seemed to melt into the ground. This called forth from the enemy a shout of triumph, in which their whole army joined, for the result was everywhere the same. They were our front lines chiefly that suffered, so that over half our rifles became inefficient; for whenever a Toltu fell, his comrade had to revive him instantly. It was fortunate that our lines were only ten deep, since such as were aimed too high, together with many that glanced from our armor, fell beyond the line. Our bowmen were now delivering their arrows with destructive results upon the Se-ton-secks; but their slaughter had no effect upon the morale of the enemy, while our fighting force was continually being rendered less efficient. Here and there was one whom a comrade failed to revive; here and there were others pierced through the brain or disabled by wounds; while our riflemen, kept busy reviving each other, did little execution upon the God- descended of the enemy, on whose demoralization the hope of victory seemed to rest. It was at this juncture that the Queen, whose watchful eyes took note of everything, saw that quite a large portion of the arrows discharged by the enemy fell with spent force behind our line, and failed to explode their poisonous sacks. She immediately passed along the rear ranks the order, which went like an echo down the whole line, to pick up the enemy's arrows, of which the sacks were not broken, and discharge them at his front ranks. The order was instantly obeyed, and the effect was extremely satisfactory to me. The God- descended of the enemy dropped dead under their own poison. They had by this time discovered that ours rose again, and there was a roar of rage from the baffled foe. The return of their own arrows was a contingency on which they had not counted. It evidently now became a question with the leaders whether we should be furnished with any more of them, and it was quickly decided in the negative, for the fusillade of poison ceased. In the necessity that was forced upon them of quickly getting within range of us with their weapons, they had left the slow-moving monsters behind them. These had by this time come to the front. Our riflemen, freed from the necessity of waiting upon each other, once more swept their entire line with the besom of destruction, and such confusion began to appear in their ranks that I was momentarily expecting to see them break into a rout, the more especially as at that moment Harding, with his 10,000 reserves, appeared upon their left flank, into which he was pouring a galling fire, and driving it back upon the centre. The 2,000 riflemen with his contingent, at a safe distance, were mowing them down by thousands, and they could offer no resistance. They could not turn to face him, for that would place Cetsen's right upon their flank, which would not improve the situation. There was nothing for them to do but either break in disorder or crowd back upon their centre in retreat. This they did with dogged deliberation, while Harding's left and Cetsen's right came together and closed about them. Their situation now seemed desperate; but if I had comprehended them and the situation as well as the Queen, I would have known that ours was more so, unless we could bring some force to crush them greater than we had thus far used. Notwithstanding tens of thousands of them had fallen beneath our rifles, they were two to one against us. In a hand-to-hand encounter we were liable to be crushed by mere force of numbers. Their situation was desperate, and such as would have utterly demoralized any body of Europeans. But these creatures only knew that many of their comrades had fallen, not that they were beaten. While they were in this confusion, one of their huge monsters advanced through their centre, opposite to where the Queen and I were stationed. On its back stood upright a great gold shield, behind which, as I made no doubt, was the successor of the demon, since all eyes seemed turned toward him, and a shout greeted his appearance. Immediately their right wing, as well as the left which Harding had doubled back, fell back behind the centre, and the enemy stood nearly surrounded by our army.

They were falling by thousands before our rifles, it is true, but they were the Se-ton-secks, who, by the manoeuvre of the superior race, had become their shields. I saw that the huge beasts were being urged to the front, and that they prepared to make what must, as I thought, prove an irresistible assault upon our centre. They would cut us in two, turn upon our thin lines, and scatter us in confusion. The Queen seemed to have foreseen all this from the beginning of our preparations for the war. The beasts were compactly massed for 200 yards in front of us, ready to lead the charge. Then the Queen issued an order, and the 1,000 men for whose use I had made the large smooth-bore guns appeared in front of our line for the whole length of the line of beasts. Taking deliberate aim, they fired full at the heads of the monsters. There was a line of light from each muzzle, and when the missiles reached their marks a mass of flame enveloped them. The entire front of the monster array was on fire, with some burning liquid that could not be extinguished. I know that phosphorus was its chief ingredient, but its composition I do not know. It burned with a blue light, which in that atmosphere looked frightful by contrast with the yellow tinge which all nature reflected. Wherever from the bursting shell a drop of the liquid fell it instantly began to burn, exposure to the atmosphere being the only condition that it demanded for combustion. A roar of pain and terror came all at once from the throats of those 100 monsters that fairly shook the plain, and for a moment both armies stood dumb and well-nigh motionless before the effect of the Queen's new wonder. Not only were the beasts on fire, but many of the Se-ton-secks upon their backs, whose cries of agony struck fear into the hearts of their front lines. But the great mass behind them prevented their retreat. They must go forward, unless some mightier force than theirs should push their comrades backward. Immediately on being struck by the Queen's explosive, the monsters began to back away from the fire which they saw in front of and upon them, and to crush together the masses behind them, regardless of the efforts of the Se-ton-secks to urge them forward. The eyes of the vast horde were upon their King, who, as it now appeared, was directing them to goad on the beasts from behind with spears. Thus enraged and tormented in both front and rear, it seemed uncertain which way they would rush to escape their torments. They were within thirty yards of our line, and the open space in front appeared, doubtless, to them least fraught with danger. It was a moment of dreadful suspense to our Toltus who faced them. I could see, too, that the King was ordering his masses out from behind the beasts, so that, independent of them, he might overwhelm us with numbers. The light, round balls from the rifles which I had constructed had not sufficient force behind them to penetrate the shield by which their King was protected. I could see, however, that they made deep indentations, and, in some cases, had well-nigh broken their way through.

In him evidently rested their hope of victory, and without him, I reasoned that they would become demoralized.

"If you are sure, my soul," said the Queen, as if I had already communicated my resolve, "that you can pierce the shield, why, take sure aim and fire. But remember that the eyes of our Toltus are upon you, and a God-descended monarch must not fail."

"While he lives, my love, they cannot be conquered. They will fall about him to the last man, and, although their dead cover the plain, they far outnumber us yet," I replied, as I raised my rifle and sent several of my conical balls in quick succession through different parts of his shield. One of them reached him with fatal results, for he plunged forward from behind his shield, and in full view of his whole force, as well as a portion of ours, he fell dead among his soldiers. The sight was greeted by a shout from every Toltu throat, "The Queen's consort, the God-descended, had killed the demon." Almost at the same moment the Queen had ordered the delivery of another volley of fire in the faces of the monsters. Maddened with terror and pain, for its heat was intense enough to blister their inch-thick hides, they faced about and rushed among the now thoroughly confused ranks of the enemy. We beheld, executed upon themselves, the fate that would have been ours had they ever been forced upon our lines. Nothing could resist their strength. Each monster made a lane as it moved and covered it with the dead behind it. On the framework of spears, each one carried a ghastly load of their master's, whom, when the spears would impale no more, they threw to the ground and crushed beneath their ponderous feet as they moved. The sight was horrible. There followed such a rout as I think no battle ever fought could parallel.

CHAPTER VII

THE ROUT—CAPTURE OF THE GREAT BEASTS—A ROYAL PRISONER—THE QUEEN IS MORE THAN MORTAL—THE PURSUIT ACROSS THE BURNING ZONE—THE HOME OF THE GREAT BEASTS—A PREMONITION.

THE descendants of Rudnord's sons mingled with the Se-ton- secks, and the disordered mass, of not less than 150,000 men, by a common impulse sought safety in flight.

Concentrated into a compact body by the death-dealing rifles along our lines, within which they were hemmed on three sides, the stronger among them trampled the weaker beneath them.

"It is a sad sight, my soul," said the Queen; "but it is better that these descendants of Nodroff's son should be crushed now than that future generations of our people should be subject to be slaughtered in their turn by them when they have improved their means of making war. Though we will have changed our state of being, yet the future is in our charge as well as the present. Think you not so, my soul?"

"You utter nothing but words of wisdom, my adored, my Queen of Light! What mortal but thyself hath a sympathy so broad as to include the unborn generations, or a knowledge so profound as to contemplate the future as if it were now present."

"Oh, my soul! The past and present are a mirror in which the future is reflected. We differ not, save that my mirror is larger than thine, my love. In it I can see this race from Nodroff's son descended, renewed in warlike strength, from the very necessity that this defeat will place them under of maintaining with effort their supremacy over the Se-ton-secks."

She issued an order, in pursuance of her thought, that the riflemen should cease their indiscriminate slaughter, and that the fleet-footed bearers of her electric batteries should rush upon the retreating foe, and, except in self-defense, slay only the wearers of golden breastplates. The whole army was then commanded to follow the fugitives as rapidly as possible without breaking ranks.

"Ho, Tet-tse!" she called, addressing our first acquaintance, who, with a number of others, had stood by the side of San-son during the engagement. "Go thou, with four of thy swift-footed companions, and with thy loops, make prisoner yon golden-breasted and bring him hither."

Tet-tse singled out his companions, who bent before the Queen. They darted through the ranks, and, a moment afterward, were bounding like antelopes over the plain in pursuit of the enemy. I saw it was that same motion with which he came leaping over the tall grass when he first approached us. They moved with almost incredible swiftness, and soon overtook the fugitive, whose flight, now they had become scattered, was not impeded. From San- son's back, in the rear of the line as we moved, I could see them single out their man, and became interested in observing how they would effect his capture. Each carried in his hand a tough, rigid pole, about five feet in length, with a loop of elastic cord of a yard in diameter, on the end. They came up with him all abreast, and before their victim could make a movement in his own defense the loops were about his body, and with two Toltus pulling in one direction, and two in another, as they ran, he found his arms pinioned to his sides, and his body being faced the other way, as two of his captors circled about him. He never stopped running. With Tet-tse ahead, and two on either side pulling, he was compelled to run or be dragged. He made faster time back to our lines than he had made in getting away from us. My attention, however, was called to the attack made upon the fugitives by the Toltus carrying the electric tubes. It was the most terrible in its effects of any. Each Toltu must have appeared to the poor creatures a demon. It was startling to me, prepared though I was for the result, to see them fall dead before the noiseless touch of the rods. So fast did they fall that the assault threatened, if continued, the annihilation of the race. Indeed, such it might have been had they not been so mingled with the Se-ton-secks, whom the Toltus had been ordered to spare, that they could not be reached. At length the Queen, satisfied that the God-descended were sufficiently decimated and broken in spirit, signalled the Toltus to cease the slaughter. Their dead and wounded were never counted, but I am satisfied that they did not fall short of 100,000. The plain was strewn thick with them for miles. The wounded were numerous, for whom the Queen, as creatures who suffered, expressed the tenderest sympathy. She ordered a regiment to remain behind, with 200 elephants, in order that such as were not wounded beyond recovery might be transported within the fertile limits of her kingdom and there be cared for.

"And what, my love, will be done with all these gold armors and these metallic bows and spears?" I inquired.

"Nay; I boast not of victory. Would I could blot it from my memory. It grieves us sore, my soul, that we have been compelled to take these lives, and why should we keep such a remembrance of it?"

"My love, it was a barbarous suggestion to one who is so far above the rude ambitions of the great world," I said.

"I have learned from our traditions that the great men of my forefather's race measured their greatness by their victories, but think you not, beloved, it were more justly measured by the lives they have saved and the happiness they have bestowed?"

"It is wisely said, adored one; they are not the world's true heroes," I replied.

"Ha! my Queen, is it not in order to congratulate you over a glorious victory?" Harding exclaimed.

"There, wayward one," said Cetsen, playfully; "did I not tell thee that the Queen would be in no mood to rejoice? She hath been ever sad after a victory."

"But it would have been much sadder, would it not, if the plain had been covered with Toltus?" rejoined Harding.

Harding's blunt manner and lightness of spirit was always refreshing to the Queen, and she laughed aloud as she answered:

"And it would have been sadder still if thou hadst been of the number, brother."

"Yes, that completes the comparison—sad, sadder, saddest. But, your pardon, Queen of Light, if there is no glory in this achievement, why are we following that beaten crowd?"

"That all those lives may not have been taken for nothing, my brother. The warlike spirit of these races must be broken that this victory may give them peace as well as us. But see the great beasts; their terror past, they stand huddled together, lost upon this barren plain. They are in pain, too, and I pity them. Here will we halt for food and sleep. Do thou, dear sister, and thy wayward but beloved husband, see that the elephants are hastened forward, that all may be comfortably bestowed."

So responsive to their orders were the Toltus that the signals brought the whole army to a halt within five minutes after they were given.

"Ho! Tet-tse, here is a work of mercy for thee. Thou and thy fellows shall become beloved of yonder beasts. Choose 200 to follow thee; and, from the store of ointment that San-son carries, take 100 jars; approach yon beasts, and, as thou hast seen the Se-ton-secks do, clamber upon their backs, and, with the longest quetin feathers among our stores, anoint their burned heads. Release them then from their warlike gear, bring them nearer to us within our lines, and there give them food from the huge loads which thou seest some of them carry."

Notwithstanding Tet-tse and his comrades had never seen such beasts before, and their aspect was anything but attractive, yet they set out to execute her commands—not only fearlessly, but joyfully, and with laughter on their lips; but then it was the same spirit in which they would have faced any danger at her command. The animals were fully half a mile distant, and I watched the operations of the Toltus with interest through my glass. The unwieldy monsters turned upon them when they approached, evidently fearful of new torments; but the nimble Toltus darting to their sides, catching hold of their iron harness, and vaulting upon their backs, began forthwith to apply the ointment. It was an oily extract from the leaves of one of the forest trees that gave off an odor like that of the balsam. Its effect upon the beasts was marvellous. They held their heads high up in the air and evinced their gratitude by a tremulous, high-pitched utterance, and tried to caress their benefactors with their long tongues. It was amusing to see with what care the Toltus avoided these caresses from tongues that were as large as the bodies of their physicians. On their frameworks of spears they still carried the mangled remains of their former masters. By loosening the fastenings of two iron girths the Toltus dropped this framework to the ground and set the monsters free. The Se- ton-secks, as we saw, controlled and guided them by means of sharp, iron goads, and I wondered how the Toltus would manage them, since they had with them nothing of the sort. The Queen answered my unspoken query.

"Knowledge is power, my soul! It controls all force, but its most potent agencies are love and charity. Inferior animals will always obey those whom they know to be their benefactors. The art of control consists in the means we use to keep their weak judgments informed of who are their friends. You see no goads used upon our elephants."

Her words struck me forcibly, as illustrating how completely her government rested upon the more godlike of our human attributes. What with us was Utopian, a metaphysician's dream of earthly Paradise, this wonderful creature had made a reality.

"Would you were Queen of the whole world, my love!" I exclaimed, in a spirit of worship, "that knowledge and love might subdue force, and reign supreme."

"Ah, my soul! thy love is of kin to worship. It makes me happy." There was rapture in every lineament of her beautiful face when her blue eyes met mine, and it filled my soul with ecstasy. I thought it worth a whole life of pain to be beloved for an hour by such a being. The Toltus illustrated her principles in their management of the monsters. They did not attempt to drive them, but held out their long feathers in front of them, when the beasts advanced in order to get more of the ointment on their noses. They were controlled by a feather, and followed the Toltus to the point which the Queen had indicated. There the Toltus mounted those which carried provision for the herd, climbing up on to what I perceived were great baskets, constructed of strong wicker-work, about ten by fifteen feet in dimensions, and probably twelve feet high. The loads they carried, I judged, did not fall much short of four tons, and consisted of what we at first supposed to be a kind of pumpkin, which the Toltus began throwing on to the ground, and distributing among the beasts. The Queen ordered one of them to be brought to us, when we understood why they so seldom broke to pieces when they reached the earth.

"Great Jupiter, what potatoes!" exclaimed Harding. They were tubers, beyond question; and we now saw that the beasts were furnished with muscular noses, adapted to rooting up the earth.

"I hope thou shalt see it, but not immediately, my brother. It is my desire that my beloved sister and thyself should return to the palace, and there fulfil my duties during our absence. Cetsen is well-informed in regard to them. We go to set up a less warlike government for the Se-ton-secks."

"Make not thy stay long, sister. Thou knowest the palace is gloomy when thy light hath gone out of it," said Cetsen, and the sisters embraced each other. I might have felt somewhat mortified at not being consulted in regard to her future operations, had I not been made aware by some inexplicable process, in advance, that such was her intention, and that she knew that I greatly desired it. As if to settle any doubt I might have entertained on that score, she said: "Even if I had no other object than to gratify my beloved, who desires to explore the country beyond the burning zone, my sister, I should go."

I am sure I never informed her of my desire, and the subtle process by which she interpreted my thoughts remained a mystery always.

"I know not, my soul, how others ofttimes communicate their thoughts to me without the aid of speech; the thought writes itself upon your face, your voice, your glance, in sentences that, in the course of centuries, I have learned to read—but how, I cannot tell, for I never analyzed the characters of which the sentences are composed."

That was the only explanation that she ever offered, but that was long after the time of which I now speak.

"Is there no way, I wonder, of relieving those beasts of their burdens?" I asked. "They can hardly be expected to stand up under them always."

Even while I asked the question, the Toltus were in the act of answering it. They were letting fall from each corner of the wicker-work baskets stout poles, attached by hinges, which, reaching the ground, formed four legs for each basket to stand on. The beasts, when released from their girths, lowered their bodies as they had been taught, and crept carefully from beneath them. Long before this had been effected, the enemy had disappeared in the distance, and, save the sentinels, every man of our army, rolled up in a thin blanket impervious to the light, lay asleep. The commodious tents, with apartments excluding the light, constructed under Harding's orders for ourselves, had been pitched, and the Queen's electric highway had been placed, communicating with every portion of the army. Then the Queen and I retired within our tent, and she sent for the prisoner whom she had ordered taken. When brought in, he wore a look of dogged resolution upon his face. I could see the blood of Nodroff in the creature's face and limbs, but, mingled with that of the Se-ton- secks, it had produced a most unattractive human, much inferior to the native Toltu. The fact is, that, as I became accustomed to his glossy exterior, I began to be of the opinion that, apart from the Queen and her sister, the Toltus were the handsomest humans in existence, their faces and complexions, as I have heretofore said, were so uniformly beautiful. This fellow inherited the Se-ton-secks' coarse hair and mane, as well as, to some extent, his ugly features, and was frightful. He was freed from his bonds, and left alone with us in the tent. He glared wildly at us out of his red eyes, as he stood with arms folded over his golden breastplate, but uttered no sound. The Queen smiled upon him, and gently motioned him to a cushioned seat, but I noticed that she held one of her electric rods in her hand, and knew that she had fathomed his disposition, and found him either too desperate or too treacherous to trust. I, too, kept my hand upon my revolver. At her smile and motion, the wild look seemed to forsake his eyes, and, glancing from her face to the seat, he at length responded to her invitation, and sat down. She addressed him in the ancient tongue of her forefather:

He seemed surprised; his eyes enlarged, and in another instant he was prostrate before her, and exclaiming in that same tongue:

"Couldst thou speak in their tongue to the Toltus, they would tell thee that I am beloved of the God of light, who hath sent through the clouds from beyond the arc of light this God- descended one by my side, to aid me in the overthrow of thy forefather's dominion. Thou shalt find me very merciful. Arise, and resume thy place." Again she smiled upon him, and motioned him to a seat. I perceived that his intelligence was not inferior to the Toltus'. The Queen spoke again:

"Four have gone with Rudnord, the eternal, and four remained; but one, who was king in his father's stead, hath fallen beneath thy bolts of fire, O God-Queen! But three remain."

"Listen, and I will tell thee what thou knowest is true: Rudnord, the eternal, hath not gone to the north to visit his fathers. He and his four sons have ceased to live, because they worked evil and angered the God of light. They sought to slay me at the valley of great beasts, and all fell before the fire-bolts of those who came through the clouds to aid me, even in the same manner as the fifth son, your king, was slain behind his shield. Their God in anger hath frowned upon Rudnord, and all his sons, and behold, they are kings no more; they cannot protect their people!"

"Where, O God-Queen, shall the hearts of fire go to escape thy bolts? What shall become of us?"

I was full of pity for the poor fellow, who was so faithful, as it seemed, to his King's progeny and to his race as to forget his individual woes in presence of that which threatened the nation. Not so the Queen. She was all gentleness, but she no longer smiled upon the prisoner.

"It is better thou shouldst not know now what I have resolved upon, that the descendants of Nodroff's son may become a more virtuous and happy race. By what name are you known as a race?"

The fellow hesitated. I began to realize that I had quite underestimated his intelligence, and that the Queen had discovered in him one who was playing a part. She said:

"Didst thou know how entirely thy own fate rests upon thy answers, thou wouldst speak freely and truly."

The creature looked hard at both her and myself before making his reply. He seemed to be confused by the Queen's gentle manner, and the hint which her words conveyed that he was trying to deceive her. At length he said:

"It is well. What means the golden heart upon thy brow, and why wouldst thou have thy hair hide it from me?"

"Nay, blame thou my hair, not me, O God-Queen. It is worn by officers of our army."

"Thou hidest behind thy words; but no matter. How far from here across the burning zone is it to thy dominion?"

"How live you in your dominion, above or beneath the ground; scattered over the land, or housed in masses?"

The fellow was loth to give the desired information; but the gentle threat and that unaccountable influence which the Queen exerted over all who approached her, were too potent to be withstood, and he answered:

"We, the descendants of Rudnord, live together in walled dwellings above the ground. The Se-ton-secks live in huts and caves scattered over the land."

"Of those who have returned, Rudnord Glitin, or the Bright, will be the rightful heir to the throne."

"Thou hidest again behind thy words. Thinkest thou that the Se-ton-secks will now believe that thy race is favored of God, and still able to govern and protect them?"

This question disconcerted the prisoner more than any that had preceded it. He sought to evade it, and at the same time learn the Queen's intentions.

"Kayete-ut-se-Zane. Knowest thou her, the Queen of Light, O son of Rudnord? Choose now whether thou wouldst be King, ruling in love and gentleness, or whether thy race shall cease to hold dominion over the Se-ton-secks. Speak!"

I did not doubt now that this creature had lived for centuries. With rare intelligence he grasped the full meaning of the Queen's words, and at the same time realized how godlike was the woman in whose presence he stood. He trembled and ceased to play a part. He fell upon his knees before the being who seemed to have read his soul, and wept.

"Behold thou hast conquered, O most powerful, most beautiful and gentle, favored of God! The vengeance that my father taught, hath died out of my breast! My soul is changed! I am thy subject! I will proclaim thee Queen among all our tribes!"

"Nay, rise, my brother; for doth not the blood of Nodroff run in the veins of both? I would not wrest from thee thy kingdom, but will aid thee to rebuild it upon a new foundation of love and knowledge."

The humbled King, for such he was since the death of his elder brother, knelt reverently as before a divinity. The Queen made over him the symbol of light, and touched his forehead with her beautiful hand.

He still wept tears of penitence as he obeyed her. His complete subjugation was to me the most remarkable of the Queen's performances. I wondered if he might not still be playing a part as I ushered her into our apartment.

"Nay, my beloved," said the Queen in answer to my doubt, "he hath lost his heart of fire; it hath nothing left to feed on."

When the army had been thoroughly refreshed by sleep and food, and was ready to resume its march, the Queen ordered the bodies of the Toltus who had fallen in battle, to be brought before her. They were about 2,000 in number, and, rolled in their blankets, had been placed side by side on a strong coarse canvas, stretched over large iron frames, one of which was carried between two elephants. On each litter lay about fifty bodies. Each one was halted before the Queen, and all the Toltus bent in adoration while she made over them the symbol of the arc, and commended the spirits of the departed to the care of the great God beyond the light, and to the joyful companionship of those who had gone before. It was the simplest form of worship that she had taught the Toltus. Both creed and ceremony were very simple. She was their God incarnate and their mediator; that was all of it. The dead were borne to their relatives, who amidst their tears remembered with joy that the good Queen had blessed them, and insured for them a happy future. This ceremony took some time. Meanwhile I had noticed that the beasts had become hungry, and were enraging themselves by ineffectual efforts to tear up the hard, sterile soil of the plain with their snouts. The Queen being engaged, I quietly dispatched Tet-tse and his companions to feed them, and get them ready to march ahead of us. Cetsen and Harding took their leave of us. One of the Toltu generals, who had handled our left wing admirably during the battle, was placed in charge of the right wing, and our march was begun toward the burning zone.

"My adored," I said, "I have never placed much reliance upon sudden conversions of human souls whose evil passions have been indulged until they have become habits. I have therefore directed that two of the Rudnords, who have been but slightly wounded in the feet, shall be brought along with us on the sumpter elephants, lest it might happen that your converted King might backslide and become treacherous. Have I done well, my love?"

"It was discreet, my soul, as measured by thy understanding of human nature. It is natural, too, that thou shouldst not wholly rely upon the judgment of Kayete-ut-se-Zane, when her own safety is involved."

"Thou knowest, adored one, that on the outer globe there lives not one whose judgment is infallible. Let me believe thee still human, that I may love as a human with all my soul."

We were now riding on San-son's back beneath a closed canopy. She took my hand in hers, drew my face toward her, and imprinted a passionate kiss upon my lips. There was a wonderful tenderness in her tones when she said:

"Your words fill my soul with joy, O my beloved! I would not be a god to thee. Gauged by thy age, thou art wiser than I."

Within about three hours we reached that rugged region, the burning zone, when she invited the hairy convert-King to a seat on San-son's back along with us.

"The way is not difficult, O godlike sister; unless perchance my brothers in their flight have ordered the destruction of our means of crossing the chasms."

"The sons of Rudnord are warlike wise, and what thou fearest, they have done; for mark you where one of my nimble-footed scouts approaches who hath learned the fact."

The scout had at the moment emerged from a cave, where he had been awaiting our arrival.

"How wide, O son of Vi-tak, is the first chasm?" she asked before he had uttered a word.

"So wide, O godlike sister, that thou canst not hope to pass it. It is twenty paces of our beasts, and, in bridging it, we spent many floods."

"Tet-tse" (this word I had come to learn when used by the Queen was one of distinction, so great an honor was it to be a servant of the Queen), "Tet-tse, let the beasts follow the army, and do thou and thy fellows bring forward the elephants I placed in thy special charge."

When her bidding was performed, she ordered a hundred rifles to lead the way into the caverns. These were followed by the elephants, for which she had sent, and a company of her artisans. For my life I could not see in all this any provision for crossing an army over a burning gulf a hundred feet across. This, we were assured, was the last and great impediment that lay in our way through the burning earth,—so said Rudnord's son, unless his brothers should create artificial obstructions. It would be a waste of time to explain how we passed the lesser gulfs when the passage of this illustrates them all, and affords the crowning evidence of the skill of the Queen of Light. The caverns were similar to those through which we passed on our expedition during the storm season, and were, of course, as on that occasion, lighted by the electric rods. To those carried in front, however, the Queen had attached burnished mirrors, which threw the light far ahead of us. Before we had reached this gulf, the light revealed the cavern beyond it filled with the God- descended, who had been stationed there to dispute our passage. By the light of torches which they carried I could see reflected serried ranks of golden breastplates. The cavernous avenue at this point was without a curve for probably 200 yards, and our lights revealed them at considerably over half that distance. The Queen immediately halted while we were yet beyond the reach of their arrows.

I have said that sound travelled a long way in that atmosphere, and the voice of the captured King could be distinctly heard by them as he addressed them in their own tongue.

"O sons of Rudnord, behold, I am your King Rudnord Tu-neet the Nimble! I command you to disperse, and go make ready to receive the God-Queen, Kayete-ut-se-Zane, as our friend, and let her be honored."

This speech seemed to strike the God-descended with astonishment. No doubt it was the voice of their lawful King, but, coming from one of Rudnord's sons, by whom vengeance upon the rulers of the Toltus had been inculcated from generation to generation, they could not believe such a change in his sentiments possible. Either it was some one who personated the King, or he had been transformed by the arts of the God-Queen of the Toltus. In either event they were not prepared to heed him. It was the voice of his brother, who had in hand the force rallied to destroy the bridges, which answered:

"Nay, brother; thou knowest me well. I charge you, obey me! I love thee well and can forgive thee much, but now thou dost invite destruction on thine own head and that of our brother should he join with thee; for I come with the Queen of Light and Knowledge to set up a new and better dominion for our race."

"Craven son of Rudnord! you come as the slave of our father's enemy to destroy our dominion. A prisoner, thou hast turned craven under her spell. Why come you not alone if thou art a king and she is our friend?"

"So would I, brother, and the God-Queen would not hinder, but thou hast destroyed the bridge."

"Let the hated daughter of Nodroff withdraw her force and means shall be found to bring thee over the chasm."

"Brother, that may not be. Once more I charge you, obey me! Your King hath spoken."

This parley between two of the eternal ones must have filled their descendants with fearful forebodings. They had both been princes for uncounted generations with a common purpose in view. That one should forego that purpose and still be true to his race, did not seem possible. The result was that he was rated as an enemy and defied.

"Sadden not thy heart, O my brother! They yet shall love and honor thee as King." Then raising her voice she spoke to the other. "Ho! son of Rudnord! I desire not the death of thy race. Your brother shall be your King, and your race shall love and honor him. I see thou wouldst be King and so oppose thy sovereign. Retire with thy followers, or their deaths be on thy head!"

This speech of the Queen was followed by a discharge of their arrows, nearly all of which, although they fell short of our ranks, yet bursted their vapor sacks and poisoned the air of the cavern in front of us. A deadly volley from our rifles followed, and the golden-breasted fell in great numbers. The discharge seemed as if it had burst the solid rocks asunder, and I could hear it echoing along the avenues for some time afterward. The yells of the enemy's living, and the groans of their dying, answered it. Our men advancing, pressed their pads to their mouths until they had passed through the vapor, and stood ready to fire again. But it was evident that the spirit of the God- descended was broken. They gathered up their dead and wounded and made a hasty retreat. When the order was given to fire, the shaggy King covered his face with his hands and wept, exclaiming, in the ancient tongue, "My poor children! my poor children!" His heart had become as tender as a child's. The way thus cleared, we approached the chasm. It was a frightful vortex; the more so, as it seemed to me that the molten rock was not so near the surface as at that portion of the burning zone which we had explored. There is something more terrible to me in great depths than in anything else. It may be the result of early impressions. It must have been a quarter of a mile down a perpendicular precipice to where I saw the infernal fires aglow, and I was half in expectation of seeing my boyhood's devil skipping over its surface. Of the bridge that spanned it nothing but some débris remained. It had all been cast into the chasm. How was the Queen to get the army over it? The riflemen retired behind the elephants, and the Queen's mechanics, under her directions, began immediately to answer the question, which you will understand was a mental one of mine, propounded at the first chasm, not this. They set to work diligently drilling numerous holes in the rocky floor and on one wall of the cavern. This was done very rapidly by means of a small machine held by two Toltus and worked by a third, by which a drill, consisting of a large diamond on the end of a steel shaft, was made to revolve very rapidly. It cut through the rock almost with the same facility that a bit goes through wood in our shops. The holes were about an inch and a half in diameter, and into them were driven wrought-iron stakes, with heavy rings in them, save those on the wall and at some distance from the chasm, to which iron pulleys were attached. While this was being done, others had fastened together, in small sections, a light trestle framework made of tempered steel wire. I looked at the Queen and she laughed. I recognized the new adaptation of the principles on which Harding and I had constructed our balloon frame, so that when the Toltus fastened to one end a malleable iron wire rope, running it through the pulleys on the wall, to sustain the farther end, and began to shove it across, I knew it would be a very simple matter to put the soldiers over. On this the workmen reached the farther side, and repeated the operation of planting the iron stakes. Then half-inch cables of steel wire were passed over, run through pulleys on the other side, and a force of men began hauling over what I may term large mats made of these same cables firmly joined together. When they were drawn taut, by lines and pulleys attached to the numerous stakes, they formed an elastic bridge, of about eight feet in width, which, when stayed by numerous cables, running to stakes in the walls, on either side, was steady and strong enough to sustain any weight that might be placed upon it. Like a piece of thin netting, on which the weight of a man's body may be sustained, if the strain is upon the entire fabric, so this metallic network bore the weight even of the great beasts. Blankets, however, were thrown over the guy lines, to shut out from the view of the animals the terrible vortex over which they were passing. San-son, the fearless, led the van, and all followed. On the further side of this chasm a strong guard of riflemen, fully provisioned, was stationed, and the army moved forward. I think the great gulf had not delayed us two hours; and the facility with which the Queen had overcome the impediment, struck the King of the Hearts of Fire with wonder. We debouched from the caverns upon a broad valley in the very midst of the burning zone. From the King's description we conceived it to be about four miles in breadth, by ten in length. It had a deep, dark, moist soil, and white vapors hung over it continually. The King called it the valley of the beasts. He explained that many generations ago it swarmed with beasts of many species, some of which preyed upon the others which subsisted on the vegetation. It was by the slaughter of the former that the Se-ton-secks acquired their name of beast- slayers. Those which had been used in battle, on account of their gentleness, had been preserved and reduced to subjection. Save some reptiles which live on smaller prey, the great beasts, called the yetrog, or rooters, have the valley to themselves.

"You perceive," said the Queen, "that this valley illustrates another stage in the earth's advancement. The beasts could not live away from it, and we could not live long within its borders. Is it not so, O son of Rudnord?"

"Most true, O Queen of Light. We would scarce survive from one flood to another in its atmosphere."

The entire valley was covered with a rank growth of vegetation, not exactly like that which distinguished the mysterious valley in, or rather with which we had been so nearly swallowed up. Although a species of cane constituted a considerable portion of the undergrowth, yet it no longer appeared as mammoth stalks. Great vines with leaves, some of them a yard in breadth, clasped it with their long green tendrils, and clambering over it seemed very human in their efforts to bring the common enemy into subjection. Ferns, too, of which there were several varieties, could be seen in patches here and there waving their broad feathery stalks from twelve to twenty feet in the air. The King pointed out one of the vines that, in the struggle for earth-room, appeared to be the most powerful of any, and said it was that of the great tubers which had been gathered for the support of the yetrog. The growth of this vegetation, although not nearly so rapid as in the valley of great beasts, could yet be very plainly seen. Everything that sprang from the earth was the growth of a season, as it seemed.

"No doubt," said the Queen, "the time was when this valley, at a certain level, developed all the conditions required for the production of animal organizations. I think I can perceive that it was when less of the soil had been washed into it from the surrounding hills, and when the surface was consequently nearer to the subterranean fire, and its temperature was exactly that of animal heat, or what you call blood-heat. The fluids doubtless at the same time bore a greater proportion to the solids of the earth, and the electric energy was also greater. As the earth accumulated, the temperature lowered and the conditions changed. I remember that, while my father yet lived, this valley was often spoken of, and expeditions were occasionally undertaken by members of our family, to look upon it as a wonder. Alas! on one occasion, now just 547 years ago, one of the most beautiful of our family never returned from such an expedition to this valley. If he had returned, my beloved, I should not have become a maiden Queen of the Toltus at the age of twenty-five. My father had already decided that he should be my husband, and the King's will was supreme."

"And then, perchance, yourself and sister had never happened upon those primal elements of life by which you have been preserved to become the bride of your dark-haired lover from the exterior world."

"Aye; it is curious to think upon. Cetsen and I would never have ventured into the burning zone at first, were it not in hope of meeting with this lost member of our family."

The Queen sighed and did not answer for a few moments. She seemed to be wandering among the memories of that remote past. A slight pang of jealousy shot through my brain. The next instant I smiled at the idea of being jealous of this fellow, who died 547 years ago. The Queen turned to me, took my hand, and, looking tenderly in my eyes, said with a sigh again:

Great Jupiter! as Harding would have exclaimed; my evil genius! my phantom! When the Queen sighed again, I feared she recalled her very ancient intended with loving regret.

"It is not that," she said, in answer to my thought. "I was probably not old enough to love wisely, and my then short life might not have been happy. Nay, I can see that it would not have been. But I have a strange impression of something impending, I know not what. It is something that comes up out of the long past. But let it pass. It must not disturb our happiness. Thou art all in all to me, my beloved."

CHAPTER VIII.

A STRANGE PHENOMENON—LIFE DORMANT IN A CLAY FORMATION 550 YEARS—THE RESURRECTION ACCOUNTED FOR—FORMER AFFIANCED HUSBAND OF THE QUEEN—DISAGREEABLE CONSEQUENCES.

THE conversation last narrated was in the Toltu tongue, which the King did not understand, and transpired while we crossed the valley, on the further border of which she had resolved to halt. I saw no water in the valley, and wondered how the great beasts whom we had turned loose upon their native heath could subsist upon it without liquid. The Queen did not need to be told, but said there was undoubtedly plenty of it beneath the surface, which, by evaporation, filled the air and was plentifully inhaled by animals. Besides, all the vegetation was very pulpous. I would not trouble you by remarking upon the contrast which the dry hills presented to the valley, were it not necessary to account for the most startling wonder that I beheld in that wonderful country. Upon the rugged hills of volcanic rock, composing, as you are aware, the burning zone, was a soil of some kind of clay. When the earth was new, as the Queen explained it, and the acrid liquids covered the whole earth, they had made this soil by disintegrating the basic rock. By this chemical process the waters in time lost their acrid properties and became purified into their present elements. This soil produced a sparse vegetation immediately after each rainy season, which, within ten days of our time, after the rain had ceased, became parched and withered for want of moisture. The rain drained off into the valley and the internal heat quickly evaporated what had soaked into the surface, but the degree of heat was uniform and of the exact temperature to keep alive the vital germs of the plants imbedded in the soil. Although the clay was easily dissolved by water, yet, when that became completely evaporated, it was hard as rock. To escape the injurious effects that might result to the Toltus from sleeping upon the moist earth of the valley, the Queen at the farther verge ordered all to encamp upon a border of this clay that lay between the moist ground with its rank vegetation and the rocks. It was not more than thirty yards in width, and our own tent was pitched close against the rocks. At the point selected, however, there was a bank of this hardened clay that incommoded us, and the Queen ordered a company of Toltus, with their instruments that somewhat resembled our mattock, to remove it. That was no easy matter, and it promised to defeat their efforts. I therefore directed them to drill some holes in it, into which I put some powder and wires connected with one of the Queen's electric tubes. The blast rent it asunder, and a huge fragment toppling over, settled upon what had been the face of the bank. A sight met our gaze, before which, for a moment, all stood in speechless amazement. A murmur went down the ranks of the army, "Our Queen hath performed a new wonder." The shaggy son of Rudnord evidently supposed that we had blasted the clay on purpose to reveal what we beheld. But I could see that the Queen herself was astonished. She turned to me and said:

Yet such was the facility with which she grasped the natural causes of all phenomena, that her surprise flitted from her face before it could be read by any but the watchful eye of a lover. Lying half imbedded in the clay, as within a mould in which it had been cast, was a human being. The bank had separated at its weakest part and divided like two sections of a mould. The body lay upon its side, but with the face upward. It was pallid, as if in profound slumber, but not deathlike, neither was it petrified. I was sufficient of a scientist to know that it could not be. The left arm that was exposed lay as carelessly upon his side as if he had dropped peacefully to sleep. His clothes, for it was the body of a man, were made of that same hair fabric which the Queen wore, and consisted of trunks beneath a tunic, and over them a straight-cut coat with sleeves. These, save where a scum of clay attached to them, were bright and fresh, and I could see that his hair, although for the most part it was matted together with the clay, was of the same golden color as the Queen's. It required far less time, you may be sure, to make these observations than to tell of them.

This declaration filled me with not only unlimited wonder, but alarm. Was he not the affianced husband of the Queen 547 years ago or thereabouts? Then I suddenly remembered having read of seeds being taken from the sarcophagus that inclosed an Egyptian mummy within which they had remained some thousands of years without destroying the vital germ, so that when they were planted they grew. I knew that the scientists said this life-germ was the same in animal as in vegetable organisms. I remembered, too, on the instant having read of the disentombment of a toad, where it must have lain for untold ages, in whose nerve-centres this ever- moving protoplasm had kept its life, but I never could believe that the toad had leapt away on being released. Now I was convinced that it might be true, for the Queen, stepping upon the fragments and placing her hand upon the face, said:

I stepped to the other side of him and took his hand. With an involuntary start I was about to let it fall. It had the warmth of life, yet that was the warmth also of the clay in which he had been buried. I knew the clay had been of that temperature probably for centuries, and recalled what the Queen said of its being one of the conditions for the production of primal life. The arm was limp like that of one who slept soundly, and, when I drew the body from its mould, it was the same. While I carried the body into that portion of our tent which had been put in order, I could not avoid the impression that in my arms I held my rival in the Queen's affections. It was accompanied by no doubt of the faithfulness of the wonderful creature who had blessed me with her love. I stripped the outer coat as well as the waist from the body and began chafing the flesh to promote circulation of the blood, if there were any in his veins. The Queen of Knowledge, however, proposed something more expeditious than my antiquated modes, and, requesting me to hold to his nostrils the pad with which she had revived me at the lake of fire, placed in the palm of his hand that mysterious ball which had such a marvellous effect upon the nervous system. Instantly there was a quiver throughout the whole organism, and I could feel beneath my other hand that rested on his breast his lungs begin to expand. A single respiration proclaimed returning life—that is, if he could be supposed ever to have been dead. I perceived that the blood began to flow through the arteries and veins and give color to that transparent skin which the Queen's race inherited from Nodroff's wife, the Queen of the Toltus. Another respiration and the muscles began to work; the eyelids opened and revealed the blue eyes beneath; a few more, and, as if arousing from sleep, he began to yawn and stretch his limbs. Presently his lips moved, but the lips seemed parched like those of one in a fever, and no articulate sounds came forth. The Queen hurriedly brought a vial of liquid and allowed some of it to trickle down his throat. Then in a dazed way he made an effort to rise upon his elbow. I assisted the effort and supported him while he looked around him. Ourselves and the objects about him made no impression upon his brain for some time. Doubtless the images reflected were imperfect and confused. Meanwhile the Queen had broken the hard clay and rubbed it out of his long hair. I propped him up and did the same with his hair-cloth waist, which I discovered was ornamented with gems. Before he became at all conscious of his surroundings—what with rubbing, the application of a wisp and water, with which the Queen had been supplied by her female attendants, two of whom accompanied her—he was in quite a presentable plight. At length his brain grew active, and his first words were:

It muddled his thoughts when he looked about him. It was not until he dropped the lids over his eyes that he seemed able to speak.

"Gundred was his companion, and overtaken by the storm, they were lost, my soul," said the Queen, interpreting the ancient tongue, which I but partially understood. Presently his eyes rested on the face of the Queen. The look was long and earnest. Then his lids drooped again, and he called: "Here am I, Gundred, beneath this bank! Come hither, where the bolts will pass us by!" I comprehended, as the Queen interpreted, that he had resumed in imagination both the situation and state of terror in which he was previous to being buried beneath the bank of clay 547 years before. Softened above by the water, it had possibly fallen in a mass and imprisoned him, and afterward been deposited compactly about him by the floods. Again he lifted his lids, and gazed at the Queen in silence. Then I came within his vision, and his lids drooped. "It is a strange vision. I fear I shall never see the faces of my friends again. If I might brave the storm and escape the bolts, I know not which way to go."

Once more his eyes rested upon the Queen, who thought the time had come to speak.

"Yes, yes; it must be. Thou art Cresten, my life, my soul! But why in this strange clothing? I scarce knew thee. Nay, but I have had a dream full of terror. May the Light-God save thee from such dreams. But thy companion; he is of a strange race. I know not him. I pray you tell me; did I not go with Gundred? Yes, yes; now I dream." He dropped his lids again, and was back once more in the storm. Once more the Queen spoke:

"True, Norwald; thou didst go with Gundred to explore the valley where live the great monsters and thou wert lost when the storm season overtook thee; but now thou hast been rescued from beneath the bank which overwhelmed thee. Behold, here is one of the race of Nodroff, our great ancestor, who came from beyond the great light; one of the God-descended, who hath shattered the bank that imprisoned thee, and hath set thee free. Arise, now, and do him reverence." The Queen gave him her hand, and aided him to rise to his feet. In doing so, she had placed the potential ball within his palm; for in his normal condition he would hardly have been equal to the effort she had demanded of him.

"Most truly am I thankful; but I know not, O God-descended, how to address thee."

I perceived, from the manner in which he addressed me, that at the time of his entombment he was not of the royal line, since he had not been intrusted with the true history of Nodroff's human origin. When I was about to make a reply which must assume the godship, a sense of the ludicrous very nearly got the better of my countenance; but I managed to inform him soberly enough that I was Amos Jackson, which interpreted signified the strong son of the gracious one. That struck him much more forcibly than if I had simply said I was the son of Jack. The Queen knew, for I had laughingly told her, that if she had not established a theocratic paradise, and made a happier people than I ever expected to see on earth, his democratic principles would have induced the Queen's consort to introduce the ballot and found a government on the elective franchise, if for no other reason than to escape being deified. She and I had had many interesting arguments over the question whether, even to secure for the Toltus what was well-nigh perfect content, we were justified in permitting ourselves to be deified, even to a degree. I assure you there were too many facts against me, and I was always worsted in the argument. So now she caught the humorous view of the situation, and smiled while she interpreted my reply. She caught the whole spirit of what appeared to me a farce, because I had told her that there were Jacksons enough on the outside of the globe to people a kingdom.

"Most potent and God-descended Amos Jackson, accept my homage!" said the resurrected Norwald.

According to what was an ancient custom, as I understood, I kissed him on the forehead, and made over him the sign of the arc.

"But where, my life, my love, is Cetsen and the King, thy father? Nay, I forget, we are not in the palace. But my brother, Ericwald, should be with thee upon this quest of me. And Gundred, hath he been rescued also?"

"Nay, Norwald, let thy questions rest for answer until thou hast taken food and art stronger; then have I a long tale to tell thee."

"Then let me eat quickly, O Cresten, my life; for I would have many things set right that puzzle me. Now will I swear that thou hast led this quest with the God-descended at thy side, and to thee am I indebted for my life. Now will words not tell my love for thee. I worship thee! O God-descended Amos Jackson! I know not if thou wilt return again to thy home beyond the arc, where the God of Light ruleth; but yet wilt thou remain to witness our nuptials and bless us."

That was the most remarkable request to be made of a married man that I had ever heard of. This voluble affianced lover of five hundred and forty-seven years ago, or thereabouts, I feared might make trouble. I was able, however, to look only at the humorous side of his serious request, as the Queen interpreted it to me in all soberness, and it was with the greatest difficulty that I could restrain myself. I just happened to think of the effect it would have upon Harding if he had been there, and I said:

"It is well that our brother, Harding, is not here. He would not have done laughing for an entire journey. I know not how to answer him."

"And how thinkest thou, O my soul, I may answer him, since I was affianced to him by my father, and have promised to be his bride?"

"That, I know not. I only know that, if it were possible to doubt thy constancy, then were it possible that I might cease to love thee. Out of thy knowledge and gentle heart will spring an answer more soothing to his disappointed hope than my lips could frame."

"My beloved!" she replied. "My joy hath no bounds; thy love transcends my own—it hath no misgiving. In good time I will answer him."

She told him that it was not the intention of the God- descended Amos Jackson to return to his home beyond the arc, and bade him eat and then refresh himself with rest. After instructing one of the male attendants to wait on him, the Queen and I retired to our apartment. She told me that Norwald could speak the Toltu tongue as it was once spoken, but that it had been so changed by herself and custom that it was not the same language now.

"My Queen," I said, "this is the most inexplicable mystery that has ever muddled my brain. Here have we turned out of that bank of clay this ancient, yet youthful, relative of yours, a living, moving embodiment of the phantom which has been tormenting me for months. He was perfectly familiar to me the moment I saw him. His body has been fast enough in the bank,—there is no doubt about that; and although his life has never been extinguished, yet how has he been enabled to present me with so many of his photographs? Very expressive, too, many of them were."

"I may not speak with certainty of such mysteries; yet do I believe that all such visions the mind or soul sees, and not the eye; but how one soul doth so impress another we may know hereafter, not now."

"It is rather a remarkable circumstance that, although he has honored me with so many visits of late, he doesn't seem to remember me at all."

"Nay, memory records none of the soul's experiences, save when the physical senses are wholly or in part awake, and all his senses have lain dormant," she replied.

"Well, as a phantom he was villainous, and I will keep an eye on him," I concluded.

However, I congratulated myself, at the same time, on having gotten rid of him as a spectre; I felt tolerably certain that I would not have him on my hands in both capacities at the same time.

This resurrected young ancient, when nature had been allowed some eight hours in which to revive all his faculties, I persuaded myself, would make a rather troublesome addition to our mess. To borrow a musical term, we were a strange quartette, likely to produce discordant music. Two of us had lived over five hundred and seventy years, garnering knowledge out of their individual experiences, according to their several abilities; one, myself, had lived but a short time, yet had received a legacy of general information from the generations which had preceded me; and one had begun to live over five hundred and seventy years ago, but had lain dormant for nearly the entire period. One of us, the Queen, had come down through all this lapse of time, the sovereign intelligence of her dominion, the prime mover in all its events, the creator of its history, its art and science. When I considered on what dizzy heights of knowledge beyond the mental vision of her subjects, and even of myself, she had placed herself, the query would force itself upon my mind, why should she not be deified by the Toltus? God is the great unknown. Her mastery of so many of nature's elements, her solution of so many of nature's mysteries, the godlike attributes of her lofty soul, conjoin to make her the beneficent, great unknown to them. She has made of the Toltus an intelligent race, and their imaginations may tower above her toward infinitude; but a mere abstraction is too far away for worship, and, as the source of all their happiness, she is practically their great, personified unknown. Even Rudnord-tu-teet, the well-nigh beastly- looking creature who had lived for at least a century longer than herself, regarded her with a reverence akin to worship, so far did her knowledge transcend his own. I assured myself that the blood of Nodroff, mingled with that of the Toltus, had produced a superior order of human in the Queen, while that of Rudnord, himself no doubt a man of superior intellect, when mingled with that of the Se-ton-secks, had produced an inferior being, whom only his father's instruction and a life of centuries had made a creature of really high intelligence, as men are ranked by each other. Norwald was of the Queen's own blood. His fair skin was covered with the same silken hair; his face had that same perfect relation of all the features; and his form was one of like symmetry and elastic carriage. He had a superior native intellect, too; but here the likeness ceased, as I very clearly perceived when, after the army had been ordered to get ready to move, we four sat down together to a hasty meal. He was one in whom the physical predominated; his passions had known no curb, and those refined and gentle emotions which distinguished the Queen were strangers to him. He had already nursed the ambition to become the king of the Toltu race, as Cresten's husband, and there was a spirit of mastery over her, as a woman, in all he said and did. This expectation was as fresh with him as it was five hundred and forty-seven years ago; what it would be when he had come to learn the situation was to me, and possibly to the Queen, an interesting as well as momentous query. If he should develop the vindictive spirit of Rudnord, it might cause trouble. When he was summoned to partake of food, after his long rest, he seemed to be thoroughly recuperated, and came from his darkened apartment with a cloud upon his brow. He had evidently been thinking. "May the spirit of light always attend thee, Cresten." It was a customary greeting of his time, I understood. To me he said: "Let me reverence thee, O God-descended Amos Jackson!" But I thought I saw a scowl on his face when he said it. The Queen observed him closely; she doubtless read more of his thoughts than I, and I could perceive they saddened her.

"Norwald," she said, "sit you down and eat. The army makes ready to move, and our meal must be briefly dispatched."

"Thou hast been long sleeping, Norwald. Seek not to be informed until thou hast eaten; later, I will tell thee all."

He had seen that the Queen had acted as interpreter between us, and assumed that I knew nothing of the ancient tongue. He could not, therefore, restrain himself from giving her a piece of his mind, which no doubt she had already read.

"I like not, Cresten, that this God-descended should be always with thee. It is not seemly."

"Conceal thy thoughts, Norwald, until a more fitting time. Dost thou understand, O son of Rudnord?" she said, addressing Tu- teet.

"Aye, most potent and God-descended Queen. Thou hast raised from the dead one who—"

"Nay, it is not wise to say further." Tu-teet reverently bent his head and closed his lips.

"Whence cometh this, that thou callest the son of Rudnord? I knew not it could talk, but thought it some creature thou hadst tamed among thy other freaks."

"He is the son of that Rudnord, Nodroff's younger child, of whom thou hast heard speech. His mother was a Se-ton-seck; erstwhile he was our enemy, but hath become our friend."

"Well, if thou art of Nodroff's blood, and art our friend, why, I shall treat thee civilly; but thou art the ugliest creature in form of man that I ever beheld."

"Thy speech is rough, yet kindly meant, and I doubt not the King will so rate it. Even now, our army goes to set up his kingdom over his own descendants, and the Se-ton-secks, their subjects."

"I have heard nothing of this; thou speakest in riddles. Who, and how many, are his descendants?"

"The descendants of himself and brothers number more than one hundred thousand, and the Se-ton-secks are more numerous."

"Nay, you but sport with me, Cresten. How shall a man's descendants be numbered by thousands, while he yet lives?"

"Hast thou never heard that Rudnord, Nodroff's son, the demon of the burning earth, had found some strange tincture that preserved his life, and that he hath lived for many generations?"

"Why, then, believest thou not that he hath given of these elements of life to his sons, and that they, too, have continued their lives?"

"Aye, but it hath not been the third of 600 floods since Nodroff himself lived. Thou hast become tangled in thine own reckoning."

He did so, and the servant turned to the Queen, saying he did not understand, in a tongue that Norwald did not comprehend. The attendant was dismissed, and the Queen continued:

"The language that he speaks is spoken now by all the Toltus, and there is not one in all the nation who could understand thee. Think you not it would require many floods for their language thus to change?"

"Thou shalt convince thyself that this thing hath happened whilst thou hast slept. The people stand ready to strike our tent; we must not tarry."

The Queen led the way out of the tent, and gave her ancient lover his first sight of our military array. He was bewildered by all he saw. The long line of Toltus, stretching on either side as far as his eye could reach; their strange armor, which he had never seen before, and their stranger arms, which, when the Queen signalled for a whole regiment to discharge their rifles, impressed him with equal fear and wonder. These, together with the fact that there seemed to be more under arms than the entire Toltu race could have mustered, including men, women, and children, only yesterday as it appeared to him, was a mystery quite beyond his solution, except upon the assumption that a great time had elapsed. This was the idea which the Queen's foresight had left as a last impression upon his mind for his own observation to confirm. Once he became convinced that since he lost all knowledge of himself when overtaken by the storm, that great time had elapsed, he would be prepared to accept as true the narrative which must be told to him. Tet-tse and his companions stood ready with San-son, awaiting the Queen's motions. The idea of a lapse of time was evidently uppermost in Norwald's mind, and he availed himself of the opportunity of asking Tet-tse, in ancient Toltu, if he understood that language. Tet-tse had no doubt that this man whom the Queen and King had discovered and brought to life was one of the God-descended, and bent reverently before him, but he could not understand.

"Dost thou not hear, Norwald, that all speak in a tongue unknown to thee?" said the Queen, as she mounted upon San-son's back.

"I am lost, Cresten. This hath not been the work of days. Surely I have slept a long time."

"Go scan it nearly, for that has been thy bed for, lo! these 547 floods. Whose face seest thou sculptured in the face of the clay?"

I had not noticed, but the Queen's eyes missed nothing. It held the perfect imprint of his own features; so perfect, indeed, that he recognized them.

"What mystery is here? In this, truly, have I been imprisoned. Tell me all, Cresten. I will no longer doubt thee!" he exclaimed, as he leapt lightly to a seat in front of us.

CHAPTER IX.

THE RESURRECTED ONE MAKES TROUBLE—VERY LIKE A DEVIL—ASTONISHED, BUT NOT SUBDUED—THE LITTLE WORLD, PEOPLED WITH HUMAN MITES—SACRED TERRITORY—ATTEMPT AT ASSASSINATION—THE QUEEN'S EAR HEARS.

"DO thou, on thy beast, O, son of Rudnord, follow behind the advanced guard, and point the way. We will come after," said the Queen.

Tu-teet bent to the earth and obeyed. He was more impressed, wise though he was, than perhaps even the Toltus, with our miracle. The latter regarded it as a matter of course. Did not the God of Light permit the Queen to do what she willed? But the former assumed that a man who had lain 547 floods inclosed in a bank of clay must be dead, and the occult mystery of raising him from the dead, presupposed a knowledge and power more than human. When he mounted his elephant, he did not doubt that he should be made king of his people. It would be mere repetition to describe the remainder of our route over the burning zone. They are the events that transpired, and the wonders that greeted me beyond it, that, I venture to say, will prove of interest. The resurrected ancient, who was, nevertheless, in the heyday of youth, looked in silent wonder upon the vast army falling into line, and kept up his thinking, while the Queen and I were issuing orders and getting it in motion.

"Nay, but that cannot be, since neither Cresten nor myself hath aged," he muttered to himself.

"Why shouldst thou age, Norwald, since thou hast lain dormant during all these floods? If thou couldst exist for one flood in thy clay-mould, couldst thou not for hundreds?"

"But behold, the God-descended and I have found thee, and brought thee to life."

"Be it so. I understand not the mystery; but thou hast not lain dormant. Thou hast not slept nor changed, my life, my bride that will be."

Lost though he was in mystery, there was one fact that he comprehended beyond doubt, and it was, that the God-descended Amos Jackson was comfortably seated by the side of his affianced wife. He therefore remarked:

"O God-descended Amos Jackson, I will change seats with thee. It is not seemly that I should sit apart from my affianced bride, or that thou shouldst sit beside her."

"My beloved!" I said, "I understand him. This is what our players would call a comedy."

"Yet, lose not thy dignity, he hath much to learn. By thy side is a tube that will charge him potently, but not seriously, with the spirit of light. Should he become violent, let science astonish and master him."

"What sayeth he to my request?" he asked the Queen, supposing she had interpreted his words.

"Nay, Norwald, thy request was rude. I did not tell it him. It is not well thou shouldst arouse the anger of one who is so great and powerful."

"Thinkest thou I fear him? Am I not God-descended also? Do thou explain it to him. I would have no quarrel, but he shall not hold my place."

"It needs not I should tell him. He reads thy rude thoughts, if not thy words. I bid thee beware, and sit thee where thou art until I have freed thy mind of the mysteries that do envelop thee."

Rising to his feet he pantomimed me to vacate my seat and take his, or he would throw me out of the canopy. I regarded his performance with a look of indifference which served to provoke him, and he made to lay hold of me. Just as his hand touched my shoulder I pressed the spring of the battery and touched him on his foot. He was doubled up on the floor of the saddle in an instant, and scrambling into his seat again, as far from me as possible, regarded me with dumb amazement and terror. Then I smiled benignly upon him, and extended my hand. But no, he would have nothing to do with my hand. He had scarce touched me, and had not an unseen power leapt from me that had prostrated him? He recognized it as the spirit of light, and had palpable evidence that there was a difference between the God-descended Amos Jackson and himself.

"I pray you, Cresten, ask for me pardon of the God-descended Amos Jackson, and I will sit and listen. But, by the beard of Nodroff, thou knowest it is not right."

The Queen laughed aloud, as she turned to Norwald and told him he was forgiven that offense.

"I fear, my soul, that you have aroused one who, if he ever becomes familiar with the wonders of science, will make thee trouble."

"What thou sayest may be true. I shall better judge if his nature will yield to aught but force, after I have enlightened him. Norwald," she said, addressing the ancient youth, "two floods after thou wert buried in that bank, my father died, and I became Queen of the Toltus. That was 545 floods ago. Thou perceivest, therefore, that I am very old and thou art yet a child."

"Thou dost not understand. Although the tincture which Rudnord found hath kept my form as thou wert wont to see it, yet in wisdom and the favor of the God of Light, I have grown so far away from thee, that I am no longer the Cresten that you knew. That thou art now alive is due to that knowledge that makes me old. Dost thou think it nothing that thou wert raised from the tomb by him who sits by my side and myself? So long have I lived, O Norwald, that not one of all our royal line save Cetsen and myself remain. Hundreds of floods ago they had mingled their blood with the Toltus and were lost. Perhaps it was not well that we should bring thee again to life, since thou wilt be long like a stranger in thine own land. And yet, not thine own land, for the people speak not the same tongue, and the very face of the earth hath changed. This yet seems in part to thee like an invention, but it is true. Dost thou not remember Nodroff's prophecy, that from beyond the great light would come two of his race? Aye, thou dost. Well, they came through the clouds—nay, doubt not; it is true—and they were seen by thousands of the people in their air-ship. Think you they came for no purpose? One of them is Cetsen's husband, now in charge of our kingdom, the other is husband of Kayete-ut-se-Zane, the Queen of Light, myself, whom the people worship as a god. Norwald, he sits by my side. Since—"

"Stay. Speak not until I have finished. Since I was Cresten, whom you knew, the spirit of light hath become my servant. It is ear and voice to me. The Queen's ear hears, and the Queen's voice is heard at the same moment in every dwelling of my people, within a journey of my palace. I have fought many wars, and even now we are but one journey from the field of battle, where we defeated the powerful descendants of Rudnord and their subjects, the giant Se-ton-secks. Yonder is their captured king, whom we go to set upon a more peaceful throne and to rule a kingdom which we shall found on love and knowledge. But first we must overcome his brother, who hath usurped his office."

"And I, to whom thou wert affianced by thy father, and whose spouse thou didst promise to be, thou hast cast me off. I have no part in thy kingdom?"

"Could the kingdom wait for thee, Norwald, buried in yonder clay? Bethink thee." He sat ruminating for some time and the Queen watched him closely. Even before he spoke, she said to me:

"You were right. It were better for him and us that he had slept forever. Yet out of the evil he may do, will spring forth good. In God's economy, all things of matter and all things of spirit are dual. Material force is but the expression of the spiritual. Contending forces meet in circuit, ever in conflict, yet ever harmonizing; that is life."

"And this brother who has usurped the throne, is he such an one as this your prisoner who speaks our ancient tongue?"

He asked no more questions and relapsed into silence, which lasted the whole journey.

"He hath matured some plan of action that hath in it nothing friendly toward us, and it were well to be on our guard," said the Queen.

Our route during the greater portion of that journey lay over the exterior of the cavernous hills. The way had been made passable at great expense of labor, by the enemy, who had doubtless been perfectly assured of their ability to overcome so unwarlike a race as the Toltus, whom a woman ruled. We went into camp at the end of the most toilsome journey we had yet made; since for the most of the time we were either climbing or descending the rugged sides of mountains from 1,000 to 1,500 feet in height

It had taxed the endurance of many of the Toltus, and the whole army burst into a shout of joy when we beheld beneath us a valley with a verdure of golden green smiling up at the cliffs. We were now south of the central fires of the burning region, and there was a sensible reduction in the temperature. I was immediately struck with the peculiar general appearance of the valley, which Tu-teet said was not more than one-fifth of a journey in length. At the point where we debouched upon it, I could see that it was not more than a mile in width. Our road crossed the very head of it; that is, the road cut off only a section of half a mile, as I estimated it. So soon as we touched it, Tu-teet dismounted. Approaching the side of San-son, he bent low before us and said:

"Most gracious and omnipotent sovereigns! I pray you grant the request which I am about to make."

"It seemeth that all things are within thy power, O God- descended Queen of Light! This valley, save this portion to the right hand of the road, is held sacred by my people. Neither the Hearts of Fire nor the Se-ton-secks will set foot upon it. I pray you, let your army encamp upon the right hand of the road."

"Are we not in thy dominion as friends, and not as enemies? Surely, it shall be as thou desirest."

Tu-teet expressed his gratitude in terms of worship, and I ordered the advance guard to make to the right, and signalled the officers to encamp within the prescribed limits.

"Knowest thou why, and for how long, this valley hath been held sacred?" she inquired of Tu-teet.

"Our father, Rudnord, so declared it hundreds of floods ago, and named it 'The Little World.' Why, I know not, yet mayst thou tell, O Queen of Light and Knowledge!"

Tu-teet was about to retire when Norwald, who was still upon San-son's back with us, said:

"I will go with thee, son of Rudnord. I am the odd count in this company, and I perceive thou speakest the ancient tongue."

"It is well. O King! be thou his teacher. He hath much to learn. And mark you, Norwald, we have raised thee from thy tomb and thy life is sacred to us, so long as thou art our faithful subject. Go with the King."

He went off sullenly without reply. It was apparent that to him she was still only Cresten, the King's daughter, through whom he expected to be a king. He saw the evidences of material change in all save Cresten, who bore the same form. He could not see her soul.

"The Little World," I repeated thoughtfully, when they had gone, as I looked over the valley; "it is a peculiar name."

"Rudnord was wise, though vicious, my soul. It hath a meaning which I half suspect. The internal fire doth in this region still, as you know, preserve, or rather reproduce, the earth's primal conditions, which evolved animal life. These have been of numerous degrees: in one degree were evolved the simpler and grosser forms of life; in others the higher and more refined, in wonderful variety. Here in this valley, farther removed from the central heat, were at one time doubtless produced its own peculiar forms, of which only such have been preserved as were adapted to the changing conditions, after the valley had ceased to become productive of animal life, and the conditions of permanent existence became more constant."

"Yes, I see this vegetation resembles none that I have ever seen," I said, as I examined it through my glass. "It is not only peculiar in color, but it hath a finer texture than any I have seen. Besides, I see no grasses. It seems to be covered with a shrubbery scarcely a hand's-breadth in height. Now, I wish we had my microscope, that I might examine the leaves, for they are too small to distinguish through this glass."

"Somewhere among San-son's effects, my soul, I think I have what will answer thy purpose." I was not astonished when she handed me a glass with many lenses, each one a perfectly transparent gem. I do not know its magnifying power; but it was great. I stooped down, and plucking one of the shrubs placed it in focus. I saw that what had appeared like a fine feathery moss was a perfectly formed tree, with wooded trunk and branches, and a foliage of separate leaves. In fact, it resembled an oak in miniature. I handed it with the glass to the Queen, who glanced at it, and immediately kneeling upon the ground, examined the surface carefully.

"This is an earth that is new to me, in which the mineral elements have undergone some unusual refining process. It is so fine that the glass doth not reveal its particles."

She was interested. Here was a novelty even to her. Handing me her microscope, she placed the telescope to her eye and looked at the surrounding rocks.

"Ah, I suspect there is neither what you call phosphorus, lime, nor iron in this soil, and doubtless some other elements are wanting."

"I know not how that is," I said; "but here is one of the strangest sights I ever beheld." I had been passing the glass over the surface of the earth, pushing the shrubs aside for the purpose, when I observed that beneath the miniature trees the soil was covered here and there with a diminutive growth of grass. At least such it appeared to be; but what startled me was the discovery that the several patches were regular in form, and surrounded each one by a fence. I could plainly see that posts were set at regular intervals, and that from one to the other were stretched corded fibres, no larger than so many hairs to the natural vision. I perceived, too, what was plainly a highway, over which some form of insect was accustomed to travel. The fact is, the lenses revealed to me a landscape with a distance so nearly resembling such as I had been accustomed to look upon in larger form, and with such evidences of habitation, that I could not avoid an exclamation of wonder. While I looked, I described what I saw to the Queen. I was about to rise and hand her the instrument, when there passed slowly across its field two animals. They were less than the large black ants in size, and I could perceive that although they moved so slowly, yet they were running with might and main. Beneath the glass they were the size of mice, and resembled in form the elk more nearly than anything I could think of at the time. They were evidently in great terror.

"Nay, my soul, continue your inspection. I have something else that may aid our investigation," she said.

I saw there were little mites of animals that the intrusion of the grass among the trees terrified. I therefore gave it a greater distance, and very carefully inserted it where I saw there were bare patches; or, as I may say, openings in the timber. I could inspect the surface now at a distance of about eight inches, and at the first opening discovered a herd, numbering about twenty of these little animals, quietly cropping the herbage. The Queen, meanwhile, had brought an instrument of about three feet in length, consisting of two broad strips of gold, connected at either end by gum cylinders, in which were diaphragms. It was one portable form of the Queen's ear, which I afterward ascertained was very sensitive to sounds. She had been moving it quietly about above the vegetation, and said:

"There is the hum of animal life beneath your trees. Nay more, I can hear the individual voices of the diminutive creatures. I have been astonished by many things during my long life, but by none more than this. Carefully, my soul, place your lens here, where I hear the mingling of many voices."

I did as she requested, and saw—you will scarcely credit it—an assemblage of little creatures, less than two inches high under the glass, each standing upright on two legs, with arms and feet and head, and with some filmy drapery upon its person.

"Well, by the beard of Nodroff!—if I may be allowed, my beloved, to employ that oath on such an extraordinary occasion—that is the most wonderful sight I ever beheld! Look you; if those are not human insects, what are they?"

"Yes, I have counted forty-two, who are gathered about one who, as it seems, addresses them as leader."

"Perhaps it is a democratic government, and that fellow is running for office," I said.

"Nay, I venture to say that he is a prince," said the Queen, laughingly. "But is not this a wonderful illustration of the variety of nature's processes?"

"Aye, Rudnord evidently discovered them at a time when there was a superstitious fear of what were termed the little people, a sort of sprite, prevailed in our family. Our traditions speak of it, and it had not died out in my father's lifetime. Rudnord, no doubt, was sufficiently influenced by this superstition to avoid giving offense to these little creatures."

Through the Queen's ear I had been listening, and made no doubt that they had a language.

"Though Rudnord named it the Little World, this valley must seem a large world to them. It is hardly possible of belief that these are human, and that there is room in those little heads for thoughts and ambitions, which they must have if they are human."

"Why, the common gnats that infest our dwellings have their likes and dislikes, their loves and quarrels, and their ambitions. It is no greater miracle for nature to frame a human of the dimensions of these than a giant. But Rudnord named this valley well, for I discover other mammals of like proportions, evidently subjective to these humans."

"Think you it might be possible to learn their language? Through your ear, my soul, they speak distinctly."

"And in speaking they use many signs. I think by long observation it were possible. Once learned, it were easy to reduce a voice to their dimension, and converse with them. I know that somewhere they must have habitations; but as yet I have not seen them."

"Nay, being human, they have made provision; else were they all dead already. I would not crush one of the little creatures, else would I like to take a few steps within their dominion. We must know more of this race; but let them rest until our return. We have graver matters on our hands."

After a rest of about eight hours, the army resumed its march. Since half a journey would bring us within the fertile borders of the King's dominions, I sent scouts ahead to apprise us of any preparations which the enemy might make to obstruct our march, or take us unawares. I noticed that the Queen had placed the elephant, on which the King and Norwald rode, immediately in front of San-son, and that over the head of the latter ran what appeared to be two straps, connected with the saddle, in which the King and Norwald rode.

"Those straps will scarcely pull San-son forward, if he is disposed to move leisurely," I said.

"Nay, yet they will not break, though he should fall behind his whole length," said the Queen.

Hidden within the cushioned chairs, and the sound muffled by the canopy, we could not hear the conversation of Norwald and the King, even if the noise from the moving ranks had not been loud enough to drown it. Immediately after starting, therefore, I was startled by hearing the voice of Norwald close at my own ear. I shrank involuntarily from it, although the next instant I comprehended the means by which it reached me.

"See you?" said the Queen; "this cord controls the diaphragm. You must remember it is the Queen's voice as well as ear."

She was holding the cord while she spoke. She freed the diaphragm of pressure, and we listened in silence; as she interpreted it at intervals, this is what we heard:

"And thou sayest, king, thou didst bring into the field two hundred and fifty thousand. By the God of Light, that was a mighty force!"

"Yet had it been twice as numerous, I see now the Queen of Light and the God-descended from beyond the arc would have defeated it."

"How say you so, when her force is not half thy number? The Toltus, thou sayest, are neither so strong nor warlike as thy followers."

"It is the knowledge of the Queen, which surpasseth understanding. Aided by the God of Light—for surely it is more than human,—she inventeth such means of war as no force can withstand."

"What are these means of war? Nay, I know Cresten well enough; she is no more than a woman."

"I fear thou knowest her not. See you what the Toltus carry yonder? Within those tubes are explosives, that send messengers of death with the speed of light. Still others carry weapons that need no strength; a touch from them is instant death."

"Be it so. They are the contrivance of this God-descended Amos Jackson: the curse of Nodroff on him! Couldst thou not get these weapons, and make them for thyselves?"

"Nay, we lack the godlike knowledge. Yet, if we should, she would then have more destructive weapons. Besides, the God-Queen hath taught me that knowledge is power and love is mighty. My people shall make war no more."

"By the God of Light! I must see what stuff these weapons are made of, and have her explain them to me. What of thy army escaped the battle?"

"The Queen stood on the defensive. We never broke her ranks; and yet, methinks, that half our army lies dead upon the plain."

"It was a sore defeat; and if I wert thou, it should be avenged. And still, the army under thy brothers outnumbers this of the Queen."

"Aye, if it still holds together, which I hope it doth not, lest there be more slaughter. I fear, already, that the Se-ton- secks have lost confidence in the God-descended Hearts of Fire, and that our own descendants will no longer respect a son of Rudnord, the eternal."

"Slain, with four of my brothers, in an attempt upon the life of the Queen of Light."

"Aye, save that he was aged before he found the water of life; but thou lackest his wisdom."

"Thou canst better judge of my wisdom hereafter. Thinkest thou the Queen will place thee on thy throne?"

"Either thou art a fool for believing her, or she is a fool for placing thee over thine own conquered kingdom."

"I see; she hath wittily befooled thee; yet not she, but this God-descended Amos Jackson, who hath brought with him from beyond the arc some strange arts. I tell thee—give me a name to call thee by; I have not heard one yet."

"My individual name is Tu-teet, which, in our ancient tongue, means the nimble."

"Thou mayest be nimble of foot, but not of judgment; in that thou goest lame. Thy people have been slain by the arts of this Amos Jackson. He hath practiced them upon myself, and I have spoken him fair, until I master them. Cresten saith the king, her father, hath died while I have slept, but before that had he begun to instruct me in the arts that a king should know. True, I had not mastered the arts; but I had learned not to be afraid of them. By the beard of Nodroff! I shall know his arts before I am a journey older."

"Thy words are childish. But how wouldst thou practice his arts, if thou shouldst learn them?"

"Nay, that is my business. Of right I am Cresten's husband, and King of the Toltus. If I were king, then shouldst thou have what terms of peace pleased thee, and I would seat thee on thy throne."

"Nay, thou art a fool. This Amos Jackson hath a companion, who is the husband of Cetsen, Cresten's sister; for him will thy kingdom be set up. Thou art but the puppet, who giveth him excuse to invade thy kingdom. If this Amos Jackson were dead, then wert thou free to become the king of thy people."

"And thou, so thou dreamest, to become the King of the Toltus?—it were a sad event for them. And it is thus thou wouldst repay those who have given thee life?—thou wretch!"

At that moment Norwald heard, close at his ear, the voice of the Queen, saying, "The Queen's ear hath heard." He sprang to the opposite seat of the saddle in dismay. He recognized the voice, but had no idea whence it came. Tu-teet, too, who heard it, was amazed at the new wonder. Norwald peeped through beneath the curtains of the canopy, and saw that the Queen still rode upon San-son's back. He was mystified, but not subdued, by the wonder. He recovered his self-possession, and remarked:

"And the God-Queen knoweth thee for what thou art. How thinkest thou to thrive in thy mad ambition?"

It was easy, even for me, to account for the now apparent fact that he could not be brought under subjection by the most awe- inspiring wonders. The Queen's father, in view of his becoming a king, had doubtless impressed him with the foundation-principle on which the control of the Toltus rested; and that was, as you know, a superior knowledge of the arts, by which was to be evinced the godlike attributes of the royal line. This had deprived them of all superstitious influence; they were the arts of government. He also doubtless knew that life was deemed sacred, and that his was safe, especially as a God-descended, so long as his death did not become a necessity. A sovereign would be the last to break this law of Nodroff; hence the boldness with which he gave expression to his thoughts.

At the end of that journey we had advanced some distance into the inhabited portions of Tu-teet's dominions. No force had appeared to dispute our advance, and the army once more went into camp. It had become a serious question what should be done with Norwald, whom we had resuscitated. That he meditated mischief, and that very shortly, was beyond question. He was wholly within our power; but the Toltus regarded him as one of the God- descended, and to place him in their charge as a prisoner would not only be to them a strange proceeding, but it would be striking at the foundations of her own government. The God- descended were to be treated with reverence, and any form of violence to one of them, even at the Queen's command, would be a dangerous precedent. The Queen and I sat in our tent for some time, after the army was at rest, considering this knotty problem, which Norwald himself forced to a hasty solution. As it afterward appeared, he, so soon as all save the sentinels slept, came out of his tent and approached one of the Queen's guard, which lay rolled in their blankets about our tent, and took from his side the electric tube with which a portion of the guard was armed. He examined it carefully, but was unable to comprehend its operations. He did not return it, however, to the soldier's side, but carried it with him to where another one lay, with his rifle and cartridge-belt near him. He took up this weapon, looked in the muzzle, and began an examination of the lock. He was occupied for some time, in full view of our sentinels, who, instead of interfering with him, bowed in profound reverence as they passed him upon their rounds. At length he learned the mechanical operation of the weapon without effecting an explosion of the cartridge. He immediately buckled the cartridge-belt about his own waist, took the rifle in one hand and the electric-rod in the other, and approached the door of our tent. The sentinel who stood there bent low to let him pass. We were in full view of him when he entered, and the moment the Queen's watchful eyes fell upon him, she divined his object, and shouted to the sentinel, "Ho, Mer-ret! he is a demon; slay him!" The sentinel instantly responded with his electric-tube, but was not quick enough; for with the light spring of a tiger, this sprightly ancient avoided the sentinel, glanced fairly at me through the sights of the rifle, exclaiming, "Usurper! defend thee from thine own arts," and pulled the trigger. The ball grazed my right side, as I pressed the trigger of my pistol. He had probably deranged the sights of the gun during his examination, or the career of Amos Jackson would have ended there. My ball, too, would no doubt have pierced him, had the sentinel not touched him upon the back an instant before it was discharged, so that he dropped suddenly out of range. To the momentary astonishment of us all, he leapt to his feet and ran with great speed to the forest, which lay within a short distance of our tent. Before the sleepy soldiers could comprehend the situation, he had disappeared among the trees. His fearless nature, as well as his final object, were indicated when it was ascertained that he had not failed to carry away with him both the rifle and the tube. The occurrence had settled the vexed question of what should be done with Norwald in the most satisfactory manner possible. It was now rumored throughout the army that I was invulnerable, and that the demon had taken the form of her own God-descended people before he died, in order that, by the Queen's power, he might be brought to life again. It was something that the soldier's tube had struck him to the earth. They did not understand that his suit of hair-cloth had saved him from death. Notwithstanding he was so fearless and outspoken, yet he was cunning and discreet enough to endeavor to hide his own purposes; which did not fully appear to me until the Queen said:

"He is foolhardy enough to undertake anything," I said, "but he is more likely to become their prisoner than their king."

We were afterward informed by Tu-teet that, before he had given him any intimation of his motive, he had learned all Tu- teet could tell him of the condition of affairs, in what direction the defeated army had probably gone, the names of Tu- teet's brothers, and even some sentences in the native tongue. He had done more than this: he had provided himself with company. It must have been at the end of the preceding journey, when the sumpter elephants came up, that he discovered our two golden- breasted prisoners, whom I had ordered brought along. These were but slightly wounded, as I said, but had succumbed to loss of blood. They soon had become strong enough to travel, and Norwald had made friends with them. Before making his attack upon me, he had taken them, without objection, from their guards, and started them ahead of him. While our army rested, therefore, this daring adventurer and his companions were making forward to join the enemy.

CHAPTER X.

THE QUEEN EXPLAINS PHENOMENA—THE INTERIOR, THE ELDER WORLD—OUR RESURRECTED DEMON, NORWALD, BECOMES A KING—THE ANCIENT CITY INVESTED—A BATTLE—THE OUTSIDE OF THE ANTEDILUVIAN CITY.

I FOUND that the temperature, south of the burning zone, was about 5° lower than it was north of it; that is, the thermometer stood at 65°, it being just after the storm season, and, as I judged from what the Queen had told me, would remain at that for six months of our time, when it would rise to 70°. With us—I say, with us, for you must know that the longer and best half of my life has been passed there,—the temperature does not vary, as it does here. I speak of the region lying within 8° of the verge of the helix, or what you call the pole. Except during the regular month of storms, there are none, and at no time are the electric phenomena accompanied by thunder. For what you would call eleven months of the year there are no showers, and yet the verdure continues fresh and bright. The vapor seldom rises higher than the tree-tops, before it is condensed by the electric energy of the atmosphere, and brought to the earth again; so continuous, however, is the process, that you can no more see or feel it returning to the earth than you can see or feel the moisture ascending here after a summer rain. You would simply say of it, it is a moist climate. When our army was again in motion, I asked the Queen if she thought the present races were the originals of the country. She replied that, beyond doubt, in her judgment, they are not.

"I have the best of reasons for believing," she said, "that the Toltus are of a mixed race—the product of a genus evolved out of this burning zone, mingled with one much older. I think the conditions for the evolution of life within the burning zone were established long after the earth had ceased, generally, to produce animal life; that the earth long ago underwent some change of position, which resulted in a change of climate, and gave a new direction to the currents of the spirit of light; that at one time it was much warmer here than it is now; that at one time there was no frozen belt on the exterior of the earth, so near to the arc of light, but that it lay nearer to what you have told me is your heated zone; and that the circuit made by the spirit of light was then, on the exterior, more nearly from west to east, and, within, from north to south of the true pole. But of the fact that a very superior race existed here long before the Toltus, I shall he able to show you, if the region we are now in does not disappoint my expectations regarding it, which rest on information which I have had confirmed by many reports during the last four hundred floods."

This, to me, was a new phase of the new world; I had not thought of it as being, possibly, the elder world.

The army had made hut a few miles over a fertile country, differing somewhat, but not materially, from that of ours in its products, when our scouts reported that we were within half a journey of a great palace, on the top of the ground, in which the enemy had taken refuge. From Tu-teet we learned that it was the chief walled city of the Hearts of Fire, and contained the king's palace. "It hath ever been called by our descendants Rudnord's city," continued Tu-teet; "the Se-ton-secks have ever believed that it was, long ago, built by the God of Fire for his son, who should be known by his beauty and knowledge."

"And this tradition had long been an expectation among the Se- ton-secks, when Rudnord came, had it not, O king?" inquired the Queen.

We came soon within sight of this mysterious city. It lay in a small valley, encircled by lofty hills, sloping upward to their summits for several miles, and covered by a dense growth of heavy timber. As we could see through our glasses, the valley itself was rich in vegetation, and portions of it also were timbered. Numerous thoroughfares, branching from the city and running across the valley, took over the hills, and doubtless extended to the limits of Rudnord's kingdom in all directions.

"And what is the extent of your kingdom toward the south?" I inquired of Tu-teet.

"It lieth to the south about twenty of thy journeys (equal, very nearly, to four hundred of our miles), and its border is a vast body of salted water, whose limits in any direction I do not know."

When we had approached within a few hundred yards of the outer walls of the city, the sight of it filled me with wonder. It was not its apparent dimensions, for it extended less than a mile and a half along the base of the hills, and outward not more than half that distance; but it was the ponderous and enduring character of its construction. It was all built of the same material, which was black as ebony, but with a surface that glistened like quartz, and which I persuaded myself at length must be pure hornblende, a mineral, as you are aware, rarely uncombined on the exterior globe. From the walls I directed my glass toward the cliffs, which I had observed here and there alternated with the long slope of the hills, and perceived that they were composed of the same substance. Thus composed, this glittering, black mass of architecture was in strange contrast with the golden-green hue of the landscape surrounding it. Another remarkable thing was, the black city seemed to lose itself in the slope of the hill.

"You can only imagine," said the Queen, who was following my thought, "how great a time must have elapsed to reduce, by the ordinary action of the elements, the rock formations superimposed upon what you call hornblende, from their lofty heights, by converting them into soil, and washing them down into fertile slopes which cover a portion of that city."

"Aye, so long that if the great blocks which compose the outer wall had been of ordinary granite perhaps, or other composite rock, more easily disintegrated than this crystal, the city now would have been a well-nigh undistinguishable ruin."

I stood awe-struck before this revelation of an antiquity, compared with which that of the Pyramids of Egypt is but yesterday. Afterward, by measurement, I ascertained the blocks averaged fully twelve feet in length by five in height, and were eight feet in breadth. Within, the structure, for the most part, was not so massive. We could see the roofs towering above the walls in great variety of architectural forms. Close to where the city disappeared in the hill we could distinguish the palace by its lofty towers, rising not less than 650 feet above the general level. They were square, and ornamented with projecting turrets. I could see no curved contours anywhere; all were straight lines and angles. The structures were all roofed with plates of the same material, which, as I afterward determined, rested upon rafters of copper that had been cast in moulds. I longed to enter this monument of an antiquity for the human race that I had never dreamed of. But how would the Queen accomplish so seemingly impossible an undertaking? There was but one massive gateway, as we learned from Tu-teet, which was located on its front, and which when closed was quite as strong as the rest of the wall. Although I had brought a very considerable supply of blasting- powder, yet it would require a large quantity and a carefully prepared mine to make any practical breach in such a wall.

"Besides," said the Queen, continuing my reflections, "it would be a pity to mar such a memento. Moreover, the city is not defensible. See you not that the Se-ton-secks man the walls? The entire army hath entered; think you not so, O King?"

"I know not, O God-descended; but thou dost If it be so, then are there not less than 200,000 within the walls."

"Aye, they have lost hope of victory in the open field. No considerable body hath separated from them, as their trail determines and our scouts report. Yet many thousands of the Se- ton-secks have fled to their homes, having lost faith in the God- descended. What provision, think you, is within the city for their support?"

"The city was not provisioned when we left, and the supply can scarce be large enough to last many days, O Queen of Knowledge!"

"See you not, my soul, how the hills extend their gentle incline into the city? It were easily taken by assault, but I would not sacrifice life needlessly."

"Even so, O King; that we may spare the lives of thy subjects we will invest thy city. Do thou command the Se-ton-secks, who remained to till the land, to bring hither stores of food that thou mayst have wherewith to feed thy hungry subjects when they shall have recognized thee as King."

"That I will do, O Queen of Knowledge! How shall I command them? Lo! they are not here."

"But they will be here, being but three days' journey behind us, 1,000 of thy convalescent Se-ton-secks, officered by fifty of thine own descendants, whom my sister hath persuaded, out of her knowledge, that thou art the King who shall rule thy dominion in the strength of love and knowledge. They will perform thy will."

"O great Queen! thy wisdom surpasseth comprehension!" exclaimed Tu-teet, bending to the earth before her.

"But how has this been effected, my soul? No relays of swift- footed messengers could accomplish it."

"The Queen's ear hears, and the Queen's voice is yet heard in our kingdom," was her reply.

"I should never have thought of that," I said, as she smiled at my astonishment. Thus was I continually being surprised. I knew now that behind us all the way had been laid a highway for her servant, the spirit of light.

"How shouldst thou foresee the end from the beginning, and so make provision? Thou hast never led armies," she said, playfully. "Do thou, my husband, take 60,000 of our troops, and all the trenchmen, and make a circuit embankment on the hillside, inclosing all the exits from the city. The hill hath not been tunnelled?" she inquired of Tu-teet.

"Aye, and that they have not the skill to penetrate. Those ancient people well knew how to build to compete with time, the great leveller, and defy the elements. It is not well they should be permitted to sally forth from yonder great gate. I will close it from without."

While I proceeded to draw off my 60,000 men, and march them to the rear of the city up the hill, she brought up certain of her elephants which carried her engineering material, and began the construction of two steel-wire towers. She had known they had walled towns, and had come thus provided. One of these, rising to a considerable height above the walls, she placed to the right and left of the gate, so that riflemen stationed on top of them could reach with their balls any of the enemy who sought to interfere with her operations. These were necessarily within easy range of the enemy's arrows; but for their protection she ran up with pulleys, on the side facing the walls, shields of the wire- cable netting which she used for bridges. So closely were the cables woven together with smaller wire that they were both arrow- and bullet-proof. Under protection of the rifles, her artisans proceeded to fasten the gates from without. These consisted of two sheets of copper, of about an inch and a half in thickness, swinging inwards upon pivots, and with their weight supported on rollers. Into the copper they drilled holes, in which threads were cut and screws inserted, thus binding the two leaves of the gate firmly together with iron bars. This was not accomplished, however, without an effort on the part of the enemy to prevent it. They poured showers of arrows against the shield, and ran through the cross-fire of the rifles in order to toss their vapor-sacks over the tall capping, above the gate, onto the workmen. Thus many lost their lives in fruitless efforts to prevent what was completed in a few minutes by the workmen. Expecting that we would hardly be permitted to station our army on the south side of the city, upon the hillside, since it was so commanding a position, without opposition, I formed my line at the base of the hill, and swung it about as upon a pivot, having it well supported in the centre, to be prepared for any flanking movement that might be attempted by the enemy. It was well that I took this precaution, in view of the fact that, as you know, the hillsides were wooded, and afforded such protection to the enemy as put them less at a disadvantage, when opposed to our superior weapons, than they were on the open plain. The extreme right of my line, as you understand, described the circumference of a circle. The line itself, however, was in the form of a semicircle, in order that all parts of it might be equally distant from any attacking force. The line had described about ninety degrees, or half the semicircle, and circled north and south on the hillside, when from behind every tree and shrub and cover of any kind there sprang forth, for the most part within bow-shot of us, a force which I judged not less than my own in numbers. They were massed near my centre, and delivered such a shower of arrows upon us as almost concealed them from us. But they withheld their vapor-sacks. The Queen had effectually cured them of that folly. No inconsiderable number of our men dropped out of line, seriously wounded. The order was immediately given to fire, to which less than half the riflemen in line responded, for the reason that they had been carefully instructed to fire only at the enemy; and if they could find no mark, to reserve their fire. Instantly, on discharging their arrows, they jumped behind trees again, so that half of their number were not in view when our men were ready. Had the alert Toltus not been such expert marksmen, it certainly would have gone hard with us. We had no sooner delivered our fire than out from behind the great trees and little mounds of earth, almost in our very teeth, leapt the Se-ton-secks, and delivered a shower of their spears that well-nigh threw our ranks into confusion. But from both wings, which under my orders had come on double-quick within short range, there came a cross-volley that not only swept down those immediately in our front, but reached those who, back of them, were waiting under cover to engage us in a hand to-hand conflict with spears and knives. That, if it had transpired, would have proved a most serious affair; since although the Queen's tubes would have made sad work among them, yet the greater strength of the Se-ton-secks, and their long arms, would have decimated our riflemen. However, finding themselves flanked by our wings, and shot down behind their coverts, they broke and fled toward the city, into which they entered pell-mell by its numerous avenues. They left of dead and wounded behind them in the timber fully 5,000, while of our own force fully 700 were wounded; only a small portion, however, fatally. As an evidence of what the Se- ton-secks would have done, had they ever succeeded in engaging us hand-to-hand, I discovered that nearly every man who was struck by the spears they hurled was knocked to the ground. The weapon could not penetrate their armor; but quite a number were so internally injured that they died. Meanwhile, the Queen had stationed a thin line about the city walls, to see that no attempt might prove successful by small parties to escape over it; and having placed 5,000 at the gate to cooperate at any point, she had begun moving the balance of the force, and her own guard, around to the south to join me. She hastened forward on hearing the firing, and arrived in the rear of my centre in time to see the beaten enemy in hasty retreat. She took in the whole situation at a glance, like the experienced general that she was, and warmly commended me for the manner in which I had deployed my men at the outset, which, she said, had avoided a most serious and possible defeat for us. I noticed, however, that she would have arrived at the right point, and at the right time, to have prevented defeat. I felt proud of her praise, which I valued more highly than if it had been bestowed upon me by a Napoleon as one of his generals; for I assure you that she had fought more battles than Napoleon, as I learned from her history, narrated to me from time to time; and although you will think me biased in my judgment, she was a greater general than Napoleon. With her foresight he would have won the battle of Waterloo. It was marvellous, and not possible with any ordinary human who has only the experience of half a century or so. Well, I completed the investment of the city by throwing up rifle-pits, while the Queen herself looked after our wounded; and then the whole army, save the sentinels, rolled itself up in its blankets and went to sleep;—that is, after it had filled its stomach from its knapsacks. You may be sure that, after the attempt upon my life by Norwald, it would not have been well for any form of human to have approached our tent. Meanwhile, what had transpired within the city, as we afterward learned, was this. The enemy had poured into the city, in a condition of utter demoralization, as a refuge from the fire-bolts of the dread Queen of Light. The defeat of the God-descended had shaken the confidence which the Se-ton-secks had in them as superior beings, and the Hearts of Fire themselves lost confidence in the sons of Rudnord. They had been forsaken, it was rumored, by the god of fire; else would they have been prepared against the arts of the God-descended daughter of evil, the Queen of the Toltus. Such was the impression they had of her, which had been sedulously inculcated by Rudnord, generation after generation, for centuries. Yet the long subservience of the Se-ton-secks had become a habit, which, after their confidence had been destroyed, still bound them to the superior race, which itself had only the two broken reeds—the two sons of Rudnord—to rely upon. The two eternal ones, therefore, had a hard task before them to re- establish the kingly authority upon its former basis. You will perceive that Rudnord had founded his kingdom upon the principles laid down by his father, Nodroff, in this regard, and the time had come for the manifestation of superior knowledge by some wonder that demonstrated power and aroused hope. Rudnord himself would, no doubt, have been prepared for such an emergency; but the sons were wanting in both the necessary forethought and cunning. They could startle their descendants with no new device, and chaos reigned; when lo! between two of the Hearts of Fire, Norwald was led into the city on the south side. They led him directly toward the palace, exclaiming in the common tongue: "Behold, Norwald, God-descended brother of Rudnord, whom he hath sent to serve us in our time of need!" The Hearts of Fire bent their heads, and the Se-ton-secks got upon their knees (the mode of expressing homage which Rudnord had imposed upon the inferior race) before him as he passed. Though more beautiful, he reminded them of Rudnord; for had he not the same fair, hairless face, and transparent skin? They saw that he carried the same weapons which had decimated their ranks, and which, they had no doubt, came from the same common source, the God-realm beyond the arc. The masses adored him as he passed, and then swarmed behind him, taking up the cry of his two heralds, which went from street to street like an echo over the whole city, after he had disappeared within the palace. That vast structure, which I will describe anon, was filled by the officials of the kingdom, who were also the officers of the army. They had been convoked by the eternal brothers, who had explained to them the reason why it became necessary that Rudnord the bright should be recognized as King, rather than Rudnord the nimble. The whole assembly, as well as the eternal ones, was astonished into silence by the appearance in the central aisle of Norwald, and the cry of his heralds. His aspect carried immediate conviction to their minds, that what the heralds said was true. With erect head and graceful carriage, with no sign of fear or even excitement, he walked up the long aisle straight to the throne, mounted by a series of stairways the platform, where stood the eternal ones dumb with astonishment, exclaiming in the ancient tongue: "The brother of Rudnord greets you, O God-descended!" He laid his weapons beside him on one of the chairs of state, and kissing each of them on the forehead, made over them the sign of the arc. Turning to the assembly he did the same to them, at which they all bent reverently. Not only they, but the brothers were astonished into reverence. "I have come from beyond the arc of light to be your King for a season, lest the kingdom of Rudnord should be destroyed by the Queen of the Toltus," he said. "So proclaim to the people, in their own tongue!"

The sons of Rudnord had ever regarded their father as a superior. Although during his long life he himself had gotten rid of superstition, and with it the belief in his father Nodroff's divinity, yet he had not failed to impress his own sons with a belief in his own divine origin in order to control them. So now the brothers, feeling themselves powerless to re-establish their authority, or withstand the Queen of Light, were willing to give the authority for a time into, as they supposed, more powerful hands. Rudnord the bright, therefore, forthwith proclaimed the assumed brother of Rudnord king. Fresh hope had, therefore, been instilled into the disheartened crowd, and order and authority had been re-established when we arrived. The attempt made to defeat me on the south of the city had been under the direction of Norwald. The failure, doubtless, did not serve to strengthen his authority, for he had worked no wonder nor provided his soldiers with any new weapons to withstand us. He perceived that something was required of him, and resolved upon a cunning and treacherous experiment. He held a consultation with the brothers, and said:

"Sons of Rudnord, I find thou hast no provision for thy people within the city, and that many already go hungry. We have not time to construct such weapons as will destroy the enemy, therefore must you and I alone defeat them by artifice."

He thereupon instructed them in the part which they should play in his scheme, the execution of which was forthwith undertaken, while ourselves and our army slept. We were awakened by one of the sentinels calling upon the Queen, from without the tent, saying:

"O God-descended Queen! there be two of the enemy, and a third, one of the Se-ton-secks, at some distance, who do beckon and call for thee, as it seemeth, with peaceful object, for they show us unstrung bows and broken arrows. We know not what to do."

The Queen arose, and after glancing at the visitors, whom the guards kept at a distance, instructed the guard to say to them in the ancient tongue to remain where they were, and the Queen would see them. Then she said to me:

"My beloved, they are the sons of Rudnord, who ask parley, as if they would sue for peace. Lest, perchance, they may be honest, shall we not see them?"

"We shall never know whether they mean fair or not unless we speak with them," I replied.

"Since Norwald is within their walls, I suspect treachery. They would have sought peace through their king when forced by hunger. This Norwald hath suggested. Therefore place under your armor this shirt of tough gum, which will protect you against the missiles discharged from one of your own weapons. Know you not he has one? I will do the same."

CHAPTER XI.

A CUNNING RUSE AND DESPERATE STRUGGLE—THE ENEMY SURRENDER—TRIUMPHAL ENTRY—A REORGANIZED GOVERNMENT—THE QUEEN EXPLAINS THE CAUSE OF THE FLOOD—MIGRATION OF PEOPLE FROM THE INTERIOR TO THE EXTERIOR GLOBE—THE WONDERFUL PALACE.

I HAD come to know that the Queen, with well-nigh unerring judgment, forecast what any individual or people would do under given conditions. I at once placed the gum shirt under my armor, and buckled on my pistols, so that they hung behind me out of sight as we approached the sons of Rudnord. The Queen threw over her shoulder a gemmed shawl, which, hanging down over her right arm, enabled her to conceal a short electric tube. Thus prepared, we went beyond our rifle-pits, leaving the soldiers sleeping, to hold parley with the sons of Rudnord. Beyond them, some thirty paces, stood an unarmed Se-ton-seck, a giant in form. He stood not less than eight and one-half feet, and doubtless had the strength to have taken the Queen and me one under each arm and carried us at a rapid rate toward the city. That idea flashed through my mind so soon as I saw him; but he stood peaceably, with his arms folded upon his breast, as we advanced. We approached the brothers within ten paces and halted, when the Queen said:

Both had dropped to their knees in sign of humility. They now arose and advanced toward us,—one toward her, the other toward me,—extending their broken bows and arrows, and saying:

"Behold! we present to thee, in token of our broken spirits, our useless bows and broken arrows."

I could read nothing but humility on their ugly faces; but the Queen said hastily, in Toltu:

She had scarcely uttered the warning, and I had only time to grasp the handle of my pistol, when they sprang forward, and in a single bound were upon us. I saw that, at the same instant, the Se-ton-seck giant started toward us, leaving standing in his place, rifle in hand, Norwald. The one who attacked the Queen drew no weapon, capture being Norwald's scheme. But the Queen's eyes were sharper, and her arm more dexterous than his. His hand was raised to grasp her, when with a quick thrust he was too slow to guard, she planted the golden wires on his undefended forehead, and he fell dead. A few long strides, and the Se-ton- seck was within ten feet of them. When the eternal one fell before him he stopped as suddenly as if he himself had been bereft of life. The Queen's eye met his. She pointed with majestic mien to the dead, and the monster, trembling with terror, fell prostrate before her. For me the situation was more critical. My death, not capture, was part of the scheme. My antagonist had in his hand a long, sharp knife, and struck with good intention to plant it in my neck, where I was unprotected by my armor. I had time to draw back far enough to receive the blow full on my breast. Its force was sufficient to stagger me, but I had gotten my pistol to my side, and while his arm was lifted for a more careful thrust, a ball went through his body, and, reeling, he threw up both hands and fell on his face. His fall left me uncovered to Norwald's aim, who had evidently adjusted the sights of his rifle, which, in his hands, I think, would have made an end of me, had I not had the presence of mind to keep my head constantly in motion. As it was, his ball struck the scaled frontlet of my head-gear. Although a glancing shot, it knocked me to my knees. I arose again and fired, while he was adjusting a new cartridge, the while springing back and forth. At forty paces a pistol is no certain weapon anyway, unless it is in a much steadier hand than mine, and I missed him. The report of my pistol was almost drowned in that of a rifle in the hands of a Toltu sentinel, who, with a truer aim, sent his ball home. Norwald's rifle dropped from his hands. He weaved for a moment, and pitched forward upon his head. There was a strange feeling came over me when I saw the vicious creature fall. The mystery of his prolonged life in the bank of clay, and the Queen's premonition, were both startling phenomena. Was his discovery and resurrection mere chance? If not, why, in the infinite economy, was it best that he should be brought to life, to pass through a few turbulent journeys, and then die at our hands? I was startled by the reply that, in my thought, followed close upon the heels of the query. "He was resurrected that you might be rid of your phantom; he died that you might be free from your Nemesis." But Providence had not so determined; he was to be my Nemesis still.

"He was needed," said the Queen, who now stood at my side, in answer to my mental queries, "to found this kingdom on the basis of love and knowledge. He hath accomplished our purpose in the death of the two brothers of the King. These, within their own principalities, for you must know that the descendants of each was subject to his own rule, would ever have conspired to overthrow a peaceful kingdom. Now it may be set up without opposition."

The King, aroused by the firing, had approached in time to overhear the words of the Queen. He knelt by the side of each of his brothers and wept over them in turn.

"Oh! Gli-tin, the bright! why wouldst thou not be warned? Now, shall I never hear thy voice again. And thou, too, my Gli-fel- cres, because thou wouldst be wayward, wilt never smile upon me again. Woe, for me! I am left alone! Of all my brothers, thou wert the most beloved. Farewell! Ye go to join our father beyond the great light, and I—I—am left alone!"

He kissed their brows, and, rising, wiped the tears from his eyes. Then he approached the Queen and said:

"Think not, O great Queen of Knowledge! that I blame thee for this. Mine ear hath overheard thy words of wisdom, and I know it was to be. Yet it hath wounded my heart sorely, that my brothers have departed."

"I grieve with thee, my brother. Ye have been long together, and thou hast suffered many bereavements; yet in the economy of the infinite God, was this thing needful, for the well-being of all thy descendants. Let it rest with the God of Light."

The giant Se-ton-seck, who had arisen to his feet, stood near, fearfully observing what transpired. The Queen told the King to order him to return to the city and report to the officers of the army what had happened. This the King did, and when the Se-ton- seck had gone, she ordered the bodies of all three to be prepared for solemn burial. Then we returned to our tent. All this had transpired within fifteen minutes, and without awaking any part of the army, save such as lay near our tent. It was weary, and had become used to the discharge of the rifles. The Queen's attendants carried the bodies on stretchers to the rear of our lines, rolled them, as was the Toltu custom, in white cloth, stood a garland in form of a semicircle, symbolic of the arc of light, over the head of each, and left them. A few hours later the body of Norwald had disappeared. The wound in his skull which I had thought fatal, had evidently not proved so. I felt that we had not done with him yet. We went to rest again after instructing the sentinels that on no account were we to be disturbed. This proved to be a very difficult order for them to carry out, for we had been asleep but a few hours when the earth on which we lay conveyed to us the sound of moving feet, and shortly the air became filled with the far-off jabberings of thousands of voices. I arose, without disturbing the Queen, who was in a sound slumber, and looked out. I perceived that the Toltus had done their very best to avoid waking the royal sleepers. The sentinels had aroused our entire guard of 2,000 men, whose colonels—for Harding had given them a European organization even to the names of the officers—had quietly marched them down the hillside, where they stood facing, in battle array, a body of at least 5,000 of the golden-breasted, and keeping them at bay. It is not improbable that the guard might have fired upon them in order to drive them back into the city, had they not been aware that the discharge of the guns would be sure to wake us. The golden-breasted were talking at the Toltus; the officers of the guard were talking back at the golden-breasted, and both were gesticulating vigorously. Our men were pointing to their weapons while motioning the enemy backward, and the enemy were indicating that they were disarmed and wanted to come forward. Understanding the situation, I quietly withdrew from the tent and invited the King, who had passed the time in restless wakefulness, to accompany me, that he might give assurances to his descendants that all would be well, and to send them back into the city. We advanced in front of the line formed by our guard, which made a reverential bow its entire length when it saw me, and the chief officers came forward and prostrated themselves before us, entreating Tu-teet to come to them and be their king. He harangued them at some length, telling them that within a short time he would enter the city with the Queen of Light to re-establish his kingdom on the basis of love and knowledge. They begged him not to delay, because many were hungry and they had nothing to eat. He told them that the great God-Queen had known they would be hungry, and that by every highway food was approaching the city. He ordered them to make ready in the great palace to receive himself and the God-Queen, and bade them return to the city, which they did with lighter hearts. Such was the report which he made to the Queen of the occurrence, as I did not understand a word of what was said. I did not leave the Queen asleep, as I supposed. During my absence she had been in communication with Cetsen at the palace, and the news that she received must have been of great moment. As I re- entered our tent, on glancing through the partially open curtains that divided the inner from the outer apartment, I saw her moving from me with her head bent and eyes fixed upon the ground. Her hands were working nervously, and her whole deportment evinced a state of excitement that I had never before witnessed. "Why should they conspire against me? Why do they force upon me the spilling of more blood, which I abhor? Have I not made their people happy?"

She heard my footsteps on the soft carpet, and she turned to me with a smiling face, on which there was no trace of any other emotion than one of perfect content. I almost doubted the testimony of my ears. Had they deceived me? My responsive smile, I think, obliterated those characters, which she ordinarily read with ease. And I think that neither at that moment, nor for some time afterward, did she know I had overheard her. By what impending evil she was threatened she did not tell me, and I did not inquire. I trusted her purpose in keeping me ignorant of it. Within, as I should judge, six hours after the parley with the golden-breasted, the Queen had perfected her arrangements to enter the city in state. It was her policy to impress the people with an idea of her own greatness, in order that they might have confidence in their King, who had so godlike a sovereign for a friend. Moreover, she saw that Rudnord had made no effort to refine the natures of his descendants, but had trained them as warriors, that they might by force, if need were, maintain their supremacy over the Se-ton-secks. She sought, therefore, to make such a show as might tend to elevate their tastes. Our triumphal entry was in consequence not without some show of magnificence. In advance marched 1,000 of the guard. On the breasts of each hung suspended from the neck a badge of brilliant red material, cut in the form of an elephant. This was ornamented with gems in the form of the Queen's insignia, the coiled serpent. On the head of each, also, was a gemmed fillet, so that marching 50 abreast with close rank and rifles at shoulder, they were of themselves a dazzling sight. Following them was a company of 200 musicians playing upon golden wind-instruments and reeds exclusively. They too were in armor, and wore, hanging from their left shoulders and encircling their bodies, wreaths made of green vines interwoven with flowers with which the woods on the hillsides abounded. They moved, dancing to the time of their own music; for all the Toltu musicians are dancers. Music and graceful movement are considered parts of the same art, one of which is not complete without the other. Then came San-son, in all the glory of state occasion, in which he had often been a chief figure. His housing was a commingling of bright-colored fabrics, fringed with golden thread. Around his neck was a great golden collar, and his saddle was canopied by cloth woven exclusively of gold thread. The curtains were parted on the two sides and in front so that the Queen, Tu-teet, and myself, who occupied the seats, could be seen by all the people, which included men, women, and children. Tu-teet occupied the place of honor, on the forward seat, and at the Queen's request, had submitted to be clothed with some magnificence. His shaggy body was enveloped in a purple himation which the Queen had presented to him. It was richly bordered with designs in jewels and gold scales, and was, I think, the most showy garment on exhibition. His long mane, thrown back from his face, was held in place by a broad band also ornamented with gems. Over her armor, the Queen wore that same himation of dazzling brilliance, in which I had first beheld her, standing in the portal of the palace. I was a gorgeous figure myself, and, I assume, looked on the occasion every inch a king, in my gold- tissued chiton and my chlamys of crimson, glittering with gems. I venture to say that there was never before in this world, gathered into the same space, as much wealth as San-son then carried on his back; that is, estimated at the value which you would place upon it. But gems are very plentiful with us, and are called the Queen's pebbles. The Toltu who found one, was glad because, on bringing it to the Queen, he was always sure of a smile and a blessing. It had been so for 500 floods, and you can imagine what a store of them she had in the rough. They were still found occasionally and brought to her, she told me, but she had long ceased to have them cut and polished, and she doubted if there were one of the present generation who could do it. What astonished me was, that the Queen had foreseen this from the beginning and made provision for it.

"When I had learned on what Rudnord relied for victory, and had discovered an antidote for his poison; and when I had estimated the effect of thy explosives, it was easy, my beloved, to foresee that I should make a triumphal entry into the walled city of the enemy," she replied smilingly, as if I had propounded the question aloud.

But to resume. Behind us came an elephant, richly caparisoned, bearing the Queen's two female attendants; behind that the second 1,000 of the guard, carrying the electric tubes, with the same badges upon their breasts as those in front, save that they were blue in color. Nothing of all this had been specially constructed for the occasion; it was all among the stores of the castle, and had been used centuries before. Behind the guard marched the 1,000 bearing the heavy guns which threw the Queen's fire, wearing chaplets of leaves and flowers. A solitary elephant followed them, draped and canopied in pure white, and on its saddle lay the bodies of the two brothers of the King. She had perceived that Rudnord had not aroused any religious feeling that might lead them to look forward to a future state, and she had resolved to kindle that hope in their breasts through the medium of a ceremonial burial. The procession ended with a body of 10,000 men, each one wearing a chaplet of green leaves and flowers.

Later, the entire army was permitted to enter, that all might see the wonders of the ancient city. I will not consume time by relating, in detail, the manner in which Tu-teet was installed the sovereign of the nation of hairy humans, or how the Queen managed to convince the God-descended that he was a creature to be reverenced as a fountain of knowledge; suffice it to say that she did it, and hedged him around as a divinity. She placed in his hands a copy of the laws of Nodroff, which he interpreted to his officers, that they might be promulgated among both castes. The law of a life for a life, whether the life were taken by accident or design, was one which I would have thought could not have been imposed upon so rude a race; but the Queen said that, of all the laws, it was the one which, in its enforcement, would best evidence the King's divinity, and the one which in fact they would most carefully obey; it would best keep the King's authority continually before them. Now no Toltu thinks of resorting to force, when differing with another, although she could remember when, many generations ago, they resorted to recognized modes of encounter to settle disputes, such as buffeting each other with sacks stuffed with wool; but the battles occasionally ended fatally, and were given up. Now it is a rare thing for a Toltu to be come angry, under any circumstances. It has come to be a useless and unprofitable emotion; where you or I would become angry, he laughs.

She promulgated laws that were so radically different from the loose and arbitrary government of Rudnord that the people were sent to their homes with the conviction that a greater than Rudnord reigned. They understood, too, that there was to be war no more, unless their country should be invaded, when the King would furnish them with destructive weapons, and when, if there should be need, the invincible Queen would come to the King's aid. All their arms, therefore, were stored in the King's palace, and the great crowd, being marshalled without the walls, was fed, and ordered each one to seek his home. Because it was necessary that the King should be assisted in the organization of his government, and because there were many things within his dominion that we wished to see, our army, except a force of 5,000 men, was sent back to our palace under the command of the Toltu generals, to be disbanded, and the Queen and I remained the guests of Tu-teet for some time. We examined the ancient city at our leisure. Its walls, as you understand, described the arc of a circle on the plain; so, within, the streets formed a series of circles, one within the other, having the palace for a common centre. These were all intersected by streets, which radiated like the spokes of a wheel from the innermost circle, within which stood the palace; this was oblong in form, and virtually determined the size of the whole city, and that it was nearly one-half buried beneath the hill. We afterward determined, however, that the buried cliff on the south side formed a considerable portion of the wall, and cut off a segment of the circle on the buried side. The streets were of a uniform width of about fifty feet, and paved with the hornblende that formed the exterior of all the structures; on each side of every street were gutters, a foot in depth and a pace in width. Tu-teet said that his father, Rudnord, was of the opinion that at one time the creek which ran down the valley, and which had a large spring for its fountain scarcely a quarter of a mile east of the city, once ran through the gutters of the city, but that the earth from the hills had turned it out of its course, so that it now circled over a measure—that is, about half a mile—beyond the walls. Of this, on a more careful examination, I had no doubt, since I found on the east side the sluiceway by which it had entered, and that the streets were all graded toward the west, where was the opening from which it emerged. However, my observant Queen had already determined the fact, without hunting for the sluiceways. She called my attention to the points of pavement which projected from each of the western angles, at every intersection of the gutters, and said the ingenious contrivance could only be for the purpose of distributing the water received from the east and flowing toward the west. She got at the reasons for things so easily, this remarkable woman! The houses stood back from the gutters uniformly about two paces, and short flights of steps led to all the doors; but they were of numerous forms, as varied, in fact, as the relations of simple right angles could apparently have made them. Some were plain square structures, others were towered and turreted; some had massive pediments, supported by octagonal and hexagonal shafts, with ornamented capitals and bases, and others had courts within them. The material of all was the same; the doors were of sheet- copper, in many cases showing curious designs in relief; the windows in all of them were numerous and small, not more than a foot in width, and of different lengths, often ranged side by side under pediments and cornices, supported by light pillars between them. They were now filled with plates of a very inferior quality of glass; it admitted the light, but was too opaque to be seen through. This, however, was inserted by Rudnord, as Tu-teet assured us; originally they had been filled with sheets of mica, which, in some protected situations, still remained in them. The flagging of the streets gave evidence of long wear, since, for a space between the gutters, the attrition of wheeled vehicles, as we supposed, had hollowed them, especially in the vicinity of the palace, to a depth of about six inches.

I was so given to speculating upon the great beyond, both ahead of and behind me, that I would hang about a ruin, even when yet a boy, until I had peopled it in my imagination as it perchance might have been in the long ago, and filled it with hopes and fears, and loves and ambitions, old hearts, young hearts, gray heads and pretty faces; so now I lost myself, time and again, in the fancies to which this mysterious city gave wing. What race of people had built it, and when? Were they white, black, or red, bare-skinned or hairy? Do their descendants yet inhabit the globe, within or without? How and why had they disappeared, leaving behind them such an enduring and wonderful memento? What line of kings constructed such a monument of grandeur as the palace? The oblong space in which it stood, by your system of measurement, was as nearly 640 yards as I could ascertain, in its longest diameter, and it was nearly entirely occupied by this magnificent building, which dwarfed all others within the city. It faced the north, and its grand portal, located midway of the longer side of the circle, was approached by flights of steps not less than 100 yards in length, their circumference forming the half of a hexagon, and rising to the height of fifty feet. The extensive platform to which they led was flanked by stupendous yet graceful towers, rising, as I judged them by comparison with other buildings, 650 feet in the air, exclusive of the pinnacles, which stood 200 or more feet higher. They arose by divisions, each one faced with pediments on the four sides, supported by six ornamented shafts on each face, between which were the windows. You will perceive they were rather spires than towers, and I think the most graceful I ever saw, notwithstanding their magnitude. Between them a monster pediment, projecting over the platform, and supported by forty immense octagonal pillars, with square pedestals and capitals, extended the length of the platform 100 yards, at an elevation of about 170 yards; back of this pediment rose the wall of the building to a considerable height, its line broken by an immense gable, with heavy cornice, which had the effect of dividing the sloping roof into angles.

Portion of the base of one of the 96 columns
in the antediluvian palace of Zu-Fra-Brad.

To the east and west of this central portion of the structure extended wings; the walls of each of these, facing the north, consisted of alternate spaces of plain wall and square towers, ten on the face of each wing, and each one ornamented with turrets at its outer angles. The façades of the east and west ends of these wings were the same, having lofty spires in the centre, and lesser ones on each corner. There were great flights of steps and elaborate entrances in the centre of each. It was into the great portal that the Queen and I entered, between a long colonnade. Here the immensity of the structure became more apparent. Without, its perfect proportions and lightness made it seem of less magnitude than it was; but here, where we could get a perspective of columns and other objects diminishing in the distance, and could look upward to the lofty ceilings, where details were lost to vision, we could comprehend that it was unequalled on the face of the earth. I could see that the loftiest spire of Europe might be set in the centre of the great hall of audience, and not only would its cross scarce touch the ceiling, but it would be dwarfed by comparison with the ponderous shafts that supported it. Its dimensions east and west were 116 yards, and north and south 194 yards. Within, the style of architecture changed completely.

"I am lost in wonder and admiration!" I exclaimed to the Queen. "This ought to have developed the arts among the descendants of Rudnord."

"Nay, Rudnord did not encourage them to imitate divinity. This was an evidence of his own greatness, since, as he taught them, the great God built it for him," she replied.

Within, where it might be protected from the elements, it was finished with the more perishable material, pure white marble, of which all the pillars were constructed. These divided the hall into three colonnades north and south. Each pillar formed the support of half-circle arches, that crossed each other between every four pillars, and from each of these numerous centres hung pendant carved images of strange animals, poetic creations, I suppose, but differing from any I ever saw produced by our artists. They did not look to be of heroic size at such a great height, yet undoubtedly were so. The means by which they were suspended could not be seen, so that they seemed to be in the act of leaping from their lofty heights upon the heads of those below. I could hardly resist the dread, lest the one immediately above me, wherever I stood, might come crashing down upon me. The fact that they had hung there an indefinite number of thousands of years might have given assurance to some, but I confess it only increased my dread. Thin slabs of marble, cut into traceries of vines, leaves, and fruits, meandered everywhere over the walls, and hid among their foliage, in part, the forms of winged creatures, which seemed to be flitting through them. The effect produced, in the subdued light, by the contrast of white against the dark walls everywhere, was so weird that a doubt, if indeed it were the result of human skill alone, would continually force itself upon my mind. Into the hall, from the wings of either side, were magnificent entrances. From the south side, to the distance of forty yards, projected, at the height of full fifty yards, a magnificent structure, on which was the throne, with chairs of state ranged on either side of it. This presented four faces to the north, with alcoves in each face, to which, as also to the throne, circular stairs led from the floor, and within which, as I suppose, officials of the court were wont to stand in the long ago. The main entrance, however, to the throne was from the rear. This whole construction, which of itself was of the proportion of one of our fine churches, was a most magnificent display of gold plating and carved marble. It was surrounded by a railing and heavy cornice of exquisite design, which gave it symmetry and finish. When the Queen and I stood upon this lofty perch, the people beneath looked like children. This great room, in which, I assume, might stand 100,000 people, was but dimly lighted by the hundreds of narrow windows in front, and far up on either side, where its walls rose above the wings. It would be tedious to describe the several portals and the numerous apartments of the wings. All were finished in the same skilful manner, and constructed on the same scale of grandeur proportioned to their uses.

"And now, my Queen," I said, when later we had the leisure to speculate upon the wonder, "when and by whom, think you, this city was built? What theories have you to account for its abandonment?"

"I have already said, my soul, that at one time the earth shifted its position, whereby the direction of the circuits made by the spirit of light were changed, and along with them the temperature of localities. Prior thereto the whole interior world was warmer than it is now, because that great planet, the source of the spirit of light, which I have never seen, threw his rays at regular periods into the interior. I think that at that time the earth generally, and perhaps everywhere, had passed beyond the creative conditions in her development. She had already grown old, and had produced all her animal types."

"Then it was when, as you think, the frozen belt on the exterior globe was farther to the south?" I inquired.

"Methinks your men of science would discover some evidence of that on the earth's face."

"They have," I replied. "The evidences are very plain that fields of ice lay farther to the south."

"And find they no evidence, at the same time, that the floods of waters swept the high and dry lands where they could not remain; but where, perchance, they may have left great lakes, which, although unsupplied by sufficient fountains, it required many hundreds of your years to dry up by evaporation?"

"I have seen," I said, "on what we call our prairies, that is, extensive plains, huge rocks lying on the surface far to the south, where they have been carried by the floating ice, and I have stood upon the shore of what was once a great inland body of water."

"There are the same proofs here, and I know it must have been the same everywhere over the globe, within and without, if I am right as to the cause. Well, I think this city was built before that great shifting of the earth's axis, when your frozen zone without was far to the south, and before the spirit of light had chosen this highway and produced the burning earth, and thus locally renewed the conditions of primal life."

"And do you think this race was swept out of existence in the great time of floods, when the earth shifted?"

"It was in this region but a temporary flood, in which nearly all were drowned, while some fled to the uplands, where they perished from hunger and exposure, since they were but rocky, unproductive elevations. Some by means of boats may have made their way to unflooded districts at the north, beyond the arc of light, and so escaping the perils of a southward journey on the exterior globe, perpetuated their race there. I know not how that may have been, but doubtless the frozen barrier was broken up for a time, and it took many of your years for it to re-form where it now is. Some few, however, I make no doubt, survived in this region, and their blood now runs in the veins of the Toltus, and, consequently, in mine."

"I have many proofs that prior to the shifting of the earth this was a torrid climate. When the earth ceased to produce animal life, those organisms survived which were best adapted to the climate and other conditions. Those who built this city, I venture to say, crossing the ocean to the south, came from a more temperate region, and were fair and comparatively hairless, like yourself, my soul; who may, for aught we know, be a branch of the same race. The traditions of Nodroff say the fair-faced races came on the exterior globe from the north. Some leader here established a kingdom, wresting it from the native inferior race, which probably became extinct. In some contiguous portion of the burning zone the earth produced the Toltu's hairy ancestors, who probably became the companions of the white-skinned, hairless survivors, and of them came the present mixed race."

"The Toltus, when Nodroff came, had a tradition of a flood, which I have preserved. Besides, Tu-teet tells me that when Rudnord discovered this city, the streets and the floors of the houses were covered with deposits of earth. See you," she said, as she threw the strong light from her electric lamp upon the marble garniture of the palace, "here remains still the evidence of the flood."

I perceived that, to the height of ten feet above our heads, it had been permanently stained by the action of the water. There is no doubt in my mind that the city was built by antediluvians. I am, in consequence, less disposed than formerly to regard the tradition of Noah and his ark as fabulous.

"How they quarried and cut this hard material, and elevated such huge blocks to their lofty position, is as interesting a mystery as how a race called the Egyptians, on the exterior of the globe, built the pyramids," I said.

"We may possibly determine how," she replied; "but these people not only sought protection within these massive walls during the hot seasons which then prevailed, but they built to perpetuate themselves. There is a large chamber beneath this throne, which, Tu-teet says, Rudnord forbade to be opened, and the opening to which he, in fact, never communicated to his sons. I am persuaded that we shall find within it some confirmation or refutal of my opinions. It appears that no one lives who knows where, or in what manner, it is to be entered. We will, therefore, have to search for it."

CHAPTER XII.

THE VAULT BENEATH THE GREAT THRONE—A WONDERFUL SIGHT—EMBALMED ANTEDILUVIAN KINGS—THE QUEEN EXPLAINS HOW IT WAS DONE—ENTRAPPED BY CUNNING MECHANISM—THE CITY EXAMINED.

WE immediately began an inspection of the sculptured walls of the throne by the aid of the electric lamp, which revealed every joint and peculiarity of construction. But among the panels, carvings, and numberless sculptured reliefs which ornamented the exterior of the wonderful throne, ours seemed to be a hopeless task, and I had little expectation of success. Not so the Queen. She had no such word as fail in her lexicon. She walked about the marble pile and said:

"All this persuades me that these rulers relied upon mystery and display to control their people. I doubt not that the kings were regarded as divinely endowed, and that their bodies after death were kept from the eyes of the people that they might not be recognized as common mortals, subject to the same laws as themselves. If beneath the throne is a sepulchre, then it opened not in this hall to the view of the people, but the way to it is from the other parts of the palace, by some hidden avenue. We must have the aid of Tu-teet, whom I am expecting to join us here."

That hairy monarch shortly appeared, and the Queen asked him if back of the wall, upon which the throne abutted, there were not galleries. He said that there were; one that led from the wings on to the platform of the throne, and, beneath that, one which led he knew not where.

"Then that is the one, O King, which we wish to enter, and do you come with us, that you may learn what thy palace doth contain."

Tu-teet bowed reverently, and we followed him into the east wing, passing along numerous galleries between long colonnades until we arrived at the rear of the building. The Queen, meanwhile, informed Tu-teet in regard to the antiquity of the city. We discovered that the walls in the rear of the central division were double, with galleries between them. That which led to the throne was lighted by windows, but the one beneath it was dark as Erebus. Moreover, the entrance to it was secret. Tu-teet himself did not know where it was; but the Queen, placing her electric ear against the successive slabs of marble which lined the walls of the upper gallery, while I tapped them with the butt of my pistol, selected one, and announced confidently that there was the entrance. These slabs were all about three feet by eight, and in that particular differed in shape from those used elsewhere in the building, which were square. Nothing escaped her eyes. The one she selected no doubt covered a recess, yet it was fitted in place like all the others, and there seemed to be no indication whatever that it was movable,—that is, to my eyes, but not to the Queen's, for she almost immediately pressed with her thumb upon a spot on an adjoining slab, and the one she had chosen swung outward on hinges. I could see now that thumbs of antediluvian kings had, by pressing the same spot, slightly discolored the marble, where, on close inspection, a small square of marble had been inserted and fitted so perfectly that my eyes would have searched for it in vain. Her pressure by some internal and hidden mechanism had thrown back three bolts, while a spring on the hinge side of the slab forced it open. Into the recess the three of us entered, leaving the door open behind us. The electric lamp revealed a commodious landing and long flights of steps, leading down to the lower gallery. Descending to the latter, we followed it to where we judged was opposite the rear of the throne. I noticed that we walked on earth which I knew had never been removed since the flood, whenever that was. The locality of the entrance to the vaults beneath the throne was easily determined, for Rudnord had been there before us, and had found it necessary to remove the earth from the stone floor in order to open the copper door by which the entrance was closed. Just then, while the Queen searched for the hidden spring, an idea struck me.

"My soul," I said, "although copper does not readily oxidize, yet, in time, the atmosphere will dissolve it. This copper, however, I notice, is comparatively unaffected."

"In some atmospheres that is perhaps true. But in this the temperature is so nearly uniform, and this metal is so strongly charged with the spirit of light, that it is quite as indestructible as gold. Ah, here it is at last!"

She touched a spring, when the ponderous door swung back, and admitted us into the vault. Its length was 101 feet, showing that the walls were about nine feet thick. The first glance revealed these to be divided into a series of niches, each one separated from the others by fluted marble pillars, having beautifully carved pedestals and capitals, and sustaining cornices and pediments. The further end of the vault was circular in form, like the exterior of the throne, and there was lavished upon what was, we did not doubt, the resting-place of the founder of the city, the greatest expenditure of labor and skill. Upon a raised platform, to which steps ascended, lay a marble sarcophagus elevated on pillars. It occupied the centre of the platform, and about it, forming regular lines, rose graceful shafts to the roof of the vault, which was exquisitely arched. The columns were fluted, and all flat surfaces were carved in quaint designs, every line of which was filled with gold. There were alternations of marble and gold mouldings, and the effect produced by the materials and design was so bright and fresh, and withal so modern, that, had it not been for the peculiar character of the tracery and the water-stain which covered the lower half of it, I could scarcely have persuaded myself that it was a work of antiquity at all. We mounted the platform, and, having approached the sarcophagus, saw that it contained a casket of pure gold. In the lid of the casket, near the head, was a square of about a foot in dimensions, filled with crystals about two inches in diameter and perfectly transparent. The Queen held her electric lamp above it, and we looked in. What we saw struck us dumb with wonder, and Tu-teet jumped backward against one of the pillars. I believe he would have rushed from the vault had he not relied so absolutely upon the Queen's wisdom. From that coffin the face of a living man, as it seemed, smiled up at us. It was the face of a man of about sixty or sixty-five years of age, as I judged from the appearance of his features and the grey hairs which mingled with the dark brown of his long hair and beard. The lids were lifted from blue eyes that were so bright, and the tints on his face were so lifelike, that we stood for a moment in expectation that his smiling lips were about to part and give us a hearty welcome.

"The earth is very old," said the Queen reflectively. "And long before the floods, when the earth shifted her axis, men came as near to finding out God as we."

"And here, my soul, we must believe, lies an antediluvian as natural as life. I can hardly conceive of it."

"This is a wonderful process of embalmment," she said. "It and the art evinced in this structure persuade me that the human races were then longer-lived than now."

"Nay, I cannot imagine with what substance they have displaced the natural fluids of the body, thus to preserve the flesh and form so perfectly; and yet it is wonderful, only because we happen to know not how."

Whatever the Queen did not know, forthwith engaged all her faculties. The solution of a problem of any kind gave her pleasure, and she always went provided with such means of solution as she could conveniently carry, or, as often happened, I could carry for her. So now she asked me for her microscope, an instrument which revealed to her more than all others. Adjusting its focus to the face beneath the crystal, she examined it carefully, while I held the light. Then she inspected the golden casket itself, and said smilingly:

"It is very simple, after all, my beloved. It hath been soaked in salted water, in which saltpetre, of which in part your powder is made, hath been dissolved. The features have with great art been shaped into an expression of joy, and rounded into lifelike fullness by the injection of material beneath. I recognize the salt and saltpetre crystals in the pores of the skin."

"It hath not been permitted to evaporate. The air hath been withdrawn from the casket, and the water still holds the salt in solution."

"Why, what bunglers those Egyptians of ours on the exterior globe were, after all. Their shrunken, dark, leathery product shows them to have been novices at the business of embalming; and yet our modems have not found out how they did it. If they had only known this mode of antediluvian pickling, what a much better idea we should have of the personal appearance of the builders of the pyramids."

The head of this smiling king was encircled by a band of gold, on the front of which, set with small garnets, was a crude picture of what I conceived to be a boat and some men engaged in combat. Through the crystal we could just catch a glimpse of some light fabric on his shoulders of a bright-red color. Beyond the head of the sarcophagus, on the wall, was a large slab of marble, somewhat larger than one of your doors there. It was covered with characters, arranged in columns. We did not doubt that it was an interesting historical record, if it could only be interpreted. This, of course, was beyond the Queen's ability; yet she determined at her leisure, after we should return home, to make the effort, and I may say it was one in which she succeeded. Now, she requested me to use the sarcophagus for a table, and make a copy of a part of it. This I did, on some of the Queen's paper, which is written upon by a metallic pencil, a superior invention, which I will not stop to describe. Afterward, I completed a copy of the entire memoriam, the characters of which were engraved and filled with gold, to effect which some sort of cement was used. On each side of this inscription were two of the niches I have described. I gave them but a casual glance at first; but observing that they were higher than any of the others, I requested the Queen to hold the light, in order that we might see them more clearly. Involuntarily I exclaimed: "And there were giants in those days!" The copper caskets, which stood in the niches, were not less than twelve feet high.

"Can it be possible, think you, that there are pickled humans inside as tall as the caskets?" I asked of the Queen, in amazement.

"The traditions of Nodroff peopled the north with a race of giants, and the Toltus have vague legends about giants in the north," she replied.

"Are these, I wonder, the original Gog and Magog of Hebrew tradition, or only two of their descendants?" I rejoined, as I looked about for something on which I could mount to get a peep at them through the crystal plates. Nothing, however, was to be found. But when the Queen explained the situation to Tu-teet, he at once proffered to hold the God-descended Amos Jackson on his broad shoulders. The platform, on which stood the sarcophagus, gave us an advantage of three feet; and steadying myself on Tu- teet's shoulders by taking hold of one of the pillars, while the Queen held up her lamp near the plate, I looked in, and saw a face a foot and a half in length, and of proportionate breadth—a face that I could never afterward get rid of. Every line of the huge face was fixed by the cunning artist to give expression to intense horror. Shaggy red hair grew low upon a broad brow, which was encircled by a plain gold fillet. On the east side of the inscription the other monster casket contained a red-headed giantess, whose features were expressive of deep sorrow. On the side walls were fifty niches, all of which but twenty-seven contained caskets all of gold. Of the pickled ancients within them, all were men save three. Above each was an inscription, and all no doubt had been sovereigns. The caskets and inscriptions varied in form and ornamentation so radically as to demonstrate that long periods of time had elapsed, during which art ideas had changed. You must imagine the strange sensations I experienced while thus standing face to face with the contemporaries of Noah. Nay, the last one thus preserved may have been coeval with him; but the long line of kings must have extended into the remote past beyond him. I cannot describe my emotions, except that I was oppressed for one moment with a sense of the vast interval of time that had elapsed, and the events which had transpired, by which innumerable kingdoms had been erected and overthrown; by which races had either become extinct or commingled, and by which seas had existed and disappeared, and continents had changed their forms since these lived, who looked at me as if they might still be living. The next moment time, in my mind, would come into contrast with incomprehensible eternity; and I could hardly resist the impression that time is an illusion of our senses, and that these were really only of yesterday. The faces were expressive of every human emotion, and thus on them, I presume, was to be read a brief digest of the reign of each. The mournful look of one seemed to proclaim that he had known many sorrows, and passed through a turbulent reign; of another, that his had been peaceful; of another, that with cunning and foresight he had overcome all his enemies; of another, that with the strong arm of physical force he had overcome all opposition; or of still another, that with majesty of mien and superior wisdom he had enforced obedience. When the Queen became satisfied that we had thoroughly inspected what the vault contained, we started toward the door by which we had entered. Tu-teet, being in advance of us, was the first to reach it, and we were startled by a cry of terror. Rudnord, as we knew, had filled his sons with a superstitious dread of this gloomy burial-place, and impressed them with the conviction that, if one of them should enter it, he might not come out alive. This statement seemed now about to be verified. The spring mechanism of the door had closed and bolted it upon us. It is true that the three bolts which held it were shot into copper staples, of about a quarter of an inch in thickness, and were in plain view on the inside; and if we had been provided with a hammer and hard-tempered chisel, we could have cut our way out. But we had nothing of the sort, and the place contained nothing whatever to serve our need. There was not a casket, which Tu-teet and I could lift, to use as a battering- ram against the copper door, which was a quarter of an inch in thickness. A piece of one of the marble shafts might have enabled us to burst it open; but they were immovable, since we had nothing to move them with. I could see that in the wall was a hole, into which the antediluvian thrust, very likely, a key, to avoid being entombed along with his pickled ancestors; but that key had probably been lost during the excitement attendant upon the flood, anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, and it would be useless to search for it now, I thought. Caged in a vault, the existence of which was unknown to any one living but ourselves, the situation seemed desperate. By association with the Queen, I had become well-nigh insensible to fear; yet I could not help regarding the prospect of death by starvation with dread. In the great hall was quartered a regiment of Toltus; but three solid yards of pure hornblende intervened, and they might as well have been back in our own dominions. No noise that we might make could reach them. The Queen alone, as usual, stood unmoved, with all her faculties alert.

"I pushed against the door when we entered, and it required such force to move it that I concluded there was no mechanism to close it."

This remark of the Queen did not serve to raise our hope of release, and Tu-teet, who was hanging on every word of hers (for, in exercising her refining influence over him, she courteously interpreted to him what she said to me, in Toltu), was well-nigh beside himself with fear.

"Can you conceive of any mode of escape, my beloved? I can think of nothing, save the powder in my pistol cartridges, which could be of any service to us."

"It might be inserted into that hole in the wall, where I suppose the antediluvian put his key, and thus blast the rock and expose the mechanism."

"Nay, that mechanism requires space, and hath many vents. I think the explosive would not shatter the rock. The King beareth the means of egress," she concluded smilingly, addressing Tu- teet.

"I have nothing, most potent Queen, save this large knife." He took it from its sheath, and handed it to me.

"There is no virtue in this, my soul," I said, as I began sawing at the copper staples with its edge; "it is of Rudnord's manufacture, and is softer than the copper, which has been tempered."

"Wait until I have changed the nature of the metal," she said; and taking from one of the numerous pockets with which her dress was provided a vial of mercury, I held the light, while she caused it to flow about the bases of the staples, where they entered the door. To get at the upper one, however, the King, on all fours, made a bench of his back for her to stand on.

"Now, my soul," she said, when it was done, "do you strike with the edge of the heavy knife upon the staples, and we shall see."

The amalgam had permeated the metal, and rendered it so brittle that, with a blow of the heavy knife, they snapped off one after the other, and the released door was free to open; but until the bolts were withdrawn, it would not open of itself. When forced open, however, it persisted in closing itself, as if determined still to keep its secret. Thus the Queen seemed ever provided against contingencies. In striking the staples, Tu- teet's knife had become so battered and bent that it would no longer enter its sheath, and was useless. Not wishing to carry it in his hand in the Queen's presence, for fear of offense, he thrust it into the earth, on the gallery floor, against the door, which was thus kept open. I felt much lighter of spirit when we had entered the gallery, and escaped from what a short time before I feared was a living tomb. I was even in the act of complimenting the Queen upon her prevision, for it was not accidental,—the Queen having mercury with her,—when lo! the light revealed the gallery itself closed against our egress; during our absence a wall of copper, about fifteen feet in height, had been placed across it. Tu-teet rubbed his red eyes, and looked at it a second time before he could assure himself that such a barrier was before him. I saw that it was not absolutely insurmountable, because Tu-teet and I could in time have rolled out antediluvians enough to have built steps half-way to the top; besides, we had clothing to make into ropes; but I was entirely at a loss to account for the mystery. I suppose amazement showed upon our countenances, for the Queen—which was an unusual thing for her to do—began laughing at us heartily.

"O King!" she said, "thy knife is wanted to open this." She thrust backward the light, that he might find it, for we were scarcely four yards from the door of the vault. Returning, he secured his knife, and I perceived that as the vault door closed the copper plates separated, and on each side slid into grooves in the walls; they, and the door, were controlled by the same mechanism. I observed that the earth on the floor had been removed by Rudnord, to permit the plates to run in their accustomed track on the floor. The removal of the barrier at the instant he approached with the knife, looked like another of the Queen's miracles. The marble door which gave us an exit into the upper gallery had also closed behind us; but the ancient key which controlled its mechanism still remained on the inside of the wall, ready to operate it.

I have spoken of the city and the palace, without any reference to the present hairy inhabitants. These were all the direct descendants of Rudnord, as each principality was peopled by the direct descendants of the several sons. Now that the entire authority devolved upon Tu-teet, you can understand that it involved a complete reorganization. The antediluvians had left at least twenty-seven walled towns, of which Tu-teet said the ruins existed. The most of them were nearly obliterated; but eight had been found by Rudnord in a state that enabled him to rebuild them for the habitations of his sons and their descendants. From Tu-teet's description of the rock of which they were constructed, we judged it to be a granite, containing but small proportions of feldspar and mica. In each of these towns were already trained officers, over whom, before the army was disbanded, one principal officer had been appointed by Tu-teet, to represent him and see to the enforcement of the new laws. Rudnord had thoroughly systematized the domestic affairs of the palace, and Tu-teet simply took the place his father had filled so long. Rudnord had established monogamy as the social law among his descendants, and neither he nor his sons had had more than one wife at one time; but during over 600 years he and his sons had, severally, outlived a great many of them. Tu-teet had kept a record of his, that he might not forget them, he said, and they numbered thirty-two; of his immediate progeny, however, he had not kept count, and could not tell their number, but from them were chosen his chief officers. Their father's perennial youth must have been a strange mystery to his sons and daughters, who grew old and died before him. Rudnord was wise enough to know that, if the secret of his and his sons' longevity were communicated to their descendants, it would end in the destruction of his government. Yet Tu-teet told the Queen that he was glad the wonderful fluid had disappeared in the vortex; he thought it was better to die than to be forever giving up to death those whom he had learned to love. The utterance of that sentiment, when the Queen had repeated it to me, raised the hairy King much higher in my estimation than he had stood before, and at the same time impressed me more strongly than ever with the conviction that the Queen never erred in her estimate of human nature.

"But," I said, "he was, even now, fearful of death." She repeated my remark to him, and he replied:

"It is true, O Queen of Light and Knowledge! and because I dread death, if the means still existed, I would prolong my life. Therefore, knowing my weakness, I am glad. Besides, when I shall have grown old, death will be welcome; death by starvation in a vault is not welcome."

After our little adventure Tu-teet said it was long since we had eaten, and proposed that his God-descended guests should satisfy hunger before proceeding further in their investigations. This was an acceptable invitation, to which we responded heartily. I was not interested in the customs of the hairy people, because I knew that, having been established by Rudnord, as he had been taught them by his father, Nodroff, they would not be materially different from those which prevailed among our Toltus. They had tables and stools, and cots and dishes, and manufactured a variety of rather coarse fabrics out of plant fibres; the long, fine hair of an animal I call a goat, because I don't know to what species it belonged, and out of a fine down which was plucked from the body of a very large species of swan. The material was spun and woven by modes analogous to those by which it was effected in Europe 1,000 years ago. Tu-teet said the average life of these swans was about 200 floods, that is, years. Rudnord did not hold the life of any animal inferior to the human sacred, and, in consequence, they differed from the Toltus in being flesh-eaters. Our people were restricted to what lived exclusively within the water. I ought, perhaps, to mention what was furnished for our meal, since it will partly inform you in regard to the products of the country common to both our own kingdom and Rudnord's. There was a strange fruit, that grows on the top of a thick, pulpy stalk, at the height of from one to two feet. It had the shape of one of your saucers there, and consisted of a tough, fibrous shell, lined, to the depth of half an inch, with a rich, mealy meat of the flavor of almonds. This saucer was filled with a sweet liquid to the brim; over it was a fibrous cap similar to the shell, which was covered with seeds, and from each of these seeds a fibre passed through the cap, into the liquid, which was thus crowded with these floating threads. The cap was removed by cutting around the rim, and the contents were eaten with a spoon. It is the most delicious fruit I ever ate. There is a great variety of apples, similar in all their features to yours, except that they have uniformly but two seeds. There was one of the great tubers of which I have spoken, baked and eaten with cream, for they had not discovered that butter could be made of the latter; seasoned with salt, it was very palatable. The Queen immediately instructed Tu-teet how to make butter, and he forthwith resolved to introduce that art, by way of vindicating his claim to superior knowledge. We had baked and stuffed a variety of the hare, which was no larger than one of your small squirrels, and also one of the large oysters of which I have already spoken. I may mention, too, a round, tender, pulpy green leaf, of several inches in diameter, prepared in layers, with spices between them; it was sour, and had a pleasant flavor. There were many other dishes, and several varieties of wine, which I will not stop to mention. Though they could make vinegar, they had no sugar, notwithstanding sweet-juiced cane grew in abundance. Tu-teet, when its manufacture was explained to him, concluded that it, too, should become an evidence that his new government was founded on knowledge.

I was more interested in the antediluvians, and wanted to learn from Tu-teet if, in the palace, anything had been left by them that would enable us to form an idea of their modes and customs. Although a believer always in the great antiquity of the human race, I had, nevertheless, assumed that it had ever been barbarous in the remote past, and that the Hindoo and Egyptian civilizations had been the first evolved out of that barbarism; but here was this antediluvian palace, vastly superior to any grand work of art that even our modern times had produced, which quite upset my notions, and, along with them, the theories of our scientists, who divide the stages of the human animal's development into the stone, the iron, the bronze, etc.

"The ages which have been thus divided by your scientists," said the Queen, in answer to my thought, "have been always coeval. Races on one portion of the earth have originated, existed for thousands of floods, and become extinct, without ever getting beyond your age of stone, at the same time that other races, in other portions, have reached the highest development. I think there were civilizations so long ago that no implement of art, made of composite rock or base metal, could have remained intact to testify to its existence."

Tu-teet said that Rudnord had told him the palace was empty, and that he had found nothing, save in many places piles of earth, of several inches in depth, upon the floors, from which vegetation sprang. "These places are yet to be seen," he said, and pointed to where the marble had been eaten away to the depth, in some cases, of two inches.

"Then," said the Queen, "these were workers in wood, as well as in metals. Here have stood the furnishings of the palace, doubtless constructed of wood and fabrics, which have first dissolved in the moist atmosphere; then, perchance, in at some of the windows from which the storms have forced the sheets of mica, have floated on the air the vegetable germ. From the slight moisture which it could thus gather from the air, it must have taken a long lapse of time to eat away this marble."

"I cannot understand, my soul," I said, "how any germ could vegetate at all. Surely, there is not sufficient moisture in this atmosphere. It must have been mere dry dust."

"We have a diminutive vegetation, which I have named the indestructible, for the reason that when taken from the soil it lives from one storm season to another. This hath been some such vegetation, which hath had an active existence but for a short time after each storm season."

"Would I knew," I said, "how these massive blocks of hornblende were cut and handled. Have you noticed the immense copings of the walls through the glass?—how could they have been placed at that dizzy height?"

"Knowest thou, O King, from whence came the material to build the city?" inquired the Queen.

"From the cliff, most potent Queen, which bounds the south side of the buried city. It is only 200 floods ago since Rudnord made a tunnel through the earth thither, and arched it with stone. There be large caves whence it was taken."

"Perchance there we may find an answer to thy question, my soul. Thither let us go, O King!"

Our meal ended, the Queen provided me with an electric tube, and, passing through Rudnord's tunnel for nearly half a mile, we entered the excavations, which, it is unnecessary to say, were very extensive. It was, in fact, one vast cave, with pillars left standing at regular intervals to support the roof. We almost immediately discovered that these antediluvians were as well informed in regard to mechanical powers as ourselves; and that, although their application of them may not have been as varied as with us, yet they were applied in a way to effect grander results than we have attempted. We found in several of the chambers machines that had been used for quarrying the rock. They were intact, and made exclusively of copper. They consisted of a long sheath, some of which were about ten, and others fully twenty feet in length, six inches broad, and not more than an inch in thickness. On one end, set close to the sheath on either side, were circular saws of hard-tempered metal. These were revolved by a wheel within the sheath. This was connected by a soft metal band, with a wheel at the other end of the shaft, and this was revolved by a large wheel in the heavy framework of the machine, evidently with great velocity. I could see that at the high rate of speed imparted to them by the large wheel, these saws would cut to the depth of four inches, leaving a slab between them, and that a chisel thrust into the cuts thus made would break off the brittle slabs in fragments. Thus could the rock be sawed into to the full length of the sheath, and a block itself, thus cut out, could be broken off with powerful levers, which I perceived were there for that purpose. We saw the portion of a metallic tramway, with a low platform car upon it. Its axles were of solid metal, fully, I think, a foot in diameter, and the wheels were about twice that. To one end was attached the largest two-wheeled pulley I ever saw. The existence of this pulley, together with the other machinery which we saw, left no doubt in our minds that by means of the lever and pulley the huge blocks were lifted to their great eminence and adjusted to their position. Imagine a block of granite eight feet thick, eighteen long, and ten broad, dangling in air at the height of 600 feet. Such were the copings of the walls. We saw what we believed to be parts of a great lever which worked upon a pivot, and which was probably placed upon the division walls within the building, with its end projecting over the wall. To this probably the pulleys were attached. Tu-teet could not understand how the copper saws could be made to cut the granite, and I mention the Queen's explanation because it was new to me. She said:

"I have had my workmen revolve a disc of soft gold so rapidly that it hath passed through a piece of hard-tempered steel; and if the gold ever hath actually come in contact with the steel, I have not known it. It is one of the strange operations of the spirit of light that I have seen in the darkness thus dissolving the steel."

CHAPTER XIII.

OUR FAREWELL—RETURN HOME—THE QUEEN'S WONDERFUL GARDEN AND GROTTO OF ART—SHE INTERPRETS THE ANTEDILUVIAN INSCRIPTIONS—GIANTS IN THOSE DAYS—EXPLAINS THE HEBREW TEXT, "AND THE SONS OF GOD TOOK TO THEMSELVES DAUGHTERS OF MEN."

HAVING made as perfect a copy as I could of the chief inscription and two others in the vault, and satisfied our curiosity with all that was to be seen in the ancient city, we resolved to return home. The Queen promised the King, that her sister, Cetsen, and her husband from beyond the arc, would shortly visit him to see the ancient city, and give him such aid and counsel in his government as he might desire of them. Tu-teet was reluctant to have us leave, but was delighted with her promise to send her sister. He said if his kingdom afforded anything so potent a sovereign desired it should be hers, and suggested that we might take with us one of the antediluvians. She declined, however, to disturb them. The people, and especially the women, because she had put an end to war, worshipped the all-conquering Queen, and appeared in mourning upon the streets, bidding her farewell in lamentations, which consisted of a low, mournful chant. The sign of mourning was the red emblem of a heart upon their breasts, signifying that their hearts were no longer in their breasts, they were so sad because she left them. The Toltus had made so many friends among them that the pantomimic farewells taken, after they had fallen into line, gave them the appearance of an army of hairy lunatics; good-natured ones, however, for there was laughter from one end of the line to the other. There were tears in Tu-teet's eyes when he parted with us at the gate. But the Queen reminded him that she had left with him one of her ears, and that if he would protect the golden highway, over which her voice travelled, within his dominions, he could speak to her at any time. On our way back we stopped at the valley called "The Little World," and took with us an inhabited portion of it, of about two yards square, on the back of one of the elephants. Without casualty or adventure, we arrived home with our two treasures, the inscriptions and the human insects. On our way back the Queen acknowledged that how to make the acquaintance of these human mites, if such they indeed were, was one of the hardest problems she had ever tried to solve. Yet she did not despair of being able to do it. That we should be able to interpret the inscriptions she had no doubt. On our arrival we were warmly greeted by Cetsen and Harding. The latter called me old boy a dozen times in as many minutes, and kept talking to me in English, and then telling Cetsen what he had said.

The dear fellow always had some ludicrous excuse for his odd ways, to make us laugh. The Queen's first care was for her little colony. It would not do to keep them under electric light in the palace, and they were accordingly transported to the Queen's garden. We had all been so busy since the arrival of Harding and myself that we had never found time to visit it. It was located on top of the cliff, and covered an area of ground more extensive than that occupied by the palace beneath,—that is, about fifty acres. The Queen informed me that it had been a bald rock, and that she had covered it with a series of soils to the depth of five feet. A circular stairway led up to it from beneath. Over the hatchway lay a large block of granite, which, when the Queen pressed a spring, was by some powerful leverage lifted onto its edge upon huge hinges. The whole hatchway was heavily walled about and roofed. It was at the most delightful period of the interior year, that is, a few weeks after the storm season, that I obtained this, my first view, of a garden that more than realized the best paradisiacal picture that my imagination had ever produced. There was the work of over sixteen generations of Toltus upon it, and, if it lacked in any element of beauty, the Queen said, it was because the floral products of her kingdom were not endless in their variety, and the ingenuity in this direction of Cetsen and herself had been taxed to its limit. It was considered a high honor by the Toltus to be permitted to work in the Queen's garden, and a force of 500 was kept employed continually, half of the number giving place to others every season. Emerging from a dense grove of what resembled our tropical palms, whose tops hung, like great green canopies, over a thick growth of ferns of many varieties, whose broad-feathered stems over-topped our heads, the Eden of Kayete-ut-se-Zane spread out its beauties before us. That is all that were upon the surface. It seemed to me, for an instant, as if she and her sister were two genii, who had conjured up for our enjoyment a mere transitory vision. I was bewildered, and a mental effort was required to assure myself that it was not too beautiful to be real.

We stood in the centre of the garden and at its highest point, from which it sloped away in all directions. Ourselves and the small grove were surrounded by a structure of quartz, which was in the shape of the broad rim of a circle, and which formed the basin for a great circle of fountains. They were ten in number and each comprised a large central jet, surrounded by hundreds of smaller ones. Through these run all the waters of a large stream, which, by a viaduct, are conducted from a higher elevation, about two miles away to the westward. From this circular basin the waters flowed rapidly away in ten streams, and in as many directions. At one place it could be seen gliding in a tortuous course among the varicolored beds of flowers; at others, tumbling over precipices as white as snow; at others, spreading out into basins that looked not as if they had been fashioned by art, but as if nature herself had formed them. Swimming upon the surface of these were swans, cranes, and other water fowl in great variety. From this central basin, also, radiated main paths like spokes from a wheel. Here in broad beds, there in long irregular lines, yonder in mounds or springing from among bowlders or fringing the ledges of exposed strata of quartz, or clinging to irregular towers of rock, were to be seen the thousand varieties of flowering plants and vines which, she said, composed the flora of her kingdom. Massed, some on rocky projections, others in moist depressions as their several natures demanded, or bordering the irregular paths, grew innumerable flowering shrubs. Small orchids, representing twenty-three species, and sixty-one varieties of fruit-bearing trees, occupied as many localities, and in six groves were represented every tree in her forests, not excepting the mammoths, of which there were two half-grown specimens which were only 325 floods of age. Within this Eden had she concentrated all the loveliness of form and color that her kingdom could furnish. Nay, from the regions of the burning earth she had brought some of the abnormal vegetation and established the necessary conditions upon which the continuance of its life depended. The ferns and palms, many of them, were brought from thence. The length of paths, which ran hither and thither through the garden, she had estimated at 20 journeys; that is, it would require about that number of your days leisurely to walk them. Amid all this were eighteen delightful resorts, each one commanding a beautiful prospect of its own, which differed from every other in contour and effect of color. There were none of them, to all appearance, the work of art; for though all was system to produce results, yet nature was imitated throughout. Some of these were bowers of beauty, formed of interlacing vines, so trained that they seemed to be accidents of nature. The trained vines not only walled them in, but furnished them with seats and tables. At certain periods they were covered inside and out with masses of blossoms. Indeed, there was no time when two or more of them were not virtual floral mansions. Some of them had numerous apartments and were rendered the more delightful by small cascades and fountains. Others were grottoes, built as if the rocks had been tumbled together and not carefully adjusted, as they must have been. These, through which the water ran, were delightfully cool retreats, which the spirit of light illumined. On the southern side of the garden, where the cliff descended abruptly to the bed of the stream which the Queen had turned from its course to serve her uses, she had hidden, as it seemed, her great work of art, her embodiment of the abstract and spiritual in symbolical forms. At the outermost verge of the garden we penetrated, by a winding stairway, the bosom of the cliff and landed upon a platform from which I beheld the most beautiful creation on which my eyes had yet fallen, in that land of wonders. We stood within a chamber whose central portion was of the form of a half-circle and whose diameter was 100 feet. From this centre were extended four chambers like radii. The interiors of all of them could be seen from where we stood. They were of equal dimensions, being 40 feet wide and 100 in depth. It was an excavation, of course, in the white quartz. Each chamber was a grand picture in marble. That to the right represented, in the distance, the new earth giving birth to vegetable and animal life. Reptiles, monsters, and animals of varied forms were to be seen emerging from the steaming earth. In the middle distance the forms grew larger, and there raged a conflict with each other and with nature for existence, in which man stood supreme. In the foreground he could be seen approaching us at the head of the animal kingdom which had survived the conflict. Within that chamber were not less than a thousand forms, all proportioned to the distance, which was extended in reliefs upon the walls that carried the eye on and upward, until all form vanished in the distance. It was not only the most wonderful art production I ever beheld, but, you will understand, was executed in harmony with laws of perspective radically different from those which govern your artists. Within the limits of vision objects of the same altitude were elevated above, instead of disappearing beneath those in front. It was a picture of the interior, not the exterior of the globe. This applies to all the chambers. Within the one on the left could be seen, in the middle distance, an empty throne. In the foreground cultured races were in fierce conflict for its possession—that is, for mastery; while in the distance the same conflict was in progress among the barbarous tribes. In the one facing us, to the left, a seat of justice was erected in the middle ground. Men had thrown away their weapons, yet were still in hot contention over the determination of right and wrong. Justice was powerless to subdue men's passions without knowledge: hence, in the foreground stood an heroic figure of Knowledge crowned. On the right he was attacked by an ignorant horde, with spears and bows, but against this rude force Knowledge hurled rays of light before which they fell blinded. From his right hand actually flamed the light continually. With the left hand he lifted those who prostrated themselves before him. In that facing us, to the right, ministrants of mercy and charity, in the middle ground and distance, were exercising their divine offices; but while some were grateful, others were covertly hiding what they had obtained and asking for more, and still others were stealing to increase their stores. This appeared among the crude and cultured tribes alike. Love and mercy could alone subdue them; hence the heroic figure of Love in the foreground, against whose shield the hurtling darts were blunted and about whom the barbarous and cultured alike knelt in adoration. Her grand philosophical conclusion to all this was in the centre. Immediately before us, on a broad pedestal, stood two heroic figures, one of which was male, the other female, contesting for the possession of a treasure casket. But while they struggle, angelic forms, how suspended I could not see, were taking its contents from the open casket, and disappearing amid the effulgence of the god of light. This was the crowning glory of the whole allegory. High up on the wall, opposite to us, from innumerable fine jets burst a cataract of spray. Behind it shone an undefined form of dazzling splendor, and midway up on the bosom of the spray rested the spectrum's bands of color. The reading was, that good and evil are equivalents in nature and necessary to the evolution of the spiritual in man which aspires Godward.

I knew that the light behind the dense mist was electrical, and that it was reflected from the innumerable facets of diamonds kept in ceaseless motion. Hence the eye could determine upon no shape for it, while its ever shifting rays and intensity suggested life and the energizing spirit of deity. From our point of observation, on the platform, we went down and moved among the thousands of sculptured figures. They were not crudely executed. Indeed every one of those, fully rounded in the foreground, was a finished work of art in itself. Those in the middle ground and distances were half rounded, that they might be compactly massed as the distance demanded. It may give some idea of the greatness of this work to mention that the heroic figures of Good and Evil were 20 feet in height. My wonderful Queen and Cetsen had moulded in clay every figure for their Toltu artists to imitate, and 210 years had been required to complete it. A description in detail of it and the garden would exhaust a natural life, I think, and with the brief term of existence before me, it would be folly even to enter upon it. Of one thing I became daily more thoroughly convinced, and that was, that the Queen of the Toltus was more than human; that is, during the lapse of time, the multiplication of experiences had so developed her intellectual and spiritual nature, that she far transcended the ordinary limit at which we have placed the omnipotent fiat for man: "Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther." I have frequently referred to one of her spiritual acquirements, the ability to interpret the thoughts of others.

While we yet stood upon the platform, the Queen, whose ears seemed everywhere present, received a message, of whose purport I was ignorant. I had learned to gather some idea of the general character of the thoughts that at times engaged her, from the varied expressions of her beautiful face, and I knew the message concerned something of serious moment. She bade us continue our examination of the grotto, and ascended to the garden. It had been some time since she left; and while Cetsen and Harding still lingered among the sculptured figures, I left them with a view of leisurely making my way to the palace. On abruptly turning an angle on one of the principal paths, I suddenly came upon the Queen. She was sitting upon one of the numerous benches, motionless, and gazing down the path toward the great central fountain. Instinctively I looked in the same direction, and saw a man of giant proportions, being led away by two of the Queen's guards, apparently to the palace. I could see that he wore a bright-blue cloak and leggins, and had a conical cap on his head. I was not so much astonished by his size and dress as by the fact that he was evidently of a race of which I had neither seen nor heard. At the moment of turning the angle, I overheard the Queen say, with deep sorrow in her tones:

"Infinite Spirit, thou knowest I would not shed one drop of human blood; but how else shall I avoid the evils the wicked ones prepare for the millions of my inoffensive people and their own? Better that they should be caught in their own snare and perish, than that the horrors of war should again be experienced. Oh, would that I might lay down my sceptre! I am weary, very weary."

The impulse was upon me to rush toward her and take her in my arms; but I knew I had once more overheard what was not intended for other ears, and guiltily retraced my steps. I recalled what I had overheard in Tu-teet's antediluvian castle, and wondered what momentous event was impending, which her love would have kept hidden from me, that I might know as little as possible of the cares of government. I retired, and actually wept over this exhibition of her unselfish affection for one so unworthy as myself.

When she had carefully bestowed our colony of human mites, and regulated the temperature to that of the little world from which they had been taken, we set about the work of interpreting the antediluvian inscriptions, because the Queen knew they were uppermost in my thoughts. She entered upon the work systematically, and I perceived that, through the mediums of the ancient tongue and the Toltu, she had gotten down to the basic sound-foundation of all language.

"You remember, my love," she said, "the human creature we met in the caves? Well, his was the original language, consisting of pitch, quality, and inflection which express general ideas of the emotional order, including desires, which pantomime renders more or less definite. That creature could utter all the sounds on which every systematic language rests, and they are not very numerous; they are only five, each with their variations,—these are shaded by the lips, tongue, and teeth, each into from nineteen to twenty-one variations. The signs for the original five occur more frequently than any of the others; the original five, also, differ in the frequency of use, so you see we can construct a language out of these inscriptions that will bear some resemblance to the one originally spoken. What it means is another thing. If, as I assume, their blood runs in the veins of the Toltus, then the language of these antediluvians will resemble that of the Toltus, as I remember it 500 floods ago, because theirs was no doubt a systematic language, while that of the newly-created race was more like that of the creature we met in the caves. We will be aided by the original roots, which I find to be the same in our ancient tongue, the Toltu, and your English."

Our task thus outlined, we went diligently to work, and first singled out all the characters represented. We found that they numbered twenty-two. The Queen immediately withdrew from consideration the diphthongal shadings, v, w, x, and j. We had not been six hours at work upon it, when the Queen said:

"The task has not been so hard as I expected. It more nearly resembles the early Toltu than I supposed it would. Do you write, my beloved, while I interpret, and be patient, for it cannot be done on the instant." At the end of about four hours I had it before me, translated into Toltu. I have retained this copy in English, and it reads as follows:

"Tremble, O ye people! Stand still, O time, and listen! Shankasset Zu-fra-brad (which means Bright Face, the Boat- builder), son of the god Gee, the conqueror of great ones, the builder of mansions, is not dead, but sleepeth.

"Know ye not that it was I who built the great ships, that moved with swiftness over the face of the great deep; even on mighty wheels rolled they over the face of the water.

"Who was he, the mighty one, who did rescue the sons of Noe, the Red, from the borders of the middle world beyond the great deep, when the heaving earth vomited fire, and the mountains opened their jaws to engulf them? Even I, Zu-fra-brad, son of the god Gee. Over the face of the great deep I brought them hither; to the land of the great men, the mighty, did I bring them. Let it be remembered forever!

"Behold, and tremble! Who be they who come against the sons of Noe, utterly to destroy them, bearing great weapons of wood? Even the trees of the forest bear they upon their shoulders, to overwhelm the sons of Noe, the descendants of men. Behold, they come! Like the trees of the forest, their tall heads are lofty, and their bodies are like walls before us; as the trunks of trees are their bodies, and their arms like the limbs thereof! Who is he that led the sons of men, the descendants of Noe, with spear and shield against the men of might, the giants from the north? Behold, it was I, Zu-fra-brad, son of the god Gee, the conqueror of great ones! Behold, have I not slain them? have I not driven them back to the north? even their king and his wife, not the least of the mighty ones, have I not slain them? Let it be remembered forever!

"Who is he that hath builded mighty walls around about you, that cannot be shaken; who hath shut you in from your enemies, and from the fiery air, even with walls taken from the earth's foundations, that cannot be overthrown or consumed? Whose towers are they that touch the clouds? A hundred falls of the leaves was I building it, and behold, while time waits, the greatness of my palace will be the wonder of the sons of men! Behold, it standeth forever; even unto the end of time shall it endure! Yea, even for my sons' sons have I builded cities. It is Shan-kasset Zu-fra- brad, the builder, the son of Gee, who hath done this; and lo? he is weary, and sleepeth!

"Behold, O sons of men! Have not leaves fallen 532 times since I brought ye over the great deep, and shall I not rest? O ye, my sons! take not to yourselves wives from among the daughters of men, be their faces never so fair, as the sons of my brother, Adam-sar-rack, hath done, even my brother who possesseth the land of the great ones; for in that day will Gee be angered! Seth-lar- mech, my son, shall rule while I sleep; for know, I shall come again!"

"Aye, my adored! you are ever right. A race on the exterior of the globe have an ancient tradition, of which this inscription reminds me, and upon which it seems to throw some light, in that the first God-created man is called Adam. What does the name of this Shankasset's brother signify?"

"I would almost conclude that they were the same; besides, that tradition speaks of giants, and it is given as a reason for the flood that the sons of God took wives from among the daughters of men. Would you infer that these sons of men were of an inferior race?"

"I think most likely they were of the same race, who were controlled by the assumption of godlike attributes on the part of their rulers. This Adam of which you speak was regarded as the first God-descended ruler, as Nodroff is in the traditions of my Toltus."

"Yes; if the royal line mingled its blood with the common people, the godship could not be maintained; hence the injunction."

"That name, too, is otherwise significant," I continued. "We saw that nearly all the caskets contained light-haired people. Dark hair is a feature of the Hebrew race, which has never mingled with other races to any considerable extent, as its history, which is the oldest we have, shows."

"That may be true; yet I doubt not there have appeared many of these demigod rulers—these first men,—since first the world produced the human animal."

The other two inscriptions demonstrated that I was wrong in assuming that all the embalmed bodies were those of kings. One of them was an heir-apparent, who had distinguished himself in war; the other was a sovereign, and evidently the last embalmed, since it contained the names of all in the vault, among whom there were but five rulers. Those succeeding Shankasset reigned from 100 to 170 years, so that the kingdom must have been founded from 1,200 to 1,400 years prior to the flood. The reading of these inscriptions afforded me the only evidence I had ever obtained, in support of a speculative theory of mine, that the white races were generated on the interior of the globe, and in situations not subject to the direct influence of the sun.

CHAPTER XIV.

A MESSAGE FROM NORWALD—THE DEMON ATTEMPTS TO KILL THE QUEEN'S CONSORT—UNDER SENTENCE—THE QUEEN MAKES ACQUAINTANCES AMONG THE HUMAN MITES AND LEARNS THEIR LANGUAGE.

WE had been at home the equivalent of scarcely two weeks of your time, when one of the Queen's officers, about twenty miles distant to the south, imparted through the Queen's ear the information that a swift-footed messenger was on his way to her with a writing, which had been received from one of the God- descended at the south. I knew at once that it could come from no one but that thorn in my flesh, Norwald.

"Aye, it cometh from the resurrected one," said the Queen, "who now, with a pretense of penitence, will ask to be received here at the palace."

"Nay, our kingdom shall not harbor him. I perceive this evil one hath a mission for ultimate good on the earth; but it lieth not here, nor in the immediate present." Then, speaking to the officer, she inquired: "This, thou callest a God-descended, is a demon. The God of Light loveth him not. How said the man who received from him the writing? Was he provided with weapons?"

"O God-descended Queen! thou knowest all things; but the man said that he bore weapons of the Queen."

Within three hours the messenger arrived with the writing. It had been written on a piece of the Queen's paper, obtained from one of her officials, and read as follows:

Now do I know that I have been long asleep, and that thou hast lived an eternal one. Moreover, know I that I did awaken with an evil heart, and do repent me sorely that it hath been so, and that I have done any evil against thee and thine. Moreover, of the most potent and God-descended Amos Jackson, thy husband, I do beg forgiveness for the harm I have sought to do him. And I do entreat you both, most humbly, that you do permit me to return to the home of my fathers, if you so will, that I may be but a servant in the palace. Cresten, most gracious Queen, I await thy answer.

"I am sure, my soul, that this is a pretense, in which it would be folly to place any faith," I said.

"He is a most vicious creature," she replied; and calling to the official, she said: "Do thou send to the demon the words of the Queen, as thou shalt receive them written, by thy messenger." They were as follows, in the ancient tongue:

Thus saith Kayete-at-se-Zane to Norwald, the demon: Depart from my kingdom, for if after five journeys thou art found therein, thy life shall be declared forfeited under the laws of our kingdom, which thou hast broken.

This was delivered to a fresh messenger; and I knew that, as he was but forty miles distant, he would receive it within eight hours. I began to speculate upon the probable effect which the message would have on the irrepressible creature.

"I have no expectation, my beloved, that my message will drive him hence until he has made some farther effort."

"Aye, for I would not drive him back upon Tu-teet, whom I left not strong in his rule, and without defense against this cunning creature. Do thou, my sister and my dark-haired brother, make ready speedily to visit Tu-teet, and see the wonders of the ancient city; for such I know is your desire. I would have him and each of his governors provided with a few rifles, and with stores of ammunition, which teach them how to use but not make. On such insecure basis does his kingdom rest, as yet, that even this one creature, regarded as God-descended, might overthrow it."

"And what force will the Queen give us? I know that one of those beastly Se-ton-secks is large enough to overthrow me," said Harding.

"You shall take 500 men, 1,000 if you wish, as a guard; but they will not be needed."

"I should feel safer with 10,000 in case of a ruction; but put on your cap, Cetsen, and let us be off."

"Cap? What mean you by cap?" inquired the Queen. The Queen and Cetsen had always gone with uncovered heads, wearing nothing but gemmed fillets. In our absence, Harding had suggested caps; and now an attendant brought in to us four that had been manufactured, one for each of us, made of crimson cloth, bedecked with jewels. They were very beautiful, and that intended for the Queen was gorgeous, and bore the royal insignia.

It delighted the Queen to be thus remembered in her absence, and she kissed both Cetsen and Harding. Though the unadorned beauty of the sisters, with their long golden locks, could not be improved upon; yet this was a change, and the eye is always pleased with new forms. The Queen understood that her sister and Harding were eager to go, and made no delay in getting them off, with a full equipment of everything that would tend to make their visit enjoyable. Within ten hours they were on their way with ten elephants, an armed escort of 1,000 Toltus, a band of musicians, and numerous male and female attendants. Tu-teet was delighted, and made preparation to meet them at the valley of the little world. The Queen and I were left alone—I to take but a half-hearted interest in her efforts to study the human insects, while I speculated upon what that human devil, Norwald, would do or attempt to do next. Until the Queen should declare it lawful to slay him, he could go wherever and do whatever he pleased, with none to oppose him, or even retaliate for any injury he might do them. With the Queen's knowledge, I thought what a firebrand would this fearless, cunning, and unscrupulous creature become in the interior world.

"Then were it not better he should be kept at a distance?" I inquired with a smile.

"Nay, I desire he should come; for I would not that he should leave our kingdom with our weapons. The effects of knowledge should not be in such hands."

"My soul," I said, "if you could but read the thoughts of those mites as perfectly as you do mine, we should have a history of them presently."

Five hours later she sat at one of her numerous ears, and said: "Norwald, bearing his weapons, approaches on one of our principal thoroughfares, within half a journey of us." Then a little later she said: "He hath left the highway, no doubt to hide his weapons, unconscious that he is followed by a band of the swift-footed." Ten minutes after, the Queen laughed and said: "They have found his weapons. He comes unarmed. I would not deny him a sight of his former home, although there is nothing he will recognize. Nay, he comes not wholly unarmed. He hath one of the sons of Rudnord's knives concealed upon him. Be you on your guard, my beloved. He stays not long."

Thus, within a radius of twenty miles of her palace, her eye and ear were everywhere present. A few hours later and the Queen entered our private apartment, to which I had gone, and informed me that Norwald was without, examining the face of the cliff, and seeking an entrance. We went out together. I took the precaution to hang my pistols at my side, and both the Queen and myself carried electric tubes, not of the deadly sort, but such as shocked severely. They were no larger than canes, except at the handles, where they enlarged into tubes of one and one-quarter inches in diameter. The servants had all been informed that he was a demon, and instructed in what they should do, as well as a small guard of soldiers, drawn up in two lines on each side of one of the entrances to the great reception-hall. A short way within the hall stood the Queen and myself. While Norwald wondered how an entrance was to be obtained, the portal doors were run suddenly back, and the magnificent interior was presented to him. This, as well as all the artwork of the palace, had been the work of Kayete-ut-se-Zane during her long reign, and must therefore have been a great surprise to the resuscitated ancient. Yet all such emotions were but momentary with him; and when two attendants bent before him and motioned him to enter, he preceded them with perfect self-possession. Another led him forward, between rows of attendants, who bent like so many willows in the wind as he passed. He coolly observed such surroundings as had filled Harding and myself with awe. There was not a tremor, not an uncertain motion. His face was neither flushed nor paler than its wont, until he reached the line of guards. Then he started, not with fear, but the sudden realization that they might interfere with his plans. His head never drooped from its lofty carriage. A momentary start, and he advanced with apparent unconcern between the lines, until he stood well within the wonderful reception-hall which I have described. A quick glance around, and that was all of it. He was in the midst of mysteries, this strange creature, which he could not comprehend, and which I think would have filled the soul of any human being, save him, with awe and admiration. But he had a purpose, and back of it a will, that not either the terrors of an inferno nor the glories of a heaven, I think, could change or subdue. In his satanic perfection I regarded him with fearful admiration. The Queen moved her hand, and the last two guardsmen partially confronted him with their electric tubes, at the instant the Queen ordered him to halt, saying:

"O Cresten! I perceive thou art a mightier ruler than thy father," he began, while he dropped one knee upon the floor. "I come, as thou must know, to beg for pardon. Am I not of thine own blood? Why wilt thou drive me forth, when I swear to thee that I do repent me of what I have done."

"Aye, it were better thou shouldst come unarmed into my presence; but thou hidest behind thy words. What hast thou done with thy weapons?"

"Then doth thy sin not rest on his shoulders. Thou knowest that two journeys have passed since thou didst receive my command to quit our borders, within five journeys, else thy life is forfeit?"

"Nay, cruel am I not, else had I slain thee. But know, Norwald, that Kayete-ut-se-Zane never issueth a command in haste, nor recalleth one that she hath issued."

"Aye, it is mercy that thou art but banished from my dominions. Know that if, within three journeys, thou art found within our borders thy life will be required of thee."

She moved her hand, and the guards were about to seize him, when, with a single bound, he escaped their hands, and a long knife gleamed above my head. I was not entirely taken by surprise, for I was in expectation of some bolder act than any other man would attempt. I caught his uplifted arm and prevented the blow, but his arm was out of my grasp in an instant. The Queen would have had him killed at that moment, and at her sign the guards sought to touch him with their tubes. His cunning dexterity, however, prevented their efforts, and placed me in greater danger from them than himself; for I was forced to grapple with him, and, being stronger and more active than I, he kept me between him and the guards. The Queen, instantly seeing my danger, motioned them to desist. Our struggle was brief. I felt as powerless as if I were in the arms of a tiger, and he held me so close, while he faced me about in his own defense, like a shield, that I could get no chance to use my weapon. It was too long, and I was compelled to encircle his waist with my right arm to avoid being thrown, while with the left hand I attempted to prevent him delivering a fatal blow with his knife, whose edge I had already felt in my arm. Even the Queen had made one or two attempts to touch the athlete with her tube, which he avoided by using my body as his shield. I felt myself reeling to the floor, and over me, in his right arm, which he had freed from my grasp, was suspended the knife, when I managed to touch him on the foot with my tube. Instantly the knife dropped from his hand, and he fell from me in a heap upon the rock floor. He had been shocked into insensibility for a moment, and I turned to pick up the knife when, recovering before the guards could seize him, he leapt upon my back and snatched one of my pistols from its sheath. He had stepped backward and raised the hammer, ready to fire, when the alert Queen touched him with her tube, and once more he tumbled to the floor. The weapon flung from him, by the sudden twitch given to his muscles, discharged harmlessly where it fell. My blood was up, and my remaining pistol was in my hand. I would certainly have made an end of the creature at that moment had the Queen not touched me on the arm and said, with a smile:

It was enough. My anger had departed. She was more godlike than I. Four of the guards, this time before he could arise, dropped their weapons, and, falling upon him, pinioned his limbs. He struggled desperately, but they bound him firmly with cords.

"The curse of Nodroff on you both," he cried. "Touch me not. I am of the God-descended. Would I could tell them, usurper, that I am of the race of Nodroff!"

"It is well for thee thou canst not speak to them in their own language, Norwald, else would I be forced to slay thee here. There is yet time to convey thee to my borders ere thy life is forfeit. Thereafter, if thou shalt appear within our kingdom, thou shalt die."

The Queen and I withdrew, and, as they had been instructed by her, four of the guards placed him within a closed canopy on the back of an elephant, and carrying him to the nearest border, which adjoined the burning zone, set him free. She immediately caused it to be proclaimed throughout the dominion that the life of the demon, Norwald, was forfeit to the Toltu law. Then we went back to the study of the mites.

I was now enabled to enter heartily into the study of this minute race. Even to the naked eye they resembled humans, and the glass revealed that beyond question. The degree of their intelligence could alone determine if such they indeed were. The Queen seemed to have no doubt of that fact from the first; but I had been taught that the existence of the fairies, or mischievous little folk, rested only upon a superstitious belief; and my disbelief in such things generally had become ingrained. But the discovery that there existed other races than those I had supposed to exist; that there had, in fact, been antediluvian giants, and that men had actually lived, as many hundreds as they now live tens of years, had begun to shake my former notions of things. Besides, a remark of the Queen's had set me thinking. She said:

"There is nothing that hath been imagined; all hath existed. The world is very old. Imagination can dissever and combine; it cannot create."

"Think you, then, my soul, that the fairy that rides in a nutshell coach could not be purely the creature of imagination?"

"An individual might diminish himself in thought, into the dimensions of a mite; but neither he nor any one else would believe that he thus existed. Whatever is a general belief hath been seen, though the eyes that saw it may have been deceived. But first, such a form—that is, a form having some such likeness—hath existed before imagination could deceive the sense."

This was going somewhat beyond where my reflections had carried me, and I was no longer disposed to call those beliefs mere superstitions, which I had formerly regarded as such. In fact, I had seen many things within the interior world which tended to shake my belief in many of the conclusions at which both our modern scientists and abstract philosophers had arrived.

The manner in which the Queen proceeded to make the acquaintance of the little race was peculiar. She constructed a microscope which in itself was a wonder, with a broad field, adjusted to the height of the little tree tops, above the surface of the two yards of earth. Its tube was so arranged in right angles that it sat upon the table, with which she had surrounded the earth, and reflected what was beneath it in a mirror in front of her magnified about twenty diameters. In connection with it was a small, but very sensitive electric ear. The whole instrument worked on a pivot, and could be placed over any part of the territory. Then she plucked a small red berry and suspending it by a thread, let it down through the foliage on to the ground. The glass was adjusted over it, and we waited. Presently two of the little creatures came into view and halted suddenly within a short distance of the berry. They were a man and his wife. I made no question of that when I saw them magnified in the mirror. The woman laid her little hand on the arm of the man and pointed to the unfamiliar object. There was surprise, not unmixed with fear, plainly expressed in her face.

"Put down 'Tu-teh'!" said the Queen, who was listening. "It is the equivalent of look there, see there, or behold." They both stood lost in wonder apparently for some time, when we could see the lips of the man move. "Put down 'Oi sa pu,' which I think is equivalent to what is it? It was with a rising inflection, and was therefore a question." They stood and talked about the wonder for some time, and the Queen caught some of the short sentences for me to record, of which she only guessed at the meaning. I could hear them talk in diminutive tones, as if the sounds were far off. In a few moments they left. "They have gone to spread the news. In that last sentence there are words probably meaning, go and tell," said the Queen, and I noted it accordingly. How she knew they had gone for others I did not ask; but soon her words were verified, and the glass was full of them. You may be sure it was to me a very wonderful picture. Enlarged in the mirror to five inches in height, we were enabled to see that they were fleshed like the larger genus. They had the appearance of red men, which was due, however, to a coat of fine red hair. That upon their heads was short and curled. No hair grew upon their faces, which were white, with a very little color in them. They glistened,—an effect which the Queen said resulted from seeing them magnified. They were not savages, since they wore clothing that demonstrated they had made very considerable progress in the arts. They were all dressed alike, save that the females wore ornaments about their heads and necks. These were strings of jewels which magnified twenty times, and were no larger than grains of coarse sand. "That, in my opinion, is what they are," said the Queen; "and no doubt very precious to them, since in all this earth I have not seen an atom so large."

They had, hanging in graceful folds about them, a creamy fabric that, in the mirror, had a gloss like satin. You can imagine how fine was its texture when, magnified twenty times, it appeared like the closely-woven web of a spider. Their feet were protected by soles, and a covering that extended above the ankles. The children, however, were unclothed; and one mother in the group could be seen folding her garment about her infant. They were long-featured, and their chins projected so far as to mar the effect of otherwise handsome faces. The company of them increased in numbers, and from the fresh arrivals could be heard the same inquiry: "Oi sa pu?" They talked among each other for some time, when finally one of the men made a step toward the berry.

"Quick, my beloved. 'J rek ne!' It means, I fear not; and 'Aw le jut ne!' Jut means go."

"Because, when the woman would have restrained her husband from going, that word took the emphasis," she replied.

The fearless little man did go straight up to the berry, which doubtless was the largest specimen of fruit ever seen in that locality. He placed his hand upon it, and throwing his garment from the left side of his body, drew from a belt a knife. It was a quarter of an inch long in the mirror, and you can imagine what a dangerous weapon it was. He drove it deliberately into one of the lobes of the berry.

The others crowded around it now, and each tasted the wonderful fruit; while they looked up at the sky, or pointed to the trees, trying no doubt to solve the problem which such a phenomenon presented to them. It was a deliciously sweet berry; and finding it good, they feasted upon it. It was sufficient for the whole crowd. Before the feast was ended and they dispersed, the Queen had a pretty reliable vocabulary of about twenty of their words. The same programme was followed in another quarter of the little domain, where the meanings of the words obtained were confirmed, and their number increased. I am sure that, if it had been my eye, ear, and brain at work, we should not probably have had a single word defined. Next, she excited their wonder over a large diamond, and afterward let down among them diminutive little buckets—containing syrup, sugar, and meal, and various commodities—with a view to determine their dispositions, quality of their food, etc. I took the responsibility of treating them to a bucket of sweetened wine. Anything with sugar in it, we discovered, was highly appreciated, and not less than fifty of them partook of the wine. They had come to be on the outlook for gifts from above, which the Queen said they received with prostrations, as being the gifts of deity. They came with cups and buckets of their own, from all the neighboring country, to this spot. There seemed to prevail such laws or customs among them as put them all upon the same level, and gave them each an equal interest in everything. Each took as much of the wine as he wished, and the result was that, in about five minutes, nearly a dozen of them were intoxicated. Then we had before us, in the mirror, a bacchanalian performance, in which several, however, were too drunk to join. They danced and capered and hugged each other, exhibiting all the extravagant manifestations of joy and idiotic folly which occasionally characterize our own wine suppers, where we are supposed to enjoy a feast of reason and a flow of soul. These little folks made great fools of themselves, and I was sorry that I had let them have the wine; but I had not thought they would drink it by cupfuls as they did. When I perceived what they were doing with it, I immediately withdrew the bucket. There were only ten drops of the wine when it was given them, and more than half of it came back again; so that a very little had gone a long way. I am sure so many humans were never made drunk on so little wine before. Had the joyous mood continued until its effects had worn off, no great harm would have resulted; but, unfortunately, some of them became quarrelsome, and it nearly ended in a tragedy. Two of them fell to fighting. Throwing aside their garments, they drew their knives and flew at each other like little furies. They cut and thrust and dodged each other's blows for a time, inflicting wounds on each other before I could think what to do to stop the combat, and before the more sober ones among themselves could interfere. Great excitement prevailed; and being all humans together, I was probably not the least excited of the lot, and anxious to put a stop to the bloody affray, for which I felt myself responsible. Having observed their intelligence, I could no longer regard them as mere insects, whose lives might be sacrificed without compunction. Their wives were appealing to them, the children were crying, and their deaths, I saw, would leave many as sorrowful as I myself should feel if the adored woman at my side were suddenly taken from me. Their blows were delivered with the rapidity of thought, and I realized that it would be a long struggle for them if it lasted a minute. Something must be done instanter. Human lives were in jeopardy, and I began to feel like a murderer.

"Quick, my soul! Think for me!" I cried. "These lives are as precious as my own."

The Queen had thought for me, as usual. A shower of water- drops fell upon the combatants and the crowd about them. Every drop was like a bucket of water to us, and had the effect not only to sober them, but to so frighten them—coming out of a clear sky—that they hurried away, bearing the combatants with them, one of whom we saw was severely, though, as we hoped, not fatally wounded. We mutually resolved, that deity should provide them with no more wine. The results of this event added to our information regarding them; in the immediate vicinity they began to make preparations against a storm season, which they must have regarded with wonder, coming at that time.

"I perceive," said the Queen, "that they have their habitations beneath the ground. This earth is of such a quality that, once it is moistened on the surface, it becomes impervious to the water. I see that they have little structures over the entrances, which are deeply ditched around, and covered with what is, no doubt, a waterproof fabric. I think, from the manner in which they are constructing it, that the water might cover it, and not find an entrance."

The work, however, was discontinued when it was ascertained that the shower was a merely local phenomenon. There was evidently a primitive mode among them of administering justice: for, after the lapse of several hours, there appeared upon the locality of the combat an orderly company of grave-looking men, and, with them, the two culprits. One of them we recognized as a judge, for the reason that he came riding on one of those animals which resembled an elk in miniature, and he wore a bejewelled cap upon his head. Both the culprits knelt before him, and he listened to the statements they made in regard, the Queen said, to the wine, which he did not believe. We could see that it was likely to go hard with the poor fellows, if for no other reason than that they and their friends were attempting to impose such a story upon his Honor. He shook his head when he spoke to them, and his look was very severe. I was very anxious to save them, and perceived that my testimony would alone do it. I therefore let down the bucket of wine before his Honor, and emptied its contents on the ground, to indicate that it was the offender. It was amusing to note the look of astonishment that came into his eyes when he saw the bucket descending; but he was a wise judge, who would not disregard the testimony of his own senses. He motioned the culprits to rise, and spoke a few words to them, when they each handed the other his knife, and threw their garments back from their breasts, which they offered each to the other's blade; then they threw both knives on the ground and embraced. If there were any atomic insect life on the little world, the strongest microscope the Queen had did not reveal it, and we concluded that there probably was none. Indeed, we found but a few varieties of animal life on it, and they were all mammals. A common ant, I surmised, would be a fearful wonder to them; and, as the Queen desired to determine if they recognized any form of divinity, I let one down among them, as an embodiment of a devil. Its appearance filled most of them with terror; but there were some of them who were fearless enough to draw their knives and face the monster. The ant stood perfectly still, and seemed to recognize in them a new order of beings, of which it stood in fear. Knowing how strong and pugnacious it was, I expected to see it show fight, since it could have picked one of them up in its mandibles, and carried him off; but on the contrary, when they advanced upon it, it turned and fled up one of the trees. Thus we continued to make for them an age of wonders in the little world. At length the Queen announced that she had acquired sufficient of their language to go down among them, and talk to them. How she purposed to do that was a mystery to me, until she showed me an instrument by which she herself was reduced in appearance to half an inch in height, and reflected from a small mirror; and another one, by which her voice was reduced to the dimensions of those of the little people. The supplies with which they had been furnished for some time prepared them for her coming as a god, and as such they received her. We now became rapidly masters of their vocabulary, and thus, of their language, so that the Queen was enabled to converse with them fluently. They called themselves the Trecks, and were but one of many tribes, they said, which inhabited the world; but that not long ago there had been a great movement of the earth, by which they had become separated from the rest of the world, on which they had left a portion of their tribe. The Queen found the judge to be a very intelligent person, whose conversation I reported. Their idioms cannot be reproduced in English, but a portion of their colloquy was substantially as follows:

"From deluge to deluge, the swift-footed 'An' may not compass it, and it is surrounded on all sides by great barriers, which no 'Gen' (the race name) may pass. Now on every side of us, O beautiful spirit, is a deep chasm, down which we dare not leap, for we know not how deep it is."

At a sign from the Queen, I stood beside her, and she said: "We, the Spirits of Light, have conveyed your portion of your world beyond the great barrier, so far that the An (the elk-like animal), at swift speed, could not pass the distance in all its life. But you shall go back to your own world when you shall have seen our greater world. How long doth a Gen live?"

"A Gen may survive a tenth deluge, but then he is very old, O mighty and beautiful spirit!"

"The most humane and omnipotent Keth, the excellent, the glorious, is now the ruler of our eight tribes."

"I know not that, O benign spirit! but there be three kings, who rule the whole world."

"Pardon me, benign and beautiful spirit; His name is holy, and may not be uttered but by the lips of His priests. How know I, since He is both man and woman in one, that you, transcendent spirits, are not God?"

"He maketh to grow the fruits and the seeds, and He bringeth the deluge. He it is who giveth life, and taketh it."

"You see, my beloved," said the Queen, in an aside to me, "they are quite as near to God as we are." Then to the Gen: "Who, under the king, is ruler of your tribe?"

"Aye, beautiful spirit! it hath many fabrics, and soft cushions to rest on; there are many gems on the necks of his wives, and the light in his palace never goes out."

"Do you go straightway to the prince, and bid him await the Spirit of Light here, for I would speak with him."

"The An must rest twice on the way; but I will hasten to carry your words, O benign spirit!"

Thus the Queen became the deity of the Trecks, appearing to them in the form of a spirit, reflected in a mirror. It was the only form in which they could see her; her real self was too great for their limited vision to compass. She let them know that what they had seen was only a reflection of her image, and that she was in reality immensity. She gathered the whole tribe into a disk, with a fine railing about it, and transported them through what, to them, was infinite space; giving them such information in regard to the great world outside of their own, as the limited operation of their five senses enabled them to comprehend. The prince became her plaything. She would take him gently between her thumb and finger, and place him in the centre of her palm; but it was in vain that she essayed to give him an idea of her hand. Its contour lay, as a whole, beyond his vision; it was to him an extensive plain. She was immensity, and she was, therefore, God. She added wonderfully to the knowledge of both the prince and the judge; so that when, a month later, the tribe was returned to its place in the little world, they were, par excellence, its wise men.

"Thus we perceive," said the Queen, "how imagination cannot travel beyond the suggestion of the five senses. Even as these little creatures, so are we, in a lesser degree, prescribed."

CHAPTER XV.

THE GRAND CELEBRATION OF THE QUEEN'S BIRTH- DAY—SIX KINGLY VISITORS—THE MAGNIFICENT PREPARATIONS—THE TOLTU GAMES—THREE KINGS CONSPIRE TO SLAY THE QUEEN AND ALL THE GOD-DESCENDED.

EXCEPT Kayete-ut-se-Zane, I am sure there is not another intellect on the face of the earth, within or without, who could have thus made the acquaintance of the Gen and mastered their language. I think it was not possible, had she not been able, by some occult process, to interpret their thought through some other medium than sound at the outset. As time passed, instead of becoming revealed to me in the full length and breadth of her intellectual and spiritual nature, she grew upon me as a greater mystery. By what correlation of events that had transpired, or spiritual forces unseen by me, was she enabled to say that the human devil, Norwald, had a mission for ultimate good in the world? I would have said that nothing but evil could follow whatever he might do. I had no doubt, however, that what she predicted would come to pass. I had come to know that she lived quite as continuously among the shadows of coming events as in the present. She wished to appear to me to be altogether human and fallible, and often explained the conditions which led to this or that exercise of her wonderful foresight. Yet I always realized that I would not have exercised the foresight under like conditions. There was an occult power lying behind them.

I find myself, sir, giving you a history of her reign so much in detail that I fear it will never be finished, since you perceive that I have not completed more than one year of it yet. The necessity for haste is upon me; and there are so many things of which you have as yet but an imperfect idea, and so many events to narrate, that I fear it will never be completed by me.

At this point the emaciated narrator, Amos Jackson, partially raised himself from the couch where he lay, looked earnestly beyond me, who sat near him, and fixed his gaze upon vacancy for a few moments. I turned to look, when he resumed his former position with a contented smile upon his face.

"Nothing whatever," I replied, "Did you?" I wondered if his mind had not begun to yield to physical weakness.

"There was nothing you could see. But I have the assurance that I shall finish my narrative," he said.

Numerically the Toltus are greater than you probably suppose. Every twenty years the Queen made a census of them, and that last before my arrival showed them to be over two millions. But in addition to the Toltus, she was virtually the ruler of five other neighboring kingdoms, whose rulers, having invaded her borders, she had first conquered and then re-established upon the same basis as her own. She exacted no tribute, demanded no homage; yet not one of any of these five rulers would think of undertaking any war, or making any governmental change, without her advice and consent. For 500 miles east, west, and north of her, she was known as the great God-Queen of the Toltus; so that she virtually ruled over nearly twenty millions of people. She had, time and again, handled 300,000 men in a single engagement, and was never beaten. Every ten years was celebrated by the Toltus, the day of the Queen's birth, in human form; for the belief was universal that she had always existed. To this celebration the Toltus looked forward with joyous expectation; and not only the Toltus, but the kings, as they succeeded each other in the five dominions, to which that of Tu-teet had been added, making a sixth. These celebrations she made the occasion for impressing them with a conviction of her superior knowledge and consequent power. The young kings, who came to their thrones full of ambition, and restless under restraint, made these periodical celebrations a necessity. That information which she furnished the royal lines, in order that they might maintain their own supremacy and enforce her peaceful principles, often encouraged rash young rulers, who underrated her greatness before they had seen an exhibition of it, to enter upon warlike projects which threatened the overthrow of her great political structure. She had been forced to defeat them, often at the sacrifice of life. Each one of these kings had one of the Queen's chronometers, and it was called the God-Queen's time throughout all the kingdoms. This celebration was within the year following the arrival of Harding and myself, and was now but a month ahead of us—that is, about thirty-six of our journeys. It was always held in the neighborhood of the palace, and the kings were her guests. Throughout the entire kingdom preparation was being made for the event. Since the last one, the Queen told me there had succeeded three new kings to the thrones of the most powerful kingdoms, and all of them had failed, as was the custom, to either come in person, or send messengers, to receive the God- Queen's blessing. But now they had asked permission to attend the celebration with unusual retinues—one of 5,000, another of 7,000, and the third of 8,000. The reason given was, that so many of their officials desired to attend, with the usual guards and attendants pertaining to their offices on occasions of ceremony; the whole purpose being, as they said, to do honor to the God- Queen.

"Certainly, my beloved. It is easier to crush a conspiracy here than to march into three kingdoms, at the head of large armies, to do it. I have, moreover, requested them to bring their wives along with them. All their other relatives constitute the officials."

Now I understood what reason she had to be so potently moved in our tent before the antediluvian city; and later in the garden, when I saw the giant stranger leaving her presence, I was prepared for a tragedy.

"No. From the east and west will come unmixed hairy races, the originals, as I assume, of the Toltus, the product of the burning earth; but from the northward will come mingled races, none of them uniform in stature and regular in their features like the Toltus, but with irregular features and of all statures. There are gigantic men among them. The survivors of the descendants of Noe, and of the giants of the north, as well perchance as other races, have mingled their blood in inextricable confusion."

In regard to the preparation for this celebration, which promised to be fraught with momentous events, it is only necessary to say that they were on a scale of magnificence calculated to impress her visitors with a sense of her greatness. The broad avenue, over which we were first led to the palace, along its entire length, at intervals, was hung with great curtains, not less than 80 yards in length and 20 yards in breadth, suspended from the overarching branches of the lofty trees, at an average height of 210 feet. Parted in the centre, they hung in numerous folds on either side of a passageway of 90 feet. I think there were not fewer than 500 of these, of every color, the work of many generations of Toltus. I was much interested in observing the operations of the active Toltus in suspending them. At such a height, they looked like, and manifested all the activity of, monkeys among the tree-tops. Between, the tree trunks on each side were draped in imitation of pillars, thus giving to the avenue the appearance of a vast arcade. It debouched, as you know, upon a plain. Several square miles of this were cleared of verdure. In its centre was laid off a square of about one-fourth of a mile. On its south side was our royal tent, of brilliant crimson, rendered gorgeous with gems innumerable and cloth-of-gold. It was elevated upon a large platform, whose front was hung with the same fabric as the tent, and similarly garnished with gold and gems. It was so brilliant that it could not be looked upon continuously. Back of it were commodious tents for our numerous attendants and animals. Tents for the retinues of the several visiting kings were erected to accommodate two on each of the other three sides of the square. Among the preparations were 1,000 elephants, gaily caparisoned; 2,000 musicians, in rich and varied costumes; and 10,000 Toltu soldiers, in the most brilliant costume of crimson beneath gold- plated armor that I could conceive of. The castellated face of our palace was a blaze of glory, and what it is within, you know already. I had never contemplated such a display, of which I have mentioned only some of the principal features. Cetsen and Harding were instructed to return, and bring with them Tu-teet and 1,000 of his golden-breasted descendants. From the east came the King of the Pau-tons; from the west the King of the Linter-sots; from the northward, to the east, Na-set-reck, King of the Vults; from the north, Gag-ze, King of the Tonques; and from the northwest, Fal-mor-toc, King of the Glitz. They were the three last named who had mounted their thrones since the last celebration. They all spoke different dialects of the same language, but could understand each other. Those from the east and west, first named, spoke different languages. It was now for the first time I learned that the Queen understood all these languages. The three who had come with such numerous followings were assigned tents, one on each of the three sides of the square, so that they were divided from each other by the other three kings and their followers, with whom they could hold no speech. Their great numbers seemed to render such a disposition of them a necessity. It had been the custom for the kings to come attended by a small armed guard only. These had brought each a small army, armed to the teeth with bows and spears and burnished shields and breastplates, all to do honor to the Queen. They were picked men, too, for they had selected men of lofty stature, so that they dwarfed the Toltus and the followers of the other kings. To avoid too great a concourse of people, the Toltus in the several districts were enrolled and so organized that only ten per cent. of the population was present at any one time; yet there were on the plain, and in the neighborhood of the palace, not fewer than 300,000 continually. Separate apartments, for the several kings and their immediate attendants, were assigned them in the palace. Our servants were everywhere in waiting upon them, and Toltu guards everywhere present, with their harm less-looking electric tubes,—a weapon of which the last generation, at least, of her visitors knew nothing. It was the Queen's business, for the entertainment of her guests, to inaugurate the occasion with the sports of the Toltus. These were to be followed by contests of skill, between select men of the several races, for the prizes which the Queen offered. On the platform, in front of our tent, were seated, all in most gorgeous apparel, the Queen, Cetsen, Harding, and myself. To our right and left, three on each side, were the visiting kings and their principal officers, who were their relatives. I now noticed that none of the kings—Na- set-reck, Gag-ze, nor Fal-mor-toc—had, as the Queen had requested, brought with them their wives. Back of us, along the face of the tent, stood 40 Toltu soldiers, in their brilliant costumes, each with his electric tube at his side. I doubt if any but Tu-teet knew that they were deadly weapons. Stretching east and west from the tent, on the line of the inclosure, was a body of 10,000 soldiers, armed alternately with rifles and tubes. They were, doubtless, regarded by the gigantic warriors from the north as mere holiday soldiers, who carried weapons no better than so many toys. Each royal personage was provided with a magnificent chair of state, of which there were 49 in all. That of the Queen was provided with one of her ears, through which she directed all of the proceedings. Her orders were given as if she were speaking to me in Toltu; and it must have been a mystery to the visitors how this, that, and the other thing, as they desired, at the Queen's suggestion was instantly performed at a distance, as if the Queen had herself been there to order it. At a blast from 200 golden horns, the Queen arose, and in their several languages bade the sovereigns welcome, making over each of them the sign of the arc. Tu-teet prostrated himself, and in the ancient tongue expressed his thanks. So did the kings from the east and west; but the three young monarchs from the north made but haughty acknowledgments. I observed, however, that some of their officers bent before her most worshipfully; and one, whom I took for a brother of Gag-ze, called her, as she afterward said, the merciful Queen, beloved of the God of Light. For this he received a frown from Gag-ze, of which you may be sure the Queen took note.

"He it is who hath hatched the conspiracy," said she to me in English, for she was already master of our tongue.

"Nay, the subservient one, his brother," she replied; "yet is there one among them who hath no part or lot in the matter."

At another blast of the horns, Tet-tse and his companions bounded into the open space, with twelve of the gaily-caparisoned elephants—San-son in the lead—trying to keep up with them. Then began the most wonderful exhibition of intelligence that I ever saw manifested by their species. The Toltus came to a sudden stand, in a body, and the elephants each selected its own keeper, as it passed, and tossing him carefully on to its back, passed on. Immediately, they were seen stationed about the inclosure in a broad circle; suddenly, each took its master in its trunk, and holding him suspended above its head, rushed to a common centre. The next instant, the Toltus were seen in a bunch together, suspended out of harm's way high in air. The bodies of the elephants were a solid circle of flesh about them. They were receiving from the Toltus no directions whatever. A moment more, and the Toltus were on the ground, behind their heels, and the elephants faced outward, with elevated trunks and tusks exposed to the enemy. Now they laid their masters on the ground, and forming a circle, laid down about them, making a rampart behind which they could sleep in safety; there is a blast of horns, when the huge beasts rise to their feet, and stand on the defensive. They form in line; the Toltus rush to the front, discharge their arrows in pantomime, and then fall to the ground. Their masters are wounded; quickly, but carefully, they pick them up, and rush with them out of the fight. They lay the Toltus on the ground, take cushions from beneath bands on their backs, lay them down, and carefully place the heads of the wounded upon them. The Toltus rise, and huddle together; the elephants form a large circle about them, that narrows as they close in upon the prisoners. The Toltus run hither and thither, as if trying to escape, but the elephants swing their big bodies about on one side and the other, and, with trunks extended, are always ready to catch them when they try to escape. Many warlike manoeuvres follow, and then begins a grotesque dance, in which each one is the partner of his master. You wonder how they could be taught to go through such an intricate maze. Then they all sit down on their haunches to rest. San-son now becomes the captain, while the Toltus stand aside. He forms them in line-of-battle, and leads a charge. Cushions are placed on poles, and they impale the enemy upon their tusks, seize them with their trunks, and throw them aside. It appears that something is lost; and, at a sign from Tet-tse, they are running all over the field. One of them finds it (it is the Queen's handkerchief), and hands it to Captain San-son, who marches straight to her Majesty, and, standing before the platform, extends it toward her with his trunk. She approaches him, and he kneels. She receives the handkerchief, and gives him in place of it an open sack, containing a dozen "plints," a species of sweet fruit of which he is very fond. He gives a grunt of satisfaction, and marches back to the herd, the Queen's own, as you will have guessed. He forms his fellows in line, and marches them up before the platform, after having given each one of them a plint. They all kneel before her; then rise at a wave of her hand, and go scampering off, after popping the fruit into their mouths. Next came the swift-footed, sixteen in number, to determine among themselves who should champion the race against the swiftest of the visiting kingdoms. It was a great honor to run, but a greater to win, the international race. On a short pole, in the very centre of the space, was hung the Queen's handkerchief, and, from the exact centre of each side, one of four men started; the one who first reached the pole and won, waited until the whole sixteen had run by fours in like manner, and the final test of the swiftest came between the four winners. This was an exciting contest to the Toltus, who were always anxious to know who their champion against the world, as they termed it, would be. The final race was won by a muscular, trim-limbed Toltu, whom all seemed to know, and a shout of satisfaction went up from the great crowd. They called him the Queen's swift-footed one, because he was one of the Queen's messengers, and had for several years, in the national contests, carried off the prize.

"Ah, Lu-mech," said the Queen, when he bent to receive it, "thou art still the victor. But thou hast never been matched by a swift-footed Tonque."

"O God-descended Queen! he shall run swifter than the swiftest of the Toltus, if he win this from me the next wake-day."

"I may well believe that, for none have beaten thee. King Gag- ze and myself will judge the race, that it may be fairly decided. Shall we not, O King?"

"Let it be as the Queen of the Toltus saith. If so be, one of my runners shall chance to contest the prize with him," said Gag- ze, with little show of courtesy.

Next a species of antelope, from whose fine hair the Queen's fabric was made, which had been trained to avoid capture by the elastic loops of the runners, was brought in. The swift little animal knew that it was to run for a prize, and that, if it could escape the loops and reach the Queen, it would receive something good at her hands. It was led into the centre of the space, and, raising its head, looked around for the Queen. She went forward on the platform, and waved her handkerchief at it. Instantly it started toward her; but the runners gathered to intercept it. Then it cunningly ran to the eastward, keeping just out of reach of their loops until they were separated, when it suddenly wheeled and made as if to pass through a space in their line. This brought the runners together to close it; but the shrewd little creature had not thought of passing the line there, as it seemed; for they were no sooner on the run to the eastward, than it wheeled and ran with all its speed to the west. It now became a trial of speed between it and the runners on the west of the line, who had about thirty yards the start of it. The Queen stood on the platform, encouraging it, and the little creature fairly flew over the ground. It knew that, if it could outrun and pass the foremost runner, it could flank them and reach her. It manifested such intelligence, was such a beautiful little animal, and had such odds and dexterity against it, that I was very anxious to see it win. It had but twenty feet to spare when it reached the west side, and turning, darted through the line, and made straight for the Queen. But now came another trial of speed; for the rear runners were also making for the Queen, on the shorter side of a triangle, to head it off. The race was so close that it had to dodge the loops within ten yards of where the Queen stood; but it reached her safely, and came to a sudden halt. It held up its head to her, while it panted from exertion. The Queen caressed its forehead, saying:

She gave it some coarse cake, of which it was fond; the runners gathered around it, praising and petting it; and so it was led away. In such amusements—of a harmless character, too numerous for me to describe—the first journey or day of the celebration passed.

I do not know that I have heretofore mentioned the fact that the Queen had made a division of time, into periods of about ten hours of our time, which the Toltus were enabled to note by means of sand-glasses, manufactured at one time in great numbers in the palace, and distributed over the country. They were large glasses, with a scale upon them, which divided the period into ten parts. Each alternate period was an interval of rest, and was added to the interval of labor to constitute a journey of time equal to twenty hours. With a view to the general comfort, the same interval of rest is observed throughout the kingdom. The period in which the labor of the kingdom was performed, took the name of journey; for it was only during that when the elephant covered the space upon which the division of time was based. The Toltus called the interval of rest "the Queen's silence." Now, the Queen's silence prevailed in the palace, and she and I sat in our apartment, considering what was likely to be the programme of the treacherous kings. Her ear was listening in every quarter of the palace, and this is what came to her from the apartment of Gag-ze. He and his brothers, Mal-set the plotter, and To-grat the younger, were in conversation. Said the last-named:

"This thing thou wouldst do, O brother, the King, at the persuasion of Mal-set, hath in it neither wisdom nor goodness. I do believe it will be sad for thee if next wake-time thou dost undertake it."

"If the kings undertake it they will accomplish it," said Mal- set. "Thinkest thou the King of the Tonques cannot walk alone? Must he still hang to the teat of a woman?"

"Why should this Queen, great though she be, restrain my kingly desires? I have sworn to add the kingdom of the Get-secs, on the north, to my own, or share their broad pastures. But this woman hath taken them under her protection, and said me nay. By the spirit of the storm, I will not be so governed!"

"Nay, brother, King, bethink thee, if it be right that thou shouldst have the pastures of the Get-secs, or if the God-Queen hath ever withstood thy desire to justly rule thy kingdom."

"Thou talkest evermore like a teacher of the creed than a king's brother," said Mal-set. "Thinkest thou any man is king by right? Nay, but by force did he get, he or his ancestors, and doth hold what he hath. Thy creed would have him give away his kingdom."

"Nay, brother; but as thy best friend, who loveth thee so well he would not see thee do a wrong thing, I tell thee this God- Queen hath wisdom more than mortal. Our father was a wise man, and did so regard her."

"You forget, Mal-set, that we now celebrate the 570th flood since her birth. What mortal hath had such long life, and, like her, changeth not?"

"It signifies nothing," said the King. "Have we not traditions that our ancestors lived to such great ages? Perchance she is one who hath come down to our time. She is none the less but human, and it is time she were dead!"

"Nay, To-grat, not being with us, thou canst not be of the King's council," said Mal-set.

"I desire not to know what hath been determined, that thou, King, being my brother, I may neither aid nor hinder; but well I know thy plot will be in vain against the great God-Queen."

"I shall make of thee, To-grat, the chief teacher of our creed. Retire to thine own chamber; thou art not of us."

"Nay, Mal-set, he will but shut his eyes and weep. Hast thou spoken with the other kings?"

"And how think they it is best we proceed, and when? Our hope of besetting her in her own palace may no longer be thought of. We know neither the way out nor in. The doors open at a word; yet cannot we open them if they be closed upon us? Even while we speak, seest thou not we are her prisoners?"

"It shall be in the face of all the Toltus, that they may know she is but mortal."

"We doubt not thy swift man, Gro-teck, will hold well with the Toltu champion. Hath not she herself arranged that thou and she shall judge the race? In such a distance there will be, perchance, but slight distinction, in which event do thou claim the race. But, if the Toltu doth outstrip Gro-teck, I will instruct him to cry unfair, and charge the Toltu with tricking him. Then, surely, thou hast the wit to make it a cause of quarrel, and I will aid thee."

"What matter if they were four times four. Are there not twenty-seven of us who do out-top them in stature, them and their wand-bearing servants?"

"Nay, thou dost not catch my meaning. Might one of these men from beyond the arc, their husbands, be trusted on the Toltu throne?"

"Nay, that were madness. The Kings shall choose one by lot, and I do predict the lot will fall upon thy brother, Mal- set."

"It hath been arranged that, at a sign from me, our forces shall advance, put her guards to flight, and surround the tent."

By aid of the word "Tet-tse," which opened and closed the doors, Mal-set retired to his own chamber, and the King threw his great bulk upon his couch; he was heard immediately scrambling to his feet again.

"By the Storm-God! what meaneth this? Here is some art of sorcery. She doth practice such arts, I have heard, to terrify; yet darkness harmeth not. I will even lie down again. When Mal- set is King of the Toltus, then will we learn these arts." The Queen closed her ear.

"Alas, for my poor people, if he should be their King! It grieveth me, my beloved, that the necessity is upon us of taking human life."

"Yet it must be, my soul; for upon it, I can see, depends the happiness of millions."

"Now are they all my prisoners, and it were easy to cut them off; yet not in words alone, but in deeds, must they force this necessity upon me, in view of all the people. Our own laws must be obeyed, and the faith of our own people maintained unshaken."

A moment later, as To-grat lay on his couch, he heard the voice of the Queen, saying: "It is Kayete-ut-se-Zane calleth thee. Arise, and follow the servant!"

Startled and full of wonder, he arose instantly, threw the great-cloak, such as they wore, about his person, and waited. The marble door slid open; a servant beckoned him in silence, and in silence he followed, until he stood in our presence.

"To-grat, son of Ple-bock, thou art one whom the God of Light loveth, for thou art virtuous, and lovest to do right. Thou hast come, the younger son of thy father; the necessity is upon thee that thou shouldst return the eldest, and become the King of the Tonques."

"Nay, that may not be, O God-Queen! for my brother, the King, liveth, and after him is Mal-set."

"I desire not that thou shouldst say aught of thy brother, or what he doth intend; he is thy brother. But it is not well that thou shouldst be upon the platform before the Queen's tent next wake-day; therefore shalt thou be confined within the palace, and here await to-morrow's issue."

"Wouldst thou I shouldst be merciful to him and unjust to millions, or just to him and merciless to millions?"

"Aye, it doth grieve me much that he is so. Go now to thy chamber, and content thee in that thou knowest not what may be."

He retired in great sorrow, and before her came a younger brother and an uncle of the other Kings, who were sent to their chambers with like messages. All this was as great a mystery to me as it was to them. I am sure, because I had been with her continuously, that she had held no conversation with these men; and yet she seemed to know them even better, perhaps, than they knew themselves. Our beliefs perhaps rested upon different foundations, but I was clearly of To-grat's opinion, that she was more than human; and I went to sleep with that conviction.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE SWIFT-FOOTED TOLTUS—INTERNATIONAL RACE—AN EXCITING TIME—CONSPIRACY CULMINATES—DEATH OF THE KINGS—A BATTLE—KNOWLEDGE CONQUERS FATE.

"WE might," I said to the Queen the next wake-day, "place such a body of men under arms as would overawe them, and cause them to give up their designs."

"I have thought of that; but their giants hold our Toltus in such contempt that it would not deter them—nay, they might even make such a warlike show an excuse for doing what they have resolved upon. We might then, too, appear to the other Kings, and to our own people, as the aggressors. No! it would please me well if they would repent; yet not by enforcement, since that would be no repentance, and would end in wars and great destruction of life. I know that what is to be must be."

Cetsen and Harding were fully informed of the situation, and, as a result, when we next appeared on the platform, we had arms and armor beneath our more glittering gear. The friendly Kings were also instructed what to do with their followers in the event the army of 20,000 giants should make an attack. We did take the precaution to add 2,000 more riflemen to our guard, to make up a triple line of them in front of our tube-bearers. The sports of the day began with the selection of their swiftest runner by the several nations, in the same manner as it had been effected by the Toltus. Tu-teet and the King of the Lin-ter-sots had brought no runners, and did not compete; it lay, therefore, between the champions of the three Kings from the north and the Pau-tons, to determine who should race against the Toltu champion, who stood as the challenger of the world. The final trial between these four, therefore, for the honor of running against the challenger, was an exciting one. The Pau-tons had one man who was very swift, and promised to put Gro-teck to his metal. As the champion of each nation was determined, his name was proclaimed by the heralds, that all might know. This original product of the burning earth was called Al-ta-zan, and was of the same stature as La-mech, whom he much resembled in figure. He had an amiable face, which to me was very grotesque, as were the faces of all his race, by reason of the long silken hair that hung from the eyebrows and the upper portion of his cheeks, extending downward and backward to the ear, and thence down to the jaw, leaving the nose and chin bare. His complexion—as much as could be seen of it—was fair, like that of the Toltus. He ran, too, with a bounding gait like La-mech. Gro-teck, the champion of Gag-ze, was much larger than any of his three competitors, and I should rather have chosen him as a wrestler than a runner. The vast crowd became hushed and observant when these men took their places. They stood with bodies thrown forward and eyes fixed upon the signal. A loud blast from the horns, the shield fell from the spear, and they severally bounded forward as if they had been discharged from a catapult. Three of them ran, but the Pau-ton bounded; he alone seemed to fly. He did not appear to be moving so fast as the others, for the reason that he covered the ground with so much longer strides, and apparently with less effort. Before they had measured half the distance, it was apparent that the victory lay between Gro-teck and Al-ta-zan, with, as it seemed to me, the chances in favor of the latter. The sympathies of the Toltus were evidently with him, since every moment the cry went up from them, "Al-ta-zan hath it!" When the race was ended, the shout was almost universal, "The Pau-ton hath won!" Looking at them through the glass, I had no doubt that the Pau-ton had won the right to run against the challenger; but, in reaching for the handkerchief, his hand had struck the pole, and thrown the handkerchief forward into the hand of Gro-teck. It was the possession of the handkerchief, however, which decided the race, according to custom, and Gro-teck was declared the winner.

"Call you it accident that hath thus snatched the prize from the swiftest runner, or is it a factor in a sum of events that must have been?" inquired the Queen of me, in English.

"When I can answer that, I shall have found out God," I said. She signalled for both the runners to approach.

"Thou hast won the right to contest for the nations with the swiftest of the Toltus. That is an honor of which this gift bears testimony, whether thou shalt win or lose." She hung a jewelled ornament about his neck, and turning to the other, said in his own tongue, "Thou art the swiftest, yet hast thou not won. Here is a rich gift to remind thee that thou runnest ever hand in hand with fate, which is but a name for human frailty."

Doubtless the runner did not understand her, but when she translated what she had said to me, I understood that it was a far different answer from what I had given to her former question. "Human foresight is the conqueror of fate," she said by way of explanation. Thus she could philosophize on the eve of a momentous event in which human lives were involved. Harding and I were nervous while awaiting the culmination of a conspiracy that threatened all our lives; but not so Cetsen and the Queen. They were as calmly self-possessed as if the murderous kings on our left hand, and the army of giants in our front, had no existence.

Before all the tests of speed had been made and the champion for the visitors selected, the wake-time was drawing to a close. Ninety runners had tested their speed with the sole object of selecting one who should be able to wrest the national prize from the Toltus, and the trials had worked the rank and file of all the nations up into a state of excitement over the pending struggle between Lu-mech, the Queen's runner, and Gro-teck the Tonque. Every Toltu would feel humiliated if the Queen's prize should be wrested from them, since upon their speed and activity they vaunted more than upon any other characteristic of the race. On the other side, the gigantic men from the north felt that they would hardly be able to face their fellows on their return, if their fleetest should be beaten by one of the smaller race. The Toltu tongues were ready to clamor for the rights of their champion, for they never thought of war or conflict except at the Queen's command; but the Northmen, who of late had been encouraged to exhibit their former warlike spirit, stood ready to fight for their champion, if need were. Never before, the Queen said, had her celebrations put on such a warlike aspect, since never before had more than an inconsiderable number of men in armor been present. Now the good-natured shouts of the Toltus were answered by the Northmen's shouts of defiance. The latter were, therefore, in the right spirit to carry out the designs of their kings. Each champion as he took his place was cheered, Lu- mech by the Toltus and Gro-teck by the Northmen. But the cheers for Lu-mech were followed by an ominous roar of derision from the giants, that showed it was no longer regarded by them as a merely friendly contest. It was evident that means had been used to encourage a feeling of hostility toward the Queen and her subjects. Lu-mech was stationed to run from the east toward the west, and Gro-teck to run in the opposite direction. All the wind instruments of the Queen's band executed a prolonged strain of martial music while they stood watching for the drop of the shield. It fell, and at the instant there fell upon the great mass of humanity a few short moments of silent suspense that was painful. But what was it to us, who knew that the moment had arrived for what might prove a terrible conflict! The champions shot forward. The giant seemed to hug the earth as he stretched over it his long, muscular limbs, from which I could see, through my glass, the muscles stand out in bold relief, strained to their utmost tension. His running seemed to be laborious work compared with that of Lu-mech, who appeared to spurn the earth and be ever in the air, vaulting so lightly from toe to toe, as to convey the impression that it was done with little effort, else it could not be so gracefully done. But on his limbs too, notwithstanding the hair, I could see the hardened muscles at work. They have passed two-thirds of the distance, and it is hard to say who is nearer the goal. A tremulous roar comes from the great crowd. It, too, is working its muscles involuntarily. Each man is eager to lend his strength to his favorite. They are each within twenty yards of the handkerchief. It is a question who has reserved his strength for the final rush. Ah! it is Lu-mech, the Queen's runner. He leaps more lightly and farther at each bound. His space narrows the most rapidly—one long bound—in two seconds the hand of the giant runner has touched the pole. But he is too late; the handkerchief is gone. Lu-mech, with it in his hand, bounds past him and goes bounding onward with it to the Queen. There is a wild shout from 200,000 Toltu throats that seems to split the firmament, and they fall into each other's arms and weep for joy. But listen! their shout is almost drowned in a vindictive roar from the giant army; for see, the worsted champion is gesticulating fiercely, and now approaches the Queen on a run. Lu-mech prostrates himself and offers the handkerchief to the Queen.

"There hath been some foul play," he replies, "for here cometh our champion with complaint."

"O King? my Toltus have forgotten long since how to lie. Go, Lu-mech, thou hast fairly won; quickly behind our tent," she said, and tossed the golden badge over his neck. "Now what saith thy champion?"

"That thy rascally Toltu hath flung dirt in his eyes, as he ran, with his foot, so that he could not see to take the handkerchief."

"Nay, King, a Toltu cannot, as he runs, throw dirt with his foot. Even in so small a matter justice must be done."

"I tell thee it is injustice, Queen! Thou thyself liest!" cried Mal-set. "Give us justice, or we take it for ourselves."

"It hath been justly determined," answered the Queen quietly, while making a sign to the guard. A glance showed me that the army of giants had begun to move, and that the attendants of the friendly kings were moving rapidly to east and west to get out of harm's way. Harding stepped briskly between the guards, and disappeared in the tent.

"Kings of the North," cried Mal-set, "be free!" Instantly they threw back their cloaks and drew their long knives, of the dimensions of short swords and double-edged. At the same moment, somewhat no doubt to their surprise, our Toltu guard of forty stood in line between them and us, in perfect silence, pointing their harmless-looking tubes at their breasts. The gigantic crowd of royalty hesitated for a moment, but only to look with contempt upon their small opponents.

"It had been well for you, O kings, if ye had chosen righteousness, and earlier learned to tremble before Kayete-ut- se-Zane!"

This speech was greeted with a shout of derision, and they rushed forward, as if the Toltus were but chaff to be swept out of the way. A moment, and the three kings with five of their relatives, who were at the front, lay prone upon the platform, with the smiles of contempt yet upon their faces. The fall of their huge bodies all together shook the platform from end to end. They had been touched and they were dead. The others stepped back with a yell of horror.

They looked upon her, where she stood upon a chair of state, elevated above the guard. She was so beautiful, so calm, so powerful, so humane. She was more than mortal! The swords dropped from their hands, and they fell on their knees before her, all save one. That was Mal-set, the plotter. He attempted to escape to the army, which was now fast approaching our lines. The Queen glanced at me as he leapt from the platform. That glance seemed to have in it many sentences. It said his escape meant war now and war hereafter—a war perchance with three kingdoms. I drew my pistol, and as he ran from me, sent a ball through his heart.

"Go! You are pardoned," cried the Queen to the others. "Quickly halt your forces, lest they too fall like the grain before the tempest!"

But the army of giants regarded itself as the tempest, and advanced with its roar. Twenty thousand men in line, moved by one vengeful impulse, is a terrible sight, and this army of men of mammoth frames in heavy armor, as it swept forward with deafening clamor toward our quiet and unpretentious-looking line of holiday soldiers was terrible. They had seen members of the royal company fall upon the platform, but could not distinguish their persons nor the means by which they fell. Neither did they know the sanguinary plans which the kings had mapped out for them to execute. This was the secret of their officers. They supposed their kings had been entrapped by the Queen of the Toltus, and when they saw the royal giants fall, a howl of rage dominated the universal roar in which hundreds of thousands of tongues, moved by wonder and consternation at the unexpected sight, were joined. They rushed forward with a battle-cry on their lips, "Death to the Toltus!" It was well-nigh impossible to stop in its mad career such a mass of men. The officers had lost control of it, for their voices could no longer be heard. Harding had advanced our line some twenty paces in front of our tent. The friendly kings had offered to assist the Queen with such small forces as they had at command, but she declined their offers kindly, and bade them seek their own safety by joining their own retinues and keeping them out of harm's way while we dealt alone with the attacking force. Thus were left standing on the platform overlooking the field, the Queen and Cetsen in the centre, myself on the right, and Harding, who had returned after massing 2,000 reserve men in our front as a provision against a charge, on the left. Harding and I each held one of the Queen's ears in our hands to issue orders, that would be instantly heard and obeyed by our entire force. She required no aid or suggestion from us in handling an army large or small. We were simply her mouthpieces for convenience. Those whom the Queen had pardoned rushed from the platform, ran toward different quarters of their army, and made a vain effort to stay the tide of onslaught. They were supposed to have escaped the Queen's vengeance, and were received with cheers. Their voices could not be heard in the uproar, nor their gesticulations understood amid the confusion. The tide continued to surge forward with bowmen in front and their spearsmen behind. These latter, the Queen said, in the remote past had been called the Reapers, because before she had conquered them no nation could withstand them. She had waited until the last moment consistent with our own safety. They would soon be within bow-shot, and there was no indication that their advance would be checked when she gave the word to fire. Deliberately our disciplined Toltus raised their rifles to their shoulders, took careful aim, and within two seconds, I think, the foremost line had delivered its terribly destructive first volley. I think it was the absolute reliance upon the Queen that rendered the Toltus such cool and fatal marksmen. We stood above the cloud of smoke that instantly hid the opposing forces from each other, and could see the effect of the discharge. I thought no bullet had gone astray. The whole front of the enemy's line appeared to fall to the earth at the same instant. This wholly unexpected and terrifying result instantly shook their confidence in their own prowess. There had been a deafening explosion, for which they could not account; before them lay their dead, killed they knew not how; the Toltus had become suddenly hidden from them behind a cloud of smoke, on which we, the God-descended on the platform, appeared from where they stood to walk like spirits of the air. The sight appalled them. All the stories they had heard coming down to them as a tradition of the God-Queen's omnipotence, which the late kings had endeavored to persuade them were mere idle tales, now seemed to be confirmed by a dreadful experience. The spirit of revenge suddenly died out of the breasts of those in the front ranks, and crowding backward from their line of dead and wounded, they would have turned and fled if the lines behind had not prevented them. All, however, had heard the almost simultaneous crack of the rifles, and saw the strange cloud of smoke on which the God-descended Queen seemed to be uplifted, and a hush fell upon the entire army. Then the voices of those who had left the platform could be heard calling upon them to halt. The cry was taken up by the inferior officers, and the onset was checked at the moment that our second line stood waiting an order to fire. Harding and myself heaved sighs of relief. The giants were conquered; their ranks stood still. Principal officers from each of the national divisions came forward and prostrated themselves before the Queen. "O God- Queen!" said he of the Tonques, "what would you that we now should do?"

"Let your forces lay down their arms upon the field; then let the Vults and Glintz retire to their tents, and the Tonques come forward and keep silence within the hearing of my voice. I have that I would say to each of your nations."

"It shall be as the God-Queen saith," was the reply of the spokesman. When the Tonques had gathered into a compact mass before us, she raised her voice, which in that atmosphere could be heard by all of them, and said:

"O men of the North! it hath made my heart sad that Gag-ze, your King, who lieth here dead, did bring you hither to encompass the Queen of the Toltus and slay her, because he hath thus slain, as if it had been done by his own hand, many of his own people, and put an end to his own life. Generations ago, before your grandsires were yet born, my kingdom was invaded by one of your kings. In mine own defense was I compelled to slay him and conquer his armies. Yet did I not despoil his kingdom, nor cause his people to pay me tribute. I re-established his kingdom and placed upon the throne a just man, his brother, who promised for himself and for all his successors to reign in righteousness, maintain the laws I had given him whereby his people might be made happy, and to make no war except in his own defense. Then did I bless him with the sign of the arc. Since then have I left thy kings to do as it seemed best to them in their kingdom. Each one of them have I blessed when he hath become thy king, save only this one, who came not for my blessing. All have reigned in righteousness save this one, and behold he lieth dead. He fell by the hand of the spirit of light. Had this your king lived, ye would have been an unhappy people; but ye shall not return to your own land without a king, for yet do I find among you just men of royal blood. Behold! a new king reigneth over you, and once again Kayete-ut-se-Zane hath founded your kingdom upon love and knowledge!" At that moment To-grat stepped upon the platform, and seeing the dead brother, knelt beside it in tears, exclaiming:

"O Gag-ze! why would you do this thing? Why would you not be advised? Why wouldst thou follow the counsel of Mal-set, who hath thought evil continually?"

Not before them alone, but me also, did this great intelligence stand like a deity, shaping the destinies of races. Stepping to the side of To-grat, she made over him the sign of the arc, and then leading him to the front of the platform, exclaimed:

A shout went up from the throats of all: "To-grat, the younger, King of the Tonques. Long may he reign!"

"Bend ye, my subjects, for the God-Queen's blessing," said To- grat; and instantly with bent heads and right hands to their foreheads, as was their custom, they waited the blessing.

"On the heads of all those who do righteously, rests the blessing of Kayete-ut-se-Zane!" said the Queen, including them all within the sign of the arc.

She told them the sports would proceed the allotted time, in the spirit of brotherly love, and dismissed them to their tents. After that they appeared no more in armor. She went through the same programme with the other two nations, and enthroned two more new kings. The dead were buried with solemn rites. They were laid away by the Toltus among their own dead, and were followed to the burial-place by the very Toltu soldiers at whose hands they fell, in order to show that they were sorry that the Queen had found it necessary thus to punish their race. The Toltus never thought of boasting of the result as a victory, or of in any manner taunting the Northmen with their defeat; so that on the next wake-day all the nations were on much more friendly terms than they were at the beginning of the celebration. At its conclusion the kings departed, bearing away with them many valuable presents, chiefly in the form of rich dresses, that would serve to keep her greatness continually in remembrance.

The interior Earth as described by Cresten, Queen of the Toltus.

A. North Star.—B. True pole.—C. Points in space within the arcs of light, or Auroras, around which, the magnetic poles being attracted to it, the earth revolves. It is where the exterior and interior electric currents come in contact—D. Arcs of light, produced by contact of currents. → Show direction of interior currents; the exterior move at right angles to them.—E. Exterior magnetic pole.—F. Interior magnetic pole.—G. The kingdom of Kayete-ut-se-Zane, or Cresten, Queen of the Toltus.—H. Antediluvian city in the kingdom of Rudnord.—I. An impassable ocean.—K. Kingdom of the Zit-tites, a dark land, the primal home of the white races.—X. The highest altitude yet heretofore attained on the exterior.—Z. A line showing the verge which forms a circuit of about 300 miles into the interior; wherefore no man may ever expect to stand beneath the North Star, as the pole is in space about 300 miles from the nearest surface.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE QUEEN EXPLAINS HOW THE EARTH IS TURNED ON ITS AXIS—UNDER THE WATER—AN ENGULFED CITY—THE MOST WONDERFUL OF THE EARTH'S CATARACTS—STARTED UPON THE MOST DANGEROUS OF OUR EXPEDITIONS.

THIS celebration, I may say, concluded my first year's experience in the interior world; that is, I have narrated to you its principal events. The storm season following was spent by us in the palace, and devoted to scientific inquiry, in which the Queen became our instructor. It would be more correct to say, that the sisters became our teachers; for, although Cetsen was not the originator of ideas and close student that her sister had always been, yet she had absorbed, if the expression conveys my thought, the lessons of the centuries; so that, had the responsibility and consequent necessities of a sovereign been upon her, she would no doubt have become, what the Queen was, a spiritual and intellectual enigma. One day a remark of mine suggested an inquiry from her that led to the elucidation of problems which the philosophers of the exterior globe have either given up in despair or not attempted to solve.

"By what force and in what manner say your philosophers, doth the earth turn upon its pole from west to east with them, and from north to south with us?"

I opened my eyes wide. "I don't understand what you mean by from north to south with us," I said.

"Why, hast thou not yet discovered that what you term the magnetic needle points at right angles to what it did when on the exterior of the globe?" she inquired, with a laugh. She knew very well I had not discovered it, but she was in a playful mood.

"See, where the centre of the arc of light is over the opening to our interior world is the true axis of the earth, yet neither within nor without doth the needle point to it. But what say your philosophers?"

"They say it was set twirling, and has continued to keep it up. And for the most part they don't believe there is an interior to the globe."

"Then are they not so wise as I supposed. Is not your magnetic pole, the one toward which the needle points, south of the true pole or earth's axis?"

"Aye, and ours is 70° south of it. The reason is this: From the sun comes the continuous supply of the spirit of light, your electricity. Through the oxygen of the air and on and beneath the surface of the earth, where the mineral beds invite it, it circles in the direction from which it comes. Its course is determined by the inclination of the earth's axis, and, therefore, on the earth's exterior is 20° south of your equator, on what you call your western hemisphere, and, of course, 20° north of it on your eastern hemisphere. Hence your north magnetic pole is 20° south of the true pole, and located on the western hemisphere, and your south magnetic pole the same distance north of the true south pole. Now, the spirit enters the interior globe at the true poles, which to those on the exterior are north and south, but to us within are east and west. It forms its interior circuit also in the direction of its coming, and that is at right angles to the circuit which it forms on the exterior. That fixes our north magnetic pole, you see, on the opposite side of the globe from yours, and, as you would call it, 70° south of the true pole. While these poles attract the needle, because it is governed wholly by the direction of the currents and always at right angles to them, yet the great attractive force is the crown of the spirit of light, the arc, the point in space where these two conflicting circuits without and within come in contact. That contact is what produces the arc of light, your borealis. The energy of our circuit is greater than that without. Both your pole without and ours within are attracted to this common point in space. If these two poles were attracted with the same force, there would be a dead centre, as you call it, and the earth would not move; but with different degrees of force, both poles are continually drawn toward this attractive point in space. The result, if this were all of it, would be that the point in space would change its position, very likely, and give the earth motion around another centre. But at the true south pole just the reverse of the forces I have described are in operation, and counteracting these; so, you see, there is nothing the earth can do but twirl about these points, with its pole always in the same direction. However, the currents are not always uniform and there is a movement of the pole. Have not your philosophers noticed that their magnetic pole shifts its position?"

"Methinks our pole, being the stronger, would somewhat affect your needle in your eastern hemisphere, even on the exterior," she said. And I informed her that in Eastern Asia the needle did act strangely, and seemed to indicate the presence of another pole.

"How the earth doth move about the great planet, the sun, I know not, since I knew not that it so moved until you told me. The traditions of Nodroff say nothing about it."

"Surely, he was a great philosopher who first determined it; but why did he not determine by what force? Methinks he should not have rested short of that."

"Then you have no doubt that these electric currents move in the directions you have named, and exert the force that moves the earth?" I asked.

"O thou doubter! I can show them to you at work, if you would care again to visit the burning zone," she replied.

"Why, then, my soul, although I doubt no longer, let us visit that strange locality, for there are wonders there, I assume, that I have not seen. How say you, Cetsen, and brother Harding; shall we visit the burning earth again?"

"If your worships are in that mood, why, we must go along and take care of them—eh, Cetsen?"

"I don't know whether it will or not until we make the visit I can't say I enjoyed the last one. There was just a little too much of the spice of danger in it."

"Yet have we brought another to life who plots mischief," remarked the Queen. "However, we shall make a journey that I doubt not will repay us well in strange sights, and perchance in other ways you dream not of. We will start at the bottom of the lake."

"At the bottom of the lake!" exclaimed Harding. "Perhaps you don't know that I can't live under water. I'm not amphibious."

"Under water you may live, but not in it," laughingly replied Cetsen. But I apprehended that the Queen had in view a more momentous object than mere sight-seeing. I had no doubt it had some reference to that devil in human shape, Norwald. Several months had now elapsed since he had been let loose on the border of the burning zone, and, so far as I knew, nothing had been heard of him. I wondered if the Queen knew anything of him. Wherever the malignant creature might be, I knew, of course, he was plotting against us; yet the Queen, it appeared to me, had deprived him of all means of effecting any great harm. He had not even been permitted to carry away with him a weapon. He had no followers, and was unacquainted with any living language. What could the fellow do within three months' time?

"Norwald has no doubt by this time acquired a language," said the Queen, replying directly to my unspoken queries, but speaking to all of us. "His restless activity, too, I venture to say, hath put him in control, if it hath not made him king of a dominion."

When the Queen made a prediction I was prepared to regard what she predicted as an accomplished fact.

"Nay, I have heard nothing since our runners traced him beyond the burning earth. But I know well what things are probable, and we go not upon this expedition alone. We shall take with us 500 riflemen and 500 tube-bearers," she replied.

I had never conceived of such a government as hers. It demanded little or no attention from her. There was no ever- changing code of laws to be revised and amended, and no intricate judicial machinery for the enforcement of law. The Toltus claimed nothing as their own; all was the Queen's, and there was nothing to dispute over. Besides, I never saw a Toltu who did not have all he desired. The officers in the districts attended to the allotment of labor and the division of products, making their brief reports to the Queen, and that was all of it. There was little for them to quarrel over, and the criminal code was rarely broken. The officers performed marriage ceremonies in the Queen's name, and settled all differences of a minor character that might arise between them. A school of physicians, established by the Queen in each district, looked after the health and sanitary affairs of the kingdom, which thus, with little machinery and scarcely any friction, ran without her interference. She was therefore enabled to leave it at any time, at slight risk of anything getting out of order. A few journeys after our resolution had been taken, therefore, we were proceeding, with our armed escort, along the shore of the beautiful lake, which you are aware nearly washed the base of the palace. It extended to the southward, by the Queen's compass, which you are now aware would be eastward on the exterior globe, about thirty miles, and was, the Queen said, nearly fifteen miles, or three-fourths of a journey, in width. There were numerous small boats, propelled by oars and sails, upon it; and the Queen had several magnificent galleys for state occasions and her occasional enjoyment. But the Toltus had no commerce, either among themselves or with other kingdoms; and save the mussels and fish which it furnished for the general consumption, its waters served no useful purpose. Midway of the length of this lake we halted, and the Queen explained in what manner it had been formed.

"Prior to the flood," she said, "this lake had no existence. It is fed by springs of pure water along its northern border, and was originally a stream running through a valley which extended far to the south of the burning earth. After the floods, caused by the sudden shifting of the earth's pole, and the spirit of light had changed the direction of its currents, the long zone to the south of us became volcanic, and uplifting the earth across the valley, formed this basin."

"It was turned out of its course, and when the basin filled, found an outlet to the westward, where it now runs along the border of the burning earth for a short distance, and then turning south, finds its way into the burning zone through the caverns."

"Would we could follow it," I exclaimed. "We might then solve some mysteries regarding the origin of volcanoes, earthquakes, and underground phenomena generally."

"It is our intention to follow it," she replied. "But first we have something here which you should see. This valley was inhabited by the antediluvians. The evidence of it is at the bottom of the lake."

Then there floated out from a protected inlet, where I had not observed it, a double-hulled vessel, propelled by oars. It lay low upon the water, and its two hulls supported a broad platform, in the centre of which stood a glass box, about ten feet square. It was in a framework, in front of which, toward the bow, was a windlass, from which ran four ropes, made of fine wire, connecting each with an upper corner of the box, whose angles were all framed in metal. In the top of the box were four openings, in which were inserted gum tubes that, running through grooved rollers in the framework, lay in coils upon the deck. Two of them were connected with force-pumps, and the other two were open for the escape of impure air from the box. Harding now understood how he was to be placed under the water, and not in it. The box was suspended over an opening in the deck, between the hulls. A force of Toltus manned the oars, and we moved over the placid lake at a rapid rate. Its waters were so transparent that I could see the fish swimming in it at the depth of twenty feet. About three miles from shore we came to anchor. The Queen peered into the water, and exercised great care in selecting a position for the boat. I looked over the side, and saw that we were over what appeared to be long lines of rocks, the tops of which were not more than ten feet below the surface. Between them the depths were profound.

"You three shall go down, while I remain above, lest anything should go wrong," said the Queen, as she opened a door in the glass box, which was fitted into gum casings, rendering it water- tight. The glass plates of which the box was made were three- fourths of an inch in thickness, and perfectly transparent. We entered. Toltus manned the windlass, others stood at the force- pumps, and the Queen attached small gum-coated wires to others which came out of the box. Within was one of the Queen's ears. The men lowered away, and down we went into the lake between the lines of rocks, which I could see were walls of human construction. I understood now that we were being shown an antediluvian city that had been engulfed. We were within one of its streets. For a time it was quite light, and everything could be seen distinctly. It was built of granite; and I immediately concluded, from its resemblance to Rudnord's city, that it was within the kingdom of Zu-fra-brad, originally, and one of those which the inscription said he had built for his sons. It demonstrated, beyond a doubt, that the ruler of the sons of Noe was a mighty monarch, and also that the burning zone had been formed subsequent to the deluge. The copper had not withstood the action of the oxygen of the water, and had disappeared, allowing the roofs to fall in. The doors had also disappeared in like manner, and we could therefore see within the interiors of the houses. Many of the floors remained, having been built of stone, arched out from the walls for support. The Queen had put the boat in motion, and we found ourselves moving slowly up the street. Peering in at one of the open doors, on the side to which we were nearest, I saw the skeleton of a man lying upon a couch constructed of metal. There he had lain for ages—that is, his framework had—and I wondered at the existence of the couch, part of which was copper.

"The Queen and I examined it closely," said Cetsen, "and found the couch to be composed of two metals, one of which you call zinc. That is the reason the water hath had no effect upon it; since the spirit of light is made active to preserve it. But we discovered another thing, that it was a sick man who laid there when the flood came, and had been bound to it, else would he never have remained there. Moreover, he was bound to the couch that it might cure him."

"Cresten so thinks, else would they not have constructed the couch, by such an arrangement of the metals, that when the hands were bound on one place, on each rail, the current from the metals would pass through his body. Beneath him lies cloth of hair."

"The world is very old." It was the voice of the Queen from above. As we advanced we were sunk deeper beneath the surface, and the light gradually gave place to obscurity, so that the open doorways could be but faintly distinguished from the dark walls. We were very near to the bottom of the lake. Then we saw a most gruesome sight. In one chamber, whose floor was above the sandy bottom of the lake in the street, whether a first or second story I do not know, and which had one of the arched floors over it, lay in the motionless water, thirteen skeletons. We could not have seen them at all had not Cetsen now lighted up the box with electric tubes furnished with reflectors.

"We have an ancient tradition," I said to the Queen above us, "that, prior to the flood, it rained forty days and nights."

"I know not whether it rained, but had it rained forty times forty days and nights it would not have produced a flood so sudden that these people had not time to escape to the tops of their houses. It was more terrible than that. The waters of the seas overflowed their shores, and swept in great tides over the land, when the solid land changed its direction beneath them. Nay, I know not if the earth did not reverse its motion. Have your philosophers observed if there be planets which move from east to west, as it would be called on the exterior?"

"I think, however, that its direction was changed but twenty degrees," she concluded.

We floated for quite a mile through the streets of the engulfed city, and saw thousands of the skeletons of those who had evidently been suddenly overwhelmed. Except these and several of the curative couches, nothing, as it seemed, had withstood the destructive agencies of the water, save quantities of hard-burned earthenware that had, in its manufacture, been subjected to intense heat. Before we had signalled the Queen that we had seen enough, the fishes, attracted by the light, were following us in shoals. None of them were either so extraordinary in dimensions or so peculiar in any way as to warrant description. Had we spent the time necessary to find the home of royalty, no doubt within it we might have seen other mementoes, probably of gold. They would, however, have added nothing to the knowledge we already possessed of this ancient race. We were drawn to the surface, and the boat returned to shore, where our tents had been pitched, and we there spent the Queen's silence. The next journey across the country brought us to the point where the outlet of the lake, a very considerable river, entered the caverns of the burning earth. From this on, our journey could only be performed on foot, and the provision which the Queen had made for the support of the guard of 1,000, together with all the appliances necessary to our comfort and the success of the enterprise, were here transferred from the elephants to boats made of elastic gum. They were fastened together in pairs, so that they could neither be upset nor injured by contact with the rocks. To the bow and stern of each boat were attached rigid light poles, by which they could be either forced onward or restrained, while being kept uniformly within ten or twelve feet of the shore. The way which the stream had found through the northern portion of the burning earth was at a much higher elevation than those caverns through which we had passed on our way to the valley of great beasts. So soon as we entered that within which it disappeared, I saw that it was not a volcanic cavern, but one which the water itself had made by washing out the beds of ochre and clay that lay between granite below and superimposed limestone. At the present stage of water, it ran within a contracted channel, leaving narrow banks on either side on which we could walk. But it was a rugged way, and tiresome to follow, since we were kept continually bending our bodies to escape the low roof of the cavern, while we wormed our way among the obstructing boulders, with one foot always at a higher elevation than the other on the inclining bank. The river narrowed to about ninety feet in its rocky channel, was of great depth and surged forward with great velocity, dashing and foaming against obstructing rocks and filling the cavern with its continuous roar, so that we had to shout at each other in order to make ourselves heard. There were places where the rocks at either side confined the flood within narrow bounds and left no margin to walk upon. Through these it poured with wild vehemence and an angry voice, that seemed to threaten us with destruction if we should attempt to pass. Had not our way been brightly illumined (for the death-dealing tube of every Toltu was now converted into an electric lamp), it would have been full of terrors and unavoidable dangers. As it was, the rushing flood was grand and awe-inspiring; and none, I think, was in a mood to laugh at the efforts which it was ever putting forth to engulf us. The Queen had been through it before, when I know not, and her former preparations now smoothed the way for us. We found wire ropes, protected from the air and moisture by coatings of gum, extending along the walls of the cavern to which we could cling. As many pairs of the gum boats as were necessary to extend beyond these passages, were tied stems to sterns and floated through. The torrent tossed and pitched them, but to no purpose, for they bounded uninjured from the rocks and were always bottom- side downward. Upon them were wire platforms, on which we walked, clinging to the rope, while they tossed beneath us. Thus, in single file, and at considerable expense of time, we passed these barriers. The entire wake-time was consumed in making its length of about three miles. We debouched upon a ledge of rock, forming a platform of about two acres in dimensions, on our side of the river, which took a grand leap from its edge of fully 2,000 feet. Above us, to the height of 200 feet, frowned the cliffs of limestone, and beneath us, at the dizzy depth I have named, lay a narrow valley, the bottom of a great gulf probably half a mile in width. Sheer from its borders, as I could see through the glass, rose the lava-beds to mountainous elevations, rounded into summits and covered with soil and vegetation. Towering above all others, beyond the other side of the valley, stood a double cone.

"That," said the Queen, "is a sleeping volcano; yet not sleeping, for its crater is gradually filling up. I have visited it twice during the last hundred floods, the latest just twenty floods ago. It was even then making ready rapidly, I thought, for an eruption."

"I have spent much time among the rugged grandeurs of this burning zone. I love its fierce aspect and even its dangers. For the only triumphs, my love, in which I delight, are those which knowledge wins over fate."

She stepped to the very verge of the platform and swept the valley with her glass. "I dare not go within ten feet of it, until my eye has become accustomed to its awful depths, for my head would turn giddy in spite of me.

"They are not the dangers with which inanimate nature threatens us here, that give me any concern," she continued; "but the wild Gret-zooks, or man-eaters, a tribe much resembling in appearance the Se-ton-secks. They number only about 9,000, but claim a dominion over this mountainous region, and over as much more, as at any time they desire to plunder. They have on one occasion even found their way across the mountains, and made havoc among my unoffending Toltus. I was forced to slay many of them, since when I have not been troubled with them, but they have been continually the terror of all the tribes about them."

"Why, the creatures ought to be exterminated!" I exclaimed. "Why do the peaceful tribes not turn upon them and make an end of them?"

"That they would gladly do, but hiding within this cavernous region with which they have become familiar, the pursuit of them is beset with too many dangers."

"Yes, even now I saw through my glass a band of them on the side of yon distant mountain."

"Well, this gulf is an impassable barrier between them and us. Whence from here do you purpose going, my soul?"

"We shall descend the cliff and cross the valley. It is the stream we follow, and see you not where it crosses yonder, and again loses itself in the volcanic caverns?"

"But it is a sheer cliff and this is a fearful height. I never saw such a precipice before. I think there is nothing in the exterior world to compare with that profound hole before us."

"Yonder, to thy right hand, may we go by shelving banks and a series of precipices, none of which are more than 140 paces to the bottom. There are but three of them."

"Yes," said Harding, "but, if I am expected to jump down, one of them will be quite sufficient. I shouldn't be at all concerned about the manner in which I tumbled down the others."

"Thou wilt still be joking. We love thee too well to have thee take such a leap into eternity. We shall all go down comfortably and safely upon the wire ladders."

"Comfortable! Excuse me, your Majesty! but it is impossible to suspend me 420 feet in the air, on a rope ladder or anything else, and make me feel comfortable. The only place where I shall feel comfortable will be at the bottom of it."

"How say you so, when you have dared to float in your balloon 5,000 paces above the earth?"

"Well, I never felt comfortable. I was always thinking what a nice fix we should be in if the balloon should explode, and set us down on an iceberg. But I suppose I shall have to run the risk of turning my hair white on your ladders."

We spent the Queen's silence on this platform, with the continuous roar of the cataract in our ears. It was one of nature's lullabies to which I had never been accustomed, and it was hours before I could fall asleep.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE QUEEN FIXES THE DELUGE AT 9,050 TEAKS AGO, OR NEARLY—AT THE FIRE FOUNTAIN OF A GEYSER—A PEEP INTO A HELL OF FIRE, THE HEART OF A VOLCANO—WATCHED BY THE GRET-ZOOKS, THE GIGANTIC MAN-EATERS.

WHEN I awoke, the Toltus were already descending the wire-rope ladders one above the other. The royal party was the last to descend, leaving guards on the top, on each ledge, and at the bottom. The soldiers carried knapsacks, containing provisions for several days, and our tents were lowered to the valley, from which I inferred that we had considerable of a march ahead of us. In the valley we stopped for some time to admire the cataract.

While, in mere volume, it was not to be compared with Niagara, yet there is no such awful leap taken by any stream of water on the exterior globe. Before it accomplished half its descent it was shattered by the compressed air, and broadening as it fell, turned white as snow, and as a current, became lost in the wreaths of mist that went ever rolling upward from the vast basin which received it. These mists churned out of a basin that had become as broad as the Niagara below the falls, would entirely have obscured that waterfall; although when released from its narrow confines above, it widened upon the platform to 100 yards before taking its leap, yet to us in the valley, it appeared at its immense height to be a mere rivulet, a ribbon of water. It seemed so strange that it could grow into such dimensions when it reached the valley, as to convert its basin into acres of seething foam. It had not, like your great waterfall, a rainbow crown upon its brow. There are no direct rays of light to produce the phenomenon, but in the luminous atmosphere its spray sparkled like diamonds, so that the whole grand volume of vapor was aglow; while out of the heart of it, as it arose into the cooler air, there darted flashes of electric light.

"Oh, for a glimpse of it in darkness!" I exclaimed when I saw this phenomenon. I did not doubt that in darkness it would be aflame with sheets of light. I could readily account for the electric energy, for I had begun to feel uncomfortably warm, indicating that the temperature of the valley was not less than eighty degrees, and therefore ten degrees warmer than on the platform 2,000 feet above. The rapid condensation of such a great mass of vapor, therefore, in an atmosphere so charged with electric energy, produced the phenomenon. We approached the basin, near to the cliff, through the mist, but had gone only a little way into it, when the cataract said: thus far and no farther. Its soft brilliance at a distance was deceptive. The winds, rushing out from the cliff behind, raved and tore about it, and joined their voices with the thunder of the waters. They forced me backward and endeavored to twirl me about, with a strength that convinced me no one could penetrate the mist, to where the water plunged into its awful vortex. The stream spread out into a broad current, and moved leisurely across the valley, as if it had become weary from exertion and wanted to rest.

"Yon cataract has told me, within a few floods, how long it hath been since the great flood," said the Queen.

I looked at her in astonishment. But she told me to observe the granite platform, over which the river poured, through the glass.

"You see that it is of a uniform thickness. Well, since first the water began to pour over it, the granite ledge has been worn backward just twenty-nine feet six inches of your measure. It is now just 300 floods since I first made measure of it, and within that time it hath gone backward nearly one foot. Therefore, it hath been very nearly 9,000 years wearing it away. I know not how long it required for the streams to fill up the lake, and for this stream to dissolve its way through the ochre beds, but assuredly not more than fifty floods; so that we may safely say 9,050 floods is not 100 floods out of the way. I will show you my measurements and their dates on our return."

We took up our march along the bank of the river, the regiment moving ten abreast. Midway she called my attention to a small bunch of the Gret-zooks, who were evidently observing our movements.

"Not if left to their own counsels, as it is but twenty floods since I punished them severely, and my name hath been a terror to them ever since."

"Then, if he has acquired any influence with them, we may look to be attacked," I rejoined.

However, the Queen went forward with perfect unconcern, as if there were no Gret-zooks in the neighborhood, while Harding and I contemplated the possibility of being eaten. The river, we found, at the further side of the valley had selected a volcanic cavern for its channel, which lay beneath the base of the cliff. This it entered by a fall of about ten feet, through a vortex at the cliff's base, the entire width of the stream. Above the channel which it sought, and nearly on a level with the valley, was a cavern mouth, which could only be entered from the side of the stream on which we were, over the vortex, upon a thin lava-crust, which was an extension of the floor of the cavern beyond the face of the cliff. It was but wide enough for two to pass over abreast. In the mouth of the cavern the Queen stationed a guard of fifty Toltus to protect this narrow bridge.

"I presume," I said to the Queen, "that it is well to protect every point; but I could see no break in the cliff by which the Gret-zooks could descend into the valley to do any mischief."

"Yet is there such a way, but only one. It is a tortuous and narrow defile, that leads by a steep but gradual descent to the valley. Without appliances, it is the only entrance to or exit from it."

With our main force we pushed on through the cavern. Its floor of lava rock resounded with our tread, indicating that it was of no great thickness. That was also apparent from the fact that we could distinctly hear the river's rush beneath us. There were many avenues took off from that we followed, which was larger than the others, and, as the Queen said, had at one time been the one through which the river flowed before it had cut its present deep channel through the valley. We had proceeded perhaps half a mile, when we suddenly emerged, not from the cavern, but into daylight There was no roof above us, and the walls ran up some hundred feet. At the moment of emerging, the foremost Toltus caught sight of a disappearing Gret-zook. It was evident that we were being watched.

"This is a most dangerous passage," said the Queen, "and we may not be so easily able to pass it on our return."

She halted the column, and calling to one of the Toltus in the rear, bade him bring her a heavy steel bar, which he was carrying. I now noticed that one company, unencumbered with knapsacks or weapons, was bearing various mechanical contrivances which the Queen had brought along. She took the steel bar and carefully sounded the floor of the cavern along this open space of about thirty yards; or rather, when she had begun to do it, I took the bar and did the sounding, while she noted results. She hesitated, then requested me to sound the walls at both ends of the open space within, where the cavern was roofed. The result of this last test seemed to reassure her, and she gave the word to advance. I wondered that we were not confronted with those yawning chasms of fire, by which Harding and I were terrified on our first visit to this region. She told me that the liquid rock lay farther beneath the surface, and was far more dangerous on that account, because it had few vents for the escape of gases and vapors. When we had traversed this avenue, as nearly as I could judge, a mile, we arrived at its abrupt termination, and stood in the midst of appalling terrors. Mingled with the roar and rush of the waters of the river, tumbling into some profound abyss, was the hissing of escaping steam and ominous rumblings that shook the rocky structure about us unceasingly.

"See," said the Queen, thrusting forward a lamp toward the end wall of the avenue. "I broke through the wall seventy-eight floods ago."

Even while she spoke the deep rumbling noises came nearer, the hissing sound became deafening, and the rocks shook more violently. Then through the hole came a rush of hot air and steam, and such a terrible commotion followed that I thought the entire lava formation was about to be ground into powder about us. I think every soul in the cavern must have quaked with fear, save Cetsen and the Queen, notwithstanding the latter, before her voice could be drowned in the fearful noises, shouted:

"Have no fear. No harm will come to you." This satisfied the Toltus, I presume; but I confess that my faith in the Queen began to fail me. However, the rocks ceased to shake, and nothing but the roar of the river plunging into the shaft, and the original hissing, could be heard. In three minutes, as I judged the time, there followed a boom that rang through the caverns with a clear, bell-like intonation. It was rather a quick succession of reports, as if its hammer had delivered blows upon the rim of a larger bell than the foundries of the world have ever produced. We were so close to it that our bodies fairly shook with its vibrations. When its echoes had died away in the caverns, and only the torrent's rush disturbed the quiet, the Queen said:

"Here is what you call a geyser. Anon we may see it upon the surface. The river just beneath us pours all its waters into a great shaft, which extends downward and upward from where we are hundreds of feet. I judge it to be about thirty feet in diameter, as the column of water it ejects is of that dimension. It is being continually filled up to a level of about fifteen feet beneath us, where it overflows into another cavern on the other side of the shaft, and therein flows onward, no longer a cold, but hot water stream. At the bottom of the shaft the spirit of light maintains a bed of incandescent lava, which no water can cool. It quickly converts the water lying immediately upon it into vapor, which, at first, is rapidly condensed by the cold water above it. In ten minutes of your time, however, so great a volume of vapor, at an ever-increasing temperature, has been evolved, that the process of condensation no longer controls it, when it becomes superheated almost instantly, and with its terribly expansive force hurls the mass of water above it high into the air. It receives its momentum below, and passes us here on its upward way. It is when it falls back again from its lofty height that it shakes the rocks with resonant thunder. See you not that if the incandescent rocks beneath us had once for all been heated ages ago, and were now in process of being gradually cooled, that the continuous supply of water to carry off its heat from the neighborhood of the bottom of the shaft would render this phenomenon impossible of continuance?"

"It is clear enough to me now," I said, "that there must be a continuous cause for continuous incandescence, and that upon it the repetition of such phenomena depends."

We now retraced our course for some distance, and entered a branching avenue, which we followed for perhaps a mile.

"We are now," said the Queen, "within the very heart of the burning earth. Above us, the mountain cones rise to the height of 3,000 paces, and we are soon to look upon a sight which only stout hearts can enjoy."

We had the premonition of such a sight, in an awful subterranean voice, that growled at us from distant depths. The regiment was halted, and we four, accompanied by a few Toltus, bearing the steel bar, of which I have spoken, and other implements, advanced along a rapidly narrowing avenue, which, after we had traversed it for a few hundred feet, became a mere crevasse. The rocks and the air had alike been growing warmer, until when the end had been reached, the temperature was well- nigh unendurable. There was such an uproar too, culminating in thunder and shocks that jarred the earth, as might, I thought, close up the crevasse at any moment and grind us into atoms.

"These shocks I have not felt before," said the Queen, "and, perchance, the elements are preparing for some extraordinary occurrence."

"Nay, I came to show you the heart of a volcano, of which there have been two eruptions since I first beheld it from this outlook. Yet, we cannot tarry long in such an atmosphere."

While she spoke, she was busy preparing for the promised sight. I perceived that the end of the crevasse had been enlarged and quarried into a smooth face.

"Ah! Krel-fas, the bars and rods are not needed." She addressed the Toltu in charge of the implements. "There hath been nothing disarranged."

The light revealed where she had bored three holes in the rock, into which she had inserted copper tubes, which passed through a wall of twelve feet in thickness. Each one took a different direction, in order to command separate views of what was to be seen beyond. She bade us stand aside a moment, while Krel-fas and his companions adjusted a lever across the crevasse, made to force into these tubes, others which contained glasses. Then she lifted for a moment a lever, by which the tubes inserted in the wall were closed, and there came whistling forth a vapor of superheated steam, colorless until it was condensed by the outer air. I do not know what the pressure was to the square inch, but it was very great. The inner tubes, having been quickly inserted and secured, Harding and I each had an eye to one of them. I looked into an infernal chamber, for at least half a mile away, whose floor of fire lay half that distance beneath us. It was aglow with a lurid light, somewhat obscured by the floating vapors which the heat had not yet sublimated into transparency; so that we could not have distinguished aught save a hell of mingled fire and vapor, had it not been for the lightning, which played unceasingly among the vapors, shot its bolts against the surging flood of fire, and rolled its thunder peal after peal along the roof. It was sublime in its magnitude, this hell; it was awful, it was terrible! We could see where, nearly at our own level, the waters of the river found their way into it. The locality was surrounded by volumes of dense vapor, and was the common centre from which the lightning flashed. Yielding to some unequal pressure, great waves of liquid rock, driven by the invisible but omnipotent vapor behind them, their crests a foam of fire, came rushing forward in the direction where we stood. It was only by an extraordinary effort that I nerved myself to witness their approach, and restrained my legs from running away with me. Meanwhile, as we looked, the Queen, standing near to us that her voice might be heard over the awful pother, explained what we saw.

"There is no considerable vent for the gases generated in this fiery chamber, save yon crater, which hath built itself into a mountain. The water finds its way into the chamber, through numerous crevasses in the rocks; since there are no caverns nearer than that we left. They are formed by the overflow of lava from the mountain, but you see we are in the midst of granite formation here. When the crater vent is open, the lava, forced by the gases, goes, as you see it now, on its way, boiling up the shaft, until the vapors escape. A portion of the overflow cools, and thus continues to fill up the crater and contract its own vent. It is when the vent becomes entirely closed, or nearly so, that the expansive force of the vapor accumulates in this chamber, until it is able to drive rivers of lava before it up the shaft, and cause it to burst through the cone in a deluge of fire. See you the crests of those fiery waves? The lava is converted into spray; anon it will cover the land in the form of ashes, or rather dust, for the heat takes from this rock none of its properties. Its ashes are merely steaming lava that has become cooled in the air. These foaming crests and the pressure here convince me that the vent is well-nigh closed. The thunders, too, proclaim it; let us haste away."

"Yes, my beloved. I had thought to show you the geyser, whose boiling water, forming a column ten paces in diameter, rises 100 paces, as I judge, into the air, before it breaks into spray and falls again into its basin; but all depended upon the condition of the crater, which I had also hoped to show you."

I could see that the condition of the heart of the volcano had alarmed the Queen for our safety, and, when she gave the order to the Toltus, on reaching them, to move on the "double-quick," in the terms of Harding's Tactics, I felt that the danger was imminent, though of the form in which it was likely to come, I was ignorant. We would emerge from the caverns, I knew, at least two miles from the crater, and, at such a distance, I thought we might laugh at it.

CHAPTER XIX.

CAGED IN THE CAVERNS BY NORWALD, KING OF THE GRET-ZOOKS—THE QUEEN'S RESOURCES—ATTACKED—A TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER—THE VOLCANO EXPLODES—EARTHQUAKE—FEARFUL EXPERIENCE—THE GRET-ZOOKS ANNIHILATED—DEATH OF NORWALD, THE DEMON.

WHEN we arrived at the uncovered portion of the cavern, there was swinging before the entrance to it a piece of the Queen's paper. The latter, observing it, ordered a halt. A Toltu snatched the paper from the cord, by which it was suspended from the rocks above, and brought it to her. We, of course, knew there was but one person to write what we found inscribed upon it. It was in the ancient language, and read as follows:

"With an armed force, you have invaded the dominion of the Gret-zooks, aforetime your enemies. Now, therefore, since thou art, as thou shalt see, in our power, I, Norwald, King of the Gret-zooks, do offer thee these terms of surrender: Thou shalt deliver up thy arms, passing the same up to us by the cords which we shall let down to thee from this cliff. Thou shalt promise to wed Norwald, to whom thou wert affianced by thy father, and thou shalt deliver up Amos Jackson, the usurper of my rights, to death. Behold! before thee is broken the floor of the cavern, and the raging flood is below, which, if thou shouldst try to pass, we stand ready to hurl rocks upon thee from this ledge above. Rocks, also, are poised upon the verges to overwhelm thee, so that thou canst not choose but yield or perish, thou and thy followers, in the caverns. And, by the Light-God, I care not which thou dost, for then shall I become the King of the Toltus, which of right I am. Norwald."

I replied that he was more merciful than I had expected he would be, if we should ever fall into his power, since he only demanded one life. "And that, my Queen, I am at any time willing to lay down for thine."

"My beloved, I know thou art, but it shall not be required of thee yet. I perceive it is now that Norwald, the demon, is about to fulfil his mission."

"I hope it is not one that will starve us to death in these caverns, and make him King of the Toltus."

"Nay, rather, it is one that will sweep this man-eating race of robbers from the face of the earth."

I think I never saw before such a look of resolution on the Queen's face, nor had she ever assumed such a majestic mien in my presence. If she were ever angry, it was then. Yet our situation to me appeared desperate. There were thirty yards of horrible vortex and boiling torrent between us and the covered entrance to the cavern beyond. They had, from hundreds of feet above, hurled down great boulders, which had broken into fragments the thin floor of the cavern. They had not left a margin, on which the wire platforms, Which the Queen had brought along, might have been placed to span the chasm laterally, and so form a basis for a bridge. The Queen, however, had forecast the situation, and was prepared to meet it. I had not noticed that the Toltus had borne on their shoulders to this point, and there left it, a heavy piece of iron with a sharp steel point.

"Krel-fas, break me through this wall here, where it is the thinnest," she ordered; and six Toltus, manning the instrument, drove it with such force against the wall, which she had previously sounded, as to shiver from it great pieces at every blow. They were scarcely ten minutes breaking a way through, by which we could pass. We found ourselves in a narrow, ragged cavity, nearly closed in places by half-formed walls of lava, and from which but part of the lava dust, over drifts of which the caverns were originally formed, had been washed by the waters of the flood seasons, which find their way into them. All obstructions, however, yielded to the iron instrument, until the Queen, who had measured the distance as she advanced, directed the men to make an opening into the original cavern. Since they were cramped for space, this took some time to effect. She stood, meanwhile, watching its progress, and, as if we were not in the midst of threatening dangers at all, remarked:

"But none of it, I will venture to say, contains those minerals which the spirit of light would choose for a highway."

I had not thought of that, and now it appeared to me to confirm the Queen's theory, that internal fires are only developed where this non-conductor lies between stretches of mineral and ore-bearing rocks, and resists the passage of the electric currents. My reliance upon the Queen's judgment made me willing to accept her theory, and, if need be, swear by it.

The opening made was far enough within the cavern to conceal our operations from the waiting enemy, and, no doubt, Norwald continued to impatiently dangle his cord, in expectation of a reply being attached to it. What must have been his astonishment, therefore, when all had passed around by the side way, to see her and myself appear on the opposite side of the torrent, which they had been at such pains to uncover as a barrier to our egress.

"Norwald, thou demon!" she cried. "For this wert thou aroused from thy long rest, that thou shouldst lead to their doom the Gret-zooks, the scourge of the neighboring nations."

Before she had finished speaking, Norwald and those with him had disappeared from the cliff. They were not her words of which he was afraid, but her guns. He did not want them to strike terror to the hearts of the Gret-zooks, upon whom he relied for his future operations. With 5,000 of these huge spearsmen at his back, burning to be revenged upon the Queen, he doubtless did not intend to allow her easily to escape. When we reached the end of the cavern, the Toltus showed us where the rocks had been hurled from above, and broken to pieces the margin about the base of the cliff over which we had entered. To me, since it was a distance of fifteen feet over a vortex, to reach the shore, with Gret- zooks, no doubt, ready above to hurl rocks upon any platform that might be thrust out, not to speak of the heads of those who might venture upon it, our egress seemed hardly possible, without sacrificing the lives of many of our Toltus. But the Queen laughed and said:

"I will show you how our Toltus will overcome this barrier. Come thou, my vaulters; show the God-descended king from beyond the arc how you will reach yonder shore. Nay, you only who bear the king's own weapon."

She directed them to place one of the spring wire platforms with its end at the corner of the cavern nearest the shore. Under the centre was placed a fulcrum, so that with Toltus standing upon one end of it, it formed an excellent spring-board to leap from.

"But two of you need make the leap, and when beyond the reach of their missiles, slay them upon the cliff above, for they are the cannibals who eat men, and their lives are forfeit."

One of the vaulters tested the springing force of the platform, and laughed; then, running its length, rifle in hand, gave a leap that carried him far beyond the bank. His feet had scarcely left the spot where they alighted, before the one who followed him had landed upon it. There was a shout from above, but the vaulters were far out of reach, when a shower of stones descended. The Gret-zooks, for Norwald was not with them, thought themselves quite out of danger, and began a continuous discharge of rocks, in order to terrify any others who might feel disposed to take the leap. They were therefore astonished to see two of their number topple from the cliff and fall headlong into the vortex below. It was a moment after they fell, that they heard the report, and saw the smoke curl from the guns. They could not understand it at all, thinking it impossible that their fellows had been killed at such a distance. They therefore did not retreat, but, attributing it to accident, continued to discharge stones. When, on the second fire, two more dropped from the ledge, conviction came sudden enough, and they picked up their spears and fled. The way thus cleared, platforms were quickly thrown out, over which the force filed out. The Queen evinced great haste. The thunders in the heart of the volcano became more frequent, and were succeeded by tremors over the whole valley. When we had advanced far enough to see the volcano's summit, I perceived that the vapors had already begun to escape from its crater, and, ascending in a thin column to a great height, were forming clouds above it. In my ignorance, I regarded it as something to be admired, rather than feared, at our distance, and wished that we might be gratified with the sight of an eruption. We were scarcely a hundred yards from the cavern, when we saw the Gret-zooks, to the number of about 2,000, swarming at the base of the cliff, to the eastward of us. Norwald had, no doubt, exerted himself to get together an overwhelming force. We were making, on the double-quick, for the cataract cliffs opposite, in order to get between the enemy and our wire ladders, defended by a guard of but fifty Toltus. "If there are but 2,000 of them," I thought, "we can easily beat them with our superior armament, notwithstanding their individual strength and ferocity." But, unfortunately, that was not the limit of their number. The cliff looked like a human hive, from whose interior the hairy giants poured, in a thin stream, like so many bees. A portion of the swarm, however, did not wait for the remainder, but, to the number of about 2,500, started upon a run on the longer side of a triangle, to cut us off from our means of escape. They moved much faster than we did, for our men maintained their ranks, and, besides, one company was loaded with the steel-wire platforms and other implements. Moreover, my lungs were never strong enough to sustain me in a long race, and the Queen, who could run like a deer, timed our gait to my powers of endurance. However, we had the start, and the shorter distance, and had accomplished two- thirds of it before the Queen found it necessary to execute any manoeuvre. She then wheeled to the right, and, rushing across the enemy's line of approach, drew up on a line 200 yards in length, directly in his front. The movement was executed none too soon. Neither was it too late to give our riflemen a chance to check the advance of the frightful-looking horde, before it came within spear-flight of us. Each warrior carried a copper shield on his left arm, and a spear eight feet in length, barbed with the same metal. This was for fighting at close quarters; so that it was evident they expected to overhaul us on the run, or, if we should stop, rush like an avalanche upon us, and crush us. On their backs were quivers made of rawhide, filled with light javelins, barbed like the larger spears, which we found they could hurl with precision to a distance of fifty yards. In addition to this armor, they had also copper swords hanging at their sides. Our ranks were formed, with our 450 riflemen in two lines, at the front. I could catch, now and again, a glimpse of Norwald, who still wore the haircloth suit, with its jewelled front, in which he had lain buried for nearly six centuries, so that he was easily to be distinguished from the rest, among whom he ran hither and thither, urging them onward. They came on, with fierce shouts and noisy clamor, striking their shields with their spears, and apparently confident of an easy victory over our small force. The Queen signalled to the Toltus on the cliff, who immediately began letting down, from one precipice to another, various things, and among them I could distinguish steel platforms, only a few of which we had carried with us into the caverns. She invariably took a position from which she never expected to be driven, and then strengthened it with all the resources at her command. She told me that she had never permitted her Toltus to turn their backs upon an enemy. She and Cetsen stood behind the centre of our line, and Harding and I midway from them toward each end, that our orders might be heard by the whole line at once. The Queen had arranged some of the implements, on which she stood elevated above the rest. The enemy was within 100 yards of us, when she motioned us to give the order to fire.

"Attention! Make ready! Fire!" shouted Harding and I, in concert, and just 225 of our rifles, constituting the first line, were discharged almost in a single report. These sharp-eyed Toltus sighted their marks almost instantly. The clamorous horde was astonished into dead silence for a moment. The balls had done fearful execution among the dense mass. Not fewer than 400 had fallen dead or wounded. Those in front hesitated, stopped, and would have fled, but behind them were thousands, ignorant of what had transpired and eager to be revenged upon the Toltus. They were urged forward by Norwald, who cunningly kept in the rear, both to save himself and force them forward to a hand-to-hand conflict. They had been reinforced by fully 2,000 more, so that we now had, exclusive of the dead and wounded, over 4,000 in our front. Those in advance, who had witnessed the effect of our destructive volley, sought to escape laterally from the front, but for the most part were still carried forward, in a state of confusion, by the surging crowds behind. They had advanced to within seventy-five yards of us, as I measured it with my eye, before the rifle-smoke lifted; then the second line received the order to fire. It was followed by the same destruction of life, and greatly augmented the confusion in their front. Hundreds, anxious to escape, rushed to the right and left, yet the great mass at the centre continued its advance. Harding and I unslung our Henry rifles, and fired with the rest, both on the outlook for Norwald, the spirit who ruled the crowd. I could catch momentary glimpses of him only. He was never in the same place longer than for an instant. Smaller than the gigantic Gret-zooks, he kept continually behind their bodies. Realizing that they would be killed at a distance, and that it would be necessary to inflict some injury upon us as soon as possible, Norwald had evidently instructed them to begin their attack with their javelins, and we now saw them taking them from their quivers, as they advanced, holding their long spears in their left hands with their shields. They received our fourth volley when they were making ready to hurl them, which so disconcerted them, that only a few hundred came whizzing toward our lines. They were yet, however, at too great a distance to inflict much injury upon us. Though many of the Toltus were struck by them, yet protected as they were by armor, few of them were wounded. I knew, however, that within a few moments there would come a shower within easy range, that would decimate our ranks, and possibly throw us into confusion. I was alarmed, too, for the safety of the Queen, who stood elevated above the rest, a plain mark for the enemy. In fact, it appeared to me that a hand-to-hand conflict could not be avoided, and that we must be overpowered. At that moment the Queen gave an order to open ranks. It was done with the alacrity which characterized the Toltus, and at regular intervals there appeared the steel-wire platforms, each borne by four Toltus on the long poles used in towing the boats. Almost before I could comprehend what was being done, the order was given to close ranks, and our force stood behind a continuous shield, four feet in width and elevated three feet from the ground. Behind a similar one, stood Cetsen and the Queen. The shower came, but the Queen's foresight had once more conquered fate. It fell harmlessly upon the elastic shield and rebounded to the earth some distance in our front. This result must have both astonished and disheartened the Gret-zooks, but the leaven of discouragement worked altogether too slowly among them for my peace of mind. They continued their advance, until we could see the ferocious expression on their ugly faces. From a position upon their knees, our riflemen continued, from beneath their shields, to pour into their ranks their deadly fire, until the space between us was obscured by smoke. It now appeared that I had not witnessed all that the Toltus could do in fight. From either side, one line of our tubemen, numbering 250, ran out onto the plain and went bounding around upon the flanks of the enemy, whom they surrounded in a long line, each man being about five feet distant from the other. When they were seen, the giants on the outside left their broken ranks to destroy them. Then I saw a wonderful exhibition of their dexterity. The Gret-zooks, advancing, hurled their javelins, at not more than twenty paces, nearly every one, too, straight at the breast of a Toltu, yet not one, so far as I could see, was struck, for with a quick movement, each one had thrown himself to one side, avoiding the weapon, and then bounding forward, before the Gret-zook could recover from the effort he had made or get ready another weapon, touched him with his tube. Thus they continued to stand inviting attack, and killing every Gret-zook, so far as I could see, who approached them.

The shrieks and groans of the wounded, the yells of the living, whom punishment only enraged—for they appeared to me to be but human wolves, whom the taste of blood had now maddened—mingled with the reports of our rifles, were quite sufficient to call up lively recollections of that perhaps now somewhat antiquated inferno, that was the terror of my young life. It was no great stretch of imagination to conceive these hairy and scarce human creatures, raging in our front, to be demons, and Norwald to be the arch-enemy of mankind. Nature was furnishing nearly all the elements wanting to complete the picture of such an inferno, for now I perceived that the vapors from the mountain were spreading over the valley, in the form of a dark canopy, and it was rapidly rendering the luminous atmosphere gloomy and oppressive. The thunders, within the heart of the volcano, now came in ceaseless and louder rumblings, which the cliffs about returned to us in many-times-repeated echoes. In the midst of this fearful din and gathering gloom, the human wolves continued their as yet unavailing efforts to grapple with us. They seemed to have lost all sense of fear. Although probably half their number lay dead in front and rear and on both sides of them, and were being trampled beneath their feet, they still rolled like a great wave upon our shield, while the rifles and tubes fringed their front and sides with dead. The animal within them had been roused to fury, and their reasoning faculties had ceased to operate. Hundreds of wounded were among them, not conquered, but frenzied and controlled by the one desire to tear to pieces those who had caused them pain. It was terrible; yet amidst it all the Queen stood calm, unyielding as a rock against which the angry waves were dashing themselves. Within twenty feet of our shield, their javelins are being tossed in air, that they may descend upon the heads of our Toltus, many of whom have been thus wounded, when Harding and I repeat signs given us by the Queen. The Toltus, who have been tormenting the enemy on the flanks, come bounding back with their tubes and, rushing in behind the shield, take the places of the riflemen who have been firing from beneath it. The latter, to the number of 400, rush out to right and left, and pour in a fearful cross-fire upon the flanks of the enemy, who seem to fall by hundreds. There were as many as fifty of our men wounded, and it left, of riflemen about the Queen, only the guard of fifty which she had called from its place at the foot of the cliff. Impeded by their dead and wounded, ever kept before them by the rifles, their advance is slow; yet, only a few moments elapse and they are upon our shield. Now I trembled with fear for the Queen's safety, and would have rushed back and ordered the riflemen on the flanks to return and surround her, when she caught my eye and smiled. That smile restored my confidence, and I exclaimed involuntarily: "She is more than mortal!" No other mortal, I thought, could thus have smiled in the midst of that raging hell and its awful dangers. The hands of the bloodthirsty creatures are reaching for the shield. I waited in horrible suspense to see it torn down and our Toltus tossed like toys in the hands of the giants; but the next instant, along its entire face, what would amount to three ranks of men, melted to the earth in a heap. So noiselessly and suddenly did they fall as the tubemen rapidly touched their legs, that with my rifle at my shoulder, ready to fire at Norwald, of whom I had obtained a view, I stood transfixed with wonder and horror. Facing them was a rampart of their own dead. Before their quiet fall, the human wolves too stood mute and motionless. It was at that moment that all noises, including the roar of the cataract, were drowned by a discharge so loud that had all the artillery of the exterior globe been massed into an enormous park and discharged at once, it could not have so shattered the firmament. The compressed air struck me as if some invisible spirit had dealt me a blow in anger. The cliffs yielded to the sudden pressure and trembled. At the same time the earth quaked and three successive waves of heaving ground passed from south to north across the valley. The vapors of the infernal chamber, driving a great river of lava before it, had burst through the crater and split the mountain, throwing the northern portion of its cone crashing onto the lower peaks. The vaporized lava and gas and a huge column of fire shot at least a thousand feet into the air, spreading rapidly out over the landscape at the top, and from it leapt incessantly fierce bolts of lightning. By the quaking of the earth both our contending forces were hurled to the ground. The awful phenomenon quelled the rage of the Gret- zooks. Among the caverns they had left their broods who were threatened with destruction. Assuming it was their desire to save their children and females, rather than to effect their own escape by the only means of exit from the valley, I felt my first outflow of pity for the vicious creatures, when, by one common impulse, they turned their backs upon us and ran toward the defile. Of the 4,500, at which I had estimated them, not more than 1,500 thus sought to escape. The rest lay dead or dying upon the plain. Hardly ten minutes elapsed after the eruption before the condensing vapors and lava dust was spreading above the valley from cliff to cliff like a vast blanket and obscuring the light. It grew rapidly dark, and for the first time in that land of endless day, a night fell upon me. Before our wounded had been placed upon the wire platforms, and we had resumed our hurried march toward our ladders, the lava dust was sifting upon us; the heated air ladened with it, now became intolerable, and we were in the midst of inky darkness. The Queen called my attention to the cataract, and I perceived that my wish had been gratified when I was in no state of mind to enjoy it. It was everywhere lighted with sheets of electric flame. Fortunately, the Toltus still had among their accoutrements the mouth pads, which they had used in the war against the sons of Rudnord, and they now answered the good purpose of protecting our lungs. Every alternate Toltu placed his light-bulb upon his tube and we moved like a band of spectres through the darkness and sifting dust, which, before we had made 200 paces to where our ladders hung at the foot of the cliff, had gathered ankle-deep over the valley. It was to me a wonderful evidence of the Queen's foresight that she had suspended from the lowermost cliff five ladders to facilitate our escape and only two from the cliffs above. First, were let down ropes by the guards above, which were attached to the platforms on which lay our wounded, and one was drawn up at each ladder with a Toltu beneath it to keep it from catching upon the rocks as it ascended. This took some time, and we had leisure to look in the direction of the crater, whose lurid light shone through the gloom. The whole infernal sea was emptying itself in rivers of fire. They flowed down the sides of the mountain, their fiery glow dying out as they descended, until they became lost to our sight in the darkness. But, behold! while we looked, from beneath the cooling crust a stream of fire burst upon the valley from the defile, by which the Gret-zooks had hoped to escape.

"Hasten!" cried the Queen to the Toltus. "Up, my beloved! Cetsen, brother, make speed!"

I did not stop to consider her reason for the anxiety she manifested, knowing it was a sufficient reason, but mounted the ladder and went up, through the terrible darkness and smothering air, faster than I ever ascended a ladder before. When we stood upon the ledge, the Queen called the guard of fifty, which she kept near her and which had ascended immediately ahead of us, and stationed it in a line along the brow of the cliff. There were still about 200 Toltus below, and she shouted to them to stand close against the cliff, until they could reach the ladders in turn. What did it all mean? Soon I understood, for I could hear the despairing cries of the Gret-zooks, who, cut off by the rivers of lava from their way of escape, were coming through the darkness to wrest our ladders from us, or perish in the attempt. What a struggle would the few Toltus, left at the base of the cliff, have with them! It would be over in a moment, I thought. They would be torn limb from limb. The Queen adjusted a reflecting bulb upon a tube, and bade a Toltu hold it so as to throw the light upon a certain point on the earth beneath. Nearer came the shrieking crowd. I saw them pass where the reflector threw the light, scarce forty yards from where perhaps 100 Toltus still remained, hugging the base of the cliff, waiting their turn to ascend. Whatever danger threatened, a Toltu never disobeyed the Queen.

"Now!" she cried, and her guard of fifty flung something, I knew not what, in the darkness to meet the rushing mass. The next moment I saw that a shower of liquid fire had fallen upon them. The Queen had judged the distance, and it had been flung with such precision that the whole front of the crowd was ablaze. This was all that was needed to complete my childhood's hell. I had seen it all, save that the devils dancing among the flames were wanting. I saw it now, and listened to the shrieks and groans and moans. Another discharge of the fire-laden sacks and a space in front of them, of at least ten feet, was aflame, into which they dare not step. They attempted to flank it; but discharge after discharge reared a circular wall of fire between them and their victims, who to the last man were thus given time to mount the ladders and reach the ledge. Meanwhile the others had been ascending, and the Queen and I were about to go up the ladder, when from the left of us on the ledge came bounding my Nemesis, Norwald, spear in hand, pointed at my head. I did not see him in the darkness, and had not a Toltu soldier thrown up his weapon with his rifle, the thrust might have proved fatal. The spear left his hand; but the desperate creature threw himself upon me and attempted to drag me from the ladder toward the brow of the cliff. Even now I think of that brief and desperate struggle with a shiver. On that narrow ledge, 400 feet above the valley, in the midst of pitchy darkness, save where the ever-shifting lights dispelled it, with the lava dust now showering upon us, and almost suffocated in the heated air, he tugged to loosen my hold upon the ladder, while he grasped at my pistols. The Queen was at the moment about to ascend the other ladder, when she overheard our struggle. "It is the demon, Norwald! Slay him!" I cried to the astonished Toltu who had warded off his weapon. But he was not a tube-bearer. His gun was unloaded, and he dare not strike in the darkness lest he should hit me. We had each other by the throats, when the Queen arrived, saying:

"Norwald, the demon, hath performed his mission. He hath led to destruction the scourge of the nations!" She touched him with her tube, and he dropped from me, dead. "Let him sleep beneath the ashes of the crater, with the Gret-zooks. He is of their nature," she said.

The Toltus hurled his body from the cliff. We reached the topmost platform safely, and entering the cooler atmosphere of the cavern, out of reach of the lava dust, rested and refreshed ourselves and our Toltus. That was the last expedition which the Queen undertook for several years, and we passed our time happily in the palace.

It was late into the night when Amos Jackson completed this portion of his narrative; yet so anxious was he to tell it that he would, no doubt, have continued, had he not been seized with a violent fit of coughing, which terminated in a hemorrhage. The result of that was to postpone his further recital for some days.

CHAPTER XX.

THE NARRATIVE RESUMED—HAPPY YEARS—A VISIT TO THE GREAT OCEAN—STRANGE BUOYANCY—THE INVISIBLE MOON—THE TERRIBLE TIDAL WAVE—WE RESOLVE TO CROSS THE OCEAN—THE QUEEN ACCOUNTS FOR MOUNTAIN RANGES.

WHOEVER shall have read the earlier experiences of several years within the interior globe, will already know, and those who have not, will now learn that the narrative was interrupted by a cause which filled me with grave fear lest it might never be resumed. The man in the strange hair-cloth suit, Amos Jackson, the narrator, experienced so severe a hemorrhage of the lungs that I thought he would never be able to speak above a whisper again, nor even in a whisper, for any great length of time. My only communication with him for a week was in writing. I should have despaired of ever hearing the rest of it had he not frequently told me to give myself no concern, as he had the assurance that he would be able to complete his story. I had now become more anxious to hear, I think, than he had been at the outset to tell it. I had frequently asked myself the question: Can this, that he tells of, be true? Surely no man, face to face with death, as he knew himself to be, would deliberately spend his last hours in thus imposing upon me such a fabrication. It was either true, or he labored under an hallucination, which afforded me no evidence of impaired mental faculties. At the end of the week I entered the room after dark, for the purpose of lighting the lamps, when I was startled by seeing, standing at his couch, a column of pale light, which took, I thought, human form, and immediately vanished. Of course it was an illusion of my own senses. I felt sure of that, when the light for an instant assumed the superb figure and beautiful face, which I had in imagination attributed to Kayete-ut-se-Zane, the Queen of the Toltus. Nevertheless, I was left in doubt of the nature of that which had startled me, when, after I had lighted the lamps, he employed that same word again, saying:

Now, sir, I am assured that I am in a condition to resume my story, and will do so if you are ready to listen.

I concluded, I believe, with the annihilation of the Gret- zooks and the death of my Nemesis, Norwald. Thereafter the palace became my paradise for nearly five years. There was not a shadow upon my spirit, and to the Queen I appeared to be the crowning joy of her long life. I had, of course, first awakened the emotion of love in her breast, yet it was a mystery to me how one so inferior as myself could continue to hold her affection undiminished in fervor. During that period, two children had come to enliven the royal apartments with their prattle. They were the first of royal blood born in it for 572 years. We all claimed them, but they belonged specially to Harding and Cetsen, who were their parents. The elder, a boy, my childless Queen accepted as heir-apparent to the Toltu kingdom. But even a paradise will fail to give entire content. In some natures there is an overmastering desire to know, that never permits them to remain happily at rest. In that respect the Queen and I were alike. She had never been beyond the great ocean to the south, and both of us longed to know something of it, and of what lay beyond. She had been far to the east, west, and north of her own dominions, but the unfriendly kingdom of Rudnord on the south had cut her off from exploration in that direction. You will understand that when I name directions, I assume the arc of light, at the earth's opening, to be the true north. You are aware that the magnetic needle within is nearly at right angles to the earth's pole, so that if I took the points of the interior compass, directions in your mind might become confused. She had, therefore, never been upon the verge of this ocean, and we resolved to visit it, King Tu-teet, Rudnord's son, whom she had regenerated, offering himself to be our guide through his kingdom. I shall not, after a recital of the stirring events that have preceded, inflict upon you anything so tame as would be a history of this expedition, until we arrived in the vicinity of the ocean. There, however, we met with a phenomenon which stimulated a desire that induced us, a little later, to enter upon an undertaking fraught with great dangers and full of exciting adventures, whose only reward was the discovery of novelties and wonders and the addition which they made to our knowledge of nature's mysteries. This ocean extends east and west and, as I was afterward enabled to determine, encircles the interior globe. Its northern border lies about 55 degrees north of the interior equator and is walled by a range of lofty mountains whose peaks, some of them in the neighborhood of where we approached, were not less than 10,000 feet above the ocean level. Through a gap in these, whose highest elevation was not more than 3,000 feet, we were led by Tu-teet to the southern declivity of the range from whose base the ocean shore lay a few miles distant. From our elevated position I was enabled to see through my glass farther than ever before in the interior world. Through the Queen's powerful telescope we could see beyond the shore line to fully ten miles from where we stood. The concave surface of the earth, which on a plane gave the impression of being in the middle of a great basin with the earth everywhere elevated about us, was here in a measure counteracted by our altitude. The effect was strange to me, since overlooking the declivity near us, the ocean and the shore in the distance appeared to attain nearly our own level, so that we did not seem to be on a mountain at all. A mile down the mountain-side from where we stood, would have placed us upon a plain a little higher than the ocean, extending perhaps four miles to its shore. I would have gone down, but the Queen, who, with her watchful eyes, had been observing everything closely, said:

"Nay, my beloved, I perceive that the valley is of sand, that has the appearance of being continually washed by the ocean. Moreover, it is no light flood; for note you the lower half of this mountain-side is nothing but sand. It bears no vegetation."

"Most gracious and potent Queen!" said Tu-teet, "all things are revealed to thee. Truly, there is danger in descending the mountain. I know not at what time to expect it; but at regular intervals of about a journey, the ocean flows hither, and covers the plain."

"Aye, such as you tell me occur on the exterior globe, and no doubt having a similar cause."

"That a tide?" I cried. "It is a deluge!" I was looking oceanward through my glass, as I spoke, and the words had scarcely escaped my lips, when I felt myself as light as a feather. Every hair on my head seemed to be standing on end. I looked at Tu-teet, and his great mane stood out like a fan, while every particular hair on the exposed portions of his exterior, constituting the larger part, stood at right angles to his body. He was transformed in appearance. His contour changed from that of a symmetrical human to a puffy-looking monstrosity, with outlines which suggested the form of no animal that I could think of, except one of those fowls I occasionally saw in the barnyard when a boy, whose feathers all turned the wrong way. The idea was ludicrous enough, but, for the life of me, I couldn't laugh at it. I was too much astonished for that. Not so the Queen. I think I never heard her laugh more heartily. I couldn't see the expression on Tu-teet's face, since it was somewhere lost in the centre of a quivering mass of hair; but amazement sat on the face of every member of our Toltu guard. Each looked at his own body, and then at the body of his comrade, from which the inch-long silken hair was standing out at full length. Then, in silent wonder, they looked into each other's faces, all with the same mute inquiry in their eyes: "Do you know what is the matter?" The Toltus were not frightened. When the Queen was with them, they feared nothing. At her word, as you know, they would coolly face any danger. So now, when she laughed, they, too, gave way to uproarious merriment over the strange feeling and their stranger appearance. Had they been able to see what I had seen through the glass, coming down upon us ten miles away, it would probably have checked their merriment. It was a mountain range of water, towering apparently high above where we stood. My judgment told me that this awful elevation of the water, which gave promise of sweeping over the mountain range and engulfing us, was largely due to the concave surface of the interior; yet one's senses are such powerful persuaders, I could not convince myself that we should not be submerged where we stood. The cause of the electric force, which seemed disposed, with a very little assistance on our part, to gently lift us from the earth, and transport us heavenward, suggested itself to my mind at once. It was the same that had lifted the water mountain high into the air, and was bringing it down upon us. But the knowledge of the cause did not rob the phenomenon of its terrors. During the whole time of its approach, we were subject to that uncomfortable feeling of dangerous buoyancy, which lasted about 25 minutes. During all that time, no effort on my part seemed to be required to lift my feet. With the least possible movement of the muscles, they rose of themselves. The impression was upon me, that if I should spring but a few inches from the ground, I would be gone. Whether such a result would or not have followed, I cannot say. I was very careful not to try. The great tide rapidly approached, and I saw, with a feeling of relief, that it became relatively lower as it advanced; but the wave itself grew higher, until, when it broke upon the shore, its summit was not less than 1,000 feet above the level of the sea. It came in silence, but outvoiced the loudest thunder when it burst upon the land, and shook the mountain on which we stood. Dropping from its lofty altitude, it assumed an angry, foaming front, and with a wild roar rushed toward us as if the sole purpose of its coming had been to swallow us. All noises of ocean, that I had ever heard, when the fiercest storms prevail on the Atlantic, were insignificant compared with the tumult of this tidal wave, as it curled its white crest upward from the earth, 500 feet in the air at its lowest, and swept over the sandy plain. Imagine a toppling cliff, higher than the highest spire on the exterior globe, approaching at the rate of a mile in a minute, hurling itself against the rigid mountain cliffs at one place, and surging far up onto the mountain-sides at another. You must imagine its awful grandeur, and its furious rush against the rocks, striking them a crashing blow, which shakes them to their foundations, and under which the whole mountain range trembles. Another such a blow, you fancy, and the lofty peaks must topple and fall. It must be imagined. No words of mine can depict the effect of that blow upon the waters themselves. You have seen, perhaps, when the Atlantic was angry, some large wave break itself into fragments upon a sturdy crag, toss its spray aloft, and go hissing and growling backward with the foam upon its breast. You have pondered upon her mightiness, and thought the aspect of old ocean terrible in her rage. Now, increase that wave into twenty-fold its dimensions, and extend it as far as the eye can reach. Let it not creep upon the cliff, but dash over the land upon it at the rate of a mile a minute, and then imagine a spray dashing 1,000 feet on high, within which the sprays from all the cataracts, and all the ocean verges of the exterior world might be swallowed up unnoticed. Behold the vast billows of foam spreading out into acres, as it falls back in baffled rage from its onslaught; then be thrown to the earth, as several of us were, by the current of air which it forced ahead of it, and you may form some—yet, until you have seen it, an imperfect—idea of that tidal wave of the interior ocean. The ocean delivers upon its shores such a blow as this twice, with an interval of 24 hours between them. They are repeated in just 14 days, and approach the northern shore from the southeast. Meanwhile, on the seventh day between them, there are two waves of lesser proportions.

"I have been trying to account for the sandy plains on the other side of the mountains over which we passed, but I understand now," said the Queen.

"They were formed before these mountains were reared—that is, before the flood."

"Aye, all mountains, as I think. See you this rock and yonder 3,000 paces above us, your glass will show you others like it. It belongs not to this region. How think you then it came here?"

"Nay, such rocks can only be transported by water up very gentle inclines, not up the face of a cliff nor any steep incline. The force that would give such momentum to the waters of a deluge would have shattered the solid earth into fragments. When this rock was brought hither by the flood, this land was on a level with yonder plain. Both the flood and the mountain ranges are the results of the shifting of the earth's pole twenty degrees, as I think. Are not the mountain ranges on the exterior, as here, on the borders of the continents, and do they not trend from north to south on the exterior?"

"I thought they must mainly lie athwart the direction of the electric currents. When, by the shifting of the pole, the direction of the currents was changed twenty degrees, then changed also was their highway about the globe. It was the relation which the water, an easy highway, bears to the solid continents, more difficult highways, which was chiefly disturbed. Since I know the sun once shone into our interior, I infer that the pole must have shifted so as to effect a flow of water from the southwest toward the northeast. This greatly increased the volume of water everywhere to the northward. This water carried an undue proportion of the spirit of light, your electricity, which instantly met with resistance on the verges of the continents coming from both ways, in its dual character, to complete its circuit. Heat, therefore, was instantly evolved; crevasses formed into which the waters, perhaps the flood waters, poured and upheaval resulted."

"Yes; but, my soul, how do you account for the fact that the upheavals are in long consecutive lines?"

"The reason is this: it was this spirit of light, this electricity, which organized the solid globe—separating, crystallizing, and compacting all its primal elements. The first organized were elements of resistance into a solid non-conducting shell. That consists of this same lava rock of which there are several kinds. It constitutes the great body of the solid earth, and is the insulator, you would call it, between the exterior and interior currents. It gave original shape to the great ocean basins, and its rim is everywhere uplifted along the verges of the continents. It was along its rim where the currents met resistance, and it was in this rim that the heat was engendered."

"Then you think heat was not the great agent in the organization of the rock-structure of the world?"

"Nay, heat is a disorganizer. Think you heat would shape the crystals in this granite and thus compact its independent elements? Rather it would fuse and destroy its structure. What attractive force is there in heat to select these that have affinity and bind them thus compactly? It was the chemical action of the spirit of light that originally formed these crystals, attracted them one to the other, and now holds them together. I say, not that there was no heat evolved in the spirit's processes, yet never was the earth a molten mass of fire, that is ever cooling. If this granite were the first cooled crust of a molten earth, whence think you would come the numerous rocky strata which lie above it, and which contain elements that the granite doth not contain? Nay, they all evince selection, and were formed in their order by the spirit of light."

"This, I have not guessed at, but, having dissolved this same granite in a vacuum, the spirit hath reorganized it very nearly after its present fashion."

"That, of course, concludes the matter. Of what dimensions, think you, is this interior moon, that has nearly lifted us into the air by electric attraction?"

"It is invisible, in our luminous atmosphere, being too near to the arc of light. Its influence is felt in all parts of the interior, although 100 years might elapse before it would happen to pass again directly over us. It performs a circuit of 20,160 miles every fourteen days, and the earth, revolving about it every twenty-four hours, causes its course to be spiral. That is, if this influence, which we have felt, should leave a trail, it would run spirally about the earth. Its own circuit is from the southwest to the northeast, and it is about 500 miles in diameter."

The Queen cast her eyes oceanward and remarked thoughtfully: "Since Za-fra-brad, over 1,200 years before the deluge, no one, I think, hath ever passed this ocean from either way."

"Nor do I think it is likely that any one will cross it for a thousand years to come. No ship could withstand such a wave as that."

"Yes, if the upper air currents tend to the south," I replied. I perceived the Queen greatly desired to get beyond the ocean, having become so familiar with the interior world to the north of it. Since the valley of great beasts was engulfed, and along with it those primal elements of life, whose injection into her veins, under the conditions which the valley afforded, had preserved her organism and maintained for her perennial youthfulness in appearance, she had perceptibly begun to change and grow older physically. The aged Toltus, who for half a century had beheld her always the same, and whose fathers before them, for generations unnumbered, had marked no change, now began to notice it and wonder. She foresaw, that, to grow old and die among them, would not serve the future generations so well as it would to go down to posterity as an immortal. She would come to be worshipped, and thus the laws and customs which she had established would continue to have the seal of divinity upon them and so be ever held sacred. This was one consideration that weighed with her as she looked out over the unknown ocean. Another was that, having lived as she had through so many centuries, the few decades of years now left to her seemed to be so brief a lease of life that she ought to employ it the more sedulously on that account, in the acquisition of knowledge. We had frequently, of late, exchanged such views and she knew I was of her mind. This disease of which I am about to die, as it is termed, had already developed, and although the Queen's skill stayed its progress, yet could it not eradicate what was a constitutional inheritance. I, too, was in the Queen's society, anxious to fill my spiritual nature as full of experience as possible, before passing on to another state of existence.

For these reasons, therefore, before we had returned to the palace, we had resolved upon an aerial voyage to the south over the ocean from which we might never return. I think the Queen never expected to return, and as for myself, so long as she was with me I cared little whether we returned or not. When Cetsen and Harding were informed of our intention, they were full of grief, and endeavored to persuade us to change our minds. The sisters had been all in all to each other during their long lives, and this expedition of ours, from which we might never return, involved in any event a long separation, the thought of which tugged fearfully at the heart-strings of both of them.

"Oh! Cresten, Queen sister, why will you leave us?" cried Cetsen; "are you not beyond all other mortals in your knowledge already? Why will you seek after strange things afar? Are we not happy? I think I cannot live with the thought that I may never see thee more. On whom now will the Toltu nation lean?"

"On thee, my life, my beloved sister. Thou, when I have gone beyond the ocean, will be the wisest in human form to the north of it, and well knowest thou how to govern. Even should I never return, then will Kayete-ut-se-Zane have left a kingdom more firmly established on that account, for this, thy little one, to rule over; for then will my memory be reverenced as a God- descended who departed not as common mortals, and so the laws will be respected for centuries to come. Lest perchance I may never return, I charge you, that you have educated in the palace, as thine own, two of the fairest and brightest of the Toltu children, that thy son and daughter may perpetuate the royal line. I leave with thee the secrets of all my arts. Yet there be not many thou dost not know already. Remember the book is for the eye of a Toltu sovereign only. Dear sister, hadst thou no little ones to love I would not leave thee, for, beloved, it is my own heart I cut in two. We go, my beloved and I; yet, fear not, we shall come again."

She assembled all her Toltu officials and informed them that she was about to go upon a journey through the clouds, but that she would come again, and that meanwhile she had bestowed both all her authority and all her knowledge upon the Shwah Queen, her sister. It was a most affecting interview. The old men wept at her parting words and left the audience-hall, giving expression to their sorrow in lamentations. When the news spread, the nation draped itself in white and went into mourning. No sovereign in the world, I think, was ever so beloved, and I may add, none was ever so worthy of being beloved. Had not Cetsen, whom they also loved and worshipped, been left to them, despair would have settled upon the Toltus. But the Queen knew that Cetsen would soon be to them all that she had been, and that succeeding generations would deify them both. The parting between Harding and myself, who had together thrown our lives into the arms of fate and so drifted upon a polar current into the interior world, was not less affecting than that between the sisters. Ah! the dear fellow!—But these are sad recollections—let them pass.

The Queen replaced the man-power, with which Harding and I revolved the elevating and depressing fan of our balloon, with an electric mechanism, gathering the current mainly from its brazen dome, and also projected from the main hoop of the dome an adjustable fan, that would hold us from drifting with a current if we did not wish to go in its direction. We ascended from the same plain, on which we, waifs from the outer world, had alighted seven years before. It was in the year 1868 of your calendar and the year 967 of the Toltu calendar, that I arose once more into the clouds, and with the Queen, started upon our journey across the unknown ocean.

CHAPTER XXI.

KAYETE-UT-SE-ZANE BIDS GOOD-BYE TO HER KINGDOM—ONCE MORE ABOVE THE CLOUDS—A NARROW ESCAPE—OVER THE OCEAN—BETWEEN THE TERRIBLE WAVE AND THE MOON—A FEARFUL SITUATION, BUT IT PAYS—THE QUEEN EXPLAINS THE FORMATION OF METEORS.

NOT fewer than 20,000 Toltus saw the Queen and myself mount into the air; so that, if she should never return, succeeding generations would never doubt, for lack of testimony, that she had gone through the air to join the God-descended beyond the arc. Ah! that parting from Harding and Cetsen; from the palace and its pleasures; from the people and their worship! Save one, it was the hardest trial of my life—aye, of our lives—for both the Queen and me. Now, here am I, seventeen years later, 15,000 miles away from them on the exterior globe, dying, but not alone; thank God! not alone!! But there—I must not think of it. The Queen had fitted up our basket into very comfortable apartments, and besides food for a month, we took three electric tubes, my rifle and pistols, with plenty of ammunition, non-conducting and defensive armor, jewelled suits, and such other numerous appliances as the Queen deemed might be found useful. But what was she leaving behind? Her power and her divinity. Wherever we might chance to land, there would be none to bow before her and call her "God-descended who knoweth all things"; none to perform her will to the letter of her command, and face death at her bidding; no kings to do her reverence. What, under such changed conditions, would the Queen of the Toltus be or become? How would her great foresight, her fearless mind, her gentle nature, her almost unerring judgment, her great knowledge and her strange spiritual attributes sustain her standing, except for my weak companionship, alone in an unknown land, if perchance we should ever reach one? These thoughts ran through my mind when, soaring above her dominion, her sorrowing, worshipping people had been lost to sight.

"Ah, my beloved," she said, answering my unspoken queries, interpreted by that occult process which I never understood, "our victories over fate were easy, with the devoted Toltus at our backs. We go now where knowledge may not command, but must create."

"My soul!" I cried, "all conditions will bend and all hearts will bow before thee."

Our balloon found its level at an altitude of about 5,000 feet, and we moved to the southward, as we calculated, at the rate of forty or forty-two miles an hour. Our velocity was not as great as it had been on the exterior globe. The Queen had never mounted into the air before, yet I don't think her heart gave one additional pulsation to the minute on that account. She enjoyed the novelty of her sensations and the vast, and lovely, and ever- changing prospect which was spread out before her, unmarred by any qualms. I think she would have done the same if she had known that the end of our aerial flight was certain death. She had always, you are aware, been as calm and self-possessed on the battle-field and in the midst of dangers, as in the palace. She swept the landscape with her powerful glass in a transport of delight.

"If the soul might be satisfied, through the eye alone, I think, my beloved, I could be content thus to float in the air forever," she said.

Within two and a half hours we were over the burning zone. I turned my eyes upon this strange region, wondering if somewhere else within it might not be found those primal elements of life which only a sinking valley had prevented being injected into my own veins.

She called my attention to a dark spot within the zone, and said that was where the valley of great beasts had disappeared within the abyss. "See you yonder, where the vapors are?" she continued, directing my attention to another point. "They hang above a life-producing valley, and perchance animal as well as vegetable life is still evolved there; yet would I not search for it now, since those primal elements would not restore thy wasting lung. Perchance I may preserve thy life for twenty years: they would not aid me. They simply furnish the blood with those elements which enable it and the nervous system to replace, exactly in the same proportions, all that has been destroyed by heat. For example: it furnishes them with that energy to replace the cartilage, lime phosphates of the bones, etc., in the exact proportions in which they have been wasted; not by itself restoring these elements, but by maintaining the blood and nerve centres in a condition to do it. See, yonder lies Rudnord's kingdom. Tu-teet, farewell! Thou art a good soul, and I wish thee and thy people well."

It was from such remarks as this last, I gathered the conviction that she never expected to return to her kingdom. When I told her that we had approached the pole from our exterior equator at a much higher rate of speed than that at which we were going toward the interior equator, her active mind at once suggested the reason.

"Our arc doth not give forth the heat that your sun generates at your equator, but our heat is constant, and this difference in the speed of the currents of air persuades me that we shall find no frozen belt within the interior world."

I may say that her prediction, as usual, was well founded; there is none. The landscape, which appeared to be flying past us, afforded altogether different and more gorgeous pictures than the surface of the exterior world from such an altitude. Its native colors of greens and grays and browns were glazed with ever-changing tints of many colors through which they shone. Yet the combined effect of this glaze was a golden sheen. She said this gorgeous transparent coloring imposed upon the permanent colors of the landscape was the result of polarized light. Everything beneath us was revealed in the glory of this coloring. Nothing, as on the exterior globe, was obscured by shadows. To produce a shadow, it was necessary to shut off the light from every direction save one. She explained how this, too, was due to polarized light, the electric condition of the atmosphere, etc., and talked of angles of 56 degrees and the arrangement of atomic poles—all simple enough, no doubt, to her, but I confess that I did not comprehend the mysteries of that luminous atmosphere, and don't now. However, I did not the less delight in its loveliness. To have understood the whys and wherefores could not have increased the rapture with which I gazed on oceans of golden-green foliage, whose slight motion in the breeze variegated it with sapphire tints; on rivers whose silver shone through the golden shimmer and whose wavelets faintly gave forth all the tints of the rainbow; and on the rocks which gleamed with metallic lustre, reflecting all kinds of tints, although they themselves ever remained brown and gray.

Six hours from the burning zone, and we arrived at the range of lofty mountains which bordered the unknown ocean. Beyond them, the waters blended with the sky, and they cut the firmament with a sharp line, thus forming the only familiar horizon to be seen in the interior world. Their general elevation was as high as our own, and, as we neared them, we began rapidly to approach the earth. Directly before us, too, was a summit 3,000 feet above their general level. It was clothed to its crown with a heavy growth of timber, and not to escape it, meant the destruction of our air-ship among the branches, and, beyond little question, the death of ourselves. The Queen had already perceived our danger, and set her electric mechanism at work revolving the fan beneath the basket. Notwithstanding we arose rapidly, we neared the earth continually, until it seemed that only a miracle could save us. As we arose into a rarer atmosphere, our gas bag began to expand and strain upon its corded netting, with such a tension, that I was in momentary expectation of seeing it burst. I was already, in imagination, tumbling with the Queen earthward in the basket, then crashing through the forest trees, torn into fragments; or, if the brazen dome held intact, descending somewhat more leisurely, to be emptied, with all the basket's contents, into the outstretched arms of some forest monarch, thence to reach the earth dead or alive, as fate might decree. We appeared to be in that dilemma which had only the two horns. Whether we went up or down, death threatened us. Neither of us uttered a word. Both recognized the apparently unavoidable dangers of the situation;—I, with a nervous fear that unfitted me for making any effort toward our salvation; the Queen, with a quiet composure, that enabled her to both comprehend and employ all the means of salvation at her command. I was about to open the valve and permit the gas to escape, in hope that before we were advanced too far upon the elevation, we might be able to descend far enough to catch a lower and counter current. Evidently, the Queen knew there was no counter current beneath us. Touching me quietly upon the arm, she said:

She immediately started the fan, which she had constructed from the main hoop, and set it at right angles to our course. I perceived that a wiser head than mine was managing the balloon. I saw now why she had rushed the balloon upward until it had swelled well-nigh to bursting. It was not with a view to surmounting the mountain peak at all, but that, with her lateral fan, she might be able to skirt its brow in a small circle. Carefully she watched the effect of expansion upon the bag, and the fan beneath began to turn more slowly, exerting no more force than was necessary to maintain our elevation. We began to veer rapidly to the southwest as we approached the mountain cone; yet I was by no means assured that we would be enabled to pass it. We were dangerously near the surface already, and the western line of the mountain lay still beyond us. I began to lose hope. I knew we must ascend still higher, or within five minutes we would go crashing among the trees. Yet, ascend we could not, for the bag was inflated to the point of bursting already. But what is the Queen now doing? I perceive for the first time that she has made other changes in our balloon. Was it possible, that she, who had never been in a balloon, had provided against such a situation as this? She had fitted a valve to the gas bag, where it gathered to a point below, within reach from the basket when she stood upon a chair, and now she was fitting hastily to it the neck of an elastic gum sack of her own construction. It was the work of a moment. She pulled upon the lever of her spring valve, and the gas came whistling into her gum sack, relieving the pressure in the gas bag. Instantly, the fan beneath was set rapidly revolving, and, as we ascended, we crept to the westward line of the cone. Now we are within 100 yards of the surface. The entwined limbs of the forest trees seem waiting to receive us. If we escape, the space must be measured in feet, not rods. The anchors are dangling ten feet below the basket! I had not thought of them. I hasten to turn the windlass to wind them up, and the Queen trips across the floor of the basket for a hatchet that hangs above the railing from one of the ropes. We are too late! The anchor on my side catches in the limbs of a lofty tree! A sudden jerk and a twirl! Thank God! it does not hold—we are past the verge—we are safe! I look about me. The Queen! where is she? She has been thrown from the basket, while reaching for the hatchet. I rush to that side, resolved to leap to the earth, and die near her! I look over the side to assure myself that my life, my soul, has left me. She smiles up at me from the anchor, on which her feet rest, and says:

I did wind her up, you may be sure, carefully and quickly, with my heart in my mouth; and when she was once more within, kissed her passionately.

"It was careless of me not to have braced myself more firmly. When I lost the perpendicular the anchor-line without was the only one within my reach. It hath shocked you severely, my soul, and I am sorry."

Yes, it had unstrung my nerves, until I trembled; but her nerves were as steady as if nothing had happened. Within ten minutes, its dangers past, the mountain range was behind us and we were over the ocean. Our fans were stopped, the gas from the gum sack forced back into the balloon, and we dropped to our normal level. Here we were ever in the centre of a watery basin, which appeared to be altogether a different element from that of the exterior oceans. There was but the faintest trace of blue in either it or the firmament. Both partook of a grayish, silvery color, with the transparent golden sheen over them; but there was a glow and sparkle on the surface of the water that gave it the appearance of being illumined by its own light. Imagine the moonlight shivered into infinitesimal fragments and scattered over the water, and you approximate an idea of its appearance at the outset of our journey over it. But this did not continue; for when we had been over it about twenty-four hours, and had advanced, as we judged, 900 miles, its brilliance and glory had in a great measure departed, and it became gradually of a light gray tint, that grew duller and less transparent as we swept on to the southward.

When we were over the fortieth parallel, looking back to the north, that which takes the form of an arc when seen from the verge between the exterior and interior worlds appeared, at an angle of forty-five degrees above us, as a beautiful ring. From its rim flashed soft rays of light of varied tints, which remained but an instant, when they gave place to others. This ring has a luminous centre, and broadens and contracts, for what reason I know not, until sometimes the extreme points of its rays extend from the zenith to the horizon, covering the whole northern firmament. At other times it is of scarcely half those dimensions. It was of course far more beautiful than when, twenty and thirty degrees to the north, we were in the very midst of its effulgence. The phenomenon was not entirely new to me, for I had seen an imperfect exhibition of it in the aurora borealis on the exterior; but to the Queen it was novel. Her long life had been spent where the arc had hidden its beauty within its own brilliance. She seemed never to tire gazing on it as we floated so swiftly and silently toward the equator and a land, as we could anticipate, of gloom. Indeed, when we were over the thirty- fifth parallel, we were already, by comparison with the brightness of her own dominion, surrounded by semi-darkness. The Queen was sad and thoughtful. I think no ordinary mortal would have made the sacrifice which she had to what she deemed the future welfare of the race she had so long ruled.

"It is, when we both shall have assumed imperishable forms, that we shall return to our Toltu kingdom, my beloved. Have I not promised them that I will come again? Ah, Cetsen, Cetsen! darling sister! joy of my long life! How it hath wrung my soul to part with thee! Farewell, farewell!"

She flung her arms about my neck and wept upon my shoulder. Now, for the first time, was she giving way to those tender emotions which she had been forced to suppress at the moment of parting, lest they might have overcome her resolve, in which was involved her duty to the Toltu millions. Thus her great soul seemed to lie shattered for a time by the fearful conflict of emotions in her breast. She was my soul. We wept together, sitting in silence for hours. We two above, the clouds flying past beneath us, with none but the ear of the Infinite to listen, no eye but His to observe us; our two souls melted there, more completely than ever before, into the one and indivisible. How long we sat thus I know not; but we were suddenly aroused from our memories of the past and dreams of the future by that same sensation of buoyancy which betokened a moon above us and a tidal wave beneath. In our obscurity the moon reflected the light to us from her atmosphere, taking the peculiar form of two quarter moons, with the points of their horns together. It lay east and west, with the converging horns upward, and occupied the apparent dimension of many miles in the heavens. I had not thought of the probable appearance of a moon, 500 miles in diameter, within a few hundred miles of the surface, and was entirely unprepared for these great luminous horns that came sweeping past us and spanning the whole visible firmament. We could see so clearly at our altitude that I could form no idea of its distance from us. It seemed that it was only a little way above us, and that by running our fan beneath the basket we could easily reach it in a few moments. It was the most impressive natural wonder I had ever seen. The Queen turned upon it her powerful glass, then handed it to me, remarking:

"See, my beloved, how diverse and varied are the works of the Infinite. Wherever there is matter, there also is individualized soul or spirit to be clothed by it. See you not it is inhabited?"

I looked and could see its surface distinctly, as well as forms upon it, flitting across the field of the glass, which the Queen said would cover about five square rods of surface at the moon's distance. As it turned on its axis once in every twenty- four hours, objects moved across the field of the glass, allowing but a moment of time to note them as they passed—forests, rocks, waters, habitations, animals.

"I see," I said, "animals of many forms; not so distinctly as to be quite sure, yet they all appear to me to have wings, those that stand upright as well as all others."

"And do not those who stand upright have the appearance of the human and superior animal? They so seemed to me. That they all have wings is the result of the electrified condition of the planet. It was formed under different conditions from the earth within which it moves, and nature adapts all forms to the conditions under which they are to exist. They are, no doubt, as we now are, only in a greater degree, electrified by that quality of the spirit of light that merely repels them from the surface of their own planet and so renders them buoyant. Yonder moon does not attract us; the earth repels us. Yet is the moon the cause. Then, I assume, the rapid changes in temperature rendered migration by swift locomotion necessary originally, until the superior animal acquired the knowledge which enabled him to overcome or provide against this necessity. Hence the provision of wings."

Thus the Queen was instantly able to account for all phenomena. Had I been alone, I would have gone on examining the monstrous little moon, all unconscious of any danger, until, anon, I should have gone whirling, or floating as it might have happened, into the depths of that leaden-hued ocean. Leaden-hued, did I say? It was so when I last saw it; but now, when I looked, it was aglow with electric light. The great tidal wave appeared to stand at the same distance beneath us at which the whole ocean, but a few moments before, lay asleep. Now the ocean was at a profound depth in front of this awful wave, on whose summit, as far as the eye could see, the flames chased each other incessantly. I looked at our balloon; it was ready to burst at any moment. We had evidently been shooting upward at a fearful rate. The Queen had reversed our fan and set it going. We must instantly descend toward that angry wave or we are lost! I grasped the gum sack, adjusted it to the lower valve of the balloon as I had seen the Queen do, and pulled the valve open. The gas came rushing into it and relieved the pressure; yet that is not our only danger. Will the fan overcome this attraction or repulsion, if it is the earth which is spurning us from her bosom? From every projecting point of the steel framework of our balloon the spirit of light flamed, and I knew that the brazen dome must be crowned with fire. The fan spun with such velocity as to create its own current, and no longer drew us downward. We were moving to the northeast against the equatorial current. Was this terrible moon about to carry us with it about the earth, while it threatened us every moment with destruction? The fierce electric current heated hot the conductors, and the Queen's mechanism was in danger of being fused. The situation was terrible; the dangers seemed insurmountable! Once more hope was making ready to say good-bye. Hastily the Queen attached to her main conductors heavy copper wires and took the whole metallic framework of our air-ship into the circuit, thus dividing the current. The fan moved more slowly—we began to descend and get nearer to the great wave. Yet still we kept in front of it; still we followed the moon against the air current. The rim fan is now set going and I keep it steadily directed toward the south. Aided by the equatorial current, it pulls us stoutly and I have hope of passing the mountain of water. We have already been borne northward, as we judge, some forty miles. Now I am about to shout victory, when we are caught and tossed like a feather in the wind that rages in front of and above the wave. The gas bag careens, spins about like a top, dashes first to one side and then to the other. The basket sways like a pendulum, until its floor is at times at an angle of forty-five degrees, and we cling to the rails, while its contents go rolling and sliding from one side to the other.

"You and your dark-haired brother built well to withstand the storms, else now were we lost indeed," exclaimed the Queen, in the midst of the hurly-burly and the roar of the tempestuous winds. I was dumb, but I was nearest to her electric cut-off and I managed to reverse the fan. It was still drawing us down into the very centre of the tempest, which was driving us onward to the north again. Meanwhile the Queen had stopped the rim fan, which, having no direction, had joined its efforts to those of the tempest to toss us about. The fan and the moon soon carried us above this danger; our ship steadied and the rim fan was once more set toward the south against the moon's influence. By a careful management of both fans we were at length enabled, although we made little progress southward, to hold our own, until the moon and its wave passed by.

"Now I think we have probably passed all the dangers incident to our voyage and may calmly look at yonder moon again. Note you how much paler is the southern horn than the northern? It is lighted by the more distant southern arc. But it already begins to change its aspect as we behold it from a different angle. See, one horn doth begin to uplift itself and form into a semi-globe. It is apparent that we were immediately beneath it. Have we not been well repaid for the danger encountered?"

"I would have enjoyed the sight much better either to the east or west of it," I replied.

"Aye, but perchance no mortal of earth hath ever before been so near to it, in the upper air, where the glass hath revealed its surface."

"True, my soul, but when I weigh the value of the knowledge, that yon moon is inhabited by creatures with wings, against the risk of losing such a life as thine, it seems very light."

"It is thy love argues for thee, and I will not maintain the value of this knowledge. But I am glad to know that animal and vegetable life may be evolved from an earth that hath no oxygen in its solid structure."

"Because the spirit of light, in its secondary operations, expels oxygen from its solid constructions. There are yet being exhaled from the earth all the elements in gaseous form for new structures. These become redundant in our atmosphere, and, in passing, whether from without or within, through the arcs of light are solidified by the electric energy at the poles. Heat is evolved in the process, and while they are thus heated, they are electrified by that quality of the spirit which causes the earth to repel them. Wherefore, they go whirling in our atmosphere until, on gradually cooling, they lose this repulsive electric quality, and the earth permits them to fall. Neither these, nor anything which the earth's currents have solidified, in its own atmosphere, hath oxygen in its construction. So this moon was evolved out of such redundant material. It would be tedious to explain why this is so, except I may say that I have found, by experiment, that what you call oxygen is the spirit's great medium, which it ever seeks to set free from its combinations."

CHAPTER XXII.

THE QUEEN TALKS WITH A DISTANT KING FROM THE AIR-SHIP—THE STORM GATHERS—FISH ELECTRICALLY LIGHTED IN THE DARK WATERS—AN UNPARALLELED MONSTER—LAND.

THUS the Queen chatted, as we sailed toward the equator, where the gloom gathered deeper over the great ocean. We were over the twentieth parallel, when I noticed, on awaking from sleep—for we took our naps alternately—that she was adjusting and readjusting, then listening intently at one of her ears. It was that extremely sensitive one, with which she had first detected that the human mites had voices. She motioned me to keep silence. I couldn't imagine what she was trying to learn through that ear, where dead silence reigned. I saw, however, that while I had been asleep, she had set both fans going, and that, having descended below the equatorial current to within about 1,000 feet of the ocean, we were being drawn very slowly southward by the rim fan. I saw, also, that a large spool of gold wire, with a gold plummet on its end, had been unwound over the side of the basket, and the plummet, I supposed, was hanging in the water. I knew nothing of its uses, nor her purpose; so, disregarding her injunction, I asked her if she expected any fish would be fool enough to hang on to a gold plummet, and be drawn up to the balloon?

"Nay; neither would I, thou knowest, be either so foolish or so cruel as to seek to entrap to its death one of the finny tribe, unless it should become necessary to preserve my own life. Methinks that human hath little wit, who can find pleasure in the triumph of his cunning over that of a fish. What a victory is that, forsooth, to be proud of? See you not, my love, that I listen?"

"Well, jesting aside, my soul, do you expect to hear the voices of those winged creatures on the moon, or of the people who inhabit the dark land beyond?"

"By chance, the circuit I form here may be completed on the distant land, which thus may convey its noises to my ear."

She motioned me once more to silence, and, reclining on our cot, I awaited results. During our five years of quiet in the palace, we had obtained and translated all the inscriptions found in the royal tombs of the antediluvian city, and, in doing so, I, as well as the Queen, had become familiar with that language, which, I have no doubt, was spoken by the first white race that appeared on the exterior of the globe after the deluge. All of the inscriptions taken together had furnished us with a vocabulary sufficient to enable us to converse with each other in that venerable tongue, which we knew had been spoken 11,200, and we knew not how many more, years before. When the Queen broke the silence, by talking at the diaphragm of her instrument in this language, with intervals of listening between, I began to debate the question in my own mind, whether she had not become suddenly insane. Her portion, as I thought, of an assumed colloquy was about as follows:

"Sovereigns of the Toltus; a race beyond the great water, in the land of light."

"What? Oh! yes, Al-ka-red, King of the Zit-tites, Amos Jackson, King, and Cresten, Queen, of the Toltus, greet you!"

"No. Yes. Learn—Oh! Yes. Good! The teacher. Canst thou speak the most ancient language of thy race? Dost thou understand me?"

"Aye, I understand 467,700; it is long ago. Knowest thou how far it is from arc to arc—that is, from light to light?"

She kept up this performance for nearly an hour, and ended it with a ceremonial farewell.

"I know not in what manner, upon the land to which we hasten, the electric circuit hath been completed, but I have held converse with one of the wise men of the land to which we go, and with the king of a people called the Zit-tites, which we may be sure is not a barbarous race. From among them, before the flood no doubt, came Zu-fra-brad, leading the sons of Noe. The ancient language of the inscriptions is still preserved among them, although it differs much from the common tongue. Yet hath it been always taught, he says, and roots of the common tongue derived from it, remain the same. It hath been hard to make him and the king understand that we approach their city through the air. See you the inclination of the arc shows us, upon the circle, to be nearly over the fifteenth parallel, and, if I understand correctly the position he gave me of the city, our course is directly toward it, and it lies not more than 350 miles distant."

"Why should you be amazed? Distance matters nothing to the spirit, if it have but a highway. At lofty elevations the air is a highway on which its currents are not interrupted."

"You will be astonished when I tell you, if the wise man is not mistaken, and I understood him rightly, it numbers 20,000,000 souls."

"Surely, there must be some mistake. I don't understand how a land of eternal night can have such a population. This would be called night on the exterior. I can hardly see your face distinctly across the basket. Three hundred and fifty miles farther south there must be still less light. Then it is cold; the thermometer shows 50 degrees, and I judge that where that city is, the temperature at the surface is not higher than that. How can anything grow with so little light and heat? I wonder that there are any people there at all."

"Yet, doubtless, in this gloom, the earth generated the white races, which, in their struggle against these adverse conditions, developed into the most hardy and strongest, the bravest and wisest of our species."

"I had not thought of that; but twenty millions! I'll believe the wise man when I see the city. Are you sure their numeral system is the same as ours?"

"Nay; I know it is different. They employ but four digits and a cipher, the same as did the Toltus when Nodroff first came among them, and until I doubled the number of characters."

"I see; they began by using one hand to count on and stuck to it. They wanted the right hand free to count the fingers of the left with."

"Aye, that is the reason. Have you not seen that the inscriptions had only four characters and a repeating cipher? I knew not the name of the sum, but the wise man said it was the five digits multiplied by itself nine times and then doubled, and that I know is nearly twenty millions."

"I should judge that would require, for their convenience, about 400 square miles of solid city. Why, it must be over six times as large as the largest city on the exterior globe. Great Jupiter! what a city! I can hardly believe it."

"If it be six times as large, it is not strange if perchance it be ten times as old."

"Still, having no personal acquaintance with this wise man, I will believe him when I have seen the city. How, think you, the antediluvian Zu-fra-brad managed to cross this ocean in ships? That wave would be sure to engulf them."

"I think this moon that causes the wave did not then exist. When the heat was engendered, that upheaved the mountains, the earth gave off the material for its construction. It hath not the earth's structure nor the earth's atmosphere, else were it charged with the same quality of electricity and would not be, as it is, continually repelled."

I was leaning upon the rail of the basket and trying, for want of any other occupation, to make out the face of the water through the darkness, when I was astonished by a most wonderful phenomenon. There was not light enough to give any transparency to the water; yet it appeared thickly peopled with fish, revealed in their own light. It was not one particular genus; all, large and small, appeared to be furnished with electric batteries upon their sides, extending, as I could clearly perceive on the larger ones, from near the gills over half-way along the body. They were all without scales and uniformly grayish-white in color. The light given out by them was not intense, but resembled the reflection of moonlight on the water. Though they differed one from the other in form, yet I noticed that they were all long- bodied, and when swimming, chiefly propelled themselves by the sweep of their long, flexible tails. While I looked, there was a commotion among them. They suddenly began to scatter in all directions, and the cause soon became apparent. There came sailing toward them such a monster as filled me with terror, although I felt reasonably safe at my elevation in another element. My flesh crept while I imagined a collapsed balloon and ourselves descending into the maw of such a creature. We would be but morsels for it, and, from its vicious aspect, I judged it would not, like the most ferocious beasts, experience any dread of two such superior creatures as the Queen and myself. The first I saw of it were two parallel long lines of light that illuminated the water on either side of it in long undulations. It came with incredible swiftness from the southward directly toward us, so that, although we were moving toward it at the rate of forty miles an hour, still I had it for some time, at our elevation, under the glass. I estimated the length of the monster at about 100 yards, and the diameter of its body, which was nearly uniform like that of an eel, at about twenty-four feet. It was of the same color as all the other fish, but its batteries lighted the ocean for ten yards about it. In this light it was plainly revealed, and I observed a peculiar construction of its body. On either side of its spine, for nearly its entire length, were abnormal-looking ridges, and, parallel to them, farther down on each side, were others. These, when I had called her attention to the wonder, the Queen said were its nerve batteries, and that, separately charged with different qualities of electricity, they discharge over membranes, in a vacuum, offering no resistance and so giving off continually a mild light. I expected to see the monster shock some of the finny tribe with its batteries, but she said no: that their only purpose was to give the monster light. I saw that nature had not compelled the fish to shine whether they would or not, but that these batteries were under the control of the mental organism of each fish, which, as the leviathan approached, suddenly extinguished their lamps and left the illumination of the waters entirely to the common enemy. However, all immediately beneath us were not fortunate enough to escape. I saw it open its voracious jaws wide enough to have taken in easily our basket with all its furnishings, including the fan wheel, although the gas bag might have been of a dimension to strangle it, seize upon a fish probably thirty feet in length, and crush it as a pike might a minnow. Its victim was as large as a small-sized whale, yet, by comparison with its captor, it was a mere minnow. I had a good view of the creature's head when it rose after securing its prey, and observed that it was flat and considerably wider than its body. It was furnished with triple rows of terrible teeth, from which the lips curled back when the mouth opened, and great eyes glowed on each side of its head, making its aspect horribly vicious.

"Should I ever again return to the exterior globe, and narrate my experiences, I think I should leave these phenomenal fish, and especially the monster, out of it," I remarked to the Queen.

"There have been fabricated so many tales of sea serpents that the people of the exterior no longer credit any story of the kind. Now, if this creature were but a yard in length, and thus lighting its own path, they might possibly swallow it; but being 100 yards in length, I fear it would discredit my whole narrative."

"I see not why that should be," she replied. "Surely they are an intelligent people, who must have learned that the compensations of nature are everywhere about them. The ocean, that hath no light in its depths, must have in it one of the two phenomena—fish that are eyeless, or fish that are furnished with light. Then, surely, the dried-up seas must have left remains to testify that the seas have their monsters."

For hours, chatting the while, we continued to watch the ocean, and remark upon the peculiar nervous organization of the creatures which nature had furnished with the means of subsistence within its unillumined depths. We had been over it now four journeys—that is, nearly four of your days and nights—and being very near to the tenth interior parallel, must have made very nearly 2,700 miles, an interior degree measuring at the equator sixty-three and seven-eighths miles. We therefore concluded that we must be approaching near to the land, and the dread of a mountainous shore-line was upon me. It had become so oppressively gloomy that the Queen had lighted one of her lamps, supplied with a current from the brazen dome, which she could thus use while the fans were not in operation.

"What said the wise man regarding this southern border of the ocean, or did you inquire if we shall have to surmount a lofty range? Our northern arc now shows but dimly through the atmosphere, and there is hardly any light in the southern sky. There might be a mountain range half a measure ahead of us, for aught we know. Our glasses wouldn't reveal it."

"I made no inquiry of the wise man in regard to the mountains, for well I know that, being lofty on the northern border, they will be much lower on this."

"It is, my beloved, because thou hast not thought upon the subject. When they were upheaved, the ocean highway, surcharged with its electric currents, must have presented opposite poles to its opposing shores. There, at the positive pole north, oxygen, on which combustion feeds, was released; and here at the south, hydrogen, in which combustion smothers."

"I certainly never did, and no doubt never would have thought of it. You are always right; therefore, that danger is already overcome. I suppose near the surface we shall be able to distinguish between forest and plain."

"And if not, it will be a simple matter to throw some light upon it," said the Queen, as she adjusted a reflector to one of her electric tubes. She touched its spring, directed its rays to the southward, and lo, the land! Nay, was it land? Or was this some strange effect of our electric light that made the elevated plateau, which I now perceived formed the southern shore-line, look nearly as white as a vast snow-drift at our distance? The ocean was no longer beneath us. We were passing over the low shore that extended from the water-line to the plateau, and had been for fully twenty-five minutes, the Queen said, so that the upland was fully twenty miles from the ocean. Now, as we neared it, it appeared to have an altitude of probably 3,000 feet, and we were a considerable distance above it. We thought it best to effect a landing on this elevation, and set the fan at work to bring us near to its surface. Soon we were within 100 yards of it, and the light revealed that it was clad with verdure. Moreover, it all gave evidence of being highly cultivated, so that we could find no unenclosed place within which to alight. Yet there was only light enough to make darkness visible at about twenty paces, which was the limit of unaided vision, and silence reigned over all. By working the rim fan against the current we came to a halt in the air, and thus steadying our ship, came gently down over a little field, and let drop the legs of our basket. Then the Queen, when we were near the surface, let me down by one of the anchor-ropes. With hatchet and spikes I made them fast on both sides of the basket, and our landing was accomplished.

"Beyond question, beloved, we are the first to pass this ocean since the flood."

"And I never dreamed such a strange region as this was to be found within or without the globe," I said, as I looked about me, utterly confounded by what I saw.

CHAPTER XXIII.

A GHOSTLY LAND, WHERE NIGHT REIGNS ETERNAL—A STRANGE, WHITE-FACED, CAT-EYED PEOPLE—AL- ZAD THE PEASANT—STRANGE ANIMALS, STRANGE VEGETATION, EVERYTHING STRANGE—HIDE OUR AIR-SHIP AND MAKE READY TO VISIT THE KING.

IT was hard to persuade myself that the darkness would prove to be continuous. I felt like one who had arisen several hours before daylight by mistake, and that I ought to go to sleep again and wait for the sunrise. Long ago in the land of light I had ceased to think of the succession of light and darkness as periods respectively for sleep and wakefulness. Now the recollections, and with them the habits of early life, came back upon me so forcibly that I found myself yawning.

"Until it is morning the people will not be astir, and we might just as well lie down and rest for a while," I said to the Queen.

"That might be well, for it is evident we have arrived during the king's silence, when the nation is asleep," she replied. So, after we had cast the light about us, in order to get some idea of our surroundings, we ascended the small wire steps, another addition of hers to our basket, and drawing the curtains, lay down to wait and rest and perchance to sleep. The Queen never tossed about wakefully; nothing disturbed her nerves, but Morpheus stubbornly resisted my wooing. The strange appearance of everything made it seem like a dreamland. I had difficulty in making myself believe that I, a denizen of the exterior globe, could possibly be antipode within to my fellows on the equator without and be surrounded by such conditions. Had not my eight years within the interior been after all only a dream, and was I not at that moment lying in my bachelor quarters in Chicago? Then, when doubts of the reality of my surroundings were dispelled, there was my ignorance of the region and the people, and the uncertainties of our immediate future, which kept me awake. I had not seen a tree, plant, or leaf that was familiar. The whole land seemed to be colorless, and looked like a section of our temperate regions, covered thick with a hoar-frost in mid- August, as the first peep of day might dimly reveal it. Such trees as our light had shown us were the ghosts of trees. Although there was a very faint tint of green in their foliage, yet it appeared almost pure white in the electric light. Such as had leaves did not float them horizontally in the air to catch the light from above, but hung them with their edges directed toward sky and earth. They were all thus suspended east and west. I observed that, in our immediate vicinity, there were no forest trees; all were fruit-bearing. The leaves were all translucent, thick, and pulpy, showing clearly their veins and fibres. I noticed one tree that, in its general contour, resembled a second growth, in the free light, of one of your northern pines; but what resembled cones, projecting from its white tessellated balls, was no doubt a species of fruit. I observed they were mostly vegetables that were cultivated; and the black soil of the enclosure in which we landed, was divided into long rows and worked into hills, covered with fleshy-white leaves. I closed my eyes, but could not shut out this first glimpse of the ghostly landscape. The Queen observed my restlessness, and, as she had often done before, placed her mysterious little instrument, of which I have already made mention, on the nerve-centre below the base of my thumb. My nerves never resisted its influence, and in a few moments I was asleep. How long I slept I know not; but when I awoke I could overhear the Queen endeavoring to hold a conversation with one of the denizens of the middle earth. I immediately arose and joined her. They had been talking for some time, and as it appeared, by plentifully interlarding their conversation with pantomime, managed to understand each other quite well. When my eyes first fell on him, he was gesticulating with energy, and I think, had I seen him on the exterior globe, I would have mistaken him for a harlequin. He was white-faced, white-headed, and clothed in white, and it needed but some black and red lines on his face to complete the picture of your modern circus clown. However, I knew that he would appear much whiter in the light from the Queen's electric tube, that was shining on him, than he would in our atmosphere at the north. By a comparison with the Queen's complexion I perceived that his was not without color. I made over him the sign of the arc, and he bent very humbly, with his left hand on his right breast, which I thought was very expressive. He was evidently a peasant, yet we succeeded in learning from him much that it was important to know. When he discovered our air-ship in his enclosure, the Queen said he approached it fearfully. Her light had revealed him at some distance, beyond which his courage would not carry him, until she had laughed and called him to her. Then, encouraged by a sight of her and the tones of her voice, he had come forward; after removing a cap from his head, which he still held in his hand, and bending before her, he asked:

"I pray thee, tell me: art thou of the spirit, or human? Comest thou from Gur, or from the moon, or from beyond the impassable waters?"

The more to impress him, the Queen answered in a somewhat pompous and florid style:

"Behold the Queen of Light, and the King, her godlike husband, from beyond the great waters; sovereigns of the Toltus, beneath the northern light. Tell me, how many do the Zit-tites number?"

"They are like the leaves of the trees. I know not the number, most august Queen of Light."

"Be there other tribes than the Zit-tites on this side of the impassable waters?"

"There be other tribes both to the east and the west, and so to the south beyond the burning lands, but none so many or great as the Zit-tites."

"Al-ka-red, the sublime, the most exalted one, the king of kings, is the friend of Gur, and in his name doth he prophesy, and do mighty works. In his name doth he rule by his wise men and patriarchs, and these last do govern by their rulers of thousands and of hundreds."

"And have the other nations to the east and west the same colored hair as thine? or are all the Zit-tites white-headed, like thee?" It was my question.

"Nay, mighty and most exalted sovereign from the realm of light, the Chal-me-tecks on the west have hair that is black, and the Hus-ites on the east have hair that is black and curled; yet there be black-haired ones among the Zit-tites, and white-haired ones among the other nations. But there be none, I have ever seen, with hair like unto thine, most mighty king, and none so beautiful as the locks of thy most exalted Queen."

"Thou hast won for me a compliment, my beloved. And to what family dost thou belong?"

"It is, then, a theocratic government, with overgrown patriarchal institutions," I said to the Queen.

"One-tenth of all I possess is the king's; yet is it not paid in kind, but in the king's coin or the king's letters."

"Even of that most precious metal that thou wearest, exalted one, upon thy brow."

"Aye, but perchance they love not their king as the Toltus loved their Queen. And what dost thou with the nine-tenths of thy produce?"

"It is well we have brought a supply of gold. It will be useful among a people who barter and make profit of each other. Now know I that, although this may be a wise, it is not a virtuous people. Thou hast said nothing of thy queen, the king's spouse. Who is she?"

"The king hath many hundreds of wives, but there be only one whose sons may become kings."

"Great Jupiter!" I exclaimed. "This Al-ka-red is the Solomon of the interior; an old tyrant, I have no doubt, whose acquaintance I have no desire to make."

"Nay, yet is it not so with the Hus-ites. Their god, Gee, doth permit that a woman may be the queen, and so rule."

"And hath the queen of the Hus-ites many husbands?" It was my question, and the Queen laughed.

"Then is this not the wisest king nor the strongest kingdom on this side of the ocean," said the Queen to me. "Hast thou ever before seen such as this?" And she took from her pocket a golden ornament, set with diamonds, such as she had been accustomed to give as souvenirs to the victors in the Toltu games.

"Never in all my life but once, most exalted one, and then I saw eight of them on the breast of the king. I counted them true, for they be rare gems, which only the king may wear. Yet were four, that the king wore, not like these, but of a beautiful red."

"How differently would our Toltus, my beloved, who neither buy nor sell, have answered it. Well, perchance thou shalt be made happy, by the only thing which can make your king's subjects happy, the king's coin or its equivalent. Where dost thou live?"

"Yonder! Where? I can see nothing but darkness, and the dim relief of ghostly foliage," I said.

"But to him it is as plain as if it were in the broad glare of our northern light. Hast thou not observed how the pupils of his eyes are nearly closed in the light of our lamp?" she said, as she turned the reflector in the direction to which he pointed.

We could now see, among the trees, a structure, not large, but built of large blocks of stone. It looked like the lower portion of a massive tower, and had a conical roof upon it. Upon inquiry, we learned that it had been built so long ago, that neither record nor tradition had preserved the name of the builder, nor the date of its construction, but that it was part of a great palace, which had once stood on the spot, and of which some other ruins remained to bear testimony. He told us there were walled passages beneath it, one of which was of considerable length, and led to a deep pit, which he supposed was at one time a well of water, by which the castle, or palace, was supplied, but which was dried up. It had been heavily walled, he said, and some of the stones had fallen to the bottom, since which the earth had washed from above the remaining wall and partly filled it.

"So, here too," I said, "old time hath crumbled both dynasties and palaces and sunk them into oblivion."

"It is not that," said the Queen, when following the denizen we approached the structure and examined the granite of which it was composed. "Said not Zu-fra-brad's inscription, that there was a quaking of the earth, on this side of the ocean? How know we but that here dwelt the sons of Noe, when this was yet a plain. Be that as it may, I can assure thee," now addressing the owner, "the house thou livest in was erected over 9,000 years ago. Come, we will go through the passage that leads to the pit."

When we followed him in, his white-headed wife and two children, who had just arisen,—for the interval for sleep fixed by the king's mandate had not yet expired,—stared at us with open-eyed wonder, and when they were informed that we were mighty sovereigns from beyond the impassable waters, nearly prostrated themselves before us, in their efforts to do us honor. I knew the Queen's foresight had discovered some necessity for her actions, and that she had not concluded to walk through this passage, merely to satisfy her curiosity; but against what contingencies she was providing I did not know. It was long afterward, when the wisdom of her proceedings became manifest. From within the ruin which constituted the house, a well- preserved stairway of huge dimensions led down to the underground passages, of which there were several. It was one immediately in front of us, at the foot, through which he led us to the pit, the bottom of which lay but a few feet below the floor of the passage. It was originally about twenty feet in diameter at the bottom, and enlarged toward the top, and was yet full eighty feet in depth.

"It is apparent that you have no floods nor heavy rains in your country, else had this pit become merely a hollow thousands of years ago. They are but mists, that come to you from north and south, and here condensed, fall in a gentle spray; is it not so?"

"Surely, exalted one. God hath given thee great wisdom, else coming from afar thou wouldst not have known this thing. Moreover, there be none of our wise men have been able to tell me how old is the house in which I live."

The exposed angles of all the granite slabs were rounded, and all marks of tools of the quarrymen long since obliterated. Indeed, I noticed that, notwithstanding there was neither frost nor heavy rains, some of the exposed blocks had been reduced fully one-third in size from what they were originally, as compared with those which the earth protected. As we returned through the passage, the electric light revealed a few crudely- cut characters on one of the blocks which formed its wall.

"Even your mere supposition, my Queen, these characters proclaim for truth," I exclaimed.

There were but five of them, the fragment of a name, yet sufficient to tell the whole story. They had evidently been cut to mark a larger block, of which this formed a part, and were "Zu-fra."

"Now can we tell thee," I said to the denizen, "that thy house was erected over 12,000 years ago, and the name of the builder was Zu-fra-brad, the ruler of the sons of Noe. About that time, it was wrecked by a quaking of the earth."

"Surely, thou art wiser than all the wise men of the king, and thy God hath sent thee to teach them wisdom."

"Thou hast said; know you, therefore, that wisdom is power, and that life and death are in our hands. Be ye, therefore, careful to heed what we shall say to thee, that thou mayest escape all harm," said the Queen.

The man dropped upon his knees in the passage, exclaiming: "Now do I know ye are spirits from heaven, but clothed for a season in human form, while ye perform a mission upon the earth."

"Arise! You have our blessing. This ship, which rideth the clouds, we would conceal where no eye save thine may see it in yonder pit. When it shall descend and hath been made fast to the bottom, thou shalt cover it but lightly with vines and straw, that it may appear that there thou hast stored the food for thy cattle. If thou shalt well guard thy secret, thou and thy family, then shalt thou be richer than the king himself. Behold! here is an earnest of thy wealth," and she handed him a disk of gold, that you would value at about forty dollars, but there, as determined by its purchasing power and scarcity, was worth ten times that sum. "If in paying thy tenths with this uncoined metal, the king shall send for thee to inquire whence it came, say that one, calling herself the Queen of the Toltus, did converse with thee and bestow it upon thee as a gift, then shall it bring thee no harm."

"Now am I blessed indeed!" exclaimed the simple-hearted fellow. "For have I not talked with angels?"

We had hastily returned to the balloon, anxious to get it, for what particular reason I knew not, out of sight before the country should be astir; because, although it was dark to us, it was light to them. The Queen entered the basket, and set the fan going. The denizen and I each holding an anchor-rope, conducted our ship, until it floated over the mouth of the pit, where we made it fast. I then descended on one of the stay-ropes, which I tied to ringed stakes at the bottom. The anchor-lines were then loosened, let down and fastened to the same rings, and the basket drawn down with the windlass. There it was secured by the stay- ropes alone, that it might be the work of a moment, at any time, to release it. The Queen stepped out into the passage, where we were joined by the denizen, in obedience to the Queen's command.

"Aye, exalted one. The highway of the king lies hence a space, from whence no one can see, and my neighbors are not yet astir."

"I need not tell thee, that it is by Gaf-fers, running before wheeled chariots."

"It is well. Do thou now proceed to cover from sight, with thy grain-straw, the top of our ship; for we would not that any mortal, save thyself, should look upon it."

"I make no question that this is a luxurious and corrupt government, in which deeds of evil are cloaked with cunning and hidden from the common eye. Thou hast told me how the artists on the exterior represent Justice as blind, signifying that she is impartial. I fear that under the government of Al-ka-red she is deaf."

"I don't know how that may be, my soul, but I couldn't put much faith in a man with a hundred wives; and as the king is, so is his officers. Nevertheless this king may be a very honest fellow."

"Nay, that he is not, and his people fear but do not love him. So this man's thought hath told me. Although the arts must develop but slowly under such a government, yet the accumulated wisdom of many ages may show us wonders. It may so happen that the necessity shall be upon us of moving faster than the Gaf-fers over the king's highway; wherefore, my beloved, let us put together our vehicle for use."

At her suggestion I brought out the parts of the electric contrivance to which she referred. When set up, it was a three- wheeled conveyance, constructed of steel wire, both body and wheels, the last being rimmed with gum, so that it moved without noise. Back of the seat was a disk, consisting of alternate plates of copper and zinc, running to a centre, with a gold strip dividing each plate, and terminating at the centre. This gathered sufficient current for running the vehicle at the ordinary speed of ten miles an hour. Such was the electric energy of that atmosphere, that when the edges of plates of copper and zinc were brought very near together, a line of electric light could be seen between them. By the mere act of standing upon a mat of hair-cloth or other non-conductor, my body has been so charged as to emit sparks when touched. When a stronger current was needed, a large spring cylinder, such as she employed in her electric tubes, could be brought into requisition. The motor, running at the rate of five thousand revolutions per minute, together with the series of wheels by which its power was communicated to the driving-wheels on each side, were beneath the seat, in a vulcanized gum box. The whole contrivance did not weigh more than thirty-five pounds, yet would carry two persons comfortably, and, I venture to say, a Saratoga trunk swung between its wheels. In addition to ourselves, however, we imposed upon it nothing but our state dresses, some loose jewels and gold disks, my pistols and ammunition, our electric tubes, etc.

For all, save the pistols and tubes, provision had been made in a secret receptacle adjoining the box containing the motor, and woe to any poor wretch who might thrust in his hand in the attempt to burglarize it. He would be shocked into insensibility. By the time the vehicle was in running order, Al-zad, the farmer, returned and reported that he had hidden the air-ship with straw. Then the new curiosity engaged his attention, and I told him that he and his family, in our absence, must be very careful not to enter the air-ship, as it was continually charged with the spirit of light, which, on passing through them, would deprive them of life; yet that they might look at it as much as they pleased.

"Aye, exalted one, it hath many walls that from time to time have been built as its greatness increased, and they are as tall as my dwelling."

"The king's soldiers, when they come to blows, fight with spears, shields, and swords; but it is seldom in war that men come to blows, for the reason, exalted ones, that the weapons which destroy life at a distance, do keep them apart. One of these is a tube, which with a loud noise throweth a bolt a long way; another is a deadly vapor, which, when the case that doth contain it is broken, causeth those who breathe it to die. This is flung, in many ways, among the king's enemies."

"And is not this deadly gas used by the king in other ways than against the public enemy?" asked the Queen.

I had come to know that when she put questions in a peculiar way, she had already learned, in some occult manner, what the answer would be.

"Nay, speak not. I will finish it for thee, that those who displease the king are thus destroyed."

"Exalted ones, ye ask me these questions, yet know ye aforetime what I would say."

I afterward found, that the explosive arm, of which he spoke, received its projectile force, not as with us, by freeing nitrogen from its solid combination, but by combining free hydrogen and oxygen, employing for that purpose the electric spark. Imagine these unmixed gases in a cartridge, behind a ball, instead of powder, then a gun, somewhat like ours, large and small, each with a small voltaic battery attached, and you have their weapon. In just what proportions the gases were used, and just how the cartridges were made, I don't know; but it was a very destructive arm, although rather cumbersome for a small one. They had larger ones, carried and worked by four men, from which, by the use of revolving cylinders, showers of balls could be poured upon an enemy. The most destructive, however, of life, as I learned, was some combustible that, thrown from heavy guns, burst into an unquenchable fire among the enemy. Although these people could see in the darkness, yet I found that distinct vision was limited to about 100 yards. The result of this was, that contending forces were compelled to approach near to each other, and the slaughter was terrible. Al-zad said that sometimes half a million would fall in a single engagement, and yet the nations would continue to make war. These destructive means of warfare, including many other explosives, I was told, had been in use for thousands of years, among all the nations, both to the east and west.

"Know you if there be houses for the entertainment of strangers in the great city?" I inquired.

"But know you not some honest man, not a publican, who liveth near the gate by which we enter the city on yonder highway?" inquired the Queen.

"Already thou knowest I do, exalted one. There, but the fourth door from the gate, on the right hand, is Bel-has-set, a student of the law, a just judge, and a wise man, though not of the king's council."

"Perchance he were not just, if he were of the king's council. Even him will we bless. How say you: do the gates of the city remain always open?"

"And how is the peace of the city maintained? Doth it require officers with weapons; and what weapons do they use?" I inquired.

"Aye, the Elp-en-sets do walk the streets with weapons, with clubs in their hands, and even the cases of deadly vapor in their pockets."

"And is it not rumored that they do extort the king's coin from unfortunate strangers, for their own profit, they and the judges?"

"Thou dost know already, most exalted ones, all regarding those things of which thou dost inquire."

"I do not understand, my soul, how you, who have known nothing of such governments, can thus forejudge them," I said to her in Toltu.

"It is the man who tells me. The injustice of the king shows confessed on the brow of his subject, if we can but read its signs aright," was her reply. Then to Al-zad:

"We will remain with thee, good Al-zad, until the great city sleeps again; then, shortly before its people wake, we will leave thee for a time."

The Queen then took her sensitive ear, and, establishing the conditions for a circuit, directed her instrument toward where, Al-zad said, the palace of the king lay, and listened. Presently she was in communication with some one of the king's officers, who, relieving each other, kept a listener ever at the king's ear.

"The King and Queen of the Toltus, from beyond the great ocean, beneath the arc of light."

"Most illustrious sovereigns, if ye will wait but a little, I will arouse the king. He would speak with you."

She placed her hand on the diaphragm, and asked me if I would not hold this colloquy with the king, and suggested, that before becoming his guests, we should allow ourselves some time to learn something more of the city. And, moreover, that she thought it advisable to keep our present location a secret, and leave it temporarily at the end of the next silence, before there were travellers on the highway, or the people were astir. I therefore took my place at the instrument, where I soon heard the voice of the king, saying:

"Illustrious King and Queen of the Toltus, all hail! The king of the Zit-tites greets you, and bids you welcome to his dominion!"

"Your Majesty's friendly welcome is most heartily desired and appreciated. We wish to inform your Majesty, that we will be at the south gate of thy city, to which the mountain highway, called the path of the shepherds, leads, at the end of the fifth circle of thy next wake-time; there, if it shall please thee, to be welcomed into thy city."

"It shall delight me to do honor to the King and Queen of the Toltus. Come ye alone or with a following, and from whence honor you now the king of the Zit-tites with speech?"

"We come alone, your Majesty, since our way hath been through the air. And we now speak to thee from the mountains to the southward. Quietly, in our own conveyance, will we arrive at thy gate."

"Ye may command me in all ye desire, and all things shall be as ye wish. My wise men say ye are the first who have ever crossed the impassable ocean. Verily it hath been a brave thing to do, and therefore shouldst thou have honor beyond all others."

"Nay; we come but as travellers to sojourn a little for our own pleasure and to add to our knowledge of the great world; therefore, we desire not a ceremonious reception, but only such common courtesies as should pass between friendly sovereigns."

"It would not become the king of the Zit-tites thus to receive those who have overcome such dangers. I pray you, leave me to my own desire in this thing."

"It must be as your Majesty wills; yet, do we not seek this honor. Meanwhile, accept our thanks, and so farewell!"

That is as nearly as our interview can be reproduced in English. We employed the interval of time under the guidance of Al-zad, looking about his little farm. His neighbors, fortunately, were not within 100 yards of him, and so, although they might see moving forms, could not distinguish one from another. This is a summary of what we saw: The Gaf-fer, one of which was owned by Al-zad, was beyond question the strangest animal I had met with in the interior world. Its body somewhat resembled that of a horse, or perhaps more nearly a deer, especially its neck, which was slender, held aloft and surmounted by a small head not very dissimilar from that of a deer, save that its upper lip was furnished with a projecting cartilaginous ring, a provision for rooting up the soil, which in some form was common to all the animals. When young, this ring was cut through on either side and wooden wedges inserted, thus producing a permanent opening, through which the ends of the reins, for its guidance, were passed and fastened. Its hoofed feet were divided into five sections. It was covered with long, soft, white hair, and had large, light pink eyes. But that feature which gave it a strange characteristic to me was a pair of wings much resembling those of a bat when extended; folded they lay in a depression on either side of the spine. While trotting, these wings were never used; but when bounding from its powerful hind-quarters, these wings seemed necessary to let the fore-quarters down lightly. They rendered the animal well-nigh tireless, so that they could, when urged, make twenty miles an hour for hours together. The beast of burden was a low, flat-backed, ponderous creature, related, as I judged, to the elephant. In a rack upon its back it carried a load equal to what four horses could draw in a wagon. Its average life exceeded 200 years. Al-zad had a flock of goats which so closely resembled the Cashmere goat of the exterior, that I would have pronounced them the same, had it not been for them ringed noses. They were valued for both their wool and their flesh. No migratory birds visited the region; yet were the strange forests of fruit and of timber cultivated to supply the arts, peopled with feathered tribes, all with great owlish eyes, and either white or black in color. Many of them were birds of song; but I don't think I ever heard a cheerful note from one of them. Their songs well accorded with the mournful and gloomy aspect which the region had for us. The tuberous products of the soil were numerous, as well as succulent plants, which seemed to thrive quite as well beneath the soil as on it. I saw nothing growing that was tough and fibrous. Even the trunks of the trees were so soft that they cut like cheese, until they were kiln- dried, when some of them became as hard and compact as box-wood. There was a kind of oat, as I supposed, the kernel of which did not harden, and had to be kiln-dried for preservation. The bloom of the vegetation was white, save some vines bearing a jet-black blossom, which to me was a strange phenomenon. In a word, it was such a region as one could well imagine to have been evolved out of Hades. It was the mere ghost of a country.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE KINGDOM OF THE ZIT-TITES—THE LARGEST CITY IN THE WORLD—BEL-HAS-SET, THE JUDGE—THE QUEEN FORESEES TROUBLE—A TYRANT ON THE THRONE—OUR ARRANGEMENTS TO MEET HIM.

BOTH the Queen and I now carried timepieces, in which all the works were of gold and silver, except the hairspring; for, as you are aware, steel in that atmosphere is within a few hours magnetized powerfully, and so is unfitted for delicate mechanism. We had noted when the intervals of silence and wake-time began and ended, and, an hour before what I may term morning, we mounted our electric conveyance. Having descended a somewhat abrupt declivity, about 200 paces to the king's highway, we set our faces toward the great city, with the light reflected before us, going at the rate of about ten miles an hour. Before we left the land of the Zit-tites, we had occasion to travel that road at a much higher rate of speed.

"This may have been the primal home of the white races, but I know of one white man who would not long survive under these conditions."

The Queen laughed, and said that I could probably survive the natural conditions longer than the social ones. She had evidently assured herself that we were about to encounter dangers, else she would not have taken the precautions she had, and I asked her what dangers she feared, and in what form she supposed they were likely to come.

She answered me only with a generalization, saying: "Where we know the court is lascivious and corrupt, they will neither respect the rights nor highly value the lives of strangers within their walls, if they perceive aught they may gain by their deaths."

Later, however, I knew the danger had shaped itself in her mind, and that her fear was not for herself, but for me. At the end of three-fourths of an hour we arrived at the city gate, having met or passed but a few on the way, who, dazzled by our light, doubtless could not see who was gliding so noiselessly past them in the strange vehicle. We could see that the houses were lofty, of various styles of architecture, constructed of stone and faced upon a narrow street. The Queen was anxious to get out of the street, and we began immediately looking for the house of Bel-has-set, the man of whom Al-zad had spoken. Counting from the gate on the right, we saw inscribed on a stone pillar the words, "Bel-has-set, Judge." I ascended a short flight of stone steps, to a door, made of some material that was not wood, and was at a loss how to arouse the inmates. Knocking upon the door with my knuckles, I discovered that I might as well have pounded the stone steps, it was so solid and massive. The windows were but narrow slits in the thick walls, intended rather to admit the air than light, and I should have pronounced the judge's house a prison, had not those adjoining been of the same character.

"See you not, beloved, there is a knob at thy right hand? Press it, and perchance thou wilt be heard."

I did so, and waited. The next moment, an Elp-en-set approached the Queen, who had alighted from our vehicle, and was standing beside it. The fellow halted before her, and inquired, in a gruff voice:

"If thou dost not answer me who ye are, and what ye do here, in the name of the king I will take ye before the tribunal."

"Did I tell thee who I am, then wouldst thou fall upon thy knees and beg for mercy. Away! lest thou anger me!" Turning from the light, with which she had dazzled him, in an instant he disappeared. He had not been accustomed to such authoritative replies, and evidently supposed he had run afoul of one of the king's household. Knowing, moreover, that he was transgressing his duty, he made haste to leave, lest he himself might be taken before a tribunal. He had evidently neither seen her nor the vehicle, which she seemed particularly anxious to conceal. Presently, from the windows of the house before which we stood, a mild light shone, a panel, which I had not noticed, slid aside, and I dimly saw the face of a man, who inquired, with great deliberation of speech:

"Nay, there are more questions than can be well answered here and on the instant. I pray you, tell me if thou art Bel-has-set, the judge?" I asked.

Because the Queen desired secrecy, I knew not why, I dropped my voice, that none might hear, if any should happen to pass, and said: "Knowest thou Al-zad, the peasant?"

"Aye, well, and an honest man is Al-zad, the peasant, albeit he hath not been well instructed."

"He it is who hath bid us come to thee, for that, he saith, thou art both honest and wise."

"Be that as it may, we are strangers from afar, who need thy counsel, and to be informed in regard to thy great city."

"That thou art from afar, thy speech proclaimeth; and thou talkest in the ancient tongue, not in the common vernacular, which doth somewhat astonish me. Being that thou art strangers, I wonder how thou hast learned what is known only to our scholars."

"That will we reveal to thee, for therein is a wonder, and other things at which thou shalt not choose but wonder. We come in a strange chariot, which, should the people see, they will gather about us, and that we desire not; therefore I pray you, admit us and our chariot, which is so light that I may carry it, without delay."

"Rarely are those things honest that are shrouded in mystery, yet I doubt not thou art honest; therefore may ye enter, thou and thy wife and thy chariot, which I do perceive is of strange construction."

I hastened down the steps, and, taking the vehicle in my arms, carried it to the ponderous door, which swung open to admit, and immediately closed behind us.

We found ourselves in a hallway, whose stone walls were covered with a white stucco, very artistically ornamented with designs in relief upon it. The mellow light pervading it, which no doubt to the cat-eyed denizens was brilliant, hardly served for me to make out objects distinctly. That it was electrical, however, both its source and color proclaimed. It came from a disk in the ceiling, consisting of alternating narrow strips of zinc and copper lying with their edges close together. Between each strip shone a fine line of light, many hundreds of which combined, produced the effect. It was, therefore, merely a voltaic circuit, which on the exterior globe would give off no light, I presume, at all. So soon as we were within, the Queen said:

"Bel-has-set, thou shalt now know that we are Amos Jackson and Cresten, sovereigns of the Toltus, a race of whom thou knowest nothing."

"Nay, of such a race I have never heard, although all the world on this side of the impassable ocean hath been explored, and there is no race of which we have not an account."

"True; and it is even from beyond the great water that we come, even from the very midst of the effulgence of the northern light; wherefore it is that we see not amid the darkness of this region."

At that moment a bell near us, which was also an electric contrivance, rang. Bel-has-set went to the door and opened the wicket. Then we heard the voice of an officer, saying:

"I saw at a distance strangers enter here. Thou art a judge and know it is our duty to inquire concerning strangers whom we may see upon the street."

"Aye, in time of silence is it that ye may, perchance, find some warrant to take them before unjust judges, to maltreat and rob them; but thanks be to Gur, this thy duty endeth with the silence!"

"Nay, this will not answer; I must know who are the strangers within thy dwelling."

"It would serve thee justly to comply with thy demand, that thus thou mightest be permitted to offend royalty. Go to! take thy hint and away."

"Surely, my ears grow deaf that I heard not the bells announcing the wake-time," said the fellow, by way of excuse, as he turned from the door. What astonished me, while I listened to this colloquy, was how the Queen should have known just how to deal with these fellows.

"This is a strange thing, indeed, that you tell me," said the judge on returning; "for no one hath been known to pass the ocean. Ascend with me to my study. There would I hear this thing explained."

He entered an alcove in the wall, and signed for us to follow. As I passed along the hall, the light was sufficient to reveal great mirrors, in which I saw myself reflected, set permanently in the wall. The furniture, I noticed, consisted of low couches: some for reclining on at full length, and others for sustaining the body in different postures; but I saw nothing that resembled chairs, in which to sit upright. All were richly upholstered with cloth, woven in patterns of variegated colors, in which were avoided all dark tints, and in which yellows, blues, and purples predominated. So light were the tints that I might better have said they were all white, but slightly tinged with other color; so that the effect at a distance was still white. Within the alcove we stood upon a platform, cased about with a panelled structure, made of wood pressed into moulds when green, and thus dried. It was hard as ebony, but white, and had the same tracery of delicate colors upon it. The judge touched a little knob, and we went shooting noiselessly and speedily to the upper story of a ten-story building.

"Nay, not lofty by comparison with many buildings, since mine stands not one-third as high as some structures in the city. We have been climbing upward for one thousand cycles (nearly equal to exterior years), ever since this new application of the heat principle could thus lift us upward."

"How long have ye been among us, that ye have learned this thing?" he inquired, as he ushered us into his study.

"But a little before last wake-time we alighted upon the field of Al-zad. I needed not to be told this thing, for did I not see it reflected upon the face of Al-zad, and hath not the speech of the Elp-en-set proclaimed it?" replied the Queen.

"Recline ye where ye will be at ease. Though your eyes see not far in our light, yet have your souls with little light already looked deep into our affairs. Alighted, say you, and from what?"

"Aye, Bel-has-set, when occasion shall offer; but not now. Its secret hiding doth give us much concern, since we would not the king should know where it is bestowed." The Queen then proceeded to tell him at length who we were, and whence we came; and in answer to the inquiries made by the astonished listener, from time to time, gave him brief histories of ourselves and the Toltus. Incidentally she more fully explained the theory accounting for the, at one time, tropical warmth of the present Arctic regions of the exterior which I had not fully understood before. She said that probably the mean direction of the earth's pole, prior to the shifting, was perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, which made the exterior magnetic pole coincide with the true pole; that the earth's diurnal motion on its axis was then caused by the attraction which these central attractive points in space north and south had for the interior north and south poles, then situated opposite each other 90° from their several poles. The effect of this was to cause the north pole to describe a circle about the north star of probably 45°, while of course the south pole was describing a similar circle. The result of this was to bring both poles, except for a short period every six months, daily, and for a large portion of the year directly under the sun's rays, while the latter were nowhere constant for any great length of time daily over the present temperate and torrid zones. Coming from one who had never seen the exterior world or looked upon the mysteries of the heavens, the theory seemed to me to be a marvellous evidence of her high intelligence. She also informed him of the manner in which the king had been made aware of our arrival, and purposed to meet us at the gate at the end of the fifth circle, which is their mid- day, and give us a ceremonious reception. She told all this, which in itself was new and wonderful, to the good man, in the manner of one to whom nothing was new or wonderful; revealing the while mysteries over which the wise men of his race had puzzled themselves in vain; so that when she had concluded, he exclaimed:

"In good truth thou art Kayete-ut-se-Zane, Queen of the Light, indeed; for thou hast let in the light upon many things which heretofore have been wrapt in darkness from our wise men. Behold, I sit at your feet as a pupil! And thou, O King, hast not only crossed the great ocean in thy air-ship, but hath sailed therein from the exterior world over the frozen zone! Would that Gur had blessed the Zit-tites with such sovereigns! Then would love transplant fear in the breasts of the people, and plots and conspiracies would no longer breed bloody insurrections against the king's authority." Bel-has-set arose and stepped hastily to the side of the room. I noticed that he had been startled by something which had come into his mind. He returned leisurely, however, and his face betrayed no anxiety.

"Nay, else would he not curse the city with a force of 100,000 knavish Elp-en-sets, who spend their time in framing accusations against such as know not how to protect themselves, save by paying the demands of their tormentors. These look upon strangers within our gates as their legitimate prey, until now, those who come for barter, do reckon among their charges so much coin, wherewith to pay one Elp-en-set to protect him from the others. Then doth the king take from each man the tenth of all his profits, which is not fairly taxed by the greedy officials, who would themselves grow rich; so that the oppressed people be ever in a ferment, and the king is kept busy crushing conspiracies in the city, and rebellion in the provinces. To discover plots, the heat principle is employed to bring all his officials within the hearing of the king and his councillors. No one may use it save them, so that what might be of great value to the people, in its use, they are deprived of."

"Hast thou not such communication with the palace of the king?" abruptly inquired the Queen.

"I had thought to show thee naught; yet am I assured that my secret will remain with you unrevealed; therefore, speak no word, but come hither, and look and listen."

We followed him to the side of the room, which was panelled half-way to the ceiling. He touched a spring, and one of these panels opened, revealing a secret recess, into which but one might go at a time. When I entered, I saw in the dim light a diaphragm. That the Queen was not the only one who had electric ears I already knew, but I was quite unprepared to see an electric eye. While I listened to voices, I at the same time looked upon objects in a room of the king's palace, and saw the forms of people diminished to not more than an inch, or an inch and a half in height, at the tallest, passing back and forth before a disk at the end of a tube, through which I looked. Therein I caught a glimpse of the king, as I divined, from the deference shown him, and of several of his councillors. I very distinctly heard the monarch, addressing one of the latter, say:

"By the sceptre of Gur! Ag-ret, this dropping of two sovereigns upon our shores, from beyond the impassable deep, is something to be wondered at. Let them be made as great a diversion for the people as possible, who will not, meanwhile, divert themselves with plots against our government. Therefore, let it be proclaimed that they will be received in state, and do thou so word thy edict that they are thus honored, not as sovereigns, but because the king delights to honor those who have surpassed all others in this achievement."

When the panel had been closed, I repeated what I had heard the king say, and Bel-has-set remarked that the royal proclamation would then appear in the second issue of sheets. These, he explained, were publications, which recorded and circulated the news throughout the city every two circles of the wake-time, making thus five issues during each of their days.

"Of these sheets there are nearly 1,000," said Bel-has-set, "all under the censorship of the king's officers, and in which, therefore, there can appear nothing adverse to the king or his council."

"This provision of thine, Bel-has-set, is not of the king's knowledge," said the Queen, pointing to the panel.

"Nay, and were it known, my life might pay the forfeit. The royal lines find support on my roof, and these have I constructed, that thereby I may be somewhat in the confidence of the council, and so save many unfortunates who are about to be unjustly punished."

"This eye is new to me, but yet not a wonder, for I perceive how it is possible."

"Then, methinks, O Queen! thou art no common mortal, if thou hast already mastered this problem."

"Nay, I have made no experiment of this nature; yet it seemeth to me possible that the spirit of light reflected from objects at an angle, that giveth its vibrations but one direction, or through certain crystals which do the same thing upon oxygen gas confined between sensitive diaphragms, would reproduce its vibrations in a like medium, placed within its circuit, and that these revealed in a like light would reflect the object to the eye."

"Truly, this is wonderful. These are indeed the agencies that are in use, though not precisely in the manner thou hast suggested."

These images appeared but faintly to our vision; yet to the eye of the judge were doubtless quite brilliant.

"These matters may later engage our attention; but now, good Bel-has-set, I perceive that strangers in thy city are beset with dangers; therefore, would we have a way kept open, if that may be possible, for escape when we shall desire to leave it."

"Aye, it were wise to make such provision, and judge neither the king nor his councillors by their speech, for in speech are they well skilled, and it serveth but the purpose of hiding their thoughts."

"Therefore, we desire that, at any moment, we may have access to the vehicle in which we came, from the street."

"Surely that you may have; for to thy left hand, as you stood at the door by which ye entered, is a gate that doth open into a covered way, that leadeth to the rear of my dwelling. In that passage let thy chariot abide, and behold! I give thee, O king! the key thereto."

"It is always charged with the spirit of light, in dangerous force, therefore caution thy people not to be curious in regard to it," I said.

"This form of, what thou callest the spirit of light, which manifesteth in thy lamp, is not in use by us."

"Then is it well, it should not be, good Bel-has-set, for it would be but a deadly force, in merciless hands. I mean those of the king's officials."

"The Queen of the Toltus, good Bel-has-set, knoweth not fear," I answered abruptly. "Let the king and his councillors beware; for we go into his presence, not so illy provided, or so weak, as thou mayest imagine."

"Know ye the value of this?" inquired the Queen, showing him a large diamond, in its gold setting.

"Such gems are priceless with us, being so rare, and all are claimed by the king. They are called the king's jewels."

"Perchance, if in our state dresses, which are rich in these jewels, we should appear before the king, his avarice might place both us and our jewels in safe keeping," and the Queen smiled.

"Yet, amid the corruptions of the palace, thy jewels might purchase you freedom."

"Nay, being mine of right, that I have never purchased and never will. Lest perchance in our hair-cloth suits we be taken for barbarians and so treated, we shall go even in our state dresses."

There was heard the tinkle of a bell, and the judge arising took from its receptacle in the wall what he termed the second sheet. It had been conveyed thither, as it was to all subscribers, by an electric mechanism, which ran along the fronts of the houses. It consisted of a car that, opening and closing circuits as it passed, dropped a sheet at each break into a small box. This box was conveyed by small electric elevators in each house to the room of the subscriber, notifying him of its arrival by the tinkle of the bell. All letters from the general office, which I understood was eight miles from the judge's dwelling, were conveyed in the same way and reached him in ten beats, about equal to thirty minutes, making thousands of deliveries on the way. The judge left us, to notify his family that he would have guests at the first meal, and handed us the sheet for perusal. I had expected to see a printed sheet, but instead, found that it was a sheet of jet-black glutinous material, very thin and elastic and punched full of holes. I could make nothing of such a newspaper as that, and handed it to the Queen. She took it, and, glancing about the room, discovered several white tablets hanging upon the wall. Taking one of them she spread the sheet, which was about 16 by 20 inches in size, upon it. Then I held one of our own lamps, so that we could distinguish the form of the holes through which the white tablet could be seen. Although the room was no doubt brilliantly lighted for the eyes of the denizens, yet could we make out nothing diminutive. Now, it appeared that each hole was a distinct letter. We recognized the characters at once, as the same which we had deciphered upon the antediluvian inscriptions, and were therefore enabled to read it. Apart from the king's proclamation, calling upon the people to do our illustrious selves honor, it contained much that we desired to know. The judge shortly returned, and, taking some black tablets and a pad charged with white color, soon furnished us each with a copy, using the sheet as a stencil. He said, these sheets multiplied as the news accumulated, until often the last issue consisted of ten of them. The small steel punches, by which the letters were made, were "set up," as you would call it, as rapidly as an expert could touch the letters on a finger-board. Each one was thus brought under a magnet, by which it was lifted and adjusted. Fifty sheets were punctured and cut at every revolution of a cylinder, turning once in two seconds, so that they were produced at the rate of 1,500 a minute. Those who wished, preserved the sheets and resold them to the factories. We partook of the first meal with the judge, his wife, daughter, and two young sons,—to whom, you may be sure, we were most wonderful people,—reclining upon couches about a low table, elevated eighteen inches from the floor and revolving upon a pivot. It was provided with exquisitely moulded standards, for the reception of varied forms of dishes, which were all of fine white porcelain. Thus, every dish on the table was brought within reach of each of us, who transferred what he pleased to the stand attached to each couch. I had never breakfasted in that luxurious manner before, and would have much better enjoyed the meal bolt upright in a chair. Moreover, we were compelled to beg the privilege of throwing the light of our own lamps on the feast; for although we could find our mouths without it, we were never sure what or how much our spoons conveyed thither of any commodity.

CHAPTER XXV.

VIEW OF A FRACTION OF THE GREAT CITY—STREET UPON STREET—DOGGED BY ELP-EN- SETS—THE QUEEN'S OCCULT POWER DISCOVERS IMPENDING REVOLUTION—THE BEGINNING OF A TRAGEDY.

OUR meal ended, we returned to the judge's study, and he there told us that we had arrived at a time when the inhabitants of the city were ripe for revolt, which might break out at any time.

"And I have an impression that our coming may not only hasten that revolt, but, perchance, make it successful."

I looked at the Queen in astonishment, and so did the judge, who had already learned that the woman before him looked far deeper and clearer into causes and effects, than the wisest he had ever known.

"Surely, my soul, you will take no part in the political troubles of the Zit-tites?"

"Nay, thou knowest, even with our armies of Toltus behind us, we have never been on the offensive, and, as yet, this king hath proffered us naught but good-will and courteous kindness. Nor doth he, as yet, entertain any evil in his mind against us; yet on the defensive have we never turned our backs, nor failed to bring good out of evil, when the evil-minded have thus forced their destruction upon us. This righteous policy shall we not depart from now, and it may so hap, that this resistance, which this king forceth upon the people, and which Bel-has-set leadeth—nay, do not start, my friend—may meet with success, through acts of ours, which the king may force upon us, in our own defense. I say not this will be so, but I see how it might be so."

Here was this occult power of hers at work again, and I was as much at a loss to account for it as Bel-has-set, save that I knew she had read it on his face, in signs that had no meaning for me, and that it was to be acquired only by centuries of study.

"I see naught that I have either said or done, from which thou mightest infer that I stand at the forefront of revolt," he said, neither denying nor affirming her declaration.

"I would have thee, if thou wilt, go with me to some exchange, where I may convert into king's coin some uncoined metal, and to where I may obtain for hire a closed chariot as magnificent as may be," I said to the judge.

"It will be well, beloved, to direct the chariot to meet us on the highway, a space without the gate, at twenty beats past the fourth circle, that it may appear we have just arrived."

"That can I do, in my own coach," answered Bel-has-set. "If thou goest upon the street, it were well to avoid notice, that thou shouldst wear over thy strange fabric some of my clothing. It will be the better that thou shouldst pass for a judge, for then will it not be so much wondered at, when thou dost present for exchange thy uncoined precious metal."

On his suggestion I acted, and, removing my hair-cloth coat, put on a garment which consisted of a long, close-fitting quilted waist, with a skirt extending to the knees, and sleeves gathered at the wrists. Over this I threw a long, loose, flowing cloak, with a quilted collar, and placed on my head a skull-cap, with a rim projecting upward and outward, over the left side of which lay a long plume so glossy, soft, and delicate, that I thought I had never seen one so beautiful. This entire clothing was white, checked with, almost to me, invisible yellow and purple, except that the rim of the hat and the breast of the quilted coat were worked in designs with fine gold thread. Thus disguised, with my weapons under my cloak, I sallied forth on the arm of the judge, to take my first view of but a little fraction of the largest city in the world, and the eldest by many thousands of years. I was pleased to find that the streets were more brilliantly lighted, from the shops, than was the house of our friend. He said the light of the streets hurt his eyes and dazzled his sight, which he said was the purpose of the shopmen, that their wares might be the less closely inspected. I told him that, on the exterior globe, it was just the reverse. The shopmen reduced the light to avoid inspection. It was hard to persuade myself, however, that I, myself, was being less closely observed in the light than in the darkness; yet such was the fact. About half a mile from the judge's residence, and we were amid the hurly-burly of business. I never saw anything like it. The narrow streets were thronged with ghostly denizens. It was the law that pedestrians should keep on the right-hand of the street, so that on one pavement the tide was moving in one direction, and on the other in another. Between the pavements, on our side of the thoroughfare, the vehicles were all going in the same direction as ourselves, and so on the other side. The centre was railed off, and along this space, every few moments, narrow, luxuriously furnished cars, each of which would seat about twenty people, went rolling noiselessly past, coming from both directions. These, together with all the electrical contrivances of the city, devoted to the public use, were in charge of the king's officers, and were a source of revenue to the crown. The masses of the people, the judge said, then refused to ride in them, and that was the reason there were so many pedestrians and so many coaches drawn by Gaf-fers, upon the streets. It was not so in the reign of the king's predecessor.

"Nay, in the course of ages our race hath had every form of government. We have been governed by patriarchs, in council; by the people, in assembly; by imperators, elected for terms of years, and by reigning dynasties as now; and each in its turn hath become corrupt and been overthrown by the people. The most enduring and least corrupt of any hath been the council of the patriarchs, after each had come to be elective for a term of years in his principality. That is likely to succeed the present monarchy. Thus, no doubt, will one form succeed another to the end of time, so long as either wealth or birth maketh one man more powerful than another."

I had heard for some time a muffled rumbling above my head, which I could not understand, yet knew it must be the noise made by the people, whom I saw pouring out of tower-like buildings in the centre of every third crossing of streets. Above my head, as far as my sight would penetrate the gloom, I could see nothing but darkness, in which the upper portions of the buildings were lost.

"Another street? Your streets are too close together now. I see no room for any."

"Think you so? We have thought that in these newer parts of the city our ancestors did well in placing them at five stories apart. In the more ancient portions they are but three stories; so that, one above the other, there are as many as five streets, which doth too much confine the air."

This revealed the fact to me, which I had not before suspected, that above my head it was a street, arched out from the massive walls of the buildings, from which the rumbling came.

"Now here, as yet, there are above us but three streets, and they have become somewhat crowded since I was a boy."

I did not wish to manifest astonishment, and I said: "You tell me, then, that there are three streets above us here, on which are electric cars, coaches, and Gaf-fers, and people thronging as they are here? Then how high, say you, are the houses?"

I would have remarked upon the consequence of the outbreak of a fire; but my observation had already led me to the conviction that nothing combustible was permitted to enter into the construction of the houses. I inquired why the city was not rather extended upon the ground, and he replied that there were two reasons. One was, that it was more profitable to build upward in the business centres than to erect new structures without the walls. The second was because the people were unwilling to build without until the government had determined to increase the limits of the city, and inclose it with a wall. We had proceeded about a mile, when we entered the shop of a wealthy jeweller, to whom the judge thought I had better dispose of my gold, rather than to the officers of the exchange, who, he said, were many of them knaves, like all the rest. Moreover, about the exchanges were Elp-en-sets, always on the watch for those who came to make exchange, which consisted chiefly of gold coin for government securities, or the coin and securities of neighboring nations.

"Know you," said the judge, when we had entered, "that we have been followed from my house by yon Elp-en-set, whom thou mayest observe at thy leisure, near the door. Do thou permit me to conduct thy trade with the merchant." To this I very willingly assented, and he addressed the merchant:

"My esteemed Bar-ros-er, I have brought hither a friend of mine, from afar, who hath very considerable uncoined gold, which he would exchange with thee for the coin of our realm. Let it be secretly done, since I do perceive we are followed by one of the curses of our city."

"I am obliged to thee, Bel-has-set, for we have much need of crude metal, since the king's edict forbidding the melting of coin. Come with me where no eye may see. Alas! how long must we be thus enslaved?"

We followed him into a rear room, where the exchange was effected, and a little ruse determined upon to deceive, if possible, the Elp-en-set. I never before saw such a display of varied and beautiful metallic products as were to be seen in this establishment. I think every metal known to science was to be seen, either in the form of jewelry or plate; and although diamonds and garnets were rare, yet there were a greater variety of beautiful crystals than I supposed existed, worked into numberless articles of adornment. They were all kept in circular revolving cases, which were reflected from large mirrors on the walls, thus producing an effect both gorgeous and bewildering. The proprietor came with us to within ear-shot of the Elp-en-set, and said:

"Then is it some weighty matter, else would the king not seek eminent counsel from afar. It will please me well to dispose of the jewels at cost to thy friend when, having done with the king's affairs, he shall desire to take them with him."

"The ruse doth not work; the fellow is still at his post," I said, observing that the Elp-en-set did not move.

"Aye, he hath been instructed," remarked the judge, as we again moved toward the rear of the establishment. "Therefore will we ask of thee a favor, good Bar-ros-er, and that is that after we have gone, and the curse hath followed us, thou wilt send by one of thy trusted servants a note, which I shall write to Go- zet, the coachman, whom thou well knowest. I trust it will not be for long that we shall be so dogged."

The judge, accordingly, wrote an order to the coachman for his finest vehicle, to be at the appointed place at the time fixed, and we went out again upon the street. As we stepped upon the pavement we noticed our shadow at a short distance, in conversation with one in citizen's dress, and the judge said he was persuaded that the other was also a spy. I began to suspect that I was not the only one who was being watched, but that there must be some suspicion of the judge in official quarters. I intimated as much to Bel-has-set, and he said it was true; but only because he had interposed his authority as a superior judge, on appeal from inferior tribunals, to save the victims of the officials.

"I perceive," I said, "that here, as on the exterior of the globe, the great rascals rob under the skirts of the law."

I was evidently not the only stranger upon the streets, as I could tell by the costumes of some who were occasionally to be met with, which were of dark fabrics, as well as by their complexions. I had seen several with copper-colored faces and long, straight, black hair, and was astonished to pass one with decidedly African color and features. Just now, however, I had no desire to inquire concerning these things, being anxious to know what the spies were following us for. Of this I was not left long in doubt. Moving with the crowd to the next crossing, we stood for a moment waiting to cross over to the other side, that we might get into the stream going the other way and so return to the judge's house. Here, the spy in citizen's dress approached the judge and said, he desired to speak with him privately. We understood this to be a ruse to separate us. They did not wish to arrest me in the judge's presence, lest he, as one of the best known officials, and one whom the people held in high esteem, might as a conservator of the peace call upon the people to interfere and so effect a rescue.

"In the hall of justice, or at my dwelling, thou canst speak with me, but not here." We then made to cross over between the wheeled vehicles, which were not permitted to approach each other nearer than fifteen feet, when the rascals resolved to arrest me. The excuse for arrest, the judge had told me, was always the same: the refusal of a stranger to tell them all they wished to know of him.

"Thou art a stranger; whence comest thou, who art thou, and what is thy business in the city?" inquired the Elp-en-set of me. I didn't say I was a free-born American citizen and wouldn't be thus imposed upon, but my temper was up and I felt, that, as sovereign of the Toltus, submission would not be becoming in me. I therefore replied:

"Aye, Elp-en-set, and do thou ask no more at thy peril. Judge, do thou precede me to the electric car that cometh; I would return by that conveyance," I said as I placed my hand on the short electric tube, which I had under my cloak. The judge set out for the car, but when I attempted to follow him, they offered to seize me by the cloak. This I had anticipated, and drawing back eluded their grasp. I thus placed myself between them and the crowd, which had now stopped and begun to revile the Elp, as he was nicknamed, for trying to molest the friend of the great judge. The fellow blew his whistle to call others to his aid, and immediately threatened me with his club, while the other advanced to again lay hold of me. So heartily were these fellows hated that the populace was at any time ready, when they might safely do so, to tear them to pieces, and I heard the cry, "Death to the Elp, who assaulteth a judge!" The car had nearly come to a halt, when, looking them in the face to divert attention from my action, I touched them both in quick succession upon their legs with the tube, and they tumbled one upon another. I stepped quickly over them, and mounted the car with the judge, as it started. The crowd, seeing them fall, surged over them instantly, trampling them beneath their feet. The tube I used was not deadly, yet shocked into insensibility; so that they would lie there for several moments. I had no thought of bringing about the death of the rascals, but the crowd had to surge but a little out of its way to make stepping-stones of them, and it showed them no mercy. Before their fellows could come to their rescue, not only had they been killed, but those who had witnessed their mysterious fall had passed on, leaving no one in the vicinity who was able to tell how they thus happened to be beneath the feet of the people. This we learned from the next issue of the sheet. We were certain, however, that they were acting under instructions and that inquiry would soon be made of the judge, if he knew anything of the matter. When the adventure was told to the Queen, and the sheet had informed us of the fatal result, she concluded that we ought to leave, and asked the judge if he would not immediately order his coach and go with us beyond the walls. This he was very willing to do, and when he had sent his order, she asked him also if there was not some secret place in which our vehicle could be hidden, until such time as it might be found necessary to have it in readiness in the passage-way, for our immediate use.

"Aye, I have such a place of secrecy, and will, even on the instant, place it therein, if so be you desire it."

"We do so desire, my friend. I perceive thou hast gold enough for thy wants, but I would leave with thy wife a souvenir of our visit, lest perchance we may not see thee again. Therefore, first call her hither, and then do thou and the king, first taking our state suits therefrom, secrete our conveyance."

Bel-has-set called his wife and, leaving them together, we went down to execute her command. She kissed Bel-has-set's wife on the brow and made over her the sign of the arc, saying:

"Thou art a good wife and mother, and the Queen of the Toltus blesses thee. Behold! I think thy king hath not a gem so large and lustrous as this; I hang it about thy neck, that thou mayest remember me, when thou shalt never see me more."

"Nay, great Queen, the gift is of too great value forme. It would even place me in danger to wear it."

"Now, that may be so; yet may you be shortly free from this enthralment. I desire in return one of thy richest dresses, that I may wear it, when occasion requires, over my jewelled suit."

"Nay, choose for me but one, which may, as thou judgest, become me best, and bring it hither."

The good woman did as requested, and, on our return, the Queen and I retired into adjoining rooms, where, in a few moments, we removed our hair-cloth suits and appeared before our host and hostess in garbs more gorgeous than they had ever dreamed of. They stood lost in amazement for a time. When the judge found his voice, he exclaimed:

"Thou hast, O great Queen! on that garment, of which I know not the name, more jewels than would, at their present value, purchase our great city."

He referred to her scarlet himation, which, as you are aware, was a mass of alternating gold disks and diamonds. Our himations, however, were folded up with our hair-cloth suits, and over our gold-woven and bejewelled chitons we drew the dresses which our host and hostess had provided.

"Thy wisdom far excelleth mine, O Queen! Yet methinks, though thou thyself may, yet will thy gems not escape the clutch of the king and his councillors."

"All those things have I considered, Bel-has-set, and perchance—nay, I will leave that unsaid."

This, as were all the Queen's suits, was plentifully provided with pockets, and, transferring them from her hair-cloth suit, she was busy putting this, that, and the other article where she could lay her hand upon it for use at any moment. When Bel-has- set saw that we were about to make our extra apparel into a bundle, he proffered us a magnificent box, inlaid with crystal, to be carried in the hand, and which opened with a secret spring. In return, I forced upon the good man a fine garnet setting as a memento. The Queen handed me one of those pads, which years before we had used as an antidote against Rudnord's poison vapor, with the caution to have it always convenient, thereby recalling to my mind the mode by which this King Al-ka-red was accustomed, as was rumored, to remove those who incurred his displeasure. When the Queen had completed her preparations, we descended to the basement story, and, passing through the hall to a walled area in the rear, found waiting the judge's coach. This was a novelty to me, since all its parts were made of some fibrous pulp. Pressed in moulds, it resembled white papier-maché, and was both light and tough. The entire body was pressed in a single mould, and was scarcely more than an eighth of an inch in thickness. Each wheel, too, was made in a single mould, and the spokes were about half an inch in thickness. Of these there were three, one being placed in front as a guide. It was fitted with appliances for its control; so that the Gaf-fers ran before it without a tongue between them. It had an adjustable cover, from which hung white curtains, hiding its occupants from the sight of those without. By a back passage we entered another street, which, by a turn, brought us to the gate. As we passed out, the judge looked back and saw an official standing at his door. He had just left in time to avoid interrogation and his wife had been fully instructed. Then the Queen addressed Bel-has-set.

"Bel-has-set, I pray thee tell me how many patriarchs or princes be there in this kingdom, and how is the jurisdiction under the king divided among them?"

"There be nine princes, of whom six have districts without, and three within the city."

"I think there be not one in all the land, save the king's councillors and officials, who doth not desire such a consummation."

"They are divided among the districts under the king's generals. One councillor controlleth these, under the king. Besides the Elp-en-sets, there be a force of 50,000 soldiers maintained in the city."

"Then, being a wise man, thou dost not expect that a king, thus hedged about with so great a power, may be dethroned without a disciplined force?"

"Nay, I will tell thee all, for thou art good and doth pity our people who are oppressed. The princes within the city, for the last cycle, have, assisted by the princes without, been secretly organizing a force which now numbereth 100,000 men, armed and equipped. Many of these have been enlisted among the king's forces, within the city, and their commanders stand ready to arrest the king's generals, at the command of the princes, or patriarchs, as they were originally named, before the king made them princes, but in name only. Those from the districts without the city, are now secretly in hiding within the city."

"They will reduce the tax to one in a hundred; they will maintain only such a force as is necessary to keep the peace; they will reduce the army to one-tenth; they will free strangers and citizens from espionage, and they will reform the tribunals of justice."

"Yet will the people be discontented and unhappy, until they shall limit the wealth which any one man may acquire. However, if they do this much, they will be worthy of praise. I charge thee, Bel-has-set, see to it that our vehicle is ever in readiness in the passage, and do thou, at the end of every 3d, 5th, and 10th circle, consult thy eye and ear. If thou shalt see me lock my fingers thus, or hear me say, 'La-tin,' which, being interpreted, meaneth, 'it is time,' then straightway see that our vehicle is in the passage, and bid your princes repair in haste to the palace, with their forces; for the way will have been prepared for them to set up a government, and the king's councillor will have no communication with the king's forces. This may not happen, unless it be forced upon the sovereigns of the Toltus, in their own defense."

CHAPTER XXVI.

WE MAKE A FORMAL ENTRY IN ROYAL STATE INTO THE CITY—THE WONDER AND ADMIRATION OF MILLIONS—"WELCOME TO THE SOVEREIGNS OF THE TOLTUS"—THE TYRANT PLOTS AGAINST US—IN LOVE WITH THE QUEEN AND HER DIAMONDS—INNOCENT EARS AND SECRET BOLTS.

I ASSURE you, I had no desire to thrust my head into the lion's jaws; yet that, it appeared, was just what we were about to do. No dangers had ever stood between the Queen and the fulfilment of even her lightest promise. She had told this king she would visit him, and she would do it. We were driven, in order to kill time, for some distance over the country, returning to meet the coach, which we found waiting for us a space from the gate. This we entered, and drove slowly back to the city. From the conversation which we heard on the streets, as well as from the crowds gathered at the gate, and filling the street, we knew that we were the great sensation of the hour. I wondered if the king himself would come to receive us at the gate. Courtesy, I thought, demanded it; yet I supposed he would hardly dare to appear among his enraged subjects. We found him there, however, protected by a guard of fully 10,000 men, as we judged. They cleared the pavements, so that the citizens, except as they might get glimpses of us from the narrow windows, could not get within 100 yards of us. The king stepped from a large and magnificent coach to our vehicle, the door of which our coachman had opened, saying:

"A joyful welcome to the sovereigns of the Toltus, from beyond the great ocean!"

The soldiers repeated the king's words, as well as the people who were within sight and hearing; so that "Welcome to the sovereigns from beyond the great ocean!" swelled into a tumultuous shout. It was eight miles to the palace, and that tumultuous welcome followed us all the way. We had entered our coach clothed in white, and paralyzed our coachman with astonishment, when we emerged in our state dresses. Our diamonds gave forth all their lustre, in the intense light of our own lamps, and we were too bright to be looked upon, by the Zit- tites, for more than a moment at a time. The king was dazzled, and a loud murmur of admiration and surprise followed close upon the people's shout of welcome. This, too, accompanied us to the palace.

"Coming, O most gracious king! from a land where we are ever in a bright light, we must needs carry our lamps, that we may be able to see in the gloom of thy kingdom," I said.

"By the sceptre of Gur! those who could cross the impassable ocean must bring with them the light of great knowledge. I doubt not, that a blessing hath now fallen upon our kingdom."

With majesty of mien, and grace of deportment, he assisted the Queen and myself to alight, and conducted us over carpets spread by lackeys upon the street, to his own. I could see that he was not only in a measure bewildered by the splendor of our apparel, but as well by the beauty of the Queen. I imagined that the thought passed through his mind: "Among all my hundreds of wives, there is not one to compare with her." We took our places in the king's coach, facing his Majesty and one of his councillors, and the curtains were drawn so that we could be seen. When we reached the business portion of the city, our progress was very slow, because the soldiers had to clear the streets ahead of us. The people were crowded into the shops, and there was not a peep-hole anywhere, from which we were not observed. The news of our approach preceded us, and fabulous sums, as the sheets afterward informed us, were offered for opportunities to see the sovereigns who came, in such gorgeous apparel, from beyond the ocean, which no mortal had ever before crossed. We were much amused at the speculations in regard to us as a race, which, in the ardent imaginations of the newsmen, was not only the most beautiful—having taken this cue from the Queen's face—but the wisest and most wealthy. The public demanded to know something of us, and, knowing nothing themselves, the writers drew freely upon their imaginations to supply the demand. The traditions, for thousands of years back, were raked over to prove that 10,000 years before land was believed to exist beyond the ocean, and that there was once communication with it. Regarding the manner in which it had been crossed by us, there was a great conflict of newspaper authority. All agreed upon the fact that we had come through the air, for the king's proclamation had told them that much; but one described us as having wings, with which nature had furnished us; another gave us artificial wings; and still another placed us in a flying- machine, whose description, however, gave the eager and credulous reader but a confused idea of it. The newsmen of the city (whose name, by-the-way, is Zolfi), had never in their lives been furnished with such a sensation, and they "laid themselves out," if I remember your phrase correctly, to make the most of it. Our jewels were valued at ten times the worth of all the coin and securities of the realm. After reading these reports, it struck me, for the first time, why the Queen had decided that we should show ourselves in all our glory to the public. It would serve to deter the king from plotting against us, since all his subjects would suspect his motive. We were from noon to night of their wake-day going the eight miles, or twelve spaces, to the palace; and before reaching it we had become on familiar terms with the king and his councillor, Ag-ret.

"When thou dost consider that I, a king, have not seen so many and rich gems as thou wearest, thou wilt not wonder that I should ask if thy country is rich in them," said the king.

"Aye, our country hath produced many, and I have gathered them during 500 of your cycles," replied the Queen.

"Nay, cycles; I know the difference. I am even so old, and have been Queen of the Toltus for so long."

"This is a most marvellous thing of which thou dost tell me. Do, then, thy people live to such great ages? You do but say this in jest, fair Queen; for thou art younger than myself."

"Have we not traditions, your Majesty, that our own ancestors once lived to great ages?" said the councillor.

"The Queen jesteth not, your Highness," I said. "Though, of all her kingdom, this is true of but herself and sister."

"What will our wise men say to this, Ag-ret? By the sceptre of Gur, we must have their opinion upon it! Then, having lived so long, I doubt not thou art wiser, fair Queen, than all our men of wisdom."

"Though experience be a good teacher, yet thou wouldst not expect that one, during a long life, could acquire such knowledge as a nation may garner and lay up in store for succeeding generations. Our quest is knowledge, wherefore it would please me to meet with thy wise men."

"Thou shalt be gratified in all thou shalt desire, that lieth within the power of the King of the Zit-tites to grant, fair Queen."

Dull though I was of perception, by comparison with the Queen, I could very plainly see, written upon the face of this monarch, the evidence that his evil passions had been indulged without stint, and that no considerations of either justice or mercy would turn him from any purpose which he entertained.

"This ship of thine, may it be propelled whithersoever thou wilt through the air?"

"It floateth upon the currents of air, yet may be guided. Thus hath it carried the king, my husband, from the exterior into this, our interior world."

"Thou dost overcome me with thy strange sayings. Then hast thou travelled far, O king, and seen strange things. As I live I must see this wonderful ship!"

"And, as certain as thou livest, thou shalt see this ship anon, if thou shalt so desire. Now it abideth for a time in the mountains."

I recognized this as one of the Queen's guarded and significant replies, and one which concealed the location of our balloon indefinitely. The city, I noticed, for some miles was laid out in squares, and the streets crossing the route we followed were straight, until we arrived, as I judged, within three miles of the palace, when they became curved. They immediately suggested the antediluvian city in the kingdom of Rudnord, and were an additional confirmation of the fact that from among these people came Zu-fra-brad, the builder. We were not surprised, therefore, to find on reaching the palace that it was the centre from which all the principal streets radiated. These of course were the most ancient; and that which we followed to its end, within the circle in which the palace stood, was still called the Shepherd's Way, and had probably been so called for 12,000 years. The palace was a magnificent structure, although not to be compared in its dimensions with that of Zu- fra-brad. There was that massive material, however, in the lower portions of its walls which assured us that it had once been such a building. The traditions said, that away back in the dim past it had been overthrown by the hand of God; no doubt a natural phenomenon was meant, and that an earthquake. It had been frequently laid in ruins during the past ages, and had even as late as 700 years before been entirely rebuilt; so that it had a modern turreted form, and was furnished with all the modern improvements. We were ushered over a carpeted way, by a crowd of lackeys, from the king's coach up the great steps and beneath a massive pediment into its portal. Here, as everywhere, everything was white, or but lightly tinted with color. Even the pillars, by which the ceiling of the great foyer was supported, were ghostly. The circling stairways, of great breadth, which ascended on each side to the halls above, and the galleries which looked down upon the grand hall of reception, were evidently now only used by lackeys, or on state occasions, when the crowds rendered them necessary. We were shot up to the third story, as I judged, in one of those electric elevators, and shown into the magnificent apartment assigned to us. We had kept an eye on our small travelling trunk, and when it was brought in, I directed the lackey to place it in the elevator along with us, so that it never left my sight. I had an impression that those white clothes it contained might be of great service to us. The Queen's eyes, as well as my own, were very busy taking note of everything. The lackey—in whose charge he left us, with the command to give us attentive service until he himself and Queen Zef-rin should appear and conduct us to supper at the royal table—was a cunning-looking fellow. Even I could tell his character at a glance; but the Queen looked him straight in the face for a moment, and in his close-set cat-eyes, low wrinkled forehead, and the strange lines about his mouth, left by innumerable sardonic grins, read volumes. When opportunity offered, she told me that we were in charge of the king's confidential villain, and not a common lackey. When the king, with compliments on his lips and many proffers of courtesies, had bowed himself away from our open door, this fellow, with a subservient air, showed us how our door, that opened inward, was instantly locked or unlocked by raising or lowering a little metallic button. The Queen observed the fastenings of this door very closely, throwing the light of her lamp upon it. He instantly called her attention to another knob, on the wall within, by touching which he and other servants would appear to perform our commands. "It is well; you can now leave us," said the Queen. He bowed with great humility, and disappeared within a doorway farther down the hall. The Queen placed her finger upon her lip, and showed me the ends of two bolts in the door, which was four inches in thickness. It was only the inner bolt that moved, under the direction of the inner button. He had not shown us how the outer one was moved. We discovered that to be on the outside, by a small point, evidently made to escape detection. I moved it, and the bolt shot out quietly, scarce a quarter of an inch, yet quite far enough to fasten within those whom it might be desired to make prisoners. It was done by reversing the poles of a magnet. The Queen motioned me to shoot it in again, and taking the light-bulb from her rod, touched the bolt. There was a sharp report, as if a dry twig had been broken, and when I moved the little point the bolt did not respond. She had fused the coil by which the magnet was charged.

We immediately entered and closed the door. Again the Queen motioned me to keep silence, and readjusting her bulb, threw the light about the walls. The room was a half circle on one side, on observing which, she began a search upon the opposite wall, where nothing suspicious was to be seen at first. On the side opposite the circle was a grate, in which to burn fuel for heating the room, and in which there was now a low fire. This was cased about with an ornamental metallic casing. In the very centre, where it would catch the converging air-waves from the circular wall, was a diaphragm, not to be distinguished from the rest of the design, except by the hardly perceptible rim of a non-conductor which surrounded it. There was, doubtless, an ear listening at the other end of the circuit, and to have charged it with her tube, might have killed the listener. I therefore very carefully, with the end of my knife-blade, pressed the diaphragm back against the magnet behind it, until they were permanently in contact, and it was no longer a reporter of our speech. After assuring ourselves that this was the only one, the Queen said:

"Now might we shout, my beloved, and not only would the listening ear of the vile creature who has left us, not hear, but our noises would not be heard through yon door in the hall. It hath been so purposely constructed."

On the door without, however, there was a button which rang a bell within. After this, we had but time to get rid of the dust, gathered upon our hands, faces, and clothing, when this bell rang. On opening it, we found waiting for us the king and the woman Zef-rin whom he distinguished as queen. Where this king kept his harem in the palace, I never knew. This Zef-rin was the only one, of all his wives, we ever saw, and she the Queen at once pronounced to be an unscrupulous creature. She was not a Zit-tite, but evidently belonged to another race, probably far to the northward. She had long, black hair and eyes of the same color. Her complexion was almost as tawny as that of an Indian, but her features were regular and handsome. We appeared at the door with our lamps burning, and I was looking at her, at the moment her eyes fell upon us, and her features instantly lighted up with a smile. I think, had not my suspicions been thoroughly aroused, it would have passed with me for the conventional expression that is always on the face of society; but now it seemed to me that she would have accepted some rich gift, with just such a smile. I afterward informed the Queen of my first impression, and she said:

"Truly, my beloved, thou wilt soon learn to read the thoughts of others. She doth already regard our jewels as in part her own, and it hath already been determined between her and the king, how they are to be obtained."

Yet this woman was accustomed to adroitly conceal her thoughts, and she welcomed us with a free and spontaneous outburst of admiration, as if it were the joy of an ingenuous school-girl which was bubbling over.

"We shall be compelled, your Majesties, to impose the light of our lamps upon you; for we have found it inconvenient to partake of a meal without them."

"Nay, it will impose upon no one, and the brighter light will serve me also; for my eyes see not in darkness, like those of the Zit-tites. Most noble Queen, thou shalt light the way of my king, and the great traveller, thy king, shall show me the way to our sonta or third meal."

"Nay, madam, thou shalt lead whithersoever thou wilt, so that, going astray, thou shalt have thyself to blame. I am but the lamp-bearer." I was aping the Queen's significant reply. Thus we went to supper, we four, which was served in a private and gorgeously furnished apartment. I recalled the history of the Borgias, and its horrors were ever present in imagination, sending cold chills down my spine, so that I watched every motion of our royal hosts and made sure that everything of which we partook had been guaranteed by their mouths. I watched the dexterous servants too, lest there should be a change of dishes or wines. It and its successors, in the palace, were the most unenjoyable meals I had ever eaten; yet they comprised the choicest viands which the gloomy though productive land afforded. The Queen, because she had a deeper insight into their intentions, ate with a relish whatever she desired. On our return, the Queen asked the king where he kept his official ears, through which he held communication with his officers. These, she told him, it was her great desire first to see, after the silence. He assured her, that she had but to name the hour, and it would delight him to conduct us to the apartment, and that thereafter she might visit it as often as she chose, as she had but to step within an elevator, to which he pointed farther down the hall, and ascend one story. Before going up, however, she was enabled to account for our successful communication with the palace, while we were yet over the sea. Above the apartment of ears, rose a lofty tower; and, projected to a great height above its spire, was a rod with a metallic plate on the end of it. This enabled them to communicate, by means of the natural currents and without wires, with a considerable mountain district to the northeast and a large territory to the southwest, where stations and towers were placed. We were detained fully an hour at supper, and when we returned to our room a bright fire was burning. I looked at the diaphragm, and lo! it had been replaced with another one. I pointed at it in silence, and the Queen this time undertook to disable it. Pressing her thumbs upon the diaphragm, with her fingers she pulled outward upon its rim and found it to be a cap which drew out. She held the diaphragm in her hand, and quietly laid it aside, saying:

"Without its tympanum the ear cannot hear. We can insert it when we go out and take it out when we come in."

I could already divine, from the actions and speech of the king, that he would very willingly give up all his wives to possess Kayete-ut-se-Zane, even without her jewels. With them she was so much the more to be desired. This thought was in my mind, when the Queen, as if I had already voiced it, said:

"Therefore, my beloved, sleep in peace: for no violence will be offered us, until this most vicious sovereign hath attempted to bribe the Queen of the Toltus with a kingdom. Therefore it hath been, that they have sought to know for how long they may count upon our willing presence here in the palace. For this reason have I told them that our stay is indefinite and our plans for the future not yet resolved upon."

Nevertheless, my sleep that night was not dreamless. Meanwhile, detectives were busily at work clearing up the mystery surrounding the death of the two Elp-en-sets. As we afterward learned, they had found some one who had witnessed the fall of the men and knew they were about to arrest one in the cloak of a judge who was in the company of Bel-has-set. This man was unable to say what caused the fall, as he saw no blow struck by any one. He, however, observed the face of the unknown man with the judge, and knew he was of a strange race, and not a Zit-tite. The judge had been interrogated and had refused to make any reply. These smaller police justices, as you would call them, were eager to get hold of anything that might in any manner reflect upon the judge, who had so high a reputation for both integrity and ability. The reason was this: he, as well as the other superior judges of the dominion, had been elected for life by the people, and could only be removed by a convocation of the patriarchs. He was, therefore, not a creature of the king. All these judges were, on the contrary, so many thorns in the king's flesh, which he could not pluck out without subverting the constitution and inaugurating revolution. They were recognized as their only defense against the tyranny of the king by the people. The police judges, however, knew that if they could find any evidence on which to base a criminal accusation, the king would quickly seize upon it as an excuse for plucking out this one particular and sharpest thorn. Ordinarily the death of one or two Elp-en-sets would have been not very closely inquired into; but in this case, by the middle of the next day, it was in shape to be made the subject of inquiry in high quarters. After our night's rest, and when we had breakfasted, we ascended to the apartment in which were kept the king's ears and eyes. The men in charge were instructed to give the Queen all the information she wished, and she made a very thorough inspection, during which she not only showed herself to the judge, but learned by which wires sound was conducted to the king's generals and his chiefs of police, respectively, as well as their course through the palace. During the whole time, the king kept close at the side of the Queen, complimenting her at every turn upon her knowledge of these mysteries, while Zef-rin plied me with questions and diverted my attention, as well as she could. Indeed she made a very palpable effort, not only to entertain me, but to convince me that she was very deeply in love with me. This she did very cleverly, by innuendoes and glances, which were not bold, yet easily interpreted, showing she was an expert at her business. The king hastened, as rapidly as possible, in the same manner, to give the Queen a similar opinion, that she had unwittingly taken his kingly heart by storm. He was bold enough to say that she was in complete control of the king's eyes and ears, and that it would be the crowning joy of his life if she would command them always. It was evident that a brief and brisk wooing was intended on the part of both of them. I heard the Queen reply:

"Thou wouldst be in danger of losing both thy ears and eyes, O king! if I were in control of them."

"Thou canst not talk of cruelty to things which seem but cunning and intelligent, yet are not so."

"O king! I understand thee well. No mere seeming doth ever pass with me for real."

"Nay; we will debate that question no farther at this time. I would ask this man, just how this eye bath been constructed?"

The king was no match for the Queen, and I did my best to appear to but half understand the woman who purposed to make me her victim.

CHAPTER XXVII.

HOW THE QUEEN DISCOVERS THE KING'S PLOT—A GRAND RECEPTION IN THE GREAT HALL—THE QUEEN ASTONISHES THE WISE MEN—THE TRAGEDY CULMINATES—A THRONE WITHOUT A KING—THE QUEEN TELLS WHY MEN LIVED OF YORE HUNDREDS OF YEARS.

WHEN we were free from the attention of our host and his confederate, and before we had removed the diaphragm, I engaged the attention of the grinning villain at the other end of the circuit, by whistling a tune and occasionally asking some unimportant questions and interlarding them with praises of the king, and particularly of the woman Zef-rin. They were the first returns the fellow had had, and I could imagine his delight, the more especially as the inference to be drawn from what I said, was, that we were being thoroughly hoodwinked. I thus purposely engaged his attention, lest he might come to inquire if he could be of any service, and discover the Queen. She had returned to the elevator, on each side of whose casings, within the hall, ran the official wires, and was busy attaching to them fine gold wires insulated with gum. These were so fine that they were easily hidden in the slight crevice between the floor and the wainscotting, or by a little dust, and were in a few moments brought into our room. Attached to the Queen's sensitive instrument, we were enabled, through the induced current, to hear what the king and his officials were doing, and what the former was saying. Our instrument served us far better than did that of the king serve him. It must have given his villain infinite trouble to account for its uncertain operations; for now that our wire was laid, we removed the diaphragm, and he heard no more. The king had summoned his wise men, that we might be introduced to them, as well as his councillors, and a host of the nobility, at the end of the third circle. This was to be a ceremonious affair, which, by reason of the notoriety we had obtained, every one of the king's friends would be anxious to attend. The councillors had advised that as few as possible should be disappointed, and, therefore, the great hall of audience, it was known, would be thronged. Meanwhile, we listened alternately, and this is what we heard:

"By the sceptre of Gur! Ag-ret, I would give the finest of our royal jewels, of which I do expect shortly I shall have more to choose from, if I can but once—nay, close those ears—lay fast hold on this Bel-has-set. He it is who doth make the patriarchs so stiff-necked, and by his decisions keep the spirit of rebellion alive among the people."

"Your Majesty hath a fair hold upon him now, though it is a matter for careful question how we should proceed."

"It is clear, that in their attempt to arrest the stranger who was with him, the men lost their lives, and he doth refuse to answer. Thereby doth he make himself suspected of being privy to the deed."

"What, am I a king, and cannot force this judge to his answer? By the sceptre of Gur! he shall answer."

"Well, thus it standeth: It were useless to summon him before one of thy police tribunals, since his brother judges would forthwith undo their work. Though not used, the power hath always been inherent in the crown to inquire into offenses."

"Aye, I understand. It needs but a private circular to the newsmen, forbidding them to publish aught regarding the matter lest the people be aroused, then shall my councillors give him trial, and the evidence shall go forth as ye shall prepare it. But hath this stranger been found? Knoweth no one who he is?"

"Not certainly, except Bel-has-set shall be made to answer. Yet, for the reason that two strangers were seen entering the house of Bel-has-set, in strange costumes, one of them being a woman, and whereas the coach in which they arrived, went out but a space beyond the gate to meet them, and the order therefor is in the handwriting of Bel-has-set, therefore is it well-nigh certain that the stranger was thy royal guest."

"Now shall Bel-has-set answer, if it doth require an army to bring him hither. This doth work greatly to my satisfaction."

"Shield? Out on thee, for a simpleton! or dost thou grow childish before thou art gray-headed? What I should do with this royal consort to the most charming Queen, hath been a vexed question."

"Thou art about, your Majesty, to do these sovereigns honor, in thy great hall of audience, half a circle hence, before all thy most trusted friends. I but ask, if your Majesty hath considered that your nobility will expect to be permitted to visit and do honor to your sovereign guests? They will care not what may become of them after the social play is over; but before that, it were as bad, methinks, as to execute some of themselves."

"Thou dost forget, there are none who know them. It shall be said that the strangers have gone to the southward. Hath he not killed two of the king's subjects, as it shall appear?"

"In my private apartment meet me after this reception, and we will there decide how we shall this day bring Bel-has-set hither, or if perchance it be better to do it, during the silence. At the sixth circle shall I meet this Queen in the apartment of ears, and she shall then learn at what price she may buy the life of her criminal consort. If she shall refuse, Jaz-zet standeth ready, and he is gone with a breath. I have resolved."

"Thou hast done thy work, O spirit of light! and once more good doth stand ready, at the hands of Kayete-ut-se-Zane, to spring forth out of evil. They will be here to conduct us to this reception. Immediately thereafter I will go to the apartment of ears, there to notify Bel-has-set that the time has come, and to meet this king. Do thou remain here, my beloved, and so soon as I am gone, place the pad over thy mouth; for now I know that there is some secret entrance to this chamber, at which the villain lackey will enter to slay thee with the deadly vapor. It is well thou shouldst not have aught of it in thy lungs, therefore slay him with thy pistol before he hath thrown it, if thou canst. Thou wilt have time to examine after this private entrance. We will put our himations in the box and invest ourselves in the white robes, before I go to meet this king, and thou wilt have all in readiness when I shall touch the bell. They come."

The bell rang, and the king, all smiles, as if he did not harbor an evil thought in his breast, was at the door, at the head of his nine councillors, each of whom bent before us with great show of respect However, there were doubtless none in the king's confidence save Ag-ret. They were no more than secretaries. We walked for some distance to the right, where we entered a hall at right angles to it, and followed this, as I supposed, the entire length of the great reception chamber beneath. Then, turning to the right, we followed the hall for some distance to an elevator. This landed us at a recess, from which we walked out upon a lofty dais and stood beside the throne of the Zit-tite king. I reflected for a moment upon the uncertainly of all things earthly, in view of the fact that either I and my dearer than self, the Queen, would, within a few hours, be no more, or that magnificent throne would be vacant. The chamber was more brilliantly lighted than any room we had been in, save the shop of the jeweller, and there was a sea of upturned white faces before us and a mass of lustrous white fabrics, gilt embroidery, and crystal ornament. When the Queen and I appeared, the doubtless polite and cultured crowd could nevertheless not refrain from expressing amazement in a murmur that culminated in a roar of "Welcome to the sovereigns of the Toltus!" when the king introduced us. That reception was an altogether different affair from any that I presume are customary on the exterior globe. It was more like what you would accord to a lecturer of high repute, whom you might freely question and who might question you in return. That is, they always, as I learned, partook of an educational as well as social character. Hence, the wise men, as the scientists were called, were a feature of all public receptions. They were a highly educated people, among whose ancestors many of those arts, inventions, and appliances which have served to characterize the last century on the exterior as the great progressive era, had been in use and discarded hundreds and even thousands of years before. One of these, for example, was steam power. Their books very clearly described the construction of engines and the numerous uses to which they had been applied in the arts and for convenience. Our steam railways, they informed me, had been more or less in use up to 700 years before, but a country which supported and had for so long so large a population, could not continue to supply the fuel necessary for the continuance of steam power. Necessity, therefore, forced upon them the extended use of the electric element which was abundant in the interior, if the wise men could but learn how to employ it. By a mere extension of metallic surfaces, it was gathered for all the innumerable light uses, and if it were demanded in greater volume, as for use on electric cars, of which lines ran to all parts of the kingdom, they resorted to hydraulic machines or engines. These last furnished the power for all the heavy work of factories. Those who had gone through their regular course of instruction were ready to exclaim with Solomon: "There is nothing new under the sun!" However, the crossing of the impassable ocean was a new thing, as well as the means by which it had been effected, and we were beyond question the greatest curiosities they had ever beheld.

"My people are very curious to hear thee speak, O king! and say by what means ye have crossed the ocean, and how ye have acquired our language. Wilt thou oblige them?" asked Al-ka-red of me.

"Wilt thou not gratify them, my beloved?" said the Queen in Toltu. I accordingly assented. The king's crier commanded silence, and announced that the most gracious sovereign of the Toltus had kindly consented to speak to them. The vast assembly was hushed into silence, and instantly the 10,000 glasses, which had been levelled upon us from the three great galleries and the body of the chamber, were exchanged for the adjustable electric ears, which were attached to every seat in the great hall. As I could only speak the ancient tongue, which was familiar to the scholars only, one of the king's advocates interpreted what I said into the vernacular. My speech was brief.

"I well know, O people! that ye much desire to be informed in regard to who we are, whence we came, by what means we have crossed the great ocean, and how we are able to speak, albeit but imperfectly, in your ancient tongue. Know then, that about 10,250 cycles ago, one of your ancestors crossed the ocean to the north, and there established a kingdom. He was named Zu-fra-brad, the builder, and ruled over the sons of Noe. There, upon the northern shore of the ocean, he built a city which yet remaineth, together with inscriptions, from which, as interpreted by my superior in knowledge, my Queen, the true sovereign of the Toltus, we learned the language. As for myself, no blood relation doth connect me with the Toltu race. I came from beyond the arc of light, even from the exterior of this globe, whence also came the great ancestor of my Queen; from beyond the frozen belt, which lies without. Even in the same ship, that sails above the clouds, came a brother of my own race and myself into your interior world."

With this introduction, I proceeded, as concisely as possible, to tell them about the exterior globe and the visible universe without, concluding with the statement, that the Queen was the great fountain of knowledge for the Toltu and all surrounding nations, and that she could, if it so pleased her, answer the wise men in regard to all things of which I had made but brief mention. Thereupon I sat down amid the plaudits of the throng, and a cry of "Long live the sovereigns of the Toltus!" The king then asked the Queen if she would be gracious enough to answer the questions of the wise men, asking in return what she desired to know of them. The Queen arose, and, addressing the latter, said:

"If there be aught that I do know, that may be of use to the Zit-tites, freely will I communicate it; for in knowledge, if rightly used, is happiness as well as power. Lo! for more than 550 cycles hath it been my work upon the earth to bring good out of evil, and give joy to millions. What would ye, O wise men! that ye know not already, learn of me?"

"Most gracious and wise Queen! we would know how this Zu-fra- brad did cross the great ocean."

"Even in ships, driven by wheels. That was before a moon circled within the earth to produce the overwhelming tides. Even upon your mountains, yonder, hath Zu-fra-brad left behind his ruins."

This led to other questions with which she was plied, until, in answering, she had explained all those theories regarding the whys and wherefores and origin of things of which I have already spoken. The wise men were astonished; for not only had she stated metaphysical theories which their study had never suggested, but her knowledge of the operations of what she called the spirit of light, which was their best worked field of research, far transcended theirs. One of her own questions, with her reply, is worthy of note.

"Do not your traditions say, that, at the time of which we speak, 10,000 cycles ago, the human race lived to count their years by hundreds?"

"Aye, so say the traditions," replied one of the wise men. "But that goeth back to the era of myths, in which we put little faith."

"If we be wrong, thou knowest; for thou seemest divine in thy wisdom, most gracious sovereign! yet have we found no reason why it should be so, nor nothing in the laws of matter that might make it possible."

"Yet, did the kingdom of Zu-fra-brad last 1,200 cycles, and there were but six kings. He, himself, reigned nearly one-half that time. Perchance, I may furnish thee with a better answer. Thou dost know, that the body is wasted by the same chemical combustion which is evolved from its operations, while engaged in the work of replacing that waste. Whether it be a machine which thou hast made, or one made by thy creator, it runneth not without friction, and the faster it doth run, the sooner doth it wear out. Before the deluge, and before, therefore, the spirit of light upheaved the earth, upon the ocean verges, our atmosphere did contain less of oxygen than it now doth; and thou knowest that in that gas is the body burned slowly up. When the shifting pole sent the waters to the northward, charged with the spirit of light, and there was resistance to its excessive volume at the verges of the continents, then did the continents have opposing poles, for a time, and did decompose the water, freeing oxygen at one pole and hydrogen at the other. In this increase of oxygen doth combustion consume us more quickly than before."

"This thou doth tell us is wonderful. Might not then human life be prolonged, by taking from the air which we breathe, some portion of this oxygen?"

"Aye, if thou wouldst desire, as hath been a squirrel for two hundred cycles in my palace, to be caged in a case of glass, into which is admitted only air charged with a large addition of nitrogen, then mightest thou too count thy years by hundreds."

This part of the programme over, the nobility crowded forward to be presented, and the orator of the king announced that his Majesty then found it impossible to give the customary introductions, by reason of the vast gathering, but that he hoped to prevail upon his guests to prolong their stay, that his nobility might be honored by a nearer acquaintance with the wise and gracious stranger monarchs. Yet the villain had it in mind, that his nobility had seen the last of one of us at least. The assembly was therefore dismissed, and we were conducted back to our apartment with the usual show of courtesy. It was now nearly the fifth circle, and the Queen, hastily folding her himation, placed it in the box and robed herself in white over her golden chiton. I did the same, and wound up her tubes for use. One of them, the shorter, she hung at her side within the folds of her dress, and carried the other as a light. She kissed me, and hastened away, knowing that Bel-has-set was then waiting at his eye and ear to see and hear her. I belted on my pistols beneath my cloak, hung one tube at my side, put on my pad, and, with the lamp on the longer tube aflame, began a search for the secret opening. I soon saw that such an opening could only be concealed in the wainscotting, which was of the white pulpy wood, moulded into designs. But, for the life of me, I could see no difference, nor anything suspicious, anywhere. Then I bethought me of the Queen's operations in the lava caves, and taking a metallic rod used for stirring the fire, I circled the room, tapping it as I went. I soon found that at one spot it gave forth a more resonant sound than it did elsewhere. By a close inspection with the glass I discovered that around the scrolls and patterns of a complete design, the wainscotting had been severed by a very fine saw. There could be no mistake about this being the opening, and I felt the more certain of it, on observing that it was convenient to the head of the couch, which was a fixture in the room. I did not doubt, now, that this room had been entered by many who never left it alive, and that on that couch had lain many a victim of this king and his grinning executioner, who, I supposed, if not then, soon would be hiding behind the wainscot waiting for the king's signal. I sat down upon the end of the couch, not ten feet from the opening, and waited. It was ah anxious half hour, or more, that I waited there. I felt that I ought to be beside the Queen. But her judgment was always best, in critical situations, and I waited. The moments passed slowly, and I thought of the Queen's sensitive ear, where I saw the delicate gold wires lying upon the floor. I attached them to the instrument, and sat listening with it in my left hand and my pistol in the other. When the Queen ascended to the apartment of ears, it was vacant. Those in charge had evidently been ordered to leave, and, before doing so, had turned them out of circuit. The Queen, however, was master of the mechanism, and the first thing she did was to turn them in. She locked her hands, that they might be seen in Bel- has-set's eye, and pronounced the words "La-tin." "Speak, or show thyself, that I may know that I am heard," she said. The voice of Bel-has-set came back to her, saying: "It is well; within a circle," then she turned them out of circuit, and waited. It appeared that I became a listener at the moment of the entrance of Al-ka-red and his councillor Ag-ret.

"Ah, fair Queen! this is the first time that mine eyes have beheld thee in our native guise, and by the sceptre of Gur! thou art even as beautiful as in thy jewelled gear. Hast thou any new knowledge to impart? Thou shalt have a king for thy pupil."

"Thy ears, O king, are deaf, and thine eyes are blind. Thou dost not understand, neither thou nor thy councillors, when I tell thee that this day it hath been decreed that a kingdom shall pass away."

"Nay, I would care not to be so instructed. It would trouble me not, so long as I know it is not mine own. How many souls, fair Queen, doth thy Toltu kingdom number?"

"And mine doth number ten times as many. Now, fair Queen, do I make thee a kingly offer. Give up all thought of thine own kingdom and thou shalt have mine."

"Had I desired longer to rule as a sovereign, I would not have left my kingdom. Centuries have passed, O king, since mere sovereignty hath given me pleasure. I know well all its cares. Thou dost comprehend naught of Kayete-ut-se-Zane. Why, king, thou speakest to one who hath conquered more kingdoms, larger than her own, and set up more governments than all thy ancestors and many dynasties before thee. Did I want thy kingdom, then would I not ask it from thee, but take it from thee and set it up anew."

Such a reply no doubt sounded like foolish bombast to the king and his councillor, and they both laughed, in apparent good- nature.

"Nay, thou needst not take it, fair Queen, it is thine. Thou knowest I love thee. Be my Queen, and thou shalt govern."

"Why, thou fool! hast thou not hundreds whom thou dost call wife; and wouldst thou then have another?"

"Nor wilt thou, wretch, have one like unto me! Wilt thou permit me now to depart in peace?"

"Nay, fair Queen. When thou hast learned that thy consort hath forfeited his life to the Zit-tite law, and that his life at this moment doth hang upon thy answer, thou wilt reflect. He hath taken the lives of two of my subjects, as hath been well determined. Behold! I do but press upon this spring and he dies. Now choose thou; be my Queen, or, by the sceptre of Gur, he is no more."

"Nay, thou shalt not provoke me to violent utterance. What sayest thou, yea or nay?"

I knew what the answer would be, and laying down the instrument at which I listened, sat with cocked pistol watching the wainscot.

I presume the words had scarce left the lips of this interior Nero, when the wainscot began carefully and noiselessly to move. I saw from which way it opened, and quickly moved to the other side of the room, so that the assassin would be compelled to show his head, and levelled my pistol. He was cautiously protruding his hand, with the deadly vapor in it, ready to throw it so soon as he should discover my location. His eyes met mine for an instant; there was a loud report, and he fell back with a ball through his brain. He had killed his last victim. Mean while the Queen asked:

At that moment the Queen said the dull report of my pistol reached them, and she cried:

"Not so, O king! Thy assassin is dead, and so art thou!" She touched him with her tube, and he fell dead without even a groan. The cunning smile was still on the face of the councillor, Ag- ret, who stood near them when she turned to him, saying:

"Thou, too, art not fit to live!" and before he had time to turn pale, he lay dead at the king's side. The Queen then closed the electric circuit, and touching the main conductors with her tube, fused the coils, and the electric eyes and ears were as dead as those of the king. The palace was cut off from all communication with either the police of the city or the generals of the army.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

ESCAPE FROM THE PALACE—PURSUIT BY THE OFFICERS—A NEW GOVERNMENT—RETURN TO THE PALACE—A LAPSE OF FIFTEEN YEARS—MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF THE QUEEN—A MYSTERIOUS FORM OF LIGHT—RETURN TO THE EXTERIOR WORLD—DEATH OF THE NARRATOR—THE END.

I PICKED up the instrument with which I had been listening, and as I did so there was a sharp snap within it. It was ruined. It had taken its share of the deadly current generated by the Queen's tube. She came down the elevator where I stood ready. I stepped within and we descended to the foyer, lamps in hand. When we would have passed out of the portal, however, two guards, who had received their instructions, crossed their spears before us, and said by the king's orders we were not permitted to pass.

The fellows, however, were stubborn, and there was nothing for it but to use my shocking tube upon them. They dropped and remained in a dazed condition, sufficiently long to permit us to hurriedly go down the great steps, and reach the gate in the wall which closed-in the palace. The electric cars turned from another highway opposite this gate, and ran thence down the path of the shepherds. There was only a minute between each car, and they stopped but a few seconds. This line would take us to the end of the street, near the judge's house, in less than an hour; so that, once on board, we felt reasonably sure of reaching our own conveyance before being arrested. The guards at the portal, as we saw at the moment of stepping on board, had sufficiently recovered to notify the guards at the gate that our escape must be prevented, and the latter were gesticulating and shouting to the controller of the car. His time, however, was up, and he dared not stop for any consideration. We supposed that on the very next car, some of the many guards about the palace would pursue us. We would have, however, a minute the start; and although throughout all the cars on a route, electric communication was established, so that we could not get off without the fact being known to our pursuers, yet they would be just one minute away, until we should arrive at our destination, and we should have but one minute to rush to the house of the judge and secure our vehicle. The Queen felt satisfied that, even if the dead king and his councillor were discovered, it would require an hour to convey the news to the authorities and have the Elp-en-sets on the lookout for us. I very sincerely prayed, inwardly, that nothing might happen to obstruct a car; for in the disorganization that would temporarily follow upon the death of the tyrant, should we fall into the hands of the villainous officials, we would be quickly disposed of, on account of our diamonds. I knew that the car turned at the second street from the city gate, and that we had a distance of what you would call three-fourths of a block to traverse before reaching the judge's house. Being unacquainted with the names of the streets, I feared we might be carried past it. The Queen, however, thought of this, and when we neared the northern part of the city, asked a Zit- tite woman, who sat near her, the name of the second street from the gate, and learned that all streets were numbered from the palace, and that it was 123. Before, however, we had reached our destination, two Elp-en-sets boarded our car, and after looking at us closely, took seats near us.

"Our pursuers have instructed them to arrest us," said the Queen to me in Toltu.

It was their intention, as it seemed, to wait until we alighted, else they would have made the attempt to do so at once. We cared little for two of these fellows; but I was wondering how we were to know when we had arrived at our destination, when the Queen told me to watch an illuminated glass plate at the end of the car. I did so, and saw that there was a number upon it. While I looked we came to a halt, and when we started on again the number, which had been 118, was now changed to 119. By some automatic arrangement the number of the street approached was registered, and I felt no further concern in regard to where we should leave the car. We were there in two minutes from that time. I had resolved to waste no time in parley with the Elp-en- sets, who followed us to the pavement and there offered to arrest us. I touched them both, and leaving them lying in the presence of a few wondering pedestrians, we hastened along the street. Before they had recovered, we had not only reached the door of the passage-way in which stood our vehicle and unlocked it, but the guards had reached the prostrate Elp-en-sets.

The fellows had no idea of which way we had gone; but the moment we emerged from the passage with the vehicle, although it was darkness to us, they saw us clearly, and with a shout ran toward us. The Queen turned the light from her reflector in their faces, which dazzled them and somewhat retarded their approach. It revealed, also, the Elp-en-sets in the act of making ready their deadly vapor, to use upon us rather than permit us to escape. However, they were yet ten paces away from us, when our vehicle darted forward and carried us beyond their reach. With a yell of disappointment they looked about for some means of overtaking us. It happened that a coachman was driving past at the moment a span of swift Gaf-fers, and the fellows pressed him and his team into service. Then began an exciting race of ten miles between the winged animals and our electric contrivance. Taking one side of the shepherd's path, our reflector not only showed us the way ahead, but cleared it for us; while the other, thrown behind into the faces of our pursuers and their animals, somewhat dazzled their sight and impeded their progress. I could readily have stopped pursuit with my pistols if we had not been unwilling to take life, except as a last resort to save our own. The Queen turned on all our power, and we sped forward at the rate of fully twenty-five miles an hour. The well-nigh tireless winged animals were urged to their utmost. For a time it seemed uncertain which of us was making the fastest time. Disregarding the shouts of our pursuers, who commanded everybody in the king's name to stop the fugitives, the travellers stood aside, giving us a "Gur aid you" as we whizzed past them. Rarely was a citizen to be found who would, except upon compulsion, give aid to the king's officers. At the end of a few miles it became apparent that we were increasing the distance between us. It lengthened with every mile, and when, as we judged, it exceeded 100 yards, both of our reflectors were turned to the front. We thus became lost to their view, and they could see only our light as it shone upon objects far ahead of us. Before we reached the road, which ascended by a steep incline to the house of Al-zad, they were fully a mile behind us. But a mile was equal to only two minutes of time, and when it came to climbing the ascent the Gaf-fers would do it more speedily than our machine. To gain more time, therefore, I threw the light, as we moved slowly up the incline in what was darkness to us, upon the highway beyond where we had left it. When we could hear that they had passed by in pursuit of the light, I suddenly turned it out, and we made as rapid time as possible to the house of Al-zad. Knowing that they would immediately discover their mistake and be after us, no time was wasted. Entering the good man's house, I gave him a handful of the king's coin and a fine diamond, while the Queen informed him that the tyrant king was dead, and bade him have no fear; that although the Elp-en-sets were coming, his friend, Bel-has-set, would protect him in the event we should leave him.

"Is not that a foregone conclusion, that we must, and that forthwith, since our pursuers will be here in a few moments?"

"Nay, my beloved, I feel not that we should leave this good man to any risk of life or property, at the hands of these creatures. Moreover, methinks our mission in this land is not yet ended. Since necessity hath forced it upon us to tear down, it were better, perchance, that we should remain to build up. Do thou, Al-zad, stand at thy door and observe who cometh hither, and how many."

"Let it be as thou sayest, my soul. Surely, we fear not a few, but we know not how many more have been ordered to follow us."

"I think there will come no more, for the news of the king's death will kill the ambition of his creatures."

"Lo! exalted ones, there be a chariot and four at my gate. Two be of the king's guard and two are Elp-en-sets, and they do call to me. What reply shall I make to them?"

"Say that there be two exalted ones, who bid thee reply; disturb us not, lest your lives be required of you."

"Bid them come forth and yield themselves prisoners. This we command, in the king's name."

"Say to them, that King Al-ka-red no longer rules in the palace; he is dead; and bid them depart."

This they did not believe, and advanced toward the house. Adjusting my pad over my mouth, I stepped into the doorway, and turning the light upon them, said:

"Advance not beyond where ye now stand, lest ye die!" The light had brought them to a sudden halt. "Hope ye to capture the sovereigns of the Toltus, whom thy king, even within his own palace, could neither slay nor detain as prisoners? Learn again, that King Al-ka-red, being unfit to reign, is dead. Depart while ye yet live."

They had not been accustomed to be spoken to in that manner, and besides, two of them had experienced shocks from my tube, which moderated their courage. The guards, however, were disposed to hazard an advance, in hope of coming near enough to fling their vapor shells.

"Nay, I care not to terrify, but I desire not to slay you. Trust not your vapor, for it harmeth not me. Now that ye are warned, do as ye will."

Discretion at length overcame their courage and they resolved to remain where they were and keep guard over us, until, as they expected, others would arrive to assist them. Others did arrive while they thus watched, but not such as they had hoped for. They were Bel-has-set, the judge, and one of the patriarchs.

"Now, Gur be thanked!" exclaimed the former, so soon as his eyes fell upon me. "I feared, exalted sovereigns, lest we might be too late, and ye had left our land. Ye have made it easy for us to set up a new government, and its dominion is already established. But much we need your wisdom, that it may be firmly established and give joy to the people. Therefore do we pray, that ye will remain with us yet a little longer, for, as ye have said, it is your mission upon the earth."

"The king and I have even now so resolved, if so be the patriarchs should so desire. Return then speedily to the palace, for we mount into the air and perchance may be there before thee."

You can imagine what a sensation was our descent into the yard of the palace, about which a sea of Zit-tites hailed us as liberators. I am admonished, however, not to enter upon a narration of the events of the fifteen years which, from cycle to cycle, we were induced by both patriarchs and people to spend among them, as virtual sovereigns. I leave with you a book in which it is all briefly recorded. At the end of that period, this disease had made it certain that my years were few, but I supposed that those of the Queen were many. I must conclude my story with a mystery that I cannot explain. She, who could alone explain it, exists no longer in human form. During that fifteen years she did not seem to grow old, and one day while she was yet in perfect health, she summoned the patriarchs and Bel-has-set, who was the first official of the land, and told them that, after the next silence, she would be with them only in spirit. That same evening we retired to our chamber as usual, and she said:

"O, my beloved, the Infinite One hath called me, and my work is done. Yet grieve not, for I shall ever be near thee, and thou shalt see me clothed in the soul's body, which is the spirit of light. While thy life yet remaineth, we will go together, by the way of the southern arc, to thy exterior world, that ye may tell to thy people what ye have learned. I would that ye lay my body in a land of light, beneath the arc."

From the moment she uttered those words my own life became a burden, and, had it not been that her behest was a command upon me, I would also have put off mortality that silence. I had heard of those who had, while in health, predicted the day and hour of their own deaths, and I accepted the prediction of Kayete-ut-se- Zane as if it were already fulfilled. That silence she fell asleep in my arms, and the mortal Queen of the Toltus awoke not in the morning. Yet, when I had tearfully kissed her inanimate face, and stood mournfully looking at her through the darkness of that gloomy land, a form of light stood beside me and I knew her. What I did with our state robes, the book will inform you. I at once provisioned our air-ship, and, taking the Queen's body with me, mounted into the clouds, perfectly indifferent to life, and anxious only to obey her injunction. We were then antipode to your Asiatic side of the world, and after passing the interior equator, the lower currents carried me in many directions, yet tending always to the northward. Both they and the occasional storms played with me as they pleased, and, in consequence, I had made half the circuit of the globe or more before reaching the southern arc. There, on a mountain top, where no shadow ever falls, I laid all that was mortal of my Queen, and again committed myself to the care of the winds. Of my passage over the frozen belt, I know little. A stupor fell upon me and I can recall the fact that I shivered in the lower currents, but little more. One thought only possessed me: that was to find an inhabited land, tell my story, and die. I am weary. Reduce the light! I would sleep.

These were the last words of Amos Jackson. I darkened the room, as he requested, and when I turned to ask him if he needed anything, I saw—was my brain again abnormally at work? was my sense of sight once more playing a trick upon me?—two lambent forms, which hovered for a moment over his couch, and then died out. I stepped to his side, and lo! he was dead!

ANONYMOUS
(WILLIAM JENKINS SHAW)

UNDER THE AURORAS
(CRESTEN, QUEEN OF THE TOLTUS)

A MARVELOUS TALE OF THE INTERIOR WORLD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

* * * * *

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI.

CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER XX.

CHAPTER XXI.

CHAPTER XXII.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CHAPTER XXV.

CHAPTER XXVI.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE END

ANONYMOUS (WILLIAM JENKINS SHAW)

UNDER THE AURORAS (CRESTEN, QUEEN OF THE TOLTUS)

A MARVELOUS TALE OF THE INTERIOR WORLD

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III.

* * * * *

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER V.

CHAPTER VI.

CHAPTER VII

CHAPTER VIII.

CHAPTER IX.

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI.

CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XIII.

CHAPTER XIV.

CHAPTER XV.

CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER XX.

CHAPTER XXI.

CHAPTER XXII.

CHAPTER XXIII.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CHAPTER XXV.

CHAPTER XXVI.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE END

ANONYMOUS
(WILLIAM JENKINS SHAW)

UNDER THE AURORAS
(CRESTEN, QUEEN OF THE TOLTUS)