"Dreams, dreams, in which I have no faith," replied the Captain. "The manufacturers of these machines and the people who sell them have started these tales. When a machine undertakes the labour hitherto performed by man, the man sinks to the machine's level. In all great manufacturing towns the labouring class, with very few exceptions, is poverty-stricken and starving. Don't tell me of such innovations. We should count ourselves happy that here in the country we have hitherto been free from machinery."
"Nevertheless, perhaps because of this, our labourers here suffer the bitterest poverty."
"That is because the last few years have been poor ones. If the peasant's harvest fails and the vineyards do not flourish, the labourer can earn nothing. Your machines cannot improve his condition; they can only make it worse. The Herr Professor has given me an idea of what would improve the condition of our people here more than ought else."
I gazed at the Captain in surprise. I did not remember that I had ever said a word to him about the poverty of the labouring class in the Luttach valley, or had ever mentioned any means whatever of improving their condition. He nodded to me with a gentle smile, and then continued:
"Yes, yes, Herr Professor, you do not recall how on the very first morning after your arrival among us we had a conversation which I remember well. Our valley should be opened to tourists; we are situated just between two important railways, not more than a league distant from each; we could be visited with the greatest facility, and where tourists are gathered together money is sure to circulate; all will be the gainers; the inns, the tradesfolk, those owning horses, who will hire out carriages; the laundresses, and even the labourers, who will be employed either as drivers or as guides for excursions among the mountains."
"What talk is this, old friend?" the Burgomaster interrupted him with a laugh. "What have we here to attract tourists? They can make the ascent of Nanos very easily from Prayvalt, and our valley has really nothing more to show. It is quite wonderful that a naturalist, our Herr Professor, should have visited us. Certainly none of those who travel for pleasure would ever contemplate coming hither."
"Therefore we must try to find something that will attract them. The Herr Professor called my attention to the fact that we live on from day to day without regard to our ignorance as to whether we do not possess a greater attraction for travellers than the Adelsberg Grotto. Does any one of us here present know how extensive are the caves which we possess, and whether they may not perhaps be finer than the grotto at Adelsberg? The only one among us who has interested himself about them is, if I do not mistake, Franz Schorn, and he has done very little in the way of exploration. How is it, Franz; am I not right?"
"It is true that I have done very little in the way of exploration. I penetrated furthest into the cave in the grove of the Rusina. It is a laborious piece of work. I lost all desire to penetrate further; it seemed useless."
"The Herr Professor thinks differently. Do you still desire to attempt to explore one of these caves, Herr Professor? I was anxious to offer you my assistance in so doing some time ago, but this horrible murder has occupied our minds to the exclusion of every other thought."
The Captain's proposal was very welcome to me. In my excursion on the forenoon of this very day I had gazed with much interest in the grove of the Rusina, at the dark opening among gigantic blocks of granite. I had an intense desire to explore it, but prudence called a halt. Overheated as I was in climbing about the mountains, I would not expose myself to the danger to which the cold, damp interior of the cave would expose me, and, besides, it would have been very foolish to attempt any exploration without companions, for the slightest slip might prove fatal. No one would ever have looked for me in the cave; if not killed, I might have starved before I was discovered.