But this was not all. There were living creatures upon the deck clothed in the soft undulations of watered silk. No Eastern potentate, or denizen of Aladdin's palace, was ever half so gorgeously attired, as the passengers aboard this extraordinary craft. The flash of powdered mica on cloaks of transparent fineness produced the impression of liquid glass. The headgear was high, and terminated in a point like a cornucopia, and ornamented with odd designs, fore and aft, in precious stones. Some in green, like emeralds, others blue, like sapphires; while what appeared to be rubies, diamonds, and gold flashed among them in dazzling profusion. On no theatrical stage had I ever seen such a sight, and we hovered low to take in the singular scene.
Naturally, we caused great excitement among those on board, who pointed up at us, shouting in a tongue unlike any we had ever heard. One old man who had a long, gray beard plaited in three strands, each strand held together by half a dozen jeweled rings, seemed particularly anxious to communicate with us, and made signals for us to descend. But Torrence thought it safest to remain above, and so we simply looked down upon them from an elevation of about sixty feet, adjusting our speed to that of their vessel. We realized more than ever that we had entered another world, for a more strangely fantastic scene was impossible to imagine. The wildest consternation reigned on board while we remained in sight, and Torrence waved a white cloth, and made signals to show that we were friendly. We embraced one another, and extended our arms toward them as an indication of brotherly love, and we had to convince them with some difficulty that the air ship was not alive. It was evident that they did not understand flying machines in the new world.
We hovered above this strange vessel for more than an hour, exchanging signals, and endeavoring to communicate; but, finding it quite as impossible to impart information, as to acquire it, we waved them a farewell, took a snapshot with the kodak, and lifting ourselves high above, swept onward upon our journey.
The mysterious craft was soon out of sight, and we hurried forward, following the sinuosities of the river, about a hundred and fifty feet above its surface. As we sat looking out upon its beautiful shores, and the exquisite country beyond, meditating upon the marvels that had befallen us, I almost doubted my bodily existence. The revelation had been too profound and stupendous to be credited in so short a time.
"Is this thing real, or is it a vision of death?" I inquired, turning on my brother suddenly.
"I am not surprised at your asking," he replied; "I have been afraid to tell you the truth of our discovery before, although I have known it and believed in it for years. Merrick's story only confirmed me in my own views."
"And have you never felt a doubt as to the result of the enterprise?"
"Scarcely; the arguments were too strong in favor of the hollow globe for me to have any serious misgiving. But long before I spoke to you I was absolutely convinced. By the distance we had traveled. By the genial climate. By the strange light. By the crescent cloud. By the absence of recurring cold, and by the accumulated knowledge already mentioned. My dear boy, I fully appreciate what a shock this must be to you—even greater than it is to me, and for the reason that I have studied the question and believed in it half my life. For fifteen years I have been convinced that if I could ever find a way across the Palæocrystic Sea I should be able to sail without difficulty into the interior of the earth. There is really nothing more stupendous in this acquisition to our knowledge than was that of the spherical globe to the ancients. When a race of people has been bred for thousands of years to believe that the world they inhabit is flat, it must seem wildly absurd to be suddenly confronted with a theory which advances the possibility of their being able to walk upon the under side of it. Think of such a statement being made to sensible men!"
"And how do you account for the fact that these people have never found their way into the outer world?" I asked.
"For the same reason that we have never found our way into theirs," replied Torrence. "The difficulties of crossing the ice belt are very nearly insurmountable; and yet that they are not quite so we have seen in the case of Jan von Broekhuysen and his two companions. Neither is it by any means certain that dwellers of this inner region have never reached us. Remember the wild men discovered off Cape Tchelyieskin. Where did they come from? Beyond this there are isolated cases of communities that point to unknown regions in the far north, as well as the far south, as their hailing place. These have traditions of having once inhabited a land of more genial climate, and affording better conditions for the human race than ours, and moreover, a land where day was eternal! True, it may not be once in thousands of years that the ice barrier has been threaded, but what is more to the point, it is probable that those who have crossed it did not know it. The change is so gradual, the mind so fixed in its normal conception of the earth's character, that only a few eccentric, or peculiarly educated persons, among the very few who may have accomplished the feat, ever suspected it. There was a time in the world's history when one might have circumnavigated the earth without a suspicion that he had done so."