XIV
Since I wrote these pages I have met with an extraordinary but most fortunate experience, which I have been able to turn to my own profit with regard to the safe delivery of my manuscript. I shall relate the circumstances as briefly as I can, for I have not overmuch space left on this scroll, and I find my message must be limited to one piece.
Yesterday, being the holiday of the week, I rode out a-hunting with Hiridia and other members of my Court amid the hilly region of forest that lies behind the city. We were engaged in hotly pursuing a wounded doe, and in the course of our chase came upon a wide open plateau in the midst of the woods. Across this we all galloped, and my mount being far fleeter than those of my companions, I soon outstripped them all and rushed forward into the forest beyond. I am not usually very intent on hounding down a stricken animal, but on this occasion I continued to charge wildly ahead, dodging the many trunks and branches in a manner that would have done credit to a colonial Bushman. The hot lust of the chase for once fired my blood, and I felt the true afflatus of the eager sportsman in my brain, as I tore madly onward, recking nothing of the surrounding danger or the possibility of getting lost. Suddenly I was stopped in my headlong career by the bough of a tree striking me full across the breast with considerable force. A quick struggle to retain my saddle and stirrups, an unusually fierce plunge from my excited horse, and a moment later I found myself clinging with both arms to the opposing branch with my steed escaping from under me. I watched his quarters disappear into the enveloping scrub, and for a few seconds could distinguish the crackling sound of his tearing through the undergrowth till all was silent. I now dropped cautiously to the ground below, where I found myself none the worse for my misadventure, save for a few scratches and bruises. My plight, if disagreeable and untimely, was not in the least fraught with danger, for I was sure to be sought and discovered by my comrades at any rate before many hours could pass. I felt however no inclination to lie quietly where I had fallen, so I decided to retrace my steps in the direction whither I imagined my friends to be approaching. So I rose and began guessing my way by means of the broken twigs and trampled grass caused by my horse's late gallop in the forest. But I must evidently have soon strayed from the desired direction, for after a time I lighted upon a well-defined track or pad, such as used to be familiar to me in the Australian bush; and thinking this track would certainly lead me towards some habitation, I followed its meanderings beneath the tall trees, whose leafy heads served to exclude a good deal of the waning afternoon light. Having threaded this little path for no small distance I suddenly found it emerge from the woodlands into a charming secluded little valley, watered by a clear purling stream trickling through bright green pastures that were thickly set with masses of the fragrant yellow narcissus. Beyond the brook and facing me stood a house of some size, recalling one of the mysterious Algerian koubbas with its plain white-washed walls and its low cupolas. I hastened forward with the intention of demanding assistance, and had already leaped the narrow stream and was ankle-deep amongst the perfumed yellow blossoms, when I caught sight of a figure in long white draperies seated in a chair that was set on the usual low gallery outside the house. As I drew near enough to distinguish the man's countenance, I was seized with a sudden spasm of intense astonishment, for the white-robed senator sitting there full in the golden light of the setting sun was no other than my old acquaintance on Earth—Arrigo d'Aragno!
But if real surprise were manifested (as I have no doubt must have been the case) on my own visage, I am sure I never saw terror, genuine abject terror, ever depicted so plainly on any face before. Some hideous apparition or the sudden realisation of an impending doom could alone have produced that look on any countenance. D'Aragno's complexion turned ashy-grey, his thick lower lip fell, his eyes took on a glassy stare, as they surveyed my approaching form; yet so stupefied was the poor man from shock that he was obviously unable to arouse himself. Naturally, I was the quicker to recover from the effects of this unexpected meeting, and with a voice fairly well under control I merely remarked in English: "Have you no word of greeting, Signor d'Aragno, for your King, who stands in some slight need of your help?" My words seem to have brought the required force to break the spell of temporary paralysis, for the poor fellow, half-rising from his seat, began to blurt out some incoherent sentences. I drew still nearer, and my advance, whilst certainly increasing his horror, at least served to render d'Aragno more active in his movements, for hurriedly bestirring himself and casting a furtive look round the peaceful empty scene, he motioned to me to enter the house by an open doorway just behind his chair. When we were both inside the room, he hurriedly bolted the door, and then sank utterly exhausted on to a couch, whereon I feared for a moment he was about to indulge in a prolonged, or perhaps even a fatal, fainting fit. Presently however, to my relief, he exhibited signs of recovery, whilst I stood motionless at a little distance from him, patiently waiting for him to speak and feeling to my intense inward satisfaction that somehow or other I had in this unsought and unexpected interview the advantage over my late captor on Earth.
"Why, why have you entered my house? How have you managed to find me? Who can have told you of my whereabouts?" Such were the first questions the prostrate d'Aragno contrived to hiss out from his swollen purple lips. But I continued to maintain my calm not to say haughty attitude, and thus allowed the unhappy councillor for some time longer to imagine that I had found my way hither with the special purpose of his discomfiture, for from his confused and disjointed ejaculations I grew quickly to comprehend that our strange encounter was liable to prove a fatal catastrophe for him, d'Aragno. After keeping silence thus for several minutes, with a contemptuous smile of amusement and pity, I told him of my accident out hunting and how I had wandered hither by the merest chance. My statements seemed at first slightly to mollify his alarm, but an instant later he was again in contortions of renewed terror lest my comrades should trace me to this spot and report the matter to the hierarchy. I began to grow impatient and rather angry with this unedifying exhibition of selfish cowardice, so I spoke at last sharply to the agonised senator. But I need not trouble my readers with a detailed account of our lengthy conversation, beyond that its salient points were these, and very interesting they were to me. It seems that d'Aragno did accompany me in my strange aerial voyage to Meleager, which terminated (as I had so often expected) at the temple on Mount Crystal. From that time up till the present moment he had been living in strict retirement in this remote sequestered valley, in accordance with the inexorable rule of the hierarchy, which positively forbids under pain of immediate death any meeting or communication whatsoever between the Earth-born King of Meleager and the envoy who has selected him for that royal office. And now in truth a deadly bolt had fallen out of the blue into the quiet existence which d'Aragno looked to enjoy for the remainder of his days in this pleasant place of hiding. I could not repress some qualms of sympathy for my unwilling host; still, such feelings were not a little tempered by the secret sense of gratified vengeance, when I reflected on the dictatorial advice and threatening attitude of which I had had experience some few years ago in London. However I brushed aside my rancour, and assuming a cheerful countenance I patted the lamenting senator familiarly on the back, bidding him take courage, as my courtiers were not likely to seek me in his house, and even if perchance they did come this way, what was to prevent the concealment of my presence here? So we fell to less dismal discourse, and likewise to food, for I was very hungry and insisted on my host supplying me with a substantial meal, which he fetched himself. I sat down to eat with a good appetite, the while poor d'Aragno, too agitated to ply a knife and fork, watched me do justice to the cold meats, rolls, fruits and excellent home-grown wine he had placed before me.
During this time d'Aragno gave me information on several points that had hitherto puzzled me. I learned from him that the Meleagrians always keep two ambassadors on the Earth, who are replaced from time to time, and need nevermore repeat their excursion thither. I also gathered—indirectly, it is true, for d'Aragno was discreet to the verge of obstinacy—that constant intercommunication is maintained between their envoys on the Earth and the hierarchy in Meleager by means of crystal-gazing globes, whose properties allow of a code of signalling, no matter what the intervening space may be. Possibly there are other sources of mutual information between the two planets, but this use of crystal-gazing I conclude to be one of their principal means employed. On the subject of my own levitation or conveyance whilst in an unconscious state to Meleager, d'Aragno simply pursed his lips and steadfastly refused to reply; so seeing any attempt on this head would prove idle, I finally turned the conversation. In the matter of his own position and safety in Meleager, my host was more communicative. He was, he said, treated with the greatest distinction by the whole hierarchy, with whom he was in constant touch, by means of a subterranean passage running from his chosen place of retirement to the Temple of the Sun in Tamarida. He assisted at all the more important meetings of the inner ring of the council, and was frequently visited by members of the hierarchy in his country home. Nevertheless, this sword of Damocles, in the shape of the ancient stern enactment, ever hung above his honoured head, should he by any evil chance, such as the present, come into personal contact with the monarch he had himself enticed and brought to reign in Meleager. Any collusion or meeting, so he informed me, between these two personages, was if discovered to be followed by the immediate death of the hapless envoy, no matter how innocent he might be, nor how accidental and unforeseen his encounter with the Child of the Sun. This death penalty was a fundamental law, which could never be broken nor abrogated. I suppose the very notion of a combination between these two persons seemed so fraught with danger to the state as to have been the original cause of so savage and sweeping an edict. No wonder then that poor d'Aragno, who was obviously in no hurry to terminate his quiet but highly agreeable evening of life, seemed overwhelmed with fear at the unlooked-for apparition of myself. I perceived a distinct cooling of my recent dislike towards him as he proceeded to tell me of the pleasant years he hoped to spend in this delicious retreat, where he was served by attendants who were deaf and dumb. He showed me with affectionate pride the many rolls of manuscript filled by his own pen with choice passages from our worldly authors that had lain embedded in his marvellous and highly trained memory, which he daily continued to transcribe. With a sly expression he also rose and slid aside a panel of the wall, revealing within a small space, that sheltered about a dozen tiny volumes of printed matter, which (so I conjectured) he had brought away with him from the Earth hidden on his person to his final destination. These consisted chiefly of English and Italian classics, and amongst their number I can recall the Shakespearean Plays, the Essays of Montaigne and Bacon, the Divine Comedy of Dante, the Faust of Goethe and the Travels of Gulliver. These books were of very small size and of such minute print that their owner confessed they required to be studied through a magnifying glass. For a moment I paused to wonder whether these treasures were ever produced in the presence of any of those white-robed brethren of the council who were in the habit of paying d'Aragno visits in his home of honourable exile. Nor could I resist asking d'Aragno, as I fingered these mementoes of his sojourn on our Earth, whether he had included in his library any of my own works, seeing how extravagantly he had praised them during our interviews in London; but my host gravely shook his head, for a sense of humour is rather rare amongst the more exalted members of the hierarchy.
At length I came to business, the business I stoutly intended to transact ere ever I quitted this secluded house, the business which a lucky chance had thrown in my way towards a possible fulfilment of my present desire. "And now," began I, "Signor d'Aragno, for I know you by no other title, pray what return do you propose to render me, if I do not immediately on my arrival at Tamarida inform the Arch-priest of this delightful but altogether informal meeting between us?" My hearer's fat face waxed pale and puffy as he almost cringed before me at the bare thought of the possibility of such a catastrophe. "What is your wish?" proceeded as a hoarse whisper from between his bloodless lips. I thereupon set to explain to him the exact nature of the boon I demanded—namely, the safe transmission of my message to Earth; and I also declared to him that it was the ambition to overcome what all the wiseacres of our planet would deem insuperable that largely prompted my intention. At first d'Aragno's face betokened blank dismay at my request, yet when I went on to tell him that I had no wish for my packet to be delivered to any particular individual, but that I was fully content for it to be deposited on the Earth's surface, provided only it were dropped on dry land, he assumed a less despondent bearing.
After a pause for meditation d'Aragno replied: "Your scheme is not altogether incapable of accomplishment, for I who brought you hither own at least the means of conveying an object of moderate compass to your Earth. I am implicitly trusted here, and as to any missive I may care to dispatch to Earth no question will be asked, and it will be sent on the next occasion. But remember, I can only undertake to do this once, and once for all. If therefore you will hand over to me your manuscript, written closely as you will but confined within one solitary sheet of our vellum, I will engage to have it conveyed whither you ask. You, however, on your part must swear never to divulge the incident of our chance encounter to-day, and for this mutual exchange of oaths it is expedient for us both to have recourse to the Meleagrian formula in its most solemn aspect. And I must notify you here that we in Meleager are all believers in the Hereafter, which we hold is arranged for us according to our merits in this our present life. We all (and I am no exception) build much on the Hereafter, albeit we may seem overmuch attached to life itself; we therefore dread the forfeiture of our future prospects in the mysterious world to come, however uncertain we may feel of their precise nature or degree. Now we hold also that the breaking of a formal oath of special sanctity on the part of a councillor of Meleager of itself brings this punishment or disability in its train, so by binding myself by this most sacred rite I run the risk of losing what I deem of intense value—namely, every chance of spiritual growth in the Hereafter. You, on your side, must also perform your share of the contract faithfully, and for that joint purpose I now propose that we two participate in the sacred act of an interchange of oaths. Have I your consent to this?"
I agreed, being anxious to learn the nature of this solemn binding covenant, whose rupture is regarded as the prelude to such serious spiritual losses and disadvantages. I therefore closely watched d'Aragno busy himself with the necessary preliminaries. First he fetched a vase of gold into which he stuck a few thin rods, that he subsequently lighted to the accompaniment of a prayer, whereupon a strong aromatic odour began to pervade the room. He then bade me stand opposite to him and at the same time bend over the vase so that we obtained the benefit of the pungent incense smoke full in our nostrils. He next clasped both my hands in his, entwining our respective fingers, and then pressed his forehead against mine. This attitude, however sacrosanct and traditional, rather tickled my natural propensity to mirth, as I noted the incongruity in this close semi-embrace between my own six feet four inches and squat d'Aragno's five feet and little over. Nothing however in this pose seemed to strike my host in a humorous light, for he continued with the most serious expression to clutch me with all his force till the drops of sweat were pouring from his face. Meantime he kept muttering prayers or threats with ceaseless energy in an undertone, until, when I myself was almost wearied out with my stiff and stooping attitude, he suddenly with a final burst of imprecation snatched the burning incense sticks from the vase and trampled them vigorously underfoot till they had ceased to smoke. The compact, or rite, or oath was now completed, so that we were mutually bound, I to the strictest secrecy and silence, and he to the task of dispatching my scroll of manuscript to Earth. D'Aragno now unfolded his plan of campaign to me. "In your own private garden at the palace," said he; "beneath a group of seven tall palms stands a marble seat where I am told you are often in the habit of sitting in meditation. Behind that same seat is a flagstone of the paved terrace which has a copper ring inset. Bring your piece of parchment concealed in your mantle to this spot when there will be none to observe your actions, for the palace spies do not penetrate thither. Pull up the ring, which will yield easily to your effort, and then throw down the scroll into the hollow that exists beneath. That is all, but see that you do this on the seventh day from to-day between the sixth and seventh hours. I shall be waiting in the gallery below, which ramifies from the underground passage that connects the temple with my place of retreat. For three days in succession I shall come to this spot below the marble bench; but if by the third day no scroll is thrown down to me, I shall deem myself absolved of my oath, for I dare not attend thus more than three days running. But you may rely on my punctuality and good faith. Having duly obtained your scroll, I shall encase it in a metal cylinder and it shall then be transmitted to Earth on the first opportunity, which ought to occur within the next few weeks. The case with your manuscript enclosed will be dropped in some lonely place inland, where it may or may not be ultimately discovered, brought to a civilised city, deciphered, studied, discussed and published. For myself, I fail to grasp your evident sense of satisfaction in so trivial and futile a scheme; but it is clear you are obstinately bent on your purpose, and by my recent oath I am bound under the severest spiritual penalties to aid you. Yet who on your Earth will ever be found to believe in your fantastic story? And even if it were held worthy of credence, of what value would it prove to your fellow-men? Or again, what possible tittle of benefit would you gain by stirring up Herthian interest in this account of your adventures in Meleager?" And d'Aragno's face for a moment took on the quizzical yet imperious look I had noted when he was addressing me at length in the parlour of the great London hotel some five years ago.
By this time darkness had fallen outside, and this circumstance now urged my host to speed my departure. Quickly leaving the house in the obscurity of the encroaching nightfall, together we crossed the glen with its murmuring brook, and scaled the opposite bank to enter the depths of the enclosing forest. Following a rough path we advanced for some time without exchanging a word, till at last we debouched into a wide open space where we halted. The sharp dewy freshness of the night air was now upon us, whilst the hooting of distant owls and other nocturnal sounds filled our ears, as we stood gazing into the dark blue vault overhead. The stars glistened with the peculiar brilliance associated with a touch of frost, and shining above the tree-tops was a conspicuous planet far surpassing its companion stars in size and lustre. D'Aragno paused, and pointing towards the ascending orb quietly informed me it was the Earth, my old domicile; and somehow this piece of information caused in me an indefinable thrill, so that I could not repress a slight shiver, as I fixed my eyes on my far-away abandoned home. At the same time a curious tale of my childhood leaped, as it were, into my memory, for I began to understand with a greater clarity than ever before the extraordinary nature of the fate that had befallen me.