Retiring to rest at an early hour I crept into my bed fully clothed, and waited anxiously thus until the last sound of wakefulness in the household had died away. When all was still, I rose cautiously from my couch, crossed the room on tiptoe and slipped through the open casement into the warm greyness of a summer's night without moonshine and without dew. Quietly I pursued the track leading through the gardens and farm of my host towards the lip of the ravine that separated his estate from the forbidden mountain. From previous hunting expeditions I was sufficiently familiar with this stony narrow pathway, and under this luminous crepuscule I experienced small difficulty in tracing its sinuous progress along the edge of the cliffs. An hour of slow steady walking thus at last brought me to the desired point, a spot where the private path merged into the road running from Tamarida to the viaduct. With eyes now grown fully accustomed to the gloaming I paused to scan the outline of the bridge. As I waited thus in a silence broken only by the ululation of wolves in the distant forests, I could clearly distinguish the soft padding of human feet at no great distance from where I stood. Very carefully I removed my buskins, which I hid in a neighbouring thicket, and thus relieved of my tell-tale foot-gear advanced in the direction of the sound. Peering ahead I soon obtained a better view of the bridge, as well as of the adjoining guard-house, whose façade displayed two squares of pale yellow light, from which I gathered that a guard of men-at-arms was stationed within its walls. Stealthily creeping forward, with body bent and with eyes fixed on the two warning patches of lanthorn light, I speedily espied the source of the faint tramping sound. A sentry, a diminutive but sturdy soldier, was dutifully patrolling the dusty space before the guard-house. Poor little doomed creature, fulfilling his appointed task! Poor little subject of the Child of the Sun, loyal to his creed and crown, and wholly innocent of all evil intent against myself! Very gently did I convey my sharp serviceable hunting blade from its sheath to my mouth, at the same time divesting myself of my heavy mantle of azure silk, which I placed in both hands ready for a dexterous throw in the manner of the retiarius of the Roman amphitheatre. Crouched low like some panther prepared to spring, and armed with dagger and cloak, I waited to commit rank murder, to terminate the life of a fellow-creature with every right to enjoy health and happiness, to turn a wife into a widow, to render her children orphans, to wreck a peaceful home in a doubtful effort to save my own skin. Never did I hate and despise myself more heartily in my earthly career, than I did now at this first desperate stroke for freedom in Meleager. God knows whether after all I might not have shrunk shamefacedly from the loathsome act, had I allowed my thoughts thus to ramble farther in these ethical convolutions of right and wrong. But as I still hesitated, I suddenly observed the unsuspecting soldier deliberately stop, lay aside his spear, and with unconcern kneel down to fasten the loosened thong of his sandal. At such an opportunity some force—was it moral or physical?—impelled me, and with a spring that would have done credit to a young cat-a-mountain, I had leaped on the bending figure whose startled head was swiftly swathed in the thick folds of my royal robe. There was some struggling, as well as faint muffled cries, whilst I tightly clenched the half-smothered head beneath my left arm. I then transferred the dagger from my teeth to my right hand and skilfully inserted the keen blade into my captive's reins. The struggles increased, then relaxed, then faded into a series of convulsive twitchings; till I felt my hand grow wet and warm with the blood I was shedding for my own selfish purpose. Still I continued to hold the knife in its soft fleshy socket, until with a final twisting of the steel in the mode of the Spanish assassin, I slowly withdrew the weapon from the fatal gash. All things appear mercifully of a neutral tint on a moonless night, so that I was spared the chief horror of my ensanguined hands and tunic, for I greatly dislike the sight of blood. I next gently unwound my cloak from the dead man's face, and then dragged the corpse across the path to lay it behind a large clump of agaves. A small pool of stagnant water hard by enabled me to remove the gore from my hands and garments, whilst a neighbouring bank of lush couch grass assisted in the cleansing of my dagger, which I wiped and wiped again before I replaced it in its scabbard. These necessary operations afforded me space to breathe, to recuperate and to reflect.
The primal instinct of self-preservation being thus fulfilled, I returned to my scheme. With my unshod feet I walked slowly up to the guard-house, whence issued unmistakable sounds of deep slumber. I even ventured to peep through the open window, so as to catch a glimpse of four or five soldiers within, all sleeping on mattresses beneath the subdued rays of a great guard lanthorn. Quitting the building I found no obstacle in crossing the bridge, but soon after reaching its farther end I nearly met with an unexpected calamity. Groping in the gloom of a thicket of pines I suddenly felt my movements hampered, to discover just in time that I had inadvertently stumbled against a stout cord. There could be little question as to its import and object; it was a cord of intercommunication that was stretched from the temple above to the guard-house below. My good genius was certainly in close attendance on me that most memorable night, for had I tripped over this rope and set the alarm signal in motion, there could have been only one result to my escapade. As it so happened, I was not a little assisted by my discovery. In the first place, I neatly severed the cord itself, and then proceeded to fasten each of the divided ends with a clove hitch to a bough so that in the possible event of the guard at the bridge or the watchers in the temple wishing to communicate, their efforts would be nullified. Also I perceived that by following the direction of the cord, I should pursue the easiest way of ascent to the temple itself.
Bestowing a delicate touch from time to time on the friendly clue, I hurried upward, treading a well-worn path through the hanging woods that in daylight, or possibly even in moonlight, would have been sufficiently simple and obvious to the pedestrian. So rapid and unimpeded were my steps that I was out of breath by the time I reached the huge bastions that overtopped the forest trees and uplifted the main platform of the temple. Here I rested a while, and then once more, with the aid of the cord, lighted on a narrow winding stairway which I ascended with infinite caution. Arrived almost at the head of the steps, I kneeled down and very slowly raised my eyes above the level of the low parapet. What I now descried was a long narrow space, perhaps four hundred feet in length, which served as platform to an immense plain building with a lofty roof. Its long lateral extent disclosed a number of doors flush with the exterior wall and all of identical design. Even more exciting to me however than this gigantic edifice was the apparition of a white-robed guardian pacing slowly along the terrace. Towards this new opponent I entertained none of those scruples that had racked me before hurling myself on the unfortunate sentry below; but I realised the extreme danger and delicacy of the situation. The councillor, whose identity I could not discover owing to the prevailing gloom, paraded the terrace from end to end, the conclusion of his paces bringing him within a few yards of the spot where I knelt hunched below the parapet with my fingers on the handle of my hunting knife. But he noticed nothing, and turning again towards the east began to retrace his steps. When he had retired some distance, I darted from my hiding-place to examine the nearest of the doors. But there was no sign of any means of ingress either in that door, or in its neighbour, or in the door beyond. Having hazarded so much, I hastened back to my niche, there to await the return of this nocturnal watcher. In my mind, that knew time was of the essence of my final success, I was still debating whether to spring upon the approaching senator, or to make one more effort to enter the temple, when my good genius again solved my perplexity. Of a sudden I grew aware of a curious rustling sound in the tree-tops, and a second later a large drop of water plashed on my upturned face. Soon rain was pattering heavily on all around, and by the time the councillor had reached the tether of his promenade he began to feel the effects of this unexpected drenching. I saw him pause, hold out both hands to test the violence of the sudden shower, fling his cloak over his head, and then make a precipitate and somewhat undignified rush for the shelter of the building. With straining eyeballs I watched him pass each doorway till he paused at the seventh from the end, which admitted him without impediment of any kind. Still in bent posture I hurried in his footsteps through the hissing downfall, caught the swinging door before it had ceased to oscillate, and noiselessly insinuated myself within the portal. I was fully nerved for an immediate struggle, but on entering I perceived that the senator had already walked ahead some paces towards the eastern end of the huge building, and was evidently still unaware of the presence of an unauthorised visitor. Shrinking behind a pillar or buttress, I waited in patient silence for the next turn of Fortune's wheel, which was certainly revolving fast and furious that night.
So far as I could observe in the faint and flickering light I was standing within a vast barrel-vaulted erection with pillared alcoves on either side, reminding me somewhat of an immense Renaissance church. There was artificial lighting somewhere, but I failed to trace its whereabouts; the western end of the building lay in inky shadow, but its eastern extremity was open and exposed to the air. The central portion was largely occupied by a long abyss which appeared to be a species of graving dock, and resting on metal lines that ran the whole length of this hollow space were four or more bulky vessels constructed of some silver-glinted material not unlike aluminium.
Far from inspiring terror the sombre novelty of the place engendered in me a thrill of exultation, even of satisfaction, in the thought that I had indeed penetrated to the very heart of The Secret. Of my two guiding emotions at this moment an overwhelming curiosity—the unflinching curiosity of the Caliph Vathek and his mother Carathis in the fatal halls of Eblis—was perhaps predominant; but almost equally potent was the itching to revenge myself on the treacherous hierarchy of Meleager. Meanwhile the footfalls of the unsuspecting guardian of the place echoed faintly in the distance, and I could detect the silhouette of his form against the background of open space to the east. Slowly the figure returned, perhaps to repass the door, for the storm without had abated and the sky was clearing. Nearer he drew and nearer, so that in the superior light of the building I could at last distinguish the individual features of the councillor. It was Marzona, Arch-priest.
This sudden recognition caused me to start, so that possibly I may have emitted some betraying noise to call attention to my presence, though what ensued before the actual impact I am still puzzled to say. For in a trice I found myself and Marzona locked together in a deadly but silent embrace, since instinctively it would seem I had posed for action with my cloak as on the previous encounter at the bridge. For a second time I held my antagonist's head enveloped in those ample folds, albeit his limbs were unembarrassed. We were knotted, I say, in a death grip, swaying from side to side, our hatred oozing as it were from our very pores, as we strained and wrestled with furious determination. Naturally, I was the taller and the stronger of the two, but intensity of hate gives an additional stimulus, and that advantage perhaps Marzona could claim. Vainly did I struggle to utilise my dagger; try as I would, it was all I could contrive with my superior strength to keep Marzona's head tightly swathed and his limbs powerless to inflict an injury. How long this embittered duel might have lasted, and with what final result, I cannot tell, had not a false step on my enemy's part brought him perilously near the edge of the central abyss. Another step, and his left foot was treading in vacuity. He reeled; made one despairing but ineffectual effort to drag me with him in his disaster; and then I saw him, with my cloak still encompassing his head, fall headlong into that gaping pit beside us. There followed a dull faint thud of contact with something far below, and then I found myself kneeling hot and exhausted on the brink of that fatal chasm. Very warily did I lean forward to peer down and to listen, but there was nothing but blackness and silence in those impenetrable depths.
V
After some minutes spent in useless speculation I rose from my knees and proceeded to explore the building, for I knew I must hasten. With feelings compact of awe and interest I approached the weird monsters of metal that stood reposing on their sustaining rails, and growing bolder I actually entered the vessel that was nearest to the broad eastern exit. I experienced no difficulty in descending into what I can best describe as a moderate-sized cabin with two smaller closets adjoining. Standing on its hinges at right angles to the cabin was the great lid of the airship. In this modified twilight I had no trouble in picking my steps, but a minute survey of details demanded a much stronger light. Nevertheless, I could distinguish directions in Latin painted on various parts of the cabin, and it was during a strained examination of one of these notices that I must have inadvertently touched or trodden on the concealed spring, which again was destined by my abiding good angel to prove my next instrument of salvation. A gentle humming or whirring seemed to vibrate around me, beginning very softly but gradually rising in intensity so that in alarm I prepared to quit the ship and regain the floor. But before I could collect my dazed thoughts into sufficient concert to act at all, I became aware of a soft gliding motion and actually perceived the long vista of the hall recede from my eyes, as I was slowly drifting through some unseen mechanical force out of the edifice and was being launched into the infinite beyond. With a joyful bound, so it seemed to me, my craft passed out of the open arching portal and was now running swiftly as though borne on invisible wires. I watched, as in a vision, the temple, mountain and shores of Meleager dwindle and diminish in my track, until they became mere outlines in the grey dimness that precedes the dawn. Still, as one fascinated, I could only stare and marvel, for the superfluity of adventures and wonders of this night had caused a sort of mental congestion of my brain. Suddenly I was once more recalled to the necessity of action, when I felt something hard pressing on my neck, and realised it was the cover of the airship closing gently of its own volition. Hurriedly I subsided into the well of the cabin with my eyes fixed on the slow descending cover, which finally settled down on the lower portion of the vessel like the lid of some Brobdingnagian snuff-box. Meanwhile I lay below, stupefied in an atmosphere which I soon found unpleasantly warm and also permeated with a subtle indescribable odour that at first produced a sense of nausea and of suffocation. However, by lying prone on a couch, for the cabin was furnished with tolerable comfort, these disagreeable symptoms were mitigated, though throughout my long journey I never felt any desire to rise and move about by reason of my giddiness. I could see that the vessel was well supplied with provisions, mostly in liquid form; and in truth there was every arrangement for two or three persons to inhabit this hold without any marked discomfort for a considerable space of time. At intervals around the walls of the cabin were printed long sentences in Latin, interspersed with many technical terms in English, French and German wherever the classical tongue failed to express adequately the required meaning. All these notices related to the working of various levers and other pieces of mechanism on board, and as I lay reclined in a state of semi-consciousness I amused myself by deciphering these injunctions.
Time was practically non-existent during this mad whirling through aerial space, and as my capacity for further amazement was by now completely exhausted, I resigned myself to my present condition of a not unpleasant drowsiness, which made me indifferent as to whither my strange vehicle was bearing me. Day and night chased each other like alternate streaks of black and white; sunlight, moonlight, starlight, darkness, opacity in no wise concerned me during my voyage from the planet of Meleager. From time to time I sought to allay my constant thirst, or rather the irritating dryness of mouth and gullet (for I felt no hunger), with the contents of some of the numerous bottles near me; and thus refreshed, I gladly returned to my couch and sank into my previous state of lethargy. As I lay thus, I often meditated on the past, but of the present and the future I felt utterly careless and apathetic.
How long this hurtling through the empyrean lasted I cannot say; presumably there were instruments on board for computing the speed of the machine and other statistics, but I never sought to discover such appliances. Rarely too did I care to gaze out of the many port-hole windows, for the sight of the circumambient waves of empty space induced in me a horrible sense of dizziness. So I remained thus prostrate in a half-sleeping, half-waking condition that for aught I knew or cared might be prolonged for eternity, until at last I was aroused from my somnolence by a faint icy breath falling on my face. On looking up I perceived the lid of my prison slowly opening, for all the world like the upper shell of some gigantic oyster, and the widening aperture was admitting draughts of fresh bracing air into the vitiated atmosphere of the cabin. Instinctively I knew we were entering the air-zone of the Earth. Strange sounds and clickings were now manifest in the unseen machinery; our motion became less rapid and regular; and these phenomena together with the bitter cold soon dispelled my torpor and brought me to my feet, for I could stand upright now that the lid of the vessel was raised on its hinges. Craning forward I saw we were in truth nearing the Earth, though evidently at a relaxed rate of velocity; and fascinating it was to me to note the steady aggrandisement of the great orb of Mundus, as we drew perceptibly closer to its surface. Already the Eastern hemisphere was brilliantly defined, with Asia and the islands of the Orient all glowing in the flush of dawn, which was driving the lingering shadows of night to westward. A colossal globe of gold and azure and sable was slowly revolving under my eyes, which remained in fixed contemplation of an expanding scene that none save a few enraptured mystics or poets have ever aspired to describe.