“I alone know she comes here,” answered the young man.
“Who is this?” inquired the other, indicating Jim, who was scrutinizing her with great interest.
“My trusty servant,” returned Jack.
“The gen’leman saved me life, lady,” put in Jim. “Catch’d me in his arms, fallin’ out of an air-boat. I bumped him good, and bruk me leg; an’ I’d go to hell and back for him, any time, surest thing you know. That’s me!”
“His is not the only life you have saved, I understand,” said Mary Faust, continuing to fix her eyes on Jack’s face. He blushed red. “I am come for Miriam Mayne,” was his rejoinder. She was silent for some time, seeming to take counsel with herself.
“Come with me,” she finally said, and turning, held back the curtain that concealed the room beyond. Jack entered, Jim following; and she brought up the rear. The room was large, with a high ceiling, which was pierced by the shaft of a great sidereal telescope mounted beneath it on massive piers which passed through the floor and were no doubt anchored in the ground far below. A wide table, covered with diagrams and other papers stood in a window on the north. Several machines of odd construction were disposed here and there. Of these, the most noticeable was a structure of black metal, shaped somewhat like a large chair or throne; the seat-room was cushioned with blue silk; at the right side a hand-lever projected, connected with a powerful system of geared wheels; in front was a funnel-like projection formed of copper wire coiled in a spiral, the diameter of the cone diminishing outward. On the sides of the structure were clock-like disks, the hands pointing to astronomical signs. Above the chair was suspended a large hollow hemisphere, highly polished, and covered with flowing designs somewhat resembling Persian writing. The chair was placed facing a broad open window opposite the eastern sky. The whole contrivance may have weighed more than a ton, and, like the telescope, rested on solid foundations passing through the floor.
Jack gave all this a passing glance. He had no head for mechanics. Jim, on the contrary, had a natural insight into machinery, and he examined this strange object with a fascinated but perplexed expression.
“I have doubted how best to make known what has happened here,” said Mary Faust, “but your coming has forced me to a course which is, perhaps, the best. Miriam Mayne was here on Tuesday afternoon—has been in the habit of coming here for more than a year past, as my pupil and assistant. Together we built this engine. It is psycho-physical; its function is to transport persons from this earth to other planets of the solar system. But it was not to be used until means had been perfected for their return hither.”
“Gee! dat’s big stuff! How does yer work it, lady?” required Jim.
“I shall explain it when Miriam’s father arrives—I have already sent for him,” said she, addressing herself to Jack. “Meanwhile, if your nerves are steady, I will show you something. But bear in mind that appearance misleads; sleep resemble death, and trance still more. The spirit has no relation to space.”