Now she heard the clink of the tea-things on the tray, and here was Jenny again, bearing the smoking teapot, the sugar, the sliced lemon, the thin slices of brown bread and butter, and the Japanese porcelain teacup and saucer.
CHAPTER XX
REBELLION
TORPEON, sitting alone in his official chamber, leaned his elbow on the table, his chin supported on his clenched fist, and bent his thoughts upon the problems before him.
His rule, despotic though it was, had never been free from difficulties. There were two parties among the Torides—one occupying the savage portion of the globe; the other the enlightened or civilized regions. Among the former were many outlaws—men who had either committed crimes against the state and had escaped from punishment; and also persons who had sacrificed such comforts as civilization afforded by reason of their dissatisfaction with the restrictions of a tyrannous government. Not a few of these were men of powerful and trained minds, resentful of interference with their freedom, and only needing an acknowledged leader and trustworthy organization to revolt. But they were jealous of one another, and the bulk of the population around them was hardly more amenable to discipline than so many wild beasts; the fugitive criminals, because of their innate and incorrigible wickedness, and the rest, because of their ignorance and semi-bestial condition. On our own planet spaces of thousands of centuries separate the cave men from the educated; but on Tor, the two lived side by side.
The physical environment on the dark side of Tor was terrific. The satellite, like our own moon, turned but one face to the sun, and though light was more diffused than with us, a twilight gloom reigned on the further side, alleviated only by outbursts of volcanic fires and by the electrical phenomena of gigantic storms. The surface was rocky, gashed with abysses and jagged with huge crags; caldrons of molten lava alternated with steaming or frozen lakes; and torrents of scalding water, hurled upward through subterranean passages in the crust of the globe, fell in headlong cascades, and fled away in boiling rivers through mountain ravines. Vegetation was scant and harsh: thorny trailers as thick as a man’s leg crawled and twisted to vast distances from the crevices of the rocks, carrying poison in their thorns; and the dark leaves and juices of other plants were hostile to life and health. The only approach to a domestic animal was a genus of goats, fierce and agile, with menacing horns and bristly hides, which were snared and tethered, but not tamed, by the human inhabitants, for the sake of their milk and skins. Their flesh was boiled or steamed for food. Serpents, lizards and amorphous reptiles unknown to our fossil deposits inhabited the caves and clambered over the cliffs and gullies, shunning such dim light as there was, but lying in wait for incautious travelers. A kind of tiger, covered with shaggy red hair, and another beast kindred to the hyena, but as large as a horse and of a ghastly white hue, were the chief representatives of the feline and protelidae families. The hunting of these creatures, with blow-pipes and slings hurling sharp-cornered lumps of poisonous stone, was the main occupation of the more savage cave-dwellers. Their fur was plaited into a sort of garment.
People of this type were indigenous to the dark regions, and were under some degree of subjection to the outlaws of the civilized side. But no systematic effort to improve them had ever been made—they were the unwilling slaves of unloving masters. The more thoughtful of the latter had, indeed, sometimes considered the possibility of forming them into some sort of army, to attack Torpeon’s domains; but the obstacles had proved insurmountable. Yet Torpeon had never felt secure.
His portion of the planet faced Saturn and the sun, and received a species of magnetic currents from the ring. Its topography was rugged and moderately fertile; five rivers from the Dark Mountains flowed down into an inland sea of bitter waters. The pastures were browsed by deerlike animals with smooth, straight horns. The most valuable domestic animals were a species of aquatic bird of the duck type, but larger than our condors; they existed in immense flocks and were very prolific. A leguminous plant was cultivated, allied to our beans, but of the size of a potato, and having the taste and some of the qualities of meat; when immature they could be ground into flour from which a rich and succulent bread was made. But to these staples science had added many viands concocted from inorganic substances, which could be rendered attractive to taste and sight by arts of the magical order.
The women of the Torides were taller and heavier than the men, but indolent and of inferior mentality; they were of domestic utility, but did not form a part of society; when mated, they would give birth to not more than two children each; there were no marriage laws, but a woman who had lived with a man might not afterward take another partner. As the sexes were about equally divided, the population remained stationary, and the relations were practically monogamic. Girls were bred to household employments; boys were drastically disciplined and educated by the state, both physically and mentally, and those who showed aptitude were initiated in science and magic.
Torpeon had assumed the chieftainship of this people by hereditary right; but he had soon manifested more than hereditary ability and force. He was profound in the lore of the masters, daring in speculation, arbitrary and resolute in will. He reduced his subjects to a uniform political level; there were no gradations between him and them. He made use, as he saw fit, of the brains and of the bodies of all, but shared his secrets with none. He had no commerce with women; but his vision extended far, and he knew of Miriam’s journey and enough of her own character and quality to make him resolve upon their union. With and through her his dreams might be realized, and she might be safely admitted to his inmost aims and counsels.
Having succeeded in transporting her to his own abode, he meant to lose no time in putting his great scheme into operation. Some details of it were still unsettled; but there were reasons why a degree of risk must be faced in order to avoid other contingencies. Moreover, his wooing of Miriam—if it could be so termed—might prosper better after his main undertaking had been launched. The astounding achievement which he contemplated, by capturing her imagination, might lead the way to the surrender of her heart. She could not but love unexampled daring and irresistible power, even were there nothing else in him to attract her.