The Plague, Pestilence & Apocalypse MEGAPACK™
Page 69
had seen in Signor Davelli and his men. He wore a flowing robe of
much the same pattern as ours, but it was of a very bright, indeed of
a luminous material, and it had somehow a strange air of being part
of his body . His head was uncovered; his hair was brown, short, and
slightly curled, and his eyes were blue .
We both started to our feet, and made, almost involuntarily, a
profound salutation .
“Friends,” he said, “you are in urgent danger, and I come to in-
form and counsel and help you .” He spoke the English language
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 536
with a very sweet and firm intonation, and yet his accent was in some
way suggestive of an outland or foreign origin . “I am a friend,” he
said, “and in some sort a guide of men . It was my mission long ages
ago to warn your first father of the designs of an enemy of the same
order as this one of yours, but far mightier than he . Later on in the
plains of Assyria, under the name and form of a man, I baffled the
designs of another of the same evil race . And many times in more
modern days I have rendered help of which no record remains to
man and to the friends of man . Speak to me freely; you may call me
Leäfar .”
I was meditating whether or not I should begin with a confession
of my own faults, when Jack stepped forward, prevented me, and
spoke .
“Sir Leäfar,” he said, “tell us first of all who these men are into
whose power we seem to have fallen, and from whom we desire to
escape .”
“Yes,” answered he who called himself Leäfar, “it is best that you
should have information first; counsel and help will follow.
“These men and I have one thing in common . We are inhabitants
not of earth, but of ether; as they have themselves told you, we are
dwellers in space . But they are not, as they would have you think,
a fair sample of the race which inhabits the ether, for although very
many as compared with the inhabitants of earth, they are very few
in comparison of those who hold with me .”
“How is it possible,” said I, “that you and they, although dwellers
in space, or inhabitants of the ether, can assume as you do the form
of men, and at least in some measure their nature?”
“I cannot,” he replied, “unfold the matter to you in full detail, for
you have not the faculties needful to enable you so to apprehend it;
but if you will attend I will try to show you by analogies how it is
possible for us to pass from our world to yours . But sit down,” he
said; “you will be weary, for I have much to say, and there is no time
to lose .”
Hereupon he sat down, having first indicated to us with a gra-
cious air where we were to sit . We both sat in front of him, but each
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 537
one a little to one side . Then he began . “The material,” he said, “of
your world and of such worlds as yours is limited . The material of
our world envelops and pervades it all, and extends to immeasurable
distances, as I believe to infinity, but the knowledge of infinity is
reserved to the Infinite One Himself.
“The material of our world is the basis of the material of yours .
The latter is made out of the former by a simple process of agglom-
eration . All the material of worlds like yours is resolvable ultimately
into extremely minute particles, each of which is just a little twist of
the ether . You may compare these particles to knots that you make
upon a cord . Just as the parts of the cord in the knot act upon one
another in a way in which they could not act if they remained in one
continuous line, so the knotted or twisted ether becomes capable of a
great variety of interactions which are not possible to it in its original
state, and as the knots increase in complexity these possible interac-
tions are multiplied. The motion by which the first agglomeration
of ether is formed generates he various processes which are known
to you as heat, magnetism, electricity, and the different chemical
affinities, and so the matter of your world is built up. The bodies of
the dwellers in ether are composed of ether in the simple state, and
by a process which is simple enough although not fully explicable
to you, we can transform them into he material of which your bodies
are made and retransform them again .
“Two analogies, one mechanical and one chemical, may help
you, if not to understand he process at least to see how it is possible .
Suppose a string of immense length so thin as to be quite invisible;
and suppose it to be knitted and woven and re-woven until it be
formed into a piece of cloth, compact but very small . Suppose the
process of knitting or weaving to be performed very quickly, and
then suppose the web so formed to be as rapidly unravelled again . In
that case the piece of cloth would appear and disappear just as you
have seen our bodies do .
“Or suppose two vast masses of oxygen and hydrogen in the
proportions in which they exist together as water . Suppose them to
be brought together and subjected to the chemical process which
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 538
is needed in order to make them combine: what happens? A small
quantity of water suddenly appears . Reverse the process and it dis-
appears .
“By means roughly analogous to these we are able to assume ter-
restrial bodies and to pass into the ether again . But while our bodies
are in terrestrial form they are subject to the same laws as yours; we
need food and sleep, and we are subject to the various accidents and
conditions of humanity .”
Here he paused for a moment and Jack spoke .
“But you are not subject to death as we are . Any cause that would
kill us only resolves your material bodies into their ethereal form .”
“That is the case,” he said; “but the difference is not such as you
suppose . All the material of your bodies is ultimately resolved into
ethereal matter, but not all of it is essential to your being, and that
which is essential is resolved by a much speedier process .
“But to speak of ourselves: while we remain in our own world we
have instruments of sensation fitted to our condition and analogous
to yours, just as hearing is analogous to seeing . But I cannot explain
to you any more exactly our means of sensation, just as you could
not explain sight to a man born blind .
“But our sensations are throughout strictly analogous to yours
and pass into yours when we assume terrestrial bodies .”
Here he paused again, and I asked, “Can you see our worlds from
yours?”
“No,” he replied . “The ether as far as we know pervades the uni-
verse and passes freely through worlds like yours, and we, while
dwelling in he ether, have no more cognisance of your world than
you of ours .
“But there are certain links,” he added, “which bind both worlds
together, and two of these are known to you as light and gravity . Our
/>
world is for ever in motion; motion is of the essence of its being,
and it communicates its motion to all that is formed out of it and
continued by it as your worlds are . Such motion is communicated in
exact proportion to the vastly varied complexities of the matter of
your worlds, and out of this proportionate communication arise the
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 539
movements and the laws of movement of all the stars and planets,
all of which movements and laws of movement are amenable to
calculation . Much of this is already known to you, and the day will
probably come when your men of science will be able to calculate
the proper motion of the remotest star that your instruments can dis-
cover with as much precision as they now calculate the motions of
your moon .
“Light is another link between your worlds and ours . And light
is the one means which we have of detecting from our world the
presence of yours . Not that we see light as you see it . The sort of
perception that you have by means of light we have in our world by
analogous but higher means . The presence of light is known to us
when in our own world only by a slight shuddering motion of the
ether . Just as you perceive a difference in the mode of motion when
you travel on land and on the water or in the air; just so we perceive
an analogous difference when we pass to the regions of light from
the regions where light is not . A shuddering motion of the material
of our world warns that we are where your worlds are . And just as
for you sometimes the motion of the air or water passes into a hur-
ricane or a whirlpool, so to us a vastly increased movement of the
ether (not the regular movement which is the cause of gravity, but
a quivering movement) indicates the presence of one of the secular
outbursts of conflagration which form part of the process by which
your worlds become fitted for your occupation.”
“But how,” inquired I, “can you come into our world without
having any direct sensation of its whereabouts?”
“Once we have been here,” he said, “it is a matter of easy calcula-
tion to us to fix the locality; and we can communicate the elements
of the calculation to others who have not been here .”
Here he paused, and rose to his feet, and as we were about to rise
he signed to us to keep sitting .
“Now,” he said, “hearken carefully while I tell you of those into
whose power you are fallen .” And as he spoke it seemed to me that
his attention was directed more especially to myself .
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 540
He went on—“The Infinite One, ages before your worlds were
formed, called the ethereal host into being. And at first they were
like your brute creatures, only with vastly greater powers and intel-
ligence; yet, like them, for their vast powers were not under the
control of any will of their own, for there was no such thing then as
will, except the will of the Infinite One.
“But it pleased the Infinite One at last to give His creatures will.
That which is His own prerogative He communicated to them in
order that He might give manifold scope to the eternal love which
is His essence . That will of theirs it was His will that they should
exercise in conformity with that eternal love . But being free it might
oppose that eternal love, not indeed to eternity, but for incalculable
cycles of time .
“A few, a very few, as compared to the whole number, opposed
themselves to Him, and as the ages passed these grew ever more
evil, and ever more full of hatred of Him and of all who hold with
Him . A very few they were as compared with those who held with
Him, but a great many when compared with all the men who inhabit
this little world of yours, or who ever have inhabited it .”
Here he paused again, and there was dead silence for a space, and
then Jack spoke, and his voice was like that of a man hurried and
somewhat overawed .
“But how did the will to resist the will of the Infinite One ever
come into being at all?”
“It was a possibility from the moment when the first free being
was created, and it became actual by the gradual and undue admix-
ture of things in themselves good . The desire to do great things is
good, and the joy to be able to do great things is good . But if these
two good things are suffered to govern the whole being, they become
the possible germs, inert as yet, of self-assertion and pride . And then
when the call for self-sacrifice comes, as it must, to the finite in the
presence of the Infinite, the will, the spark of divine life which the
Creator has committed to the creature, rises up against the sacrifice,
and by its action fertilises the germs of self-assertion and pride .
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 541
“So began the deadly war of the finite with the Infinite. That had
its origin in ‘worlds before the man,’ and it speedily passed over into
man’s world, and would long ago have destroyed it had not the Infi-
nite One Himself become human in order to teach men by His own
example and in His own Person the divine lesson of self-sacrifice.”
Here Leäfar paused again and sat down, and seemed to wait for
some question from us . I was quite powerless to speak . I felt quite
awe-stricken and shamed, but presently I heard Jack’s voice ringing
out clearly and confidently like the voice of a fearless and innocent
child .
“Sir Leäfar,” he said, “do the men who inhabit this valley belong
to the evil race you speak of?”
“Yes,” he replied, “they are some of the least powerful, though
not the least evil among them .”
“And what is their purpose here?”
“Their purpose in general is to set the inhabitants of your world
against the will and purpose of the Infinite One, to teach them to call
evil good and good evil . And they work out this purpose by a great
variety of methods .
“They assume human forms, and they have dwellings in the most
inaccessible parts of your worlds, near the summits of the loftiest
mountain ranges, and in the polar regions, and in remote islands, and
in deserts as here . When civilised men move into their neighbour-
hood they move away; and they destroy most of the marks of their
occupation . Sometimes nothing remains; sometimes, it may be, a
few huge rocks standing on end, or piled one upon another . Such
remains, when you discover them, you account for by attributing
their formation to races of men who have passed away .
“From these remote settlements of theirs they make excursions
into the inhabited world; they mingle sometimes among men,
stirring them to murder and rapine, sowing discontent among the
people, and prompting rulers to tyrannous deeds of cruelty and vio-
lence . This Niccolo Davelli, as he calls himself, was very active in
the most corrupt and violent years of the tenth century, when he was
the active adviser of an Italian bandit baron .
T
HE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 542
“But they have seldom taken prominent action in their own per-
sons in more modern times, although here and there they appear in
subordinate characters, stirring up strife and all kinds of evil, and
then they pass elsewhither .
“But this Davelli has lately taken up a line of action against God
and man which some of the more powerful of his kind took up ages
ago with far wider success; he has established here, and in the in-
accessible parts of the Himalayas, and in one or two other places,
artificial seed-beds of pestilence. His emissaries gather, from all
quarters, germs of natural and healthful growth, and submit them
to a special cultivation under which they become obnoxious and
hurtful to human nature . And then they sow them here and there in
the most likely places, and thus produce disease, death, and disaster
among men . The black death, and the plague, and smallpox, and
cholera, and typhus and typhoid fevers have all had their origin in
this way, and some of these are kept alive since by the carelessness
of men . But of later years men are beginning to understand health
and disease better, and so the power of these evil beings is becoming
greatly restricted in this direction .”
Here he paused again, and I took heart and said—
“Is it simply to gratify their love of inflicting pain that they culti-
vate and propagate these plagues?”
“Partly that, no doubt,” he said, “but, above all, their purpose is
to set men against the Infinite One by making them believe Him to
be the Creator of painful and abominable diseases .”
“But why should they not blame Him,” said I, “if He has called
into existence those evil beings who invent such diseases?”
“Suppose,” replied Leäfar, “that a human enemy were to poison
your water supply . Would you blame God or man?”
“Man, I suppose,” replied I .
“Yes,” he said, “for you would recognise the fact that man, being
man, is free, and that once his freedom absolutely ceases he is no
longer man. The Infinite One may, if He so please, take away his
freedom, but by so doing He annihilates the man .”
THE GERM GROWERS, by Robert Potter | 543
“You raise a hard question,” said I; “is the Infinite One, then,
committed to the eternal prevalence of evil? Is He pledged never to