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Adrift in the Unknown; or, Queer Adventures in a Queer Realm

Page 10

by William Wallace Cook


  *CHAPTER X.*

  *HOW WE WERE CATALOGUED.*

  Let it not be supposed that we had given no thought to our companions inexile during our two weeks' probation in Baigol. The professor and Ihad talked of them frequently, wondering whether they were alive ordead, and, if alive, where they were and what they were doing.

  Our story had been punched out of our word-boxes for the benefit of theBaigols, but had not seemed to make much of an impression on Ocou, or onothers who came to see us.

  Now the sight of Gilhooly would add corroborative detail, and we harpedon that key until Ocou promised to communicate directly with KingGolbai, and find out what his wishes were in the matter.

  As for the professor, he wanted to go roaming the four kingdoms lookingfor the other exiles, first visiting Baigadd and appropriating themotive power of the B.&B.I. system.

  The most we could get from Ocou was a promise to learn his majesty'spleasure in our affairs; and while we were abiding the king's decision,other events took place which were of prime importance to us.

  Ocou had a queer-looking machine borne to our "home circle," which wasthe humorous fashion in which the professor referred to our prison ring.

  The machine was an upright shaft measuring some three feet in height.To its base was attached a golden cord several yards long andterminating in a small silver disk.

  Professor Quinn and I were consumed with curiosity while thiscontrivance was being set up and made ready. We put a question throughour word-boxes, but were only smiled at mysteriously.

  Presently I was made to sit down, Turk fashion, while one of Ocou'sattendants came to me and passed the silver disk over my head. One endof Ocou's baton had a black tip, the other a white.

  As the disk passed over my head, Ocou rested the white tip of the batonon the pedestal. Instantly a slide flew out of the shaft's top bearing apainted ideograph.

  The professor and I were not "up" in the Baigol ideographs, and werevery much surprised at the actions of Ocou and his companions when theylooked at the slide. They recoiled, stared at me suspiciously, andmoved about me with caution.

  I grabbed my word-box.

  "What's the matter, anyhow?" I asked.

  "We have just discovered that you are a robber," said Ocou.

  "I am no robber here," I answered, "no matter what I was in the place Icame from."

  "Once a robber always a robber," retorted Ocou, "unless you touch theBolla."

  "Well, well!" murmured the professor, rubbing his hands delightedly overthe pedestal and giving little heed to Ocou's remark. "What do you callthis machine, Mr. Ocou?"

  "That, sir," Ocou replied, "is a character indexograph. We find it veryuseful in cataloguing the natural tendencies of subjects of the realm."

  He sighed.

  "The number of indexographs in the kingdom is limited, and they have allbeen working overtime of late. This is the first opportunity we havehad to use one on you and your friend. Now, professor, if you willoblige me."

  The professor dropped down, the disk gliding over his bald head, andanother ideograph shot into sight.

  "Ah," murmured Ocou, reading the sign: 'philanthropist, scientist, a manto counsel with!' You'll do, sir; but your friend!"--and he shook hishead sadly as he dropped his talking machine.

  "I suppose," said I, watching Ocou and his attendants make off with theindexograph, "that I shall be kept within this circle indefinitely?"

  "Let us hope not, Mr. Munn," rejoined the professor, laying a kindlyhand on my arm. "Rather let us hope that you will experience a moralrejuvenation, so that when the indexograph is tried on you at anothertime it will show a different result."

  "I wish they would try that thing on J. Archibald Meigs!" I exclaimed."The Baigols would find, I think, that I have no monopoly on thatparticular ideograph."

  The professor laughed quietly.

  "Let us see what comes to us now after we have been catalogued," saidhe. "I think they have simply been waiting to make trial of ourtendencies before allowing us to pass out of this enchanted circle."

  Ocou came back in a couple of hours, carrying a roll of parchment inaddition to his baton. He came alone.

  "Gentlemen," said he in his mechanical way, "your names have beenentered and tagged. In accordance with the information secured throughthe indexograph, a task has been set for you. Perform that taskfaithfully and you are to have the freedom of the realm."

  "What is the task, Mr. Ocou?" inquired the professor.

  "You are to restore the sacred Bolla to his majesty, the king ofBaigol."

  "And what is the Bolla?"

  "It is the stone of happiness and peace. Merely to touch it restores amortal to health, physical and moral. Crime is a contagious disease,and since the Bolla has been lost to us and untouched of any in thekingdom, lawlessness has become widespread."

  "Where is the Bolla?"

  "It was loaned some seasons ago to the king of Baigadd, who now refusesto return it. As Baigadd is a more powerful country than ours, it wouldbe an act of destruction for us to make war for the stone. So our kinghas graciously decreed that Mr. Munn shall proceed to the neighboringkingdom and steal the Bolla, taking you along with him, professor, asadviser and general aide."

  Nothing could have pleased us more.

  As I have stated elsewhere in this narrative, stealing property fromsome one to whom that property does not rightfully belong can hardly beaccounted a crime; and when property thus purloined is restored to itsrightful owner, the theft is transformed into a high and noble act.

  Such a task filled me with enthusiasm, and I was ready to go forth amongthe four-handed enemies of Baigol and demonstrate my abilities. Theprofessor, thinking of Gilhooly, would have welcomed any undertakingwhich carried him into the neighboring realm.

  Ocou told us that the king of Baigadd was a very grasping individual,although he was very careful to abstain from touching the Bolla. Had hetouched the wonderful stone, so great was its power that he would haveexperienced a change of heart immediately, and could not have shirkedreturning the property to its rightful owner.

  King Gaddbai was very wealthy, according to Ocou, drawing his revenuesprincipally from the kaka industry, of which he had a monopoly. Ka wasa fibrous plant from which kaka, the only cloth known in the fourkingdoms, was made.

  This plant would grow nowhere else than in Baigadd, so that the peopleof the other three kingdoms had to go to Baigadd for their kirtles.Every time the king of Baigadd suffered a pecuniary backset, or donateda large sum to charity, he recouped his exchequer by boosting the priceof kirtles.

  There was a time, Ocou declared, when all the inhabitants of Njambaiwent clothed from neck to heels, but wardrobes dwindled as the price ofcloth rose. Very few people could now afford the luxury of a full suit;and since the upper half of the body could not be covered with agarment, it was covered with paint--the paint being usually of a colorto match or harmonize with the kirtle.

  A variety of black kaka was the only serviceable material to be had forwriting purposes, ideographs being traced on its surface with white ink.We were told how gentlemen once wealthy, but who had fallen upon evildays, had drawn upon their libraries for wearing apparel.

  Books of poetry, essays, travel, fiction, all yielded their leaves tothe making of various garments, thereby clothing the body as comfortablyas they had already clothed the mind.

  What could be more apropos than a morning gown inscribed with choiceideographic sonnets? Or a student's robe begemmed with the brilliant witof an essayist? Or a traveling costume bearing an account of somevoyage of discovery?

  The only fault to be found with this arrangement was that such clothingadvertised the wearer's poverty; and in Njambai, as in Terra, the prideof wealth was most pronounced.

  King Gaddbai, it appeared, had so enhanced the cost of black kaka thatliterature lay languishing. Writers had not the requisite material onwhich to inscribe their thoughts, and the fou
r kingdoms were threatenedwith a blight of ignorance.

  From what we heard of King Gaddbai, the professor and I were notdisposed to regard him very favorably. He seemed a greedy andunscrupulous person, more than ready to swell his coffers by tramplingon the rights and the welfare of others.

  The parchment roll brought by Ocou was a map, showing us how to directour steps in order to reach Baigadd. Ocou also delivered to us a royalbanner, direct from the hands of King Golbai, which was to procure usfavor en route and entitle us to be received and cared for asambassadors when we reached the other kingdom.

  The professor asked for a baton, but this was denied him. The Baigolsfeared, I suppose, to trust such a terrible weapon in the hands ofaliens.

  The professor's pleasure over the prospect of being allowed to leave ourprison ring and journey in search of our friends while seeking the Bollawas marred somewhat by Ocou's revelations.

  He had hoped to find Njambai free of monopoly and greed, and yet herewas King Gaddbai boosting the price of kaka whenever the whim struckhim; and he had hoped to find a people where poverty was unknown, andyet he discovered how the educated were obliged to raid their librariesin order to cover their nakedness.

  "Human nature, professor," I expounded, "is the same all over theuniverse. If a man finds himself in a position to gouge his neighbor,he is as apt to do it on Jupiter, or Mercury, as he is on Terra."

  "I am grievously discouraged," he sighed.

  "Furthermore," said I, "my practicing on the word-box could not havecaused the havoc you imagined it might. Ocou tells us that, since theBolla has been taken from Baigol, lawlessness has been widespread, andincreasing."

  "Your rehearsal of the false sentiments contained in your book may havehelped on the lawlessness. I am more sorry than I know how to expressin finding, among this gifted people, some of the worst elements of ourown civilization. And my regret is the more pronounced on the score ofPopham, Meigs, Gilhooly, and Markham."

  "How do they figure in your disappointment?" I queried.

  "Can't you understand?" he cried. "I had the same hopes of them that Ihad of you. Suppose we found on this planet not a trace of monopoly orgreed; suppose we had found here a peace-loving, justice-serving people,with plenty to eat and wear, needing no laws to govern them, and allhappy and contented. The moral effect upon you and the rest of ourfriends would have been uplifting. You would have seen, admired andcoveted the same conditions for our own orb. A change would have beenworked in you, and for the better.

  "That," he went on passionately, "is the full measure of mydisappointment. So far from finding such conditions, Mr. Munn, you areimmediately catalogued as a thief, and given a task commensurate withyour supposed abilities--a task or robbery!"

  "But a righteous robbery," I averred. "Recovering stolen property andreturning it to the rightful owner is a meritorious act."

  "We must call it so," he answered bitterly, "since so much hangs uponour joint attempt. But what a lesson for these poor, benighted people!"

  "The ability to get the stone is beyond them, and they call upon us," Ipursued. "Their action is flattering, rather than otherwise. If wesucceed, it means that we shall stand even higher in their estimation."

  "We, who ought to know better, are making ourselves living examples ofsuccessful thievery."

  "The end justifies the means, professor."

  "We must strive to think so."

  "I suppose Gilhooly has been catalogued, the same as you and I, and thathe was found to stand so high in traction affairs that they----"

  "Let us not dwell upon poor Gilhooly."

  "He is just where he ought to be," I declared. "I only wish he had aglimmering of sense still left him in order that he might realize hisposition. The effect would be salutary."

  This frank expression of my views rather startled Professor Quinn. Hewalked back and forth, his hands clasped behind him and his head bowedin deep thought.

  "The indexograph is a most remarkable invention," he finally observed,"and would be of inestimable value on our native planet. The detectionof crime would be an easy matter, and on the testimony of theindexograph alone justice could be meted out without the intermediateapplication of the courts. Furthermore, justice would never miscarry."

  "I hope," I exclaimed in a panic, "that I shall never live to see theday when the police officials of Terra are equipped with indexographs!It would prove a knockout blow for my profession. Every citizen would betested, and his proclivities jotted down in black and white."

  "That would mean," expanded the professor, "that crime would berelegated to the limbo of lost arts! Before a lawless act could becommitted, the artist in crime would be placed where the deed would beimpossible."

  "That's the way I figure it out, professor."

  "But that is not the least of the indexograph's merits. Children couldbe duly catalogued, and, if they showed criminal tendencies, could besent to institutions for proper moral training. The inclination of theyoung toward certain trades could be learned, and they could be giveninstruction along the line which would best serve their future careers.There would not be so many failures in life, Mr. Munn."

  "Perhaps not," I answered stubbornly, "but I still maintain that theoverturning of our customary standards would land us in chaos."

  "Tut!" he exclaimed half angrily. "Some day, I trust, your angle ofvision will change materially. Until that time, Mr. Munn, it would bewell for you to repress your peculiar views, for, you are going to besorry for them."

  Just three weeks to a day from the time we reached Baigol we fared forthfrom the royal city, bent upon the performance of our mission. We werearmed only with our word-boxes, the king's standard, and a firmdetermination to achieve our liberty by securing the Bolla, no matterwhat the cost.

  Our journey led us through a pleasant country, level for the most partand covered with irrigated fields growing the white blossoms which theBaigols gathered and cooked for food. The king's will, as made known bythe banner, secured us rest by the way.

  I have not considered it necessary to refer to the fact that there waslight and darkness throughout the kingdoms of Baigol and Baigadd duringeach period of twenty-four hours and three minutes. Light and heat weresent through the under-world by means of the two huge reflectors alreadymentioned, and when the sun passed from the heavens of course nightfell.

  But the climate was at all times delightful. We were armored against thetemperature, and could not ourselves experience the equable air, yet oureyes and ears assured us of its presence, and this proved anothersurprise for the professor.

  By day we traveled and by night we rested, often covering as many asfive hundred _spatli_ in a single day. Four days, at that rate, were tocarry us to the capital of the other kingdom.

  I gathered much wisdom from the professor as we journeyed, and therewere two of our conversations which made a deep impression on me. Thefirst had to do with the reflectors that turned the sun's rays into thebowels of the planet.

  "Without the sun, Mr. Munn," remarked Quinn, indicating the white fieldsbeside us with a gesture of the hand, "there could be no vegetable lifein Baigol. Those fields must be quickened to life by the solar rays orthey would be as barren as the outer shell of the planet. Finiteingenuity may always be trusted to accommodate itself to itsenvironment. I can set the astronomers of Terra right on one mystery,at least."

  "What mystery do you refer to, professor?" I asked.

  "Why," he answered, "a luminous point has been detected by earthlytelescopes on the disk of Mercury. The phenomenon has been explained asa huge mountain, whose top reflects the sun; yet it is only one of thegreat reflectors fabricated by these ingenious people."

  Then at another time:

  "Professor," said I, "have you made any discoveries relative to thatpowerful little weapon which the Baigols know so well how to use?"

  "A few," he answered. "The baton is called a zetbai, and its ammunitionis drawn from a peculiar ingredient of the atmosphe
re. The white tip ofthe zetbai furnishes the destructive force, while the black tip combatsand nullifies it. The inhabitants of this orb, Mr. Munn, have a weaponof such awful power in the zetbai that a dozen of their number, armedwith the batons, could descend upon our own globe and devastate it.

  "Well is it for Terra that means are lacking for interplanetarycommunication; otherwise the Baigols and their fellow-creatures mightprove the Napoleons of the universe. Such a contingency is terrible tocontemplate."

  "Had the zetbai anything to do with that invisible power that stayed usfrom crossing the circular wall?"

  "It had everything to do with that. An unseen barrier was placed aroundus--a barrier of zet, drawn from the atmosphere by these Baigols andmade to serve their ends. Unlike powder and ball, which destroythemselves in creating destruction, zet is indestructible; it can beregathered into the zetbai and used over and over again. The resistingmedium, controlled by the black tip of the baton, is alone powerful toannul the energy of the white tip."

  These were the points that impressed me. Another which we discussed, butwhich did not appeal to me as logical or accurate, had to do with theobject of our quest--the Bolla.

  "With all due respect to Mr. Ocou," said I, "he was certainly talkingmoonshine when he described the Bolla."

  "I would not go so far as to say he was talking moonshine, Mr. Munn,"the professor answered. "There are stranger things in Heaven, Earth,and Mercury than are dreamed of in our philosophy. Take yourself, forinstance. You are a sick man----"

  "Never sick in my life," I declared.

  "I mean morally," went on Quinn. "If crime is a disease, you willadmit, I think, that you are sick."

  "No," I averred, "I am healthy in mind and body. I take no stock in Mr.Ocou's assertions--which ought to prove that I am mentally sound, I takeit. But we'll get this palladium, just the same, for our libertydepends on it."

  Toward noon of the fourth day, as we drew near the boundaries ofBaigadd, we entered a rocky and uneven country, the well-defined road wehad been following cutting and circling through the low hills. When wewere well in among the bowlders a frantic shout reached us from around abend in the road a few _spatli_ ahead.

  "That was a cry in our own tongue, Mr. Munn!" exclaimed the professor,coming to a halt. "Did you not hear it? It was certainly a call forhelp."

  "You are right, sir," I answered. "That was a lusty English yell, if Iever heard one."

  "It was given by one of our friends, of course."

  "No doubt; it is not hard to distinguish a human voice from the bleat ofone of these Baigol word-boxes. Possibly the new motive power of theB.&B. Interplanetary has rebelled and is fleeing this way."

  "No," answered the professor excitedly, "I do not think that shout camefrom Gilhooly. It was---- Ah, Mr. Meigs!"

  At that instant, J. Archibald Meigs came bounding into sight around thebend. But he was not the well-groomed, richly appareled Mr. Meigs ofEarth and the steel car. His only garment was a kirtle.

  He must have been surprised at seeing us, but so great was his fear thathe did not show it. Panic left no room for any other emotion.

  "Quinn! Munn! Save me--save me from the soldiers!"

  A few dozen prodigious leaps brought him trembling to our vicinity, andhe fell exhausted to his knees.

 

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