Great Stone of Sardis

by Frank Richard Stockton

  CHAPTER IX. THE ARTESIAN RAY

  In less than a week after the engagement of Roland Clewe and MargaretRaleigh work on the great machine which was to generate the Artesianray had so far progressed that it was possible to make some preliminaryexperiments with it. Although Clewe was sorry to think of the veryundesirable companion which Samuel Block had carried with him into thepolar regions, he could not but feel a certain satisfaction when hereflected that there was now no danger of Rovinski gaining any knowledgeof the momentous operations which he had in hand in Sardis. He hadhad frequent telegrams from Sammy, but no trouble of any kind had yetarisen. It was true that the time for trouble, if there were to be any,had probably not yet arrived, but Clewe could not afford to disturb hismind with anticipations of disagreeable things which might happen.

  The masses of lenses, batteries, tubes, and coils which constituted thenew instrument had been set up in the lens-house, and it was with thisinvention that Clewe had succeeded in producing that new form of lightwhich would not only penetrate any material substance, but illuminateand render transparent everything through which it passed, and whichwould, it was hoped, extend itself into the earth to a depth onlylimited by the electric power used to generate it.

  Margaret was very anxious to be present at the first experiment, butClewe was not willing that this should be.

  "It is almost certain," he said, "that there will be failures at first,not caused perhaps by any radical defects in the apparatus, but by someminor fault in some part of it. This almost always happens in a newmachine, and then there are uninteresting work and depressing waiting.As soon as I see that my invention will act as I want it to act, I shallhave you in the lens-house with me. We may not be able to do very muchat first, but when I really begin to do anything I want both of us tosee it done."

  There was no flooring in that part of the lens-house where the machinewas set up, for Clewe wished his new light to operate directly uponthe earth. At about eight feet above the ground was the opening throughwhich the Artesian ray would pass perpendicularly downward whenever thelever should be moved which would connect the main electric current.

  When all was ready, Clewe sent every one, even Bryce, themaster-workman, from the room. If his invention should totally fail,he wanted no one but himself to witness that failure; but if it shouldsucceed, or even give promise of doing so, he would be glad to have theeyes of his trusted associates witness that success. When the doors wereshut and locked, Clewe moved a lever, and a disk of light three feet indiameter immediately appeared upon the ground. It was a colorless light,but it seemed to give a more vivid hue to everything it shone upon--suchas the little stones, a piece of wood half embedded in the earth, grainsof sand, and pieces of mortar. In a few seconds, however, these thingsall disappeared, and there revealed itself to the eyes of Clewe aperfectly smooth surface of brown earth. This continued for some littletime, now and then a rounded or a flattened stone appearing in it, andthen gradually fading away.

  As Clewe stared intently down upon the illuminated space, the brownearth seemed to melt and disappear, and he gazed upon a surface of finesand, dark or yellowish, thickly interspersed with gravel-stones. Thisappearance changed, and a large rounded stone was seen almost in thecentre of the glowing disk. The worn and smooth surface of the stonefaded away, and he beheld what looked like a split section of acobble-stone. Then it disappeared altogether, and there was another flatsurface of gravel and sand.

  Between himself and the illuminated space on which he gazed--his breathquick and his eyes widely distended--there seemed to be nothing at all.To all appearances he was looking into a cylindrical hole a few feetdeep. Everything between the bottom of this hole and himself wasinvisible; the light had made intervening substances transparent, andhad deprived them of color and outlines. It was as though he lookedthrough air.

  Then his eyes fell upon the sides of this cylindrical opening, andthese, illuminated, but not otherwise acted upon by the volume ofArtesian rays, showed, in all their true colors and forms, everythingwhich went to make up the sides of the bright cavity into which helooked. He saw the various strata of clay, sand, gravel, exactly as hewould have seen them in a circular hole cut accurately and smoothly intothe earth. No stone or lump protruded from the side of this apparentexcavation, the inner surface of which was as smooth as if it had beencut down with a sharp instrument.

  Clewe was frightened. Was it possible that this could be an imaginarycavity into which he was looking? He drew back; he was about to put outone foot to feel if it were really solid ground upon which this lightwas pouring, but he refrained. He got a long stick, and with it touchedthe centre of the light. What he felt was hard and solid; the end ofthe stick seemed to melt, and this startled him. He pulled back thestick--he could go on no further by himself. He must have somebody inhere with him; he must have the testimony of some other eyes; he neededthe company of a man with a cool and steady brain.

  He ran to the door and called Bryce. When the master-workman had enteredand the door had been locked behind him, he exclaimed, "How pale youare! Does it work?"

  "I think so," said Clewe; "but perhaps I am crazy and only imagine it.You see that circular patch of light upon the ground there? I want youto go close to it and look down upon it, and tell me what you see."

  Bryce stepped quickly to the illuminated space. He looked down at it;then he approached nearer; then he carefully placed his feet by its edgeand leaned over further, gazing intently downward, and he exclaimed,"Good heavens! How did you make the hole?"

  At that moment he heard a groan, and, looking across the illuminatedspace, he saw Clewe tottering. In the next moment he was stretched uponthe ground in a dead faint.

  When Bryce had hurried to the side of his employer and had thrown apitcher of water over him, it was not long before Clewe revived. Inanswer to Bryce's inquiries he simply replied that he supposed he hadbeen too much excited by the success of his work.

  "You see," said he, "that was not a hole at all that you were lookinginto; it was the solid earth made transparent by the Artesian ray. Thething works perfectly. Please step to that lever and turn it off. I canstand no more at present."

  Bryce moved the lever, and the light upon the ground disappeared. Heapproached the place where it had been; it was nothing but common earth.He put his foot upon it; he stamped; it was as solid as any other partof the State.

  "And yet I have looked down into it," he ejaculated, "at least half adozen feet!"

  When Bryce turned and went back to Clewe, he too was pale.

  "I do not wonder you fainted," said he. "I do not believe it was whatyou saw that upset you; it was what you expected to see--wasn't thatit?"

  Clewe nodded in an indefinite way. "We won't talk about it now," saidhe. "I don't want any more experiments to-day. We will cover up theinstrument and go."

  When Roland Clewe reached his room, he sat down in the arm-chair tothink. He had made a grand and wonderful success, but it was not uponthat that his mind was now fixed. It was upon the casual and accidentaleffect of the work of his invention, of which he had never dreamed.Bryce had made a great mistake in thinking that it was not what RolandClewe had seen, but what he had expected to see, which had caused him todrop insensible. It was what he had seen.

  When the master-workman had approached the lighted space upon theground, Clewe stood opposite to him, a little distance from theapparatus. As Bryce looked down, he leaned forward more and more,until the greater part of his body was directly over the lighted space.Looking at him, Clewe was startled, amazed, and horrified to find allthat portion of his person which projected itself into the limits of thelight had entirely disappeared, and that he was gazing upon a section ofa man's trunk, brightly illuminated, and displayed in all its internalcolors and outlines. Such a sight was enough to take away the senses ofany man, and he did not wonder that he had fainted.

  "Now," said he to himself, "all the time that I was looking into thatapparent hole, never thinking that in order to see down int
o it I wasobliged to project a portion of myself into the line of the Artesianray, that portion of me was transparent, invisible. If Bryce had comein! and then"--as the thought came into his mind his heart stoppedbeating--"if Margaret had been there!"

  For an hour he sat in his chair, racking his brain.

  "She must see the working of the ray," he said. "I must tell her of mysuccess. She must see it as soon as possible. It is cruel to keep herwaiting. But how shall I manage it? How shall I shield her from theslightest possibility of what happened to me? Heavens!" he exclaimed,"if she had been there!"

  After a time he determined that before any further experiments shouldtake place he would build a circular screen, a little room, which shouldentirely surround the space on which the Artesian ray was operated. Onlyone person at a time should be allowed to enter this screened apartment,which should then be closed. It would make no difference if one shouldbecome invisible, provided there was no one else to know it.

  It was on the evening of the next day that Margaret beheld the action ofthe Artesian ray. She greatly objected at first to going inside of thescreened space by herself, and urged Roland to accompany her; but thishe stoutly refused to do, assuring her that it was essential for butone person at a time to view the action of the ray. She demurred a gooddeal, but at last consented to allow herself to be shut up within thescreen.

  What Margaret saw was different from the gradual excavation which hadrevealed itself before the eyes of Roland. She looked immediately into ahole nearly ten feet deep. The action of the apparatus was such that thepower of penetration gained by the ray during its operation at any timewas retained, so that when the current was shut off the photic boringceased, and recommenced when the batteries were again put into actionat the point where it had left off. The moment Margaret looked down shegave a little cry, and started back against the screen. She was afraidshe would fall in.

  "Roland," she exclaimed, "you don't mean to say that this is not reallyan opening into the earth?"

  He was near her on the other side of the screen, and he explained to herthe action of the light. Over and over she asked him to come inside andtell her what it was she saw, but he always refused.

  "The bottom is beautifully smooth and gray," she exclaimed; "what isthat?"

  "Sand," said Roland.

  "And now it is white, like a piece of pottery," she exclaimed.

  "That is white clay," said he.

  "Don't you want to take my place," said she, "if you will not come withme?"

  "No," said Roland. "Look down as long as you wish; I know pretty wellwhat you will see for some time to come. Has there been any change?"

  "The bottom is still white," she replied, "but it is glittering."

  "That is white sand," said he. "The Artesian well which supplies theworks revealed to me long ago the character of the soil at this spot, sothat for a hundred feet or more I know what we may expect to see."

  She came out hurriedly. "When you begin to speak of wells," she said,"I am frightened. If I should see water, I should lose my head." She satdown and put her hand before her eyes. "My brain is dazzled," she said."I don't feel strong enough to believe what I have seen."

  Roland shut off the current and opened the screen. "Come here,Margaret," he said; "this is the spot upon which the light was shining.I think it will do you good to look at it. Tread upon it; it will helpto reassure you that the things about us are real."

  Margaret was silent for a few moments, and then, approaching Roland,she took him by both hands. "You have succeeded," said she; "you are thegreatest discoverer of this age!"

  "My dear Margaret," he interrupted, quickly, "do not let us talk in thatway; we have only just begun to work. Above all things, do not let usget excited. If everything works properly, it will not be long beforeI can send the Artesian ray down into depths with which I am notacquainted--how far I do not know--but we must wait and see what is theutmost we can do. When we have reached that point, it will be in orderto hoist our flags and blow our trumpets. I hope it will not be longbefore the light descends so deep that we shall be obliged to use atelescope."

  "And will it not be possible, Roland," Margaret said, earnestly, "thatwe shall ever look down into the earth together? When the light getsbeyond the depth to which people have dug and bored, I shall never wantto stand there alone behind the screen and see what next shall showitself."

  "That screen is an awkward affair," said Roland. "Perhaps I may thinkof a method by which it can be done away with, and by which we can standside by side and look down as far into the depths of the earth as ourArtesian ray can be induced to bore."