Land of the Changing Sun
Page 3
Chapter III.
"What is it, Thorndyke? What are you looking at?" And the Americanslowly left the bed and approached his friend.
Thorndyke only held the curtain further back and watched Johnston's faceas he looked through the wide plate-glass window.
"My gracious!" ejaculated the latter as he drew nearer. It was awondrous scene. The building in which they were imprisoned stood on agentle hill clad in luxuriant, smoothly-cut grass and ornamented withbeautiful flowers and plants; and below lay a splendid city--a citybuilt on undulating ground with innumerable grand structures of whitemarble, with turrets, domes and pinnacles of gold. Wide streets pavedin polished stone and bordered with lush-green grass interspersed withstatues and beds and mounds of strange plants and flowers stretched awayin front of them till they were lost in the dim, misty distance. Parksfilled with pavilions, pleasure-lakes, fountains and tortuous drives andwalks, dotted the landscape in all directions.
Thorndyke's breath had clouded the glass of the window, and he rubbedit with his handkerchief. As he did so the sash slowly, and withouta particle of sound, slid to one side, disclosing a narrow balconyoutside. It had a graceful balustrade, made of carved red-and-whitemottled marble, and on the end of the balcony facing the city sat agreat gold and silver jug, ten feet high, of rare design. The spout wasformed by the body of a dragon with wings extended; the handle was aserpent with the extremity of its tail coiled around the neck of thejug.
The air that came in at the window was fresh and dewy, and laden withthe most entrancing odors. Thorndyke led the way out, treading verygently at first. Johnston followed him, too much surprised to make anycomment. From this position, their view to the left round the corner ofthe building was widened, and new wonders appeared on every hand.
Over the polished stone pavements strange vehicles ran noiselessly, asif the wheels had cushioned tires, and the streets were crowded with anactive, strangely-clad populace.
"Look at that!" exclaimed the American, and from a street corner theysaw a queer-looking machine, carrying half-a-dozen passengers, rise likea bird with wings outspread and fly away toward the east. They watchedit till it disappeared in the distance.
"We are indeed in wonderland," said the Englishman; "I can't make headnor tail of it. We were on an isolated island, the Lord only knowswhere, and have suddenly been transported to a new world!"
"I can't feel at all as if we were in the world we were born in,"returned Johnston. "I feel strange."
"The wine," suggested the Englishman, "you know it did wonders for us inthat subwater thing."
"No; the wine has nothing to do with it. My head never was clearer. Thevery atmosphere is peculiar. The air is invigorating, and I can't getenough of it."
"That is exactly the way I feel," was Thorndyke's answer.
"Look at the sunlight," went on Johnston; "it is gray like our dawn, butsee how transparent it is. You can look through it for miles and miles.It is becoming pink in the east, the sun will soon be up, and I amcurious to see it."
"It must be up now, but we cannot see it for the hills and buildings. Mygoodness, see that!" and the Englishman pointed to the east. A flood ofdelicate pink light was now pouring into the vast body of gray andwas slowly driving the more sombre color toward the west. The lineof separation was marked--so marked, indeed, that it seemed a vast,rose-colored billow rolling, widening and sweeping onward like a swellof the ocean shoreward. On it came rapidly, till the whole landscape wasmagically changed. The flowers, the trees, the grass, the waters of thelakes, the white buildings, the costumes of the people in the streets,even the sky, changed in aspect. The white clouds looked like fire-litsmoke, and far toward the west rolled the long line of pink stillstruggling with the gray and driving it back.
The sun now came into sight, a great bleeding ball of fire slowly risingabove the gilded roofs in the distance.
"By Jove, look at our shadows!" exclaimed Johnston, and both men gazedat the balcony floor in amazement; their shadows were as clearly definedand black as silhouettes. "How do you account for that?" continuedthe American, "I am firmly convinced that this sun is not the orb thatshines over my native land."
Thorndyke laughed, but his laugh was forced. "How absurd! and yet--" Heextended his hand over the balustrade into the rosy glow, andwithout concluding his remark held it back into the shadow of thewindow-casement. "By Jove!" he exclaimed; "there is not a particle ofwarmth in it. It is exactly the same temperature in the shade as in thelight." He moved back against the wall. "No; there is no difference; theblamed thing doesn't give out any warmth."
Johnston's hands were extended in the light. "I believe you are right,"he declared in awe, "something is wrong."
At that moment appeared from the room behind them a handsome youth,attired in a suit of scarlet silk that fitted his athletic figureperfectly. He rapped softly on the window-casement and bowed when theyturned.
"Your breakfast is waiting for you," he announced. They followed himinto a room adjoining the one they had occupied, and found a tableholding a sumptuous repast. The boy gave them seats and handed themgolden plates to eat upon. The fruits, wine and meats were veryappetizing, and they ate with relish.
"I believe we are to be conducted to the palace of your king to-morrow,"ventured the Englishman to the boy.
The boy shook his head, but made no reply, and busied himself withremoving the dishes. As they were rising from the table, they heardfootsteps in the hall outside. The door opened. It was Captain Tradmos,and he was accompanied by a tall, bearded man with a leather case underhis arm.
"You must undergo a medical examination," the captain said smilingly."It is our invariable custom, but this is by a special order from theking."
Johnston shuddered as he looked at the odd-looking instruments themedical man was taking from the case, but Thorndyke watched hismovements with phlegmatic indifference. He stood erect; threw back hisshoulders; expanded his massive chest and struck it with his clenchedfist in pantomimic boastfulness.
Tradmos smiled genially; but there was something curt and official inhis tone when he next spoke that took the Englishman slightly aback."You must bare your breast over your heart and lungs," he said; andwhile Thorndyke was unbuttoning his shirt, he and the medical man wentto the door and brought into the room a great golden bell hanging in ametallic frame.
The bell was so thin and sensitive to the slightest jar or movementthat, although it had been handled with extreme care, the captives couldsee that it was vibrating considerably, and the room was filled with alow metallic sound that not only affected the ear of the hearer but setevery nerve to tingling. The medical man stopped the sound by laying hishand upon the bell. To a tube in the top of the bell he fastened one endof a rubber pipe; the other end was finished with a silver device shapedlike the mouth-piece of a speaking tube. This he firmly pressed over theEnglishman's heart. Thorndyke winced and bit his lip, for thestrange thing took hold of his flesh with the tenacity of a powerfulsuction-pump.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed playfully, but Johnston saw that he had turnedpale, and that his face was drawn as if from pain.
"Hold still!" ordered the medical man; "it will be over in a minute;now, be perfectly quiet and listen to the bell!"
The Englishman stood motionless, the sinews of his neck drawn andknotted, his eyes starting from their sockets. Thorndyke felt the rubbertube quiver suddenly and writhe with the slow energy of a dying snake,and then from the quivering bell came a low, gurgling sound like astream of water being forced backward and forward.
Tradmos and the medical man stepped to the bell and inspected a smalldial on its top.
"What was that?" gasped the Englishman, purple in the face.
"The sound of your blood," answered Tradmos, as he removed theinstrument from Thorndyke's flesh; "it is as regular as mine; you arevery lucky; you are slightly fatigued, but you will be sound in a day ortwo."
"Thank you," replied the Englishman, but he sank into a chair, overcomewith weakness.
"I am slightly nervous," apologized the latter, as he stood up andawkwardly fumbled the buttons of his coat.
"Nervousness is a mental disease," said the man, with professionalbrusqueness; "it has nothing to do with the body except to dominate itat times. If you pass your examination you may live to overcome it."
The American looked furtively at Thorndyke, but the head of theEnglishman had sunk on his breast and he seemed to be asleep. Johnstonhad never felt so lonely and forsaken in his life. From his childhood hehad entertained a secret fear that he had inherited heart disease, andlike Maupassant's "Coward," who committed suicide rather than meet aman in a duel, he had tried in vain to get away from the horrible,ever-present thought by plunging into perilous adventures.
At that moment he felt that he would rather die than know the worst fromthe uncanny instrument that had just tortured his strong comrade till hewas overcome with exhaustion.
"I never felt better in my life," he said falteringly, but it seemed tohim that every nerve and muscle in his frame was withering through fear.His tongue felt clumsy and thick and his knees were quivering as withague.
"Stand still," ordered the physician sternly, and Johnston was furtherhumiliated by having Tradmos sympathetically catch hold of his arm tosteady him.
"Your people are far advanced in the sciences," went on the physiciancoldly, "but there are only a few out of their number who know that themind governs the body and that fear is its prime enemy. Five minutes agoyou were eating heartily and had your share of physical strength, andyet the mere thought that you are now to know the actual condition ofyour most vital organ has made you as weak as an infant. If you kept upthis state of mind for a month it would kill you.
"Now listen," he went on, as the instrument gripped Johnston's flesh andthe rubber tube began to twist and move as if charged with electricity.The American held his breath. A sound as of water being forced throughchannels that were choked, mingled with a wheezing sound like windescaping from a broken bellows came from the bell.
"Your frame is all right," said the medical man, as he released thetrembling American, "but you have long believed in the weakness of yourheart and it has, on that account, become so. You must banish all fearfrom your thoughts. You perhaps know that we have a place speciallyprepared for those who are not physically sound. I am sorry that you donot stand a better examination."
Tradmos regarded the American with a look of sympathy as he gave him achair and then rang a bell on the table. Thorndyke looked up sleepily,as an attendant entered with a couple of parcels, and glancedwonderingly at his friend's white face and bloodshot eyes.
"What's the matter?" he asked; but Johnston made no reply, for thecaptain had opened the parcels and taken out two suits of silkenclothing.
"Put them on," he said, giving a suit of gray to Johnston and one oflight blue to Thorndyke. "We shall leave you to change your attire, andI shall soon come for you."