The Golden Age of Science Fiction Novels Vol 05

by Anthology

  "Just so," replied Adams; "and that is just what we don't want. We were here first, and we propose to stop here. We have no more desire to be protected than we have to be annexed. As Mr. Austen has told you this afternoon, we have no politics at home and no policy abroad, and we don't want any.

  "Hence, if a French or German, yes, or even a British warship were to turn up here some fine morning, and send a boat ashore to discover the island, and hoist the Tricolour, the black, white, and red, or the Union Jack, on the bluffs yonder, we should say 'no,' and we want to have the power of saying 'no' in such a way as would overcome any objections that might be raised to the refusal."

  "But you are Englishmen yourselves," said Wyndham, his patriotism a trifle nettled by the dry, uncompromising tone in which the last few sentences were spoken. "Surely you don't mean to say that, if a British cruiser on the Pacific station were to put in here, and the captain came ashore to hoist the Union Jack in the name of the Queen, you would offer forcible resistance?"

  "Most decidedly we should," replied Adams, almost sternly. "We should entertain him hospitably, supply him with anything that he wanted and we could give him, and then we should politely ask him to go about his business, and leave us to ours. This is no part of the British or any other Empire, and it isn't going to be, if we can help it."

  "But suppose," objected Sir Harry, "that he did what would be his plain duty to do, under the circumstances, and took possession of the island by force? You could hardly expect him to recognise you as an independent State. I haven't the slightest desire to speak offensively, you know, and I'm simply asking for information. He would be infringing no national rights, and if the possession of the island were necessary to the protection of a line of British connections with the British colonies, it would be his duty to take it, if only to prevent it falling into hostile hands."

  "He might not be infringing national rights," said Adams warmly, " but he would be infringing personal rights, and that we should not allow him to do. Of course, I am aware it may sound to you rather like idle boasting, but I can assure you that if he didn't take the twenty-four hours' notice to quit, that we should give him, neither he nor his cruiser would ever be heard of again."

  "Possibly so," said Wyndham, "if that terrible Nautilus of yours does what you expect her to do, and had all her armament on board; because I am quite aware that she could sink any warship that floats inside half an hour. But how if the cruiser turned up before she is ready for work, or while she was absent, how then?"

  "It would still be done," said Adams, in a tone that warned Wyndham that the controversy had gone as far as his courtesy could permit it to go under the circumstances. "But you must pardon me if I beg you not to ask how we should do it."

  This, of course, brought the conversation to a sudden stop, so far as that topic was concerned; and, as it happened, just at that moment the Mermaid ran in alongside the jetty, and Violet- her trim, conventional European costume looking quaintly conspicuous in the midst of a little group of picturesquely clad Utopian damsels- came down to welcome them ashore.

  "Harry," she said, as her brother and Wyndham stepped on to the jetty, "this is quite a fairyland, and I think I shall stop here. 'Dora here has promised to take me for a sister, and-"

  "I wish to goodness she would!" blurted out Sir Harry, with an unexpected abruptness that brought a sudden startled look into Miss Dora's soft brown eyes, and a bright flush to her pretty cheeks; "because, in that case, you know- "

  "Oh, don't talk nonsense, you silly fellow!" interrupted Violet, in time to save him from further and possibly fatal indiscretion. "Of course I didn't mean that. Surely, you can't be presumptuous enough to think that one of the princesses of this enchanted realm is going to look with favour upon such a commonplace person as yourself. I always thought you were a modest sort of creature, but I suppose the air of this paradise has intoxicated you."

  "As it apparently has you, my dear Violet," retorted Sir Harry, "or else you wouldn't talk such arrant nonsense."

  "We came to tell you that dinner is ready," said Dora, in such a primly demure tone that the conversation ended in a general laugh, and after that they set out for the settlement, abjuring dangerous topics for the rest of the way.

  A good deal later on in the evening, about half-past ten or eleven, Sir Harry and the lieutenant, after a long chat with Adams and Mr. Austen, who had seen them home to the door of the bungalow which had been placed at their service, started out for a stroll up towards the hills, instead of going to bed, so that they might indulge in a quiet smoke together and an uninterrupted chat over the strange adventures that had befallen them, and the still stranger things which they had seen and learned since sunrise.

  The night was so deliciously cool, the landscape was softened down to such an alluring dimness by the dusk of the tropic night, and the scent of the fruits and flowers had such an inviting charm, that they wandered on, smoking and chatting, without any thought of how time was passing, until the path which they had been following opened out on a clearing that formed the summit of a low spur of the foothills branching out from the chain running from Mount Plato to the northern bluffs.

  There they stopped, and threw themselves down on the short, soft turf, to admire in leisurely fashion the beauties of the dimly starlit picture of sea and land, mountain, vale, and plain that lay spread out before them.

  "Yes, truly," said Wyndham, "it is a lovely land, and much to be desired, even if it is somewhat of a land of mystery. I can't say that I blame friend Adams for wanting to keep it out of the hands of empire-makers and land-grabbers with patriotic designs, even if they happen to be British. Hullo, what's that? Look, Milton, look!- over yonder, above that line of hills!"

  The last words were uttered in a half-whispered tone of intense astonishment and almost of awe, and, as he spoke them, Wyndham grasped Sir Harry by the arm, and pointed to where the ridge of the opposite line of hills, about two miles away, was sharply defined against the starlit sky. Sir Harry's eyes followed the direction of his finger, and soon saw a sight that made him catch his breath and hold it in dumb amazement.

  Something was moving swiftly along the ridge of hills, about five hundred feet from its summit. The night was too dark and the distance was too, great for them to make it out very distinctly, but, as it swept along, apparently at an almost incredible speed, they could see the stars behind it blotted out and reappear.

  With straining eyes, and without a word spoken between them, they watched the strange, swiftly-moving thing. Suddenly it doubled on its track. It had been moving towards the sea, and now it turned in a wide, graceful sweep. It followed the curve of the mountain, crossed the valley, as it seemed, in a single majestic leap, and then turned again and swept down out of the dusky distance, so close to where they were lying that they could hear a soft whirring, whistling sound as it clove the air. It passed within three hundred yards of them, turned again, and then, making a magnificent upward curve, soared over the ridge of hills, and vanished into space beyond them.

  "Great heavens!" almost gasped Wyndham. "I was right in calling this a land of mystery, and Adams was right when he said that they could hold the island against all comers. Good God! they might terrorise the whole world, if they liked. That was an air-ship. The great problem is solved at last!

  "Look here, Milton, if they find out that we've seen that thing, they'll never let us out of this island alive, good fellows and all as they seem, so we'd better keep our mouths shut until we can see what's to be done. Poor old England! She won't be mistress of the seas much longer, if a colony of irresponsible Socialists can raise a fleet of ships like that thing."

  "I'm afraid not," said Sir Harry in a tone of unwonted seriousness. "I wonder how the deuce they got hold of a secret that all the world has been hunting after for centuries. Let's go home and sleep on it, for, as the Russians say, the morning is wiser than the evening."

  But, as may well be imagined, there was very little sleep that night for e
ither Sir Harry or the lieutenant. They were abroad again before sunrise the next morning, and at once fell to discussing the startling and terrible discovery which, as it were, had been forced upon them during their stroll the previous evening.

  After a long and earnest conversation, in which the question was viewed in all its aspects, Wyndham ended up by saying-

  11 I'll tell you, Sir Harry, what I'm going to do, with your permission. I'm going to stop here until the Nautilus is ready for sea, and keep my eyes open in the meanwhile on things in general, and Mr. Max Renault in particular. I've seen that fellow somewhere before, and not under very creditable circumstances, but for the life of me I can't tell where it was. It was some time before I had that touch of fever in Africa, and I suppose that's wiped it out. However, that doesn't matter now. If the Calypso sails before the Nautilus, and you go straight home to England, as I suppose you will, you shall take a letter from me to the Admiralty, containing my resignation of my commission."

  "What!" exclaimed Sir Harry; "surely you don't mean that?"

  "Yes, I do," said Wyndham ; "my mind is quite made up on that point. I must have a free hand in what I am going to do. I am going to join the Utopians, if they'll have me, and accept the berth they offered me on board the Nautilus. I couldn't do that if I remained in the navy. There's no reason why I shouldn't be, at any rate, navigating lieutenant of her, then I'll take her borne, get her armament on board, and hunt these piratical Anarchists off the face of the sea to begin with.

  "By that time, I shall hope to be sufficiently deserving of the confidence of my fellow Utopians to be let into the secret of the air-ship, and then"-

  "Hush!" whispered Sir Harry; "you are talking too loud. I believe I heard something move behind those bushes."

  "Good morning, gentlemen! You are early abroad. I hope it isn't because you have slept badly. I presume you haven't breakfasted yet."

  It was Renault who spoke. Turning round the corner of a clump of acacias, about twenty yards in. front of them, he sauntered towards them, his hands in his pockets and a cigar between his teeth. Whether he had heard Wyndham's words or not it was impossible to guess; so far as any outward sign went, he had not. His manner was as frank and cordial as possible, and his greeting betrayed not the slightest sign of suspicion.

  "I was just going down to the lagoon for a swim," he continued, "and I daresay you are looking for the same thing, so if you like to come with me, I'll show you where the male Utopians take their morning dip. This way; the girls' bathing-place is on the other side of that bluff."

  So saying, he led the way round an abrupt turn in the pathway down towards the shore, followed by Sir Harry and Wyndham, who accepted his invitation as the best and readiest thing to do under the circumstances.

  CHAPTER VII.

  A PICNIC ON MOUNT PLATO.

  A WEEK had passed since the conversation just narrated, and during that time the repairing and refitting of the Calypso had made good progress, and the work on the Nautilus had been prosecuted with such enthusiastic vigour- relays of those who were destined to be her crew literally working day and night at their tasks- that there was every prospect of its being possible to launch her within another fortnight.

  In addition to this, the visitors to Utopia had been made so completely at home by the members of the colony, and had so rapidly and so insensibly got on terms of the closest friendship with them, that they already began to look forward with undisguised regret to the time when circumstances would make it necessary for them to say good-bye. Guests and hosts mingled in the most unreserved intercourse, and the more the former saw of the latter and their delightfully simple and natural institutions and mode of life, the more firmly they became convinced that they had by no means done an unwise thing in forsaking the complications and multifarious worries of what is, more in courtesy than in truth, called civilisation, for a life which seemed to give all the good that the world had to offer, with none of the discount of over or under-living taken oft.

  Nothing more had been seen of the mysterious air-ship, and, of course, Sir Harry and the lieutenant had kept their own counsel strictly. Night after night they had taken their stroll from their bungalow, which lay nearly a mile from the centre of the settlement up towards the foot-hills, but their expectations, if they had any, were disappointed. Wherever the wonderful cruiser of the air was, she was carefully hidden from sight, and as not the slightest restraint was put upon their movements about the island, they were forced to conclude that those who were in the secret had every confidence in the security of the hiding-place.

  Day after day came and went all too swiftly for the liking of the visitors, in a round of busy work and healthy, innocent enjoyment. By the time the week had passed, such good progress had been made with the work, that, in accordance with the custom of Utopia, it was decided to spend New Year's Day, 1899, as a general holiday.

  The dockyard was closed for twenty-four hours; Markham and half a dozen of his friends undertook to provide for the entertainment of the crew of the yacht, under the ordering eye of Mr. Topline; and Adams and Mr. Austen, acting on a suggestion which originated with Dora, who appeared to have, in one sense, quite carried out her promise of making Violet a sister for the period of her visit, organised a picnic of exploration to the slopes of Mount Plato.

  There were about a score of sturdy Shetland ponies and as many sleek, well-fed donkeys on the island, which were both useful and properly-respected members of the community, and half a dozen of each of them were pressed into the service of the expedition to carry the eatables and drinkables, and to be ready, if necessary, for the use of any of the ladies- as Wyndham and Sir Harry felt bound to persist in calling them, in defiance of Utopian custom- in case, as was not very likely, they were overtaken by fatigue on the way.

  A start was made just as the cone of Mount Plato was beginning to glow in the first beams of the rising sun, and the spot selected for the camping-ground- a lovely, wooded plateau 2,000 feet above the sea and some seven miles from the settlement- was reached in less than a couple of hours. Here they sat down to a second breakfast, in which some choice champagne from the stores of the Calypso played a pleasantly conspicuous part, and then the party split up automatically into groups in accordance with individual choices and varying projects.

  Sir Harry and the lieutenant had come out with the intention of climbing the cone of Mount Plato as the principal object of the day's excursion, and as this would take nearly the whole day, allowing for dinner and the necessary siesta after it, a separate party was formed for the expedition, consisting of the visitors, Dora Merton, Lucy Summers, and Adams, who had volunteered to act as guide and general cicerone. A panniered donkey carried the wherewithal for dinner in the crater, and a pony was laden with a small tent and the necessary fittings to provide shelter in case the mountain was visited by one of the sudden storms which sometimes swept across its upper heights.

  It was not very long before the party, small as it was, split up into three divisions, which made their way in somewhat extended order along the steep, narrow hill-paths which led to the summits. Adams and Lucy, for reasons best known to themselves, formed the first of these, and Sir Harry and Dora the last.

  It may also be recorded that there was an interval of nearly a hundred yards between each division, an arrangement which seemed perfectly satisfactory to everybody, though, if the truth must be told, Adams would fain have changed places with Sir Harry, for, in the depths of his serious, practical soul, there lurked a not very well-based hope that some day this brown-eyed beauty, who so far had contented herself with setting hearts aflame with the carelessness of a delightful unconsciousness, might accept the homage of the man whom everyone tacitly accepted as the moving spirit and virtual leader of the Utopians.

  Interesting as the conversation en route undoubtedly was to the young baronet, it would have been even more so had it been possible for him to have asked Dora point-blank, as he would dearly have liked to have done, whether or not
she knew of the existence of the air-ship, and, if yes, how much she knew or would tell about it.

  He could hardly bring himself to believe that this lovely, innocent, light-hearted girl- for in just such terms did his thought describe her to him during that momentous walk- could be burdened with the possession of a secret on which the peace and security of the world might well one day depend; and yet that such actually was the case he was destined to learn before many minutes had passed. A sharp turn in the path brought them suddenly in view of a second truncated cone, about five hundred feet lower than that of Mount Plato, and lying, as nearly as he could guess, some two miles to the eastward of it, separated from it by a valley so deep as to give it the appearance of a distinct mountain.

  "I didn't know Utopia boasted two volcanoes," he said, stopping and looking round over the magnificent panorama which now lay at their feet. "What do you call that second one yonder?"

  "That," said Dora, glancing half shyly up at him with a quick flush. that seemed in curious contrast with the simplicity of the question he had asked,- that is what I believe they call a secondary crater to Mount Plato, and- well, I'm afraid that's all I am at liberty to tell you about it. If I invent a suitable name for it, and call it, for present purposes, Mount Mystery, you will understand me, won't you?"