“Laötzii bore to her uncle Nahou a daughter, Rahossis—then twelve years later to her half-brother Quet, she bore a son, Peramon.
“Rahossis bore to her uncle Quet a daughter, Lulluma—then twelve years later to her half-brother Peramon she bore a son, Karnoum.
“Lulluma bore to her uncle Peramon a daughter, Danöe—then twelve years later to her half-brother Karnoum, she bore a son, Ciston.”
The doctor inclined his bristly head in his formal little bow. “I thank you mein Herr, but tell me one thing more—you are one family, yet you defy the laws of heredity. No one of you bears any resemblance to another. You range in type from Fraulein Danöe who might be a maiden of East Prussia to young Herr Karnoum who appears to be of African descent or yourself who has the features of one of our Biblical patriarchs. How can this be?”
“Because, my son, we have passed into that stage of evolution where, although the physical is still necessary, the mental plays a much greater part in conception. We all spend two-thirds of our lives in spirit travel as you know—therefore our women study types in the upper world before they decide which they will bear. Then during many months they concentrate and their thoughts produce the colouring, every shade of which lies dormant in our bodies from past ancestors, and mould the form of the child that they desire. Semiramis was inspired to create Tzarinska by the sight of a Russian dancing girl. Tzarinska roamed further afield and produced a masterpiece for me in our dear Laötzii, from the study of a half Chinese maiden who had been fathered by an Englishman in Hong-Kong. Thus are our features and forms determined and our women’s greatest pride is to present to our island, in each of her children, a new and distinctive form of loveliness.”
Doctor Tisch was about to speak again but Menes held up his hand: “May the Gods give you many days to ask all the questions you will, my son, and grant me time to answer them, but for to-night we have talked enough of serious things. There is a ceremony to be performed between two of you is there not? Nahou, my child, fill our cups that we may do honour to this custom of our brothers.”
When they had drunk again they moved to the other end of the pool where, with the Atlantean’s help, a temporary altar had been arranged. Before it was generally known that an adverse decision at the Council of the Gods might render it a terrible cynicism for those who were compelled to leave the island and go out to die.
Now all thought of that was past and Doctor Tisch took up his position before it. Camilla had asked the McKay to give her away and Vladimir chose Axel as his best man since the McKay, who found himself embarrassingly popular, was otherwise engaged. Sally was the only bridesmaid, and Nicky, with all the Atlanteans, made up the congregation.
Doctor Tisch gabbled the lines a little as it was many years since he had performed such a service and he was no longer quite word perfect, but Camilla did not notice that. She only felt a very real satisfaction as Vladimir slipped his signet ring over her finger.
Afterwards more toasts were drunk to the health and happiness of the newly married pair, then everybody wished them good night; the Atlanteans with unrestrained enthusiasm and good cheer, the others with a certain shyness. There could be no official “going away” for there was nowhere except Lulluma’s quarters, which she had placed at their disposal, for them to go to but they retired there after a little time.
Thus, in the unusual surroundings of the dusk-laden flower scented garden, Camilla at last became the Princess Renescu and Vladimir got his heart’s desire.
When they had departed the others resumed the feast. Rahossis danced for them and Karnoum sang. The wine circulated with more rapidity. An hour sped by and the scene had become Bacchanalian. Semiramis had crowned Doctor Tisch’s bristly pate with a wreath of flowers. Nicky was lolling against Rahossis and telling that Junoesque lady that she was ‘jus’ the sweetest lil’ thing’. Axel held Lulluma in the curve of his arm and was gazing down into her dark starry eyes as though he could never feast his gaze upon her long enough. Peramon had wandered off into the shadows with Laötzii. Menes sat enthroned in their centre, benignly smiling on them all—a jovial Zeus now rather than the Old Testament Patriarch to whom the doctor had likened him and, as Quet began to dance a wild Mexican reel he clapped with surprisingly youthful enthusiasm.
The McKay shot an anxious glance at Sally. “How about it me’dear. The pace is getting a bit hot for respectable people like you and me isn’t it?” he said under his breath. “Like me to take you away?”
“I wish you would,” she whispered quickly.
As they left the party nobody seemed particularly interested in their going. Quet was spinning like a teetotum. Tzarinska had joined in and was dancing opposite to him. The dusky skinned handsome Karnoum was letting Danöe’s wonderful golden hair slide through his fingers while she gently caressed his cheek. The rest were gaily applauding the dancers.
“Phew!” Sally whistled when they were out of earshot. “It was getting pretty thick wasn’t it. I’m not used to those sort of parties and I’m jolly glad you took me out of it.”
“Do you want to go to bed—or to sleep rather on one of those mattresses they’ve laid out for us?” he asked.
“No, I’m not a bit tired. I was only frightened that at any minute one of them might come up and start mauling me about.”
“They’re a decent crowd really. They don’t mean the least harm—it’s just their natural way of living.”
“I know, but it’s not mine I’m afraid, and that’s going to make things a bit difficult.”
“Let’s sit down under this tree,” he suggested, “and decide what you’re going to do with yourself.”
“All right,” she seated herself beside him and stared out into the darkness, “how do you mean though—decide what I’m going to do with myself?”
“Well, I mean!” he spread his hands out in rather a hopeless gesture. “You’ve got to face it sometime me’dear—and sometime soon. If you want to go native there are plenty of good-looking chaps about and nobody’s going to think any the worse of you for it.”
“But I don’t,” Sally protested quickly. “I’m not like these girls here. They’re awfully sweet but they’re different. I should hate to be handed on from man to man and have romps between whiles with the others.”
“The McKay shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I mean …” he repeated, “it’s not in their nature to stick to any one woman for more than a couple of years from what I hear and you can hardly expect them to make you the Virgin Queen—besides you’ve never given me the impression that you’re that sort of girl at all!”
“I’m not,” declared Sally firmly. “I want one man whom I can love and stick to. I’m old-fashioned enough to want to be married like Camilla—for keeps.”
“Well, Axel’s a bit old for you, although he seems to have taken a new lease of life and is on the point of going off the deep end with Lulluma—how long that will last goodness knows! Still there’s Nicky. Rahossis doesn’t strike me as the sort of woman who’ll want to have him playing around for long—she’s got her eye on that dark bloke—Quet.”
“Nicky!” echoed Sally contemptuously. “I wouldn’t marry Nicky for ten million dollars.”
“They wouldn’t be much use to you if you did,” the McKay commented unhelpfully. “That only leaves the Doctor and …”
“Yes—go on,” she prompted “and …?”
“Why me! but I’m too old for you Sally.”
“Oh you brute” she suddenly began to sob. “Haven’t you any feelings at all. Have I just got to go down on my knees and ask you?”
“Sally!” his voice had fallen to an awed whisper. “I’ve been adoring the very sound of your foot-falls for weeks—but, well I never thought you could care a hoot for …”
“Oh stop talking you dear fool!” sobbed Sally “stop talking and take me in your arms.”
CHAPTER XXI
THE COMING OF THE SERPENT
On the following morning little dark-haired Ciston had th
e island to himself. None of his elders had thought of sleep before the small hours and it was the custom of the Atlanteans that no work, other than the necessary preparation of meals, should be done on the day after a Feast.
Like a slim golden-brown faun he ran on tiptoe from one grove to another until he had discovered the resting places of all his family and the newcomers whose arrival had amazed everyone so much. When he was older he too would be able to join in these revels at which the grown-ups laughed and sang far into the night but in the meantime he knew what he could do to please his beautiful mother and all these wonderful people who never seemed too busy to play with him and tell him stories.
He climbed on the kitchen table and took eighteen plates from the racks, picked a selection of fresh fruit, laid it out, and carried the plates one by one to the places where his elders slept, putting them carefully within easy reach. Then he got cups and, staggering round the island with a great jug of fruit juice, poured a draught into each. Lastly he gathered eighteen little bunches of flowers and laid them beside the fruit, after which good work he felt entitled to turn a couple of noiseless somersaults and dive into the pool for his morning swim, carefully refraining from his usual splashings in case he woke the sleepers.
It was not till after mid-day that his elders began to stir. Then they sat up drowsily, drank their fruit juice so thoughtfully provided by Ciston, nibbled the fruit, smelled the flowers, kissed their companions and made for the bathing pool. Soon there were a dozen of them laughing, shouting and plunging in the clear cool waters, or reclining on cushions along its marble sides.
Sally and the McKay declared their intention of being married that night upon which Menes decreed another Feast. Some of the Atlanteans did not at first see the reason for this, but Menes told them that as it was a custom in the upper world he desired to honour their new friends by its observance.
Quet laughed impishly and said: “If we adopted such a custom here it would bring us to starvation, for every day would be a feast day and no work would ever be done!” But everyone welcomed Menes’ gesture and made a fuss of the couple who were to play the principal parts in the ceremony.
Only dark-haired serious Tzarinska remarked privately to Rahossis that she thought it rather barbarous to make such a fuss about such a very normal thing and that it savoured somewhat of savage exhibitionism.
In the latter part of the afternoon most of them slept again but Semiramis invited Camilla and Sally to her apartment. She was a picturesque old lady with a fine head of silver hair and a high bridged Roman nose. The girls thought that she must have been extremely good-looking in her youth.
After some little courtesies she told Camilla that she fully appreciated the differences between the woman of the upper world and her own. She would have spoken the day before, she said, but one day was of small importance out of a lifetime, particularly as she understood that Camilla had been married before.
Then she proceeded to give them both the benefit of the cumulative experience of the women of her race and, by the time she had finished they were both convinced that she could have made the Professors of Psychology in Vienna and the British Medical Council look like first year students.
She had a deep throaty chuckle and a shrewd witty humour which saved her conversation from any resemblance to a lecture and the two girls listened with immense interest as pearls of wisdom regarding the handling of their menfolk rolled continuously from her tongue.
When she had done she kissed them both, made the sign of the Swastika on their foreheads, breasts, and thighs with a curiously scented oil from a tiny bottle, then bundled them out with instructions to rest until the evening.
Sally and Camilla were both a little silent as they walked away. The old lady had told them that their coming involved a readjustment in the population of the island, but that was a matter which would be settled when the Gods gave Menes enlightenment, as they surely would in due course. In the meantime she would perform a magical ceremony which would cause their unions to be sterile. Later they would not be robbed of their right to have children but they must be trained in the tremendous responsibility of the task, since in the years to come their stock would mingle with that of the Atlanteans.
That night there was another banquet. Afterwards Doctor Tisch married the McKay and Sally before their assembled friends, then the feast was resumed and Carnival reigned as King until the small hours of the morning.
The next day they slept late and lazed again but on the following morning the work of the island was resumed. Semiramis and Menes were exempted by their age and rank from all manual labour, also the two newly-married couples for the Atlanteans considered their honeymoons in the same light as when a real love affair occurred between two of their own people. All the others set about the varied tasks of tending their crops, laundering their tunics and tidying the pleasances.
The work was not heavy because it was so admirably organised through long centuries of custom and they sang, bandied jests, and laughed while they toiled. After the first meal in the morning they played games for a spell which necessitated the incorporation of certain exercises and holding the breath in a particular manner, to ensure their continued fitness. After the midday meal they slept for an hour or so, the rest of the day they worked until they gathered for the evening meal after which, in the scented dusk of the dimmed earthshine, they told stories or discussed the histories and religious beliefs of many nations.
Conversation was conducted principally in English in deference to the newcomers and most of the Atlanteans spoke it fluently. The younger ones understood enough to follow the talk and to contribute their share in broken accents.
Quet, alone, always spoke French—a language for which he had a passion, while Danöe and Karnoum often addressed each other in Spanish as they were practising that tongue together.
The new arrivals were called on to answer innumerable questions of a fantastically varied nature. Some showed an extreme astuteness or were on subjects of which the upper world party were completely ignorant, others were of such a childlike simplicity that they amazed the people who were questioned.
It transpired that in their spiritual journeys the Atlanteans witnessed many happenings, the true significance of which entirely escaped them. Nearly all of them had been horrified spectators of certain phases of the last great war, but it had taken them many months to discover exactly who was fighting whom and for what reason. They had no means of getting inside books or newspapers and could only read the printed page if it was spread out before them and if their knowledge of the language proved sufficient. In consequence they had constantly placed wrong constructions on past events from being unable to learn their context. Since broadcasting had been general however they were far better informed as they could listen in to any set which was functioning at their leisure.
Rather surprisingly their principal interest did not centre in world events or such problems as to why many people in the great industrial centres remained permanently unemployed, or in slum clearance, or needless mortality in childbirth. They accepted these as ills common throughout the centuries to a civilisation which they considered to be in a comparatively low state of evolution, and were far more inclined to follow the fate of individuals. For weeks on end, it seemed, they would watch the romance of a pair of young lovers in some obscure township, or a domestic drama in one of the luxurious homes of a modern capital. Such scenes from human destinies were their story books, their theatres, their talking pictures, and on their return to the island, so they said, it was their practice to recount the stages of these comedies or dramas which they had witnessed, in such detail that the others also felt they knew the protagonists in them, not only by name but by the minutest particulars of their daily lives and surroundings.
It was a slow method perhaps of satisfying that craving for stories common to all humanity, but the very details intensified the plots and the instalments followed each other from time to time like the longed for portions of
a serial.
Every one in the island at the present time was on tenterhooks to know if a certain Esteban Manillo, who dwelt in a sleepy old-fashioned Spanish town, would have secured the job he was after and be able to marry his Juanita, or if her loathsome step-father would throw her out of the house while Esteban was still penniless—and the latest moves in half a dozen other life dramas which various members of the community would be able to report upon after their next visit to the upper world.
Doctor Tisch spent most of his time happily discussing a thousand problems with Menes whom the McKay had christened the Admiral. The Doctor had also started a collection of botanical specimens—presumably for his own satisfaction for they would never be shown to anyone except the people who already knew them so well.
Axel and Lulluma had become inseparable and spent every waking moment in each other’s company, apparently in a kind of blissful dream state. The others employed themselves more actively with their work, loves, and hobbies.
Only Nicky failed to find contentment in this Paradise and he became more moody and irritable as the days wore on. He had fallen a victim to one of those wild unreasoning passions common to such natures and its object was Rahossis.
If she had treated him harshly from the beginning he might not have taken it so badly, but she had been extremely kind. On those first two nights of feasting she had, on each occasion, become just mildly and happily tipsy on Tokay—or Nektar as the Atlanteans preferred to call it. She had been intrigued a little by his strangeness too and flattered by his unconcealed admiration, therefore she had shown no hesitation whatever in abandoning herself to his embraces and more, returned them with all the ardour suggested by her Titian hair.
Having twice tasted of these joys Nicky, somewhat naturally, expected their continuance, so he was surprised and hurt when Rahossis proceeded to treat his further advances with the utmost casualness once the feasts were over. Worse, she showed a decided preference for the impish and amusing Quet and it was quite evident that a serious affair was boiling up between them.
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