CHAPTER XXVI.
AN INTERLUDE.
At noon on the 26th, as the tropical sun was pouring down itsvertical rays upon the lovely valley of Aeria, the _Ithuriel_ crossedthe Ridge which divided it from the outer world, and came to rest onthe level stretch of sward on the northern shore of the lake.
Before she touched the earth Arnold glanced rapidly round anddiscovered his aerial fleet resting under a series of largepalm-thatched sheds which had already been erected to protect themfrom the burning sun, and the rare but violent tropical rain-storms.He counted them. There were only eleven, and therefore the eviltidings that they had heard from the captain of the _Andromeda_ wastrue.
Even before greetings were exchanged with the colonists Natas orderedNicholas Roburoff to be summoned on board alone. He received him inthe lower saloon, on either side of which, as he went in, he found amember of the crew armed with a magazine rifle and fixed bayonet.
Seated at the cabin table were Natas, Tremayne, and Arnold. ThePresident was received in cold and ominous silence, not even a glanceof recognition was vouchsafed to him. He stood at the other end ofthe table with bowed head, a prisoner before his judges. Natas lookedat him for some moments in dead silence, and there was a dark gleamof anger in his eyes which made Arnold tremble for the man whose lifehung upon a word of a judge from whose sentence there could be noappeal.
At length Natas spoke; his voice was hard and even; there were nomodulations in it that displayed the slightest feeling, whether ofanger or any other emotion. It was like the voice of an impassivemachine speaking the very words of Fate itself.
"You know why we have returned, and why you have been sent for?"
"Yes, Master."
Roburoff's voice was low and respectful, but there was no quaver offear in it.
"You were left here in command of the settlement and in charge of thefleet. You were ordered to permit no vessel to leave the valley tillthe flagship returned. One of them was seen crossing theMediterranean in a northerly direction three days ago. Either you area traitor, or that vessel is in the hands of traitors. Explain."
Nicholas Roburoff remained silent for a few moments. His breastheaved once or twice convulsively, as though he were striving hard torepress some violent emotion. Then he drew himself up like a soldiercoming to attention, and, looking straight in front of him, told hisstory briefly and calmly, though he knew that, according to the lawsof the Order, its sequel might, and probably would, be his own death.
"The night of the day on which the flagship left the valley wasvisited by a violent storm, which raged for about four hours withoutcessation. We had no proper shelter but the air-ships, and so Idistributed the company among them.
"When nearly all had been provided for, there was one vessel leftunoccupied, and four of the unmarried men had not been accommodated.They therefore took their places in the spare vessel. They were PeterTamboff, Amos Vornjeh, Ivan Tscheszco, and Paul Oreloff, allRussians.
"We closed the hatches of the vessels, and remained inside till thestorm ceased. When we were able to open the hatches again, it waspitch dark--so dark that it was impossible to see even a yard fromone's face. Suspecting no evil, we retired to rest again tillsunrise. When day dawned it was found that the vessel in which thefour men I have named had taken shelter had disappeared.
"I at once ordered three vessels to rise and pass through the defile.On the outside we separated and made the entire circuit of Aeria,rising as high as the fan-wheels would take us, and examining thehorizon in all directions for the missing vessel.
"We failed to discover her, and were forced to the conclusion thatthe deserters had taken her away early in the night at full speed,and would, therefore, be far beyond the possibility of capture, as wepossessed no faster vessel than the missing one. So we returned. Thatis all."
"Go to the forward cabin and remain there till you're sent for," saidNatas.
The President instantly turned and walked mechanically through thedoor that was opened for him by one of the sentinels. The other wentin front of him, the second behind, closing the door as he left thesaloon.
A brief discussion took place between Natas and his two lieutenants,and within a quarter of an hour Nicholas Roburoff was again standingat the end of the table to hear the decision of his judges. Withoutany preamble it was delivered by Natas in these words--
"We have heard your story, and believe it. You have been guilty of aserious mistake, for these four men were all ordinary members of theOuter Circle, who had only been brought here on account of theirmechanical skill to occupy subordinate positions. You thereforecommitted a grave error, amounting almost to a breach of the rulewhich states that no members of the Outer Circle shall be entrustedwith any charge, or work, save under the supervision of a member ofthe Inner Circle responsible for them.
"Had such a breach been even technically committed your life wouldhave been forfeited, and you would have been executed for breach oftrust. We have considered the circumstances, and find you guilty ofindiscretion and want of forethought.
"You will cease from now to be President of the Inner Circle. Yourplace will be taken for the time by Alan Tremayne as Chief of theExecutive. You will cease also to share the Councils of the Order fora space of twelve months, during which time you will be incapable ofany responsible charge or authority. Your restoration will, ofcourse, depend upon your behaviour. I have said."
As he finished speaking Natas waved his hand towards the door. It wasopened, the sentries stepped aside, and Nicholas Roburoff walked outin silence, with bowed head and a heart heavy with shame. The penaltywas really the most severe that could be inflicted on him, for hefound himself suddenly deprived both of authority and the confidenceof his chiefs at the very hour when the work of the Brotherhood wasculminating to its fruition.
Yet, heavy as the punishment seemed in comparison with the fault, itwas justified by the necessities of the case. Without the strictestsafeguards, not only against treachery or disobedience, but even merecarelessness, it would have been impossible to have carried on thetremendous work which the Brotherhood had silently and secretlyaccomplished, and which was soon to produce results as momentous asthey would be unexpected. No one knew this better than the latePresident himself, who frankly acknowledged the justice and thenecessity of his punishment, and prepared to devote himself heart andsoul to regaining his lost credit in the eyes of the Master.
No sooner was the sentence pronounced than the matter was instantlydismissed and never alluded to again, so far as Roburoff wasconcerned, by any one. No one presumed even to comment upon a word ordeed of the Master. The disgraced President fell naturally, andapparently without observation, into his humbler sphere of duties,and the members of the colony treated him with exactly the samefriendliness and fraternity as they had done before. Natas haddecided, and there was nothing more for any one to say or do in thematter.
Arnold, as soon as he had exchanged greetings with the Princess, nowknown simply as Anna Ornovski, and his other friends andacquaintances in the colony, not, of course, forgetting Louis Holt,at once shut himself up in his laboratory by the turbine, and for thenext four hours remained invisible, preparing a large supply of hismotor gases, and pumping them into the exhausted cylinders of the_Ithuriel_, and all the others that were available, by means of hishydraulic machinery.
Soon after four he had finished his task, and come out to take hispart in a ceremony of a very different character to that at which hehad been obliged to assist earlier in the day. This was thefulfilment of the promise which Radna Michaelis had made to Colstonin the Council-chamber of the house on Clapham Common on the eveningof his departure on the expedition which had so brilliantly provedthe powers of the _Ariel_, and brought such confusion on the enemiesof the Brotherhood.
Almost the first words that Colston had said to Radna when he boardedthe _Avondale_ were--
"Natasha is yonder, safe and sound, and you are mine at last!"
And she had replied very quietly, yet with
a thrill in her voice thattold her lover how gladly she accepted her own condition--
"What you have fairly won is yours to take when you will have it.Besides, you cannot do justice on Kastovitch now, for it has alreadybeen done. We had news before we left England that he had been shotthrough the heart by the brother of a girl whom he treated worse thanhe treated me."
But, as has been stated before, the laws of the Brotherhood did notpermit of the marriage of any of its members without the directsanction of Natas, and therefore it had been necessary to wait untilnow.
As Radna and Colston were two of the most trusted and prominentmembers of the Inner Circle, it was fitting that their wedding shouldbe honoured by the presence of the Master in person. An addedsolemnity was also given to it by the fact that, in all humanprobability, it was the first time since the world began that themighty hills which looked down upon Aeria had witnessed the plightingof the troth of a man and a woman.
Like all other formal acts of the Brotherhood, the ceremony wassimple in the extreme; but, in this case at least, it was none theless impressive on that account. In a lovely glade, through which acrystal stream ran laughing on its way to the lake, Natas sat underthe shade of a spreading tree-fern. In front of him was a small tablecovered with a white cloth, on which lay a roll of parchment and acopy of the Hebrew Scriptures.
At this table, facing Natas, stood the betrothed pair with theirwitnesses, Natasha for Radna, and Arnold for Colston, or AlexisMazanoff, to give him his true name, which must, of course, be usedon such an occasion. In a wide semicircle some four yards off stoodall the members of the little community, Louis Holt and his faithfulservitor not excepted.
In the midst of a silence broken only by the whispering of the warm,scented wind in the tree-tops, the Master of the Terror spoke in akindly yet solemn tone--
"Alexis Mazanoff and Radna Michaelis, you stand here before Heaven,and in the presence of your comrades, to take each other for weddedwife and husband, till death shall part the hands that now arejoined!
"Your mutual vows have long ago been pledged, and what you are aboutto do is good earnest of their fulfilment. But above the duty thatyou owe to each other stands your duty to that great Cause to whichyou have already irrevocably devoted your lives. You have alreadysworn that as long as you shall live its ends shall be your ends, andthat no human considerations shall weigh with you where those endsare concerned. Do you take each other for husband and wife subject tothat condition and all that it implies?"
"We do!" replied the lovers with one voice, and then Natas went on--
"Then by the laws of our Order, the only laws that we are permittedto obey, I pronounce you man and wife before Heaven and this company.Be faithful to each other and the Cause in the days to come as youhave been in the days that are past, and if it shall please theMaster of Destiny that you shall be blessed with children, see to itthat you train them up in the love of truth, freedom, and justice,and in the hatred of tyranny and wrong.
"May the blessings of life be yours as you shall deserve them, andwhen the appointed hour shall come, may you be found ready to passfrom the mystery of the things that are into the deeper mystery ofthe things that are to be!"
So saying, the Master raised his hands as though in blessing, and asAlexis and Radna bent their heads the slanting sunrays fell upon thethickly coiled white hair of the new-made wife, crowning her shapelyhead like a diadem of silver.
All that remained to do now was to sign the Marriage Roll of theBrotherhood, and when they had done this the entry stood asfollows:--
"Married on the tenth day of the Month Tamuz, in the Year of the World five thousand six hundred and sixty-four, in the presence of me, Natas, and those of the Brotherhood now resident in the Colony of Aeria:--
{ALEXIS MAZANOFF, {RADNA MICHAELIS MAZANOFF.
Witnesses {RICHARD ARNOLD, {NATASHA.
As Natasha laid down the pen after signing she looked up quickly, asthough moved by some sudden impulse, her eyes met Arnold's, and aninstant later the happy flush on Radna's cheek was rivalled by thatwhich rose to her own. Her lips half parted in a smile, and then sheturned suddenly away to be the first to offer her congratulations tothe newly-wedded wife, while Arnold, his heart beating as it hadnever done since the model of the _Ariel_ first rose from the floorof his room in the Southwark tenement-house, grasped Mazanoff by thehand and said simply--
"God bless you both, old man!"
The whole ceremony had not taken more than fifteen minutes frombeginning to end. After Arnold came Tremayne with his good wishes,and then Anna Ornovski and the rest of the friends and comrades ofthe newly-wedded lovers.
One usually conspicuous feature in similar ceremonies was entirelywanting. There were no wedding presents. For this there was a verysufficient reason. All the property of the members of the InnerCircle, saving only articles of personal necessity, were held incommon. Articles of mere convenience or luxury were looked upon withindifference, if not with absolute contempt, and so no one hadanything to give.
After all, this was not a very serious matter for a company of menand women who held in their hands the power of levying indemnities toany amount upon the wealth-centres of the world under pain ofimmediate destruction.
That evening the supper of the colonists took the shape of a sylvanmarriage feast, eaten in the open air under the palms and tree ferns,as the sun was sinking down behind the western peaks of Aeria, andthe full moon was rising over those to the eastward.
The whole earth might have been searched in vain for a happiercompany of men and women than that which sat down to the marriagefeast of Radna Michaelis and Alexis Mazanoff in the virgin groves ofAeria. For the time being the world-war and all its horrors wereforgotten, and they allowed their thoughts to turn without restraintto the promise of the days when the work of the Brotherhood should beaccomplished, and there should be peace on earth at last.
It had been decided that three of the air-ships would be sufficientfor the chase and capture or destruction, as the case might be, ofthe deserters. These were the _Ithuriel_, under the command ofArnold; the _Ariel_, commanded by Mazanoff, who, of course, did notsail alone; and the _Orion_, in charge of Tremayne, who had alreadymastered the details of aerial navigation under Arnold's tuition.
To the unspeakable satisfaction of the latter, Natas had signifiedhis intention of accompanying him in the _Ithuriel_. As Natashautterly refused to be parted so soon from her father again, one ofhis attendants was dispensed with and she took his place. This facthad, of course, something to do with the Admiral's satisfaction withthe arrangement.
By nine o'clock the moon was high in the heavens. At that hour thefan-wheels of the little squadron rose from the decks, and at asignal from Arnold began to revolve. The three vessels ascendedquietly into the air amidst the cheers and farewells of thecolonists, and in single file passed slowly down the beautiful valleybathed in the brilliant moonlight. One by one they disappearedthrough the defile that led to the outer world, and, once clear ofthe mountains, the _Ithuriel_, with one of her consorts on eitherside, headed away due north at the speed of a hundred miles an hour.
The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror Page 27