CHAPTER IX
AT SETTLEMENT CLIFFS
Ten days later the two lovers--now man and wife--were backagain at the eastern lip of the Abyss. With them on the biplane theyhad brought the phonograph and records, all securely wrapped in oiledcanvas, the same which had enveloped the precious objects in theleaden chest.
They made a camp, which was to serve them for a while as headquartersin their tremendous undertaking of bringing the Merucaans to thesurface, and here carefully stored their treasure in a deep cleft ofrock, secure from rain and weather.
They had not revisited the bungalow on the return trip. The sight oftheir little home and garden, now totally devastated, they knew wouldonly sadden them unnecessarily.
"Let it pass, dearest, as a happy memory that was and is no more,"Stern cheered the girl as he held her in his arms the first night oftheir stay in the new camp, and as together they watched the purplehaze of sunset beyond the chasm. "Some day, perhaps, we may go backand once more restore Hope Villa and live there again, but for thepresent many other and far more weighty matters press. It will bewisest for a while to leave the East alone. Too many of the Horde arestill left there. Here, west of the Ohio River Valley, they don't seemto have penetrated--and what's more, they never shall! Just now wemust ignore them--though the day of reckoning will surely come! We'vegot our hands full for a while with the gigantic task ahead of us.It's the biggest and the hardest that one man and one woman evertackled since the beginning of time!"
She drew his head down and kissed him, and for a little while theykept the silence of perfect comradeship. But at last she questioned:
"You've got it all worked out at last, Allan? You know just the stepsto take? One false move--"
"There shall be no false moves. Reason, deliberation, care will solvethis problem like all the others. Given some fifteen hundred people,at a depth of five hundred miles, and given an aeroplane and plenty oftime--"
"Yes, of course, they can be brought to the surface. But after that,what? The dangers are tremendous! The patriarch died at the firsttouch of sunlight. We can't afford to take chances with the rest!"
"I've planned on all that. Our first move must be to locate a rockyledge, a cave, or something of the sort, where the transplantingprocess can be carried out. There mustn't be any exposure to theactual daylight for a long time after they're on the surface. Thedetails of food and water have all got to be arranged, too. It meanswork, work, _work!_ God, what work! But--it's our task, Beta, all ourown. And I glory in it. I thank Heaven for it--a man's-size labor! Andif we're strong and brave enough, patient and wise enough, we're boundto win."
"Win? Of course we'll win!" she answered, her faith in him touchingthe sublime. "We must! The life of the whole world's at stake!"
Night came, and redder glowed the firelight in the gloom. They spokeof life, of love, of destiny; and over them seemed to brood themystery of all that was to be.
The very purpose of the universe enwrapped itself about their passion,and the untroubled stars kept vigils till the dawn.
Daylight called them to begin the epic campaign they had mappedout--the rescue of a race.
After a visit to the patriarch's grave, which they decked anew withblossoms and fresh leaves, they prepared for the journey in search ofa suitable temporary home for the Folk.
Nine o'clock found them once more on the wing. Stern laid a southerlycourse along the edge of the Abyss. He and Beatrice had definitelydecided that the new home of humanity was not to be the distantregions of the East, involving so long and perilous a journey, butrather some location in the vast, warm, central plain of what had oncebeen the United States.
They judged they were now somewhere in the one-time State of Indiana,not far from Indianapolis. So much warmer had the climate grown thatfor some months to come at least the Folk could without doubt accustomthemselves to the change from the hot and muggy atmosphere of theAbyss to the semitropic heat.
The main object now was to discover suitable caves near a good watersupply, where by night the Folk could prosecute their accustomedfisheries. Agriculture and the care of domestic animals by daylightwould have to be postponed for some time, possibly for a year or more.Above all, the health of the prospective colonists must besafeguarded.
It was not until nearly nightfall of the next day, and after stops hadbeen made at the ruins of two considerable but unidentified towns--forfuel, as well as to fit up an electric search-light and hooded lampsto illuminate the instruments in the Abyss--that the explorers foundwhat they were seeking.
About half past five that afternoon they sighted a very considerableriver, flowing westward down a rugged and irregular valley, in thedirection of the chasm.
"This can't be the Ohio," judged Stern. "We must have long sincepassed its bed, now probably dried up. I don't remember any such hillyregion as this in the old days along the Mississippi Valley. All theseformations must be the result of the cataclysm. Well, no matter, justso we find what we're after."
"Where are we now?" she asked, peering downward anxiously. "Over whatState--can you tell?"
"Probably Tennessee or northern Alabama. See the change in vegetation?No conifers here, but many palms and fern-trees, and new, strangegrowths. Fertile isn't the name for it! Once we clear some land here,crops will grow themselves! I don't think we'll do better than this,Beta. Shall we land and see?"
A quarter-hour later the Pauillac had safely deposited them on a high,rocky plateau about half a mile back from the edge of the rivercanyon. Stern, in his eagerness, was all for cave-hunting that veryevening, but the girl restrained him.
"Not so impatient, dear!" she cautioned. "'Too fast arrives as tardyas too slow!' To-morrow's time enough."
"Ruling me with quotations from Shakespeare, eh?" he laughed, with akiss. "All right, have your way--_Mrs._ Stern!"
She laughed, too, at this, the first time she had heard her new name.So they made camp and postponed further labors till daylight again.
Morning found them early astir and at work. Together they traversedthe tropic-seeming woods, aflame with brilliant flowers, dank withferns and laced with twining lianas.
In the treetops--strange trees, fruit laden--parrakeets and flashinggreen and crimson birds of paradise disturbed the little monkey-folkthat chattered at the intruders. Once a coral-red snake whipped away,hissing, but not quick enough to dodge a ball from Stern's revolver.
Stern viewed the ugly, triangular head with apprehension. Well he knewthat venom dwelt there, but he said nothing. The one and only chanceof successfully transplanting the Folk must be to regions warm asthese. All dangers must be braved a time till they could growacclimated to the upper air. After that--but the vastness of thefuture deterred even speculation. Perils were inevitable. The morethere were to overcome the greater the victory.
"On to the cliffs!" said he, clasping the girl's hand in his own andmaking a path for her.
Thus presently they reached the edge of the canyon.
"Magnificent!" cried Beatrice as they came out on the overhang of therock wall. "With these fruitful woods behind, that river in front, andthese natural fortifications for our home, what more could we want?"
"Nothing except caves," Stern answered. "Let's call this New HopeRiver, eh? And the cliffs?"
"Settlement Cliffs!" she exclaimed.
"Done! Well, now let's see."
For the better part of the morning they explored the face of thepalisade. Its height, they estimated, ranged from two to three hundredfeet, shelving down in rough terraces to the rocky debris through andbeyond which foamed the strong current of New Hope River, a streamaveraging about two hundred yards in width.
Up-current a broader pool gave promise of excellent fishing. Itoverflowed into violent rapids, with swift, white waters noisilycascading.
"There, incidentally," Stern remarked, with the practical perceptionof the engineer, "there's power enough, when properly harnessed, tolight a city and to turn machinery ad libitum. I don't see how wecould better th
is site, do you?"
"Not if you think there are good chances for cave-dwellings," she madeanswer.
"From what we've seen already, it looks promising. Of course, there'llbe a deal of work to do; but there are excellent possibilities here.First rate."
Fortune seemed bent on favoring them. The limestone cliff,fantastically eroded, offered a score of shelters, some shallow andneeding to be walled up in front, others deep and tortuous. All was inutter confusion.
Stern saw that the terraces would have to be blasted and leveled,roads and stairs built along the face of the rock and down to theriver, stalactites and stalagmites cut away, chambers fashioned, and avast deal of labor done; but the rough framework of a cliff colonyundeniably existed here. He doubted whether it would be possible tofind a more favorable site without long and tedious travels.
"I guess we'll take the apartments and sign the lease," he decidedtoward noon, after they had clambered, pried, explored with improvisedtorches, and penetrated far into some of the grottoes. "The main thingto consider is that we can find darkness and humidity for the Folk byday. They mustn't be let out at first except in the night. It may beweeks or months before they can stand the direct sunlight. But that,too, will come. Patience, girl--patience and time--and all will yet bedone."
Yet, even as he spoke, a strange anxiety, a prescience of tremendousdifficulties, brooded in his soul. These were not cattle that he hadto deal with, but _men_.
Could he and Beatrice, rulers of the Folk though they now were, couldthey--with their paltry knowledge of the people's language,superstitions, prejudices and inner life--really bring about thisgreat migration?
Could they ravish a nation from its accustomed home, transplant itbodily, force new conditions on it, train, teach, civilize it? Allthis without rebellion, anarchy and failure?
"God!" thought the engineer. "The labors of Hercules were child's playbeside this problem!"
His heart quaked at the thought of all that lay ahead; yet througheverything, deep in the basic strata of his being, he knew that allshould be and must be as he planned.
Barring death only, the seemingly impossible should come to pass.
"I swear it!" he murmured to himself. "For _her_ sake, for theirs, andfor the world's, I swear it shall be!"
At high noon they emerged once more from the caverns, climbed thesteep cliff face, and again stood on the heights.
Facing northward, their gaze swept the lower river-bank opposite, andreached away, away, over the rolling hills and plains that lay, avirgin forest, to the dim horizon, brooding, mysterious, quiveringwith fertility and wild, strange life.
"Some time," he prophesied, sweeping his arm out toward thewilderness--"some time all _that_--and far beyond--shall be dottedwith clearings and rich farms, with cottages, schools, towns, cities.Broad highways shall traverse it. The hum of motors, of machinery, ofindustry--of life itself--shall one day displace the cry of beast andbird.
"Some time the English tongue shall reign here again--here and beyond.Here strong men shall toil and build and reap and rest. Here loveshall reign and women be called 'mother.' Here children shall play andlearn and grow to manhood and to womanhood, secure and free.
"Some time all good things shall here come to realization. Oppressionand slavery, alone, shall be undreamed of. These, and poverty andpain, shall never enter into the new world that is to be.
"Some time, here, 'all shall be better than well.' _Some time!_"
He circled her with his arm, and for a while they stood surveying thiscradle of the new race. Much moved, Beatrice drew very close to him.They made no speech.
For the dreams they two were dreaming, as the golden sun irradiatedall that vast, magnificent wilderness, passed any power of words.
Only she whispered "Some time!" too, and Allan knew she shared withhim the glory of his vast, tremendous vision!
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