The Golden Age of Science Fiction Novels Vol 02

by Anthology

  He walked directly to Phoebe's door and knocked--first softly, then more loudly.

  "Cousin Phoebe--Cousin Phoebe," he said.

  After a few calls and knockings, there came a sleepy reply from within.

  "Well--what--who is it?"

  "It's Cousin Copernicus," he said. "Please tell me. Hev ye shrunk any yet?"

  "What--how?" The tones were very sleepy indeed.

  "Hev ye shrunk any yet? Are ye growin' littler in there? Oh, please feel fer the footboard with yer toe!"

  He waited and heard a rustling as of someone moving in bed.

  "Did ye feel the footboard?" he asked.

  "Yes--kicked it good--now let me sleep." She was ill-natured with much drowsiness.

  Poor Droop staggered away from the door as though he had been struck.

  All had failed, then. They were circling uselessly. Those inventions would never be his. The golden dreams he had been nursing--oh, impossible! It was unbearable!

  He put both hands to his head and walked across the room. He paused half-consciously before a small closet partly hidden in the wall.

  With an instinctive movement, he touched a spring and the door slid back. He drew from the cupboard thus revealed two bottles and a glass and returned to seat himself at the table.

  A half an hour later the Panchronicon, circling in the outer brightness and silence, contained three unconscious travellers, and one of them sat with his arms flung across the table supporting his head, and beside him an empty bottle.

  CHAPTER VI

  SHIPWRECKED ON THE SANDS OF TIME

  Rebecca was the first of the three to waken. Over her small window she had hung a black shawl to keep out the light, and upon this screen were thrown recurrent flashes of sunlight.

  "Still a-swingin'," she murmured. "Wonder how fur back we be now!"

  She was herself surprised at the eagerness she felt to observe at last the results of their extraordinary attempt.

  She rose quickly and was very soon ready to leave her room. She was longing to see Phoebe--Phoebe as she had been when a girl.

  Opening her door, she was astonished to find the lamps of the main room aglow and to see Copernicus in his shirt-sleeves, asleep with his head on the table.

  As she stepped out of her own room, her senses were offended by the odor of alcohol. With horror she realized that rum, the spirit of all the sources of evil, had found its way into their abode.

  She entertained so violent a repugnance for liquors and for men under their influence that she could not bring herself to approach Copernicus.

  "He's gone an' got drunk again," she muttered, glaring with helpless anger at the bottles and then at him.

  "Mister Droop! Copernicus Droop!" she cried in a high, sharp voice.

  There was no reply.

  She looked about her for something to prod him with. There was an arm-chair on casters beside her door. She drew this to her and pushed it with all her might toward the unconscious man.

  The chair struck violently against Droop's seat, and even caused his body to sway slightly, but he still slept and gave no sign.

  "That settles it!" she exclaimed, with mingled disgust and alarm in her face.

  "What's the matter?"

  It was Phoebe who called.

  "It's me," said Rebecca. "Can I come in?"

  "Yes."

  Rebecca walked into Phoebe's room, which she found darkened like her own. Her sister was in bed.

  "What ever happened to you?" Phoebe asked. "Sounded as though ye'd fallen down or somethin'."

  Rebecca stood stiffly with her back to the closed door, her hands folded before her.

  "Copernicus Droop is tight! Dead drunk!" she exclaimed, with a shaking voice.

  "Drunk!" cried Phoebe. "Lands sakes!--an'--" She looked about her with alarm. "Then what's happened to the machine?" she asked.

  "Whirlin', whirlin', same as ever! Cuttin' meridians or sausage meat fer all I care. I jest wish to goodness an' all creation I'd never ben sech a plumb born nateral fool as to--oh, wouldn't I like to jest shake that man!" she broke out, letting her anger gain the upper hand.

  Then Phoebe recalled their situation and their expectations of the night before.

  "Why, then I ought to be gettin' little pretty fast," she said, feeling her arms. "I don't see's I've shrunk a mite, hev I?"

  "No more'n I hev!" Rebecca exclaimed, hotly. "Nor you won't, nuther. Ye might jest's well make up yer mind to it thet the whole business is foolish folderols. We're a nice couple o' geese, we are, to come out here to play 'Here we go round the mulberry bush' with the North Pole--an' all along of a shif'less, notorious slave o' rum!"

  She plumped herself into a chair and glared at the darkened window as though fascinated by those ever-returning flashes of sunlight.

  "Well--well--well!" murmured Phoebe.

  She was much disappointed, and yet somehow she could not avoid a certain pleasure in the thought that at least there was no fear of a return to childhood.

  "But what're we goin' to do?" she asked at length. "If Mr. Droop's so tight he can't manage the machine, what'll we do. Here we are tied up to the North Pole----"

  "Oh, drat the old Panchronicon!" cried Rebecca.

  Then rising in her wrath, she continued with energy: "The's one thing I'm goin' to do right this blessed minute. I'm goin' to draw a hull bucket o' cold water an' throw it over that mis'able critter in there! Think o' him sleepin' on the table--the table as we eat our victuals on!"

  "No--no. Don't try to wake him up first!" cried Phoebe. "Let's have breakfast--we can have it in the kitchen--an' then you can douse him afterward. Just think of the wipin' an' cleanin' we'll have to do after it. We'll be starved if we wait breakfast for all that ruction!"

  Rebecca reflected a moment. Then:

  "I guess ye're right, Phoebe," she said. "My, won't that carpet look a sight! I'll go right an' fix up somethin' to eat, though goodness knows, I'm not hungry."

  She left Phoebe to dress and made a wide circuit to avoid even approaching the table on her way to the kitchen. Not long afterward she was followed by her sister, who took a similar roundabout path, for Phoebe was quite as much in horror of drink and drinkers as Rebecca.

  She glanced at the date indicator as she passed it.

  "My sakes!" she said, as she entered the kitchen, "it's March 25, 1887. Why, then's the time that I had the measles so bad. Don't you remember when I was thirteen years old an' Dr. ----"

  Rebecca broke in with a snort.

  "Eighty-seven grandmothers!" she exclaimed. "Don't you get to frettin' 'bout gettin' the measles or anything else, Phoebe--only sof'nin' of the brain--I guess we've both got that right bad!"

  "I don't know 'bout that," Phoebe replied, as she began to set the small table for two. "I believe we're gettin' back, after all, Rebecca. The's one thing sure. Everybody knows that ye lose a day every time you go round the world once from east to west, an' I'm sure we've gone round often enough to lose years. I believe that indicator's all right."

  "We've not ben goin' round the world, though," Rebecca replied. "That's the p'int. This old iron clothes-pole out here ain't the hull world, I can tell ye!"

  "Well, but all the meridians----"

  "Oh, bother yer meridians! I ain't seen one o' the things yet--nor you hevn't, either, Phoebe Wise!"

  Phoebe was not convinced. It seemed not at all unreasonable, after all, that they should lose time without undergoing any physical change. She concluded to argue the matter no further, however.

  Their meal was eaten in silence. As they rose to clear the table, Phoebe said:

  "Th' ain't any use of goin' back to 1876 now, is there, Rebecca. Though I do s'pose it won't make any difference to Mr. Droop. He can bring out his inventions an'----"

  "Not with my money, or Joe Chandler's, either," Rebecca declared, firmly. "Not as Joe'd ask me to marry him now. He'd as soon think o' marryin' his grandmother."

  "Then what's the use o' goin' back any further. We
might's well stop the machine right now, so's not to have so many more turns to wind up again."

  "Fiddlesticks!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Don't you fret about that! Don't I tell ye it's folderol! Tell ye what ye can do, though. Open them shutters out there an' let in some sunlight. I've more'n half a mind to open a window, too. Thet smell o' rum in there makes me sick."

  "We'd freeze to death in a minute if we tried it," said Phoebe, as she entered the main room.

  She went to each of the four windows and opened all the shutters, avoiding in the meantime even a glance at the middle of the room. She did not forget the date indicator, however.

  "Merry Christmas!" she cried, with a little laugh. "It's Christmas-day, 1886, Rebecca."

  The engine-room door was open. Perhaps it was a sign of her returning youth, but the fact is her fingers itched to get at those bright, tempting brass and steel handles. Droop had explained their uses and she felt sure she could manage the machinery. What a delightful thing it would be to feel the Panchronicon obeying her hand!

  "Really, Rebecca," she exclaimed, "if we're not going back to '76 after all, I think it's a dreadful waste of time for us to be throwin' away six months every hour this way."

  "'Twon't be long," Rebecca replied, as she turned the hot water into her dishpan. "You come in here an' help wash these dishes, an' ef I don't soon wake up that mis'able--" She did not trust herself further, but tightly compressed her lips and confined her rising choler.

  "Why, Rebecca Wise," said Phoebe, "you know it will be hours before that man's got sense enough to run this machine. I'm goin' to stop it myself, right now."

  Rebecca had just taken a hot plate from her pan, but she paused ere setting it down, alarmed at Phoebe's temerity.

  "Don't you dast to dream o' sech a thing, Phoebe!" she cried, with frightened earnestness.

  But Phoebe was confident, and crossed the threshold with a little laugh.

  "Why, Rebecca, what you scared of?" she said. "It's just as easy as that--see!"

  She pulled the starting lever.

  The next instant found her flying out into the middle of the main room following Droop, the table, and all the movable furniture. In the kitchen there was a wild scream and a crash of crockery as Rebecca was thrown against the rear partition.

  Phoebe had pulled the lever the wrong way and the Panchronicon was swiftly reaching full speed.

  "Heavens and airth!" cried Rebecca.

  "Whatever in gracious--" began the dismayed Phoebe.

  She broke off in renewed terror as she found herself pushed by an irresistible force to the side of the room.

  "Here--here!" she heard from the kitchen. "What's this a-pullin'? Land o' promise, Phoebe, come quick! I've got a stroke!"

  "I can't come!" wailed Phoebe. "I'm jammed tight up against the wall. It's as though I was nailed to it."

  "Oh, why--why did ye touch that machinery!" cried Rebecca, and then said no more.

  The speed indicator pointed to one hundred and seventy-five miles an hour. They were making one revolution around the pole each second--and they were helpless.

  As she found herself pushed outward by the immensely increased centrifugal force, Phoebe found it possible to seat herself upon one of the settles, and she now sat with her back pressed firmly against the south wall of the room, only able by a strong effort to raise her head.

  She turned to the right and found that Droop had found a couch on the floor under the table and chairs at the rear of the room, also against the south wall.

  In the kitchen Rebecca had crouched down as she found herself forced outward, and she now sat dazed on the kitchen floor surrounded by the fragments of their breakfast all glued to the wall as tightly as herself.

  "Oh, dear--oh, dear!" she cried, closing her eyes. "Copernicus Droop said that side weight would be terrible if we travelled too fast. Why, I'm so heavy sideways I feel like as if I weighed 497-1/2 pounds like that fat woman in the circus down to Keene."

  "So do I," Phoebe said, "only I'm so dizzy, too, I can hardly think."

  "Shet your eyes, like me," said Rebecca.

  "I would only I can't keep 'em off the North Pole there," said Phoebe, as she gazed fascinated through the north window opposite.

  "Why, what's the matter with the child!" Rebecca exclaimed, in alarm. "Air ye struck silly, Phoebe?"

  "No, but I guess you'd want to watch it too if you could see that ring we're tied to spinnin' round right close to the top of the pole. There--there!" she continued, shrilly. "It'll fly right off in another minute! There! Oh, dear!"

  Their attachment did indeed appear precarious. The increased speed acting through the inclined aeroplane had caused the vessel to rise sharply, and the rope had raised the ring by which it was attached to the pole until it came in contact with the steel ball at the top, when it could rise no farther. Here the iron ring was grinding against and under the retaining ball which alone prevented its slipping off the top of the pole.

  "I don't see's we'd be any wuss off ef we did come loose," said Rebecca, with eyes still closed. "At least we wouldn't be gummed here ez tight's if the walls was fly-paper."

  "No, but we'd fly off at a tangent into infinite space, Rebecca Wise," Phoebe said, sharply.

  "Where's that?" asked her sister. "I'll engage 'tain't any wuss place than the North Pole."

  "Why, it's off into the ether. There isn't any air there or anythin'. An' they say it's fifty times colder than the North Pole."

  "Who's ben there?"

  "Why, nobody--" Phoebe began.

  "Then let's drop it," snapped Rebecca. "Dr. Kane said the' was an open sea at the North Pole--an' I'm sick o' bein' told about places nobody's ever ben to before."

  Phoebe was somewhat offended at this and there was a long silence, during which she became more reassured touching the danger of breaking away from the Pole. Soon she, too, was able to shut her eyes.

  The silence was broken by a meek voice from under the table.

  "Would you mind settin' off my chist?" said Droop.

  There was no answer and he opened his eyes. His bewilderment and surprise were intense when he discovered his situation.

  Shutting his eyes again, he remarked:

  "What you flashin' that bright light in my eyes so often for?"

  Phoebe gave vent to a gentle sniff of contempt.

  "My--my--my!" Droop continued, in meek amazement. "I s'pose I must hev taken two whole bottles. I never, never felt so heavy's this before! What's the old Pan lyin' on it's side fer?"

  "'Tain't on its side," snapped Phoebe. "The old thing's run away, Copernicus Droop, an' it's all your fault." There was a quiver in her voice.

  "Run away!" said Droop, opening his eyes again. "Where to?"

  "Nowheres--jest whirlin'. Only it's goin' a mile a second, I do believe--an' it'll fly off the pole soon--an'--an' we'll all be killed!" she cried, bursting into tears.

  She dragged her hands with great difficulty to her face against which she found them pressed with considerable energy. Crying under these circumstances was so very unusual and uncomfortable that she soon gave it up.

  "Oh, I see! It's the side weight holds me here. Where are you?"

  There was no reply, so he turned his head and eyes this way and that until at length he spied Phoebe on the settle, farther forward.

  "Am I under the table?" he said. "Where's Cousin Rebecca? Was she pressed out through the wall?"

  "I'm out here in the kitchen, Copernicus Droop," she cried. "I wish to goodness you'd ben pressed in through the walls of the lock-up 'fore ever ye brought me'n Phoebe into this mess. Ef you're a man or half one, you'll go and stop this pesky old Panchronicle an' give us a chance to move."

  "How can I go?" he cried, peevishly. "What the lands sakes did you go an' make the machine run away for? Couldn't ye leave the machinery alone?"

  "I didn't touch your old machine!" cried Rebecca. "Phoebe thought we'd be twisted back of our first birthday ef the thing wasn't stopped, an' she pulled the handl
e the wrong way, that's all!"

  Droop rolled his eyes about eagerly for a glimpse of the date indicator.

  "What's the date, Cousin Phoebe?" he asked.

  "April 4, 1884--no, April 3d--2d--oh, dear, it's goin' back so fast I can't tell ye the truth about it!"

  "Early in 1884," Droop repeated, in awe-struck accents. "An' we're a-whirlin' off one day every second--just about one year in six minutes. Great Criminy crickets! When was you born, Cousin Phoebe?"

  "Second of April, 1874."

  "Ten years. One year in six minutes--gives ye jest one hour to live. Then you'll go out--bang!--like a candle. I'll go next, and Cousin Rebecca last."

  "Well!" exclaimed Rebecca, angrily, "ef I can hev the pleasure o' bein' rid o' you, Copernicus Droop, it'll be cheap at the price--but the's no sech luck. Ef you think ye can fool us any more with yer twaddle 'bout cuttin' meridians, ye're mistaken--that's all I can say."

  Droop was making desperate efforts to climb along the floor and reach the engine-room, but, although by dint of gigantic struggles he managed to make his way a few feet, he was then obliged to pause for breath, whereupon he slid gently and ignominiously back to his nook under the table.

  Here he found himself in contact with a corked bottle. He looked at it and felt comforted. At least he had access to forgetfulness whenever he pleased to seek it.

  The two women found it wisest to lie quiet and speak but little. The combined rotary movement and sense of weight were nervously disturbing, and for a long time no one of the three spoke. Only once in the middle of the forenoon did Phoebe address Droop.

  "Whatever will be the end o' this?" she said.

  "Why, we'll keep on whirlin' till the power gives out," he replied. "Ye hevn't much time to live now, hev ye?"

  With a throb of fear felt for the first time, Phoebe looked at the indicator.

  "It's May, 1874," she said.

  "Jest a month--thirty seconds," he said, sadly.

  "Copernicus Droop, do you mean it?" screamed Rebecca from the kitchen.

  "Unless the power gives out before then," he replied. "I don't suppose ye want to make yer will, do ye?"

  "Stuff!" said Phoebe, bravely, but her gaze was fixed anxiously on the indicator, now fast approaching the 2d of April.