Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century
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rumored that he has gone to Judea; that heproposes to make himself king in Jerusalem, and, with his vastwealth, re-establish the glories of Solomon, and revive the ancientsplendors of the Jewish race, in the midst of the ruins of the world."
"What effect has his flight had on the mob?" I asked.
"A terrible effect. They are wild with suspicions and full of rumors.They gathered, in a vast concourse, around the Cabano palace, toprevent Caesar leaving them, like the cripple. They believe that he,too, has another hundred millions hidden in the cellars of thepalace. They clamored for him to appear. The tumult of the mob wasfrightful.
"I rose to address them from the steps of the palace. I told themthey need not fear that Caesar would leave them--he was dead drunk,asleep in bed. If they feared treachery, let them appoint a committeeto search the palace for treasure. But--I went on--there was a greatdanger before them which they had not thought of. They must establishsome kind of government that they would all obey. If they did notthey would soon be starving. I explained to them that this vast city,of ten million inhabitants, had been fed by thousands of carloads offood which were brought in, every day, from the outside world. Nowthe cars had ceased to run, The mob had eaten up all the food in theshops, and tomorrow they would begin to feel the pangs of starvation.And I tried to make them understand what it meant for ten millionpeople to be starving together.
"They became very quiet. One man cried out:
"'What would you have us do?'
"'You must establish a provisional government. You must select oneman to whose orders you will all submit. Then you must appoint aboard of counselors to assist him. Then the men among you who areengineers and conductors of trains of cars and of air-lines mustreassume their old places; and they must go forth into the countryand exchange the spoils you have gathered for cattle and flour andvegetables, and all other things necessary for life.'
"'He wants to make himself a king,' growled one ruffian.
"'Yes,' said another, 'and set us all at work again.'
"'He's a d----d aristocrat, anyhow,' cried a third.
"But there were some who had sense enough to see that I was right,and the mob at once divided into two clamorous factions. Words led toblows. A number were killed. Three wretches rushed at me. I shot onedead, and wounded another; the third gave me a flesh wound on thehead with a sword; my hat broke the force of the blow, or it wouldhave made an end of me. As he raised his weapon for a second stroke,I shot him dead. My friends forced me through the door of the palace,in front of which I had been standing; we double-locked it to keepout the surging wild beasts; I fled through the back door, andreached here.
"All hope is gone," he added sadly; "I can do nothing now but providefor our own safety."
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE FLIGHT
"Yes," I replied, "we cannot remain here another night. Think whatwould be the effect if a fire broke out anywhere in this block!"
He looked at me in a startled way.
"True," he said; "we must fly. I would cheerfully give my life if itssacrifice would arrest these horrors; but it would not."
Christina came and stood beside him. He wrote a letter to GeneralQuincy. He made three copies of it. Selecting three of his best men,he gave each a copy, and told them to make their way together, wellarmed, to the armory of the airships. It was a perilous journey, butif either of them reached his destination, he was to deliver his copyof the letter to the general. In it Max asked General Quincy to sendhim one of the "Demons," as promised, that night at eight o'clock;and he also requested, as a signal that the messengers had reachedhim and that the air-ship would come, that he would send up a singleDemon, high in the air, at once on receiving the letter.
We went to the roof with our field-glasses. In two hours, we thought,the messengers, walking rapidly, would reach the armory. Two hourspassed. Nothing was visible in the heavens in the direction of thearmory, although we swept the whole region with our glasses. What ifour messengers had all been slain? What if General Quincy refused todo as he had agreed, for no promises were likely to bind a man insuch a dreadful period of anarchy? Two hours and a quarter--two hoursand a half passed, and no signal. We began to despair. Could wesurvive another night of horrors? At last
Estella, who had been quietly looking to the west with her glass,cried out:
"See! there is something rising in the air."
We looked. Yes, thank heaven! it was the signal. The Demon rose likea great hawk to a considerable height, floated around for awhile inspace, and then slowly descended.
It would come!
All hands were set at work. A line was formed from the roof to therooms below; and everything of value that we desired to carry with uswas passed from hand to hand along the line and placed in heaps,ready for removal. Even the women joined eagerly in the work. We didnot look for our messengers; they were to return to us in theair-ship.
The afternoon was comparatively quiet. The mobs on the street seemedto be looking for food rather than treasure. They were, however,generally resting, worn out; they were sleeping--preparing for theevening. With nightfall the saturnalia of death would begin againwith redoubled force.
We ate our dinner at six; and then Mr. Phillips suggested that weshould all join in family prayers. We might never have anotheropportunity to do so, he said. He prayed long and earnestly to God tosave the world and protect his dear ones; and we all joined ferventlyin his supplications to the throne of grace.
At half past seven, equipped for the journey, we were all upon theroof, looking out in the direction of the west for the coming of theDemon. A little before eight we saw it rise through the twilightabove the armory. Quincy, then, was true to his pledge. It camerapidly toward us, high in the air; it circled around, and at lastbegan to descend just over our heads. It paused about ten feet abovethe roof, and two ladders were let down. The ladies and Mr. Phillipswere first helped up to the deck of the vessel; and the men began tocarry up the boxes, bales, trunks, money, books and instruments wehad collected together.
Just at this moment a greater burst of tumult reached my ears. I wentto the parapet and looked down. Up the street, to the north, came avast concourse of people. It stretched far back for many blocks. Myfirst notion was that they were all drunk, their outcries were sovociferous. They shouted, yelled and screamed. Some of them boretorches, and at their head marched a ragged fellow with a long pole,which he carried upright before him. At the top of it was a blackmass, which I could not make out in the twilight. At this instantthey caught sight of the Demon, and the uproar redoubled; they dancedlike madmen, and I could hear Max's name shouted from a hundred lips.
"What does it mean?" I asked him.
"It means that they are after me. Hurry up, men," he continued,"hurry up."
We all sprang to work; the women stood at the top and received thesmaller articles as a line of men passed them up.
Then came a thunderous voice from below:
"Open the door, or we will break it down."
Max replied by casting a bomb over the parapet. It exploded, killinghalf a dozen men. But this mob was not to be intimidated like thethieves. The bullets began to fly; fortunately the gathering darknessprotected us. The crowd grew blacker, and more dense and turbulent.Then a number of stalwart fellows appeared, bearing a long beam,which they proposed to use as a battering-ram, to burst open thedoor, which had resisted all previous attacks.
"Bring down one of the death bombs," said Max to the men in the Demon.
Two stout fellows, belonging to the air-ship, carried down,carefully, between them, a great black sphere of iron.
"Over with it!" cried Max.
There was a crash, an explosion; the insurgents caught a whiff of thepoisoned air; the men dropped the beam; there was a rush backwardamid cries of terror, and the street was clear for a considerablespace around the house.
"Hurry, men, hurry!" cried Max.
I peeped over the parapet. A number
of the insurgents were rushinginto a house three doors distant. In a few moments they poured outagain, looking behind them as they ran.
"I fear they have fired that house," I said to Max.
"I expected as much," he replied, quietly.
"Hurry, men, hurry," he again cried.
The piles on the roof were diminishing rapidly. I turned to pass upbundles of my precious books. Another sound broke on my ears; aroaring noise that rapidly increased--it was the fire. The mobcheered. Then bursts of smoke poured out of the windows of the doomedhouse; then great arms and hands of flame reached out and snapped andclutched at the darkness, as if they would drag down ancient Nightitself, with all its crown of stars, upon the palpitating breast ofthe passionate conflagration. Then the roof smoked; then it seemed toburst open, and vast volumes of flame and smoke and showers of