by John Munro
CHAPTER VII.
ARRIVING IN VENUS.
"Try to speak--there's a good fellow--open your eyes."
I heard the words as in a dream. I recognised the voice of Gazen, but itseemed to come from the far distance. Opening my eyes I found myselfprostrate on the floor of the smoking room, with the professor and MissCarmichael kneeling beside me. There was a look of great anxiety ontheir faces.
"I'm all right," said I feebly. "I'm so glad you are safe."
It appears that a short time before, Gazen had closed the scuttles ofthe observatory and returned with Miss Carmichael to the saloon, then,after calling to me without receiving any answer, had opened the door ofthe smoking-room and seen me lying in a dead faint. Luckily MissCarmichael had acquired some knowledge of medicine, partly from herfather, and without loss of time they applied themselves to bring meround by the method of artificial respiration employed in cases ofdrowning or lightning stroke.
It would be tedious to narrate all the particulars of our journeythrough the dark abyss, particularly as nothing very important befellus, and one day passed like another. Now and then a small meteoric stonestruck the car and glanced off its rounded sides.
"Old Charon," as Gazen and I had nicknamed Carmichael, after the grimferryman of the Styx, seldom forsook his engines, and Miss Carmichaelspent a good deal of her time along with him. Occasionally she chattedwith Gazen and myself in the saloon, or helped us to make scientificobservations; but although neither of us openly confessed it, I think weboth felt that she did not give us quite enough of her company. Hermanner seemed to betray no preference for one or the other.
Did she, by her feminine instinct, perceive that we were both solicitousof her company, and was she afraid of exciting jealousy between us? Inany case we were all the more glad to see her when she did join us. Nodoubt men in general, and professors in particular, are fond ofcommunicating knowledge, but a great deal depends on the pupil; andcertainly I was surprised to see how the hard and dry astronomer beamedwith delight as he initiated this young lady into the mysteries of theapparatus, and what a deal of trouble he took to cram her lovely headwith mathematics.
We noted the temperature of space as we darted onwards, and discoveredthat it contains a trace of gases lost from the atmospheres of theheavenly bodies. We also found there a sprinkling of minute organisms,which had probably strayed from some living world. Gazen suggested thatthese might sow the seeds of organic life in brand-new planets, readyfor them, but perhaps that was only his scientific joke. The jokes ofscience are frequently so well disguised, that many people take them forearnest.
Gazen made numerous observations of the celestial bodies, moreespecially the sun, which now appeared as a globe of lilac fire in thecentre of a silvery lustre, but I will leave him to publish his resultsin his own fashion. We may claim to have seen the South Pole, but, ofcourse, at a distance too great for scientific purposes. Judging by itsappearance, I should say it was surrounded by a frozen land. The earth,with its ruddy and green continents, delineated as on a map, or veiledin belted clouds, was a magnificent object for the telescope as itwheeled in the blue rays of the sun.
Hour after hour, with a kind of loving fascination, we watched itgrowing "fine by degrees and beautifully less," until at last it wanedinto a bright star.
Venus, on the other hand, waxed more and more brilliant until itrivalled the moon, and Mercury appeared as a rosy star not far from it.
We soon got accustomed to the funereal aspect of the sky, and the uttersilence of space. Indeed, I was not so much impressed by the reality asI had been by the simulacrum in my dream of sunrise in the moon. When Ilooked at the weird radiance of the sun, however, I realised as I hadnever done before that he was only a star seen comparatively near, andthat the earth was but his insignificant satellite. Moreover, when Igazed down into the yawning gulf, with its strange constellations so far_beneath_ us, I felt to the full the awful loneliness of the universe;and how that all life and soul were confined to mere sunlit specksthinly scattered here and there in the blackness of eternal night.
Steering a calculated course by the stars, we reached the orbit ofVenus, and travelled along it in advance of the planet with a velocityrather less than her own, so as to allow her to overtake us. Somenotion of the eagerness with which we scanned her approach may begathered by imagining the moon to fall towards the earth. Slowly andsteadily the illuminated crescent of the planet grew in bulk anddefinition, until we could plainly distinguish all the features of herdisc without the aid of glasses. For the most part she was wrapped inclouds, of a dazzling lustre at the equator, and duskier towards thepoles. Here and there a gap in the vapour revealed the summit of amountain range, or the dark surface of a plain or sea.
I need hardly say that none of us viewed the majestic approach of thisnew world, suspended in the ether, and visibly turning round its axis,without emotion. The boundary of day and night was fairly well marked,and I pictured to myself the wave of living creatures rising from theirsleep to life and activity on one side, and going to sleep again on theother, as it crept slowly over the surface. To compare small things withgreat, the denizens of a planet reminded me of performers under thelimelight of a darkened theatre:
"All the world's a stage!"
We amused ourselves with conjectures as to our probable fate on Venus,supposing we should arrive there safe and sound.
"I suppose the authorities will demand our passports," said I. "Perhapswe shall be tried and condemned to death for invading a friendlyplanet."
"It wouldn't surprise me in the least," said Gazen, "if they were to putus into their zoological gardens as a rare species of monkey."
"What a ridiculous idea!" exclaimed Miss Carmichael. "Now _I_ feel surethey will pay us divine honours. Won't it be nice?"
"You will make a perfect divinity," rejoined the professor withconsummate gallantry. "For my part I shall feel more at home in amenagerie."
Thus far we had not observed any signs of intelligent beings on thecloudy globe, and it was still doubtful whether we should not discoverit to be a lifeless world.
Our track did not lie exactly on the orbit of the planet, butsufficiently beneath it to let her attraction pull the car up towardsher Southern Pole as it passed above us; and by this course of action wetrusted to enjoy a wider field of atmosphere to manoeuvre in, andprobably a safer descent into a cooler climate than we should haveexperienced in attempting to land on the equator.
By an illusion familiar in the case of railway trains, it seemed to usthat the car was stationary, and the planet rushing towards us. On itcame like a great shield of silver and ebony, eclipsing the stars andgrowing vaster every moment. Under the driving force of the engines andthe gravity of the planet, our car was falling obliquely towards theorbit, like a small boat trying to cross the bows of an ironclad, and acollision seemed inevitable. Being on the sunward side we could see moreand more of the illuminated crescent as it drew near, and were filledwith amazement at the sublime spectacle afforded by the strange contrastbetween the purple splendour of the solar disc in the black abyss ofether and the pure white celestial radiance which was reflected from theatmosphere of the planet.
The climax of magnificence was reached when the approaching surface cameso close as to appear concave, and our little ark floated above ahemisphere of dazzling brightness under a hemisphere of appallingdarkness faintly relieved by the glimmer of stars and the purple gloryof the sun.
Ere we could express our admiration, however, we were startled by amagical transformation of the scene. The sky suddenly became blue, thestars vanished from sight, the sun changed to a golden lustre, and thebroad day was all around us.
"Whatever has happened?" exclaimed Miss Carmichael between alarm andwonder.
"We have entered the atmosphere of Venus," responded Gazen withalacrity. "I wonder if it is breathable?"
So saying he opened one of the scuttles, and a whiff of fresh air blewinto the car. Thrusting his nose out, he sniffed cautiousl
y for a whileand then drew several long breaths.
"It seems all right as regards quality," he remarked, "but there's toolittle body in it. We must wait until we get nearer the ground before wecan go outside the car."
The pressure of the atmosphere as taken by an aneroid barometerconfirmed his observation, but as we were ignorant of its averagedensity it could not give us any certain indication of our height. Farbeneath us an ideal world of clouds hid the surface from our view. Weseemed to be floating above a range of snowy Alps, their dusky valleysfilled with glaciers, and their sovereign peaks glittering in the sunlike diamonds. As we descended in a long slant, their dazzling summitsrose to meet us, and the infinite play of light and shade became moreand more beautiful. The gliding car threw a distinct shadow whichtravelled along the white screen, and equally to our surprise anddelight became fringed with coloured circles resembling rainbows.
"It is a good omen!" cried Miss Carmichael.
"Humph!" responded the professor, shaking his head but smilinggood-humouredly; "that is a mere superstition I'm afraid. It is simplyan optical effect, a variety of the phenomenon called 'anthelia,' likeUlloa's Circle and the famous 'Spectre of the Brocken.'"
"Explain it how you will," rejoined Miss Carmichael, "to me it is anemblem of hope. It cheers my heart."
"I am very glad to hear it, and I should be very sorry to crush yourhopes," said Gazen pleasantly. "We can sometimes derive moralencouragement and profit from external phenomena. A rainbow in the midstof a storm is a cheering sight. I daresay there is a reasonable basis,too, for certain superstitions. St. Elmo's Fire may, for instance, fromnatural causes, be a sign of good weather, only there is nothingsupernatural about it."
"I am not in the secrets of the supernatural," replied Miss Carmichael,"but I believe that if we do not look for the supernatural, if we shutour eyes to it, we are not likely to see it."
"Science has proved that so many things formerly thought to besupernatural are quite natural," observed the astronomer a little morehumbly.
"Perhaps the natural and the supernatural are one," said MissCarmichael. "Does a thing cease to be supernatural because we knowsomething about it?"
"Well, it may have another meaning for us. Before the days of science,great mistakes were made in our interpretations of phenomena.Superstition is born of ignorance, and we can see the germ of it in thechild who is frightened by a bogie, or the horse that shies at themoonlight."
"Its higher parent is a belief in the unseen."
"In any case it has done an immense amount of harm," said the professor.
"And probably quite as much good," responded Miss Carmichael. "However,don't think me a friend of superstition. But in getting rid of it let ustake care that we do not fall into the opposite error. It seems to methat if science had all its own way it would reduce man and nature to alittle machine working in the corner of a big one; but I think it willcost us too dear if it make us lose our sense of the divine origin andspiritual significance of the universe."
Further argument was cut short by the car suddenly dashing into theclouds with a noiseless ease that astonished us, for they had appearedas solid as the rock.
Lost in the vapours, our car seemed at rest; but although we sawnothing, we could hear a vague and distant murmur which charmed our earsafter the long silence of space like a strain of music. Whether this wasdue to the sounds of the surface collected in the clouds, or toelectrical discharges I cannot say, for we were trying to solve themystery by hearkening to it, when it abruptly died away as the car shotinto the clear air beneath the clouds.
"The sea! the sea!" cried Miss Carmichael, starting up in joyfulexcitement to join her father; and sure enough we were flying above adark blue hemisphere which could only be the ocean.
Gazen now made another test of the atmosphere, and, finding itsatisfactory, we opened the door of the car and ventured on the gallery.
After our confinement the fresh air acted like a charm. It felt so cooland sweet in the nostrils that every breath was a pleasure. We inhaledit in long, deep, loving draughts, which imparted vigour to ourexhausted frames, and intoxicated our spirits like laughing gas. I couldhardly restrain a wild impulse to leap from the car into the unruffledbosom of the sea below, and Gazen, habitually staid, actually shoutedwith glee. His voice startled the utter stillness, and was mocked by afaint echo from the surface of the water. By timing the interval betweena call and its echo we found it nearly ten seconds, which correspondedto a height of about a mile. A repetition of the test from time to timeshowed that the car was now travelling at a fairly constant level. Thewide ocean spread all around us; neither sail nor shore, nor livingcreature was visible, and we had begun to ask ourselves whether we hadnot found a watery planet, when Gazen suddenly cried out,
"Land!"
"Whereaway?" I enquired with breathless interest.
He pointed a little to the right of our course, and following thedirection of his finger, I saw a dim outline where sea and sky met. Itmight have been mistaken for the tip of a cloud, but as we advanced itrose above the horizon and took a definite shape not unlike a truncatedcone.
The glasses showed it to be an island apparently of volcanic formation,and after a brief consultation with Carmichael, we steered towards it.The emotion of Columbus when he arrived at the Bahamas affords, perhaps,the nearest parallel to our feelings, but in our case the land in sightwas the outlier of another planet. Watchful curiosity and silentexpectation, the ineffable sorcery of new scenes, the mystery of theunknown, the romance of adventure, the exultation of triumph, and thedread of disaster, were inextricably blended in our hearts. It was aglorious hour, and come what might, we all felt that we had not lived invain.
The island rose out of the sea like a volcanic peak, and was evidentlyencircled with a barrier reef, as we could trace a line of snowy surfbreaking on its outer verge, and parting the sapphire blue of the deepwater without from the emerald green shoals within. The coast, sweepingin beautiful bays, dotted with overgrown islets, and fended by rockypromontories, was rimmed with beaches of yellow sand. The steep sides ofthe mountain, broken with precipices, and shaggy with vegetation,ascended from a multitude of spurs and buttresses, resembling billows ofverdure, and towered into the clouds.
I have used the word verdure, but it is really a misnomer, for althoughthe prevailing tint of the foliage was a dark green, the entire forestwas streaked like a rainbow with innumerable flowers, and the breezewhich blew from it was laden with the most delightful perfume, Evidentlyit was all a howling wilderness, for we could not detect the slightestvestige of human dwellings or cultivation. We did not even observe anysigns of bird or beast. A profound stillness brooded over the solitude,and was scarcely broken by the drowsy murmur of distant waterfalls.
A forest, like the sea or desert, has a magical power to stimulate thefancy and touch the primitive chords of the heart. Even a Scotchhillside, or a Devonshire moor, can throw their wild spells over thecivilised man of letters, and appeal to savage or poetical instinctsunderlying all his culture. So now, where everything seen or unseen, wasnew and strange, and the imagination was quite free to rove, the charmwas more intense. We stood and gazed upon the moving panorama likepersons in a trance. The trees and plants grew in zones according totheir different levels above the sea, after the manner of those on theearth, but we were too high to distinguish the various kinds.Apparently, however, feathery palms and gigantic grasses prevailed inthe lower, and glossy evergreens, resembling the magnolia andrhododendron, in the middle grounds. All this part of the forest was sothickly encumbered with flowering creepers and parasites as to seem oneimmense bower, dense enough to exclude the sunlight and make a perpetualtwilight underneath. The higher slopes were clad with pine-trees, havinglong thin needles, which hung from their boughs like fringes of greenhair, and bushy shrubs which reminded me of heaths. Above these,enormous ferns with fronds twenty or thirty feet in length, and thicketsdraped in variegated mosses were thriving in the spray of a thousandslender c
ataracts which poured from the brink of the precipitous cragson the summit of the mountain.
Seen from a distance, the cliffs appeared of a ruddy tint, but on comingcloser we found this was due to myriads of huge lichens of a deepcrimson and orange, and that the natural colours of the rock, vermilionand blue, lemon, yellow, purple, and olive green, almost vied with thoseof the forest lower down the steep.
We glided over the crest at a point where it was almost free of cloud,and were astonished to find it carved by the weather into the mostfantastic shapes, rudely imitating the colossal figures of men andanimals, or the towers and turrets of ruined castles. After the noveltyof this goblin architecture had passed, however, its effect was somewhatdreary. The wind, moaning through the lifeless aisles and crannies ofthe dripping rocks, the rolling mist and shuddering pools of water,induced a sense of loneliness and depression. The revulsion in ourfeelings was therefore all the greater when the car suddenly escapedfrom this height of desolation, and a magnificent prospect burst uponour view.
An immense valley seemed to lie far beneath us, but it was really atable-land of hills, rocks, and mountains, shaggy with vegetation, andflung together in riotous confusion like the billows of a raging sea.The stupendous cliffs behind us dropped sheerly down to the level of theplateau, some ten or twenty thousand feet below, and swept around it asa curving wall on either hand until they vanished in the distance. Itwas evidently the crater of the extinct volcano.
Our journey across that blooming wilderness will never fade from myrecollection, but when I attempt to give the reader an idea of it,impressions crowd so thick and fast upon me as to choke my utterance; Iam equally in danger of soaring into a wild extravagance of generalityand sinking into a mere catalogue of detail. Yet I find it impossibleto hit a mean that can do any justice to it. The extraordinary way inwhich the ancient lavas of the interior had been riven, upheaved, andpiled upon each other by the volcanic forces, the bewildering varietyand exuberance of the tropical plants and trees which battened on therich and crumbling soil, completely baffles all description. What theimagination is unable to conceive, and the eye itself is overpowered inbeholding, the pen can never hope to depict. Let the grandest mountainscenes of your memory be jumbled together as in a dream and overgrownwith the maddest jungles of the Ganges or the Amazon, and thephantasmagoria would still be nothing to the living reality.
Most of the highest peaks and ridges, as well as the deepest valleys andravines, were covered with the embowering forest; but here and there ahuge boss of granite or porphyry reared its bare scalp out of theverdure like the head and shoulders of some antediluvian monster. Thegigantic palms and foliage trees, all tufted with air-plants orstrangled with climbers, were literally buried in flowers of every hue,and the crown of the forest rolled under us like a sea of blossoms.Every moment one enchanting prospect after another opened to ourwondering eyes. Now it was a waterfall, gleaming like a vein of silveron the brow of a lofty precipice, and descending into a lakelet borderedwith red, blue, and yellow lilies. Again it was a natural bridge,spanning a deep chasm or tunnel in the rock, through which a riverboiled and roared in a series of cascades and rapids. Ever and anon wepassed over glades and prairies, carpeted with orchids, and dotted withclumps of shrubbery, a mass of golden bloom, or tremendous blocks ofbasalt hung with crimson creepers. Butterflies with azure wings of asurprising spread and lustre, alighted on the flowers, and great birdsof resplendent plumage flashed from grove to grove. A sun, twice thediameter of ours, blazed in the northern sky, but the intensity of hisrays was tempered by a thin veil of cloud. The atmosphere although warmand moist, was not oppressive like that of a forcing-house, and thebreeze was balmy with delicious perfume.
As each new marvel came in sight, unstaled by familiar and untarnishedby vulgar associations, fresh from the hand of nature, so to speak, wewere filled as we had never been before with an intoxicating sense ofthe divine mystery and miracle of life. For myself I was fairlydumbfounded with amazement, and my companion, the hard-headed scepticalastronomer, kept on crying and muttering to himself, "My God! my God!"as if he had become a drivelling fool.
We travelled league after league of this paradise run wild (I cannottell how many) without noticing any change in the character of thescenery. At length, however, it grew less savage by degrees, and weentered on a park-like country which gained in loveliness what it lostin grandeur. Low hills, clad from base to summit in masses of gorgeousbloom, and mirrored in sequestered lakes fringed with pied water-lilies;groves of majestic cedars inviting to repose; rambling shrubberies andevergreen trees festooned with flowering vines; brooks as clear ascrystal, murmuring over their pebbly beds, now hiding under droopingboughs, now lost in brakes of tall reeds and foliage plants; grassymeadows gay with crocusses, hyacinths, and tulips, or such-like flowers;isolated rocks and boulders mantled with vivid moss and lichens; hotsprings falling over basins and terraces of tinted alabaster; clusteringpalms and groups of spiry pine-trees; geysers throwing up columns ofspray tinged with rainbows; all these and a thousand other features ofthe landscape which must be nameless passed before our view.
Again and again we startled some herd of wild quadrupeds or flock ofgaudy birds unknown to science. Legions of large and burnished insects,veritable living jewels, might be seen everywhere, and flauntingbutterflies hovered about the car. So far we had not observed the leastsign of human occupation, and yet, as Gazen remarked, the appearance ofthe country seemed to betray the influence of art. It had not the wildand wasteful luxuriance of the earlier tract, of a region left entirelyin the hands of Nature, but rather of a paradise which had been dressedand kept by the gods.
Owing to the height at which we were travelling, and the undulatingcharacter of the surface, we could not see very far ahead. At length,however, on emerging from a gap in a range of hills, we came upon a vastplain or prairie stretching away into the distance, and there in theblue haze of the horizon we saw, or fancied we saw, the architecture andgardens of a great city, on the borders of a lake, and above the lake,suspended in mid-air, a spectral palace, glittering in the sunbeams.
We raised a shout of joy and triumph at this discovery.
"Stop a minute, though," said Gazen, and a shade of doubt passed overhis face. "Perhaps it is only a mirage."
We levelled our glasses at the distant scene, and scanned it withpalpitating hearts. We could discern the general shape, and even thedetails of many houses, and the roofs and minarets of the palace, whichwas evidently built on the top of an island in the midst of the lake.
"That is not a phantasm," said I at last; "it is a real city."
Gazen made no reply, but turned and silently shook me by the hand. Thetears were standing in his eyes.
A delightful breeze, fragrant with innumerable flowers, mantled the longgrass of the prairie which was threaded by a maze of silver streams, anddiversified with bosky woodlands. Ere long we observed fantasticcottages and picturesque villas nestling in the coppices, and as may beimagined we were all on tip-toe with curiosity to catch a sight of theirinhabitants. We were anxious to see whether they looked like humanbeings, and how they were disposed towards us.
For a long time we looked in vain, but at length we saw a figure movingacross the prairie which turned out to be that of--a _man_. Yes, a manlike ourselves, but well stricken in years, and to judge by his costumeapparently a savage. His back was towards us, and as we floated past theprofessor shouted in a tone loud enough for him to hear,
"Good evening, sir."
The native started, and lifting his eyes to the car beheld it withastonishment and awe. He raised his hands in the air, then dropped themby his side, and sank upon his knees.
"That's a good sign," said Gazen with a grim smile. "I wonder if heunderstands English. Let's try him again," and he cried out, "What's thename of this place?" but the car was going rapidly, and if there was anyresponse it was lost upon the wind.
As we approached the city, the cottages became thicker and thicker. Theywere of variou
s sizes, and of a light fanciful design adapted to a warmclimate. Each of them was surrounded by a grove or garden rich inflowers and fruit. There were grassy trails and roads from one toanother, but we did not see any fields or fences, flocks or herds.
We also saw more and more of the inhabitants--men, women, and children.They were evidently a fine race, tall, handsome, and of whitecomplexion; but the men in general were darker than the women. Fromtheir gay dresses, and the condition of the land, we had set them downfor savages; but on a nearer view, their lack of arms, the beauty oftheir homes, and their own graceful demeanour, obliged us to reconsiderour opinion. When they first saw the car they did not fly in terror, ormuster hastily in armed and yelling bands. Many of them ran and cried,it is true, but only to call their friends, and while some stood withbowed heads and upraised hands as the car floated by, others, like theold man, fell upon their knees as though in prayer.
It was getting late in the day, and the sun was now sloping to the crestof the mountain wall encircling the crater. Accordingly we held aconsultation with Carmichael as to whether we should land there, orproceed to the city.
Carmichael thought we should go on.
"But," said Gazen, "would it not be safer to try the temper of thepeople first, here in the country?"
"These people are not savages," replied Carmichael. "They are civilised,or semi-civilised, else how could they have built so fine a city as thatappears. If we should see any signs of hostility amongst them, however,the car is plated with metal and will protect us--we have arms and candefend ourselves--and, besides, we can rise again, and slip away fromthem."
We decided to advance, but Gazen and I took the precaution to belt onour revolvers.
The huge limb of the sun, red and glowing, sank to rest in a bed ofpurple clouds on the summit of the rosy precipice, and filled all thegreen plain with a rich amber light. The fantastic towers and trees ofthe distant city by the lake shone in his mellow lustre; the solitaryisland swam in a flood of gold, and the quaint edifice which crowned itblazed with insufferable splendour. As the eerie gloaming died in thewest, and thin grey mists began to veil the outlandish scene, werealised to the full that we were all alone and friendless in an unknownworld, and a deep sentiment of exile took possession of our souls.
The gloaming fell, and myriads of lights twinkled in the dusk, someflitting about like fireflies, others stationary, while a hum of manyvoices ascended to our ears. The lights showed us that we were glidingover the city, and the voices told us that our arrival was causing agreat commotion. Presently we floated above a large open space orsquare, lit with coloured lanterns, and evidently adorned with trees,fountains, and statuary. Here a great number of people had assembled,and as they appeared quite orderly and peaceable, we determined to land.While the car descended cautiously, Gazen and I kept a sharp watch onthe crowd, with our revolvers in our hands. Instead of anger andresistance, however, the natives only manifested friendly signs ofwelcome. They withdrew to a respectful distance, and, dropping on theirknees, burst into a song or hymn of wonderful sweetness as the cartouched the ground.
