Love's Eternal Altar

: When The World Shook

Now of all these happenings I said very little to Bastin and Bickley.

The former would not have understood them, and the latter attributed

what I did tell him to mental delusions following on my illness. To Yva

I did speak about them, however, imploring her to explain their origin

and to tell me whether or not they were but visions of the night.



She listened to me, as I thought not without anxiety, from which I
br /> gathered that she too feared for my mind. It was not so, however, for

she said:



"I am glad, O Humphrey, that your journeyings are done, since such

things are not without danger. He who travels far out of the body may

chance to return there no more."



"But were they journeyings, or dreams?" I asked.



She evaded a direct answer.



"I cannot say. My father has great powers. I do not know them all. It is

possible that they were neither journeyings nor dreams. Mayhap he used

you as the sorcerers in the old days used the magic glass, and after

he had put his spell upon you, read in your mind that which passes

elsewhere."



I understood her to refer to what we call clairvoyance, when the person

entranced reveals secret or distant things to the entrancer. This is

a more or less established phenomenon and much less marvelous than the

actual transportation of the spiritual self through space. Only I never

knew of an instance in which the seer, on awaking, remembered the things

that he had seen, as in my case. There, however, the matter rested, or

rests, for I could extract nothing more from Yva, who appeared to me to

have her orders on the point.



Nor did Oro ever talk of what I had seemed to see in his company,

although he continued from time to time to visit me at night. But now

our conversation was of other matters. As Bastin had discovered, by some

extraordinary gift he had soon learned how to read the English language,

although he never spoke a single word in that tongue. Among our

reference books that we brought from the yacht, was a thin paper edition

of the Encyclopedia Britannica, which he borrowed when he discovered

that it contained compressed information about the various countries of

the world, also concerning almost every other matter. My belief is

that within a month or so that marvelous old man not only read this

stupendous work from end to end, but that he remembered everything of

interest which it contained. At least, he would appear and show the

fullest acquaintance with certain subjects or places, seeking further

light from me concerning them, which very often I was quite unable to

give him.



An accident, as it chanced, whereof I need not set out the details,

caused me to discover that his remarkable knowledge was limited. Thus,

at one period, he knew little about any modern topic which began with a

letter later in the alphabet than, let us say, C. A few days afterwards

he was acquainted with those up to F, or G; and so on till he reached Z,

when he appeared to me to know everything, and returned the book. Now,

indeed, he was a monument of learning, very ancient and very new, and

with some Encyclopedia-garnered facts or deductions of what had happened

between.



Moreover, he took to astronomical research, for more than once we saw

him standing on the rock at night studying the heavens. On one of these

occasions, when he had the two metal plates, of which I have spoken, in

his hands, I ventured to approach and ask what he did. He replied that

he was checking his calculations that he found to be quite correct,

an exact period of two hundred and fifty thousand years having gone

by since he laid himself down to sleep. Then, by aid of the plates,

he pointed out to me certain alterations that had happened during that

period in the positions of some of the stars.



For instance, he showed me one which, by help of my glasses, I

recognised as Sirius, and remarked that two hundred and fifty thousand

years ago it was further away and much smaller. Now it was precisely in

the place and of the size which he had predicted, and he pointed to it

on his prophetic map. Again he indicated a star that the night-glass

told me was Capella, which, I suppose, is one of the most brilliant

stars in the sky, and showed me that on the map he had made two hundred

and fifty thousand years ago, it did not exist, as then it was too far

north to appear thereon. Still, he observed, the passage of this vast

period of time had produced but little effect upon the face of the

heavens. To the human eye the majority of the stars had not moved so

very far.



"And yet they travel fast, O Humphrey," he said. "Consider then how

great is their journey between the time they gather and that day when,

worn-out, once more they melt to vaporous gas. You think me long-lived

who compared to them exist but a tiny fraction of a second, nearly all

of which I have been doomed to pass in sleep. And, Humphrey, I desire

to live--I, who have great plans and would shake the world. But my

day draws in; a few brief centuries and I shall be gone, and--whither,

whither?"



"If you lived as long as those stars, the end would be the same, Oro."



"Yes, but the life of the stars is very long, millions of millions

of years; also, after death, they reform, as other stars. But shall I

reform as another Oro? With all my wisdom, I do not know. It is known

to Fate only--Fate-the master of worlds and men and the gods they

worship--Fate, whom it may please to spill my gathered knowledge, to be

lost in the sands of Time."



"It seems that you are great," I said, "and have lived long and learned

much. Yet the end of it is that your lot is neither worse nor better

than that of us creatures of an hour."



"It is so, Humphrey. Presently you will die, and within a few centuries

I shall die also and be as you are. You believe that you will live again

eternally. It may be so because you do believe, since Fate allows Faith

to shape the future, if only for a little while. But in me Wisdom has

destroyed Faith and therefore I must die. Even if I sleep again for

tens of thousands of years, what will it help me, seeing that sleep is

unconsciousness and that I shall only wake again to die, since sleep

does not restore to us our youth?"



He ceased, and walked up and down the rock with a troubled mien. Then he

stood in front of me and said in a triumphant voice:



"At least, while I live I will rule, and then let come what may come. I

know that you do not believe, and the first victory of this new day of

mine shall be to make you believe. I have great powers and you shall

see them at work, and afterwards, if things go right, rule with me for a

little while, perhaps, as the first of my subjects. Hearken now; in one

small matter my calculations, made so long ago, have gone wrong. They

showed me that at this time a day of earthquakes, such as those that

again and again have rocked and split the world, would recur. But now

it seems that there is an error, a tiny error of eleven hundred years,

which must go by before those earthquakes come."



"Are you sure," I suggested humbly, "that there is not also an error in

those star-maps you hold?"



"I am sure, Humphrey. Some day, who knows? You may return to your world

of modern men who, I gather, have knowledge of the great science of

astronomy. Take now these maps with which I have done, and submit them

to the most learned of those men, and let them tell you whether I was

right or wrong in what I wrote upon this metal two hundred and fifty

thousand years ago. Whatever else is false, at least the stars in their

motions can never die."



Then he handed me the maps and was gone. I have them today, and if ever

this book is published, they will appear with it, that those who are

qualified may judge of them and of the truth or otherwise of Oro's

words.



From that night forward for quite a long time I saw Oro no more. Nor

indeed did any of us, since for some reason of his own he forbade us to

visit the under ground city of Nyo. Oddly enough, however, he commanded

Yva to bring down the spaniel, Tommy, to be with him from time to time.

When I asked her why, she said it was because he was lonely and

desired the dog's companionship. It seemed to us very strange that this

super-man, who had the wisdom of ten Solomons gathered in one within his

breast, should yet desire the company of a little dog. What then was the

worth of learning and long life, or, indeed, of anything? Well, Solomon

himself asked the question ages since, and could give no answer save

that all is vanity.



I noted about this time that Yva began to grow very sad and troubled;

indeed, looking at her suddenly on two or three occasions, I saw that

her beautiful eyes were aswim with tears. Also, I noted that always as

she grew sadder she became, in a sense, more human. In the beginning she

was, as it were, far away. One could never forget that she was the

child of some alien race whose eyes had looked upon the world when, by

comparison, humanity was young; at times, indeed, she might have been

the denizen of another planet, strayed to earth. Although she never

flaunted it, one felt that her simplest word hid secret wisdom; that

to her books were open in which we could not read. Moreover, as I have

said, occasionally power flamed out of her, power that was beyond our

ken and understanding.



Yet with all this there was nothing elfish about her, nothing

uncanny. She was always kind, and, as we could feel, innately good and

gentle-hearted, just a woman made half-divine by gifts and experience

that others lack. She did not even make use of her wondrous beauty to

madden men, as she might well have done had she been so minded. It is

true that both Bastin and Bickley fell in love with her, but that was

only because all with whom she had to do must love her, and then, when

she told them that it might not be, it was in such a fashion that no

soreness was left behind. They went on loving her, that was all, but as

men love their sisters or their daughters; as we conceive that they may

love in that land where there is no marrying or giving in marriage.



But now, in her sadness, she drew ever nearer to us, and especially to

myself, more in tune with our age and thought. In truth, save for her

royal and glittering loveliness in which there was some quality which

proclaimed her of another blood, and for that reserve of hidden power

which at times would look out of her eyes or break through her words,

she might in most ways have been some singularly gifted and beautiful

modern woman.



The time has come when I must speak of my relations with Yva and of

their climax. As may have been guessed, from the first I began to love

her. While the weeks went on that love grew and grew, until it utterly

possessed me, although for a certain reason connected with one dead, at

first I fought against it. Yet it did not develop quite in the fashion

that might have been expected. There was no blazing up of passion's

fire; rather was there an ever-increasing glow of the holiest affection,

till at last it became a lamp by which I must guide my feet through life

and death. This love of mine seemed not of earth but from the stars. As

yet I had said nothing to her of it because in some way I felt that she

did not wish me to do so, felt also that she was well aware of all that

passed within my heart, and desired, as it were, to give it time to

ripen there. Then one day there came a change, and though no glance or

touch of Yva's told me so, I knew that the bars were taken down and that

I might speak.





It was a night of full moon. All that afternoon she had been talking to

Bastin apart, I suppose about religion, for I saw that he had some books

in his hand from which he was expounding something to her in his slow,

earnest way. Then she came and sat with us while we took our evening

meal. I remember that mine consisted of some of the Life-water which

she had brought with her and fruit, for, as I think I have said, I had

acquired her dislike to meat, also that she ate some plantains, throwing

the skins for Tommy to fetch and laughing at his play. When it was over,

Bastin and Bickley went away together, whether by chance or design I do

not know, and she said to me suddenly:



"Humphrey, you have often asked me about the city Pani, of which a

little portion of the ruins remains upon this island, the rest being

buried beneath the waters. If you wish I will show you where our royal

palace was before the barbarians destroyed it with their airships. The

moon is very bright, and by it we can see."



I nodded, for, knowing what she meant, somehow I could not answer her,

and we began the ascent of the hill. She explained to me the plan of the

palace when we reached the ruins, showing me where her own apartments

had been, and the rest. It was very strange to hear her quietly telling

of buildings which had stood and of things that had happened over two

hundred and fifty thousand years before, much as any modern lady might

do of a house that had been destroyed a month ago by an earthquake or a

Zeppelin bomb, while she described the details of a disaster which now

frightened her no more. I think it was then that for the first time I

really began to believe that in fact Yva had lived all those aeons since

and been as she still appeared.



We passed from the palace to the ruins of the temple, through what,

as she said, had been a pleasure-garden, pointing out where a certain

avenue of rare palms had grown, down which once it was her habit to walk

in the cool of the day. Or, rather, there were two terraced temples,

one dedicated to Fate like that in the underground city of Nyo, and the

other to Love. Of the temple to Fate she told me her father had been the

High Priest, and of the temple to Love she was the High Priestess.



Then it was that I understood why she had brought me here.



She led the way to a marble block covered with worn-out carvings and

almost buried in the debris. This, she said, was the altar of offerings.

I asked her what offerings, and she replied with a smile:



"Only wine, to signify the spirit of life, and flowers to symbolise

its fragrance," and she laid her finger on a cup-like depression, still

apparent in the marble, into which the wine was poured.



Indeed, I gathered that there was nothing coarse or bacchanalian about

this worship of a prototype of Aphrodite; on the contrary, that it was

more or less spiritual and ethereal. We sat down on the altar stone. I

wondered a little that she should have done so, but she read my thought,

and answered:



"Sometimes we change our faiths, Humphrey, or perhaps they grow. Also,

have I not told you that sacrifices were offered on this altar?" and she

sighed and smiled.



I do not know which was the sweeter, the smile or the sigh.



We looked at the water glimmering in the crater beneath us on the edge

of which we sat. We looked at heaven above in which the great moon

sailed royally. Then we looked into each other's eyes.



"I love you," I said.



"I know it," she answered gently. "You have loved me from the first,

have you not? Even when I lay asleep in the coffin you began to love me,

but until you dreamed a certain dream you would not admit it."



"Yva, what was the meaning of that dream?"



"I cannot say, Humphrey. But I tell you this. As you will learn in time,

one spirit may be clothed in different garments of the flesh."



I did not understand her, but, in some strange way, her words brought to

my mind those that Natalie spoke at the last, and I answered:



"Yva, when my wife lay dying she bade me seek her elsewhere, for

certainly I should find her. Doubtless she meant beyond the shores of

death--or perhaps she also dreamed."



She bent her head, looking at me very strangely.



"Your wife, too, may have had the gift of dreams, Humphrey. As you dream

and I dream, so mayhap she dreamed. Of dreams, then, let us say no more,

since I think that they have served their purpose, and all three of us

understand."



Then I stretched out my arms, and next instant my head lay upon her

perfumed breast. She lifted it and kissed me on the lips, saying:



"With this kiss again I give myself to you. But oh! Humphrey, do not ask

too much of the god of my people, Fate," and she looked me in the eyes

and sighed.



"What do you mean?" I asked, trembling.



"Many, many things. Among them, that happiness is not for mortals, and

remember that though my life began long ago, I am mortal as you are, and

that in eternity time makes no difference."



"And if so, Yva, what then? Do we meet but to part?"



"Who said it? Not I. Humphrey, I tell you this. Nor earth, nor heaven,

nor hell have any bars through which love cannot burst its way towards

reunion and completeness. Only there must be love, manifested in many

shapes and at many times, but ever striving to its end, which is not of

the flesh. Aye, love that has lost itself, love scorned, love defeated,

love that seems false, love betrayed, love gone astray, love wandering

through the worlds, love asleep and living in its sleep, love awake and

yet sleeping; all love that has in it the germ of life. It matters not

what form love takes. If it be true I tell you that it will win its

way, and in the many that it has seemed to worship, still find the one,

though perchance not here."



At her words a numb fear gripped my heart.



"Not here? Then where?" I said.



"Ask your dead wife, Humphrey. Ask the dumb stars. Ask the God you

worship, for I cannot answer, save in one word--Somewhere! Man, be not

afraid. Do you think that such as you and I can be lost in the aching

abysms of space? I know but little, yet I tell you that we are its

rulers. I tell you that we, too, are gods, if only we can aspire and

believe. For the doubting and timid there is naught. For those who see

with the eyes of the soul and stretch out their hands to grasp there is

all. Even Bastin will tell you this."



"But," I said, "life is short. Those worlds are far away, and you are

near."



She became wonderful, mysterious.



"Near I am far," she said; "and far I am near, if only this love of

yours is strong enough to follow and to clasp. And, Humphrey, it needs

strength, for here I am afraid that it will bear little of such fruit as

men desire to pluck."



Again terror took hold of me, and I looked at her, for I did not know

what to say or ask.



"Listen," she went on. "Already my father has offered me to you in

marriage, has he not, but at a price which you do not understand?

Believe me, it is one that you should never pay, since the rule of the

world can be too dearly bought by the slaughter of half the world. And

if you would pay it, I cannot."



"But this is madness!" I exclaimed. "Your father has no powers over our

earth."



"I would that I could think so, Humphrey. I tell you that he has powers

and that it is his purpose to use them as he has done before. You, too,

he would use, and me."



"And, if so, Yva, we are lords of ourselves. Let us take each other

while we may. Bastin is a priest."



"Lords of ourselves! Why, for ought I know, at this very moment Oro

watches us in his thought and laughs. Only in death, Humphrey, shall we

pass beyond his reach and become lords of ourselves."



"It is monstrous!" I cried. "There is the boat, let us fly away."



"What boat can bear us out of stretch of the arm of the old god of my

people, Fate, whereof Oro is the high priest? Nay, here we must wait our

doom."



"Doom," I said--"doom? What then is about to happen?"



"A terrible thing, as I think, Humphrey. Or, rather, it will not

happen."



"Why not, if it must?"



"Beloved," she whispered, "Bastin has expounded to me a new faith

whereof the master-word is Sacrifice. The terrible thing will not happen

because of sacrifice! Ask me no more."



She mused a while, seated there in the moonlight upon the ancient altar

of sacrifice, the veil she wore falling about her face and making

her mysterious. Then she threw it back, showing her lovely eyes and

glittering hair, and laughed.



"We have still an earthly hour," she said; "therefore let us forget the

far, dead past and the eternities to come and be joyful in that hour.

Now throw your arms about me and I will tell you strange stories of lost

days, and you shall look into my eyes and learn wisdom, and you shall

kiss my lips and taste of bliss--you, who were and are and shall

be--you, the beloved of Yva from the beginning to the end of Time."



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