Nalboon Unmasked
: The Skylark Of SpaceAfter a long, sound sleep, Seaton awoke and sprang out of bed. No sooner
had he started to shave, however, than one of the slaves touched his
arm, motioning him into a reclining chair and showing him a keen blade,
long and slightly curved. Seaton lay down and the slave shaved him with
a rapidity and smoothness he had never before experienced, so
wonderfully sharp was the peculiar razor. After Seaton had dressed, the
ba
treatment save rubbing his face with a perfumed oil.
"Hold on a minute," interjected Seaton, who was watching the process
with interest, "here's something that helps a lot." He lathered the face
with his brush and the man looked up in surprised pleasure as his stiff
beard was swept away without a sound.
Seaton called to the others and soon the party was assembled in his
room, all dressed very lightly, because of the unrelieved and unvarying
heat, which was constant at one hundred degrees. A gong sounded, and one
of the slaves opened the door, ushering in a party of servants bearing a
table, ready set. During the meal, Seaton was greatly surprised at
hearing Dorothy carrying on a halting conversation, with one of the
women standing behind her.
"I knew that you were a language shark, Dottie, with five or six
different ones to your credit, but I didn't suppose you could learn to
talk this stuff in one day."
"I can't," she replied, "but I've picked up a few words of it. I can
understand very little of what they are trying to tell me."
The woman spoke rapidly to the man standing behind Seaton, and as soon
as the table had been carried away, he asked permission to speak to
Dorothy. Fairly running across to her, he made a slight obeisance and in
eager tones poured forth such a stream of language that she held up her
hand to silence him.
"Go slower, please," she said, and added a couple of words in his own
tongue.
There ensued a strange dialogue, with many repetitions and much use of
signs. She turned to Seaton, with a puzzled look.
"I can't make out all he says, Dick, but he wants you to take him into
another room of the palace here, to get back something or other that
they took from him when they captured him. He can't go alone--I think he
says he will be killed if he goes anywhere without you. And he says that
when you get there, you must be sure not to let the guards come inside."
"All right, let's go!" and Seaton motioned the man to precede him. As
Seaton started for the door, Dorothy fell into step beside him.
"Better stay back, Dottie, I'll be back in a minute," he said at the
door.
"I will not stay back. Wherever you go, I go," she replied in a voice
inaudible to the others. "I simply will not stay away from you a single
minute that I don't have to."
"All right, little girl," he replied in the same tone. "I don't want to
be away from you, either, and I don't think that we're in any danger
here."
Preceded by the chief slave and followed by half a dozen others, they
went out into the hall. No opposition was made to their progress, but a
full half-company of armed guards fell in around them as an escort,
regarding Seaton with looks composed of equal parts of reverence and
fear. The slave led the way rapidly to a room in a distant wing of the
palace and opened the door. As Seaton stepped in, he saw that it was
evidently an audience-chamber or court-room, and that it was now
entirely empty. As the guard approached the door, Seaton waved them
back. All retreated across the hall except the officer in charge, who
refused to move. Seaton, the personification of offended dignity, first
stared at the offender, who returned the stare, and stepped up to him
insolently, then pushed him back roughly, forgetting that his strength,
great upon Earth, would be gigantic upon this smaller world. The officer
spun across the corridor, knocking down three of his men in his flight.
Picking himself up, he drew his sword and rushed, while his men fled in
panic to the extreme end of the corridor. Seaton did not wait for him,
but in one bound leaped half-way across the intervening space to meet
him. With the vastly superior agility of his earthly muscles he dodged
the falling broadsword and drove his left fist full against the fellow's
chin, with all the force of his mighty arm and all the momentum of his
rapidly moving body behind the blow. The crack of breaking bones was
distinctly audible as the officer's head snapped back. The force of the
blow lifted him high into the air, and after turning a complete
somersault, he brought up with a crash against the opposite wall,
dropping to the floor stone dead. As several of his men, braver than the
others, lifted their peculiar rifles, Seaton drew and fired in one
incredibly swift motion, the X-plosive bullet obliterating the entire
group of men and demolishing that end of the palace.
* * * * *
In the meantime the slave had taken several pieces of apparatus from a
cabinet in the room and had placed them in his belt. Stopping only to
observe for a few moments a small instrument which he clamped upon the
head of the dead man, he rapidly led the way back to the room they had
left and set to work upon the instrument he had constructed while the
others had been asleep. He connected it, in an intricate system of
wiring, with the pieces of apparatus he had just recovered.
"That's a complex job of wiring," said DuQuesne admiringly. "I've seen
several intricate pieces of apparatus myself, but he has so many
circuits there that I'm lost. It would take an hour to figure out the
lines and connections alone."
Straightening abruptly, the slave clamped several electrodes upon his
temples and motioned to Seaton and the others, speaking to Dorothy as he
did so.
"He wants us to let him put those things on our heads," she translated.
"Shall we let him, Dick?"
"Yes," he replied without hesitation. "I've got a real hunch that he's
our friend, and I'm not sure of Nalboon. He doesn't act right."
"I think so, too," agreed the girl, and Crane added:
"I can't say that I relish the idea, but since I know that you are a
good poker player, Dick, I am willing to follow your hunch. How about
you, DuQuesne?"
"Not I," declared that worthy, emphatically. "Nobody wires me up to
anything I can't understand, and that machine is too deep for me."
Margaret elected to follow Crane's example, and, impressed by the need
for haste evident in the slave's bearing, the four walked up to the
machine without further talk. The electrodes were clamped into place
quickly and the slave pressed a lever. Instantly the four visitors felt
that they had a complete understanding of the languages and customs of
both Mardonale, the nation in which they now were, and of Kondal, to
which nation the slaves belonged, the only two civilized nations upon
Osnome. While the look of amazement at this method of receiving
instruction was still upon their faces, the slave--or rather, as they
now knew him, Dunark, the Kofedix or Crown Prince of the great nation of
Kondal--began to disconnect the wires. He cut out the wires leading to
the two girls and to Crane, and was reaching for Seaton's, when there
was a blinding flash, a crackling sound, the heavy smoke of burning
metal and insulation, and both Dunark and Seaton fell to the floor.
Before Crane could reach them, however, they were upon their feet and
the stranger said in his own tongue, now understood by every one but
DuQuesne:
"This machine is a mechanical educator, a thing entirely new, in our
world at least. Although I have been working on it for a long time, it
is still in a very crude form. I did not like to use it in its present
state of development, but it was necessary in order to warn you of what
Nalboon is going to do to you, and to convince you that the best way of
saving your lives would save our lives as well. The machine worked
perfectly until something, I don't know what, went wrong. Instead of
stopping, as it should have done, at teaching your party to speak our
languages, it short-circuited us two completely, so that every
convolution in each of our brains has been imprinted upon the brain of
the other. It was the sudden formation of all the new convolutions that
rendered us unconscious. I can only apologize for the break-down, and
assure you that my intentions were of the best."
"You needn't apologize," returned Seaton. "That was a wonderful
performance, and we're both gainers, anyway, aren't we? It has taken us
all our lives to learn what little we know, and now we each have the
benefit of two lifetimes, spent upon different worlds! I must admit,
though, that I have a whole lot of knowledge that I don't know how to
use."
"I am glad you take it that way," returned the other warmly, "for I am
infinitely the better off for the exchange. The knowledge I imparted was
nothing, compared to that which I received. But time presses--I must
tell you our situation. I am, as you now know, the Kofedix of Kondal.
The other thirteen are fedo and fediro, or, as you would say, princes
and princesses of the same nation. We were captured by one of Nalboon's
raiding parties while upon a hunting trip, being overcome by some new,
stupefying gas, so that we could not kill ourselves. As you know, Kondal
and Mardonale have been at war for over ten thousand karkamo--something
more than six thousand years of your time. The war between us is one of
utter extermination. Captives are never exchanged and only once during
an ordinary lifetime does one ever escape. Our attendants were killed
immediately. We were being taken to furnish sport for Nalboon's party by
being fed to one of his captive kolono--animals something like your
earthly devilfish--when the escort of battleships was overcome by those
four karlono, the animals you saw, and one of them seized Nalboon's
plane, in which we were prisoners. You killed the karlon, saving our
lives as well as those of Nalboon and his party.
* * * * *
"Having saved his life, you and your party should be honored guests of
the most honored kind, and I venture to say that you would be so
regarded in any other nation of the universe. But Nalboon, the Domak--a
title equivalent to your word 'Emperor' and our word 'Karfedix'--of
Mardonale, is utterly without either honor or conscience, as are all
Mardonalians. At first he was afraid of you, as were we all. We thought
you visitors from a planet of our fifteenth sun, which is now at its
nearest possible approach to us. After your display of superhuman power
and ability, we expected instant annihilation. However, after seeing the
Skylark as a machine, discovering that you are short of power, and
finding that you are gentle instead of bloodthirsty by nature, Nalboon
lost his fear of you and resolved to rob you of your vessel, with its
wonderful secrets of power. Though we are so ignorant of chemistry that
I cannot understand the thousandth part of what I just learned from you,
we are a race of mechanics and have developed machines of many kinds to
a high state of efficiency, including electrical machines of all kinds.
In fact, electricity, generated by our great waterfalls, is our only
power. No scientist upon Osnome has ever had an inkling that
intra-atomic energy exists. Nalboon cannot understand the power, but he
solved the means of liberating it at a glance--and that glance sealed
your death-warrants. With the Skylark, he could conquer Kondal, and to
assure the downfall of my nation he would do anything.
"Also, he or any other Osnomian scientist would go to any lengths
whatever--would challenge the great First Cause itself--to secure even
one of those little bottles of the chemical you call 'salt.' It is far
and away the scarcest and most precious substance in the world. It is so
rare that those bottles you produced at the table held more than the
total amount previously known to exist upon Osnome. We have great
abundance of all the heavy metals, but the lighter metals are rare.
Sodium and chlorin are the rarest of all known elements. Its immense
value is due, not to its rarity, but to the fact that it is an
indispensable component of the controlling instruments of our wireless
power stations and that it is used as a catalyst in the manufacture of
our hardest metals.
"For these reasons, you understand why Nalboon does not intend to let
you escape and why he intends that this kokam (our equivalent of a day)
shall be your last. About the second or third kam (hour) of the sleeping
period he intends to break into the Skylark, learn its control, and
secure the salt you undoubtedly have in the vessel. Then my party and
myself will be thrown to the kolon. You and your party will be killed
and your bodies smelted to recover the salt that is in them. This is the
warning I had to give you. Its urgency explains the use of my untried
mechanical educator; the hope that my party could escape with yours, in
your vessel, explains why you saw me, the Kofedix of Kondal, prostrate
myself before that arch-fiend Nalboon."
"How do you, a captive prince of another nation, know these things?"
asked Crane, doubtfully.
"I read Nalboon's ideas from the brain of that officer whom the Karfedix
Seaton killed. He was a ladex of the guards--an officer of about the
same rank as one of your colonels. He was high in Nalboon's favor, and
he was to have been in charge of the work of breaking into the Skylark
and killing us all. Let me caution you now; do not let any Mardonalian
touch our hands with a wire, for if you do, your thoughts will be
recorded and the secrets of the Skylark and your many other mysterious
things, such as smoking, matches, and magic feats, will be secrets no
longer."
"Thanks for the information," responded Seaton, "but I want to correct
your title for me. I'm no Karfedix--merely a plain citizen."
"In one way I see that that is true," replied the Kofedix with a puzzled
look. "I cannot understand your government at all--but the inventor of
the Skylark must certainly rank as a Karfedix."
As he spoke, a smile of understanding passed over his face and he
continued:
"I see. Your title is Doctor of Philosophy, which must mean that you are
the Karfedix of Knowledge of the Earth."
"No, no. You're way off. I'm...."
"Certainly Seaton is the Karfedix of Knowledge," broke in DuQuesne. "Let
it go at that, anyway, whatever it means. The thing to do now is to
figure a way out of this."
"You chirped it then, Blackie. Dunark, you know this country better than
we do; what do you suggest?"
"I suggest that you take my party into the Skylark and escape from
Mardonale as soon as possible. I can pilot you to Kondalek, the capital
city of our nation. There, I can assure you, you will be welcomed as you
deserve. My father, the Karfedix, will treat you as a Karfedix should be
treated. As far as I am concerned, nothing I can ever do will lighten
the burden of my indebtedness to you, but I promise you all the copper
you want, and anything else you may desire that is within the power of
man to give you."
* * * * *
Seaton thought deeply a moment, then shook Dunark's hand vigorously.
"That suits me, Kofedix," he said warmly. "I thought from the first that
you were our friend. Shall we make for the Skylark right now, or wait a
while?"
"We had better wait until after the second meal," the prince replied.
"We have no armor, and no way of making any. We would be helpless
against the bullets of any except a group small enough so that you could
kill them all before they could fire. The kam after the second meal is
devoted to strolling about the grounds, so that our visiting the Skylark
would look perfectly natural. As the guard is very lax at that time, it
is the best time for the attempt."
"But how about my killing his company of guards and blowing up one wing
of his palace? Won't he have something to say about that?"
"I don't know," replied the Kofedix doubtfully. "It depends upon whether
his fear of you or his anger is the greater. He should pay his call of
state here in your apartment in a short time, as it is the inviolable
rule of Osnome, that any visitor shall receive a call of state from one
of his own rank before leaving his apartment for the first time. His
actions may give you some idea as to his feelings, though he is an
accomplished diplomat and may conceal his real feelings entirely. But
let me caution you not to be modest or soft-spoken. He will mistake
softness for fear."
"All right," grinned Seaton. "In that case I won't wait to try to find
out what he thinks. If he shows any signs of hostility at all, I'll open
up on him."
"Well," remarked Crane, calmly, "if we have some time to spare, we may
as well wait comfortably instead of standing in the middle of the room.
I, for one, have a lot of questions to ask about this new world."
Acting upon this suggestion, the party seated themselves upon
comfortable divans, and Dunark rapidly dismantled the machine he had
constructed. The captives remained standing, always behind the visitors
until Seaton remonstrated.
"Please sit down, everybody. There's no need of keeping up this farce of
your being slaves as long as we're alone, is there, Dunark?"
"No, but at the first sound of the gong announcing a visitor we must be
in our places. Now that we are all comfortable and waiting, I will
introduce my party to yours.
"Fellow Kondalians, greet the Karfedo Seaton and Crane," he began, his
tongue fumbling over the strange names, "of a distant world, the Earth,
and the two noble ladies, Miss Vaneman and Miss Spencer, soon to be
their Karfediro.
"Guests from Earth, allow me to present to you the Kofedir Sitar, the
only one of my wives who accompanied me upon our ill-fated hunting
expedition."
Then, still ignoring DuQuesne as a captive, he introduced the other
Kondolians in turn as his brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, and
nephews--all members of the great ruling house of Kondal.
"Now," he concluded, "after I have a word with you in private, Doctor
Seaton, I will be glad to give the others all the information in my
power."
He led Seaton out of earshot of the others and said in a low voice:
"It is no part of Nalboon's plan to kill the two women. They are so
beautiful, so different from our Osnomian women, that he intends to keep
them--alive. Understand?"
"Yes," returned Seaton grimly, his eyes turning hard, "I get you all
right--but what he'll do and what he thinks he'll do are two entirely
different breeds of cats."
Returning to the others, they found Dorothy and Sitar deep in
conversation.
"So a man has half a dozen or so wives?" Dorothy was asking in surprise.
"How do you get along together? I'd fight like a wildcat if my husband
tried to have other wives!"
"We get along splendidly, of course," returned the Osnomian princess in
equal surprise. "I would not think of being a man's only wife. I
wouldn't consider marrying a man who could win only one wife--think what
a disgrace it would be! And think how lonely one would be while her
husband is away at war--we would go insane if we did not have the
company of the other wives. There are six of us, and we could not get
along at all without each other."
"I've got a compliment for you and Peggy, Dottie," said Seaton. "Dunark
here thinks that you two girls look good enough to eat--or words to that
effect." Both girls flushed slightly, the purplish-black color suffusing
their faces. They glanced at each other and Dorothy voiced the thought
of both as she said:
"How can you, Kofedix Dunark? In this horrible light we both look
perfectly dreadful. These other girls would be beautiful, if we were
used to the colors, but we two look simply hideous."
"Oh, no," interrupted Sitar. "You have a wonderfully rich coloring. It
is a shame to hide so much of yourselves with robes."
"Their eyes interpret colors differently than ours do," explained
Seaton. "What to us are harsh and discordant colors are light and
pleasing to their eyes. What looks like a kind of sloppy greenish black
to us may--in fact, does--look a pale pink to them."
"Are Kondal and Mardonale the only two nations upon Osnome?" asked
Crane.
"The only civilized nations, yes. Osnome is divided into two great and
almost equal continents, separated by a wide ocean which encircles the
globe. One is Kondal, the other Mardonale. Each nation has several
nations or tribes of savages, which inhabit various waste places."
* * * * *
"You are the light race, Mardonale the dark," continued Crane. "What are
the servants, who seem half-way between?"
"They are slaves...."
"Captured savages?" interrupted Dorothy.
"No. They are a separate race. They are a race so low in intelligence
that they cannot exist except as slaves, but they can be trained to
understand language and to do certain kinds of work. They are harmless
and mild, making excellent servants, otherwise they would have perished
ages ago. All menial work and most of the manual labor is done by the
slave race. Formerly criminals were sterilized and reduced to unwilling
slavery, but there have been no unwilling slaves in Kondal for hundreds
of karkamo."
"Why? Are there no criminals any more?"
"No. With the invention of the thought recorder an absolutely fair trial
was assured and the guilty were all convicted. They could not reproduce
themselves, and as a natural result crime died out."
"That is," he added hastily, "what we regard as crime. Duelling, for
instance, is a crime upon Earth; here it is a regular custom. In Kondal
duels are rather rare and are held only when honor is involved, but here
in Mardonale they are an every-day affair, as you saw when you landed."
"What makes the difference?" asked Dorothy curiously.
"As you know, with us every man is a soldier. In Kondal we train our
youth in courage, valor, and high honor--in Mardonale they train them in
savage blood-thirstiness alone. Each nation fixed its policy in bygone
ages to produce the type of soldier it thought most efficient."
"I notice that everyone here wears those heavy collars," said Margaret.
"What are they for?"
"They are identification marks. When a child is nearly grown, a collar
bearing his name and the device of his house is cast about his neck.
This collar is made of 'arenak,' a synthetic metal which, once formed,
cannot be altered by any usual means. It cannot be scratched, cut, bent,
broken, or worked in any way except at such a high temperature that
death would result, if such heat were applied to the collar. Once the
arenak collar is cast about a person's neck he is identified for life,
and any adult Osnomian not wearing a collar is put to death."
"That must be an interesting metal," remarked Crane. "Is your belt a
similar mark?"
"This belt is an idea of my own," and Dunark smiled broadly. "It looks
like opaque arenak, but isn't. It is merely a pouch in which I carry
anything I am particularly interested in. Even Nalboon thought it was
arenak, so he didn't trouble to try to open it. If he had opened it and
taken my tools and instruments, I couldn't have built the educator."
"Is that transparent armor arenak?"
"Yes, the only difference being that nothing is added to the matrix to
color or make opaque the finished metal. It is in the preparation of
this metal that salt is indispensable. It acts only as a catalyst, being
recovered afterward, but neither nation has ever had enough salt to make
all the armor they want."
"Aren't those monsters--karlono, I think you called them--covered by the
same thing? And what are those animals, anyway?" Dorothy asked.
"Yes, they are armored with arenak, and it is thought that the beasts
grow it, the same as fishes grow scales. The karlono are the most
frightful scourge of Osnome. Very little is known of them, though every
scientist has theorized upon them since time immemorial. It is very
seldom that one is ever killed, as they easily outfly our swiftest
battleships, and only fight when they can be victorious. To kill one
requires a succession of the heaviest high-explosive shells in the same
spot, a joint in the armor; and after the armor is once penetrated, the
animal is blown into such small fragments that reconstruction is
impossible. From such remains it has been variously described as a bird,
a beast, a fish, and a vegetable; sexual, asexual, and hermaphroditic.
Its habitat is unknown, it being variously supposed to live high in the
air, deep in the ocean, and buried in the swamps. Another theory is that
they live upon one of our satellites, which encounters our belt of
atmosphere every karkam. Nothing is certainly known about the monsters
except their terrible destructiveness and their insatiable appetites.
One of them will devour five or six airships at one time, absorbing the
crews and devouring the cargo and all of the vessels except the very
hardest of the metal parts."
"Do they usually go in groups?" asked Crane. "If they do, I should think
that a fleet of warships would be necessary for every party."
"No, they are almost always found alone. Only very rarely are two found
together. This is the first time in history that more than two have ever
been seen together. Two battleships can always defeat one karlon, so
they are never attacked. With four battleships Nalboon considered his
expedition perfectly safe, especially as they are now rare. The navies
hunted down and killed what was supposed to be the last one upon Osnome
more than a karkam ago, and none have been seen since, until we were
attacked...."
* * * * *
The gong over the door sounded and the Kondalians leaped to their
positions back of the Earthly visitors. The Kofedix went to the door.
Nalboon brushed him aside and entered, escorted by a full company of
heavily-armed soldiery. A scowl of anger was upon his face and he was
plainly in an ugly mood.
"Stop, Nalboon of Mardonale!" thundered Seaton in the Mardonalian tongue
and with the full power of his mighty voice. "Dare you invade my privacy
unannounced and without invitation?"
The escort shrank back, but the Domak stood his ground, although he was
plainly taken aback. With an apparent effort he smoothed his face into
lines of cordiality.
"I merely came to inquire why my guards are slain and my palace
destroyed by my honored guest?"
"As for slaying your guards, they sought to invade my privacy. I warned
them away, but one of them was foolish enough to try to kill me. Then
the others attempted to raise their childish rifles against me, and I
was obliged to destroy them. As for the wall, it happened to be in the
way of the thought-waves I hurled against your guards--consequently it
was demolished. An honored guest! Bah! Are honored guests put to the
indignity of being touched by the filthy hands of a mere ladex?"
"You do not object to the touch of slaves!" with a wave of his hand
toward the Kondalians.
"That is what slaves are for," coldly. "Is a Domak to wait upon himself
in the court of Mardonale? But to return to the issue. Were I an honored
guest this would never have happened. Know, Nalboon, that when you
attempt to treat a visiting Domak of MY race as a low-born captive, you
must be prepared to suffer the consequences of your rashness!"
"May I ask how you, so recently ignorant, know our language?"
"You question me? That is bold! Know that I, the Boss of the Road, show
ignorance or knowledge, when and where I please. You may go."
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It was almost as though I had been killed. Indeed, I could imagine a man suddenly and violently killed would feel very much as I did. One moment, a passion of agonising existence and fear; the next darkness and stillness, neither light nor life nor ... Mr Bedford Meets Mr Cavor At Lympne
As I sit down to write here amidst the shadows of vine-leaves under the blue sky of southern Italy, it comes to me with a certain quality of astonishment that my participation in these amazing adventures of Mr. Cavor was, after all, the outcome of t... Mr Berg Is Astonished
Following his father and the stranger whom the aged inventor had addressed as Mr. Berg, Tom and Mr. Sharp entered the house, the lad having first made sure that Garret Jackson was on guard in the shop that contained the sub marine. "Now," said ... Mr Berg Is Suspicious
Not for long did the young inventor endeavor to break his way out of the water-ballast tank by striking the heavy sides of it. Tom realized that this was worse than useless. He listened intently, but could hear nothing. Even the retreating footst... Mr Cavor Makes Some Suggestions
For a time neither of us spoke. To focus together all the things we had brought upon ourselves seemed beyond my mental powers. "They've got us," I said at last. "It was that fungus." "Well--if I hadn't taken it we should have fainted and star... Mr Clutterbuck's Opinion
When I reached London it was dusk, and a light mist hung in the darkening air. The lamps were twinkling in the streets. I decided to get some tea in a restaurant adjoining the station. When I entered it was crowded, and the only seat that was empt... Mr Cuss Interviews The Stranger
I have told the circumstances of the stranger's arrival in Iping with a certain fulness of detail, in order that the curious impression he created may be understood by the reader. But excepting two odd incidents, the circumstances of his stay unti... Mr Damon Will Go
"Well, I guess they've had their lesson," remarked Tom, as he took an observation through the telescope and saw Andy and his cronies hard at work trying to repair the ruptured tires. "That certainly was a corking good trick." "Yes," admitted Mr... Mr Marvel Discusses His Resignation
When the dusk was gathering and Iping was just beginning to peep timorously forth again upon the shattered wreckage of its Bank Holiday, a short, thick-set man in a shabby silk hat was marching painfully through the twilight behind the beechwoods ... Mr Marvel's Visit To Iping
After the first gusty panic had spent itself Iping became argumentative. Scepticism suddenly reared its head--rather nervous scepticism, not at all assured of its back, but scepticism nevertheless. It is so much easier not to believe in an invisib... Mr Parmenter Returns
Just at the north of the summit on the top of which the observatory was built there was an oval valley, or perhaps it might be better described as an escarpment, a digging away by the hand of Nature of a portion of the mountain summit by means of ... Mr Parmenter Says
Happily for the defenders of Britain the fleet of aerial submarines, from which so much had been expected for offensive purposes during the proposed "triumphal march" on London, soon became of little or no use in the field. The reason was this:... Mr Teddy Henfrey's First Impressions
At four o'clock, when it was fairly dark and Mrs. Hall was screwing up her courage to go in and ask her visitor if he would take some tea, Teddy Henfrey, the clock-jobber, came into the bar. "My sakes! Mrs. Hall," said he, "but this is terrible we... Mr Thomas Marvel
You must picture Mr. Thomas Marvel as a person of copious, flexible visage, a nose of cylindrical protrusion, a liquorish, ample, fluctuating mouth, and a beard of bristling eccentricity. His figure inclined to embonpoint; his short limbs accentua... Mr Weener Sees It Through
92. Whether it was from the exposure I endured on that dreadful trip or from disease germs which must have been plentiful among the continental savages and the man who rowed me back to England, I don't know, but that night I was seized with a viol... Mrs Evringham's Caller
Mrs. Evringham was busily chewing the cud of sweet fancies only, that afternoon. Following the equestrians in their leafy woodland path, she pictured them as talking of their future, and herself built many castles in the air. "Ah," she thought senti... Mrs Jones Dictates Terms
Several months have passed since the meeting recorded in our last chapter. The enthusiasm of the three men (for Marsh was now a member of the company) increased as the days went by. A considerable amount of canvassing had been done among the money... Mrs Jones Offers Some Objections
But Dr. Jones met great opposition in a quarter that was not so easily disposed of. He had a wife. Mrs. Jones was a very intelligent and lovely woman, younger by some fifteen years than the Doctor. She must be consulted. He broached the subject ve... Musing
St. Thomas, June 2571 Within five days of Cortin's arrival at the New Denver hospital, Shannon had managed to get three Brothers working there, with orders to keep him informed of anything and everything she did. His agents' first report, ... Muspel
The fog thickened so that the two suns wholly disappeared, and all grew as black as night. Nightspore could no longer see his companion. The water lapped gently against the side of the island raft. "You say the night is past," said Nightspore. "Bu... Mutual Surprises
"I thought I knew Bel-Air Park," said Bonnell looking about him. "I never suspected this." "Jewel is the Columbus of this spot. She has named it the Ravine of Happiness." Nat looked at his speaker. "That's rather ambiguous. Does she mean where ... My Advent On Mars
I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars; not once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Ma... My Eagle
The soft summer wind stirs the redwoods, and Wild-Water ripples sweet cadences over its mossy stones. There are butterflies in the sunshine, and from everywhere arises the drowsy hum of bees. It is so quiet and peaceful, and I sit here, and ponder... My Shipmate Columbus
We've been taught from childhood that the earth is round and that Columbus discovered America. But maybe we take too much on faith. This first crossing for instance. Were you there? Did you see Columbus land? Here's the story of a... My Uncle Makes A Great Discovery
Looking back to all that has occurred to me since that eventful day, I am scarcely able to believe in the reality of my adventures. They were truly so wonderful that even now I am bewildered when I think of them. My uncle was a German, having ma... Nalboon Of Mardonale
As the Skylark approached the shore, its occupants heard a rapid succession of heavy detonations, apparently coming from the direction in which they were traveling. "Wonder what that racket is?" asked Seaton. "It sounds like big guns," said C... Nalboon Unmasked
After a long, sound sleep, Seaton awoke and sprang out of bed. No sooner had he started to shave, however, than one of the slaves touched his arm, motioning him into a reclining chair and showing him a keen blade, long and slightly curved. Seaton ... Ned Land
Captain Farragut was a good seaman, worthy of the frigate he commanded. His vessel and he were one. He was the soul of it. On the question of the monster there was no doubt in his mind, and he would not allow the existence of the animal to be disp... Ned Land's Tempers
How long we slept I do not know; but our sleep must have lasted long, for it rested us completely from our fatigues. I woke first. My companions had not moved, and were still stretched in their corner. Hardly roused from my somewhat hard couch, ... Nell Adopted
A COUPLE of hours later, Harry still unconscious, and the child in a very feeble state, were brought to the cottage by Jack Ryan and his companions. The old overman listened to the account of their adventures, while Madge attended with the utmost ... Nell's Wedding
IT was agreed that the inhabitants of the cottage must keep more on their guard than ever. The threats of old Silfax were too serious to be disregarded. It was only too possible that he possessed some terrible means by which the whole of Aberfoyle... Nevian Strife
The Nevian space-ship was hurtling upon its way. Space-navigators both, the two Terrestrial officers soon discovered that it was even then moving with a velocity far above that of light and that it must be accelerating at a stupendous rate, even t... New Aberfoyle
THE old overman's experiment had succeeded. Firedamp, it is well known, is only generated in coal seams; therefore the existence of a vein of precious combustible could no longer be doubted. As to its size and quality, that must be determined late... New Allies
Surrounded by guardsmen I marched back along the corridors of the palace of Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol, to the great audience chamber in the center of the massive structure. As I entered the brilliantly lighted apartment, filled with the nobles... New Ties And Old Relations
How long they slept after their extraordinary experience with the runaway air-ship neither Rebecca nor Phoebe ever knew; but when they awoke all was still, and it was evidently dark outside, for no ray of light found its way past the hangings they... News For Marston!
In a few minutes, consciousness had restored order on board the Susquehanna, but the excitement was as great as ever. They had escaped by a hairsbreadth the terrible fate of being both burned and drowned without a moment's warning, without a singl... News Of A Treasure Wreck
There was a rushing, whizzing, throbbing noise in the air. A great body, like that of some immense bird, sailed along, casting a grotesque shadow on the ground below. An elderly man, who Was seated on the porch of a large house, started to his f... News Of An Old Friend
"Dear Friend and Comrade,--Although it is still painful for me to write, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of being the first to congratulate you on receiving the Order of St. Vladimir. A friend in the War Office has just informed me that the anno... Next Door Next World
Almost any phenomenon can be used--or act--for good or ill. Mutation usually brings ill--but it also brings greatness. Change can go any direction. Hungrily, the cradled vessel's great steel nose pointed up to the distant star... Niagara
The hours passed, and the situation did not change. The steersman returned on deck, and the captain, descending, watched the movement of the engines. Even when our speed increased, these engines continued working without noise, and with remark... Night In The Forest
At first Felix rode quickly, but his horse stumbling, though accustomed to the woods, warned him to be more careful. The passage of so many horsemen in the last few days had cut up and destroyed the track, which was nothing but a green path, and t... Night Of An Immortal
I passed a most remarkable night. On reaching home I went to bed as usual. My mind was busy, but what busied it was not the events of the day. I lay in the darkness in a state of absolute contentment. My eyes were closed. My body was motionless... Nightmare
I had not closed my eyes the night before on the Twentieth Century, and what of that and of my exhaustion I slept soundly. When I first awoke, it was night. Garthwaite had not returned. I had lost my watch and had no idea of the time. As I lay wit... No Death Save In Life
For some days afterwards our voyage was uneventful, and the usual shipboard amusements were requisitioned to while away the tedious hours. The French fishing fleet was never mentioned. We got through the Bay with very little knocking about, and pa... No Moving Parts
Hansen was sitting at the control board in the single building on Communications Relay Station 43.4SC, when the emergency light flashed on for the first time in two hundred years. With textbook-recommended swiftness, he located the posi... No Outlet Blasting The Rock
Ever since the commencement of our marvelous journey, I had experienced many surprises, had suffered from many illusions. I thought that I was case-hardened against all surprises and could neither see nor hear anything to amaze me again. I was ... Norah's Good-bye
The scene had shifted back from the royal city of Potsdam to the little coast town in Connemara. John Castellan was sitting on a corner of his big writing-table swinging his legs to and fro, and looking a little uncomfortable. Leaning against the ... Norlaminian Science
Breakfast over, Seaton watched intently as his tray, laden with empty containers, floated away from him and disappeared into an opening in the wall. "How do you do it, Orlon?" he asked, curiously. "I can hardly believe it, even after seeing it ... Notes For A Biography Of Ginger Stott
I Ginger Stott is a name that was once as well known as any in England. Stott has been the subject of leading articles in every daily paper; his life has been written by an able journalist who interviewed Stott himself, during ten crowded minut... Oceaxe
Maskull's second day on Tormance dawned. Branchspell was already above the horizon when he awoke. He was instantly aware that his organs had changed during the night. His fleshy breve was altered into an eyelike sorb; his magn had swelled and develo... Off For The Treasure
Suddenly Tom, after a moment's pause, seized a wrench and began loosening some nuts. "What are you doing?" asked his father faintly, for he was being weakened by the vitiated atmosphere. "I'm going to take this valve apart," replied his son. ... Off On A Shoreless Sea
About the middle of April appeared the following in one of the leading papers: "Last night our citizens, and a tremendous overflow of visitors were treated to the most magnificent sight their eyes ever beheld. The great aluminum globe, about wh... Off The Pacific Coast
"Well, Lieutenant, how goes the sounding?" "Pretty lively, Captain; we're nearly through;" replied the Lieutenant. "But it's a tremendous depth so near land. We can't be more than 250 miles from the California coast." "The depression certainl... Olaf's Story
There was a little silence. I looked upon him with wonder. Clearly he was in deepest earnest. I know the psychology of the Gael is a curious one and that deep in all their hearts their ancient traditions and beliefs have strong and living roots. An... Omar's Slave
OMAR had been at Trigger's a little over two years when a strange incident occurred. We were then both aged about sixteen, he a few months older than myself. The summer holidays had come round again. I had a month ago visited my uncle in London, a... Omega The Man
The silver airship cut swiftly through the hot thin air. The noonday sun blazed down upon it and the desert world below. All about was the solemn silence of death. No living thing appeared either in the air or on the drab, gray earth. Only the air... On Board The Terror
When I came to my senses it was daylight. A half light pierced the thick glass port-hole of the narrow cabin wherein someone had placed me -- how many hours ago, I could not say! Yet it seemed to me by the slanting rays, that the sun could no... On Disscourn
BY THE TIME that they regained the mouth of the cavern, Blodsombre was at its height. In front of them the scenery sloped downward--a long succession of mountain islands in a sea of clouds. Behind them the bright, stupendous crags of Disscourn loome... On Horsell Common
I found a little crowd of perhaps twenty people surrounding the huge hole in which the cylinder lay. I have already described the appearance of that colossal bulk, embedded in the ground. The turf and gravel about it seemed charred as if by... On The Arizona Hills
I am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more; but I cannot tell because I have never aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I have always been a man, a man of about thi... On The Kaolian Road
If there be a fate that is sometimes cruel to me, there surely is a kind and merciful Providence which watches over me. As I toppled from the tower into the horrid abyss below I counted myself already dead; and Thurid must have done likewise, fo... On The Ocean Bed
Lower and lower sank the submarine. There was a swirling and foaming of the water as she went down, caused by the air bubbles which the craft carried with her in her descent. Only the top of the conning tower was out of water now, the ocean havin...