Chapter XIV: The Second Ordeal

“We shall have a few things to talk over,” was Abercromby’s first ejaculation when they found themselves alone. “I hope to goodness, Professor, you will give us A1 marks for our respective contributions to the drama.”

“I think you all did admirably, both those who spoke and those who held their tongues,” answered the Professor.

“They were a queer trio,” observed the engineer, with a chuckle. “I don’t suppose old King Malchon is allowed by his two daughters very much more power than the House of Commons allows to the kings of England--he reigns but he does not govern.”

“I was once told of a parish up in the north, sir,” put in Tom, “where the parson, his wife, and his daughters were in charge, and the folks said as how they were under the thumb of the Rector, the Director, and the Misdirector!”

“Not bad that, Tom,” said Carysfort; “but, seriously, I _can’t_ make out the elder princess. The younger is quite understandable though not agreeable. She would cut our heads off, if she could, though I have a notion she would like to cut off her sister’s also. Take my word for it, this country is run in for civil war when poor old Malchon dies. Two queens at a time means business in this case.”

“Aye! I believe it,” said the Professor; “but there is something else I should much like to fathom. Why did Melanitis seem struck in a heap, as they say, directly she caught sight of us?”

“Easy of explanation, my dear Professor: she fell in love either with me or with Clarence at first sight. At first I thought I was in it, but I incline to think it was Clarence.”

Radcliffe had gone to his room and was fast asleep, so the others could talk apart from him.

“I wish he could get a wife, sir,” said Tom; “_that_ would make him happy again better than anything.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” replied Abercromby hopefully.

“A word before you begin,” dryly remarked the Professor. “We must be extremely careful what we are about. I do not want to be pessimistic, but I foresee nothing but trouble ahead. That the elder princess is in love with one of us, presumably Radcliffe, I do not deny: it is the only explanation of her conduct. But to us it spells disaster either way. He must obviously do one of two things--accept or reject. If he responds to her advances, the whole of Atalanta will be up in arms, saying that we outer barbarians have dared to aspire to the King’s daughter.”

“We need hardly consider that,” observed the engineer. “Radcliffe will remain true to the memories of the past.”

“Well, then, if he does, he will repel her, and this, I myself think, to be the more probable. Then he will make Melanitis his implacable enemy.”

“But he must do one or the other,” said Abercromby. “For his own sake I hope he will open his campaign quickly.”

“We shall all lose our heads if he does, and the expedition will be wrecked,” answered Carmichael somewhat angrily. “I do beseech you, Abercromby, use your best influence with him for his own sake and ours. We are in a desperate position as it is; do not make it worse by importing women into it.”

“It is not even as though we had Melanitis only,” protested the engineer, “we have her implacable sister also to deal with. Just imagine what a rage she will be in if she should once suspect. Radcliffe might, with equal safety, make love to _her_. Every hatred and prejudice that can riot in a human heart would be set on fire.”

“I have a pet theory that she would rather like it--I mean if Radcliffe made love to Melanitis. Suppose his doing so led to her being set aside, then Mexitli would be queen herself.”

“Very ingenious, my dear fellow, but the ladies do not usually walk along the lines we intellectually trace out for them. You may be right, but it is far too desperate a game to play. Remember we have death still in front of us, and that even if we are spared, it may be only conditionally.”

The conversation then dropped, Abercromby having promised that he would not endanger them by any imprudence.

The next day they were furnished with a list of the charges made against them. The chief of these were that they had come to Venus at all, on a private enterprise not authorised by their own people, which left them free to do any damage or injury to the realm. Another was that they had drawn their weapons upon Mayana and her husband, when she had given proof that she did not mean to kill them, by only destroying a tree. Another, that they had dared to alight upon the terrace of the royal palace, and a last charge was a general accusation of insolence and defiance to the Royal House and its representatives.

Radcliffe was told he need not reply to the charge of drawing weapons, nor to that of disrespectful speech, as on those charges he was acquitted.

Naturally the prisoners talked the whole matter carefully over and arranged their several lines of defence. Carysfort, who could speak the language better than Carmichael, would be the spokesman, and, though he was a plain, blunt man, his good sense and shrewdness would be likely to be of service to them. Abercromby was implored not to speak, and, after some trouble, he consented. Tom could not say a word in Atalantan, but he promised to speak in English if a sentence was passed.

Radcliffe kept his thoughts to himself, and would not tell the others what he meant to do.

They were not called upon to undergo any period of prolonged suspense, for the summons came on the fourth morning after their return to prison, to stand once again in the Hall of Perfect Justice. Every available inch of standing-ground was occupied, and it took a considerable time before the accused could be led to their places immediately in front of the triple throne. So far as appearance went, the assembly was somewhat less hostile in demeanour than on the first occasion when they had confronted it. The preliminaries took up but little time.

Another official of the palace read the several terms of the indictment, and then Malchon the King rose from his seat and said, “Men of Karamandra, ye have heard the charges brought against you, all of which are more or less serious and deadly. But we hope that time and reflection have enabled you to frame such answers as shall satisfy us that we do no wrong to our people and our authority if we permit you to live.”

Carysfort then stood up. He gave a plain and straightforward account of how the discovery had been made, and also the principles upon which it was based. He told them that they had come as private individuals; first, because the people of his own world were utterly sceptical of the possibility of such an attempt, and, had they disclosed it before starting, they would have either been ridiculed or else prevented, for one nation was jealous of any advantage gained over another; next, it was for the good of Atalanta that the people of his world should not make it the object of their ambition and rapacity. After briefly recapitulating their researches in the northern parts of Venus, he then went on to explain that they had drawn their weapons in a moment of overwhelming panic, just as the Atalantans would have done had they been in like circumstances. As to alighting on the palace terrace, they had followed the course taken by the two Atalantans who had visited them in the airship; that these had even pointed in the direction of the city as though inviting them; and they had chosen the terrace because it was the highest spot, the most accessible for their machine, and they had supposed that it would be the more easy and convenient to address a special deputation of persons, and to appeal to them by signs and even to invite them to enter and inspect their machine. As to their conduct, they must be allowed to plead total ignorance of the modes of thought of the Atalantan people; they felt it neither compatible with their honour nor even their safety to assume an abject and crestfallen attitude; they were brave men, as was proved by the myriad dangers they had so boldly endured in crossing twenty-four million miles of space; they asked only that they might meet brothers at the end of their long journey, and not judges and executioners.

Malchon showed evident pleasure at this reply of the engineer, and was about to speak when Radcliffe stood up and made earnest request to say a few words. Leave being granted, he said, “I wish in the name of truth and justice to take upon myself the full load of responsibility for what seems to have been a serious act of wrong on our part. It was _I_ who gave counsel to my friends to steer direct for the city and for the palace, due, as I now perceive, to an erroneous interpretation of the signs which the two notables of Atalanta made to us. They were referring, of course, to their own movements, and not to ours. Forgive me if you will, but, if not, on my head let the penalty rest.”

Melanitis looked up quickly and met the glance of Radcliffe with an expression of such yearning intensity that he turned away almost with a shudder. Then she said to the King, “Spare them, my lord; no one in their world knows their secret, no one can therefore come hither to injure us.”

“I will never consent to spare them altogether,” said Mexitli, “unless they are willing to teach their secret to us, and even then they must lie under the sentence of death for at least a year, so that if they commit offences against our laws it may be at once carried out. As to Radcliffe, I pardon him. This is the utmost limit of concession to which I will go.”

“So shall it be,” replied Malchon. “Your lives are justly forfeited to our laws, and we therefore pass conditional sentence upon you, with the exception of him to whom my daughter, at her cousin’s most earnest entreaty, has given the full grace of clemency. But this may be earned by the rest, if at the end of a year they show themselves worthy. They need not be kept in prison beyond a day or two, provided they are willing to promise in writing an assent to certain rules and restrictions which shall be appointed. Radcliffe may go where he likes, but he will not probably wish to be separated from his companions. As to their machine, it will be kept by us as the property of our Royal House. It shall not be injured nor destroyed. The goods and instruments which it contains shall be returned to its late owner. Whether the machine be again entrusted to them will depend upon their own conduct or upon circumstances. I may send them back again to their own world under penalty of death to them or to any other persons who shall follow in their enterprise, or I may require them to spend their lives here. I shall adopt the course which seems most desirable as time and their own behaviour may dictate.”

Just as the King was about to dismiss the audience Frank said to the engineer--

“I wish old King Cole had been a little more definite.”

Melanitis gave him a warning glance, but unluckily he went on--

“The Johnnie talks like a diplomatist who has left his mind behind him in the cloak-room.”

“Be quiet, can’t you!” grumbled Carysfort. “You will give the whole show away in a minute.”

These idioms were unknown to Mexitli, but the sound of Frank’s voice was enough of itself.

“_You_ will remain in a prison _alone_ for two months,” she said. “This will give you time to repent of the insult you offered to me four days ago.”

Radcliffe made a movement to throw himself at the princess’s feet, but Melanitis, not quite guessing his intent, grasped him by the arm and drew him back.

“I was but about to sue for the pardon of my friend,” he said. Mexitli turned quickly round and said with a smile--

“You had better not, it may only make matters worse. I might call _you_ to account for seeking to alter a royal decision, but I give you grace this once for your ignorance of our customs. You had best rejoin your people; they are being led from the hall.”

There was nothing further to be done, and he obeyed.

Poor Abercromby had to bid his comrades farewell at the palace entrance. He looked very downcast and dispirited, for his sentence had come upon him as a bolt from the blue. They were equally vexed and distressed on his account. Tom asked his master if he might not use his fists this once just to keep his hand in, but Carmichael happily succeeded in pacifying him.

“The best part of the news is that we have now a sporting chance of getting out of this hole,” remarked Carysfort when they had bidden poor Frank good-bye.

“You mean ultimate permission to return to the earth?” asked the Professor.

“I shall not return,” said Radcliffe.

“Beware of Melanitis,” remarked Carmichael dryly.

“I do not fear her just because I have no love to give her, my love is dead and buried; if it is anywhere it is in the little country churchyard near Chipping Norton, where my honoured father-in-law lies buried by the side of his only child who was my wife.”

“We are in Venus,” remarked the Professor. “Don’t think me unfeeling, but it is a far cry to Chipping Norton.”

“Yes, it is a far cry to Chipping Norton,” murmured Radcliffe. “I sometimes feel I could get hold of any Atalantan woman and ask her if she understood. I could even tell Mexitli all about it.”

“Better tell Melanitis and cut a rather intricate knot,” answered Carmichael in a dry tone.

“I think I shall. It will end a ghastly farce, and if she sends me to the stake itself, well, so much the better.”

The next day the ordinances, with which they were to be bound, were served to them. They were few in number and simple enough, as far as words could go, but it had yet to be seen how their practical working would tend to render life pleasant or hard. No difference was made between them, except that Abercromby had to await his release from prison. They were to remain in the city under the eyes of the court, to live in the house which would be provided for them, to wear their own terrestrial dress, so as to be distinguished from the people, not to go away from the city further than a prescribed distance, except by permission, to place themselves at the royal service to render any help that might be required, and, except Radcliffe, to come up for final sentence at the expiry of a year.

These terms were of course very vague and indefinite. They naturally presented an earnest petition, that, in consideration of all that they had risked and suffered, they might be allowed to travel to the southern pole of the planet, and this they were at once informed would be readily granted after a few weeks’ interval, when the season of heavy rains was past. They were further told that they might freely move in and out among the people, and both give and receive information to and from all classes.