Chapter XVII: Small Profit and Quick Return

“Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over
his fodder?”
(+Job.+)

The day following the stormy meeting on board the _Regina_ nothing of moment transpired, and only the strongest faith in the _Regina’s_ powers made them know that, although unseen, a mighty force was speeding along the enormous space that intervened between themselves and the planet they were attracting. They knew it would be madness to draw it to them rapidly, like rebounding elastic; the only safe thing to do would be first to project against it a gradually increasing attraction, till its present speed was completely overcome, when they expected it would alter its course to follow the line of greater attraction to them. Some time, therefore, must elapse before anything would be noticeable, during which the visitors would have to continue their work of joint observation and exploration with their new-found friends, and in the abstraction of these researches the subject was seldom referred to. In the course of a week, however, there came over the atmosphere of that part of the world in which they had made their headquarters a slight change, so gradual as to be scarcely perceptible; it was the ‘smell’ of electricity—that peculiar, almost indefinable odour which is always evident when an enormous amount of electricity is present, and has been defined as being like many different chemicals, though most people consider it chiefly resembles chlorine. The natives noticed this, but attributed it to the continued presence of the vessel. Then they perceived that the planet which had been speeding away from them had altered its course, and they delightedly told their visitors of this, saying that as it was now coming in their own direction, it would be better for them to go to it by means of their ship later, without making so long a journey, pressing them to stay until the world drew nearer, never even dreaming for a moment that their visitors were effecting it and not knowing or believing they had power to do so. Feeling guilty at having to dissemble in order to keep the secret for the great and final surprise, the travellers very kindly accepted the offer to stay and wait till the other world drew near. They had hoped the people would not notice the altered direction of the planet, but the fact of other terrestrials being on it, and wanted by their comrades, had aroused interest and the planet had, in consequence, been under observation ever since. It was, however, but a runaway star, and, like a lost and turned-out dog that is ready and willing to become attached to any one who is kind enough to give it a home, so was this disowned planet flying through space, ready to form a new orbit in any system that would or could keep it, or to coalesce, if need be, with any more powerful world into whose influence it chanced to come, and thus form another sun. When it turned, the people merely thought it had, as it were, aimlessly crossed a stronger influence and had become drawn towards some other and distant force.

“How long will it be before the planet is with us?” asked Dalton of Gilbert.

“About a fortnight,” he replied. “We do not wish it to come too fast, lest its revolution and atmosphere and those of this world should be disturbed.”

A few hours later, there came upon the atmosphere a more sudden change; the air became perceptibly drier, hotter and more stifling, and before long, heavy clouds gathered and obliterated the stars, the distant, yet approaching world sharing the same fate, being no longer visible; and there were no means of ascertaining its position except by intricate calculations from the amount of force projected. By this time all around the ship there rested a faint phosphorescence, and the heat and dryness in the air became severely felt, filling the nostrils with such a choking as to make inspiration painful in the extreme. The enormous amount of electricity projected was slowly converting the air into allotropic oxygen, or ozone, of such intensity that it burned the lungs and made breathing a torture, and the sense of suffocation became almost intolerable. To the natives this change was deplorable, depending as they did on the air for both breathing and food; and living in the open they had no shelter, only the frail structures erected for astronomical observations and the carrying on of business—laboratories and the like. In vain they entered these in order to find coolness, then returned to the open, for in that furnace of altering elements there was no cool, everywhere was equally painful.

“We cannot work in this stifling heat, and the clouds are impenetrable,” telepathed one of the native astronomers to Rollsborough. “There is some dreadful electrical disturbance around; I am glad your ship is here, for it is drawing towards itself all the local forces”; and in the air there could be seen floating beside the ship, a faint, rosy light, paling into greens and purples and moving fitfully.

Rollsborough said nothing, for he, along with the other objectors, had decided to take a neutral stand, and neither help nor hinder anything the owners and their colleagues were pleased to do. But he now debated with himself whether he would not be justified in divulging the real facts of the case, though on further consideration he remembered that if the owners chose to do anything with the ship’s powers, they could do it, and as no one else understood the control of these forces, no good purpose could be served by interfering now. Besides, with the ship elevated, as was the usual custom, no hurt could come to the natives, or district, and every man on board was supposed to be level-headed and ought to know what he was doing. So Rollsborough made no comment, but stood along with many of his companions and the natives, watching the strange glow round the vessel, and thus they continued several hours, during which gloom had fallen, and for the first time within the history of this world there was dense, black night; the only light seen was the ghastly, ghoulish glow round the vessel. The natives insisted on their visitors going back to the ship, so Rollsborough and his friends entered, and with closed doors and the artificial apparatus going, they felt no inconvenience. So refreshing was this after the heat outside, that they persuaded a number of the natives to enter, but they could not breathe the air, which was _only_ air, and incapable of supporting their life, so they had to leave hastily, but would not hear of the visitors coming out of their ship again till the storm, as they thought it, had passed. For even now, though they were so extremely intelligent, they did not associate with it the _Regina_ and the far-away world—never thinking that the world was coming straight at them, like a shot out of a gun, for they knew the changes were really electrical disturbances only, and bad as the effect was on the air, it was their natural atmosphere, and they could endure it better than their visitors; therefore, when they found those in the artificial air were free from trouble, they insisted on their staying in the ship. This consideration made the delinquents feel very guilty, and Godfrey tried to persuade his friends to abandon their project, but they said it was but a temporary inconvenience, and would pass away soon.

The ship was elevated about two hundred feet in the air, in order that the powerful current projected should not damage the surrounding country and the inhabitants, for with such a force, so long continued, no power in nature could have prevented its blasting effect on everything, and particularly in all those parts coming between the approaching planet and the ship, where would lie an inconceivably strong current of electricity, for they were, in reality, using their vessel as a magnet, bridging the space by the mighty current. Such a force could not do otherwise than disturb the elements, for the power required to draw the world from such a distance would have fused the very earth beneath, had the vessel been nearer the ground. And although the objectors still disapproved of the whole scheme, the manner in which the three owners manipulated the vessel so as to ensure the absolute safety of the people below, compelled their enthusiastic admiration. Awful and spectacular as the results became as the world drew nearer, and the same forces were more spread locally, they knew that beyond a few weeks’ inconvenience and semi-starvation, the natives would be no worse, and not a blade of grass would be singed. And as they received somewhat of the reflected forces, the vessel became the centre of wonderful displays of electric fireworks, which were watched by the people below with amazement, for they could not see the world because of the clouds, and the people in the ship could not telepath with them except when in close proximity. All around the ship and high into the clouds, forming a magnificent, gigantic corona, there shone a living, trembling flame, changing colour incessantly; the electric fluid, like a sea, washed and lashed around the ship, and leaped in waves and spray, dashing against the vessel; the spray flying upwards like phantoms, the white wreaths of light floating away into nothingness, forming and re-forming, till lost in the distant sky. Every now and then some wave, more violent than the rest, would break itself upward in a column of lightning, twisting and twining like a fiery snake standing erect and writhing in agony. Higher and higher these terrible columns would rise, becoming thicker and more lurid, bending and straightening as though alive, while here and there two would meet and float away upward, united by loops and tongues and festoons of lively flame.

The people below, experienced as they were, and knowing there was no real danger so long as the vessel was the centre of the storm, as they believed, could not help being disturbed by the change in the atmosphere, now so powerfully charged with electricity; and as the world revolved, community after community beheld the wonderful stationary ship, their preserver, and felt thankful it had come in time to save them by bringing the elements to the focus of itself. At her elevated position the _Regina_ remained poised and motionless—not moving with the atmosphere, yet still in it—sending forth a steady, continuous force, unerringly in the same direction.

“Is it wise to carry this so far?” again remonstrated Godfrey. “Won’t the world come on and on and crash into this?”

“It would, of course, if we didn’t stop it in time,” smiled Gilbert.

“But how can you tell when it _is_ near enough to stop?”

“There are four days yet.”

“But Gilbert,” pleaded Godfrey, “are you justified in causing these good people all this inconvenience? Is it fair play?” And turning round impetuously, he spoke up so that all should hear,—“Rollsborough and I and all of us who originally objected to this mad scheme decided neither to hinder nor to help, but to be perfectly neutral, and to this decision I was fully intending to adhere, but I had to keep saying something in protest. Nobody admires and appreciates more than I do the capabilities of the vessel and the amazing skill of the owners, but because we have power and skill here, are we to misuse them, merely to let these people see what we can do? It might be excusable in a youngster, but it does not sit very well on any of us. _We_ are in here, with pure air, good food, and everything to make us happy, and yet we are calmly looking on while we cause visible discomfort, if not actual pain, to the people below who are gasping for breath; these people who have been so exceedingly good to us,—and we allow them to think we are their benefactors! I call it cowardly! yes, cowardly!! and a thing we shall look back upon with shame to our dying day. Believe me, we shall! Planet-shifting is not in my line, I know nothing of it—but I feel very warm on this matter. We are Britons, bred and born; do let us act like Britons! and above all, like gentlemen; men of too much honour to abuse our privileges. Surely in sending that planet out of its orbit we did damage enough! You know what Shakespeare says,—‘It is excellent to have a giant’s strength, but tyrannous to use it like a giant.’ Let us be merciful! I can say no more, friends, or I shall break down!” and good, well-meaning Godfrey, quite overcome, stepped down from the stool upon which he had jumped.

For the space of a few seconds there was a deadly silence, and then as if from one voice, they cheered Godfrey, and finally ‘chaired’ him.

As soon as silence was restored, Dennis spoke up,—“My friends, let us with one accord thank Spenser here for showing us our duty. Our pride has humbled us to the dust, and we have fallen—fallen lower than I care to think about, but we will make what reparation we can! Ainley has already corrected the current and in a few hours the air will improve. Rollsborough and Sorrel, we want your advice as to what we shall do with the other planet, if we have not forfeited the right to ask for it.”

Their eyes filled with tears, the two stepped forward and remained in long conversation with the three owners, looking at photographs and drawings and making many calculations.

While they were thus engaged, the rest, now as repentant as they had been reckless, went to the windows and looked out. All restraint was now over, and every one without exception felt happy in having taken the one and only honourable course—and as they gazed at the sea of fire around them, which cut off all view from below, a great cloud burst above them and rain fell in torrents; the lightning ran down the rain as it fell, filling the air with solid pillars of fire. Flash followed flash in such quick succession that they seemed to strike one another long before reaching the ground; and the focus of the storm was ever the good old ship, which stood unmoved, as though imperturbably defiant, while the whole heavens seemed to have combined to wage war against her in revenge for the disturbance she had caused. All the electricity projected seemed to return with angry energy, flashing and beating round the ship in mighty fury, the _Regina_ answering flash with flash till the fury was augmented instead of reduced, as the teeming heavens sluiced fire. As far as the eye could reach the rain brought down the lightning in floods of vivid flame, and on all sides the clouds were incessantly opening and belching out their overcharges of electricity, accompanied by deafening thunder. In ten or fifteen minutes the storm was spent, and gradually nothing remained but an occasional feeble flicker and roll of thunder. Soon even this ceased, and slowly the light returned as the clouds dispersed or were dissipated, and around the ship only a faint glow remained. This began to flicker like the light from a dying candle, each flicker seeming the last; and finally, with a last splash of light, all was gone.

Instantly the ship fell and the occupants came out, to be greeted effusively by the grateful people. “You have done this!” telepathed the principal of the observatory. “How can we thank you?”

“Thanks!” telepathed Dennis, stepping forward. “You have little to thank us for!” and with feelings of deep shame, he telepathed a full confession.

“But what have you done with the planet? How can it remain where it is if the forces are stopped?”

“It is now under the influence of your world’s attraction, and travelling with you as a binary, and as you see is too far off to affect this planet for the short time it will stay.”

Then it was for the visitors to see what friendship was, to have ‘coals of fire’ heaped upon them, for the natives made light of their sufferings, and not only telepathed that there was nothing to forgive, but persisted in thanking them for their kindness in relieving them from the dreadful atmosphere.

Such magnanimity made the visitors exceedingly contrite and feel that they could have submitted to abuse, even, rather than such overwhelming kindness and generosity; but it proved to them that in a higher life feelings of evil and resentment find no place, but instead there is the forgiveness that can both forget and forgive, though the past injuries be incalculably great.

The attracted planet could not stay where it was for any great length of time, as it would soon affect the climatic conditions of the world to which it had been drawn, so the travellers were obliged to leave their noble friends, who parted with them most affectionately, they feeling sincere remorse at their treatment by the kind inhabitants as they set out for the adjoining world, obtaining a splendid rebound straight for the solar system with the absconding planet in their wake; the position it should at that time be occupying having been correctly worked out by Rollsborough, it was restored to its proper place and orbit in which it sped onwards in its journey round the sun—this time free from the belt of semi-opaque ether in which it had hitherto floated. Then the _Regina_ settled into its atmosphere. First locating the place where the mutineers had originally been stored, but finding it a waste, they hunted for them with their glasses in many parts; and at last, on a lonely shore, they saw two men, apparently terrestrials, dirty and unkempt, their clothing and faces smeared and hair matted with slime. These men, too feeble to stand without staggering, signalled to the ship, which settled down to find two of the party of which they were in search—Congreve and Hewitt. Several of the fellows came out of the vessel and were told in a few words, rendered painful by the cracked lips and tongue, where their companions were. Then came the long and difficult task of getting the six men from the cave, for they were all too ill to help themselves, and the entrance being under water it was necessary to dive to get inside. However, it was accomplished at last, though Dawson became unconscious again with the effort, and the whole eight were soon on board the _Regina_ and well looked after.

As they reclined in lounge-chairs enjoying the rest and comfort, and already feeling considerably better, Bolford remarked,—“Did not the _Regina_ send the planet ‘Ramsar’ out of its orbit?”

“Yes,” replied Ross, “I regret to say that is the case, I believe.”

“How did you do it, and why?” asked Siddall.

“We approached the planet from between it and Venus, and we must have left it with a repulsive force and sent it off; it was quite an accident.”

“But if you approached between it and Venus, and gave it a repulsive force, it would have gone into the sun!” said Bolford. “I don’t understand.”

“If you remember,” continued Ross, “we had to go round the world, and we left it at the side near the sun. The attraction of the sun was so enormous that we had to steady ourselves by converting some of the attraction into repulsion, and the planet being then in our wake, must by that have been projected out of its system, away from the sun.”

“Then how did you find us?” asked several, much interested.

“Rollsborough suggested this solution when we found you’d bolted. Knowing the exact position when we left, and the planet’s gravity, speed of travel, and orbit, and all the rest of it, he cleverly worked out the direction in which you had been hurled and—here you are!”

While Ross was talking, the rest had gathered round, and as he finished, they asked the mutineers for their story; Holt related the account of their adventures, that is to say, the version which, while in the cave, had been agreed upon to present to sympathising friends,—

“On our arrival, the first thing we did was to attach ourselves to the various departments of science, for Siddall at once suggested that as we had fallen we must, in the short time we should have to live, do our best to work well and try to retrieve the past, and in this we all concurred. We were doing excellent work when the people discovered they were out of their orbit and blamed us for it. Fearing this was correct, yet not knowing how, or why, we made light of it, and their fears were allayed for the time being. However, time passed, and as the climatic changes which were sure to follow such an event on a world not intended to be so far away from the sun came along, we were blamed more and more. To so sorry a pass did matters come that, although we had been presented with no end of wealth, we had to leave it all, and fly suddenly for our very lives. They hunted for us everywhere, and we should have been killed months since, but for the cave.

“We found it by watching an animal dive in; eventually we killed the beast and then one of us dived under to see if there was any shelter, and, finding a cave, we lived there in terrible suffering through all the changes the sudden departure from the sun brought about, till you came and saved our lives.”

All the listeners, hearing of these unmerited sufferings, were filled with remorse and, not knowing the actual facts—that a demoralised world had just been returned to its proper orbit—felt they had been doubly guilty in causing such disaster and, most of all, in putting the lives of their eight companions in jeopardy. These expressions of sincere sympathy were received by the eight victims of an unkind fate as the apology to which they were entitled, and as the subject of the mutiny was not referred to, they considered they had kept their good names untarnished and won but the just reward of their integrity and, not to be outdone in generosity, they virtuously forgave their commanders, and unity was again restored.

That same day all the ‘wave’ instruments of Earth received the message,—

“In three days expect the _REGINA!_”

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Crown 8vo., 6s.

“The Immortal Light,”
—— BY ——
JOHN MASTIN, F.S.A. +Scot.+,
F.L.S., F.C.S., F.R.A.S., F.R.M.S., R.B.A.,

Author of “The Stolen Planet;” “The True Analysis of Milk;”
“Parasites of Insects;” “Plate-Culture and Staining of Amœbæ;”
“Through the Sun in an Airship,” &c. &c.

——————

It is a scientific romance dealing with the adventures of a South Polar expedition, and holds the reader in a tremendous grip of interest and amazement from the first page to the last. Mr. Mastin has used his profound knowledge of chemistry, physics and art, so delightfully that the reader is fascinated with the simple, forceful, and convincing way in which the mysteries of the Antarctic region are explained, and the deep problems of science treated, and, whilst learning something from every page, he is carried from adventure to adventure with thrilling interest. The science and logic are so sound, and the story is so graphically written that the reader almost believes the adventures to have really happened. For sheer imaginative power alone the book demands first place amongst recent publications.

HIS MAJESTY THE KING HAS MOST GRACIOUSLY CONDESCENDED TO ACCEPT A COPY OF THIS BOOK. ======================================================================== “Profound as is Mr. Mastin’s scientific knowledge, he never lets his technicalities interfere with the clear understanding of his story, either explaining them or putting them in such a way as to make them plain to the uninitiated.”—_Publisher and Bookseller._

“More daring than Poe’s ‘Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket’ is Mr. Mastin’s romance of Antarctic adventure; for Poe, having introduced a giant ‘of the perfect whiteness of the snow,’ regrets the loss of his crowning chapters. Certainly, if the matter which they contained ‘relative to the Pole itself, or at least to regions in its very near proximity,’ was as sensational as ‘The Immortal Light,’ the loss is deplorable.... The story is wildly improbable, but confronts incredulity with a considerable display of scientific detail. A strong religious feeling animates the last part of the book.”—_Athenæum._

“To say that this is a really clever story is but bestowing on its author, Mr. John Mastin, praise which is well deserved.... The experiences of the explorers in conquering the ice barrier of the South, as told by the writer, makes delightful reading. Although the story is fiction unadulterated, it is of absorbing interest, and even the most fastidious reader could not fail to find some charm in a perusal of its pages.... That the bounds of possibility have been far overstepped is only natural.... But with rare literary skill the author discounts these by the many charms of a story which is well told. The character studies are good, and many excellent word-pictures are painted in glowing colours by the picturesque pen of the author.”—_Western Daily Press._

“The book is exceedingly clever and up to date.”—_Glasgow Herald._

“What Jules Verne did with the science of the seventies and eighties, Mr. Mastin does for the science of to-day.... Youth, if it has a scientific turn of mind and some imagination, will revel in this book.... We can heartily congratulate him on the imaginative power which his book displays. That never flags, and he carries us on from wonder to wonder as if he need never stop.”—_Sheffield Telegraph._

“Some of the speculations on the wonders of life and the possibilities of science are broad, ingenious, and fascinating.... From telepathy to telescopes which see everywhere, and from rides on ether to steel that will line coats, Mr. Mastin ranges with plausible certitude.... ‘The Immortal Light’ is an amazing book.”—_Sheffield Daily Independent._

“The plot is exciting.”—_Morning Leader._

“Mr. Mastin is thoroughly up to date in his paraphernalia.”—_Yorkshire Post._

“But the work, while an intelligent boy could not read it without a keen enjoyment, has a scientific weight, a plausibility of inductive and deductive reasoning upon a basis of natural law, which takes it well out of the category of the merely fantastic.”—_Scotsman._

“There are minute descriptions of all the wonderful inventions made by a strange race which talks Latin and lives underground. The author is evidently a learned scientist and ... quite as accurate as Jules Verne.... He possesses a vivid imagination.... I may safely recommend the story.”—_John Bull._ ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d.

“The Stolen Planet,”
A SCIENTIFIC ROMANCE,
—— BY ——
JOHN MASTIN, F.S.A. +Scot.+,
F.L.S., F.C.S., F.R.A.S., F.R.M.S., R.B.A.,

Author of “The Immortal Light;” “The True Analysis of Milk;”
“Parasites of Insects;” “Plate-Culture and Staining of Amœbæ;”
“Through the Sun in an Airship,” &c. &c.

——————

=Sir Wyke Bayliss, late President of the Royal Society of British Artists, on reading Mr. Mastin’s M.S. of “THE STOLEN PLANET,” wrote: “It is a long time since I have read anything so brilliant.”=

=His Majesty the King has most graciously condescended to accept a copy of this book.=

=H.R.H. the Princess of Wales has graciously condescended to accept a copy of this book on behalf of H.R.H. Prince Edward of Wales.=

——————

It is impossible to give in a few lines any adequate idea of the amazing adventures of Jervis Meredith and his friend Fraser Burnley in their journeys through the unlimited space of the stellar universe, their visits to the various planets in their magnificently propelled vessel, and the fantastically humorous situation which brings their exploits to a fitting conclusion. Even Mr. H. G. Wells and his famous predecessor, Jules Verne, have not handled their subjects with such complete success as Mr. Mastin has done in this, his first imaginative work.

========================================================================

“It is a graphic and exciting tale.”—_The Times._

“Certain it is that the reading of this capital story will prove exciting, for compared with the adventures therein written, the books of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells read like the placid pages of Miss Austen’s novels.”—_Daily Telegraph._

“The adventures ... are told with a verve which never flags. As a consequence, the reader, who is attracted by the rollicking schoolboy humour of the opening chapters, soon becomes absorbed, and is carried wondering from adventure to adventure.”—_Sheffield Daily Telegraph._

“An interesting story in the Jules Verne manner.”—_The Bookman._

“Without the extraordinary detail that Jules Verne introduces into his stories, it adopts a scientific basis throughout, and the reader takes an interesting journey through space.... The story will make a capital gift-book for boys of a scientific turn of mind.”—_Publishers’ Circular._

“The wonders of Jules Verne pale before this thrilling account of a voyage through the air to other worlds.”—_Outlook._

“Mr. Mastin’s ingenious and engaging fantasy ... he is to be commended for resource, ingenuity, and persistent vigour of narrative.”—_Glasgow Herald._

“The experiences of the two men in their aerostat make most exciting reading.”—_Aberdeen Free Press._

“Our heroes sailed away in an aerostat and met with many unique adventures ... it might really all have happened.”—_Publisher and Bookseller._ ———————————————————————— _Companion book to “Through the Sun in an Airship.”_ ———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— CHARLES GRIFFIN & Co., Ltd., Exeter Street, Strand, LONDON.

Transcriber’s Notes:

• Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
• Text enclosed by pluses is in small caps (+small caps+).
• Text enclosed by equals is in Antiqua (=Antiqua=).
• Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
• Errata on page 314 have been applied.
• In chapter 13, there is a reference to “the devastating eruption
and earthquake of 2316 +a.d.+”, which is obviously incorrect.
But the transcriber could not find a candidate for the actual
date, so it is left as-is.