Page:Amazing Stories Volume 01 Number 07.djvu/27

602 But I could not get away from the fear that when the novelty should be over the romantic attachment which their queen had formed for Edmund would cease to captivate the public's fancy, and then the scale would incline against us. Whenever I broached the subject to Edmund, however, he pretended to treat my fears as purely imaginary.

ACK, always impressionable and erratic, quickly lost himself in the delights of life in the brilliant capital, and eould not be brought to think of the future. To Henry I dared not open my mind, for he was already only too much disposed to brood and to take the dark view of everything. If he had known my doubts he would have driven me mad by magnifying them.

For a while he tormented us with complaints and begged to be taken back to the earth, until Edmund turned upon him in such a fury that he never again ventured to open his lips on the subject.

In the meantime it was delightful to watch the gracious manner in which Ala sought to distract us.

She began by exhibiting the marvels of the capital. Thus far we had only seen the great throne-room, the hall of justice, and one or two smaller apartments in the palace.

Now she conducted us through halls and rooms more splendid than I could have imagined to exist. The golden decorations were beyond belief in their richness, in the astonishing quantity of the precious metal lavished upon them, and in the delicacy and beauty of the forms.

Nothing interested Henry so much as this. It stirred his cupidity, which I must confess, although I liked him, was a prominent defect of his character.

"What a place for a Pizarro!" he exclaimed,

"Yes," said Edmund, "but there is no cringing Atahualpa here. You need not dream of carrying off any of this wealth."

"But you seem to be in a fair way of falling heir to it," put in Jack with a laugh.

Edmund colored, but did not reply.

"For shame, Jack," I said, "Can't you remember that if Ala does not understand our language, she has a marvelous power of reading our thoughts?"

"That's so," said Jack. "Upon my word I feel rather uncomfortable In this world where a man's mind goes naked.

"Why, a little while ago I was strongly tempted to steal a kiss from a pretty maid who was showing me a wonderful affair of gold and jewels. I don't know whether it was an idol or what, and upon my word, before I could have made a motion—and, of course, I didn't really mean to—she darted away from me as if she had been stung, and her winning smiles were changed for a black look that made me hang my head."

After this we all became a little more circumspect in our comments, and tried to keep our thoughts to ourselves, unless, as was generally the case, they were such as our entertainers could only find pleasure in knowing.

should have to write a book to tell you about all the surprising things that Ala showed us in the palace, and in the city—for we made a tour of that also.

The streets were wonderful, crooked as cow-paths, crowded with people, magnificent with shops filled with all sorts of curious objects, and bordered with thousands of aerial structures that towered up and up, glittering like a Jack Frost paradise at Christmas; while at all elevations air ships and airplanes passed and repassed, steering clear of one another; with the grace and ease of Venetian gondolas.

She took us through a great library, where we saw the printed books to which I have referred; but there was nothing to compare in strangeness with the visit which we finally made to a kind of temple, where we saw the most remarkable character in Venus, the "Head Medicine Man," as Jack facetiously dubbed him.

But we couldn't remain long in a facetious mood when in the presence of this personage. And, besides, he gave us a shock, the full nature of which I did not comprehend until long afterward, when if; came upon me with overwhelming force.

Jack's title for him may have been sufficiently descriptive of his functions. He seemed to be a kind of masculine pythoness, and his gloomy, cavernous apartment in the center of the temple, strangely lighted with huge, dull-red electric globes, was apparently a Delphic shrine for the people of Venus.

T WAS our first introduction to any thing resembling superstition among these people, and to me, at least, it came as a great surprise, for in this world of light, beauty, and harmony, such a thing seemed strikingly out of place. The evident awe with which Ala regarded this high priest of mystery displeased me also.

Contrary to what one might expect, this man, who was of extraordinary stature, I should say nearly seven feet tall, showed no signs of age. He seemed to be in middle life, and very vigorous; and, as he sat on a kind of throne of some black, highly polished metal, with his elbow resting on a short pillar capped with a circlet of red jewels that blazed like living coals, his huge head and strong face were marvelously impressive.

I never saw such a face anywhere else. It was beardless, and as white as marble. Usually he allowed only his profile to be seen; and one could not look upon it without a creeping of the nerves. His nose was immense, resembling a great curved beak, and his deep-sunk eyes, roofed with projecting brows, were as black as jet, but curiously luminous as they gleamed sidewise out of their pent-house.

But when he turned his full face, even Edmund started back. He seemed to project his countenance toward us like a monstrous bird stretching out its neck, and his glowing eyes appeared to penetrate our inmost thoughts.

This lasted only for a moment; and then he turned his profile again and remained motionless.

Ala then had a long communication with Edmund, at the end of which he turned to us and said: