Page:Artabanzanus (Ferrar, 1896).djvu/272

264 her and Bellagranda was at once apparent. Both were magnificent young creatures, but the beauty of Helen alone was fit, and appeared to be designed to adorn, the regions of Heaven.

I aroused my half-insensible companion, and in a whisper bade him look at the star, which still shone brightly in the north eastern quarter of the firmament. A strong convulsion shook him from head to foot when he saw it, and he pressed my hand so tightly that the pressure gave me actual pain. But no sound passed his lips; he opened his eyes for a moment, and I saw its red light reflected in them, and then he closed them again, as if satisfied now, and at rest for ever. A terror took possession of me. He had talked about his second death as a possible event. What if he were to die with us in the balloon? It is true that in such a case my responsibility for him would cease; but the departure of such a noble soul would be not the less a pain which I could hardly endure.

Our wonderful conveyance travelled on rapidly. Obeltub or his master seemed to have a supernatural power of creating a hurricane in the air, and it was blown along in the right direction at a speed of which it was impossible for me to estimate the velocity. The bright and glorious morning was breaking slowly, the had faded from view, and the sun rose in indescribable grandeur. Below us, as far as the eye could reach, nothing was to be seen but a vast ocean as white as snow, bounded only by the rosy sky. Here and there, indeed, we saw the tops of high mountains making their appearance above this fleecy mantle. The sun rose higher, and I began to feel his welcome, genial heat. I felt as if I were soaring through the blue vault of heaven on the wings of a powerful bird, and thought it strange that no sensation of fear affected me. Was it all a sublime, mysterious dream? My courage and faith seemed to increase.