Page:Doughty--Mirrikh or A woman from Mars.djvu/213

 not rapid enough to take my breath away; I thought I was never going to reach the end, when all at once the rope  parted, and the next thing I knew I was lying on the bottom  of the car, which had ceased to move.”

“And what did you do then?” I asked.

“Do! What could I do? It was all as dark as Erebus, and I hadn’t the remotest idea where I was.”

“You would have fared better if you had been less selfish and taken your chances with the rest of us,” I answered;  and then I told him something of my own experiences—but  not all. But I maintained stoutly that I had seen Maurice; that in spirit I had been to Mars.

He would not admit it, of course; but I hardly think he altogether doubted. Returning to his own story he went on to say that at first he wandered about in a state bordering  on madness, for what could he do there alone in the darkness but wander on till strength failed and death came to  his relief?

Frightful must have been his mental suffering in those awful moments; fortunately for him, however, he was not  called upon to endure them long, for suddenly he saw a  light flash through the gloom and hurrying to it beheld  Ni-fan-lu.

But let the Doctor give the rest in his own words.

“I was amazed beyond all telling, George. There stood the fellow precisely as I had last seen him.

“ ‘How did you get here?’ ” I demanded.

“He threw up his hands upon seeing me and seemed even more startled than I was—I knew afterward that he  believed me dead—I had to repeat my question a second  time, and in answer he pointed to a square, box-like arrangement which projected through the wall of the cave, terminating a few inches above the floor.”

“My body came through there,” he said; “I inhaled the gas, left it, followed in spirit and took it up again.”

“I might have argued with him, but before I could even answer, Walla came shooting out of the box and fell at my  feet. You can imagine my amazement, when after a moment I saw her rise up and begin rubbing her eyes like one just awakening. I questioned her, but she could tell me nothing; she did not even remember how she had started,  but commenced to cry out for Maurice. While I tried to quiet her Maurice’s body came down, and after that yours, and