Page:The Diothas, or, A far look ahead (IA diothasorfarlook01macn).pdf/148

 feet above high water. From this elevation I could see far up the Sound, and over Long Island, cultivated like a garden, and dotted with the clumps of trees that indicated the presence of a home. Turning toward the ocean, I could see for about twelve miles beyond the island.

Of all that met my eye, the ocean alone seemed unchanged. The glints of varying color, the whitecaps, the surge upon the sandy shore, were even as of old. The very ships, at that distance, were not unlike those of eighty centuries before. While my nostrils snuffed up the well-remembered odor, my eyes followed the long line of white along the Jersey shore, toward where, in the distance, I fancied lay that beach forever associated with such sweet and bitter recollections. A feeling of strange sadness came over me, a sort of homesick longing for that past which already began to seem so unreal.

An approaching step recalled me to myself. A young man, perhaps a year or so older than myself. and of a countenance strikingly intellectual, issued from the door that opened on the balcony. Observing that my eye was attracted by the strange-looking instrument he carried in his hand. he said, with a pleasant smile,

"Perhaps you would like to see me visit the instruments?"

I duly acknowledged his courtesy, and followed to a dome-shaped apartment of large size, filled with instruments of even stranger appearance than that which had attracted my attention. With this instrument he proceeded to perform certain operations, as mysterious in purpose as the instrument was peculiar in form. This completed, he courteously began an explanation of the