Page:Weird Tales volume 02 number 03.djvu/34

Rh The eyes opened. A murmur, and the aged man's hand sought the golden hair that stooped over his breast. In the depths of those eyes was a tenderness past all understanding—-and sadness.

The girl took the caress: she held up her face; she spoke; and I could hear the ripple of her voice. Then she pointed at me.

The man looked up.

I can see him yet, his eyes gray, great, kindly; full of wonder, and calmness. I could see that he was dying; and that his end was cosmic. He was not of the ordinary lot of men; but of something greater—a monarch. A grateful light came into his eyes.

He looked down at the maiden. He spoke slowly, questioning. Once he glanced at me.

Then the girl answered. She spoke in the same musical voice, punctuated with gestures. Undoubtedly she was describing the ether ship and the manner of my arrival. The old man's face softened as the girl went on. Twice he smiled and patted her hair. When she had finished he pointed to an elliptical clock work upon the side-wall.

I had not noticed it before. Upon the wall was an oblong track constructed of black metal, covered with white markings, a graduated scale of some sort; and along the bottom of the track an arrow.

The girl stepped up to the wall, and dipped a brush into a black fluid. Just above the arrowhead she dabbed a mark. Then she began writing a list of notations and calculations that the old man called off. When he had finished the old man looked at me. He beckoned.

I approached the bed side. For a minute I stood still, gazing down into his wonderful face. What a man was this, and what had brought him here?

The maiden came to my side: she took my arm, The man by a supreme effort straightened among the pillows. He was old, very old. He made an indication. The girl stooped down; and, following her example, I knelt by her side.

Then there were words between the man and the maiden, words that I could not understand. Then silence—after which he reached out and touched my head. I looked up; and I read his story.

The man was dying. He was alone; the maiden was his child. I had come in time to be her protector. By his lips I knew that he was praying—that he was thanking One for the miracle that had brought me to the comet. I wondered whether I would be worthy of the daughter of such a patriarch.

Then I felt ashamed. Why had I jumped to such a thought? He was asking that I be her protector. She was too much of a child, too beautiful, too tender, for a man like myself. I would live for her, protect her, and, if possible, win her love. I was startled at the thought.

He took her hand and placed it in mine. Then he held his outspread hands above our heads, and spoke in benediction. When he was through he looked into my eyes. It was a supreme moment; and I understood. Henceforth I was not to be king of the Sansars, but the guardian of this girl.

When we stood up again the girl looked into my face; she held both hands upon my shoulders; her eyes were full of tears, tears of gratitude, hope, sorrow, happiness. In their depths I could read the story of loneliness, hope and maidenhood; I had come through miracle; but even so, I had been expected. Henceforth I must live for the dreams of this child. What a queen she would be!

I glanced about the room and at its furnishings. There was a strange array of instruments, pieces of machinery, pamphlets, what not. Upon one wall was a mass of diagrams, astronomical figures, and calculations. The old man pointed out a map and a roll of parchment. The girl brought it to him. When she had spread it, ho called me to the bed side.

It was a star map such as I had never seen, through which the head of an ellipse was drawn through a group of nine dots. The old man placed his finger upon the third dot from the center. Then he looked up. He pointed to the clock. It was a minute before I could comprehend. When I did I was astounded.

He was pointing out the Earth! The track upon the wall was but a clock-work that followed the course of the comet! This marvelous man had ridden the comet on its journey through infinity!

I nodded. Then I pointed to myself, and made a motion of soaring through the air. The girl spoke and he seemed to understand. He said something and made a sweep with his hand. The girl nodded.

The girl led me from the room; at the threshold she stopped and looked up at my face. her eyes full of wonder, trust, happiness. She took my hand and spoke words that seemed to bear the meaning:

Come, And I shall show you."

She led me across the door yard, through the fernlike trees to a field by the edge of the little river. It was a meadow of perhaps a dozen acres, in which a number of purple birds, very much like ostriches were feeding. They were grouped about a vegetation in the center of the enclosure.

We tramped through the cloverlike grass, The air was balmy; the sky overhead crimson and wonderful past all beholding; the breath of myriad flowers filled the air. It was like a day in spring. She conducted me straight to the object in the center of the field. When we had reached it she began tearing away the creepers that covered the sides. She stood up and pointed at what lay underneath, as if to say:

Behold. Here is our story.”

With a cry, I sprang forward. For it was an ether ship very much like my own; it had been wrecked, distorted, burnt; but still it was an ether ship. One side had been scorched by a terrible flame; the agacite walls lay bare, twisted, torn. Here was the story; the story of a great adventure come to an end that might have been my own.

What a force was this that had crumbled the agacite that I had supposed impervious to temperature and current!

The girl seemed to read my thoughts; she touched my arm and pointed to the blinding wreaths that were flashing from the revolving nucleus. Then I understood. The man and the maiden had come even as I had come: and they had been caught in the terrible current. Perhaps, at the time, the opening through the rim had not been as large as it was when I had entered. Their ship had been disabled and they had been forced to remain upon this little cometary world where I had found them.

At any rate, it accounted for the girl's lack of fear, when I had sailed into the nucleus. How long had they been upon the comet? Where had they come from?

The girl seemed to divine the first question. She touched herself upon the breast and held one hand close to the ground.

A baby! She had been here all her life. I computed the comet's speed, and performed a rapid calculation. It brought me far beyond Neptune, the most distant of our planets. The girl had come from a star!

We were standing at the foot of the mountain close by the source of the bubbling river. The fernlike trees ascended the slope for some distance above us; the mountain was a lone one, round like a small volcano. I remembered the pink sheet of water that I had seen upon the summit. I pointed toward the height. I could see a trail winding up among the crags and bowlders. The mountain was natural enough; but I could conceive of no sheet of water that had a natural