Fifteen Hundred Miles an Hour Page 9

  CHAPTER VIII.

  A STRANGE WORLD.

  In the grey dawn of morning the weather began to clear; white fogs hunglow over the densest parts of the swamp, but near the _Sirius_ the mistlifted, and the leaden-looking sky was visible. We now climbed out onto the balcony, and though nearly surrounded with the giant reeds, wehad a fairly good view of the range of snow-capped mountains whichextended beyond the lake. With the break of day the tumultuous carnivalof the wild beasts inhabiting the marsh came to an end, and their criesgradually ceased. Buried as we were, among the dense, marshy forest,we could not be absolutely certain, but so far as we could judge, thecountry seemed more open beyond the lake. We had evidently descendedjust on the outskirts of the swamp, which was apparently connected withthe lake, and formed part of a vast plain extending to the mountains.The lowest of these we computed to be about twelve miles away. As wewere thus doing our best to make out a little of the country round us,the distant mountain-tops became illumined with the rays of the risingsun. The snow upon their highest summits gleamed like burnished silverin the light, and as the morning broke, the clouds reflected a rosyradiance of rare beauty. The dawn on Mars was very similar to thedawn on Earth; and as we watched the sunlight leap from peak to peak,and the heavens change from one glorious hue to another, we could havefancied ourselves watching some of the many magnificent sunrises we hadseen in the Alps, or on the lofty Himalayas.

  It really appeared as though all the animal life of Mars was nocturnal;for, with the break of day, not a trace of a living creature could beseen or heard--all was silent as the grave. The wind had dropped, andnot even the feathery crowns of the giant reeds moved; everything wasstill.

  Our future movements were of such importance, that even Dr. Hermannrestrained his eager curiosity to examine the strange beast Grahamhad shot, and which was lying dead somewhere outside the _Sirius_,and suggested that, as soon as we had breakfasted, we should consulttogether as to what was best to be done.

  The meal was quickly over, none of us having much inclination to eatafter the excitement of the previous night.

  "It is now time that we began seriously to discuss our futuremovements," remarked the Doctor, rising from the table, and leading theway to the laboratory, whither we usually retired as soon as our mealswere over. "There is much for us to consider and decide."

  The sun was now well up in the heavens; the sky was blue and cloudlessas on Earth; whilst two of the Martial moons could be seen pale andlustreless above us. Their rays were appreciably less powerful andbrilliant. While the Doctor and Temple made notes and prepared fordeparture, Graham went down on to Mars, to search for his game; but hesought in vain. It had disappeared entirely. A few splashes of bloodwere to be seen on the sides of the _Sirius_, and a small pool ofthe same marked the spot where it had fallen. Some kind of creature,hunting in the swamp for prey, had carried it off, and we saw it nomore. Graham's disappointment was only excelled by the Doctor's; butthey consoled themselves by the thought that they would soon obtainother specimens as curious and as interesting. We were all of us eagerto get away from the swamp, and as soon as Graham returned, the Doctorgave the order to start.

  But the motors sped round to no purpose--the _Sirius_ was held fastin the treacherous mud as in a vice, and the force of suction was sogreat that we found it would be impossible to move until we had dug outthat portion which was buried in the slimy ground. We were, however,too eager to see something of our new world to stay and do this, andwe ultimately agreed to set out and explore the country round about onfoot.

  We armed ourselves with rifles, knives, revolvers, and plenty ofammunition, whilst Sandy carried sufficient food for our needs duringthe day.

  How can we describe our sensations, as one by one we climbed down fromthe _Sirius_, and, headed by the Doctor, trooped off in Indian filetowards the shore of the adjacent lake; stumbling, struggling, andwading through the swampy forest, full of expectancy, and not withouta certain amount of dread as to what might befall us in this strangeworld? Our dog bounded and barked with wildest delight on regaininghis freedom; and so noisy did he become that we had to tie him up, andSandy led him. Any disinterested spectator would have thought us aqueer party; and truly we looked so, for somehow we felt as strangersin a strange land, and out of place with all that surrounded us.

  Nothing inspired this feeling to so great an extent as the effectwhich the much lower specific gravity of Mars than Earth had upon us.We felt too small for our new home; and such was the result of thisthat we were able to perform feats of jumping and leaping that wouldhave made the athletic champions of Earth turn green with envy. Evenstaid and elderly Doctor Hermann thought nothing of taking a leap often or twelve feet; and our heavy, clumsy collie dog, Rover, seemedtransformed into a greyhound, so active and light of foot was he.We felt in much better spirits than we had done for years, younger,stronger, more daring, and courageous. It did not take us long to reachthe lake, but the prospect disappointed us. Round the shores, as faras we could see, the forest of reeds extended; but beyond the lake,far away to the westward, the country was more elevated and promising.It was vain to attempt to get round the shore through such a swampywilderness, and, baffled, we had to retrace our footsteps. Beforeleaving the lake, however, we ascertained that the water was fresh, andof excellent quality.

  "We will not be 'done,' Graham, after all," remarked the Doctor. "Wewill go back to the _Sirius_ and get out our india-rubber boat. Shewill carry the four of us comfortably enough."

  "A capital idea, Doctor; I quite forgot our boat," exclaimed Temple.

  We returned at once to the _Sirius_ and got out the boat, which we allhelped to carry through the reeds to the water. Some little time wasspent in putting the various parts together, but when all was finishedour little craft looked splendid, and delighted us with her buoyancyand stability.

  As soon as all was ready we embarked upon this unknown lake, Sandy andGraham rowing, Temple steering, and the Doctor keeping a sharp look-outgenerally. Our dog curled himself up under a seat in the stern, andwent to sleep. It was some time before we got out far enough to seemuch of the surrounding country, and when we did so the prospect wasby no means an encouraging one. A vast forest of reeds, intermingledwith large trees, whose smooth, spindle-shaped trunks we had alreadyexamined with astonishment, extended for miles and miles round themargin of the water. All seemed desolate; not a living creature couldbe heard or seen. A light breeze now began to ruffle the surface ofthe lake, and this we took advantage of by hoisting our slender mast,and also a small lug sail, which carried us along famously without thefatigue of rowing.

  By the Doctor's advice, Temple steered nearly due west, towards themountains, and as we sailed along the country assumed a more invitingappearance. The dense fringe of reeds gradually became broken, anddrier ground was marked by small hills and tall trees, of gracefuloutline and dense red foliage, which gleamed very brilliantly as thesun shone full upon them. Objects on the opposite shore became moreand more distinct, and we were able to detect a great variety of treesand shrubs clothing the sides of the valleys, which extended gentlyupwards from the lake into the heart of the distant mountains.

  We sailed steadily along, the Doctor picking up a large red leaf whichwas floating on the water as we passed by. It was about eighteen incheslong from point to stem, and the same in width, perfectly diagonal inshape. Its tissues appeared much the same as those composing the leavesof earthly trees. Once the enormous flat head of some water-monsterpeeped above the surface, and sank again. Nothing further of interestoccurred until we reached the shore, although Sandy declared that hesaw a large bird flying along, but as none of the rest observed it weconcluded that he was probably mistaken. The bed on this side of thelake was much deeper than on the other, and the bottom was rocky. Thewater was remarkably clear, and we could see many beautiful plants ofstrange shapes, the like of which we had never seen before, wavingto and fro in the crystal depths. Some were like long lengths ofblue-green ribbon; others were cup-shape
d, poised on tapering stems;whilst others, yet again, were composed of long slender twigs with nofoliage, but a bright scarlet ball, about as big as a pigeon's egg, onthe extremity of each. A very beautiful little plant, with a light red,scaly leaf, covered most of the rocks on shore, and many of the pebbleswhich strewed the beach were exceptionally fine and brilliant; someshone like emeralds, and were almost as clear as that gem. Here theDoctor was in his glory, indeed! He fell down on his knees upon theshore as soon as his feet touched dry ground, and absolutely revelledin the beautiful pebbles, as a miser would in his gold, taking themup by handfuls, and dropping them one by one through his fingers."Temple," he shouted in his enthusiasm, "Temple, these stones are notof Earth; they are NEW; fairer far than earthly riches; more beautiful,more precious than all the gems of Earth combined; for not all of themcould purchase one of these!"

  The shore where we landed was for some distance inland rough.Beyond the belt of shrubs were groves and forests, extending far upthe mountain slopes, and the trees which composed them were trulymagnificent. Many were evidently nondeciduous. The foliage of nearlyall was dark red; but here and there a smaller tree, with blue leavesand green flowers, stood out in bold relief from the rest. Many of themwere loaded with giant-fruit products, hundreds of pounds in weight,and emerald-green in colour, shaped something like gourds. They wereextremely acrid to the taste; but a pink berry, about the size of awalnut, on a vine-like plant, was sweet and deliciously flavoured.It would take up far too much of the space allotted by us for thisnarrative to attempt to describe a tithe of the wonderful and curioustypes of vegetation we found in this fair land of promise, whereeverything we looked at was new to our eyes, absolutely new; and ourexclamations of surprise and admiration were almost incessant. We feltas dwellers in a country village must feel upon seeing the wonders of agreat metropolis for the first time.

  But the day was passing on, and at noon we returned to the shore, andrigging up a shelter from the sun with our sail, we made a fire ofsome driftwood on the beach, and prepared our meal. Sandy had loadedhimself with fruit and berries of various kinds, which he proceeded todistribute by way of dessert; but the Doctor advised us not to eat themuntil their properties were better known to us. It was hard to resistsuch tempting, luscious fare when we were hot and parched, yet we leftthem untouched, wisely or unwisely, and quenched our thirst at the lake.

  Whilst enjoying our after-dinner smoke, and discussing the events ofthe morning, we were startled by a singularly rich and beautiful song,as of a sweet flute, which issued from a bush clothed in bloom justbehind us.

  "A bird, I do declare!" excitedly exclaimed the Doctor.

  "And one of exceptionally sweet song, too," answered Temple, bothrising to their feet as they spoke.

  But nothing could be seen; and for several minutes the delicious musicwas hushed.

  "Doctor, it is na bird at a'; it is a butterfly! See, there he is!"shouted Sandy, pointing, as he ran, to a small bush twenty paces ahead.

  "Goodness gracious!" exclaimed the Doctor, in astonishment, "I believeSandy is right!"

  And right he was, for certain; for this singing insect fluttered lazilyalong, to a bush much nearer to us; and, poising on one of the topmostblooms, again warbled as sweetly as before.

  "Truly, indeed," said the Doctor, in amazement, "we have reached aworld of anomalies! To all intents and purposes that is a butterfly,yet its structure must be entirely different from any insect on Earth,or known to man."

  Others now appeared. Their wings were of various colours and shapes,denoting, probably, several species; but one with light turquoise-bluepinions was by far the commonest.

  Soon after we saw the insects, a flock of white birds, about the sizeof a thrush, appeared, flying quickly along the side of the lake in avery swallowlike manner. One of them Graham was fortunate enough toshoot; and we were surprised beyond measure to find that it was withoutlegs, and pouched, like the Marsupalia, or kangaroos of Earth. In thepouch were several pinkish eggs; and we inferred that this creaturehatched them as it carried them about the air, requiring no nest forthe purpose. It was clothed in plumage more like scales than feathers,the filaments being similar to fine shreds of horn.

  Many other species of these curious legless birds, and singing insects,were seen by us as we strolled along the shore. Just, however, as wewere about to embark, a magnificent animal trotted down one of thevalleys to the lake, to drink. It was certainly three times as big asthe largest elephant, though slim and graceful of build as a fawn.Here all further resemblance ceased. It was something like a greyhoundin appearance, but the ears were broad and very large, and the darkeye exceptionally prominent. Its tail was long and bushy; its hoofuncloven, and the colour of the skin was as dull copper. We were toomuch lost in admiration of the beautiful creature to shoot it down, andbefore we had recovered from our surprise, it bounded away towards themountains with amazing speed. We subsequently counted eight more ofthese animals, grazing on the patches of red "grass" on the lower hills.

  "Respecting the inhabitants of this new world," said the Doctor;"really, its fauna and flora, so far as we have observed them, aresimply grand."

  "Bar the serpents, Doctor," said Graham.

  "More than satisfied," said Temple, "I am charmed and delighted, andnow share your conviction that a higher type of animal still remains tobe discovered. You know to what I refer--creatures of intellect, formedin the image of God, like ourselves."

  "We had best now return, my friends. By the time we reach the _Sirius_the sun will be near setting, and it is not wise to pass through theswamp at dusk, after what we have already seen of its inhabitants,"said the Doctor.

  Laden with a great variety of specimens, we made our way to the boat,and were soon rowing across the lake again towards the swamp. Thebreeze had died away, so that our sail was useless, and we had to pullthe entire distance. The sun was sinking behind the range of mountainswe had just left, as we stopped and began to pack up our boat; and bythe time we had got everything inside the _Sirius_, night had fallen.

  Tired and hungry, we were glad to reach our "home" again, and as soonas we had eaten we all of us retired to rest, and passed a peaceful,uneventful night. If the monsters of the swamp were noisy, we did nothear them; not one of us woke until the sun had long risen.

  After breakfast, we commenced our task of digging out the _Sirius_ fromthe mud. The Doctor was busy preserving specimens, dissecting others,and writing his scientific journals. Six hours' hard work sufficed toget the _Sirius_ clear enough to start. We also took the precautionof putting a considerable amount of ballast into our air-ship, toreplace the stores which had been consumed, so that we should not againexperience any difficulty in descending. By the time all this was donethe afternoon was well advanced, yet so weary of the swamp were we,that we decided to leave it at once.

  "We cannot do better than make for the beach where we landed thismorning, on the other side of the lake, ascending about ten thousandfeet as we cross. That will enable us to survey a good many miles ofcountry," said the Doctor to Graham.

  Slowly we soared away from the marsh forest, high over the reeds, upinto the pure, fresh air of heaven, where from the balcony we couldview the land and water below us. The swamp was enormous, many, manysquare miles in extent, and beyond it appeared a dense forest of quitea different kind of vegetation. The country, as far as we could see,from the base of the mountains to the shores of the lake and beyondit, was much the same throughout its area as that which we had alreadyexplored the previous day. Certainly none of it bore the appearance ofcivilisation--all seemed virgin wilderness, and our hearts sank withinus. Beyond the belt of dark forest on the other side of the swamp, wecould see the ocean; looking landwards, the highest of the mountainsconcealed the view.

  "Do you think it advisable to go further to-day, Doctor?" asked Graham.

  "Well, now we are up so high it will certainly be best to do as muchsurveying as possible, and then we can discuss our position and futuremovements to-night. Put
us up a few more thousand feet, Graham, so thatwe may clear these mountains and see what the country is like beyondthem."

  The scene from above the mountain range was indescribably beautiful.We looked down upon lofty snow-capped peaks, romantic valleys,leaping waterfalls, and slumbering lakes; upon wild and lonelyplateaux, glaciers, and snow-fields; upon steep cliffs, gentle slopes,cone-shaped summits, and others like unto pyramids, pinnacles, orspires. We went right over the yawning crater, and looked down intothe smoke and fire which rose gently from its hidden depths, now calmand peaceful as a sleeping child. We saw the birthplace of rivers,high up the hillsides, and could trace them from their source to thedistant ocean; we noticed the various belts of vegetation growing onthe mountain slopes from the lake to the snow-line--but we saw no traceof anything shaped and fashioned as ourselves! Higher and higher werose, and at last the country to the westward, or behind the mountains,gradually came into view. It was even more charmingly beautiful thanthe country we had just left behind us--more level, more wooded, betterwatered, and parts of it apparently under cultivation! Our hearts beatfast within us as we saw what looked like vast enclosures, with long,winding canals running through them; and even more excited still did webecome when we distinctly made out a colossal bridge which spanned adeep valley between two hills.

  "There! there are the signs of a higher intelligence at last; the brutecreation does not reign supreme, as we feared," said Temple, burstinginto tears, and unable to control his feelings longer.

  Graham waxed eloquent over the engineering qualities of the bridge, theenormous width of its span making the mightiest bridges of Earth seembut as toys in comparison.

  We were too far away (quite thirty miles) to see much detail, but wecould distinguish, as Temple spoke, two vast cities, one on eitherhill, joined together by the bridge, with palaces and halls and loftytowers, apparently of white marble, glistening in the rays of thesetting sun. Upon seeing this wonderful city, Doctor Hermann verywisely gave the word to descend as quickly as possible, in case wemight be observed. In five minutes we were safe on the ground again,the _Sirius_ snugly hidden in a beautiful grove of trees and underwoodon the banks of a stream, in a spot where we should at all events beable to retreat and readily conceal ourselves in case of emergency.

  "Yes, Temple, your fears were all unfounded," answered the Doctor."Mars is inhabited by reasoning beings. I assure you it is mostgratifying to find the speculations of my early days of study, andthe conclusions of more matured years of experience, turning out tobe absolute facts. When on Earth, I used to dream of a new race ofintellectual beings, far away out here; to ponder over their pursuitsand their appearance; to wonder if they were more highly developed,physically and mentally, than we. Now these strangers are but a fewhours' walk away from us; and, if I mistake not, those beings that madeand dwell in that fair city yonder are of a higher development eventhan ourselves. I prophesy their intellect is greater, their beautyfairer, their talents more numerous, their civilization more advanced,or not so much decayed as our own! To-morrow we will seek theiracquaintance, and make ourselves known unto them!"

  To-morrow! How can we spend the hours that divide us from then! Butdarkness is settling fast around us, and we must wait in patience thecoming of a new day.