2. A COUNTRY IN THE CLOUDS
And yet when I woke in the morning and went about my duties at theasylum, I confess the events of the night before seemed rather unreal.I began to half fancy myself the victim of some sort of hoax. I didnot doubt that Croft had been up to some psychic experiment when hisold servant, Mrs. Goss, had become alarmed and brought me into thesituation. But--I felt inclined to believe that after I had waked himfrom his self-induced trance he had deliberately turned theconversation into a channel which would give me a mental jolt beforehe had calmly gone back to sleep.
I knew something of the occult, of course, but I was hardly ready tocredit the rather lurid statement he had made. Before noon I wassmiling at myself, and determining to keep my appointment with him forthe afternoon, and show him from the start that I was not so completea fool as I had seemed.
Hence it was with a resolve not to be swept off my feet by any unusualfabrication of his devising that I approached his house at about threeo'clock and turned in from the street to his porch.
He sat there, in a wicker chair, smoking an excellent cigar. No doubtbut he had recovered completely from the state in which I had beheldhim first. He rose as I mounted the steps and put out a hand. "Ah, Dr.Murray," he greeted me with a smile. "I have been waiting your coming.Let me offer you a chair and a smoke while we talk."
We shook hands, and then I sat down and lighted the mate of the cigarCroft held between his strong, even teeth. Then, as I threw away thematch, I looked straight into his eyes. And, believe me or not, it wasas though the man read my thoughts.
He shook his head. "I really told you the truth, Murray, you know," hesaid.
"About--Palos?" I smiled.
He nodded. "Yes, I was really there, and--I went back after we had ourtalk."
"Rather quick work," I remarked, and puffed out some smoke. "Have youfigured out how long it takes even light to reach the earth from thatdistant star, Mr. Croft?"
"Light?" He half-knit his brows, then suddenly laughed without sound."Oh, I see--you refer to the equation of time?"
"Well, yes. The distance is considerable, as you must admit."
He shook his head. "How long does it take you to think of Palos--ofSirius?" he asked.
"Not long," I replied.
He leaned back in his seat. "Murray," he went on, staring straightbefore him, "time is but the measure of consciousness. Outside theatmospheric envelopes of the planets--outside the limit of,well--say--human thought--time ceases to exist. And--if between theplanets there is no time beyond the depths of their surroundingatmosphere--how long will it take to go from here to there?"
I stared. His statement was startling, at least.
"You mean that time is a mental conception?" I managed at last.
"Time is a mental measure of a span of eternity," he said slowly."Past planetary atmospheres, eternity alone exists. In eternity thereis no time. Hence, I cannot use what _is not_, either in going to orreturning from that planet I have named. You admit you can thinkinstantly of Palos. I allege that I can _think_ myself, carry myastral consciousness instantly to Palos. Do you see?"
I saw what he meant, of course, and I indicated as much by a nod."But," I objected, "you told me you had to return to Palos. Now youtell me you had projected your astral body to that star. What couldyou do there in the astral state?"
He smiled. "Very little. I know. I have passed through that stage. Asa matter of fact, I have a body there now."
"You have what--" As I remember, I came half out of my chair, and thensank back. The thing hit me as nothing else in my whole life had donebefore. His calm avowal was unbelievable on its face--impossible--a manwith a double corporeal existence on two separate planets at one and thesame time.
"A body--a living, breathing body," he repeated his declaration. "Oh,man, I know it overthrows all human conceptions of life, but--lastnight you asked me a question concerning _this_ body of mine--and Itold you I knew what I was doing. And I know you must have studiedsome of the teachings of the higher cult--the esoteric philosophies,if you will. And therefore you must have read of the ability of aspirit to dispossess a body of its original spiritual tenant andoccupy its place--"
"Obsession," I interrupted. "You are practicing that--up there?"
"No. I've gone farther than that. I took this body when its originaloccupant was done with it," he said. "Murray--wait--let me explain.I'm a physician like yourself."
"You?" I exclaimed, none too politely, I fear, in the face of thisadditional surprise.
Croft's lips twitched. He seemed to understand and yet be slightlyamused. "Yes. That's why I was able to assure you I knew how long thebody I occupy now could endure a cataleptic condition last night. I ama graduate of Rush, and I fancy, fully qualified to speak concerningthe body's needs. And--" he paused a moment, then resumed:
"Frankly, Murray, I find myself confronted by what I think I may callthe strangest position a man was ever called upon to face. Last nightI recognized in you one who had probably far from a minorunderstanding of mental and spiritual forces. Your ability to force myreturn at a time when I was otherwise engaged showed me yourunderstanding. For that very reason I asked you to return to me hereto-day. I would like to talk to you--a brother physician; to tell youa story--my story, provided you would care to hear it. Most men wouldcall me insane. Something tells me you, who devote your time to thecare of the insane, will not."
He paused and sat once more staring across the sunlit landscape which,after the storm of the night before, was glowing and fresh. After atime he turned his eyes and looked into mine with something almost anappeal, in his glance. In response, I nodded and settled myself in mychair.
* * * * *
"I'm not going to deny a natural curiosity, Dr. Croft," I said, since,to tell the absolute truth, I was anxious to get at the inward factsunder-lying the entire peculiar affair.
"Then," he said in an almost eager fashion, "I shall tell you--thewhole thing, I think. Murray, when Shakespeare wrote into one of hischaracters' mouth the statement that there are more things in heavenand earth than are dreamt of, he told the truth. Mankind in the mainis like a crowd storming the doors of a showhouse sold out to capacityand unable to accommodate any one else. Mankind is the crowd in thelobby, shut out from the real sights back of the veiling doors whichbar their perception of what goes on within. Mankind stands only onthe fringe of life, does not dream of the truth. Only here and thereis there one who _knows_. It was one such who first directed my mindtoward the truth."
"Murray"--he paused and once more fastened me with his gaze--"I amgoing to tell that truth to you.... But first--in order that you mayunderstand, and believe if you can, I shall tell you something ofmyself."
That telling took a long time; hours, the rest of the afternoon, andmost of the following night. It was a strange tale, an unbelievablystrange story. And yet, in view of what happened inside that sameweek, I am not sure, after all, but it was the truth, just as Croftalleged. What, when all is said, do any of us know beyond the round ofour own human life? What do we know of those things which may lieoutside the scope of our mental vision? There must be things in heavenand earth not dreamt of in the philosophy of _Horatio_. Here is thetale.
Jason Croft was born in New Jersey, but brought West at an early ageby his parents, who had become converts to a certain faith. Rightthere, it seems to me, may have been laid the foundation of Croft'sinterest in the occult in later life, since that faith containspossibly a greater number of parallels to occult teachings than any ofthe Occidental creeds. Of course, in all religions there is the germof truth. Were it not, they would be dead dogmas rather than livingsects. But in this church, which has grown strong in the WesternStates, I think there is a closer approach to the Eastern theory ofsoul and spiritual life.
Be that as it may, Croft grew to manhood in the very state and townwhere I was now employed, and in the home on the porch of which wesat. He elected medicine as a career. He went to Chicago
and put inhis first three years. The second year his mother died, and a yearlater his father. He returned on each occasion, and went back to hisstudies after the obsequies were done. In his fourth year he met a mannamed Gatua Kahaun, destined, as it seems, to change the entire courseof his life.
Gatua Kahaun was a Hindu, a member of an Eastern brotherhood, come tothe United States to study the religions of the West. One can see hownaturally he took up with Croft, who had been raised in one of thosereligions.
The two became friends. From what Croft told me, the Hindu was a manof marked attainments, well versed in the Oriental creeds. When Croftcame West after his graduation, Gatua Kahaun was his companion andstopped at his home, which had been kept up by Mrs. Goss and herhusband, then still