CHAPTER IV
LYLDA
"I was awakened by the feel of soft hands upon my head and face. With astart I sat up abruptly; I rubbed my eyes confusedly for a moment, notknowing where I was. When I collected my wits I found myself staringinto the face of a girl, who was kneeling on the ground before me. Irecognized her at once--she was the girl of the microscope.
"To say I was startled would be to put it mildly, but I read no fear inher expression, only wonderment at my springing so suddenly into life.She was dressed very much as I had seen her before. Her fragile beautywas the same, and at this closer view infinitely more appealing, but Iwas puzzled to account for her older, more mature look. She seemed tohave aged several years since the last evening I had seen her throughthe microscope. Yet, undeniably, it was the same girl.
"For some moments we sat looking at each other in wonderment. Then shesmiled and held out her hand, palm up, speaking a few words as she didso. Her voice was soft and musical, and the words of a peculiar qualitythat we generally describe as liquid, for want of a better term. Whatshe said was wholly unintelligible, but whether the words were strangeor the intonation different from anything I had ever heard I could notdetermine.
"Afterwards, during my stay in this other world, I found that thelanguage of its people resembled English quite closely, so far as thewords themselves went. But the intonation with which they were given,and the gestures accompanying them, differed so widely from our own thatthey conveyed no meaning.
"The gap separating us, however, was very much less than you wouldimagine. Strangely enough, though, it was not I who learned to speak hertongue, but she who mastered mine."
The Very Young Man sighed contentedly.
"We became quite friendly after this greeting," resumed the Chemist,"and it was apparent from her manner that she had already conceived herown idea of who and what I was.
"For some time we sat and tried to communicate with each other. My wordsseemed almost as unintelligible to her as hers to me, except thatoccasionally she would divine my meaning, clapping her hands in childishdelight. I made out that she lived at a considerable distance, and thather name was Lylda. Finally she pulled me by the hand and led me awaywith a proprietary air that amused and, I must admit, pleased metremendously.
"We had progressed through the woods in this way, hardly more than a fewhundred yards, when suddenly I found that she was taking me into themouth of a cave or passageway, sloping downward at an angle of perhapstwenty degrees. I noticed now, more graphically than ever before, atruth that had been gradually forcing itself upon me. Darkness wasimpossible in this new world. We were now shut in between narrow wallsof crystalline rock, with a roof hardly more than fifty feet above.
"No artificial light of any kind was in evidence, yet the scene waslighted quite brightly. This, I have explained, was caused by thephosphorescent radiation that apparently emanated from every particle ofmineral matter in this universe.
"As we advanced, many other tunnels crossed the one we were traveling.And now, occasionally, we passed other people, the men dressed similarlyto Lylda, but wearing their hair chopped off just above the shoulderline.
"Later, I found that the men were generally about five and a half feetin stature: lean, muscular, and with a grayer, harder look to their skinthan the iridescent quality that characterized the women.
"They were fine-looking chaps these we encountered. All of them staredcuriously at me, and several times we were held up by chattering groups.The intense whiteness of my skin, for it looked in this light the colorof chalk, seemed to both awe and amuse them. But they treated me withgreat deference and respect, which I afterwards learned was because ofLylda herself, and also what she told them about me.
"At several of the intersections of the tunnels there were wide openspaces. One of these we now approached. It was a vast amphitheater, sobroad its opposite wall was invisible, and it seemed crowded withpeople. At the side, on a rocky niche in the wall, a speaker haranguedthe crowd.
"We skirted the edge of this crowd and plunged into another passageway,sloping downward still more steeply. I was so much interested in thestrange scenes opening before me that I remarked little of the distancewe traveled. Nor did I question Lylda but seldom. I was absorbed in thecomplete similarity between this and my own world in its generalcharacteristics, and yet its complete strangeness in details.
"I felt not the slightest fear. Indeed the sincerity and kindliness ofthese people seemed absolutely genuine, and the friendly, naive, mannerof my little guide put me wholly at my ease. Towards me Lylda's mannerwas one of childish delight at a new-found possession. Towards those ofher own people with whom we talked, I found she preserved a dignity theyprofoundly respected.
"We had hardly more than entered this last tunnel when I heard the soundof drums and a weird sort of piping music, followed by shouts andcheers. Figures from behind us scurried past, hastening towards thesound. Lylda's clasp on my hand tightened, and she pulled me forwardeagerly. As we advanced the crowd became denser, pushing and shoving usabout and paying little attention to me.
"In close contact with these people I soon found I was stronger thanthey, and for a time I had no difficulty in shoving them aside andopening a path for us. They took my rough handling in all good part, infact, never have I met a more even-tempered, good-natured people thanthese.
"After a time the crowd became so dense we could advance no further. Atthis Lylda signed me to bear to the side. As we approached the wall ofthe cavern she suddenly clasped her hands high over her head and shoutedsomething in a clear, commanding voice. Instantly the crowd fell back,and in a moment I found myself being pulled up a narrow flight of stonesteps in the wall and out upon a level space some twenty feet above theheads of the people.
"Several dignitaries occupied this platform. Lylda greeted them quietly,and they made place for us beside the parapet. I could see now that wewere at the intersection of a transverse passageway, much broader thanthe one we had been traversing. And now I received the greatest surpriseI had had in this new world, for down this latter tunnel was passing abroad line of men who obviously were soldiers.
"The uniformly straight lines they held; the glint of light on thespears they carried upright before them; the weird, but rhythmic, musicthat passed at intervals, with which they kept step; and, above all, thecheering enthusiasm of the crowd, all seemed like an echo of my owngreat world above.
"This martial ardor and what it implied came as a distinct shock. All Ihad seen before showed the gentle kindliness of a people whose lifeseemed far removed from the struggle for existence to which our race issubjected. I had come gradually to feel that this new world, at least,had attained the golden age of security, and that fear, hate, andwrongdoing had long since passed away, or had never been born.
"Yet, here before my very eyes, made wholesome by the fires ofpatriotism, stalked the grim God of War. Knowing nothing yet of themotive that inspired these people, I could feel no enthusiasm, but onlydisillusionment at this discovery of the omnipotence of strife.
"For some time I must have stood in silence. Lylda, too, seemed todivine my thoughts, for she did not applaud, but pensively watched thecheering throng below. All at once, with an impulsively appealingmovement, she pulled me down towards her, and pressed her pretty cheekto mine. It seemed almost as if she was asking me to help.
"The line of marching men seemed now to have passed, and the crowdsurged over into the open space and began to disperse. As the men uponthe platform with us prepared to leave, Lylda led me over to one ofthem. He was nearly as tall as I, and dressed in the characteristictunic that seemed universally worn by both sexes. The upper part of hisbody was hung with beads, and across his chest was a thin, slightlyconvex stone plate.
"After a few words of explanation from Lylda, he laid his hands on myshoulders near the base of the neck, smiling with his words of greeting.Then he held one hand before me, palm up, as Lylda had done, and I laidmine in it, which seemed the correct thing
to do.
"I repeated this performance with two others who joined us, and thenLylda pulled me away. We descended the steps and turned into the broadertunnel, finding near at hand a sort of sleigh, which Lylda signed me toenter. It was constructed evidently of wood, with a pile of leaves, orsimilar dead vegetation, for cushions. It was balanced upon a singlerunner of polished stone, about two feet broad, with a narrow, slightlyshorter outrider on each side.
"Harnessed to the shaft were two animals, more resembling our reindeersthan anything else, except that they were gray in color and had nohorns. An attendant greeted Lylda respectfully as we approached, andmounted a seat in front of us when we were comfortably settled.
"We drove in this curious vehicle for over an hour. The floor of thetunnel was quite smooth, and we glided down its incline with littleeffort and at a good rate. Our driver preserved the balance of thesleigh by shifting his body from side to side so that only at rareintervals did the siderunners touch the ground.
"Finally, we emerged into the open, and I found myself viewing a sceneof almost normal, earthly aspect. We were near the shore of a smooth,shining lake. At the side a broad stretch of rolling country, dottedhere and there with trees, was visible. Near at hand, on the lake shore,I saw a collection of houses, most of them low and flat, with one muchlarger on a promontory near the lake.
"Overhead arched a gray-blue, cloudless sky, faintly star-studded, andreflected in the lake before me I saw that familiar gleaming trail ofstar-dust, hanging like a huge straightened rainbow overhead, and endingat my feet."