CHAPTER VII
A MODERN GULLIVER
"The clattering fall of rain brought us to ourselves. Rising to herfeet, Lylda pulled me over to the window-opening, and together we stoodand looked out into the night. The scene before us was beautiful, with aweirdness almost impossible to describe. It was as bright as I had everseen this world, for even though heavy clouds hung overhead, the lightfrom the stars was never more than a negligible quantity.
"We were facing the lake--a shining expanse of silver radiation, itssurface shifting and crawling, as though a great undulating blanket ofsilver mist lay upon it. And coming down to meet it from the sky wereinnumerable lines of silver--a vast curtain of silver cords that brokeapart into great strings of pearls when I followed their downwardcourse.
"And then, as I turned to Lylda, I was struck with the extraordinaryweirdness of her beauty as never before. The reflected light from therain had something the quality of our moonlight. Shining on Lylda'sbody, it tremendously enhanced the iridescence of her skin. And herface, upturned to mine, bore an expression of radiant happiness andpeace such as I had never seen before on a woman's countenance."
The Chemist paused, his voice dying away into silence as he sat lost inthought. Then he pulled himself together with a start. "It was a sight,gentlemen, the memory of which I shall cherish all my life.
"The next day was that set for my entrance into the war. Lylda and I hadtalked nearly all night, and had decided that she was to return with meto my world. By morning the rain had stopped, and we sat together in thewindow-opening, silenced with the thrill of the wonderful new joy thathad come into our hearts.
"The country before us, under the cloudless, starry sky, stretchedgray-blue and beautiful into the quivering obscurity of the distance. Atour feet lay the city, just awakening into life. Beyond, over therolling meadows and fields, wound the road that led out to thebattle-front, and coming back over it now, we could see an endless lineof vehicles. These, as they passed through the street beneath ourwindow, I found were loaded with soldiers, wounded and dying. Ishuddered at the sight of one cart in particular, and Lylda pressedclose to me, pleading with her eyes for my help for her stricken people.
"My exit from the castle was made quite a ceremony. A band of music anda guard of several hundred soldiers ushered me forth, walking beside theking, with Lylda a few paces behind. As we passed through the streets ofthe city, heading for the open country beyond, we were cheeredcontinually by the people who thronged the streets and crowded upon thehousetops to watch us pass.
"Outside Arite I was taken perhaps a mile, where a wide stretch ofcountry gave me the necessary space for my growth. We were standing upona slight hill, below which, in a vast semicircle, fully a hundredthousand people were watching.
"And now, for the first time, fear overcame me. I realized mysituation--saw myself in a detached sort of way--a stranger in thisextraordinary world, and only the power of my drug to raise me out ofit. This drug you must remember, I had not as yet taken. Suppose it werenot to act? Or were to act wrongly?
"I glanced around. The king stood before me, quietly waiting mypleasure. Then I turned to Lylda. One glance at her proud, happy littleface, and my fear left me as suddenly as it had come. I took her in myarms and kissed her, there before that multitude. Then I set her down,and signified to the king I was ready.
"I took a minute quantity of one of the drugs, and as I had done before,sat down with my eyes covered. My sensations were fairly similar tothose I have already described. When I looked up after a moment, I foundthe landscape dwindling to tiny proportions in quite as astonishing away as it had grown before. The king and Lylda stood now hardly above myankle.
"A great cry arose from the people--a cry wherein horror, fear, andapplause seemed equally mixed. I looked down and saw thousands of themrunning away in terror.
"Still smaller grew everything within my vision, and then, after amoment, the landscape seemed at rest. I kneeled now upon the ground,carefully, to avoid treading on any of the people around me. I locatedLylda and the king after a moment; tiny little creatures less than aninch in height. I was then, I estimated, from their viewpoint, aboutfour hundred feet tall.
"I put my hand flat upon the ground near Lylda, and after a moment sheclimbed into it, two soldiers lifting her up the side of my thumb as itlay upon the ground. In the hollow of my palm, she lay quite securely,and very carefully I raised her up towards my face. Then, seeing thatshe was frightened, I set her down again.
"At my feet, hardly more than a few steps away, lay the tiny city ofArite and the lake. I could see all around the latter now, and couldmake out clearly a line of hills on the other side. Off to the left theroad wound up out of sight in the distance. As far as I could see, aline of soldiers was passing out along this road--marching four abreast,with carts at intervals, loaded evidently with supplies; onlyoccasionally, now, vehicles passed in the other direction. Can I make itplain to you, gentlemen, my sensations in changing stature? I felt atfirst as though I were tremendously high in the air, looking down asfrom a balloon upon the familiar territory beneath me. That feelingpassed after a few moments, and I found that my point of view hadchanged. I no longer felt that I was looking down from a balloon, butfelt as a normal person feels. And again I conceived myself but six feettall, standing above a dainty little toy world. It is all in theviewpoint, of course, and never, during all my changes, was I for morethan a moment able to feel of a different stature than I am at thispresent instant. It was always everything else that changed.
"According to the directions I had received from the king, I started nowto follow the course of the road. I found it difficult walking, for thecountry was dotted with houses, trees, and cultivated fields, and eachfootstep was a separate problem.
"I progressed in this manner perhaps two miles, covering what the daybefore I would have called about a hundred and thirty or forty miles.The country became wilder as I advanced, and now was in places crowdedwith separate collections of troops.
"I have not mentioned the commotion I made in this walk over thecountry. My coming must have been told widely by couriers the nightbefore, to soldiers and peasantry alike, or the sight of me would havecaused utter demoralization. As it was, I must have been terrifying to atremendous degree. I think the careful way in which I picked my course,stepping in the open as much as possible, helped to reassure the people.Behind me, whenever I turned, they seemed rather more curious thanfearful, and once or twice when I stopped for a few moments theyapproached my feet closely. One athletic young soldier caught the looseend of the string of one of my buskins, as it hung over my instep closeto the ground and pulled himself up hand over hand, amid theenthusiastic cheers of his comrades.
"I had walked nearly another mile, when almost in front of me, andperhaps a hundred yards away, I saw a remarkable sight that I did not atfirst understand. The country here was crossed by a winding riverrunning in a general way at right angles to my line of progress. At theright, near at hand, and on the nearer bank of the river, lay a littlecity, perhaps half the size of Arite, with its back up against a hill.
"What first attracted my attention was that from a dark patch across theriver which seemed to be woods, pebbles appeared to pop up at intervals,traversing a little arc perhaps as high as my knees, and falling intothe city. I watched for a moment and then I understood. There was asiege in progress, and the catapults of the Malites were bombarding thecity with rocks.
"I went up a few steps closer, and the pebbles stopped coming. I stoodnow beside the city, and as I bent over it, I could see by the batteredhouses the havoc the bombardment had caused. Inert little figures lay inthe streets, and I bent lower and inserted my thumb and forefingerbetween a row of houses and picked one up. It was the body of a woman,partly mashed. I set it down again hastily.
"Then as I stood up, I felt a sting on my leg. A pebble had hit me onthe shin and dropped at my feet. I picked it up. It was the size of asmall walnut--a huge bowlder six feet or more in diameter
it would havebeen in Lylda's eyes. At the thought of her I was struck with a suddenfit of anger. I flung the pebble violently down into the wooded patchand leaped over the river in one bound, landing squarely on both feet inthe woods. It was like jumping into a patch of ferns.
"I stamped about me for a moment until a large part of the woods wascrushed down. Then I bent over and poked around with my finger.Underneath the tangled wreckage of tiny-tree trunks, lay numbers of theMalites. I must have trodden upon a thousand or more, as one would stampupon insects.
"The sight sickened me at first, for after all, I could not look uponthem as other than men, even though they were only the length of mythumb-nail. I walked a few steps forward, and in all directions I couldsee swarms of the little creatures running. Then the memory of my comingdeparture from this world with Lylda, and my promise to the king to ridhis land once for all from these people, made me feel again that they,like vermin, were to be destroyed.
"Without looking directly down, I spent the next two hours stamping overthis entire vicinity. Then I ran two or three miles directly toward thecountry of the Malites, and returning I stamped along the course of theriver for a mile or so in both directions. Then I walked back to Arite,again picking my way carefully among crowds of Oroids, who now feared meso little that I had difficulty in moving without stepping upon them.
"When I had regained my former size, which needed two successive dosesof the drug, I found myself surrounded by a crowd of the Oroids, pushingand shoving each other in an effort to get closer to me. The news of mysuccess over their enemy have been divined by them, evidently. Lordknows it must have been obvious enough what I was going to do, when theysaw me stride away, a being four hundred feet tall.
"Their enthusiasm and thankfulness now were so mixed with awe andreverent worship of me as a divine being, that when I advanced towardsArite they opened a path immediately. The king, accompanied by Lylda,met me at the edge of the city. The latter threw herself into my arms atonce, crying with relief to find me the proper size once more.
"I need not go into details of the ceremonies of rejoicing that tookplace this afternoon. These people seemed little given to pomp andpublic demonstration. The king made a speech from his balcony, tellingthem all I had done, and the city was given over to festivities andpreparations to receive the returning soldiers."
The Chemist pushed his chair back from the table, and moistened his drylips with a swallow of water. "I tell you, gentlemen," he continued, "Ifelt pretty happy that day. It's a wonderful feeling to find yourselfthe savior of a nation."
At that the Doctor jumped to his feet, overturning his chair, andstriking the table a blow with his fist that made the glasses dance.
"By God!" he fairly shouted, "that's just what you can be here to us."
The Banker looked startled, while the Very Young Man pulled the Chemistby the coat in his eagerness to be heard. "A few of those pills," hesaid in a voice that quivered with excitement, "when you are standing inFrance, and you can walk over to Berlin and kick the houses apart withthe toe of your boot."
"Why not?" said the Big Business Man, and silence fell on the group asthey stared at each other, awed by the possibilities that opened upbefore them.