CHAPTER XXI
"There shall be no more wars!--there CAN be none!"
Roger Seaton said these words aloud with defiant emphasis, addressingthe dumb sky. It was early morning, but an intense heat had so scorchedthe earth that not the smallest drop of dew glittered on any leaf orblade of grass; it was all arid, brown and burned into a dryness as offever. But Seaton was far too much engrossed with himself and his ownbusiness to note the landscape, or to be troubled by the suffocatingcloseness of the atmosphere,--he stood gazing with the idolatry of apassionate lover at a small, plain metal case, containing a dozen ormore small plain metal cylinders, as small as women's thimbles, allneatly ranged side by side, divided from contact with one another byfolded strips of cotton.
"There it is!" he went on, apostrophising the stillair--"Complete,--perfected! If I sold that to any nation under the sun,that nation could rule the world!--could wipe out everything saveitself and its own people! I have wrested the secret from the very wombof Nature!--it is mine--all mine! I would have given it to Britain--orto the United States--but neither will accept my terms--so therefore Ihold it--I, only!--which is just as well! I--just I--am master ofdestiny!--the Power we call God, has put this tiling into my hands!What a marvel and shall I not use it? I will! Let Germany but stir aninch towards aggression, and Germany shall exist no longer!--The samewith any other nation that starts a quarrel--I--I alone will settle it!"
His eyes blazed with the light of fanaticism--he was obsessed by theforce of his own ideas and schemes, and the metal case on the tablebefore him was, to his mind, time, life, present and future. He hadarrived at that questionable point of intellectual attainment when manforgets that there is any existing force capable of opposing him, andimagines that he has but to go on in his own way to grasp all worldsand the secrets of their being. At this juncture, so often arrived atby many, a kind of super-sureness sets in, persuading the finite naturethat it has reached the infinite. The whole mental organisation of theman thrilled with an awful consciousness of power. He said withinhimself "I hold the lives of millions at my mercy!"
Other thoughts--other dreams had passed away for the moment--he hadforgotten life as it presents itself to the ordinary human being. Nowand again a flitting vision of Morgana vaguely troubled him,--herintellectual capacity annoyed him, and yet he would have been glad todiscuss with her the scientific unfolding of his great secret--shewould understand it in all its bearings,--she mightadvise--Advice!--no!--he did not need the advice of a woman! As forManella, he had not seen her since her last violent outburst of what hecalled "temper"--and he had no wish for her presence. For now he had athing to do which was of paramount importance,--and this was, todeposit the treasured discovery of his life in a secret hiding-place hehad found for it, till he should be ready to remove it to saferquarters--or--TILL HE RESOLVED TO USE IT. Had he been a religious man,of such humility as should accompany true religion, he would haveprayed that its use should never be called upon,--but he had trainedhimself into an attitude of such complete indifferentism towards lifeand the things of life, that to him it seemed useless to pray for whatdid not matter. Sometimes the thought, appalling in its truth, flashedacross his brain that the force he had discovered and condensed withinsmall compass might as easily destroy half the world as a nation! Thefabled thunderbolts of Jove were child's play compared with thoseplain-looking, thimble-like cylinders which contained such terrificpower! A touch of hesitation--of pure human dread affected his nervesfor the moment,--he shivered in the sultry air as with cold, and lookedabout him right and left as though suspecting some hidden witness ofhis actions. There was not so much as a bird or a butterfly in sight,and he drew a long deep breath of relief. The day was treading in thesteps of dawn with the full blazonry of burning Californian sunlight,and away in the distance the ridges and peaks of distant mountainsstood out sharply clear against the intense blue of the sky. There wasgreat stillness everywhere,--a pause, as it seemed, in the mechanism ofthe universe. The twitter of a bird or the cry of some wild animalwould have been a relief,--so Seaton felt, though accustomed to deepsilence.
"Better get through with this at once"--he said, aloud--"Now that asafe place is prepared." Here he looked at his watch. "In a couple ofhours they will be sending up from the Plaza to know if I wantanything--Irish Jake or Manilla will be coming on some trivialmatter--I'd better take the opportunity of complete secrecy while Ican."
For the next few minutes or so he hesitated. With the sudden fancy thathe had forgotten something, he turned out his pockets, looking for hescarcely knew what. The contents were mixed and various, and among themwas a crumpled letter which he had received some days since from SamGwent. He smoothed it out carefully and re-read it, especially onepassage--
"I think the States will never get involved in another war, but I amfairly sure Germany will. If she joins up with Russia look out forsqualls. In your old country, which appears to be peopled by madmen,there's a writing chap who spent a fortnight in Russia, not long enoughto know the ins and outs of a village, yet assuming to know everythingabout the biggest territory in Europe, and the press is puffing up hisignorance as if it were wisdom. Germany has her finger on the spot--soperhaps your stuff will come in useful. But don't forget that if youmake up your mind to use it you will ruin America, commerciallyspeaking. And many other countries besides. So think it wellover,--more than a hundred times! Lydia Herbert, whom perhaps youremember, and perhaps you don't, has caught her 'ancient mariner'--thatis to say, her millionaire,--and all fashionable New York is going tothe wedding, including yours truly. I had expected Morgana Royal tograce the function, but I hear she is quite engrossed with thedecoration and furnishing of her Sicilian palace, as well as with heradvising artist, a very good-looking Marquis or Marchese as he iscalled. It is also whispered that she has invented a wonderful air-shipwhich has no engines, and creates its own motive power as it goes!Sounds rather tall talk!--but this is an age of wonders and we neverknow what next. There is a new Light Ray just out which prospects forgold, oil and all ores and minerals, and finds them in a fifty-milecircuit--so probably nobody need be poor for the future. When we've allgot most things we want, and there's nothing left to work for, I wonderwhat the world will be worth!"
Seaton left off reading and thrust the letter again in his pocket.
"What will the world be worth?" he soliloquised--"Why, nothing!"
Suddenly struck by this thought, which had not always presented itselfwith such sharp and clear precision as now, he took time to considerit. Capital and Labour, the two forces which are much more prone torend each other than to co-operate--these would both possibly benon-existent if Science had its full way. If gold, silver and otherprecious minerals could be "picked up" as on the fabled Tom Tiddler'sground, by a ray of light, then the striving for wealth would cease andwork would be reduced to a minimum. The prospect was stupendous, buthardly entirely pleasing. If there were no need for effort, then thepowers of mind and body would sink into inertia.
"What object should we live for?" he mused--"Merely to propagate ourown kind and bring more effortless beings into the world to cumber it?The very idea is horrible! Work is the very blood and bone ofexistence--without it we should rot! But one must work for something orsome one--wife?--children?--Useless labour!--for in nine cases outoften the wife becomes a bore,--and the children grow up ungrateful.Why waste strength and feeling on either?"
Thus mentally arguing, the exquisite lines of Tennyson's "Lotus Eaters"suddenly rang in his memory like a chime of bells from the old Englishvillage where he had lived as a boy, when his mother, one of the pastsweet "old-fashioned" women, used to read to him and teach him much ofthe best in literature,--
"Death is the end of life; ah, why Should life all labour be? Let us alone. Time driveth onward fast And in a little while our lips are dumb, Let us alone. What is it that will last? All things are taken from us and become Portions and parcels of the dreadful Past, Let us alone. What pleasure can we
have To war with evil? Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing wave?"
An effortless existence would be the existence of such as these fabledLotus Eaters--moreover, it was not possible it could go on, since allNature shows effort without cessation. Roger Seaton knew this as allknow it--but his soul's demand remained unsatisfied, for he sought toknow the CAUSE of all the toil and trouble,--the "why" it should be.And at the back of his mind there was ever a teasing reminder ofMorgana and her strange theories, some of which she had half impartedto him when their friendship had first begun. For her Tennyson'sline--"Death is the end of life"--would be the statement of a foolishfallacy, as she held that there is no such thing as death, only failureto adapt the spirit to advancing and higher change in its physicalorganisation. To-day he remembered with curious clearness what she hadsaid on this subject--
"Radio-activity is the chief secret of life. It is for us to learn howto absorb it into our systems as we grow,--to add by its means to oursupplies of vitality and energy. It never gives out,--nor should we.The Nature-intention is that we should become better, stronger, morebeautiful, more mentally and spiritually perfect--and that we do notfulfil this intention is our own fault. The decimation of the humanrace by wars and plagues and famines has always been traceable to humanerror. All accidents happen through those who make accidentspossible,--diseases are bred through human dirt, greed, ignorance, andneglect. They are no part of the divine scheme of things. The plan isto advance and make progress from one point of excellence toanother,--not to stop half way and turn back on the road. Humanitydies, because it will not learn how to live."
She had spoken these words with a quiet simplicity and earnestness thatimpressed him at the time as being almost child-like, considering thedepth of thought into which she must have plunged, notwithstanding heryouth and her sex--and on this morning of all others, this morning onwhich he had set himself a task for which he had made long andconsiderable preparation, he found himself half mechanically repeatingher phrase--"Humanity dies because it will not learn how to live."
There was no fatalism,--no fixed destiny in this; only the force ofWill was implied--the Will to learn,--the Will to know.
"And why should not humanity die?" he argued within himself--"If, inthe long course of ages, it is proved that it will neither learn norknow,--why should it remain? Room should be made for a new race! Aclever gardener can produce a perfectly beautiful flower from aninsignificant and common weed,--surely this is a lesson to us that itmay be possible to produce a god from a man!"
He bent his eyes lovingly on the case of small cylinders lying openbefore him;--the just risen sun brightened them to a glitter as of coldsteel,--and for a moment he fancied they flashed upon him with analmost sinister gleam.
"Power of good or power of evil?" he questioned his inward spirit--"Whocan decide? If it is good to destroy evil then the force is a goodforce--if it is evil to destroy good WITH evil, then it is an evilthing. But Nature makes no such particular discriminations--shedestroys evil and good together at one blow. Why therefore should I--oranyone--offer to discriminate?--since evil is always the preponderatingfactor. When the 'Lusitania' was torpedoed neither God nor Natureinterfered to save the innocent from the guilty--men, women andchildren were all plunged into the pitiless sea. I--as a part ofNature--if I destroy, I only follow her example. War is an evil,--anabominable crime--and those that attempt to make it should be sweptfrom the face of the earth even if good and peace-loving units areswept along with them. This cannot be helped."
He went into his hut, and in a few minutes came out again clothed inthick garments of a dark, earth colour, and carrying a stout staff,steel-pointed at its end something after the fashion of a Swissalpenstock. He brought with him a small metal box into which he placedthe case of cylinders, covering it with a closely fitting lid. Then heput the package into a basket made of rough twigs and strips of bark,having a strong handle, to which he fastened a leather strap, and slungthe whole thing over his shoulders like a knapsack. Then, castinganother look round to make sure that there was no one about, he startedto walk towards a steeper descent of the hill in a totally differentdirection from that which led to the "Plaza" hotel. He went swiftly, ata steady swinging pace,--and though his way took him among confusedmasses of rock, and fallen boulders, he thought nothing of theseobstacles, vaulting lightly across them with the ease of a chamois,till he came to a point where there was a declivity running sheer downto invisible depths, from whence came the rumbling echo of fallingwater. In this almost perpendicular wall of rock were a few ledges,like the precarious rungs of a broken ladder, and down these heprepared to go. Clinging at first to the topmost edge of the precipice,he let himself down warily inch by inch till his figure entirelydisappeared, sunken, as it were in darkness. As he vanished there was asudden cry--a rush as of wings--and a woman sprang up from amid busheswhere she had lain hidden,--it was Manella. For days and nights she hadstolen away in the intervals of her work, to watch him--and nothing hadchanced to excite her alarm till now--till now, when she had seen himemerge from his hut and pack up the mysterious box he carried,--andwhen she had heard him talking strangely to himself in a way she couldnot understand.
As soon as he started to walk she followed him, pushing through heavybrushwood and crawling along the ground where she could not beseen;--and now,--with dishevelled hair, and staring, terrified eyes sheleaned over the edge of the precipice, baffled and desperate. Tearlesssobs convulsed her throat,--
"Oh, God of mercy!" she moaned in suffocated accents--"How can I followhim down there! Oh, help me, Mary mother! Help me! I must--I must bewith him!"
She gathered up her hair in a close coil and wound her skirts tightlyabout her, looking everywhere for a footing. She saw a deep crannywhich had been hollowed out by some torrent of water--it cut sharplythrough the rock like a path,--she could risk that perhaps, shethought,--and yet her brain reeled--she felt sick and giddy--would itnot be wiser to stay where she was and wait for the return of thereckless creature who had ventured all alone into one of the deepestcanons of the whole country? While she hesitated she caught a suddenglimpse of him, stepping with apparent ease over huge heaps of stonesand fallen pieces of rock at the bottom of the declivity,--she watchedhis movements in breathless suspense. On he went towards a vastaperture, shaped arch-wise like the entrance to a cavern--he paused amoment--then entered it. This was enough for Manella--her wild love andwilder terror gave her an almost supernatural strength and daring,--andall heedless now of results she sprang boldly towards the deep cuttingin the rock, swinging herself from jagged point to point till--reachingthe bottom of the declivity at last, bruised and bleeding, butundaunted,--she stopped, checked by a rushing stream which tumbled overgreat boulders and dashed its cold spray in her face. Looking about hershe saw to her dismay that the vaulted cavern wherein Seaton haddisappeared was on the other side of this stream--she stood almostopposite to it--but how to get across? Gazing despairingly in everydirection she suddenly perceived the fallen trunk of a tree lying halfin and half out of the brawling torrent--it was green with slipperymoss and offered but a dangerous foothold,--nevertheless she resolvedto attempt it.
"I said I would die for him!" she thought--"and I will!"
Getting astride the tree, it swayed under her,--but she found she couldpush one of the larger boughs forward to lengthen the extemporarybridge,--and so, as it were, riding the waters, which surged noisilyaround her, she managed by dint of super-human effort to reach theprojection of pebbly shore where the entrance to the cavern yawned openbefore her, black and desolate. The sun in its full morning gloryblazed slanting down upon the darkness of the canon, and as she stoodshivering, wet through and utterly exhausted, wondering what next sheshould do, she caught sight of a form moving within the cave like amoving shadow, and ascending a steep natural stairway of columnar rockspiled one on top of the other. Affrighted as she was by the tomb-likeaspect of the deep vault, she had not ventured so far that she shouldnow shrink from f
urther dangers or fail in her quest;--the cherishedobject of her constant watchful care was within that subterraneanblackness,--for what purpose?--she did not dare to think! But there wasan instinctive sense of dread foreknowledge upon her,--a warning ofimpending evil,--and had she not sworn to him--"If God struck you downto hell I would be there!" The entrance to the cavern looked like themouth of hell itself, as she had seen it depicted in one of herCatholic early lesson books. There were serpents and dragons in thepicture ready to devour the impenitent sinner,--there might be serpentsand dragons in this cave, for all she knew! But what matter? If the manshe loved were actually in hell she "would be there"--as she hadsaid!--and would surely find it Heaven! And so,--seeing the mereoutline of his form moving ghost-like in the gloom, it was to her aguiding presence,--a light amid darkness,--and when,--after a minute ortwo--her straining eyes perceived him climbing steadily up the steepand perilous rocks, seeming about to disappear altogether,--shemastered the tremor of her nerves and crept cautiously step by stepinto the sombre vault, blindly feeling her way through the damp, thickmurkiness, reckless of all danger, and only bent on following him.