Now, "twas not my first experience of the kind. Many women had looked like that at me before. But I had always been a man"s man, and had ever heeded my father"s warning to have naught whatever to do with women.
"They are the worst trick of all," he told me; and I had never forgot.
Belike I owe much of my power to just this.
But Ave had acted too quickly for me to get away. I laughed again, and shook her off.
"I will have naught to do with ye," I told her, civilly enough. "When I am ready to take a woman, I shall take her; not before."
At that the blood left her face; she stood very straight, and her eyes flashed dangerously. Were she a man I should have stood on my guard. But she made no move; only the softness in her eyes gave way to such a savage look that I was filled with amaze. And thus I left them; the old man calling down the blessing of Jon upon me for having saved his life, and the chit glaring after me as though no curses would suffice.
A right queer matter, I thought at the time. I guessed not what would come of it; not then.
II
THE VISION
"Twas a fortnight later, more or less, when next I saw Maka. I was lumbering along in my chariot, feeling most uncomfortable under the eyes of my friends; for one foot of my machine had a loose link, and "twas flapping absurdly. And I liked it none too well when Maka stopped his own rattletrap in front of mine, and came running to my window. Next moment I forgot his impertinence.
"Strokor," he whispered, his face alive with excitement, "thou art a brave lad, and didst save my life. Now, know you that a party of the men of Klow have secreted themselves under the stairway behind the emperor"s throne. They have killed the guards, and will of a certainty kill the emperor, too!"
""Twould serve the dolt right," I replied, for I really cared but little. "But why have ye come to me, old man? I am but a lieutenant in the armory; I am not the captain of the palace guard."
"Because," he answered, gazing at me very pleasingly, "thou couldst dispose of the whole party single handed--there are but four--and gain much glory for thyself."
"By Jon!" I swore, vastly delighted; and without stopping to ask Maka whence he had got his knowledge, I went at once to the spot. However, when I got back, I sought the star-gazer--I ought to mention that I had no trouble with the louts, and that the emperor himself saw me finishing off the last of them--I sought the star-gazer and demanded how he had known.
"Hast ever heard of Edam?" he inquired in return.
"Edam?" I had not; the name was strange to me. "Who is he?"
"A man as young as thyself, but a mere stripling," quoth Maka. "He was a pupil of mine when I taught in the House of Learning. Of late he has turned to prophecy; and it is fair remarkable how well the lad doth guess. At all events, "twas he, Strokor, who told me of the plot. He saw it in a dream."
"Then Edam must yet be in Vlama," said I, "if he were able to tell ye.
Canst bring him to me? I would know him."
And so it came about that, on the eve of that same day, Maka brought Edam to my house. I remember it well; for "twas the same day that the emperor, in grat.i.tude of my little service in the anteroom, had relieved me from my post in the armory and made me captain of the palace guard. I was thus become the youngest captain, also the biggest and strongest; and, as will soon appear, by far the longest-headed.
I was in high good humor, and had decided to celebrate with a feast. So when my two callers arrived, I sat them down before a meal such as cost a tenth [Footnote: Since Mercury had no moon, its people never coined a word to correspond with our "month," and for the same reason they never had a week. Their time was reckoned only in days, years, and fractions of the two.] of my year"s salary.
I served not only the usual products of the field, variously prepared, but as a special gift from the emperor"s own stock, a piece of mulikka meat, frozen, which had been found in the northland by some geologists a few years aback. It had been kept in the palace icing-room all this time, and was in prime condition. Maka and I enjoyed it overmuch, but Edam would touch it not.
He was a slightly built lad, not at all the st.u.r.dy man that I am, but of less than half the weight. His head, too, was unlike mine; his forehead was wide as well as tall, and his eyes were mild as a slave"s.
"Ye are very young to be a prophet," I said to him, after we were filled, and the slaves had cleared away our litter. "Tell me: hast foretold anything else that has come to pa.s.s?"
"Aye," he replied, not at all boldly, but what some call modestly. "I prophesied the armistice which now stands between our empire and Klow"s."
"Is this true?" I demanded of Maka. The old man bowed his head gravely and looked upon the young man with far more respect than I felt. He added:
"Tell Strokor the dream thou hadst two nights ago, Edam. It were a right strange thing, whether true or no."
The stripling shifted his weight on his stool, and moved the bowl closer. Then he thrust his pipe deep into it, and let the liquid flow slowly out his nostrils. [Footnote: A curious custom among the Mercurians, who had no tobacco. There is no other way to explain some of the carvings. Doubtless the liquid was sweet-smelling, and perhaps slightly narcotic.]
"I saw this," he began, "immediately before rising, and after a very light supper; so I know that it was a vision from Jon, and not of my own making.
"I was standing upon the summit of a mountain, and gazing down upon a very large, fertile valley. It was heavily wooded, dark green and inviting. But what first drew my attention was a great number of animals moving about IN THE AIR. They were pa.s.sing strange affairs, some large, some small, variously colored, and all covered with the same sort of fur, quite unlike any hair I have ever seen."
"In the air?" I echoed, recovering from my astonishment. Then I laughed mightily. "Man, ye must be crazy! There is no animal can live in the air! Ye must mean in the water or on land."
"Nay," interposed the star-gazer. "Thou hast never studied the stars, Strokor, or thou wouldst know that there be a number of them which, through the enlarging tube, show themselves to be round worlds, like unto our own.
"And it doth further appear that these other worlds also have air like this we breathe, and that some have less, while others have even more.
From what Edam has told me," finished the old man, "I judge that his vision took place on Jeos, [Footnote: The Mercurian word for earth.] a world much larger than ours according to my calculations, and doubtless having enough air to permit very light creatures to move about in it."
"Go on," said I to Edam, good-humoredly. "I be ever willing to believe anything strange when my stomach is full."
The dreamer had taken no offense. "Then I bent my gaze closer, as I am always able, in visions. And I saw that the greenery was most remarkably dense, tangled and luxuriant to a degree not ever seen here. And moving about in it was the most extraordinary collection of beings that I have ever laid these eyes upon.
"There were some huge creatures, quite as tall as thy house, Strokor, with legs as big around as that huge chest of thine. They had tails, as had our ancient mulikka, save that these were terrific things, as long and as big as the trunk of a large tree. I know not their names.
[Footnote: Probably the dinosaur.]
"And then, at the other extreme, was a tiny creature of the air, which moved with a musical hum. It could have hid under thy finger-nail, Strokor, yet it had a tiny sharp-pointed bill, with which it stung most aggravatingly. And between these two there were any number of creatures of varying size and shape.
"But nowhere was there a sign of a man. True, there was one hairy, grotesque creature which hung by its hands and feet from the tree-tops, very like thee in some way, Strokor; but its face and head were those of a brainless beast, not of a man. Nowhere was a creature like me or thee.
"And the most curious thing was this: Although there were ten times as many of these creatures, big and little, to the same s.p.a.ce as on our world, yet there was no great amount of strife. In truth, there is far more combat and destruction among we men than among the beasts.
"And," he spoke most earnestly, as though he would not care to be disbelieved, "I saw fathers fight to protect their young!"
I near fell from my stool in my amaze. Never in all my life had I heard a thing so far from the fact. "What!" I shouted. "Ye sit there like a sane man, and tell me ye saw fathers fight for their young?"
He nodded his head, still very gravely. I fell silent for want of words, but Maka put in a thought. "It would appear, Strokor, that it be not so much of an effort for beings to live, there on Jeos, as here. Perchance "tis the greater amount of vegetation; at all accounts, the animals need not prey upon one another so generally; and that, then, would explain why some have energy enough to waste in the care of their young."
"I can understand," I said, very slowly. "I can understand why a mother will fight for her babes; "tis reasonable enough, no doubt. But as for fathers doing the same--Edam, dost mean to say that ALL creatures on Jeos do this?"
"Nay; only some. It may be that fewer than half of the varieties have the custom. Howbeit, "tis a beautiful one. When the vision ended I was right loath to go."
"Faugh!" I spat upon the ground. "Such softness makes me ill! I be glad I were born in a man"s world, where I can take a man"s chances. I want no favoring. If I am strong enough to live, I live; if not, I die. What more can I ask?"
"Aye, my lad!" said Maka approvingly. "This be a world for the strong.
There is no room here for others; there is scarce enough food for those who, thanks to their strength, do survive." He slipped the gold band from off his wrist, and held it up for Jon to see. "Here, Strokor, a pledge! A pledge to--the survival of the fittest!"
"A neat, neat wording!" I roared, as I took the pledge with him. Then we both stopped short. Edam had not joined us. "Edam, my lad," spake the old man, "ye will take the pledge with us?"
The stripling"s eyes were troubled. Well he knew that, once he refused such an act, he were no longer welcome in my house, nor in Maka"s. But when he looked around it were bravely enough.
"Men, I have neither the strength of the one nor the brains of the other of ye. I am but a watchmaker; I live because of my skill with the little wheels.