MIRIAM’S trance was physical only; and the disjunction of spirit from body was not so complete as to prevent occasional gleams of consciousness from passing from one to the other. But normal cooperation was suspended. The spirit, however, was beyond Torpeon’s reach, and his power over the body was limited to reducing its functions to quiescence. A far greater effort would be required to bring the living and conscious woman herself under his control. Such an effort, in the Saturnian environment, must prove futile; and all his art and ingenuity were therefore bent upon the enterprise of transferring her to his own place.
The plan of his attempt at the palace had been well and boldly laid, and Zarga had played her part efficiently. But in failing to consider an element in the problem so apparently humble as Jim they had committed a radical error. His devotion to Jack and Miriam was single-hearted and unreserved, and it had sharpened his insight into possible sources of danger. Zarga had aroused his suspicions from the first; and the fact that she was trusted so implicitly by the others served to render his own watchfulness only the more keen.
He had observed, while Lamara and her party were preparing for departure, leaving Jack and Zarga alone with Miriam, that one of the attendants, at Lamara’s direction, had transmitted a signal to the island through a certain instrument attached to a pillar of the portico of the palace. His fondness for mechanical devices had caused him to examine this contrivance after they were gone, and though the principle on which it worked was unlike anything he had seen on his own earth, he perceived readily enough by what means it was operated. He now applied himself, without compunction, to observing as well as he could what was going on between Jack and Zarga in Miriam’s chamber; and what he saw and heard augmented his suspicions of the girl’s good faith. He had almost made up his mind to send a signal to the island, on the chance that it might bring assistance, when, happening to glance upward, he saw the red planet Tor directly in the zenith, and, detaching itself therefrom, an object bearing some resemblance to a parachute, which sped toward Saturn with the swiftness of a meteorite. He delayed no longer, but with all his force pushed in the rod or plunger which had seen the attendant use. At the same time he gave vent to the scream, which Jack had overheard. The next instant he was bowled head over heels by what seemed to be a blast of fiery air; and he did not recover his senses until after the ensuing conflict was over.
We follow the movements of Zarga. Terrified and enraged at the miscarriage of the attempt, and at the ruin involved to her personal hopes, she had fled away, not heeding whither she went, until she was arrested by the towering figure of Torpeon in her path.
“Back to Tor, Prince!” she cried, “and take me with you. All is lost here!” “No; now is our best chance for success!” he returned, with fierce resolution. “The moment to strike home is when the enemy believes you defeated. The youth shall be my care; do you follow the woman. She has been take to the island, where they believe her secure; none can enter there but the initiates; but you are of the inner circle, and your privilege has not yet been canceled. Hear my instructions and follow them, and every end we aimed at will be gained. Throw aside all scruples; your career on Saturn is closed forever; you have nothing more to lose here. But I will make you great on Tor, and the man you love shall be at your feet. You are of my blood; be worthy of your lineage!”
“I fear nothing, because I hope nothing,” replied the girl gloomily; “but I am willing to make one trial more. He will never love me; but to part him from the woman he loves will be some consolation. Tell me your plan.”
“With beauty such as yours, and opportunity, no man can resist you,” said Torpeon; “you will need no help from me; but in serving you I shall serve myself. Listen to me and I will show you how fortune fights for those who defy her!”
After conferring together they separated, and Zarga made her way toward the seashore. Torpeon, after some minutes of intense thought, betook himself in another direction.
Miriam, in the soft silence and seclusion of the pavilion, drew a long breath and opened her eyes. Her first thought was of Jack, whom she had been preparing to meet at the time the trance overtook her. But this room, with its silvery gleams, was different from the one which she last remembered. She turned her mind back over the sequence of events since her arrival on Saturn. She recalled Zarga’s having told her of the planetary mirror, in which distant events were reflected; it might show her her lover, who was even then on his way to seek her. Unaware of the conditions under which alone the mirror could be safely consulted, she had unhesitatingly entered a small domed structure sunk in the solid rock which Zarga had designated. There, in the darkness, she had first discerned nothing; but presently she had seen, set in a metal frame, an oval object having the appearance of a giant eye, mysteriously luminous, the inner circle of the pupil black, and enlarging its diameter as she gazed into it. In those depths there were indistinct movements, evolutions, glimpse of things approaching and withdrawing, wide wastes of space; and the shining out of stars; the waving of trees in the wind; the foam of falling waters. Suddenly the circle of the pupil was filled with a ruddy glare, and seemed to grow immense; she was looking on the surface of a planet, wild chasms and pinnacles, the spouting of volcanoes, the rush of boiling waters. The figure of a man with shaggy black hair and fierce eyes appeared in the midst of it, sweeping toward her with incomprehensible velocity, a scarlet mantle waving out from his herculean shoulders. Now, apparently his actual self stood before her, his gaze meeting hers; in his right hand he carried a short staff that glowed like molten metal. He pointed it at her forehead; she felt a sensation like the touch of flame; she had seemed to sink down, and knew no more.
After an interval, of what duration she knew not, she had revived to see faces bending over her—Lamara, Aunion, Zarga, Argon; Zarga wringing her hands distressfully and speaking volubly; the others compassionate and sympathetic. What had happened?—some inadvertent transgression, some catastrophe; Torpeon’s Mark! She had put her fingers to her forehead and felt the circle there. “It is not irreparable—it will pass away!” she heard Lamara say, in her gentle, reassuring tones.
After that a kaleidoscope of minor occurrences, ending with news of Jack’s arrival, and his expected appearance at the palace. She was awaiting the moment of meeting; Zarga had entered. “He is here; come!” She had joyfully started up and had taken a step forward, when all at once blankness had closed around her, and her next consciousness had been of this wakening in the island pavilion. What had intervened? And Jack—where was he? She sat up and looked about her.
From her present position she could see the fountain in the court, the singular movements of which concentrated her attention.
The clear waters were molding themselves into the likeness of two human figures, which appeared as if locked in a desperate struggle. They might have been carved by a master-hand out of pure crystal, except for the constant and lifelike contortions and writhings that they exhibited. At first she had no thought of recognizing in these effigies any resemblance to persons she had seen before; but as the struggle continued a suggestion—a persuasion—possessed her mind that she knew them—they represented Jack and that shaggy giant who had confronted her out of the planetary mirror! They were engaged in a life-and-death battle; and it seemed that the giant was gaining the advantage.
No sooner had this impression become fixed than the two figures dissolved into the natural flow of the fountain, which, for a time, appeared no otherwise than an ordinary water-jet. But ere long it began to assume another form, this time of a woman—a young girl, of lightsome and graceful form who, with arms outthrown and floating hair, seemed to be dancing joyously toward her. Surely this apparition too was familiar! It could be no other than her friend Zarga!
What caused these moldings and transformations, Miriam, of course, could not conjecture, though she knew something of Saturnian powers; but the second presentation relieved her somewhat of the forebodings stirred by the first. She had never been made aware of any reason for distrusting Zarga—quite the reverse; and it seemed probable that if these watery creations bore any relation to real persons and event, Zarga’s lighthearted mood portended some beneficent sequel to the menace of the first scene.
But, on the other hand, perhaps her imagination had altogether beguiled her! And now the fountain relapsed once more into formlessness.
A snatch of song echoed through the court, and Miriam turned to see Zarga herself come tripping airily into view.
“Come, come, come!” she sang; “all is ready, and I am sent to fetch you! The boat is prepared; Jack is waiting for you to get aboard; the others are assembled to bid you farewell. So fair a day might not come again in a lifetime! But we must make haste! Come, come!”
Miriam had involuntarily risen, and Zarga, taking her by the hand, was drawing her toward the door of the pavilion. “We must make haste!” she repeated.
“But how did this happen?” she asked. “Does Lamara know?”
“Lamara! Does she not know everything?” exclaimed the girl, laughing. “And isn’t this a wonderful adventure! I wish you could have stayed with us longer—or I wish I might go back with you to your earth! Would any man there love me and marry me, do you think? Are there any men there like your Jack?”
“Many men might wish to marry you,” replied Miriam; “but there can never be but one Jack! Is he well and happy?”
“He will be happy when he sees you; just now he is very impatient!” answered the other. They had left the pavilion and traversed a deeply-shadowed path, while these remarks were passing, and were now descending a slope which led to a flight of steps cut out of the rock. These terminated in a cavern.
“Why, we are underground!” exclaimed Miriam, drawing back. “Where are you taking me? Can this be the right way?”
“It is the shortest,” said Zarga, urging her forward. “They are awaiting us at the other end.”
The cavern was a natural excavation in the rock, winding to right and left, now narrow and low, now high, expanding into great chambers columned with stalactite and stalagmite, and sometimes resounding with noise of subterranean waters. The rocks emitted a dim light, sufficient to dispel the darkness and enable them to go forward rapidly. But Miriam could not help a sensation of disquiet; this was a strange beginning of a journey through space! She observed a feverish excitement in Zarga’s bearing. She was about to remonstrate when the path, which had hitherto either descended or proceeded on a level, took an upward inclination, and a draft of warmer air set steadily against them.
“We’re near the end,” said Zarga; and hollowing her hand before her mouth she sent forth a long call. It was caught and reduplicated by innumerable echoes, floating away, to be again and again renewed, as if prolonged by a myriad vocalists. When it had finally died away there came an answering note, deeper and stronger, falling upon the ear in rising and subsiding cadences. Zarga glanced back over her shoulder.
“Your lover answers us!” she said.
The answer had not seemed to Miriam to have the quality of Jack’s voice; but the echoes might have disguised it. The passage widened out, and the unmistakable light of day flowed in. But as Miriam lifted her eyes the first object that met them was the red globe of Tor suspended up yonder in the sky.
“Are you sure there is no danger?” she asked, halting.
“Come, come!” cried Zarga, dragging her upward almost with violence. “We are late already! There’s not a moment to lose! Come!”
But a conviction that something was amiss suddenly came over Miriam.
“I will go no further!” she said.
But her determination came too late. They were now within a few paces of the entrance; and there appeared before her the figure, not of Jack, or of any of her other friends, but of him whom she could not fail to recognize as Torpeon. He smiled as their eyes encountered, and extended toward her the truncheon in his hand. She felt the mark on her forehead burn, and power to resist forsook her. She was drawn forward in spite of herself.
The aspect of the prince was stately and stern, intellect mingled with passion in his imperious countenance. His expression softened as she drew near, and conveyed a desire, the intensity of which made her tremble.
But indignation at the ruse played upon her kindled her to defiance.
“You may make my body obey you,” she said; “but not my soul!”
“I know the limits of my power,” he replied. “I had no means but this. If I fail to prove my right to you, I am too much a king to take what is not given. Come to my kingdom, learn to know me, and decide.”
“I can never love you; do not make me hate you,” said Miriam.
His heavy brows quivered for a moment.
“Love or hate—we will prove which is stronger; come!”
Disdaining futile resistance she stepped into the car that awaited them; he took his place beside her, and they rose in air, headed for the red planet. Zarga, left below, gazed at them till they were out of sight; then, with a mocking wave of her hand toward the island she went inland.