[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
gentle voice, but with the tones of a trombone:
"Thy thoughts and acts are a pleasure to me. Thou hast raised no idols within
thy heart, and thy faith is as incense before me. Thy name is now in the Book
of Life. Continue as thou hast begun, and thou shalt live and reign forever."
Hereupon the earth shook, and Ayrault was awakened. Great boulders were
rolling and crashing down the slope about him, while the dawn was already in
the east.
"My mortal eyes and senses are keener here while I sleep than when I wake," he
thought, as he looked about him, "for spirits, unable to affect me while
waking, have made themselves felt in my more sensitive
Ayrault asleep.
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...0in%20Other%20Worlds%20-%20JJ%20As
tor.htm (162 of 221) [12/28/2004 12:32:23 AM]
A Journey in Other Worlds
-351-
state while I was asleep. Nevertheless, this is none other but the house of
God, and this is the gate of heaven.
"The boulders were still in motion when I opened my eyes," he mused; "can it
be that there is hereabouts such a flower as in my dreams I seemed to see?"
and looking beyond where his head had lain, he beheld the identical lily
surrounded by the group that his closed eyes had already seen. Thereupon he
uncovered his head and departed quickly. Crossing the divide, he descended to
camp, where he found
Cortlandt in deep thought.
Page 119
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"I cannot get over the dreams," said the doctor, "I had in the first part of
the night. Notwithstanding yesterday's excitement and fatigue, my sleep was
most disturbed, and I was visited by visions of my wife, who died long ago.
She warned me against skepticism, and seemed much distressed at my present
spiritual state."
"I," said Bearwarden, who had been out early, and had succeeded in bringing in
half a dozen birds, "was so disturbed I could not sleep. It seemed to me as
though half the men I have ever known came and warned me against agnosticism
and my materialis
-352-
tic tendencies. They kept repeating, `You are losing the reality for the
shadow.'"
"I am convinced," said Ayrault, "that they were not altogether dreams, or, if
dreams indeed, that they were superinduced by a higher will. We know that
angels have often appeared to men in the past. May it not be that, as our
appreciativeness increases, these communications will recur?" Thereupon he
related his own experiences.
"The thing that surprised me," said Cortlandt, as they finished breakfast,
"was the extraordinary realism of the scene. We must see if our visions return
on anything but an empty stomach."
-353-
file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%...0in%20Other%20Worlds%20-%20JJ%20As
tor.htm (163 of 221) [12/28/2004 12:32:23 AM]
A Journey in Other Worlds
Chapter 3.6
A GREAT VOID AND A GREAT LONGING.
Resuming their march, the travellers proceeded along the circumference of a
circle having a radius of about three miles, with the Callisto in the centre.
In crossing soft places they observed foot-prints forming in the earth all
around them. The impressions were of all sizes, and ceased when they reached
rising or hard ground, only to reappear in the swamps, regulating their speed
by that of the travellers. The three men were greatly surprised at this.
"You may observe," said Cortlandt, "that the surface of the impression is
depressed as you watch it, as though by a weight, and you can see, and even
hear, the water being squeezed out, though whatever is doing it is entirely
invisible. They must be made by spirits sufficiently advanced to
-354-
have weight, but not advanced enough to make themselves visible."
Moved by a species of vandalism, Bearwarden raised his twelve-bore, and fired
an ordinary cartridge that he had not prepared for the dragons, at the space
directly over the nearest forming prints. There was a brilliant display of
prismatic colours, as in a rainbow, and though the impressions already made
remained, no new ones were formed.
"Now you have done it!" said Cortlandt. "I hoped to be able to investigate
this further."
"We shall doubtless see other and perhaps more wonderful things," replied
Bearwarden. "I must say this gives me an uncanny feeling."
When they had completed a little over half their circle, they came upon
another of the groves with which Saturn seemed to abound, at the edge of
which, in a side-hill, was a cave, the entrance of which was composed of rocky
masses that had apparently fallen together, the floor being but little higher
than the surface outside. The arched roof of the vestibule was rendered
watertight by the soil that had formed upon it, which again was overgrown by
vines and bushes."
-355-
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]