Fifteen Hundred Miles An Hour 11

Fifteen Hundred Miles An Hour 11

By the Doctor's advice, Temple steered nearly due west, towards the

mountains, and as we sailed along the country assumed a more inviting

appearance. The dense fringe of reeds gradually became broken, and

drier ground was marked by small hills and tall trees, of graceful

outline and dense red foliage, which gleamed very brilliantly as the

sun shone full upon them. Objects on the opposite shore became more

and more distinct, and we were able to detect a great variety of trees

and shrubs clothing the sides of the valleys, which extended gently

upwards from the lake into the heart of the distant mountains.

 

We sailed steadily along, the Doctor picking up a large red leaf which

was floating on the water as we passed by. It was about eighteen inches

long from point to stem, and the same in width, perfectly diagonal in

shape. Its tissues appeared much the same as those composing the leaves

of earthly trees. Once the enormous flat head of some water-monster

peeped above the surface, and sank again. Nothing further of interest

occurred until we reached the shore, although Sandy declared that he

saw a large bird flying along, but as none of the rest observed it we

concluded that he was probably mistaken. The bed on this side of the

lake was much deeper than on the other, and the bottom was rocky. The

water was remarkably clear, and we could see many beautiful plants of

strange shapes, the like of which we had never seen before, waving

to and fro in the crystal depths. Some were like long lengths of

blue-green ribbon; others were cup-shaped, poised on tapering stems;

whilst others, yet again, were composed of long slender twigs with no

foliage, but a bright scarlet ball, about as big as a pigeon's egg, on

the extremity of each. A very beautiful little plant, with a light red,

scaly leaf, covered most of the rocks on shore, and many of the pebbles

which strewed the beach were exceptionally fine and brilliant; some

shone like emeralds, and were almost as clear as that gem. Here the

Doctor was in his glory, indeed! He fell down on his knees upon the

shore as soon as his feet touched dry ground, and absolutely revelled

in the beautiful pebbles, as a miser would in his gold, taking them

up by handfuls, and dropping them one by one through his fingers.

"Temple," he shouted in his enthusiasm, "Temple, these stones are not

of Earth; they are NEW; fairer far than earthly riches; more beautiful,

more precious than all the gems of Earth combined; for not all of them

could purchase one of these!"

 

The shore where we landed was for some distance inland rough.

Beyond the belt of shrubs were groves and forests, extending far up

the mountain slopes, and the trees which composed them were truly

magnificent. Many were evidently nondeciduous. The foliage of nearly

all was dark red; but here and there a smaller tree, with blue leaves

and green flowers, stood out in bold relief from the rest. Many of them

were loaded with giant-fruit products, hundreds of pounds in weight,

and emerald-green in colour, shaped something like gourds. They were

extremely acrid to the taste; but a pink berry, about the size of a

walnut, on a vine-like plant, was sweet and deliciously flavoured.

It would take up far too much of the space allotted by us for this

narrative to attempt to describe a tithe of the wonderful and curious

types of vegetation we found in this fair land of promise, where

everything we looked at was new to our eyes, absolutely new; and our

exclamations of surprise and admiration were almost incessant. We felt

as dwellers in a country village must feel upon seeing the wonders of a

great metropolis for the first time.

 

But the day was passing on, and at noon we returned to the shore, and

rigging up a shelter from the sun with our sail, we made a fire of

some driftwood on the beach, and prepared our meal. Sandy had loaded

himself with fruit and berries of various kinds, which he proceeded to

distribute by way of dessert; but the Doctor advised us not to eat them

until their properties were better known to us. It was hard to resist

such tempting, luscious fare when we were hot and parched, yet we left

them untouched, wisely or unwisely, and quenched our thirst at the lake.

 

Whilst enjoying our after-dinner smoke, and discussing the events of

the morning, we were startled by a singularly rich and beautiful song,

as of a sweet flute, which issued from a bush clothed in bloom just

behind us.

 

"A bird, I do declare!" excitedly exclaimed the Doctor.

 

"And one of exceptionally sweet song, too," answered Temple, both

rising to their feet as they spoke.

 

But nothing could be seen; and for several minutes the delicious music

was hushed.

 

"Doctor, it is na bird at a'; it is a butterfly! See, there he is!"

shouted Sandy, pointing, as he ran, to a small bush twenty paces ahead.

 

"Goodness gracious!" exclaimed the Doctor, in astonishment, "I believe

Sandy is right!"

 

And right he was, for certain; for this singing insect fluttered lazily

along, to a bush much nearer to us; and, poising on one of the topmost

blooms, again warbled as sweetly as before.

 

"Truly, indeed," said the Doctor, in amazement, "we have reached a

world of anomalies! To all intents and purposes that is a butterfly,

yet its structure must be entirely different from any insect on Earth,

or known to man."

 

Others now appeared. Their wings were of various colours and shapes,

denoting, probably, several species; but one with light turquoise-blue

pinions was by far the commonest.

 

Soon after we saw the insects, a flock of white birds, about the size

of a thrush, appeared, flying quickly along the side of the lake in a

very swallowlike manner. One of them Graham was fortunate enough to

shoot; and we were surprised beyond measure to find that it was without

legs, and pouched, like the Marsupalia, or kangaroos of Earth. In the

pouch were several pinkish eggs; and we inferred that this creature

hatched them as it carried them about the air, requiring no nest for

the purpose. It was clothed in plumage more like scales than feathers,

the filaments being similar to fine shreds of horn.

 

Many other species of these curious legless birds, and singing insects,

were seen by us as we strolled along the shore. Just, however, as we

were about to embark, a magnificent animal trotted down one of the

valleys to the lake, to drink. It was certainly three times as big as

the largest elephant, though slim and graceful of build as a fawn.

Here all further resemblance ceased. It was something like a greyhound

in appearance, but the ears were broad and very large, and the dark

eye exceptionally prominent. Its tail was long and bushy; its hoof

uncloven, and the colour of the skin was as dull copper. We were too

much lost in admiration of the beautiful creature to shoot it down, and

before we had recovered from our surprise, it bounded away towards the

mountains with amazing speed. We subsequently counted eight more of

these animals, grazing on the patches of red "grass" on the lower hills.

 

"Respecting the inhabitants of this new world," said the Doctor;

"really, its fauna and flora, so far as we have observed them, are

simply grand."

 

"Bar the serpents, Doctor," said Graham.

 

"More than satisfied," said Temple, "I am charmed and delighted, and

now share your conviction that a higher type of animal still remains to

be discovered. You know to what I refer--creatures of intellect, formed

in the image of God, like ourselves."

 

"We had best now return, my friends. By the time we reach the _Sirius_

the sun will be near setting, and it is not wise to pass through the

swamp at dusk, after what we have already seen of its inhabitants,"

said the Doctor.

 

Laden with a great variety of specimens, we made our way to the boat,

and were soon rowing across the lake again towards the swamp. The

breeze had died away, so that our sail was useless, and we had to pull

the entire distance. The sun was sinking behind the range of mountains

we had just left, as we stopped and began to pack up our boat; and by

the time we had got everything inside the _Sirius_, night had fallen.

 

Tired and hungry, we were glad to reach our "home" again, and as soon

as we had eaten we all of us retired to rest, and passed a peaceful,

uneventful night. If the monsters of the swamp were noisy, we did not

hear them; not one of us woke until the sun had long risen.

 

After breakfast, we commenced our task of digging out the _Sirius_ from

the mud. The Doctor was busy preserving specimens, dissecting others,

and writing his scientific journals. Six hours' hard work sufficed to

get the _Sirius_ clear enough to start. We also took the precaution

of putting a considerable amount of ballast into our air-ship, to

replace the stores which had been consumed, so that we should not again

experience any difficulty in descending. By the time all this was done

the afternoon was well advanced, yet so weary of the swamp were we,

that we decided to leave it at once.

 

"We cannot do better than make for the beach where we landed this

morning, on the other side of the lake, ascending about ten thousand

feet as we cross. That will enable us to survey a good many miles of

country," said the Doctor to Graham.

 

Slowly we soared away from the marsh forest, high over the reeds, up

into the pure, fresh air of heaven, where from the balcony we could

view the land and water below us. The swamp was enormous, many, many

square miles in extent, and beyond it appeared a dense forest of quite

a different kind of vegetation. The country, as far as we could see,

from the base of the mountains to the shores of the lake and beyond

it, was much the same throughout its area as that which we had already

explored the previous day. Certainly none of it bore the appearance of

civilisation--all seemed virgin wilderness, and our hearts sank within

us. Beyond the belt of dark forest on the other side of the swamp, we

could see the ocean; looking landwards, the highest of the mountains

concealed the view.

 

"Do you think it advisable to go further to-day, Doctor?" asked Graham.