The Coming Race - Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton (free ereaders txt) 📗

this last by his gesture seemed about to assent to it,
when the child suddenly quitted his post by the window, placed
himself between me and the other forms, as if in protection,
and spoke quickly and eagerly. By some intuition or instinct I
felt that the child I had before so dreaded was pleading in my
behalf. Ere he had ceased another stranger entered the room.
He appeared older than the rest, though not old; his
countenance less smoothly serene than theirs, though equally
regular in its features, seemed to me to have more the touch of
a humanity akin to my own. He listened quietly to the words
addressed to him, first by my guide, next by two others of the
group, and lastly by the child; then turned towards myself, and
addressed me, not by words, but by signs and gestures. These I
fancied that I perfectly understood, and I was not mistaken. I
comprehended that he inquired whence I came. I extended my
arm, and pointed towards the road which had led me from the
chasm in the rock; then an idea seized me. I drew forth my
pocket-book, and sketched on one of its blank leaves a rough
design of the ledge of the rock, the rope, myself clinging to
it; then of the cavernous rock below, the head of the reptile,
17the lifeless form of my friend. I gave this primitive kind of
hieroglyph to my interrogator, who, after inspecting it
gravely, handed it to his next neighbour, and it thus passed
round the group. The being I had at first encountered then
said a few words, and the child, who approached and looked at
my drawing, nodded as if he comprehended its purport, and,
returning to the window, expanded the wings attached to his
form, shook them once or twice, and then launched himself into
space without. I started up in amaze and hastened to the
window. The child was already in the air, buoyed on his wings,
which he did not flap to and fro as a bird does, but which were
elevated over his head, and seemed to bear him steadily aloft
without effort of his own. His flight seemed as swift as an
eagle's; and I observed that it was towards the rock whence I
had descended, of which the outline loomed visible in the
brilliant atmosphere. In a very few minutes he returned,
skimming through the opening from which he had gone, and
dropping on the floor the rope and grappling-hooks I had left
at the descent from the chasm. Some words in a low tone passed
between the being present; one of the group touched an
automaton, which started forward and glided from the room; then
the last comer, who had addressed me by gestures, rose, took me
by the hand, and led me into the corridor. There the platform
by which I had mounted awaited us; we placed ourselves on it
and were lowered into the hall below. My new companion, still
holding me by the hand, conducted me from the building into a
street (so to speak) that stretched beyond it, with buildings
on either side, separated from each other by gardens bright
with rich-coloured vegetation and strange flowers.
Interspersed amidst these gardens, which were divided from each
other by low walls, or walking slowly along the road, were many
forms similar to those I had already seen. Some of the
passers-by, on observing me, approached my guide, evidently by
their tones, looks, and gestures addressing to him inquiries
18about myself. In a few moments a crowd collected around us,
examining me with great interest, as if I were some rare wild
animal. Yet even in gratifying their curiosity they preserved
a grave and courteous demeanour; and after a few words from my
guide, who seemed to me to deprecate obstruction in our road,
they fell back with a stately inclination of head, and resumed
their own way with tranquil indifference. Midway in this
thoroughfare we stopped at a building that differed from those
we had hitherto passed, inasmuch as it formed three sides of a
vast court, at the angles of which were lofty pyramidal towers;
in the open space between the sides was a circular fountain of
colossal dimensions, and throwing up a dazzling spray of what
seemed to me fire. We entered the building through an open
doorway and came into an enormous hall, in which were several
groups of children, all apparently employed in work as at some
great factory. There was a huge engine in the wall which was
in full play, with wheels and cylinders resembling our own
steam-engines, except that it was richly ornamented with
precious stones and metals, and appeared to emanate a pale
phosphorescent atmosphere of shifting light. Many of the
children were at some mysterious work on this machinery, others
were seated before tables. I was not allowed to linger long
enough to examine into the nature of their employment. Not one
young voice was heard- not one young face turned to gaze on us.
They were all still and indifferent as may be ghosts, through
the midst of which pass unnoticed the forms of the living.

Quitting this hall, my guide led me through a gallery richly
painted in compartments, with a barbaric mixture of gold in the
colours, like pictures by Louis Cranach. The subjects
described on these walls appeared to my glance as intended to
illustrate events in the history of the race amidst which I was
admitted. In all there were figures, most of them like the
manlike creatures I had seen, but not all in the same fashion
of garb, nor all with wings. There were also the effigies of
19various animals and birds, wholly strange to me, with
backgrounds depicting landscapes or buildings. So far as my
imperfect knowledge of the pictorial art would allow me to form
an opinion, these paintings seemed very accurate in design and
very rich in colouring, showing a perfect knowledge of
perspective, but their details not arranged according to the
rules of composition acknowledged by our artists- wanting, as
it were, a centre; so that the effect was vague, scattered,
confused, bewildering- they were like heterogeneous fragments
of a dream of art.

We now came into a room of moderate size, in which was
assembled what I afterwards knew to be the family of my guide,
seated at a table spread as for repast. The forms thus grouped
were those of my guide's wife, his daughter, and two sons. I
recognised at once the difference between the two sexes, though
the two females were of taller stature and ampler proportions
than the males; and their countenances, if still more
symmetrical in outline and contour, were devoid of the softness
and timidity of expression which give charm to the face of
woman as seen on the earth above. The wife wore no wings, the
daughter wore wings longer than those of the males.

My guide uttered a few words, on which all the persons seated
rose, and with that peculiar mildness of look and manner which
I have before noticed, and which is, in truth, the common
attribute of this formidable race, they saluted me according to
their fashion, which consists in laying the right hand very
gently on the head and uttering a soft sibilant monosyllable-
S.Si, equivalent to "Welcome."

The mistress of the house then seated me beside her, and heaped
a golden platter before me from one of the dishes.

While I ate (and though the viands were new to me, I marvelled
more at the delicacy than the strangeness of their flavour), my
companions conversed quietly, and, so far as I could detect,
with polite avoidance of any direct reference to myself, or any
20obtrusive scrutiny of my appearance. Yet I was the first
creature of that variety of the human race to which I belong
that they had ever beheld, and was consequently regarded by
them as a most curious and abnormal phenomenon. But all
rudeness is unknown to this people, and the youngest child is
taught to despise any vehement emotional demonstration. when
the meal was ended, my guide again took me by the hand, and,
re-entering the gallery, touched a metallic plate inscribed
with strange figures, and which I rightly conjectured to be of
the nature of our telegraphs. A platform descended, but this
time we mounted to a much greater height than in the former
building, and found ourselves in a room of moderate dimensions,
and which in its general character had much that might be
familiar to the associations of a visitor from the upper world.
There were shelves on the wall containing what appeared to be
books, and indeed were so; mostly very small, like our diamond
duodecimos, shaped in the fashion of our volumes, and bound in
sheets of fine metal. There were several curious-looking
pieces of mechanism scattered about, apparently models, such as
might be seen in the study of any professional mechanician.
Four automata (mechanical contrivances which, with these
people, answer the ordinary purposes of domestic service) stood
phantom-like at each angle in the wall. In a recess was a low
couch, or bed with pillows. A window, with curtains of some
fibrous material drawn aside, opened upon a large balcony. My
host stepped out into the balcony; I followed him. We were on
the uppermost story of one of the angular pyramids; the view
beyond was of a wild and solemn beauty impossible to describe:-
the vast ranges of precipitous rock which formed the distant
background, the intermediate valleys of mystic many-coloured
herbiage, the flash of waters, many of them like streams of
roseate flame, the serene lustre diffused over all by myriads
of lamps, combined to form a whole of which no words of mine
21can convey adequate description; so splendid was it, yet so
sombre; so lovely, yet so awful.

But my attention was soon diverted from these nether landscapes.
Suddenly there arose, as from the streets below, a burst of
joyous music; then a winged form soared into the space; another
as if in chase of the first, another and another; others after
others, till the crowd grew thick and the number countless.
But how describe the fantastic grace of these forms in their
undulating movements! They appeared engaged in some sport or
amusement; now forming into opposite squadrons; now scattering;
now each group threading the other, soaring, descending,
interweaving, severing; all in measured time to the music
below, as if in the dance of the fabled Peri.

I turned my gaze on my host in a feverish wonder. I ventured
to place my hand on the large wings that lay folded on his
breast, and in doing so a slight shock as of electricity passed
through me. I recoiled in fear; my host smiled, and as if
courteously to gratify my curiosity, slowly expanded his
pinions. I observed that his garment beneath them became
dilated as a bladder that fills with air. The arms seemed to
slide into the wings, and in another moment he had launched
himself into the luminous atmosphere, and hovered there, still,
and with outspread wings, as an eagle that basks in the sun.
Then, rapidly as an eagle swoops, he rushed downwards into the
midst of one of the groups, skimming through the midst, and as
suddenly again soaring aloft. Thereon, three forms, in one of
which I thought to recognise my host's daughter, detached
themselves from the rest, and followed him as a bird sportively
follows a bird. My eyes, dazzled with the lights and
bewildered by the throngs, ceased to distinguish the gyrations
and evolutions of these winged playmates, till presently my
host re-emerged from the crowd and alighted at my side.

The strangeness of all I had seen began now to operate fast on
my senses; my mind itself began to