Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey
graciously refused to receive me, giving as an excuse that the
excitement that would be sure to follow an interview with the “Man of
Coal”—so the Mikkamenkies had named me—would shorten her life at least
thirteen minutes.
But I was not to be put off in so unceremonious a manner. Sitting down,
I seized a pen and wrote the following words upon a piece of glazed
silk:—
“_To Galaxa, Queen of the Mikkamenkies, Lady of the Crystal Throne._
“I, Lord Bulger, a Mikkamenkian Noble, Bearer of this, who was the first
to discover that the real princess was not sitting on the steps of the
Crystal Throne, demand an audience for my Master Baron Sebastian von
Troomp, commonly known as ‘Little Baron Trump,’ and prompted by him I
ask, What are thirteen minutes of thy life, O Queen Galaxa, to the long
years of sorrow and disappointment in store for thy royal child?”
Taking this letter in his mouth, Bulger sprang away with long and rapid
bounds. In a few minutes he was in the presence of the queen, for the
guards had fallen back affrighted as they saw him draw near with his
dark eyes flashing indignation. Raising himself upon his hind feet, he
laid the letter in Galaxa’s hands. The moment she had read it she fell
into a swoon, and all was stir and commotion in and round about the
palace. I was hastily summoned and the audience chamber cleared of every
attendant save Doctor Nebulosus, Sir Amber O’Pake, Lord Cornucore, Lord
Bulger, and me.
“Send for the damozel Glow Stone,” commanded the queen, and when she had
appeared, to the amazement of all saving Bulger and me, Galaxa bade her
mount the steps of the Crystal Throne, then, having embraced her most
tenderly, the queen spoke these words:—
“O faithful Councillors and wise friends from the upper world, this is
the real princess Crystallina, whom I have for all these years wickedly
and wrongfully kept from her high state and royal privileges. She was
born with a speck in her heart, and I feared that it would be useless to
ask my people to accept her as my successor.”
“Ay, Lady of the Crystal Throne,” exclaimed Lord Cornucore, “thou hast
wisely done. Thy people would never have received her as Princess
Crystallina, for, being by the laws of our land denied the privilege to
look for themselves, they never would have believed that this spot in
the princess’s heart was but a tiny speck like a single hair crystal in
the arm of thy magnificent throne. Therefore, O queen, we counsel thee
not to imbitter thy last hours by differences with thy loving subjects.”
“My Lord Cornucore,” said I with a low bow, “I make bold to raise my
voice against thine, and I crave permission from Queen Galaxa to parley
with her people.”
“Forbid it, royal lady!” cried Sir Amber O’Pake savagely, at which
Bulger gave a low growl and showed his teeth.
“Queen Galaxa,” I added gravely, “a wrong confessed is half redressed.
This fair princess, ’tis true, hath a speck in her heart which ill
accords with the name bestowed upon her by thy people. Bid me be master
until thy heart runs down, and by the Knighthood of all the Trumps I
promise thee that thou shalt have three hours of happiness ere thy royal
heart has ceased to beat!”
“Be it so, little baron,” exclaimed Galaxa joyfully. “I proclaim thee
prime minister for the rest of my life.” At these words Bulger broke out
into a series of glad barks, and, raising upon his hind legs, licked the
queen’s hand in token of his gratitude, while the fair princess looked a
love at me that was too deep to put into words.
“I had now but a few hours to act. The excitement, so Doctor Nebulosus
assured me, would shorten the queen’s life a full hour.”
It had always been my custom to carry about with me a small but
excellent magnifying-glass, a double convex lens, for the purpose of
making examinations of minute objects, and also for reading inscriptions
too fine to be seen with the naked eye. Hastily summoning a skilful
metal worker, I instructed him to set the lens in a short tube and to
enclose that tube within another, so that I could lengthen it at my
pleasure. Then having called together as many of the head men of the
nation as the throne room would hold, I requested Lord Cornucore to
inform them of the confession which Queen Galaxa had made; namely, that
in reality damozel Glow Stone was princess Crystallina and princess
Crystallina was damozel Glow Stone.
They were stricken speechless by this piece of information, but when
Lord Cornucore went on to tell the whole story and to explain to them
why the queen had practised this deception upon them, they broke out
into the wildest lamentation, repeating over and over again in piteous
tones,—
“A speck in her heart! A speck in her heart! O dire misfortune! O woful
day! She never can be our princess if she hath a speck in her heart!” By
this time my arrangements were complete. I had placed the princess
Crystallina just outside the door of the throne room where she stood
concealed behind the thick hangings, and near her I had stationed Doctor
Nebulosus with a large circular mirror of burnished silver in his hand.
Calling out in a loud voice for silence, I thus addressed the weeping
subjects of Queen Galaxa:—
“O Mikkamenkies, Men of Goggle Land, Transparent Folk, I count myself
most happy to be among you at this hour and to be permitted, by your
gracious queen, to raise my voice in defence of the unfortunate princess
with the speck in her heart. Being of noble birth and an inhabitant of
another world, it was lawful for me to look through the sorrowing
princess, and I have done it. Yes, Mikkamenkies, I have gazed upon her
heart; I have seen the speck within it! Give ear, Men of Goggle Land,
and you shall know how that speck came there; for it is not, as you
doubtless think, a coal-black spot within that fair enclosure, clearer
than the columns of Galaxa’s throne. Oh, no, Mikkamenkies, a thousand
times no: it is a tiny blemish of reddish hue, a drop of princely blood
from the upper world, which I inhabit, and this drop in all these
countless centuries has coursed through the veins of a thousand kings,
and still kept its roseate glow, still remembered the glorious sunshine
which called it into being; and now, Men of Goggle Land, lest you think
that for some dark purpose of mine own I speak other than the pure and
sober truth, behold, I show you the fair Crystallina’s heart, in its
very life and being as it is, beating and throbbing with hope and fear
comingled. Look and judge for yourselves!” And with this I signalled to
those on the outside of the palace to carry out my instructions.
In an instant the thick curtains were drawn and the throne room was
wrapped in darkness, and at the same moment Doctor Nebulosus, with his
mirror, caught the strong, white rays of light and threw them upon
Crystallina’s body, while I through an opening in the hangings made
haste to apply the tube to which the lens had been fitted, and, catching
the reflected image of her heart, threw it up in plain and startling
view upon the opposite wall of the throne room. Upon seeing how small
the speck was and how truthfully I had described it, the Mikkamenkies
fell a-weeping for purest joy, and then, as if with one voice, they
burst out,—
“Long live the fair princess Crystallina with the ruby speck in her
heart! and ten thousand blessings on the head of little Baron Trump and
Lord Bulger for saving our land from cruel dissensions!” The people on
the outside took up the cry, and in a few moments the whole city was
thronged with bands of Queen Galaxa’s subjects, singing and dancing and
telling of their love for the fair princess with the ruby speck in her
heart. I had kept my word—Queen Galaxa would have at least three hours
of complete happiness ere her heart ran down.
But suddenly the River of Light began to flicker and dim its flood of
brilliant white rays.
Night was coming. Noiselessly, as if by magic, the Mikkamenkies faded
from my sight, stealing away in search of beds, and as the gloom crept
into the great throne room, some one plucked me gently by the hand and a
soft voice whispered,—
“I love! I love thee! Oh, who other than I can tell how I love thee!”
and then a grip stronger than that gentle hand seized me by the skirt of
my coat and dragged me away slowly, but surely, away, through the
darkness, through the gloom, out into the silent streets, ever away
until at last that soft voice, choking with a sob, ceased its pleading
and gasped, “Farewell, oh, farewell! I dare go no farther!” And so
Bulger, in his wisdom, led me on and ever on out of the City of the
Mikkamenkies, out upon the Marble Highway!
CHAPTER XIV
BULGER AND I TURN OUR BACKS ON THE FAIR DOMAIN OF QUEEN
CRYSTALLINA.—NATURE’S WONDERFUL SPEAKING-TUBE.—CRYSTALLINA’S
ATTEMPT TO TURN US BACK.—HOW I KEPT BULGER FROM YIELDING.—SOME
INCIDENTS OF OUR JOURNEY ALONG THE MARBLE HIGHWAY, AND HOW WE CAME
TO THE GLORIOUS GATEWAY OF SOLID SILVER.
Me, the sorrowing Sebastian, loaded with as heavy a heart as ever a
mortal of my size had borne away with him, did the wise Bulger lead
along the broad and silent highway, farther and yet farther from the
city of the Mikkamenkies, until at last the music of the fountains
pattering in their crystal basins died away in the distance and the
darkness far behind me. I felt that my wise little brother was right,
and so I followed on after, with not a sigh or a syllable to stay him.
But he halted at last, and, as I felt about me, I discovered that I was
standing beside one of the richly carved seats that one so often meets
with along the Marble Highway. I was quite as foot-weary as I was
heart-heavy, and reaching out I touched the spring which I knew would
transform the seat into a bed, and clambering upon it with my wise
Bulger nestled beside me, I soon fell into a deep and refreshing sleep.
When I awoke and, sitting up, looked back toward Queen Crystallina’s
capital, I could see the River of Light pouring down its flood of white
rays far away in the distance; but only a faint reflection came out to
where we had passed the night, and then I knew that my faithful
companion had led me to the very uttermost limit of the Mikkamenky
domain before he had halted. Yes, sure enough, for, as I raised my eyes,
there towering above the bed stood the slender crystal column which
marked the end of Goggle Land, and upon its face I read the extract from
a royal decree forbidding a Mikkamenky to overstep this limit under pain
of incurring the queen’s most serious displeasure.
Before me was darkness and uncertainty; behind me lay the fair Kingdom
of the Transparent Folk yet in sight, lighted up like a long line of
happy homes in which the fires were blazing bright and warm on the
hearthstones.
Did I turn back? Did I hesitate? No. I could see a pair of speaking eyes
fixed upon me, and could hear a low whine of impatience coaxing me
along.
Stooping down, I fastened a bit of silken cord taken from the bed to
Bulger’s collar and bade him lead the way.
It was a long while before the light of Queen Crystallina’s city faded
away entirely, and even when it ceased to be of any service in making
known to me the grandeur and beauty of the vast underground passage, I
could still see it glitter like a silver star away, away behind me.
But it disappeared at last, and then I felt that I had parted forever
with the dear little princess with the speck in her heart.
Bulger didn’t seem to have the slightest difficulty in keeping in the
centre of the Marble Highway, and never allowed the leading string to
slack up for a moment. However, it was by no means a tramp through utter