Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey
noticed that in the meat-quarries, the workmen often made use of
sounding-rods, which were long pieces of polished bone, ending in flint
tips. A Koltykwerpian quarryman by dexterously twisting this rod, was
able to bore a hole six feet deep or more into the solid bed of ice when
desirous of ascertaining the position of a carcass in the meat quarry,
and it occurred to me that by piercing the portals of ice which closed
their various corridors I have spoken of, possibly Bulger’s keen scent
might recognize that current of air which would have in it the odor of
earth and rock; in other words, make choice for me of the portal which
opened on that corridor leading away from the icy domain of King Gelidus
and not merely into some outlying chamber of his kingdom.
His frigid Majesty could not object to such experiments, for the law
only forbade the hewing of openings large enough for the hewer to pass
through.
King Gelidus and half a dozen of his courtiers, looking stern and frigid
and conversing in freezing tones, were present to see the experiment
tried. Methought their icy lips clacked together with satisfaction when,
at my request, one portal after another was pierced, but Bulger, after
sniffing at the hole, turned away with a bewildered look in his eyes as
if he didn’t half understand why I was ordering him to thrust his warm
nose into such cold places.
And so we tramped from corridor to corridor, until the quarrymen began
to show signs of fatigue, and the sounding-rod turned slower and slower
in their hands.
Phrostyphiz blinked his cold gray eyes as much as to say, “Little baron,
thou must bide with us for another year!” But I merely turned to the
quarrymen, and ordered them to pierce one more portal of ice ere we
abandoned the task for the day. They went at the work of piercing the
eleventh door with the pace of pack-mules up a mountain-side. But at
last the sounding-rod bored a way through, and at a wave of my hand the
quarrymen fell back. In an instant Bulger had his nose at the hole, and
took three or four quick, nervous sniffs, ending with a long, deep-drawn
one, and then breaking out into a string of sharp, jerky, joyful barks,
he began scratching furiously at the bottom of the portal.
“Your frigid Majesty,” said I, with a low and stately bend of my body
such as only those born to the manner can make, “by this portal, at the
coming of to-morrow’s sun, I shall pass from your Majesty’s icy
dominion!” And when Phrostyphiz and Glacierbhoy heard these words of
mine uttered so loftily, their eyes gleamed cold as steel, and they
followed the King in silence back to the palace of ice. Schneeboule met
them in the grand hallway; and when she had looked upon their faces she
began to weep, for she loved me and she loved Bulger too, and her cold
little heart could not bear the thought of our going.
King Gelidus, however, soon recovered his spirits, and ordered a feast
with song and dance in honor of Bulger, who during the festivities sat
on the highest divan with the softest pelt beneath him; and so many were
the frozen tidbits which the Koltykwerps presented to him during the
progress of the feast, that I grew alarmed lest he might overload his
stomach and not be in a fit condition to make the early start on our
journey, of which I had given notice to the Koltykwerpian monarch. But
his good sense saved him from doing so foolish a thing; in fact, I was
greatly amused to see that, while he accepted every tidbit handed to
him, and solemnly went through the motions of chewing it, yet watching
his chance, he slyly dropped it out of his mouth and flirted it aside
with his paw. Thus was spent our last night at the icy court of his
frigid Majesty, and on the morrow the Koltykwerps collected in great
crowds on the different terraces to say good-by. I pressed a kiss on the
cheek of Princess Schneeboule, and when it had turned to ice crystals,
one of her men brushed it into an alabaster box.
Prince Chillychops, the former lamp-trimmer, was on hand with the rest
of the Koltykwerpian nobles, but I flattered myself that Schneeboule
loved me better than she did him. However, I wished him joy, and gripped
his cold palm with such warmth that he stood blowing it for a whole
minute. When we reached the lofty portal we found that the quarrymen had
already hewn a passage through it, and near by I observed a pile of
massive blocks of ice, crystal clear.
These, when Bulger and I should pass through the opening, were to be
used in walling it up again; and when I saw this pile of blocks, and
remembered the solid workmanship of the Koltykwerpian quarrymen, the
thought flitted through my mind: Suppose Bulger hath not chosen wisely,
what use would there be in turning back, for my own weak hands would be
powerless against a wall built of such blocks, and knock I ever so loud,
how could the sound ever traverse this long and winding corridor and
reach the ear of a Koltykwerp? “No,” said I to myself, “if Bulger hath
not chosen wisely, it will be good-by to both upper and under worlds.”
And then, bearing an alabaster lamp in one hand and in the other holding
the cord which I had tied to Bulger’s collar, I stepped through the
narrow passage hewn by the quarrymen, and turned my back forever on the
cold dominion of Gelidus, King of the Koltykwerps. Once I halted and
looked back. I could see nothing, but I could hear the sharp click of
the flint axes as the quarrymen closed up the door that shut me out from
so many cold but loving hearts. And then I drew a long breath and went
on my way again.
And that was the last I ever saw of the Koltykwerps save in day dream or
night vision.
CHAPTER XXX
ALL ABOUT THE MOST TERRIBLE BUT MAGNIFICENT RIDE I EVER TOOK IN MY
LIFE.—NINETY MILES ON THE BACK OF A FLYING MASS OF ICE, AND HOW
BULGER AND I WERE LANDED AT LAST ON THE BANKS OF A MOST WONDERFUL
RIVER.—HOW THE DAY BROKE IN THIS UNDER WORLD.
Had my hand at that moment not grasped a cord tied to the neck of my
wise and keen-eyed Bulger, I really believe I would have come to a halt,
faced about, retraced my steps, and begged the inhabitants of this
crystal realm to admit me once more into the cold kingdom where Gelidus
held his icy court; for a sudden fit of depression came upon me as the
chilly air struck against my cheeks and I saw the deep darkness made
visible by the tiny flame of my alabaster lamp.
Cold though it might be, I would have sunshine in the icy land of the
Koltykwerps, but now how could I tell what fate awaited me?
Luckily, I had asked the captain of the meat quarries to allow me to
retain one of his sounding-rods with its flint point, for I feared lest
in descending some icy declivity I might fall and bruise, or even break,
a limb.
I was determined to advance cautiously along this icy passage, shrouded
as it was in impenetrable gloom, and so different from the broad and
polished pavement of the Marble Highway; and hence, hanging the lamp
about my neck, I proceeded to make use of the sounding-rod as an
alpenstock, for which purposes it was admirably adapted. Suddenly Bulger
halted, gave a low whine of warning, and turned back. In an instant I
knew that there was danger ahead, and letting myself drop on my hands
and knees crawled carefully along to make an investigation of the
dangerous spot in our route signalled by the watchful Bulger.
It was only too true: we stood apparently upon the very edge of a sheer
parapet, how high I had no way of ascertaining, but I was unable to
reach any bottom with the sounding-rod.
What was to be done? Turn back?
It was not yet too late, the Koltykwerpian quarrymen could not have
completed their task in so short a time, they would hear my knock, they
would tear down their wall of ice, and Gelidus and Schneeboule would
welcome us back to their ice palace with a cold, but honest
satisfaction.
As I sat there plunged in thought, I half unconsciously began to twirl
the sounding-rod around until I had sunk it half its length into the
floor of ice, and then reaching out I encircled Bulger with my arm and
drew him up against me as was my wont when preparing for profound
meditation.
I had scarcely done so when the ice beneath me gave one of those sharp,
clear, cracking noises so unlike the sound made by the breaking of any
other substance; and thereupon I felt the crystal mass on which Bulger
and I were sitting tremble and vibrate for an instant, and then, with a
sudden downward cant, break away from the mass behind it and begin to
move!
Instinctively a sense of my awful peril prompted me to cling to the
sounding-rod which I had sunk drill-like into the ice. Luckily it was
between my legs, and quick as a flash I intwined them around it,
assuming a Turkish sitting posture, while my left arm was wrapped
tightly around Bulger’s body.
I don’t know how it was done, done as it was all in an instant; but
there I sat now firmly saddled, so to speak, upon that crystal monster’s
back, as with a creak and a crash it snapped the crystal links which
bound it to the wall of ice and plunged headlong down the glassy slope.
In my fright I had dropped my lamp, and now the deep gloom of this under
world inwrapped me. But no, it was not so, for as the escaping block of
ice creaked and craunched its way along, the two cold crystal surfaces
gave forth a weird glimmer of phosphorescent light which made the flying
mass seem like a monstrous living thing, out of whose thousand eyes were
darting tongues of flame as it rushed madly along, now gaining speed
upon striking a steeper stretch of way, now fouling with some
obstruction and dashing against the rocky sides of the corridor, and
sending a shower of crystals sparkling and glittering in the black air!
Anon the escaping block comes upon a gentle slope, and with the low
music of crushing crystals slips softly along in its flight as if
mounted upon runners of polished steel, and then with a sudden dip it
glides upon a sharper descent and fairly leaps into the air as it bounds
along, hissing over the slippery roadway, and leaving a train of fire
behind it. And now it strikes a stretch of way piled here and there with
clumps and blocks of ice.
With a mad fury it springs upon the lesser ones with a growl of rage,
grinding them to powder, which, like showers of icy foam, it hurls upon
Bulger and me seated on its back. But some of the blocks resist its
terrible onslaught and our mighty steed is hurled from side to side with
crash and creak, as it drives its crystal corners fiercely against the
jutting rocks, leaving marks of its white flesh on these black heads of
adamant.
It seems an hour since the crystal monster broke away, and yet ever
downward he threads his wild flight, butting, bumping, jostling,
veering, staggering along, bearing Bulger and me to the lowest level of
the World within a World.
Will he never end his mad flight?
Is there no way for me to curb him?
Must he fly until he has ground his very body to such a thinness that
the next obstruction will shatter it into ten thousand pieces, and hurl
Bulger and me to death?
As these thoughts are flitting through my mind, the flying mass takes
one last mad plunge which lands it on an almost level stretch of
roadway, and by the different sound given out by the sliding block, I
know that we have left the regions of ice behind us, and that our
crystal sledge is gliding gently along over a track of polished marble.
But, mile after mile, it still glides along, gently, softly, silently,
and then I dare to think that our lives are saved.