Adrift in the Unknown

zling brilliancy. So far as our purposes were concerned, this box was nothing less than an elev

ling and pleasant region underlying a most barren and inhospitable shell

roofed with a lofty vault that sparkled as with stars. From every hand c

baster, and so diminutive that the tallest scarcely came more than head high. Back of the houses were fields thickly c

range picture that we failed to take account o

lf, regarding us fixedly. This, I supposed, was one of the Mercurials. If he considered the pr

er spheroid; from his middle downward hung a red kirtle. He had one eye at the front of the head and an ear

o the shoulders, were two tentacle-like arms, sinuous as whips and ending in hands that were made u

ect like a canteen. For all of five minutes Quinn and

lish?" asked the

ut something had to be said, and I suppose that was as good as anything else. As

ers of a shoulder arm began manipulating a set of keys. The result was language, with all the variations of

ack with more success on the language of signs. At this the Mercur

e were to descend from the box. This we did, and found ourselves in the centre

en, and two of the others advanced upon the box from which we had just descended. Pulling out a slide

of small paddles which were thrust into our hands. I had no id

ople," observed the

ly," I r

surmounted the difficulty. I must give that talking machine of thei

dazes me," said I. "What a pickpocket a man

nd I hastily apologized for even me

bject very pleasantly, "what those bright object

" sa

them and sent up to the hot surface of the pla

education in itself. I can never be sufficiently

own to the top of one of the hills and fell

se could ha

ave a start and

here feasting and taking our ease, they are battling with the storm, and are n

that there was a figurative gulf between myself and them, and I was mor

ent, professor," said I, "and even if we were able to do so, w

ry true,"

om the plutocrats, "must have been very warm when

essor, "but for the fact that we are coated, and our

ar to stand the heat p

tely, of the degree of heat that obtains in these sub-Mercurial regions. Naturally it must be very much less than prevai

e herb, which is evidently cooked in these ovens and served for food. Quite likely we are eating of it now, and very good eating I fin

north to the tropics; and this same adaptability of intelligent creatures to their environment, we may be sure, proceeds throughout the universe. These one-eared, one-eyed, dimi

. "I am sorry I did not take a course of scientific training, for it would have helped me i

s profession, Mr. Munn," broke in the professor, co

I asked, hiding the wo

ng is p

s? Are they to return prov

are mere firebrands of destruction. Before they ever again take part in mundane affa

s brow clouded

et them have a taste of shifting for themselves without your knowledge and resourceful

should feel tolerably easy in my mind. These little Mercurials appear to be a friendly people, and if our comrades

er illustration of the way Nature takes care of her protégés. After baking the outside shell of the planet to a degree that

ept his gaze over the country immediately adjacent. "These ovens," he proceeded, "are a rema

little pleasure in

professor grimly, "he will have to

which we have been familiar all our lives. I wonder what for

was running in its old groove

y an unworthy motive, Mr.

ust myself along the line of the principles I know best. Nevertheless I am of

hey have to resort to purely mechanical means for an exchange of id

ble to help himself but would be unable to tell others what to do to help him. Nature has bee

hilosophical trend, Mr. Munn," said the pr

, the word-boxes of a hundred Mercurials shrieked despairingly. The pygmies clustered about the

istrict. If we do not have a care, our voracious appetites are like to prove our undoing. Look, there com

by the professor, and saw a long lin

were gorgeously gilded. With two of his hands he carried a metal plate and sp

es chanting a sort of quickstep. The sight of the professor and myself, towering mountain-li

leman of the gilt torso. Before they got through, their word-boxes were fair

ust have had a demoralizing effect, but that seemed as noth

then advanced to where we were standing and circled ar

ring in all the languages of our home planet, living and dead, of whi

rling in the red kirtle. His fingers flew over the keys of his c

. From somewhere a fresh supply of uncooked fo

uinn suddenly seized my arm, a

matter, profe

" he answered. "The lever

this, for it appeared to me that there was more than enough

f that, sir

ered excitedly. "Thus buoyed, and in its elevated position, I dou

it has be

and perhaps wrecked and lost-lost with all our

ut

ay magnate may take it into his head to do? Suppose he were to grasp the lever and give the cubes their full power. He would be launched into the void, sir, and we should be maroo

Terra, and from this it, seemed that the pro

I asked, catching so

we must find the car-we must go bac

al box and leaped to its top. I followed, clumsily upsett

intense heat; nay, more, the chef in the red kirtle already had

er, had acted as a c

is stress of feeling that his words were lost on the throng

ble swarm. Carried away by the excitement of the moment, I sank to

In the midst of it all, I caught a glimps

d myself in a billow of violet fire. Every atom of strength was drawn from