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

darkness, for the lizards of which I have already spoken, aroused by the

sound of my footfalls, snapped their tails and lighted up their tiny

flash torches in eager attempts to discover whence the noise proceeded,

and what sort of a being it was that had invaded their silent domains.

We had covered possibly two leagues when suddenly a low and mysterious

voice, as soft and gentle as if it had dropped from the clear, starry

heavens of my own beautiful world, reached my ear.

“Sebastian! Sebastian!” it murmured. Before I could stop to think, I

uttered a cry of wonder, and the noise of my voice seemed to awaken ten

thousand of the tiny living flash lights inhabiting the cracks and

crevices of the vast arched corridor, flooding it for a moment or so

with a soft and roseate radiance.

“Sebastian! Sebastian!” again murmured the mellow and echo-like voice,

coming from the very walls of rock beside me.

Hastily drawing near to the spot whence the words seemed to come, I laid

my ear against the smooth face of the rock. Again the same soft-sighing

voice pronounced my name so clearly and so close beside me that I

reached out to grasp Crystallina’s hand, for hers was the voice,—the

same low, sweet voice that had told me of her sorrow in the Spectral

Garden; but there was no one there. In reaching out, however, I had

passed my left hand along the face of the wall, and it had marked the

presence of a round smooth opening in its rocky face, an opening about

the size of a rain-water pipe in the upper world.

Instantly it flashed upon my mind that through some whim of nature this

opening extended for leagues back towards the city of the Mikkamenkies

through the miles of solid rock, and opened in the very Throne Room of

the Princess Crystallina.

Yes, I was right, for after a moment or so again the same low, sweet

voice came through the speaking-tube of nature’s own making and fell

upon my eager ear.

I waited until it had ceased, and setting my mouth in front of the

opening I murmured in strong but gentle tones,—

“Farewell, dear Princess Crystallina. Bulger and the little baron both

bid thee a long farewell!” and then raising Bulger in my arms, I bade

him weep for his royal friend whom he would never see again.

He gave a long, low, piteous cry, half-whine, half-howl, and then I

listened for Crystallina’s voice. It was not long in coming.

“Farewell, dear Bulger; farewell, dear Sebastian! Crystallina will never

forget you until her poor heart with the speck in it runs down and the

Crystal Throne knows her no more.” Poor Bulger! It now became my turn to

tear him from this spot, for Crystallina’s voice, sounding thus

unexpectedly in his ears, had aroused all the deep affection which he

had so ruthlessly smothered in order to bring his little master to his

senses and free him from the charm of Crystallina’s grace and beauty.

But in vain. All my strength, all my entreaties, were powerless to move

him from the place.

Evidently Crystallina had heard me pleading with Bulger and had imagined

that now I would waver and stand irresolute.

“Heed dear Bulger’s prayer, O beloved,” she pleaded, “and turn back,

turn back to thy disconsolate Crystallina, whom thou madest so happy for

a brief moment! Turn back! Oh, turn back!” Bulger now began to whine and

cry most piteously. I felt that something must be done at once, or the

most direful consequences might ensue—that Bulger, crazed by the sweet

tones of Crystallina’s voice, might break away from me and dart away in

mad race back to the city of the Mikkamenkies, back to the fair young

queen of the Crystal Throne.

It became necessary for me to resort to trick and artifice to save my

dear little brother from his own loving heart. Drawing his head up

against my body and covering his eyes with my left arm, I quickly

unloosened my neckerchief, and thrusting it into this wonderful

speaking-tube closed it effectively.

And thus I saved my faithful Bulger from himself, thus I closed his ears

to the music of Crystallina’s voice; but it was not until after a good

hour’s waiting that he could bring himself to believe that his beloved

friend would speak no more.

After several hours more of journeying along the Marble Highway a speck

of light caught my eye, far on ahead, and I redoubled my pace to reach

it quickly. I was soon rewarded for my trouble by entering a wonderful

chamber, circular in form, with a domed roof. In the centre of this fair

temple of the underground world sprang a glorious fountain with a mighty

rush of waters which brought with them such a phosphorescence that this

vast round chamber was lighted up with a pale yellow light in which the

countless crystals of the roof and sides sparkled magnificently.

Here we passed the night, or what I called the night, refreshing

ourselves with food which I had brought from the Kingdom of the

Mikkamenkies, and drinking and bathing in the wonderful fountain which

leaped into the air with a rush and a whir, and filled it with a strange

and fitful radiance. Upon awaking both Bulger and I felt greatly

refreshed both in body and mind, and we made haste to seek out the lofty

portal opening upon the Marble Highway, and were soon trudging along it

again. Hour after hour we kept on our feet, for something told me that

we could not be far away from the confines of some other domain of this

World within a World; and this inward prompting of mine proved to be

correct, for Bulger suddenly gave a joyful bark and began to caper about

as much as to say,—

“O little master, if thou only hadst my keen scent, thou wouldst know

that we are drawing near to human habitations of some kind!”

Sure enough, in a few moments a faint light came creeping in beneath the

mighty arches of the broad corridor, and every instant it gathered in

strength until now I could see clearly about me, and then all of a

sudden I caught sight of the source of this shy and unsteady light.

There in front of me towered two gigantic candelabra of carved and

chased and polished silver, both crowned with a hundred lights, one on

each side of the Marble Highway—not the dull, soft flames of oil or wax,

but the white tongues of fire produced by ignited gas escaping from the

chemist’s retort.

It was marvellous, it was magnificent, and I stood looking up at these

great clusters of tongues of flames, spellbound by the glorious

illumination thus set in silent majesty at this gateway to some city of

the under World.

Bulger’s warning growl brought me to myself, but I must end this chapter

here, dear friends, and halt to collect my thoughts before I proceed to

tell you what I saw after passing this glorious gateway illumined by

these two gigantic candelabra of solid silver.