_A strange manuscript found in a copper cylinder_
          (the fourteenth installment)

   from _Harper's weekly_ (1888-apr-07) 
           (by James De Mille)


Chapter XXI  THE FLYING MONSTER (continued)

No sooner had I found myself actually on the back of the
athaleb than all fear left me.  I perceived fully how
completely tame he was, and how docile.  The reins attached
to his wings could be pulled with the greatest ease, Just as
one would pull the tiller-ropes of a boat.  "Familiarity
breeds contempt;" and now, since the first terror had passed
away, I felt perfect confidence, and under the encouragement
of Layelah I had become like some rustic in a menagerie, who
at first is terrified by the sight of the elephant, but soon
gains courage enough to mount upon his back.  With my
new-found courage and presence of mind I listened most
attentively to all of Layelah's explanations, and watched
most closely the construction and fastening of the harness;
for the thought had occurred to me that this athaleb might
be of avail in another way--that if I did not fly with
Layelah, I might fly with Almah.  This thought was only of a
vague and shadowy character--a dim suggestion, the carrying
out of which I scarce dared to think possible; still, it was
in my mind, and had sufficient power over me to make me very
curious as to the plans of Layelah.  I determined to find
out where she proposed to go, and how far; to ask her about
the dangers of the way and the means of sustenance.  It
seemed, I confess, rather unfair to Layelah to find out her
plans and use them for another purpose; but then that other
purpose was Almah, and to me at that time every device which
was for her safety seemed fair and honorable.

  "Here," said Layelah--"here, Atam-or, you see the way of
escape.  The athaleb can carry us both far away to a land
where you need never fear that they will put you to 
death--a land where the people love light and life. 
Whenever  you are ready to go, tell me; if you are ready to
go now, say so, and at once I will open the door, and we
shall soon be far away."

  She laid her hand on mine and looked at me earnestly; but
I was not to be beguiled into any hasty committal of myself,
and so I turned her proposal away with a question:

  "How far is it," I asked, "to that land?"

  "It is too far for one flight," said Layelah.  "We go
first over the sea till we come to a great island, which is
called Magones, where there are mountains of fire; there we
must rest, and feed the athaleb on fish, which are to be
found on the shore.  The athaleb knows his way there well,
for he goes there once every season for a certain sacred
ceremony.  He has done this for fifty or sixty seasons, and
knows his way there and back perfectly well.  The difficulty
will be, when we leave Magones, in reaching the land of the
Orin."

  "The Orin?" I repeated.  "Who are they?"

  "They are a people among the Gojin who love life and
light.  It is their land that I wish to reach, if possible."

  "Where is it?" I asked, eagerly.

  "I cannot explain," said Layelah.  "I can only trust to my
own skill, and hope to find the place.  We may have to pass
over different lands of the Gojin, and if so we may be in
danger."

  "What is the reason why the athaleb goes to Magones every
season?" I asked.

  "To take there the chief pauper of the season, who has won
the prize of death by starvation.  It is one of the greatest
honors among the Kosekin."

  "Is Magones barren?"

  "It is an island of fire, without anything on it but
craggy mountains and wild rocks and flowing rivers of fire. 
It stands almost in the middle of the sea."

  "How can we get away from here?" I asked, after some
silence.

  "From here?--why, I open the gates, and the athaleb flies
away; that is all."

  "But shall we not be prevented?"

  "Oh no.  No one here ever prevents anyone from doing
anything.  Everyone is eager to help his neighbor."

  But if they saw me deliberately mounting the athaleb and
preparing for flight, would they not stop me?"

  "No."

  I was amazed at this.

  "But," said I, "am I not a victim--preserved for the great
sacrifice?"

  "You are; but you are free to go where you like, and do
what you like.  Your character of victim makes you most
distinguished.  It is the highest honor and dignity.  All
believe that you rejoice in your high dignity, and no one
dreams that you are anxious to escape."

  "But if I did escape, would they not pursue me?"

  "Certainly not."

  "What would they do for a victim?"

  "They would wonder at your unaccountable flight, and then
choose some distinguished pauper."

  "But if I were to stay here, would they not save me from
death at my entreaty?"

  "Oh, certainly not; they would never understand such an
entreaty.  That's a question of death, the supreme blessing. 
No one is capable of such a base act as saving his
fellow-man from death.  All are eager to help each other to
such a fate."

  "But if I were to fly they would not prevent me, and they
would not pursue me?"

  "Oh no."

  "Are there any in the land who are exempt from the
sacrifice?"

  "Oh yes; the Athons, Meleks, and Kohens--these are not
worthy of the honor.  The artisans and tradesmen are
sometimes permitted to attain to this honor; the laborers in
greater numbers; but it is the paupers who are chiefly
favored.  And this is a matter of complaint among the rich
and powerful, that they cannot be sacrificed."

  "Well, why couldn't I be made an Athon or a Kohen, and be
exempted in that way?"

  "Oh, that would be too great a dishonor; it would be
impossible.  On the contrary, the whole people are anxious
to honor you to the very uttermost, and to bestow upon you
the greatest privileges and blessings which can possibly be
given.  Oh no, it would be impossible for them to allow you
to become an Athon or a Kohen.  As for me, I am Malca, and
therefore the lowest in the land--pitied and commiserated by
the haughty pauper class, who shake their heads at the
thought of one like me.  All the people shower upon me
incessantly new gifts and new offices.  If my present love
of light and life were generally known, they would punish me
by giving me new contributions of wealth and new offices and
powers, which I do not want."

  "But you love riches, do you not? and you must want them
still?"

  "No," said Layelah, "I do not want them now."

  "Why, what do you want?" I asked.

  "You!" said she, with a sweet smile.

  I said nothing, but tried desperately to think of
something that might divert the conversation.

  Layelah was silent for a few moments, and then went on in
a musing tone:

  "As I was saying, I love you, Atam-or, and I hate Almah
because you love her.  I think Almah is the only human being
in all the world that I ever really hated, and yet though I
hate her, still, strange to say, I feel as though I should
like to give her the immense blessing of death, and that is
a very strange feeling indeed for one of the Kosekin.  Do
you understand, Atam-or, what such can possibly be?"

  I did not answer, but turned away the conversation by a
violent effort.

  "Are there any other athalebs here?"

  "Oh yes."

  "How many?"

  "Four."

  "Are they all as tame as this?"

  "Oh yes, all quite as tame; there is no difference
whatever."

  Upon this I left the back of the athaleb, and Layelah also
descended, after which she proceeded to show me the other
monsters.  At length she unharnessed the athaleb and we left
the cavern.


CHAPTER XXII  ESCAPE

ON the following _jom_ I told everything to Almah.  I told
her that Layelah was urging me to fly with her, and that I
had found out all about her plans.  I described the
athalebs, informed her about the direction which we were to
take, the island of fire, and the country of the Orin.  At
this intelligence Almah was filled with delight, and for the
first time since we had come to the _amir_ there were smiles
of joy upon her face.  She needed no persuasion.  She was
ready to set forth whenever it was fitting, and to risk
everything upon this enterprise.  She felt as I did, and
thought that the wildest attempt was better than this dull
inaction.

  Death was before us here, and every _jom_ as it passed
only brought it nearer.  True, we were treated with the
utmost kindness, we lived in royal splendor, we had enormous
retinues; but all this was a miserable mockery, since it all
served as the prelude to our inevitable doom.  For that doom
it was hard indeed to wait.  Anything was better.  Far
better would it be to risk all the dangers of this unusual
and amazing flight, to brave the terrors of that drear isle
of fire, Magones; better to perish there of starvation, or
to be killed by the hands of hostile Gojin, than to wait
here and be destroyed at last by the sacrificial knife of
these smiling, generous, kind-hearted, self-sacrificing
fiends; to be killed--ay, and afterward borne to the
tremendous _Mista Kosek_.

  There was a difficulty with Layelah that had to be guarded
against: in the first place that she might not suspect, and
again that we might choose our time of escape when she would
not be at all likely to find us out.  We resolved to make
our attempt without any further delay. Layelah was with us
for the greater part of that _jom_, and the Kohen Gadol also
gave us much of his company.  Layelah did not seem to have
any suspicions whatever of my secret purpose; for she was as
bright, as amiable, and as devoted to me as ever, while the
Kohen Gadol sought as before to make himself agreeable to
Almah.  I did not think fit to tell her about Layelah's
proposal, and therefore she was quite ignorant of the secret
plans of the Kohen Gadol, evidently attributing his
attention to the unfailing amiability of the Kosekin.

  Layelah came again after Almah had retired, and spent the
time in trying to persuade me to fly with her.  The
beautiful girl was certainly never more engaging, nor was
she ever more tender.  Had it not been for Almah it would
have been impossible to resist such sweet persuasions; but
as it was I did resist.  Layelah, however, was not at all
discouraged, nor did she lose any of her amiability; but
when she took leave it was with a smile and sweet words of
forgiveness on her lips for what she called my cruelty.
After she left I remained for a time with a painful sense of
helplessness.  The fact is my European training did not fit
me for encountering such a state of things as existed among
the Kosekin.  It's very easy to be faithful to one's own
true-love in England, when other fair ladies hold aloof and
wait to be sought; but here among the Kosekin, women have as
much liberty in making love as men, and there is no law or
custom about it.  If a woman chooses she can pay the most
desperate attentions, and play the part of a distracted
lover to her heart's content.  In most cases the women
actually take the initiative, as they are more impressible
and impulsive than men; and so it was that Layelah made me
the object of her persistent assault--acting all the time,
too, in accordance with the custom of the country, and thus
having no thought whatever of indelicacy, since, according
to the Kosekin, she was acting simply in accordance with the
rights of every woman.  Now, where a woman is urged by one
ardent lover to dismiss her other lover, she may sometimes
find it difficult to play her part satisfactorily; but in my
case I did not play my part satisfactorily at all; the
ordeal was too hard, and I was utterly unable to show to
Layelah that firmness and decision of character which the
occasion demanded.

  Yet, after all, the ordeal at last ended.  Layelah left,
as I have said, with sweet words of forgiveness on her lips,
and I after a time succeeded in regaining my presence of
mind.

  Almah was waiting, and she soon joined me.  We gathered a
few articles for the journey, the chief of which were my
rifle and pistol, which I had not used here, and then we set
forth.  Leaving our apartments we traversed the long
passages, and at length came to the cavern of the athalebs. 
We met several people on the way, who looked at us with
smiles, but made no other sign.  It was evident that they
had no commission to watch us, and that thus far Layelah's
information was correct.

  Upon entering the cavern of the athalebs my first feeling
was one of helplessness; for I had no confidence whatever in
my own powers of managing these awful monsters, nor did I
feel sure that I could harness them; but the emergency was a
pressing one, and there was no help for it.  I had seen
where Layelah had left the harness, and now my chief desire
was to secure one of the athalebs.  The faint light served
to disclose nothing but gloom; and I waited for a while,
hoping that one of them would come forward as before.  But
waiting did no good, for no movement was made, and I had to
try what I could do myself to rouse them.  So I walked
farther in toward the back part of the cavern, peering
through the gloom, while Almah remained near the entrance.

  As I advanced I heard a slight noise, as of someone
moving.  I thought it was one of the athalebs, and walked on
farther, peering through the gloom, when suddenly I came
full upon a man who was busy at some work which I could not
make out.  For a moment I stood in amazement and despair,
for it seemed as though all was lost, and as if this man
would at once divine my intent.  While I stood thus he
turned and gave me a very courteous greeting, after which,
in the usual manner of the Kosekin, he asked me with much
amiability what he could do for me.  I muttered something
about seeing the athalebs, upon which he informed me that he
would show them to me with pleasure.

  He went on to say that he had recently been raised from
the low position of Athon to that of Feeder of the Athalebs,
a post involving duties like those of ostlers or grooms
among us, but which here indicated high rank and honor.  He
was proud of his title of "Epet," which means servant, and
more than usually obliging.  I at once took advantage of his
complaisance, and requested him to show me the athalebs. 
Upon this he led the way farther on, where I could see
through the gloom the shadowy outlines of four monsters, all
of which were resting in an upright posture against the
wall, with their claws fixed on a shelf of rock.  They
looked more than ever like dragons, or rather like enormous
bats, for their wings were disclosed hanging in loose
leathern folds.  

  "Can they be roused," I asked, "and made to move?"

  "Oh yes," said the Epet, and without waiting for any
further request he proceeded to pull at the loose fan-like
wing of the nearest one.  The monster drew himself together,
gave a flutter with his wings, and then moved back from the
wall.

  "Make him walk," said I, eagerly.

  The Epet at this pulled upon his wing once more, and the
athaleb moved forward.

  "Bring him to the portal, so that I may see him," said I.

  The Epet, still holding the athaleb's wing, pulled at him,
and thus guided him toward the portal.  I was amazed at the
docility of this terrific monster; yet, after all, I thought
that it was no more astonishing than the docility of the
elephant, which in like manner allows itself to be guided by
the slightest pressure.  A child may lead a vast elephant
with ease, and here with equal ease the Epet led the
athaleb.  He led him up near to the portal, where the aurora
light beamed through far brighter than the brightest moon,
and disclosed all the vast proportions of the monster.  I
stood and looked on for some time in silence, quite at a
loss what to do next.

  And now Layelah's words occurred to me as to the perfect
willingness of the Kosekin to do anything which one might
wish.  She had insisted on it that they would not prevent
our flight, and had given me to understand that they would
even assist me if I should ask them.  This is what now
occurred to me, and I determined to make a trial.  So I
said:

  "I should like to fly in the air on the athaleb.  Will you
harness him?"

  I confess it was with some trepidation that I said this,
but the feeling was soon dissipated.  The Epet heard my
words with perfect coolness, as though they conveyed the
most natural request in the world, and then proceeded to
obey me, just as at home a servant might hear and obey his
master, who might say, "I should like to take a ride; will
you harness the bay mare?"

  So the Epet proceeded to harness the athaleb, and I
watched him in silence; but it was the silence of deep
suspense, and my heart throbbed painfully.  There was yet
much to be risked.  The gates had to be opened.  Others
might interfere.  Layelah might come.  All these thoughts
occurred to me as I watched the Epet; and though the labor
of harnessing the athaleb was simple and soon performed,
still the time seemed long.  So the collar was secured
around the neck of the athaleb, with the grapple attached,
and the lines were fastened to the wings, and then Almah and
I mounted.

  The Epet now stood waiting for further orders.

  "Open the gates," said I.

  The Epet did so.

  Almah was seated on the back of the athaleb before me,
holding on to the coarse mane; I, just behind, held the
reins in my hand.  The gates were opened wide.  A few people
outside, roused by the noise of the opening gates, stood and
looked on.  They had evidently no other feeling but
curiosity.

  All was now ready and the way was open, but there was an
unexpected difficulty--the athaleb would not start, and I
did not know how to make him.  I had once more to apply for
help to the Epet.

  "How am I to make him start?" I asked.

  "Pull at the collar to make him start, and pull at both
reins to make him stop," said the Epet.

  Upon this I pulled at the collar.

  The athaleb obeyed at once.  He rose almost erect, and
moved out through the gate.  It was difficult to hold on,
but we did so.  On reaching the terrace outside, the athaleb
expanded his vast wings, which spread out over a space of
full fifty feet, and then with vigorous motions raised
himself in the air.

  It was a moment full of terror to both of us; the strange
sensation of rising in the air, the quivering muscles of the
athaleb at the working of the enormous pinions, the
tremendous display of strength, all combined to overwhelm me
with a sense of utter helplessness.  With one hand I clung
to the stiff mane of the monster; with the other I held
Almah, who was also grasping the athaleb's hair; and thus
for some time all thought was taken up in the one purpose of
holding on.  But at length the athaleb lay in the air in a
perfectly horizontal position; the beat of the wings grew
more slow and even, the muscular exertion more steady and
sustained.  We both began to regain some degree of
confidence, and at length I raised myself up and looked
around.

  It did not seem long since we had left; but already the
city was far behind, rising with its long, crescent
terraces, sparkling and twinkling with innumerable lights. 
We had passed beyond the bay; the harbor was behind us, the
open sea before us, the deep water beneath.  The athaleb
flew low, not more than a hundred feet above the water, and
maintained that distance all the time.  It seemed, indeed,
as if he might drop into the water at any time; but this was
only fancy, for he was perfect master of all his movement
and his flight was swift and well sustained.

  Overhead the sky was filled with the glory of the aurora
beams, which spread everywhere, flashing out from the zenith
and illuminating the earth with a glow brighter than that of
the brightest moon; beneath, the dark waters of the sea
extended, with the waves breaking into foam, and traversed
by galleys, by merchant-ships, and by the navies of the
Kosekin.  Far away the surface of the sea spread, with that
marvellous appearance of an endless ascent, as though for a
thousand miles, rising thus until it terminated half-way up
the sky; and so it rose up on every side, so that I seemed
to be at the bottom of a basin-shaped world--an immense and
immeasurable hollow--a world unparalleled and
unintelligible.  Far away, at almost infinite distances,
arose the long lines of mountains, which, crowned with ice,
gleamed in the aurora light, and seemed like a barrier that
made forever impossible all ingress and egress.

  On and on we sped.  At length we grew perfectly accustomed
to the situation, the motion was so easy and our seats were
so secure.  There were no obstacles in our way, no roughness
along our path; for that pathway was the smooth air, and in
such a path there could be no interruption, no jerk or jar. 
After the first terror had passed there remained no longer
any necessity for holding on--we could sit and look around
with perfect freedom; and at length I rose to my feet, and
Almah stood beside me, and thus we stood for a long time,
with all our souls kindled into glowing enthusiasm by the
excitement of that adventurous flight, and the splendors of
that unequalled scene.

  At length the aurora light grew dim.  Then came forth the
stars, glowing and burning in the black sky.  Beneath there
was nothing visible but the darkness of the water, spotted
with phosphorescent points, while all around a wall of gloom
arose which shut out from view the distant shores.

  Suddenly I was aware of a noise like the beat of vast
wings, and these wings were not those of our athaleb.  At
first I thought it was the fluttering of a sail, but it was
too regular and too long continued for that.  At length I
saw through the gloom a vast shadowy form in the air behind
us, and at once the knowledge of the truth flashed upon me. 
It was another monster flying in pursuit!

  Were we pursued?  Were there men on his back?  Should I
resist?  I held my rifle poised, and was resolved to resist
at all hazards.  Almah saw it all, and said nothing.  She
perceived the danger, and in her eyes I saw that she, like
me, would prefer death to surrender.  The monster came
nearer and nearer, until at last I could see that he was
alone, and that none were on his back.  But now another fear
arose.  He might attack our athaleb, and in that way
endanger us.  He must be prevented from coming nearer; yet
to fire the rifle was a serious matter.  I had once before I
earned the danger of firing under such circumstances, when
my opmahera had fled in terror at the report, and did not
wish to experience the danger which might arise from a
panic-stricken athaleb; and so as I stood there I waved my
arms and gesticulated violently.  The pursuing athaleb
seemed frightened at such an unusual occurrence, for he
veered off, and soon was lost in the darkness.

(End of the fourteenth installment.)