Fantasy fiction; Utopian fiction; Utopias -- Fiction
Weak as he was, Cobb sprang toward the opening through which Rawolle
was speaking, and excitedly cried:
"Is it not 1887? Who is President Craft? I never heard of him. Tell me,
what is the year? Are we in 1800 or 1900?"
"Neither, sir," answered Rawolle. "It is A. D. 2000."
"My God! Have I been asleep since 1887?" and he pressed his hands to
his brow, clutching his hair as if endeavoring to tear aside the veil
of the past, that a realization of the moment might be made plain to
him. "Have I slept a hundred and thirteen years? Am I now alive? or is
this some terrible nightmare? No! no! I heard your voices! I live! I
live again! Thank God! I have not failed in my undertaking." He looked
around him in a dazed manner.
"But can we not help you?" broke in Rawolle; "you have no time to lose
in your weak condition. Tell us at once what we are to do; it will
take over an hour to enlarge this breach. Have you no door, or mode of
entrance?"
"Yes; there was a door, but it was sealed up after I entered this
place. Go to the other side of the pedestal, and I will try to open it."
They all passed around as directed, and Cobb applied himself to the
wheel and gearing. Weak as he was, it became somewhat of a difficult
task for him to turn the screw, but the mechanism had been so perfectly
adjusted that it revolved even by his feeble strength. Lifting up the
spring catch, he slowly turned the screw, and the door opened upon its
rusty hinges.
A moment later, all were in the chamber of the Statue of Liberty.
Astonishment was depicted upon the countenances of all, as they beheld
the interior of the chamber and its peculiar contents. But Rawolle gave
no heed to the strange condition of the place; his thoughts were upon
Cobb, who lay upon the floor, where he had fallen, unconscious, after
opening the door. Quickly seizing him, they bore his body to the fire
and rubbed back the departing life. His legs and arms were stiff from
long inaction; his face was wan and his form somewhat emaciated. Their
work was soon rewarded by a return to consciousness of their patient.
Rawolle opened the box from which he had seen the clothing taken, and
soon Cobb was clad in warm, comfortable garments. Ten minutes were
consumed in preparing fresh broth and administering to the weak man's
wants.
Cobb's strength returned quickly to him, thanks to the liquor and beef
juice, and he moved from the fire toward the compass case.
"You say it is A. D. 2000?" he asked again; "are you not joking me? Is
it indeed that year? or, rather, is A. D. 2000 this year?"
"For a fact," answered Rawolle. "It is as I tell you; and we are now in
the year 2000."
All the others joined Rawolle in assuring Cobb that he was not the
subject of any jest; it was just as had been told him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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