I look around me, as I lay in my hammock on my little porch. Directly in front of me is Saucy, a grown-up young lady, as genial and ingenuous as ever. “Now you are really awake, I will tell you what you have been doing while you were asleep. When I found you here and began slowly swinging you, you sang out: ‘Give me a butterfly’s wing.’” When I fanned you, you groaned, “Lost, lost, oh, the ice.” “Then Charley came.” (I see him, laughing behind a vine); “then talked gibberish to you, to see if you were asleep. You commenced making signs with your hands. Then slept soundly for a long time. “Getting restless you held to the hammock sides, as if you felt to be falling. “A branch of wistaria brushing your cheek, you grasped and began eating it. So I laid a banana on your hand, which you threw off as if it were a snake and bit you. Bernard (the dog) licked your hand, when you fainted clear away. To restore you, we shook the hammock. You then made your feet go as in dancing, ending as in prayer. “Then you opened your eyes and looked straight ahead for a long time. Charley got a glass of water and sprinkled your face. Dropping the glass on the stand, you spoke in absorbed fashion, ‘Meteor,’ then awoke.” * * * * * A dream! Only a dream! It was more—it was a grand inspiration. I will write it all down. The beautiful coach, with sail wings, the sea and ice tour. The city of Arc, city of Zion! The marvels of perpetual amusements, science and spiritism—of God(?). Going down the earth’s center—the awed terror. Seeing into the planets—I did, too, I know I did. I will write it all out. I have spoken aloud my dream, to two very intent listeners, one of whom is convulsed anew. “A China-lantern”—will he never stop laughing. The other, “all right, auntie. You have got it right, and, if I mistake not, some other things. Though seen in a dream, it is not the less valuable tour, sought for ages. But the ancients did not have arc-light suns, to see their lanterns by, as do we. But why is the decoration set so far apart, unlike ours, that are close lantern-hung?” “Oh, I can answer that,” says Charley. “The design is but in outline. We will some day catch a meteor, and go to inspect it closer.” [Illustration: Decoration] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ● Transcriber’s Notes: ○ Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected. ○ Unbalanced quotation marks were left as the author intended. ○ Typographical errors were silently corrected. ○ Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a predominant form was found in this book. ○ Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Arqtiq, by Anna Adolph