Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth CenturyDonnelly, Ignatius
Science
Cæsar's Column: A Story of the Twentieth Century
Donnelly, Ignatius
Dystopias -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Science fiction; Social problems -- Fiction; Twentieth century -- Fiction
But it was when the mob reached the wealthier parts of the city that
the horrors of the devastation really began. Here almost every grand
house was the abode of one of the condemned. True, many of them had
fled. But the cunning cripple--the vice-president--had provided for
this too. At the railroad stations, at the bridges and ferries, even
on the yachts of the princes, men were stationed who would recognize
and seize them; and if they even escaped the dangers of the suburbs,
and reached the country, there they found armed bands of desperate
peasants, ranging about, slaying every one who did not bear on his
face and person the traces of the same wretchedness which they
themselves had so long endured. Nearly every rich man had, in his own
household and among his own servants, some bitter foe, who hated him,
and who had waited for this terrible day and followed him to the
death.
The Prince of Cabano, through his innumerable spies, had early
received word of the turn affairs had taken. He had hurriedly filled
a large satchel with diamonds and other jewels of great value, and,
slinging it over his shoulders, and arming himself with sword, knife
and pistols, he had called Frederika to him (he had really some
little love for his handsome concubine), and loading her pockets and
his own with gold pieces, and taking her by the hand, he had fled in
great terror to the river side. His fine yacht lay off in the stream.
He called and shouted until he was hoarse, but no one replied from
the vessel. He looked around. The wharves were deserted; the few
boats visible were chained and padlocked to their iron rings. The
master of many servants was helpless. He shouted, screamed, tore his
hair, stamped and swore viciously. The man who had coolly doomed ten
million human beings to death was horribly afraid he would have to
die himself. He ran back, still clinging to Frederika, to hide in the
thick shrubbery of his own garden; there, perhaps, he might find a
faithful servant who would get him a boat and take him off to the
yacht in safety.
But then, like the advancing thunder of a hurricane, when it champs
the earth and tears the trees to pieces with its teeth, came on the
awful mob.
Now it is at his gates. He buries himself and companion in a thick
grove of cedars, and they crouch to the very ground. Oh, how humble
is the lord of millions! How all the endowments of the world fall off
from a man in his last extremity! He shivers, he trembles--yea, he
prays! Through his bloodshot eyes he catches some glimpses of a
God--of a merciful God who loves _all_ his creatures. Even Frederika,
though she has neither love nor respect for him, pities him, as the
bloated mass lies shivering beside her. Can this be the same lordly
gentleman, every hair of whose mustache bespoke empire and dominion,
who a few days since plotted the abasement of mankind?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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