It riled Saxe. that his invention had been produced six centuries ago,
and proudly, with long explanations, he displayed the handsomely
engraved plan of the lost _Propellier_. Potolili turned aside to hide
his mirth, we were a continual source of amusement to him. But he became
deeply interested in Sheldon’s map of the world and marveled much at the
injured, disjointed instruments belonging to Saunders’s impaired
collection. He examined the remaining telescope with great curiosity,
informing us it was patterned after antiquated astronomical curios in
the museum. Saunders reared, and came back with: That it was a
moderately good telescope; could not compare with those blown up in the
explosion, but it had been of invaluable service to him in his labors.
Then he swerved upon his favorite topic and began to bleat of the great
planet Virgillius. Potolili roared and begged us to wait till we reached
the Centaurians. “But, remember,” he cried, gazing at us with sudden
respect, “though we have six hundred years the advantage, you have
accomplished what is beyond us. The Centaurians will go mad and receive
you as gods.”
We gazed at this man who called himself a savage, and apprehensively
wondered what the Centaurians were like.
Gradually, thankfully, we emerged from the ice wilderness where for
months we had miserably wandered, and under Potolili’s guidance made a
wide detour to avoid a chain of lakes which seemingly divided the Pole
regions from the living world. We crossed a low range of hills blocking
the way to a sloping valley, thinly mantled with snow, which melted to
slush beneath a burning sun. The temperature changed completely, this
wide marsh freed us entirely from the ice, snow and deadly northern
vapors, leading us to a rich, verdant, luxuriant country, a wonderful
country whose lofty, snow-capped mountains, velvet mantled in soft
green, reared sharply in the clear atmosphere of deep azure, and
Potolili impulsively threw out his arms, murmuring: “The potency of God
is sublime; He is the universe.”
Yet, with all this loveliness before us, half regretfully we glanced
back at the mist enveloped, frozen world, gleaming white, shadowy,
mystic, beautiful, so beautiful—at a distance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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