The Last American: A Fragment from The Journal of Khan-li, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy — John Shaqi
The Last American: A Fragment from The Journal of Khan-li, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur and Admiral in the Persian NavyMitchell, John Ames
Science
The Last American: A Fragment from The Journal of Khan-li, Prince of Dimph-Yoo-Chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy
Mitchell, John Ames
Science fiction
A fair wind from the West to-day. We weighed anchor and sailed up
the Eastern side of the city. I did this as Nōfūhl finds the upper
portion of the town much richer in relics than the lower, which seems
to have been given up to commercial purposes. We sailed close under
one of the great monuments in the river, and are at a loss to divine
its meaning. Many iron rods still dangle from the tops of each of the
structures. As they are in a line, one with the other, we thought at
first they might have been once connected and served as a bridge, but
we soon saw they were too far apart.
Came to anchor about three miles from the old mooring. Up the river
and down, North, South, East, and West, the ruins stretch away
indefinitely, seemingly without end.
Am anxious about Lev-el-Hedyd. He went ashore and has not returned.
It is now after midnight.
[Illustration: The Two Monuments in the River]
_16th May_
Praise Allah! my dear comrade is alive! This morning we landed early
and began our search for him. As we passed before the building which
bears the inscription
. . . DORF ASTORIA
upon its front, we heard his voice from within in answer to our calls.
We entered, and after climbing the ruined stairway found him seated
upon the floor above. He had a swollen leg from an ugly sprain, and
various bruises were also his. While our friends were constructing a
litter on which to bear him hence we conversed together. The walls
about us bore traces of having once enclosed a hall of some beauty. In
idling about I pulled open the decaying door of an old closet and saw
upon the rotting shelves many pieces of glass and earthenware of fine
workmanship. Taking one in my hand, a small wine-cup of glass, I
approached my comrade calling his attention to its slender stem and
curious form. As his eyes fell upon it they opened wide in amazement.
I also observed a trembling of his hand as he reached forth to touch
it. He then recounted to me his marvellous adventure of the night
before, but saying before he began:
"Thou knowest, O Prince, I am no believer in visions, and I should
never tell the tale but for thy discovery of this cup. I drank from
such an one last night, proffered by a ghostly hand."
I would have smiled, but he was much in earnest. As I made a movement
to sit beside him, he said:
"Taste first, O my master, of the grapes hanging from yonder wall."
I did so, and to my great surprise found them of an exquisite flavor,
finer even than the cultivated fruit of Persia, sweeter and more
delicate, of a different nature from the wild grapes we have been
eating. My astonishment appeared to delight him, and he said with a
laugh:
"The grapes are impossible, but they exist; even more absurd is my
story!" and he then narrated his adventure.
It was this:
WHAT LEV-EL-HEDYD SAW.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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