From that time, whenever possible, I wrote up the account of this
voyage, beginning with our landing in London; and the present voluminous
paper is the result.
At 11 o’clock Torrence insisted on my going below to bed, while he
continued the watch above. It was a strange sensation, this crawling
into a bunk to sleep on an air ship, but I was exhausted with the
excitement of the day, and soon fell into a sound slumber, rocked by the
gentle swaying of the car. Nothing could have been more soothing than
the situation; though why I should have felt no fear of falling was a
mystery, possibly induced by the negation of gravity which pervaded all
my surroundings, and perhaps, to a certain extent, even penetrated my
own body; though this is only a surmise.
If I dreamed, I do not know it, but was awakened while it was still dark
by the sound of music. Sitting up, I listened in amazement. Several
instruments were distinctly audible, and these were accompanied by half
a dozen voices. Probably every one is familiar with the ravishing charm
of music while sleeping, and I awoke enraptured with this unearthly
fascination, believing at first that the sound had only been in my
dreams; but to my amazement it continued. I recalled immediately where
I was, and my astonishment was only increased on remembering our
singular isolation. There could be no doubt about it—there were musical
instruments, and there were human voices—but where out of heaven or
earth did they come from. Slowly I crawled down from my bunk and groped
my way through the dividing curtains to Torrence’s; but he was not
there. I thought it must be nearly morning but evidently he had not
come to bed. Had he crossed the North Sea and landed without my
knowledge? I could not believe it; nor could I think that we had
returned to England. I pinched myself and bit my finger to make sure
that I was awake, and then slowly felt the way into the saloon, and
having reached the ladder, commenced climbing above, with a horrid dread
of some awful catastrophe having befallen us. I stepped out upon the
deck and looked around. The dull red glow of Torry’s cigar caught my
eye; for there he was in the gloom, still sitting where I had left him,
his chair against the rail, and his arm hanging over. Evidently he was
looking at something below, and leaning outward, did not see me. Here
the music was even clearer than it had been below, and I paused for a
moment in dumb amazement to listen. The instruments were well played,
and the voices strong and thrilling, with a wild pathos. I glanced out
over the taffrail. The misty waters were still spread around us, and the
swish of the waves was distinctly heard. Feeling as though suddenly
bewitched, I groped my way toward Torrence, who at that moment caught
sight of me. He raised his hand, and said softly:
"Hush! Do not speak a word!"
I moved cautiously along to his elbow.
"What is it?" I whispered; "where are we, and what does this music
mean?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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