Across the Zodiac (27 page)

"You cannot suppose," she answered earnestly—she seemed incapable of
apprehending irony or jest,—"that I should wish you more like others
than you are. Whatever may happen hereafter, I shall always feel
myself the happiest of women in having belonged to one who cares for
something beside himself, and holds even life cheaper than love."
"I hope so,
carissima
. But in that matter there was scarcely more of
love than of choice. What I did for you I must have done no less for
Zevle
(her sister)
. If I had feared death as much as the Regent does,
I could not have returned alive and alone. My venture into infinite
space involved possibilities of horror more appalling than the mere
terrors of death. You asked of me as my one bridal gift leave to share
its perils. How unworthy of you should I be, if I did not hold the
possession of Eveena, even for the two years of her promise, well
worth dying for!"

The moral gulf between the two worlds is wider than the material.
Utterly unselfish and trustful, Eveena was almost pained to be
reminded that the service she so extravagantly overprized was rendered
to her sex rather than herself; while yet more deeply gratified,
though still half incredulous, by the commonplace that preferred love
to life. I had yet to learn, however, that Eveena's nature was as
utterly strange in her own world as the ideas in which she was
educated would seem in mine.

I left her for a few minutes to dress for the first time in the
costume which Esmo's care had provided. The single under-vestment of
softest hide, closely fitting from neck to knees, is of all garments
the best adapted to preserve natural warmth under the rapid and
extreme changes of the external atmosphere. The outer garb consisted
of blouse and trousers, woven of a fabric in which a fine warp of
metallic lustre was crossed by a strong silken weft, giving the effect
of a diapered scarlet and silver; both fastened by the belt, a broad
green strap of some species of leather, clasped with gold. Masculine
dress is seldom brilliant, as is that of the women, but convenient and
comfortable beyond any other, and generally handsome and elegant. The
one part of the costume which I could never approve is the sandal,
which leaves the feet exposed to dust and cold. Rejoining my bride, I
said—

"I have had no opportunity of seeing much of this country, and I fancy
from what I have seen of feminine seclusion that an excursion would be
as much a holiday treat to you as to myself. If your father will lend
us his carriage, would you like to accompany me to one or two places
Kevimâ has described not far from this, and which I am anxious to
visit?"

She bent her head, but did not answer; and fancying that the proposal
was not agreeable to her, I added—

"If you prefer to spend our little remaining time here with your
mother and sister, I will ask your brother to accompany me, though I
am selfishly unwilling to part with you to-day."

She looked up for a moment with an air of pain and perplexity, and as
she turned away I saw the tears gather in her eyes.

"What
is
the matter?" I asked, surprised and puzzled as one on Earth
who tries to please a woman by offering her her own way, and finds
that, so offered, it is the last thing she cares to have. It did not
occur to me that, even in trifles, a Martial wife never dreams that
her taste or wish can signify, or be consulted where her lord has a
preference of his own. To invite instead of commanding her
companionship was unusual; to withdraw the expression of my own wish,
and bid her decide for herself, was in Eveena's eyes to mark formally
and deliberately that I did not care for her society.

"What have I done," she faltered, "to be so punished? I have not, save
the day before yesterday, left the house this year; and you offer me
the greatest of pleasures only to snatch it away the next moment."

"Nay, Eveena!" I answered. "If I had not told you, you must know that
I cannot but wish for your company; but by your silence I fancied you
disliked my proposal, yet did not like to decline it."

The expression of surprise and perplexity in her face, though half
pathetic, seemed so comical that I with difficulty suppressed a laugh,
because for her it was evidently no laughing matter. After giving her
time, as I thought, to recover herself, I said—

"Well, I suppose we may now join them at the morning
meal?"

Something was still wrong, the clue to which I gathered by observing
her shy glance at her head-dress and veil.

"Must you wear those?" I asked—a question which gave her some such
imperfect clue to my thoughts as I had found to hers.

"How foolish of me," she said, smiling, "to forget how little you can
know of our customs! Of course I must wear my veil and sleeves; but
to-day you must put on the veil, as you removed it last night."

The awkwardness with which I performed this duty had its effect in
amusing and cheering her; and the look of happiness and trust had come
back to her countenance before the veil concealed it.

I made my request to Esmo, who answered, with some amusement—

"Every house like ours has from six to a dozen larger or lighter
carriages. Of course they cost nothing save the original purchase.
They last for half a lifetime, and are not costly at the outset. But I
have news for you which, I venture to think, will be as little
agreeable to you as to ourselves. Your journey must begin tomorrow,
and this, therefore, is the only opportunity you will have for such an
excursion as you propose."

"Then," I said, "will Eveena still wish to share it?"

Even her mother's face seemed to ask what in the world that could
matter; but a movement of the daughter's veiled head reminded me that
I was blundering; and pressing her little hand as she lay beside me, I
took her compliance for granted.

The morning mist had given place to hot bright sunshine when we
started. At first our road lay between enclosures like that which
surrounded Esmo's dwelling.

Presently the lines were broken here and there by such fields as I had
seen in descending from Asnyca; some filled with crops of human food,
some with artificial pastures, in which Unicorns or other creatures
were feeding. I saw also more than one field wherein the
carvee
were
weeding or gathering fruit, piling their burdens in either case as
soon as their beaks were full into bags or baskets. Pointing out to
Eveena the striking difference of colour between the cultivated fields
and gardens and the woods or natural meadows on the mountain sides, I
learned from her that this distinction is everywhere perceptible in
Mars. Natural objects, plants or animals, rocks and soil, are for the
most part of dimmer, fainter, or darker tints than on Earth; probably
owing to the much less intense light of the Sun; partly, perhaps, to
that absorption of the blue rays by the atmosphere, which diminishes,
I suppose, even that light which actually reaches the planet. But
uncultivated ground, except on the mountains above the ordinary range
of crops or pastures, scarcely exists in the belt of Equatorial
continents; the turf itself, like the herbage or fruit shrubs in the
fields, is artificial, consisting of plants developed through long
ages into forms utterly unlike the native original by the skill and
ingenuity of man. Even the great fruit trees have undergone material
change, not only in the size, flavour, and appearance of the fruits
themselves, which have been the immediate object of care, but,
probably through some natural correlation between, the different
organs, in the form and colour of the foliage, the arrangement of the
branches, and the growth of the trunk, all of which are much more
regular, and, so to speak, more perfect, than is the case either here
or on Earth with those left to the control of Nature and locality, or
the effects of the natural competition, which is in its way perhaps as
keen among plants and animals as among men. Martialists have the same
delight in bright colours as Orientals, with far greater taste in
selection and combination; and the favourite hues not only of their
flowers, tame birds, fishes, and quadrupeds, but of plants in whose
cultivation utility has been the primary object, contrast signally, as
I have said, with the dull tints of the undomesticated flora and
fauna, of which comparatively scanty remnants were visible here and
there in this rich country.

Presently we came within sight of the river, over which was a single
bridge, formed by what might be called a tube of metal built into
strong walls on either bank. In fact, however, the sides were of open
work, and only the roof and floor were solid. The river at this, its
narrowest point, was perhaps a furlong in breadth, and it was not
without instinctive uneasiness that I trusted to the security of a
single piece of metal spanning, without even the strength afforded by
the form of the arch, so great a space.

The first object we were to visit lay at some distance down the
stream. As we approached the point, we passed a place where the river
widened considerably. The main channel in the centre was kept clear
and deep to afford an uninterrupted course for navigation; but on
either side were rocks that broke the river into pools and shallows,
such as here, no less than on Earth, form the favourite haunts or
spawning places of the fish. In some of the lesser pools birds larger
than the stork, bearing under the throat an expansible bag like that
of the pelican, were seeking for prey. They were watched and directed
by a master on the shore, and carried to a square tank, fixed on a
wheeled frame not unlike that of the ordinary carriage, which
accompanied him, each fish they took. I observed that the latter were
carefully seized, with the least possible violence or injury, placed
by a jerk head-downmost in the throat-bag, which, though when empty it
was scarcely perceptible, would contain prey of very considerable size
and weight, and as carefully disgorged into the tank. In one of the
most extensive pools, too deep for these birds, a couple of men had
spread a sort of net, not unlike those used on Earth, but formed of
twisted metal threads with very narrow meshes, enclosing the whole
pool, a space of perhaps some 400 square yards. In the centre of this
an electric lamp was let down into the water, some feet below the
surface. The fish crowded towards it, and a sudden shock of
electricity transmitted through the meshes of the net, as well as from
the wires of the lamp circuit, stunned for a few minutes all life
within the enclosure. The fish then floated on the surface, the net
was drawn together, and they were collected and sorted; some which, as
I afterwards learned, were required for breeding, being carefully and
separately preserved in a smaller tank, those fit for food cast into
the larger one, those too small for the one purpose and not needed for
the other being thrown back into the water. I noted, however, that
many fish apparently valuable were among those thus rejected. I spoke
to one of the fishermen, who, regarding me with great surprise and
curiosity, at last answered briefly that a stringent law forbids the
catching of spawning fish except for breeding purposes. Those,
therefore, for which the season was close-time were invariably spared.

In sea-fishing a much larger net, sometimes enclosing more than 10,000
square yards, is employed. This fishing is conducted chiefly at night,
the electric lamp being then much more effective in attracting the
prey, and lowered only a few inches below the surface. Many large
destructive creatures, unfit for food, generally of a nature
intermediate between fish and reptiles, haunt the seas. It is held
unwise to exterminate them, since they do their part in keeping down
an immense variety of smaller creatures, noxious for one reason or
another, and also in clearing the water from carrion and masses of
seaweed which might otherwise taint the air of the sea-coasts,
especially near the mouths of large tropical rivers. But these
sea-monsters devour enormous quantities of fish, and the hunters
appointed to deal with them are instructed to limit their numbers to
the minimum required. Their average increase is to be destroyed each
year. If at any time it appear that, for whatever cause, the total
number left alive is falling off, the chief of this service suspends
it partially or wholly at his discretion.

We now came to the entrance of a vast enclosure bordering on the
river, the greatest fish-breeding establishment on this continent, or
indeed in this world. One of its managers courteously showed me over
it. It is not necessary minutely to describe its arrangements, from
the spawning ponds and the hatching tanks—the latter contained in a
huge building, whose temperature is preserved with the utmost care at
the rate found best suited to the ova—to the multitude of streams,
ponds, and lakes in which the different kinds of fish are kept during
the several stages of their existence. The task of the breeders is
much facilitated by the fact that the seas of Mars are not, like ours,
salt; and though sea and river fish are almost as distinct as on
Earth, each kind having its own habitat, whose conditions are
carefully reproduced in the breeding or feeding reservoirs, the same
kind of water suits all alike. It is necessary, however, to keep the
fishes of tropical seas and streams in water of a very different
temperature from that suited to others brought from arctic or
sub-arctic climates; and this, like every other point affecting the
natural peculiarities and habits of the fish, is attended to with
minute and accurate care. The skill and science brought to bear on the
task of breeding accomplish this and much more difficult operations
with marvellous ease and certainty.

On one of the buildings I observed one of the most remarkable,
largest, and most complete timepieces I had yet seen; and I had on
this occasion an opportunity of examining it closely. The dial was
oblong, enclosed in a case of clear transparent crystal, somewhat
resembling in form the open portion of a mercurial barometer. At the
top were three circles of different colours, divided by twelve
equidistant lines radiating from the centres and subdivided again and
again by the same number. Exactly at the uppermost point of each was a
golden indicator. One of these circles marked the temperature,
graduated from the lowest to the highest degree ever known in that
latitude. Another indicated the direction of the wind, while the depth
of colour in the circle itself, graduated in a manner carefully
explained to me, but my notes of which are lost, showed the exact
force of the atmospheric current. The third served the purpose of a
barometer. A coloured band immediately below indicated by the
variations of tint the character of the coming weather. This band
stretched right across the face; below it were figures indicating the
day of the year. The central portion of the face was occupied by a
larger circle, half-green and half-black; the former portion
representing the colour of the daylight sky, the latter emblematic of
night. On this circle the Sun and the planets were represented by
figures whose movement showed exactly the actual place of each in the
celestial sphere. The two Moons were also figured, their phases and
position at each moment being accurately presented to the eye. Around
this circle was a narrow band divided into strips of different length
of various colours, each representing one of the peculiar divisions of
the Martial day; that point which came under the golden indicator
showing the
zyda
and the exact moment of the
zyda
, while the
movement of the inner circle fixed with equal accuracy the period of
day or night. Below were other circles from which the observer could
learn the amount of moisture in the atmosphere, the intensity of the
sunlight, and the electric tension at the moment. Each of the six
smaller circles registered on a moving ribbon the indications of every
successive moment, these ribbons when unrolled forming a perfect
record of temperature, atmospheric pressure, wind, and so forth, in
the form of a curve—a register kept for more than 8000 Martial years.