William Whitman

“ Raphael and the sea horse swam through the gateway, which was guarded by two gray octopi, and entered a huge amphitheater. On all sides rose black hills covered with brown ooze. The floor was coral, whose pink-and-white branches were laced into miniature caves and grottoes in which lived strange crabs and small beautifully tinted fish. Clinging to the coral, brown sea fans waved in the pulse of the ocean, while here and there sea anemones bloomed like giant white chrysanthemums. ”

“ I must not fail her. The animals alone can’t fight the Sorcerer. He would kill them with the death-ray or his poison gas.’
‘Raff, do you think there is such a person as Gæa?’
Raphael was startled. Sometimes he had wondered. The Mother of All Things. Well, he could fly—he had never been able to do that before. He remembered suddenly, with panic, that his feather suit had been taken away. Could he still fly? The Sorcerer evidently didn’t think so. He must take the chance. It was their only hope.
‘Yes,’ he answered Cassandra after a pause. ‘I believe in Gæa. I can fly and live underneath the sea. ”

“ Empyrean continued, turning to Raphael, ‘In the name of Gæa I confer on you power over the Earth, the Air, and the Sea. Through Her you may command nature, the wind, the thunder, the lightning, the earthquake, and the volcano.
‘Already we have called upon all the people to help us, the animals, the birds, the fish, and the reptiles. In this way we shall crush the Giant Sorcerer, who is our enemy.’
The eagle, whose voice had grown louder and louder, strutted fiercely up and down. When he finished, all the eagles screamed together, and struck their breasts, and raised their wings. ”

“ MECHANA
The next afternoon the Sorcerer told Raphael and Cassandra that he would show them the wonders of his city.
‘Then you will observe,’ he said pleasantly, ‘how much more cheaply we can live than man. When you have seen my wonderful mechanicos, you will never want to return to Uniontown.’
They left the tower and walked slowly through the city. Cassandra skipped gayly along beside Raphael, who tried to keep step with Mechanus. They soon became accustomed to the noise of the automobiles and trucks which rushed up and down the streets, the screaming brake bands, and the racing motors. ”

“ Raphael frowned. All the animals, with the exception of the eagles, had left him.
‘Look here, Raphael,’ continued the Sorcerer, ‘you must realize that the animals are not fit to run things. In the first place, most of them live by eating one another. And in the second place, not one of them is unselfish enough to help another species for the general good. Where are your allies now?’ The eagles stirred angrily. ”

“ The larger beasts arrived slowly—the moose, the elk, the mountain lion and the grizzly bear, the wolves and coyotes. Raphael, as he saw the animals crowding about him, some frightened and impatient, others bold and curious, realized that much more than Cassandra’s liberty was wrapped in the defeat of the Sorcerer. The Earth people had come to help him at the bidding of Gæa, their mother. With the Sorcerer destroyed they would be saved from extermination, perhaps forever. ”

“ While he lives, you cannot hope to inherit the Earth, for his people multiply and spread all over the world. The time has come for us to attack him, attack to save the places we live in and in which our ancestors lived.’
The animals made assent each in his own tongue and pressed closer, the deer timid and trembling, the moose shoulder to shoulder with the elk, the great bears and the mountain lions, the wolves and the coyotes, brothers in one common purpose.
Then Raphael called for scouts to discover if possible where the Sorcerer lived and where Cassandra was. ”

“ Shadows clung to the rock floor, and Raphael had difficulty in seeing the black cliffs across the arena.
The review began in silence. Two Admirals, a swordfish and a sawfish, followed by four Rear Admirals, passed slowly before the President. Behind them swam, rank on rank, the Navy of the Atlantic led by a brilliant band of drum and trumpet fish. Eight deep they drifted past the reviewing stand in massed companies of a hundred—swordfish, sawfish, spearfish, porpoises, leopard sharks, devilfish, sting rays, and even a company of octopi which sculled along in the rear. ”

“ President,’ interrupted Raphael excitedly, ‘I don’t want very much help. All I need is a guard placed about the castle rock in case the Sorcerer should escape.’
The President was impressed. ‘Well, well,’ he muttered, ‘what you ask is little. And if we don’t love man, we should probably love a sorcerer even less.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t mean to be discourteous, but political life is full of difficult decisions, and times are not as easy as they used to be. What is more, we have our own wars to fight in the ocean, for most of us feed by war. ”

“ With the high buildings leaning above them, it was like walking in the bottom of a deep river canyon.
At last they came to a skyscraper, taller than the rest, which had carved in stone over its mammoth doors, Big Business Building. Into this [96] the Sorcerer turned followed by Raphael and Cassandra. The great marble hallway was decorated with colored pictures of lumps of coal and tins of oil, while over the elevator shafts which faced the door there hung a life-size portrait of the Sorcerer himself done in oils. They walked to one of the elevators and stepped in. ”

“ Most fish don’t ever see their children.’
While they were talking, Raphael and the sea horse crossed the plateau and started to descend. The way became rough, and gigantic, moss-covered boulders blocked the path. The seaweed grew thicker, tangling into a rich brown and green jungle of limp branches through which Raphael found it increasingly difficult to force his way. Great lava mountains towered above them in ropy hills and cliffs, or overhung black pits which the rays of the sun could not pierce. ”

“ But, after all, life in the forest is one danger following another. We must eat. We must find food, and that is difficult enough. Meanwhile the Earth Mother who has always cared for us will look after her people. There is no use in worrying about to-morrow. For many years men have hunted us, and yet we live.’
Raphael muttered, ‘The Sorcerer will be more terrible than man.’
The bear stirred restlessly. ‘Well, perhaps as you say, some day we may go. It is quite true that life is growing harder for us. ”

“ Raphael seated himself on a dry log at the side of the road.
‘It is going to be a hot day,’ he repeated. ‘How far is it to Mechana, the city of the Sorcerer?’
‘What Sorcerer?’
Then he told the bear about Mechanus, and how he had stolen his sister Cassandra. Meanwhile the cub snuffled about Raphael’s feet until, becoming bored, he ambled off to root in a rotten tree for grubs.
When Raphael stopped talking, the she bear said: ‘I have heard of this Sorcerer. It is said that he is like a man, and that there is a city a long way to the west. But life is hard in the woods. ”

“ Already I have fifty million mechanicos to people the earth, when every living thing is gone.’
‘Then what do you want Cassie and me for?’ asked Raphael, frightened by the terrible seriousness of the Sorcerer.
Mechanus smiled. ‘There are still a few imperfections in our mechanicos. There are certain qualities possessed by man with which we wish to equip our mechanical men. When we kill the living, we shall lose our useful models unless precautions are taken. ”

“ When Raphael stood naked upon the rock, the eagles solemnly bowed their heads as though in prayer. After which they presented Raphael with a magnificent suit of black feathers which buttoned up the front with clasps of luminous stone.
When Raphael had put on his new clothes, Chief of All the Eagles in the Sky spoke:
‘Comrades, I had a dream. And in my dream Gæa, the Earth Mother, the All-Powerful, appeared to me and told me of the Giant Sorcerer and of the great war between all nature and mechanics that is to be. Then She said, “A child shall save you, if it is written that you will be saved. ”

“ Steadily they drew near the mountain, and Raphael noticed that they were rising higher and higher. Other great birds, eagles the boy supposed, swept down from the air and joined them, sailing round in great circles with fierce cries of welcome. It was cold flying so high in the air. Raphael shivered and leant back against the warm feathers of Empyrean. ”

“ Mechanus, Raphael, and Cassandra left Big Business Building and took a taxicab for the outskirts of the city. While they were being jerked along at a tremendous speed, Raphael asked the Sorcerer if they made any child mechanicos.
‘Goodness, no,’ answered Mechanus. ‘Childhood is nothing but waste. A child mechanico [100] could not do the work of a man, and he would drink almost as much oil.’
‘Don’t mechanicos have any fun at all?’
‘A mechanico,’ said Mechanus, ‘doesn’t know what fun is.’
‘I’m glad I’m not a mechanico,’ said Cassandra. ”

“ He was dressed in some light material that merged into the dark shadows.
‘Are you a man?’ whispered Raphael, awed.
‘No,’ said the Sorcerer conversationally. ‘I am a mechanical wonder invented by man to be greater than all men.’
‘What do you want with Cassandra?’ asked Raphael, taking heart.
‘My boy,’ exclaimed Mechanus, ‘that happens [6] to be my affair. She will go home with me because I want her to.’
She would go home with him, Cassandra, his sister, and he would never see her any more. A mechanical wonder greater than all men blocked the path.
‘You shan’t take Cassie away! ”

“ Then Raphael told him about Cassandra, the Sorcerer, and the blind castle on the island. ‘I have come,’ he concluded, ‘to find a door to the castle and to ask your help.’
‘Since you come from Gæa, the Queen Mother,’ replied the President in his best official manner, speaking very carefully, ‘you are more than welcome [31] to the Sea. But here we are ignorant of the Earth, and such people as this Giant Sorcerer.
‘Besides this you are a man, and man has done us few favors. Instead he has destroyed many of our noblest sea families. ”

“ Children are so difficult! I always try to reason with my little ones, but sometimes it seems as though Junior just won’t listen. My husband always laughs at me, but he spoils Junior just as badly as I do. What do you think, Mr. Raphael?’
Raphael did not have time to say what he thought, for just then a small voice fluted, ‘Mr. President, the Navy has formed in review.’ It was the sea horse. ”

“ Some day he would take Cassie and run away and visit these places. They would see the whole world for themselves.
One night when Raphael went to bed, he did not fall asleep. Instead he lay and watched the moonlight on the window sill. Across the room he could see the white outline of Cassandra’s bed, and Cassie a motionless white mound asleep in it. To-morrow, he thought, sleepily, I must build a house for the robins. Habakkuk needs a bath and a new collar. Why do dogs hate baths? Why do I hate to have my face washed? Everything Aunt Mary called good was hateful. ”

“ I build aeroplanes and automobiles. I print books and build theaters and photograph moving pictures, and make all kinds of toys. Can your animals X-ray you when you are sick and broken? Without me you would live by killing and in fear of being killed, eating roots and raw flesh in the jungle.’
As the Sorcerer talked, a black cloud rose behind the mountain that frowned over the fallen city, rain began to fall gently, and a rainbow arched across the sky. Was it a sign from Gæa?
Raphael stood a long time in thought, so long that Cassandra stirred uneasily. ”

“ Raphael jerked back the elevator door and stepped into a long corridor. Peering up between the landing and the cage, he saw the roof itself just above him. He was on the top floor.
The boy ran along the corridor, and so came to a room where he discovered a huge aeroplane lying black and shining in its hangar. Raphael did not even stop to look at the machine, but hurried toward the great door which filled one end of the room. It was made of steel, thick and impassive. ”

“ At a word from the sea horse, the Grand Council, which was made up of the House of Representatives as well as the Admiralty, gathered and stationed itself in a semi-circle about the President, the big fish nearest the ocean floor, the little fish above them like spectators in a vast [33] theater audience. Raphael saw a porpoise, a manatee, a sawfish, a swordfish, a spearfish, a sailfish, a tarpon, a tuna, several kinds of sharks, besides a dolphin, a turtle, and numerous representative sea creatures he could not name. ”

“ Overhead the stars were very bright. Raphael was too excited to sleep immediately. Instead he lay and thought about Cassandra. Where was she? What was she doing? Was the Sorcerer kind to her? What was the Sorcerer? Was he so very dangerous that Gæa should be forced to [64] give him power over all the elements? Who was Gæa? All the animals knew her and yet none save Empyrean had ever talked of her. She was a woman. The Mother of all living things. Perhaps she was like Aunt Mary, only more beautiful. ”

“ Over all these Mechanus was master.
[104] ‘Come,’ said Mechanus, ‘I have something more to show you.’ Again Raphael and Cassandra followed him from the room down a corridor lit by electric lights.
‘Do mechanicos ever die?’ asked Raphael in the comparative quiet.
‘No,’ said Mechanus. ‘But every mechanico has so many motions he can make and no more. Then he has to go to the repair shop and be remade. If there is a mistake in his assembly, then he may have to go sooner.’
They came in a few moments to an unlit passageway which branched off at right angles. ”