Stanton A. Coblentz

“ And the people, observing the change, were crowding out of their homes in throngs, shouting and screaming at the tops of their lungs, "The ventilation! The ventilation! The ventilation has been restored!"—while in their jubilant excitement, they waved banners and blew horns and beat drums and distributed showers of little colored paper like confetti—behaved generally like school children at a festival.
Drawing near the Dictator's palace, we were impeded by the multitudes who came forth to greet us, shouting and gesticulating and executing little whirling dances to show their pleasure. ”

“ Before I had half recovered from my surprise, I was aware that Clay, no longer able to make his voice heard above the din of the approaching monsters, was nudging my elbow and pointing in great agitation to our left.
"See! See there!" I read the unexpressed words on his lips. "Just look at that! Just look! Just look!"
Well might he be agitated. From far down the cavern to our left, three more land-battleships were rumbling toward us, shooting out flashes of red and white lightning like a challenge, while hastening to meet the other Titans as though intending a head-on collision. ”

“ And loud was the laughter that convulsed the family group.
"If you're white, then what are we?" demanded Loa, insolently indicating her own snowy features.
I had nothing to say in reply. I could see that, by comparison with the chalk-faces, I was indeed the member of a colored race.
"My dear young man," consoled Professor Tan Trum, with the most unbearable superciliousness, "do not let the matter of your origin grieve you. We know that birth is not a matter of choice, and if nature has made you a member of an inferior race, at least it speaks well for you that you could rise to join us." ”

“ Lord High Dictator Thuno Flâtum, sovereign of the great empire of Wu and illustrious ruler of the Underworld and the Overworld, I prostrate myself before you! Long may your distinguished might endure! Long may your power cause the nations to shake! I come to you today on a momentous mission, and I trust you will let no thought of my personal unworthiness deter you from that just decision for which you are so rightly renowned. Know, O Thuno Flâtum, that this day a stranger of queer and unprepossessing appearance has been found in our midst. ”

“ While the lightnings still leapt and vaulted through space, crossing and criss-crossing the atmosphere with dagger-flames of blue and yellow, there rose a low, regular, distant rumbling—a rumbling too even and continuous for thunder, and yet more ominous-sounding than thunder, since it gained each moment in force and volume and had a monotonous, rhythmical, thudding effect reminding one of the motor of some great machine.
"God be merciful, what's this coming?" suddenly cried my companion, pointing far down the cavern. "See, Frank! Can you make out what it is?" ”

“ Great revolution! Luma the Illustrious abdicates! Thuno Flâtum restored to power! Super-super-super-extra-extra-extra!"
"Super-extra-extra! Buy the latest Blare!" I heard from another side. "War with Zu breaks out again! Thuno Flâtum sends troops to the depths! Huge turnover! Subterrain attacks renewed! Buy the latest Blare! Super-extra-extra!"
As if to emphasize the truth of these words, we caught a glimpse of marching helmeted forms, hundreds upon hundreds, tramping with a prancing military motion along a side-gallery, while over them the green and vermilion banners demonstratively waved. ”

“ He claims to be Thuno Flâtum!" I howled, with a sudden pretense at laughter; and rocked back and forth in feigned mirth. "When did Thuno Flâtum ever wear soiled saffron? When did he appear without the royal rubies? Guards, seize the impostor!"
"Look at him! Look at him! Just look at him! When did Thuno Flâtum ever wear soiled saffron?" yelled the mob, roaring with me in amusement more genuine than my own.
At the same time, the heavy arms of a guard closed about the feeble, resisting figure.
"But I am, I am Thuno Flâtum!" he wailed for the last time. "It is you, you who are the impostor! ”

“ It is now five years since Philip Clay and I were given up by the world as lost, five years since we plunged into that appalling adventure from which, even today, we have barely begun to recover. During nine tenths of that time, we dwelt far from the sight of our fellow men in a remote and incredible land of wizardry and terror; we made discoveries which, we are certain, have never been surpassed since Columbus voyaged westward to the New World; we encountered perils that we still shudder to recall, and experienced triumphs that make us sigh regretfully in recollection. ”

“ I gasped, as I lay peeping across the edge of the abyss. "If it isn't an army!"
"Sure enough, an army!" agreed Clay, his mouth agape till the lower jaw seemed ready to drop off. "I'll swear they look like the devil's own recruits! Just see the banners gleaming!"
By straining my eyes, I could distinguish flashes of yellow and purple, as from the waving of battle flags.
"Say, look down there!" my companion ejaculated the next second, leaning over the edge of the void until I feared he would take a mile-long fall. "There's not one army! There's two!" ”

“ But, at the same time, it was the energy of Mulflar that proved to be the worst enemy of the people. Never had I seen more convincing proof of how the most beneficial inventions may be transformed into engines of destruction! For it was Mulflar that accounted for the deadliness of the warfare waged by the chalk-faces; it was Mulflar that had produced those lightnings which Clay and I had watched in such fascinated horror; it was Mulflar that had supplied the motive-power for the land-battleships; it was Mulflar that had blown those gigantic machines to tatters. ”

“ Who knew but that Loa and her father would find some way of setting aside the eugenics provision?
This brings me to my second great worry. Day by day I was growing more weary of the Underworld and of its network of galleries and chasms illuminated with the weird greenish-yellow light; day by day I was becoming more hungry for a sight of the open earth and its blue skies, its stars and its sunlight and the faces of my own people. ”

“ Desperately, like mountain climbers on a crumbling precipice, we strive to maintain our balance on the narrow floor of our prison. But we are as helpless as babes. We see the fissure widening, spreading out like the pitchy jaws of doom; we know that, in an instant, we will no longer have a foothold; then, at the moment of supreme horror, the light in Clay's flashlight flickers and goes out, and we are plunged into utter darkness.... ”

“ Luckily for me, he was hidden from the sight of the majority; while those close at hand could not see him clearly enough for recognition.
"Guards, place him in a cell!" I shouted, when the peals of mirth had begun to subside. "He is a dangerous madman! We will keep him locked up until—until Thuno Flâtum returns!"
As a corps of guards disappeared down a side-passage with the manacled Dictator and his attendants, the crowd burst once more into cheers, "Long live Luma! Long live Luma! Long live Luma the Illustrious!" ”

“ Well I knew the results if my one-man strike should fail; I would be seized as a traitor to the Ventilation Company and sentenced to the violet ray! And even if the strike were to succeed—would it be worth the cost? For my own part, I could provide against the air-stoppage by supplying my office through a small pipe specially connected with the main ventilating artery; but the millions of common people would have no such protection, and, if the strike were long protracted, many of them might be stifled. On what grounds could I justify such loss of life? ”

“ Judging from the ogling glances which Loa cast me, and the admiring light in her little salmon eyes, it was all too evident that she, magnanimous creature, was willing to forgive me for past rebuffs!
"How happy your success makes me, my dear boy!" enthused Tan Trum, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. "How very happy! A great burden has been removed from us all. You need no longer be debarred—er—debarred from lifelong bliss. Loa has been faithful to you, my boy!" ”

“ It is the purpose of Clay and myself to lead an expedition back to Wu and Zu, so that we may fathom their miraculous scientific secrets, many of which we have been unable to penetrate; and it is our hope that we may set forth at an early date, for we do not know how soon, in their renewed strife over Nullnull, the people of the Underworld may blow themselves out of existence, leaving no more than their blackened labyrinths and crumbling galleries to prove that they ever have lived. ”

“ While the guards started to drag me away once more, and my mind conjured up visions of suffocation by sulphur, I cried out in a last desperate plea.
"One minute, Your Excellency! Remember, if I die, you all die too! Without me, the air will remain off forever!"
"Without you, the air will remain off forever?" echoed Thuno Flâtum. "Then let it stay off! What do I care? Have I not my oxygen tanks?"
And derisively he pointed to the steel tanks connecting with his breathing tubes. ”

“ Straight toward us, from down the gallery, a swarm of Third Class citizens came flocking, thousands deep, wielding spears and ropes and clubs, while they hoarsely shouted.
"Down with Luma the Illustrious! Down with Luma! Grab the traitor! Tear him to bits! Gouge out his heart! Turn him over! Down with him! Down with him! Down with him!"
"Quick!" I whispered to Clay, and we slid across the avenue and into a smaller gallery which, a few yards farther on, gave access to the ventilating flue.
"Down with Luma! Down with Luma! Lynch the coward! Tear him to bits! Down with him! Down with him! ”

“ In a few minutes we had reached the end of the corridor, and, turning sharply, we found ourselves in a wider passageway penetrated by scores of cross-galleries and ending, about a hundred yards beyond, in a perfect blaze of greenish light.
"Lord in Heaven!" exclaimed the awe-stricken Clay, as we reached the new thoroughfare. "Are we dreaming?—or am I simply crazy?"
"Guess we're both crazy!" I muttered. And then, shielding my eyes from the glare and nerving myself for a supreme effort, I said, "Come on; let's find out what's what!"
"Might as well die exploring!" ”

“ On strike! On strike!"
"We want air!" one of them started the cry. And "We want air, we want air, we want air!" began to echo and reverberate throughout the whole great hall. And the guards, surging forward in an angry mass, lost all semblance of military order, but swung their pikes furiously in a chaos of rushing, pushing, scuffling, shouting forms.
For a moment, Thuno Flâtum was too thunderstricken for words. Then, as his attendants crowded about him protectively, I thought I heard his voice lifted during a momentary lull in the storm. ”

“ The Professor stroked his beard in indignation; the mouths of Loa, Moa, and Noa all gaped wide with horror.
"Killed? Killed, young man?" thundered Tan Trum. "Never use that word in connection with war! It is not permitted! It is illegal, unpatriotic! No one is ever killed in war! Millions are sent to the Blessed Caverns, or converted into deathless heroes, or become the Unknown Warriors! But no one is ever killed! That is forbidden by law!"
"Young man," remonstrated Tan Tal, "remarks like yours are enough to ruin military morale!" ”

“ Though I could not repress a shudder, I knew that I had no course except to be bold. "Punish me if you wish, Your Abysmal Excellency," I challenged, "but my followers cannot be disposed of so easily. Those you see here are as nothing to the hosts waiting to avenge me."
"What do I care for your followers?" snapped Thuno Flâtum. "You cannot cow me with threats! Men of my Class have ruled for a hundred generations, and there has never been a revolt!" ”

“ But it is not fair that any man, however willing, be harnessed too long with the yoke of state. After a time, his shoulders should be relieved of the burden, so that he may enjoy the pleasures of private life. It is for this reason, Your Abysmal Excellency—"
At this point, my speech was rudely halted. A blast of the Dictator's megaphone rang through the audience-chamber as shrilly as a cry for help. And Thuno Flâtum, straining forward with quivering form and face that turned all colors from white to purple, staggered out of his seat in his rage, shook his midget fist at me, and collapsed. ”

“ To my right rose a bare wall, and above me, at a height of three or four feet, stared a blank ceiling; while to the left, across an aisle little more than a yard wide, I beheld a sight that gave me the confused impression that I was back again in the Overworld, in a Pullman car. In neat rows of berths, arranged one above the other, three tiers high, dozens of men were reclining, one to each cot, all of them buried up to the neck beneath the sheets!
Where was I? In prison? In a ward for the insane? In a death-cell, awaiting execution by some new device more terrible than the violet ray? ”

“ It was Tan Tal, the charming wife of Tan Trum, who put the next question.
"Where you come from, is there only one country?—or is there more than one, so as to give you someone to fight with?"
"Oh, there are many countries!" I declared. "We have simply no end of lands to fight with!"
At this announcement, the three young daughters of the family tittered uncontrollably, with the most amused expressions on their milky, wrinkled countenances.
"Why, how funny!" laughed Loa.
"How confusing!" giggled Moa.
"How absurd!" roared Noa. "Then how do you know which one to fight first?" ”

“ Half-suppressed groans from the spectators, and from Thuno's attendants, showed that this bolt had struck home.
"How do I know you speak truth?" demanded the Dictator, with a furious blare of the megaphone.
"Test me, Your Abysmal Excellency. If you will agree to my terms, I will restore the ventilation at any moment you stipulate."
"You talk like a madman!" barked my opponent through his megaphone. And then, after a moment's hesitation, "Still, there can be no harm in hearing your offer. If you do not keep your promise, there will always be time for punishment. ”

“ The startled miners had the surprise of their lives when two strangers, still dressed fantastically in the pointed hats and black skirts of Wu, suddenly made their appearance; and it is not surprising that we were mistaken for madmen and that our story was greeted with derisive laughter.
But now that we have been restored to our homes and friends and are once more full of life and activity, I do not hesitate to make the facts public, so that the world may know of the unsuspected civilization inhabiting the chasms beneath the Nevada desert. ”

“ The wheel, located in an unfrequented side-gallery a few hundred yards from my office, now became the crux of a daring scheme. Suppose that I were to stage a private strike? Suppose that, on my own account, I should turn off the air-supply? Suppose that I were to deliver an ultimatum to the rulers, demanding some supreme prize for myself—yes, even demanding that I be made First Class, and be given an important post in the Government! More than that! Why should I not myself take control? Why not displace Thuno Flâtum? ”

“ Take me away! Thuno Flâtum, your master, will still breathe oxygen, while you will all smother!"
The effect of these words was electrical. One of the guards, releasing me with a hurried gesture, reached for his three-pointed helmet and flung it off, to reveal a gasping, perspiring individual close to the last stages of exhaustion.
"I'm through!" he groaned. "By the gray hairs of my ancestors, I'm through! For wakes and wakes I've been suffocating in this steel case! I'm not going to go without air altogether! Let some one else be turned over if they want! I'm going on strike!" ”

“ Clay opened his mouth to reply. But before he could utter a word, an event occurred that turned our thoughts to other subjects.
From the cavern walls opposite us, where the little round openings had not been blown away in the recent engagement, a shaft of red lightning leapt, striking not many yards below us with an ear-splitting din. And almost instantly another bolt shot out, and another, and another still, each of them coming nearer us than the last, while our ears rang with the heavy explosive uproar. That we were not killed instantly was due more to luck than to our swift action. ”