Part 6 (2/2)
While Mr. World was speaking these words he a.s.sisted Miss Church- Member into their strange vehicle and, when his last sentence was ended, they bade a hearty farewell to the two acquaintances and smoothly glided on, not tarrying to hear the words of commendation which each church-official was speaking simultaneously.
CHAPTER VI.
SATAN'S LAW DEPARTMENTS
(_Underground._)
1. An allegorical representation of Satan's underhanded methods in law and politics. All seen during a thrilling journey with Blackana through this underground regions (level below level) where the laws of h.e.l.l are hatched.
2. A realistic climax,--ultimate triumph of right in the civil realm.
I now saw two mountains so high that their shadows perpetually darkened the Broad Highway which covered the wide valley between them.
In this Shadowy Vale many held permanent residence, until the whole region swarmed with teeming millions of every tongue and tribe on the face of the globe.
At the base of the mountains, on each side of the way, there were numerous large openings through which imps of darkness were constantly pa.s.sing. Most of them were habited as angels of light.
”Tell me the mystery of those dismal openings,” I asked as I turned to Blackana. ”Words are inadequate to tell of the places to which they lead. To know aright one must see,” he answered with marked indifference.
For a moment I silently looked upon Blackana whose evasive answer had so greatly aroused my curiosity.
”Beyond those ominous portals I can discern nothing,” I murmured. ”How can I be privileged to see what is there hidden?”
”Come with me,” coldly invited Blackana, ”I will guide you to the nethermost realms now unseen by you. This I do not willingly, but I am thus commanded.”
Not wis.h.i.+ng to receive my orders from the mouth of a demon, I talked to my better Friend who bade me go and be a.s.sured that _a body-guard of ten thousand would ever be at my side, though I saw them not._
On wings, swifter than the wind, Blackana and I covered the intervening s.p.a.ce. We stood in the dark valley at one of the openings, now appearing ten-fold larger than before, and the mountains reared their imposing crests as if to an endless height.
”Follow me,” grimly spoke Blackana as he advanced through the monstrous arcade into the deepening darkness.
I remembered the ten thousand, and feared not as I followed. Downward and inward we went, with no light but a horrid glare casting its uncertain rays athwart our path.
”Is this the pa.s.sage-way to Destruction?” I cried, as I saw how spectral all things were, for more than a thousand grimy faces had already added their fitful glances to the glimmering scene.
”The pa.s.sage-way to h.e.l.l is not so smooth; we go to a better place,”
he answered, without so much as turning his head.
We finally stopped at a line of ma.s.sive elevators, ever in busy motion, carrying the throngs upward or downward.
As we paused, Blackana regarded me silently. I was then able, for the first time, to see his face clearly. No light reveals the countenance of a demon so well as the light of his own region.
I stood as if paralyzed under his awful eyes. Oh! thought I, can two orbs picture such infinite depth of remorse; such absence of tenderness; such barrenness of sympathy, far beyond the most care-worn look of earth? Then, pervading all these lineaments of despair were the positive characteristics of his nature--malice, envy, and hatred. These lent their repulsive fires to his eye, already overcharged with insidious gleamings. I suddenly thought of my ten thousand, and my fears subsided.
”It were better for you to remain a stranger to the greater depth and go no farther,” were the words that finally came from Blackana's scarcely moving lips.
”Fulfill your mission, Blackana! I fear not the deepest depth when I am thus equipped.”
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