Part 48 (1/2)
For a fraction of tiel, wrapped in fire
Then she ept outwards and upwards and at a little distance dissolved like a ghost and vanished froone! The sacrifice was consummated!
And not in vain! Not in vain! On her poor breast she had received the full blast of that hellish lightning flash Yet whilst destroying, it turned away fro the free paths of the air So it cath struck the foot of the travelling gyroscope, diffused and did not suffice to thrust it that one necessary inch on which depended the fate of half the world, or ether, passed away on either side Even so the huge, glea mountain rocked and trembled Once, twice, thrice, it bowed itself towards us as though in reatness passed away For a second, too, its course was checked, and at the check the earth quaked and trelobes of fire went out, while I was thrown to the ground
When they returned again, the fla majestically upon its way and down the accustomed left-hand path!
Indeed the sacrifice was not in vain The world shook--but Yva had saved the world!
Chapter XXVI Tommy
I lay still a while, on my back as I had fallen, and beneath the shi+eld-like defence which Yva had given to , metalised stuff of which it was h Doubtless the stored-up electricity or earth netism, or whatever itdiffused by the resistance hich it was e, and had it not been for the shi+eld and cloak, I also should have been burned up I wished, oh! hoished that it had been so Then, by now all must have finished and I should have known the truth as to what awaits us beyond the change: sleep, or dreams, or perchance the fullest life Also I should not have learned alone
Lying there thus, idly, as though in a half-sleep, I felt To reat world-balance as it retreated on its eternal journey
At one ti rim had overshadowed us and alainst which we leant I re arch a thousand feet or so above our heads onderful It reminded me of a canopy of blackest thunder clouds supported upon a fra rainbohile beneath it all the children of the devil shouted together in joy I noted this effect only a few seconds before Yva spoke to me and leapt into the path of the flash
Noever, it was far away, a radually s faint As I have said, I watched its disappearance idly, reflecting that I should never look upon its like again; also that it was so forth to see Then I beca din had decreased sufficiently to enable me to hear hu Bickley--like round
”Her translation, as you htened, was really very remarkable No doubt it will have reminded you, as it did me, of that of Elijah She had exactly the appearance of a person going up to Heaven in a vehicle of fire The destination was certainly the same, and even the cloak she wore added a familiar touch and increased the similarity”
”At any rate it did not fall upon you,” answered Bickley with soled awe and exasperation ”For goodness'
sake! Bastin, stop your Biblical parallels and let us adore, yes, let us adore the divinest creature that the earth has borne!”
Never have I loved Bickley more than when I heard hie term, Bickley, and one to which I hesitate to subscribe, re as I do certain of the prophets and the Early Fathers with all their faults, not of course to mention the Apostles
But--” here he paused, for suddenly all three of us becaround by the strength of the prisoned forces which he gathered and loosed upon their unholy errand, but, as I rejoiced to observe, had suffered from the to the fact that he had sprung forward in a last wild effort to save his daughter, or to prevent her fro with his experiht cheek was ht arnificent beard was half burnt off hi from severe shock, for he rocked upon his feet and shook like an aspen leaf All this, however, did not interfere with the liveliness of his grief and rage
There he stood, a towering shape, like a lightning-smitten statue, and cursed us, especially Bastin
”My daughter has gone!” he cried, ”burned up by the fiery power that isre You poisoned her heart with your childish doctrines of mercy and sacrifice, and the rest, so that she threw herself into the path of the flash to save some miserable races that she had never even known”
He paused exhausted, whereon Bastin answered hione where you will never follow her Also it is your own fault since you should have listened to her entreaties instead of boxing her ears like the brute you are”
”My daughter is gone,” went on Oro, recovering his strength, ”and ns are ruined Yet only for a while,” he added, ”for the world-balance will return again, if not till long after your life-spans are done”
”If you don't doctor yourself, Lord Oro,” said Bickley, also rising, ”I s, that most likely it will be after your life-span is done also Although their effect may be delayed, severe shocks froed”
Oro snarled at him; no other word describes it