Part 50 (1/2)
”Quite so, Bickley But all she actually said was that she was of the sae as one of our women of twenty-seven, which may havethat aside you will admit that they had both slept for two hundred and fifty thousand years”
”I admit that they slept, Bastin, because I helped to awaken the to show, except those star maps which are probably quite inaccurate”
”They are not inaccurate,” I broke in, ”for I have had the astronoe of the heavens as these were two hundred and fifty thousand years ago, and are today”
Here I should state that those two ain after the catastrophe, were absolutely the only things connected with her or with Oro that we brought aith us
The for their value as evidence
Therefore, e descended to the city Nyo and the depths beneath, I took them with me wrapped in cloth inelse hen the Rock of Offerings and the cave mouth sank beneath the waters of the lake
This may have happened either in the earth tremor, which no doubt was caused by the advance of the terrific world-balance, or when the electric power, though diffused and turned by Yva's insulated body, struck the great gyroscope's travelling foot with sufficient strength, not to shi+ft it indeed on to the right-hand path as Oro had designed, but still to cause it to stagger and even perhaps to halt for the fraction of a second Even this pause h to cause convulsions of the earth above; indeed, I gathered from Marama and other Orofenans that such convulsions had occurred on and around the island at whatof the force
This loss of our belongings in the house of the Rock of Offerings was the raphs which I had taken, including portraits of Oro and one of Yva that was really excellent, to say nothing of pictures of the mouth of the cave and of the ruins and crater lake above How bitterly I regret that I did not keep these photographs in my pocket with the map-plates
”Even if the star-,” said Bickley, ”since possibly Oro's astronoht have enabled hih I allow this is i so much trouble e even to check them,” I said ”But all thisthey had slept, thatdeath They did dwell in those marvelous caves with their evidences of departed civilisations, and they did show us that fearful, world-wandering gyroscope These things ”
”I admit thatthem, Arbuthnot, and I admit that they are one and all beyond human comprehension To that extent I am converted, and, I ht to be,” exclai that you always swore that there was nothing in the world that is not capable of a perfectly natural explanation”
”Of which all these things may be capable, Bastin, if only we held the key”
”Very well, Bickley, but how do you explain what the Lady Yva did? I may tell you nohat she commanded me to conceal at the time, namely, that she became a Christian; so much so that by her oill, I baptised and confir of her sacrifice Doubtless it was this that changed her heart so e, to leave everything she cared for,” here he looked hard at me, ”and lay down her life to save the world, half of which she believed was about to be drowned by Oro Now, considering her history and upbringing, I call this a spiritual reater than any you now admit, and one you can't explain, Bickley”
”No, I cannot explain, or, at any rate, I will not try,” he answered, also staring hard at me ”Whatever she believed, or did not believe, and whatever would or would not have happened, she was a great and wonderful woman whose memory I worshi+p”
”Quite so, Bickley, and now perhaps you see my point, that what you describe as mere vain words may also be helpful to ical instruments and pills”
”You couldn't convert Oro, anyway,” exclaimed Bickley, with irritation
”No, Bickley; but then I have always understood that the devil is beyond conversion because he is beyond repentance You see, I think that if that old scoundrel was not the devil hiht, I am not ashamed to have failed in his case”
”Even Oro was not utterly bad, Bastin,” I said, reflecting on certain traits of mercy that he had shown, or that I dreaht journeys to various parts of the earth Also I remembered that he had loved Tommy and for his sake had spared our lives Lastly, I do not altogether wonder that he came to certain hasty conclusions as to the value of our lad to hear it, Humphrey, since while there is a spark left the whole fire ain, and I believe that to the Divineroad to travel before he finds it And now I have soed to leave those Orofenans wandering in a kind of religious twilight”
”You couldn't help that,” said Bickley, ”seeing that if you had stopped, by now you would have been wandering in religious light”
”Still, I aht not to have stopped I seem to have deserted a field that was open to me However, it can't be helped, since it is certain that we could never find that island again, even if Oro has not sunk it beneath the sea, as he is quite capable of doing, to cover his tracks, so to speak So I mean to do my best in another field by way of atone to become a missionary?” I said
”No, but with the consent of the Bishop, who, I think, believes that ot on better in the parish than I do, as no doubt was the case, I, too, have volunteered for the Front, and been accepted as a chaplain of the 201st Division”
”Why, that's lad, since noe shall be able to pursue our pleasant arguments and to do our best to open each other's minds”