some other planet – probably Mars' —
'My word, young gentleman, you've hit it!' cried the other, in very evident surprise.
'And,' continued Gerald, 'you made some mistake in arriving here, and very nearly came to awful grief.'
'Yes, yes! There, too, you guessed well,' returned the other. 'It was but a slight miscalculation, but it nearly smashed us up! It was a fearfully narrow escape!' He drew out a handkerchief and passed it over his forehead, as though the mere recollection made him hot. 'I expect that was Mr Armeath's guess too, wasn't it?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Ah well! there are certain other things, however, which you do not know – cannot know – which I will now explain. In the first place, you do not know that my master is a great king in Mars – a mighty ruler over nearly half the population of that globe. His name is Ivanta; he reigns over the empire of Ivenia – which, by-the-by, is the name of this airship, as you called it. He named her the Ivenia, after his own country.'
Gerald listened with growing wonder, and eyes that lighted up more and more as the stranger continued:
'Very well! The next thing is that this is not the first visit my master has paid to this Earth. He came here some years ago.'
At this Gerald stared harder than ever. 'Is it possible?' he exclaimed. 'I never heard of it!'
'Nobody – on the Earth – ever heard of it, save myself and one or two others who were all sworn to secrecy. My royal master came here for purposes of his own, and did not wish – and does not wish now – that his visits should be made known. If they were, he would have a lot of people pestering him with questions, and possibly some one might imitate his inventions and build airships like this one, and he might have explorers from here coming over to Mars – which he does not wish. Do you understand?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Very well! At his first visit he came to this very island, and made it his headquarters. It was uninhabited then' —
'Yes; so it was when we came to it. We have only been here a year or so.'
'I see. Well, my master hoped to find the place still uninhabited, and that he would be able to hide the Ivenia away here this time, as he did before, when no one upon the Earth was ever the wiser, save the one or two I have referred to. He had brought with him a yacht of his own. She made a bit of a stir, being unlike anything previously seen, but no one suspected the truth. In her he made a tour of the world, travelling about for three years, during which time he and his chosen companions picked up English, a little French, and so on. They also picked me up, and I also saved the king's life, even as you have done, though in a different manner. He was so grateful for what I did that he told me his secret, and offered to enrol me in his service and take me back to Mars with him. I had nothing particular to tie me here, and I am fond of adventure, so I took him at his royal word. Now you can begin to understand how it is that I, an Englishman by birth, Kendal Monck by name, engineer by profession, happen to be here, in these days, in the suite of this great king from another planet, and talking to you in your own tongue!'
'Yes, sir, I understand,' answered Gerald, his face aglow with interest and excitement. 'It's very, very wonderful! What strange, marvellous scenes and adventures you must have passed through!'
'I have that, my lad! I have passed through many grave dangers too; have had many hair-breadth escapes in the service of my royal master, who is of a very adventurous disposition. His search after knowledge has led us into queer places, I can assure you. But he is a wonderful being! This marvellous airship was constructed from his own inventions and designs. And then, as a man – Ah!' Here the stranger drew a long breath. 'His is a character which makes you feel you would go through fire and water for him!'
'I 'm sure of it!' cried Gerald with enthusiasm. 'I felt it the first moment I set eyes upon him! How I should like to do as you have done – go with him to Mars and back! What an experience!'
'Ah!' exclaimed the engineer again, 'it would do you good, my lad. It would do anybody – everybody – good, physically, morally, in every way. It gives you a different, a more glorious, outlook on life when you realise that the mighty works of the Creator are not confined to this globe on which we live, but extend through endless "universes" in space. Even comparatively near us there are great planets compared with which this Earth is scarcely more than a big football. There is Saturn, for instance. When we were there' —
'You have visited other planets, then, as well?' Gerald gasped.
Monck nodded. 'Yes, even great Jupiter, but we could not get very near to him. Saturn, however, we landed on, and spent some weeks there – awful, terrible weeks they were. My young friend, even to think of the things to be seen there is almost too much for the ordinary human brain. But, as I have said, it does one good. It instils into the mind some faint conception of the vastness, the greatness, the endless variety to be everywhere found in what we call the creation!'
'Would that your king would make me the offer he made to you!' cried Gerald, with glistening eyes.
'Perhaps he will. What if he has?' was the unexpected reply.
Gerald started up from the chair he had been sitting on. 'You cannot mean it!' he exclaimed.
'What would be your reply if he made you the offer?'
'I would accept only too gladly!'
'You see,' Monck explained, 'the service you rendered is one that a man like my master would never forget. I dare say you wonder how it happened that he fell into the sea. It was because the air here is so different from that which he is used to upon Mars, and which we all had been living in inside this airship. At his first visit to the Earth, years ago, he was extremely careful, and made the change gradually and cautiously. This time he seems to have been rash, or to have forgotten. Hence the air here – which is thinner and lighter than that on Mars – served him as the air on the top of a very high mountain would serve you if you were suddenly transported there. He was attacked with what you have doubtless heard of as mountain-sickness. There is vertigo, bleeding at the nose and ears, and fainting. However, his danger was your opportunity; and I must say you acted very promptly and pluckily.'
'I only did what I would have done for any one,' said Gerald modestly.
'I am sure of that, my boy. But I won't keep you in suspense any longer. To come to the point, my master said I could make you the offer I have hinted at if I found you were likely to regard it with favour. I do not want your answer now, of course. You can take time to consider – there are lots of things we can talk over first. Briefly, however, when we go back to Mars we shall only be away a few months. At the end of that time we shall return here again; and if you are then tired of the adventure you will be free to leave his service and remain here.'
'I do not need any time to make up my mind,' Gerald burst out impetuously. 'All I should hesitate about would be as to whether my guardian' —
'Well, we can talk to him.'
'And Jack!'
'Who is Jack?'
'My chum! He must come too!'
'Oh – h'm! I don't know what to say about that! You had better ask King Ivanta yourself when you see him!'
'I will!' cried Gerald. And he did, with what result will presently appear.
CHAPTER VII
OFF ON A TRIP TO MARS
'Our last morning upon the Earth, Jack, for many a day to come! Think of it! It scarcely seems possible, does it?'
'It's true enough, though, old chap! In a few hours we shall "sail away," as the song says, and shall be winging our way through space!'
'Fancy gazing down and taking our last look at our own globe! The daring of the thing gives me a bit of a shock, now that the event itself is so near at hand! How is it with you?'
'Well, I confess, Gerald, that I have to brace my mind up to it, as it were. But it's always the same when you start upon a journey or a new adventure. One never exactly likes saying good-bye to the old familiar places.'
Many months