CHAPTER XV.THE CONSPIRATORS DISPERSED.
“It is only a woman!” exclaimed one man. “Finish the job, boys. She cannot prevent us. Finish your slaughter, boys; then we will triumph. Do not mind the voice of a woman. One of the makers of ‘Memory Fluid’ lies dead now, and the others will be laid in the grave at the same time, if they can be found.”
At that moment the entire crowd was surrounded by police and soldiers, and the voice of a general rang out: “Revolutionists, surrender or die!”
Still, curses, threats and shots from the disturbers of peace rang out. The soldiers were drawing nearer and on the point of rushing into the revolutionists, determined to quell the uprising with their noiseless guns and poisoned bayonets, when Helen Hinckley arose far above the heads of all, with Catalina by the hand, and cried: “Colonel, no blood must be shed. The principles of truth must not be established by bloodshed. People cannot be forced to see the inner life. It can only come through an awakening of self. Orthodoxism has been carried into every country with theswordin one hand, and thecrossin the other. No lasting good has resulted. A knowledge of things not seen by the eye cannot beforced on man. Come forward; the disturbers will give up their arms. Take them prisoners, and if they will be subjects, if they will take ‘Memory Fluid’ freely and without force, the evil in them will be overcome. They will remember and when they remember they willsee the things not seen by the eye.”
To the initiated the sight of Helen Hinckley and Catalina Martinet suspended in the air wholly without any visible support, in consequence of overcoming the law of gravitation, was the cause of much rejoicing. On the other hand, the great mass of people present whose knowledge of the great law of God was limited, or more often wanting, stood back in awe. Some of the revolutionists cried: “Save us, save us! The wrath of God is upon us. The end of the world is near.”
The captain of one of the regular companies stood near by, and seeing the effect of Helen Hinckley’s words and the sight of her and Catalina now moving slowly from one part of the crowd to another, suspended in space, concluded to take advantage of the occasion, and quietly and without bloodshed make prisoners of the worst of the leaders of the trouble. At the most opportune moment possible for him to be assisted in carrying out his intentions, Helen Hinckley cried: “Lay down your arms, you disturbers of law! Surrender before it is too late.” The soldiers rushed in and with very little trouble disarmed those who had uttered the revolutionary sentiments, those who were considered the most dangerous, and the leaders of the party.
With the assistance of the police, several hundredmen were marshalled away from the crowded street, some imprisoned and others put under strict surveillance, where they would be kept until peace was finally assured in the city, and the rebellion in general had been quelled.
While the throng was dispersing, Helen Hinckley and Catalina sought the wounded, and had them removed to the great hospital, while the dead were taken to the morgue to await identification and be prepared for burial.
Julio Murillo was discovered, when they were leaving to follow the wounded to the hospital, jammed up against a large stone, several bullet holes through him and one leg broken. A litter was soon at hand by Miss Hinckley’s order, and the great man of science was carried hurriedly to the Governor’s Mansion, where every attention known to science was given him.
Not for several hours after his leg had been set, the bullets removed and the poison counteracted by means of “Liquid from the Sun’s Rays,” did he return to consciousness.
Señor Guillermo Gonzales, assisted by Helen Hinckley, performed the entire operation, and sat quietly by his side discussing in subdued tones the present state of affairs. When he again had control of his mental faculties, he addressed himself first to Helen Hinckley.
“You saved me from many long days of suffering by discovering my condition when you did, and attending to my wounds so promptly. And I thank you very much.”
“I was out to do my duty, friend Julio; there is no occasion for thanks. Many believed that you had left us; but I was determined not to take any chances. It seemed impossible that you would pass away at the very moment your services are the most needed. Now that you are with us again, and I am assured of the fact, I will go to the hospital, where my hands may be needed to care for the wounded and dying.”
At that moment, Juan quietly entered the room, bringing a card which he handed to Señor Guillermo Gonzales.
He scanned the card closely and read: “‘William Jones, Physician and Surgeon,’ A very plain, inoffensive name. I will receive Doctor Jones; he may be able to render some assistance at the hospital. Show him up to the reception-room, Juan. Hold a minute,” he said, turning the card over; “here is a message written on the back.”
“Your Honor,” it began, “I wish to offer my professional services. Let me help care for the wounded and dying. Call me. I am your servant.”
“Those are noble sentiments. I will receive him immediately. Miss Hinckley, remain with friend Julio until I return,” concluded Guillermo Gonzales, as he arose to leave the room. Julio Murillo detained him by saying: “Doctor Jones has no doubt made this call partly to find out my condition. I will consider it a favor if you let him come to this room, and I insist that Miss Hinckley remain.”
“As you like, friend Julio. You know your condition better than anyone else. If you do not fear anyevil results from having this stranger present, Juan may show the visitor here, to this room,” concluded Guillermo Gonzales.
No sooner had Juan disappeared from the room, than a light tap was heard on the door. Helen Hinckley opened it quietly and his Honor stepped into the room.
He clasped her hand warmly, and said in tones only heard by herself: “My soul, my life, my preserver! I must speak to you alone.Whenand where? I want to know now.”
“When the interview at hand is over, I will take you to our retreat, found this morning. Hark! they are coming,” concluded Miss Hinckley, going slowly with the Governor to the bed on which lay the wounded scientist.
Señor Guillermo Gonzales greeted the Governor cordially, and explained the condition of Julio.
The Governor sympathized heartily with the sufferer, and assured him that the mere fact of his escape from death, or rather of his being wounded in the affray, would serve as proof of the real intentions of the rebels, and be a means of helping to bring the trouble to an early end.
“I have for the last two hours been closeted with the officers of war, and constantly in receipt of messages from Washington. The Government is determined to put down these small cliques of rebels. The condition of affairs in some of the States east of the Mississippi River is worse than in our own city. The President will arrive in the national capital to-morrow night, and a council of war will be held immediately. Instantlythe result will be made known to us. There is much, much to be talked about; but the condition of our friend Julio must be the first consideration. Ah! here comes some one. Who can be intruding on the wounded one?” concluded the Governor.
Señor Guillermo Gonzales handed him the card of the prospective visitor, and said: “A physician, who wishes to assist in caring for the wounded and dying. It is at the request of Julio that he comes here.”
At that moment the door opened at the order of Señor Guillermo Gonzales, and Juan ushered in William Jones, M. D., but not alone. He was accompanied by a much smaller and younger looking man, whom he introduced to Señor Guillermo Gonzales as “my secretary, Francis Maynard.”
William Jones, M. D., bowed very stiffly when presented to the Governor and Helen Hinckley, but was very profuse in his expressions of sympathy when he was presented to the wounded scientist.
“Ah, friend Julio, I could not resist coming to see you, after hearing of your terrible accident. Gentlemen, I recognize in this unfortunate man a friend of my youth. I beg of you to let me attend him. I have no business at present, and your duties are many.”
Questioning glances passed between Helen Hinckley, Guillermo Gonzales and the Governor. Even Juan felt that something was radically wrong, and as he looked from one to the other with a hopeful expression in his face, he turned away, and as his eyes fell upon the face of Doctor Jones, he shook his head, which confirmed all that his suspicions had been aroused, and heevidently believed Doctor Jones to be the suspicions person. The two strangers did not accept the chairs offered them, and all in the room remained standing.
Doctor Jones, seemingly unconscious of the suspicions his presence had aroused, continued: “If my medical skill avails anything, the son of Señora Suzzan Carriles, of Colima, shall not leave this existence until the great work he is trying to accomplish is a success. Until ‘Memory Fluid,’ and the wonderful results obtained by the use of it, are heralded from one end of the universe to the other. It is a great and noble cause for which you are working,—to see that justice is meted to all. ‘The Plunger from Kansas’ is not the only one to whom justice will be meted out. The ample proof at hand that he committed the great cattle theft in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and was then the cause of suffering and poverty of many whom fortune favored in the way of helping on retribution, by causing many whom he wronged, to live another life at the same time the Plunger lived, that this very thing for which you are working might come to pass. Gentlemen, let me congratulate you, one and all.” With that the enthusiastic doctor shook hands with the three scientists and Miss Hinckley. Everyone present except himself seemed to be very much constrained.
He rubbed his hands in evident satisfaction, and as he sat down by Julio’s bedside he continued: “You will do me a very great favor not to linger here any longer. Others need your services badly. It will give me much pain to leave the son of Señora Suzzan Carriles, ofColima. Sit down, Francis, sit down. I may need you. Gentlemen, consider yourselves at liberty to go now.”
Great astonishment was written on the faces of the Governor, Señor Guillermo Gonzales, Miss Hinckley and Juan. They were too much surprised at the audacity of Doctor Jones to speak. Even Francis Maynard showed great uneasiness as he took a seat near the chair of Doctor Jones.
Governor Lehumada offered Miss Hinckley his arm, and without a word they left the room, followed by Señor Guillermo Gonzales, who tarried a moment to give a few directions to Juan, and speak a moment with his coworker, Julio Murillo.
When the three were safely in the Governor’s private study, and the door securely locked, the Governor motioned all to be seated. Standing in front of them he laughed merrily, as he said: “It was well for my reputation that no stranger was present whenDoctor Jonesinvited us to leave our own apartments, and we quietly obeyed without any comments whatever.”
Both Señor Guillermo Gonzales and Helen Hinckley saw the humorous side of the occurrence and they joined the Governor in his laugh.
“The audacious señorita,” continued the Governor, “is irresponsible for her actions.”
Miss Hinckley and Señor Guillermo Gonzales exclaimed in a breath: “Señorita?”
“Certainly; Marriet Motuble. I do not believe it is possible for her to effect a disguise I could not penetrate.”
“Governor,” said Miss Hinckley, “you have confirmed my suspicions.”
“And mine,” added Guillermo Gonzales.
“The young fellow with her I cannot quite make out,” continued the Governor, with a puzzled look in his face.
“The fellow,” said Helen Hinckley, “is, I believe, ‘The Plunger from Kansas.’”
“Can it be possible?” exclaimed both the Governor and Guillermo Gonzales.
“Then we must not let him get away until we have his full confession in writing, and a check for the full amount of his obligations,” said the Governor.
“You are quite right, Miguey,” said the Governor’s scientific friend, and friend of his other life, “quite right. Possibly if we had been able to present to the public a month or so ago all the necessary proofs of what we claim for ‘Memory Fluid,’ the present trouble,—the uprising, I mean—might have been prevented. It is a horrible thing. Fifty persons now lie dead in the morgue.”
“It is a serious condition of affairs,” replied the Governor, “for the uninitiated, particularly, to be sent out of this existence during such an unfortunate affair, and without any insight whatever into the unseen. Think of the misery they will unknowingly cause the future generation. If it were not the law that each must see the things not seen by the eye, before they are fitted for the Realm on High, it would be fortunate for those who will come in contact with them if their reappearance here could be prevented.”
“I hope the poor creatures at the hospital who were wounded and are in agony with physical pain, will recover, that they may have a chance to know. If your Honor and Señor Guillermo Gonzales will pardon me, I will hurry to the hospital and tender my services,” concluded Helen Hinckley, as she arose to leave the room.
“One moment, one moment, Miss Hinckley,” said Governor Lehumada. “I will inquire how the wounded are, and if your services are needed.”
The Governor stepped into the chamber adjoining, built especially to condense thought waves, which were made audible by holding a small cone-shaped instrument to the ear which was connected at the smaller end by means of a fine wire to the thought-condensing board. In a few moments he returned to his study with a very much pleased expression on his face. He dropped into a chair, and throwing his handsome head far back and his arms out and forward in a suppliant manner, cried: “Great Cause, thou everlasting Ruler, the Promoter of Harmony, and the Distributor of Justice, I am happier this moment than at any other period of my existence to my recollection.”
Helen Hinckley and Guillermo Gonzales looked quietly on, but neither spoke.
After his exclamation was completed he looked at his friends smilingly, and continued: “Miss Hinckley, and friend Guillermo, this is a victorious day for us. I have this moment heard from the head physician at the hospital, William J. Matling. He says that only two of the fifty wounded will pass away. He further statesthat their blasphemous cries and threats against myself and my able coworkers which filled the air with horror for an hour or more, have subsided, and they are either in a state which resembles a trance, or are relating strange stories, and now and then one shouts: ‘I am happy. I know what it is to live. I see the things not seen by the eye and hear things not heard by the ear.’ He further says that a strange child, who declares she is his Honor’s Catalina, has been going from one ward to another, and to no one has she failed to talk a moment. He requested the head nurse to have the child taken away from the hospital; but every man protested, and he allowed her to remain.”
“Catalina, the blessed one,” said Miss Hinckley; “she is determined on doing her duty in this life.”
“The physician asked me to use my influence in removing the child from the hospital. He said he firmly believes she has bewitched the men, and when they come out from under her spell they will be beyond his control,” said the Governor.
“Doctor Matling is certainly one of the uninitiated. Catalina should give him a whiff of ‘Memory Fluid,’ and he would understand the spell he thinks she has cast over those men,” said Señor Guillermo Gonzales.
“I remember,” added Miss Hinckley. “She had a small basket on her arm this morning, in which were several dozen small vials. She said they were full of ‘Memory Fluid’ and she was going to give part of the contents to each of the most vicious of the disturbers of peace she could find.”
“The dear, blessed darling!” exclaimed the Governor,rising. “We discoverers of ‘Memory Fluid’ certainly owe that dear child an eternal debt of gratitude. Miss Hinckley, I wish you to remain here for a few days; your services are not needed at the hospital or on the street. You can render me and the cause for which we all are working, more direct good by staying here. The trial of the unfortunate creatures who attempted to rid this existence of my presence physically, I hope to have take place in the near future. The capture of the three instigators of this uprising is looked for at any moment. The condition of the revolt outside of the city is getting more serious.”
“And in the North and East, friend Miguey, does not the President report the condition alarming?” asked Guillermo Gonzales.
“He does,” replied the Governor. “And the main body of rebels comes from those who see the waning of dogmatic teachings, on the one side, and the increase of scientific investigations in the realm of spirit, on the other. One cannot be forced to see the hidden. The desire must be born within. And when the desire is given birth, it needs strict adherence to right, a continual reaching out for Truth, or little good is accomplished.”
“These priests and pastors and the fanatics who follow them are on the whole responsible for the condition at present; but, Miguey, the final is the great victory of the spirit; of the diffusion of knowledge of the law of the unseen,” said Guillermo Gonzales.
“The petition pending in the legislature of the United States,” said Helen Hinckley, “for a law to be passed tothe effect that all persons who claim to be ‘called’ to preach what they call the religion of ‘Jesus Christ,’ must either show that they have sufficient means to support themselves, independent of the church, or can procure employment in connection with their gospel teachings, that they may not be such a burden upon the community, as well as objects of especial charity upon their particular church, is a great move in the right direction. Also, that both priest and pastor be compelled to dress while on the street in ordinary business clothes; that the confessionals in the Catholic church be done away with, and that all the priests, bishops, cardinals and even the Pope, be granted the privilege of marrying; likewise, all the women belonging to the various orders of the church be granted the same privilege. This will be, in my opinion, the beginning of raising the standard of morals and the creating of a desire for spirit knowledge,” concluded Miss Hinckley.
“I believe you were the originator of that petition, were you not, Miguey?” asked Guillermo Gonzales, in a voice which showed the great pride he had in his friend the Governor.
“Yes, I framed the petition,” replied the Governor, “and I met with much opposition when I took it to Washington and presented it privately to several of the most unprejudiced senators and representatives.”
“Why were they opposed?” asked Miss Hinckley.
“They no doubt thought that such a law would interfere with the religious beliefs of the people, and hence be directly opposed to the Constitution of the United States of America. Am I not correct, Miguey?” asked Guillermo Gonzales.
“Quite true, quite true,” replied the Governor. “That was the first objection that was broached; but I soon convinced them that such a law would in nowise interfere with freedom of religious views. When I told them that none but Mexican blood had coursed through my veins since time out of mind, and how distinctly I recalled the practices of the priests in my other existences, in Mexico, how they used the confessional as a means to frighten the people into submission and extort money from them, and how they held themselves up as shining lights of purity and virtue, when those whose eyes were opened knew that their very thoughts were seething masses of immorality, they promised to investigate the truth of my statements before formally presenting the petition.”
“And they have done so!” exclaimed Helen Hinckley; “they have done so, and the President who gave it no ear at the start, is in favor of its becoming a law. The full account of it is in the great dailyChihuahuan.”
“Is that true?” exclaimed the Governor.
“It is, Miguey, and President Mortingo has, no doubt, reached his present state of thought since becoming a subject,” said Guillermo Gonzales.
“If the petition becomes a law,” said Helen Hinckley, “it will no doubt be attributed to the effect of ‘Memory Fluid’ upon the President and the knowledge your wonderful discovery is continually producing upon mankind. The discovery of ‘Memory Fluid’ is the wonder of this wonderful age of scientific investigations, particularly in the spirit realm,” concluded Miss Hinckley, as she glanced admiringly at the great Governor of Chihuahua.
“I thank you very much, Miss Hinckley, and so does my friend here,” said the Governor, going up to her and taking both of her hands in his; “but the truth is, Guillermo, Miss Hinckley’s modesty keeps her from letting even her most intimate friends know of her own great knowledge of Law. It was through her knowledge of Law that my life was spared only this morning.”
“Can it be possible!” exclaimed Guillermo Gonzales. “This is the first intimation I have had of your life being in danger.”
“Julio forbade anyone disturbing you while you were receiving the messages from President Mortingo,” said Helen Hinckley.
“The facts are as follows, friend Guillermo. A large crowd entered the mansion unknown to Juan or anyone else on watch, intent on taking my life. A few moments before they arrived, Miss Hinckley risked her life by coming here to warn me. And while she was telling me of the intentions of the rebels, the leader entered my room where we stood. Without a moment’s hesitation, Miss Hinckley whispered in my ear: ‘Come; we will escape,’ and following her instructions I stepped upon the railing around the small balcony at the south door of my apartments, and in an instant we were out of reach of the bandits, moving through space without a support, wholly and solely by means of her knowledge of Law.”
“I congratulate you, Miss Hinckley; you must become a member of the Royal Academy. Yours is a great discovery. A knowledge of how to overcome the law of gravitation has been sought for by the lettered and theunlettered, lo, these many years. How happy I am that you were destined to become the revealer!” exclaimed Guillermo Gonzales.
“I attribute the greatest part of my ability to see the law,” replied Helen Hinckley, “to the use I have made of your ‘Memory Fluid.’”