CHAPTER V.
“Do you see that crimson ball in the distance?” asked the guide. “That is Jupiter, the planet whose Satellite Island we are now about to visit and I am sure you will admire its inhabitants very much.”
Such handsome people as these Jupitarians proved to be! Far beyond their greatest expectations. They were all tall and commanding in appearance, with features like chiselled marble so perfect were they in outline. With their classic brows, straight noses, and clear, luminous eyes they one and all looked like gods and goddesses. Their manners were dignified yet courteous in the extreme, and in a way they impressed one as being rather haughty and reserved.
When our young people landed on the islandthey found themselves in the middle of a great square on three sides of which were magnificent buildings dedicated to the arts and sciences, over the colossal doorways of which were symbolical mythological figures.
“It is an excellent idea to have them all here together facing the square with its fourth side opening into a beautiful park containing fountains and marble statues, also representing the gods and goddesses associated with the arts and sciences as well as those symbolical of the peaceful and just natures of this island’s inhabitants,” said Harold. “I imagine the building before us with the broad, sweeping stairway must be the Hall of Justice, for I see mythological figures in marble over the doorway illustrating Justice and Mercy.
“And the building on our right must be their Palace of Art for it is embellished with figures holding harps, flutes, horns, and various musical instruments.”
“Suppose we keep on our invisible robesuntil we have made a tour of all these wonderful buildings,” said Ione.
“And I suggest,” said the Princess, “that Ione and I go to the Palace of Art while you two boys go with Mercury, to listen to the debates in the Hall of Justice, for I am sure Ione and I will not care for the debates no matter how fine they may be.” To this the boys assented and all agreed to meet in two hours’ time at the fountain where they were now standing.
When the girls first entered the Palace of Art they had a surprise for they saw coming toward them three beautiful smiling women with hands outstretched to greet them. They involuntarily stepped back, when they remembered, all at once, that they were invisible, and on looking closer they found that the women were but wonderfully life-like paintings.
“Well!” exclaimed Ione, “I never had such a start in my life and even yet I can scarcely believe my eyes for there is no frame to mar the effect and the perspectiveis so perfect that you imagine they are living, moving people coming to welcome you to the Palace.”
“We must have the boys come here so we can fool them, too,” said the Princess. “I have heard of portraits being so perfect that they were called ‘living pictures,’ but these paintings surpass any ever seen on the Earth. Look! all around us are prancing horses, wild animals devouring their prey, and numberless pictures so realistic that I am actually afraid I shall be trampled upon or devoured. The babies, too, dimpled and smiling are so life-like they make one feel that they will roll off the canvas and get hurt in some way.”
The pictures proved so fascinating to the girls that they forgot how fast the time was passing until they heard steps behind them and, turning, saw that the boys had come to look for them.
“We have been waiting for you and thought perhaps you were lost,” said Harold.
“No, we did not get lost, but we were so absorbed with the paintings that we forgot all about time and our appointment with you, but we are so glad you came for us for we want you to meet three beautiful women who welcome all strangers who enter this building,” said Ione, winking at the Princess, for though they were invisible to the world at large, they could see each other at all times.
“But, perhaps you have seen them already,” said the Princess. “By which door did you enter?”
“We came through the passage-way that leads from the Hall of Justice,” said the Prince.
“Then you did not meet them, so come with us,” said the Princess. “But first drop your magic robes and approach them in your native costume.”
The girls led the boys around until they faced the picture and Ione was nearly suffocated with laughter when she saw Harold tip his hat and extend his hand to one of theladies while the Prince bowed almost to the ground. The Princess also laughed merrily at the astonished expression on the faces of the boys when they discovered their mistake.
Later on Mercury said, “Before you leave the island I want you to see the Palaces these people live in and the superb way in which they are furnished, to say nothing of the magnificent grounds that surround them.”
“You lead and we will gladly follow,” said the young people.
Talk of Aladdin’s Palace! It was a paperdoll’s house compared to these enchanting palaces built of snow-white marble and crystal. Think of it! One palace was built of emerald-colored, crystal-clear glass cut in prisms joined in dainty designs to represent flowers and leaves. Being cut in this manner, no one could look in to get a peep at the occupants; but the sunbeams found their way throughout, the rooms and corridors reflecting an exquisite golden-green light.This whole palace was held together by wide bands of purest gold, which took the place of our woodwork, while it was furnished throughout with the corresponding magnificence of its structure; for instance, one drawing-room was furnished in white velvet with jewel-set chair-frames of gold; another in rare satin and velvet, while for pictures, mirrors, and statuary, it had no equal on Earth or any of the other planets, for the Jupiter people love to a marked degree splendor and magnificence.
There were many of these rainbow palaces all different in design, for it is against the law for one to copy another in any way—from matters of dress to those of homes and furnishings, each must have an original design. In this way there is an opportunity for great display of taste and individuality and one can tell at a glance from the outside of a person’s home how rich the owner is in ideas, for the buildings and surroundings will reflect his nature and tastes.
At the summit of a hill they saw a palaceshining so brightly in the sunlight that it looked like the sun itself. It was built of yellow topaz. Another of sapphire surrounded by green foliage looked like a bluebell hid in the woods, and so on until one could not tell which he thought the most magnificent or desirable.
“Listen! I hear music!” exclaimed the Princess.
“What you hear,” said Mercury, “are the church bells that ring at sunrise and at sunset. Are they not the sweetest-toned chimes you ever listened to?”
“Indeed they are,” replied the Prince.
When the music of the bells had ceased, Mercury told them it was time to start for Saturn as it would take some time to reach it even with their magic robes, as it was out in space some seven hundred and eighty million of miles away from the sun and they were only part way there, Jupiter being but four hundred and twenty-six million miles distant from the sun.
“As we travel there, Harold will tell youwhat a surprise we have for you,” said the Prince.
“Oh, how nice, for if there is anything I enjoy it is a surprise,” said the Princess. “I hope it is a nice one, though,” she added.
“Of course it is, or we would not tell you,” said the Prince.
“Do let’s hurry and get off, then,” said Ione, “for I, too, am anxious to know what it is. I am simply dying with curiosity.”
“I never knew a girl to die so often and come to life so easily,” said Harold in a teasing voice.
“I suggest that we take hold of hands so that we can keep close together,” said Mercury, “if you people talk while we are travelling; otherwise, some one will lag behind and lose part of the story.”
His suggestion was followed and soon all found themselves floating smoothly and rapidly through space.
“Now for the surprise!” laughed Ione. “I can’t wait patiently any longer. I am not fond of waiting for things.”
“In the first place, who do you think lives on the island we are going to visit after we take a look at Saturn? Some one in whom you are interested?” queried Harold.
“Why, no one, you foolish boy,” said Ione. “Why do you stop to tease me when you know the Princess and I are all on tip toe to know your surprise?”
“But I am not teasing this time,” said Harold. “Guess just once.”
“Oh, I can’t,” said Ione.
“Your father and mother,” said the Princess, “or else Ione’s.”
“No, no relation to any of us, but a relative to some one we are all indebted to for most of the pleasant things that have ever happened to us.”
“I know! I know!” cried Ione. “Some one who is related to our wise man, the one who invented the Elephant.”
“You are right, Ione. That was a good guess.”
“Do tell us about him,” cried both girls at the same time.
“Well, it happened in this way. We were sitting in the gallery in the Hall of Justice when an old man got up to speak. He was enough like our old man to be a twin brother, (which he proved to be) and I cried out, ‘There is the wonderful old man who left me the Elephant!’ Mercury said that could not be as this old man had not left the island for a century as he could not get away, being at the head of the wise and learned men here and President of the Island.
“‘I can’t help it,’ I said. ‘If you don’t believe me just look at this picture I carry here in my watch and see if the man speaking is not its exact counterpart even to hair, eyes, and beard; besides, the voice is exactly the same.’
“Mercury looked and said, ‘The picture is certainly a perfect likeness of the man on the platform.’ Then he told me to sit still and when the session was over we would go and speak to him and find out if he were really the one who left the Elephant, or if he were a relative of the man.
“This we did and the old man met us very graciously and told us that he was a twin brother to our old man. ‘And a wonderful old fellow he is,’ continued the sage. ‘I never saw his equal in inventive genius. He originates things and then goes to the earth to try them. His hobby is electricity and finding out the secrets of nature, while mine is to bring peace and administer justice, as well as to promote the arts and sciences. I never go to the earth but remain here and plan, sending my deputies to carry out my ideas.’
“‘In speaking,’ said I, ‘you said is instead ofwas, do you mean to tell me that your brother and my wonderful old man is alive still?’
“‘Certainly, I do. You thought he was dead when he fell back on his pillow, but he had merely fainted and after a time when he recovered his senses he found himself, so he said, on a bed of spruce bows, shut in a cave. He knew immediately what had happened and that you had buried him, thinkinghim dead, so he lay still for a time until the coolness of the cave revived him, then having his wishing-robe with him, he wished himself back on his beloved planet Uranus, and there he is now, safe and well. If your travels take you that distance, to that most wonderful planet which all inventors love, you will find him there and I am sure he will be delighted to see you all.’
“Now, what do you think of that for a surprise?” asked Harold when he had finished his story.
“It certainly is a pleasant one,” said Ione, “and of course we will go to Uranus, no matter how far it is. I would not miss it for worlds, would you, Princess?”
“Neither would we,” cried the boys, “and we will go there as soon as we have seen Saturn. We may remain on Saturn for some time though, for they say it is different from the other planets and that there is more change and variety there than on the other planets.”
“How is that?” cried Ione.
“Well, you see it has different colored belts on its surface corresponding to our zones, and a luminous flat ring that surrounds or encircles it about where the equator does the earth, besides it has satellites that belong to it as the Moon belongs to your Earth,” said Mercury.
“Who knows but that different colored races of people live on those different belts?” said Harold.
“I say, let’s go and find out,” said the Prince.
“Agreed,” they all said and, wishing themselves on Saturn, our travelers found themselves on the island itself instead of its accompanying Satellite Island, for it seemed to hold out so many inducements in the way of its belted surface, rings, and seven satellites.