Читать книгу Munchausen XX - W. G. Worfel - Страница 8

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The finding of the Giant Brain; its message to me; my pursuit of the treasure it located for me; the breaking of the North Pole—all these are given in historic sequence as prefatory to the real adventures, which are given at length in their proper order later on.

AS I made directly toward the three trees the worshipers mechanically made way for me; but when I started up one of the trees there was a loud exclamation. The number of voices being so great the roll of the sound was like terrific thunder, and caused such a vibration of the trees that I should have lost my hold and fallen had it not been I had provided myself with suitable tree-climbers.

I looked down upon the crowd whose heads were up, and they bowed them with such rapidity and unanimity that when they struck the ground they produced a much more violent concussion and vibration than had their voices.

As it was now getting dusk I brought into requisition the belt which I had prepared. It was of glass and filled with gas, and by sending through it a current of electricity from my storage battery which I carried in my hip pocket there was produced instantly a bright light around my waist, which enabled me to see what I was doing.

One or two venturesome ones had probably observed the illumination and had communicated the fact to the entire assembly; for the awe with which they gazed upon me was so intense as to pin me tightly to the tree.

By a very simple device, which consisted in having three compartments of different colors—red, white, and blue—by changing the current from one to the other rapidly the effect produced upon my worshipers was such as to paralyze them, and they fell over like rags, thus releasing me from the pressure of their gaze.

I was then able to proceed to the top, and was soon within a great nest, such as my father had described. In the bottom thereof was a very black object, which, upon closer examination, had somewhat the appearance of a flattened egg—flattened longitudinally. Upon still closer examination, the resemblance to a human head of gigantic size became so striking as to lead me to believe the body of a man was beneath, the top of his head merely projecting, and what I had supposed was a nest was in reality a sort of head gear.

However, by placing my hand beside it, I found I could lift it quite readily, and there was no man under it or attached to it. Then I saw the similarity in appearance to a human brain with greater clearness. By shaking it I discovered no indication of any contents. It was also very hard to the touch, so much so I failed to make an indentation in it with anything I had at hand.

It was so large I could barely encompass it with both arms as I prepared to remove it to the ground. How I was to get down with it I could not for a moment imagine. As I stood upon the edge of the nest trying to decide the manner of my descent it slipped from my hands and fell with great force upon a rock.

When my audience beheld me with that thing in my arms they stood up with such precision of movement it seemed they were all fastened together and worked by one electrical button, and when it dropped those nearest ran backward with such force they were piled ten or fifteen deep before they could get very far.

I at once descended and grasped my prize which I examined minutely and discovered there were open seams in it just as there are in the skull of a man, and with very little difficulty I soon had the skull removed—for such it now proved to be, and I had laying in my lap what was in reality a mammoth brain.

Some peculiarity about it tempted me to examine it critically, which I did with the eye-piece of my telescope.

Judge of my surprise if you can when I beheld upon each prominence of this brain a picture of good size (thanks to my microscope) and I was deeply absorbed in studying them.

As I moved the glass about I seemed conscious of hearing something which I soon found to be but the undulations of light on the part of the brain I was then scrutinizing. I finally concluded that what I really heard were messages from that brain to somebody; but, if so, were in a tongue unknown to me, though I confess to being somewhat of a linguist. It certainly was a very dead tongue as it was a very dead brain.

On looking up I beheld before me one who was, as I afterward learned, the shiek of this tribe which surrounded me. I motioned to him to sit beside me, and, holding the glass where I had had it, indicated to him my desire that he should look through it.

He gazed so long and was so excited I began to fear he would absorb the whole thing, and, impelled by that fear, I exclaimed: “When!”

This startled him somewhat, for he jumped back in surprise.

After gazing at me for some moments in silence, he asked:

“Do you speak English?”

I told him I did and asked him to tell me what he saw or heard when he looked through the glass.

Thereupon he spoke as follows, which I reported in shorthand, verbatim et literatim, at one time having learned the art from Sir Isaac Pitman when he was a lad:

“O, thou of the sky, whose flight is swifter than that of the old eagle; whose movements are more graceful than those of the young fawn at day-break; whose actions are as noiseless as the kiss of the dew upon the tulip; whose voice is as sweet as the murmur of the rivulet; whose countenance is as glorious as the full-robed orb of night as she rises from her eastern couch; whose mind is as brilliant as the scintillations of the Milky Way;

“O, listen to the words of thy servant, who kneels before thee, who feels the honor a monarch bestows on his subject; whose right hand and whose left hand; whose right foot and whose left foot; whose right ear and whose left ear; whose right eye and whose left eye; whose right nostril and whose left nostril, shall be at thy service; whose mouth shall speak thy messages; whose mind shall think thy thoughts—thy servant of the Desert, We Ali.

“O, listen to the words he speaks unto thee; for they are not the words of his feeble tongue; they are not the pictures of his impotent thoughts.

“O, listen to his words.

“O, listen to the words that come to thee from the ages; that come to thee alone; that tell thee a secret no other man may know.

“O, listen to the words.

“O, listen to the words that came into the ear of thy servant, We Ali, through his eye as he gazed into this magic glass thy hand has produced.

“These are the words.

“O, listen.

“O, listen and learn: In the mountains of Siberia is a place; deep in the ground lies a treasure; a treasure rich beyond imagination; powerful beyond words; there lies a treasure and it is thine.

“O, listen: When thou approachest the place thou shalt know it by its fearful power; for it shall draw metals unto it with great vehemence.”

We Ali stopped. I meditated. He was repeating to me a message the owner of this brain had received, and he thought it a message to me.

By the aid of the Arabs I got my ship of state on the nest. Soon there came a great simoon from the north and I sailed away.

As I proceeded I found great difficulty in breathing, on account of the coldness of the air and the speed at which I was traveling. But I had prepared for this, having with me a coil of pipe, beneath which I lighted a spirit lamp; thereupon by breathing through this pipe I got along very well, as the air was warmed sufficiently by the lamp to make my respiration comfortable.

The needle of my compass was drawn downward; but, before I could stop my vehicle, I had reached the North Pole, against which I struck with such force as to shatter it, and bring myself precipitately to the ground, by which fall I should have been killed had it not been for thousands of polar bears that were huddled around the pole asleep and upon whom I fell. My aeroplane, however, was not damaged, because of its coat of steel.