Latest / The H. G. Wells Library / The Country of the Blind and Other Stories - The Crystal Egg

Transcript

The Country of the Blind and Other Stories - The Crystal Egg · The H. G. Wells Library

0:00
Speaker 1: Section nineteen of the Country of the Blind and Other
0:04
Speaker 1: Stories by H. G. Wells. This LibriVox recording is in
0:08
Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Peter Yearsley. The Crystal Egg.
0:14
Speaker 1: There was until a year ago a little and very
0:17
Speaker 1: grimy looking shop near seven dials, over which, in weather
0:22
Speaker 1: worn yellow lettering, the name of Sea Cave Naturalist and
0:26
Speaker 1: dealer in antiquities was inscribed. The contents of its window
0:30
Speaker 1: were curiously variegated. They comprised some elephant tusks and an
0:36
Speaker 1: imperfect set of chessmen, beads and weapons, a box of eyes,
0:41
Speaker 1: two skulls of tigers and one human, several moth eaten
0:46
Speaker 1: stuffed monkeys, one holding a lamp, an old fashioned cabinet,
0:50
Speaker 1: a fly blown ostrich egg or so, some fishing tackle,
0:54
Speaker 1: and an extraordinarily dirty empty glass fish tank. There was also,
0:59
Speaker 1: at the moment the story begins, a mass of crystal
1:03
Speaker 1: worked into the shape of an egg and brilliantly polished.
1:06
Speaker 1: And at that two people who stood outside the window
1:10
Speaker 1: were looking, one of them a tall, thin clergyman, the
1:14
Speaker 1: other a black bearded young man of dusky complexion and
1:18
Speaker 1: unobtrusive costume. The dusky young man spoke with eager gesticulation,
1:23
Speaker 1: and seemed anxious for his companion to purchase the article.
1:27
Speaker 1: While they were there, mister Cave came into his shop,
1:31
Speaker 1: his beard still wagging with the bread and butter of
1:33
Speaker 1: his tea. When he saw these men and the object
1:36
Speaker 1: of their regard, his countenance fell. He glanced guiltily over
1:40
Speaker 1: his shoulder and softly shut the door. He was a
1:44
Speaker 1: little old man, with pale face and peculiar watery blue eyes.
1:49
Speaker 1: His hair was a dirty gray, and he wore a
1:52
Speaker 1: shabby blue frock coat, an ancient silk hat, and carpet slippers.
1:57
Speaker 1: Very much down at heel, he remained and watching the
2:01
Speaker 1: two men as they talked. The clergyman went deep into
2:04
Speaker 1: his trouser pocket, examined a handful of money, and showed
2:08
Speaker 1: his teeth in an agreeable smile. Mister Cave seemed still
2:13
Speaker 1: more depressed. When they came into the shop. The clergyman,
2:18
Speaker 1: without any ceremony, asked the price of the crystal egg.
2:21
Speaker 1: Mister Cave glanced nervously towards the door leading into the
2:25
Speaker 1: parlor and said five pounds. The clergyman protested that the
2:30
Speaker 1: price was high to his companion, as well as the
2:33
Speaker 1: mister Cave. It was indeed very much more than mister
2:37
Speaker 1: Cave had intended to ask when he had stopped the article,
2:41
Speaker 1: and an attempt at bargaining ensued. Mister Cave stepped to
2:45
Speaker 1: the shop door and held it open. Five pounds is
2:49
Speaker 1: my price, he said, as though he wished to save
2:52
Speaker 1: himself the trouble of unprofitable discussion. As he did so,
2:56
Speaker 1: the upper portion of a woman's face appeared above the
2:59
Speaker 1: blank and in the glass upper panel of the door
3:02
Speaker 1: leading into the parlor, and stared curiously at the two customers.
3:07
Speaker 1: Five pounds is my price, said mister Cave, with a
3:12
Speaker 1: quiver in his voice. The swarthy young man had so
3:16
Speaker 1: far remained a spectator, watching Cave keenly. Now he spoke.
3:21
Speaker 1: Give him five pounds, he said. The clergyman glanced at
3:25
Speaker 1: him to see if he were in earnest, and when
3:27
Speaker 1: he looked at mister Cave again, he saw that the
3:30
Speaker 1: latter's face was white. It's a lot of money, said
3:34
Speaker 1: the clergyman, and diving into his pocket, began counting his resources.
3:39
Speaker 1: He had little more than thirty shillings, and he appealed
3:42
Speaker 1: to his companion, with whom he seemed to be on
3:45
Speaker 1: terms of considerable intimacy. This gave mister Cave an opportunity
3:50
Speaker 1: of collecting his thoughts, and he began to explain in
3:53
Speaker 1: an agitated manner that the crystal was not, as a
3:57
Speaker 1: matter of fact, entirely free. For so his two customers
4:02
Speaker 1: were naturally surprised at this, and inquired why he had
4:05
Speaker 1: not thought of that before he began to bargain. Mister
4:09
Speaker 1: Cave became confused, but he stuck to his story that
4:12
Speaker 1: the crystal was not in the market that afternoon, that
4:16
Speaker 1: a probable purchaser of it had already appeared. The two,
4:20
Speaker 1: treating this as an attempt to raise the price, still
4:23
Speaker 1: further made as if they would leave the shop. But
4:27
Speaker 1: at this point the parlor door opened and the owner
4:30
Speaker 1: of the Dark Fringe and the Little Eyes appeared. She
4:33
Speaker 1: was a coarse featured, corpulent woman, younger and very much
4:38
Speaker 1: larger than mister Cave. She walked heavily and her face
4:41
Speaker 1: was flushed. That crystal is for sale, she said, and
4:46
Speaker 1: five pounds is a good enough price for it. I
4:49
Speaker 1: can't think what you're about. Cave not to take the
4:51
Speaker 1: gentleman's offer. Mister Cave greatly perturbed by the eruption, looked
4:57
Speaker 1: angrily at her over the rims of his spectacles, and
5:00
Speaker 1: without excessive assurance, asserted his right to manage his business
5:05
Speaker 1: in his own way. An altercation began. The two customers
5:09
Speaker 1: watched the scene with interest and some amusement, occasionally assisting
5:13
Speaker 1: missus Cave with suggestions. Mister Cave, hard driven, persisted in
5:18
Speaker 1: a confused and impossible story of an inquiry for the
5:22
Speaker 1: crystal that morning, and his agitation became painful, but he
5:27
Speaker 1: stuck to his point with extraordinary persistence. It was the
5:31
Speaker 1: young Oriental who ended this curious controversy. He proposed that
5:36
Speaker 1: they should call again in the course of two days,
5:39
Speaker 1: so as to give the alleged inquirer a fair chance.
5:42
Speaker 1: And then we must insist, said the clergyman, five pounds.
5:47
Speaker 1: Missus Cave took it on herself to apologize for her husband,
5:51
Speaker 1: explaining that he was sometimes a little odd, and as
5:54
Speaker 1: the two customers left, the couple prepared for a free
5:58
Speaker 1: discussion of the incident in all its bearings. Missus Cave
6:02
Speaker 1: talked to her husband with singular directness. The poor little man,
6:07
Speaker 1: quivering with emotion, muddled himself between his stories maintaining on
6:12
Speaker 1: the one hand that he had another customer in view,
6:15
Speaker 1: and on the other asserting that the crystal was honestly
6:18
Speaker 1: worth ten guineas. Why did you ask five pounds, said
6:23
Speaker 1: his wife. Do let me manage my business my own way,
6:27
Speaker 1: said mister Cave. Mister Cave had living with him a
6:31
Speaker 1: step daughter and a step son, and at supper that
6:34
Speaker 1: night the transaction was rediscussed. None of them had a
6:38
Speaker 1: high opinion of mister Cave's business methods, and this action
6:43
Speaker 1: seemed a culminating folly. It's my opinion he's refused that
6:47
Speaker 1: cristel before, said the step son, a loose limbed lout
6:51
Speaker 1: of eighteen. But five pounds, said the step daughter, an
6:56
Speaker 1: argumentative young woman of six and twenty. Mister Cave's answers
7:01
Speaker 1: were wretched. He could only mumble weak assertions that he
7:05
Speaker 1: knew his own business best. They drove him from his
7:09
Speaker 1: half eaten supper into the shop to close it for
7:12
Speaker 1: the night. His ears aflame and tears of vexation behind
7:17
Speaker 1: his spectacles. Why had he left the crystal in the
7:20
Speaker 1: window so long? The folly of it? That was the
7:24
Speaker 1: trouble closest in his mind. For a time he could
7:27
Speaker 1: see no way of evading sail. After supper, his step
7:32
Speaker 1: daughter and step son smartened themselves up and went out,
7:36
Speaker 1: and his wife retired upstairs to reflect upon the business
7:40
Speaker 1: aspects of the crystal over a little sugar and lemon
7:44
Speaker 1: and so forth in hot water. Mister Cave went into
7:48
Speaker 1: the shop and stayed there until late, ostensibly to make
7:52
Speaker 1: ornamental rockeries for goldfish cases, but really for a private
7:56
Speaker 1: purpose that will be better explained later. The next day,
8:01
Speaker 1: missus Cave found that the crystal had been removed from
8:05
Speaker 1: the window and was lying behind some second hand books
8:08
Speaker 1: on angling. She replaced it in a conspicuous position, but
8:13
Speaker 1: she did not argue further about it, as a nervous
8:16
Speaker 1: headache disinclined her from debate. Mister Cave was always disinclined.
8:23
Speaker 1: The day passed disagreeably. Mister Cave was, if anything, more
8:28
Speaker 1: absent minded than usual and uncommonly irritable withal. In the afternoon,
8:34
Speaker 1: when his wife was taking her customary sleep, he removed
8:38
Speaker 1: the crystal from the window again. The next day, mister
8:42
Speaker 1: Cave had to deliver a consignment of dogfish at one
8:45
Speaker 1: of the hospital schools, where they were needed for dissection.
8:49
Speaker 1: In his absence, missus Cave's mind reverted to the topic
8:53
Speaker 1: of the crystal and the methods of expenditure suitable to
8:56
Speaker 1: a windfall of five pounds. She had already devised some
9:01
Speaker 1: very agreeable expedients, among others, a dress of green silk
9:05
Speaker 1: for herself and a trip to Richmond, when a jangling
9:09
Speaker 1: of the front door bell summoned her into the shop.
9:12
Speaker 1: The customer was an examination coach who came to complain
9:15
Speaker 1: of the non delivery of certain frogs asked for the
9:19
Speaker 1: previous day. Missus Cave did not approve of this particular
9:23
Speaker 1: branch of mister Cave's business, and the gentleman who had
9:28
Speaker 1: called in a somewhat aggressive mood, retired after a brief
9:31
Speaker 1: exchange of words entirely civil so far as he was concerned.
9:36
Speaker 1: Missus Cave's eye then naturally turned to the window, for
9:40
Speaker 1: the sight of the crystal was an assurance of the
9:42
Speaker 1: five pounds and of her dreams. What was her surprise
9:47
Speaker 1: to find it gone? She went to the place behind
9:50
Speaker 1: the locker on the counter where she had discovered it
9:52
Speaker 1: the day before. It was not there, and she immediately
9:56
Speaker 1: began an eager search about the shop. When mister Cave
10:00
Speaker 1: returned from his business with the dogfish about a quarter
10:03
Speaker 1: to two in the afternoon, he found the shop in
10:06
Speaker 1: some confusion, and his wife extremely exasperated and on her
10:11
Speaker 1: knees behind the counter, rooting among his taxidermic material. Her
10:16
Speaker 1: face came up hot and angry over the counter as
10:19
Speaker 1: the jangling bell announced his return, and she forthwith accused
10:23
Speaker 1: him of hiding it. Hid what, asked mister Cave the crystal?
10:28
Speaker 1: At that mister Cave, apparently much surprised, rushed to the window.
10:33
Speaker 1: Isn't it here? He said, Great heavens, what has become
10:36
Speaker 1: of it? Just then mister Cave's step son re entered
10:40
Speaker 1: the shop from the inner room. He had come home
10:43
Speaker 1: a minute or so before mister Cave, and he was
10:46
Speaker 1: blaspheming freely. He was apprenticed to a second hand furniture
10:50
Speaker 1: dealer down the road, but he had his meals at home,
10:54
Speaker 1: and he was naturally annoyed to find no dinner ready.
10:58
Speaker 1: But when he heard of the loss the crystal, he
11:01
Speaker 1: forgot his meal, and his anger was diverted from his
11:04
Speaker 1: mother to his stepfather. Their first idea, of course, was
11:07
Speaker 1: that he had hidden it, but mister Cave stoutly denied
11:11
Speaker 1: all knowledge of its fate, freely offering his be dabbled
11:15
Speaker 1: affidavit in the matter, and at last was worked up
11:18
Speaker 1: to the point of accusing first his wife and then
11:22
Speaker 1: his step son of having taken it with a view
11:25
Speaker 1: to a private sale. So began an exceedingly acrimonious and
11:30
Speaker 1: emotional discussion, which ended for missus Cave in a peculiar
11:34
Speaker 1: nervous condition midway between hysterics and amuck, and caused the
11:40
Speaker 1: step son to be half an hour late at the
11:42
Speaker 1: furniture establishment in the afternoon. Mister Cave took refuge from
11:46
Speaker 1: his wife's emotions in the shop. In the evening, the
11:51
Speaker 1: matter was resumed with less passion and in a judicial spirit,
11:56
Speaker 1: under the presidency of the step daughter. The supper passed
12:00
Speaker 1: unhappily and culminated in a painful scene. Mister Cave gave
12:06
Speaker 1: way at last to extreme exasperation and went out, banging
12:10
Speaker 1: the front door violently. The rest of the family, having
12:14
Speaker 1: discussed him, with the freedom his absence warranted, hunted the
12:19
Speaker 1: house from garret to cellar, hoping to light upon the crystal.
12:24
Speaker 1: The next day, the two customers called again they were
12:27
Speaker 1: received by Missus Cave almost in tears. It transpired that
12:33
Speaker 1: no one could imagine all that she had stood from
12:36
Speaker 1: Cave at various times in her married pilgrimage. She also
12:41
Speaker 1: gave a garbled account of the disappearance. The clergyman and
12:46
Speaker 1: the Oriental laughed silently at one another and said it
12:49
Speaker 1: was very extraordinary, as Missus Cave seemed disposed to give
12:54
Speaker 1: them the complete history of her life. They made to
12:58
Speaker 1: leave the shop. Thereupon, Missus Cave, still clinging to hope,
13:03
Speaker 1: asked for the clergyman's address, so that if she could
13:06
Speaker 1: get anything out of Cave, she might communicate it. The
13:10
Speaker 1: address was duly given, but apparently was afterwards mislaid. Missus
13:15
Speaker 1: Cave can remember nothing about it. In the evening of
13:19
Speaker 1: that day, the Caves seemed to have exhausted their emotions,
13:23
Speaker 1: and mister Cave, who had been out in the afternoon,
13:27
Speaker 1: sucked in a gloomy isolation that contrasted pleasantly with the
13:32
Speaker 1: impassioned controversy of the previous days. For some time matters
13:37
Speaker 1: were very badly strained in the Cave household, but neither
13:41
Speaker 1: Crystal nor Customer reappeared. Now without mincing the matter, we
13:47
Speaker 1: must admit that mister Cave was a liar. He knew
13:51
Speaker 1: perfectly well where the crystal was. It was in the
13:55
Speaker 1: rooms of mister Jacob Waiss, assistant demonstrator at Saint Cans Hospital,
14:01
Speaker 1: Westbourne Street. It stood on the sideboard, partially covered by
14:05
Speaker 1: a black velvet cloth, and beside a decanter of American whisky.
14:10
Speaker 1: It is from mister Wace, indeed, that the particulars upon
14:14
Speaker 1: which this narrative is based were derived. Cave had taken
14:18
Speaker 1: off the thing to the hospital, hidden in the dogfish sack,
14:22
Speaker 1: and there had pressed the young investigator to keep it
14:25
Speaker 1: for him. Mister Waste was a little dubious at first.
14:29
Speaker 1: His relationship to Cave was peculiar. He had a taste
14:33
Speaker 1: for singular characters, and he had more than once invited
14:37
Speaker 1: the old man to smoke and drink in his rooms,
14:40
Speaker 1: and to unfold his rather amusing views of life in
14:43
Speaker 1: general and of his wife in particular. Mister Waste had
14:48
Speaker 1: encountered Missus Cave too, on occasions when mister Cave was
14:52
Speaker 1: not at home to attend to him. He knew the
14:54
Speaker 1: constant interference to which Cave was subjected, and having weighed
14:59
Speaker 1: the story due to initially he decided to give the
15:02
Speaker 1: crystal a refuge. Mister Cave promised to explain the reasons
15:06
Speaker 1: for his remarkable affection for the crystal more fully on
15:10
Speaker 1: a later occasion, but he spoke distinctly of seeing visions therein.
15:15
Speaker 1: He called on mister Waste the same evening he told
15:19
Speaker 1: a complicated story. The crystal, he said, had come into
15:23
Speaker 1: his possession with other oddments at the forced sale of
15:27
Speaker 1: another curiosity dealer's effects, and not knowing what its value
15:32
Speaker 1: might be, he had ticketed it at ten shillings. It
15:35
Speaker 1: had hung upon his hands at that price for some months,
15:40
Speaker 1: and he was thinking of reducing the figure when he
15:43
Speaker 1: made a singular discovery. At that time his health was
15:49
Speaker 1: very bad, and it must be borne in mind that
15:52
Speaker 1: throughout all this experience his physical condition was one of
15:57
Speaker 1: ebb and he was in considerable distress by reason of
16:01
Speaker 1: the negligence the positive ill treatment even he received from
16:05
Speaker 1: his wife and step children. His wife was vain, extravagant, unfeeling,
16:11
Speaker 1: and had a growing taste for private drinking. His step
16:16
Speaker 1: daughter was mean and overreaching, and his step son had
16:20
Speaker 1: conceived a violent dislike for him and lost no chance
16:24
Speaker 1: of showing it. The requirements of his business pressed heavily
16:27
Speaker 1: upon him, and mister Waste does not think that he
16:31
Speaker 1: was altogether free from occasional intemperance. He had begun life
16:37
Speaker 1: in a comfortable position. He was a man of fair education,
16:41
Speaker 1: and he suffered for weeks at a stretch from melancholia
16:44
Speaker 1: and insomnia. Afraid to disturb his family, he would slip
16:49
Speaker 1: quietly from his wife's side when his thoughts became intolerable,
16:53
Speaker 1: and wander about the house, And about three o'clock one morning,
16:58
Speaker 1: late in Augustance directed him into the shop. The dirty
17:03
Speaker 1: little place was impenetrably black, except in one spot, where
17:08
Speaker 1: he perceived an unusual glow of light. Approaching this, he
17:13
Speaker 1: discovered it to be the crystal egg, which was standing
17:16
Speaker 1: on the corner of the counter towards the window. A
17:19
Speaker 1: thin ray smote through a crack in the shutters, impinged
17:23
Speaker 1: upon the object, and seemed as if it were to
17:26
Speaker 1: fill its entire interior. It occurred to mister Cave that
17:30
Speaker 1: this was not in accordance with the laws of optics
17:33
Speaker 1: as he had known them in his younger days. He
17:36
Speaker 1: could understand the rays being refracted by the crystal and
17:40
Speaker 1: coming to a focus in its interior. But this diffusion
17:45
Speaker 1: jarred with his physical conceptions. He approached the crystal, nearly
17:49
Speaker 1: peering into it and round it with a transient revival
17:53
Speaker 1: of the scientific curiosity that in his youth had determined
17:57
Speaker 1: his choice of a calling, surprised to find the light
18:02
Speaker 1: not steady, but writhing within the substance of the egg,
18:07
Speaker 1: as though that object was a hollow sphere of some
18:10
Speaker 1: luminous vapor. In moving about to get different points of view,
18:15
Speaker 1: he suddenly found that he had come between it and
18:18
Speaker 1: the ray, and that the crystal none the less remained luminous.
18:23
Speaker 1: Greatly astonished, he lifted it out of the light ray
18:26
Speaker 1: and carried it to the darkest part of the shop.
18:29
Speaker 1: It remained bright for some four or five minutes, when
18:33
Speaker 1: it slowly faded and went out. He placed it in
18:36
Speaker 1: the thin streak of daylight, and its luminousness was almost
18:40
Speaker 1: immediately restored. So far, at least mister Waste was able
18:45
Speaker 1: to verify the remarkable story of mister Cave. He has
18:49
Speaker 1: himself repeatedly held this crystal in a ray of light,
18:53
Speaker 1: which had to be of a less diameter than one millimeter,
18:57
Speaker 1: and in a perfect darkness such as could be produced
19:01
Speaker 1: by velvet wrapping, the crystal did undoubtedly appear very faintly phosphorescent.
19:07
Speaker 1: It would seem, however, that the luminousness was of some
19:11
Speaker 1: exceptional sort and not equally visible to all eyes. For
19:16
Speaker 1: mister Harbinger, whose name will be familiar to the scientific reader,
19:20
Speaker 1: in connection with the Pasteur Institute, was quite unable to
19:24
Speaker 1: see any light whatever, and mister Waste's own capacity for
19:28
Speaker 1: its appreciation was out of comparison inferior to that of
19:33
Speaker 1: mister Cave's. Even with mister Cave, the power varied very considerably.
19:39
Speaker 1: His vision was most vivid during states of extreme weakness
19:43
Speaker 1: and fatigue. Now from the outset, this light in the
19:47
Speaker 1: crystal exercised a curious fascination upon mister Cave, and it
19:52
Speaker 1: says more for his loneliness of soul than a volume
19:56
Speaker 1: of pathetic writing could do. That he told no he
20:00
Speaker 1: human being of his curious observations. He seems to have
20:04
Speaker 1: been living in such an atmosphere of petty spite that
20:08
Speaker 1: to admit the existence of a pleasure would have been
20:12
Speaker 1: to risk the loss of it. He found that as
20:15
Speaker 1: the dawn advanced, and the amount of diffused light increased,
20:20
Speaker 1: the crystal became to all appearance non luminous, and for
20:24
Speaker 1: some time he was unable to see anything in it,
20:27
Speaker 1: except at night time in dark corners of the shop.
20:31
Speaker 1: But the use of an old velvet cloth, which he
20:35
Speaker 1: used as a background for a collection of minerals, occurred
20:39
Speaker 1: to him, and by doubling this and putting it over
20:42
Speaker 1: his head and hands, he was able to get a
20:44
Speaker 1: sight of the luminous movement within the crystal, even in
20:48
Speaker 1: the daytime. He was very cautious lest he should be
20:52
Speaker 1: thus discovered by his wife, and he practiced this occupation
20:57
Speaker 1: only in the afternoons while she was a leap upstairs,
21:01
Speaker 1: and then circumspectly in a hollow under the counter. And
21:05
Speaker 1: one day, turning the crystal about in his hands, he
21:09
Speaker 1: saw something. It came and went like a flash, but
21:12
Speaker 1: it gave him the impression that the object had, for
21:16
Speaker 1: a moment opened to him the view of a wide
21:19
Speaker 1: and spacious and strange country. And turning it about he did,
21:24
Speaker 1: just as the light faded, see the same vision again.
21:29
Speaker 1: Now it would be tedious and unnecessary to state all
21:34
Speaker 1: the phases of mister Kay's discovery. From this point suffice
21:38
Speaker 1: that the effect was this. The crystal, being peered into
21:43
Speaker 1: at an angle of about one hundred and thirty seven
21:45
Speaker 1: degrees from the direction of the illuminating ray, gave a
21:50
Speaker 1: clear and consistent picture of a wide and peculiar countryside.
21:55
Speaker 1: It was not dreamlike at all. It produced a definite
21:59
Speaker 1: impression of reality, and the better the light, the more
22:02
Speaker 1: real and solid it seemed. It was a moving picture,
22:07
Speaker 1: that is to say, certain objects moved in it, but
22:11
Speaker 1: slowly in an orderly manner, like real things, and according
22:16
Speaker 1: as the direction of the lighting and vision changed, the
22:19
Speaker 1: picture changed also. It must indeed have been like looking
22:23
Speaker 1: through an oval glass at a view and turning the
22:26
Speaker 1: glass about to get at different aspects. Mister Cave's statements,
22:32
Speaker 1: mister Waste assures me, were extremely circumstantial and entirely free
22:38
Speaker 1: from any of that emotional quality that taints hallucinatory impressions.
22:43
Speaker 1: But it must be remembered that all the efforts of
22:46
Speaker 1: mister Waste's to see any similar clarity in the faint
22:50
Speaker 1: opalescence of the crystal were wholly unsuccessful. Try as he would.
22:56
Speaker 1: The difference in intensity of the impressions received by the
22:59
Speaker 1: two two men was very great, and it is quite
23:03
Speaker 1: conceivable that what was a view to mister Cave was
23:07
Speaker 1: a mere blurred nebulosity to mister Waste. The view, as
23:12
Speaker 1: mister Cave described it, was invariably of an extensive plain,
23:17
Speaker 1: and he seemed always to be looking at it from
23:19
Speaker 1: a considerable height, as if from a tower or mast.
23:23
Speaker 1: To the east and to the west, the plain was
23:26
Speaker 1: bounded at a remote distance by vast, reddish cliffs, which
23:30
Speaker 1: reminded him of those he had seen in some picture.
23:33
Speaker 1: But what the picture was, mister Waste was unable to ascertain.
23:38
Speaker 1: These cliffs passed north and south. He could tell the
23:42
Speaker 1: points of the compass by the stars that were visible
23:45
Speaker 1: of a night receding in an almost illimitable perspective, had
23:49
Speaker 1: faded into the midst of the distance. Before they met.
23:53
Speaker 1: He was nearer the eastern set of cliffs on the
23:56
Speaker 1: occasion of his first vision. The sun was rising over them,
23:59
Speaker 1: and black against the sunlight and pale against their shadow,
24:04
Speaker 1: appeared a multitude of soaring forms that mister Cave regarded
24:08
Speaker 1: as birds. A vast range of buildings spread below him.
24:13
Speaker 1: He seemed to be looking down upon them, and as
24:16
Speaker 1: they approached the blurred and refracted edge of the picture,
24:20
Speaker 1: they became indistinct. There were also trees curious in shape
24:25
Speaker 1: and in coloring, a deep mossy green and an exquisite gray,
24:31
Speaker 1: beside a white and shining canal, and something great and
24:35
Speaker 1: brilliantly colored flew across the picture. But the first time
24:39
Speaker 1: mister Cave saw these pictures he saw only in flashes.
24:44
Speaker 1: His hands shook, his head moved. The vision came and went,
24:48
Speaker 1: and grew foggy and indistinct, and at first he had
24:52
Speaker 1: the greatest difficulty in finding the picture again, once the
24:56
Speaker 1: direction of it was lost. His next clear vision, which
25:00
Speaker 1: about a week after the first, the interval having yielded
25:04
Speaker 1: nothing but tantalizing glimpses and some useful experience, showed him
25:09
Speaker 1: the view down the length of the valley. The view
25:12
Speaker 1: was different, but he had a curious persuasion, which his
25:16
Speaker 1: subsequent observations abundantly confirmed that he was regarding the strange
25:21
Speaker 1: world from exactly the same spot, although he was looking
25:24
Speaker 1: in a different direction. The long facade of the great building,
25:28
Speaker 1: whose roof he had looked down upon before, was now
25:32
Speaker 1: receding in perspective. He recognized the roof. In the front
25:36
Speaker 1: of the facade was a terrace of massive proportions and
25:39
Speaker 1: extraordinary length. And down the middle of the terrace, at
25:42
Speaker 1: certain intervals stood huge but very graceful masts bearing small,
25:48
Speaker 1: shiny objects which reflected the setting sun. The import of
25:53
Speaker 1: these small objects did not occur to mister Cave until
25:57
Speaker 1: some time after, as he was describing the scene to
26:01
Speaker 1: mister Waste. The terrace overhung a thicket of the most
26:05
Speaker 1: luxuriant and graceful vegetation, and beyond this was a wide
26:10
Speaker 1: grassy lawn on which certain broad creatures in form like beetles,
26:16
Speaker 1: but enormously larger reposed. Beyond this again was a richly
26:22
Speaker 1: decorated causeway of pinkish stone, and beyond that and lined
26:27
Speaker 1: with dense red weeds, and passing up the valley, exactly
26:32
Speaker 1: parallel with the distant cliffs, was a broad and mirror
26:36
Speaker 1: like expanse of water. The air seemed full of squadrons
26:40
Speaker 1: of great birds maneuvering in stately curves, and across the
26:45
Speaker 1: river was a multitude of splendid buildings, richly colored and
26:49
Speaker 1: glittering with metallic tracery and facets, among a forest of
26:54
Speaker 1: moss like and likenous trees. And suddenly something flapped repeatedly
26:59
Speaker 1: across the vision, like the fluttering of a jeweled fan
27:03
Speaker 1: or the beating of a wing. And a face, or
27:06
Speaker 1: rather the upper part of a face with very large eyes,
27:10
Speaker 1: came as it were close to his own, and as
27:13
Speaker 1: if on the other side of the crystal. Mister Cave
27:16
Speaker 1: was so startled and so impressed by the absolute reality
27:19
Speaker 1: of these eyes, that he drew his head back from
27:22
Speaker 1: the crystal to look behind it. He had become so
27:25
Speaker 1: absorbed in watching that he was quite surprised to find
27:29
Speaker 1: himself in the cool darkness of his little shop, with
27:32
Speaker 1: its familiar odor of methyle, mustiness, and decay. And as
27:38
Speaker 1: he blinked about him, the glowing crystal faded and went out.
27:43
Speaker 1: Such were the first general impressions of mister Cave. The
27:47
Speaker 1: story is curiously direct and circumstantial from the outset. When
27:52
Speaker 1: the valley first flashed momentarily on his senses, his imagination
27:56
Speaker 1: was strangely affected, and as he began to appreciate the
28:01
Speaker 1: details of the scene he saw, his wonder rose to
28:04
Speaker 1: the point of a passion. He went about his business,
28:08
Speaker 1: listless and distraught, thinking only of the time when he
28:12
Speaker 1: should be able to return to his watching. And then
28:15
Speaker 1: a few weeks after his first sight of the valley
28:18
Speaker 1: came the two customers, the stress and excitement of their offer,
28:22
Speaker 1: and the narrow escape of the crystal from sale. As
28:26
Speaker 1: I have already told now, while the thing was mister
28:30
Speaker 1: Kay's secret, it remained a mere wonder, a thing to
28:34
Speaker 1: creep too covertly and peep at as a child might
28:38
Speaker 1: peep upon a forbidden garden. But mister Waste has for
28:42
Speaker 1: a young scientific investigator a particularly lucid and consecutive habit
28:48
Speaker 1: of mind. Directly, the crystal and its story came to him,
28:52
Speaker 1: and he had satisfied himself by seeing the phosphorescence with
28:56
Speaker 1: his own eyes, that there really was a certain evidence
29:00
Speaker 1: for mister Cave's statements. He proceeded to develop the matter systematically.
29:06
Speaker 1: Mister Cave was only too eager to come and feace
29:09
Speaker 1: his eyes on this wonderland he saw, and he came
29:12
Speaker 1: every night from half past eight until half past ten,
29:16
Speaker 1: and sometimes in mister Waste's absence during the day. On
29:21
Speaker 1: Sunday afternoons also he came from the outset. Mister Waste
29:26
Speaker 1: made copious notes, And it was due to his scientific
29:29
Speaker 1: method that the relation between the direction from which the
29:33
Speaker 1: initiating ray entered the crystal and the orientation of the
29:38
Speaker 1: picture were proved. And by covering the crystal in a
29:42
Speaker 1: box perforated only with a small aperture to admit the
29:46
Speaker 1: exciting ray, and by substituting black Holland for his buff blinds,
29:52
Speaker 1: he greatly improved the conditions of the observations, so that
29:56
Speaker 1: in a little while they were able to survey the
29:59
Speaker 1: valley in in any direction they desired. So, having cleared
30:04
Speaker 1: the way, we may give a brief account of this
30:08
Speaker 1: visionary world within the crystal. The things were in all
30:12
Speaker 1: cases seen by mister Cave, and the method of working
30:16
Speaker 1: was invariably for him to watch the crystal and report
30:20
Speaker 1: what he saw, while mister Waste, who as a science
30:24
Speaker 1: student had learnt the trick of writing in the dark,
30:28
Speaker 1: wrote a brief note of his report. When the crystal faded,
30:32
Speaker 1: it was put into its box in the proper position,
30:35
Speaker 1: and the electric light turned on. Mister Wee asked questions
30:40
Speaker 1: and suggested observations to clear up difficult points. Nothing, indeed
30:45
Speaker 1: could have been less visionary and more matter of fact,
30:49
Speaker 1: the attention of mister Cave had been speedily directed to
30:53
Speaker 1: the birdlike creatures he had seen so abundantly present in
30:57
Speaker 1: each of his earlier visions. His first I Mimi depression
31:00
Speaker 1: was soon corrected, and he considered for a time that
31:03
Speaker 1: they might represent a diurnal species of bat. Then he thought,
31:08
Speaker 1: grotesquely enough that they might be cherubs. Their heads were
31:13
Speaker 1: round and curiously human, and it was the eyes of
31:16
Speaker 1: one of them that had so startled him on his
31:19
Speaker 1: second observation. They had broad, silvery wings, not feathered, but
31:25
Speaker 1: glistening almost as brilliantly as new killed fish, and with
31:29
Speaker 1: the same subtle play of color. And these were not
31:33
Speaker 1: built on the plan of bird wing or bat, mister
31:37
Speaker 1: Waste learned, but supported by curved ribs radiating from the body.
31:42
Speaker 1: A sort of butterfly wing with curved ribs seems best
31:46
Speaker 1: to express their appearance. The body was small, but fitted
31:51
Speaker 1: with two bunches of prehensile organs, like long tentacles immediately
31:56
Speaker 1: under the mouth. Incredible as it appeared to mister Waste,
32:00
Speaker 1: the persuasion at last became irresistible that it was these
32:04
Speaker 1: creatures which owned the great quasi human buildings and the
32:09
Speaker 1: magnificent garden that made the broad valley so splendid, And
32:13
Speaker 1: mister Kay perceived that the buildings with other peculiarities had
32:18
Speaker 1: no doors, but that the great circular windows, which opened freely,
32:23
Speaker 1: gave the creatures egress and entrance. They would alight upon
32:28
Speaker 1: their tentacles, fold their wings to a smallness almost rod like,
32:33
Speaker 1: and hop into the interior. But among them was a
32:37
Speaker 1: multitude of smaller winged creatures, like great dragonflies and moths,
32:41
Speaker 1: and flying beetles. And across the greensward brilliantly coloured gigantic
32:47
Speaker 1: ground beetles crawled lazily to and fro. Moreover, on the
32:53
Speaker 1: causeways and terraces, large headed creatures, similar to the greater
32:57
Speaker 1: winged flies, but wingless, were visible, hopping busily upon their
33:02
Speaker 1: hands like tangle of tentacles. Allusion has already been made
33:08
Speaker 1: to the glittering objects upon masts that stood upon the
33:12
Speaker 1: terrace of the nearer building. It stawned upon mister Cave
33:16
Speaker 1: after regarding one of these masts very fixedly on one
33:19
Speaker 1: particularly visied day, that the glittering object there was a
33:24
Speaker 1: crystal exactly like that into which he peered, and a
33:28
Speaker 1: still more careful scrutiny convinced him that each one in
33:32
Speaker 1: a vista of nearly twenty carried a similar object. Occasionally,
33:37
Speaker 1: one of the large flying creatures would flutter up to one, and,
33:41
Speaker 1: folding its wings and coiling a number of its tentacles
33:44
Speaker 1: about the mast, would regard the crystal fixedly for a space,
33:49
Speaker 1: sometimes for as long as fifteen minutes. And a series
33:52
Speaker 1: of observations made at the suggestion of mister Waste convinced
33:57
Speaker 1: both watchers that, so far as this visionary world was concerned,
34:01
Speaker 1: the crystal into which they peered actually stood at the
34:05
Speaker 1: summit of the endmost mast on the terrace, and that
34:10
Speaker 1: on one occasion at least one of these inhabitants of
34:13
Speaker 1: this other world had looked into mister Cave's face while
34:17
Speaker 1: he was making these observations. So much for the essential
34:22
Speaker 1: facts of this very singular story, unless we dismiss it
34:26
Speaker 1: all as the ingenious fabrication of mister Waste, we have
34:30
Speaker 1: to believe one of two things. Either that mister Cave's
34:34
Speaker 1: crystal was in two worlds at once, and that while
34:37
Speaker 1: it was carried about in one, it remained stationary in
34:41
Speaker 1: the other, which seems altogether absurd, or else that it
34:46
Speaker 1: had some peculiar relation of sympathy with another and exactly
34:50
Speaker 1: similar crystal in this other world, so that what was
34:55
Speaker 1: seen in the interior of the one in this world
34:58
Speaker 1: was under suitable conditions visible to an observer in the
35:02
Speaker 1: corresponding crystal in the other world, and vice versa. At present, indeed,
35:09
Speaker 1: we do not know of any way in which two
35:11
Speaker 1: crystals could so come en rapport, But nowadays we know
35:16
Speaker 1: enough to understand that the thing is not altogether impossible.
35:20
Speaker 1: This view of the crystals as a rapport was the
35:25
Speaker 1: supposition that occurred to mister Waste's and to me at least,
35:29
Speaker 1: it seems extremely plausible. And where was this other world?
35:34
Speaker 1: On this also the alert intelligence of mister Waste speedily
35:39
Speaker 1: through light. After sunset, the sky darkened rapidly. There was
35:44
Speaker 1: a very brief twilight interval, indeed, and the stars shone out.
35:49
Speaker 1: They were recognizably the same as those we see arranged
35:53
Speaker 1: in the same constellations. Mister Cave recognized the bear, the Pliades,
35:59
Speaker 1: Aldebra and serious, so that the other world must be
36:04
Speaker 1: somewhere in the Solar system, and at the utmost only
36:08
Speaker 1: a few hundreds of millions of miles from our own.
36:11
Speaker 1: Following up this clue, mister Waste learned that the midnight
36:15
Speaker 1: sky was a darker blue even than our midwinter sky,
36:19
Speaker 1: and that the sun seemed a little smaller. And there
36:23
Speaker 1: were two small moons like our moon, but smaller and
36:29
Speaker 1: quite differently marked, one of which moved so rapidly that
36:33
Speaker 1: its motion was clearly visible as one regarded it. These
36:38
Speaker 1: moons were never high in the sky, but vanished as
36:41
Speaker 1: they rose, that is, every time they revolved, they were eclipsed,
36:46
Speaker 1: because they were so near their primary planet. And all
36:49
Speaker 1: this answers quite completely, although mister Cave did not know it,
36:54
Speaker 1: to what must be the condition of things on Mars. Indeed,
36:59
Speaker 1: it seems an exceedingly plausible conclusion that peering into this crystal,
37:04
Speaker 1: mister Cave did actually see the planet Mars and its inhabitants.
37:10
Speaker 1: And if that be the case, then the evening style
37:12
Speaker 1: that shone so brilliantly in the sky of that distant
37:16
Speaker 1: vision was neither more nor less than our own familiar
37:21
Speaker 1: Earth for a time. The Martians, if they were Martians,
37:26
Speaker 1: do not seem to have known of mister Cave's inspection.
37:30
Speaker 1: Once or twice one would come to peer and go
37:32
Speaker 1: away very shortly to some other mast, as though the
37:35
Speaker 1: vision was unsatisfactory. During this time, mister Cave was able
37:40
Speaker 1: to watch the proceedings of these winged people without being
37:43
Speaker 1: disturbed by their attentions. And although his report is necessarily
37:48
Speaker 1: vague and fragmentary, it is nevertheless very suggestive. Imagine the
37:53
Speaker 1: impression of humanity a Martian observer would get, who, after
37:58
Speaker 1: a difficult process of preparation, and with considerable fatigue to
38:03
Speaker 1: the eyes, was able to peer at London from the
38:07
Speaker 1: steeple of Saint Martin's Church for stretches at longest of
38:12
Speaker 1: four minutes at a time. Mister Cave was unable to
38:16
Speaker 1: ascertain if the winged Martians were the same as the
38:20
Speaker 1: Martians who hopped about the causeways and terraces, and if
38:24
Speaker 1: the latter could put on wings at will. He several
38:27
Speaker 1: times saw certain clumsy bipeds, dimly suggestive of apes, white
38:33
Speaker 1: and partially translucent, feeding among certain of the licenous trees,
38:38
Speaker 1: and once some of these fled before one of the
38:42
Speaker 1: hopping round headed Martians. The latter caught one in its tentacles,
38:47
Speaker 1: and then the picture faded. Suddenly and left mister Cave
38:51
Speaker 1: most tantalizingly in the dark. On another occasion, a vast
38:56
Speaker 1: thing that mister Cave thought at first was some gigantic
39:00
Speaker 1: insect appeared advancing along the causeway beside the canal with
39:05
Speaker 1: extraordinary rapidity. As this drew nearer, mister Cave perceived that
39:11
Speaker 1: it was a mechanism of shining metals and of extraordinary complexity,
39:17
Speaker 1: and then when he looked again, it had passed out
39:20
Speaker 1: of sight. After a time, mister Waste aspired to attract
39:25
Speaker 1: the attention of the Martians, and the next time that
39:29
Speaker 1: the strange eyes of one of them appeared close to
39:32
Speaker 1: the crystal, mister Cave cried out and sprang away, and
39:35
Speaker 1: they immediately turned on the light and began to gesticulate
39:39
Speaker 1: in a manner suggestive of signaling. But when at last
39:43
Speaker 1: mister Cave examined the crystal again, the martian had departed.
39:48
Speaker 1: Thus far, these observations had progressed in early November, and
39:52
Speaker 1: then mister Cave, feeling that the suspicions of his family
39:56
Speaker 1: about the crystal were allayed, began to take it to
40:01
Speaker 1: and fro with him in order that as occasion arose
40:04
Speaker 1: in the daytime or night, he might comfort himself with
40:08
Speaker 1: what was fast becoming the most real thing in his existence.
40:14
Speaker 1: In December, mister Waste's work in connection with a forthcoming
40:18
Speaker 1: examination became heavy. The sittings were reluctantly suspended for a
40:23
Speaker 1: week and for ten or eleven days, he is not
40:26
Speaker 1: quite sure which. He saw nothing of mister Cave. He
40:30
Speaker 1: then grew anxious to resume these investigations and the stress
40:35
Speaker 1: of his seasonal labor's being abated. He went down to
40:38
Speaker 1: seven dials. At the corner he noticed a shutter before
40:43
Speaker 1: a bird fancier's window, and then another at a cobbler's.
40:47
Speaker 1: Mister Cave's shop was closed. He rapped, and the door
40:51
Speaker 1: was opened by the step son in black. He at
40:54
Speaker 1: once called missus Cave, who was mister Waste could not
40:58
Speaker 1: but observe in cheap but ample widow's weeds of the
41:03
Speaker 1: most imposing pattern. Without any great surprise, mister Waste learnt
41:08
Speaker 1: that Cave was dead and already buried. She was in
41:13
Speaker 1: tears and her voice was a little thick. She had
41:17
Speaker 1: just returned from Highgate. Her mind seemed occupied with her
41:21
Speaker 1: own prospects and the honorable details of the obsequies, but
41:25
Speaker 1: mister Waste was at last able to learn the particulars
41:29
Speaker 1: of Cave's death. He had been found dead in his
41:32
Speaker 1: shop in the early morning the day after his last
41:36
Speaker 1: visit to mister Waste, and the crystal had been clasped
41:39
Speaker 1: in his stone cold hands. His face was smiling, said
41:43
Speaker 1: Missus Cave, and the velvet cloth from the minerals lay
41:48
Speaker 1: on the floor at his feet. He must have been
41:51
Speaker 1: dead five or six hours when he was found. This
41:55
Speaker 1: came as a great shock to Waste, and he began
41:58
Speaker 1: to reproach himself bitterly for having neglected the plain symptoms
42:03
Speaker 1: of the old man's ill health. But his chief thought
42:06
Speaker 1: was of the crystal. He approached that topic in a
42:09
Speaker 1: gingerly manner because he knew Missus Cave's peculiarities. He was
42:14
Speaker 1: dumbfounded to learn that it was sold. Missus Cave's first
42:19
Speaker 1: impulse directly Cave's body had been taken upstairs, had been
42:24
Speaker 1: to write to the mad clergyman, who had offered five
42:28
Speaker 1: pounds for the crystal, informing him of its recovery. But
42:32
Speaker 1: after a violent hunt, in which her daughter joined her,
42:36
Speaker 1: they were convinced of the loss of his address, as
42:39
Speaker 1: they were without the means required to mourn and bury
42:43
Speaker 1: cave in the elaborate style the dignity of an old
42:47
Speaker 1: seven dials inhabitant demands. They had appealed to a friendly
42:52
Speaker 1: fellow tradesman in Great Portland Street. He had very kindly
42:56
Speaker 1: taken over a portion of the stock at a valuation.
43:00
Speaker 1: The valuation was his own, and the crystal egg was
43:03
Speaker 1: included in one of the lots. Mister Waste, after a
43:07
Speaker 1: few suitable condolences, a little offhandedly proffered perhaps hurried at
43:12
Speaker 1: once to Great Portland Street. But there he learned that
43:16
Speaker 1: the crystal egg had already been sold to a tall
43:19
Speaker 1: dark man in gray. And there the material facts in
43:24
Speaker 1: this curious and to me at least very suggestive story
43:30
Speaker 1: come abruptly to an end. The Great Portland Street dealer
43:34
Speaker 1: did not know who the tall dark man in gray was,
43:39
Speaker 1: nor had he observed him with sufficient attention to describe
43:43
Speaker 1: him minutely. He did not even know which way this
43:46
Speaker 1: person had gone. After leaving the shop for a time,
43:50
Speaker 1: mister Waste remained in the shop, trying the dealer's patience
43:54
Speaker 1: with hopeless questions, venting his own exasperation, and at last
44:00
Speaker 1: realising abruptly that the whole thing had passed out of
44:03
Speaker 1: his hands, had vanished like a vision of the night.
44:08
Speaker 1: He returned to his own rooms, a little astonished to
44:11
Speaker 1: find the notes he had made still tangible and visible
44:16
Speaker 1: upon his untidy table. His annoyance and disappointment were naturally
44:22
Speaker 1: very great. He made a second call, equally ineffectual, upon
44:27
Speaker 1: the Great Portland Street Dealer, and he resorted to advertisements
44:31
Speaker 1: in such periodicals as were likely to come into the
44:34
Speaker 1: hands of a bric a brac collector. He also wrote
44:38
Speaker 1: letters to the Daily Chronicle and Nature, but both these periodicals,
44:43
Speaker 1: suspecting a hoax, asked him to reconsider his action before
44:48
Speaker 1: they printed, and he was advised that such a strange story,
44:53
Speaker 1: unfortunately so bare of supporting evidence, might imperil his reputation
44:58
Speaker 1: as an investigator. Moreover, the calls of his proper work
45:03
Speaker 1: were urgent, so that after a month or so, save
45:07
Speaker 1: for an occasional reminder to certain dealers, he had reluctantly
45:12
Speaker 1: to abandon the quest for the crystal egg, and from
45:16
Speaker 1: that day to this it remains undiscovered. Occasionally, however, he
45:21
Speaker 1: tells me, and I can quite believe him, he has
45:24
Speaker 1: bursts of zeal in which he abandons his more urgent
45:28
Speaker 1: occupation and resumes the search. Whether or not it will
45:32
Speaker 1: remain lost forever, with the material and origin of it,
45:37
Speaker 1: are things equally speculative at the present time. If the
45:41
Speaker 1: present purchaser is a collector, one would have expected the
45:44
Speaker 1: inquiries of mister Waste to have reached him. Through the dealers.
45:48
Speaker 1: He has been able to discover mister Cave's clergyman and
45:52
Speaker 1: oriental no other than the Reverend James Parker and the
45:57
Speaker 1: young Prince of Bosukunai in Java. I am obliged to
46:01
Speaker 1: do them for certain particulars. The object of the Prince
46:05
Speaker 1: was simply curiosity and extravagance. He was so eager to
46:09
Speaker 1: buy because Cave was so oddly reluctant to sell. It
46:14
Speaker 1: is just as possible that the buyer in the second
46:18
Speaker 1: instance was simply a casual purchaser and not a collector
46:22
Speaker 1: at all. And the crystal egg, for all I know,
46:26
Speaker 1: may at the present moment, be within a mile of me,
46:29
Speaker 1: decorating a drawing room or serving as a paper weight.
46:33
Speaker 1: Its remarkable functions all unknown. Indeed, it is partly with
46:38
Speaker 1: the idea of such a possibility that I have thrown
46:41
Speaker 1: this narrative into a form that will give it a
46:44
Speaker 1: chance of being read by the ordinary consumer of fiction.
46:49
Speaker 1: My own ideas in the matter are practically identical with
46:52
Speaker 1: those of mister Waste. I believe the crystal on the
46:56
Speaker 1: mast in Mars and the crystal egg of mister Caves
47:01
Speaker 1: to be in some physical but at present quite inexplicable
47:05
Speaker 1: way on rapport, and we both believe further that the
47:10
Speaker 1: terrestrial crystal must have been, possibly at some remote date,
47:15
Speaker 1: sent hither from that planet, in order to give the
47:19
Speaker 1: Martians a near view of our affairs. Possibly the fellows
47:24
Speaker 1: to the crystals on the other masts are also on
47:27
Speaker 1: our globe. No theory of hallucination suffices for the facts.
47:35
Speaker 1: End of Section nineteen