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04 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey - Ingersoll Lockwood · Daily Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four, My Wound Heels, Uliana talks about the giants well.
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  Speaker 1: I resolved to visit it preparations to ascend the mountains.
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  Speaker 1: What happened to Juliana and to me reflection and then action.
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  Speaker 1: How I contrived to continue the ascent without Juliana for
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  Speaker 1: a guide. It was a day or so before I
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  Speaker 1: could walk steadily, and meantime I made unusual efforts to
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  Speaker 1: keep my brain quiet. But in spite of all I
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  Speaker 1: could do, every mention of the giant's well by one
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  Speaker 1: of the peasants sent a strange thrill through me. I
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  Speaker 1: would find myself suddenly pacing up and down the floor
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  Speaker 1: and repeating over and over again the words giants well,
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  Speaker 1: giants well. Vulgar was greatly troubled in his mind, and
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  Speaker 1: sat watching me with a most bewildered look in his
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  Speaker 1: loving eyes. He had half a suspicion. I think that
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  Speaker 1: the cruel blow from Ivan's whip handle had injured my
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  Speaker 1: reasoning powers, for at times he uttered a low, plaintive whine.
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  Speaker 1: The moment I took notice of him, however, and acting
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  Speaker 1: more like myself, he gamboled about me in the wildest delight,
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  Speaker 1: as I had directed the peasants to drive Ivan's horses
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  Speaker 1: back towards Iluch on the Illach until they should meet
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  Speaker 1: the miscreant and deliver them to him. I was now
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  Speaker 1: without any means of continuing my journey northward unless I
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  Speaker 1: set out, like many of my famous predecessors on foot.
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  Speaker 1: They had longer legs than I, however, and were not
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  Speaker 1: loaded with so heavy a brain in proportion to their sides,
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  Speaker 1: and a brain too that scarcely ever slept, least not soundly.
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  Speaker 1: I was too impatient to reach the portals to the
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  Speaker 1: world within a world. To go trudging along a dusty highway.
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  Speaker 1: I must have horses and another tarantas, or at least
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  Speaker 1: a peasant's cart I must push on. My head was
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  Speaker 1: quite healed now, and my fever gone. Hearken, little master,
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  Speaker 1: whispered Juliana. Such was the name of the old woman
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  Speaker 1: who had taken care of me. Thou ert not what
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  Speaker 1: thou sheamst. I never saw alike of thee before. If
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  Speaker 1: thou wouldst, I believe thou couldst tell me how high
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  Speaker 1: the sky is, how thick through the mountain's air, and
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  Speaker 1: how deep the giant's well is. I smiled, and then
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  Speaker 1: I said, didst ever drink from the giant's well, Uleianna,
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  Speaker 1: at which she wagged her head and sent forth a
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  Speaker 1: low chuckle. Hearken, little master, She then whispered, coming close
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  Speaker 1: to me and holding up one of her long bony fingers,
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  Speaker 1: Thou canst not trick me. Thou knowest if the giant's
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  Speaker 1: well hath no bottom, no bottom, I repeated breathlessly, as
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  Speaker 1: don Fum's mysterious words. The people will tell thee flash
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  Speaker 1: through my mind. No bottom, Uleiana, naught to unlest Thy
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  Speaker 1: eyes are better than mine, Little master, she murmured, nodding
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  Speaker 1: her head slowly. Listen, Uleiana, I burst out impetuously. Where
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  Speaker 1: is this bottomless well? Thou shalt lead me to it?
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  Speaker 1: I must it come? Let start at once? Thou shalt
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  Speaker 1: be well paid for thy pains. Nay, nay, little master,
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  Speaker 1: Not so fast, she replied. Eatst far up the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: the way steep and ruged, the passer narrow and wanding.
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  Speaker 1: A false step might mean instant death, were there not
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  Speaker 1: some strong hand to save thee. Give up such a
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  Speaker 1: mad thought as ever geting there, except it be on
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  Speaker 1: the stout shoulders of some mountaineer. Ah, good woman, was
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  Speaker 1: my reply. Thou hast just said that I am not
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  Speaker 1: what I seem, and thou saidest truly know? Then thou
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  Speaker 1: seest before thee. The world renowned traveler will Helm Heinrich
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  Speaker 1: Sebastian van Trump commonly called Little barntrom that though short
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  Speaker 1: cut of stature and frail of limb, yet what there
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  Speaker 1: is if me is of iron. There you, Leana, there's
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  Speaker 1: gold for thee. Now lead the way to thes well. Gently, gently,
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  Speaker 1: little Baron, almost whispered the old peasant woman, as her
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  Speaker 1: shriveled hand closed upon the gold piece. I have not
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  Speaker 1: told thee all for leagues about thy ween. No living
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  Speaker 1: being excepting me knows where the giant's well. Ease asked
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  Speaker 1: them in the little say it's up yonder in the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: away up under the eaves of the sky. That's all.
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  Speaker 1: That's all they can tell THEE. But little master, I
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  Speaker 1: know where it is. And the very herb that cured
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  Speaker 1: thy heart head and save THEE from certain death by
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  Speaker 1: cooling thy blood, was plucked by me from the brink
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  Speaker 1: of the well. These words sent a thrill of joy
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  Speaker 1: through me, for now I felt that I was on
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  Speaker 1: the right road, that the words of the great Master
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  Speaker 1: of all masters, Don Fum had come true. The people
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  Speaker 1: will tell thee I the people had told me. For
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  Speaker 1: now there was not the faintest shadow of doubt in
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  Speaker 1: my mind that I had found the portals to the
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  Speaker 1: world within a world. Uliana should be my guide. She
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  Speaker 1: knew how to thread her way up the narrow pass,
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  Speaker 1: to turn aside from overhanging rocks which a mere touch
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  Speaker 1: might topple over, to find the steps which nature had
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  Speaker 1: hewn in the sides of the rock parapets, and to
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  Speaker 1: pursue her way safely through clefts and gorges, even the
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  Speaker 1: entrance to which might be invisible to ordinary eyes. However,
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  Speaker 1: in order that the superstitious peasants might be kept friendly
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  Speaker 1: to me, I gave it out that I was about
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  Speaker 1: to betake myself to the mountains in search of curiosities
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  Speaker 1: for my cabinet, and beg them to furnish me with
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  Speaker 1: ropes and tackle, with two good stout fellows to carry
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  Speaker 1: it for me, promising generous payment for the services. They
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  Speaker 1: made haste to provide me with all I asked for,
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  Speaker 1: and we set out for the mountain path at daybreak. Juliana,
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  Speaker 1: in order not to seem to be of the party,
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  Speaker 1: had gone on ahead by the light of the moon,
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  Speaker 1: telling her people that she wished to gather certain herbs
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  Speaker 1: before the sun rays struck them, and dried the healing
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  Speaker 1: dew that beaded their leaves. All went well until the
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  Speaker 1: sun was well up over our heads, when suddenly I
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  Speaker 1: heard a woman who proved to be Juliana, utter a
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  Speaker 1: piercing scream. In a moment or so, the mystery was solved.
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  Speaker 1: The old Beldam came rushing down the mountain, her thin
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  Speaker 1: whisper of gray hair fluttering in the wind. Her hands
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  Speaker 1: were tied behind her, and two young peasants with birch
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  Speaker 1: and rods were beating her every chance they got. Turned back,
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  Speaker 1: Turned back, brothers, they cried to my two men. The
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  Speaker 1: little wizard there has struck hands with this old witch.
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  Speaker 1: They're on their way to the giant's well. They'll loosen
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  Speaker 1: a band of black spirits about our ears. We shall
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  Speaker 1: all be bewitched. Quick quick, gust off the lord's you're
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  Speaker 1: bearing and follow us. The two men didn't wait for
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  Speaker 1: a second, bidding and throwing the tackle on the ground.
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  Speaker 1: They all disappeared like a flash, but for several moments
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  Speaker 1: I could hear the screams of poor Juliana as these
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  Speaker 1: young wretches beat the old woman with their birchen rods. Well,
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  Speaker 1: dear readers, what say you to this? Was I not
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  Speaker 1: in a pleasant position, truly alone with Bulgar in that
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  Speaker 1: wild and gloomy mountain region, the black rocks hanging like
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  Speaker 1: frowning giants and ogres over our heads, with the dwarf
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  Speaker 1: pines for hair, clumps of white moss for eyes, vast
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  Speaker 1: gaping cracks for mouths, and gnarled and twisted roots for
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  Speaker 1: terrible fingers, ready to reach down for my poor little
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  Speaker 1: weason frame. Did I follow trembling? Did I make haste
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  Speaker 1: to follow those craven spirits down the mountain side? Did
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  Speaker 1: I shift the peg of my courage a single hole lower? Not? I.
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  Speaker 1: If I had, I wouldn't have been worthy of the
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  Speaker 1: name I bore. What I did do was to throw
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  Speaker 1: myself at full length on a bed of moss called
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  Speaker 1: Bulgar to my side, and close my eyes to the
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  Speaker 1: outer world. I had heard of great men going to
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  Speaker 1: bed at high noon to give themselves up to the thought,
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  Speaker 1: and I had often done it myself before I had
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  Speaker 1: heard of their doing it. In fifteen minutes, by nature's
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  Speaker 1: watch the sun on the face of the mountain, I
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  Speaker 1: had solved the problem. Now there were two difficulties staring
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  Speaker 1: me in the face, namely, to find somebody to show
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  Speaker 1: me the way up the mountain, and if that body
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  Speaker 1: couldn't carry my tackle, then to find somebody else who could. It.
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  Speaker 1: Sadly ancred to me that I had noticed some cattle
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  Speaker 1: grazing at the foot of the mountain, and what's more,
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  Speaker 1: that these cattle were very peculiar yokes. What are these
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  Speaker 1: yokes for, I asked myself, for they were of a
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  Speaker 1: mate quite different from any that I remembered ever having seen,
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  Speaker 1: and consisted of a stout wooden collar, from the bottom
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  Speaker 1: of which there projected backward between the beast's fore legs
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  Speaker 1: a straight piece of wood, armed with an iron spike
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  Speaker 1: pointing toward the ground at the top. The yoke was
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  Speaker 1: bound by a leather thong to the animal's horns. So
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  Speaker 1: long Therefore, as the beast held his head naturally, or
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  Speaker 1: even lowered it to graze, the yoke was drawn forward,
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  Speaker 1: and the hook was kept free from the ground. But
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  Speaker 1: the very moment the animal raised his head in the
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  Speaker 1: air at once the hook was thrown into the ground,
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  Speaker 1: and he was prevented from taking another step forward. Now,
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  Speaker 1: dear readers, you may or may not know that when
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  Speaker 1: a cleft hoofed animal starts to ascend a steep bank,
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  Speaker 1: unlike a solid hoofed beast, he throws his head into
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  Speaker 1: the air instead of lowering it. And therefore it struck
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  Speaker 1: me at once that the purpose of this yoke was
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  Speaker 1: to keep the cattle from making their way up the
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  Speaker 1: sides of the mountain and getting lost. But why should
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  Speaker 1: they want to clamor up the mountain sides simply because
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  Speaker 1: there was some kind of grass or herbage growing up there,
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  Speaker 1: which was a delicacy to them. And knowing as I
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  Speaker 1: well did, what risks animals will take and what fatigue
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  Speaker 1: they will undergo to reach a favorite grazing ground, it
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  Speaker 1: struck me at once that if I would make it
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  Speaker 1: possible for them to reach this favorite food theirs, they
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  Speaker 1: would be very glad to give me a lift on
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  Speaker 1: my way. No sooner said than done, I forthwith retraced
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  Speaker 1: my steps until I fell in with a group of
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  Speaker 1: these cattle, And it did not take me many minutes
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  Speaker 1: to loosen their yokes from their horns and tie the
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  Speaker 1: hooks up under their bodies, so that their progress up
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  Speaker 1: hill would not be interfered with. They were delighted to
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  Speaker 1: find themselves so unexpectedly freed from the hateful drawback, which
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  Speaker 1: permitted them merely to view the coveted grazing grounds from afar,
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  Speaker 1: And then, having cut me a suitable goad, I again
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  Speaker 1: started up the mountain, driving my new friends leisurely on
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  Speaker 1: ahead of me. Upon reaching the spot where the superstitious
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  Speaker 1: peasants had thrown the tackle to the ground, I proceeded
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  Speaker 1: to load it upon the back of the gentlest beast
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  Speaker 1: of the lot, and was soon on my way again.
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  Speaker 1: End of Chapter four