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08 - Baron Trump's Marvellous Underground Journey · Classic Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter eight. Good morning, as long as it lasts, plain talk from
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  Master Coldsoll, wonders of Goggleland. We enter the city of the Micamenkes brief
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  description of it. Are approach to the royal palace Queen Galaxa and her crystal
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  throne. Master cold Sol's tears. I don't think the darkness lasted over three
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  hours. Perhaps it was longer, but Master cold Sooll was obliged to shake
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  me gently. Ere he could rouse me now, little Baron, said he,
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  after he had wished me a good morning, with the usual as long
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  as it lasts tacked on to it. If thou art quite willing, I'll
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  conduct THEE to the court of our gracious Mistress, Queen Galaxa. Our wise
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  men have often discoursed to her concerning the upper world and the terrible sufferings of
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  its people, exposed as they are, to be frozen by the pitiless cold
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  and then burned by the scorching rays of what they call their sun. And
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  she will no doubt aim to be pleased at say of THEE, although I
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  must warn THEE that thou art most uncomely, that thou seems so black and
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  hard to me, scarcely to be human by rather a bit of living earth
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  or row. I greatly fear me that thou wilt make our people extremely vain
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  by comparison, thy four footed companion. We know well by sight, having
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  often seen his petrified image in the rocks of the dark chambers of our world.
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  Master cold Sol said I, as we walked along. When thou givest
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  to know me better, thou wilt find me more commonly. And although I
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  shall not be able to show THEE my heart, I hope to be able
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  to prove to THEE and Thine that I have such a thing, no doubt,
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  no doubt, little baron, exclaimed Master cold Sol. But be not
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  offended. It is not more pleasant for me to tell THEE these disagreeable things
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  that it is for THEE to hear them. But I am paid to do
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  it, and I must earn my wage. Vanity grows apace in our world,
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  and I prick its bubbles whenever I see them. To my great wonder,
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  I now discover that the world of the Macamenke's had its lakes and rivers
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  like our own, only of course they were smaller and mirror faced, being
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  never visited by the faintest Zephyr. To my question as to whether they were
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  peopled with living things, Master cold Sol informed me that they literally swarmed with
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  the most delicious fish, both in scales and shells. But think not,
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  little Baron. He added, that we of Goggleland have no other food than
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  such as we draw from the water. For in our gardens grow many kinds
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  of delicate vegetables, springing up in a single night, almost as light as
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  foam and just as white. But we are small eaters, little Barren,
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  and rarely find it necessary to put to death a large shellfish. We merely
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  lay hold of his great claw, which he obligingly drops into our hand,
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  and forthwith sets about growing another. But tell me, I pray, Master
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  cold Sol said, I where ye find the silk to weave such soft and
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  beautiful so stuff as that thy garment is fashioned from. In this underworld of
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  ours, little Baron replied Master Coldzall, there are many vast recesses not reached
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  by the river flight, and in these dark chambers flit about huge night moths,
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  like restless spirits, forever on the wing. But of course they are
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  not, for we find their eggs glued against the rocky sides of these caverns,
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  and co let them carefully. The worms that are hatched from them spin
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  huge cocoons, so large that one may not be hidden in my hand.
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  And these, unwound, give unto our looms all the thread they need.
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  And the beautiful wood, I continued, which I see about me, carved
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  and fashioned into so many articles. Whence comes it from the quarries, answered
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  Master Coldzall quarries, I repeated, wonderingly, Why yes, little Baron,
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  said he, For we have quarries of wood, as no doubt the hst
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  quarries of stone. Our wise men tell us that, thousands and thousands of
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  years ago, vast for us grown in your world, were in the upheavals,
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  and falling in of the Earth's crust, thrust down into ours, the
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  gigantic chunks watched closely together and standing in a bolt upright, just as they
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  grew. At least, so we find them when we have dug away the
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  harlen clay that has shut them in these many ages. But see, little
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  Baron, that we are now entering the city yonder is the royal Palace.
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  Will t walk with me thither? Ah, dear friends, would that I
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  could make you see this beautiful city of the underworld, just as it showed
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  itself to me. Then spread out so gloriously beneath the glittering domes and vaulted
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  corridors, from which poured down upon the exquisitely carved and polished entrances to the
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  living chambers of this happy folk, a flood of white light, apparently more
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  dazzling than our noonday sun, so strangely beautiful that many times I paused to
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  gaze upon it. Young and all, all clad in the same gracefully flowing
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  garbs of silk, now purple, now royal blue, and now rich vermilion,
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  were hurrying hither and thither, each armed with the inevitable black fan,
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  and the baby face of each aglow with life and sweet content, while a
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  hundred fountains springing from crystal patients glistened in the dazzling white light, and ten
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  times a hundred flags amid gonflungs, hung listless but rich and splendor from invisible
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  wires. Strange music came floating along from the gracefully shaped barges with silken awnings,
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  which were gliding noiselessly over the surface of the winding river. The oars,
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  stirring the waters until the wake seemed a path through molten silver. As
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  vulgar and I followed Master Cold Soul along the streets of polished marble. It
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  was not long before a crowd of Micaminke's was at our heels, whispering all
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  sorts of uncomplimentary things about us, mingled with not a few fits of suppressed
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  laughter. The court depressor reproved them sternly. Cease your ill timed mirth,
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  said he, and go about her business. Must I pause until you a
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  gruesome tale to check your foolish gaiety? No ye nought that all silly mirth
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  does quicken your hearts and make them run down just so much sooner. At
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  these words of Master Coal's Soul, they fell back and put an end to
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  their giggling. But it was only for a moment, and by the time
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  we reached the portal of the Royal Palace, a still louder and noisier crowd
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  was close behind us. Master Coal's Soul suddenly halted, and, drawing forth
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  a huge pocket handkerchief, began to weep furiously. It was not without its
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  effect, and from that moment I could see that the Micamenkes were inclined to
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  take a more serious view of my arrival and their city, although it was
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  only cold Soul's presents that kept them from bursting out into fits of violent laughter.
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  Above the portals of the Queen's palace there were large openings hewn in the
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  rock for the purpose of admitting light into the royal apartments. But these windows,
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  if they may be called such, were hung with silken curtains of delicate
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  colors, so that the light which entered the throne room was tempered and softened.
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  The room itself was likewise hung with silken stuffs, which gave it a
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  look of oriental splendor. But never, in my travels amongst strange peoples of
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  far away lands, had my eyes ever rested upon iny work of art that
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  equaled the crystal throne upon which sat galaxa queen of the Macaminkis. In the
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  upper world, most diligent search had never been able to unearth a piece of
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  rock crystal more than about three feet in diameter. But here in Queen Galaxis
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  thrown four glorious columns at least fifteen feet in height and at their base three
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  feet in diameter, shot up in matchless splendor, their lower parts shut in
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  spangles of gold that glittered with ever varying hues as a different light fell upon
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  them. The cross pieces and pieces making up the back and arms had been
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  chosen on account of the exquisitely beautiful hair and needle shaped crystals of other metals
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  which they enclosed. A silken boldishing of rare beauty covered in the throne,
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  and from its edges dropped heavy cords and tassels of rich color and the perfection
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  of human handicraft as to the fineness and finish. At the foot of the
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  throne sat the young Princess Cristelina, and standing behind her and engaged in combing
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  her long silken tresses, was her favorite waiting maid, Damoiselle Glowstone. While
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  rounded about in files and group wise stood lords and ladies, courtiers and counselors
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  by the dozen. As master coldsall advanced to salute the queen. A throng
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  of the idlers who had followed at our heels, crowded into the inter room
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  with loud outbursts of laughter. The court depressor was greatly incensed, and turning
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  upon the throng, he began weeping again. With wonderful energy. But I
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  noticed that it was nothing but sound. Not a tear fell to obscure the
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  crystal clearness of his eyes. Then he began chanting a sort of song which
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  was intended to have a depressing influence on the wild mirth of the Mica Minkey's.
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  I can only recollect one verse of this solemn chant of the court depressor.
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  It ran as follows, weep mac A monkey's weep, Oh weep for
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  the eyeless man in the City of Light, for the mouthless man, in
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  Plenty's Powers, for the earless man, in Music's realm, for the noseless
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  man, in the Kingdom of Flower, weep Mica Monkey's weep, oh weep.
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  The thing only laughed alouder, crying out, nay, Master cove soul,
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  And we will not weep for them, weep for them thyself. At
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  last, Queen Galaxa raised the slender golden wand tipped with a diamond point that
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  lay within her hand, and instantly a hush came upon the whole place,
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  while every eye was riveted upon bulgar and me. End of Chapter eight