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Chapter 15. In Which Traps Are Laid for a Great Quarry · The Land of Mist

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Chapter fifteen of the Land of Mist. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Amanda Leung The Land of Myst by
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which traps are laid for a great quarry.
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Malone was bound in honor not to speak of love to Enid Challenger. But
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looks can speak, and so their communications had not broken down completely. In
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all other ways, he adhered closely to the agreement. Though the situation was
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a difficult one. It was the more difficult since he was a constant visitor
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to the Professor, and, now that the irritation of the debate was over,
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a very welcome one. The one object of Malone's life was to get
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the Great Man's sympathetic consideration of those psychic subjects which had gained such a hold
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upon himself. This he pursued with assiduity, but also with great caution,
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for he knew that the lava was thin, and that a fiery explosion was
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always possible. Once or twice it came and caused Malone to drop the subject
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for a week or two, until the ground seemed a little more firm.
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Malone developed a remarkable cunning in his approaches. One favorite device was to consult
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Challenger upon some scientific point on the zoological importance of the straits of Banda,
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for example, or the insects of the Malay Archipelago, and lead him on
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until Challenger, in due course, would explain that our knowledge on the point
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was due to Alfred Russell Wallace. Oh, really to Wallace the spiritualist,
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Malone would say, in an innocent voice, on which Challenger would glare and
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change the subject. Sometimes it was lodged that Malone would use as a trap.
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I suppose you think highly of him, the first brain in Europe,
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said Challenger. He is the greatest authority on ether, is he not?
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Undoubtedly? Of course? I only know him by his psychic works. Challenger
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would shut up like a clam Then Malone would wait a few days and remark,
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casually, have you ever met Lombrogio? Yes, at the Congress at
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Milan. I have been reading a book of his criminology. I presume no.
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It was called After Death? What I have not heard of it?
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It discusses the psychic question Ah a man of Lombrogo's penetrating brain would make short
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work of the fallacies of these Charlatans. No, it is written to support
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them well. Even the greatest mind has its inexplicable weaknesses. Thus, with
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infinite patience and cunning did Malone drop his little drops of reason in the hope
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of slowly wearing away the casing of prejudice. But no very visible effects could
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be seen. Some stronger measure must be adopted, and Malone determined upon direct
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demonstration. But how, when and where? Those were the all important points
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upon which he determined to consult. Algernon Maylie one spring afternoon found him back
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in that drawing room where he had once rolled upon the carpet in the embrace
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of Silas Lynne. He found the Reverend Charles Mason and Smith, the hero
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of the Queen's Haul, debate in deep consultation with Meylee upon a subject which
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may seem much more important to our descendants than those topics which now bulk large
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in the eyes of the public. It was no less than whether the psychic
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movement in Britain was destined to take a Unitarian or a Trinitarian course. Smith
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had always been in favor of the former, as had the old leaders of
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the movement and the present organized spiritualist churches. On the other hand, Charles
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Mason was a loyal son of the Angelican Church and was the spokesman of a
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host of others, including such weighty names as Lodge and Barrett among the laymen,
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or Wilberforce, Hawes and Chambers among the clergy, who clung fast to
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the old teachings while admitting the fact of spirit communication. Mayley stood between the
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two parties, and like the zealous referee in a boxing match who separates the
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two combatants, he always took a chance of getting a knock form each.
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Malone was only too glad to listen for now that he realized that the future
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of the world might be bound up in this movement, every phase of it
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was of intense interest to him. Mason was holding forth in his earnest but
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good humored way as he entered The people are not ready for a great change.
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It is not necessary. We have only to add our living knowledge and
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direct communion of the saints to the splendid liturgy and traditions of the Church,
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and you will have a driving force which will revitalize all religion. You can't
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pull a thing up from the roots like that. Even the early Christians found
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that they could not, and so they made all sorts of concessions to the
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religions around them, which was exactly what ruined them, said Smith, That
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was the real end of the Church, in its original strength and purity.
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It lasted anyhow, but it was never the same from the time that villain
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Constantine laid his hands on it. Oh, come, said Meylie. You
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must not write down first Christian emperor as a villain. But Smith was a
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forthright, uncompromising bulldoggie antagonist. What other name would you give to a man
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who murdered half his own family? Well, his personal character is not the
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question. We were talking of the organization of the Christian Church. You don't
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mind my frankness, mister Mason. Mason smiled his jolly smile. So long
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as you grant me the existence of the New Testament, I don't care what
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you do. If you would approve that our Lord was a myth, as
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that German Druze tried to do, it would not in the least affect me,
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so long as I could point to that body of sublime teaching it must
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have come from somewhere, and I adopted and say that is my creed.
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Eh. Well, there is not so much between us on that point,
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said Smith. If there is any better teaching, I have not seen it.
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It is good enough to go on with anyhow. But if we want
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to cut out the frills and superfluities, where do they all come from?
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They were compromises with many religions so that our friend se could get uniformity in
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his worldwide empire. He made a patchwork quilt of it. He took an
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Egyptian ritual, vestments, miter, crozier, tonsure, marriage ring all Egyptian.
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The Easter ceremonies are pagan and refer to the vernal equinox. Onformation is
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Mithraism, so is baptism, only it was blood instead of water. As
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to the sacrificial meal. Mason put his fingers in his ears. This is
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some old lecture of yours, he laughed, Hire a haul, but don't
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obtrude it in a private house. But seriously, Smith, all this is
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beside the question. If it is true, it will not affect my position
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at all, which is that we have a great body of doctrine which is
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working well and which is regarded with veneration by many people, your humble servant
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included, and that it would be wrong and foolish to scrap it. Surely
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you must agree, no, I doubt, Smith answered, setting his obstinate
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jaw. You are thinking too much of the feelings of your blessed church goers.
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But you have also to think of the nine people out of ten who
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never enter into a church. They have been choked off by what they,
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including your humble servant, consider to be unreasonable and fantastic. How will you
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gain them? Will you continue to offer them the same things, even though
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you mix spirit teaching with it. If, however, you approach these agnostic
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or atheistic ones and say to them, I quite agree that all this is
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unreal and is tainted by a long history of violence and reaction. But here
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we have something pure and new. Come examine it. In that way,
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I would coax them back into a belief in God and in all the fundamentals
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of religion, without their having to do violence to their reason by accepting your
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theology. Mailey had been tugging at his tawny beard while he listened to these
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conflicting councils, knowing the two men he was aware that there was not really
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much between them when one got past mere words. For Smith revered the Christ
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as a godlike man and Mason as a man like God, and the upshot
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was much the same. At the same time, he knew that their more
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extreme followers on either side were, in very truth, widely separated, so
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that compromise became impossible. What I can't understand, said Malone, is why
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you don't ask your spirit frends these questions and abide by their decisions. It
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is not so simple as you think, merely answered. We all carry on
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our earthly prejudices after death, and we all find ourselves in an atmosphere which
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more or less represents them. Thus each would echo his old views at first.
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Then in time the spirit broadens out and it ends in a universal creed
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which includes only the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God. But that
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takes time. I have heard most furious bigots talking through the veil, so
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have I for that matter, said Malone, and in this very room.
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But what about the materialists? They at least cannot remain unchanged. I believe
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their mind influences their state, and that they lie inert for ages. Sometimes
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under their own obsession that nothing can occur. Then at last they wake realize
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their own loss of time, and in many cases get to the head of
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the procession. Since they are often men of fine character and influenced by lofty
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motives, however mistaken in their views. Yes, they are often among the
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salts of the earth, said the clergyman heartily, and they offer the very
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best recruits for our movement, said Smith. There comes such a reaction when
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they find, by the evidence of their own senses, that there really is
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intelligent force outside themselves, that it gives them an enthusiasm that makes them ideal
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missionaries. You fellows who have a religion and then add to it cannot even
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imagine what it means to the man who has a complete vacuum and suddenly finds
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something to fill it. When I meet some poor earnest chap feeling out into
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the darkness, I just yearned to put it into his hand. At this
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stage, T and missus maylie appeared together, but the conversation did not flag.
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It is one of the characteristics of those who explore psychic possibilities that the
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subject is so many sided and the interest so intense, that when they meet
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together they plunge into the most fascinating exchange of views and experiences. It was
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with some difficulty that Malone got the conversation round to that which had been the
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particular subject of his visit. He could have found no group of men more
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fit to advise him, And all were equally keen that so great a man
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as Challenger should have the best available. Where should it be on that?
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They were unanimous? The large seance room of the Psychic College was the most
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select the most comfortable in every way, the best appointed in London. When
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should it be the sooner the better? Every spiritualist and every medium would surely
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put any engagement aside in order to help on such an occasion. Who should
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the medium be? Ah, there was the rut. Of course, the
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Bolsovar Circle would be ideal. It was private and unpaid. But Bolsover was
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a man of quick temper, and Challenger was sure to be very insulting and
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annoying. The meeting might end in riot and fiasco. Such a chance should
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not be taken. Was it worth while to take over to Paris? But
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who would take the responsibility of letting loose such a bull in Doctor Mapuee's china
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shop. He would probably seize pithec aunt Thropis by the throat, and risk
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every life in the room, said Melie. No, no, it would
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never do. There is no doubt that Bounderby is the strongest physical medium in
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England, said Smith. But we all know what his personal character is.
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You could not rely upon him? Why not? Asked Malone? What's the
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matter with him? Smith raised his hand to his lips. He has gone
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the way that many a medium has gone before him. But surely, said
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Malone, that is a strong argument against our cause. How can a thing
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be good if it leads to such a result. Do you consider poetry to
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be good? Why? Of course I do. Yet Poe was a drunkard,
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and Coleridge an addict, and Byron a rake, and Verlaine a degenerate.
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You have to separate the man from the thing. The genius has to
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pay a ransom for his genius and the instability of his temperament. A great
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medium is even more sensitive than a genius. Many are beautiful in their lives,
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some are not. The excuse for them is great. They practice a
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most exhausting profession, and stimulants are needed. Then they lose control, but
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their physical mediumship carries on all the same, which reminds me of a story
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about Bannderby, said Meylie. Perhaps you have not seen him alone. He
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is a funny figure at any time, a little round bouncing man who has
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not seen his own toes for years. When drunk, he is funnier still.
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A few weeks ago I got an urgent message that he was in the
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bar of a certain hotel and too far gone to get home unassisted. A
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friend and I set forth to rescue him. We got him home after some
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unsavory adventures, and what would the man do but insist upon holding a seance.
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We tried to restrain him, but the trumpet was on a side table,
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and he suddenly switched off the light. In an instant, the phenomena
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began. Never were they more powerful, But they were interrupted by princips his
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control, who sees trumpet and began belaboring him with it. You rascal,
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you drunken rascal. How dare you? How dare you? The trumpet was
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all dnted with the blows. Banderby ran bellowing out of the room and we
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took our departure. Well, it wasn't the medium that time at any rate,
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said Mason. But about Professor Challenger, it would never do to risk
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the chance. What about Tom Lyndon, asked missus Maylie. Maylie shook his
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head. Tom has never been quite the same since his imprisonment. These fools
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not only persecute our precious mediums, but they ruin their powers. It is
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like putting a razor into a damp place and then expecting it to have a
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fine edge. What he has lost his powers? Well, I would not
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go so far as that, But they are not so good as they were.
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He sees a disguised policeman in every sitter, and it distracts him.
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Still, he is dependable so far as he goes yes on the whole.
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We had better have Tom and the sitters. I expect Professor Challenger may wish
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to bring a friend or two of his own. Hey, we'll form a
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horrible block of vibrations. We must have some of our own sympathetic people to
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counteract it. There is Delicia Freeman. She would come. I would come
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myself. You would come, Mason, of course I would, and you
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Smith. No, No, I have my paper to look after. Three
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services to burials, one marriage and five meetings all next week. Well,
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we can easily get one or two more. Eight is Lyndon's favorite number.
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So now, Malone, you only have to get the Great Man's consent and
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the date and the spirit confirmation, said Mason. Seriously. We must take
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our partners into consultation. Of course, we must padre that is the right
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note to strike. Well, that's settled, Malone. We can only await
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the event. As it chanced. A very different event was awaiting Malone that
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evening, and he came upon one of those chasms which unexpectedly open across the
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path of life. When in his ordinary routine he reached the office of the
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Gazette, he was informed by the commissioner that mister Beaumont desired to see him.
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Malone's immediate superior was the old Scotch sub editor, mister McCardell. And
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it was rare, indeed, for the Supreme Editor to cast a glimpse down
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from that peak. Whence he surveyed the kingdoms of the world, or to
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show any cognizance of his humble fellow workers upon the slopes beneath him. The
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Great Man, clean shaven, prosperous and capable, sat in his palatial sanctum
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amid a rich assortment of old oak furniture and sealing wax red leather. He
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continued his letter while Malone entered, and only raised his shrewd gray eyes after
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some minutes interval. Ah, mister Malone, good evening. I have wanted
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to see you from some little time. Won't you sit down? It is
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in reference to these articles on psychic matters which you've been writing. You open
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them in a tone of healthy skepticism, tempered by a humor, which was
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very acceptable to both me and all public. I regret, however, to
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observe that your view has changed as you proceeded, and that you have now
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assumed a position in which you really seem to condone some of these practices.
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That I need not say is not the policy of the Gazette, and we
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should have discontinued the articles had it not been that we had announced a series
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by an impartial investigator. We have had to continue. But the tone must
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change. What do you wish me to do, sir? You must get
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the funny side of it again. That is what our public loves. Poke
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fun at it. Call up the Maiden Aunt and make her talk in an
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amusing fashion you grasp my meaning. I'm afraid, sir, that it has
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ceased to seem funny in my eyes. On the contrary, I take it
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more and more seriously. Beaumont shook his solemn head, so unfortunately to our
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subscribers. He had a small pile of letters upon the desk beside him,
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and he took one out look at this. I had always regarded your paper
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as a god fearing publication, and I would remind you that such practices as
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your correspondent seemed to condone, are expressly forbidden, both in levictus and deuterotomy.
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I should share your sin if I continued to be a subscriber. Bigot
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ass muttered Malone. So he may be, But the penny of a bigoted
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ass is as good as any other penny. Here's another letter. Surely,
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in this age of free thought and enlightenment, you are not helping a movement
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which tries to lead us back to the exploded idea of angelic and diabolic intelligences
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outside ourselves. If so, I must ask you to cancel my subscription.
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It would be amusing, sir, to shut these various objectors up in a
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room and let them settle it among themselves. That may be, mister Malone,
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But what I have to consider is the circulation of the gazette. Don't
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you think, sir, that possibly you underrate the intelligence of the public,
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and that behind these extremists of various sorts there is a vast body of people
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who have been impressed by the utterances of so many great and honorable witnesses.
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Is it not our duty to keep these people abreast of the real facts without
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making fun of them? Mister Beaumont shrugged his shoulders. The spiritualists must fight
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their own battle. Is not a propaganda newspaper, and we make no pretense
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to lead the public on religious beliefs. No, no, I only meant
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as to the actual facts. Look how systematically they are kept in the dark.
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When, for example, did one ever read an intelligent article upon ectoplasm
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in any London paper. Who would imagine that this all important substance has been
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examined and described and endorsed by men of science, with innumerable photographs to prove
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their words. Well, well, said Beaumont, impatiently. I am afraid
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I am too busy to argue the question. The point of this interview is
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that I have had a letter from mister Cornelius to say that we must at
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once take another line. Mister Cornelius was the owner of the Gazette, having
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become so not from any personal merit, but because his father left him some
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millions, part of which he expended upon this purchase. He seldom was seen
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in the office himself, but occasionally a paragraph in the paper recorded that his
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yacht had touched at mentone, and that he had been seen at the Monte
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Carlo table, or that he was expected in Leicestershire for the season. He
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was a man of no force of brain or character, though occasionally he swayed
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public affairs by a manifesto printed in larger type upon his own front page.
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Without being dissolute. He was a free liver, living in a constant luxury
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which placed him always on the edge of vice and occasionally over the border.
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Malone's hot blood flushed to his head as he thought of this trifler, this
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insect coming between mankind and a message of instruction and consolation descending from above.
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And yet those clumsy, childish fingers could actually turn the tap and cut off
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the divine stream, however much it might break through in other quarters. So
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that is final, mister Malone, said Beaumont, with the manner of one
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who ends an argument. Quite final, said Malone, So final that it
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marks the end of my connection with your paper. I have a six months
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contract. When it ends, I go, please yourself, mister Malone.
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Mister Beaumont went on with his writing. Malone, with the flush of battle
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still upon him, went into mic Cardle's room and told him what had happened.
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The old Scotch sub editor was very perturbed. Eh man, it's that
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irish blood of yours. That drop a Scotch is a good thing, either
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in your veins or at the bottom or glass. Go back, man,
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and say you have reconsidered, not I the idea of this man Cornelius,
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with his pot belly and red face and well you know all about his private
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life. The idea of such a man dictating what folk are to believe and
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asking me to make fun of the holiest thing on this earth. Man,
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you'll be ruined, well better man than I have been ruined over this cause.
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But I'll get another job. Not if Cornelius can stop you. If
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you keep the name of an insubordinate dog, there's no place for you in
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flat street. It's a damned shame, cried Malone, the way this thing
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has been treated as a disgrace to journalism. It's not Britain alone. America
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is worse. We seem to have the lowest, most soulless folk that ever
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lived on the press. Good hearted fellows too, but material to a man,
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and these are the leaders of the people. It's awful. McCardell put
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a fatherly hand upon the young man's shoulder. We'll will, lad. We
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take the world as we find it. We didn't make it, and we're
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no responsibile. Give it time, Give it time. We're on such a
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hurry gang home. No think it over. Remember your career, that young
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lady of yours, and then come back and eat the old pie that all
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of us have to eat if we are to keep our places in the world.
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End of chapter fifteen.