 This is Chapter 2, Book 3 of A Journey in Other Worlds. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Tom Weiss. A Journey in Other Worlds, Book 3, Chapter 2, The Spirits, First Visit. Greetings and congratulations, he said. Man has steadfastly striven to rise, and we see the results in you. I have always believed in the existence of spirits, said Cortland, but never expected to see one with my natural eyes. And you never will, in its spiritual state, replied the Shade, unless you supplement sight with reason. A spirit has merely existence, entity, and will, and is entirely invisible to your eyes. How is it, then, that we see and hear you, asked Cortland, are you a man? Or a specter that is able to affect our senses? I was a man, replied the spirit, and I have given myself visible and tangible form to warn you of danger. My colleagues and I watched you when you left the cylinder, and when you shot the birds, and seeing your doom in the air have been trying to communicate with you. What were the strange shadows and prismatic colors that kept passing across our table, asked Bear Warden. They were the obstructions and refractions of light caused by spirits trying to take shape, replied the Shade. Do you mind our asking you questions, said Cortland? No, replied their visitor. If I can, I will answer them. Then, said Cortland, how is it that, of the several spirits that tried to become embodied, we see but one, namely you? That, said the Shade, is because no natural law is broken. On earth one man can learn a handicraft better in a few days than another in a month, while some can solve with ease a mathematical problem that others could never grasp. So it is here. Perhaps I was in a favorable frame of mind on dying, for the so-called supernatural always interested me on earth, or I had a natural aptitude for these things. For soon after death I was able to affect the senses of the friends I had left. Are we to understand, then, asked Cortland, that the reason more of our departed do not reappear to us is because they cannot? Precisely, replied the Shade. But though the percentage of those that can return and reappear on earth is small, their number is fairly large. History has many cases. We know that the prophet Samuel raised the witch of Endor at the behest of Saul, that Moses and Elias became visible in the transfiguration, and that after his crucifixion and burial Christ returned to his disciples and was seen and heard by many others. How, said Bearwarden deferentially, do you occupy your time? Time, replied the spirit, has not the same significance to us that it has to you. You know that while the earth rotates in 24 hours, this planet takes about 10, and the sun turns on its own axis but once in a terrestrial month, while the years of the planets vary from less than three months for Mercury to Neptune's 164 years. Being insensible to heat and cold, darkness and light, we have no more changing seasons, neither is there any night. When a man dies, he continued with solemnity, he comes at once into the enjoyment of senses vastly keener than any be possessed before. Our eyes, if such they can be called, are both microscopes and telescopes, the change in focus being affected as instantaneously as thought, enabling us to perceive the smallest microbe or disease germ, and to see the planets that revolve about the stars. The step of a fly is to us as audible as the tramp of a regimen, while we hear the mechanical and chemical action of a snake's poison on the blood of any poor creature bitten as plainly as the waves on the shore. We also have a chemical, an electrical sense, showing us what effect different substances will have on one another, and what changes to expect in the weather. The most complex and subtle of our senses, however, is a sort of second sight that we call intuition, or prescience, which we are still studying to perfect and understand. With our eyes closed, it reveals to us approaching astronomical and other bodies, or what is happening on the other side of the planet, and enables us to view the future as you do the past. The eyes of all but the highest angels require sunlight, and can be dazzled by an excess, but this attribute of divinity nothing can obscure, and it is the sense that will first enable us to know God. By means of these new and sharpened faculties which, like children, we are continually learning to use to better advantage, we constantly increase our knowledge, and this is next to our greatest happiness. Is there any limit, asked Bear Warden, to human progress on the earth? Practically none, replied the spirit, progress depends largely on your command of the forces of nature. At present your principal sources of power are food, fuel, electricity, the heat of the interior of the earth, wind, and tide. From the first two, you cannot expect much more than now, but from the internal heat, everywhere available, trade winds, and falling water, as at Niagara, and from tides, you can obtain power almost without limit. Were this all, however, your progress would be slow, but the Eternal, realizing the shortness of your lies, has given you power with which to rend the globe. You have the action of all uncombined chemicals, atmospheric electricity, the excess or froth of which you now see in thunderstorms, and the electricity and magnetism of your own bodies. There is also molecular and sympathetic vibration, by which Joshua, not understandingly, leveled the walls of Jericho, and the power of your minds over matter, but little more developed now than when I moved in the flesh upon the earth. By lowering large quantities of high-powered explosives to the deepest parts of the ocean bed, and exploding them there, you can produce chasms through which some water will be forced towards the heated interior by the enormous pressure of its own weight. At a comparatively slight depth it will be converted into steam and produce an earthquake. This will so enlarge your chasm that a great volume of water will rush into the red-hot interior, which will cause a series of such terrific eruptions that large islands will be upheaved. By the reduction of the heat of that part of the interior there will also be a shrinkage, which in connection with the explosions will cause the earth's solid crust to be thrown up in folds till whole continents appear. Some of the water displaced by the new land will also, as a result of the cooling, be able permanently to penetrate farther, thereby decreasing by that much the amount of water in the oceans, so that the tide level in your existing seaports will be slightly changed. By persevering in this work you will become so skilled that it will be possible to evoke land of whatever kind you wish at any place, and by having high-table land at the equator, sloping off into low plains towards north and south, and maintaining volcanoes in eruption at the poles to throw out heat and start warm ocean currents, it will be possible, in connection with the change you are now making in the axis, to render the conditions of life so easy that the earth will support a far larger number of souls. With the powers at your disposal, you can also alter and improve existing continents, and thereby still further increase the number of the children of men. Perhaps with mild climate, fertile soil, and decreased struggle for existence, man will develop his spiritual side. Finally, you have Apogee, one of the highest forces for it puts you almost on a plane with angels, and with it you have already visited Jupiter and Saturn. It was impossible that man should remain chained to the earth during the entire life of his race, like an inferior animal, or a mineral, lower even in the freedom of body than birds. Here too far you have, as I have said, seen but one side in many workings of nature, as if you had discovered either negative or positive electricity, but not both. For gravitation and apogee are as inseparably combined in the rest of the universe as those too, separate it temporarily on earth that the discovery of the utilization of one with the other might serve as an incentive to your minds. You saw it in nature, on Jupiter, in the case of several creatures, suspecting it in the boa constrictor and will of the wisp and jellyfish, and have standing illustrations of it in all tailed comets, luminosity in the case of large bodies being one manifestation, in the rings of this planet, and in the molecular motion and porosity of all gases, liquids, and solids on earth, since what else is it that keeps the molecules apart, heat serving merely to increase its power? God made man in his own image. Does it not stand to reason that he will allow him to continue to become more and more like himself? Would he begrudge him the power to move mountains through the intelligent application of nature's laws when he himself said they might be moved by faith? So far, you have been content to use the mechanical power of water, its momentum or dead weight merely. To attain a much higher civilization, you must break it up chemically and use its constituent gases. How, asked Bear Warden, can this be done? Force superheated steam, replied the spirit, through an intensely heated substance, as you now do in making water gas. Preferably, flatten them, heated by electricity, apply an aphorgetic shock, and the oxygen and hydrogen will separate, like oil and water, the oxygen being so much the heavier. Lead them in different directions as fast as the water is decomposed, since otherwise they would reunite, and your supply of power would be inexhaustible. Will you not stay and dine with us? asked Errol. While in the flesh you must be subject to its laws and must need food to maintain your strength like ourselves. It will give me great pleasure, replied the spirit, to tarry with you, and once more to taste earthly food, but most of all to have the blessed joy of being of service to you. Here, all being immaterial spirits, no physical injury can befall any of us, and since no one wants anything that anyone else can give, we have no opportunity of doing anything for each other. You see, we neither eat nor sleep. Neither can any of us again know physical pain or death. Nor can we comfort one another, for everyone knows the truth about himself and everyone else, and we read one another's thoughts as an open book. Do you, asked Bear Warden, not eat at all? We have absorbed vitality in a sense, replied the spirit. As the sun contains certain substances into food for mortals, it also produces molecular vibration and charges the air with magnetism and electricity, which we absorb without effort. In fact, there is a faint pleasure in the absorption of this strength, when in magnetic disturbances there is an unusual amount of immortal food. Should we try to resist it, there would eventually be a greater pressure without than within, and we should assimilate involuntarily. We are part of the intangible universe, and can feel no hunger that is not instantly appeased. Neither can we ever more no thirst. Why, asked Cortland reverently, did the angel with the sword of flame drive Adam from the tree of life, since with his soul he had received that which he could never die? That was part of the mercy of God, the shade replied, for immortality can be enjoyed but meagerly on earth, where natural limitations are so abrupt. And know this, ye who are something of chemists, that had Adam eaten of that substance called fruit, he would have lived in the flesh to this day, and would have been of all men the most unhappy. Will the fountain of youth ever be discovered? asked Cortland. That substances exist, replied the spirit, that render it impossible for the germs of old age and decay to lodge in the body, I know. In fact, it would be a break in the continuity and balance of nature, did they not. But I believe their discovery will be coincident with Christ's second visible advent on earth. You are, however, only on the shore of the ocean of knowledge. And, by continuing to advance in geometric ratio, will soon be able to retain your mortal bodies till the average longevity exceeds Methuselah's, but, except for more opportunities of doing good, or setting a longer example to your fellows by your lives, where would be the gain. I now see what appeared to me while I lived on earth in significant incidents were the acts of God, and that what I thought injustice or misfortune was but evidence of his wisdom and love. For we know that not a sparrow falleth without God, and that the hairs of our heads are numbered. Every act of kindness or unselfishness on my part also stands out like a golden letter or a white stone and gives me unspeakable comfort. At the last judgment, and in eternity following, we shall have very different but just as real bodies as those that we possessed in the flesh. The dead at the last trump will rise clothed in them, and at that time the souls in paradise will receive them also. I wonder, thought Errol, on which hand we shall be placed in that last day. The classification is now going on, said the spirit, answering his thought, and I know that in the final judgment each individual will range himself automatically on his proper side. Do tell me, said Errol, how were you able to answer my thought? I see the vibrations of the gray matter of your brain as plainly as the movements of your lips. In fact, I see the thoughts in the embryonic stage taking shape. When their meal was ready, they sat down, Errol placing the spirit on his right, with Cortland on his left, and having Bear Warden opposite. On this occasion their chief had given them a particularly good dinner, but the spirit took only a slice of meat and a glass of clara. Won't you tell us the story of your life, said Errol, to the spirit, and your experiences since your death? They would be of tremendous interest to us. I was a bishop in one of the Atlantic States, replied the spirit gravely, and died shortly before the Civil War. People came from other cities to hear my sermons, and the biographical writers have honored my memory by saying that I was a great man. I was contemporaneous with Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. Shortly after I reached three score and ten, according to earthly years, I caught what I considered only a slight cold, for I had always had good health, but it became pneumonia. My friends, children, and grandchildren came to see me, and all seemed going well, when without warning my physician told me I had but a few hours to live. I could scarcely believe my ears, and though as a churchman I had ministered to others and had always tried to lead a good life, I was greatly shocked. I suddenly remembered all the things I had left undone, and all the things I intended to do, and the old saying, hell is paved with good intentions, crossed my mind very forcibly. In less than an hour I saw the physician was right. I grew weaker, and my pulse fluttered, but my mind remained clear. I prayed to my Creator with all my soul, O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence, and be no more seen. As if for an answer the thought crossed my brain, set thine house in order, for thou shalt not live but die. I then called my children and made disposition of such of my property and personal effects, as were not covered by my will. I also gave to each the advice that my experience had shown me, he or she needed. Then came another wave of remorse and regret, and again an intense longing to pray. But along with the thought of sins and neglected duties came also the memory of the honest efforts I had made to obey my conscience, and these were like rifts of sunshine during a storm. These thoughts, and the blessed promises of religion I had so often preached in the churches of my diocese, were an indescribable comfort, and saved me from the depths of blank despair. Finally my breathing became labored, I had sharp spasms of pain, and my pulse almost stopped. I felt that I was dying, and my sight grew dim. The crisis and climax of life were at hand. Oh, I thought, with the philosophers and sages, is it to this end I lived? The flower appears, briefly blooms amid troubleous toil, and is gone. My body returns to its primordial dust, and my works are buried in oblivion. The paths of life and glory lead but to the grave. My soul was filled with conflicting thoughts, and for a moment even my faith seemed at a low end. I could hear my children's stifled sobs, and my darling wife shed silent tears. The thought of parting from them gave me the bitterest wrench. With my fleeting breath, I gasped these words. That mercy I showed others, that show thou me. The darkened room grew darker, and after that I died. In my sleep I seemed to dream. All about were refined and heavenly flowers, while the most delightful sounds and perfumes filled the air. Gradually the vision became more distinct, and I experienced an indescribable feeling of peace and repose. I passed through fields and scenes I had never seen before, while every place was filled with an all-pervading light. Sometimes I seemed to be miles in the air. Countless suns and their planets shone, and dazzled my eyes, while no bird of paradise was as happy or free as I. Gradually it came to me that I was awake, and that it was no dream. Then I remembered my last moments, and perceived that I had died. Death had brought me freedom. My work in the flesh was ended. I was, indeed, alive. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? In my dying moments I had forgotten what I had so often preached. Thou fool? That which thou sowest is not quickened except it die. In a moment my life lay before me like a valley or an open page. All along its paths and way-sides I saw the little seeds of word, indeed, that I had sown extending and bearing fruit for ever for good or evil. I then saw things as they were, and realized the faultiness of my former conclusions, based as they had been on the incomplete knowledge obtained through embryonic senses. I also saw the divine purpose in life, as the design in a piece of tapestry, whereas before I had seen but the wrong side. It is not till we have lost the life in the flesh that we realize its dignity and value. For every hour gives us opportunities of helping or elevating some human being. It may be ourselves of doing something in his service. Now that time has passed. The books are closed, and we can do nothing further ourselves to alter our status for eternity, however much we may wish to. It is on this account, and not merely to save you from death, which in itself is nothing, that I now tell you to run to the Callisto, seal the doors hermetically, and come not forth till a sudden rush of air that you will see on the trees has passed. A gust in which even birds drop dead, if they are unable to escape, will be here when you reach safety. Do not delay to take this food, and eat none of it when you return, for it will be filled with poisonous germs. How can we find you? asked Erol, grasping his hand. You must not leave us till we know how we can see you again. Think hard and steadfastly of me, you three, replied the Spirit. If you want me, and I shall feel your thought, saying which he vanished before their eyes, and the three friends ran to the Callisto. This is the end of Chapter 2, in Book 3 of A Journey in Other Worlds. Recording by Tom Weiss This is Chapter 3, Book 3 of A Journey in Other Worlds. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Tom Weiss. A Journey in Other Worlds. Book 3. Chapter 3. Doubts and Philosophy. On reaching it, they climbed the ladder leading to the second story opening, and entering through this they closed the door, screwing it tightly in place. Now, said Cortland, we can see what changes if any this wonderful gust will affect. He made no strictures on our senses such as they are, said Bear Warden, but implied that evolution would be carried much further in us, from which I suppose we may infer that it has not yet gone far. I wish we had recorked those brandy peaches, for now they will be filled with poisonous germs. I wonder if our shady friend could not tell us of an antiseptic with which they might be treated. Those fellows thought Erralt, who had climbed to the Dome, from which he had an extended view, would jeer at an angel, while the deference they showed the spirit seems as usual to have been merely superficial. Let us note, said Cortland, that the spirit thermometer outside has fallen several degrees since we entered, though from the time taken I should not say that the sudden change would be one of temperature. Just then they saw a number of birds, which had been resting in a clump of trees, take flight suddenly, but they fell to the ground before they had risen far, and were dashed to pieces. In another moment the trees began to bend and sway before the storm, and as they gazed the color of the leaves turned from green and purple to orange and red. The wind blew off many of these, and they were carried along by the gusts, or fluttered to the ground, which was soon strewed with them. It was a typical autumnal scene. Presently the wind shifted, presently the wind shifted, and this was followed by a cold shower of rain. I think the worst is over, said Baird Warden. The sailor's guide says, when the rains before the wind hath ne'erths sheets and braces mind, when the winds before the rain, soon you can make sail again, doubtless that will hold good here. This proved to be correct, and after a repetition of the precautions they had taken on their arrival on the planet, in regard to the inhalability of the air, they again sallied forth. They left their magazine shotguns, taking instead the double-barreled kind, on account of the rapidity with which this enabled them to fire the second barrel after the first, and threw away the water that had collected in the bucket, out of respect to the spirit's warning. They noticed a pungent odor, and decided to remain on high ground, since they had observed that the birds, in their effort to escape, had flown almost vertically into the air. On reaching the grove in which they had seen the storm, they found their table, and everything on it exactly as they had left it. Baird Warden threw out the brandied peaches on the ground, exclaiming that it was a shame to lose such good preserves. And they proceeded on their walk. They passed hundreds of dead birds, and on reaching the edge of the Toadstool valley were not a little surprised to find that every Toadstool had disappeared. I wonder, said the doctor, if there can be any connection between the phenomenon of the disappearance of those Toadstools and the death of the birds. We could easily discover it if they had eaten them, or if in any other way the plants could have entered their bodies, but I see no way in which that can have happened. Resolving to investigate carefully any other fungi they might see, they resumed their march. The cold, distant-looking sun, apparently about the size of an orange, was near the horizon. Saturn's rotation on its axis occupying only ten hours and fourteen minutes, being but a few minutes longer than Jupiter's, they knew it would soon be night. Finding a place on a range of hills, sheltered by rocks and a clump of trees of the evergreen species, they arranged themselves as comfortably as possible. Eight some of the sandwiches they had brought, lighted their pipes, and watched the dying day. Here were no fireflies to light the darkening minutes, nor singing flowers to lull them to sleep with their song, but six of the eight moons, each at a different phase, and with varied brightness, bathed the landscape in their pale cold rays, while far above them, like a huge rainbow, stretched the great rings in effulgent sheets, reaching thousands of miles into space, and flooded everything with their silvery light. How poor a place compared with this, they thought to themselves, is our world, and Erol wished that his soul was already free, while the dead leaves rustling in the gentle breeze and the night winds sighing among the trees seemed to echo his thought. Far above their heads and in the vastness of space, the well-known stars and constellations, notwithstanding the enormous difference they had now come, looked absolutely unchanged and seemed to them emblematic of tranquility and eternal repose. The days were changed by their shortness, and by the apparent loss of power in the sun, and the nights, as if in compensation, were magnificently illuminated by the numerous moons and splendid rings, though neither rings nor satellites shone with as strong a light as the terrestrial moon. But in nothing outside of the solar system was there any change, and could Aeneas, Palinurus, or one of Philip of Macedon's shepherds be brought to life here, he would see exactly the same stars in the same positions, and did he not know of his own death or of the lapse of time, he might suppose so far as the heavens were affected, that he had but fallen asleep, or had just closed his eyes. I have always regretted, said Cortland, that I was not born a thousand years later. Were it not, added Errol, that our earth is the vestibule to space, and for the opportunities it opens, I should rather never have lived, for life in itself is unsatisfying. You fellows are too indefinite and abstract for me, said Bairwarden. I like something tangible and concrete. The utilitarianism of the twentieth century, by which I live, paradoxical, though it may seem, would be out of place in space, unless we can colonize the other planets and improve their arrangements and axes. Mixed with Errol's philosophical and metaphysical thoughts were the memories of his sweetheart Ed Vassar, and he longed more than his companions for the spirit's return, that he might ask him if for chance he could tell him ought of her, and whether her thoughts were then of him. Finally, worn out by the fatigue and excitement of the day, they set the protection wires more from force of habit than because they feared molestation, and rolling themselves in their blankets, for the night was cold, were soon fast asleep. Errol's last thought, having been of his fiancé, courtlands of the question he wished to ask the spirit, and Bairwarden's of the progress of his company in the work of straightening the terrestrial axis. Thus they slept 790 million miles beyond their Earth's orbit, and more than 800 million from the place where the Earth was then. While they lay unconscious, the clouds above them froze, and before morning there was a fall of snow that covered the ground and them as they lay upon it. Soon three white mounds were all that marked their presence, and the cranes and eagles rising from their roosts in response to the coming day looked unconcernedly at all that was human that they had ever seen. Finally, awakened by the resounding cries of these birds, Bairwarden and Cortland arose, and meeting Errol, who had already arisen, mistook the snowy form before them for the spirit, and thinking the dead bishop had revisited them, they were preparing to welcome him, and to propound the questions they had formulated when Errol's familiar voice showed them their mistake. Seeing your white figures said he rise apparently in response to those loud calls reminded me of what the spirit told us of the last day, and of the awakening and resurrection of the dead. The scene was indeed weird. The east already streaked with the rays of the rising far away sun and the pale moons nearing the horizon in the west seem connected by the huge bow of light. The snow on the dark evergreens produced a contrast of color while the other trees raised their almost bare and whitened branches against the sky, as though in supplication to the mysterious rings which cast their light upon them and on the ground. As they gazed, however, the rings became gray, the moons disappeared, and another day began. Feeling sure the snow must have cleared the air of any deleterious substances it contained the day before, they descended into the neighboring valley, which having a southerly exposure was warm in comparison with the hills. As they walked they disturbed a number of small rodents which quickly ran away and disappeared in their holes. Though we have seen none of the huge creatures here, said Cortland, that were so plentiful on Jupiter, these burrowers belong to a distinctly higher scale than those we found there, from which I take it we may infer that the evolution of the animal kingdom has advanced further on this planet than on Jupiter, which is just what we have right to expect, for Saturn, in addition to being the smaller and therefore more matured of the two, has doubtless had a longer individual existence being the farther from the Sun. Notwithstanding the cold of the night, the flowers, especially the lilies, were as beautiful as ever, which surprised them not a little, until, on examining them closely, they found that the stems and veins in the leaves were fluted, and therefore elastic, so that should the sap freeze it could expand without bursting the cells, thereby enabling the flowers to withstand a short frost. They noticed that many of the curiously shaped birds they saw at a distance from time to time were able to move with great rapidity along the ground, and had about concluded that they must have four legs, being similar to wing squirrels, when a long, low quadruped, about twenty-five feet from nostrils to tail, which they were endeavoring to stalk, suddenly spread two pairs of wings, flapping the four at once, and then soared off at great speed. I hope we can get one of those, or at least his photograph, said Cortland. If they go in pairs, said Bearwarden, we may find a companion near. At that moment another great winged lizard, considerably larger than the first, rose with a snort not twenty yards on their left. Cortland, who was a good shot with a gun at short range, immediately raised his swell bore, and fired both barrels at the monster, but the double B shots had no more disabling effect than if they had been number eights. They, however, exited the creature's ire, for sweeping around quickly it made straight for Cortland, breathing at him when near, and almost overpowering the three men with the melodorous, poisonous cloud it exhaled. Instantly Bearwarden fired several revolver bullets down its throat, while Errol pulled both barrels almost simultaneously, with the muzzles but a few inches from its side. In this case, the initial velocity of the heavy buck shot was so great, and they were still so close together that they penetrated the leathery hide, tearing a large hole. With a roar, the wounded monster the wounded monster beat a retreat, first almost prostrating them with another blast of its awful breath. It would take a stronger light than we get here, said Bearwarden, to impress a negative through that haze. I think he continued, I know a trick that will do the business if we see any more of these dragons. Saying which, he withdrew the cartridges from his gun, and with his hunting knife cut the tough paper shell nearly through between the wads, separating the powder from the shot, drawing his knife entirely around. Now, said he, when I fire those, the entire forward end of the cartridge will go out, keeping the fifteen buck shot together like a slug, and with such penetration that it will go through a two inch plank. It is a trick I learn from hunters, and unless your guns are choked more, in which case it might burst the barrel, I advise you to follow suit. Finding they had brought straightforward guns, they arranged their cartridges similarly, and set out in the direction in which the winged lizards or dragons had gone. This is the end of chapter three in book three of A Journey in Other Worlds, recording by Tom Weiss. This is chapter four, book three of A Journey in Other Worlds. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Tom Weiss. A Journey in Other Worlds, book three, chapter four, a providential intervention. The valley narrowed as they advanced, the banks rising gently on both sides. Both dragons had flown straight to a grove of tall, spreading trees. Uncoming near to this, they noticed a faint smell, like that of the dragon, and also like the trace they found in the air on leaving the Callisto the day before, after they had sought safety within it. Soon it almost knocked them down. We must get to windward, said Cortland. I already feel faint and believe those dragons could kill a man by breathing on him. Accordingly they skirted around the grove, and having made a quarter circle, for they did not wish the dragons to wind them again drew nearer. Tree after tree was passed, and finally they saw an open space, twelve or fifteen acres in area at the center of the grove when they were arrested by a curious sound of munching. Peering among the trunks of the huge trees, they advanced cautiously, but stopped aghast. In the opening were at least a hundred dragons devouring the toadstools with which the ground was covered. Many of them were thirty to forty feet long, with huge and terribly long sharp claws, and jaws armed with gleaming batteries of teeth. Though they evidently had lungs and the claws and mouth of an animal, they reminded the observers in many respects of insects enormously exaggerated, for their wings, composed of a sort of transparent scale, were small and moved, as they had already seen at far greater speed than those of a bird. Their projecting eyes were also set rigidly in their heads instead of turning, and consisted of a number of flat surfaces or facets, like a fly's eye. So that they could see backward and all around, each facet seeing anything the rays from which came at right angles to its surface. This beautiful grove was doubtless their feeding ground, and as such was likely to be visited by many more. Concluding it would be wise to let their wounded game escape, the three men were about to retreat, having found it difficult to breathe the air even at that distance from the monsters, when the wounded dragon that they had observed moving about in a very restless manner, and evidently suffering a good deal from the effect of its wounds, espied them, and with a roar that made the echoes ring, started towards them slowly along the ground, followed by the entire herd, the nearer of which now also saw them. Seeing that their lives were in danger, the hunters quickly regained the open, and then stretched their legs against the wind. The dragons came through the trees on the ground, and then raising themselves by their wings, the whole swarm snorting and darkening the air with their deadly breath, made straight for the men, who by comparison looked like Liliputians. With a slug from his right barrel, Bear Warden ended the wounded dragon's career by shooting him through the head, and with his left laid low the one following. Erol also killed two huge monsters, and Cortland killed one and wounded another. Their supply of prepared cartridges was then exhausted, and they fell back on their revolvers an ineffective spreading shot. Resolved to sell their lives dearly, they retreated, keeping their backs to the wind with the poisonous dragons in front. But the breeze was very slight, and they were being rapidly blinded and asphyxiated by the loathsome fumes and deafened by the hideous roaring and snapping of the dragon's jaws, realizing that they could not much longer reply to the diabolical host with lead, they believed their last hour had come when the ground on which they were making their last stand shook. There was a rending of rocks and a rush of imprisoned steam that drowned even the dragon's roar, and they were separated from them by a long fissure and a wall of smoke and vapor. Struggling back from the edge of the chasm, they fell upon the ground, and then for the first time fully realized that the earthquake had saved them, for the dragons could not come across the opening, and would not venture to fly through the smoke and steam. When they recovered somewhat from the shock, they cut a number of cartridges in the same way that they had prepared those that had done them such good service and kept one barrel of each gun loaded with that kind. We may thank Providence, said Bear Warden, for that escape. I hope we shall have no more such close calls. With a parting glance at the chasm that had saved their lives, and from which a cloud still arose, they turned slightly to the right of their former course and climbed the gently rising bank. When near the top, being tired of their exciting experiences, they sat down to rest. The ground all about them was covered with mushrooms, white on top, and pink underneath. This is a wonderful place for fungi, said Errol. Here, doubtless, we shall be safe from the dragons, where they seemed to prefer the toadstools. As he lay on the ground, he watched one particular mushroom that seemed to grow before his eyes. Suddenly, as he looked, it vanished. Dumb found it at this unmistakable manifestation of the phenomenon they thought they had seen on landing. He called his companions and, choosing another mushroom, the three watched it closely. Presently, without the least noise or commotion, that also disappeared, leaving no trace, and the same fate befell a number of others. At a certain point of their development, they vanished as completely as a bubble of air coming to the surface of water, except that they caused no ripple, leaving merely a small depression where they had stood. Well, said Bear Warden, in all my travels I have never seen anything like this. If I were at a slight of hand performance, and the prestidigitator, after doing that, asked for my theory, I should say, I give it up. How is it with you, doctor? he asked, addressing Cortland. There must be an explanation, replied Cortland. Only we do not know the natural law to which the phenomenon is subject, having had no experience with it on earth. We know that all substances can be converted into gases and that all gases can be reduced to liquids and even solids by the application of pressure and cold. If there is any way by which the visible substance of these fungi can be converted into its invisible gases as water into oxygen and hydrogen, what we have seen can be logically explained. Perhaps, favored by some affinity of the atmosphere, its constituent parts are broken up and become gases at this barometric pressure and temperature. We must ask the spirit if he visits us again. I wish he would, said Errol. There are lots of things I should like to ask him. Presidents of corporations and other chairman, said Bear Warden, are not usually superstitious, and I, of course, take no stock in the supernatural. But somehow I have a well-formed idea that our friend the bishop, with the great power of his mind over matter, had a hand in that earthquake. He seems to have an exalted idea of our importance and may be exerting himself to make things pleasant. At this point the sun sank below the horizon and they found themselves confronted with night. Dear, dear, said Bear Warden, and we haven't a crumb to eat. I'll stand the drinks and the pipes, he continued, passing around his ubiquitous flask and tobacco pouch. If I played such pranks with my interior on earth, said Cortland, helping himself to both, as I do on this planet, it would give me no end of trouble. But here I seem to have the digestion of an ostrich. So they sat and smoked for an hour, till the stars twinkled and the rings shone in their glory. Well, said Erol, finally, since we have nothing but motions to lay on the table, I move, we adjourn. The only motion I shall make, said Cortland, who was already undressed, will be that of getting into bed, saying which he rolled himself in his blanket, and soon was fast asleep. Having decided that, on account of the proximity of the dragons, a man must, in any event, be on the watch, they did not set the protection wires. From the shortness of the knights, they divided them into only two watches of from two hours to two and a half each, so that, even when constant watch duty was necessary, each man had one full night's sleep in three. On this occasion, Erol and Cortland were the watchers, Cortland having the morning and Erol the evening watch. Many curious quadruped birds, about the size of large bears, and similar in shape, having bear-shaped heads and several creatures that looked like the dragons, flew about them in the moonlight. But neither watcher fired a shot, as the creatures showed no desire to make an attack. All these species seemed to belong to the owl or bat tribe, for they roamed abroad at night. This is the end of Chapter 4 in Book 3 of A Journey in Other Worlds, recording by Tom Weiss. This is Chapter 5, Book 3 of A Journey in Other Worlds. When Erol's watch was ended, he roused Cortland, who took his place and feeling a desire for solitude and for a last long look at the earth, he crossed the top of the ridge on the slope of which they had camped and lay down on the farther side. The south wind in the upper air rushed along in the mighty whirl, occasionally carrying filming clouds across the faces of the moons, but about Erol all was still, and he felt a quiet and serene repose. He had every intention of remaining awake, and was pondering on the steadfastness of the human heart and the constancy of love when his meditations began to wander, and with his last thoughts on Sylvia he fell asleep. Not a branch moved, nor did a leaf fall, yet before Erol's sleeping eyes a strange scene was enacted. A figure in white came near and stood before him, and he recognized in it one violet slade, a very attractive girl to whom he had been a tender in his college days. She was at that time just eighteen, and people believed that she loved him, but for some reason he knew not why he had not proposed. I thought you had died, he said, as she gazed at him, but you are now looking better than ever. From the world's point of view I am dead, she replied, and I died and was buried. It is therefore permissible that I should show you the truth. You never believed that I loved you. I have wished earnestly to see you, and to have you know that I did. I did you an injustice, Erol answered, perceiving all that was in her heart. Could mortals but see as spirits do, there would be no misunderstandings. I am so glad to see you, she continued, and to know you are well. Had you not come here we could probably not have met until after your death, for I shall not be sufficiently advanced to return to earth for a long time, though my greatest solace while there was my religion, which is all that brought me here. We, however, know that as our capacity for true happiness increases we shall be happier, and that after the resurrection there will be no more tears. Farewell, she whispered, while her eyes were filled with love. Erol's sleep was then undisturbed for some time, when suddenly an angel, wreathed in light, appeared before him and spoke these words. He that walked with Adam, and talked with Moses, has sent me to guard you while you sleep. No plague or fever, wild beast or earthquake, can molest you, for you are equally protected from the most powerful monster and the most insidious disease germ. Blessed is the man whose offenses are covered and whose sins are forgiven. Sleep on, therefore, and be refreshed, for the body must have rest. A man may rest indeed, replied Erol, when he has a guardian angel. I had the most unbounded faith in your existence before I saw you, and believe and know that you or others have often shielded me from danger and saved my life. Why am I worthy of so much care? Whoso dwelleth under the defense of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty, answered the angel, and thereupon he became invisible, a diffused light taking his place. Shortly afterwards, this paled and completely vanished. Not only am I in paradise, thought Erol, I believe I am also in the seventh heaven. Would I might hear such words again? A group of lilies then appeared before the sleeper's eyes, and the midst was one lily far larger than the rest, and of a dazzling white. This spoke in a gentle voice, but with the tones of a trombone. Thy thoughts and acts are a pleasure to me. Thou hast raised no idols within thy heart, and thy faith is as incense before me. Thy name is now in the Book of Life. Continue as thou hast begun, and thou shalt live and reign forever. Hereupon the earth shook, and Erol was awakened. Great boulders were rolling and crashing down the slope about him, while the dawn was already in the east. My mortal eyes and senses are keener here while I sleep than when I am awake, he thought, as he looked about him, for spirits unable to affect me while waking have made themselves felt in my more sensitive state while I was asleep. Nevertheless, this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. The boulders were still in motion when I opened my eyes, he mused. Can it be that there is hereabouts such a flower as in my dreams I seem to see? And looking beyond where his head had lain, he beheld the identical lily surrounded by the group that his closed eyes had already seen. Thereupon he uncovered his head and departed quickly. Crossing the divide he descended to camp, where he found Cortland in deep thought. I cannot yet over the dreams said the doctor I had in the first part of the night. Notwithstanding yesterday's excitement and fatigue, my sleep was most disturbed, and I was visited by visions of my wife who died long ago. She warned me against skepticism and seemed much distressed at my present spiritual state. I, said Bear Warden, who had been out early and had succeeded in bringing in half a dozen birds, was so disturbed I could not sleep. It seemed to me as though half the men I have ever known came and warned me against agnosticism and my materialistic tendencies, they kept repeating, you are losing the reality for the shadow. I am convinced, said Errol, that they were not altogether dreams, or if dreams indeed, that they were super-induced by a higher will. We know that angels have often appeared to men in the past. May it not be that, as our appreciativeness increases, these communications will recur? Thereupon he related his own experiences. The thing that surprised me, said Cortland, as they finished breakfast, was the extraordinary realism of the scene. We must see if our visions return on anything but an empty stomach. This is the end of Chapter 5 in Book 3 of A Journey in Other Worlds, Recording by Tom Weiss. This is Chapter 6 of Book 3 of A Journey in Other Worlds. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Tom Weiss. A Journey in Other Worlds. Book 3, Chapter 6. A Great Void and a Great Longing. Resuming their march, their travelers proceeded along the circumference of a circle, having a radius of about three miles, with the Callisto in the center. In crossing soft places, they observed footprints forming in the earth all around them. The impressions were of all sizes, and ceased when they reached rising or hard ground, only to reappear in the swabs, regulating their speed by that of the travelers. The three men were greatly surprised at this. You may observe, said Cortland, that the surface of the impression is depressed as you watch it, as though by a weight, and you can see and even hear the water being squeezed out, that whatever is doing it is entirely invisible. They must be made by spirits sufficiently advanced to have weight, but not advanced enough to make themselves visible. Moved by a species of vandalism, Bearwarden raised his twalbore, and fired an ordinary cartridge that he had not prepared for the dragons, at the space directly over the nearest forming prince. There was a brilliant display of prismatic colors, as in a rainbow, and though the impressions already made remained, no new ones were formed. Now you have done it, said Cortland, I hope to be able to investigate this further. We shall doubtless see each other, and perhaps more wonderful things, replied Bearwarden, I must say this gives me an uncanny feeling. When they had completed a little over half their circle, they came upon another of the groves with which Saturn seemed to abound, at the edge of which, in a side hill, was a cave, the entrance of which was composed of rocky masses that had apparently fallen together, the floor being but little higher than the surface outside. The arched roof of the vestibule was rendered watertight by the soil that had formed upon it, which again was overgrown by vines and bushes. This, said Bearwarden, will be a good place to camp, for the cave will protect us from dragons, unless they should take a notion to breathe at us from the outside, and it will keep us dry in case of rain. Tomorrow we can start with this as a center and make another circuit. We can explore Saturn on foot, said Cortland, and far more thoroughly than Jupiter, on account of its comparative freedom from monsters. Not even the dragons can trouble us unless we meet them in large numbers. Thereupon they set about getting fuel for their fire. Besides collecting some of the dead wood that was lying all about, they split up a number of resinous pine and fir trees with explosive bullets from their revolvers, so that soon they not only had a roaring fire, but filled the back part of the cave with logs to dry, in case they should camp there again at some later day. Neither Cortland nor Bearwarden felt much like sleeping, and so, after finishing the birds the president had brought down that morning, they persuaded Errol to sit up and smoke with them. Wrapping themselves in their blankets, for there was a chill in the air, they sat about the campfire they had built in the mouth of the cave. Two moons that were at the full rose rapidly in the clear, cold sky. On account of their distance from the sun, they were less bright than a terrestrial moon, but they shone with a marvelously pure pale light. The larger contained the exact features of a man. There was the somewhat aquiline nose, a clear cut and expressive mouth, and large, handsome eyes which were shaded by well-marked eyebrows. The whole face was very striking, but was a personification of the most intense grief. The expression was indeed sadder than that of any face they had ever seen. The other contained the profile of a surpassingly beautiful young man, the handsome eyes shaded by lashes looked straight ahead. The nose was perfect, and the ear small, while the hair was artistically arranged at the top and back of the head. This moon also reflected a pure white ray. The former appeared about once and a quarter, the latter but three quarters the size of the terrestrial moon, and the travelers immediately recognized them by their sizes and relative positions, as Tethys and Dion, discovered by J. D. Cassini in March, 1864. The sad face was turned slightly towards that of its companion, and it looked as if some tale of the human heart, some romance, had been engraved and preserved for all time on the features of these dead bodies, as they silently swung in their orbits forever, and anon were side by side. In all the ages said Cortland that these moons have wandered with Saturn about the sun, and with the solar system in its journey through space, they could never have grazed upon the scene they now behold, for we may be convinced that no mortal man has been here before. We may say, said Erol, that they see in our bodies a type of the source from which come all the spiritual beings that are here. If, as the writers of mythology supposed, replied Cortland, inanimate objects were endowed with senses, these moons would doubtless be unable to perceive the spiritual beings here, for the satellites being material should, to be consistent, have only those senses possessed by ourselves, so that to them this planet would ordinarily appear deserted. I shall be glad, said Bearward and Gloomily, when those moons wane and are succeeded by their fellows, for one would give me an attack of the blues, while the other would subject me to the inconvenience of falling in love. As he spoke, the upper branches of the trees in the grove began to sway as a cold gust from the north side among them, lose no more opportunities it seemed to cry, for life is short and uncertain. Soon you will all be colder than I, and your future, still as easily molded as clay, will be set as Marpezean marble, more fixed than the hardest rock. Paradise, said Cortland, contains sights and sounds that might, I should think, arouse sad reminences without the aid of the waters of Lethe, unless the joy of its souls in their new resources and the sense of forgiveness outweigh all else. With a parting look at the refined silvery moon and its sorrow laden companion, they retired to the sheltering cave, piled up the fire, and talked on for an hour. I do not see how it is, said Bearwarden, that these moons, considering their distance from the sun, and the consequently small amount of light they receive are so bright. A body's brightness in reflecting color, replied Cortland, depends as much on the color and composition of its own surface as on the amount it receives. It is conceivable that these moons, if placed at the Earth's distance from the sun, would be far brighter than our moon, and that our familiar satellite, if removed to Saturn, would seem very dim. We know how much more brilliant a mountain in the sunlight is when clad in snow than when its sides are bare. These moons evidently reflect a large proportion of the light they receive. When they came out shortly after midnight, the girl's face moon had already set, leaving a dark and dreary void in the part of the sky it had so ideally filled. The inexpressibly sad satellite, on account of its shorter distance and more rapid rate of revolution, was still above the horizon, and being slightly tilled it had a more melancholy, heartbroken look than before. While they gazed sadly at the emptiness left by Dion, Cortland saw Erol's expression change, and not clearly perceiving its cause, said, wishing to cheer him, never mind, Dick, tomorrow night we shall see it again. Ah, prosaic reasoner retorted Bearwarden who saw that this, like so many other things, had reminded Erol of Sylvia. That is, but small consolation for having lost it now, though I suppose our lot is not so hard as if we were never to see it again. In that moon's face I find the realization of my fancied ideal woman, while that sad one yonder seems as though some celestial lover, in search of his fate, had become enamored of her, and had tried in vain to win her, and the grief in his mind had impressed itself on the then molten face of a satellite to be the monument throughout eternity of love and a broken heart. If the spirits and souls of the departed have any command of matter, why may not their intense thoughts engrave themselves on a moon that, when dead and frozen, may reflect and shine as they did, while immersed in the depths of space? At first Dion bored me, now I should greatly like to see her again. History repeats itself, replied Cortland, and the same phases of life recur. It is we that are in a changed receptive mood. The change that seems to be in them is in reality in us. Remain as you are now, and Dion will give you the same pleasure tomorrow that she gave you today. To Arult this meant more than the mere setting to rise again of a heavenly body. The perfume of a flower, the sighing of the wind, suggesting some harmony or song, a full or crescent moon recalled thoughts and associations of Sylvia. Everything seemed to bring out memory, and he realized the utter inability of absence to cure the heart of love. If Sylvia should pass for my life as that moon has left my vision, his thoughts continued, existence would be but sadness and memory would be its cause, for the most beautiful sounds entail sorrow, the most beautiful sights, intense pain. Ah, he went on with a trace of bitterness, while his friends fell asleep in the cave. I might better have remained in love with science, for whose studies nature, which is but a form of God in the right spirit, is not dependent for his joy or despair on the whims of a girl. She, of course, sees many others, and being only twenty, may forget me. Must I content myself with philosophical rules and mathematical formula, when she, whose changefulness I may find greater than the winds that sigh over me, now loves me no longer? O love which makes us miserable when we feel it, and more miserable still when it is gone. He strung a number of copper wires at different degrees of tension between two trees, and listened to the wind as it ranged up and down on this improvised Aeolian harp. It gradually ran into a regular refrain, which became more and more like words. Errol was puzzled, and then amazed. There could be no doubt about it. You should be happy, it kept repeating. You should be happy in soft musical tones. I know I should, replied Errol, finally recognizing the voice of Violet Slade in the song of the wind, and I cannot understand why I am not. Tell me, is this paradise violet, or is it not rather purgatory? The notes ranged up and down again, and he perceived that she was causing the wind to blow as she desired. In other words, she was making it play upon his harp. That depends on the individual, she replied. It is rather sheol, the place of departed spirits. Those whose consciences make them happy on earth are in paradise here, while those good enough to reach heaven at last, but in whom some dross remains, are further refined in spirit, and to them it is purgatory. Those who are in love can be happy in but one way while their love lasts. What is happiness anyway? It is the state in which desires are satisfied, my fair Violet, answered Errol, say, rather the state in which desire coincides with duty, replied the song. Self-sacrifice for others gives the truest joy, being with the object of one's love the next. You never believed that I loved you. I dissembled well, but you will see for yourself some day, as clearly as I see your love for another now. Yes, replied Errol sadly, I am in love. I have no reason to believe there is cause for my unrest, and considering everything, I should be happy as man can be. Yet, merrabbly dictu, I am in Hades in the very depths. Your beloved is beyond my vision. Your heart is all I can see. Yet I am convinced she will not forget you. I am sure she loves you still. I have always believed in homeopathy, to the extent of the semilia semilebus corantor, Violet, and it is certain that where nothing else will cure a man of love for one woman, his love for another will. You can see how I love Sylvia, but you have never seemed so sweet to me as today. It is a sacrilege, my friend, to speak so to me now. You are done with me forever. I am, but a disembodied spirit, and escaped Hades by the grace of the omnipotent, rather than by virtue of any good I did on earth. So far as any elasticity is left in my opportunities, I am dead as yawn moon. You have still the gift that but one can give. Within your animal body you hold an immortal soul. It is pliable as wax. You can mold it by your will. As you shape that soul, so will your future be. It is the ark that can traverse the flood. Raise it, and it will raise you. It is all there is in yourself. Preserve that gift, and when you die you will, I hope, start on a plane many thousands of years in advance of me. There should be no more comparison between us than between a person with all his senses and one that is deaf and blind. Though you are a layman, you should, with your faith and frame of mind, soon be but little behind our spiritual bishop. I suppose after death a man had rest. Is he then a bishop still? The progress, as he told you, is largely on the old minds. As he stirred men's hearts on earth, he will stir their souls in heaven, and this is no irksome or unwelcome work. You say he will do this in heaven. Is he then not there yet? He was not far from heaven on earth, yet technically none of us can be in heaven till after the general resurrection. Then, as we knew on earth, we shall receive bodies, though as yet concerning their exact nature we know but little more than then. We are all in sheol, the just in purgatory and paradise, the unjust in hell. Since you are in purgatory, are you unhappy? No. Our state is very happy. All physical pain is past, and can never be felt again. We know that our evil desires are overcome, and that their imprints are being gradually erased. I occasionally shed an intangible tear, yet for most of those who strove to obey their consciences, purgatory when essential, though occasionally giving us a bitter twinge, is a joy producing state. Not all the glories imaginable or unimaginable could make us happy, where our consciences ill at ease. I have advanced slowly, yet some things are given us at once. After I realized I had irrevocably lost your love, though for a time I had hoped to regain it, I became very restless. Earth seemed a prison, and I looked forward to death as my deliverer. I bore you no malice. You had never especially tried to win me. The infatuation, that of a girl of eighteen, had been all on my side. I lived five sad and lonely years, although as you know I had much attention. Perhaps people thought me cold and heartless. How could I have a heart, having failed to win yours, and mine being broken? Having lost the only man I loved, I knew no one else could replace him, and I was not the kind to marry for Pete. People thought me handsome, but I felt myself aged when you ceased to call. Perhaps when you and she who holds all your love come to Sheol, she may spare you to me a little. For as a spirit my every thought is known, or perhaps after the resurrection, when I too can leave this planet, we shall all soar through space together, and we can study the stars as of old. Your voice is a symphony, sweetest violet, and I love to hear your words. Ah, would you could once more return to earth, or that I were an ethereal spirit that we might commune face to face? I would follow you from one end of shadow land to the other. Of what use is life to me, with distractions that draw my thoughts to earth, as gravitation drew my body? I wish I were a shade. You are talking for effect, Dick, which is useless here, for I see how utterly you are in love. I am in love, Violet, and though, as I said, I have no reason to doubt Sylvia's steadfastness and constancy, I am very unhappy. I have always heard that time is a balsam that cures all ills, yet I become more wretched every day. Do all you can to preserve that love, and it will bring you joy all your life. Your happiness is my happiness. What distresses you distresses me. The tones here grew fainter, and seemed about to cease. Before you leave me, cried Errol, tell me how and when I may see or hear you again. While you remain on this planet, I shall be near, but beyond Saturn I cannot go. Yet tell me, Violet, how I may see you. My love unattain you perceive makes me wretched, while you almost always gave me calm and peace. If I may not kiss the hand I almost asked might be mine. Let me have but a glance from your sweet eyes, which will comfort me so much now. If you break the ice in the pool behind you, you shall see me till the frame melts. After this the silence was broken, only by the sighing of the wind in the trees. The pool had suddenly become covered with ice several inches thick. Taking an axe, Errol hewed out a parallelogram about three feet by four and set it on end against the bank. The cool gray of morning was already coloring the east, and in the growing light, Errol beheld a vision of Violet within the ice. The hair was at about three-fourths, and had a contemplative hair. The hair was arranged as he had formerly seen it, and the thoughtful look was strongest in the beautiful gray eyes, which were more serious than of yours. Errol stood riveted to the spot and gazed. I could have been happy with her, he mused, and to think she is no more. As drops fell from the ice, tears rose to his eyes. What a pretty girl said bareward into Cortland as they came upon it later in the day. The face seemed etched or imprinted by some peculiar form of freezing far within the ice. The next morning they again set out and so tramped and hunted and investigated with varying success for ten Ceturian days. They found that in the animal and plant forms of life, nature had often, by some seeming accident, struck out in a course very different from any on the earth. Many of the animals were bipeds and tripeds. The latter arranged in tandem, the last leg being evidently an enormously developed tail, by which the creature propelled itself as with a spring. The quadrupeds had also sometimes wings, and their bones were hollow like those of birds. Whether this great motive and lifting power was the result of the planet's size and the power of gravitation, or whether some creatures had in addition the power of developing a degree of apragetic repulsion to offset it, as they suspected in the case of the boa constrictor that fell upon Cortland on Jupiter, they could not absolutely ascertain. Life was far less prolific on Saturn than on Jupiter, doubtless as a result of its greater distance from the sun, and of its extremes of climate, almost all organic life being driven to the latitudes near the equator. There were, as on Jupiter, many variations from the forms of life to which they were accustomed, and adaptations to the conditions in which they found themselves. But, with the exception of the strange manifestations of spirit life, they found the workings of the fundamental laws the same. Often, when they awoke at night, the air was luminous, and they were convinced that if they remained there long enough, it would be easy to devise some telegraphic code of light flashes by which they could communicate with the spirit world, and so get ideas from the host of spirits, but who were not as yet sufficiently developed to be able to return to the earth. One day they stopped to investigate what they had supposed to be an optical illusion. They observed that leaves and other light substances floated several inches above the surface of the water in the pools. On coming to the edge and making tests, they found a light liquid, as invisible as air, superimposed upon the water, with sufficient buoyancy to sustain dry wood, and also some forms of life. They also observed that insects coming close to the surface, and apparently inhaling it, rapidly increased in size and weight, from which they concluded it must throw off nitrogen, carbon, or some other nourishment in the form of gas. The depth upon the water was unaffected by rain, which passed through it, but depended rather on the condition of the atmosphere, from which it was evidently condensed. There seemed also to be a relation between the amount of this liquid and the activity of the spirits. Finally, when their ammunition showed signs of running low, they decided to return to the Callisto, go in it to the other side of the planet, and resume their investigations there. Accordingly, they set out to retrace their steps, returning by a course a few miles to one side of the way they had come, and making the cave their objective point. Arriving there one evening about sunset, they pitched their camp. The cave was sheltered and comfortable, and they made preparation for passing the night. I shall be sorry, said Erol, as they sat near the fire, to leave this place without again seeing the Bishop. He said we could impress him anywhere, but it may be more difficult to do that at the antipods than here. It does seem, said Bearwarden, as though we should be missing it in not seeing him again, if that is possible. Nothing but a poison storm brought him the first time, and it is not certain that even in such an emergency would he come again, uncalled. I think, said Erol, as none of the spirits here are malevolent, they would warn us of danger if they could. The Bishop's spirit seems to have been the only one with sufficiently developed power to reappear as a man. I therefore suggest that tomorrow we try to make him feel our thought and bring him to us. This is the end of Chapter 6 in Book 3 of A Journey in Other Worlds. Recording by Tom Weiss. This is Chapter 7, Book 3, of A Journey in Other Worlds. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Tom Weiss. A Journey in Other Worlds, Book 3, Chapter 7, The Spirit's Second Visit. Accordingly, the next morning they concentrated their minds simultaneously on the spirit, wishing with all their strength that he should reappear. Whether he be far or near, said Erol, he must feel that, for we are using the entire force of our minds. Shadows began to form, and dancing prismatic colors appeared, but as yet there was no sign of the deceased Bishop, when suddenly he took shape among them, his appearance and disappearance being much like that of a stereopticon views on the sheet before a lantern. He held himself erect, and his thoughtful, dignified face had the same calm expression it had worn before. We attracted your attention, said Erol, in the way you said we might, because we longed so to see you. Yes, added Bear Warden and Cortland, we felt we must see you again. I am always at your service, replied the spirit, and will answer your questions. With regard to my visibility and invisibility, he continued with a smile, for I will not wait for you to ask the explanation of what is in your minds. It is very simple. A man's soul can never die. A manifestation of the soul is the spirit. This has entity, consciousness, and will, and these also live forever. As in the natural or material life, as I shall call it, will affects the material first. Thus a child has power to move its hand or a material object as a toy before it can become the medium in a psychological seance. So it is here. Before becoming visible to your eyes, I, by my will, draw certain material substances in the form of gases from the ground, water, or air around me. These take any shape I wish, not necessarily that of man, though it is more natural to appear as we did on earth, and may absorb a portion of light, and so be able to cast a shadow or break up the white rays into prismatic colors, or they may be wholly invisible. By an effort of the will, then, I combine and condense these gases, which consist principally of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, into flesh, blood, water, or anything else. You have already learned on earth that, by the application of heat, every solid and every liquid substance, which is solid or liquid, simply because of the temperature at which you find it, can be expanded into gas or gases, and that by cold and pressure, every gas can be reduced to a liquid or solid. On earth, the state of a substance, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, depends simply upon those two conditions. Here, neither thermal nor barometric changes are required, for by mastering the new natural laws that at death become patent to our senses, we have all the necessary control. It requires but an effort of my will to be almost instantaneously clothed in human form, but another effort to rearrange the molecules in such a way as to make the envelope visible. Some who have been dead longer, or had a greater natural aptitude than I, have advanced further, and all are learning, but the difference in the rate at which spirits acquire control of previously unknown natural laws varies far more than among individuals on earth. These forms of organic life do not disintegrate till after death. Here, in the natural state, they break down and dissolve into their structural elements in full bloom, as was done by the fungi. The poisonous element in the deadly gust, against which I warned you, came from the gaseous ingredients of toadstools, which but seldom, and then only when the atmosphere has the greatest affinity for them, dissolve automatically, producing a death-spreading wave, against which your meteorological instruments in the future can warn you. The slight fall you noticed in temperature was because the specific heat of these gases is high, and to become gas while in the solid state, they had to withdraw some warmth from the air. The fatal breath of the winged lizards, or dragons as you call them, results from the same cause, the action of their digestion breaking up the fungus, which does not kill them, because they exhale the poisonous part in gaseous form with their breath. The mushrooms dissolve more easily, the natural separation that takes place as they reach a certain stage in their development, being precipitated by concussion or shock. Having seen that, as on Earth we gain control of the material first, our acquisitiveness then extends to a better understanding and appreciation of our new senses, and we are continually finding new objects of beauty, and new beauties in things we supposed we already understood. We were accustomed on Earth to the marvelous variety that nature produced from apparently simple means and presented to our very limited senses. Here there is an indescribably greater variety to be examined by vastly keener senses. The souls in hell have an equally keen but distorted counterpart of our senses, so that they see in a magnified form everything vile in themselves and in each other. To their senses only the ugly and the hateful side is visible, so that the beauty and perfume of a flower are to them as loasome as the appearance and fumes of a toadstool. As evolution and the tendency of everything to perpetuate itself and intensify its peculiarities are invariable throughout the universe, these unhappy souls and ourselves seem destined to diverge more and more as time goes on, and while we constantly become happier as our capacity for happiness increases, their sharpening senses will give them a worse and worse idea of each other, till their mutual repugnance will know no bounds and of everything concerning which they obtain knowledge through their senses. Thus these poor creatures seem to be the victims of circumstances and the unalterable laws of fate, and were there such a thing as death their misery would unquestionably finally break their hearts. That there will be final forgiveness for the condemned has long been a human hope, but as yet they have experienced none, and there is no analogy for it in nature. But while you still have your earthly bodies and the opportunities they give you of serving God, you need not be concerned about hell. No one on earth, knowing how things really are, would ever again forsake his ways. The earthly state is the most precious opportunity of securing that for which a man would give his all. Even from the most worldly point of view, a man is an unspeakable fool not to improve his talents and do good. What would those in Sheol not give now, for but one day in the flesh on earth, of which you on appreciatives may still have so many? The well-used opportunities of even one hour might bring joy to those in paradise forever, and greatly ease the lot of those in hell. In doing acts of philanthropy, however, you must remember the text of the sermon the Doctor of Divinity preached to Cronir and Ridley just before they perished at the state. Though I give my body to be burned and have not charity, it profited from me nothing, which shows that even good deeds must be performed in the proper spirit. A new era is soon to dawn on earth. Notwithstanding your great material progress, the future will exceed all the past. Man will find every substance's maximum use, thereby vastly increasing his comfort. Then, when advanced in science and reason, with the power of his senses increased by the delicate instruments that you, as the forerunners of the coming man, are already learning to make, may he cease to be a groveler, like our progenitors the quadrupeds, and may his thoughts rise to his creator, who has brought him to such heights through all the intricacies of the way. Your preparation for the life to come can also be greatly aided by intercourse with those who have already died. When you really want to associate spiritually with us, you can do so. For though perhaps only one in a hundred million can, like me, so clothe himself as to be again visible to mortal eyes, many of us could affect gelatin or extremely sensitive plates that would show interruptions in the ultraviolet chemical rays that, like the thermal red beyond the visible spectroscope, you know exist, though you can neither see nor feel them. Spirits could not affect the magnetic eye, because magnetism, though immaterial itself, is induced and affected only by a material substance. The impression on the plate, however, like the prismatic colors you have already noticed, can be produced by a slight rare faction of the hydrogen in the air, so that, though no spirit can be photographed as such, a code and language might be established by means of the effect produced on the air by the spirit's mind. I am so interested in the subject of my disquisition that I had almost forgotten that your spirits are still subject to the requirements of the body. Last time I dined with you, let me now play the host. We shall be charmed to dine with you, said Erol, and shall be only too glad of anything that will keep you with us. Then, said the spirit, as the tablecloth is laid, we need only to have something on it. Let each please hold the corner, he continued, taking one himself, with his left hand, while he passed his right to his brow. Soon flakes as of snow began to form in the air above and slowly descended upon the cloth, and glancing up, the three men saw that for a considerable height this process was going on, the flakes increasing in size as they fell till they attained a length of several inches. When there was enough for them all on the tablecloth, this shower ceased. Sitting down on the ground, they began to eat this mamma, which had a delicious flavor and marvelous purity and freshness. As you doubtless have already suspected, said the spirit, the basis of this, in every case, is carbon, combined with nitrogen in its solid form, and with the other gases the atmosphere here contains. You may notice that the flakes vary in color as well as in taste, both of which are, of course, governed by the gas with which the carbon, also in its visible form, is combined. It is almost the same process as that performed by every plant in withdrawing carbon from the air and storing it in its trunk in the form of wood, which as charcoal is again almost pure carbon, only in this case the metamorphosis is far more rapid. This is perhaps the natural law that Elijah, by God's aid, invoked in the miracle of the widow's curse, and that produced the manna that fed the Israelites in the desert, while apogee came in play in the case of the stream that Moses called from the rock in the wilderness, which followed the descendants of Abraham over the rough country through which they passed. In examining miracles with the utmost deference, as we have a right to, we see one law running through all. Even in Christ's miracle of changing the water to wine, there was a natural law, though only one has dwelt on earth who could make that change, which, from a chemist's standpoint, was peculiarly difficult on account of the required fermentation, which is the result of a developed and matured germ. Many of his miracles, however, are as far beyond my small power as heaven is above the earth. Much of the substance of the loaves and fishes with which he fed the multitude, the carbon and nitrogenous products also came from the air, though he could have taken them from many other sources. The combination and building up of these in the ordinary way would have taken weeks or months, but was performed instantaneously by his mighty power. What natural laws are known to you, asked Bear Warden, that we do not understand, or concerning the existence of which we are ignorant. Most of the laws in the invisible world, said the Spirit, are the counterpart or extension of laws that appear on earth. Though you as yet understand but a small part of those, many not having come to your notice. You, for instance, know that light, heat, and motion are analogous, and either of the last two can be converted into the other. But in practice, you produce motion of the water molecules by the application of heat and seldom reverse it. One of the first things we master here is the power to freeze or boil water by checking the motion of the molecules in one case and by increasing it and their mutual repulsion in the other. This is by virtue of a simple law, though in this case there is no natural manifestation of it on earth with which to compare it. While knowledge must be acquired here through study, as on earth, the new senses we receive with the awakening from death render the doing so easy, though with only the senses we had before it would have been next to impossible. At this moment, snow is falling on the Callisto, but this you could not know by seeing, and scarcely any degree of evolution could develop your sight sufficiently unassisted by death. With your instruments, however, you could already perceive it, notwithstanding the intervening rocks. Your research on earth is the best and most thorough in the history of the race, and could we but give you suggestions as to the direction in which to push it, the difference between yourselves and angels, might be but little more than that between the number and intensity of the senses and the composition of the body. By the combination of natural laws, you have rid yourselves of the impediment of material weight, and can roam through space like spirits, or as Columbus, by virtue of the confidence that came with the discovery of the mariner's compass, roamed upon and explored the sea. You have made a good beginning, and were not your lives so short and the requirements so peremptory you might visit the distant stars. I will show you the working of evolution. Life sleeps in minerals, dreams in plants, and wakes in you. The rock worn by frost and age crumbles to earth and soil. This enters the substance of the primordial plant, which, slowly rising, produces the animal germ. After that the way is clear, and man is evolved from protoplasm through the vertebrate and the ape. Here we have the epitome of the struggle for life in the ages past, and the analog of the journey in the years to come. Does not the Almighty Himself make this clear where He says, through His servant Isaiah, Behold of these stones will I raise up children, and the name Adam means Red Earth. God, having brought man so far, will not let evolutions cease, and the next stage of life must be the spiritual. Can you tell us anything, asked Errol, concerning the bodies that those surviving the final judgment will receive? Notwithstanding the unfolding of knowledge that has come to us here, replied the spirit, there are still some subjects concerning which we must look for information to the inspired writers in the Bible, and every gain or discovery goes to prove their veracity. We know that there are celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, and that the spiritual bodies we shall receive in the resurrection will have power and will be incorruptible and immortal. We also know by analogy and reason that they will be unaffected by the cold and void of space, so that their possessors can range through the universe for non-nillions and desillions of miles, that they will have marvelous capacities for enjoying what they find, and that no undertaking or journey will be too difficult, though it be to the center of the sun. Though many of us can already visit the remote regions of space as spirits, none can as yet see God. But we know that as the sight we are to receive with our new body sharpens, the pure in heart will see him, though he is still as invisible to the eyes of the most developed here as the ether of space is to