The Celestial Omnibus and other Stories Part 9

Profound silence.

"Who stands sentry?"

"Achilles."

And on the rocky causeway, close to the springing of the rainbow bridge, he saw a young man who carried a wonderful s.h.i.+eld.

"Mr. Bons, it is Achilles, armed."

"I want to go back," said Mr. Bons.

The last fragment of the rainbow melted, the wheels sang upon the living rock, the door of the omnibus burst open. Out leapt the boy--he could not resist--and sprang to meet the warrior, who, stooping suddenly, caught him on his s.h.i.+eld.

"Achilles!" he cried, "let me get down, for I am ignorant and vulgar, and I must wait for that Mr. Bons of whom I told you yesterday."

But Achilles raised him aloft. He crouched on the wonderful s.h.i.+eld, on heroes and burning cities, on vineyards graven in gold, on every dear pa.s.sion, every joy, on the entire image of the Mountain that he had discovered, encircled, like it, with an everlasting stream. "No, no," he protested, "I am not worthy. It is Mr. Bons who must be up here."

But Mr. Bons was whimpering, and Achilles trumpeted and cried, "Stand upright upon my s.h.i.+eld!"

"Sir, I did not mean to stand! something made me stand. Sir, why do you delay? Here is only the great Achilles, whom you knew."

Mr. Bons screamed, "I see no one. I see nothing. I want to go back."

Then he cried to the driver, "Save me! Let me stop in your chariot. I have honoured you. I have quoted you. I have bound you in vellum. Take me back to my world."

The driver replied, "I am the means and not the end. I am the food and not the life. Stand by yourself, as that boy has stood. I cannot save you. For poetry is a spirit; and they that would wors.h.i.+p it must wors.h.i.+p in spirit and in truth."

Mr. Bons--he could not resist--crawled out of the beautiful omnibus. His face appeared, gaping horribly. His hands followed, one gripping the step, the other beating the air. Now his shoulders emerged, his chest, his stomach. With a shriek of "I see London," he fell--fell against the hard, moonlit rock, fell into it as if it were water, fell through it, vanished, and was seen by the boy no more.

"Where have you fallen to, Mr. Bons? Here is a procession arriving to honour you with music and torches. Here come the men and women whose names you know. The mountain is awake, the river is awake, over the race-course the sea is awaking those dolphins, and it is all for you.

They want you----"

There was the touch of fresh leaves on his forehead. Some one had crowned him.

TELOS

From the _Kingston Gazette, Surbiton Times,_ and _Paynes Park Observer_.

The body of Mr. Septimus Bons has been found in a shockingly mutilated condition in the vicinity of the Bermondsey gas-works. The deceased's pockets contained a sovereign-purse, a silver cigar-case, a bijou p.r.o.nouncing dictionary, and a couple of omnibus tickets. The unfortunate gentleman had apparently been hurled from a considerable height. Foul play is suspected, and a thorough investigation is pending by the authorities.

THE END

OTHER KINGDOM

I

"_Quem_, whom; _fugis_, are you avoiding; _ab demens_, you silly a.s.s; _habitarunt di quoque_, G.o.ds too have lived in; _silvas_, the woods.' Go ahead!"

I always brighten the cla.s.sics--it is part of my system--and therefore I translated _demens_ by "silly a.s.s." But Miss Beaumont need not have made a note of the translation, and Ford, who knows better, need not have echoed after me. "Whom are you avoiding, you silly a.s.s, G.o.ds too have lived in the woods."

"Ye--es," I replied, with scholarly hesitation. "Ye--es.

_Silvas_--woods, wooded s.p.a.ces, the country generally. Yes. _Demens_, of course, is _de--mens_. 'Ah, witless fellow! G.o.ds, I say, even G.o.ds have dwelt in the woods ere now.'"

"But I thought G.o.ds always lived in the sky," said Mrs. Worters, interrupting our lesson for I think the third-and-twentieth time.

"Not always," answered Miss Beaumont. As she spoke she inserted "witless fellow" as an alternative to "silly a.s.s."

"I always thought they lived in the sky."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Worters," the girl repeated. "Not always." And finding her place in the note-book she read as follows: "G.o.ds. Where. Chief deities--Mount Olympus. Pan--most places, as name implies.

Oreads--mountains. Sirens, Tritons, Nereids--water (salt). Naiads --water (fresh). Satyrs, Fauns, etc.--woods. Dryads--trees."

"Well, dear, you have learnt a lot. And will you now tell me what good it has done you?"

"It has helped me--" faltered Miss Beaumont. She was very earnest over her cla.s.sics. She wished she could have said what good they had done her.

Ford came to her rescue, "Of course it's helped you. The cla.s.sics are full of tips. They teach you how to dodge things."

I begged my young friend not to dodge his Virgil lesson.

"But they do!" he cried. "Suppose that long-haired brute Apollo wants to give you a music lesson. Well, out you pop into the laurels. Or Universal Nature comes along. You aren't feeling particularly keen on Universal Nature so you turn into a reed."

"Is Jack mad?" asked Mrs. Worters.

But Miss Beaumont had caught the allusions--which were quite ingenious I must admit. "And Croesus?" she inquired. "What was it one turned into to get away from Croesus?"

I hastened to tidy up her mythology. "Midas, Miss Beaumont, not Croesus.

And he turns you--you don't turn yourself: he turns you into gold."

"There's no dodging Midas," said Ford.

"Surely--" said Miss Beaumont. She had been learning Latin not quite a fortnight, but she would have corrected the Regius Professor.

He began to tease her. "Oh, there's no dodging Midas! He just comes, he touches you, and you pay him several thousand per cent, at once. You're gold--a young golden lady--if he touches you."

"I won't be touched!" she cried, relapsing into her habitual frivolity.

"Oh, but he'll touch you."

"He sha'n't!"

"He will."