Niels Klim's Journey Under The Ground Part 12

By the advice of Pomopoloko, I fled seasonably to Tanaqui, leaving my own capital before the inhabitants generally were apprised of the immediate cause of the sudden out-break. Arrived in Tanaqui, I quickly collected an army of forty thousand men, and boldly retraced the steps which a few days before I had pursued in fear and trembling. I had little doubt that my powers would be augmented by Quamites, who had been either too remote to suffer from my cruelty, or too indifferent to my infamy, to hesitate in joining a force so overpowering, and a leader whose prospects were so brilliant as mine. But I was deceived in my hopes: instead of auxiliaries a herald from the prince met me. The object of his mission was to declare a formal war, and, for a commencement of hostilities, that my wife and son had been imprisoned.

On the footsteps of the herald came the Quamitic forces. A b.l.o.o.d.y engagement took place, in which our part proved to be inferior. I, left to my fate, fled to a neighboring mountain, crossed its side and descended to a dale behind it. There I remained in concealment for some time, bemoaning, the while, my misery, as I then believed, but which I afterwards more justly named, my folly. I was so agitated, had so thoroughly lost that presence of mind for which I had in former days been distinguished, that I did not remove from my head the crown, which, being ornamented with sunbeams, would have easily betrayed me. While panting like a bayed lion, I heard a nestling on the other side of the mountain, which I supposed was made by men beating the bushes to discover any hiders. I now looked around for a more secure retreat, for I doubted not that my flight had been noticed, and that these pursuers would search on my side of the mountain. Behind me was

----A thick and matted forest, sunk between hills All desolate and bare, whose dark and awful silence Beckoned me.

I hurried thither, fiercely flinging aside the th.o.r.n.y bushes that clung as fiercely to me, and came at last to the mouth of a cave. Creeping in, I observed that the cave was deep, and as far as the light penetrated, level. I determined to explore its recesses, though I think I should not have been so hardy in my days of fortune.

After treading cautiously a hundred paces, I suddenly lost my footing, and plunged with the quickness of lightning, into a hole that must have had perpendicular sides.

Having shot through this pa.s.sage, the abode of palpable darkness and night, I suddenly perceived a faint light.

As when through clouds the moon doth gleam With pallid smile.

As this light increased, my speed decreased, so that without pain or trouble, I was soon brought to a stand between two high mountains. My sensations, during this remarkable pa.s.sage, were similar to those experienced while tossing among the billows of the ocean. On recovering, I found myself, to my great astonishment, in the same spot from which, years before, I had plunged into the subterranean regions. A moment's reflection gave me the means to account for the decrease of speed in the latter part of my course. The weight of the atmosphere is much greater on the surface of the globe, than below; consequently I was buoyed up by the increasing resistance of the air towards the surface. Had this not been the case, I should, unquestionably, at least in my own mind, have shot off to the moon.

Still, being obnoxious to cavil, I will defer this hypothesis to the astronomer's closer examination.

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CHAPTER XVI.

THE AUTHOR'S RETURN TO HIS FATHER-LAND, AND THE END OF THE FIFTH MONARCHY.

Although perfectly sensible, my limbs were entirely benumbed; and I lay helpless for a long time. Meanwhile I ruminated on my singular course.

The events of the past years rose one after another with clearness in my mind; particularly those of my exaltation and fame. Here was I, the late founder of the splendid fifth monarchy, metamorphosed to a poor and hungry bachelor-of-arts; a change so terrible and unprecedented, that it might well have disturbed the strongest brain. I seriously examined my present circ.u.mstances--were they real? or did I dream? Alas? the tremors of terror and uncertainty only gave place to the pangs of sorrow and regret.

"Almighty Father!" I exclaimed, and towards heaven Stretched my trembling hands, "what sin provoked thy vengeance, That all thy thunders crash upon my head?

Where am I? whence came I? how shall I escape Thy anger."

Truly! should one look over the journals of all times, he will neither in ancient nor modern history find a parallel to so great a fall; with the single exception of that of Nebuchadnezzar, who from the greatest of kings was changed to a dumb beast.

I began to descend the mountain by the path which leads to Sandvig. When about half way down, I observed some boys, whom I beckoned towards me, repeating the words: _Jeru pikal salim_, which in the Quamitic language signify: show me the way. The lads, however, were apparently frightened at seeing a man in a strange dress, and with a hat on his head glittering with golden rays; for they rushed down the mountain in great haste, arriving at Sandvig an hour before me. The rumor of the strange appearance on the mountain was spread about and caused terror throughout the town; the notion was, that the _shoemaker of Jerusalem_ wandered among the mountains. This impression arose thus: the boys on being questioned by the townsmen, replied that I had told them who I was. I afterwards learnt that my words, Jeru pikal salim, had been interpreted by sound, and that this clew, acted upon by fear and superst.i.tion, had been developed into the strangest of fables. This story was unquestioned by this simple people, inasmuch as the adventures of the travelling shoemaker were then newly reported, and it had been a.s.serted that he had been seen a short time before in Hamburg.

When, towards evening, I entered Sandvig, I observed that the inhabitants were collected in large flocks, to gaze at me. As I approached them and spoke, they all took to flight, except one old man: him I addressed, and begged of him to give me lodging at his house. He asked me, "where I was born, whence I came, &c." I answered him, with a sigh: "When I come to your house, I will relate events that will seem incredible to you, and whose equals you will not find in any history."

The old man then took me by the hand and led me to his house. When there I demanded drink; he gave me a gla.s.s of beer. When I recovered my breath, after this draught, I addressed the old man thus: "You see before you a human being, who has been a bolt for the changing winds of fortune; one, who has been pursued by a fatality more controlling and more unhappy than was ever experienced by mortal."

"Moral and physical revolutions may be effected in a moment, without surprising men; but what has befallen me is beyond the reach of human imagination!"

"It is the traveller's fate;" my landlord answered; "many strange events and changes might happen on a voyage of sixteen hundred years."

I did not understand this, and requested him to tell me what he meant by sixteen hundred years. He replied: "If one may believe history, it is now sixteen hundred years since Jerusalem was destroyed, and I doubt not, venerable man, that you were already of age at its destruction. If what is said of you is true, you must have been born in the reign of Tiberius. I know that this matter is rather supposed than proved. The inhabitants of this place, however, believe you to be the shoemaker of Jerusalem, celebrated in history, who, since the time of Christ, has travelled about the world. Nevertheless, the more I look at you, the greater resemblance I find to an old friend of mine, who twelve years since perished on the top of a neighboring mountain." At these words, I looked carefully at my host. In a moment the fog was cleared from before my eyes. I saw before me my dear friend Abelin, in whose house, at Bergen, I had spent many happy days. I ran to his embrace with outstretched arms. "Then 'tis you, my dear Abelin! I can scarcely believe my eyes. Here you see Klim again, who has just returned from the subterranean world. I am the same, who twelve years since plunged into the mountain cave." He fell upon my neck and with tearful eyes, demanded where I had been and what had happened to me. I told him all that had occurred. At first he would not credit me; but afterwards he acknowledged that all must have been so, for I could never have invented such strange adventures.

Abelin advised me not to repeat these things to others, and to keep myself secluded in his house. He told the people, who rushed to his house to see the "shoemaker of Jerusalem," that I had vanished; for he justly concluded this to be the best and most satisfactory answer he could make to an ignorant and superst.i.tious peasantry. I remained in concealment until clothes, more suitable to the surface of the earth, than those I brought from below, were made, when Abelin reported me to be a relative of his, lately a student in Trondhjim, on a visit. He recommended me to the bishop of Bergen, who promised to me the first rectors.h.i.+p that should become vacant. This office was much to my taste, for it seemed to have a likeness to my former state, a school-master being a miniature of royalty. The rod may be likened to the sceptre; the desk to the throne. After waiting for a vacancy in vain, I determined, from necessity, to accept the first office I could get. At this time the sacristan of the church died; his place was offered to me by the bishop and accepted. An amusing promotion to one who had lately reigned over many great kingdoms. Nevertheless, since nothing is so ridiculous as poverty, and since it is foolish to throw away dirty water, before clean is at hand, I think it would have been still more laughable to have refused it. Fulfilling the duties of this office, I now live in philosophic ease.

Shortly after my induction, a marriage with a merchant's daughter was proposed to me. I could have liked the girl, but as it was probable that the empress of Quama was yet alive, I did not care to make myself obnoxious to the ban of polygamy. M. Abelin, however, into whose bosom I was used to pour my doubts, and all the pressures of my heart, abridged this fear, and advised me to marry; which I did. With this wife I have lived six years in peaceful and affectionate union. During this period she has borne me three fine sons, wholly worthy of their half brother, the prince of Quama.

To my wife, I never told my subterranean adventures; but I can never forget, for a moment, the splendor that once surrounded me. To this day, I often express myself in signs and words, which, however consistent in the mighty ruler and magnificent tyrant, are little adapted to the humble sacristan of Bergen.

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THE SUPPLEMENT OF ABELIN.

Niels Klim lived to the year 1695. His irreprehensible life and amiable disposition endeared him to all. Yet were the priests now and then angry with him for his great sedateness and reservedness, which they called pride and haughtiness. I, who knew the man, wondered much at the modesty, humility and patience with which he, who had been monarch over many nations, executed his mean and vulgar duties. So long as his strength permitted, he would, at a certain time in the year, ascend the mountain and gaze into the cave, out of which he came to the surface.

His friends observed that he always returned weeping, and immediately shut himself in his chamber, where he remained alone the rest of the day.

His wife informed me, that she frequently heard him murmur in his dreams, of armies and navies. His library consisted mostly of political works; for this selection he was blamed by several, who thought this description of books unfit for a sacristan.

Of the "subterranean travels," there is but a single copy, written by his own hand, which is in my possession.

I have often had it in mind to publish them, but several important reasons have hindered me from doing so.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] A porteur is one who carries his employer in a chair, from place to place.

[2] This name is taken to be predicated.