A Voyage to the Moon | Page 9

occurred to me, if he should thus suddenly
die, and I be found alone in his cell, I might be charged with being his murderer; and my
courage, which, from long inaction, had sadly declined of late, deserted me at the thought.
After the most torturing suspense, the dial at length showed me that the two hours had
elapsed, and I hastened to the cell.
I paused a moment at the door, afraid to enter, or even look in; made one or two steps,
and hearing no sound, concluded that all was over with the Hermit, and that my own
doom was sealed. My delight was inexpressible, therefore, when I perceived that he still
breathed, and when, on drawing nearer, I found that he slept soundly. In a moment I
passed from misery to bliss. I seated myself by his side, and there remained for more than
an hour, enjoying the transition of my feelings. At length he awoke, and casting on me a
look of placid benignity, said,--"Atterley, my time is not yet come. Though resigned to
death, I am content to live. The worst is over. I am already almost restored to health." I
then administered to him some refreshments, and, after a while, left him to repose. On
again repairing to the garden, every object assumed its wonted appearance. The fragrance
of the orange and the jasmine was no longer lost to me. The humming birds, which
swarmed round the flowering cytisus and the beautiful water-fall, once more delighted
the eye and the ear. I took my usual bath, as the sun was sinking below the mountain; and,
finding the Hermit still soundly sleeping, I threw myself on a seat, under the shelter of
some bamboos, fell asleep, and did not awake until late the next morning.
When I arose, I found the good Brahmin up, and, though much weakened by his disease,

able to walk about. He told me that the Mirvoon, uneasy at my not returning as usual in
the evening, had sent in search of me, and that the servant, finding me safe, was content
to return without me. He advised me, however, not to repeat the same cause of alarm.
Sing Fou, on hearing my explanation, readily forgave me for the uneasiness I had caused
him. After a few days, the Brahmin recovered his ordinary health and strength; and
having attended him at an earlier hour than usual, according to his request on the previous
evening, he thus addressed me:--
"I have already told you, my dear Atterley, that I was born and educated at Benares, and
that science is there more thoroughly understood and taught than the people of the west
are aware of. We have, for many thousands of years, been good astronomers, chymists,
mathematicians, and philosophers. We had discovered the secret of gunpowder, the
magnetic attraction, the properties of electricity, long before they were heard of in Europe.
We know more than we have revealed; and much of our knowledge is deposited in the
archives of the caste to which I belong; but, for want of a language generally understood
and easily learnt, (for these records are always written in the Sanscrit, that is no longer a
spoken language,) and the diffusion which is given by the art of printing, these secrets of
science are communicated only to a few, and sometimes even sleep with their authors,
until a subsequent discovery, under more favourable circumstances, brings them again to
light.
"It was at this seat of science that I learnt, from one of our sages, the physical truth which
I am now about to communicate, and which he discovered, partly by his researches into
the writings of ancient Pundits, and partly by his own extraordinary sagacity. There is a
principle of repulsion as well as gravitation in the earth. It causes fire to rise upwards. It
is exhibited in electricity. It occasions water-spouts, volcanoes, and earthquakes. After
much labour and research, this principle has been found embodied in a metallic substance,
which is met with in the mountain in which we are, united with a very heavy earth; and
this circumstance had great influence in inducing me to settle myself here.
"This metal, when separated and purified, has as great a tendency to fly off from the earth,
as a piece of gold or lead has to approach it. After making a number of curious
experiments with it, we bethought ourselves of putting it to some use, and soon contrived,
with the aid of it, to make cars and ascend into the air. We were very secret in these
operations; for our unhappy country having then recently fallen under the subjection of
the British nation, we apprehended that if we divulged our arcanum, they would not only
fly away with all