Tales of Space and Time | Page 6

part of a face with
very large eyes, came as it were close to his own and as if on the other
side of the crystal. Mr. Cave was so startled and so impressed by the
absolute reality of these eyes, that he drew his head back from the
crystal to look behind it. He had become so absorbed in watching that
he was quite surprised to find himself in the cool darkness of his little
shop, with its familiar odour of methyl, mustiness, and decay. And as
he blinked about him, the glowing crystal faded, and went out.
Such were the first general impressions of Mr. Cave. The story is
curiously direct and circumstantial. From the outset, when the valley
first flashed momentarily on his senses, his imagination was strangely
affected, and as he began to appreciate the details of the scene he saw,
his wonder rose to the point of a passion. He went about his business
listless and distraught, thinking only of the time when he should be able
to return to his watching. And then a few weeks after his first sight of
the valley came the two customers, the stress and excitement of their
offer, and the narrow escape of the crystal from sale, as I have already
told.
Now, while the thing was Mr. Cave's secret, it remained a mere wonder,
a thing to creep to covertly and peep at, as a child might peep upon a
forbidden garden. But Mr. Wace has, for a young scientific investigator,
a particularly lucid and consecutive habit of mind. Directly the crystal
and its story came to him, and he had satisfied himself, by seeing the
phosphorescence with his own eyes, that there really was a certain
evidence for Mr. Cave's statements, he proceeded to develop the matter
systematically. Mr. Cave was only too eager to come and feast his eyes
on this wonderland he saw, and he came every night from half-past
eight until half-past ten, and sometimes, in Mr. Wace's absence, during
the day. On Sunday afternoons, also he came. From the outset Mr.
Wace made copious notes, and it was due to his scientific method that

the relation between the direction from which the initiating ray entered
the crystal and the orientation of the picture were proved. And by
covering the crystal in a box perforated only with a small aperture to
admit the exciting ray, and by substituting black holland for his buff
blinds, he greatly improved the conditions of the observations; so that
in a little while they were able to survey the valley in any direction they
desired.
So having cleared the way, we may give a brief account of this
visionary world within the crystal. The things were in all cases seen by
Mr. Cave, and the method of working was invariably for him to watch
the crystal and report what he saw, while Mr. Wace (who as a science
student had learnt the trick of writing in the dark) wrote a brief note of
his report. When the crystal faded, it was put into its box in the proper
position and the electric light turned on. Mr. Wace asked questions, and
suggested observations to clear up difficult points. Nothing, indeed,
could have been less visionary and more matter-of-fact.
The attention of Mr. Cave had been speedily directed to the bird-like
creatures he had seen so abundantly present in each of his earlier
visions. His first impression was soon corrected, and he considered for
a time that they might represent a diurnal species of bat. Then he
thought, grotesquely enough, that they might be cherubs. Their heads
were round, and curiously human, and it was the eyes of one of them
that had so startled him on his second observation. They had broad,
silvery wings, not feathered, but glistening almost as brilliantly as
new-killed fish and with the same subtle play of colour, and these
wings were not built on the plan of a bird-wing or bat, Mr. Wace
learned, but supported by curved ribs radiating from the body. (A sort
of butterfly wing with curved ribs seems best to express their
appearance.) The body was small, but fitted with two bunches of
prehensile organs, like long tentacles, immediately under the mouth.
Incredible as it appeared to Mr. Wace, the persuasion at last became
irresistible, that it was these creatures which owned the great
quasi-human buildings and the magnificent garden that made the broad
valley so splendid. And Mr. Cave perceived that the buildings, with
other peculiarities, had no doors, but that the great circular windows,

which opened freely, gave the creatures egress and entrance. They
would alight upon their tentacles, fold their wings to a smallness almost
rod-like, and hop into the interior. But among them was a multitude of
smaller-winged