“That it should have happened to me!” he cried. “To me, a materialist, a man so immersed in matter that the invisible did not exist in my philosophy. The theories of a whole lifetime have crumbled about my ears.”
“I guess we have all been to school again,” said Scanlan, “If ever I get back to the little home town, I shall have something to tell the boys.”
“The less you tell them the better, unless you want to get the name of being the greatest liar that ever came out of America,” said I. “Would you or I have believed it all if someone else had told us?”
“Maybe not. But say, Doc, you had the dope right enough. That great black stiff got his ten and out as neat as ever I saw. There was no come-back there. You clean pushed him off the map. I don’t know on what other map he has found his location, but it is no place for Bill Scanlan anyhow.”
“I will tell you exactly what occurred,” said the Doctor. “You will remember that I left you and retired into my study. I had little hope in my heart, but I had read a good deal at different times about black magic and occult arts. I was aware that white can always dominate black if it can but reach the same plane. He was on a much stronger — I will not say higher — plane than we. That was the fatal fact.
“I saw no way of getting over it. I flung myself down on the settee and I prayed — yes, I, the hardened materialist, prayed — for help. When one is at the very end of all human power, what can one do save to stretch appealing hands into the mists which gird us round? I prayed — and my prayer was most wonderfully answered.
“I was suddenly aware of the fact that I was not alone in the room. There stood before me a tall figure, as swarthy as the evil presence whom we fought, but with a kindly, bearded face which shone with benevolence and love. The sense of power which he conveyed was not less than the other, but it was the power of good, the power within the influence of which evil would shred away as the mists do before the sun. He looked at me with kindly eyes, and I sat, too amazed to speak, staring up at him. Something within me, some inspiration or intuition, told me that this was the spirit of that great and wise Atlantean who had fought the evil while he lived, and who, when he could not prevent the destruction of his country, took such steps as would ensure that the more worthy should survive even though they should be sunk to the depths of the Ocean. This wondrous being was now interposing to prevent the ruin of his work and the destruction of his children. With a sudden gush of hope I realized all this as clearly as if he had said it. Then, still smiling, he advanced, and he laid his two hands upon my head. It was his own virtue and strength, no doubt, which he was transferring to me. I felt it coursing like fire down my veins. Nothing in the world seemed impossible at that moment. I had the will and the might to do miracles. Then at that moment I heard the bell clang out, which told me that the crisis had come. As I rose from the couch the spirit, smiling his encouragement, vanished before me. Then I joined you, and the rest you know.”
“Well, sir,” said I, “I think you have made your reputation. If you care to set up as a god down here, I expect you would find no difficulty.”
“You got away with it better than I did, Doc,” said Scanlan in a rueful voice. “How is it this guy didn’t know what you were doing? He was quick enough on to me when I laid hand on a gun. And yet you had him guessing.”
“I suppose that you were on the plane of matter, and that, for the moment, we were upon that of spirit,” said the Doctor thoughtfully. “Such things teach one humility. It is only when you touch the higher that you realize how low we may be among the possibilities of creation. I have had my lesson. May my future life show that I have learned it.”
So this was the end of our supreme experience. It was but a little time later that we conceived the idea of sending news of ourselves to the surface, and that later by means of vitrine balls filled with levigen, we ascended ourselves to be met in the manner already narrated. Dr. Maracot actually talks of going back. There is some point of Ichthyology upon which he wants more precise information. But Scanlan has, I hear, married his wren in Philadelphia, and has been promoted as works manager of Merribanks, so he seeks no further adventure, while I — well, the deep sea has given me a precious pearl, and I ask for no more.
THE END