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Page 51
"But never mind; it does not amount to much. Doctor Bainbridge will
probably be here to-morrow evening, and will, no doubt, have forgotten,
or at least buried the incident. But after this, Arthur, you may come to
me each morning, and as I dress I will tell you all about what the
evening before I shall learn from the doctor. So, goodnight to you, and
here is a dollar to help you start the ice-cream parlor."
The SIXTEENTH Chapter
On the following evening, at his usual hour, Bainbridge entered my
apartment; and after the customary greeting, seated himself. No mention
was made of Arthur's hapless interruption of the evening before,
Bainbridge acting as if that miserable incident had not occurred.
"If I remember rightly," he said, "we left Ahpilus lying with a broken
back, and Peters standing by him, with Lilama crouching near; whilst on
the opposite side of the chasm or canyon stood Pym, Diregus, and the
boatman, who had accompanied the rescue party in their ascent of the
mountain.
"After a moment of astonishment, Diregus inquired concerning the
condition of Ahpilus; and Peters replied that the maniac not only lived,
but was not in danger of dying; that he was scarcely conscious, however,
and that even if fully aroused would in all probability not be able to
walk--Peters knowing from personal experience with similar 'accidents'
what the results were likely to be.
"When Lilama heard Peters' statement, she approached the injured
man--the friend of her childhood and her girlhood--and did what little
she could to make his position at least appear more comfortable.
"There was no possible way for the divided party to unite, other than by
returning several miles down the mountain-side. Now that Lilama was
safe, and Ahpilus not only mentally alienated from his people but also
physically helpless, a kindly feeling came to the party for their old
friend thus reduced to a condition doubly lamentable, and very pitiable
to persons so refined and sensitive as were the Hili-lites. There was
some discussion on the subject of Ahpilus's future; and then Peters said
that he could easily carry the injured man down the mountain-side. This
he at once began to do; and in the course of four or five hours, during
which he stopped for a rest a number of times, he reached a point in the
descent at which the canyon narrowed to a width of not more than ten
feet, and across which a rude foot-bridge of logs had been constructed.
Lilama, as well as those on the opposite side of the chasm, had kept
pace with Peters; and the divided party now came together.
"Ahpilus was gently placed on the ground; and as his old friends
gathered about him it was observed that not only had consciousness
returned, but that the helpless man looked quite the Ahpilus of former
and happier days. As his old friends looked into his eyes, those windows
of the mind, they saw a soul unruffled, and at peace with nature.
"Then Diregus addressed to Ahpilus some words of inquiry; but it was
soon apparent that the stricken man could answer no question relating to
recent days, or even to the past year or two. In fact, Diregus soon
recognized that Ahpilus knew nothing of his own past from a period
antedating his exile to the present time. It appears that the nervous
shock which accompanied the breaking of his spine had, in some way,
dispelled his madness, and also those less maniacal, comparatively mild
delusions which for several years had clouded and perverted his
otherwise brilliant mind; so that he was again the same loving and
lovable Ahpilus of former times; but in all the sixty or seventy years
that he might yet live, he never again would be able to walk, or even to
stand, unaided.
"The party of five, carrying the helpless man, sadly and silently
continued on their way to Volcano Bay, which in the course of an hour
they reached. There they found the other boatmen waiting for them, and,
also, standing here and there in groups, a number of the exiles, among
them Medosus. It had gone forth among these pariahs of Hili-liland, that
something unusual was astir; and, fearing something, they knew not what,
they had determined to observe the movements of the invading party.
Diregus soon explained what had brought them to Olympus, and the results
of their search. The exiles were at first quite unable to believe that
Peters had crossed the chasm at the point stated, though lying was in
Hili-li a lost art, the history of that country stating positively that
but three adult liars (visitors excepted) had existed in Hili-li for
five hundred years, the last of whom had, two centuries before, died.
When the Olympians (as the exiles were generally in derision called)
learned of Ahpilus's condition, and of its cause, it appeared for a few
moments that Peters would be attacked; but the soothing words of Pym and
Diregus, and the presence of Lilama, whom they knew had been in extreme
danger, as well as the expression on the face of Peters when he first
grasped the idea that an attack upon him was imminent--all of these
things together prevented trouble.
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