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Page 65
Thus Doctor Bainbridge closed; and, though his words were of death, and
the thoughts which he expressed were as old as the human race, I was
much affected by them. Young as was the speaker, his utterances conveyed
to me the impression that he himself had in some way learned the lesson
of which he spoke. For several moments we sat in silence; and then,
though I knew that he would have a few more words to say, I thought it
an appropriate time to thank him for his long, painstaking elaboration
of the old sailor's disclosures, which, as I knew partly from my own
personal knowledge, had been gained only by untiring perseverance and
inexhaustible patience. I thanked him, and complimented him as I thought
he deserved; and he was pleased, I plainly saw, with the few words of
commendation which he knew came from my heart.
We sat, smoking our cigars and chatting on various topics, until it was
almost the hour at which he usually said to me goodnight. Then he
returned to the Peters' story, saying:
"It only remains for me properly to dispose of Pym and Peters. Peters
knows no more--in fact, not as much--of Pym after he returned home, as
do we. Poe, we know, in the note to his 'Narrative,' alludes to 'the
late sudden and distressing death of Mr. Pym.' This is all we know, and
even this fact, when I told it to Peters, was new to him; for Pym and
Peters parted in the month of February, 1830, at the City of Montevideo,
Uruguay; Peters, with an old sailor chum, whom he happened to meet in
South America, shipping to Australia; and Pym, a few days later,
starting for the United States.
"It had no doubt been the policy of the Hili-lites to prevent all
strangers from returning to the outer world; but this policy was, it
seems, not a firmly founded one, and many circumstances arose to modify
and finally even to reverse it. They looked upon Pym almost as one of
themselves. When he left them, it was with the intention of returning;
and they exacted of him a promise to hide, even from Peters, the
longitudes traversed during the entire journey from Hili-li until they
should touch the land of some civilized people, or meet with a ship; to
which promise Pym rigidly adhered. And though they were in other ways
very kind to him, they would not allow him to take away a single grain
of gold, of which nuggets were as plentiful in the fissures of the
Olympian ranges as are pebbles in the beds of mountain streams; nor
would they allow him to retain, of the many precious stones in his
possession, even the ruby which Lilama had given him; and no amount of
argument or pleading could move them to a different decision. The
Hili-lites were anxious to get rid of Peters, which had much to do with
their willingness to 'speed the parting guest.' It seems that Pym for
months after the death of Lilama was in an extremely morbid state of
mind. He spent most of his time with Masus�lili, who allowed him to see
Lilama's apparition or wraith many times. The aged mystic explained to
Pym the scientific _modus operandi_ of the production, so that he was in
no way deceived into thinking that he met Lilama in person; but we may
presume that, as it is to each of us some gratification to look at a
painting or a photograph of a departed friend, it must have been a still
greater pleasure for Pym thus to have reproduced for him the living,
moving form and features of his lost darling--reproduced or simulated in
such a manner that he might see her, and touch her, and hear her
voice--even though he was told that the image was only a likeness.
During Pym's abstraction, Peters was left almost entirely to himself;
and his worst qualities, long inactive (partly because there had not
been opportunity for their display, and partly because of Pym's
influence), now came prominently to the surface. He associated with the
wildest characters on the neighboring islands, making them even wilder
and more ungovernable than before his arrival. Finally, with revenge for
an excuse, but in reality from sheer restlessness, he began to organize
a raid on the outlying barbarians, more particularly, he still avers,
because he wished 'to get even with old Too-wit' and his barbarian
followers for having murdered his companions, as described in Pym's
diary. This the Hili-lites thought was going too far; and as it was now
October, the Council of State decided to allow Pym to depart for home,
taking Peters with him.
"One bright December morning these two toys of fortune said good-by to
their kind hosts, and started on their long and perilous journey. A
strong and handsome though small sail-boat had been provided for them. A
number of Hili-lite youths--among them some of the former exiles--were
to accompany them past the great antarctic continent; and for this
piloting party a larger boat had been built. After many days, the
continent was passed; and Pym and Peters, alone, began their wearisome
voyage across the great Antarctic Ocean. Fortunately, in January they
encountered a large schooner, which six weeks later, in February, landed
them at Montevideo. Peters says that Montevideo was at that
time--1830--little more than a walled fortress. This scarcely harmonizes
with the fact that it was then, as now, the capital of Uruguay; but
Peters appears to know what he is talking about. As I have said, at this
place Pym and Peters parted, never to meet again. The younger man
started for his home, and found an early grave; the older man sought new
adventures, and he, at the age of eighty, still lives to tell of their
adventures had in a country strange beyond man's credulity to believe."
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