CHAPTER
XXI.
MY WEIGHT IS DISAPPEARING.
We halted suddenly, for we came unexpectedly to the edge of a precipice, twenty
feet at least in depth.
" Let us jump down," said my guide.
" That would be dangerous," I answered; " can not we descend at
some point where it is not so deep?"
" No; the chasm stretches for miles across our path, and at this point we
will meet with the least difficulty; besides, there is no danger. The specific
gravity of our bodies is now so little that we could jump twice that distance
with impunity."
" I can not comprehend you; we are in the flesh, our bodies are possessed
of weight, the concussion will be violent."
" You reason again from the condition of your former life, and, as usual,
are mistaken; there will be little shock, for, as I have said, our bodies are
comparatively light now. Have you forgotten that your motion is continuously
accelerated, and that without perceptible exertion you move rapidly? This is
partly because of the loss of weight. Your weight would now be only about fifty
pounds if tested by a spring balance."
I stood incredulous.
" You trifle with me; I weigh over one hundred and fifty pounds; how have I
lost weight ? It is true that I have noticed the ease with which we have
recently progressed on our journey, especially the latter part of it, but I
attribute this, in part, to the fact that our course is down an incline, and
also to the vitalizing power of this cavern air."
" This explains part of the matter," he said; " it answered at
the time, and I stated a fact; but were it not that you are really consuming a
comparatively small amount of energy, you
would long before this have been completely exhausted. You have been gaining
strength for some hours; have really been
growing younger. Your wrinkled face has become more smooth, and your voice is
again natural. You were prematurely aged by your brothers on the surface of the
earth, in order that when you pass the line of gravity, you might be vigorous
and enjoying manhood again. Had this aging process not been accomplished you
would now have become as a child in many respects."
He halted before me. " Jump up," he said. I promptly obeyed the
unexpected command, and sprung upward with sufficient force to carry me, as I
supposed, six inches from the earth; however I bounded upward fully six feet. My
look of surprise as I gently alighted, for there was no concussion on my return,
seemed lost on my guide, and he quietly said:
" If you can leap six feet upward without any excessive exertion, or return
shock, cannot you jump twenty feet down? Look!"
And he leaped lightly over the precipice and stood unharmed on the stoney floor
below.
Even then I hesitated, observing which, he cried:
" Hang by your hands from the edge then, and drop."
I did so, and the fourteen feet of fall seemed to affect me as though I had
become as light as a cork. I fluttered to the earth as a leaf would fall, and
leaned against the precipice in surprise meditation.
" Others have been through your experience," He remarked, " and I
therefore can overlook your incredulity; but experiences such as you now meet,
remove distrust. Doing is believing."
He smilied benignantly.
I pondered, revolving in my mind the fact that persons had in mental
abstraction, passed through unusual experiences in
ignorance of conditions about them, until their attention had been called to the
seen and yet unnoticed surroundings, and they had then beheld the facts plainly.
The puzzle picture stares the eye and impresses the retina, but is devoid of
character until the hidden form is developed in the mind, and then that form is
always prominent to the eye. My remarkably light step, now that my attention had
been directed thereto, was constantly in my mind, and I found myself suddenly
possessed of the strength of a man, but with the weight of an infant. I raised
my feet without an effort; they seemed destitute of weight; I leaped about,
tumbled, and rolled over and over on the smooth stone floor without injury. It
appeared that I had become the airy similitude of my former self, my material
substance having wasted away without a corresponding impairment of strength.
I pinched my flesh to be assured that all was not a dream, and then endeavored
to convince myself that I was the victim of delirium; but in vain. Too sternly
my self-existence confronted me as a reality, a cruel reality. A species of
intoxication possessed me once more, and I now hoped for the end, whatever it
might be. We resumed our journey, and rushed on with increasing rapidity,
galloping hand in hand, down, down, ever downward into the illuminated crevice
of the earth. The spectral light by which we were attreoled increased in
intensity, as by arithmetical progression, and I could now distinguish objects
at a considerable distance before us. My spirits rose as if I were under the
influence of a potent stimulant; a liveliness that was the opposite of my recent
despondency had gained control, and I was again possessed of a delicious mental
sensation, to which I can only refer as a most rapturous exhilaration. My guide
grasped my hand firmly, and his touch, instead of revolting me as formerly it
had done, gave pleasure. We together leaped over great inequalities in the
floor, performing these aerial feats almost as easily as a bird flies. Indeed, I
felt that I possessed the power of flight, for we bounded fearlessly down great
declivities and over abysses that were often perpendicular, and many times our
height. A very slight muscular exertion was sufficient to carry us rods of
distance, and almost tiptoeing we skimmed with ever-increasing speed down the
steeps of that unknown declivity. At length lily guide held back; we gradually
lessened our velocity, and, after a time, rested beside a horizontal substance
that lay before us, apparently a sheet of glass, rigid, immovable, immeasurably
great, that stretched as a level surface before us, vividly distinct in the
brightness of an earth light, that now proved to be superior to sunshine. Far as
the eye could reach, the glassy barrier to our further progress spread as a
crystal mirror in front, and vanishing in the distance, shut off the beyond.