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- man, not Oro! how thou faintest for thy children, torn from thy soil,
to till a stranger’s. Vivenza! did these winds not spend their plaints,
ere reaching thee, thy every vale would echo them. Oh, tribe of Hamo!
thy cup of woe so brims, that soon it must overflow upon the land which
holds ye thralls. No misery born of crime, but spreads and poisons
wide. Suffering hunteth sin, as the gaunt hound the hare, and tears it
in the greenest brakes.”
Still on we sailed: and after many tranquil days and nights, a storm
came down, and burst its thousand bombs. The lightnings forked and
flashed; the waters boiled; our three prows lifted themselves in
supplication; but the billows smote them as they reared.
Said Babbalanja, bowing to the blast: “Thus, oh Vivenza! retribution
works! Though long delayed, it comes at last—Judgment, with all her
bolts.”
Now, a current seized us, and like three darts, our keels sped
eastward, through a narrow strait, far in, upon a smooth expanse, an
inland ocean, without a throb.
On our left, Porpheero’s southwest point, a mighty rock, long tiers of
galleries within, deck on deck; and flag-staffs, like an admiral’s
masts: a line-of-battle-ship, all purple stone, and anchored in the
sea. Here Bello’s lion crouched; and, through a thousand port-holes,
eyed the world.
On our right, Hamora’s northern shore gleamed thick with crescents;
numerous as the crosses along the opposing strand.
“How vain to say, that progress is the test of truth, my lord,” said
Babbalanja, “when, after many centuries, those crescents yet unwaning
shine, and count a devotee for every worshiper of yonder crosses. Truth
and Merit have other symbols than success; and in this mortal race, all
competitors may enter; and the field is clear for all. Side by side,
Lies run with Truths, and fools with wise; but, like geometric lines,
though they pierce infinity, never may they join.”
Over that tideless sea we sailed; and landed right, and landed left;
but the maiden never found; till, at last, we gained the water’s limit;
and inland saw great pointed masses, crowned with halos.
“Granite continents,” cried Babbalanja, “that seem created like the
planets, not built with human hands. Lo, Landmarks! upon whose flanks
Time leaves its traces, like old tide-rips of diluvian seas.”
As, after wandering round and round some purple dell, deep in a
boundless prairie’s heart, the baffled hunter plunges in; then,
despairing, turns once more to gain the open plain; even so we seekers
now curved round our keels; and from that inland sea emerged. The
universe again before us; our quest, as wide.
CHAPTER LXV.
Sailing On
Morning dawned upon the same mild, blue Lagoon as erst; and all the
lands that we had passed, since leaving Piko’s shore of spears, were
faded from the sight.
Part and parcel of the Mardian isles, they formed a cluster by
themselves; like the Pleiades, that shine in Taurus, and are eclipsed
by the red splendor of his fiery eye, and the thick clusterings of the
constellations round.
And as in Orion, to some old king-astronomer,—say, King of Rigel, or
Betelguese,—this Earth’s four quarters show but four points afar; so,
seem they to terrestrial eyes, that broadly sweep the spheres.
And, as the sun, by influence divine, wheels through the Ecliptic;
threading Cancer, Leo, Pisces, and Aquarius; so, by some mystic impulse
am I moved, to this fleet progress, through the groups in white-reefed
Mardi’s zone.
Oh, reader, list! I’ve chartless voyaged. With compass and the lead, we
had not found these Mardian Isles. Those who boldly launch, cast off
all cables; and turning from the common breeze, that’s fair for all,
with their own breath, fill their own sails. Hug the shore, naught new
is seen; and “Land ho!” at last was sung, when a new world was sought.
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