The Professor's head fell forward.
Presently Macrae, evidently in obedience to instructions, rose, saying, "Come, sit in this seat; take the headpiece and put it on, and hear the voice that will speak to you."
Good Appetites After the Hypnotizing
The other, looking like a somnambulist, changed places with him. He put on the headpiece, and Macrae, in obedience to a last suggestion, gradually rose to consciousness. He then saw the change that had been brought about, and moved away toward the entrance. He stood there a moment, looking at the Professor, then heard him say, "Yes! I am here.' Macrae quietly closed the door after him.
It was eight o'clock, and night had descended. He went to the door of the outer entrance, but, feeling no desire to join the station staff, stood there watching a bright star that shone with silvery and steady beam, in the western sky. He knew that star was Venus.
An hour passed. He waited, dozing on the bench in the corner of the little outer lobby of the station-house. Then he slept.
When he woke it was with a start; broad day, a hand upon his shoulder. Looking up, he saw it was Professor Rudge standing beside him. He immediately rose. "Good morning, sir. It has been a success? You have heard?"
He noticed that the Professor wore a puzzled look.
"The fact is," said the latter, "I have heard nothing. I know nothing, even of how I came to be sitting with the receiver on my head. Can you give me some information?"
Macrae at once understood the situation. He remembered his own twenty-hour spell; the Professor's seemed to have been only about twelve hours. He explained that this was doubtless a similar experience.
Professor Rudge now understood what had happened. He realized that he, like a bag full of information, had been untied, taken by the bottom corners, and held upside down. It seemed undignified. But presently the sane and healthy man came to the surface, and he laughed, recovered his temper—and his appetite.
"Have you had anything to eat since yesterday, Macrae?" he asked.
"No, sir," said Macrae, smiling.
"Then, my boy, let us attend to that at once. Everything else can wait."
So the station staff took possession of the signal-room, and the Professor took possession of the attendant, and the two men ate. Six feet of burly brawn and muscle represented a powerful engine, not to be kept going without considerable stoking.
After this, he and his companion thoroughly explored the island. The Professor was always careful to keep himself in thorough physical training, and his companion would have been all the better had he followed the same course. This was Macrae's conclusion after the walking and cliff-climbing of the next two hours. He returned to the station-house nearly run off his feet. Professor Rudge believed in the strenuous life, and he lived up to his creed.
CHAPTER IX
Macrae Under Suspicion
In the afternoon, as soon as the instrument was again at his disposal, Professor Rudge and Macrae took possession of the signal-room.
The Professor was impatient to find out if he would now be able to hear the voice himself, and at once put on the headpiece.
"Are you there?" The tone was a little unsteady from suppressed excitement.
After the usual interval, it was with a thrill of pleasure that he heard, faint but clear, a voice, the voice. There could be no mistaking its agreement with Macrae's description.
"Yes, Professor Rudge," it said, "I am here; but speak low, as Macrae did. Your other stations will then not hear you, but I shall hear you. Also, that you may have a record of our conversation, repeat my words aloud to Macrae, and he will take them down.
"I foresee," proceeded the voice, "that you may disapprove of the manner of our first intercourse during the past night. It was the best way. It saved time, which is most vital. You have supplemented to the utmost of your ability the information given by Macrae, and our future conversations can be devoted to the return you will no doubt desire, except for a matter on which I must speak before you remove the receiver. On what topic would you first wish to compare Venerian opinions with your own?"
The Great Moment of Professor Rudge's Life
As he heard these words, Professor Rudge felt that the great moment of his life had come.
Although he had rehearsed a hundred imaginary conversations with the "voice," on as many topics, now that the voice was suddenly offered him, he was momentarily at a loss what to say. At last he spoke.
"Now that this new door to knowledge has been so unexpectedly opened to mankind, I hope it will never be closed again. I hope that the time is near when, under your instruction, our knowledge will be equal to your own, so far as our lesser minds are capable of understanding all that constitutes your attainments."
"We shall," said the voice, "withhold no information we can give you. It is not in our power to make you our equals. The increase of knowledge will tend to develop your minds, but you must ever remember that the two things are entirely separate entities."
"I realize that," said the professor, "and that as you are the greater in both respects, you are the best judge of what should be our subject now. As I have the use of the instrument for a limited time, I will leave the choice to you and remain a listener, to save the intervals of waiting for replies."
The Venerian commended the course proposed by Professor Rudge, and at once proceeded with what was practically a long scientific lecture, that held his auditor spellbound with interest. The attainments displayed, the sweep of intellect indicated, caused Professor Rudge to feel himself a novice again.
