"Surely, sir," said Macrae, on seeing the doctor enter, "I am well enough to get up now. In fact, there is nothing the matter with me except weakness through lying here so long!"
"And not having had anything to eat for a week before that, my lad; you might include that, eh? However, I intend to let you loose tomorrow. You must not think a couple of days' rest and judicious stoking too much after your experience.
Talking about your experience, there is no wish to press you to go into that subject before you feel well enough, but the Captain wants to have a talk with you.
"I have been expecting this, sir. I must of course explain, although the thing 1 shall have to tell has nothing to do with my official duties."
"What thing?" asked the doctor.
Talking It Over with the Operator
"MY experience on the island, sir. It's so strange that no one will believe it. I can scarcely believe it myself. It is not very pleasant to know that I shall be looked upon as either mad or a liar."
"Don't be so sure of that, and you mustn't regard your talks with the Captain or me as official examinations. That will, no doubt, come later in London. You shall tell us just as much or as little as you wish, and on no account go into anything that will unduly excite you."
"When speaking of it, sir, I would prefer to tell the whole thing, but I don't quite know how to begin. The Captain of course knows how I came to be alone on the island."
"Yes—ah, here he is!" he broke off, as Captain Evered entered.
"Well, Macrae," he said, smiling pleasantly, "feel better?"
"I am all right now, I think, sir; but this dreadful affair with Lieutenant Wilson, and the mysteries on top of it, have been a bit too much for me."
"You were surprised to find yourself on board the Sagitta, I expect?" suggested Captain Evered.
"Yes, sir, I did not expect that."
"Do you remember all that took place at the station? Of course I have seen the official record, and have also looked through your private account of your experiences, I am afraid it will have to be impounded, as it contains several things that might give away the position of the station if it fell into improper hands."
"I'm very sorry, sir," said Macrae, coloring, "if I've done anything wrong."
"Not intentionally, I am sure," said Captain Evered kindly; "but perhaps you have not quite realized the extreme caution requisite. Tomorrow, probably, we shall be landing you at Hong-Kong. Remember the solemn engagement you made when signing on not to communicate anything to an unauthorized person in any way referring to Station X. We will speak of that again in the morning. Just now Dr. Anderson and I wish to hear your last recollections on the island. Can you tell us how you came to be as we found you?"
"I am glad to hear that you have read my diary, sir, for although it was not intended for any one but the girl I am engaged to, it saves a lot of explanation now. I can quite well see that any one reading what I have written must naturally put me down for either a liar or a lunatic. But I can solemnly assure you, sir, that what I have written is the truth."
"You remember all you have written?" asked Captain Evered. "You remember having conversations with some one who informed you he was speaking to you from another planet—in fact, from Venus?"
"I remember all quite clearly," said Macrae earnestly, "and I have written down the exact words that passed. The last conversation is still in shorthand only. If you wish, sir, I will now write it out."
"I was about to tell you when Captain Evered came in," said Anderson, "that I have transcribed your shorthand. So that brings us down to the point where it ends so abruptly."
The Interruption of the Communication
MACRAE hesitated for a moment, as if loth to enter upon so distasteful a topic.
"Yes," he said, at length, "it does leave off suddenly. That was when the interruption came."
"The interruption?" said the doctor. "What interruption?"
"Well, sir, it all began and ended in a few seconds. I scarcely know how to describe it. The voice was speaking to me, and seemed to be about to warn me of something, when suddenly there was another voice, a greater voice, oh! a voice"—Macrae sat up, and his hearers were surprised to see the look of awe that came into his face—"I cannot describe it. It seemed to have great authority."
"What did it say?" said the doctor.
After a pause, during which Macrae was evidently taxing his memory, he said:
"I cannot recall it. I seem to have a sort of remembrance of something; that is the only way I can say it, but it is misty, all covered up. I can't remember the words, only the voice.
Seeing the examination had proceeded as far as was good for his patient, Dr. Anderson half rose with a view to close the conversation, but Captain Evered motioned him to sit down again. He then said to Macrae:
"You said, 'a great voice.' Do you mean a louder voice, one that you could hear more distinctly, and which drowned the other?"
"I don't know that it was a louder voice," said Macrae; "but there was something in the tone, the force of it, that would make one attend. I can't describe it any more."
"It had a great influence on you, then?" inquired Captain Evered.
"Yes; a great influence," replied Macrae, with an involuntary shudder.
"How long did it last?"
A Violent Blow—Oblivion
"AT once there was an interruption from the first voice, and sounds like a dispute, but not in words. It all began and ended so quickly, that it's a sort of jumble in my recollection. The only thing that remains clear is that two voices came through the instrument, and spoke to me at the same time. Although I can't remember the words, I know both seemed to exert
