An RGL First Edition, 2025
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Roy Glashan's Library
Non sibi sed omnibus
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An RGL First Edition, 2025
Based on an image created with Microsoft Bing software
The Cavalier, 10 August 1912, with "In 2112"
It is the duty of every first-class magazine to keep abreast of the intelligence of its readers, to give the majority of those readers that which they prefer. The Cavalier takes pride in catering to the intellectual wants of its friends, regardless of cost.
For example: Esperanto. the international language, through which ultimately all peoples will be able to speak intelligently to each other, has taken a tremendous hold upon the American public, so much so that we have received many suggestions that a story printed in Esperanto would attract some attention and afford considerable pleasure to the students who have already mastered that language.
On this page, in English, we publish a story entitled "In 2112," from the pen of J.U. Giesy and J.B. Smith, well known to readers of The Cavalier. "In 2112" was translated into Esperanto by Dr. Elmer E. Haynes. It follows the English version in this number of The Cavalier.
In order to insure absolute accuracy even up to the very hour of going to press, the proofs of "In 2112" were read by one of the leading authorities on the international language. Readers of The Cavalier interested in the subject will find considerable information of importance in "A Glimpse of Esperanto," which can be secured from the Esperanto Association of North America, Washington, D.C.
What I am especially concerned about just now is, how do you like this idea as a whole? —The Editor.
"WAKE up," said the professor, and I opened my eyes.
He handed me a cup, and with equal obedience I lifted it somewhat weakly and drank its contents.
Presently he assisted me to stand dizzily upon my feet.
"We have had a long sleep, I think," he went on. "If my experiment worked out all right, we are both now something over two hundred years old."
Then I remembered. I had allowed the professor to hypnotize me, and the last I could recall was his low-toned voice commanding me to "sleep."
I wondered now if he might be some crazy fanatic, as well as a hypnotist. That I had been asleep for a long time I was willing to admit, for I felt weak and half-starved, but two hundred years! That was a little too much. Still—I decided to try and find out what my companion really thought he meant.
"Where are we?" I asked.
"In a secret place I had built for the experiment," he replied promptly, and waved his hand about the room.
I followed his gesture, and I confess the two-hundred-year idea began to look more plausible. There were two cots in the place, and they were covered with rags. The coverings from which I had just risen were tattered and moldered with age. Even the clothing I had worn was dropping into shreds, and the professor's clothes were equally frayed.
He noted my glance and smiled, walked to a small trunk, which appeared to be hermetically sealed, and broke it open with an effort, motioning me to approach. I obeyed, and he drew out a couple of suits of clothing, giving me one and retaining the other himself.
"This apartment," he continued, "was built under my home, by my orders, and after I put you to sleep a friend of mine did the same for me: I wanted to try the experiment, and was willing to take the risk. After I was asleep they carried us here and sealed us in. Now we will go out. I wonder what the world is like, after all the years."
Once more we had a drink of the old, old wine, which had been left with us, and clad in our new clothing, we attacked a place in the wall where the professor said the last stone had been sealed in. After some time it loosened and we dragged it out, and crawled through into a dark place, which the professor told me ought to be the basement of his former home.
Anyhow, he knew the way and led me to what seemed to be a flight of steps up which we mounted rather dizzily, I confess. At the top a door barred us. I heard my companion grunt. "It seems to be of metal; the old one was wood."
He fumbled about, and presently the door could be pushed back; only, instead of folding, it proved to slide into a slot in the wall.
"They've made changes," commented the former owner. "Well, come on and let's see what we can find."
We crept out into an apartment faintly illuminated from the outside. Apparently it was night, and yet there was a strange glow in the air—a sort of subdued daylight, like early twilight, coming from apparently nowhere, for as I crossed to the window and looked out, I could see the sky dark above the trees around the house, and no signs of street lamps—only the strange luminance in the lower air.
"Wonder how they make the light!" said the professor at my shoulder. "Wonder what time it is! Don't seem to be anybody up. Let's try to find out where we are and what year this is, and if they have anything for a pair of tramps from the year 1912 to eat."
We found a door and entered a passage. It was an odd passage, and as we stepped upon it, it started into action and carried us for a ways, without any effort of ours, and then stopped again before another door.
"Moving platform," mused my companion. "Great labor-saving device; we were just beginning to think of them when we went to sleep."
From under the door where we stood we could now see the some light we had noticed outside, only stronger. I pointed to the thread of brilliance. The professor nodded.
"Somebody up, after all," he remarked. "Well, here goes." He seized the edge of the door and shoved it back, and we both stepped into the room.
A shriek rang through the air. A figure which had been sitting at a table in the room sprang erect and stared at us as though unable to do else than stare after that first wild cry. The figure was that of what in our day would have been a young person of perhaps seventeen or eighteen, and was clad entirely in white. As it stood there it reminded me of old pictures of the Grecians, for the soft folds of the clothing fell unrestrained from the shoulders to a little below the knee, save for a narrow circlet just beneath the busts. Her hair—it was a girl or woman—was piled upon a shapely little head, and her lower limbs, from the edge of her gown, were protected only by a pair of sandallike things fastened by crisscross ribbons which extended to above the calf of the leg. From the shoulder her beautifully rounded arms were bare, and the low collar of her dress fell upon and showed a pink and white neck and upper chest.
The professor stepped toward her. "Do not be alarmed, my dear young woman," he began.
But she shook her head. "Mi ne komprenas," she murmured, puzzled. I started. I knew the tongue. Two hundred years before I had studied Esperanto. I spoke to her at once. "Chu vi parolas la Esperanton, Fraulino?"
"Esperanto?" said the girl. "Yes, I believe they formerly called it so. To-day all civilized nations speak it. Who are you, who come upon me thus?"
Well, I told her our story, and offered to show her the place we had just left. Her eyes lighted with interest, and she smiled, with a flash of teeth. "First you must eat, then I shall get you some fit clothing; then we shall go see this place you mention. I am greatly interested in your tale. Come."
She turned and led us to a small door, slid it back, and motioned us to enter. We stepped in, and an instant later came out on the second floor. It was an elevator of a sort, built into the wall. The girl led us to a room and opened the door. "My brother's," she explained. "He is not yet home, but you must be clothed." She crossed, pulled out some drawers from a panel in the wall, and handed us each what looked to me like the garments of an ancient Roman, being short-skirted tunics, in fact.
"While you are dressing I shall prepare you something to eat," she told us, and started to turn away.
"And we are to put on those things?" I inquired.
"Of course," said the girl.
"Rather—er—scanty, aren't they?" I began, and paused as I looked into her violet eyes, now widening. Then she began to laugh the least bit.
"Now I believe your tale," she replied. "You talk like the ancients might have done. Clothing with us is worn as a comfort and protection from the elements, not as a method of concealment, my friend."
I changed the subject before this slim young creature could give me another dig. "What is the light?" I asked, "and how do you control it? I saw it flash up as we entered this room."
"There is a button in the sill," she explained, smiling. "The light is just sunlight, diluted a bit."
"Diluted sunlight!" I gasped.
She leaned against the door-frame and laughed outright at that. "Oh, this is funny," she giggled. "Of course, you didn't have it then, did you? Well, we absorb the sunlight now and release it at will. We light houses and streets and everything with the solar absorbent light. But I'm no scientist. My brother will explain. I must get you some food. Which would you prefer, physical or mental food?"
I was lost. "Both," I replied shortly, and though she smiled, she nodded and stepped into the wall. I suppose the elevator took her down.
The professor and I dressed, and I confess I was ashamed of myself, while the professor's bare shanks made me laugh. Pretty soon the girl flounced back unannounced, and took us down to lunch, or whatever that midnight meal might have been. We ate. What the stuff was, I don't know, but it tasted good after my long fast. She explained that certain things were for the development of brain force, and others for physical energy. I ate of both and felt better, and after that I offered to show her our vacated tomb.
She rose and accompanied me. As we went down the dark passage and across the old cellar I thought to ask her if she were not afraid.
She shook her head and laughed, then thrust her hand into the breast of her gown and drew out something like a lead-pencil in size. "I could blind you or kill you with this," she informed me easily, and hid it back in her dress.
I was staggered. "What was it?" I cried.
"A radium pistol," she explained. "They are very deadly things. We use them only to defend ourselves, and only women may carry them, according to laws passed after the last great war, when several nations were quite annihilated by modifed forms of these things. Women, however, may use them in their own defense."
It was all very strange. I looked at the girl again. Under the soft light which poured from a plate in the ceiling, where she had switched it on, her slight, supple form stood revealed in all its beauty, its curves barely covered, rather than concealed by the clinging folds of her gown.
I seemed to have awakened from my long sleep the same man of twenty-eight. At least, in that moment I felt all the impulses of my youth. I stretched forth my hands to her. Her loveliness, the gold of her hair, the violet of her eyes, the red of her lips, the soft pink of her throat and arms, seemed very desirable. I looked for the professor. Already he had crawled through the hole into our former resting-place, where a dim candle flickered. I seized the maiden by the hands and drew her toward me and looked into her eyes. "I love you—love you," I whispered. "I don't even know your name, but I love you, my own."
She did not resist. She yielded, in fact, and let me draw her into my arms. I clasped her close and felt the warmth of her flesh strike through to my own. I could feel the throb of her heart against my breast. Very slowly she raised her eyes and looked up into mine, while she nestled in my arms. "My name is Maida," she whispered. "And yours, strange man of yesterday, whom I love, in turn?"
"Is Jones—plain Bill Jones." Then I opened my eyes.
The professor was standing in front of me, with a smile on his lips.
I started out of my chair and nearly fell over. "What did you butt in for?" I demanded. Where's Maida, anyway? Where'd she go?"
"I reckon she went back to 2112," said the professor, with a grin.
"Cut that out," I told him. "I want that girl. What you been doin' to me, anyway?"
"I sent you to 2112 to see what it was like," he observed, and sat down in his old Morris chair.
"Then I didn't sleep two hundred years?"
"You slept ten minutes, Bill Jones."
"And all that was merely—an experiment of yours?"
"Merely an experiment, Bill. Tell me what you thought you saw."
"VEKIGU," diris la Profesoro, kaj mi malfermis la okulojn.
Li donis al mi tason kiun. ankorau obenante, mi malforte levis kaj malplenigis.
Baldaui li helpis min stari ne?rme sur la piedoj. "Mi opinias; ke ni estas dormintaj longtempe," li daurigis. "Se mia eksperimento bone sukcesis, ni ambau nun havas iom pli ol du cent jaroj."
Tiam mi rememoris. Mi estis permesinta ke la Profesoro hipnotigu min, kaj la lasta afero, kiun mi povis rememori, estas lia mallauta voco ordonanta at mi "dormu."
Nun mi min demandis cu li estas freneza fanatikulo kiel ankau hipnotisto. Mi estus volonte konfesinta ke mi estas dorminta dum longa tempo, car mi sentas malforta kaj malsatega—, sed du cent jaroj! Tio estas ja nekredebla! Tamen—mi decidis ke mi penos eltrovi kion mia kunulo efektiire intencas diri.
"Kie ni estas?" mi demandis.
"En kasejo kiun mi konstruigis por la eksperimento," li tuj respondis, montrante la cambron per svinga gesto de la mano.
Atentinte la geston, mi konfesas ke la ideo de du cent jaroj komencis sajni pli kredinda. La du litoj en la cambro estis kovrataj de cifonoj. La kovriloj el kiuj mi jus estis leviginta estis difektataj kaj jam simis de ago. Ec la vestoj kiujn mi portis estis dis falantaj kaj la vestoj de la Profesoro estis egale cifonaj.
Vidinte mian ekrigardon, li ridetis kaj marsis al malgranda kesto kiu sajnis tiel firme fermita ke la aero ne povis eniri. Li malfermis gin per forto kaj gestigis min alveni. Mi obeis kaj elprenis du kompletojn, donante al mi la unuan kaj tenante la alian por si mem.
"Ci tiu cambro," li diris," estis konstruita sub mia domo lau miaj ordonoj kaj post kiam mi dormigis vin, amiko mia same dormigis min. Mi deziris provi la eksperimenton kaj volonte surprenis la riskon. Post kiam mi ekdormis oni nin ci tien portis kaj tute fermis la eniron. Nun ni eliros; mi tre volas scii al kio similas la mondo post tiom da jaroj."
Trinkinte de la tre malnova vino, kiun oni restigis kun ni, kaj vestite per la novaj vestoj, ni atakis la lokon en la muro kie, lau la Profesoro estis cementata la lasta stono. Post kelka tempo gi formovigis; kaj eltirinte gin, ni rampis en malluman lokon, kiun la Profesoro opiniis la kelo de sia antaua hejmo.
Almenau li konis la vojou kaj kondukis min al io, kiu sajne estis stuparo, per kiu ni surprenis iom ne firme, mi konfesas. Ce la supro, pordo baris nin. Mi audis mian kunulon grumbli: "Sajne gi estis elfarita el metalo; la malnova estas ligna." Li palpis esplore kaj baldau povis malfermi la pordon, sed anstatau svingi, gi glitis en fendon en la muro. "Oni faris sangojn," diris la antaua posedanto. "Nu, venu kaj ni vidu kion ni povas trovi."
Ni kviete elvenis en cambron iomete lumigata de ekstere. Sajnis nokto, tamen en la aero estis stranga lumo—speco de malforta taglumo simila al frua krepusko, sajne alvenanta de nenie, car, kiam mi marsis al la fenestro kaj elrigardis, mi povis vidi la cielon malluman super la arboj cirkauantaj la domon, kaj neniajn stratajn lumigilojn,—nur la strangan lumecon en la malsupra aero.
"Mi scivolas kiamaniere oni faras lumon?" diris la Profesoro ce mia sultro.
"Kioma horo estas? Sajnas ke neniu restas ekster lito. Ni penu ekscii kie ni estas kaj kia estas la jaro, kaj cu oni donos ion por mangi al du vagantoj de la jaro 1912.
Ni trovis pordon kaj eniris koridoron. Gi estas kurioza koridoro kaj kiam ni ekpasis sur gin, gi ekmovigis kaj sen ia laboro nia portis nin kelkan interspacon kaj haltis antau alia pordo. "Memmovanta perono," penseme diris mia kunulo, "granda rimedo por spari laboron; oni jus komencis pensi pri ili kiam ni ekdormis."
Sub la pordo kie ni staris, ni nun povis vidi la saman lumon kiun ni vidis ekstere, sed pli fortan. Mi gestis al la fadeno de brileco. La Profesoro balancis la kapon. "Iu maldormas, spite cio," li diris. "Nu, ni eniru." Li prenis la randon de la pordo, pusis gin flanken kaj ni ambau eniris la cambron.
Akra ekkrio sonis tra la aero. Persono, kiu estis sidinta apud tablo en mezo de la cambro, ekstaris kaj mire rigardis nin, kvazau ne povante fari ion ajn post tiu unua timkrio. La formo estis tia, kia en nia tempo estus juna persono, eble havanto dek sep au dek ok jarojn kaj estis tute blanke vestita. Dum gi staris tie, gi rememorigis al mi malnovajn bildojn de la Grekoj, car la molaj faldoj de la vesto falis libere de la sultroj gis la genuoj, escepte ke estis mallarga zono sub la brusto. Sia hararo—si estis knabino au virino—estis amasigata sur belforma kapo kaj siaj kruroj de la rando dc sia jupo estis protektataj nur de sandalformaj aferoj ligitaj per krucigitaj rubandoj kiuj etendis super la tibikarno. Siaj belaj rondaj brakoj estis nudaj de la sultroj, kaj la malalta kolumo de la vesto malfermigis, montrante roz-kaj-blankajn kolon kaj bruston.
La Profesoro pasis al si. "Ne timu, mia kara junulino," li komencis, kompreneble parolante angle.
Sed si skuis la kapon. "Mi ne komprenas, "si konfuzigate respondis.
Mi eksaltetis. Mi komprenis la lingvon. Antau du cent jaroj mi estis studinta Esperanton. Mi tuj paroiis al si: "Cu vi parolis Esperanton, Fraulino?"
"Esperanto?" diris la knabino. "Jes, mi opinias ke antaue oni tiel nomis gin. Hodiau ciuj civilizataj nacioj gin parolas. Kiuj vi estas, kiuj alvenas al mi tiamaniere?"
Nu, mi rakontis al si nian historieton kaj proponis montri al si la lokon kiun ni jus forlasis. Siaj okuloj ekbrilis kun intereso kaj si ridetis kun montreto de dentoj. "Unue vi devas mangi, kaj mi havigos al vi taugajn vestojn; tiam ni iros por vidi tiun lokon kiun vi priparolas. Mi treege interesigas pri via rakonto. Venu."
Sin turninte, si kondukis nin al pordeto, ?anken glitigis gin kaj gestis ke ni eniru. Ni eniris kaj post minuto eliris sur la duan etagon. Gi estis speco de elevatoro, konstruita en la muro. La knabino kondukis nin al cambro kaj malfermis la pordon. "Gi apartenas al mia frato," si klarigis. "Li ankorau ne revenis hejmen, sed vi devas havi vestojn." Transirinte, si eltiris kelkajn tirkestojn el la muro kaj donis al ciu el ni ion, kio sajnis al mi simila al la vestoj de antikva Romano, efektive estante mallongjupa tuniko.
"Dum vi surmetas la vestojn, mi pretigos por vi ion por mangi," si diris kaj sin turnis por foriri.
"Cu ni devas surmeti ci tiujn?" mi demandis.
"Kredeble," diris la knabino.
"Iomete— er—nesuficaj, cu ne?" mi komencis kaj cesis dum mi rigardis en siajn violokolorajn okulojn. Tiam si komencis ridi iomete.
"Nun mi kredas vian historieton," si respondis. "Vi parolas same kiel la antikvuloj povus. Ce ni oni portas vestojn por komforto kaj protekto kontrau la elementoj, ne por rimedo de kasado, mia amiko."
Mi sangis la temon antau ol tiu maldika junulino povis plu hontigi min. "Kio estas la lumo," mi demandis, "kaj kiel vi kontrolas gin? Mi rimarkis ke gi ekbrilis kiam ni eniris ci tiun cambron."
"Estas butono en ia sojlo," si ridetante klarigis. "La lumo estas nur sunlumo, iom maldensigita."
"Maldensigita sunlumo!" mi mirdiris.
Si apogis sin al la pordkadro kaj ridis plenkore je tio. "Ho, tio estas ridinda," si diris ridante. "Kredeble vi ne havis gin tiam, cu ne? Nu, ni nuntempe sorbas la sunlumon kaj liberigas gin lauvole. Ni lumigas domojn kaj stratojn kaj cion per la sorbigita sunlumo. Sed mi ne estas scienculino, mia frato klarigos. Mi devas havigi mangon al vi. Kian vi preferas, fizikan au mentalan mangajon?"
Mi tute ne komprenis. "Ambau," mi lakone respondis, kaj kvankam si ridetis, si balancis la kapon kaj marsis en la muron. Mi supozas ke la elevatoro sin portis malsupren.
La Profesoro kaj mi surmetis la vestojn kaj mi konfesas ke mi hontis, dum samtempe la nudaj kruroj de la Profesoro ekscitis mian ridon. Baldaui la knabino neanoncite revenis kaj kondukis nin al kio ajn vi deziras nomi tiu meznoktan mangon. Ni mangis. Mi ne sciis kia estas la materialo, sed gi havis bonan guston post mia longa fasto. Si klarigis ke iaj estis intencitaj por la produktado de cerba forto kaj aliaj por ?zika energio. Mi mangis de ambau kaj plibonigis. Poste mi proponis montri al si nian vakantan tombon.
Si levigis kaj iris kun ni. Dum ni iris lau la malluma koridoro, mi demandis al si cu si timas.
Si skuis la kapon kaj ridis, kaj metante la manon en la korsajon, si eltiris ion similan al krajono lau grandeco. "Mi povus au blindigi au mortigi vin per ci tiu," si facile sciigis min, rekasante gin en la veston.
Mirego ekfrapis min. "Kio gi estas?" mi ekkriis.
"Radiuma pistolo," si klarigis. "Ili estas tre mortigaj iloj. Ni uzas ilin por defendi nin, kaj nur virinoj estas permesataj porti ilin lau legoj faritaj post la lasta granda milito kiam multaj nacioj estis tute detruitaj per diversaj formoj de tiaj bataliloj. Tamen estas permesate al virinoj uzi ilin por memprotektado."
Cio estis tre stranga. Denove mi rigardis la knabinon. Sub la mola lumo kiu fluis de plato sur la plafono kiun gi lumigis, sia eta fleksebla formo staris videbla en sia tuta beleco, kun la kurboj apenau kovritaj, anstatau esti kasitaj de la altenataj faldoj de sia vesto. Sajne mi estis vekiginta de la granda dormo tute la sama dudekok-jara viro. Almenau en tiu momento mi sentis ciujn el la impulsoj de mia juneco. Mi etendis la manojn al si. Sia beleco, la oro de sia haramaso, la violokoloro de siaj okuloj, la rugo de siaj lipoj, la delikata rozkoloro de kolo kaj brakoj sajnis tre dezirindaj. Mi cirkauen rigardis por la Profesoro. Li jam estis rampinta tra la truo en nian antauan dormejon, kie malhela kandelo dube briletis. Kaptinte la belulinon je la manoj, mi sin altiris kaj rigardadis en siajn okulojn. "Mi amas vin—amas vin," mi paroletis. "Mi ne scias ec vian nomon, sed mi amas vin, mia karulino!"
Si ne retiris sin, sed efektive cedis kaj permesis ke mi sin altiru en la brakojn. Mi forte cirkauprenis sin, sentante kiel la varmeco de sia korpo penetris al la mia. Mi povis senti la batadon de sia koro kontrau mia brusto. Tre malrapide si levis siajn okulojn kaj rigardis en la miajn, dum si komforte sin kusigis en miaj brakoj. "Mia nomo estas Madia," si paroletis, "kaj la via, stranga viro de hierau, kiun mi reciproke amas?"
"Gi estas Jones, ordinara Bill Jones,"—tiam mi malfermis la okulojn.
La Profesoro staris antau mi, kun rideto sur siaj lipoj.
Mi eksaltis el mia sego kaj preskau falis. "Kial vi vin entrudis?" mi demandis. "Kie Maida estas? Kien si iris?"
"Mi supozas ke si reiris al 2112," diris la Profesoro kun ridetaco.
"Cesigu tion," mi ordonis. "Mi deziras tiun knabinon. Kion vi ja faris al mi?"
"Mi sendis vin al 2112 por vidi al kio gi similos," li diris kaj sidigis en sian malnovan braksegon.
"Sekve mi ne dormadis dum du cent jaroj?"
"Vi dormis dek minutojn, Bill Jones."
"Kaj cio estis nur— eksperimento via?"
"Nur eksperimento, Bill. Rakontu al mi kion vi imagis ke vi vidas."
Roy Glashan's Library
Non sibi sed omnibus
Go to Home Page
This work is out of copyright in countries with a copyright
period of 70 years or less, after the year of the author's death.
If it is under copyright in your country of residence,
do not download or redistribute this file.
Original content added by RGL (e.g., introductions, notes,
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