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Updated: May 12, 2025
The gaze of every inhabitant was fixed on the threatening horizon. Rapidly the scenes shifted at the king's will, till a hundred cities, towns and villages had been reviewed. "Enough! They are all ready all faithful," groaned the king, "and, Ornethelo, they may all have to perish to-day, and all for our ambition. Poor mortals!"
"Ornethelo," said the king, and at the sound of his voice the old man turned and bowed humbly. "All right," went on the king, "I will take your place a moment." He went to the stand and touched a button. Instantly the scene changed; fields, forests, streams and hills ran by in a murky blur, and then a larger town flashed on the mirror. Here the same stir and alertness characterized the scene.
Ornethelo's face was half submerged in the beard on his breast, but he looked up suddenly and spoke: "For their sakes, then, we ought not to delay; there may yet be hope." "You are right, Ornethelo." There was a ring of hope in the voice of the king. "Quick! show me my capitol, that I may see if all the protectors are ready."
Over all lay the wondrous sunlight, through the green splendor of which the flakes of soot were falling like black snow. The king touched the old man's arm. "I must see beyond the walls; are the connections made?" "Ready, sir." "Try them; they must not fail me now!" The old man tremblingly unlocked a cabinet on the table, and another row of electric buttons was displayed. Ornethelo touched one.
Immediately there was a sharp clicking sound under the stand, and the view was swept from the mirror. Nothing could be seen but a dark suggestion of towering cliffs and yawning caverns. "Not the east, Ornethelo," cried the king impatiently. "Go on! the west! the west!"
Ornethelo caught his breath suddenly and tottered as he went across the room, and touched a button on the wall. The king's eyes were glued on the mirrored view of the capitol, his trembling hands held out, as if commanding silence. Then a deafening trumpet blast broke on the ear.
Without a word the young man hastened away, and it seemed scarcely a moment before the sunlight streaming in at the oval glass roof changed from green to white. The king pushed Ornethelo impatiently aside; his eyes held a dull gleam of despair, and he seemed to have grown ten years older.
Ornethelo touched another button, and, as if seen from a great height, the fair and wondrous city dawned before the eyes of the spectators. In every street policemen and protectors and flying-machines stood in orderly readiness. The housetops were colored with the variegated costumes of men, women and children.
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