No, they were hemlocks, by their shape, and
among them were moving to and fro---------- flies? Of
course, I cannot see flies! But something is moving,--
coming, going. One, two, three, ten; there are more than
thirty in all! They are men and women and their
children!
Could it be possible? It was possible! Orcutt and
Brannan and the rest of them had survived that giddy
flight through the ether, and were going and coming on
the surface of their own little world, bound to it by its
own attraction and living by its own laws!
As I watched, I saw one of them leap from that
surface. He passed wholly out of my field of vision, but
in a minute, more or less, returned. Why not! Of course
the attraction of his world must be very small, while he
retained the same power of muscle he had when he was
here. They must be horribly crowded, I thought. No.
They had three acres of surface, and there were but
thirty-seven of them. Not so much crowded as people are
in Roxbury, not nearly so much as in Boston; and,
besides, these people are living underground, and have
the whole of their surface for their exercise.
I watched their every movement as they approached the
edge and as they left it. Often they passed beyond it,
so that I could see them no more. Often they sheltered
themselves from that tropical sun beneath the trees.
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