The Floating Island (12 page)

Calistus Munbar said this so
warmly that his hearers were impressed. He spoke of Saint-Saëns, Reyer,
Ambroise Thomas, Gounod, Massenet, Verdi, of the imperishable masterpieces of
Berlioz, Meyerbeer, Halévy, Rossini, Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, like one who
knew them thoroughly, who appreciated them, who, to make them better known, had
devoted his already long life as an impresario, and it was pleasant to listen
to him. At the same time he did not seem to have been attacked by the Wagnerian
epidemic which, at this period, was subsiding.

When he stopped to take breath,
Pinchinat, profiting by the calm, remarked,
—

“All that is very well, but your Milliard
City, I see, has only heard music in a box, melodic preserves sent to it like
tinned sardines or salt beef.”

“Pardon me, Mr. Alto.”

“I will pardon you, but I insist
on this point, that your phonographs only preserve the past, and that you have
probably never heard an artiste in Milliard City when he is playing.”

“You must pardon me once more.”

“Our friend, Pinchinat, will
pardon you as much as you like, Mr. Munbar,” said Frascolin. “His pockets are
full of pardons, but his remark is just. Still, if you could put yourselves in
communication with the theatres of America or Europe
—
”

“And do you think that would be
impossible, my dear Frascolin?” exclaimed the superintendent, stopping in his
see-saw.

“What do you mean?”

“I say that it is only a question
of price, and our city is rich enough to satisfy all its fancies, all its
aspirations as regards lyric art, and it has done so.”

“And how?”

“By means of the theatrophones
installed in the concert room of this casino. The company possesses a number of
submarine cables immersed in the waters of the Pacific, one end of which is at
Madeleine Bay, and the other held in suspension by powerful buoys. When our
fellow-citizens wish to hear one of the singers of the Old or New World, we fix
on to one of these cables, and send a telephonic order to our agents at
Madeleine Bay. These agents put us in communication with America or with
Europe. The cables are connected with such and such a theatre, such and such a
concert-room, and our dilettanti seated in this casino really assist at these
distant performances and applaud.”

“But the people over there cannot
hear their applause!” exclaimed Yvernès.

“I beg your pardon, they do
—
by return wire!”

And then Calistus Munbar launched
forth into transcendental considerations on music, considered not only as one
of the manifestations of art, but as a therapeutic agent. According to the
system of J. Harford, of Westminster Abbey, the good folks of Milliard City had
experienced extraordinary results regarding this utilization of the lyric art.
The system kept them in perfect health. Music exercising a reflex action on the
nervous centres, the harmonic vibrations had the effect of dilating the
arterial vessels, influencing the circulation and increasing or diminishing it
as required. It provoked an acceleration of the heart’s pulsations and
respiratory movements by reason of the tonality and intensity of the sounds,
and aided the nutrition of the tissues. Consequently, musical energy stations
were working at Milliard City, and transmitting sound waves to the houses by
means of the telephones, etc., etc.

The quartette listened with open
mouths. Never had they heard their art discussed from a medical point of view,
and probably they were not particularly pleased. Nevertheless, Yvernès the
whimsical, ready to adopt these theories, which are as old as King Saul,
according to the practice of the celebrated harpist, David, excitedly
exclaimed,
—

“Yes, yes. It is clear enough.
You must choose your tune according to the diagnosis. Take Wagner or Berlioz,
for instance, for the anæmic.”

“And Mendelssohn and Mozart for
the sanguine instead of bromide of strontium!” replied Calistus Munbar.

Sebastien Zorn here interposed,
and hurled his discordant note into this high-flighted conversation.

“We have nothing to do with all
this,” he said; “why have you brought us here?”

“Because stringed instruments
have the most powerful effect.”

“Indeed, sir; and was it to
soothe your neurotics that you interrupted our journey, and hindered our
reaching San Diego, where we are engaged to give a concert tomorrow?”

“That was the reason, my
excellent friends.”

“And all you saw in us was a kind
of musical sawbones, or lyrical apothecaries?” asked Pinchinat.

“No, gentlemen,” answered
Calistus Munbar rising, “I saw in you only artistes of great talent and great
reputation. The cheers which greeted the Quartette Party on its American tour
have reached our island. The Floating Island Company thought that the time had
come to replace their phonographs and theatrophones by living artistes in flesh
and blood, and give the inhabitants of Milliard City the inexpressible pleasure
of a direct execution of the masterpieces of art. It wished to begin with chamber
music before organizing operatic orchestras. It thought of you, the accredited
representatives of that music. It gave me instructions to secure you at any
price, to carry you off if need be. You are the first artistes that have had
access to Floating Island, and I leave you to imagine the welcome that awaits
you!”

Yvernès and Pinchinat were much
affected by these enthusiastic periods of the superintendent. That it might be
a hoax did not occur to them. Frascolin, a man of reflection, asked himself if he
were to take this adventure seriously. After all, in such an extraordinary
island would not things appear under an extraordinary aspect! As to Sebastien
Zorn, he had resolved not to give in.

“No, sir,” he said, “men are not
to be carried off without their consent! We will begin an action against you.”

“An action! When you ought to
overwhelm me with thanks, ungrateful that you are!”  replied the
superintendent.

“And we will obtain damages, sir.”

“Damages! When I offer you a
hundred times more than you could hope to get.”

“How much?” said the practical
Frascolin.

Calistus Munbar took out his
pocket-book and produced a sheet of paper bearing the arms of Floating Island.
Presenting it to the four artistes, he said,
—

“Your four signatures at the end
of this agreement, and the matter is done.”

“Sign it before we have read it?”
said the second violin. “That we will never do.”

“You will never have cause to
regret it,” said Calistus Munbar, indulging in an outburst of hilarity that
shook his whole body. “But let us proceed in proper form. It is an engagement
which the company proposes to you, an engagement for twelve months from this
date, for the execution of chamber music such as you have been giving in your
programmes in America. In twelve months Floating Island will have returned to
Madeleine Bay, where you will arrive in time
—
”

“For our concert at San Diego, I
suppose?” exclaimed Sebastien Zorn, “San Diego, where we shall be greeted with
hisses.’

“No, gentlemen, with cheers.
Artistes such as you, the dilettanti are always too honoured and too happy to
hear, even if a year behind time.”

How could they be angry with such
a man?

Frascolin took the paper and read
it attentively.

“What guarantee have we?”

“The guarantee of the Floating
Island Company under the signature of Mr. Cyrus Bikerstaff, our governor.”

“And the terms are these I see
set forth in this agreement?”

“Exactly. One million francs
—
”

“For the four?” asked Pinchinat.

“For each,” said Calistus Munbar
with a smile, “and yet that amount is not in accordance with your merit, which
no one can reward at its proper value.”

It would, it must be admitted,
have been difficult to have been more pleasant. And yet Sebastien Zorn
protested. He would not accept at any price. He would go to San Diego, and it was
not without difficulty that Frascolin succeeded in calming his indignation.

Yet there could not help being
some mistrust regarding the superintendent’s proposition. An engagement for a
year at the rate of a million francs apiece, could it be serious? Quite
serious, as Frascolin discovered when he asked,
—

“When is the money payable?”

“Quarterly,” replied the
superintendent, “and here is the first payment, in advance.”

Of the roll of notes which bulged
his pocket-book Calistus Munbar made four bundles of fifty thousand dollars,
that is two hundred and fifty thousand francs, which he handed to Frascolin and
his comrades.

That is the way to manage matters
in American fashion.

Sebastien Zorn could not help
being shaken. But his ill-humour never lost its rights, and he could not help
remarking,
—

“After all, at the prices that
prevail in your island, if you pay twenty-five francs for a partridge, you
probably pay a hundred francs for a pair of gloves, and five hundred francs for
a pair of boots?”

“Oh, Monsieur Zorn,” exclaimed
Calistus Munbar, “the company does not stand at such trifles, and it desires
that the Quartette Party will have all their expenses paid for them during
their sojourn on the island.”

To these generous offers what
other response could there be but to sign the engagement?

This was what Frascolin,
Pinchinat, and Yvernès did. Zorn muttered that it was all absurd. To embark on
a Floating Island was ridiculous. They would see how it would end. At last he
decided to sign.

And this formality accomplished,
if Frascolin, Pinchinat, and Yvernès did not kiss Calistus Munbar’s hand, they
at least shook it warmly. Four shakes of the hand at a million each!

And that is how the Quartette
Party were launched on this extraordinary adventure, and it was under such
circumstances that its members became the guests of Floating Island.

Floating
Island
glided gently over the waters of this Pacific Ocean, which
justifies its name at this season of the year. Accustomed for twenty-four hours
now to this tranquil motion, Sebastien Zorn and his comrades no longer noticed
that they were being carried over the sea. So powerful were its hundreds of
screws, driven by their ten million horse-power, that the thrill of the steel
hull was barely perceptible. There was no sign of the oscillations of the
waves, to which even the most powerful ironclads have to yield. In the houses
there were no rolling tables or swing lamps. Why should there be? The houses of
Paris, London, and New York were not more securely fixed on their foundations.

After a few weeks’ stay at
Madeleine Bay, the assembly of notables of Floating Island, called together by
the president of the administrative council of the company, had determined on
the programme of their annual tour. The island would visit the chief
archipelagoes of the Eastern Pacific, voyaging through that hygienic
atmosphere, so rich in ozone, in condensed electrized oxygen, gifted with
active peculiarities not possessed by oxygen in its ordinary state. As the
apparatus was free to move anywhere, advantage was taken of this power to go
either east or west, to the American or Asiatic shore, as might be desired.
Floating Island went where it pleased, so as to experience the distractions of
a varied voyage. And even if it were desired to abandon the Pacific for the
Indian Ocean or the Atlantic, to round Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, it
could proceed in the direction wished for, and rest assured that neither
currents nor tempests would prevent its attaining its object.

But there was no question of its
visiting these distant seas, in which it would not find what the Pacific offers
among its innumerable archipelagoes. That ocean was a theatre quite large
enough for its many voyages. Floating Island could move about from one
archipelago to another if it was not endowed with that special instinct of
animals
—
that
sixth sense of orientation which guides them where their wants call them
—
it was directed in
safety according to a programme discussed at length and unanimously approved.
Up to then there had never been any disagreement between the Starboardites and
Larboardites. And the present intention was a westerly voyage to the Sandwich
Islands. The distance of about twelve hundred leagues which separates this
group from the place where the quartette came on board would take about a month
to accomplish at moderate speed, and Floating Island could remain in the
archipelago until it was found convenient to start again for another group in
the southern hemisphere.

On the morrow of this memorable
day the quartette left the Excelsior Hotel and took up their quarters in some
rooms in the casino which were put at their disposal
—
a comfortable suite, richly furnished
as may be supposed. First Avenue lay displayed in front of its windows.
Sebastien Zorn, Frascolin, Pinchinat, Yvernès, had each his own room
communicating with a sitting-room common to all. The central court of the
establishment yielded them the shade of its trees in full foliage, and the
freshness of its fountains. On one side of this court was the museum of
Milliard City; on the other the concert-room where the Parisian artistes were
so happily to replace the echoes of the phonographs and the transmissions of
the theatrophones. Twice a day, three times a day, as many times a day as they
wished, their table was laid in the restaurant, where the manager favoured them
with no more of his remarkable efforts in addition.

This morning, when they had all
met in the sitting-room before descending for breakfast,
—