The Floating Island (14 page)

On the 11th of June, a fortnight
after their arrival, the quartette gave their first concert, the announcement,
in electric letters, being exhibited along the larger avenues. It need hardly
be said that the instrumentalists had been previously presented to the governor
and the municipal council. Cyrus Bikerstaff had given them a most cordial
welcome. The newspapers had referred to the success of the tours of the
Quartette Party in the United States of America, and warmly congratulated the
superintendent on having secured their services
—
in
rather an arbitrary manner, as we know. What pleasure there would be in seeing
as well as hearing these artistes executing the works of the masters! What a
treat for connoisseurs!

Although the four Parisians had
been engaged for the casino at Milliard City at fabulous expense, do not let it
be supposed that the concerts were to be free to the public. Far from that. The
administration intended to make a large profit out of the affair, like the
American impresarios whose singers cost them a dollar a bar, and even a dollar
a note. It was customary to pay for the theatrophonic and phonographic concerts
at the casino, and now the people must pay considerably more. The seats were
all at the same price, two hundred dollars each
—
that
is a thousand francs in French money
—
and
the superintendent flattered himself that the room would be full.

He was not deceived. Every seat
was taken. The comfortable and elegant room of the casino could only contain a
hundred, it is true; and if the seats had been put up to auction, there is no
knowing what amount the receipts would have reached. But that would have been
contrary to the usages of Floating Island. Everything with a market value
appeared in the price lists the superfluous as well as the necessary. Without
this precaution, owing to the enormous fortunes of some of the inhabitants, the
whole supply might be bought up by one man, and this it was desirable to avoid.
The rich Starboardites might, it is true, go to the concert for the love of the
art, while the rich Larboardites might possibly go there because it was the fashion.

When Sebastien Zorn, Pinchinat, Yvernès,
and Frascolin appeared before the spectators of New York, Chicago,
Philadelphia, and Baltimore, it was no exaggeration on their part to say, “there
is an audience worth millions.” This evening they would have been within the
truth in saying that their audience was worth hundreds of millions. Only think
of it! Jem Tankerdon, Nat Coverley, and their families were conspicuous in the
front row of seats. In other parts of the room,
passim
, were a number of
amateurs, who, though only minor millionaires, had none the less “a heavy bag,”as
Pinchinat very justly remarked.

“Now then!”  said the chief of
the quartette when the time came for them to appear on the platform.

And they took their places, not
more excited than usual, nor even so much as if they were appearing before a
Parisian public, which might have less money in their pockets but more of the
artistic sense in their minds.

It is necessary to say that they
had not yet taken lessons of their countryman, the professor of deportment.
Sebastien Zorn, Yvernès, Frascolin, and Pinchinat were perfect as to their
attire
—
white
cravat at twenty-five francs, pearl-grey gloves at fifty francs, shirt at
seventy francs, boots at a hundred and eighty francs, waistcoat at two hundred
francs, black trousers at five hundred francs, black coats at fifteen hundred
francs
—
all at
the expense of the administration, be it understood. They were welcomed with
applause or very warmly by the Starboardite hands, more discreetly by the
Larboardite hands
—
a
matter of temperament.

The programme of the concert
comprised four items which they had obtained from the casino library, which was
well supplied with works by the superintendent’s care:

First quartette in E flat; Op. 12, Mendelssohn.

Second quartette
in F major; Op. 16, Haydn.

Tenth
quartette in E flat; Op. 74, Beethoven.

Fifth
quartette in A major; Op. 10, Mozart.

The executants played
marvellously in this millionized room of the floating island, on the surface of
an abyss more than five thousand metres deep in this portion of the Pacific.
They obtained a success that was considerable and deserved, more especially
among the dilettanti of the Starboardite section. You should have seen the
superintendent during this memorable evening. He exulted. It looked as though
it was he who had just been playing on both violins, the alto, and the ‘cello.
What a fortunate first appearance for the champions of chamber music
—
and for their
impresario!

It should be stated that if the
room was full, the vicinity of the casino was crowded. What a number there were
who had not been able to obtain a bracket-seat or a stall, to say nothing of
those whom the high prices kept away. This outside audience heard the music
from afar, as if it came from the box of a phonograph or the mouth of a
telephone. But their applause was none the less hearty.

And they applauded uproariously
when the concert ended, and Sebastien Zorn, Yvernès, Frascolin, and Pinchinat
appeared on the terrace of the left-hand pavilion.

First Avenue was inundated with
luminous rays. From the heights of space, the electric moons shed rays of which
the pale Selene might well be jealous.

In front of the casino, on the
footpath, a little apart from the others, a couple attracted the attention of Yvernès.
A man was there, with a woman on his arm.

The man was above the middle
height, of distinguished physiognomy, severe, sad even, and perhaps fifty years
old. The woman was a few years younger, tall, proud-looking, with grey hair
peeping from under her hat.

Yvernès, struck with their
reserved attitude, pointed them out to Calistus Munbar.

“Who are those people?” he asked.

“Those people?” replied the
superintendent, with a disdainful pout. “Oh! they are raving melomaniacs.”

“And why did they not have a seat
in the casino room?”

“Probably because it cost too
much.”

“Their fortune?”

“Hardly two hundred thousand
francs a year.”

“Pooh!” said Pinchinat. “And who
are these poor beggars?”

“The King and Queen of
Malecarlie.”

after
the construction of this extraordinary concern, the Floating Island Company had
to provide for the requirements of a double organisation, maritime on the one
hand and administrative on the other.

The former, as we know, had as
director, or rather captain, Commodore Ethel Simcoe, of the United States navy.
He was a man of about fifty, an experienced navigator, thoroughly acquainted
with every part of the Pacific, its currents, its storms, its reefs, its
coralline shoals. Consequently he was fully qualified for the safe guidance of
the floating island confided to his care, and the valuable lives for whom he
was responsible to God and the shareholders of the company.

The second organization, that
which comprised the various administrative services, was in the hands of the
governor of the island. Mr. Cyrus Bikerstaff was a Yankee of Maine, one of the
Federal States which took the least part in the fratricidal strife of the
American confederation during the War of Secession. Cyrus Bikerstaff had been
happily chosen to maintain a golden mean between the two sections of the
island.

The governor, who was on the
verge of sixty, was a bachelor, He was a man of much coolness and self-control,
very strict, very energetic, notwithstanding his phlegmatic appearance, very English
in his reserved attitude, his gentlemanly manners, the diplomatic discretion
with which he spoke and acted. In any other country than Floating Island, he
would have been a considerable man and consequently made much of. But here he
was only the chief servant of the company, and though his salary exceeded the
civil list of many a petty sovereign of Europe, he was not rich, and could not
make much of a figure in the presence of the nabobs of Milliard City.

Cyrus Bikerstaff was not only
governor of the island but mayor of the capital. As such he occupied the
mansion at the end of First Avenue, facing the observatory where Commodore
Simcoe had his residence. There were the public offices, there were received
all the civil registrations, the births, with a mean rate assuring the future,
the deaths
—
the
dead were taken to the cemetery at Madeleine Bay
—
the
marriages, which had to be celebrated by the civil authorities before the
religious ceremonial, according to the code of Floating Island. There the
different branches of the administration had their headquarters, and were
worked without any complaint from the administered, a fact that did honour to
the mayor and his staff. When Sebastien Zorn, Pinchinat, Yvernès and Frascolin
were introduced to him by the superintendent, he made a very favourable
impression on them, such as is produced by the individuality of a good and just
man, of a practical turn of mind, who did not abandon himself to prejudices or
chimeras.

“Gentlemen,” he said to them, “it
is very fortunate for us that we have got you. Perhaps the proceedings of our
superintendent were not quite as they should have been. But you have forgiven
him, I suppose. Besides, you will not have to complain of the way our
municipality treats you. All it asks is two concerts a month, and you are free
to accept any private engagements that may be offered you. We welcome you as
musicians of great merit, and will never forget that you are the first artistes
we have had the honour to welcome.’’

The quartette were delighted at
this reception, and made no attempt to hide their satisfaction from Calistus
Munbar.

“Yes! He is a nice man, Mr. Cyrus
Bikerstaff,” replied the superintendent, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “It
is a pity that he does not possess a million or two.”

“We cannot be perfect.”‘ replied
Pinchinat.

The governor-mayor of Milliard
City had two assistants, who helped him in the very simple administration of
Floating Island. Under their orders, a small number of employed, at suitable
wages, were engaged in the different branches. There was no municipal council.
What would be the use of it? In its place was a council of notables
—
thirty of the men
best qualified by their intelligence and their fortune. It met when any
important measure was in contemplation
—
among
others the choice of the itinerary which was to be followed in the interests of
the general health. As far as our Parisians could see, there was frequently, in
this respect, matter for discussion and difficulties to be settled. But thanks
to his clever and judicious intervention, Cyrus Bikerstaff had always been able
to conciliate opposing interests, and gratify the self-respect of those under
his control.

One of his assistants, Barthélemy
Ruge, was a Protestant, the other, Hubley Harcourt, was a Catholic, both of
them chosen from among the high functionaries of the Floating Island Company,
and both seconding Cyrus Bikerstaff with zeal and intelligence.

Thus had existed for eighteen
months already, in the plenitude of its independence, free from all diplomatic
connections, at liberty on this vast sea of the Pacific, sheltered from all
unpleasant weather, beneath the skies of its choice, the island on which the
quartette were to reside for a whole year. That they would be exposed to any
adventures, that the future had in reserve for them anything unforeseen, it was
not possible to imagine or to fear, for, as the ‘cellist observed, everything
on board was done with order and regularity. And yet, in creating this
artificial domain, launched on the surface of the ocean, had not human genius
exceeded the limits assigned to man by the Creator?

The voyage continued towards the
West. Every day when the sun passed the meridian the position was fixed by the
officers of the observatory under the orders of Commodore Ethel Simcoe. Four
dials on the lateral faces of the belfry of the town hall gave the exact
position of the island in longitude and latitude, and these indications were
reproduced telegraphically at the street corners, in the hotels, in the public
buildings, in the private houses, in the same way as the time which changed
every day as the island moved from west to east. The inhabitants of Milliard
City were thus enabled to know at any moment what place on its itinerary
Floating Island occupied.

With the exception of this
insensible movement on the surface of the ocean, Milliard City differed in no
respect from the capitals of the old and new Continents. The existence was the
same. The same routine of public and private life. As they were not very busy,
our instrumentalists employed their first leisure in visiting all that was
curious in the Pearl of the Pacific. The trams took them towards all points of
the island. The two factories of electrical energy evoked their sincere
admiration by the simplicity of their machinery, the power of their engines
driving a double series of screws, and the admirable discipline of their staff,
the one directed by Engineer Watson, the other by Engineer Somwah. At regular
intervals Larboard Harbour and Starboard Harbour received in their basins the
steamers running to and from Floating Island, according as their position
offered the easier access.

If the obstinate Sebastien Zorn
refused to admire these marvels, if Frascolin was more reserved in his
sentiments, in what a constant state of rapture was the enthusiastic Yvernès!
In his opinion the twentieth century would not end before the seas were
ploughed by floating towns. This would be the last word of progress and comfort
in the future. What a superb spectacle was this moving island going to visit
its sisters of Oceania. As to Pinchinat, amid these opulent surroundings, he
was almost intoxicated at hearing the people talk of nothing but millions, as
they talk elsewhere of pounds. The banknotes were of the usual values. It was
the custom to carry two or three thousand dollars in the pocket. And more than
once his highness had said to Frascolin,
—