Dennis Wheatley - They Found Atlantis

The McKay, puffing contentedly at an Atlantean bamboo pipe, for he had now accustomed himself to their tobacco which had been introduced to him at his first banquet in the island, was explaining to Axel that they were getting plenty of bites but could not manage to land a catch owing to the indifferent hooks.

They both heard Sally's last words and Axel turned to her; 'I know one person who is by no means happy and it is worrying me very much indeed!'

'You mean Nicky eh?' The McKay shot him a swift glance from under his shaggy brows.

'That poor boy hankers after Rahossis,' remarked Luiluma.

'Hanker is a mild word me'dear,' the McKay took her up. 'I'm sorry for the lad of course as he's got it so badly, but he ought to learn to control himself. It's downright indecent for any man to make an exhibition of himself tagging after a woman with his tongue hanging out like that!'

'It's his temper that I'm afraid of,' said Axel slowly. 'You remember the violent rages he used to get in with Vladimir about Camilla? And now he is positively consumed with jealousy because Rahossis prefers Quet. Well, Vladimir was so strong that he could afford to laugh but the Atlantean is quite a slim fellow so Nicky might go for him and then one of them would probably get badly hurt.'

'You think so eh?' the McKay grunted, lifting his dripping line out of the water to inspect the bait. 'Well, I promised the Admiral I'd keep you all in order and by Gad I'll tan that young man's hide if he starts creating any trouble here.'

Sally laughed. 'You are a bellicose person darling! How 313

I dared to marry you I can't think—you'll be beating me next.'

'That's it,' he assured her with an adoring grin. 'For two pins I'd cut off that long hair of yours so that you shouldn't look quite so attractive to anyone except myself.'

Lulluma smiled and, catching Axel's hand, led him away. 'I'm happier about them now,' she said when they were out of hearing. 'They do love each other an awful lot—far more than I'd supposed.'

He nodded. 'You needn't worry your sweet head about them—or those two nice pagans Vladimir and Camilla. They're both as happy as the day is long and the Doctor is as contented as can be collecting his specimens and talking ancient religions with Menes. It's Nicky who is going to cause trouble before we're much older.'

'It is so difficult to know what to do in such a case,' Lulluma said as they entered the jungle. 'You see he is a very stupid young man—extremely conceited, and a bore— so how could any woman be expected to like him?'

'He's a fine strapping chap and very good-looking,' ventured Axel.

£he shrugged her plump shoulders disdainfully. 'Who isn't? We're all of us that but one needs something else beside health and good looks to be really attractive in this life.'

'Of course,' he agreed as they sat down side by side in front of the statue of Priapus where he had first seen Danoe sleeping, 'anyhow for people like ourselves, but this affair of Nicky's does raise a general problem. You seem to have solved the usual evils that wreck human happiness here—-except this one thing—jealousy and unrequited love. What happens if one of you falls in love with another who does not return that love. Doesn't that sometimes lead to tragedy?'

She shook her dark curls. 'No, such a situation never occurs. You see time is on our side here. None of us can escape physically from our island and if one of us feels drawn to another who is having an affair with someone else we check our incipient passion and travel at once. If the affair is still in progress when we return or the person for whom our love is growing is asleep, we travel again—distracting our minds with new scenes and interests; but we meet at the harvests or the sowings and are free to develop our romance, if the other one is all over by that time. Often, the longer we have to subdue our longings the greater is the joy of their realisation in the end.'

'Yes, I understand that,' Axel gazed down upon her fondly as she stretched herself out on the grass with her hands behind her head. 'By such cultivated restraint you may practically eliminate jealousy. Especially if you are quite certain of achieving your object in the long run, but what happens if you return time and time again only to find that the other person doesn't love you and is never likely to?'

Lulluma grunted. She did at times and Axel loved to hear the sound because it was a certain indication that she was in her happiest and most contented mood.

For a moment she stared up at him, a wicked little smile just lifting the corners of her full lips, then she said: 'I'll tell you if you wish. In most cases just being together a lot during the harvest and a little fooling at the Festival is enough, but if that fails we resort to other measures. There are what you would call electric currents which pass between people and either attract or repel. Those have to be manipulated. It is part of the lore passed down to us from that antediluvian world which contained such an enormous store of wisdom. By a secret ceremony privately performed we set certain vibrations in motion and then concentrate our thoughts. Such means never fail and the woman who employs them will be sure of receiving a gift of flowers from the lover of her desire the day afterwards, or a man tender looks from the woman of his choice.'

Axel nodded. 'A love spell eh? Then you have made heaven on earth indeed. Not a single trouble is left to mar your perfect joy.'

'You are happy here?' she asked softly.

'Yes—infinitely. It is like having been born again fully grown into a new and better existence—yet I would not be happy if it were not for you.'

She shifted her position slightly and stretched up one bare arm to place it round his neck. Her breast was heaving gently against his side. 'You do not know how I honour you for the restraint you must have placed upon yourself at those two Festivals,' she murmured, 'and all this week that we have been together.'

'Honour,' he repeated with gentle mockery, 'but I would have something more. How I wish that 1 had been born an Atlantean.'

'Why?' she enquired with a flutter of her dark curling eyelashes.

Because they have qualities which would commend me to you in a different way.'

She shook her head. 'I prefer you as you are. Our life is so limited here in spite of our spirit journeys whereas you have really travelled and read much. You lack some of our special powers perhaps but your mind is deeper. I could laugh and talk with you for years; with our men only for a few months.'

'Only talk?' he whispered as he caressed her hair.

'And laugh,' she reminded him, her breath warm on his cheek.

He bent close above her and his voice trembled as he said: 'Won't you teach me that secret sorcery Lulluma so that I can cast a spell on youT

'My dear one,' her eyes were moist and languorous, her breathing a little fast. 'Forgive me that I made the test so hard for you; it was only because I wished our love to last. No spells are necessary between us two.'

Three and a half weeks slipped by as though they had only been as many days and nights for the three pairs of lovers in that enchanted island. Almost imperceptibly the strangers from the upper world dropped into the easy carefree Atlantean habits; accustoming themselves to light meals, healthy exercise, dreamless sleep and the spirit of laughter which seemed to lurk behind every bush and tree.

The Atlanteans went no more upon their spiritual journeys for the time being. They were still far too interested in talking to and questioning the new settlers in their island to wish to observe their counterparts, with whom they could not speak, in the world above. In addition one of their harvest periods had come round, for which, in any case, they would have returned to get in their crops.