San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-04-08
ona City Above the World Captures


1t my fault if they cut off our sup
plies and send armies to attack US;
am | not defending the integrity
OF my work and Bella knows very
well that in this she has the pri-
mary interest"
l braced up suddenly at the
suggestion that she OF whom he
spoke could be mixed up in this
work of folly and destruction
which was called Aeria. Avery
smiled, and grasping my arm led
me into the garden where we be-
gan to walk up and down. "On
what trifles human action de-
pend" said the King of Gems with
pensive air. "The very day that
physician of Lausanne told me,
when / went to consult him about
Bella, that she would die within a
year in the lowlands where the
average human beings live-from
that very day the creation of this
tower dates.'
At the exclamation which
escaped me, and the air of stupor
with which / looked at him, Avery
began 10 laugh, so heartily that it
really Was a manifestation of the
man whom he had so carefully
subdued. "Oh," he went on rapid
ly, "don't be too quick to regard
me as the good father who viii
turn the world upside-down to
save the life of his child. No, it
is not so simple as that. But what
then? By a freak of nature in
the cellular development of the ar
terial tissues of this child, the beat
ing of her heart is apt to burst the
walls of the vessels which carry
her blood about her body. For
this trouble there is no regulating
remedy, except by the regulation
of the circulation as DR.. Leroux
has proved by auscultating his pa
tient at different attitudes, so that
he has given me the formula Of six
thousand feet above sea level as
the proper one for her." "This
then is the reason for Aeria."
"Poohp' There is something in
that. You may easily understand
that it was impossible for me to
admit for moment that with the
resources at my disposal / would
give up to nature and allow the
daughter of the King of Gems to
be taken from me by the ordinary
accidents of human life. But
there are places in Switzerland and
the United States with the requir-
ed altitude where l could have
erected the palace in which I could
have placed Bella. That would
have ended my effort; but / have
dreamed of an existence better
than that amid the SHOWS and sill
ence, the solitude of the Alps or
Rocky Mountains.
In place of a house why not
build a city, no longer isolated on
top of the mountains where lazy
shepherds of fuminants vegetatc,
hut in the hot heart of civilized &C.
tivity. To endow the city with
all the refinements and luxuries
that late inventions have devised,
filled with JOY and bravery, to peo-
pie that city with a crowd which
1 can dominate, utilizing their in
genious energy for assuring its eX-
istence and well-being, which l
shall defend against the tempta-
tions and attacks which always
come from below against that
which is lofty proud or extraordi-
nary. What dream! Have l not
realized it,"
With a gesture he took in all
the enormous city which sparkled
and murmured around us and in
which the savage spectacle which
he had offered it few hours be-
fore seemed only to have height
ened the bestial frenzy and JOY.
Shouts, songs and laughter arose
to us from all those people bound
by THERE grosser instincts to the
service of the King of Jewels.
"Alas!" / murmured, "at the
price of what sacrifices! And do
you suppose that the struggle
which you have begun will end as
you wish?" Avery caught hold
of my arm, almost crushing it in
his powerful grip and grinding his
teeth, he said: 81 shall wipe them
all out, one after the other" He
stopped and released his hold and
stretched out his arm to the
north: Look, what is that black
mass flying towards u.s." The