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The Sunless City: From the
Papers and Diaries of the
Late Josiah Flintabbatey
Flonatin
J. E. Muddock
“Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.”
Copyright © 2009 Dodo Press and its licensors. All Rights Reserved.
The Sunless City
CHAPTER I
In one of the loneliest and most inaccessible parts of the Rocky
Mountains of America is situated a strange lake or tarn.
The lake lies “silent, still and mysterious in the bosom of the
everlasting mountains, like a gigantic well scooped out by the hands
of genii.”
There is no herbage; no animal life on its shores or in its depths. The
unbroken stillness of death reigns there.
For generations learned and scientific men puzzled their heads about
this mysterious sheet of water which takes all in, but apparently lets
nothing out, for there is no known outlet by which the water can
flow away, and owing to its peculiar situation the evaporation is
very trifling, as the sun’s rays seldom pierce the gloomy depths.
Some stated that it was the crater of an extinct volcano, and that
fissures in the mountains carried off the surplus waters, to discharge
them again either in the sea or some other lake. Again, it was argued
that a huge cavern was the escape valve, and a subterranean river
was the solution of the problem; while another theory was that the
rocks were peculiarly porous, and absorbed the water, which issued
from the earth again in the form of springs many miles away.
It will thus be seen that it was the debatable ground for savants in
various parts of the world. Philosophers with the whole alphabet of
letters after their names advanced theories which were immediately
denounced as “bosh” by other philosophers, who claimed the right
to put a string of capitals after their names also. Stormy discussions,
distressingly clever papers, and huge volumes of learned writing
were the result of this natural problem. While the wiseacres,
however, were thus squabbling about the correctness of the various
theories advanced, a certain gentleman was seeking for a more
practical solution of the mystery.
Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, Esq., or, as he was more familiarly
known amongst his fellows, “Flin Flon,” was a gentleman
conspicuous for two things —- the smallness of his stature and the
largeness of his perception. His origin was lost in the mists of
antiquity, but he boasted that he was a descendant of the noble
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The Sunless City
Italian family of the Flonatins, for centuries resident in the ancient
city of Bologna, who were conspicuous for their learning and power
during the Middle Ages. Being unfortunate enough to espouse an
unpopular cause during a revolution they were stripped of their
power, deprived of their wealth, and banished, many of them dying
in exile and poverty. Possibly, if his pedigree had been traced, the
statement might have been proved correct, but it is sufficient for the
purposes of this veracious history to say that at this time Flin Flon
was a grocer in a small way of business. In recording the fact I hope
it will not be thought that a slight is intended upon the memory of a
great man. Flin Flon could not help being a grocer. His father and
grandfather before him had been in the same line —- or, as they were
pleased to term it, “profession” —- and the business had been
handed down from father to son through several generations. But
that was in the good old times when men did not trouble themselves
about the abstruse sciences or the laws of unknown quantities. And
when, instead of attempting to soar into regions of speculation about
the mysteries of the universe, they were content to smoke the pipe of
peace in the cosy chimney corners of the country inns.
The business to which Flin had succeeded on his father’s death was a
snug little concern. There was a very profitable cheesemongery and
bacon trade in connection with it, chiefly amongst country families,
who wanted long credit but were content to pay a big price for the
accommodation. And it was said that the profits on this branch of
the trade were as much as eighty and ninety per cent.
Such paltry profits were scarcely worthy the consideration of a
philosophic mind. At any rate one thing is tolerably clear, Josiah
Flintabbatey Flonatin began to neglect his business and to frequent
debating and other learned societies. Some ill natured persons said
that this was owing to a “disappointment.” They hinted at an
engagement between Flin and a buxom widow, who proved false to
her plighted troth and married a very worldly farmer, her excuse
being that she thought Flin Flon was a “little cracked.” This perhaps
was a malicious scandal.
It may very safely be inferred, however, that the true cause of the
good man’s disgust for his progenitor’s grocery business arose from
the fact that he had a soul above sugar and spice, and cheese and
bacon. No disparagement to the trade in these excellent commodities
is meant by this remark. Flin Flon was born to do great deeds, to
become a hero whose name should pass with honour.
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The Sunless City
“Down the ringing grooves of time.”
At least this is what he told his friends. He was desirous of living in
the memory of men, and being intellectual he was destined to make
his way in the world, which he succeeded in doing in a very
remarkable manner, as will be hereafter seen. In fact no man before
or since has ever made his way in the world in such an extraordinary
fashion.
Flin laboured hard for the advancement of science, and when but a
young man he became a Fellow of the “Society for the Exploration of
Unknown Regions,” and it was with no small degree of pride that he
placed after his name the imposing array of capitals, F.S.E.U.R., and
was always particularly careful to write them boldly, so that the
possibility of their being overlooked or mistaken was out of the
question.
Flin’s election to this ancient and learned body was a very
distinguished honour, and was a fitting tribute to the man’s great
genius. There were a few of the members who vigorously opposed
his election, on the grounds that to admit a “common grocer” into
their Society was to bring them into disrepute. But it is gratifying to
be able to say that this opposing faction represented but a paltry
minority, and the subsequent and glorious achievements of the
immortal Flonatin covered his enemies with shame and confusion,
so that they were glad to hide their diminished heads in obscurity.
In personal appearance Flin Flon was as singular as his name. When
Nature constructed him she must have suddenly run short of
materials, because she commenced a head that would have done
credit to a giant in stature as well as intellect. But getting as far as the
neck the old dame found apparently she had made a mistake, so
finished him off hurriedly. From the neck downwards he was
strangely disproportioned and very scanty.
He had pendulum-like arms; a body that might have been taken for
a section of a fourteen-inch gaspipe, and legs that may not inaptly be
described as corkscrews.
He was bald —- almost perfectly bald. But then all intellectual men
are bald.
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The Sunless City
Another infallible sign that Flin was possessed of extraordinary brain
power, was that he always wore spectacles. He was never known to
be without them, although his eyes did not indicate that he was
troubled with either long sight or short sight. On the contrary,
judging from their keenness and brilliancy, it might be said, to use a
very common metaphor, that they were quite capable of seeing
through a millstone. But then clever men always do wear spectacles.
His nose was large, exceedingly large, and it was rather
conspicuously red.
His face was somewhat long and thoughtful. Near the right-hand
corner of the mouth was a mole, from which sprang a few silver
hairs, and under the left eye was a tiny pimple.
In age Flin Flon was nearly forty when he undertook the astounding
journey which has i
He had many virtues and a few vices, and one of the latter was an
inordinate love of snuff.
Whatever pride of birth Flin had, he certainly had no pride of
personal appearance. But is not this another sure and certain sign of
genius? Slovenliness and cleverness go together.
Tightly-fitting smalls and an old faded green coat closely buttoned
up to the chin were Flin’s invariable costume. And when out he wore
a broadbrimmed hat, which set off his genial and intelligent face to
advantage.
It happened that amongst the hundred and one things that Flin Flon
interested himself in was the mystery of the strange tarn away in the
Rocky Mountains, and on one occasion he had had the boldness to
organise a little band of daring adventurers who started on an
expedition to examine the lake by means of a boat, and report
thereon. The boat was the great difficulty, for not only were there no
roads, but the water could only be reached by means of a tortuous
and dangerous way down the jagged ledges of rock near the
waterfall. But with the enterprise and determination so characteristic
of the man, Flin Flon had a small boat constructed in sections, and
conveying these by rail to the nearest point, he engaged the services
of a party of friendly Indians, and by their aid the boat was safely
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The Sunless City
launched on the bosom of the dark waters, and thus the lake was
thoroughly explored.
When the adventurous voyagers found themselves afloat, it was
impossible to suppress a shudder. Far above them the sky could be
seen like a little square patch of blue. A weird gloom pervaded the
place, and the air was cold and damp. Not a blade of grass, not an
herb of any description could be seen, and the voyagers proved that
there was no life in the water, for every means were tried to catch
fish, but there were no fish there, and microscopical examination
revealed the fact that there was not a trace of animalcul’. Round and
round the mysterious lake the boat was pulled, but no outlet for the
water could be discovered. What then becomes of the surplus? was
the question these savants asked one of another, but the answer was
not forthcoming. Flin Flon was silent on the subject. He offered no
remark, he suggested no theory. But in his great brain a thought was
taking shape, that when the time came to clothe it in words was
destined to startle the world. Soundings were tried for. A hundred
fathoms of line were let out. Then two, three hundred, a thousand
fathoms, and when two thousand fathoms were gone one and all
cried, “Alas! the lake is bottomless.”
The expedition having resulted in no scientific or geographical
discovery, the learned “Fellows” were compelled to return, having
first named the place Lake Avernus. At the first meeting, after the
return of the adventures, of the “Society for the Exploration of
Unknown Regions,” the public flocked in hundreds, so anxious were
they to have some account of the tarn which had puzzled the learned
and the scientific for generations. But great was the disappointment
when it became known that the combined intellect of the members of
the expedition had not been able to solve the problem, and that the
mystery was as much a mystery as ever.
The Society’s great hall in New York, where this meeting was held,
was packed from floor to ceiling with a brilliant assemblage of the
most learned geographers, professors, and scientists that the world
could produce, and they were not slow to express their sorrow when
they learnt that the object of the expedition had not been attained.
There was one of the members who had as yet made no
observations, though it was notified on the Society’s programme that
this gentleman would read a paper on “Lake Avernus and its
probable outlet.” The gentleman was Flin Flon, and his rising was
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The Sunless City
eagerly looked for, as something good was always expected from
him, while his wonderful intuitive perception enabled him to arrive
at theoretical conclusions which were often startlingly accurate.
It was late in the evening when the Chairman, in an appropriate and
neat speech, introduced Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, Esq., to the
notice of the meeting, alluding in graceful terms to the great benefits
this gentleman had already conferred upon the scientific world by
his energy, determination and wonderful powers of intellect. And he
(the Chairman) felt quite sure that the meeting would listen with
eager interest to the paper Mr Flonatin would now have the honour
of reading.
The meeting fully endorsed the Chairman’s flattering remarks by a
storm of applause that did not subside for some minutes.
Then the great Flin Flon arose, calm, dignified and grave. By the
chair beside him reposed his large gingham umbrella, and in Josiah’s
hand rested a huge gold snuffbox, bearing an elaborate inscription,
setting forth that the box had been presented to the present owner by
“a circle of friends in acknowledgment of the great services rendered
to science by Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, Esq., and as a token of
respect for one whose wisdom and rare intellectual gifts, combined
with largeness of heart and the kindest of natures, have won him
troops of friends.”
When the meeting had settled into silence again, and Flin Flon had
refreshed himself with sundry pinches of the fragrant dust from the
gold box, he straightened the wrinkles out of the green coat that was
tightly buttoned round his gas-pipe like body, and with two or three
swings of his pendulum arms, as if thereby he set the vocal
machinery in motion, he commenced his “paper,” having first placed
his much-prized umbrella on the little table before him.
“Mr President, learned Fellows, and ladies and gentlemen, —- I have
the distinguished honour of appearing before you to-night as a
member of this ancient Society, but I must also add with regret as a
representative of the expedition to Lake Avernus, whose mission has
entirely failed practically.”
“In dealing with the subject in hand it will be necessary for me to
digress somewhat, but I respectfully claim your indulgence on this
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The Sunless City
point, and hope that what I have to say will not altogether be
uninteresting.”
“It is a well-known fact, ladies and gentlemen, that we live upon a
globe; that is, on the external crust of a huge ball. There is one thing
which science has proved beyond all doubt, and that is, that this ball
is not solid but hollow. Now the capacity of that hollow must almost
be beyond comprehension. From time immemorial it has been
supposed that the hollow is filled with seething fire and molten lava.
I say supposed, because it is only a supposition. But I boldly
denounce the theory of internal fire as incorrect. I say science has
been at fault. Central heat is a delusion unworthy of the
consideration of great men. And now having demolished the
monstrous and ancient fable with one blow, I have a theory of my
own to advance that will startle you. I know it will, but I cannot help
it. Nay, it is more than a theory, it is a conviction; and I say that in
the centre of the earth are subterranean rivers and buried seas; more
than that, ladies and gentlemen, I go so far as to say that the interior
of the earth is as likely to be inhabited as the exterior.”
Flin Flon paused. He took snuff excitedly. His audience, however,
remained silent. The daring proposition had awed them.
“To resume.”
“By the light of science it has further been revealed to us that the
crust of the earth upon which we stand in no part attains a greater
