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diff --git a/1980.txt b/1980.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ee60aef --- /dev/null +++ b/1980.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5689 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories by English Authors: Africa, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stories by English Authors: Africa + +Author: Various + +Release Date: March 25, 2006 [EBook #1980] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES BY ENGLISH AUTHORS: AFRICA *** + + + + +Produced by: Dagny; John Bickers; Christopher Hapka + + + + + +STORIES BY ENGLISH AUTHORS + +AFRICA + +By Various Authors + + + + +STORIES BY ENGLISH AUTHORS + +AFRICA + + + +CONTENTS + + THE MYSTERY OF SASASSA VALLEY, A. Conan Doyle + LONG ODDS, H. Rider Haggard + KING BEMBA'S POINT, J. Landers + GHAMBA, W. C. Scully + MARY MUSGRAVE, Anonymous + GREGORIO, Percy Hemingway + + + + + +THE MYSTERY OF SASASSA VALLEY, By A. Conan Doyle + + +Do I know why Tom Donahue is called "Lucky Tom"? Yes, I do; and that is +more than one in ten of those who call him so can say. I have knocked +about a deal in my time, and seen some strange sights, but none stranger +than the way in which Tom gained that sobriquet, and his fortune with +it. For I was with him at the time. Tell it? Oh, certainly; but it is a +longish story and a very strange one; so fill up your glass again, and +light another cigar, while I try to reel it off. Yes, a very strange +one; beats some fairy stories I have heard; but it's true, sir, every +word of it. There are men alive at Cape Colony now who'll remember it +and confirm what I say. Many a time has the tale been told round the +fire in Boers' cabins from Orange state to Griqualand; yes, and out in +the bush and at the diamond-fields too. + +I'm roughish now, sir; but I was entered at the Middle Temple once, and +studied for the bar. Tom--worse luck!--was one of my fellow-students; +and a wildish time we had of it, until at last our finances ran short, +and we were compelled to give up our so-called studies, and look about +for some part of the world where two young fellows with strong arms and +sound constitutions might make their mark. In those days the tide of +emigration had scarcely begun to set in toward Africa, and so we thought +our best chance would be down at Cape Colony. Well,--to make a long +story short,--we set sail, and were deposited in Cape Town with less +than five pounds in our pockets; and there we parted. We each tried our +hands at many things, and had ups and downs; but when, at the end of +three years, chance led each of us up-country and we met again, we were, +I regret to say, in almost as bad a plight as when we started. + +Well, this was not much of a commencement; and very disheartened we +were, so disheartened that Tom spoke of going back to England and +getting a clerkship. For you see we didn't know that we had played out +all our small cards, and that the trumps were going to turn up. No; we +thought our "hands" were bad all through. It was a very lonely part of +the country that we were in, inhabited by a few scattered farms, whose +houses were stockaded and fenced in to defend them against the Kaffirs. +Tom Donahue and I had a little hut right out in the bush; but we were +known to possess nothing, and to be handy with our revolvers, so we +had little to fear. There we waited, doing odd jobs, and hoping that +something would turn up. Well, after we had been there about a month +something did turn up upon a certain night, something which was the +making of both of us; and it's about that night, sir, that I'm going to +tell you. I remember it well. The wind was howling past our cabin, and +the rain threatened to burst in our rude window. We had a great wood +fire crackling and sputtering on the hearth, by which I was sitting +mending a whip, while Tom was lying in his bunk groaning disconsolately +at the chance which had led him to such a place. + +"Cheer up, Tom--cheer up," said I. "No man ever knows what may be +awaiting him." + +"Ill luck, ill luck, Jack," he answered. "I always was an unlucky dog. +Here have I been three years in this abominable country; and I see lads +fresh from England jingling the money in their pockets, while I am as +poor as when I landed. Ah, Jack, if you want to keep your head above +water, old friend, you must try your fortune away from me." + +"Nonsense, Tom; you're down in your luck to-night. But hark! Here's some +one coming outside. Dick Wharton, by the tread; he'll rouse you, if any +man can." + +Even as I spoke the door was flung open, and honest Dick Wharton, with +the water pouring from him, stepped in, his hearty red face looming +through the haze like a harvest-moon. He shook himself, and after +greeting us sat down by the fire to warm himself. + +"Where away, Dick, on such a night as this?" said I. "You'll find the +rheumatism a worse foe than the Kaffirs, unless you keep more regular +hours." + +Dick was looking unusually serious, almost frightened, one would say, +if one did not know the man. "Had to go," he replied--"had to go. One +of Madison's cattle was seen straying down Sasassa Valley, and of course +none of our blacks would go down _that_ valley at night; and if we had +waited till morning, the brute would have been in Kaffirland." + +"Why wouldn't they go down Sasassa Valley at night?" asked Tom. + +"Kaffirs, I suppose," said I. + +"Ghosts," said Dick. + +We both laughed. + +"I suppose they didn't give such a matter-of-fact fellow as you a sight +of their charms?" said Tom, from the bunk. + +"Yes," said Dick, seriously, "yes; I saw what the niggers talk about; +and I promise you, lads, I don't want ever to see it again." + +Tom sat up in his bed. "Nonsense, Dick; you're joking, man! Come, tell +us all about it; the legend first, and your own experience afterward. +Pass him over the bottle, Jack." + +"Well, as to the legend," began Dick. "It seems that the niggers have +had it handed down to them that Sasassa Valley is haunted by a frightful +fiend. Hunters and wanderers passing down the defile have seen its +glowing eyes under the shadows of the cliff; and the story goes +that whoever has chanced to encounter that baleful glare has had his +after-life blighted by the malignant power of this creature. Whether +that be true or not," continued Dick, ruefully, "I may have an +opportunity of judging for myself." + +"Go on, Dick--go on," cried Tom. "Let's hear about what you saw." + +"Well, I was groping down the valley, looking for that cow of Madison's, +and I had, I suppose, got half-way down, where a black craggy cliff juts +into the ravine on the right, when I halted to have a pull at my +flask. I had my eye fixed at the time upon the projecting cliff I have +mentioned, and noticed nothing unusual about it. I then put up my flask +and took a step or two forward, when in a moment there burst, apparently +from the base of the rock, about eight feet from the ground and +a hundred yards from me, a strange, lurid glare, flickering and +oscillating, gradually dying away and then reappearing again. No, no; +I've seen many a glow-worm and firefly--nothing of that sort. There it +was, burning away, and I suppose I gazed at it, trembling in every limb, +for fully ten minutes. Then I took a step forward, when instantly it +vanished, vanished like a candle blown out. I stepped back again; but it +was some time before I could find the exact spot and position from +which it was visible. At last, there it was, the weird reddish light, +flickering away as before. Then I screwed up my courage, and made for +the rock; but the ground was so uneven that it was impossible to steer +straight; and though I walked along the whole base of the cliff, I could +see nothing. Then I made tracks for home; and I can tell you, boys, +that, until you remarked it, I never knew it was raining, the whole way +along. But hollo! what's the matter with Tom?" + +What indeed? Tom was now sitting with his legs over the side of the +bunk, and his whole face betraying excitement so intense as to be almost +painful. "The fiend would have two eyes. How many lights did you see, +Dick? Speak out!" + +"Only one." + +"Hurrah!" cried Tom, "that's better." Whereupon he kicked the blankets +into the middle of the room, and began pacing up and down with long +feverish strides. Suddenly he stopped opposite Dick, and laid his hand +upon his shoulder. "I say, Dick, could we get to Sasassa Valley before +sunrise?" + +"Scarcely," said Dick. + +"Well, look here; we are old friends, Dick Wharton, you and I. Now don't +you tell any other man what you have told us, for a week. You'll promise +that, won't you?" + +I could see by the look on Dick's face as he acquiesced that he +considered poor Tom to be mad; and indeed I was myself completely +mystified by his conduct. I had, however, seen so many proofs of my +friend's good sense and quickness of apprehension that I thought it +quite possible that Wharton's story had had a meaning in his eyes which +I was too obtuse to take in. + +All night Tom Donahue was greatly excited, and when Wharton left +he begged him to remember his promise, and also elicited from him a +description of the exact spot at which he had seen the apparition, as +well as the hour at which it appeared. After his departure, which must +have been about four in the morning, I turned into my bunk and watched +Tom sitting by the fire splicing two sticks together, until I fell +asleep. I suppose I must have slept about two hours; but when I awoke +Tom was still sitting working away in almost the same position. He had +fixed the one stick across the top of the other so as to form a rough T, +and was now busy in fitting a smaller stick into the angle between +them, by manipulating which, the cross one could be either cocked up or +depressed to any extent. He had cut notches, too, in the perpendicular +stick, so that, by the aid of the small prop, the cross one could be +kept in any position for an indefinite time. + +"Look here, Jack!" he cried, when he saw that I was awake. "Come and +give me your opinion. Suppose I put this cross-stick pointing straight +at a thing, and arranged this small one so as to keep it so, and left +it, I could find that thing again if I wanted it--don't you think I +could, Jack--don't you think so?" he continued, nervously, clutching me +by the arm. + +"Well," I answered, "it would depend on how far off the thing was, and +how accurately it was pointed. If it were any distance, I'd cut sights +on your cross-stick; then a string tied to the end of it, and held in +a plumb-line forward, would lend you pretty near what you wanted. But +surely, Tom, you don't intend to localise the ghost in that way?" + +"You'll see to-night, old friend--you'll see to-night. I'll carry this +to the Sasassa Valley. You get the loan of Madison's crowbar, and come +with me; but mind you tell no man where you are going, or what you want +it for." + +All day Tom was walking up and down the room, or working hard at the +apparatus. His eyes were glistening, his cheeks hectic, and he had all +the symptoms of high fever. "Heaven grant that Dick's diagnosis be not +correct!" I thought, as I returned with the crowbar; and yet, as evening +drew near, I found myself imperceptibly sharing the excitement. + +About six o'clock Tom sprang to his feet and seized his sticks. "I can +stand it no longer, Jack," he cried; "up with your crowbar, and hey for +Sasassa Valley! To-night's work, my lad, will either make us or mar us! +Take your six-shooter, in case we meet the Kaffirs. I daren't take mine, +Jack," he continued, putting his hands upon my shoulders--"I daren't +take mine; for if my ill luck sticks to me to-night, I don't know what I +might not do with it." + +Well, having filled our pockets with provisions, we set out, and, as we +took our wearisome way toward the Sasassa Valley, I frequently attempted +to elicit from my companion some clue as to his intentions. But his only +answer was: "Let us hurry on, Jack. Who knows how many have heard of +Wharton's adventure by this time! Let us hurry on, or we may not be +first in the field!" + +Well, sir, we struggled on through the hills for a matter of ten miles; +till at last, after descending a crag, we saw opening out in front of +us a ravine so sombre and dark that it might have been the gate of +Hades itself; cliffs many hundred feet shut in on every side the gloomy +boulder-studded passage which led through the haunted defile into +Kaffirland. The moon, rising above the crags, threw into strong relief +the rough, irregular pinnacles of rock by which they were topped, while +all below was dark as Erebus. + +"The Sasassa Valley?" said I. + +"Yes," said Tom. + +I looked at him. He was calm now; the flush and feverishness had passed +away; his actions were deliberate and slow. Yet there was a certain +rigidity in his face and glitter in his eye which showed that a crisis +had come. + +We entered the pass, stumbling along amid the great boulders. Suddenly I +heard a short, quick exclamation from Tom. "That's the crag!" he cried, +pointing to a great mass looming before us in the darkness. "Now, Jack, +for any favour use your eyes! We're about a hundred yards from that +cliff, I take it; so you move slowly toward one side and I'll do the +same toward the other. When you see anything, stop and call out. Don't +take more than twelve inches in a step, and keep your eye fixed on the +cliff about eight feet from the ground. Are you ready?" + +"Yes." I was even more excited than Tom by this time. What his intention +or object was I could not conjecture, beyond that he wanted to examine +by daylight the part of the cliff from which the light came. Yet the +influence of the romantic situation and my companion's suppressed +excitement was so great that I could feel the blood coursing through my +veins and count the pulses throbbing at my temples. + +"Start!" cried Tom; and we moved off, he to the right, I to the left, +each with our eyes fixed intently on the base of the crag. I had moved +perhaps twenty feet, when in a moment it burst upon me. Through the +growing darkness there shone a small, ruddy, glowing point, the light +from which waned and increased, flickered and oscillated, each change +producing a more weird effect than the last. The old Kaffir superstition +came into my mind, and I felt a cold shudder pass over me. In my +excitement I stepped a pace backward, when instantly the light went out, +leaving utter darkness in its place; but when I advanced again, there +was the ruddy glare glowing from the base of the cliff. "Tom, Tom!" I +cried. + +"Ay, ay!" I heard him exclaim, as he hurried over toward me. + +"There it is--there, up against the cliff!" + +Tom was at my elbow. "I see nothing," said he. + +"Why, there, there, man, in front of you!" I stepped to the right as I +spoke, when the light instantly vanished from my eyes. + +But from Tom's ejaculations of delight it was clear that from my former +position it was visible to him also. "Jack," he cried, as he turned and +wrung my hand--"Jack, you and I can never complain of our luck again. +Now heap up a few stones where we are standing. That's right. Now we +must fix my sign-post firmly in at the top. There! It would take a +strong wind to blow that down; and we only need it to hold out till +morning. O Jack, my boy, to think that only yesterday we were talking of +becoming clerks, and you saying that no man knew what was awaiting him, +too! By Jove, Jack, it would make a good story!" + +By this time we had firmly fixed the perpendicular stick in between the +two large stones; and Tom bent down and peered along the horizontal one. +For fully a quarter of an hour he was alternately raising and depressing +it, until at last, with a sigh of satisfaction, he fixed the prop into +the angle, and stood up. "Look along, Jack," he said. "You have as +straight an eye to take a sight as any man I know of." + +I looked along. There beyond the farther sight was the ruddy, +scintillating speck, apparently at the end of the stick itself, so +accurately had it been adjusted. + +"And now, my boy," said Tom, "let's have some supper and a sleep. +There's nothing more to be done to-night; but we'll need all our wits +and strength to-morrow. Get some sticks and kindle a fire here, and then +we'll be able to keep an eye on our signal-post, and see that nothing +happens to it during the night." + +Well, sir, we kindled a fire, and had supper with the Sasassa demon's +eye rolling and glowing in front of us the whole night through. Not +always in the same place, though; for after supper, when I glanced along +the sights to have another look at it, it was nowhere to be seen. The +information did not, however, seem to disturb Tom in any way. He merely +remarked, "It's the moon, not the thing, that has shifted;" and coiling +himself up, went to sleep. + +By early dawn we were both up, and gazing along our pointer at the +cliff; but we could make out nothing save the one dead, monotonous, +slaty surface, rougher perhaps at the part we were examining than +elsewhere, but otherwise presenting nothing remarkable. + +"Now for your idea, Jack!" said Tom Donahue, unwinding a long thin cord +from round his waist. "You fasten it, and guide me while I take the +other end." So saying, he walked off to the base of the cliff, holding +one end of the cord, while I drew the other taut, and wound it round the +middle of the horizontal stick, passing it through the sight at the end. +By this means I could direct Tom to the right or left, until we had our +string stretching from the point of attachment, through the sight, and +on to the rock, which it struck about eight feet from the ground. Tom +drew a chalk circle of about three feet diameter round the spot, and +then called to me to come and join him. "We've managed this business +together, Jack," he said, "and we'll find what we are to find, +together." The circle he had drawn embraced a part of the rock smoother +than the rest, save that about the centre there were a few rough +protuberances or knobs. One of these Tom pointed to with a cry of +delight. It was a roughish, brownish mass about the size of a man's +closed fist, and looking like a bit of dirty glass let into the wall of +the cliff. "That's it!" he cried--"that's it!" + +"That's what?" + +"Why, man, _a diamond_, and such a one as there isn't a monarch in +Europe but would envy Tom Donahue the possession of. Up with your +crowbar, and we'll soon exorcise the demon of Sasassa Valley!" + +I was so astounded that for a moment I stood speechless with surprise, +gazing at the treasure which had so unexpectedly fallen into our hands. + +"Here, hand me the crowbar," said Tom. "Now, by using this little round +knob which projects from the cliff here as a fulcrum, we may be able to +lever it off. Yes; there it goes. I never thought it could have come so +easily. Now, Jack, the sooner we get back to our hut and then down to +Cape Town, the better." + +We wrapped up our treasure, and made our way across the hills toward +home. On the way, Tom told me how, while a law student in the Middle +Temple, he had come upon a dusty pamphlet in the library, by one Jans +van Hounym, which told of an experience very similar to ours, which +had befallen that worthy Dutchman in the latter part of the seventeenth +century, and which resulted in the discovery of a luminous diamond. This +tale it was which had come into Tom's head as he listened to honest Dick +Wharton's ghost-story, while the means which he had adopted to verify +his supposition sprang from his own fertile Irish brain. + +"We'll take it down to Cape Town," continued Tom, "and if we can't +dispose of it with advantage there, it will be worth our while to ship +for London with it. Let us go along to Madison's first, though; he knows +something of these things, and can perhaps give us some idea of what we +may consider a fair price for our treasure." + +We turned off from the track accordingly, before reaching our hut, and +kept along the narrow path leading to Madison's farm. He was at lunch +when we entered; and in a minute we were seated at each side of him, +enjoying South African hospitality. + +"Well," he said, after the servants were gone, "what's in the wind now? +I see you have something to say to me. What is it?" + +Tom produced his packet, and solemnly untied the handkerchiefs which +enveloped it. "There!" he said, putting his crystal on the table; "what +would you say was a fair price for that?" + +Madison took it up and examined it critically. "Well," he said, laying +it down again, "in its crude state about twelve shillings per ton." + +"Twelve shillings!" cried Tom, starting to his feet. "Don't you see what +it is?" + +"Rock-salt!" + +"Rock-salt be d--d! a diamond." + +"Taste it!" said Madison. + +Tom put it to his lips, dashed it down with a dreadful exclamation, and +rushed out of the room. + +I felt sad and disappointed enough myself; but presently, remembering +what Tom had said about the pistol, I, too left the house, and made for +the hut, leaving Madison open-mouthed with astonishment. When I got in, +I found Tom lying in his bunk with his face to the wall, too dispirited +apparently to answer my consolations. Anathematising Dick and Madison, +the Sasassa demon, and everything else, I strolled out of the hut, and +refreshed myself with a pipe after our wearisome adventure. I was about +fifty yards from the hut, when I heard issuing from it the sound which +of all others I least expected to hear. Had it been a groan or an oath, +I should have taken it as a matter of course; but the sound which +caused me to stop and take the pipe out of my mouth was a hearty roar of +laughter! Next moment Tom himself emerged from the door, his whole face +radiant with delight. "Game for another ten-mile walk, old fellow?" + +"What! for another lump of rock-salt, at twelve shillings a ton?" + +"'No more of that, Hal, an you love me,' " grinned Tom. "Now look here, +Jack. What blessed fools we are to be so floored by a trifle! Just sit +on this stump for five minutes, and I'll make it as clear as daylight. +You've seen many a lump of rock-salt stuck in a crag, and so have I, +though we did make such a mull of this one. Now, Jack, did any of +the pieces you have ever seen shine in the darkness brighter than any +fire-fly?" + +"Well, I can't say they ever did." + +"I'd venture to prophesy that if we waited until night, which we won't +do, we would see that light still glimmering among the rocks. Therefore, +Jack, when we took away this worthless salt, we took the wrong crystal. +It is no very strange thing in these hills that a piece of rock-salt +should be lying within a foot of a diamond. It caught our eyes, and +we were excited, and so we made fools of ourselves, and _left the real +stone behind_. Depend upon it, Jack, the Sasassa gem is lying within +that magic circle of chalk upon the face of yonder cliff. Come, old +fellow, light your pipe and stow your revolver, and we'll be off before +that fellow Madison has time to put two and two together." + +I don't know that I was very sanguine this time. I had begun, in fact, +to look upon the diamond as a most unmitigated nuisance. However, rather +than throw a damper on Tom's expectations, I announced myself eager to +start. What a walk it was! Tom was always a good mountaineer, but his +excitement seemed to lend him wings that day, while I scrambled along +after him as best I could. + +When we got within half a mile he broke into the "double," and never +pulled up until he reached the round white circle upon the cliff. Poor +old Tom! when I came up, his mood had changed, and he was standing +with his hands in his pockets, gazing vacantly before him with a rueful +countenance. + +"Look!" he said, "look!" and he pointed at the cliff. Not a sign of +anything in the least resembling a diamond there. The circle included +nothing but a flat slate-coloured stone, with one large hole, where we +had extracted the rock-salt, and one or two smaller depressions. No sign +of the gem. + +"I've been over every inch of it," said poor Tom. "It's not there. Some +one has been here and noticed the chalk, and taken it. Come home, Jack; +I feel sick and tired. Oh, had any man ever luck like mine!" + +I turned to go, but took one last look at the cliff first. Tom was +already ten paces off. + +"Hollo!" I cried, "don't you see any change in that circle since +yesterday?" + +"What d' ye mean?" said Tom. + +"Don't you miss a thing that was there before?" + +"The rock-salt?" said Tom. + +"No; but the little round knob that we used for a fulcrum. I suppose we +must have wrenched it off in using the lever. Let's have a look at what +it's made of." + +Accordingly, at the foot of the cliff we searched about among the loose +stones. + +"Here you are, Jack! We've done it at last! We're made men!" + +I turned round, and there was Tom radiant with delight, and with the +little corner of black rock in his hand. At first sight it seemed to +be merely a chip from the cliff; but near the base there was projecting +from it an object which Tom was now exultingly pointing out. It +looked at first something like a glass eye; but there was a depth and +brilliancy about it such as glass never exhibited. There was no mistake +this time; we had certainly got possession of a jewel of great value; +and with light hearts we turned from the valley, bearing away with us +the "fiend" which had so long reigned there. + +There, sir; I've spun my story out too long, and tired you perhaps. +You see, when I get talking of those rough old days, I kind of see the +little cabin again, and the brook beside it, and the bush around, and +seem to hear Tom's honest voice once more. There's little for me to say +now. We prospered on the gem. Tom Donahue, as you know, has set up +here, and is well known about town. I have done well, farming and +ostrich-raising in Africa. We set old Dick Wharton up in business, and +he is one of our nearest neighbours. If you should ever be coming up our +way, sir, you'll not forget to ask for Jack Turnbull--Jack Turnbull of +Sasassa Farm. + + + + +LONG ODDS, By H. Rider Haggard + + +The story which is narrated in the following pages came to me from the +lips of my old friend Allan Quatermain, or Hunter Quatermain, as we used +to call him in South Africa. He told it to me one evening when I was +stopping with him at the place he bought in Yorkshire. Shortly after +that, the death of his only son so unsettled him that he immediately +left England, accompanied by two companions, his old fellow-voyagers, +Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, and has now utterly vanished into the +dark heart of Africa. He is persuaded that a white people, of which he +has heard rumours all his life, exists somewhere on the highlands in the +vast, still unexplored interior, and his great ambition is to find them +before he dies. This is the wild quest upon which he and his companions +have departed, and from which I shrewdly suspect they never will return. +One letter only have I received from the old gentleman, dated from a +mission station high up the Tana, a river on the east coast, about +three hundred miles north of Zanzibar; in it he says that they have gone +through many hardships and adventures, but are alive and well, and have +found traces which go far toward making him hope that the results of +their wild quest may be a "magnificent and unexampled discovery." I +greatly fear, however, that all he has discovered is death; for this +letter came a long while ago, and nobody has heard a single word of the +party since. They have totally vanished. + +It was on the last evening of my stay at his house that he told the +ensuing story to me and Captain Good, who was dining with him. He had +eaten his dinner and drunk two or three glasses of old port, just to +help Good and myself to the end of the second bottle. It was an unusual +thing for him to do, for he was a most abstemious man, having conceived, +as he used to say, a great horror of drink from observing its +effects upon the class of colonists--hunters, transport-riders +and others--amongst whom he had passed so many years of his life. +Consequently the good wine took more effect on him than it would have +done on most men, sending a little flush into his wrinkled cheeks, and +making him talk more freely than usual. + +Dear old man! I can see him now, as he went limping up and down the +vestibule, with his gray hair sticking up in scrubbing-brush fashion, +his shrivelled yellow face, and his large dark eyes, that were as keen +as any hawk's, and yet soft as a buck's. The whole room was hung with +trophies of his numerous hunting expeditions, and he had some story +about every one of them, if only he could be got to tell it. Generally +he would not, for he was not very fond of narrating his own adventures, +but to-night the port wine made him more communicative. + +"Ah, you brute!" he said, stopping beneath an unusually large skull of +a lion, which was fixed just over the mantelpiece, beneath a long row of +guns, its jaws distended to their utmost width. "Ah, you brute! you have +given me a lot of trouble for the last dozen years, and will, I suppose +to my dying day." + +"Tell us the yarn, Quatermain," said Good. "You have often promised to +tell me, and you never have." + +"You had better not ask me to," he answered, "for it is a longish one." + +"All right," I said, "the evening is young, and there is some more +port." + +Thus adjured, he filled his pipe from a jar of coarse-cut Boer tobacco +that was always standing on the mantelpiece, and still walking up and +down the room, began: + +"It was, I think, in the March of '69 that I was up in Sikukuni's +country. It was just after old Sequati's time, and Sikukuni had got into +power--I forget how. Anyway, I was there. I had heard that the Bapedi +people had brought down an enormous quantity of ivory from the interior, +and so I started with a waggon-load of goods, and came straight away +from Middelburg to try and trade some of it. It was a risky thing to +go into the country so early, on account of the fever; but I knew that +there were one or two others after that lot of ivory, so I determined +to have a try for it, and take my chance of fever. I had become so tough +from continual knocking about that I did not set it down at much. Well, +I got on all right for a while. It is a wonderfully beautiful piece of +bush veldt, with great ranges of mountains running through it, and round +granite koppies starting up here and there, looking out like sentinels +over the rolling waste of bush. But it is very hot,--hot as a +stew-pan,--and when I was there that March, which, of course, is autumn +in this part of Africa, the whole place reeked of fever. Every morning, +as I trekked along down by the Oliphant River, I used to creep from the +waggon at dawn and look out. But there was no river to be seen--only a +long line of billows of what looked like the finest cotton-wool tossed +up lightly with a pitchfork. It was the fever mist. Out from among the +scrub, too, came little spirals of vapour, as though there were hundreds +of tiny fires alight in it--reek rising from thousands of tons of +rotting vegetation. It was a beautiful place, but the beauty was the +beauty of death; and all those lines and blots of vapour wrote one great +word across the surface of the country, and that word was 'fever.' + +"It was a dreadful year of illness that. I came, I remember, to one +little kraal of knobnoses, and went up to it to see if I could get some +_maas_ (curdled butter-milk) and a few mealies. As I got near I was +struck with the silence of the place. No children began to chatter, and +no dogs barked. Nor could I see any native sheep or cattle. The place, +though it had evidently been recently inhabited, was as still as the +bush round it, and some guinea-fowl got up out of the prickly pear +bushes right at the kraal gate. I remember that I hesitated a little +before going in, there was such an air of desolation about the spot. +Nature never looks desolate when man has not yet laid his hand upon her +breast; she is only lovely. But when man has been, and has passed away, +then she looks desolate. + +"Well, I passed into the kraal, and went up to the principal hut. In +front of the hut was something with an old sheepskin _kaross_ (rug) +thrown over it. I stooped down and drew off the rug, and then shrank +back amazed, for under it was the body of a young woman recently dead. +For a moment I thought of turning back, but my curiosity overcame me; so +going past the dead woman, I went down on my hands and knees and crept +into the hut. It was so dark that I could not see anything, though +I could smell a great deal, so I lit a match. It was a 'tandstickor' +match, and burnt slowly and dimly, and as the light gradually increased +I made out what I took to be a family of people, men, women, and +children, fast asleep. Presently it burnt up brightly, and I saw that +they too, five of them altogether, were quite dead. One was a baby. I +dropped the match in a hurry, and was making my way out of the hut as +hard as I could go, when I caught sight of two bright eyes staring +out of a corner. Thinking it was a wild cat, or some such animal, I +redoubled my haste, when suddenly a voice near the eyes began first to +mutter, and then to send up a succession of awful yells. Hastily I lit +another match, and perceived that the eyes belonged to an old woman, +wrapped up in a greasy leather garment. Taking her by the arm, I dragged +her out, for she could not, or would not, come by herself, and the +stench was overpowering me. Such a sight as she was--a bag of bones, +covered over with black, shrivelled parchment. The only white thing +about her was her wool, and she seemed to be pretty well dead except for +her eyes and her voice. She thought that I was a devil come to take her, +and that is why she yelled so. Well, I got her down to the waggon, +and gave her a 'tot' of Cape smoke, and then, as soon as it was ready, +poured about a pint of beef-tea down her throat, made from the flesh +of a blue vilder-beeste I had killed the day before, and after that she +brightened up wonderfully. She could talk Zulu,--indeed, it turned out +that she had run away from Zululand in T'Chaka's time,--and she told +me that all the people whom I had seen had died of fever. When they had +died the other inhabitants of the kraal had taken the cattle and +gone away, leaving the poor old woman, who was helpless from age and +infirmity, to perish of starvation or disease, as the case might be. She +had been sitting there for three days among the bodies when I found her. +I took her on to the next kraal, and gave the headman a blanket to look +after her, promising him another if I found her well when I came back. I +remember that he was much astonished at my parting with two blankets for +the sake of such a worthless old creature. 'Why did I not leave her in +the bush?' he asked. Those people carry the doctrine of the survival of +the fittest to its extreme, you see. + +"It was the night after I had got rid of the old woman that I made my +first acquaintance with my friend yonder," and he nodded toward the +skull that seemed to be grinning down at us in the shadow of the wide +mantel-shelf. "I had trekked from dawn till eleven o'clock,--a long +trek,--but I wanted to get on; and then had turned the oxen out to +graze, sending the voorlooper to look after them, meaning to inspan +again about six o'clock, and trek with the moon till ten. Then I got +into the waggon and had a good sleep till half-past two or so in the +afternoon, when I rose and cooked some meat, and had my dinner, washing +it down with a pannikin of black coffee; for it was difficult to get +preserved milk in those days. Just as I had finished, and the driver, a +man called Tom, was washing up the things, in comes the young scoundrel +of a voorlooper driving one ox before him. + +"'Where are the other oxen?' I asked. + +"'Koos!' he said, 'Koos! (chief) the other oxen have gone away. I turned +my back for a minute, and when I looked round again they were all gone +except Kaptein, here, who was rubbing his back against a tree.' + +"'You mean that you have been asleep, and let them stray, you villain. I +will rub your back against a stick,' I answered, feeling very angry, for +it was not a pleasant prospect to be stuck up in that fever-trap for a +week or so while we were hunting for the oxen. 'Off you go, and you too, +Tom, and mind you don't come back till you have found them. They have +trekked back along the Middelburg Road, and are a dozen miles off by +now, I'll be bound. Now, no words; go, both of you.' + +"Tom, the driver, swore and caught the lad a hearty kick, which he +richly deserved, and then, having tied old Kaptein up to the disselboom +with a riem, they took their assegais and sticks, and started. I would +have gone too, only I knew that somebody must look after the waggon, and +I did not like to leave either of the boys with it at night. I was in a +very bad temper, indeed, although I was pretty well used to these sort +of occurrences, and soothed myself by taking a rifle and going to kill +something. For a couple of hours I poked about without seeing anything +that I could get a shot at, but at last, just as I was again within +seventy yards of the waggon, I put up an old Impala ram from behind a +mimosa-thorn. He ran straight for the waggon, and it was not till he was +passing within a few feet of it that I could get a decent shot at him. +Then I pulled, and caught him half-way down the spine; over he went, +dead as a door-nail, and a pretty shot it was, though I ought not to say +it. This little incident put me into rather a better temper, especially +as the buck had rolled right against the after part of the waggon, so I +had only to gut him, fix a riem round his legs, and haul him up. By the +time I had done this the sun was down, and the full moon was up, and +a beautiful moon it was. And then there came that wonderful hush which +sometimes falls over the African bush in the early hours of the night. +No beast was moving, and no bird called. Not a breath of air stirred the +quiet trees, and the shadows did not even quiver, they only grew. It was +very oppressive and very lonely, for there was not a sign of the cattle +or the boys. I was quite thankful for the society of old Kaptein, who +was lying down contentedly against the disselboom, chewing the cud with +a good conscience. + +"Presently, however, Kaptein began to get restless. First he snorted, +then he got up and snorted again. I could not make it out, so like a +fool I got down off the waggon-box to have a look round, thinking it +might be the lost oxen coming. + +"Next instant I regretted it, for all of a sudden I heard a roar and saw +something yellow flash past me and light on poor Kaptein. Then came +a bellow of agony from the ox, and a crunch as the lion put his teeth +through the poor brute's neck, and I began to understand what had +happened. My rifle was in the waggon, and my first thought was to get +hold of it, and I turned and made a bolt for it. I got my foot on the +wheel and flung my body forward on to the waggon, and there I stopped as +if I were frozen, and no wonder, for as I was about to spring up I heard +the lion behind me, and next second I felt the brute, ay, as plainly as +I can feel this table. I felt him, I say, sniffing at my left leg that +was hanging down. + +"My word! I did feel queer; I don't think that I ever felt so queer +before. I dared not move for the life of me, and the odd thing was that +I seemed to lose power over my leg, which developed an insane sort +of inclination to kick out of its own mere motion--just as hysterical +people want to laugh when they ought to be particularly solemn. Well, +the lion sniffed and sniffed, beginning at my ankle and slowly nosing +away up to my thigh. I thought that he was going to get hold then, but +he did not. He only growled softly, and went back to the ox. Shifting my +head a little I got a full view of him. He was about the biggest lion +I ever saw,--and I have seen a great many, and he had a most tremendous +black mane. What his teeth were like you can see--look there, pretty big +ones, ain't they? Altogether he was a magnificent animal, and as I lay +sprawling on the fore tongue of the waggon, it occurred to me that he +would look uncommonly well in a cage. He stood there by the carcass of +poor Kaptein, and deliberately disembowelled him as neatly as a butcher +could have done. All this while I dared not move, for he kept lifting +his head and keeping an eye on me as he licked his bloody chops. When +he had cleaned Kaptein out he opened his mouth and roared, and I am not +exaggerating when I say that the sound shook the waggon. Instantly there +came back an answering roar. + +"'Heavens!' I thought, 'there is his mate.' + +"Hardly was the thought out of my head when I caught sight in the +moonlight of the lioness bounding along through the long grass, and +after her a couple of cubs about the size of mastiffs. She stopped +within a few feet of my head, and stood, and waved her tail, and fixed +me with her glowing yellow eyes; but just as I thought that it was all +over she turned and began to feed on Kaptein, and so did the cubs. There +were the four of them within eight feet of me, growling and quarrelling, +rending and tearing, and crunching poor Kaptein's bones; and there I +lay shaking with terror, and the cold perspiration pouring out of me, +feeling like another Daniel come to judgment in a new sense of the +phrase. Presently the cubs had eaten their fill, and began to get +restless. One went round to the back of the waggon and pulled at +the Impala buck that hung there, and the other came round my way and +commenced the sniffing game at my leg. Indeed, he did more than that, +for, my trouser being hitched up a little, he began to lick the bare +skin with his rough tongue. The more he licked the more he liked it, to +judge from his increased vigour and the loud purring noise he made. Then +I knew that the end had come, for in another second his file-like tongue +would have rasped through the skin of my leg--which was luckily pretty +tough--and have drawn the blood, and then there would be no chance +for me. So I just lay there and thought of my sins, and prayed to the +Almighty, and thought that, after all, life was a very enjoyable thing. + +"And then all of a sudden I heard a crashing of bushes and the shouting +and whistling of men, and there were the two boys coming back with the +cattle, which they had found trekking along all together. The lions +lifted their heads and listened, then without a sound bounded off--and I +fainted. + +"The lions came back no more that night, and by the next morning my +nerves had got pretty straight again; but I was full of wrath when I +thought of all that I had gone through at the hands, or rather noses, +of those four lions, and of the fate of my after-ox Kaptein. He was a +splendid ox, and I was very fond of him. So wroth was I that, like a +fool, I determined to attack the whole family of them. It was worthy of +a greenhorn out on his first hunting-trip; but I did it nevertheless. +Accordingly after breakfast, having rubbed some oil upon my leg, which +was very sore from the cub's tongue, I took the driver, Tom, who did not +half like the job, and having armed myself with an ordinary double No. +12 smooth-bore, the first breech-loader I ever had, I started. I took +the smooth-bore because it shot a bullet very well; and my experience +has been that a round ball from a smooth-bore is quite as effective +against a lion as an express bullet. The lion is soft, and not a +difficult animal to finish if you hit him anywhere in the body. A buck +takes far more killing. + +"Well, I started, and the first thing I set to work to do was to try to +make out whereabouts the brutes lay up for the day. About three hundred +yards from the waggon was the crest of a rise covered with single +mimosa-trees, dotted about in a park-like fashion, and beyond this was +a stretch of open plain running down to a dry pan, or water-hole, which +covered about an acre of ground, and was densely clothed with reeds, +now in the sear and yellow leaf. From the farther edge of this pan the +ground sloped up again to a great cleft, or nullah, which had been cut +out by the action of the water, and was pretty thickly sprinkled with +bush, among which grew some large trees, I forget of what sort. + +"It at once struck me that the dry pan would be a likely place to find +my friends in, as there is nothing a lion is fonder of than lying up +in reeds, through which he can see things without being seen himself. +Accordingly thither I went and prospected. Before I had got half-way +round the pan I found the remains of a blue vilder-beeste that had +evidently been killed within the last three or four days and partially +devoured by lions; and from other indications about I was soon assured +that if the family were not in the pan that day they spent a good deal +of their spare time there. But if there, the question was how to get +them out; for it was clearly impossible to think of going in after +them unless one was quite determined to commit suicide. Now there was a +strong wind blowing from the direction of the waggon, across the reedy +pan toward the bush-clad kloof or donga, and this first gave me the +idea of firing the reeds, which, as I think I told you, were pretty dry. +Accordingly Tom took some matches and began starting little fires to the +left, and I did the same to the right. But the reeds were still green +at the bottom, and we should never have got them well alight had it not +been for the wind, which grew stronger and stronger as the sun climbed +higher, and forced the fire into them. At last, after half an hour's +trouble, the flames got a hold, and began to spread out like a fan, +whereupon I went round to the farther side of the pan to wait for the +lions, standing well out in the open, as we stood at the copse to-day +where you shot the woodcock. It was a rather risky thing to do, but I +used to be so sure of my shooting in those days that I did not so much +mind the risk. Scarcely had I got round when I heard the reeds parting +before the onward rush of some animal. 'Now for it,' said I. On it came. +I could see that it was yellow, and prepared for action, when instead +of a lion out bounded a beautiful rietbok which had been lying in +the shelter of the pan. It must, by the way, have been a rietbok of a +peculiarly confiding nature to lay itself down with the lion, like the +lamb of prophecy, but I suppose the reeds were thick, and that it kept a +long way off. + +"Well, I let the rietbok go, and it went like the wind, and kept my +eyes fixed upon the reeds. The fire was burning like a furnace now; the +flames crackling and roaring as they bit into the reeds, sending spouts +of fire twenty feet and more into the air, and making the hot air dance +above it in a way that was perfectly dazzling. But the reeds were +still half green, and created an enormous quantity of smoke, which came +rolling toward me like a curtain, lying very low on account of the wind. +Presently, above the crackling of the fire, I heard a startled roar, +then another and another. So the lions were at home. + +"I was beginning to get excited now, for, as you fellows know, there +is nothing in experience to warm up your nerves like a lion at close +quarters, unless it is a wounded buffalo; and I got still more so when +I made out through the smoke that the lions were all moving about on the +extreme edge of the reeds. Occasionally they would pop their heads out +like rabbits from a burrow, and then, catching sight of me standing +about fifty yards out, draw them back again. I knew that it must be +getting pretty warm behind them, and that they could not keep the game +up for long; and I was not mistaken, for suddenly all four of them broke +cover together, the old black-maned lion leading by a few yards. I never +saw a more splendid sight in all my hunting experience than those four +lions bounding across the veldt, overshadowed by the dense pall of smoke +and backed by the fiery furnace of the burning reeds. + +"I reckoned that they would pass, on their road to the bushy kloof, +within about five and twenty yards of me; so, taking a long breath, I +got my gun well on to the lion's shoulder--the black-maned one--so as to +allow for an inch or two of motion, and catch him through the heart. +I was on, dead on, and my finger was just beginning to tighten on the +trigger, when suddenly I went blind--a bit of reed-ash had drifted into +my right eye. I danced and rubbed, and succeeded in clearing it more or +less just in time to see the tail of the last lion vanishing round the +bushes up the kloof. + +"If ever a man was mad I was that man. It was too bad; and such a shot +in the open, too! However, I was not going to be beaten, so I just +turned and marched for the kloof. Tom, the driver, begged and implored +me not to go; but though as a general rule I never pretend to be very +brave (which I am not), I was determined that I would either kill those +lions or they should kill me. So I told Tom that he need not come unless +he liked, but I was going; and being a plucky fellow, a Swazi by birth, +he shrugged his shoulders, muttered that I was mad or bewitched, and +followed doggedly in my tracks. + +"We soon got to the kloof, which was about three hundred yards in length +and but sparsely wooded, and then the real fun began. There might be a +lion behind every bush--there certainly were four lions somewhere; the +delicate question was, where. I peeped and poked and looked in every +possible direction, with my heart in my mouth, and was at last rewarded +by catching a glimpse of something yellow moving behind a bush. At the +same moment, from another bush opposite me out burst one of the cubs and +galloped back toward the burned-out pan. I whipped round and let drive a +snap-shot that tipped him head over heels, breaking his back within two +inches of the root of the tail, and there he lay helpless but glaring. +Tom afterward killed him with his assegai. I opened the breech of the +gun and hurriedly pulled out the old case, which, to judge from what +ensued, must, I suppose, have burst and left a portion of its fabric +sticking to the barrel. At any rate, when I tried to get in the new case +it would only enter half-way; and--would you believe it?--this was the +moment that the lioness, attracted no doubt by the outcry of her cub, +chose to put in an appearance. There she stood, twenty paces or so from +me, lashing her tail and looking just as wicked as it is possible to +conceive. Slowly I stepped backward, trying to push in the new case, and +as I did so she moved on in little runs, dropping down after each run. +The danger was imminent, and the case would not go in. At the moment +I oddly enough thought of the cartridge-maker, whose name I will not +mention, and earnestly hoped that if the lion got me some condign +punishment would overtake him. It would not go in, so I tried to pull it +out. It would not come out either, and my gun was useless if I could +not shut it to use the other barrel. I might as well have had no gun. +Meanwhile I was walking backward, keeping my eye on the lioness, who was +creeping forward on her belly without a sound, but lashing her tail +and keeping her eye on me; and in it I saw that she was coming in a +few seconds more. I dashed my wrist and the palm of my hand against the +brass rim of the cartridge till the blood poured from them--look, there +are the scars of it to this day!" + +Here Quatermain held up his right hand to the light and showed us four +or five white cicatrices just where the wrist is set into the hand. + +"But it was not of the slightest use," he went on; "the cartridge would +not move. I only hope that no other man will ever be put in such an +awful position. The lioness gathered herself together, and I gave myself +up for lost, when suddenly Tom shouted out from somewhere in my rear: + +"'You are walking on to the wounded cub; turn to the right.' + +"I had the sense, dazed as I was, to take the hint, and slewing round at +right angles, but still keeping my eyes on the lioness, I continued my +backward walk. + +"To my intense relief, with a low growl she straightened herself, +turned, and bounded off farther up the kloof. + +"'Come on, inkoos,' said Tom, 'let's get back to the waggon.' + +"'All right, Tom,' I answered. 'I will when I have killed those three +other lions,' for by this time I was bent on shooting them as I never +remember being bent on anything before or since. 'You can go if you +like, or you can get up a tree.' + +"He considered the position a little, and then he very wisely got up a +tree. I wish that I had done the same. + +"Meanwhile I had found my knife, which had an extractor in it, and +succeeded after some difficulty in hauling out the case which had so +nearly been the cause of my death, and removing the obstruction in the +barrel. It was very little thicker than a postage-stamp; certainly not +thicker than a piece of writing-paper. This done, I loaded the gun, +bound a handkerchief round my wrist and hand to staunch the flowing of +the blood, and started on again. + +"I had noticed that the lioness went into a thick green bush, or rather +cluster of bushes, growing near the water; for there was a little stream +running down the kloof, about fifty yards higher up and for this I made. +When I got there, however, I could see nothing, so I took up a big stone +and threw it into the bushes. I believe that it hit the other cub, for +out it came with a rush, giving me a broadside shot, of which I promptly +availed myself, knocking it over dead. Out, too, came the lioness like a +flash of light, but quick as she went I managed to put the other bullet +into her ribs, so that she rolled right over three times like a shot +rabbit. I instantly got two more cartridges into the gun, and as I did +so the lioness rose again and came crawling toward me on her fore paws, +roaring and groaning, and with such an expression of diabolical fury on +her countenance as I have not often seen. I shot her again through the +chest, and she fell over on to her side quite dead. + +"That was the first and last time that I ever killed a brace of lions +right and left, and, what is more, I never heard of anybody else doing +it. Naturally I was considerably pleased with myself, and having again +loaded up, I went on to look for the black-maned beauty who had killed +Kaptein. Slowly, and with the greatest care, I proceeded up the kloof, +searching every bush and tuft of grass as I went. It was wonderfully +exciting work, for I never was sure from one moment to another but that +he would be on me. I took comfort, however, from the reflection that +a lion rarely attacks a man,--rarely, I say; sometimes he does, as you +will see,--unless he is cornered or wounded. I must have been nearly an +hour hunting after that lion. Once I thought I saw something move in a +clump of tambouki grass, but I could not be sure, and when I trod out +the grass I could not find him. + +"At last I worked up to the head of the kloof, which made a cul-de-sac. +It was formed of a wall of rock about fifty feet high. Down this rock +trickled a little waterfall, and in front of it, some seventy feet from +its face, was a great piled-up mass of boulders, in the crevices and on +the top of which grew ferns, grasses, and stunted bushes. This mass was +about twenty-five feet high. The sides of the kloof here were also very +steep. Well, I came to the top of the nullah and looked all round. No +signs of the lion. Evidently I had either overlooked him farther down or +he had escaped right away. It was very vexatious; but still three lions +were not a bad bag for one gun before dinner, and I was fain to be +content. Accordingly I departed back again, making my way round the +isolated pillar of boulders, beginning to feel, as I did so, that I was +pretty well done up with excitement and fatigue, and should be more so +before I had skinned those three lions. When I had got, as nearly as I +could judge, about eighteen yards past the pillar or mass of boulders, +I turned to have another look round. I have a pretty sharp eye, but I +could see nothing at all. + +"Then, on a sudden, I saw something sufficiently alarming. On the top +of the mass of boulders, opposite to me, standing out clear against the +rock beyond, was the huge black-maned lion. He had been crouching there, +and now arose as though by magic. There he stood lashing his tail, +just like a living reproduction of the animal on the gateway of +Northumberland House that I have seen a picture of. But he did not stand +long. Before I could fire--before I could do more than get the gun to my +shoulder--he sprang straight up and out from the rock, and driven by the +impetus of that one mighty bound came hurtling through the air toward +me. + +"Heavens! how grand he looked, and how awful! High into the air he flew, +describing a great arch. Just as he touched the highest point of his +spring I fired. I did not dare to wait, for I saw that he would clear +the whole space and land right upon me. Without a sight, almost without +aim, I fired, as one would fire a snap-shot at a snipe. The bullet told, +for I distinctly heard its thud above the rushing sound caused by the +passage of the lion through the air. Next second I was swept to the +ground (luckily I fell into a low, creeper-clad bush, which broke the +shock), and the lion was on the top of me, and the next those great +white teeth of his had met in my thigh--I heard them grate against the +bone. I yelled out in agony, for I did not feel in the least benumbed +and happy, like Dr. Livingstone,--whom, by the way, I knew very +well,--and gave myself up for dead. But suddenly, at that moment, the +lion's grip on my thigh loosened, and he stood over me, swaying to and +fro, his huge mouth, from which the blood was gushing, wide opened. Then +he roared, and the sound shook the rocks. + +"To and fro he swung, and then the great head dropped on me, knocking +all the breath from my body, and he was dead. My bullet had entered in +the centre of his chest and passed out on the right side of the spine +about half way down the back. + +"The pain of my wound kept me from fainting, and as soon as I got my +breath I managed to drag myself from under him. Thank heavens, his great +teeth had not crushed my thigh-bone; but I was losing a great deal of +blood, and had it not been for the timely arrival of Tom, with whose aid +I got the handkerchief from my wrist and tied it round my leg, twisting +it tight with a stick, I think that I should have bled to death. + +"Well, it was a just reward for my folly in trying to tackle a family +of lions single-handed. The odds were too long. I have been lame ever +since, and shall be to my dying day; in the month of March the wound +always troubles me a great deal, and every three years it breaks +out raw. I need scarcely add that I never traded the lot of ivory at +Sikukuni's. Another man got it--a German--and made five hundred pounds +out of it after paying expenses. I spent the next month on the broad of +my back, and was a cripple for six months after that. And now I've told +you the yarn, so I will have a drop of Hollands and go to bed." + + + + +KING BEMBA'S POINT, A WEST AFRICAN STORY, By J. Landers + + +We were for the most part a queer lot out on that desolate southwest +African coast, in charge of the various trading stations that were +scattered along the coast, from the Gaboon River, past the mouth of the +mighty Congo, to the Portuguese city of St. Paul de Loanda. A mixture of +all sorts, especially bad sorts: broken-down clerks, men who could not +succeed anywhere else, sailors, youths, and some whose characters would +not have borne any investigation; and we very nearly all drank hard, and +those who didn't drink hard took more than was good for them. + +I don't know exactly what induced me to go out there. I was young +for one thing, the country was unknown, the berth was vacant, and the +conditions of it easy. + +Imagine a high rocky point or headland, stretching out sideways into +the sea, and at its base a small river winding into a country that +was seemingly a blank in regard to inhabitants or cultivation; a land +continuing for miles and miles, as far as the eye could see, one expanse +of long yellow grass, dotted here and there with groups of bastard +palms. In front of the headland rolled the lonely South Atlantic; and, +as if such conditions were not dispiriting enough to existence upon the +Point, there was yet another feature which at times gave the place a +still more ghastly look. A long way off the shore, the heaving surface +of the ocean began, in anything like bad weather, to break upon the +shoals of the coast. Viewed from the top of the rock, the sea at such +times looked, for at least two miles out, as if it were scored over with +lines of white foam; but lower down, near the beach, each roller could +be distinctly seen, and each roller had a curve of many feet, and was an +enormous mass of water that hurled itself shoreward until it curled and +broke. + +When I first arrived on the Point there was, I may say, only one house +upon it, and that belonged to Messrs. Flint Brothers, of Liverpool. It +was occupied by one solitary man named Jackson; he had had an assistant, +but the assistant had died of fever, and I was sent to replace him. +Jackson was a man of fifty at least, who had been a sailor before he +had become an African trader. His face bore testimony to the winds +and weather it had encountered, and wore habitually a grave, if not +melancholy, expression. He was rough but kind to me, and though strict +was just, which was no common feature in an old African hand to one who +had just arrived on the coast. + +He kept the factory--we called all houses on the coast factories--as +neat and clean as if it had been a ship. He had the floor of the portion +we dwelt in holystoned every week; and numberless little racks and +shelves were fitted up all over the house. The outside walls glittered +with paint, and the yard was swept clean every morning; and every +Sunday, at eight o'clock and sunset, the ensign was hoisted and lowered, +and an old cannon fired at the word of command. Order and rule were with +Jackson observed from habit, and were strictly enforced by him on all +the natives employed in the factory. + +Although I have said the country looked as if uninhabited, there were +numerous villages hidden away in the long grass and brushwood, invisible +at a distance, being huts of thatch or mud, and not so high as the +grass among which they were placed. From these villages came most of our +servants, and also the middlemen, who acted as brokers between us, the +white men, and the negroes who brought ivory and gum and india-rubber +from the far interior for sale. Our trade was principally in ivory, +and when an unusually large number of elephants' tusks arrived upon the +Point for sale, it would be crowded with Bushmen, strange and uncouth, +and hideously ugly, and armed, and then we would be very busy; for +sometimes as many as two hundred tusks would be brought to us at the +same time, and each of these had to be bargained for and paid for by +exchange of cotton cloths, guns, knives, powder, and a host of small +wares. + +For some time after my arrival our factory, along with the others on +the coast belonging to Messrs. Flint Brothers, was very well supplied +by them with goods for the trade; but by degrees their shipments became +less frequent, and small when they did come. In spite of repeated +letters we could gain no reason from the firm for this fact, nor could +the other factories, and gradually we found ourselves with an empty +storehouse, and nearly all our goods gone. Then followed a weary +interval, during which we had nothing whatever to do, and day succeeded +day through the long hot season. It was now that I began to feel that +Jackson had become of late more silent and reserved with me than ever +he had been. I noticed, too, that he had contracted a habit of wandering +out to the extreme end of the Point, where he would sit for hours gazing +upon the ocean before him. In addition to this, he grew morose and +uncertain in his temper toward the natives, and sometimes he would fall +asleep in the evenings on a sofa, and talk to himself at such a rate +while asleep that I would grow frightened and wake him, when he would +stare about him for a little until he gathered consciousness, and then +he would stagger off to bed to fall asleep again almost immediately. +Also, his hands trembled much, and he began to lose flesh. All this +troubled me, for his own sake as well as my own, and I resolved to ask +him to see the doctor of the next mail-steamer that came. With this +idea I went one day to the end of the Point, and found him in his usual +attitude, seated on the long grass, looking seaward. He did not hear me +approach, and when I spoke he started to his feet, and demanded fiercely +why I disturbed him. I replied, as mildly as I could, for I was rather +afraid of the glittering look that was in his eyes, that I wished to ask +him if he did not feel ill. + +He regarded me with a steady but softened glance for a little, and then +said: + +"My lad, I thank you for your trouble; but I want no doctor. Do you +think I'm looking ill?" + +"Indeed you are," I answered, "ill and thin; and, do you know, I hear +you talk to yourself in your sleep nearly every night." + +"What do I say?" he asked eagerly. + +"That I cannot tell," I replied. "It is all rambling talk; the same +things over and over again, and nearly all about one person--Lucy." + +"Boy!" he cried out, as if in pain, or as if something had touched him +to the quick, "sit you down, and I'll tell you why I think of her--she +was my wife." + +He moved nearer to the edge of the cliff, and we sat down, almost over +the restless sea beneath us. + +"She lives in my memory," he continued, speaking more to himself than +to me, and looking far out to the horizon, beneath which the setting +sun had begun to sink, "in spite of all I can do or think of to make +her appear base in my eyes. For she left me to go with another man--a +scoundrel. This was how it was," he added, quickly: "I married her, and +thought her as pure as a flower; but I could not take her to sea with +me because I was only the mate of a vessel, so I left her among her +own friends, in the village where she was born. In a little cottage by +herself I settled her, comfortable and happy as I thought. God! how +she hung round my neck and sobbed when I went away the first time! +and yet--yet--within a year she left me." And he stopped for several +minutes, resting his head upon his hands. "At first I could get no trace +of her," he resumed. "Her friends knew nothing more of her than that +she had left the village suddenly. Gradually I found out the name of the +scoundrel who had seduced her away. He had bribed her friends so that +they were silent; but I overbribed them with the last money I had, and +I followed him and my wife on foot. I never found them, nor did I ever +know why she had deserted me for him. If I had only known the reason; if +I could have been told of my fault; if she had only written to say that +she was tired of me; that I was too old, too rough for her soft ways,--I +think I could have borne the heavy stroke the villain had dealt me +better. The end of my search was that I dropped down in the streets of +Liverpool, whither I thought I had tracked them, and was carried to +the hospital with brain-fever upon me. Two months afterward I came out +cured, and the sense of my loss was deadened within me, so that I +could go to sea again, which I did, before the mast, under the name of +Jackson, in a bark that traded to this coast here." And the old sailor +rose to his feet and turned abruptly away, leaving me sitting alone. + +I saw that he did not wish to be followed, so I stayed where I was and +watched the gray twilight creep over the face of the sea, and the night +quickly succeed to it. Not a cloud had been in the sky all day long, and +as the darkness increased the stars came out, until the whole heavens +were studded with glittering gems. + +Suddenly, low down, close to the sea, a point of light flickered and +disappeared, shone again for a moment, wavered and went out, only to +reappear and shine steadily. "A steamer's masthead light," I thought, +and ran to the house to give the news; but Jackson had already seen +the light, and pronounced that she had anchored until the morning. At +daybreak there she was, dipping her sides to the swell of the sea as +it rolled beneath her. It was my duty to go off to her in one of the +surf-boats belonging to the factory; and so I scrambled down the cliff +to the little strip of smooth beach that served us for a landing-place. + +When I arrived there I found that the white-crested breakers were +heavier than I had thought they would be. However, there was the boat +lying on the beach with its prow toward the waves, and round it were the +boat-boys with their loincloths girded, ready to start; so I clambered +into the stern, or rather--for the boat was shaped alike at stem and +stern--the end from which the steersman, or _patrao_, used his long oar. +With a shout the boys laid hold of the sides of the boat, and the next +moment it was dancing on the spent waves next to the beach. The patrao +kept its head steady, and the boys jumped in and seized the oars, and +began pulling with a will, standing up to their stroke. Slowly the +heavy craft gathered way, and approached a dark and unbroken roller that +hastened toward the beach. Then the patrao shouted to the crew, and they +lay on their oars, and the wave with a roar burst right in front of the +boat, sending the spray of its crest high above our heads. + +"_Rema! rema forca!_" ("Row strongly!") now shouted the patrao, speaking +Portuguese, as mostly all African coast natives do; and the crew gave +way. The next roller we had to meet in its strength; and save for the +steady force of the patrao's oar, I believe it would have tossed us +aside and we would have been swept under its curving wall of water. As +it was, the good boat gave a mighty bound as it felt its force, and its +stem pitched high into the air as it slid down its broad back into the +deep. + +Another and yet another wave were passed, and we could now see them +breaking behind us, shutting out the beach from view. Then the last +roller was overcome, and there was nothing but the long heave of the +deep sea to contend against. Presently we arrived at the steamer, whose +side towered above us--an iron wall. + +A shout came to me, pitching and lurching with the boat far below, "Come +on board at once." But to come on board was only to be done by watching +a chance as the boat rose on the top of a roller. Taking such a one, I +seized the side-ropes, swung a moment in mid-air, and the next was on +the streamer's clean white deck. Before me stood a tall man with black +hair and whiskers and dark piercing eyes, who asked me if I was the +agent for Flint Brothers. I answered that the agent was on shore, and +that I was his assistant. Whereupon he informed me that he had been +appointed by the firm to liquidate all their stations and businesses on +the coast, and "he would be obliged by my getting his luggage into the +boat." This was said in a peremptory sort of way, as if he had spoken to +a servant; and very much against the grain I obeyed his orders. + +That the man was new to the coast was evident, and my consolation was +that he would be very soon sick of it and pretty well frightened before +he even got on shore, for the weather was freshening rapidly, a fact +of which he appeared to take no heed. Not so the boat-boys, who were +anxious to be off. At last we started, and I soon had my revenge. As +we drew near the shore the rollers became higher and higher, and I +perceived that my gentleman clutched the gunwale of the boat very +tightly, and when the first wave that showed signs of breaking overtook +us, he grew very white in the face until it had passed. + +The next one or two breakers were small, much to his relief I could see, +though he said nothing. Before he had well recovered his equanimity, +however, a tremendous wave approached us somewhat suddenly. Appalled by +its threatening aspect, he sprang from his seat and seized the arm of +the patrao, who roughly shook him off. + +"My God!" he cried, "we are swamped!" and for the moment it really +looked like it; but the patrao, with a dexterous sweep of his long oar, +turned the boat's head toward the roller. It broke just as it reached +us, and gave us the benefit of its crest, which came in over the +topsides of the boat as it passed by, and deluged every one of us. + +I laughed, although it was no laughing matter, at the plight the +liquidator was now in. He was changed in a moment from the spruce and +natty personage into a miserable and draggled being. From every part of +him the salt water was streaming, and the curl was completely taken out +of his whiskers. He could not speak from terror, which the boat-boys +soon saw, for none are quicker than negroes to detect signs of fear +in those whom they are accustomed to consider superior to themselves. +Familiar with the surf, and full of mischievous fun, they began to shout +and gesticulate with the settled purpose of making matters appear worse +than they were, and of enjoying the white man's discomfiture,--all but +the patrao, who was an old hand, and on whom depended the safety of +us all. He kept a steady lookout seaward, and stood upright and firm, +grasping his oar with both hands. With him it was a point of honour to +bring the white men intrusted to his care safely through the surf. + +We waited for more than half an hour, bow on, meeting each roller as it +came to us; and by the end of that time the unfortunate liquidator had +evidently given up all hope of ever reaching the shore. Luckily, the +worst was soon to pass. After one last tremendous wave there was a lull +for a few moments, and the patrao, who had watched for such a chance, +swiftly turned the boat round, and giving the word to the crew, they +pulled lustily toward the shore. In a few minutes we were again in +safety. The boat grounded on the beach, the oars were tossed into the +sea; the crew sprang overboard; some of them seized the new arrival; I +clambered on the back of the patrao; a crowd of negroes, who had been +waiting on the beach, laid hold of the tow-rope of the boat, and it and +we were landed simultaneously on the dry sand. + +Once on shore Mr. Bransome, for that was the new man's name, rapidly +recovered his presence of mind and manner, and, by way of covering his +past confusion, remarked that he supposed the surf was seldom so bad as +it then was. I replied in an offhand way, meaning to make fun of him, +that what he had passed through was nothing, and appealed to the patrao +to confirm what I had said. That negro, seeing the joke, grinned all +over his black face; and Mr. Bransome, perceiving that he was being +laughed at, snatched a good-sized stick from a native standing near, and +struck the patrao repeatedly over the back. + +In vain Sooka, for that was the patrao's name, protested, and demanded +to know what wrong thing he had done. The agent was furious, and +showered his blows upon the black. Equally in vain I shouted that Sooka +had done well by us, and that he, Mr. Bransome, was making an enemy of +a man who would have him now and then in his power. At length Sooka +took to his heels, and sure enough, when he had got a little way off, he +began to threaten vengeance for what he had received. I sympathised with +him, for I knew what a loss to his dignity it was to be beaten without +cause before his fellows, and I feared that Mr. Bransome would indeed be +sorry, sooner or later, for what he had done. + +I now suggested to him, by way of diverting his thoughts from poor +Sooka, that standing on the beach in wet clothes was the very way to +catch the coast-fever straight off, and he instantly suffered himself to +be carried up the factory. There Jackson received him in a sort of +"who on earth are you?" manner; and Mr. Bransome, clearing his throat, +announced himself and his authority, adding that he intended to make the +factory a point of departure to all the others on the coast; then, +very abruptly, he requested Jackson to prepare quarters for him without +delay. + +The change that came over Jackson's face as he learned the quality of +the stranger and his requests was great. The old salt, who had been king +of his house and of the Point for so long a time, had evidently +never even thought of the probability of such an intrusion as was now +presented to him, and he was amazed at what he considered to be the +unwarrantable assurance of the stranger. However, he recovered himself +smartly, and asked the new man if he had any written credentials. + +"Certainly," replied he, pulling out a document all wet with salt water. +"Here is a letter from Messrs. Flint Brothers, of which, no doubt, you +will have a copy in your mail-bag." + +Jackson took the letter and opened it, and seemed to read it slowly to +himself. All at once he started, looked at the new agent, advanced a +step or two toward him, muttering, "Bransome, Bransome," then stopped +and asked him in a strange constrained voice, "Is _your_ name Bransome?" + +"Yes," replied the latter, astonished at the old man's question. + +"I knew a Bransome once," said Jackson, steadily, "and he was a +scoundrel." + +For a moment the two men looked at each other--Jackson with a gleam of +hatred in his eyes, while Bransome had a curiously frightened expression +on his face, which blanched slightly. But he quickly resumed his +composure and peremptory way, and said, "Show me a room; I must get +these wet things off me." + +As, however, he addressed himself this time to me rather than to +Jackson,--who, indeed, regarded him no longer, but stood with the letter +loose in his hand, looking at the floor of the room, as if in deep +meditation,--I showed him into my own room, where I ordered his trunks +to be brought. These, of course, were wet; but he found some things in +the middle of them that were not more than slightly damp, and with the +help of a pair of old canvas trousers of mine he managed to make his +appearance at dinner-time. + +Jackson was not at the meal. He had left the house shortly after his +interview with the new agent, and had, I fancied, gone on one of his +solitary rambles. At any rate he did not return until late that night. + +I thought Mr. Bransome seemed to be somewhat relieved when he saw +that the old man was not coming; and he became more affable than I had +expected him to be, and relinquished his arrogant style altogether when +he began to question me about Jackson--who he was? what had he been? +how long he had lived on the coast? To all which questions I returned +cautious answers, remembering that I was under a promise to the old man +not to repeat his story. + +By the next morning, to my surprise, Jackson appeared to have become +reconciled to the fact that he had been superseded by a man who knew +nothing of the coast, and of his own accord he offered to tell Mr. +Bransome the clues to the letter-locks on the doors of the various +store-rooms; for we on the coast used none but letter-locks, which +are locks that do not require a key to open them. But Mr. Bransome +expressed, most politely, a wish that Jackson should consider himself +still in charge of the factory, at any rate until the whole estate of +the unfortunate Flint Brothers could be wound up; and he trusted that +his presence would make no difference to him. + +This was a change, on the part of both men, from the manners of the +previous day; and yet I could not help thinking that each but ill +concealed his aversion to the other. + +Months now slipped away, and Mr. Bransome was occupied in going up and +down the coast in a little steamer, shutting up factory after factory, +transferring their goods to ours, and getting himself much disliked by +all the Europeans under him, and hated by the natives, especially by +the boat-boys, who were a race or tribe by themselves, coming from one +particular part of the coast. He had, of course, been obliged to order +the dismissal of many of them, and this was one reason why they hated +him; but the chief cause was his treatment of Sooka, the patrao. That +man never forgave Mr. Bransome for beating him so unjustly; and the +news of the deed had travelled very quickly, as news does in savage +countries, so that I think nearly all of Sooka's countrymen knew of the +act and resented it. + +Mr. Bransome was quite unaware of the antipathy he had thus created +toward himself, except so far as Sooka was concerned; and him he never +employed when he had to go off to vessels or land from them, but always +went in the other boat belonging to the factory, which was steered by a +much younger negro. In addition to humbling Sooka in this way, Bransome +took the opportunity of disgracing him whenever he could do so. +Therefore, one day when two pieces of cloth from the cargo-room were +found in the boatmen's huts, it was no surprise to me that Sooka was at +once fastened upon by Mr. Bransome as the thief who had stolen them, +and that he was tied to the flogging-post in the middle of the yard, and +sentenced to receive fifty lashes with the cat that was kept for such +a purpose, and all without any inquiry being made. In vain did the +unfortunate man protest his innocence. A swarthy Kroot-boy from Cape +Coast laid the cat on his brown shoulders right willingly, for he also +was an enemy of Sooka's; and in a few minutes the poor fellow's flesh +was cut and scored as if by a knife. + +After the flogging was over Mr. Bransome amused himself by getting out +his rifle and firing fancy shots at Sooka, still tied to the post; that +is, he tried to put the bullets as close to the poor wretch as he could +without actually wounding him. To a negro, with his dread of firearms, +this was little short of absolute torture, and at each discharge Sooka +writhed and crouched as close to the ground as he could, while his +wide-opened eyes and mouth, and face of almost a slate colour, showed +how terribly frightened he was. To Mr. Bransome it appeared to be +fine sport, for he fired at least twenty shots at the man before he +shouldered his rifle and went indoors. Jackson said nothing to this +stupid exhibition of temper, but as soon as it was over he had Sooka +released; and I knew he attended to his wounds himself, and poured +friar's balsam into them, and covered his back with a soft shirt--for +all which, no doubt, the negro was afterward grateful. Whether Mr. +Bransome got to know of this, and was offended at it, I do not know, but +shortly afterward he ceased to live with us. + +There was between the factory and the sea, and a little to the right of +the former, a small wooden cottage which had been allowed to fall into a +dilapidated state from want of some one to live in it. This Mr. Bransome +gave orders to the native carpenters to repair and make weather-tight; +and when they had done so, he caused a quantity of furniture to be +brought from St. Paul de Loanda and placed within in it. Then he +transferred himself and his baggage to the cottage. + +Jackson displayed complete indifference to this change on the part of +the agent. In fact, there had been, ever since the arrival of the latter +upon the Point, and in spite of apparent friendliness, a perceptible +breach, widening daily, between the two men. As to the reason of this I +had my own suspicions, for I had made the discovery that Jackson had for +some time past been drinking very heavily. + +In addition to the brandy which we white men had for our own use, I had, +to my horror, found out that he was secretly drinking the coarse +and fiery rum that was sold to the natives; and as I remembered the +mutterings and moanings that had formerly alarmed me, I wondered that I +had not guessed the cause of them at the time; but until the arrival of +Mr. Bransome, Jackson had always kept charge of the spirits himself, and +he was such a secret old fellow that there was no knowing what he had +then taken. Now that I was aware of his failing, I was very sorry for +the old sailor; for on such a coast and in such a climate there was only +one end to it; and although I could not actually prevent him from taking +the liquor, I resolved to watch him, and if such symptoms as I had seen +before again appeared, to tell Mr. Bransome of them at all hazards. But +I was too late to prevent what speedily followed my discovery. It had +come about that the same mail-steamer that had brought out Mr. Bransome +had again anchored off the Point, and again the weather was coarse and +lowering. A stiff breeze had blown for some days, which made the rollers +worse than they had been for a long while. Both Mr. Bransome and Jackson +watched the weather with eager looks, but each was differently affected +by it. Bransome appeared to be anxious and nervous, while Jackson was +excited, and paced up and down the veranda, and kept, strange to say, +for it was contrary to his late habit, a watch upon Bransome's every +movement. + +Every now and then, too, he would rub his hands together as if in eager +expectation, and would chuckle to himself as he glanced seaward. Of his +own accord he gave orders to Sooka to get both the surf-boats ready for +launching, and to make the boys put on their newest loin-cloths; and +then, when everything was in readiness, he asked Bransome if he was +going off to the steamer. + +"I fear I must," said Bransome; "but I--I don't like the look of those +cursed rollers." + +At this Jackson laughed, and said something about "being afraid of very +little." + +"The beach is perfectly good," he added; "Sooka knows, and Sooka is the +oldest patrao on the Point." + +And Sooka, who was standing by, made a low obeisance to the agent, and +said that "the beach lived for well," which was his way of expressing in +English that the sea was not heavy. + +At that moment a gun was fired from the steamer as a signal to be quick, +and Bransome said, "I will go, but not in that black blackguard's boat; +it need not come," and he went down to the beach. + +It was one of Jackson's rules that when a boat went through the surf +there should be some one to watch it, so I walked to the end of the +Point to see the agent put off. He got away safely; and I, seeing +Sooka's boat lying on the beach, and thinking that it would be as well +to have it hauled up under the boat-shed, was on the point of returning +to the factory to give the necessary order, when, to my surprise, I saw +the boat's crew rush down the beach to the boat and begin to push it +toward the sea. + +I waved my arms as a signal to them to stop, but they paid no attention +to me; and I saw them run the boat into the water, jump into her, and +pull off, all singing a song to their stroke in their own language, +the sound of which came faintly up to the top of the Point. "Stupid +fellows!" I muttered to myself, "they might have known that the boat +was not wanted;" and I was again about to turn away, when I was suddenly +seized from behind, and carried to the very edge of the cliff, and then +as suddenly released. + +I sprang to one side, and turning round saw Jackson, with a look of such +savage fury on his face that I retreated a step or two in astonishment +at him. He perceived my alarm, and burst out into a fit of laughter, +which, instead of reassuring me, had the opposite effect, it was +so demoniacal in character. "Ha! ha!" he laughed again, "are you +frightened?" and advancing toward me, he put his face close to mine, +peering into it with bloodshot eyes, while his breath, reeking of +spirits, poured into my nostrils. + +Involuntarily I put up my arm to keep him off. He clutched it, and, +pointing with his other hand to the sea, whispered hoarsely, "What do +you hear of the surf? Will the breakers be heavier before sundown? See +how they begin to curve! Listen how they already thunder, thunder, +on the beach! I tell you they are impatient--they seek some one," he +shouted. "Do you know," he continued, lowering his voice again, and +speaking almost confidentially, "sooner or later some one is drowned +upon that bar?" And even as he spoke a fresh line of breakers arose from +the deep, farther out than any had been before. This much I observed, +but I was too greatly unnerved by the strange manner of Jackson to pay +further heed to the sea. It had flashed across my mind that he was on +the verge of an attack of delirium tremens, from the effects of the +liquor he had been consuming for so long, and the problem was to get him +back to the house quietly. + +Suddenly a thought struck me. Putting my arm within his, I said, +as coolly as I could, "Never mind the sea, Jackson; let us have a +_matabicho_" (our local expression for a "drink"). He took the bait, and +came away quietly enough to the house. Once there, I enticed him into +the dining-room, and shutting to the door quickly, I locked it on the +outside, resolving to keep him there until Mr. Bransome should return; +for, being alone, I was afraid of him. + +Then I went back to the end of the Point to look for the return of the +two boats. When I reached it I saw that the rollers had increased +in size in the short time that I had been absent, and that they were +breaking, one after another, as fast as they could come shoreward; not +pygmy waves, but great walls of water along their huge length before +they fell. + +A surf such as I had never yet seen had arisen. I stood and anxiously +watched through a glass the boats at the steamer's side, and at length, +to my relief, I saw one of them leave her, but as it came near I saw, to +my surprise, that Mr. Bransome was not in the boat, and that it was not +the one that Sooka steered. Quickly it was overtaken by the breakers, +but escaped their power, and came inshore on the back of a majestic +roller that did not break until it was close to the beach, where the +boat was in safety. + +Not without vague apprehension at his imprudence, but still not +anticipating any actual harm from it, I thought that Mr. Bransome had +chosen to come back in Sooka's boat, and I waited and waited to see _it_ +return, although the daylight had now so waned that I could no longer +distinguish what was going on alongside the steamer. At last I caught +sight of the boat, a white speck upon the waters, and, just as it +entered upon the dangerous part of the bar, I discerned to my infinite +amazement, that two figures were seated in the stern--a man and a +woman--a white woman; I could see her dress fluttering in the wind, and +Sooka's black figure standing behind her. + +On came the boat, impelled by the swift-flowing seas, for a quarter of +an hour it was tossed on the crests of the waves. Again and again it +rose and sank with them as they came rolling in, but somehow, after +a little further time, it seemed to me that it did not make such way +toward the shore as it should have done. + +I lifted the glass to my eyes, and I saw that the boys were hardly +pulling at all, though the boat was not close to the rocks that were +near the cliff. Nor did Sooka seem to be conscious of a huge roller that +was swiftly approaching him. In my excitement I was just on the point of +shouting to warn those in the boat of their danger, although I knew that +they could not understand what I might say, when I saw Jackson standing +on the edge of the cliff, a little way off, dressed in his shirt and +trousers only. He had escaped from the house! He perceived that I saw +him, and came running up on me, and I threw myself on my guard. However, +he did not attempt to touch me, but stopped and cried: + +"Did I not tell you that somebody would be drowned by those waves? Watch +that boat! watch it! it is doomed; and the scoundrel, the villain, who +is in it will never reach the shore alive!" and he hissed the last word +through his clenched teeth. + +"Good God, Jackson!" I said, "don't say that! Look, there is a white +woman in the boat!" + +At the words his jaw dropped, his form, which a moment before had swayed +with excitement, became rigid, and his eyes stared at me as if he knew, +but comprehended not, what I had said. Then he slowly turned his face +toward the sea, and, as he did so, the mighty breaker that had been +coming up astern of the boat curled over it. For a moment or two it +rushed forward, a solid body of water, carrying the boat with it; and +in those moments I saw, to my horror, Sooka give one sweep with his oar, +which threw the boat's side toward the roller. I saw the boat-boys leap +clear of the boat into the surf; I saw the agonised faces of the man and +the woman upturned to the wave above them, and then the billow broke, +and nothing was seen but a sheet of frothy water. The boat and those in +it had disappeared. For the crew I had little concern--I knew they would +come ashore safely enough; but for Mr. Bransome and the woman, +whoever she was, there was little hope. They had not had time to throw +themselves into the sea before the boat had capsized, and their clothing +would sink them in such a surf, even if they had escaped being crushed +by the boat. Besides, I feared there had been some foul play on the part +of Sooka. Quickly as he had done it, I had seen him with his oar put the +boat beyond the possibility of escaping from the wave, and I remembered +how he had been treated by Bransome. + +With such thoughts I ran along the cliff to the pathway that led down to +the beach; and as I ran, I saw Jackson running before me, not steadily +or rightly, but heavily, and swaying from side to side as he went. +Quickly I passed him, but he gave no sign that he knew any one was near +him; and as I leaped down on to the first ledge of rock below me, I saw +that he was not following me, but had disappeared among the brushwood. + +When I got down to the beach, I found that the boat's crew had reached +the shore in safety, but of the two passengers nothing had been seen. +The capsized boat was sometimes visible as it lifted on the rollers, +but through my glass I saw that no one was clinging to it. I called for +Sooka, but Sooka was missing. Every one had seen him land, but he had +disappeared mysteriously. In vain I questioned the other boys as to the +cause of the disaster. The only answer I could get out of them was an +appeal to look to the sea and judge for myself. The woman was a +white woman from the big ship, was all they could say about her; and, +negro-like, they evidently considered the loss of a woman or so of very +little consequence. + +All I could do was to set a watch along the beach to look for the bodies +when they should be washed ashore, and this done, I returned to the +factory. My next desire was to find Sooka. He could hardly have gone +far, so I sent for a runner to take a message to the native king under +whose protection we on the Point were, and after whom the Point was +called, and who was bound to find the missing man for me if he could, or +if he had not been bribed to let him pass. + +In my sorrow at what had happened, and in my doubt as to the cause of +it, I had forgotten all about Jackson; but after I had despatched +my messenger to the king, I went to look for him. I discovered him +crouching in a corner of his own bedroom in the dark. + +"Are they found?" he asked, in a voice so hollow and broken that I +hardly knew it; and before I could answer him, he whispered to himself, +"No, no; they are drowned--drowned." + +I tried to lead him into the lighted dining-room, but he only crouched +the closer to his corner. At length by the promise of the ever-potent +temptation, liquor, I got him to leave the room. He could scarcely walk, +though, now, and he trembled so violently that I was glad to give him +part of a bottle of brandy that I had by me. He filled a tumbler half +full of the spirits, and drank it off. This put strength into him, and +for a little he was calm; but as he again and again applied himself to +the bottle, he became drunk, and swore at me for my impudence in giving +orders without his sanction. On this I tried to take the bottle from +him, but he clutched it so firmly that I had to let it go; whereupon he +immediately put it to his lips and swallowed the rest of the liquor that +was in it. After which he gave a chuckle, and staggered to a couch, on +which he tumbled, and lay with his eyes open for a long while. At last +he fell asleep, but I was too nervous to do likewise, and sat watching +him the most of the night; at least, when I awoke it was daylight, and +it seemed to me that I had been asleep for a few minutes. + +Jackson was still lying on the couch, and his face was calm and peaceful +as he softly breathed. The morning, too, was fine, and as I walked on to +the veranda I saw the sea sparkling in the sunlight, and there was not +a sound from it save a far-off and drowsy murmur. Not a sign remained +on its broad surface of the wrath of the day before. It was wonderfully +calm. Lying here and there on the veranda, rolled up in their clothes, +were the servants of the factory, sleeping soundly on the hard planks. + +Presently, as the sun rose in the heavens and warmed the air, the place +began to show signs of life, and one of the watch that I had set on the +beach came running across the yard to tell me that the bodies had come +ashore. + +Immediately upon hearing this I called the hammock-bearers together, +and going down to the beach, I went a considerable way along it toward +a dark spot, which I knew to be a group of natives. On coming up to the +group, I found at least fifty negroes collected round the drowned man +and woman, all chattering and squabbling among themselves, and probably +over the plunder, for I saw that the bodies had been stripped to +their underclothing. Rushing into the crowd, with the aid of a stick +I dispersed it, so far as to make the wretches stand back. The man, of +course, was Bransome, there was no doubt as to that, although he had +received a terrible blow on the left temple, most likely from the +pointed stem of the boat as it had toppled over upon him, and his face +was distorted and twisted to one side. The woman was evidently English, +young and pretty, although her long hair, heavy and wet, was polluted by +the sand that stuck to it, and her half-open eyes were filled with +the same. On her lips there lingered a slight smile. She was of middle +height, of slender figure, and delicately nurtured, as the small +bare feet and little hands showed. As I looked at the latter I saw a +wedding-ring on her finger, and I thought, "It is Bransome's wife." I +tried to take the ring away, but it would not come off her finger--which +I might have known, because the natives would not have left it there +had they been able to remove it. I then ordered the bearers to lay the +bodies in the hammocks; and that done, our little party wended its way +along the shore homeward, while the natives I had dispersed followed one +after another in African fashion. + +Arrived at the factory, I bade the boys place the bodies side by side on +a spare bed in an empty room, and then I sent them to dig a grave in the +little burial-ground on the Point, where two or three worm-eaten wooden +crosses marked the resting-places of former agents of Messrs. Flint +Brothers. + +As quick interment was necessary in such a climate, even on that very +day, I went to call Jackson in order that he might perform the duty +that was his--that of reading the burial service over the dead, and of +sealing up the desk and effects of Mr. Bransome. But Jackson was not in +the factory. I guessed, however, where he was; and sure enough I found +him in his accustomed haunt at the end of the Point. The moment he saw +me he tried to hide himself among the brushwood, but I was too quick for +him, and spied him as he crouched behind a dwarf palm. + +"I know, I know," he cried, as I ran up to him; "I saw you come along +the beach. Bury them, bury them out of sight." + +"Come, Mr. Jackson," I replied, "it isn't fair to put all the trouble on +to me. I am sure I have had enough of the weariness and anxiety of this +sad business. You must take your share of it. I want you to read the +service for the dead over them." + +"No, no," he almost shrieked; "bury them quick; never mind me. Put them +out of sight." + +"I will not," I said, resolutely. "For your own sake you must, at any +rate, view the bodies." + +"They have not been murdered?" He replied. But the startled look with +which I received the suggestion his words implied seemed to make him +recollect himself, for he rose and took my arm without saying more. As +he did so, I felt for the first time a sort of repugnance toward him. +Up to that moment my feeling had been one of pity and anxiety on his +account, but now I loathed him. This he seemed instinctively to feel, +and he clung closely to me. + +Once at the factory I determined that there should be no more delay on +his part, and I took him to the door of the room where the bodies had +been laid, but at it he made a sudden halt and would not enter. Covering +his face with his hands, he trembled violently as I pushed the door open +and advanced to the bedside. The room, hushed and in semi-darkness; the +white sheet, whose surface showed too plainly the forms beneath it; +and the scared, terrified face of the man who, with brain afire, +stood watching, with staring eyes, the bed, made a scene I have never +forgotten. + +Slowly I turned down the upper part of the sheet, and Jackson, as if +fascinated by the act, advanced a step or two into the room, but with +face averted. Gradually he turned it toward the bodies, and for a moment +his gaze rested upon them. The next instant he staggered forward, looked +at the woman's face, panted for breath once or twice, and then, with +uplifted hands and a wild cry of "Lucy!" fell his length upon the floor. +When I stooped over him he was in convulsions, and dark matter was +oozing out of his mouth. The climax had come. I shouted for the +servants, and they carried him to his own room, and placed him on his +own bed. + +How I got through that day I hardly know. Alone I buried Bransome +and his wife, and alone I returned from the hurried task to watch by +Jackson's bedside. None of the natives would stay near him. For two days +he lay unconscious. At the end of that time he seemed to have some idea +of the outside world, for his eyes met mine with intelligence in their +look, and on bending over him I heard him whisper, "Forgive me!" Then +he relapsed into unconsciousness again. Through the long hours his eyes +remained ever open and restless; he could not eat, nor did he sleep, and +I was afraid he would pass away through weakness without a sign, +being an old man. On the third day he became delirious, and commenced +chattering and talking to himself, and imagining that all kinds of +horrid shapes and creatures were around and near him. I had to watch him +narrowly in order to prevent him stealing out of his bed, which he +was ready to do at any moment to avoid the tortures which he fearfully +imagined awaited him. By these signs I knew that he was in the middle +of an attack of delirium tremens, and I tried to quiet him by means of +laudanum, but it had no effect upon him. I got him, however, to swallow +a little soup, which sustained him. My own boy was the only negro I had +been able to induce to stay in the room, and he would only remain in it +while I was there. + +I had sent a messenger to the nearest station, where I remembered there +was a Portuguese doctor; but he had not returned by the evening of the +fourth day. That night, worn out with watching, I had dozed off to sleep +on a chair placed by the sick man's bed, when all at once I was awakened +by a loud report, and I jumped up to find the room filled with smoke. +As it cleared away I saw that Jackson was standing in the middle of +the room with a revolver in his hand. As I confronted him he laughed a +devilish laugh and cocked the weapon, crying as he did so, "It was you +who tempted me with your smooth face and unsuspicious way, and you +shall die, though I suffer doubly in hell for it. Hist!" and he stopped +suddenly and listened. "Don't you hear the breakers? Hark, how they +roar! They say they are ready, always ready," and staring in front of +him, he advanced, as if following the sign of an invisible hand, to the +door, unconsciously placing, to my infinite relief, the revolver on the +top of a chest of drawers as he passed by it. I did not dare to move, +and he opened the door and walked into the front room. Then I followed +him. For a little he remained in the room, glaring vacantly about him, +and muttering to himself; but seeing the outer door open he made a rush +toward it, and disappeared into the darkness of the night. Calling to +the boy, I ran after him, and easily came up to him, when he turned, and +picking up a heavier stone than I thought he could have lifted, threw it +at me. I dodged it and closed with him. Once in my arms I found I could +hold him, and my servant and I carried him back into the factory. We +placed him on the floor of the dining-room, and he was too exhausted +to move for a while. By degrees, however, he recovered sufficiently to +stand; and as soon as he could do so by himself, with devilish cunning +he made for the lamp, which he struck, quick as lightning, with a stick +that had been lying on the table. In an instant the great round globe +fell to pieces, but luckily the chimney was not broken, and the lamp +remained alight, and before he could strike another blow at it I had +grappled with him again. This time he struggled violently for a few +moments, and seemed to think that he was dealing with Bransome, for he +shrieked, "What! have you come back from the sea? You are wet! you are +wet!" and shuddering, he tried to free himself from my hold; and I, not +liking to hurt him, let him go, taking care to keep myself between him +and the lamp. + +"Back from me, you villain of hell!" he cried, as soon as he was free. +"What have you done with her? what have you done with her?" And then, +in a tone of weird and pathetic sorrow, "Where is my little one that I +loved? I have sought her many a year; oh, why did she forsake me? Aha, +Sooka! we were right to send him to the hell whence he came--the lying, +false-hearted scoundrel, to steal away my white dove!" + +After which he drew from his finger a solid gold ring which he always +wore, and threw it from him, saying, with a wild laugh, "There! that's +for any one that likes it; I'm a dead man." He then staggered toward his +own room, and I, remembering the loaded revolver which still lay on +the chest of drawers, tried to intercept him. In his rage, for I verily +believe that he also remembered that the weapon was there, he spat in my +face, and struck me with all his force between the eyes; but I stuck to +him, and with the help of the boy, who had been all this time in hiding, +but who came forward at my call, I laid him for the last time upon his +bed. There he lay exhausted for the remainder of the night; but there +was no rest for me; I felt that I had to watch him now for my own +safety. + +Toward morning, however, his breathing became, all at once, very heavy +and slow, and I bent over him in alarm. As I did so, I heard him +sigh faintly, "Lucy!" and at that moment the native boy softly placed +something upon the bed. I took it up. It was the ring the sick man had +thrown away in the night, and as I looked at it I saw "James, from Lucy" +engraved on its inside surface, and I knew that the dead woman was his +wife. + +As the first faint streaks of dawn stole into the room, the +slow-drawn breathing of the dying man ceased. I listened--it came +again--once--twice--and then all was silence. He was dead, and I +realised in the sudden stillness that had come upon the room that I was +alone. Yet he had passed away so quietly after his fitful fever that I +could not bring myself to believe that he was really gone, and I stood +looking at the body, fearing to convince myself of the truth by touching +it. + +So entranced was I by that feeling of awe which comes to almost every +one in the presence of death, that I did not hear the shouting of the +hammock-boy outside, or the footsteps of a white man coming into +the room; and not until he touched me on the shoulder did I turn and +recognise the sallow face of the Portuguese doctor whom I had sent for, +and who had thus arrived too late. However, he served to help me to bury +the mortal part of Jackson in the little graveyard beside the body of +his wife and that of the man who had come between them when alive. And +such was without doubt the fact; for when the doctor had gone, and I +was alone again, I collected and made an inventory of the dead men's +effects, and in Jackson's desk I found his diary, or, as he himself +would have called it, his log; and in that log was noted, on the very +day that Bransome had arrived on the Point, his suspicion of the man, +and later on his conviction that Bransome was indeed he who had injured +him. + +Sooka was never found; but when the mail-steamer returned from the south +coast, I discovered that the younger patrao had made his crew row away +suddenly from the steamer's side, while Mr. Bransome had been engaged +below, and was out of sight. So it was evident that the pair had been in +league together to insure Sooka his revenge. What share Jackson had had +in the murder of his enemy I did not care to think of, but feared the +worst. + +For myself, I had to remain on the Point for many months, until the +factory was finally closed--for no purchaser was ever found for it; +and doubtless, by this time, the buildings are in ruins, and long grass +hides the graves of those who sleep upon King Bemba's Point. + + + + +GHAMBA, By William Charles Scully + + The darksome cave they enter, where they find + That cursed man, low sitting on the ground, + Musing full sadly in his sullen mind. + _The Faerie Queene._ + + +When Corporal Francis Dollond and Trooper James Franks, of the Natal +Mounted Police, overstayed their ten days' leave of absence from the +camp on the Upper Tugela, in the early part of 1883, everybody was much +surprised; they being two of the best conducted and most methodical men +in the force. But the weeks and then the months went by without anything +whatever being heard of them, so they were officially recorded as +deserters. Nevertheless none of their comrades really believed that +these men had deserted; each one felt there was something mysterious +about the circumstances of their disappearance. They had applied for +leave for the alleged purpose of visiting Pietermaritzburg. They started +on foot, stating their intention of walking to Estcourt, hiring horses +from natives there, and proceeding on horseback. They had evidently +never reached Estcourt, as nothing could be heard of them at that +village. They were both young men--colonists by birth. Dollond had an +especially youthful appearance. Franks was older. He had joined the +force later in life. He and Dollond, who had only very recently before +his disappearance been promoted, were chums. + +Some months later in the same year, when Troopers George Langley and +Hiram Whitson also applied for ten days' leave of absence,--likewise to +proceed to Pietermaritzburg,--the leave was granted; but the officer in +charge of the detachment laughingly remarked that he hoped they were not +going to follow Dollond and Franks. + +Now, neither Langley nor Whitson had the remotest idea of visiting +Pietermaritzburg. It is necessary, of course, for the reader to know +where they did intend going to, and how the intention arose; but before +doing this we must deal with some antecedent circumstances. + +Langley was most certainly the most boyish-looking man in the force. He +had a perfectly smooth face, ruddy complexion, and fair hair. He was of +middle height, and was rather inclined to stoutness. He was so fond of +talking that his comrades nicknamed him "Magpie." A colonist by birth, +he could speak the Kaffir language like a native. + +Whitson was a sallow-faced, spare-built man of short stature, with +dark-brown beard and hair, and piercing black eyes. His age was about +forty. He had a wiry and terrier-like appearance. A "down-East" Yankee, +he had spent some years in Mexico, and then drifted to South Africa +during the war period, which, it will be remembered, lasted from 1877 to +1882. He had served in the Zulu war as a non-commissioned officer in one +of the irregular cavalry corps, with some credit. The fact of his being +a man of extremely few words was enough to account for the friendship +which existed between him and the garrulous Langley. Whitson was known +to be a dead shot with the revolver. + +This is how they came to apply for leave: One day Langley was strolling +about just outside the lines, looking for somebody to talk to, when he +noticed an apparently very old native man sitting on an ant-heap and +regarding him somewhat intently. This old native had been several times +seen in the vicinity of the camp, but he never seemed to speak to any +one, and he looked so harmless that the police did not even trouble to +ask him for the written pass which all natives are obliged by law to +carry when they move about the country. The old man saluted Langley +and asked in his own language for a pipeful of tobacco. Langley always +carried some loose leaves broken up in his pocket, so he at once pulled +some of these out and half filled the claw-like hand outstretched to +receive them. The old native was voluble in his thanks. There was a +large ant-heap close to the one on which he had been sitting, and on +which he reseated himself while filling his pipe. Against this Langley +leaned and took a good look at his companion. The man had a most +extraordinary face. His lower jaw and cheek-bones were largely +developed, but Langley hardly noticed this, so struck was he with +the strange formation of the upper jaw. That portion of the superior +maxillary bone which lies between the sockets of the eye-teeth +protruded, with the sockets, to a remarkable degree, and instead of +being curved appeared to be quite straight. The incisor teeth were very +large and white, but it was the development of the eye-teeth that was +most startling. These, besides being very massive, were produced below +the level of the incisors to a depth of nearly a quarter of an inch. +They distinctly suggested to Langley the tusks of a baboon. + +As is not very unusual with natives, the man was perfectly bald. His +back was bent, and his limbs were somewhat shrunken, but he did not +appear in the least degree decrepit. His eyelids were very red, and his +eyes, though dim, had a deep and intent look. Ugly as was the man--or +perhaps by virtue of his ugliness--he exercised a strange fascination +over Langley. + +The old man, whose name turned out to be Ghamba, proved himself a talker +after Langley's own heart. They discussed all sorts of things. Ghamba +startled his hearer by his breadth of experience and his shrewdness. He +said he was a "Hlubi" Kaffir from Qumbu, in the territory of Griqualand +East, but that he had for some time past been living in Basutoland, +which is situated just behind the frowning wall of the Drakensberg, to +the southwest of where they were speaking, and not twenty miles distant. + +They talked until it was time for Langley to return to camp. He was so +pleased at the entertainment afforded by Ghamba that all the tobacco +he had with him found its way into the claw-like hand of that +strange-looking man of many experiences and quaint ideas. So Langley +asked him to come to the ant-heap again on the following day, and have +another talk at the same hour. This Ghamba, with a wide and prolonged +exposure of his teeth, readily agreed to do. + +Langley was extremely voluble to Whitson that night over his new +acquaintance. Whitson listened with his usual impassiveness, and then +asked Langley how it was that "an old loafing nigger," as he expressed +it, had impressed him so remarkably. Langley replied that he did not +quite know, but he thought the effect was largely due to the man's +teeth. But all the same he was "a very entertaining old buffer." + +Next afternoon Langley was so impatient to resume conversation with his +new friend that he repaired to the ant-heap quite half an hour before +the appointed time. He had not, however, long to wait, as Ghamba soon +appeared, emerging from a donga a couple of hundred yards away. + +Langley was more impressed than ever. Ghamba told him all about the +Basutos, among whom he had lived; about the old days in Natal, before +even the Dutch occupation, when Tshaka's impis wiped whole tribes out of +existence; of the recent wars in Zululand and the Cape Colony, and as +to the probability of future disturbances. Charmed as was Langley by the +old man's conversation, he felt that on this occasion there was a little +too much of it; that Ghamba was not nearly so good a listener as he had +been on the previous day; so when the latter at length put a question +to him, thus affording an opportunity for the exercise of his own pentup +loquacity, Langley felt elated, more especially as several inquiries +were grouped together in the one asking. Ghamba asked whether anything +had been heard of Umhlonhlo; whether the capture of that fugitive rebel +was considered likely, and whether it was true that a reward of five +hundred pounds had been offered by the government for his capture, dead +or alive. + +Umhlonhlo, it will be remembered, was the Pondomise chief who rebelled +in 1880, treacherously murdered Mr. Hope, the magistrate of Qumbu, and +his two companions, and who has since been an outlaw with a price on his +head. + +Langley replied to the effect that it was quite true such a reward had +been offered as to Umhlonhlo's whereabouts, but that the government +believed him to be in Pondoland; that he was sure to be captured +eventually; that he, Langley, only wished he knew where Umhlonhlo was, +so as to have the chance of making five hundred pounds with which to buy +a certain nice little farm he knew of; and that should he ever succeed +in obtaining the reward, and consequently in taking his discharge and +purchasing the farm, he would be jolly glad if old Ghamba would come and +live with him. This is only some of what he said; when Langley's tongue +got into motion, he seemed to have some difficulty in stopping it. + +However, he paused at last, and then Ghamba, looking very intently at +him, said: + +"Look here, can you keep a secret?" + +Here was a mystery. + +"Rather!" said Langley. + +"Will you swear by the name of God that you will not reveal what I have +to tell you?" + +Langley swore. + +Ghamba drew near until his teeth were within a few inches of Langley's +cheek, and said in a whisper: + +"I know where Umhlonhlo is." + +Langley started, and said in an awed voice: + +"Where is he?" + +"Wait a bit," said Ghamba; "perhaps I will tell you, and perhaps I +won't. I like you; you have given me tobacco, and you are not too proud +to come and talk to a poor old man. Now, you say you would like to make +five hundred pounds and buy a farm?" + +"Rather!" + +"And that you would let me go and live on the farm with you and end my +days in peace?" + +"I would, gladly." + +"Well then, if I take you to where Umhlonhlo is, and you will kill him +and get the money, will you give me twenty-five pounds, and let me keep +a few goats, and grow a few mealies on your land?" + +"I should think I would. But how could one man take or kill Umhlonhlo? +They say he is well armed and that he has a lot of followers with him." + +"Umhlonhlo," said Ghamba, glancing anxiously round as if he feared the +very ant-heaps were listening, "is hiding in a cave in the mountain, +not three days' walk from here. He has not got a single man with him, +because he fears being given up. He is really in hiding from his own +followers now. My sister is one of his wives, and that is how I know all +about it. I passed the cave where he lives four nights ago, and saw him +sitting by the fire. He has only a few women with him." + +"And how do you think I should take him?" + +"Take him? you should kill him. I will guide you to the cave by night, +and then you can shoot him as he sits by the fire." + +Langley, although no coward, was not particularly brave. He did not much +relish the idea of alone tackling the redoubtable Umhlonhlo, a savage of +muscle, who was reported to be always armed to the teeth. Moreover, +he had no gun, and was but an indifferent shot with a revolver. So he +thought over the matter for a few moments and then said: + +"Look here, Ghamba; I do not care to tackle this job alone, but if I can +take another man with me, I am on." + +"Then you will only get half of the five hundred pounds, and will not be +able to buy the farm. You need not be afraid; you can shoot him without +his seeing you." + +"No," said Langley, after a pause; "I will not go alone, but if you +will let me take another man with me it can be managed. It will make no +difference to you; you will get your twenty-five pounds." + +"And how about my going to live on the farm with you?" + +"Well, I could not buy the farm for two hundred and fifty pounds. Come, +we will give you fifty pounds instead of twenty-five." + +Ghamba thought for a while and then said: + +"Very well, I consent. But there need be only one other man, and you +will write down on a piece of paper that you will give me fifty pounds. +When can we start?" + +"I must speak to the other man, and then we will apply for leave. We had +better start soon, or else Umhlonhlo may have gone to some other place +of hiding." + +"Yes, we must lose no time." + +"All right! Meet me here to-morrow and I will bring my friend. We will +then settle all about it." + +"You must not mention this matter to any one else, and you must make +your friend promise to keep the secret." + +"Oh, that's all right!" said Langley. "Meet me here to-morrow, just +after dinner." + +Langley went back to camp, Ghamba looking after his retreating figure +with a smile that revealed his teeth in a very striking manner. Langley +was intensely excited, and exacted (quite unnecessarily) the most solemn +promises from Whitson not to divulge the great secret which he confided +to him. Whitson agreed at once to join in the enterprise, which was one +after his own heart. + +Next day the three met at the big ant-heap, and Whitson was very +much impressed by Ghamba's teeth. He told Langley afterward that they +reminded him of a picture of the devil which he had seen in a copy of +"Pilgrim's Progress." The old man's story appeared, however, consistent +enough, in spite of his peculiar dentition. + +So, after a short conversation, Langley and Whitson returned to camp, +having made an appointment to meet Ghamba again on the following morning +at sunrise, so as to finally arrange as to time of starting, etc. They +went at once to the officer in charge of the detachment and applied +for ten days' leave of absence for the purpose of proceeding to +Pietermaritzburg, which was at once granted. + +Next morning they met Ghamba again, and agreed to start on their +expedition that evening. He explained that they must do all their +traveling by night, and lie by during the day; because it would never +do for him, Ghamba, to run the risk of being recognised by persons whom +they might meet. For the sake of his Hlubi relations who were living +among the Pondomise at Qumbu, it was absolutely necessary that he should +not appear in the transaction at all. Were it ever to be even suspected +that he had betrayed the chief, not alone would he be certainly killed, +but all his relations would be shunned by the other natives. He was an +old man, so for him, personally, nothing mattered very much, but a man +is bound to consider the interests of his family. Travelling only +by night, and lying still and hidden during the day, were therefore +absolutely necessary stipulations, and Langley and Whitson agreed to +them as intelligible and reasonable. All being settled, the latter +started for the camp, Ghamba baring his teeth excessively as they walked +away. + + +At dusk on the evening of the same day, Langley and Whitson met Ghamba +once more at the large ant-heap, and the three at once proceeded on +their course. The only arms taken were revolvers of the government +regulation pattern (breech-loading central fire). They carried +provisions calculated to last eight days, but took no blankets on +account of having to travel at night. When Ghamba volunteered to relieve +them of a considerable share of their respective loads, Langley and +Whitson were filled with grateful surprise. + +The plan was as follows: Whitson was to shoot Umhlonhlo, and then remain +in the cave while Langley returned to the camp to report what had been +done, and cause persons who could identify the body to be sent for. They +seem to have had no scruples as to the deed they meant to do; certainly +Umhlonhlo deserved no more mercy than a beast of prey. Nor does it seem +to have struck them that possibly they might shoot the wrong man. But +there was an air of conviction about the manner in which Ghamba showed +his teeth when asked whether he was positive as to the identity of the +man in the cave, that would have dissipated the doubts of most men. +Besides this, he drew out the written undertaking which they had +delivered to him, and said, with a profoundly businesslike look: + +"Do I not want the money? Should I take all this trouble if I did not +know what I were doing?" + +They walked all night, only resting once or twice for a few minutes. +It was found that Ghamba, in spite of his age, was an extremely good +walker; and when they halted at daylight, Langley was so done up that +he could not have held out for another half-hour. Whitson, the wiry, had +not yet felt the least fatigue. + +This march had taken them to the very foot of the Drakensberg range, +and they rested in a valley between two of its main spurs. Here they +remained all day, comfortably located in a sheltered nook where there +was plenty of dry grass. Their resting-place was encircled by immense +rocks. Although the surrounding country was desolate to a degree, and +neither a human being nor an animal was to be seen, Ghamba would not +hear of their lighting a fire nor leaving the spot where they rested. +The weather was clear, and neither too warm nor too cold. They slept at +intervals during the day, and at evening felt quite recovered from their +fatigue. + +At nightfall they again started, their course leading steeply up the +gorge in which they had rested. Although the pathway became more and +more indistinct, Ghamba appeared never to be at a loss. Langley several +times shuddered, when they passed by the very edge of some immense +precipice, or clambered along some steep mountain-side, where a false +step would have meant destruction. He began to show signs of fatigue +soon after midnight, so at Ghamba's suggestion a considerable portion of +his load was transferred to the shoulders of Whitson, who seemed to be +as tireless as Ghamba himself. + +At daybreak they halted in the depths of another tremendous gorge +with precipitous sides. The scenery in this particular area of the +Drakensberg range, the neighbourhood of the Mont aux Sources, is +indescribably grand and impressive, and is quite unlike anything else +in South Africa. Enormous and fantastically shaped mountains are here +huddled together indiscriminately, and between them wind and double deep +gloomy gorges, along the bottoms of which mighty boulders are thickly +strewn. On dizzy ledge and steep slope dense thickets of wild bamboo +grow, and a few stunted trees fill some of the less deep clefts, +wherever the sunshine can penetrate. Splendid as is the scenery, its +gloom, its stillness, its naked crags and peaks, its dark depths that +seem to cleave to the very vitals of the earth, become so oppressive +that, after a few days spent among them, the traveller is filled with +repulsion and almost horror. Few living things have their home there. +You might meet an occasional "klipspringer" (an antelope, in habits and +appearance somewhat like the chamois), a wandering troop of baboons, and +now and then a herd of eland in the more grassy areas. There are said to +be a few Bushmen still haunting the caves, but they are seldom or never +seen. + +In the afternoon the sun shone into the gorge in which the travellers +were resting, and for a few hours the heat was very oppressive. Whitson +examined his revolver, removing the cartridges and replacing them by +others. He then lay down to sleep, asking Langley to remain awake and +keep a lookout. He had a vague feeling of uneasiness which he could not +overcome. Langley promised to keep awake, but he was too tired to do so. +He sat with his back against a rock, and, after some futile efforts to +keep his eyes open, fell fast asleep. By-and-by Ghamba woke him gently, +and, pointing to Whitson, whose revolver lay in the leather case close +to his hand, whispered: + +"Did he not tell you to keep awake?" + +Langley was grateful for this evidence of consideration, but he could +not quite make out how Ghamba had been able to understand what Whitson +had said. However, when the latter awoke, Langley said nothing to him +about having disobeyed instructions. + +Ghamba said that about two hours' walk would now bring them to +Umhlonhlo's cave, so they started off briskly at dusk. Their course now +led for some distance along a mountain ledge covered with wild bamboo, +through which the pathway wound. Then they crossed a steep saddle +between two enormous peaks, after which they plunged into another deep +and winding gorge. This they followed until they reached a part where +it was so narrow that the sides seemed almost to touch over their heads. +Beyond the cliffs fell apart, and then apparently curved toward each +other again, thus forming an immense amphitheatre. At the entrance to +this Ghamba stopped, and said in a whisper that they were now close to +the cave. + +They now held a consultation, in terms of which it was decided that +Ghamba should go forward and reconnoitre. So Whitson and Langley sat +down close together and waited, conversing in low tones. + +Whitson felt very uneasy, but Langley tried to argue him out of +his fears. The more Whitson saw of Ghamba, the more he disliked and +distrusted him and his teeth. The instinct which detects danger in the +absence of any apparent evidence of its existence is a faculty developed +in some men by an adventurous life. This faculty Whitson possessed in a +high degree. + +"Did you keep awake all the time I slept this afternoon?" he asked. + +Langley feared Whitson and felt inclined to lie, but something impelled +him, almost against his will, to speak the truth now. + +"No," he replied; "I slept for a few minutes." + +Whitson drew his revolver and opened the breech. + +"By God!" he said, "the cartridges are gone!" + +Langley took his weapon out of the leather case and opened it. He found +the cartridges were there right enough. + +"Have you any spare cartridges?" asked Whitson. + +Whitson had already loaded his revolver with the five cartridges +which he had removed in the afternoon, but he again took these out and +replaced them in his waistcoat pocket, and then he reloaded with some +which Langley passed over to him with a trembling hand. + +"Look here," he said, in a hoarse whisper, "we are in a trap of some +kind. When that old scoundrel comes back, do not let him know that we +have found out anything. We will walk on with him for a short distance, +at all events, and then be guided by circumstances. Stand by when you +see me collar him, and slip a sack over his head." + +"Can we not go back now?" said Langley. + +"Certainly not; we would never find our way at night. I guess we must +see this circus out. If you have to shoot, aim low." + +In a few minutes Ghamba returned. + +"Come on," he said. "He is sitting at the fire in front of the cave. I +have just seen him." + +"Where is the cave?" asked Whitson. "Is it far from here?" + +"We will reach it very soon; you can see the light of the fire from a +few paces ahead." + +They walked on for about fifty yards, and there, sure enough, over a +rocky slope to their left, and at the foot of a crag about three hundred +yards away, could be seen the bright and fitful glow from a fire which +was hidden from their view by a low ridge of piled-up rocks. + +Whitson stood still and questioned Ghamba: + +"Now tell me," he asked, through Langley as interpreter, "how we are to +approach." + +"The pathway leads up on the left side," replied Ghamba. "We will walk +close up to the crag, where there is a narrow passage between it and +that big black rock which you see against the light. You two can lead, +and I will be close behind. I have just seen him. He is sitting at the +fire, eating, and only the women are with him." + +The last words were hardly out of the speaker's mouth before Whitson had +seized him by the throat with a vice-like grasp. + +"Seize his hands and hold them," he hissed to Langley. + +Ghamba struggled desperately, but could not release himself. Whitson +compressed his throat until he became unconscious, and then gagged him +with a pocket-handkerchief. Ghamba's hands were then tied tightly behind +his back with another pocket-handkerchief, and his feet were firmly +secured with a belt. An empty sack (from which they had removed their +provisions) was then drawn over his head and shoulders, and secured +round the waist. + +"Come on now, quickly," whispered Whitson, and he and Langley started +off in the direction of the fire, after first taking off their boots. + +They did not approach by the course which Ghamba had indicated, but made +their way quietly up the slope, straight against the face of the crag. +They reached the heap of rocks, and crept in among them by means of +another narrow passage, close to the inner end of which the fire was; +and this is what they saw through the twigs of a scrubby bush which +effectually concealed them: + +A large cave opened into the side of the mountain, and just before the +mouth was an open space about twenty yards in diameter, surrounded on +all sides, except that of the mountain itself, by a wall of loosely +piled rocks, through which passages led out in different directions. +Just in front of the cave burned a bright fire, around which crouched +four most hideous and filthy-looking old hags, and against which were +propped several large earthenware pots of native make, full of water. +Standing behind rocks, one at each side of the inner entrance to +the passage, which was evidently that communicating with the pathway +indicated by Ghamba as the one they were to approach by, were two +powerful-looking men, stark naked, and as black as ebony, their skins +shining in the light of the fire. Each man held a coiled thong in his +hands, after the manner of a sailor about to heave a line. While they +were looking, a woman, somewhat younger in appearance than any of those +who sat by the fire, came out of the cave carrying a strong club about +three feet long. She crouched down close to the man standing on the +left-side of the passage, who, as well as his companion, stood as still +as a marble statue, and in an expectant attitude. + +Whitson and Langley, with their revolvers drawn, suddenly stepped out +of their concealment, and walked toward the fire. This evidently +disconcerted the men with the thongs, who apparently did not expect +their intended prey to approach by any course except the passage near +which they were standing; but after a slight pause of hesitancy the +thongs were whirling in the air, and descending, lasso-fashion, upon +the shoulders of the intruders. The noose caught Langley over his +arms, which were instantly drawn close against his body as the thong +tightened, so he was thus rendered completely powerless; but Whitson +sprang, quick as lightning, to one side, and escaped. Three shots +from his revolver rang out in as many seconds, and the two men and the +woman--who was in the act of lifting her club to brain Langley--lay +rolling on the ground, each with a bullet through the head. + +The four old hags at the fire began to mow and scream, and got up and +hobbled into the cave. Whitson drew his knife and cut the thong with +which Langley was vainly struggling, and then the two men, pale as +death, looked silently at each other with staring eyes. + +Whitson replaced his revolver, and then made a sort of torch out of dry +reeds, a pile of which lay close at hand. He then, leaving Langley to +guard the cave, carefully examined all the passages and spaces between +the rocks, but he could find no trace of any one. The two men thereupon +entered the cave, Whitson holding the torch high over his head. They +found that it ran straight in for about fifteen paces, and then curved +sharply to the left. + +It was about four paces in width, and about eight feet high, the roof +being roughly arched. The walls and roof were covered with thick black +greasy soot; and an indescribably horrible stench, which increased the +farther they advanced, made them almost vomit. They found that where the +cave curved to the left it ended in a circular chamber about eight paces +in diameter, and at one side of this crouched the four old hags, huddled +together, and mowing and chattering horribly. + +Across a cleft about two feet wide, in the right-hand wall of the cave, +a stick was fixed transversely, and hanging to this were some lumps of +half-dried and smoked flesh. Whitson went up close and examined these +carefully. He drew back with a shudder, and his face changed from pale +to ashen gray. + +He and Langley then went outside and stood for a while in the fresh air. +They could endure, just then, no more of the fetid atmosphere inside. +After a short time they gathered up some dry twigs and reeds, and set +several little heaps alight at different spots inside. This had the +effect of making the atmosphere more bearable in the course of a few +minutes. They then made a larger fire in the middle of the cave, and +proceeded to examine it more closely. + +They found several old iron picks, such as are used by natives +in cultivating their fields, some very filthy skins, a number of +earthenware pots, a few knives, and an axe; but nothing more. + +The floor of the cave was of clay, and at one spot it appeared to have +been recently disturbed. Here Langley began to dig with a pick, which, +just below the surface, struck against some hard substance. This, when +uncovered, proved to be a bone. He threw it to one side and dug deeper, +uncovering more bones--some old, and others comparatively fresh, but +emitting a horrible smell. He stooped and picked one up, but dropped it +immediately, as if it burned him. It was the lower jawbone of a human +being. + +"Great God!" he gasped. "What is the meaning of this?" + +"It means," said Whitson, "that we are in a nest of bloody cannibals!" + +Langley dropped like a stone, in a dead faint; so Whitson dragged him +outside, and, leaving him to recover in the open air, returned to the +cave. He then seized the pick and began digging, unearthing some new +horror at every stroke. A glittering object caught his eye; he picked +this up and found it to be the steel buckle of a woman's belt. He +glanced toward the cleft in the rock where the lumps of flesh were +hanging, and caught his breath short. Going outside he made another +torch, which he lit; and then he returned and carefully examined the +loosened surface. Another glittering object caught his eye. This, when +examined, proved to be an old silver watch, the appearance of which +seemed familiar. He forced open the case, and saw, roughly scratched +on the inside, the letter D. He now recognised it; he remembered having +once fixed a glass in this very watch for Dollond, about a month before +the latter's disappearance. Continuing his search Whitson found the iron +heel-plate of a boot, and a small bunch of keys. + +Whitson drew his revolver, and picking up the torch went into the +terminal chamber. Four shots, fired in quick succession, reverberated +immediately afterward through the cavern. + +Whitson then went outside to Langley, whom he found sitting down near +the fire, looking if possible, more ghastly than before. The presence of +Whitson seemed, however, to act on him as a kind of tonic, and he soon +pulled himself together sufficiently to assist in piling a quantity of +fuel upon the already sinking fire, which soon blazed brightly, lighting +up the mouth of the cavern and the space in front of it. One of the +bodies of the men who had been shot was lying on its side, with the face +toward the fire. Whitson examined the mouth, pushing back the upper +lip with a piece of stick. He found that the shape of the mouth and the +development of the teeth were the same as Ghamba's. The other bodies +were lying on their faces, so he did not trouble to examine them. + +Whitson then told Langley to follow him, and the two walked down the +foot-path toward where they had left Ghamba. Him they found lying +motionless in the position in which he had been left about an hour +previously. They removed the sack and the gag and untied his feet, first +taking the precaution to fasten the belt by one end to his bound hands, +Whitson holding the other. They then signed to him to proceed toward the +cave, and this he silently did, without making any resistance. He looked +calmly at the three dead bodies, but said not a word. Langley held him, +while Whitson again tied his feet together with the belt, and then they +placed him with his back against a rock, facing the fire, which +was still blazing brightly. His lips were drawn back in a ghastly, +mirthless, grin, and the tusks were revealed from point to insertion. + +Langley questioned Ghamba, but he would not speak. After several +attempts to force him to answer had been vainly made, Whitson said: + +"Now tell him that if he speaks and tells the whole truth he will only +be shot, but if he does not speak he will be burned alive." + +This was interpreted, but the threat had no apparent effect. So Whitson +seized Ghamba and dragged him to the fire, where he flung him down on +the very edge of the glowing embers. + +"Now," said Whitson, holding him down with his foot, so that he got +severely scorched, "for the last time, will you speak?" + +"Take me away from the fire, and I will speak," said Ghamba, in English. + +So they lifted him, and set him again with his back to the rock. + +"Now," said Whitson, "go ahead, and no nonsense!" + +"If I tell the whole truth," said Ghamba, still speaking English, and +with a fair accent, "will you swear not to burn me, but to shoot me, so +that I shall die at once?" + +"I will," said Whitson. + +"You too must swear," said Ghamba, looking at Langley. + +"Yes, I swear." + +"Very well," said Ghamba, "I will tell you everything, but you must both +remember what you have sworn to." + +"Yes, all right," said Whitson. Ghamba then looked at Langley, who +repeated the words. + +"I will tell you," said Ghamba, "all I can remember, and you can ask +questions, which I shall answer truly. You have heard of Umdava, who +used to eat men in Natal long ago, after the wars of Tshaka--well, he +was my uncle. After Umdava had been killed and his people scattered, my +father, with a few followers, came to live among these mountains. But we +found that after having eaten human flesh we could enjoy no other food, +so we caught people and ate them. These two men lying dead are my sons, +and that woman is my daughter. My four wives were here to-night. They +are very old women. Have you not seen them?" he asked, looking at +Whitson. + +"They are in there; I shot them," said Whitson, pointing to the cave. + +"I had other children," continued Ghamba, quite unmoved, "but we ate +them when food was scarce." + +"Have you always lived, all these years, on human flesh?" asked Whitson. + +"No, not always; but whenever we could obtain it we did so. There is +other food in these mountains--honey, ants' eggs, roots, and fruit; +besides game, which is, however, not very easy to catch. But we have +often all had to go away and work when times have been bad. Besides, I +have a herd of cattle at a Basuto kraal, and I have been in the habit of +taking some of these now and then, and exchanging them for corn, which +the women then went to fetch. But we have always tried to get people to +eat, because we could enjoy no other kind of food. Sometimes we got them +easily; and when we were very fortunate we used to dry part of the meat +by hanging it up and lighting a fire underneath, with green wood, so as +to make plenty of smoke." + +"Have you killed many white people?" asked Whitson. + +"Yes, a good number; but not, of course, as many as black. Lately we +have always tried to catch whites, because when you have eaten white +flesh for some time, the flesh of a native no longer satisfies you." + +"Why not?" + +"The flavour is not so strong." + +"Did you induce the other two policemen to come up by means of the story +about Umhlonhlo?" + +"Yes, they came up just as you did, and my sons caught them with the +thongs. Umhlonhlo has brought us plenty of food." + +"Were you able to take the cartridges out of their revolvers as you did +out of mine?" + +"No, I had no opportunity; but it was not necessary, because my sons +were so expert at throwing the thongs that they could always catch +people over the arms, and thus render them unable to shoot." + +"How did they manage to become so expert?" + +"By continued practice. I used to walk up the path over and over again, +and let them throw the thong over me. Then the woman was always there +with the club, so that, if one of the thongs missed, she was ready to +strike. I, also, was usually ready to help, in case of necessity." + +"Why did you think it necessary to take the cartridges out of my +revolver?" + +"Because I feared you from the first, and were it not that he"--baring +his teeth and glancing at Langley, who shuddered--"looked so nice, and +that we wanted fresh meat so badly, I would not have risked bringing +you. But it would have been all right if I had only let your revolver +alone." + +"You say Umhlonhlo has brought you plenty of food; did you ever get any +one besides ourselves and the other two policemen to come up here by +telling them that story?" + +"Yes, two others--one a man who was searching for gold on the Free State +side of the mountains, and the other a trader whom I met at Maseru. But +these each came alone." + +"I see the buckle of a woman's belt in there. Whom did that belong to? +You surely never got a white woman up here?" + +"Yes, we did," said Ghamba, with a horrible half-smile which bared the +gums high above the sockets of his tusks. "She was a young girl who had +strayed from a waggon passing over the mountain by the Ladysmith road, +only a day's walk from here. I pretended to show her the shortest way +to her waggon, and thus brought her as far as she could walk in this +direction. I then killed her, and came up here and fetched my sons. We +carried her up in the night. She was very young and plump, and I have +never eaten anything that I enjoyed so much." (Whitson turned cold +with horror. He remembered the girl's mysterious disappearance, and the +fruitless searches undertaken in consequence.) "His flesh"--glancing +again at Langley--"looks something like hers did, and I am sure it would +taste just as nice. There was still a little of her left when I went +away last week. If you will go in there and look where the rock is split +on the right-hand side, you will--" But he did not finish the sentence, +for a bullet from Whitson's revolver crushed through his brain, and he +tumbled forward on his face into the fire. + + +It was only after tremendous difficulty that Whitson and Langley +succeeded in escaping from the mountains. However, on the evening of the +third day after their adventure in the cave, they came in sight of the +police camp. Whitson sat down on a stone, and motioned his companion to +do the same. + +"See here, sonny," he said, "I want to have a short talk with you. I am +a bit cross with you as the cause of my having been sucked in by that +d--d murdering old walrus. You ought to know the inhabitants of this +country better than a simple stranger like me, and so I took your lead. +Now, another thing: you nearly bust us both by your blasted foolishness +in going to sleep that day; but let that pass, because perhaps it would +have been worse if we had not been put on our guard; not but that it +would take a d--d smart cannibal to eat Hiram Whitson. But this is what +I am coming to: you, my boy, are a darned sight too fond of hearing your +own tongue clack. Now, take a warning from me, and don't let a word +of what has happened since we left camp for Pietermaritzburg pass your +lips. I did all the shooting, and I'm not a bit ashamed of it; but, by +the eternal God, if you open your lips to a soul, I'll shoot you like +a dog or a cannibal! Remember that, sonny, and say it quietly over +to yourself the first time you feel that you want to blab. Now, shake +hands." + +This was probably the longest speech that Whitson had ever made. + +About two years after the events narrated, Whitson took his discharge +and returned to America. He left behind him a sealed packet addressed +to his commanding officer, and which was not to be delivered for twelve +months after his departure. + +Owing, however, to a strange combination of fortuitous circumstances, +this packet never reached its proper destination; its wrapper, bearing +the address, having been scorched off in a fire which took place in the +house where it was left. + + +NOTE + +Many people have heard or read of the cannibals of Natal, who turned +large tracts of country into a shambles in the early part of this +century, after Tshaka's impis had swept off all the cattle, and then +kept the miserable people continually on the move so that they were +unable to cultivate. One Umdava originated the practice of eating human +flesh. Gathering together the fragments of four scattered tribes, he +trained them to hunt human beings as others hunted game. This gang was +a greater scourge to the country surrounding the present site of +Pietermaritzburg than even Tshaka's murdering hordes. It was broken up +in or about the year 1824, when the Europeans first came to the country, +and the remnants of many scattered tribes returned and settled under +their protection. + +All this is history with which most people in South Africa are familiar, +but many do not know that some of the cannibals fled to Basutoland, +where, among almost inaccessible mountains, they carried on their +horrible practices for many years. + +It is a well-known fact that when men once surrender themselves to any +unnatural and brutal vice, the gratification of the abnormal instinct +thus acquired becomes the most imperative need of their nature. +The Falkland Islands case, as bearing specially upon the foregoing +narrative, may be mentioned. Some convicts escaped from the Falkland +Island convict station, and succeeded in reaching the coast of +Patagonia. They then endeavored to make their way to Montevideo, but +having to keep along the shore so as to avoid the natives, who would +have killed them had they ventured inland, were easily intercepted by +the government cutter, which was always despatched in cases of the kind +to head off fugitives upon their only possible course. Of the party only +one man was found alive. In their dreadful need the men had cast lots as +to who should be killed and eaten by the others, and this went on until +only the one man remained. His sufferings had been so horrible that +he was let off any further punishment, and simply brought back to the +island to complete the term of his sentence. Some months after, this +man induced another to escape with him in a boat, and, when the boat was +overtaken, it was found that he had killed his companion for the purpose +of eating the latter's flesh. This was apparent from the fact that +the supply of food which the fugitives had taken with them was not +exhausted. + + + + +MARY MUSGRAVE, By Anonymous + + +"Nine carets ef it's a blessed one." + +"Scale 'im, an' ye'll find he's a half better. Clear es a bottle o' +gin, an' flawless es the pope! Tommy Dartmoor, ye're in luck, s' welp me +never ef ye ain't, an' that's a brilliant yer can show the polis an' not +get time fer." + +Tommy Dartmoor, who owed his surname to a crown establishment within the +restraining walls of which he had once enjoyed a temporary residence, +growled out a recommendation to "stow that," and then added, "Boys, +we'll wet this. Trek to Werstein's." + +Forthwith a crowd of dirty, tanned diggers turned their heads in the +direction of Gustav Werstein's American Bar, and walked toward it as +briskly as the heat and their weariness would admit of. The Israelite +saw them coming, straightened himself out of the half-doze in which +he had passed the baking afternoon, stopped down the tobacco in the +porcelain bowl of his long-stemmed pipe with stumpy forefinger, and, +twisting a cork off his corkscrew, stood in readiness. + +"Name yer pizons, boys, an' get outside 'em, wishin' all good luck to +R'yal Straight; R'yal Straight bein' the name o' this yer stone given by +Thomas D. Hesquire, original diskiverer an' present perprietor." + +The orders were given,--bass at five shillings a bottle, champagne +(nee gooseberry) at five pounds, Cape smoke at two shillings per two +fingers,--and, at a given signal, there was an inarticulate roar from +dusty throats, an inversion of tumblers over thirsty mouths, and a +second inversion over the ground to show that all the contents had +disappeared. + +Satan, the one cat and only domestic pet of the camp, saw that there was +a general treat going on, and bustling up for his drink took a can of +condensed milk at six shillings. Other diggers came trooping in as the +news spread, and Tommy Dartmoor, who was rapidly becoming mellow, for +he drank half a tumbler of raw whisky with every one who nodded to +him, stood them refreshments galore, while the greasy Jew began to see +visions of his adopted fatherland in the near distance. + +So the Kaffirs, except those who had supplies of their own, kept sober +and peaceful, while the higher order of the human race at Big Stone +Hole, after the manner of their kind, began to squabble. It was natural +for them to do so, perhaps, for the weather was so hot, and the liquors, +for the most part, more so; and under these circumstances men do not +always cast about them long for a casus belli. One or two minor brawls +opened the ball, and Herr Gustav, scenting battle in the air, drew from +a locker a card, which he balanced against the bottles on a shelf above +his head. It read thus: + + GENTS IS REKESTED TO SHOOT + CLEAR OF THE BARR-KEP. + BROKIN GLAS MAY BE PADE FOR + AT COST PRISE. + +and had been written for the German by a gentleman who had had +some experience in Forty Rod Gulch, Nevada. The action elicited a +contemptuous laugh from one or two of the new hands, but the oldsters +began shifting sundry articles which depended from their belts into +positions from which they might be handled at the shortest notice; +and the black cat, more wise than any of them, having drunk his fill, +stalked solemnly out into the security of the darkness. + +The sun went down,--went out with a click, some one declared,--and, +as no twilight interposed between daylight and darkness in the country +which Big Stone Hole ornamented, Herr Gustav lit his two paraffin-lamps. +Neither boasted more than a one-inch wick, and, as their glasses were +extremely smoky, the illumination was not brilliant; but it sufficed to +show the flushed, angry faces of a couple of men standing in the centre +of the room, with all the others clustered round, watching eagerly. One +was the Scholar. The other was a burly giant, whose missing left little +finger caused him to be nicknamed the Cripple. About what they had +originally fallen out was not clear to any one, to themselves least of +all. As the case stood when the second lamp was lit, Scholar had called +Cripple a something-or-other liar, and Cripple, who was not inventive, +had retorted by stigmatising Scholar as another. Further recriminations +followed, and their pistols were drawn; but as the audience had a strong +objection to indiscriminate shooting, by which it was not likely to +benefit, the belligerents were seized. No one was unsportsmanlike enough +to wish to stop the fight, and Jockey Bill, giving voice to the general +wish of the meeting, proposed that the gents be fixed up agin' a couple +o' posts outside, where they might let daylight into each other without +lead-poisoning casual spectators. + +The motion was acted on, and after rectifying a slight omission on +the Cripple's part--he had forgotten to put caps on the nipples of his +revolver--the pair of them were seated upon upturned barrels some ten +yards apart, each with a lamp at his feet, and told to begin when they +saw fit to do so. The swarthy, bearded diggers grouped themselves on +either side, and the cat, emerging from his retreat, scrambled on to +the shoulder of one of them, fully as curious as the rest to "see the +shootin'." It was a weird sight,--dust, scorched grass, empty tins, rude +hovels, piles of debris, African moonlight,--yet, except, perhaps, in +the eyes of the newest comers, there was nothing strange in it. The +others were too wrapped up in what was going to take place to see +anything quaint in their every-day surroundings. There was no theatre in +the camp. The little impromptu drama riveted all attention. + +But before the duel commenced, a galloping horse, which had approached +over the grassy veldt unnoticed during the excitement, drew up with a +crash between the two combatants, and its rider, raising his hand to +command attention, cried: + +"Boys, there's a white woman comin'!" + +"A white woman!" was chorused in various tones of disbelief. "What, +here? White woman comin' here, Dan?" + +And then some one inquired if she was a Boer. + +"Boer--no," replied Dan; "English--English as I am; leastways Englisher, +bein' Amurrican-born myself. Overtook her et Hottentot Drift. Thort I'd +spur on an' tell yer. We'd do wi' a clean-up, some on us." + +Dan spoke indistinctly, as a bullet had lately disarranged some of his +teeth; but his words had a wonderful effect. + +Each man began instinctively to tidy himself. The would-be duellists, +forgetting their quarrel, stuck the revolvers in their belts and +followed the general example. The Cripple hied him to the store, and +after breaking down the door abstracted the only blacking-brush in the +camp,--putting down a sovereign on the counter in exchange for it,--and +set to polishing his high boots as if a fortune depended on their +brightness. The Scholar bought Herr Gustav's white shirt for a fiver, +threatening to murder its owner if he did not render it up. And +Partridge, a good man from Norfolk, with a regrettable weakness for +shooting other people's game, induced a friend to denude him of his +flowing locks by means of a clasp-knife and a hunk of wood, as no +scissors were procurable. + +The wardrobes of Big Stone Hole were stocked more with a view to strict +utility than variety or ornamentation, and the slender resources of the +store utterly gave out under the sudden strain that was put upon them. +In every direction grimy, unkempt men might be seen attempting to +beautify themselves. Here was one enduring agonies from a razor that +would scarcely whittle a stick; here another recalling the feel of a +cake of soap; there a great fellow pulling faces as he struggled to get +the teeth of a comb into his shock of hair; there another brushing the +clay from his moleskin trousers with a tuft of stiff grass. + +It seemed to these men ages since they had last seen a woman in +the flesh,--Kaffir women don't count; they are not women, merely +Kaffirs,--and, with the natural instinct of males of every species, they +set about pluming their feathers. + +These operations, though speedy as might be, were necessarily prolonged, +for most of the men required several buckets of water over the head +before they felt fit for such unaccustomed exercises, and they were +scarcely finished before the creaking of wheels and the cries of the +voorlooper as he urged his oxen announced that the wagon was within +earshot. Up it came, the great tilt gleaming white in the moonlight, and +every eye was fixed expectantly on the dark chasm within. The driver, +puffed up with his own importance, cracked his long whip and deigned not +to notice the men whom he usually greeted with a friendly hail, and the +Hottentot boy ahead, imitating his master, vouchsafed no explanation. +With more deathly slowness than usual did the lumbering vehicle crawl +along until the tired cattle pulled up before the door of the American +Bar. Then there was a rush and a bit of a scuffle for the honour of +handing the woman out. The Cripple was the fortunate man, and, after +assisting her to the ground, waved his tattered hat toward the gleaming +open doorway. But he did not speak. Words were beyond him. Indeed, the +diggers, who were none of them particularly remarkable for taciturnity +as a general thing, seemed, with one exception, to be stricken dumb. +But the Scholar proved himself equal to the occasion, and with courtly +phrase bade the new-comer welcome to the camp. He had always been a +popular man among women in his palmier days, though openly holding +rather a poor opinion of them; and as the one before him now was neat +of speech and comely of form, he was not at all averse to enjoying her +society and conversation. + +"I should be much obliged if you would direct me to a hotel," she said, +after taking a look around the cheap gaudiness of the saloon. + +"I'm sorry to say that we have no hotel here as yet, Miss--er--?" + +"Musgrave. Miss Mary Musgrave"--with a little bow. "But I heard that a +German had started a hotel here." + +"No; there is nothing but this. That"--pointing to Herr Gustave, who was +regarding the newcomer with an evil eye--"that is the German." + +Miss Musgrave appeared distressed. + +"Then where can I go?" she asked. "Are there any lodgings to be had?" + +"The lady may have my place," chorused three eager voices, and every man +in the room repeated the offer. + +She thanked them with a pretty smile and one comprehensive bow, and +looked up at the Scholar for help. + +"I would offer you my hut if it were not such a wretched one. But, as +it is, I should advise you to take this man's"--and he pointed to Tommy +Dartmoor. + +"Why, mine's twenty carats better than hisn!" exclaimed the Cripple. + +"And mine better 'n either," growled Dan. + +"Mine's the best of the lot." + +"No, it isn't; mine is," yelled others, till there was a general roar, +which caused Miss Musgrave to look frightened and shrink nearer to the +Scholar, and that gentleman to raise his hand for silence. + +"Look here," said he, "we'll pick out the twelve best, and their owners +can cut with one another from a pack of cards." + +After some discussion twelve were settled upon, but the number was +immediately raised to thirteen to prevent Jockey Bill disgracing the +camp by shooting before a lady. A pack of cards was placed on the bar, +and each man chose one, holding his selection face downward till all +were ready. Then the Scholar said, "Turn," and there were exhibited five +aces, two kings, a queen, three knaves, and two smaller cards. This was +awkward, to say the least of it, and, while sarcastic laughter rippled +among the spectators, there was an instinctive movement of right hands +toward the back of the belt on the part of each of the thirteen. + +But the Scholar's voice, full of remonstrance, said, "Boys, you're being +looked at," and there was a regretful sigh or two, but no bloodshed. + +Miss Musgrave gazed inquiringly from one to another, and the Scholar, +laying his hand on her arm, whispered something in her ear. She smiled, +whispered back, and was answered, and then, stripping off a pair of +well-fitting fawn gloves, she took the cards in a pretty little white +hand, and dealt out one to each of the competitors with charming +clumsiness. + +"Ain't touched a keard afore, bless her," whispered Euchre Buck, giving +his neighbor Dan a nudge in the ribs to call attention to this wonderful +piece of girlish innocence. "Square a deal es George Washington mought +ha' made." Then, as the greasy pasteboards were turned up, and his +neighbour was handed the ace of clubs, he raised his voice and yelled +out, "Bully for you, Dan! Cut away an' clar yer cabin out." + +Away scampered Dan out into the darkness, with the rest of the crew at +his heels. Their home comforts were very small, poor fellows; but each +gave of his best, though the gifts were often incongruous enough. +In half an hour the cabin was fitted out with a small cracked +looking-glass, two combs, an old hair-brush,--still wet from the +wash,--a pail, a frying-pan, three kettles, two three-legged stools, and +so many blankets that some were requisitioned to carpet the floor. The +whole crowd accompanied Miss Musgrave to her door and gave her a +cheer by way of good-night. She bowed to them, smiling her thanks, and +looking, as they thought, entrancingly lovely as she stood there, with +the pale moonbeams falling full on her. + +Then she turned to go in, but as Euchre Buck stepped forward with an +admonishing cough, she waited and looked round at him. + +"Miss," said he, holding out a big revolver in his hard fist, "you take +this yer gun, an' ef any one whistles, or otherwise disturbs you, let a +hole into him straight away, an' we'll see him buried decent." + +But Miss Musgrave courteously, and with profuse thanks, refused the +offer, and, saying that she had perfect confidence in all who were +around her, gave Euchre Buck a bewitching smile, went inside, and closed +the door after he. + +Then the diggers returned to Gustav Werstein's American Bar and +discussed the new arrival. + +"I known Noomarket an' Hascot an' Hepson, an' all the places where +swells goes in England," said Jockey Bill, enthusiastically; "but never +one come there as pretty as she, stop my license if ther' did." + +"Grand eyes, hain't she?" said Tommy Dartmoor. "Regular fust-water 'uns. +Here's to 'em!" + +"And-a-hoof! See it peep below her gownd. S' welp me ef it wer' es big +as my 'bacca-box!" + +"An' 'er close, gentlemen! Made to measure, every thread on 'em, I +allow." + +"She's a lady, boys," exclaimed he who had offered to see after a +funeral, "a reg'lar slap-up, high-toned, blow-yer-eyes-don't-touch-me +lady; an' as she sees fit to do the civil to this fellar"--striking +himself on the chest--"he's just going to drop his professional name, +an' arsk yer to call him Mister Samuel K. Gregson, Esquire. Play on +that." + +Next morning the inhabitants of Big Stone Hole were startled by reading +this announcement outside the cabin which Dan had resigned to Miss +Musgrave: + + SINGING AND MUSIC TAUGHT. + LITERARY WORK DONE. + +It was printed on a card, which was affixed to the door by means of a +drawing-pin, and from within came the sound of a contralto voice singing +to a guitar accompaniment. One by one the male residents of Big Stone +Hole drew near to that iron-roofed hut and stopped to listen; but after +commenting on the innovation in gleeful whispers--for guitar had never +twanged in that part of Africa before--they moved on to their work. No +consideration could cause them to neglect that. They might fritter away +the dull, rough gems when they had found them, but the lust of handling +diamonds once was the strongest passion they knew. And so the day's +toil was not curtailed; but at the conclusion Miss Musgrave had an +application for instruction in music from every man in the camp, with +one exception. This one defaulter was Euchre Buck. He owned to having +no ear for music--thereby exhibiting more honesty than many of the +others--and confessed to knowing only two tunes, one of which was +"Hail Columbia," and the other--wasn't; and so he said he wanted some +"literary work done." He proposed to Miss Musgrave that she should write +a history of his life at half a guinea a page, thereby--cute Yankee that +he was--thinking to appropriate the whole of her time. + +But embarrassed by all these calls upon her, and obviously unable to +satisfy each of them, Miss Musgrave turned for help to the Scholar, +whom she appeared to regard as her special adviser; and he, promising a +solution of the difficulty in half an hour, drew off the whole crowd to +the American Bar, where the question was thrashed out in all its points. + +It was clearly evident that Miss Musgrave could not surrender to each +individual the whole of her evening, even if any one had been willing to +let his neighbor monopolise it, which no one was; and therefore it +was necessary to formulate some scheme by which her talents might be +distributed over a larger area. But what the scheme should be was not +settled all in a minute. One man wanted to hear her sing, another to +hear her talk, another was willing to give five pounds an hour for the +privilege of talking to her. After a lengthened discussion, which was +excited throughout, and at times verged on the warlike, it was +decided to effect a compromise--subject, of course, to Miss Musgrave's +inclinations; and a deputation was sent to learn her views on the +subject. + +There was no assembly-room in the place, excepting Werstein's +saloon,--which, of course, was not available for such a purpose,--and so +it was proposed to her, with much humility, that she should take up her +position in the evenings on a chair outside her hut, and there discourse +such vocal and instrumental music as she saw fit, interlarding the +same with friendly conversation. What was she to talk about? +Anything--absolutely anything. They didn't mind what it was, so long as +they heard her voice. Five shillings, the committee had decided, was to +be paid by every man who came within earshot. And any one who wanted a +free list was requested to argue the matter out with Euchre Buck. + +This call upon her powers seemed to take Miss Musgrave aback. + +"I have never sung in public," she pleaded, rather nervously. "Indeed, +my voice is not good enough for it; really it isn't. Only I thought +I could teach a little perhaps, and that is why I came here. You see, +mother, is an invalid, and we were so very poor that--" + +"Miss," broke in Jockey Bill, "call it ten bob a 'ead, an' just 'um to +us." + +"Oh no, Mr. William, it was not the money that I thought about; indeed, +five shillings would be far too much. But if you think that I should be +able to amuse you at all, I would do my very best--believe me, I would." + +"Miss," growled Dan, with a clumsy endeavour to chase away her +diffidence, "all we asks is fer you to sit near us fer a spell. Ef you +sings or plays, we'd be proud; ef you just looks an' talks, we'd be +pleased." + +So in the end Miss Musgrave yielded to the wishes of the community, and +the nightly conclave in the American Bar became so much a thing of the +past that Gustav Werstein was heard to threaten another emigration. The +songs were to the diggers new, and yet not new. There was nothing of the +music-hall type about them; they were nearly all old-fashioned ditties. +She sang to them of "Barbara Allen" and "Sally in our Alley"; she +gave them "Cheer, Boys, Cheer," and called for a chorus; she sang "The +Message," "The Arrow and the Song"; and she brought back memories of +other days when Africa was to them a mere geographical expression--of +days when that something had not happened which had sent them away from +home. + +Sunday came, the fifth day after her arrival, and it differed from the +usual Sabbath of Big Stone Hole. Sunday had been observed before by +the biggest drinking bout of the week, and a summary settlement of the +previous six days' disputes. Now, to the huge surprise of the Kaffirs, +and to the still greater surprise of themselves, these diamond-diggers +sang hymns at intervals during the day, and refrained from indulging in +the orthodox carouse till after Miss Musgrave had retired for the night. +It was a wonderful change. + +During the next week a fall of earth took place in Tommy Dartmoor's +claim. Two Kaffirs were killed; and when the proprietor himself was +extricated from the debris of blue clay which held him down, he was +found to have a broken arm, besides other serious injuries. + +"Don't let on to her," he managed to gasp out to his rescuers, wishing +to spare Miss Musgrave's nerves a shock. + +But she saw the men bearing him to his hut, joined them, and insisted on +being installed as sole nurse forthwith. + +Twenty other men would willingly have broken an arm for such a reward; +and the recklessness displayed during the next few days was something +awful. But she saw that too,--little escaped those big blue eyes,--and, +ascribing it to drink, gave a pretty strong lecture on the bibulous +habits of Big Stone Hole, at her next concert. + +There was an earnest meeting in the American Bar that night, at which +the following motion was put and carried unanimously: "On and after this +date, any drunken man is liable to be shot at sight, unless his friends +can prove that he has dug over three carats of diamonds during the day." +And then, like other reformers, they went on to more sweeping measures: +"Only knife-fighting to take place in the camp. All disputes with +pistols, unless of a very pressing nature, to be settled out of earshot +of Dan's house." There were even some hints of appointing a closing-time +for the saloon--"it would make the place so much more like home." But +the promoter eventually withdrew his suggestion, as it was justly felt +that such a motion would interfere with the liberty of the subject too +much. But a storm of cheers burst forth when it was proposed to +transfer the diamond-safe from Werstein's keeping to a corner of the new +goddess's shrine. + +Even Satan, the cat, joined in the general adoration, and, more favoured +than the rest, enjoyed at times a chaste salute from Miss Musgrave's +ripe-red lips. + +Never, in so short a space of time, had a community been more changed +for the better than was that of Big Stone Hole. Never had woman's +humanising influence made itself more clearly felt. The azure cloud +of blasphemy that hung over the workings and the rest of the camp was +replaced again by the normal dust. Each man tried to beautify the inside +of his shanty to the best of his means and ideas, for there was no +knowing when the only "she" would take it into her pretty, capricious +head to pay a call. In this latter line the Scholar had a decided pull. +Education had taught him taste; necessity, handiness; and by aid of +the two he transformed his rude dwelling into something approaching the +rooms in which he used to dawdle away the happy hours, time ago. It was +partly drawing-room, partly curiosity-shop. Cups, saucers, and spoons +appeared as if by magicians' call, and one blazing afternoon the news +flashed round the diamond-pits that Miss Musgrave was "taking afternoon +tea with the Scholar." But when the Scholar saw the dismay his simple +act had spread around him, he dissipated it with a kindly laugh and a +few reassuring words. + +"Don't mind me, boys. I was only doing the civil in a purely platonic +manner. Miss Musgrave is nothing to me, nor am I anything to her. Heaven +forbid! I'm too hard a bargain for any girl. If any one of you marries +her I'll act as his best man if he asks me to, and wish him every +felicity without a thought of regret." + +"Bully for the Scholar!" yelled the delighted crowd; and Miss Musgrave's +smiles were more sought after than ever. + +So things went on day after day, week after week, till Miss Musgrave +became little short of an autocratic empress. But still she showed no +signs of taking unto herself a consort; she kept all men at a cousinly +distance, and those who felt intimate enough to address her as "Miss +Mary" accounted themselves uncommonly fortunate. Thus the little machine +of state worked perfectly harmoniously, and Big Stone Hole was as steady +and prosperous a settlement as need be. + +Had these diggers refreshed their minds by looking back for historical +parallels, they might have been prepared in some degree for Miss +Musgrave's exit from among them, but as none of them indulged in such +retrospections the manner of it took the camp somewhat by surprise. + +It was first discovered in this wise. Work was over for the day. The +Kaffirs had been searched and had returned to their kraal. Pipes +were being lit after the evening meal, and a picturesque assembly was +grouping itself in an expectant semicircle on the sun-baked turf in +front of Miss Musgrave's dwelling. She was usually outside to welcome +the first comers, and her absence naturally formed the staple topic +of conversation. Digger after digger arrived, threw himself down, and +joined in the general wonderment as to why Miss Mary wasn't there, and +at last some one hazarded a suggestion that she "must be asleep." There +was a general epidemic of noisy coughing for a full minute, and then +silence for another, but no sound from within the hut. + +"Perhaps she's ill," was the next surmise. + +After the etiquette to be followed had been strictly discussed, and a +rigid course of procedure set down, the Scholar got up and knocked at +the door. He received no answer, and so knocked again--knocked several +times, in fact, and then rattled the handle vigorously, but without +result. + +"Better open it," said a voice. + +And he did so; and after looking inside, announced: + +"She's not there." + +At this moment Dan came up. + +"My ole mar' 's gone," he said; "an' she ain't stampeded, neither, but +was stole. Tote-rope's been untied, an' saddle an' bridle took as well." + +There was uncomfortable silence, which the Scholar broke by a low, +long-drawn whistle. + +"Boys," said he, "let's look inside the safe." + +The three men who held the keys brought them up, the bolts were shot, +and the massive door swung back. There was every man's little sack with +his name on it; but somehow or other the sacks looked limper than of +yore. Each one was eagerly clutched and examined, and many a groan and +not a few curses went up on the still night air as it was found that +every sack save Dan's had been relieved of the more valuable part of its +contents. + +So much heart-breaking labour under the burning sun thrown away for +nothing; the dreary work to commence afresh, almost from the beginning! +Had the thief been any ordinary one, the denunciation would have +been unbounded; but no one lifted his tongue very loudly against Mary +Musgrave. Yet mounted men were despatched on the three trails to bring +back the booty if possible, and the rest moved dejectedly toward their +old club. The greasy Jew did not attempt to conceal his exultation. He +served his customers with his wicked old face glowing with smiles, and +when a moment's breathing-time came he observed: + +"We all 'az hour lettle surbrizes in dis wairld, an' I most confaiss I +am asdonished myself to lairn that Mess Mosgrave is a thief--" But here +a crashing among the glassware announced that Tommy Dartmoor had begun +shooting with his left hand, and Herr Gustave sputtered out from behind +the fingers he held before his face, "Ach Gott! I say nozzing more!" + + + + + +GREGORIO, By Percy Hemingway + + + + +I--AT THE PARADISO + +The Cafe Paradiso was full of people, for the inhabitants of Alexandria +had dined, and the opera season was over. The seats at every table were +occupied, and the fumes of smoke from a hundred cigars partly hid the +ladies of the orchestra. As the waiters pushed aside the swing-doors +of the buffet and staggered into the salon with whisky, absinthe, and +coffee, the click of billiard-balls was heard. The windows facing the +sea were wide open, for the heat was intense, and the murmur of the +waves mingled with the plaintive voices of the violins. + +Seated by a table at the far end of the hall, Gregorio Livadas hummed +softly an accompaniment to Suppe's "Poete et Paysan," puffing from time +to time a cloudlet of blue smoke from his mouth. When the music ceased +he joined in the applause, leaning back happily in his chair as the +musicians prepared to repeat the last movement. Meanwhile his eyes +wandered idly over the faces of his neighbors. + +When the last chord was struck he saw the women hurry down from the +platform and rush toward the tables where their acquaintances sat. He +heard them demand beer and coffee, and they drank eagerly, for fiddling +in that heat was thirsty work. He watched the weary waiters hastening +from table to table, and he heard the voices around him grow more +animated and the laughter more frequent. One man was fastening a spray +of flowers on the ample bosom of the flautiste, while another sipped +the brown lager from the glass of the big drum, and the old wife of the +conductor left her triangle and cymbals to beg some roses from an Arab +flower-girl. Truly the world was enjoying itself, and Gregorio smiled +dreamily, for the sight of so much gaiety pleased him. He wished one of +the women would come and talk to him; he would have liked to chat with +the fair-haired girl who played the first violin so well. He began to +wonder why she preferred that ugly Englishman with his red face and bald +head. He caught snatches of their conversation. Bah! how uninteresting +it was! for they could barely understand each other. What pleasure did +she find in listening to his bad French? and in her native Hungarian +he could not even say, "I love." Why had she not come to him, Gregorio +Livadas, who could talk to her well and would not mumble like an idiot +and look red and uncomfortable! Then he saw she was drinking champagne, +and he sighed. Ah, yes, these English were rich, and women only cared +for money; they were unable to give up their luxuries for the sake of a +man. + +But at this thought Gregorio blushed a little. After all, there was +one woman--the only woman he ought to think of--who was not afraid of +hardship for the sake of her husband. He tried to excuse himself by +arguing that the music had excited him; but he felt a little ashamed, +and as a sop to his not yet quite murdered conscience got up and left +the cafe. + +When he turned into the Place Mehemet Ali he remembered suddenly that +he had wasted his evening. It was ten o'clock, too late to set about +the business he had intended. He was angry with himself now as well as +ashamed. He wandered up and down the square, looking at the statue of +the great khedive, silhouetted against the moonlight, and cursed at his +misfortunes. + +Why should he, Gregorio Livadas, be in need of money? He had worked +hard, but without success. He could have borne his ill luck had he alone +been the sufferer, but he must consider his child--and, of course, his +wife too. He was really fond of his wife in a way. But he smiled proudly +as he thought of his son, for whom he schemed out a great future. He and +Xantippe would train the boy so carefully that he would grow up to be +a great man, and, what was more, a rich man. How they would laugh, +all three, as they sat in the splendid cafes over their wine, at the +hardships the father had endured! Still he must not forget the present, +and he sorely needed money. He would go to Amos again. Amos was a rich +man, very rich, and a filthy Jew. Amos could easily spare him some money +and renew the last loan. He was going to be successful now and would +be able to pay good interest. What better investment could Amos have? +Surely none. He was going to set up a cafe with the money at Tanta, or +Zagazig, or even Benhur,--yes, Benhur was the best,--where there were +few competitors. Then he would make a fortune, as other Greeks had done, +and Amos would be paid in full. He was not extravagant, no; he had the +business instincts of his race. Half these rich merchants of Alexandria +had begun as he would begin; he would succeed as they had succeeded. The +future was really hopeful, if he could only borrow a little capital. + +With these thoughts surging through his brain Gregorio paced up and down +the pavements. At last he turned into the Rue des Soeurs and started +slowly toward his home. + +This street, the sink of Alexandria, was at its gayest. The cafes where +cheap liquor is sold were crowded. Soldiers and sailors, natives and the +riffraff of half a dozen nations, jostled one another. The twanging of +guitars and the tinkling of pianos was heard from every house. Women, +underclothed and overpainted, leaned from the upper windows and made +frequent sallies into the street to capture their prey. Loud voices sang +lusty English choruses and French chansonnettes, and Neapolitan songs +tried to assert themselves whenever the uproar ceased for a moment. +Every one talked his, or her, own tongue, and gesture filled in the gaps +when words were wanting. All seemed determined to degrade themselves as +much as possible, and nearly every one seemed supremely happy. + +Occasionally there was a fight, and knives were used with unerring +skill; but the mounted police who patrolled the streets, though +overtaxed, managed to preserve a certain amount of order. + +Gregorio took very little notice of the scenes through which he passed. +He knew every inch and corner of the quarter that had been his home for +years, and was familiar with most of its inhabitants. He sighed a little +as he thought of the money being lost and won in the stuffy ill-lighted +rooms at the back of the houses, shut out from view of the authorities. +Like most of his race, he was fond of the excitement of gambling. But +of what use were regrets and sighs? he had no money, and must needs go +home. It was vain to try and borrow or to ask credit for his losses; in +these gambling hells what is lost must be immediately paid, for tempers +are inflamed by drink and knives are worn at each player's belt. + +But he sighed, none the less, at the hard necessity that compelled him +to pass down the street without once entering the doors of a tavern. It +was very hot, and he had smoked many cigarettes. He would have been glad +to call for a drink. The tavern-keepers, though they were his friends, +expected to be paid. One or two women beckoned to him, who would have +willingly offered him wine, but he was proud enough to ignore them. + +He became more moody and dejected as he went along, silent and sober +amid so much revelry. When he reached his house he saw a drunken man +lying on the threshold asleep. He stooped to look into his face and +recognised an Englishman, the foreman of some tramp in the harbour. He +kicked the recumbent form testily as he strode over it. + +"These English, what beasts they are!" he growled, "and I--I have not a +piastre for a single glass of wine." + + + + +II--CONCERNING A DEBT + +Gregorio found, on entering his house, that his wife was already in bed. +He went into the tiny kitchen and saw a plate of macaroni ready for +his supper. He tried to eat some, but it stuck in his throat. He took a +bottle of cheap Cretan wine from a shelf and drank from it; but the wine +was sour, and he spat it from his mouth with a curse. + +Taking up the lamp, he went into the bedroom. His wife was fast +asleep with the boy in her arms. For a moment a smile flickered round +Gregorio's mouth as he looked at them. Then he took off his boots and +his coat, blew out the lamp, and lay beside them. He was very tired +after his long tramp in the hot streets, but he could not sleep. Angrily +he tossed from side to side and closed his eyes tightly; but it was no +good, sleep would not come. + +At midnight he heard a call to prayer chanted from the minaret of a tiny +mosque in the neighbourhood. The muezzin's voice irritated him. He +did not wish to pray, and he did want to sleep. He swore that it was +insanity for these fools of Mohammedans to declare that prayer was +better than sleep. + +Then the thoughts that had agitated him during the walk returned to him. +The Rue des Soeurs was still noisy with merry-makers, and it seemed to +him that if he could only join them he would be happy. But he had no +money, and one can do nothing without money! + +Then there came back to him the face of the Englishman he had seen +talking to the violinist of the Paradiso. He hated the man because he +was ugly and rich. These English were all rich, and yet they seemed to +him a miserable race, mere ignorant bullies. He remembered how often he +had come to the help of the English travellers who filled Egypt. Why had +he, he asked himself, for the sake of a miserable reward, prevented them +being cheated, when he, with all his talents, was condemned to starve? +Even his child, he thought, would grow to hate him if he remained poor. +He must get money. Amos would have to lend him some. The Jews were +unpopular among the Greeks; it were wise to keep on good terms with +them, as Amos would find out. + +At last he fell asleep. + +In the morning his troubles began again. There was no coffee, and only a +little Arab bread, and when that was done they must starve if they could +not get some money. Gregorio tore off a bit of bread and ate it slowly, +looking at his wife, who sat weeping beside him. + +"I shall go to Amos," he said, firmly. + +"Ah, yes, to Amos," Xantippe answered quietly; "but it will be no good." + +"Why no good?" + +"Because you owe him money, and he will give you no more till he is +paid." + +"But we cannot pay him. He must let us have some. If not--" and Gregorio +raised threatening. + +His wife smiled sadly and kissed him. + +"You will not frighten Amos, my love. When I told him the child had been +ill, he only laughed." + +"When was that?" + +"Yesterday." + +"Then he had been here?" + +"He came last night to ask for his money. I told him we had none, and +he laughed and said we must get some. He told me I might get some if I +cared to. He said I could make, oh, so much!" + +Gregorio scowled savagely. "The filthy Jew! he said that? Never, never, +never!" + +"But we must get some money," the woman sobbed, "if only for our son's +sake, Gregorio. But not that way?" + +"No, not that way," he replied, savagely. + +"When shall you go to him?" + +"Now." + +And taking up his hat he rushed into the street. He was terribly angry, +not so much at the purport of the Jew's speech as at the man who made +it. He loathed the Jews, and felt insulted when spoken to by one; it was +a terrible matter to ask this man for help, but it was intolerable that +his wife should suffer insult. And yet the child must be fed. Yes, she +had said that, and it was true. They must make sacrifices for the child. + +He soon reached the Jew's house, and was shown by a richly clad servant +into the room where Amos sat. Amos was an old man, tall and strong, with +a long bushy beard, in which his fingers continually played; and his +eyes were sharp and brilliant and restless, a strange contrast to his +stately bearing and measured movements. He rose from his cushions as +Gregorio entered, and saluted him courteously, motioning him to a seat. +Then, having resettled himself, he clapped his hands together smartly +and ordered the servant who answered the summons to bring in coffee and +pipes. + +Gregorio was rather overawed at the luxury he saw around him, and he +felt the stern-looking, polite old man would be a difficult person to +deal with. As he puffed at his tube he considered carefully what words +he should use. + +For some time neither spoke, but Amos was the first to break the +silence. + +"You heard I was at your house last night, and so have come to pay me?" + +"Yes, I heard you were at my house and that you wanted to be paid. You +are a rich man, and I am poor." + +"Nay, I am not rich; they lie who say I am rich." + +"It is twenty pounds I owe you, is it not?" + +"Yes, twenty pounds. It is a large sum, and I have dealt generously with +you. I am now in need of it myself." + +"I am a poor man." + +"You have not the money, eh, my friend?" + +"I have not the money. But I will pay you if you will lend me some more. +I shall be successful now; only twenty pounds more." + +Amos appeared unmoved at the tremor in Gregorio's voice. His eyes rested +coldly on the face of his client, while the unfortunate Greek continued +to speak rapidly of his troubles and hopes. He smiled sarcastically as +Gregorio spoke of the certainty of making his fortune at Benhur, and +remained quite unmoved at the story of the sufferings of a woman and +child from hunger and want. + +"Your wife is beautiful," was all he answered when Gregorio paused for +a moment. At these words, however, he half rose from his place and +clinched his hands savagely. But he sank back again with the remembrance +that a show of temper would not advance his cause. + +"Very beautiful," he answered, chokingly; "would you see her starve?" + +"She is not my wife," said Amos, quietly. Then he continued slowly, +pausing at intervals to puff out a cloud of smoke from his mouth: + +"You have owed me this money a long time. I want it, and I will have it. +Even in Egypt there is law. You do not like us Jews, but the law will +protect me as long as I am rich enough to buy justice. In three days +you will pay me this money. I have been generous to you; now I will be +generous no longer. If I am not paid I will take measures to recover my +loss. You will sleep in the streets like the Arabs, my friend; but +the weather is warm. It is early summer, so you will scarcely feel the +exposure. In three days you will come and pay me." + +"But how am I to get the money? If you would lend me only a few pounds I +would repay you all I owe." + +"Already you owe me more than you can pay. You can make money. You are +married. These Christian women are worse than the Arabs; do I not see +them as I come home in the evening from my business? It is not right to +borrow and not repay. I need my money. How can I have my coffee and my +pipe unless I have money?" + +Gregorio listened with growing anger, and finally rose from his seat and +shook his fist in the old man's face. + +"You shall be paid," he shouted, "you shall be paid!" + +"Anger is useless, my friend." + +And as Gregorio left the house Amos smiled and stroked his beard. +"Truly," he thought, "these Christians hate us, but we have them in our +power. It is pleasant to be hated and yet to know that it is to us they +must cringe when they are in need; and it is very pleasant to refuse. My +friend Gregorio is not happy now that he is struggling in my grasp." + +As for Gregorio, he wandered away toward the harbour, kicking savagely +at the refuse scattered along the pavement. He did not know how to set +about earning the requisite sum. It was no good applying to the hotels +or tourist agencies, for there were few visitors in the city and +dragomen were therefore not needed. + +His friends were too poor to help him, and the consul was unable to do +much for him, there were so many poor Greeks who wanted help. Meanwhile +there was no food at home and no drink; even the necessaries of life +were lacking. + +On arriving at his home he found his wife and child huddled in a corner +crying for food. They ran toward him as he entered, but the hope in +their faces quickly faded at the sight of him. + +"It's no good," Gregorio growled; "Amos refuses to advance a piastre and +says I must pay all I owe in three days." + +"It is impossible to sleep when one is hungry," said Gregorio that night +to his wife, who lay awake, weeping, beside him. + + + + +III--OF FAILURE AND A RESOLVE + +Gregorio's dreams, when he did sleep, were none of the pleasantest, +and when he woke up, from time to time, he heard his wife weeping. In +wondering what he should say to comfort her he fell asleep again, and +sleeping was worse than lying awake. For in his dreams he saw Xantippe +and his child starving and crying for food, and he was unable to help +them in any way. He lived over again the long day he had spent tramping +the streets of Alexandria searching for work. He saw the few tourists +still left in the town fat and happy; he saw the porters of the hotels +who had smiled on him pityingly and yet contemptuously; and he woke, +after each representation of the crude comedy, hot and yet cold with +perspiration, to feel the bed on which he lay shaking under the sobs of +his wife. + +When at last day dawned Gregorio raised himself with an oath, and swore +to find food for his family and work for himself. The terrible debt he +owed to Amos he swore should not trouble him, laughing at his wife's +remonstrances. With the bright daylight had come a new courage, and, +hungry as he was, he felt able not only to satisfy their hunger, but so +skilfully to arrange matters that they would never feel hungry again. +Yet is was a terrible ordeal, that half-hour when the family should have +sat down to a table laden with food. The poor wife cried, and he had +to comfort her tears with promises, unsubstantial nutriment indeed, +and they could not satisfy the child, who failed dismally to understand +them. Through the green blinds came the noise of life and health and +merriment; curses too, sometimes, but only the curses of the well fed, +and therefore meaningless. Already the sun fell hot and indomitable on +the room, and the atmosphere at their touch became stifling. Gregorio, +swallowing his tears, tore out into the street, shouting up the narrow +stairway hysterical words of hope. + +How long and shadowless the street seemed! Every house had its green +blinds closely shut; the wind that stirred the dust of the pavements was +hot and biting. Gregorio clinched his hands and strode rapidly onward. +What mattered it to him that behind those green blinds women and men +slumbered in comparative comfort? He had a work to do, and by sunset +must carry good tidings to his little world. For a time his heart was +brave as the dry wind scorched the tear upon his cheek. "Surely," he +thought, weaving his thoughts into a fine marching rhythm, "the great +God will help me now, will help me now." + +At midday, after he had tried, with that strange Greek pertinacity that +understands no refusals, all the hotels and tourist agencies he had +called at the day before, he became weary and disconsolate. The march +had become a dirge; no longer it suggested happiness to be, but failure. +An Englishman threw him a piastre, and he turned into a cafe. Calling +for a glass of wine, he flung himself down on the wooden bench and tried +to think. But really logical thinking was impossible. For in spite of +the sorrow at his heart, the same bright dreams of wealth and happiness +came back to mock him. The piastre he played with became gold, and he +felt the cafe contained no luxuries that he might not command to be +brought before him. But as the effects of the red wine of Lebanon +evaporated he began to take a soberer though still cheerful view of his +position. It was only when the waiter carried off his piastre that he +suddenly woke to fact and knew himself once more a man with a wife and +child starving in Alexandria, an alien city for all its wealthy colony +of Greeks. A wave of pity swept over him; not so much for the woman was +he sorry, though he loved her too, but for the baby whose future he had +planned. He scowled savagely at the inmates of the cafe, who only smiled +quietly, for they were used to poor Greeks who had drunk away their last +coin, and pushed past them into the street. + +There it was hotter than ever, and he met scarcely any one. Every +one who could be was at home, or in the cool cafes; only Gregorio was +abroad. He determined to make for the quay. He knew that many ships put +into the Alexandrian waters, and there was often employment found +for those not too proud to work at lading and unloading. Quickly, and +burning as the kempsin, he hurried through the Rue des Soeurs, not +daring to look up at the house wherein he dwelt. The muffled sounds +of voices and guitars from the far-away interiors seemed to mock his +footsteps as he passed the wine-shops; and all the other houses were +silent and asleep. At last he arrived on the quay, and the black lines +of the P. and O. stood out firmly before him against the pitiless blue +of sea and sky. He wandered over the hot stone causeway, but found no +one. The revenue officers were away, and not a labourer, not a sailor, +was visible. Beyond the breakwater little tufts of silvery foam flashed +on the rollers, and a solitary steamer steered steadily for the horizon. +He could see the Greek flag at her stern, and his eyes filled with +tears. Ah, how little his friends in Athens thought of the man who had +come to find fame and fortune in the far-off East! He sat down on the +parapet and watched the vessel until she became a tiny speck on the +horizon, and then he recommenced his search for work. His heart was +braver for a moment because of its pangs; he swore he would show these +countrymen of his who dwelt at home, and who in three days would see the +very ship he had been gazing at arrive in Grecian waters, that he was +worthy of his country and his kinsfolk. + +But resolutions were useless, tenacity of purpose was useless. For two +long hours he wandered by the harbour, but met no one. + +At last the sun fell behind the western waves, and the windows of the +khedive's palace glowed like a hundred flaming eyes; the flags fell from +the masts of the vessels; on the city side was a sudden silence, save +for the melancholy voices of the muezzins; then the day died; the bright +stars, suddenly piercing the heavens, mocked him with their brilliance +and told him that his useless search for bread was over. + +Gregorio went back slowly to his home. Already the Rue des Soeurs was +crowded. The long street rang with music and laughter, and instead +of blinds covering the windows merry women leaned upon the sills and +laughed at the crowds below. + +Gregorio, when he reached his house, would have liked to go straight to +bed. But it was not to be, for as he entered the tiny room he heard his +wife trying to persuade the hungry infant into sleep, and his footsteps +disturbed her tears. He had to calm them as best he could, and as he +soothed her he noticed the child had a crust in his hand which he gnawed +half contentedly. At the same moment the dim blue figure of an Arab +passed by the opposite wall, and had almost gained the door ere Gregorio +found words. + +"Who are you?" + +"It is Ahmed," his wife answered, gently, placing her trembling hand +upon his shoulder; "he too has children." + +Gregorio scowled and muttered, "An Arab," and in that murmur none of the +loathing was hidden that the pseudo-West bears for the East. + +"The child is starving," said Ahmed. "I have saved the child; maybe some +day I shall save the father." And Ahmed slipped away before Gregorio +could answer him. + +For a while neither he nor his wife spoke; they stood silent in the +moonlight. At last Gregorio asked huskily, "Have you had food?" + +"Not to-day," was the answer; and the sweet voice was almost discordant +in its pathos as it continued, "nor drink, and but for Ahmed the boy had +died." + +Gregorio could not answer; there was a lump in his throat that blocked +words, opening the gate for sobs. But he choked down his emotion with +an effort and busied himself about the room. Xantippe sat watching him +anxiously, smoothly with nervous fingers the covering of her son's bed. + +As the night advanced the heat increased, and all that disturbed the +silence of the room was the echo of the streets. Gregorio walked to the +window and looked out. Below him he saw the jostling crowd of men and +women. These people, he thought, were happy, and two miserables only +dwelt in the city--his wife and himself. And whenever he asked himself +what was the cause of his misery, the answer was ever the same--poverty. +He glanced at his son, tossing uneasily in his bed; he looked at +his wife, pale and haggard in the moonlight; he remembered his +own sufferings all day long in the hot cruel streets, and he spoke +unsteadily: + +"Xantippe?" + +"Yes." + +"I have thought over things." + +"And I too." + +"We are starving,--you are starving, and I am starving,--and all day +long I tramp these cursed streets, but gain nothing. So it will go on, +day in, day out. Not only we ourselves, but our son too must die. We +must save him." + +"Yes," said Xantippe, quietly, repeating her husband's words as she +kissed the forehead of her child, "we must save him." + +"There is only one way." + +"Only one way," repeated Xantippe, dreamily. There was a pause, and +then, as though the words had grown to have a meaning to her that she +could not fathom, she queried, "What way, Gregorio?" + +"That," he said, roughly, as he caught her by the wrist, and, dragging +her to the window, pointed to the women in the street beneath. + +Xantippe hid her face on her husband's breast and cried softly, while +she murmured, "No, no; I will never consent." + +"Then the child will die," answered the Greek, curtly, flinging her from +him. + +And the poor woman cast herself upon the bed beside her boy, and when +her tears ceased for a moment stammered, "When?" + +"To-morrow," was the answer, cruel and peremptory. And as Gregorio +closed the lattice, shutting out the noise of song and laughter, the +room echoed with the mighty sobbing of a woman who was betrayed, and who +repeated hysterically, while kissing the face of her child, "To-morrow, +to-morrow there will be food for you." + +And Gregorio slept peacefully, for the danger of starvation was over; he +would yet live to see his son become rich. + +And the woman? + +He kissed her before he slept, and women always cry. + + + + +IV--CONCERNING TWO WOMEN + +Gregorio felt a little bit ashamed of himself next morning. The +excitement had passed, and the full meaning of his words came back to +him and made him shudder. The sun, already risen, sent shafts of light +between the lips of the wooden lattice. A faint sound of life and +movement stole upward from the street below. But Xantippe and the boy +still slumbered, though the woman's form shook convulsively at times, +for she sobbed in her sleep. + +Gregorio looked at the two for a minute and then raised himself with +an oath. The woman's heavy breathing irritated him, for, after all, he +argued, it was her duty as well as his to sacrifice herself for the lad. +Moreover, the Jew must be paid, and to-day was that appointed by Amos +for the settling of their account. There was no money to pay it with, +and they must lose their furniture, so much at least was certain. But +Amos would not have the best of the bargain, thought the Greek as he +looked round the room with a grin, and the certainty that he had got +the better of Amos for the moment cheered his spirits. Then, too, after +to-day there would be plenty to eat, for his wife could manage to earn +money; nor was the man so mean in his villainy as to shirk any effort to +earn money himself. After first looking at his wife critically and with +a satisfied smile, he touched her on the shoulder to wake her. + +"I am going out for work," he said, as Xantippe opened her eyes. + +"All right." + +"Good-bye." + +But Xantippe answered not. She turned her face to the wall wearily as +Gregorio left her. + +Entering the street he made straight for Amos's house, and told the +porter, who was still lying on the trestle before the door, that he +could not pay the Jew's bill. Then without waiting for an answer, he +hurried off to the quay. + +With better luck than on the previous day, he managed to obtain +employment for some hours. The Greek mail-boat had arrived, and under +the blazing sun he toiled good-humouredly and patiently. The work +was hard, but it gave him no opportunity of thinking. He had to be +continually dodging large bales of fruit and wine, and if he made a +mistake the officer on duty would shout at him angrily, "Lazy dog! you +would not have left Greece were you not an idle fellow." Such words +wounded his pride, and he determined to do so well that he should earn +praise. But the little officer, his bright buttons flashing in the +sunlight, who smoked quietly in the intervals of silence, never praised +anybody; but he left off abusing Gregorio at last, and when work ceased +for the day bade him come again on the morrow. + +At sunset Gregorio pocketed his few hard-earned piastres and wandered +cityward. He did not care to go back to his home, for he knew there +would be miserable stories to tell of the Jew's anger, and, moreover, +he was terribly thirsty. So he went into a little cafe--known as the +Penny-farthing Shop--opposite his house and called for a flask of +kephisa. As he sipped the wine he glanced up nervously at his window and +wondered whether his wife had already left home. Were he sure that she +had, he would leave his wine untouched and hasten to look after his +son and give him food. But until he knew Xantippe had gone he would not +move. The sobs of yesterday still disturbed him, and he was more than +once on the point of cancelling his resolves. But as the wine stirred +his blood he became satisfied with what he had done and said. The little +cafe at Benhur that was to make his fortune seemed nearly in his grasp. +Had he not, he asked himself, worked all day without a murmur? It was +right Xantippe should help him. + +As he sat dreamily thinking over these things, and watching the shadows +turn to a darker purple under the oil-lamps, a woman spoke to him. + +"Well, Gregorio, are you asleep?" + +"No," said he, turning toward his questioner. + +The woman laughed. She was a big woman, dressed in loose folds of red +and blue. Her hair was dishevelled, and ornamented with brass pins +fastened into it at random. Her sleeves were rolled up to her armpits, +and she had her arms akimbo--fat, flabby arms that shook as she laughed. +Her eyes were almost hidden, she screwed them up so closely, but her +wide mouth opened and disclosed a row of gigantic, flawless teeth. + +Gregorio frowned as he looked at her. He knew her well and had never +liked her. But he dare not quarrel with her, for he owed her money, and +"for the love of his black eyes," as she told him, she had ever a bottle +of wine ready for him when he wished. + +"Well, my good woman," he blurted out, surlily, "you seem to be amused." + +"I am, Gregorio. Tell me," she continued, slyly, seating herself beside +him and placing her elbows on the table, "how is she?" + +"Who?" + +"Xantippe. She came to me to-day, and I saw she had been crying. But I +said nothing, because it is not always wise to ask questions. I thought +she wept because she was hungry and because the baby was hungry. I +offered her food and she took some, but so little, scarcely enough to +cover a ten-piastre piece. 'That is for the baby,' I said; 'now some for +you.' But she refused." + +"Perhaps she had food for herself," said Gregorio, shifting uneasily in +his chair. + +"Perhaps," said the woman, and laughed again, more loudly than ever, +till the table shook. "But she asked me for something else," she +continued, when her merriment languished for want of breath; "she asked +me to let her have an old dress of mine, a bright yellow-and-red dress, +and she borrowed some ornaments. It is not right of you, Gregorio, to +keep an old friend on the door-step when you have a fantasia." + +Gregorio scowled savagely. After a pause he said, "I don't know why my +wife wanted your dress and ornaments." + +"Oh yes, you do, friend Gregorio." And she laughed again, this time +a suppressed, chuckling laugh that threatened to choke her; and she +supported her chin on her hands, while her eyes peered through the +enveloping fat at the man who sat opposite to her. Suddenly she stood +up, and taking Gregorio by the arm dragged him to the door. + +"See, there she goes. My garments are cleverly altered and suit her +finely, don't they? Ah, well, my friend, a man who cannot support a wife +should marry a woman who can support him." + +Gregorio did not stop to answer her, but pushed past her into the +street. The woman watched him enter the house opposite, and then +returned quietly to her work. But there was a smile hovering round her +lips as she murmured to herself, "Ah, well, in time." + +Gregorio meanwhile had run up to his room and entered it breathless with +excitement. The first glance told him that Amos had seized all he +could, for nothing remained save a wooden bench and one or two coarse, +half-disabled cooking utensils. + +Gregorio swore a little as he realised what had happened. Then he saw in +a corner by the window his son and Ahmed. + +"She has gone," said Ahmed, as Gregorio's gaze rested on him. But she +might have gone merely to market, or to see a neighbour, for all the +imperturbable Arab face disclosed. As soon as he had spoken the man bent +over the child, laughing softly as the youngster played with his beard. +For the Arab, as he is miscalled, is fond of children, and there are +none to whom children take so readily as to the Egyptian fellahin. + +Gregorio watched the two for a moment, and then placing his remaining +piastres in the man's hand bade him bring food and wine. As soon as +he was left alone with his son, he flung himself down on the floor and +kissed, "You shall be a great man, ay, a rich man, my son." + +He repeated the sentence over and over again, punctuating it with +kisses, while the two-year-old regarded him wonderingly, until Ahmed +returned. + +When the meal was ended Gregorio took the boy in his arms and sang to +him softly till at last the infant slept. Then he placed him gently on +the floor, having first made of his coat a bed, and went to the window +and flung back the shutters. He smoked quietly as the minutes went by, +waiting impatiently for his wife to return. It seemed to him monstrous +that the boy who was to inherit a fortune should be sleeping on the +dirty floor wrapped in an old coat; that an Arab, a mere fellah, should +amuse his son and play with him, when Greek nurses were to be hired in +Alexandria had one only the money. Long after midnight he heard a step +on the stairs, and a minute after the door opened. He recognised his +wife's footsteps, and he rose to meet her. As she came into the room she +looked quickly round, and seeing her son went toward him and kissed him. +Gregorio, half afraid, stood by the window watching her. She let her +glance rest on him a minute, then she turned round and laid her cloak +upon the floor. + +"Xantippe!" + +But she did not answer. + +"Xantippe, I have fed our son. The good days are coming when we shall be +rich and happy." + +But Xantippe was too busy folding out the creases of her cloak to +notice him. The moonlight streamed on to her, and her face shone like an +angel's. Gregorio made one step toward her, ravished, for she had never +appeared so beautiful to him. For the moment he forgot the whole hideous +history of the last few days and the brief, horrible conversation of the +night before. Fired with a desire to touch her, to kiss her, to +whisper into her ear, in the soft Greek speech, all the endearments and +tendernesses that had won her when he wooed her, he placed his hand upon +her arm. As if stung by a venomous snake, the woman recoiled from his +touch. With a quick movement she sprang back and flung at his face a +handful of gold and silver coins. + +"Take them; they're yours," she cried, huskily, and retreated into the +farthest corner of the room. + +With a savage curse Gregorio put his hand to his lips and wiped away the +blood, for a heavy coin had cut him. Then he ran swiftly downstairs, and +Xantippe, as she lay down wearily beside her boy, heard a woman laugh. + + + + +V--XANTIPPE LOOKS OUT OF THE WINDOW + +The Penny-farthing Shop was full of customers, and Madam Marx, the +fat woman who followed Gregorio to the bar, was for a long time busy +attending to her clients. Some English war-ships had entered the harbour +at sunset, and many of the sailors had lost no time in seeking out their +favourite haunt. Most of them knew Madam Marx well, as a good-natured +woman who gave them plenty to drink for their money, and secreted +them from the eyes of the police when the liquor overpowered them. +Consequently there was much laughter and shaking of hands, and many a +rough jest, which Madam Marx responded to in broken English. Gregorio +watched the sailors gloomily. He hated the English, for even their +sailors seemed to have plenty of money, and he recalled the rich +Englishman he had seen at the Cafe Paradiso, drinking champagne and +buying flowers for the Hungarian woman who played the fiddle. The scene +he had just left contrasted disagreeably with the fun and jollity that +surrounded him. But he felt unable to shake off his gloom and annoyance, +and Madam Marx's attentions irritated him. He felt that her eyes +continually rested on him, that, however busy she might be, he was never +out of her thoughts. Every few minutes she would come toward him with a +bottle of wine and fill up his glass, saying, "Come, my friend; wine +is good and will drown your troubles." And though he resented her +patronage, knowing he could not pay, he nevertheless drank steadily. + +Every few minutes he heard the sound of horses' hoofs on the hard +roadway, and through the windows he saw the military police pass slowly +on their rounds. + +At last the strong drinks so amiably retailed by Madam Marx did their +work, and the men lay about the floor asleep and breathing heavily. The +silence succeeding the noise startled Gregorio from his sullen humour. +Madam Marx came and sat beside him, weary as she was with her long +labours, and talked volubly. The wine had mounted to his head, and he +answered her in rapid sentences, accompanying his words with gesture and +grimace. What he talked about he scarcely knew, but the woman laughed, +and he took an insane delight in hearing her. Just before daylight he +fell asleep, resting his head on his arms, that were spread across +the table. Madam Marx kissed him as he slept, murmuring to herself +contentedly, "Ah, well, in time." + +When Gregorio woke the sun was high in the heavens, blazing out of a +brazen sky. Clouds of dust swept past the door from time to time, and +cut his neck and face as he stood on the threshold smoking lazily. It +was too late to go down to the quay, for his place must have long ago +been filled by another. He was not sorry, since he by no means desired +to toil again under the hot sun; the heavy drinking of the night had +made him lethargic, and he was so thirsty the heat nearly choked him. +He called out to a water-carrier staggering along in the scanty shade on +the opposite side of the street, and took eagerly a draught of water. +He touched the pigskin with his hand, and it was hot. The water was +warm and made him sick; he spat it from his mouth hastily, and hearing a +laugh behind him, turned round and saw Madam Marx. + +"See, here is some wine, my friend; leave the water for the Arabs." + +Gregorio gratefully seized the flagon and let the wine trickle down his +throat, while Madam Marx, with arms akimbo, stood patiently before him. + +"I must go now," he said, as he handed back the half-emptied flask. + +"Why?" + +"Because I must get some work." + +"It is not easy to get work in the summer." + +"I know, but I must get some. I owe money to Amos." + +"Yes, I know. But your wife is making money now." + +The man scowled at her. "How do you know that? Before God, I swear that +she is not." + +"Come, come, Gregorio. You were drunk last night, and your tongue wagged +pretty freely. It's not a bit of use being angry with me, because I only +know what you've told me. Besides, I'm your friend, you know that." + +Gregorio flushed angrily at the woman's words, but he knew quite well +it was no use replying to them, for she was speaking only the truth. But +the knowledge that he had betrayed his secret annoyed him. He had grown +used to the facts and could look at them easily enough, but he had not +reckoned on others also learning them. + +He determined to go out and find work, or at any rate to tramp the +streets pretending to look for something to do. The woman became +intolerable to him, and the Penny-farthing Shop, reeking with the odour +of stale tobacco and spilled liquor, poisoned him. He took up his hat +brusquely and stepped into the street. + +Madam Marx, standing at the door, laughed at him as she called out, +"Good-bye, Gregorio; when will you come back?" + +He did not answer, but the sound of her laughter followed him up the +street, and he kicked angrily at the stones in his path. + +At last he passed by the Ras-el-Tin barracks. He looked curiously at the +English soldiers. Some were playing polo on the hard brown space to +the left, and from the windows of the building men leaned out, their +shirt-sleeves rolled up and their strong arms bared to the sun. They +smoked short clay pipes, and innumerable little blue spiral clouds +mounted skyward. Obviously the heat did not greatly inconvenience them, +for they laughed and sang and drank oceans of beer. + +The sight of them annoyed Gregorio. He looked at the pewter mugs shining +in the sunlight. He eyed greedily the passage of one from hand to hand; +and when one man, after taking a long pull, laughed and held it upside +down to show him it was empty, he burst into an uncontrollable fit of +anger, and shook his fist impotently at the soldiers, who chaffed him +good-naturedly. As he went along by the stables, a friendly lancer, +pitying him, probably, too, wearying of his own lonely watch, called to +him, and offered him a drink out of a stone bottle. Gregorio drank again +feverishly, and handed the bottle back to its owner with a grin, and +passed on without a word. The soldier watched him curiously, but said +nothing. + +When he reached the lighthouse Gregorio flung himself on to the +pebble-strewn sand and looked across the bay. The blue water, calm and +unruffled as a sheet of glass, spread before him. The ships--Austrian +Lloyd mail-boats, P. and O. liners, and grimy coal-hulks--lay motionless +against the white side of the jetty. + +The khedive's yacht was bright with bunting, and innumerable +fishing-boats near the breakwater made grateful oases in the glare +whereon his eyes might rest. But he heeded them not. Angrily he flung +lumps of stone and sand into the wavelets at his feet, and pushed back +his hat that his face might feel the full heat of the sun. Then he lit a +cigarette and began to think. + +But what was the good of thinking? The thoughts always formed themselves +into the same chain and reached the same conclusion; and ever on the +glassy surface of the Levantine sea a woman poised herself and laughed +at him. + +When the sun fell behind the horizon, and the breakwater, after dashing +up one flash of gold, became a blue blur, Gregorio rose to go. As +he walked back toward the Penny-farthing Shop he felt angry and +unsatisfied. The whole day was wasted. He had done nothing to relieve +his wife, nothing to pay off Amos. Madam met him at the door, a flask of +wine in her hand. Against his will Gregorio entered her cafe and smiled, +but his smile was sour and malevolent. + +"You want cheering, my friend," said madam, laughing. + +"I have found nothing to do," said Gregorio. + +"Ah! I told you it would be hard. There are no tourists in Alexandria +now. And it is foolish of you to tramp the streets looking for work that +you will never find, when you have everything you can want here." + +"Except money, and that's everything," put in Gregorio, bluntly. + +"Even money, my friend. I have enough for two." + +Madam Marx had played her trump card, and she watched anxiously the +effect of her words. For a moment the man did not speak, but trifled +with his cigarette tobacco, rolling it gently between his brown fingers. +Then he said: + +"You know I am in debt now, and I want to pay off all I owe, and leave +here." + +"Yes, that's true, but you won't pay off your debts by tramping the +streets, and your little cafe at Benhur will be a long time building, I +fancy. Meanwhile there is money to be made at the Penny-farthing Shop." + +"What are your terms?" asked Gregorio, roughly. + +The woman laughed, but did not answer. The stars were shining, and the +kempsin that had blown all day was dead. It was cool sitting outside the +door of the cafe under the little awning, and pleasant to watch the blue +cigarette smoke float upward in the still air. Gregorio sat for a while +silent, and the woman came and stood by him. "You know my terms," she +whispered, and Gregorio smiled, took her hand, and kissed her. At that +moment the blind of the opposite house was flung back. Xantippe leaned +out of the window and saw them. + + + + +VI--BABY AND JEW + +When the Penny-farthing Shop began to fill Gregorio disappeared quietly +by the back door. He muttered a half-unintelligible answer to the men +who were playing cards in the dim parlour through which he had to pass, +who called to him to join them. Gaining the street, he wandered along +till he reached the bazaars, intending to waste an hour or two until +Xantippe should have left the house. Then he determined to go back and +see the boy in whom all his hopes and ambitions were centered, who was +the unconscious cause of his villainy and degradation. + +There was a large crowd in the bazaars, for a Moolid was being +celebrated. Jugglers, snake-charmers, mountebanks, gipsies, and +dancing-girls attracted hundreds of spectators. + +The old men sat in the shadows of their stalls, smoking and drinking +coffee. They smiled gravely at the younger people, who jostled one +another good-humouredly, laughing, singing, quarrelling like children. +Across the roadway hung lamps of coloured glass and tiny red flags +stamped with a white crescent and a star. Torches blazed at intervals, +casting a flickering glow on the excited faces of the crowd. + +Gregorio watched without much interest. He had seen a great many +fantasias since he came to Egypt, and they were no longer a novelty to +him. He was annoyed that a race of people whom he despised should be so +merry when he himself had so many troubles to worry him. He would have +liked to go into one of the booths where the girls danced, but he had no +money, and he cursed at his stupidity in not asking the Marx woman for +some. He no longer felt ashamed of himself, for he argued that he was +the victim of circumstances. Still he wished Xantippe had not looked out +of the window, though of course he could easily explain things to her. +And Xantippe was really so angry the night before, explanations were +better postponed for a time. "After all," he thought, "it really does +not much matter. Once we get over our present difficulties we shall +forget all we have gone through." This comfortable reflection had been +doing duty pretty often the last day or two, and though Gregorio did not +believe it a bit, he always felt it was a satisfactory conclusion, and +one to be encouraged. + +Meanwhile he would not meet Xantippe. That was a point upon which he had +definitely made up his mind. As he strolled through the bazaars, putting +into order his vagabond thoughts, in a tall figure a few yards in front +of him he recognised Amos. Nervous, he halted, for he had no desire to +be interviewed by the Jew, and yet no way of escape seemed possible. + +Nodding affably to the proprietor, he sat down on the floor of a shop +hard by and watched Amos. The old man was evidently interested, for he +was laughing pleasantly, and bending down to look at something on the +ground. What it was Gregorio could not see. A knot of people, also +laughing, surrounded the Jew. Gregorio was curious to see what attracted +them, but fearful of being recognised by the old man. However, after a +few moments his impatience mastered him, and he stepped up to the group. + +"What is it?" he asked one of the bystanders. + +"Only a baby. It's lost, I think." + +Gregorio pushed his way into the centre of the crowd and suddenly became +white as death. + +There, seated on the ground, was his own child, laughing and talking to +himself in a queer mixture of Greek and Arabic. Amos was bending kindly +over the youngster, giving him cakes and sweets, and making inquiries as +to the parents. + +A chill fear seized on Gregorio's heart. He could not have explained the +cause, nor did he stay and try to explain it. Quickly he broke into the +midst of the circle and, catching up the boy in his arms, ran swiftly +away. + +Having reached home, he kissed the boy passionately, sent for food to +Madam Marx, and wept and laughed hysterically for an hour. After a time +the boy slept, and Gregorio then paced up and down the room, smoking, +and puffing great clouds of smoke from his mouth, trying to calm +himself. But he could not throw off his excitement. He imagined the +awful home-coming had he not been to the bazaar, and he wondered what he +would have done then. A great joy possessed him to see his son safe, +and a fierce desire filled him to know who had taken the child away. +He longed for Xantippe's return that he might tell her. He forgot +completely that he had dreaded seeing her earlier this evening. Then he +began to wonder what Amos was doing at the fantasia, and why he was so +interested in the boy. Perhaps, Amos would forgive the debt for love of +the child. The idea pleased him, but he soon came to understand that +it was untenable. Oftener, indeed, he shuddered as he recalled the old +man's figure bent over the infant. A sense of danger to come overwhelmed +him. In some way he felt that the old man and the child were to be +brought together to work his, Gregorio's, ruin. + +Suddenly he heard a footstep on the stairs. "Thank God!" he cried, as he +ran to the door. + +"Xantippe!" + +But he recoiled as if shot, for as the door opened Amos entered. The Jew +bowed politely to the Greek, but there was an unpleasant twinkle in his +eyes as he spoke. + +"You cannot offer me a seat, my friend, so I will stand. We have met +already this evening." + +Gregorio did not answer, but placed himself between the Jew and the +child. + +"I dare say you did not see me," the old man continued, quietly, "for +you seemed excited. I suppose the child is yours. It was surely careless +to let him stray so far from home." + +"The child is mine." + +"Ah, well, it is a happy chance that you recovered him so easily. And +now to business." + +"I am listening." + +"I have already, as of course you know, been here to see you about the +money you owe me. I was sorry you did not see fit to pay me, because I +had to sell your furniture, and it was not worth much." + +"I have no money to pay you, or I would have paid you long ago. I told +you when I went to your house that I could not pay you." + +"And yet, my friend, it is only fair that a man who borrows money should +be prepared to pay it back." + +"I could pay you back if you gave me time. But you have no heart, you +Jews. What do you care if we starve, so long as--" + +"Hush!" said Amos, gravely; "I have dealt fairly by you. But I will let +you go free on one condition." + +"And that is?" + +"That you give me the child." + +Gregorio stood speechless with horror and rage at the window, and the +old man walked across the room to where the infant lay. + +"I have no young son, Gregorio Livadas, and I will take yours. Not +only will I forgive you the debt, but I will give you money. I want the +child." + +"By God, you shall not touch him!" cried Gregorio, suddenly finding +voice for his passion. + +He rushed furiously at Amos, gripped him by the throat, and flung him +to the far side of the room. Then he stood by his child with his arms +folded on his breast, his eyes flashing and his nostrils dilated. Amos +quickly recovered himself, and, in a voice that scarcely trembled, again +demanded his money. + +"Go away," shouted Gregorio; "if you come here again, I will kill you. +Twice now have I saved my boy from falling into your hands." + +"I wish only to do you a service. You are a beggar, and I am rich +enough, ask Heaven, to look after the child. Why should you abuse me +because I offer to release you from your debts if you will let me take +the child?" + +Gregorio answered brusquely that the Jew should not touch the boy. "I +will not have him made a Jew." + +"Then you will pay me." + +"I will not. I cannot." + +"I shall take measures, my friend, to force you to pay me. I have not +dealt harshly with you. I came here to help you, and you have insulted +me and beaten me." + +"Because you are a dog of a Jew, and you have tried to steal my son." + +A nasty look came into the Jew's eyes,--a cold, cunning look,--and he +was about to reply when the door opened and Xantippe entered. She was +well dressed, and wore some ornaments of gold. Amos turned toward her, +asking the man: + +"This is your wife?" + +But Gregorio told Xantippe rapidly the history of his adventures with +the boy; and the woman, hearing them, moved quietly to the corner where +he slept, and took him in her arms. + +The Jew smiled. "I see," he said, "that madam has money. She has taken +the advice I gave you the other day. Now I know that you can pay me, +and if you do not within two days, Gregorio Livadas, you will repent the +insults you have heaped on my head this night." + +He walked quietly to the corner of the room, where Xantippe sat nursing +the boy, touched the child gently on the forehead with his lips, and +then went out. + +For some minutes neither Xantippe nor Gregorio spoke, but the man rubbed +the infant's forehead with his finger as if to wipe out the stain of the +Jew's kiss. + + + + +VII--XANTIPPE SPEAKS OUT + +At last the silence, roused only by the strident buzzing of the +mosquitos, became unendurable. Gregorio gave a preparatory cough and +opened his lips to speak, but the words refused to be born. He was +unnerved. The odious visitor, the wearying day, the memory of Xantippe's +face at the window, combined to make him fearful. He watched, under his +half-closed lids, his wife crouching on the far side of the boy. Once or +twice, as he was rubbing the youngster's forehead, his fingers touched +those of his wife as she waved off the mosquitos; but at each contact +with them he shivered and his fears increased. He tried, vainly, to +get his thoughts straight, and lit a cigarette with apparent calmness, +swaggering to the window; but his legs did not cease to tremble, and the +unsteadiness of his gait caused Xantippe to smile as she watched him. +Resting by the window, Gregorio widened the lips of the lattice and let +in a stream of moonbeams that rested on wife and child, illumining the +dark corner. + +"Gregorio!" + +"Yes." + +"Have you told me all? Is there nothing else to tell em about our son +and the Jew?" + +Gregorio felt he must now speak; it was not possible to keep silence +longer. He was pleased that his wife had begun the conversation, for it +seemed easier to answer questions than to frame them. "I have told you +the whole story. There is no more to tell. It was by accident I found +him in the bazaar, and that devil Amos was bending over him. I could +kill that man." + +"What good would that do?" + +"Fancy if we had lost the boy! Think of the sacrifices we have made for +him, and they would have been useless." + +"Have you made any sacrifices, Gregorio?" + +The question was quietly asked, but there was a ring of irony in the +sound of the voice, and Gregorio, to shun his wife's gaze, moved into +the friendly shadows. For some minutes he did not answer. At length, +with a nervous laugh, he replied: + +"Of course. We have both made sacrifices, great sacrifices." + +"It is odd," pursued Xantippe, gently, as if speaking to herself, "that +you should so flatter yourself. You professed to care for me once; you +only regard me now as a slave to earn money for you." + +"It is for our son's sake." + +"Is it for our son's sake also that you sit with Madam Marx, that you +drink her wine, that you kiss her?" + +Gregorio could not answer. He felt it were useless to try and explain, +though the reason seemed to him clear enough. + +"I am glad to have the chance," continued Xantippe, "of talking to +you, for we may now understand each other. I have made the greatest +sacrifice, and because it was for our son's sake I forgave you. I wept, +but, as I wept, I said, 'It is hell for Gregorio too.' But when I looked +from the window this afternoon I knew it was not hell for you. I knew +you did not care what became of me. It was pleasant for you to send +me away to make money while you drank and kissed at the Penny-farthing +Shop. I came suddenly to know that the man had spoken truth." + +"What man?" asked Gregorio, huskily. + +"The man! The man you bade me find. Because money is not gathered from +the pavements. You know that, and you sent me out to get money. When I +first came back to you I flung the gold at you; it burned my fingers, +and your eagerness for it stung. But I did not quite hate you, though +his words had begun to chime in my ears: 'In my country such a husband +would be horsewhipped.' When you were kind I was little more than a dog +you liked to pet. I thought that was how all women were treated. I know +differently now. You will earn money through me, for it is my duty to my +son, but you have earned something else." + +"Yes?" queried Gregorio. + +"My hate. Surely you are not surprised? I have learned what love is +these last few days, have learned what a real man is like. I know you to +be what he called you, a cur and a coward. I should never have learned +this but for you, and I am grateful, very grateful. It is useless +to swear and to threaten me with your fists. You dare not strike me, +because, were you to injure me, you would lose your money. You have +tried to degrade me, and you have failed. I am happier than I have ever +been, and far, far wiser. When a woman learns what a man's love is, +she becomes wiser in a day than if she had studied books for a hundred +years." + +Xantippe ceased speaking and, taking her son in her arms, closed her +eyes and fell asleep quietly, a gentle smile hovering round her lips. + +Gregorio scowled at her savagely, and would have liked to strike her, +to beat out his passion on her white breast and shoulders. But she had +spoken only the truth when she said he dare not touch her. With impotent +oaths he sought to let off the anger that boiled in him. He feared +to think, and every word she had uttered made him think in spite of +himself. The events of sixty hours had destroyed what little of good +there was in the man. Save only the idolatrous love for his child, he +scarcely retained one ennobling quality. + +Little by little his anger cooled, his shame died out of him, and he +began to wonder curiously what manner of man this was whose words had so +stirred his wife. Wondering he fell asleep, nor did he awaken till the +sun was risen. + +While eating his breakfast he inquired cunningly concerning this wise +teacher of the gospels of love and hate, but Xantippe for a time did not +answer. + +"Is he a Greek?" + +"No." + +"A Frenchman?" + +"No." + +"A German?" + +"No." + +Suddenly Gregorio felt a kind of cramp at his heart, and he had to +pause before he put the next question. He could scarcely explain why +he hesitated, but he called to mind the Paradise cafe and the red-faced +Englishman. He was ready enough to sacrifice his wife if by so doing +money might be gained, but he felt somehow hurt in his vanity at the +idea of this ugly, slow-witted Northerner usurping his place. With an +effort, however, he put the question: + +"Is he an Englishman?" + +"Yes." + +He was seized with a tumult of anger. He spoke volubly, talking of the +ignorance of the English, their brutality, their dull brains, their +stupid pride. Xantippe waited till he had finished speaking and then +replied quietly: + +"It cannot matter to you. It is my concern. You have lost all rights to +be angry with me or those connected with me." + +Gregorio refused to hear reason, and explained how he begrudged them +their wealth and fame. "For these English are a dull people, and we +Greeks are greatly superior." + +"I do not agree with you," Xantippe replied. "I have learned what a man +is since I have known him, and I have learned to hate you. You may have +more brains--that I know nothing of, nor do I care. He could not behave +as you have behaved, nor have sacrificed me as you have sacrificed me. +Some of his money comes to you. You want money. Be satisfied." + +Gregorio felt the justice of her words, and he watched her put on her +hat and leave the room. A minute later, looking out of the window, he +saw her link her arm in that of the Englishman of the Paradiso, and +across the street, at the threshold of the Penny-farthing Shop, Madam +Marx waved her hand to himself and laughed. + + + + +VIII--A DESOLATE HOME-COMING + +Toward the evening of a day a fortnight later, Gregorio found himself +seated in Madam Marx's cafe, idly watching the passers-by. He was +feeling happier, for that was being amassed which alone could insure +happiness to him. Each day some golden pieces were added to the amount +saved, and the cafe at Benhur seemed almost within his grasp. The +feeling of security from want acted as a narcotic and soothed him, so +that the things which should have troubled him scarcely interested him +at all. He was intoxicated with the sight of gold. When he had first +seen Xantippe and the Englishman together his anger had been violent; +but when at last the futility of his rage became certain, his aggressive +passion had softened to a smouldering discontent that hardly worried +him, unless he heard some one speak a British name. His prosperity had +destroyed the last vestiges of shame and soothed his illogical outbursts +of fury. He was contented enough now to sit all day with Madam Marx, +and returned to his home in the evening when Xantippe was away. He had +spoken to her only once since she had told him she hated him. He had +strolled out of the cafe about midday and entered his room. Xantippe was +there, talking to her child, and quietly bade him go away. + +"It's my room as well as yours," Gregorio had answered. + +"It is my money that pays for it," was the reply. + +A long conversation followed, but Xantippe met the man's coarse anger +with quiet scorn, and told him that if he stayed she would grow to +dislike her son since he was the father. + +Gregorio was wise enough to control his anger then. For he knew that if +she were really to lose her love for the boy, all his chances, and the +boy's chances, of ease and prosperity would be destroyed. It was, of +course, ridiculous to imagine she would supply him with money then. +That she thoroughly loathed him, and would always loathe him, was very +certain. So great, indeed, seemed her contempt for him that it was quite +possible she might come to hate his child. So he did not attempt to +remain in the room, but as he closed the door after him he waited a +moment and listened. He heard her heave a sigh of relief and then say +to the little fellow, "How like your father you grow! My God! I almost +think I hate you for being so like him." Gregorio shuddered as he ran +noiselessly downstairs. He never ventured to speak to her again. He +argued himself out of the disquiet into which her words had thrown him. +He knew it was difficult for a woman to hate her child. The birth-pains +cement a love it requires a harsh wrench to sever. He easily persuaded +himself, as he sipped Madam Marx's coffee, that if he kept in the +background all cause for hatred would be removed. As for her feelings +toward himself, he had ceased, almost, to care. The money was worth the +cost paid in the attainment of it, and a woman's laugh was less sweet to +him than the chink of gold and silver pieces. On the whole Gregorio +had little reason to be troubled; only unreasoning dislike for +the Englishman--why could not he be of any other nation, or, if an +Englishman, any other Englishman?--hurt his peace of mind. And for the +most part his discontent only smouldered. + +Madam Marx brought her coffee and sat beside him. Her face betokened +satisfaction, and she looked at Gregorio with a possessive smile. She +had gained her desire, and asked fortune for no other gift. + +"You have not seen Xantippe since she turned you out? Ah, well, it +is much better you should keep away. You are welcome here, and it is +foolish to go where one is not wanted." + +"I've not seen her; I'm afraid to see her." He spoke openly to madam +now. + +"Some women are queer. If she had ever really loved you, she would not +have thrown you over. I should not have complained had I been in her +place. One cannot always choose one's lot." + +"It's that damned Englishman who has spoiled her." + +"Ah, yes, those English! I know them." + +"Did I tell you what she said about the boy?" + +"Yes, my friend. But as long as you don't worry her, her words need not +worry you." + +"They don't, except sometimes at night. I wake up and remember them, and +then I am afraid." + +"Why do you hate the Englishman? To my mind it is lucky for both of you +that this Englishman saw her. There are not men so rich as the English, +and he is a rich Englishman. You are lucky." + +"I hate him." + +"Because he has stolen your wife's love?" Madam Marx, as she put +the question, laid her fat hand upon Gregorio's shoulder and laughed +confidently. The movement irritated him, but he never tried to resist +her now. + +"No, not quite that. I'm used to it, and the money more than compensates +me. But I hated the man when I first saw him in the Paradise. There +was a fiddler-woman he talked to, and he could scarcely make himself +understood. He had money, and he gave her champagne and flowers. And I +was starving, and the woman was beautiful." + +Madam tapped his cheek and smiled. + +"The woman can't interest you now. Also you have money--his money." + +"Still I hate him." + +"You Greeks are like children. Your hatred is unreasonable; there is no +cause for it." + +"Unreasonable and not to be reasoned away." + +"Well, why worry about him? He won't follow you to Benhur, I fancy." + +"It doesn't worry me generally; but when you mention him my hate springs +up again. I forget him when I am by myself." + +"Forget him now." + +And they drank coffee in silence. + +Darkness came on, and the blue night mist. Gregorio was impatient to +see his son. He gazed intently at the door of the opposite house, +little heeding madam, who was busy with preparations for the evening's +entertainment of her customers. Suddenly he saw a woman leave the house, +hail a passing carriage, and drive rapidly down the street toward the +Place Mehemet Ali. Gregorio, with a cry of pleasure, rose and left the +cafe. Madam Marx followed him to the door and called a good-night to +him. Gregorio stood irresolutely in the middle of the road. He had +promised the boy a boat, and he blamed himself for having forgotten to +buy it. Grumbling at his forgetfulness, he hurried along the street, +determined to waste no time. On occasions he could relinquish his lazy, +slouching gait, and he would hurry always to obey the commands of +the king his son. A pleasant smile at the thought of the pleasure his +present would cause softened the sinister mould of his lips, and he sang +softly to himself as he moved quickly cityward. + +Before he had gone many yards an oath broke in upon the music, and he +darted swiftly under the shadow of a wall; for coming forward him was +Amos the Jew. But the old man's sharp eyes detected the victim, and, +following Gregorio into his hiding-place, Amos laid his hand upon the +Greek. + +"Why do you try to hide when we have so much to say to one another?" + +Gregorio shook himself from the Jew's touch and professed ignorance of +the necessity for speech. + +"Come, come, my friend, the money you borrowed is still owing in part." + +"But you will be paid. We are saving money; we cannot put by all we +earn--we must live." + +"I will be paid now; if I am not, you are to blame for the +consequences." + +And with a courtly salute the Jew passed on. Now Gregorio had not +forgotten his debt, nor the Jew's threats, and he fully intended to +pay what he owed. But of course it would take time, and the man was +too impatient. He realised he had been foolish not to pay something on +account; but it hurt him to part with gold. He determined, however, +to send Amos something when he returned home. So good a watch had been +kept, he never doubted the child's safety. But it would be awkward if +Amos got him put in jail. So he reckoned up how much he could afford to +pay, and, having bought the toy, returned eagerly home. He ran upstairs, +singing a barcarole at the top of his voice, and rushed into the room, +waving the model ship above his head. "See here," he cried, "is the +ship! I have not forgotten it." But his shout fell to a whisper. The +room was empty. + +With a heartbroken sob the man fell swooning on the floor. + + + + +IX--A DISCOVERY AND A CONSPIRACY + +For long he lay stretched out upon the floor in a state of +half-consciousness. He could hear the mosquitos buzzing about his face, +he could hear, too, the sounds of life rise up from the street below; +but he was able to move neither arm nor leg, and his head seemed +fastened to the floor by immovable leaden weights. That his son was lost +was all he understood. + +How long he lay there he scarcely knew, but it seemed to him weeks. At +last he heard footsteps on the stairs. He endeavoured vainly to raise +himself, and, though he strove to cry out, his tongue refused to frame +the words. Lying there, living and yet lifeless, he saw the door open +and Amos enter. The old man hesitated a moment, for the room was dark, +while Gregorio, who had easily recognised his visitor, lay impotent on +the floor. Before Amos could become used to the darkness the door again +opened, and Madam Marx entered with a lamp in her hand. Amos turned +to see who had followed him, and, in turning, his foot struck against +Gregorio's body. Immediately, the woman crying softly, both visitors +knelt beside the sick man. A fierce look blazed in Gregorio's eyes, but +the strong words of abuse that hurried through his brain would not be +said. + +"He is very ill," said Amos; "he has had a stroke of some sort." + +"Help me to carry him to my house," sobbed the woman, and she kissed +the Greek's quivering lip and pallid brow. Then rising to her feet, she +turned savagely on the Jew. + +"It is your fault. It is you who have killed him." + +"Nay, madam; I had called here for my money, and I had a right to do so. +It has been owing for a long time." + +"No; you have killed him." + +"Indeed, I wished him well. I was willing to forgive the debt if he +would let me take the child." + +A horrid look of agony passed over Gregorio's face, but he remained +silent and motionless. The watchers saw that he understood and that a +tempest of wrath and pain surged within the lifeless body. They +stooped down and carried him downstairs and across the road to the +Penny-farthing Shop. The Jew's touch burned Gregorio like hot embers, +but he could not shake himself free. When he was laid on a bed in a +room above the bar, through the floor of which rose discordant sounds of +revelry, Amos left them. Madam Marx flung herself on the bed beside him +and wept. + +Two days later Gregorio sat, at sunset, by Madam Marx's side, on the +threshold of the cafe. He had recovered speech and use of limbs. With +wrathful eloquence he had told his companion the history of the terrible +night, and now sat weaving plots in his maddened brain. + +Replying to his assertion that Amos was responsible, Madam Marx said: + +"Don't be too impetuous, Gregorio. Search cunningly before you strike. +Maybe your wife knows something." + +"My wife! Not she; she is with her Englishman. Amos has stolen the boy, +and you know it as well as I do. Didn't he tell you he wanted the child? +I met him that night, and he told me if I did not pay I had only myself +to blame for the trouble that would fall on me." + +"Come, come, Gregorio, cheer up!" said the woman; for the Greek, with +head resting on his hands, was sobbing violently. + +"I tell you, all I cared for in life is taken from me. But I will have +my revenge, that I tell you too." + +For a while they sat silent, looking into the street. At last Gregorio +spoke: + +"My wife has not returned since that night, has she?" + +"I have not seen her." + +"Well, I must see her; she can leave the Englishman now." + +Madam Marx laughed a little, but said nothing. + +"There is Ahmed," cried Gregorio, as a blue-clad figure passed on the +other side of the street. He beckoned to the Arab, who came across at +his summons. + +"You seem troubled," he said, as he looked into the Greek's face; and +Gregorio retold the terrible story. + +"You know nothing of all this?" he added, suspiciously, as his narrative +ended. + +"Nothing." + +"My God! it is so awful I thought all the world knew of it. You often +nursed and played with the boy?" + +"Ay, and fed him. We Arabs love children, even Christian children, and I +will help you if I can." + +"Why should Amos want the boy?" asked Madam Marx, as she put coffee and +tobacco before the guests. + +"Because I owe him money, and he knew the loss of my son would be the +deadliest revenge. He will make my son a Jew, a beastly Jew. By God, he +shall not, he shall not!" + +"We must find him and save him," said the woman. + +"He will never be a Jew. That is not what Amos wants your son for; there +are plenty of Jews." Ahmed spoke quietly. + +"They sacrifice children," he continued, after a moment's pause; "surely +you know that, and if you would save your boy there is not much time to +lose." + +Gregorio trembled at Ahmed's words. He wondered how he could have +forgotten the common report, and his fingers grasped convulsively the +handle of his knife. + +"Let us go to Amos," he said, speaking the words with difficulty, for he +was choking with fear for his son. + +"Wait," answered the Arab; "I will come again to-night and bring some +friends with me, two men who will be glad to serve you. We Arabs are not +sorry to strike at the Jews; we have our own wrongs. Wait here till I +come." + +"But what will you do?" asked Madam Marx, looking anxiously on the man +she loved, though her words were for the Arab. + +"Gregorio will ask for his son. If the old man refuses to restore +him, or denies that he has taken him, then we will know the worst, and +then--" + +Gregorio's knife-blade glittered in the sunset rays, as he tested its +sharpness between thumb and finger. The Arab watched with a smile. +"We understand one another," he said. There was no need to finish the +description of his plan. With a solemn wave of his hand he left the +cafe. + +"That man Ahmed," said Madam Marx, "has a grudge against Amos. It +dates from the bombardment, and he had waited all these years to avenge +himself. I believe it was the loss of his wife." + +"Amos made her a Jewess, eh?" And then, after a pause, Gregorio added: + +"So we can depend on Ahmed. To-night I will win back my son or--" + +"Or?" queried madam, tremblingly. + +"Or Amos starts on his journey to hell. God, how my fingers itch to slay +him! The devil, the Jew devil!" + + + + +X--AT THE HOUSE OF AMOS + +As Ahmed had advised, Gregorio settled himself patiently to await the +summons. Madam would have liked to ask him many questions, and to have +extracted a promise from him not to risk his life in any mad enterprise +his accomplice might suggest. But though the Greek's body seemed almost +lifeless, so quietly and immovably he rested on his chair, there was a +restless look in his eyes that told her how fiercely and irrepressibly +his anger burned. She knew enough of his race to know that no power on +earth could stop him striking for revenge. And she trembled, for +she knew also that directly he had begun to strike his madness would +increase, and that only sheer physical exhaustion would stay his hand. + +Madam Marx was unhappy, and as she waited on her customers her eyes +rested continually on the Greek, who heeded her not. Once she carried +some wine to him, and he drank eagerly, spilling a few drops on the +floor first. "It's like blood," he muttered, and smiled. Madam hastily +covered his mouth with her trembling fingers. + +Just before midnight Ahmed arrived with his two friends. Gregorio saw +them at once, and, calling them to him, they spoke together in low +voices for a few moments. There was little need for words, and soon, +scarcely noticed by the drinkers and gamblers, they passed out into the +street and walked slowly toward the Jew's house. Ahmed rapidly repeated +the plan of action. When they reached the door they stood for a moment +before they woke the Arab, and these words passed between them: + +"For a wife." + +"For a sister." + +"For a son." + +Gregorio then demanded admittance and led the way, followed by his three +friends. He had visited the house of Amos before, on less bloody but +less delightful business, and he did not hesitate, but strode on to +where he knew the Jew would be. His companions stood behind the curtain, +awaiting the signal. + +Amos looked somewhat surprised at the Greek's entrance, but motioned him +to a seat, and, as on the occasion of his first visit, clapped his hands +together as a signal that coffee and pipes were required. + +"It is kind of you to come, for doubtless you wish to pay me what is +owing." + +"I wish to pay you." + +"That is well. I hope you are better again. I regretted to find you so +ill two nights ago." + +"I am better." + +The conversation ceased, for Gregorio was restless and his fingers +itched to do their work. Something in his manner alarmed Amos, for he +summoned in two of his servants and raised himself slightly, as if the +better to avoid an attack. But he continued to smoke calmly, watching +the Greek under his half-closed lids. + +"I have another piece of business to settle with you." + +"Do you want to borrow more money because I refuse to lend you any?" + +"No; it is you who have borrowed, and I have come to you to receive back +my own." + +"I fail to understand you." + +Gregorio tried to keep calm, but it was not possible. Rising to his +feet, he bent over the Jew and cried out: + +"Give me back my son, you Jew dog!" + +"Your son is not here." + +"You lie! by God, you lie! If he is not here you have murdered him." + +"Madman!" shouted Amos, as the Greek's knife flashed from its sheath; +but before he or his servants could stay the uplifted arm the Jew sank +back among his cushions, wounded to the heart. With a shout of triumph +and a "Death of all Jews!" Gregorio turned savagely on the servants +and, reinforced by his companions, soon succeeded in slaying them. Then +leaving the dead side by side, the four men dashed through the house +seeking fresh victims. Ten minutes later they were in the street again, +dripping with the blood of women and men, for in their fury they had +killed every human being in the house. + +Down the narrow native streets they pushed on quickly, hugging the +shadows, toward the Penny-farthing Shop. Madam Marx, her ears sharpened +by fear, heard them, admitted them by a side door, and led them quickly +to an upper room. Thither she carried water and clean garments, but +dared not ask any questions. Sick with anxiety, she re-entered the bar +and waited. + +At length the murderers appeared and called for coffee, and Madam +Marx attended to their wants. In a few minutes the Egyptians left, +and Gregorio and she were alone. Coming near him, she placed her hand +timidly on his shoulder, and asked him, in a hoarse whisper, to tell her +what had happened. + +"My son was not there." + +"Well?" + +"Well, you can guess the rest. Not one person remains alive of that +devil's household." + +Madam Marx gasped at the magnitude of the crime, and though her terrors +increased, her pride in the man capable of so tremendous revenge +increased also. + +"What will happen to you?" she found voice to ask. + +"Nothing. I must hide here. We were not seen. Besides, you remember the +last time a Greek murdered a Jew--it was at Port Said--the matter was +hushed up. Our consuls care as little for Jews as we do. My God, how +glad I am I killed him!" + +His eyes were fixed on the street as he spoke, and suddenly he started +to his feet. Madam rose too, and clung to him. He pushed her roughly on +one side, while an evil smile played on his lips. + +"By God, she shall come back now!" + +"Who?" + +"Xantippe. There is no need for her to live with the Englishman now. Our +son is dead and the Jew in hell. I will at least have my wife back." + +"She will not come." + +"She will come. By God, I will make her! I have tasted blood to-night, +and I am not a child to be treated with contempt. I say I will make her +come." + +"But if she refuses?" + +"Then I will take care she does not go back to the Englishman." + +"You will--" but madam's voice faltered. Gregorio read her meaning and +laughed a yes. + +"But, Gregorio, think; you will be hanged for that. You wife is not a +Jewess." + +But Gregorio laughed again and strode into the street. He was mad with +grief and the intoxicating draughts of vengeance he had swallowed. He +strode across the road and mounted the stairs with steady feet. Madam +Marx followed him, weeping and calling on him to come back. As he +reached the door of his room she flung herself before him, but he +pushed her on one side with his feet and shut the door behind him as he +entered. + +Lying on the threshold, she heard the bolt fastened, and knew the last +act of the tragedy was begun. + + + + +XI--HUSBAND AND WIFE + +As Gregorio entered the room, Xantippe, who was kneeling by a box into +which she was placing clothes neatly folded, turned her head and said +laughingly: + +"You are impatient, my friend; I have nearly--" + +But recognising Gregorio, she did not finish the sentence. She sat down +on the edge of the box. Her face became white, and the blood left her +lips. With a great effort she remained quiet and folded her hands on her +lap. + +Gregorio looked at her for a moment, a cruel smile making his sinister +face appear almost terrible, and his bloodshot eyes glared at her +savagely. At last he broke the silence by shouting her name hoarsely, +making at the same time a movement toward her. He looked like a wild +animal about to spring upon his prey. Xantippe, however, did not flinch, +answering softly: + +"I am not deaf. What do you want here?" + +"It is my room; I suppose I have a right to be here." + +"I apologise for having intruded." + +"None of your smooth speeches. The Englishman has schooled you +carefully, I see. Can you say 'good-bye' in English yet?" + +"Why should I say 'good-bye'?" + +"It is time. You will come back to me now." + +"Never." + +Gregorio laughed hysterically and stood beside her. His fingers played +with her hair. In spite of her fear lest she should irritate him, +Xantippe shrank from his touch. Gregorio noticed her aversion and said +savagely: + +"You must get used to me, Xantippe. From to-night we live together +again. It is not necessary now for you to earn money." + +"I shall not come back to you. I have told you I hate you. It is your +own fault that I leave you." + +"It will be my fault if you do leave me." + +He pushed her on to the mattress and held her there. + +"Let us talk," he said. + +For a few minutes there was silence, and then he continued: + +"Amos is dead, and our debts are paid." + +"How did you pay them?" + +"With this," and as he spoke he touched the handle of his knife. "Don't +shudder; he deserved it, and I shall be safe in a few days. These +affairs are quickly forgotten. Besides, there is another reason why we +should not live as we have lately been living." + +Xantippe opened her eyes as she asked, "What reason?" + +Gregorio relaxed his hold, for the memory of his loss shook him with +sobs. Cat-like, Xantippe had waited her opportunity and sprang away from +his grasp. The movement brought the man to his senses. He rushed at her +with an oath, waving the knife in his hand. Xantippe prepared to defend +herself. They stood, desperate, before each other, neither daring to +begin the struggle. Through the awful silence came the sound of sobs and +a plaintive voice crying: + +"Gregorio, come back, leave her; I love you." + +"Is Madam Marx outside?" hissed Xantippe. + +"Yes." + +"Then go to her. I tell you I hate you." She pointed to the half-filled +box--"I was going to leave here to-night. I will never return to you." + +"You were going with the Englishman?" + +"He is a man." + +Gregorio paused a moment, then in a suppressed voice, half choking at +the words, said: + +"Our son--do you know what has happened to him? You shall not leave me." + +"I know about our son. I am glad to think he is away from your evil +influence. Let me pass." Xantippe moved toward the door, but Gregorio +seized her by the throat. + +"You are glad our son is killed; you helped Amos to kill him." + +Rage and despair impelled him. Laughing brutally, he struck her on the +breast, and, as he tottered, sent his knife deep into her heart. For a +few seconds he stood over her exulting, and then opened the door. Madam +Marx, white with fear, rushed into the room. Seeing the murdered woman, +a look of triumph came into her eyes. But it was a momentary triumph, +for she realised at once the gravity of the crime. She had little pity +or sorrow to waste on the dead, but she was full of concern for the +safety of the murderer. + +"This is a bad night's work, Gregorio." + +"Is it? She deserved death. I am glad I killed her. God, how peacefully +I shall sleep tonight!" + +"This is a worse matter than the other, my friend; you must get away +from here at once." + +"Let us leave the corpse; I am thirsty," Gregorio answered, callously. +With a last look at Xantippe dead upon the floor, the two left the room +and made fast the bolt before descending the stairs. As they emerged +from the doorway into the street, some police rode by, and Gregorio +trembled a little as he stood watching them. + +"I want a drink; I am trembling," he said, huskily, and followed Madam +Marx into the shop. + +The sun was beginning to rise, and already signs of a new life were +stirring. The day-workers appeared at the windows and in the streets. + +"You must get away at night, Gregorio, and keep hidden all day." + +"All right. Give me some wine. I can arrange better when my thirst is +satisfied." + +After drinking deeply he turned and laughed. "It has been a busy time +since sunset." + +Then, as if a new idea suddenly struck him, he queried cunningly, "There +will be a reward offered?" + +"I suppose so." + +"Then you will be a rich woman." + +Madam Marx flung herself at his feet and wept bitterly. The blow was a +cruel one indeed. Eagerly she entreated him to retract his words. She +reminded him of all she had done for him, of all she would still do. A +sort of eloquence came to her as she pleaded her cause, and Gregorio, +weary with excitement, kissed her as he asked: + +"But why should you not give me up?" + +"Because I love you." + +Neither blood nor cruelty could stain him in her eyes. + +At last her passion spent itself; calmed and soothed by Gregorio's +caress she realised again the danger her lover ran. Vainly were plans +discussed; no fair chance of escape seemed open. At last Gregorio said: + +"I shall leave here to-night for Ramleh and live in the desert for a +time. If you help me we can manage easily. When my beard is grown I can +get back here safely enough, and the matter will be forgotten. You must +collect food and take it by train to the last station, and get the box +buried by Ahmed near the palace. I can creep toward it at night unseen." + +"But I will come to you at night and bring food and drink." + +"No. That would only attract attention. You must not leave your +customers. But the drink is the worst part of the matter. I must have +water. Get as many ostrich-eggs as you can, and fill them with water, +and seal them. Hide these with the food, and I will carry some of them +into the farther desert and bury them there." + +"Gregorio, if all comes right you will not be sorry you killed her?" + +"She hated me. I shall not be sorry." + +And Madam Marx smiled and forgot her fears. + + + + +XII--IN THE DESERT AND ON THE SEA + +By the last train leaving Alexandria for Ramleh, the next evening, +Gregorio sought to escape his pursuers. He had heard from Ahmed on +the platform, just before starting, that Xantippe's body had been +discovered, and that already the police were on his track. He sat in +a corner of a third-class carriage closely muffled, and eyeing his +neighbours suspiciously. He sighed with relief as the train moved out +of the station and began to pass by the sand-hills and white villas, +showing ghost-like in the damp mist. + +When he reached St. Antonio he saw the lights of the casino blazing +cheerfully, and the pure clear desert air invigorated him. Fascinated +by the glare, he strolled toward the casino and decided, in spite of +the risk, to enter. He watched from a corner the players, and greedily +coveted the masses of gold and silver piled in pyramids behind the +croupiers. He heard the violins playing Suppe's overture, and the +remembrance came vividly to him of the Paradiso and the fair girl with +whom the Englishman talked. The exciting events following that evening +passed before him--a lurid panorama. + +An hour fled quickly away; then he sought the solitude of the desert, +and, having collected into a bag as much food and as many eggs as he +could carry, he walked away over the sands. + +Under the stars he dug holes wherein to bury the eggs, and marked the +spots with stones; then, wrapping himself in his cloak, lay down to +sleep. All next day he loitered idly about, shunning the gaze of every +wandering Arab. When evening came he drew near to the palace to seek for +food. To his horror, the box had not been refilled. At first he hardly +realised how awful was his plight. Then the truth dawned upon him. Ahmed +and Madam Marx must have been arrested. He drew near to the casino and +stood under the open windows listening. A cold shudder ran down his +back, his face grew pale, and his lips trembled, for he heard two men +discussing the murder and the capture of his friends. An involuntary +smile lighted up the gloom of his features for a moment as one remarked +that the chief offender, the woman's husband, had eluded pursuit. Then +he crept back into the desert and waited for the dawn. + +The sun rose, fiery and relentless, glittering on the waters of Aboukir, +and the cloudless heaven blazed like a prairie on fire. At midday, when +its rays fell straight upon him, his thirst became intense, and with +feverish fingers he dug up an egg. It was empty. He tossed it away and +dragged himself to another hole. The second egg was empty. In turn +he dug up all his eggs, and all alike were empty. Improperly sealed, +scantily covered by the sand, the water had evaporated. A great despair +seized him; he called on God in his anguish, and the silence of the +desert terrified him. In a fit of desolate anger he pulled off his cap, +and summoned all the saints, Christ, and God Himself, to enter it, and +then trampled on it, laughing wildly. Then he flung himself upon the +sand, his head still left bare to the pitiless sun. He knew the end had +come, but there was not any regret in his heart for his crimes, only +an impotent dismay and anger at his solitary condition. The thirst +increased every minute, and he gripped the sand with his fingers in his +agony. His last word was an oath. + +At sunset he was dead. + +Two days later Madam Marx left Alexandria by train for Ramleh. There was +no evidence against her, and she had soon been released. Her own trouble +scarcely disconcerted her; she had feared only for the Greek in the +desert. The thought of his agony, his hunger, goaded her nearly to +madness; but she was a little comforted when she remembered the eggs. +There was enough water in them to last him two or three days. It was the +hour of sunset when she arrived, and she instantly set out desertward, +carrying a basket containing wine and food. She had determined to live +at the hotel until the days of persecution were past. The heavy sand +made it hard to proceed rapidly, but she struggled on bravely, and when +far enough from civilisation called aloud the signal-word agreed on. +But no one answered. All through the night she wandered, searching, +till within an hour of sunrise; then she gave way and sat weeping on the +sand. With daylight she rose to her feet, determined to find her lover, +but had scarcely gone twenty yards before, with a low cry of grief, she +knelt beside the body of a dead man. In the half-eaten, decayed features +she recognised Gregorio and knew she had come too late. Undeterred by +the hideous spectacle, she kissed him tenderly and lay beside him. + +The sun mounted slowly in the heavens. + +The living figure lay as lifeless as the dead. But after a while the +woman rose and dug with her hands a hollow in the sand. She heeded not +the heat, nor the flight of time, and by evening her work was done. + +Raising the body in her arms, she carried it to the hollow and laid it +gently down, then tearfully shovelled back the sand till it was hidden. +So Gregorio found a tomb. Nor did it remain unconsecrated, for beside +it Madam Marx knelt and spoke with faltering lips the remnants of the +prayers she had learned when a child. As she prayed she watched vaguely +a steamer disappear behind the horizon. + + +The khedival mail-boat _Ramses_ sped swiftly over the unruffled surface +of the sea. At the stern a tall fair Englishman sat looking on the level +shores of Egypt and the minarets of Alexandria. With a sad smile he +turned to the child who called to him by his name. They were a strange +pair, for the boy was dark, and foreign-looking, and there was something +of cunning in his restless black eyes. The man's large hand rested +softly on the raven curls of the youngster as he muttered to himself: + +"For her sake I will watch over you, and you shall grow up to be a true +man." + +So Xantippe's life had not been lived in vain, for she had loved and +been loved, and her memory was sweet to her lover. Moreover, Gregorio's +dreams of wealth for his son were to find fulfilment, and the sand of +the desert, maybe, lies lightly on him. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Stories by English Authors: Africa, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES BY ENGLISH AUTHORS: AFRICA *** + +***** This file should be named 1980.txt or 1980.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/8/1980/ + +Produced by Dagny; John Bickers, Christopher Hapka and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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