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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Queen Sheba’s Ring, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Queen Sheba’s Ring
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: April, 2001 [eBook #2602]
+[Most recently updated: January 9, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: John Bickers, Emma Dudding, Dagny and David Widger
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN SHEBA’S RING ***
+
+
+
+
+QUEEN SHEBA’S RING
+
+
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER I. THE COMING OF THE RING
+CHAPTER II. THE ADVICE OF SERGEANT QUICK
+CHAPTER III. THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING
+CHAPTER IV. THE DEATH WIND
+CHAPTER V. PHARAOH MAKES TROUBLE
+CHAPTER VI. HOW WE ESCAPED FROM HARMAC
+CHAPTER VII. BARUNG
+CHAPTER VIII. THE SHADOW OF FATE
+CHAPTER IX. THE SWEARING OF THE OATH
+CHAPTER X. QUICK LIGHTS A MATCH
+CHAPTER XI. THE RESCUE FAILS
+CHAPTER XII. THE DEN OF LIONS
+CHAPTER XIII. THE ADVENTURES OF HIGGS
+CHAPTER XIV. HOW PHARAOH MET SHADRACH
+CHAPTER XV. SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT
+CHAPTER XVI. HARMAC COMES TO MUR
+CHAPTER XVII. I FIND MY SON
+CHAPTER XVIII. THE BURNING OF THE PALACE
+CHAPTER XIX. STARVATION
+CHAPTER XX. THE TRIAL AND AFTER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE COMING OF THE RING
+
+
+Every one has read the monograph, I believe that is the right word, of
+my dear friend, Professor Higgs—Ptolemy Higgs to give him his full
+name—descriptive of the tableland of Mur in North Central Africa, of
+the ancient underground city in the mountains which surrounded it, and
+of the strange tribe of Abyssinian Jews, or rather their mixed
+descendants, by whom it is, or was, inhabited. I say every one
+advisedly, for although the public which studies such works is usually
+select, that which will take an interest in them, if the character of a
+learned and pugnacious personage is concerned, is very wide indeed. Not
+to mince matters, I may as well explain what I mean at once. 
+
+Professor Higgs’s rivals and enemies, of whom either the brilliancy of
+his achievements or his somewhat abrupt and pointed methods of
+controversy seem to have made him a great many, have risen up, or
+rather seated themselves, and written him down—well, an individual
+who strains the truth. Indeed, only this morning one of these inquired,
+in a letter to the press, alluding to some adventurous traveller who, I
+am told, lectured to the British Association several years ago, whether
+Professor Higgs did not, in fact, ride across the desert to Mur, not
+upon a camel, as he alleged, but upon a land tortoise of extraordinary
+size. 
+
+The innuendo contained in this epistle has made the Professor, who, as I
+have already hinted, is not by nature of a meek disposition, extremely
+angry. Indeed, notwithstanding all that I could do, he left his London
+house under an hour ago with a whip of hippopotamus hide such as the
+Egyptians call a _koorbash_, purposing to avenge himself upon the
+person of his defamer. In order to prevent a public scandal, however, I
+have taken the liberty of telephoning to that gentleman, who, bold and
+vicious as he may be in print, is physically small and, I should say,
+of a timid character, to get out of the way at once. To judge from the
+abrupt fashion in which our conversation came to an end, I imagine that
+the hint has been taken. At any rate, I hope for the best, and, as an
+extra precaution, have communicated with the lawyers of my justly 
+indignant friend. 
+
+The reader will now probably understand that I am writing this book, not
+to bring myself or others before the public, or to make money of which
+I have no present need, or for any purpose whatsoever, except to set
+down the bare and actual truth. In fact, so many rumours are flying
+about as to where we have been and what befell us that this has become
+almost necessary. As soon as I laid down that cruel column of gibes and
+insinuations to which I have alluded—yes, this very morning, before
+breakfast, this conviction took hold of me so strongly that I cabled to
+Oliver, Captain Oliver Orme, the hero of my history, if it has any
+particular hero, who is at present engaged upon what must be an
+extremely agreeable journey round the world—asking his consent. Ten
+minutes since the answer arrived from Tokyo. Here it is: 
+
+“Do what you like and think necessary, but please alter all names, et
+cetera, as propose returning via America, and fear interviewers. Japan
+jolly place.” Then follows some private matter which I need not
+insert. Oliver is always extravagant where cablegrams are concerned.
+
+I suppose that before entering on this narration, for the reader’s
+benefit I had better give some short description of myself.
+
+My name is Richard Adams, and I am the son of a Cumberland yeoman who
+married a Welshwoman. Therefore I have Celtic blood in my veins, which
+perhaps accounts for my love of roving and other things. I am now an
+old man, near the end of my course, I suppose; at any rate, I was
+sixty-five last birthday. This is my appearance as I see it in the
+glass before me: tall, spare (I don’t weigh more than a hundred and
+forty pounds—the desert has any superfluous flesh that I ever owned,
+my lot having been, like Falstaff, to lard the lean earth, but in a hot
+climate); my eyes are brown, my face is long, and I wear a pointed 
+white beard, which matches the white hair above. 
+
+Truth compels me to add that my general appearance, as seen in that
+glass which will not lie, reminds me of that of a rather aged goat;
+indeed, to be frank, by the natives among whom I have sojourned, and
+especially among the Khalifa’s people when I was a prisoner there, I
+have often been called the White Goat.
+
+Of my very commonplace outward self let this suffice. As for my record,
+I am a doctor of the old school. Think of it! When I was a student at
+Bart.‘s the antiseptic treatment was quite a new thing, and
+administered when at all, by help of a kind of engine on wheels, out of
+which disinfectants were dispensed with a pump, much as the advanced
+gardener sprays a greenhouse to-day. 
+
+I succeeded above the average as a student, and in my early time as a
+doctor. But in every man’s life there happen things which, whatever
+excuses may be found for them, would not look particularly well in cold
+print (nobody’s record, as understood by convention and the Pharisee,
+could really stand cold print); also something in my blood made me its
+servant. In short, having no strict ties at home, and desiring to see
+the world, I wandered far and wide for many years, earning my living as
+I went, never, in my experience, a difficult thing to do, for I was
+always a master of my trade. 
+
+My fortieth birthday found me practising at Cairo, which I mention only
+because it was here that first I met Ptolemy Higgs, who, even then in
+his youth, was noted for his extraordinary antiquarian and linguistic
+abilities. I remember that in those days the joke about him was that he
+could swear in fifteen languages like a native and in thirty-two with
+common proficiency, and could read hieroglyphics as easily as a bishop
+reads the _Times_. 
+
+Well, I doctored him through a bad attack of typhoid, but as he had
+spent every farthing he owned on scarabs or something of the sort, made
+him no charge. This little kindness I am bound to say he never forgot,
+for whatever his failings may be (personally I would not trust him
+alone with any object that was more than a thousand years old), Ptolemy
+is a good and faithful friend. 
+
+In Cairo I married a Copt. She was a lady of high descent, the tradition
+in her family being that they were sprung from one of the Ptolemaic
+Pharaohs, which is possible and even probable enough. Also, she was a
+Christian, and well educated in her way. But, of course, she remained
+an Oriental, and for a European to marry an Oriental is, as I have
+tried to explain to others, a very dangerous thing, especially if he
+continues to live in the East, where it cuts him off from social
+recognition and intimacy with his own race. Still, although this step
+of mine forced me to leave Cairo and go to Assouan, then a little-known 
+place, to practise chiefly among the natives, God knows we were happy
+enough together till the plague took her, and with it my joy in life. 
+
+I pass over all that business, since there are some things too dreadful
+and too sacred to write about. She left me one child, a son, who, to
+fill up my cup of sorrow, when he was twelve years of age, was
+kidnapped by the Mardi’s people.
+
+This brings me to the real story. There is nobody else to write it;
+Oliver will not; Higgs cannot (outside of anything learned and
+antiquarian, he is hopeless); so I must. At any rate, if it is not
+interesting, the fault will be mine, not that of the story, which in
+all conscience is strange enough. 
+
+We are now in the middle of June, and it was a year ago last December
+that, on the evening of the day of my arrival in London after an
+absence of half a lifetime, I found myself knocking at the door of
+Professor Higgs’s rooms in Guildford Street, W.C. It was opened by
+his housekeeper, Mrs. Reid, a thin and saturnine old woman, who
+reminded and still reminds me of a reanimated mummy. She told me that
+the Professor was in, but had a gentleman to dinner, and suggested
+sourly that I should call again the next morning. With difficulty I
+persuaded her at last to inform her master that an old Egyptian friend
+had brought him something which he certainly would like to see. 
+
+Five minutes later I groped my way into Higgs’s sitting-room, which
+Mrs. Reid had contented herself with indicating from a lower floor. It
+is a large room, running the whole width of the house, divided into two
+by an arch, where once, in the Georgian days, there had been folding
+doors. The place was in shadow, except for the firelight, which shone
+upon a table laid ready for dinner, and upon an extraordinary
+collection of antiquities, including a couple of mummies with gold
+faces arranged in their coffins against the wall. At the far end of the
+room, however, an electric lamp was alight in the bow-window hanging
+over another table covered with books, and by it I saw my host, whom I 
+had not met for twenty years, although until I vanished into the desert
+we frequently corresponded, and with him the friend who had come to
+dinner.    
+
+First, I will describe Higgs, who, I may state, is admitted, even by his
+enemies, to be one of the most learned antiquarians and greatest masters
+of dead languages in Europe, though this no one would guess from his
+appearance at the age of about forty-five. In build short and stout,
+face round and high-coloured, hair and beard of a fiery red, eyes, when
+they can be seen—for generally he wears a pair of large blue
+spectacles—small and of an indefinite hue, but sharp as needles.
+Dress so untidy, peculiar, and worn that it is said the police
+invariably request him to move on, should he loiter in the streets at
+night. Such was, and is, the outward seeming of my dearest friend,
+Professor Ptolemy Higgs, and I only hope that he won’t be offended
+when he sees it set down in black and white. 
+
+That of his companion who was seated at the table, his chin resting on
+his hand, listening to some erudite discourse with a rather distracted
+air, was extraordinarily different, especially by contrast. A tall
+well-made young man, rather thin, but broad-shouldered, and apparently
+five or six and twenty years of age. Face clean-cut—so much so,
+indeed, that the dark eyes alone relieved it from a suspicion of
+hardness; hair short and straight, like the eyes, brown; expression
+that of a man of thought and ability, and, when he smiled, singularly
+pleasant. Such was, and is, Captain Oliver Orme, who, by the way, I
+should explain, is only a captain of some volunteer engineers, although,
+ in fact, a very able soldier, as was proved in the South African War,
+whence he had then but lately returned. 
+
+I ought to add also that he gave me the impression of a man not in love
+with fortune, or rather of one with whom fortune was not in love;
+indeed, his young face seemed distinctly sad. Perhaps it was this that
+attracted me to him so much from the first moment that my eyes fell on
+him—me with whom fortune had also been out of love for many years.
+
+While I stood contemplating this pair, Higgs, looking up from the
+papyrus or whatever it might be that he was reading (I gathered later
+that he had spent the afternoon in unrolling a mummy, and was studying
+its spoils), caught sight of me standing in the shadow.
+
+“Who the devil are you?” he exclaimed in a shrill and strident
+voice, for it acquires that quality when he is angry or alarmed, “and
+what are you doing in my room?”
+
+“Steady,” said his companion; “your housekeeper told you that
+some friend of yours had come to call.”
+
+“Oh, yes, so she did, only I can’t remember any friend with a face
+and beard like a goat. Advance, friend, and all’s well.”
+
+So I stepped into the shining circle of the electric light and halted
+again. 
+
+“Who is it? Who is it?” muttered Higgs. “The face is the face
+of—of—I have it—of old Adams, only he’s been dead these
+ten years. The Khalifa got him, they said. Antique shade of the
+long-lost Adams, please be so good as to tell me your name, for we
+waste time over a useless mystery.”
+
+“There is no need, Higgs, since it is in your mouth already. Well, I
+should have known you anywhere; but then _your_ hair doesn’t go
+white.”
+
+“Not it; too much colouring matter; direct result of a sanguine
+disposition. Well, Adams—for Adams you must be—I am really
+delighted to see you, especially as you never answered some questions in
+my last letter as to where you got those First Dynasty scarabs, of
+which the genuineness, I may tell you, has been disputed by certain
+envious beasts. Adams, my dear old fellow, welcome a thousand
+times”—and he seized my hands and wrung them, adding, as his eye
+fell upon a ring I wore, “Why, what’s that? Something quite
+unusual. But never mind; you shall tell me after dinner. Let me
+introduce you to my friend, Captain Orme, a very decent scholar of
+Arabic, with a quite elementary knowledge of Egyptology.”
+
+“_Mr._ Orme,” interrupted the younger man, bowing to me.
+
+“Oh, well, Mr. or Captain, whichever you like. He means that he is not
+in the regular army, although he has been all through the Boer War, and
+wounded three times, once straight through the lungs. Here’s the
+soup. Mrs. Reid, lay another place. I am dreadfully hungry; nothing
+gives me such an appetite as unrolling mummies; it involves so much
+intellectual wear and tear, in addition to the physical labour. Eat,
+man, eat. We will talk afterwards.” 
+
+So we ate, Higgs largely, for his appetite was always excellent, perhaps
+because he was then practically a teetotaller; Mr. Orme very moderately,
+and I as becomes a person who has lived for months at a time on
+dates—mainly of vegetables, which, with fruits, form my principal
+diet—that is, if these are available, for at a pinch I can exist on
+anything. 
+
+When the meal was finished and our glasses had been filled with port,
+Higgs helped himself to water, lit the large meerschaum pipe he always
+smokes, and pushed round the tobacco-jar which had once served as a
+sepulchral urn for the heart of an old Egyptian.
+
+“Now, Adams,” he said when we also had filled our pipes,
+“tell us what has brought you back from the Shades. In short, your
+story, man, your story.”
+
+I drew the ring he had noticed off my hand, a thick band of rather
+light-coloured gold of a size such as an ordinary woman might wear upon
+her first or second finger, in which was set a splendid slab of
+sapphire engraved with curious and archaic characters. Pointing to
+these characters, I asked Higgs if he could read them.
+
+“Read them? Of course,” he answered, producing a magnifying glass.
+“Can’t you? No, I remember; you never were good at anything more
+than fifty years old. Hullo! this is early Hebrew. Ah! I’ve got
+it,” and he read:
+
+“‘The gift of Solomon the ruler—no, the Great One—of
+Israel, Beloved of Jah, to Maqueda of Sheba-land, Queen, Daughter of
+Kings, Child of Wisdom, Beautiful.’
+
+“That’s the writing on your ring, Adams—a really magnificent
+thing. ‘Queen of Sheba—Bath-Melachim, Daughter of Kings,’
+with our old friend Solomon chucked in. Splendid, quite
+splendid!”—and he touched the gold with his tongue, and tested it
+with his teeth. “Hum—where did you get this intelligent fraud from,
+Adams?”
+
+“Oh!” I answered, laughing, “the usual thing, of course. I
+bought it from a donkey-boy in Cairo for about thirty shillings.”
+
+“Indeed,” he replied suspiciously. “I should have thought the
+stone in it was worth more than that, although, of course, it may be
+nothing but glass. The engraving, too, is first-rate. Adams,” he
+added with severity, “you are trying to hoax us, but let me tell you
+what I thought you knew by this time—that you can’t take in Ptolemy
+Higgs. This ring is a shameless swindle; but who did the Hebrew on it?
+He’s a good scholar, anyway.”
+
+“Don’t know,” I answered; “wasn’t aware till now
+that it was Hebrew. To tell you the truth, I thought it was old
+Egyptian. All I do know is that it was given, or rather lent, to me by
+a lady whose title is Walda Nagasta, and who is supposed to be a
+descendant of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.”
+
+Higgs took up the ring and looked at it again; then, as though in a fit
+of abstraction, slipped it into his waistcoat pocket.
+
+“I don’t want to be rude, therefore I will not contradict
+you,” he answered with a kind of groan, “or, indeed, say anything
+except that if any one else had spun me that yarn I should have told him
+he was a common liar. But, of course, as every schoolboy knows, Walda
+Nagasta—that is, Child of Kings in Ethiopic—is much the same as
+Bath-Melachim—that is, Daughter of Kings in Hebrew.”
+
+Here Captain Orme burst out laughing, and remarked, “It is easy to see
+why you are not altogether popular in the antiquarian world, Higgs. Your
+methods of controversy are those of a savage with a stone axe.”
+
+“If you only open your mouth to show your ignorance, Oliver, you had
+better keep it shut. The men who carried stone axes had advanced far
+beyond the state of savagery. But I suggest that you had better give
+Doctor Adams a chance of telling his story, after which you can
+criticize.” 
+
+“Perhaps Captain Orme does not wish to be bored with it,” I said,
+whereon he answered at once:
+
+“On the contrary, I should like to hear it very much—that is, if
+you are willing to confide in me as well as in Higgs.”
+
+I reflected a moment, since, to tell the truth, for sundry reasons, my
+intention had been to trust no one except the Professor, whom I knew to
+be as faithful as he is rough. Yet some instinct prompted me to make an
+exception in favour of this Captain Orme. I liked the man; there was
+something about those brown eyes of his that appealed to me. Also it
+struck me as odd that he should happen to be present on this occasion,
+for I have always held that there is nothing casual or accidental in
+the world; that even the most trivial circumstances are either
+ordained, or the result of the workings of some inexorable law whereof
+the end is known by whatever power may direct our steps, though it be
+not yet declared. 
+
+“Certainly I am willing,” I answered; “your face and your
+friendship with the Professor are passport enough for me. Only I must
+ask you to give me your word of honour that without my leave you will
+repeat nothing of what I am about to tell you.”
+
+“Of course,” he answered, whereon Higgs broke in:
+
+“There, that will do; you don’t want us both to kiss the Book, do
+you? Who sold you that ring, and where have you been for the last dozen
+years, and whence do you come now?”
+
+“I have been a prisoner of the Khalifa’s among other things. I had
+five years of that entertainment of which my back would give some
+evidence if I were to strip. I think I am about the only man who never
+embraced Islam whom they allowed to live, and that was because I am a
+doctor, and, therefore, a useful person. The rest of the time I have
+spent wandering about the North African deserts looking for my son,
+Roderick. You remember the boy, or should, for you are his godfather,
+and I used to send you photographs of him as a little chap.”
+
+“Of course, of course,” said the Professor in a new tone; “I
+came across a Christmas letter from him the other day. But, my dear
+Adams, what happened? I never heard.”
+
+“He went up the river to shoot crocodiles against my orders, when he
+was about twelve years old—not very long after his mother’s death,
+and some wandering Mahdi tribesmen kidnapped him and sold him as a
+slave. I have been looking for him ever since, for the poor boy was
+passed on from tribe to tribe, among which his skill as a musician
+enabled me to follow him. The Arabs call him the Singer of Egypt,
+because of his wonderful voice, and it seems that he has learned to
+play upon their native instruments.” 
+
+“And now where is he?” asked Higgs, as one who feared the answer.
+
+“He is, or was, a favourite slave among a barbarous, half-negroid
+people called the Fung, who dwell in the far interior of North Central
+Africa. After the fall of the Khalifa I followed him there; it took me
+several years. Some Bedouin were making an expedition to trade with
+these Fung, and I disguised myself as one of them.
+
+“On a certain night we camped at the foot of a valley outside a great
+wall which encloses the holy place where their idol is. I rode up to
+this wall and, through the open gateway, heard some one with a
+beautiful tenor voice singing in English. What he sang was a hymn that
+I had taught my son. It begins: 
+
+‘Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.’
+
+“I knew the voice again. I dismounted and slipped through the gateway,
+and presently came to an open space, where a young man sat singing upon
+a sort of raised bench with lamps on either side of him, and a large
+audience in front. I saw his face and, notwithstanding the turban which
+he wore and his Eastern robe—yes, and the passage of all those
+years—I knew it for that of my son. Some spirit of madness entered
+into me, and I called aloud, ‘Roderick, Roderick!’ and he started
+up, staring about him wildly. The audience started up also, and one of
+them caught sight of me lurking in the shadow.
+
+“With a howl of rage, for I had desecrated their sanctuary, they
+sprang at me. To save my life, coward that I was, I fled back through
+the gates. Yes, after all those years of seeking, still I fled rather
+than die, and though I was wounded with a spear and stones, managed to
+reach and spring upon my horse. Then, as I was headed off from our
+camp, I galloped away anywhere, still to save my miserable life from
+those savages, so strongly is the instinct of self-preservation
+implanted in us. From a distance I looked back and saw by the light of
+the fired tents that the Fung were attacking the Arabs with whom I had 
+travelled, I suppose because they thought them parties to the sacrilege.
+ Afterwards I heard that they killed them every one, poor men, but I
+escaped, who unwittingly had brought their fate upon them. 
+
+“On and on I galloped up a steep road. I remember hearing lions
+roaring round me in the darkness. I remember one of them springing upon
+my horse and the poor beast’s scream. Then I remember no more till I
+found myself—I believe it was a week or so later—lying on the
+verandah of a nice house, and being attended by some good-looking women
+of an Abyssinian cast of countenance.”
+
+“Sounds rather like one of the lost tribes of Israel,” remarked
+Higgs sarcastically, puffing at his big meerschaum.
+
+“Yes, something of that sort. The details I will give you later. The
+main facts are that these people who picked me up outside their gates
+are called Abati, live in a town called Mur, and allege themselves to
+be descended from a tribe of Abyssinian Jews who were driven out and
+migrated to this place four or five centuries ago. Briefly, they look
+something like Jews, practise a very debased form of the Jewish
+religion, are civilized and clever after a fashion, but in the last
+stage of decadence from interbreeding—about nine thousand men is
+their total fighting force, although three or four generations ago they 
+had twenty thousand—and live in hourly terror of extermination by the 
+surrounding Fung, who hold them in hereditary hate as the possessors of
+the wonderful mountain fortress that once belonged to their
+forefathers.”    
+
+“Gibraltar and Spain over again,” suggested Orme.
+
+“Yes, with this difference—that the position is reversed, the Abati
+of this Central African Gibraltar are decaying, and the Fung, who answer
+to the Spaniards, are vigorous and increasing.”
+
+“Well, what happened?” asked the Professor.
+
+“Nothing particular. I tried to persuade these Abati to organize an
+expedition to rescue my son, but they laughed in my face. By degrees I
+found out that there was only one person among them who was worth
+anything at all, and she happened to be their hereditary ruler who bore
+the high-sounding titles of Walda Nagasta, or Child of Kings, and Takla
+Warda, or Bud of the Rose, a very handsome and spirited young woman,
+whose personal name is Maqueda——”
+
+“One of the names of the first known Queens of Sheba,” muttered
+Higgs; “the other was Belchis.”
+
+“Under pretence of attending her medically,” I went on, “for
+otherwise their wretched etiquette would scarcely have allowed me access
+to one so exalted, I talked things over with her. She told me that the
+idol of the Fung is fashioned like a huge sphinx, or so I gathered from
+her description of the thing, for I have never seen it.”
+
+“What!” exclaimed Higgs, jumping up, “a sphinx in North
+Central Africa! Well, after all, why not? Some of the earlier Pharaohs
+are said to have had dealings with that part of the world, or even to
+have migrated from it. I think that the Makreezi repeats the legend. I
+suppose that it is ram-headed.”
+
+“She told me also,” I continued, “that they have a tradition,
+or rather a belief, which amounts to an article of faith, that if this
+sphinx or god, which, by the way, is lion, not ram-headed, and is
+called Harmac——”
+
+“Harmac!” interrupted Higgs again. “That is one of the names
+of the sphinx—Harmachis, god of dawn.”
+
+“If this god,” I repeated, “should be destroyed, the nation
+of the Fung, whose forefathers fashioned it as they say, must move away
+from that country across the great river which lies to the south. I
+have forgotten its name at the moment, but I think it must be a branch
+of the Nile. 
+
+“I suggested to her that, in the circumstances, her people had better
+try to destroy the idol. Maqueda laughed and said it was impossible,
+since the thing was the size of a small mountain, adding that the Abati
+had long ago lost all courage and enterprise, and were content to sit
+in their fertile and mountain-ringed land, feeding themselves with
+tales of departed grandeur and struggling for rank and high-sounding
+titles, till the day of doom overtook them.
+
+“I inquired whether she were also content, and she replied,
+‘Certainly not’; but what could she do to regenerate her people,
+she who was nothing but a woman, and the last of an endless line of
+rulers? 
+
+“‘Rid me of the Fung,’ she added passionately, ‘and I
+will give you such a reward as you never dreamed. The old cave-city
+yonder is full of treasure that was buried with its ancient kings long
+before we came to Mur. To us it is useless, since we have none to trade
+with, but I have heard that the peoples of the outside world worship
+gold.’ 
+
+“‘I do not want gold,’ I answered; ‘I want to rescue my
+son who is a prisoner yonder.’
+
+“‘Then,’ said the Child of Kings, ‘you must begin by
+helping us to destroy the idol of the Fung. Are there no means by which
+this can be done?’
+
+“‘There are means,’ I replied, and I tried to explain to her
+the properties of dynamite and of other more powerful explosives.
+
+“‘Go to your own land,’ she exclaimed eagerly, ‘and
+return with that stuff and two or three who can manage it, and I swear
+to them all the wealth of Mur. Thus only can you win my help to save
+your son.’”
+
+“Well, what was the end?” asked Captain Orme.
+
+“This: They gave me some gold and an escort with camels which were
+literally lowered down a secret path in the mountains so as to avoid the
+Fung, who ring them in and of whom they are terribly afraid. With these
+people I crossed the desert to Assouan in safety, a journey of many
+weeks, where I left them encamped about sixteen days ago, bidding them
+await my return. I arrived in England this morning, and as soon as I
+could ascertain that you still lived, and your address, from a book of
+reference called _Who’s Who_, which they gave me in the hotel, I came
+on here.” 
+
+“Why did you come to me? What do you want me to do?” asked the
+Professor.
+
+“I came to you, Higgs, because I know how deeply you are interested in
+anything antiquarian, and because I wished to give you the first
+opportunity, not only of winning wealth, but also of becoming famous as
+the discoverer of the most wonderful relics of antiquity that are left
+in the world.” 
+
+“With a very good chance of getting my throat cut thrown in,”
+grumbled Higgs.
+
+“As to what I want you to do,” I went on, “I want you to find
+someone who understands explosives, and will undertake the business of
+blowing up the Fung idol.”
+
+“Well, that’s easy enough, anyhow,” said the Professor,
+pointing to Captain Orme with the bowl of his pipe, and adding, “he is
+an engineer by education, a soldier and a very fair chemist; also he
+knows Arabic and was brought up in Egypt as a boy—just the man for
+the job if he will go.”
+
+I reflected a moment, then, obeying some sort of instinct, looked up and
+asked: 
+
+“Will you, Captain Orme, if terms can be arranged?”
+
+“Yesterday,” he replied, colouring a little, “I should have
+answered, ‘Certainly not.’ To-day I answer that I am prepared to
+consider the matter—that is, if Higgs will go too, and you can
+enlighten me on certain points. But I warn you that I am only an
+amateur in the three trades that the Professor has mentioned, though,
+it is true, one with some experience.”
+
+“Would it be rude to inquire, Captain Orme, why twenty-four hours have
+made such a difference in your views and plans?”
+
+“Not rude, only awkward,” he replied, colouring again, this time
+more deeply. “Still, as it is best to be frank, I will tell you.
+Yesterday I believed myself to be the inheritor of a very large fortune
+from an uncle whose fatal illness brought me back from South Africa
+before I meant to come, and as whose heir I have been brought up.
+To-day I have learned for the first time that he married secretly, last
+year, a woman much below him in rank, and has left a child, who, of
+course, will take all his property, as he died intestate. But that is
+not all. Yesterday I believed myself to be engaged to be married;
+to-day I am undeceived upon that point also. The lady,” he added with
+some bitterness, “who was willing to marry Anthony Orme’s heir is
+no longer willing to marry Oliver Orme, whose total possessions amount
+to under £10,000. Well, small blame to her or to her relations,
+whichever it may be, especially as I understand that she has a better
+alliance in view. Certainly her decision has simplified matters,” and
+he rose and walked to the other end of the room. 
+
+“Shocking business,” whispered Higgs; “been infamously
+treated,” and he proceeded to express his opinion of the lady
+concerned, of her relatives, and of the late Anthony Orme, shipowner,
+in language that, if printed, would render this history unfit for
+family reading. The outspokenness of Professor Higgs is well known in
+the antiquarian world, so there is no need for me to enlarge upon it.
+
+“What I do not exactly understand, Adams,” he added in a loud
+voice, seeing that Orme had turned again, “and what I think we should
+both like to know, is _your_ exact object in making these proposals.”
+
+“I am afraid I have explained myself badly. I thought I had made it
+clear that I have only one object—to attempt the rescue of my son, if
+he still lives, as I believe he does. Higgs, put yourself in my
+position. Imagine yourself with nothing and no one left to care for
+except a single child, and that child stolen away from you by savages.
+Imagine yourself, after years of search, hearing his very voice, seeing
+his very face, adult now, but the same, the thing you had dreamed of
+and desired for years; that for which you would have given a thousand
+lives if you could have had time to think. And then the rush of the
+howling, fantastic mob, the breakdown of courage, of love, of 
+everything that is noble under the pressure of primæval instinct, which
+has but one song—Save your life. Lastly, imagine this coward saved,
+dwelling within a few miles of the son whom he had deserted, and yet
+utterly unable to rescue or even to communicate with him because of the
+poltroonery of those among whom he had refuged.” 
+
+“Well,” grunted Higgs, “I have imagined all that
+high-faluting lot. What of it? If you mean that you are to blame, I
+don’t agree with you. You wouldn’t have helped your son by getting
+your own throat cut, and perhaps his also.”
+
+“I don’t know,” I answered. “I have brooded over the
+thing so long that it seems to me that I have disgraced myself. Well,
+there came a chance, and I took it. This lady, Walda Nagasta, or
+Maqueda, who, I think, had also brooded over things, made me an
+offer—I fancy without the knowledge or consent of her Council.
+‘Help me,’ she said, ‘and I will help you. Save my people, and I
+will try to save your son. I can pay for your services and those of any
+whom you may bring with you.’ 
+
+“I answered that it was hopeless, as no one would believe the tale,
+whereon she drew from her finger the throne-ring or State signet which
+you have in your pocket, Higgs, saying: ‘My mothers have worn this
+since the days of Maqueda, Queen of Sheba. If there are learned men
+among your people they will read her name upon it and know that I speak
+no lie. Take it as a token, and take also enough of our gold to buy the
+stuffs whereof you speak, which hide fires that can throw mountains
+skyward, and the services of skilled and trusty men who are masters of
+the stuff, two or three of them only, for more cannot be transported
+across the desert, and come back to save your son and me.’ That’s
+all the story, Higgs. Will you take the business on, or shall I try
+elsewhere? You must make up your mind, because I have no time to lose,
+if I am to get into Mur again before the rains.” 
+
+“Got any of that gold you spoke of about you?” asked the Professor.
+
+I drew a skin bag from the pocket of my coat, and poured some out upon
+the table, which he examined carefully.
+
+“Ring money,” he said presently, “might be Anglo-Saxon, might
+be anything; date absolutely uncertain, but from its appearance I should
+say slightly alloyed with silver; yes, there is a bit which has
+oxydized—undoubtedly old, that.”
+
+Then he produced the signet from his pocket, and examined the ring and
+the stone very carefully through a powerful glass.
+
+“Seems all right,” he said, “and although I have been greened
+in my time, I don’t make many mistakes nowadays. What do you say,
+Adams? Must have it back? A sacred trust! Only lent to you! All right,
+take it by all means. _I_ don’t want the thing. Well, it is a risky
+job, and if any one else had proposed it to me, I’d have told him to
+go to—Mur. But, Adams, my boy, you saved my life once, and never sent
+in a bill, because I was hard up, and I haven’t forgotten that. Also
+things are pretty hot for me here just now over a certain controversy
+of which I suppose you haven’t heard in Central Africa. I think
+I’ll go. What do you say, Oliver?”
+
+“Oh!” said Captain Orme, waking up from a reverie, “if you
+are satisfied, I am. It doesn’t matter to me where I go.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE ADVICE OF SERGEANT QUICK
+
+
+At this moment a fearful hubbub arose without. The front door slammed, a
+cab drove off furiously, a policeman’s whistle blew, heavy feet were
+heard trampling; then came an invocation of “In the King’s name,”
+answered by “Yes, and the Queen’s, and the rest of the Royal
+Family’s, and if you want it, take it, you chuckle-headed,
+flat-footed, pot-bellied Peelers.”
+
+Then followed tumult indescribable as of heavy men and things rolling
+down the stairs, with cries of fear and indignation.
+
+“What the dickens is that?” asked Higgs.
+
+“The voice sounded like that of Samuel—I mean Sergeant
+Quick,” answered Captain Orme with evident alarm; “what can he be
+after? Oh, I know, it is something to do with that infernal mummy you
+unwrapped this afternoon, and asked him to bring round after dinner.”
+
+Just then the door burst open, and a tall, soldier-like form stalked in,
+carrying in his arms a corpse wrapped in a sheet, which he laid upon the
+table among the wine glasses.
+
+“I’m sorry, Captain,” he said, addressing Orme, “but
+I’ve lost the head of the departed. I think it is at the bottom of the
+stairs with the police. Had nothing else to defend myself with, sir,
+against their unwarranted attacks, so brought the body to the present
+and charged, thinking it very stiff and strong, but regret to say neck
+snapped, and that deceased’s head is now under arrest.”
+
+As Sergeant Quick finished speaking, the door opened again, and through
+it appeared two very flurried and dishevelled policemen, one of whom
+held, as far as possible from his person, the grizzly head of a mummy
+by the long hair which still adhered to the skull.
+
+“What do you mean by breaking into my rooms like this? Where’s your
+warrant?” asked the indignant Higgs in his high voice.
+
+“There!” answered the first policeman, pointing to the
+sheet-wrapped form on the table.
+
+“And here!” added the second, holding up the awful head. “As
+in duty bound, we ask explanation from that man of the secret conveyance
+of a corpse through the open streets, whereon he assaults us with the
+same, for which assault, pending investigation of the corpse, I arrest
+him. Now, Guv’nor” (addressing Sergeant Quick), “will you come
+along with us quietly, or must we take you?”
+
+The Sergeant, who seemed to be inarticulate with wrath, made a dash for
+the shrouded object on the table, with the intention, apparently, of
+once more using it as a weapon of offence, and the policemen drew their
+batons. 
+
+“Stop,” said Orme, thrusting himself between the combatants,
+“are you all mad? Do you know that this woman died about four thousand
+years ago?”
+
+“Oh, Lord!” said the policeman who held the head, addressing his
+companion, “it must be one of them mummies what they dig up in the
+British Museum. Seems pretty ancient and spicy, don’t it?” and he
+sniffed at the head, then set it down upon the table.
+
+Explanations followed, and after the wounded dignity of the two officers
+of the Force had been soothed with sundry glasses of port wine and a
+written list of the names of all concerned, including that of the
+mummy, they departed. 
+
+“You take my advice, bobbies,” I heard the indignant Sergeant
+declaim outside the door, “and don’t you believe things is always
+what they seem. A party ain’t necessarily drunk because he rolls about
+and falls down in the street; he may be mad, or ‘ungry, or epileptic,
+and a body ain’t always a body jest because it’s dead and cold and
+stiff. Why, men, as you’ve seen, it may be a mummy, which is quite a
+different thing. If I was to put on that blue coat of yours, would that
+make me a policeman? Good heavens! I should hope not, for the sake of
+the Army to which I still belong, being in the Reserve. What you
+bobbies need is to study human nature and cultivate observation, which
+will learn you the difference between a new-laid corpse and a mummy,
+and many other things. Now you lay my words to heart, and you’ll both
+of you rise to superintendents, instead of running in daily
+‘drunks’ until you retire on a pension. Good-night.” 
+
+Peace having been restored, and the headless mummy removed into the
+Professor’s bedroom, since Captain Orme declared that he could not
+talk business in the presence of a body, however ancient, we resumed
+our discussion. First of all, at Higgs’s suggestion I drew up a brief
+memorandum of agreement which set out the objects of the expedition,
+and provided for the equal division amongst us of any profit that might
+accrue; in the event of the death of one or more of us, the survivors
+or survivor to take their or his share.
+
+To this arrangement personally I objected, who desired neither treasure
+nor antiquities, but only the rescue of my son. The others pointed out,
+however, that, like most people, I might in future want something to
+live on, or that if I did not, in the event of his escape, my boy
+certainly would; so in the end I gave way.
+
+Then Captain Orme very sensibly asked for a definition of our respective
+duties, and it was settled that I was to be guide to the expedition;
+Higgs, antiquarian, interpreter, and, on account of his vast knowledge,
+general referee; and Captain Orme, engineer and military commander,
+with the proviso that, in the event of a difference of opinion, the
+dissentient was to loyally accept the decision of the majority.
+
+This curious document having been copied out fair, I signed and passed
+it to the Professor, who hesitated a little, but, after refreshing
+himself with a further minute examination of Sheba’s ring, signed
+also, remarking that he was an infernal fool for his pains, and pushed
+the paper across the table to Orme.
+
+“Stop a minute,” said the Captain; “I forgot something. I
+should like my old servant, Sergeant Quick, to accompany us. He’s a
+very handy man at a pinch, especially if, as I understand, we are
+expected to deal with explosives with which he has had a lot to do in
+the Engineers and elsewhere. If you agree I will call him, and ask if
+he will go. I expect he’s somewhere round.”
+
+I nodded, judging from the episode of the mummy and the policeman that
+the Sergeant was likely to be a useful man. As I was sitting next to
+it, I opened the door for the Captain, whereon the erect shape of
+Sergeant Quick, who had clearly been leaning against it, literally fell
+into the room, reminding me much of an overset wooden soldier.
+
+“Hullo!” said Orme as, without the slightest change of countenance,
+his retainer recovered himself and stood to attention. “What the deuce
+are you doing there?”
+
+“Sentry go, Captain. Thought the police might change their minds and
+come back. Any orders, Captain?”
+
+“Yes. I am going to North Central Africa. When can you be ready to
+start?”
+
+“The Brindisi mail leaves to-morrow night, Captain, if you travel by
+Egypt, but if you go by Tunis, 7.15 a.m. Saturday is the time from
+Charing Cross. Only, as I understand that high explosives and arms have
+to be provided, these might take awhile to lay in and pack so as to
+deceive customs.” 
+
+“You understand!” said Orme. “Pray, how do you
+understand?”
+
+“Doors in these old houses are apt to get away from their frames,
+Captain, and the gentleman there”—and he pointed to the
+Professor—“has a voice that carries like a dog-whistle. Oh, no
+offence, sir. A clear voice is an excellent thing—that is, if the
+doors fit”—and although Sergeant Quick’s wooden face did not
+move, I saw his humorous grey eyes twinkle beneath the bushy eyebrows.
+
+We burst out laughing, including Higgs.
+
+“So you are willing to go?” said Orme. “But I hope you
+clearly understand that this is a risky business, and that you may not
+come back?”
+
+“Spion Kop was a bit risky, Captain, and so was that business in the
+donga, where every one was hit except you and me and the sailor man, but
+we came back, for all that. Begging your pardon, Captain, there ain’t
+no such thing as risk. Man comes here when he must, and dies when he
+must, and what he does between don’t make a ha’porth of
+difference.” 
+
+“Hear, hear,” I said; “we are much of the same way of
+thinking.”
+
+“There have been several who held those views, sir, since old Solomon
+gave the lady that”—and he pointed to Sheba’s ring, which was
+lying on the table. “But excuse me, Captain; how about local
+allowances? Not having been a marrying man myself, I’ve none
+dependent upon me, but, as you know, I’ve sisters that have, and a
+soldier’s pension goes with him. Don’t think me greedy, Captain,”
+he added hastily, “but, as you gentlemen understand, black and white
+at the beginning saves bother at the end”—and he pointed to the
+agreement. 
+
+“Quite right. What do you want, Sergeant?” asked Orme.
+
+“Nothing beyond my pay, if we get nothing, Captain, but if we get
+something, would five per cent. be too much?”
+
+“It might be ten,” I suggested. “Sergeant Quick has a life to
+lose like the rest of us.”
+
+“Thank you kindly, sir,” he answered; “but that, in my
+opinion, would be too much. Five per cent. was what I suggested.”
+
+So it was written down that Sergeant Samuel Quick was to receive five
+per cent. of the total profits, if any, provided that he behaved
+himself and obeyed orders. Then he also signed the agreement, and was
+furnished with a glass of whisky and water to drink to its good health.
+
+“Now, gentlemen,” he said, declining the chair which Higgs offered
+to him, apparently because, from long custom, he preferred his
+wooden-soldier attitude against the wall, “as a humble five-per-cent.
+private in this very adventurous company I’ll ask permission to say a
+word.” 
+
+Permission was given accordingly, and the Sergeant proceeded to inquire
+what weight of rock it was wished to remove.
+
+I told him that I did not know, as I had never seen the Fung idol, but I
+understood that its size was enormous, probably as large as St. Paul’s
+Cathedral.
+
+“Which, if solid, would take some stirring,” remarked the Sergeant.
+“Dynamite might do it, but it is too bulky to be carried across the
+desert on camels in that quantity. Captain, how about them picrates? You
+remember those new Boer shells that blew a lot of us to kingdom come,
+and poisoned the rest?”
+
+“Yes,” answered Orme; “I remember; but now they have stronger
+stuffs—azo-imides, I think they call them—terrific new compounds of
+nitrogen. We will inquire to-morrow, Sergeant.”
+
+“Yes, Captain,” he answered; “but the point is, who’ll
+pay? You can’t buy hell-fire in bulk for nothing. I calculate that,
+allowing for the purchase of the explosives and, say, fifty military
+rifles with ammunition and all other necessaries, not including camels,
+the outfit of this expedition can’t come to less than £1,500.”
+
+“I think I have that amount in gold,” I answered, “of which
+the lady of the Abati gave me as much as I could carry in comfort.”
+
+“If not,” said Orme, “although I am a poor man now, I could
+find £500 or so in a pinch. So don’t let us bother about the money.
+The question is—Are we all agreed that we will undertake this
+expedition and see it through to the end, whatever that may be?”
+
+We answered that we were.
+
+“Then has anybody anything more to say?”
+
+“Yes,” I replied; “I forgot to tell you that if we should
+ever get to Mur, none of you must make love to the Walda Nagasta. She is
+a kind of holy person, who can only marry into her own family, and to
+do so might mean that our throats would be cut.”
+
+“Do you hear that, Oliver?” said the Professor. “I suppose
+that the Doctor’s warning is meant for you, as the rest of us are
+rather past that kind of thing.”
+
+“Indeed,” replied the Captain, colouring again after his fashion.
+“Well, to tell you the truth, I feel a bit past it myself, and, so far
+as I am concerned, I don’t think we need take the fascinations of
+this black lady into account.”
+
+“Don’t brag, Captain. Please don’t brag,” said Sergeant
+Quick in a hollow whisper. “Woman is just the one thing about which
+you can never be sure. To-day she’s poison, and to-morrow honey—God
+and the climate alone know why. Please don’t brag, or we may live to
+see you crawling after this one on your knees, with the gent in the
+specs behind, and Samuel Quick, who hates the whole tribe of them,
+bringing up the rear. Tempt Providence, if you like, Captain, but
+don’t tempt woman, lest she should turn round and tempt you, as she
+has done before to-day.” 
+
+“Will you be so good as to stop talking nonsense and call a cab,”
+said Captain Orme coldly. But Higgs began to laugh in his rude fashion,
+and I, remembering the appearance of “Bud of the Rose” when she
+lifted her veil of ceremony, and the soft earnestness of her voice,
+fell into reflection. “Black lady” indeed! What, I wondered, would
+this young gentleman think if ever he should live to set his eyes upon
+her sweet and comely face? 
+
+It seemed to me that Sergeant Quick was not so foolish as his master
+chose to imagine. Captain Orme undoubtedly was in every way qualified
+to be a partner in our venture; still, I could have wished either that
+he had been an older man, or that the lady to whom he was recently
+affianced had not chosen this occasion to break her engagement. In
+dealing with difficult and dangerous combinations, my experience has
+been that it is always well to eliminate the possibility of a love
+affair, especially in the East. 
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING
+
+
+Of all our tremendous journey across the desert until we had passed the
+forest and reached the plains which surrounded the mountains of Mur,
+there are, I think, but few incidents with which the reader need be
+troubled. The first of these was at Assouan, where a letter and various
+telegrams overtook Captain Orme, which, as by this time we had become
+intimate, he showed to me. They informed him that the clandestine
+infant whom his uncle left behind him had suddenly sickened and died of
+some childish ailment, so that he was once again heir to the large
+property which he thought he had lost, since the widow only took a life
+interest in some of the personalty. I congratulated him and said I 
+supposed this meant that we should not have the pleasure of his company
+to Mur.    
+
+“Why not?” he asked. “I said I was going and I mean to go;
+indeed, I signed a document to that effect.”
+
+“I daresay,” I answered, “but circumstances alter cases. If I
+might say so, an adventure that perhaps was good enough for a young and
+well-born man of spirit and enterprise without any particular resources,
+is no longer good enough for one who has the ball at his feet. Think
+what a ball it is to a man of your birth, intelligence, record, and
+now, great fortune come to you in youth. Why, with these advantages
+there is absolutely nothing that you cannot do in England. You can go
+into Parliament and rule the country; if you like you can become a
+peer. You can marry any one who isn’t of the blood royal; in short,
+with uncommonly little effort of your own, your career is made for you.
+Don’t throw away a silver spoon like that in order, perhaps, to die
+of thirst in the desert or be killed in a fight among unknown tribes.”
+
+“Oh, I don’t know,” he answered. “I never set heart
+much on spoons, silver or other. When I lost this one I didn’t cry,
+and now that I have found it again I shan’t sing. Anyway, I am going
+on with you, and you can’t prevent me under the agreement. Only as I
+have got such a lot to leave, I suppose I had better make a will first
+and post it home, which is a bore.”
+
+Just then the Professor came in, followed by an Arab thief of a dealer,
+with whom he was trying to bargain for some object of antiquity. When
+the dealer had been ejected and the position explained to him, Higgs,
+who whatever may be his failings in small matters, is unselfish enough
+in big ones, said that he agreed with me and thought that under the
+circumstances, in his own interest, Orme ought to leave us and return
+home. 
+
+“You may save your breath, old fellow,” answered the Captain,
+“for this reason if for no other,” and he threw him a letter across
+the table, which letter I saw afterwards. To be brief, it was from the
+young lady to whom he had been engaged to be married, and who on his
+loss of fortune had jilted him. Now she seemed to have changed her mind
+again, and, although she did not mention the matter, it is perhaps not
+uncharitable to suppose that the news of the death of the inconvenient
+child had something to do with her decision.
+
+“Have you answered this?” asked Higgs.
+
+“No,” answered Orme, setting his mouth. “I have not answered,
+and I am not going to answer it, either in writing or in person. I
+intend to start to-morrow for Mur and to travel as far on that road as
+it pleases fate to allow, and now I am going to look at the rock
+sculptures by the cataract.” 
+
+“Well, that’s flat,” said Higgs after he had departed,
+“and for my part I am glad of it, for somehow I think he will be a
+useful man among those Fung. Also, if he went I expect that the
+Sergeant would go too, and where should we be without Quick, I should
+like to know?” 
+
+Afterwards I conversed with the said Quick about this same matter,
+repeating to him my opinions, to which the Sergeant listened with the
+deference which he was always kind enough to show to me.
+
+“Begging your pardon, sir,” he said, when I had finished,
+“but I think you are both right and wrong. Everything has two ends,
+hasn’t it? You say that it would be wicked for the Captain to get
+himself killed, there being now so much money for him to live for,
+seeing that life is common as dirt while money is precious, rare and
+hard to come by. It ain’t the kings we admire, it’s their crowns;
+it ain’t the millionaires, it’s their millions; but, after all, the
+millionaires don’t take their millions with them, for Providence,
+that, like Nature, hates waste, knows that if they did they’d melt,
+so one man dead gives another bread, as the saying goes, or p’raps I
+should say gingerbread in such cases.
+
+“Still, on the whole, sir, I admit you are right as to the sinfulness
+of wasting luck. But now comes the other end. I know this young lady
+what the Captain was engaged to, which he never would have been if he
+had taken my advice, since of all the fish-blooded little serpents that
+ever I set eyes on she’s the serpentest, though pretty, I allow.
+Solomon said in his haste that an honest woman he had not found, but if
+he had met the Honourable Miss—well, never mind her name—he’d
+have said it at his leisure, and gone on saying it. Now, no one should
+never take back a servant what has given notice and then says he’s
+sorry, for if he does the sorrow will be on the other side before
+it’s all done; and much less should he take back a _fiancée_ (Quick
+said a ‘finance’), on the whole, he’d better drown himself—I
+tried it once, and I know. So that’s the tail of the business.
+
+“But,” he went on, “it has a couple of fins as well, like
+that eel beast I caught in the Nile. One of them is that the Captain
+promised and vowed to go through with this expedition, and if a man’s
+got to die, he’d better die honest without breaking his word. And the
+other is what I said to you in London when I signed on, that he won’t
+die a minute before his time, and nothing won’t happen to him, but
+what’s bound to happen, and therefore it ain’t a ha’porth of use
+bothering about anything, and that’s where the East’s well ahead of
+the West. 
+
+“And now, sir, I’ll go and look after the camels and those
+half-bred Jew boys what you call Abati, but I call rotten sneaks, for if
+they get their thieving fingers into those canisters of picric salts,
+thinking they’re jam, as I found them trying to do yesterday,
+something may happen in Egypt that’ll make the Pharaohs turn in their
+graves and the Ten Plagues look silly.”
+
+So, having finished his oration, Quick went, and in due course we
+started for Mur.
+
+The second incident that is perhaps worth recording was an adventure
+that happened to us when we had completed about two of our four
+months’ journey.
+
+After weeks of weary desert travel—if I remember right, it was exactly
+a fortnight after the dog Pharaoh, of which I shall soon have plenty to
+say, had come into Orme’s possession—we reached an oasis called
+Zeu, where I had halted upon my road down to Egypt. In this oasis,
+which, although not large in extent, possesses springs of beautiful
+water and groves of date-trees, we were, as it chanced, very welcome,
+since when I was there before, I had been fortunate enough to cure its
+sheik of an attack of ophthalmia and to doctor several of his people
+for various ailments with good results. So, although I was burning to
+get forward, I agreed with the others that it would be wise to accede
+to the request of the leader of our caravan, a clever and resourceful, 
+but to my mind untrustworthy Abati of the name of Shadrach, and camp in
+Zeu for a week or so to rest and feed our camels, which had wasted
+almost to nothing on the scant herbage of the desert. 
+
+This Shadrach, I may add here, whom his companions, for some reason
+unknown to me at that time, called the Cat, was remarkable for a triple
+line of scars upon his face, which, he informed me, had been set there
+by the claws of a lion. Now the great enemies of this people of Zeu
+were lions, which at certain seasons of the year, I suppose when food
+grew scarce, descended from the slopes of a range of hills that
+stretched east and west at a distance of about fifty miles north of the
+oasis, and, crossing the intervening desert, killed many of the Zeu 
+sheep, camels, and other cattle, and often enough any of the tribe whom
+they could catch. As these poor Zeus practically possessed no firearms,
+they were at the mercy of the lions, which grew correspondingly bold.
+Indeed, their only resource was to kraal their animals within stone
+walls at night and take refuge in their huts, which they seldom left
+between sunset and dawn, except to replenish the fires that they lit to
+scare any beast of prey which might be prowling through the town. 
+
+Though the lion season was now in full swing, as it happened, for the
+first five days of our stay at Zeu we saw none of these great cats,
+although in the darkness we heard them roaring in the distance. On the
+sixth night, however, we were awakened by a sound of wailing, which
+came from the village about a quarter of a mile away, and when we went
+out at dawn to see what was the matter, were met by a melancholy
+procession advancing from its walls. At the head of it marched the
+grey-haired old chief, followed by a number of screaming women, who in
+their excitement, or perhaps as a sign of mourning, had omitted to make
+their toilette, and by four men, who carried something horrid on a 
+wickerwork door. 
+
+Soon we learned what had happened. It seemed that hungry lions, two or
+three of them, had broken through the palm-leaf roof of the hut of one
+of the sheik’s wives, she whose remains were stretched upon the door,
+and, in addition to killing her, had actually carried off his son. Now
+he came to implore us white men who had guns to revenge him on the
+lions, which otherwise, having once tasted human flesh, would destroy
+many more of his people. 
+
+Through an interpreter who knew Arabic, for not even Higgs could
+understand the peculiar Zeu dialect, he explained in excited and
+incoherent words that the beasts lay up among the sand-hills not very
+far away, where some thick reeds grew around a little spring of water.
+Would we not come out and kill them and earn the blessing of the Zeus?
+
+Now I said nothing, for the simple reason that, having such big matters
+on hand, although I was always fond of sport, I did not wish any of us
+to be led off after these lions. There is a time to hunt and a time to
+cease from hunting, and it seemed to me, except for the purposes of
+food, that this journey of ours was the latter. However, as I expected,
+Oliver Orme literally leaped at the idea. So did Higgs, who of late had
+been practising with a rifle and began to fancy himself a shot. He
+exclaimed loudly that nothing would give him greater pleasure,
+especially as he was sure that lions were in fact cowardly and
+overrated beasts. 
+
+From that moment I foreboded disaster in my heart. Still, I said I would
+come too, partly because I had not shot a lion for many a day and had a
+score to settle with those beasts which, it may be remembered, nearly
+killed me on the Mountain of Mur, and partly because, knowing the
+desert and also the Zeu people much better than either the Professor or
+Orme, I thought that I might possibly be of service.
+
+So we fetched our rifles and cartridges, to which by an afterthought we
+added two large water-bottles, and ate a hearty breakfast. As we were
+preparing to start, Shadrach, the leader of the Abati camel-drivers,
+that man with the scarred face who was nicknamed the Cat, came up to me
+and asked me whither we were going. I told him, whereon he said:
+
+“What have you to do with these savages and their troubles, lords? If
+a few of them are killed it is no matter, but as you should know, O
+Doctor, if you wish to hunt lions there are plenty in that land whither
+you travel, seeing that the lion is the fetish of the Fung and
+therefore never killed. But the desert about Zeu is dangerous and harm
+may come to you.” 
+
+“Then accompany us,” broke in the Professor, between whom and
+Shadrach there was no love lost, “for, of course, with you we should
+be quite safe.”
+
+“Not so,” he replied, “I and my people rest; only madmen
+would go to hunt worthless wild beasts when they might rest. Have we not
+enough of the desert and its dangers as it is? If you knew all that I
+do of lions you would leave them alone.”
+
+“Of the desert we have plenty also, but of shooting very little,”
+remarked the Captain, who talked Arabic well. “Lie in your beds; we go
+to kill the beasts that harass the poor people who have treated us so
+kindly.”
+
+“So be it,” said Shadrach with a smile that struck me as malicious.
+“A lion made this”—pointing to the dreadful threefold scar
+upon his face. “May the God of Israel protect you from lions.
+Remember, lords, that, the camels being fresh again, we march the day
+after to-morrow, should the weather hold, for if the wind blows on
+yonder sand-hills, no man may live among them;” and, putting up his
+hand, he studied the sky carefully from beneath its shadow, then, with
+a grunt, turned and vanished behind a hut. 
+
+All this while Sergeant Quick was engaged at a little distance in
+washing up the tin breakfast things, to all appearance quite
+unconscious of what was going on. Orme called him, whereupon he
+advanced and stood to attention. I remember thinking how curious he
+looked in those surroundings—his tall, bony frame clothed in
+semi-military garments, his wooden face perfectly shaved, his iron-grey
+hair neatly parted and plastered down upon his head with pomade or some
+equivalent after the old private soldier fashion, and his sharp 
+ferret-like grey eyes taking in everything. 
+
+“Are you coming with us, Sergeant?” asked Orme.
+
+“Not unless ordered so to do, Captain. I like a bit of hunting well
+enough, but, with all three officers away, some one should mount guard
+over the stores and transport, so I think the dog Pharaoh and I had
+best stop behind.”
+
+“Perhaps you are right, Sergeant, only tie Pharaoh up, or he’ll
+follow me. Well, what do you want to say? Out with it.”
+
+“Only this, Captain. Although I have served in three campaigns among
+these here Arabians (to Quick, all African natives north of the Equator
+were Arabians, and all south of it, niggers), I can’t say I talk
+their lingo well. Still, I made out that the fellow they call Cat
+don’t like this trip of yours, and, begging your pardon, Captain,
+whatever else Cat may be, he ain’t no fool.”
+
+“Can’t help it, Sergeant. For one thing, it would never do to give
+in to his fancies now.”
+
+“That’s true, Captain. When once it’s hoist, right or wrong,
+keep the flag flying, and no doubt you’ll come back safe and sound if
+you’re meant to.”
+
+Then, having relieved his mind, the Sergeant ran his eye over our
+equipment to see that nothing had been forgotten, rapidly assured
+himself that the rifles were in working order, reported all well, and
+returned to his dishes. Little did any of us guess under what
+circumstances we should next meet with him. 
+
+After leaving the town and marching for a mile or so along the oasis,
+accompanied by a mob of the Zeus armed with spears and bows, we were led
+by the bereaved chief, who also acted as tracker, out into the
+surrounding sands. The desert here, although I remembered it well
+enough, was different from any that we had yet encountered upon this
+journey, being composed of huge and abrupt sand-hills, some of which
+were quite three hundred feet high, separated from each other by deep,
+wind-cut valleys. 
+
+For a distance, while they were within reach of the moist air of the
+oasis, these sand-mountains produced vegetation of various sorts.
+Presently, however, we passed out into the wilderness proper, and for a
+while climbed up and down the steep, shifting slopes, till from the
+crest of one of them the chief pointed out what in South Africa is
+called a pan, or _vlei_, covered with green reeds, and explained by
+signs that in these lay the lions. Descending a steep declivity, we
+posted ourselves, I at the top, and Higgs and Orme a little way down
+either side of this _vlei_. This done, we dispatched the Zeus to beat
+it out towards us, for although the reeds grew thick along the course of
+ the underground water, it was but a narrow place, and not more than a
+quarter of a mile in length. 
+
+Scarcely had the beaters entered the tall reeds, evidently with
+trepidation, for a good many of them held back from the adventure, when
+a sound of loud wailing informed us that something had happened. A
+minute or two later we saw two of them bearing away what appeared to be
+the mangled remains of the chief’s son who had been carried off on
+the previous night. 
+
+Just then, too, we saw something else, for half-way down the marsh a
+great male lion broke cover, and began to steal off toward the
+sand-hills. It was about two hundred yards from Higgs, who chanced to
+be nearest to it, and, therefore, as any big-game hunter will know, for
+practical purposes, far out of shot. But the Professor, who was quite
+unaccustomed to this, or, indeed, any kind of sport, and, like all
+beginners, wildly anxious for blood, lifted his rifle and fired, as he
+might have done at a rabbit. By some marvellous accident the aim was
+good, and the bullet from the express, striking the lion fair behind the
+ shoulder, passed through its heart, and knocked it over dead as a
+stone.    
+
+“By Jingo! Did you see that?” screamed Higgs in his delight. Then,
+without even stopping to reload the empty barrel, he set off at the top
+of his speed toward the prostrate beast, followed by myself and by
+Orme, as fast as our astonishment would allow.
+
+Running along the edge of the marsh, Higgs had covered about a hundred
+yards of the distance, when suddenly, charging straight at him out of
+the tall reeds, appeared a second lion, or rather lioness. Higgs
+wheeled round, and wildly fired the left barrel of his rifle without
+touching the infuriated brute. Next instant, to our horror, we saw him
+upon his back, with the lioness standing over him, lashing her tail,
+and growling. 
+
+We shouted as we ran, and so did the Zeus, although they made no attempt
+at rescue, with the result that the lioness, instead of tearing Higgs
+to pieces, turned her head confusedly first to one side and then to the
+other. By now I, who had a long start of Orme, was quite close, say
+within thirty yards, though fire I dared not as yet, fearing lest,
+should I do so, I might kill my friend. At this moment the lioness,
+recovering her nerves, squatted down on the prostrate Higgs, and though
+he hit at her with his fists, dropped her muzzle, evidently with the
+intention of biting him through the head. 
+
+Now I felt that if I hesitated any more, all would be finished. The
+lioness was much longer than Higgs—a short, stout man—and her hind
+quarters projected beyond his feet. At these I aimed rapidly, and,
+pressing the trigger, next second heard the bullet clap upon the great
+beast’s hide. Up she sprang with a roar, one hind leg dangling, and
+after a moment’s hesitation, fled toward the sand-hill.
+
+Now Orme, who was behind me, fired also, knocking up the dust beneath
+the lioness’s belly, but although he had more cartridges in his
+rifle, which was a repeater, before either he or I could get another
+chance, it vanished behind a mound. Leaving it to go where it would, we
+ran on towards Higgs, expecting to find him either dead or badly
+mauled, but, to our amazement and delight, up jumped the Professor, his
+blue spectacles still on his nose, and, loading his rifle as he went,
+charged away after the wounded lioness. 
+
+“Come back,” shouted the Captain as he followed.
+
+“Not for Joe!” yelled Higgs in his high voice. “If you
+fellows think that I’m going to let a great cat sit on my stomach for
+nothing, you are jolly well mistaken.”
+
+At the top of the first rise the long-legged Orme caught him, but
+persuade him to return was more than he, or I when I arrived, could do.
+Beyond a scratch on his nose, which had stung him and covered him with
+blood, we found that he was quite uninjured, except in temper and
+dignity. But in vain did we beg him to be content with his luck and the
+honours he had won. 
+
+“Why?” he answered, “Adams wounded the beast, and I’d
+rather kill two lions than one; also I have a score to square. But if
+you fellows are afraid, you go home.”
+
+Well, I confess I felt inclined to accept the invitation, but Orme, who
+was nettled, replied:
+
+“Come, come; that settles the question, doesn’t it? You must be
+shaken by your fall, or you would not talk like that, Higgs. Look, here
+runs the spoor—see the blood? Well, let’s go steady and keep our
+wind. We may come on her anywhere, but don’t you try any more long
+distance shots. You won’t kill another lion at two hundred and fifty
+yards.” 
+
+“All right,” said Higgs, “don’t be offended. I
+didn’t mean anything, except that I am going to teach that beast the
+difference between a white man and a Zeu.”
+
+Then we began our march, following the blood tracks up and down the
+steep sand-slopes. When we had been at it for about half-an-hour our
+spirits were cheered by catching sight of the lioness on a ridge five
+hundred yards away. Just then, too, some of the Zeus overtook us and
+joined the hunt, though without zeal.
+
+Meanwhile, as the day grew, the heat increased until it was so intense
+that the hot air danced above the sand slopes like billions of midges,
+and this although the sun was not visible, being hidden by a sort of
+mist. A strange silence, unusual even in the desert, pervaded the earth
+and sky; we could hear the grains of sand trickling from the ridges.
+The Zeus, who accompanied us, grew uneasy, and pointed upward with
+their spears, then behind toward the oasis of which we had long lost
+sight. Finally, when we were not looking, they disappeared.
+
+Now I would have followed them, guessing that they had some good reason
+for this sudden departure. But Higgs refused to come, and Orme, in whom
+his foolish taunt seemed still to rankle, only shrugged his shoulders
+and said nothing. 
+
+“Let the black curs go,” exclaimed the Professor as he polished his
+blue spectacles and mopped his face. “They are a white-livered lot of
+sneaks. Look! There she is, creeping off to the left. If we run round
+that sand-hill we shall meet her.”
+
+So we ran round the sand-hill, but we did not meet her, although after
+long hunting we struck the blood spoor afresh, and followed it for
+several miles, first in this direction, and then in that, until Orme
+and I wondered at Higgs’s obstinacy and endurance. At length, when
+even he was beginning to despair, we put up the lioness in a hollow,
+and fired several shots at her as she hobbled over the opposing slope,
+one of which hit her, for she rolled over, then picked herself up
+again, roaring. As a matter of fact, it came from the Captain’s
+rifle, but Higgs, who, like many an inexperienced person was a jealous
+sportsman, declared that it was his and we did not think it worth while 
+to contradict him. 
+
+On we toiled, and, just beyond the ridge, walked straight into the
+lioness, sitting up like a great dog, so injured that she could do
+nothing but snarl hideously and paw at the air.
+
+“Now it is my turn, old lady,” ejaculated Higgs, and straightway
+missed her clean from a distance of five yards. A second shot was more
+successful, and she rolled over, dead.
+
+“Come on,” said the exultant Professor, “and we’ll skin
+her. She sat on me, and I mean to sit on her for many a day.”
+
+So we began the job, although I, who had large experience of this
+desert, and did not like the appearance of the weather, wished to leave
+the beast where it lay and get back to the oasis. It proved long, for I
+was the only one of us who had any practical knowledge of flaying
+animals, and in that heat extremely unpleasant.
+
+At length it was done, and, having doubled the hide over a rifle for two
+of us to carry in turns, we refreshed ourselves from the water-bottles
+(I even caught the Professor washing the blood off his face and hands
+with some of the precious fluid). Then we started for the oasis, only
+to discover, though we were all sure that we knew the way, that not one
+of us had a slightest idea of its real direction. In the hurry of our
+departure we had forgotten to bring a compass, and the sun, that would
+have been our guide in ordinary circumstances, and to which we always
+trusted in the open desert, was hidden by the curious haze that has
+been described. 
+
+So, sensibly enough, we determined to return to the sand crest where we
+had killed the lioness, and then trace our own footprints backward.
+This seemed simple enough, for there, within half-a-mile, rose the
+identical ridge. 
+
+We reached it, grumbling, for the lion-skin was heavy, only to discover
+that it was a totally different ridge. Now, after reflection and
+argument, we saw our exact mistake, and made for what was obviously the
+real ridge—with the same result.
+
+We were lost in the desert!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE DEATH WIND
+
+
+“The fact is,” said Higgs presently, speaking with the air of an
+oracle, “the fact is that all these accursed sand-hills are as like
+each other as mummy beads on the same necklace, and therefore it is
+very difficult to know them apart. Give me that water-bottle, Adams; I
+am as dry as a lime-kiln.”
+
+“No,” I said shortly; “you may be drier before the end.”
+
+“What do you mean? Oh! I see; but that’s nonsense; those Zeus will
+hunt us up, or, at the worst, we have only to wait till the sun gets
+out.” 
+
+As he spoke, suddenly the air became filled with a curious singing sound
+impossible to describe, caused as I knew, who had often heard it before,
+by millions and millions of particles of sand being rubbed together. We
+turned to see whence it came, and perceived, far away, rushing towards
+us with extraordinary swiftness, a huge and dense cloud preceded by
+isolated columns and funnels of similar clouds.
+
+“A sand-storm,” said Higgs, his florid face paling a little.
+“Bad luck for us! That’s what comes of getting out of bed the wrong
+side first this morning. No, it’s your fault, Adams; you helped me to
+salt last night, in spite of my remonstrances” (the Professor has
+sundry little superstitions of this sort, particularly absurd in so
+learned a man). “Well, what shall we do? Get under the lee of the
+hill until it blows over?”
+
+“Don’t suppose it will blow over. Can’t see anything to do
+except say our prayers,” remarked Orme with sweet resignation. Oliver
+is, I think, the coolest hand in an emergency of any one I ever met,
+except, perhaps, Sergeant Quick, a man, of course, nearly old enough to
+be his father. “The game seems to be pretty well up,” he added.
+“Well, you have killed two lions, Higgs, and that is something.”
+
+“Oh, hang it! You can die if you like, Oliver. The world won’t miss
+you; but think of its loss if anything happened to _me_. I don’t
+intend to be wiped out by a beastly sand-storm. I intend to live to
+write a book on Mur,” and Higgs shook his fist at the advancing
+clouds with an air that was really noble. It reminded me of Ajax
+defying the lightning. 
+
+Meanwhile I had been reflecting.
+
+“Listen,” I said. “Our only chance is to stop where we are,
+for if we move we shall certainly be buried alive. Look; there is
+something solid to lie on,” and I pointed to a ridge of rock, a kind
+of core of congealed sand, from which the surface had been swept by
+gales. “Down with you, quick,” I went on, “and let’s draw that
+lion-skin over our heads. It may help to keep the dust from choking us.
+Hurry, men; it’s coming!”
+
+Coming, it was indeed, with a mighty, wailing roar. Scarcely had we got
+ourselves into position, our backs to the blast and our mouths and noses
+buried after the fashion of camels in a similar predicament, the
+lion-skin covering our heads and bodies to the middle, with the paws
+tucked securely beneath us to prevent it from being blown away, when
+the storm leaped upon us furiously, bringing darkness in its train.
+There we lay for hour after hour, unable to see, unable to talk because
+of the roaring noise about us, and only from time to time lifting
+ourselves a little upon our hands and knees to disturb the weight of
+sand that accumulated on our bodies, lest it should encase us in a 
+living tomb. 
+
+Dreadful were the miseries we suffered—the misery of the heat beneath
+the stinking pelt of the lion, the misery of the dust-laden air that
+choked us almost to suffocation, the misery of thirst, for we could not
+get at our scanty supply of water to drink. But worst of all perhaps,
+was the pain caused by the continual friction of the sharp sand driven
+along at hurricane speed, which, incredible as it may seem, finally
+wore holes in our thin clothing and filed our skins to rawness.
+
+“No wonder the Egyptian monuments get such a beautiful shine on
+them,” I heard poor Higgs muttering in my ear again and again, for he
+was growing light-headed; “no wonder, no wonder! My shin-bones will
+be very useful to polish Quick’s tall riding-boots. Oh! curse the
+lions. Why did you help me to salt, you old ass; why did you help me to
+salt? It’s pickling me behind.”
+
+Then he became quite incoherent, and only groaned from time to time.
+
+Perhaps, however, this suffering did us a service, since otherwise
+exhaustion, thirst, and dust might have overwhelmed our senses, and
+caused us to fall into a sleep from which we never should have
+awakened. Yet at the time we were not grateful to it, for at last the
+agony became almost unbearable. Indeed, Orme told me afterwards that
+the last thing he could remember was a quaint fancy that he had made a
+colossal fortune by selling the secret of a new torture to the
+Chinese—that of hot sand driven on to the victim by a continuous 
+blast of hot air. 
+
+After a while we lost count of time, nor was it until later that we
+learned that the storm endured for full twenty hours, during the latter
+part of which, notwithstanding our manifold sufferings, we must have
+become more or less insensible. At any rate, at one moment I remembered
+the awful roar and the stinging of the sand whips, followed by a kind
+of vision of the face of my son—that beloved, long-lost son whom I
+had sought for so many years, and for whose sake I endured all these
+things. Then, without any interval, as it were, I felt my limbs being
+scorched as though by hot irons or through a burning-glass, and with a
+fearful effort staggered up to find that the storm had passed, and that
+the furious sun was blistering my excoriated skin. Rubbing the caked
+dirt from my eyes, I looked down to see two mounds like those of 
+graves, out of which projected legs that had been white. Just then one
+pair of legs, the longer pair, stirred, the sand heaved up
+convulsively, and, uttering wandering words in a choky voice, there
+arose the figure of Oliver Orme.    
+
+For a moment we stood and stared at each other, and strange spectacles
+we were. 
+
+“Is he dead?” muttered Orme, pointing to the still buried Higgs.
+
+“Fear so,” I answered, “but we’ll look;” and
+painfully we began to disinter him.
+
+When we came to it beneath the lion-skin, the Professor’s face was
+black and hideous to see, but, to our relief, we perceived that he was
+not dead, for he moved his hand and moaned. Orme looked at me.
+
+“Water would save him,” I said.
+
+Then came the anxious moment. One of our water-bottles was emptied
+before the storm began, but the other, a large, patent flask covered
+with felt, and having a screw vulcanite top, should still contain a
+good quantity, perhaps three quarts—that is, if the fluid had not
+evaporated in the dreadful heat. If this had happened, it meant that
+Higgs would die, and unless help came, that soon we should follow him.
+Orme unscrewed the flask, for my hands refused that office, and used
+his teeth to draw the cork, which, providentially enough the thoughtful
+Quick had set in the neck beneath the screw. Some of the water, which,
+although it was quite hot, had _not_ evaporated, thank God! flew 
+against his parched lips, and I saw him bite them till the blood came in
+the fierceness of the temptation to assuage his raging thirst. But he
+resisted it like the man he is, and, without drinking a drop, handed me
+the bottle, saying simply: 
+
+“You are the oldest; take care of this, Adams.”
+
+Now it was my turn to be tempted, but I, too, overcame, and, sitting
+down, laid Higgs’s head upon my knee; then, drop by drop, let a
+little of the water trickle between his swollen lips.
+
+The effect was magical, for in less than a minute the Professor sat up,
+grasped at the flask with both hands, and strove to tear it away.
+
+“You cruel brute! You cruel selfish brute!” he moaned as I wrenched
+it from him.
+
+“Look here, Higgs,” I answered thickly; “Orme and I want
+water badly enough, and we have had none. But you might take it all if
+it would save you, only it wouldn’t. We are lost in the desert, and
+must be sparing. If you drank everything now, in a few hours you would
+be thirsty again and die.”
+
+He thought awhile, then looked up and said:
+
+“Beg pardon—I understand. I’m the selfish brute. But
+there’s a good lot of water there; let’s each have a drink; we
+can’t move unless we do.”
+
+So we drank, measuring out the water in a little india-rubber cup which
+we had with us. It held about as much as a port wine glass, and each of
+us drank, or rather slowly sipped, three cupfuls; we who felt as though
+we could have swallowed a gallon apiece, and asked for more. Small as
+was the allowance, it worked wonders in us; we were men again.
+
+We stood up and looked about us, but the great storm had changed
+everything. Where there had been sand-hills a hundred feet high, now
+were plains and valleys; where there had been valleys appeared
+sand-hills. Only the high ridge upon which we had lain was as before,
+because it stood above the others and had a core of rock. We tried to
+discover the direction of the oasis by the position of the sun, only to
+be baffled, since our two watches had run down, and we did not know the
+time of day or where the sun ought to be in the heavens. Also, in that
+howling wilderness there was nothing to show us the points of the
+compass.    
+
+Higgs, whose obstinacy remained unimpaired, whatever may have happened
+to the rest of his vital forces, had one view of the matter, and Orme
+another diametrically opposed to it. They even argued as to whether the
+oasis lay to our right or to our left, for their poor heads were so
+confused that they were scarcely capable of accurate thought or
+observation. Meanwhile I sat down upon the sand and considered. Through
+the haze I could see the points of what I thought must be the hills
+whence the Zeus declared that the lions came, although of course, for
+aught I knew, they might be other hills. 
+
+“Listen,” I said; “if lions live upon those hills, there must
+be water there. Let us try to reach them; perhaps we shall see the oasis
+as we go.”
+
+Then began our dreadful march. The lion-skin that had saved our lives,
+and was now baked hard as a board, we left behind, but the rifles we
+took. All day long we dragged ourselves up and down steep sand-slopes,
+pausing now again to drink a sip of water, and hoping always that from
+the top of the next slope we should see a rescue party headed by Quick,
+or perhaps the oasis itself. Indeed, once we did see it, green and
+shining, not more than three miles away, but when we got to the head of
+the hill beyond which it should lie we found that the vision was only a
+mirage, and our hearts nearly broke with disappointment. Oh! to men 
+dying of thirst, that mirage was indeed a cruel mockery. 
+
+At length night approached, and the mountains were yet a long way off.
+We could march no more, and sank down exhausted, lying on our faces,
+because our backs were so cut by the driving sand and blistered by the
+sun that we could not sit. By now almost all our water was gone.
+Suddenly Higgs nudged us and pointed upwards. Following the line of his
+hand, we saw, not thirty yards away and showing clear against the sky,
+a file of antelopes trekking along the sand-ridge, doubtless on a night
+journey from one pasturage to another. 
+
+“You fellows shoot,” he muttered; “I might miss and frighten
+them away,” for in his distress poor Higgs was growing modest.
+
+Slowly Orme and I drew ourselves to our knees, cocking our rifles. By
+this time all the buck save one had passed; there were but six of them,
+and this one marched along about twenty yards behind the others. Orme
+pulled the trigger, but his rifle would not go off because, as he
+discovered afterwards, some sand had worked into the mechanism of the
+lock. 
+
+Meanwhile I had also covered the buck, but the sunset dazzled my
+weakened eyes, and my arms were feeble; also my terrible anxiety for
+success, since I knew that on this shot hung our lives, unnerved me.
+But it must be now or never; in three more paces the beast would be
+down the dip. 
+
+I fired, and knowing that I had missed, turned sick and faint. The
+antelope bounded forward a few yards right to the edge of the dip;
+then, never having heard such a sound before, and being overcome by
+some fatal curiosity, stopped and turned around, staring at the
+direction whence it had come. 
+
+Despairingly I fired again, almost without taking aim, and this time the
+bullet went in beneath the throat, and, raking the animal, dropped it
+dead as a stone. We scrambled to it, and presently were engaged in an
+awful meal of which we never afterwards liked to think. Happily for us
+that antelope must have drunk water not long before.
+
+Our hunger and thirst assuaged after this horrible fashion, we slept
+awhile by the carcase, then arose extraordinarily refreshed, and,
+having cut off some hunks of meat to carry with us, started on again.
+By the position of the stars, we now knew that the oasis must lie
+somewhere to the east of us; but as between us and it there appeared to
+be nothing but these eternal sand-hills stretching away for many miles,
+and as in front of us toward the range the character of the desert
+seemed to be changing, we thought it safer, if the word safety can be
+used in such a connection, to continue to head for that range. All the 
+remainder of this night we marched, and, as we had no fuel wherewith to
+cook it, at dawn ate some of the raw meat, which we washed down with
+the last drops of our water. 
+
+Now we were out of the sand-hills, and had entered on a great pebbly
+plain that lay between us and the foot of the mountains. These looked
+quite close, but in fact were still far off. Feebly and ever more
+feebly we staggered on, meeting no one and finding no water, though
+here and there we came across little bushes, of which we chewed the
+stringy and aromatic leaves that contained some moisture, but drew up
+our mouths and throats like alum. 
+
+Higgs, who was the softest of us, gave out the first, though to the last
+he struggled forward with surprising pluck, even after he had been
+obliged to throw away his rifle, because he could no longer carry it,
+though this we did not notice at the time. When he could not support
+himself upon his feet, Orme took him by one arm, and I by the other,
+and helped him on, much as I have seen two elephants do by a wounded
+companion of the herd. 
+
+Half-an-hour or so later my strength failed me also. Although advanced
+in years, I am tough and accustomed to the desert and hardships; who
+would not be who had been a slave to the Khalifa? But now I could do no
+more, and halting, begged the others to go on and leave me. Orme’s
+only answer was to proffer me his left arm. I took it, for life is
+sweet to us all, especially when one has something to live for—a
+desire to fulfil as I had, though to tell the truth, even at the time I
+felt ashamed of myself. 
+
+Thus, then, we proceeded awhile, resembling a sober man attempting to
+lead two drunken friends out of reach of that stern policeman, Death.
+Orme’s strength must be wonderful; or was it his great spirit and his
+tender pity for our helplessness which enabled him to endure beneath
+this double burden. 
+
+Suddenly he fell down as though he had been shot, and lay there
+senseless. The Professor, however, retained some portion of his mind,
+although it wandered. He became light-headed, and rambled on about our
+madness in having undertaken such a journey, “just to pot a couple of
+beastly lions,” and although I did not answer them, I agreed heartily
+with his remarks. Then he seemed to imagine that I was a clergyman, and
+kneeling on the sand, he made a lengthy confession of his sins which,
+so far as I gathered, though I did not pay much attention to them, for
+I was thinking of my own, appeared chiefly to consist of the unlawful
+acquisition of certain objects of antiquity, or of having overmatched
+others in the purchase of such objects. 
+
+To pacify him, for I feared lest he should go raving mad, I pronounced
+some religious absolution, whereon poor Higgs rolled over and lay still
+by Orme. Yes; he, the friend whom I had always loved, for his very
+failings were endearing, was dead or at the point of death, like the
+gallant young man at his side, and I myself was dying. Tremors shook my
+limbs; horrible waves of blackness seemed to well up from my vitals,
+through my breast to my brain, and thence to evaporate in queer, jagged
+lines and patches, which I realized, but could not actually see. Gay
+memories of my far-off childhood arose in me, particularly those of a
+Christmas party where I had met a little girl dressed like an elf, a
+little girl with blue eyes whom I had loved dearly for quite a 
+fortnight, to be beaten down, stamped out, swallowed by that vision of
+the imminent shadow which awaits all mankind, the black womb of a
+re-birth, if re-birth there be. 
+
+What could I do? I thought of lighting a fire; at any rate it would
+serve to scare the lions and other wild beasts which else might prey
+upon us before we were quite dead. It would be dreadful to lie helpless
+but sentient, and feel their rending fangs. But I had no strength to
+collect the material. To do so at best must have meant a long walk, for
+even here it was not plentiful. I had a few cartridges left—three, to
+be accurate—in my repeating rifle; the rest I had thrown away to be
+rid of their weight. I determined to fire them, since, in my state I
+thought they could no longer serve either to win food or for the
+purposes of defence, although, as it happened, in this I was wrong. It
+was possible that, even in that endless desert, some one might hear the
+shots, and if not—well, good-night. 
+
+So I sat up and fired the first cartridge, wondering in a childish
+fashion where the bullet would fall. Then I went to sleep for awhile.
+The howling of a hyena woke me up, and, on glancing around, I saw the
+beast’s flaming eyes quite close to me. I aimed and shot at it, and
+heard a yell of pain. That hyena, I reflected, would want no more food
+at present. 
+
+The silence of the desert overwhelmed me; it was so terrible that I
+almost wished the hyena back for company. Holding the rifle above my
+head, I fired the third cartridge. Then I took the hand of Higgs in my
+own, for, after all, it was a link—the last link with humanity and
+the world—and lay down in the company of death that seemed to fall
+upon me in black and smothering veils.
+
+I woke up and became aware that some one was pouring water down my
+throat. Heaven! I thought to myself, for at that time heaven and water
+were synonymous in my mind. I drank a good deal of it, not all I wanted
+by any means, but as much as the pourer would allow, then raised myself
+upon my hands and looked. The starlight was extraordinarily clear in
+that pure desert atmosphere, and by it I saw the face of Sergeant Quick
+bending over me. Also, I saw Orme sitting up, staring about him
+stupidly, while a great yellow dog, with a head like a mastiff, licked
+his hand. I knew the dog at once; it was that which Orme had bought
+from some wandering natives, and named Pharaoh because he ruled over all
+ other dogs. Moreover, I knew the two camels that stood near by. So I
+was still on earth—unless, indeed we had all moved on a step. 
+
+“How did you find us, Sergeant?” I asked feebly.
+
+“Didn’t find you, Doctor,” answered Quick, “dog Pharaoh
+found you. In a business like this a dog is more useful than man, for he
+can smell what one can’t see. Now, if you feel better, Doctor, please
+look at Mr. Higgs, for I fear he’s gone.”
+
+I looked, and, although I did not say so, was of the same opinion. His
+jaw had fallen, and he lay limp and senseless; his eyes I could not
+see, because of the black spectacles.
+
+“Water,” I said, and Quick poured some into his mouth, where it
+vanished.
+
+Still he did not stir, so I opened his garments and felt his heart. At
+first I could detect nothing; then there was the slightest possible
+flutter. 
+
+“There’s hope,” I said in answer to the questioning looks.
+“You don’t happen to have any brandy, do you?” I added.
+
+“Never travelled without it yet, Doctor,” replied Quick
+indignantly, producing a metal flask.
+
+“Give him some,” I said, and the Sergeant obeyed with liberality
+and almost instantaneous effect, for Higgs sat up gasping and coughing.
+
+“Brandy; filthy stuff; teetotaller! Cursed trick! Never forgive you.
+Water, water,” he spluttered in a thick, low voice.
+
+We gave it to him, and he drank copiously, until we would let him have
+no more indeed. Then, by degrees, his senses came back to him. He
+thrust up his black spectacles which he had worn all this while, and
+stared at the Sergeant with his sharp eyes.
+
+“I understand,” he said. “So we are not dead, after all,
+which perhaps is a pity after getting through the beastly preliminaries.
+What has happened?”
+
+“Don’t quite know,” answered Orme; “ask Quick.”
+
+But the Sergeant was already engaged in lighting a little fire and
+setting a camp-kettle to boil, into which he poured a tin of beef
+extract that he had brought with other eatables from our stores on the
+chance that he might find us. In fifteen minutes we were drinking soup,
+for I forbade anything more solid as yet, and, oh! what a blessed meal
+was that. When it was finished, Quick fetched some blankets from the
+camels, which he threw over us. 
+
+“Lie down and sleep, gentlemen,” he said; “Pharaoh and I will
+watch.”
+
+The last thing I remember was seeing the Sergeant, in his own fashion an
+extremely religious man, and not ashamed of it, kneeling upon the sand
+and apparently saying his prayers. As he explained afterwards, of
+course, as a fatalist, he knew well that whatever must happen would
+happen, but still he considered it right and proper to return thanks to
+the Power which had arranged that on this occasion the happenings
+should be good, and not ill, a sentiment with which every one of us
+agreed. Opposite to him, with one of his faithful eyes fixed on Orme,
+sat Pharaoh in grave contemplation. Doubtless, being an Eastern dog, he
+understood the meaning of public prayer; or perhaps he thought that he
+should receive some share of gratitude and thanks. 
+
+When we awoke the sun was already high, and to show us that we had
+dreamed no dream, there was Quick frying tinned bacon over the fire,
+while Pharaoh sat still and watched him—or the bacon.
+
+“Look,” said Orme to me, pointing to the mountains, “they are
+still miles away. It was madness to think that we could reach them.”
+
+I nodded, then turned to stare at Higgs, who was just waking up, for,
+indeed, he was a sight to see. His fiery red hair was full of sand, his
+nether garments were gone, apparently at some stage in our march he had
+dispensed with the remains of them because they chafed his sore limbs,
+and his fair skin, not excluding that of his face, was a mass of
+blisters, raised by the sun. In fact he was so disfigured that his
+worst enemy would not have known him. He yawned, stretched himself,
+always a good sign in man or beast, and asked for a bath. 
+
+“I am afraid you will have to wash yourself in sand here, sir, like
+them filthy Arabians,” said Quick, saluting. “No water to spare for
+baths in this dry country. But I’ve got a tube of hazeline, also a
+hair-brush and a looking-glass,” he added, producing these articles.
+
+“Quite so, Sergeant,” said Higgs, as he took them;
+“it’s sacrilege to think of using water to wash. I intend never to
+waste it in that way again.” Then he looked at himself in the glass,
+and let it fall upon the sand, ejaculating, “Oh! good Lord, is that
+me?” 
+
+“Please be careful, sir,” said the Sergeant sternly; “you
+told me the other day that it’s unlucky to break a looking-glass; also
+I have no other.”
+
+“Take it away,” said the Professor; “I don’t want it
+any more, and, Doctor, come and oil my face, there’s a good fellow;
+yes, and the rest of me also, if there is enough hazeline.”
+
+So we treated each other with the ointment, which at first made us smart
+fearfully, and then, very gingerly sat down to breakfast.
+
+“Now, Sergeant,” said Orme, as he finished his fifth pannikin of
+tea, “tell us your story.”
+
+“There isn’t much of a story, Captain. Those Zeu fellows came back
+without you, and, not knowing the lingo, I could make nothing of their
+tale. Well, I soon made Shadrach and Co. understand that, death-wind or
+no death-wind—that’s what they call it—they must come with me to
+look for you, and at last we started, although they said that I was mad,
+as you were dead already. Indeed, it wasn’t until I asked that fellow
+Shadrach if he wanted to be dead too”—and the Sergeant tapped his
+revolver grimly—“that he would let any one go.
+
+“As it proved, he was right, for we couldn’t find you, and after
+awhile the camels refused to face the storm any longer; also one of the
+Abati drivers was lost, and hasn’t been heard of since. It was all
+the rest of us could do to get back to the oasis alive, nor would
+Shadrach go out again even after the storm had blown itself away. It
+was no use arguing with the pig, so, as I did not want his blood upon
+my hands, I took two camels and started with the dog Pharaoh for
+company. 
+
+“Now this was my thought, although I could not explain it to the Abati
+crowd, that if you lived at all, you would almost certainly head for the
+hills as I knew you had no compass, and you would not be able to see
+anything else. So I rode along the plain which stretches between the
+desert and the mountains, keeping on the edge of the sand-hills. I rode
+all day, but when night came I halted, since I could see no more. There
+I sat in that great place, thinking, and after an hour or two I
+observed Pharaoh prick his ears and look toward the west. So I also
+started toward the west, and presently I thought that I saw one faint
+streak of light which seemed to go upward, and therefore couldn’t 
+come from a falling star, but might have come from a rifle fired toward
+the sky.    
+
+“I listened, but no sound reached me, only presently, some seconds
+afterwards, the dog again pricked his ears as though _he_ heard
+something. That settled me, and I mounted and rode forward through the
+night toward the place where I thought I had seen the flash. For two
+hours I rode, firing my revolver from time to time; then as no answer
+came, gave it up as a bad job, and stopped. But Pharaoh there
+wouldn’t stop. He began to whine and sniff and run forward, and at
+last bolted into the darkness, out of which presently I heard him
+barking some hundreds of yards away, to call me, I suppose. So I 
+followed and found you three gentlemen, dead, as I thought at first. 
+That’s all the story, Captain.” 
+
+“One with a good end, anyway, Sergeant. We owe our lives to you.”
+
+“Beg your pardon, Captain,” answered Quick modestly; “not to
+me at all, but to Providence first that arranged everything, before we
+were born perhaps, and next to Pharaoh. He’s a wise dog, Pharaoh,
+though fierce with some, and you did a good deal when you bought him
+for a bottle of whisky and a sixpenny pocket-knife.”
+
+It was dawn on the following morning before we sighted the oasis,
+whither we could travel but slowly, since, owing to the lack of camels,
+two of us must walk. Of these two, as may be guessed, the Sergeant was
+always one and his master the other, for of all the men I ever knew I
+think that in such matters Orme is the most unselfish. Nothing would
+induce him to mount one of the camels, even for half-an-hour, so that
+when I walked, the brute went riderless. On the other hand, once he was
+on, notwithstanding the agonies he suffered from his soreness, nothing
+would induce Higgs to get off. 
+
+“Here I am and here I stop,” he said several times, in English,
+French, and sundry Oriental languages. “I’ve tramped it enough to
+last me the rest of my life.”
+
+Both of us were dozing upon our saddles when suddenly I heard the
+Sergeant calling to the camels to halt and asked what was the matter.
+
+“Looks like Arabians, Doctor,” he said, pointing to a cloud of dust
+advancing toward us.
+
+“Well, if so,” I answered, “our best chance is to show no
+fear and go on. I don’t think they will harm us.”
+
+So, having made ready such weapons as we had, we advanced, Orme and the
+Sergeant walking between the two camels, until presently we encountered
+the other caravan, and, to our astonishment, saw none other than
+Shadrach riding at the head of it, mounted on my dromedary, which his
+own mistress, the Lady of the Abati, had given to me. We came face to
+face, and halted, staring at each other.
+
+“By the beard of Aaron! is it you, lords?” he asked. “We
+thought you were dead.”
+
+“By the hair of Moses! so I gather,” I answered angrily,
+“seeing that you are going off with all our belongings,” and I
+pointed to the baggage camels laden with goods.
+
+Then followed explanations and voluble apologies, which Higgs for one
+accepted with a very bad grace. Indeed, as he can talk Arabic and its
+dialects perfectly, he made use of that tongue to pour upon the heads
+of Shadrach and his companions a stream of Eastern invective that must
+have astonished them, ably seconded as it was by Sergeant Quick in
+English. 
+
+Orme listened for some time, then said:
+
+“That’ll do, old fellow; if you go on, you will get up a row, and,
+Sergeant, be good enough to hold your tongue. We have met them, so there
+is no harm done. Now, friend Shadrach, turn back with us to the oasis.
+We are going to rest there for some days.”
+
+Shadrach looked sulky, and said something about our turning and going on
+with _them_, whereon I produced the ancient ring, Sheba’s ring, which
+I had brought as a token from Mur. This I held before his eyes, saying:
+
+“Disobey, and there will be an account to settle when you come into
+the presence of her who sent you forth, for even if we four should
+die”—and I looked at him meaningly—“think not that you
+will be able to hide this matter; there are too many witnesses.”
+
+Then, without more words, he saluted the sacred ring, and we all went
+back to Zeu.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+PHARAOH MAKES TROUBLE
+
+
+Another six weeks or so had gone by, and at length the character of the
+country began to change. At last we were passing out of the endless
+desert over which we had travelled for so many hundreds of miles; at
+least a thousand, according to our observations and reckonings, which I
+checked by those that I had taken upon my eastward journey. Our march,
+after the great adventure at the oasis, was singularly devoid of
+startling events. Indeed, it had been awful in its monotony, and yet,
+oddly enough, not without a certain charm—at any rate for Higgs and
+Orme, to whom the experience was new. 
+
+Day by day to travel on across an endless sea of sand so remote, so
+unvisited that for whole weeks no man, not even a wandering Bedouin of
+the desert, crossed our path. Day by day to see the great red sun rise
+out of the eastern sands, and, its journey finished, sink into the
+western sands. Night by night to watch the moon, the same moon on which
+were fixed the million eyes of cities, turning those sands to a silver
+sea, or, in that pure air, to observe the constellations by which we
+steered our path making their majestic march through space. And yet to
+know that this vast region, now so utterly lonesome and desolate, had
+once been familiar to the feet of long-forgotten men who had trod the
+sands we walked, and dug the wells at which we drank. 
+
+Armies had marched across these deserts, also, and perished there. For
+once we came to a place where a recent fearful gale had almost denuded
+the underlying rock, and there found the skeletons of thousands upon
+thousands of soldiers, with those of their beasts of burden, and among
+them heads of arrows, sword-blades, fragments of armour and of painted
+wooden shields. 
+
+Here a whole host had died; perhaps Alexander sent it forth, or perhaps
+some far earlier monarch whose name has ceased to echo on the earth. At
+least they had died, for there we saw the memorial of that buried
+enterprise. There lay the kings, the captains, the soldiers, and the
+concubines, for I found the female bones heaped apart, some with the
+long hair still upon the skulls, showing where the poor, affrighted
+women had hived together in the last catastrophe of slaughter or of
+famine, thirst, and driven sand. Oh, if only those bones could speak,
+what a tale was theirs to tell! 
+
+There had been cities in this desert, too, where once were oases, now
+overwhelmed, except perhaps for a sand-choked spring. Twice we came upon
+the foundations of such places, old walls of clay or stone, stark
+skeletons of ancient homes that the shifting sands had disinterred,
+which once had been the theatre of human hopes and fears, where once
+men had been born, loved, and died, where once maidens had been fair,
+and good and evil wrestled, and little children played. Some Job may
+have dwelt here and written his immortal plaint, or some king of Sodom,
+and suffered the uttermost calamity. The world is very old; all we
+Westerns learned from the contemplation of these wrecks of men and of
+their works was just that the world is very old. 
+
+One evening against the clear sky there appeared the dim outline of
+towering cliffs, shaped like a horseshoe. They were the Mountains of
+Mur many miles away, but still the Mountains of Mur, sighted at last.
+Next morning we began to descend through wooded land toward a wide
+river that is, I believe, a tributary of the Nile, though upon this
+point I have no certain information. Three days later we reached the
+banks of this river, following some old road, and faring sumptuously
+all the way, since here there was much game and grass in plenty for the
+camels that, after their long abstinence, ate until we thought that they
+ would burst. Evidently we had not arrived an hour too soon, for now the
+ Mountains of Mur were hid by clouds, and we could see that it was
+raining upon the plains which lay between us and them. The wet season
+was setting in, and, had we been a single week later, it might have
+been impossible for us to cross the river, which would then have been
+in flood. As it was, we passed it without difficulty by the ancient
+ford, the water never rising above the knees of our camels. 
+
+Upon its further bank we took counsel, for now we had entered the
+territory of the Fung, and were face to face with the real dangers of
+our journey. Fifty miles or so away rose the fortress of Mur, but, as I
+explained to my companions, the question was how to pass those fifty
+miles in safety. Shadrach was called to our conference, and at my
+request set out the facts. 
+
+Yonder, he said, rose the impregnable mountain home of the Abati, but
+all the vast plain included in the loop of the river which he called
+Ebur, was the home of the savage Fung race, whose warriors could be
+counted by the ten thousand, and whose principal city, Harmac, was
+built opposite to the stone effigy of their idol, that was also called
+Harmac—— 
+
+“Harmac—that is Harmachis, god of dawn. Your Fung had something to
+do with the old Egyptians, or both of them came from a common stock,”
+interrupted Higgs triumphantly.
+
+“I daresay, old fellow,” answered Orme; “I think you told us
+that before in London; but we will go into the archæology afterwards if
+we survive to do so. Let Shadrach get on with his tale.”
+
+This city, which had quite fifty thousand inhabitants, continued
+Shadrach, commanded the mouth of the pass or cleft by which we must
+approach Mur, having probably been first built there for that very
+purpose. 
+
+Orme asked if there was no other way into the stronghold, which, he
+understood, the embassy had left by being let down a precipice.
+Shadrach answered that this was true, but that although the camels and
+their loads had been let down that precipitous place, owing to the
+formation of its overhanging rocks, it would be perfectly impossible to
+haul them up it with any tackle that the Abati possessed.
+
+He asked again if there was not a way round, if that circle of mountains
+had no back door. Shadrach replied that there was such a back door
+facing to the north some eight days’ journey away. Only at this
+season of the year it could not be reached, since beyond the Mountains
+of Mur in that direction was a great lake, out of which flowed the
+river Ebur in two arms that enclosed the whole plain of Fung. By now
+this lake would be full, swollen with rains that fell on the hills of
+Northern Africa, and the space between it and the Mur range nothing but
+an impassable swamp. 
+
+Being still unsatisfied, Orme inquired whether, if we abandoned the
+camels, we could not then climb the precipice down which the embassy
+had descended. To this the answer, which I corroborated, was that if
+our approach were known and help given to us from above, it might be
+possible, provided that we threw away the loads.
+
+“Seeing what these loads are, and the purpose for which we have
+brought them so far, that is out of the question,” said Orme.
+“Therefore, tell us at once, Shadrach, how we are to win through the
+Fung to Mur.” 
+
+“In one way only, O son of Orme, should it be the will of God that we
+do so at all; by keeping ourselves hidden during the daytime and
+marching at night. According to their custom at this season, to-morrow,
+after sunset, the Fung hold their great spring feast in the city of
+Harmac, and at dawn go up to make sacrifice to their idol. But after
+sunset they eat and drink and are merry, and then it is their habit to
+withdraw their guards, that they may take part in the festival. For
+this reason I have timed our march that we should arrive on the night
+of this feast, which I know by the age of the moon, when, in the
+darkness, with God’s help, perchance we may slip past Harmac, and at
+the first light find ourselves in the mouth of the road that runs up to
+Mur. Moreover, I will give warning to my people, the Abati, that we are
+coming, so that they may be at hand to help us if there is need.” 
+
+“How?” asked Orme.
+
+“By firing the reeds”—and he pointed to the dense masses of
+dead vegetation about—“as I arranged that I would do before we left
+Mur many months ago. The Fung, if they see it, will think only that it
+is the work of some wandering fisherman.”
+
+Orme shrugged his shoulders, saying:
+
+“Well, friend Shadrach, you know the place and these people, and I do
+not, so we must do what you tell us. But I say at once that if, as I
+understand, yonder Fung will kill us if they can, to me your plan seems
+very dangerous.”
+
+“It is dangerous,” he answered, adding with a sneer, “but I
+thought that you men of England were not cowards.”
+
+“Cowards! you son of a dog!” broke in Higgs in his high voice.
+“How dare you talk to us like that? You see this man
+here”—and he pointed to Sergeant Quick, who, tall and upright,
+stood watching this scene grimly, and understanding most of what
+passed—“well, he is the lowest among us—a servant only”
+(here the Sergeant saluted), “but I tell you that there is more
+courage in his little finger than in your whole body, or in that of all
+the Abati people, so far as I can make out.”
+
+Here the Sergeant saluted again, murmuring beneath his breath, “I hope
+so, sir. Being a Christian, I hope so, but till it comes to the
+sticking-point, one can never be sure.”
+
+“You speak big words, O Higgs,” answered Shadrach insolently, for,
+as I think I have said, he hated the Professor, who smelt the rogue in
+him, and scourged him continually with his sharp tongue, “but if the
+Fung get hold of you, then we shall learn the truth.”
+
+“Shall I punch his head, sir?” queried Quick in a meditative voice.
+
+“Be quiet, please,” interrupted Orme. “We have troubles
+enough before us, without making more. It will be time to settle our
+quarrels when we have got through the Fung.”
+
+Then he turned to Shadrach and said:
+
+“Friend, this is no time for angry words. You are the guide of this
+party; lead us as you will, remembering only that if it comes to war, I,
+by the wish of my companions, am Captain. Also, there is another thing
+which you should not forget—namely, that in the end you must make
+answer to your own ruler, she who, I understand from the doctor here,
+is called Walda Nagasta, the Child of Kings. Now, no more words; we
+march as you wish and where you wish. On your head be it!”
+
+The Abati heard and bowed sullenly. Then, with a look of hate at Higgs,
+he turned and went about his business.
+
+“Much better to have let me punch his head,” soliloquized Quick.
+“It would have done him a world of good, and perhaps saved many
+troubles, for, to tell the truth, I don’t trust that quarter-bred
+Hebrew.” 
+
+Then he departed to see to the camels and the guns while the rest of us
+went to our tents to get such sleep as the mosquitoes would allow. In
+my own case it was not much, since the fear of evil to come weighed
+upon me. Although I knew the enormous difficulty of entering the
+mountain stronghold of Mur by any other way, such as that by which I
+had quitted it, burdened as we were with our long train of camels laden
+with rifles, ammunition, and explosives, I dreaded the results of an
+attempt to pass through the Fung savages. 
+
+Moreover, it occurred to me that Shadrach had insisted upon this route
+from a kind of jealous obstinacy, and to be in opposition to us
+Englishmen, whom he hated in his heart, or perhaps for some dark and
+secret reason. Still, the fact remained that we were in his power,
+since owing to the circumstances in which I had entered and left the
+place, it was impossible for me to act as guide to the party. If I
+attempted to do so, no doubt he and the Abati with him would desert,
+leaving the camels and their loads upon our hands. Why should they not, 
+seeing that they would be quite safe in concluding that we should never
+have an opportunity of laying our side of the case before their ruler? 
+ 
+
+Just as the sun was setting, Quick came to call me, saying that the
+camels were being loaded up.
+
+“I don’t much like the look of things, Doctor,” he said as he
+helped me to pack my few belongings, “for the fact is I can’t trust
+that Shadrach man. His pals call him ‘Cat,’ a good name for him, I
+think. Also, he is showing his claws just now, the truth being that he
+hates the lot of us, and would like to get back into Purr or Mur, or
+whatever the name of the place is, having lost us on the road. You
+should have seen the way he looked at the Professor just now. Oh! I
+wish the Captain had let me punch his head. I’m sure it would have
+cleared the air a lot.” 
+
+As it chanced, Shadrach was destined to get his head “punched”
+after all, but by another hand. It happened thus. The reeds were fired,
+as Shadrach had declared it was necessary to do, in order that the
+Abati watchmen on the distant mountains might see and report the
+signal, although in the light of subsequent events I am by no means
+certain that this warning was not meant for other eyes as well. Then,
+as arranged, we started out, leaving them burning in a great sheet of
+flame behind us, and all that night marched by the shine of the stars
+along some broken-down and undoubtedly ancient road. 
+
+At the first sign of dawn we left this road and camped amid the
+overgrown ruins of a deserted town that had been built almost beneath
+the precipitous cliffs of Mur, fortunately without having met any one
+or being challenged. I took the first watch, while the others turned in
+to sleep after we had all breakfasted off cold meats, for here we dared
+not light a fire. As the sun grew high, dispelling the mists, I saw
+that we were entering upon a thickly-populated country which was no
+stranger to civilization of a sort. Below us, not more than fifteen or
+sixteen miles away, and clearly visible through my field-glasses, lay
+the great town of Harmac, which, during my previous visit to this land,
+I had never seen, as I passed it in the night. 
+
+It was a city of the West Central African type, with open market-places
+and wide streets, containing thousands of white, flat-roofed houses,
+the most important of which were surrounded by gardens. Round it ran a
+high and thick wall, built, apparently, of sun-burnt brick, and in
+front of the gateways, of which I could see two, stood square towers
+whence these might be protected. All about this city the flat and
+fertile land was under cultivation, for the season being that of early
+spring, already the maize and other crops showed green upon the ground.
+
+Beyond this belt of plough-lands, with the aid of the field-glasses, I
+could make out great herds of grazing cattle and horses, mixed with
+wild game, a fact that assured me of the truth of what I had heard
+during my brief visit to Mur, that the Fung had few or no firearms,
+since otherwise the buck and quagga would have kept at a distance. Far
+off, too, and even on the horizon, I saw what appeared to be other
+towns and villages. Evidently this was a very numerous people, and one
+which could not justly be described as savage. No wonder that the
+little Abati tribe feared them so intensely, notwithstanding the mighty 
+precipices by which they were protected from their hate. 
+
+About eleven o’clock Orme came on watch, and I turned in, having
+nothing to report. Soon I was fast asleep, notwithstanding the
+anxieties that, had I been less weary, might well have kept me wakeful.
+For these were many. On the coming night we must slip through the Fung,
+and before midday on the morrow we should either have entered Mur, or
+failed to have entered Mur, which meant—death, or, what was worse,
+captivity among barbarians, and subsequent execution, preceded probably
+by torture of one sort or another. 
+
+Of course, however, we might come thither without accident, travelling
+with good guides on a dark night, for, after all, the place was big,
+and the road lonely and little used, so that unless we met a watch,
+which, we were told, would not be there, our little caravan had a good
+chance to pass unobserved. Shadrach seemed to think that we should do
+so, but the worst of it was that, like Quick, I did not trust Shadrach.
+Even Maqueda, the Lady of the Abati, she whom they called Child of
+Kings, had her doubts about him, or so it had seemed to me.
+
+At any rate, she had told me before I left Mur that she chose him for
+this mission because he was bold and cunning, one of the very few of
+her people also who, in his youth, had crossed the desert and,
+therefore, knew the road. “Yet, Physician,” she added meaningly,
+“watch him, for is he not named ‘Cat’? Yes, watch him, for did I
+not hold his wife and children hostages, and were I not sure that he
+desires to win the great reward in land which I have promised to him, I
+would not trust you to this man’s keeping.”
+
+Well, after many experiences in his company, my opinion coincided with
+Maqueda’s, and so did that of Quick, no mean judge of men.
+
+“Look at him, Doctor,” he said when he came to tell me that I could
+turn in, for whether it were his watch or not, the Sergeant never seemed
+to be off duty. “Look, at him,” and he pointed to Shadrach, who was
+seated under the shade of a tree, talking earnestly in whispers with two
+of his subordinates with a very curious and unpleasing smile upon his
+face. “If God Almighty ever made a scamp, he’s squatting yonder. My
+belief is that he wanted to be rid of us all at Zeu, so that he might
+steal our goods, and I hope he won’t play the same trick again
+to-night. Even the dog can’t abide him.”
+
+Before I could answer, I had proof of this last statement, for the great
+yellow hound, Pharaoh, that had found us in the desert, hearing our
+voices, emerged from some corner where it was hidden, and advanced
+toward us, wagging its tail. As it passed Shadrach, it stopped and
+growled, the hair rising on its back, whereon he hurled a stone at it
+and hit its leg. Next instant Pharaoh, a beast of enormous power, was
+on the top of him, and really, I thought, about to tear out his throat.
+
+Well, we got him off before any harm was done, but Shadrach’s face,
+lined with its livid scars, was a thing to remember. Between rage and
+fear, it looked like that of a devil.
+
+To return. After this business I went to sleep, wondering if it were my
+last rest upon the earth, and whether, having endured so much for his
+sake, it would or would not be my fortune to see the face of my son
+again, if, indeed, he still lived, yonder not a score of miles
+away—or anywhere. 
+
+Toward evening I was awakened by a fearful hubbub, in which I
+distinguished the shrill voice of Higgs ejaculating language which I
+will not repeat, the baying of Pharaoh, and the smothered groans and
+curses of an Abati. Running from the little tent, I saw a curious
+sight, that of the Professor with Shadrach’s head under his left arm,
+in chancery, as we used to call it at school, while with his right he
+punched the said Shadrach’s nose and countenance generally with all
+his strength, which, I may add, is considerable. Close by, holding
+Pharaoh by the collar, which we had manufactured for him out of the 
+skin of a camel that had died, stood Sergeant Quick, a look of grim
+amusement on his wooden face, while around, gesticulating after their
+Eastern fashion, and uttering guttural sounds of wrath, were several of
+the Abati drivers. Orme was absent, being, in fact, asleep at the time.
+   
+
+“What are you doing, Higgs?” I shouted.
+
+“Can’t—you—see,” he spluttered, accompanying each
+word with a blow on the unfortunate Shadrach’s prominent nose. “I
+am punching this fellow’s beastly head. Ah! you’d bite, would you?
+Then take that, and that and—that. Lord, how hard his teeth are. Well,
+I think he has had enough,” and suddenly he released the Abati, who,
+a gory and most unpleasant spectacle, fell to the ground and lay there
+panting. His companions, seeing their chief’s melancholy plight,
+advanced upon the Professor in a threatening fashion; indeed, one of
+them drew a knife. 
+
+“Put up that thing, sonny,” said the Sergeant, “or by heaven,
+I’ll loose the dog upon you. Got your revolver handy, Doctor?”
+
+Evidently, if the man did not understand Quick’s words, their purport
+was clear to him, for he sheathed his knife and fell back with the
+others. Shadrach, too, rose from the ground and went with them. At a
+distance of a few yards, however, he turned, and, glaring at Higgs out
+of his swollen eyes, said: 
+
+“Be sure, accursed Gentile, that I will remember and repay.”
+
+At this moment, too, Orme arrived upon the scene, yawning.
+
+“What the deuce is the matter?” he asked.
+
+“I’d give five bob for a pint of iced stone ginger,” replied
+Higgs inconsequently. Then he drank off a pannikin of warmish,
+muddy-coloured water which Quick gave to him, and handed it back,
+saying: 
+
+“Thanks, Sergeant; that’s better than nothing, and cold drink is
+always dangerous if you are hot. What’s the matter? Oh! not much.
+Shadrach tried to poison Pharaoh; that’s all. I was watching him out
+of the corner of my eye, and saw him go to the strychnine tin, roll a
+bit of meat in it which he had first wetted, and throw it to the poor
+beast. I got hold of it in time, and chucked it over that wall, where
+you will find it if you care to look. I asked Shadrach why he had done
+such a thing. He answered, ‘To keep the dog quiet while we are
+passing through the Fung,’ adding that anyhow it was a savage beast
+and best out of the way, as it had tried to bite him that morning. Then
+I lost my temper and went for the blackguard, and although I gave up
+boxing twenty years ago, very soon had the best of it, for, as you may
+have observed, no Oriental can fight with his fists. That’s all. Give
+me another cup of water, Sergeant.” 
+
+“I hope it may be,” answered Orme, shrugging his shoulders.
+“To tell the truth, old fellow, it would have been wiser to defer
+blacking Shadrach’s eyes till we were safe in Mur. But it’s no use
+talking now, and I daresay I should have done the same myself if I had
+seen him try to poison Pharaoh,” and he patted the head of the great
+dog, of which we were all exceedingly fond, although in reality it only
+cared for Orme, merely tolerating the rest of us.
+
+“Doctor,” he added, “perhaps you would try to patch up our
+guide’s nose and soothe his feelings. You know him better than we do.
+Give him a rifle. No, don’t do that, or he might shoot some one in the
+back—by accident done on purpose. Promise him a rifle when we get into
+Mur; I know he wants one badly, because I caught him trying to steal a
+carbine from the case. Promise him anything so long as you can square
+it up.” 
+
+So I went, taking a bottle of arnica and some court plaster with me, to
+find Shadrach surrounded by sympathizers and weeping with rage over the
+insult, which, he said, had been offered to his ancient and
+distinguished race in his own unworthy person. I did my best for him
+physically and mentally, pointing out, as I dabbed the arnica on his
+sadly disfigured countenance, that he had brought the trouble on
+himself, seeing that he had really no business to poison Pharaoh
+because he had tried to bite him. He answered that his reason for 
+wishing to kill the dog was quite different, and repeated at great
+length what he had told the Professor—namely, that it might betray us
+while we were passing through the Fung. Also he went on so venomously
+about revenge that I thought it time to put a stop to the thing. 
+
+“See here, Shadrach,” I said, “unless you unsay those words
+and make peace at once, you shall be bound and tried. Perhaps we shall
+have a better chance of passing safely through the Fung if we leave you
+dead behind us than if you accompany us as a living enemy.”
+
+On hearing this, he changed his note altogether, saying that he saw he
+had been wrong. Moreover, so soon as his injuries were dressed, he
+sought out Higgs, whose hand he kissed with many apologies, vowing that
+he had forgotten everything and that his heart toward him was like that
+of a twin brother. 
+
+“Very good, friend,” answered Higgs, who never bore malice,
+“only don’t try to poison Pharaoh again, and, for my part,
+I’ll promise not to remember this matter when we get to Mur.”
+
+“Quite a converted character, ain’t he, Doctor?”
+sarcastically remarked Quick, who had been watching this edifying scene.
+“Nasty Eastern temper all gone; no Hebrew talk of eye for eye or tooth
+for tooth, but kisses the fist that smote him in the best Christian
+spirit. All the same, I wouldn’t trust the swine further than I could
+kick him, especially in the dark, which,” he added meaningly, “is
+what it will be to-night.”
+
+I made no answer to the Sergeant, for although I agreed with him, there
+was nothing to be done, and talking about a bad business would only
+make it worse. 
+
+By now the afternoon drew towards night—a very stormy night, to judge
+from the gathering clouds and rising wind. We were to start a little
+after sundown, that is, within an hour, and, having made ready my own
+baggage and assisted Higgs with his, we went to look for Orme and
+Quick, whom we found very busy in one of the rooms of an unroofed
+house. To all appearance they were engaged, Quick in sorting pound tins
+of tobacco or baking-powder, and Orme in testing an electric battery
+and carefully examining coils of insulated wire. 
+
+“What’s your game?” asked the Professor.
+
+“Better than yours, old boy, when Satan taught your idle hands to
+punch Shadrach’s head. But perhaps you had better put that pipe out.
+These azo-imide compounds are said to burn rather more safely than
+coal. Still, one never knows; the climate or the journey may have
+changed their constitution.”
+
+Higgs retreated hurriedly, to a distance of fifty yards indeed, whence
+he returned, having knocked out his pipe and even left his matches on a
+stone. 
+
+“Don’t waste time in asking questions,” said Orme as the
+Professor approached with caution. “I’ll explain. We are going on a
+queer journey to-night—four white men with about a dozen half-bred
+mongrel scamps of doubtful loyalty, so you see Quick and I thought it as
+well to have some of this stuff handy. Probably it will never be
+wanted, and if wanted we shall have no time to use it; still, who
+knows? There, that will do. Ten canisters; enough to blow up half the
+Fung if they will kindly sit on them. You take five, Quick, a battery
+and three hundred yards of wire, and I’ll take five, a battery, and
+three hundred yards of wire. Your detonators are all fixed, aren’t
+they? Well, so are mine,” and without more words he proceeded to stow
+away his share of the apparatus in the poacher pockets of his coat and
+elsewhere, while Quick did likewise with what remained. Then the case 
+that they had opened was fastened up again and removed to be laden on a
+camel.    
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOW WE ESCAPED FROM HARMAC
+
+
+As finally arranged this was the order of our march: First went an Abati
+guide who was said to be conversant with every inch of the way. Then
+came Orme and Sergeant Quick, conducting the camels that were loaded
+with the explosives. I followed in order to keep an eye upon these
+precious beasts and those in charge of them. Next marched some more
+camels, carrying our baggage, provisions, and sundries, and finally in
+the rear were the Professor and Shadrach with two Abati.
+
+Shadrach, I should explain, had selected this situation for the reason,
+as he said, that if he went first, after what had passed, any mistake
+or untoward occurrence might be set down to his malice, whereas, if he
+were behind, he could not be thus slandered. On hearing this, Higgs,
+who is a generous soul, insisted upon showing his confidence in the
+virtue of Shadrach by accompanying him as a rearguard. So violently did
+he insist, and so flattered did Shadrach seem to be by this mark of
+faith, that Orme, who, I should say, if I have not already done so, was
+in sole command of the party now that hostilities were in the air,
+consented to the plan, if with evident reluctance. 
+
+As I know, his own view was that it would be best for us four Englishmen
+to remain together, although, if we did so, whatever position we chose,
+it would be impossible for us in that darkness to keep touch with the
+line of camels and their loads, which were almost as important to us as
+our lives. At least, having made up our minds to deliver them in Mur,
+we thought that they were important, perhaps because it is the fashion
+of the Anglo-Saxon race to put even a self-created idea of duty before
+personal safety or convenience. 
+
+Rightly or wrongly, so things were settled, for in such troublous
+conditions one can only do what seems best at the moment. Criticism
+subsequent to the event is always easy, as many an unlucky commander
+has found out when the issue went awry, but in emergency one must
+decide on something. 
+
+The sun set, the darkness fell, and it began to rain and blow. We
+started quite unobserved, so far as we could tell, and, travelling
+downward from the overgrown, ruined town, gained the old road, and in
+complete silence, for the feet of camels make no noise, passed along it
+toward the lights of Harmac, which now and again, when the storm-clouds
+lifted, we saw glimmering in front of us and somewhat to our left.
+
+In all my long wanderings I cannot remember a more exciting or a more
+disagreeable journey. The blackness, relieved only from time to time by
+distant lightnings, was that of the plagues of Egypt; the driving rain
+worked through the openings of our camel-hair cloaks and the
+waterproofs we wore underneath them, and wet us through. The cold, damp
+wind chilled us to the bone, enervated as we were with the heat of the
+desert. But these discomforts, and they were serious enough, we forgot
+in the tremendous issue of the enterprise. Should we win through to
+Mur? Or, as a crown to our many labours and sufferings, should we
+perish presently on the road? That was the question; as I can assure the
+ reader, one that we found very urgent and interesting. 
+
+Three hours had gone by. Now we were opposite to the lights of Harmac,
+also to other lights that shone up a valley in the mountain to our
+right. As yet everything was well; for this we knew by the words
+whispered up and down the line.
+
+Then of a sudden, in front of us a light flashed, although as yet it was
+a long way off. Next came another whispered message of “Halt!” So
+we halted, and presently one of the front guides crept back, informing
+us that a body of Fung cavalry had appeared upon the road ahead. We
+took counsel. Shadrach arrived from the rear, and said that if we
+waited awhile they might go away, as he thought that their presence
+must be accidental and connected with the great festival. He implored
+us to be quite silent. Accordingly, not knowing what to do, we waited.
+
+Now I think I have forgotten to say that the dog Pharaoh, to prevent
+accidents, occupied a big basket; this basket, in which he often rode
+when tired, being fixed upon one side of Orme’s camel. Here he lay
+peaceably enough until, in an unlucky moment, Shadrach left me to go
+forward to talk to the Captain, whereon, smelling his enemy, Pharaoh
+burst out into furious baying. After that everything was confusion.
+Shadrach darted back toward the rear. The light ahead began to move
+quickly, advancing toward us. The front camels left the road, as I
+presume, following their leader according to the custom of these beasts
+when marching in line. 
+
+Presently, I know not how, Orme, Quick, and myself found ourselves
+together in the darkness; at the time we thought Higgs was with us
+also, but in this we were mistaken. We heard shoutings and strange
+voices speaking a language that we could not understand. By the sudden
+glare of a flash of lightning, for the thunderstorm was now travelling
+over us, we saw several things. One of these was the Professor’s
+riding-dromedary, which could not be mistaken because of its pure white
+colour and queer method of holding its head to one side, passing within
+ten yards, between us and the road, having a man upon its back who
+evidently was not the Professor. Then it was that we discovered his
+absence and feared the worst. 
+
+“A Fung has got his camel,” I said.
+
+“No,” answered Quick; “Shadrach has got it. I saw his ugly
+mug against the light.”
+
+Another vision was that of what appeared to be our baggage camels moving
+swiftly away from us, but off the road which was occupied by a body of
+horsemen in white robes. Orme issued a brief order to the effect that
+we were to follow the camels with which the Professor might be. We
+started to obey, but before we had covered twenty yards of the
+cornfield or whatever it was in which we were standing, heard voices
+ahead that were not those of Abati. Evidently the flash which showed
+the Fung to us had done them a like service, and they were now 
+advancing to kill or capture us. 
+
+There was only one thing to do—turn and fly—and this we did,
+heading whither we knew not, but managing to keep touch of each other.
+
+About a quarter of an hour later, just as we were entering a grove of
+palms or other trees which hid everything in front of us, the lightning
+blazed again, though much more faintly, for by this time the storm had
+passed over the Mountains of Mur, leaving heavy rain behind it. By the
+flash I, who was riding last and, as it chanced, looking back over my
+shoulder, saw that the Fung horsemen were not fifty yards behind, and
+hunting for us everywhere, their line being extended over a long front.
+I was, however, sure that they had not yet caught sight of us in the
+dense shadow of the trees. 
+
+“Get on,” I said to the others; “they will be here
+presently,” and heard Quick add:
+
+“Give your camel his head, Captain; he can see in the dark, and
+perhaps will take us back to the road.”
+
+Orme acted on this suggestion, which, as the blackness round us was
+pitchy, seemed a good one. At any rate it answered, for off we went at
+a fair pace, the three camels marching in line, first over soft ground
+and afterwards on a road. Presently I thought that the rain had
+stopped, since for a few seconds none fell on us, but concluded from
+the echo of the camels’ feet and its recommencement that we had
+passed under some archway. On we went, and at length even through the
+gloom and rain I saw objects that looked like houses, though if so
+there were no lights in them, perhaps because the night drew toward 
+morning. A dreadful idea struck me: we might be in Harmac! I passed it
+up for what it was worth. 
+
+“Very likely,” whispered Orme back. “Perhaps these camels
+were bred here, and are looking for their stables. Well, there is only
+one thing to do—go on.”
+
+So we went on for a long while, only interfered with by the occasional
+attentions of some barking dog. Luckily of these Pharaoh, in his basket,
+took no heed, probably because it was his habit if another dog barked
+at him to pretend complete indifference until it came so near that he
+could spring and fight, or kill it. At length we appeared to pass under
+another archway, after which, a hundred and fifty yards or so further
+on, the camels came to a sudden stop. Quick dismounted, and presently I
+heard him say: 
+
+“Doors. Can feel the brasswork on them. Tower above, I think, and wall
+on either side. Seem to be in a trap. Best stop here till light comes.
+Nothing else to be done.”
+
+Accordingly, we stopped, and, having tied the camels to each other to
+prevent their straying, took shelter from the rain under the tower or
+whatever it might be. To pass away the time and keep life in us, for we
+were almost frozen with the wet and cold, we ate some tinned food and
+biscuits that we carried in our saddle-bags, and drank a dram of brandy
+from Quick’s flask. This warmed us a little, though I do not think
+that a bottleful would have raised our spirits. Higgs, whom we all
+loved, was gone, dead, probably, by that time; the Abati had lost or
+deserted us, and we three white men appeared to have wandered into a
+savage stronghold, where, as soon as we were seen, we should be trapped 
+like birds in a net, and butchered at our captor’s will. Certainly the
+ position was not cheerful. 
+
+Overwhelmed with physical and mental misery, I began to doze; Orme grew
+silent, and the Sergeant, having remarked that there was no need to
+bother, since what must be must be, consoled himself in a corner by
+humming over and over again the verse of the hymn which begins:
+
+“There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe,
+
+Where trials never come nor tears of sorrow flow.”
+
+Fortunately for us, shortly before dawn the “tears of sorrow” as
+represented by the rain ceased to flow. The sky cleared, showing the
+stars; suddenly the vault of heaven was suffused with a wonderful and
+pearly light, although on the earth the mist remained so thick that we
+could see nothing. Then above this sea of mist rose the great ball of
+the sun, but still we could see nothing that was more than a few yards
+away from us. 
+
+“There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe”
+
+droned Quick beneath his breath for about the fiftieth time, since,
+apparently, he knew no other hymn which he considered suitable to our
+circumstances, then ejaculated suddenly:
+
+“Hullo! here’s a stair. With your leave I’ll go up it,
+Captain,” and he did.
+
+A minute later we heard his voice calling us softly:
+
+“Come here, gentlemen,” he said, “and see something worth
+looking at.”
+
+So we scrambled up the steps, and, as I rather expected, found ourselves
+upon the top of one of two towers set above an archway, which towers
+were part of a great protective work outside the southern gates of a
+city that could be none other than Harmac. Soaring above the mist rose
+the mighty cliffs of Mur that, almost exactly opposite to us, were
+pierced by a deep valley. 
+
+Into this valley the sunlight poured, revealing a wondrous and
+awe-inspiring object of which the base was surrounded by billowy
+vapours, a huge, couchant animal fashioned of black stone, with a head
+carved to the likeness of that of a lion, and crowned with the
+_uraeus_, the asp-crested symbol of majesty in old Egypt. How big the
+creature might be it was impossible to say at that distance, for we
+were quite a mile away from it; but it was evident that no other
+monolithic monument that we had ever seen or heard of could approach its
+ colossal dimensions. 
+
+Compared to this tremendous effigy indeed, the boasted Sphinx of Gizeh
+seemed but a toy. It was no less than a small mountain of rock shaped
+by the genius and patient labour of some departed race of men to the
+form of a lion-headed monster. Its majesty and awfulness set thus above
+the rolling mists in the red light of the morning, reflected on it from
+the towering precipices beyond, were literally indescribable; even in
+our miserable state, they oppressed and overcame us, so that for awhile
+we were silent. Then we spoke, each after his own manner:
+
+“The idol of the Fung!” said I. “No wonder that savages
+should take it for a god.”
+
+“The greatest monolith in all the world,” muttered Orme, “and
+Higgs is dead. Oh! if only he had lived to see it, he would have gone
+happy. I wish it had been I who was taken; I wish it had been I!” and
+he wrung his hands, for it is the nature of Oliver Orme always to think
+of others before himself.
+
+“That’s what we have come to blow up,” soliloquized Quick.
+“Well, those ‘azure stinging-bees,’ or whatever they call the
+stuff (he meant azo-imides) are pretty active, but it will take a lot of
+stirring if ever we get there. Seems a pity, too, for the old pussy is
+handsome in his way.”
+
+“Come down,” said Orme. “We must find out where we are;
+perhaps we can escape in the mist.”
+
+“One moment,” I answered. “Do you see that?” and I
+pointed to a needle-like rock that pierced the fog about a mile to the
+south of the idol valley, and say two miles from where we were.
+“That’s the White Rock; it isn’t white really, but the vultures
+roost on it and make it look so. I have never seen it before, for I
+passed it in the night, but I know that it marks the beginning of the
+cleft which runs up to Mur; you remember, Shadrach told us so. Well, if
+we can get to that White Rock we have a chance of life.”
+
+Orme studied it hurriedly and repeated, “Come down; we may be seen up
+here.”
+
+We descended and began our investigations in feverish haste. This was
+the sum of them: In the arch under the tower were set two great doors
+covered with plates of copper or bronze beaten into curious shapes to
+represent animals and men, and apparently very ancient. These huge
+doors had grilles in them through which their defenders could peep out
+or shoot arrows. What seemed more important to us, however, was that
+they lacked locks, being secured only by thick bronze bolts and bars
+such as we could undo. 
+
+“Let’s clear out before the mist lifts,” said Orme.
+“With luck we may get to the pass.”
+
+We assented, and I ran to the camels that lay resting just outside the
+arch. Before I reached them, however, Quick called me back.
+
+“Look through there, Doctor,” he said, pointing to one of the
+peep-holes.
+
+I did so, and in the dense mist saw a body of horsemen advancing toward
+the door.
+
+They must have seen us on the top of the wall. “Fools that we were to
+go there!” exclaimed Orme.
+
+Next instant he started back, not a second too soon, for through the
+hole where his face had been, flashed a spear which struck the ground
+beyond the archway. Also we heard other spears rattle upon the bronze
+plates of the doors. 
+
+“No luck!” said Orme; “that’s all up, they mean to
+break in. Now I think we had better play a bold game. Got your rifles,
+Sergeant and Doctor? Yes? Then choose your loopholes, aim, and empty
+the magazines into them. Don’t waste a shot. For heaven’s sake
+don’t waste a shot. Now—one—two—three, fire!”
+
+Fire we did into the dense mass of men who had dismounted and were
+running up to the doors to burst them open. At that distance we could
+scarcely miss and the magazines of the repeating rifles held five shots
+apiece. As the smoke cleared away I counted quite half-a-dozen Fung
+down, while some others were staggering off, wounded. Also several of
+the men and horses beyond were struck by the bullets which had passed
+through the bodies of the fallen. 
+
+The effect of this murderous discharge was instantaneous and remarkable.
+Brave though the Fung might be, they were quite unaccustomed to
+magazine rifles. Living as they did perfectly isolated and surrounded
+by a great river, even if they had heard of such things and
+occasionally seen an old gaspipe musket that reached them in the course
+of trade, of modern guns and their terrible power they knew nothing.
+Small blame to them, therefore, if their courage evaporated in face of
+a form of sudden death which to them must have been almost magical. At
+any rate they fled incontinently, leaving their dead and wounded on the 
+ground. 
+
+Now again we thought of flight, which perhaps would have proved our
+wisest course, but hesitated because we could not believe that the Fung
+had left the road clear, or done more than retreat a little to wait for
+us. While we lost time thus the mist thinned a great deal, so much
+indeed that we could see our exact position. In front of us, towards
+the city side, lay a wide open space, whereof the walls ended against
+those of Harmac itself, to which they formed a kind of vestibule or
+antechamber set there to protect this gateway of the town through which
+we had ridden in the darkness, not knowing whither we went. 
+
+“Those inner doors are open,” said Orme, nodding his head toward
+the great portals upon the farther side of the square. “Let’s go
+see if we can shut them. Otherwise we shan’t hold this place long.”
+
+So we ran across to the further doors that were similar to those through
+which we had just fired, only larger, and as we met nobody to interfere
+with our efforts, found that the united strength of the three of us was
+just, only just, sufficient to turn first one and then the other of
+them upon its hinges and work the various bolts and bars into their
+respective places. Two men could never have done the job, but being
+three and fairly desperate we managed it. Then we retreated to our
+archway and, as nothing happened, took the opportunity to eat and drink
+a few mouthfuls, Quick remarking sagely that we might as well die upon
+full as upon empty stomachs. 
+
+When we had crossed the square the fog was thinning rapidly, but as the
+sun rose, sucking the vapours from the rain-soaked earth, it thickened
+again for awhile.
+
+“Sergeant,” said Orme presently, “these black men are bound
+to attack us soon. Now is the time to lay a mine while they can’t see
+what we are after.”
+
+“I was just thinking the same thing, Captain; the sooner the
+better,” replied Quick. “Perhaps the Doctor will keep a watch here
+over the camels, and if he sees any one stick up his head above the
+wall, he might bid him good-morning. We know he is a nice shot, is the
+Doctor,” and he tapped my rifle.
+
+I nodded and the two of them set out laden with wires and the packages
+that looked like tobacco tins, heading for a stone erection in the
+centre of the square which resembled an altar, but was, I believe, a
+rostrum whence the native auctioneers sold slaves and other
+merchandise. What they did there exactly, I am sure I do not know;
+indeed, I was too much occupied in keeping a watch upon the walls
+whereof I could clearly see the crest above the mist, to pay much
+attention to their proceedings. 
+
+Presently my vigilance was rewarded, for over the great gateway
+opposite, at a distance of about a hundred and fifty paces from me,
+appeared some kind of a chieftain clad in white robes and wearing a
+very fine turban or coloured head-dress, who paraded up and down,
+waving a spear defiantly and uttering loud shouts.
+
+This man I covered very carefully, lying down to do so. As Quick had
+said, I am a good rifle shot, having practised that art for many years;
+still, one may always miss, which, although I bore no personal grudge
+against the poor fellow in the fine head-dress, on this occasion I did
+not wish to do. The sudden and mysterious death of that savage would, I
+felt sure, produce a great effect among his people.
+
+At length he stopped exactly over the door and began to execute a kind
+of war-dance, turning his head from time to time to yell out something
+to others on the farther side of the wall. This was my opportunity. I
+covered him with as much care as though I were shooting at a target,
+with one bull’s eye to win. Aiming a little low in case the rifle
+should throw high, very gently I pressed the trigger. The cartridge
+exploded, the bullet went on its way, and the man on the wall stopped
+dancing and shouting and stood quite still. Clearly he had heard the
+shot or felt the wind of the ball, but was untouched. 
+
+I worked the lever jerking out the empty case, preparatory to firing
+again, but on looking up saw that there was no need, for the Fung
+captain was spinning round on his heels like a top. Three or four times
+he whirled thus with incredible rapidity, then suddenly threw his arms
+wide, and dived headlong from the wall like a bather from a plank, but
+backward, and was seen no more. Only from the farther side of those
+gates arose a wail of wrath and consternation. 
+
+After this no other Fung appeared upon the wall, so I turned my
+attention to the spy-hole in the doors behind me, and seeing some
+horsemen moving about at a distance of four or five hundred yards on a
+rocky ridge where the mist did not lie, I opened fire on them and at
+the second shot was fortunate enough to knock a man out of the saddle.
+One of those with him, who must have been a brave fellow, instantly
+jumped down, threw him, dead or living, over the horse, leaped up
+behind him, and galloped away accompanied by the others, pursued by 
+some probably ineffective bullets that I sent after them. 
+
+Now the road to the Pass of Mur seemed to be clear, and I regretted that
+Orme and Quick were not with me to attempt escape. Indeed, I meditated
+fetching or calling them, when suddenly I saw them returning, burying a
+wire or wires in the sand as they came, and at the same time heard a
+noise of thunderous blows of which I could not mistake the meaning.
+Evidently the Fung were breaking down the farther bronze doors with
+some kind of battering-ram. I ran out to meet them and told my news.
+
+“Well done,” said Orme in a quiet voice. “Now, Sergeant, just
+join up those wires to the battery, and be careful to screw them in
+tight. You have tested it, haven’t you? Doctor, be good enough to
+unbar the gates. No, you can’t do that alone; I’ll help you
+presently. Look to the camels and tighten the girths. These Fung will
+have the doors down in a minute, and then there will be no time to
+lose.” 
+
+“What are you going to do?” I asked as I obeyed.
+
+“Show them some fireworks, I hope. Bring the camels into the archway
+so that they can’t foul the wire with their feet. So—stand still,
+you grumbling brutes! Now for these bolts. Heavens! how stiff they are.
+I wonder why the Fung don’t grease them. One door will do—never
+mind the other.”
+
+Labouring furiously we got it undone and ajar. So far as we could see
+there was no one in sight beyond. Scared by our bullets or for other
+reasons of their own, the guard there appeared to have moved away.
+
+“Shall we take the risk and ride for it?” I suggested.
+
+“No,” answered Orme. “If we do, even supposing there are no
+Fung waiting beyond the rise, those inside the town will soon catch us
+on their swift horses. We must scare them before we bolt, and then
+those that are left of them may let us alone. Now listen to me. When I
+give the word, you two take the camels outside and make them kneel
+about fifty yards away, not nearer, for I don’t know the effective
+range of these new explosives; it may be greater than I think. I shall
+wait until the Fung are well over the mine and then fire it, after
+which I hope to join you. If I don’t, ride as hard as you can go to
+that White Rock, and if you reach Mur give my compliments to the Child
+of Kings, or whatever she is called, and say that although I have been 
+prevented from waiting upon her, Sergeant Quick understands as much
+about picrates as I do. Also get Shadrach tried and hanged if he is
+guilty of Higgs’s death. Poor old Higgs! how he would have enjoyed
+this.”    
+
+“Beg your pardon, Captain,” said Quick, “but I’ll stay
+with you. The doctor can see to the baggage animals.”
+
+“Will you be good enough to obey orders and fall to the rear when you
+are told, Sergeant? Now, no words. It is necessary for the purposes of
+this expedition that one of us two should try to keep a whole skin.”
+
+“Then, sir,” pleaded Quick, “mayn’t I take charge of
+the battery?”
+
+“No,” he answered sternly. “Ah! the doors are down at
+last,” and he pointed to a horde of Fung, mounted and on foot, who
+poured through the gateway where they had stood, shouting after their
+fashion, and went on: “Now then, pick out the captains and pepper
+away. I want to keep them back a bit, so that they come on in a crowd,
+not scattered.” 
+
+We took up our repeating rifles and did as Orme told us, and so dense
+was the mass of humanity opposite that if we missed one man, we hit
+another, killing or wounding a number of them. The result of the loss
+of several of their leaders, to say nothing of meaner folk, was just
+what Orme had foreseen. The Fung soldiers, instead of rushing on
+independently, spread to right and left, until the whole farther side
+of the square filled up with thousands of them, a veritable sea of men,
+at which we pelted bullets as boys hurl stones at a wave. 
+
+At length the pressure of those behind thrust onward those in front, and
+the whole fierce, tumultuous mob began to flow forward across the
+square, a multitude bent on the destruction of three white men, armed
+with these new and terrible weapons. It was a very strange and
+thrilling sight; never have I seen its like.
+
+“Now,” said Orme, “stop firing and do as I bid you. Kneel the
+camels fifty yards outside the wall, not less, and wait till you know
+the end. If we shouldn’t meet again, well, good-bye and good luck.”
+
+So we went, Quick literally weeping with shame and rage.
+
+“Good Lord!” he exclaimed, “good Lord! to think that, after
+four campaigns, Samuel Quick, Sergeant of Engineers, with five medals,
+should live to be sent off with the baggage like a pot-bellied
+bandmaster, leaving his captain to fight about three thousand niggers
+single-handed. Doctor, if he don’t come out, you do the best you can
+for yourself, for I’m going back to stop with him, that’s all.
+There, that’s fifty paces; down you go, you ugly beasts,” and he
+bumped his camel viciously on the head with the butt of his rifle.
+
+From where we had halted we could only see through the archway into the
+space beyond. By now the square looked like a great Sunday meeting in
+Hyde Park, being filled up with men of whom the first rows were already
+past the altar-like rostrum in its centre.
+
+“Why don’t he loose off them stinging-bees?” muttered Quick.
+“Oh! I see his little game. Look,” and he pointed to the figure of
+Orme, who had crept behind the unopened half of the door on our side of
+it and was looking intently round its edge, holding the battery in his
+right hand. “He wants to let them get nearer so as to make a bigger
+bag. He——”
+
+I heard no more of Quick’s remarks, for suddenly something like an
+earthquake took place, and the whole sky seemed to turn to one great
+flame. I saw a length of the wall of the square rush outward and
+upward. I saw the shut half of the bronze-plated door skipping and
+hopping playfully toward us, and in front of it the figure of a man.
+Then it began to rain all sorts of things. 
+
+For instance, stones, none of which hit us, luckily, and other more
+unpleasant objects. It is a strange experience to be knocked backward
+by a dead fist separated from its parent body, yet on this occasion
+this actually happened to me, and, what is more, the fist had a spear
+in it. The camels tried to rise and bolt, but they are phlegmatic
+brutes, and, as ours were tired as well, we succeeded in quieting them.
+
+Whilst we were thus occupied somewhat automatically, for the shock had
+dazed us, the figure that had been propelled before the dancing door
+arrived, reeling in a drunken fashion, and through the dust and falling
+_débris_ we knew it for that of Oliver Orme. His face was blackened,
+his clothes were torn half off him, and blood from a scalp wound ran
+down his brown hair. But in his right hand he still held the little
+electric battery, and I knew at once that he had no limbs broken.
+
+“Very successful mine,” he said thickly. “Boer melinite
+shells aren’t in it with this new compound. Come on before the enemy
+recover from the shock,” and he flung himself upon his camel.
+
+In another minute we had started at a trot toward the White Rock, whilst
+from the city of Harmac behind us rose a wail of fear and misery. We
+gained the top of the rise on which I had shot the horseman, and, as I
+expected, found that the Fung had posted a strong guard in the dip
+beyond, out of reach of our bullets, in order to cut us off, should we
+attempt to escape. Now, terrified by what had happened, to them a
+supernatural catastrophe, they were escaping themselves, for we
+perceived them galloping off to the left and right as fast as their
+horses would carry them. 
+
+So for awhile we went on unmolested, though not very quickly, because of
+Orme’s condition. When we had covered about half the distance between
+us and the White Rock, I looked round and became aware that we were
+being pursued by a body of cavalry about a hundred strong, which I
+supposed had emerged from some other gate of the city.
+
+“Flog the animals,” I shouted to Quick, “or they will catch
+us after all.”
+
+He did so, and we advanced at a shambling gallop, the horsemen gaining
+on us every moment. Now I thought that all was over, especially when of
+a sudden from behind the White Rock emerged a second squad of horsemen.
+
+“Cut off!” I exclaimed.
+
+“Suppose so, sir,” answered Quick, “but these seem a
+different crowd.”
+
+I scanned them and saw that he was right. They were a very different
+crowd, for in front of them floated the Abati banner, which I could not
+mistake, having studied it when I was a guest of the tribe: a curious,
+triangular, green flag covered with golden Hebrew characters,
+surrounding the figure of Solomon seated on a throne. Moreover,
+immediately behind the banner in the midst of a bodyguard rode a
+delicately shaped woman clothed in pure white. It was the Child of
+Kings herself! 
+
+Two more minutes and we were among them. I halted my camel and looked
+round to see that the Fung cavalry were retreating. After the events of
+that morning clearly they had no stomach left for a fight with a
+superior force. 
+
+The lady in white rode up to us.
+
+“Greetings, friend,” she exclaimed to me, for she knew me again at
+once. “Now, who is captain among you?”
+
+I pointed to the shattered Orme, who sat swaying on his camel with eyes
+half closed.
+
+“Noble sir,” she said, addressing him, “if you can, tell me
+what has happened. I am Maqueda of the Abati, she who is named Child of
+Kings. Look at the symbol on my brow, and you will see that I speak
+truth,” and, throwing back her veil, she revealed the coronet of gold
+that showed her rank. 
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+BARUNG
+
+
+At the sound of this soft voice (the extreme softness of Maqueda’s
+voice was always one of her greatest charms), Orme opened his eyes and
+stared at her. 
+
+“Very queer dream,” I heard him mutter. “Must be something in
+the Mohammedan business after all. Extremely beautiful woman, and that
+gold thing looks well on her dark hair.”
+
+“What does the lord your companion say?” asked Maqueda of me.
+
+Having first explained that he was suffering from shock, I translated
+word for word, whereon Maqueda blushed to her lovely violet eyes and
+let fall her veil in a great hurry. In the confusion which ensued, I
+heard Quick saying to his master:
+
+“No, no, sir; this one ain’t no houri. She’s a flesh and
+blood queen, and the pleasantest to look at I ever clapped eyes on,
+though a benighted African Jew. Wake up, Captain, wake up; you are out
+of that hell-fire now. It’s got the Fung, not you.”
+
+The word Fung seemed to rouse Orme.
+
+“Yes,” he said; “I understand. The vapour of the stuff
+poisoned me, but it is passing now. Adams, ask that lady how many men
+she’s got with her. What does she say? About five hundred? Well, then,
+let her attack Harmac at once. The outer and inner gates are down; the
+Fung think they have raised the devil and will run. She can inflict a
+defeat on them from which they will not recover for years, only it must
+be done at once, before they get their nerve again, for, after all,
+they are more frightened than hurt.”
+
+Maqueda listened to this advice intently.
+
+“It is to my liking; it is very good,” she said in her quaint
+archaic Arabic when I had finished translating. “But I must consult my
+Council. Where is my uncle, the prince Joshua?”
+
+“Here, Lady,” answered a voice from the press behind, out of which
+presently emerged, mounted on a white horse, a stout man, well advanced
+in middle age, with a swarthy complexion and remarkably round,
+prominent eyes. He was clad in the usual Eastern robes, richly worked,
+over which he wore a shirt of chain-mail, and on his head a helmet,
+with mail flaps, an attire that gave the general effect of an obese
+Crusader of the early Norman period without his cross.
+
+“Is that Joshua?” said Orme, who was wandering a little again.
+“Rummy-looking cock, isn’t he? Sergeant, tell Joshua that the walls
+of Jericho are down, so there’ll be no need to blow his own trumpet.
+I’m sure from the look of him that he’s a perfect devil with a
+trumpet.”
+
+“What does your companion say?” asked Maqueda again.
+
+I translated the middle part of Orme’s remarks, but neither the
+commencement nor the end, but even these amused her very much, for she
+burst out laughing, and said, pointing to Harmac, over which still hung
+a cloud of dust:
+
+“Yes, yes, Joshua, my uncle, the walls of Jericho are down, and the
+question is, will you not take your opportunity? So in an hour or two we
+shall be dead, or if God goes with us, perhaps free from the menace of
+the Fung for years.”
+
+The prince Joshua stared at her with his great, prominent eyes, then
+answered in a thick, gobbling voice:
+
+“Are you mad, Child of Kings? Of us Abati here there are but five
+hundred men, and of the Fung yonder tens of thousands. If we attacked,
+they would eat us up. Can five hundred men stand against tens of
+thousands?” 
+
+“It seems that three stood against them this morning, and worked some
+damage, my uncle, but it is true those three are of a different race
+from the Abati,” she added with bitter sarcasm. Then she turned to
+those behind her and cried: “Who of my captains and Council will
+accompany me, if I who am but a woman dare to advance on Harmac?”
+
+Now here and there a voice cried, “I will,” or some gorgeously
+dressed person stepped forward in a hesitating way, and that was all.
+
+“You see, men of the West!” said Maqueda after a little pause,
+addressing us three. “I thank you for the great deeds that you have
+done and for your counsel. But I cannot take it because my people are
+not—warlike,” and she covered her face with her hands.
+
+Now there arose a great tumult among her followers, who all began to
+talk at once. Joshua in particular drew a large sword and waved it,
+shouting out a recital of the desperate actions of his youth and the
+names of Fung chieftains whom he alleged he had killed in single
+combat. 
+
+“Told you that fat cur was a first-class trumpeter,” said Orme
+languidly, while the Sergeant ejaculated in tones of deep disgust:
+
+“Good Lord! what a set. Why, Doctor, they ain’t fit to savage a
+referee in a London football ground. Pharaoh there in his basket (where
+he was barking loudly) would make the whole lot run, and if he was
+out—oh my! Now, then, you porpoise”—this he addressed to Joshua,
+who was flourishing his sword unpleasantly near—“put your
+pasteboard up, won’t you, or I’ll knock your fat head off,”
+whereon the Prince, who, if he did not understand Quick’s words, at
+any rate caught their meaning wonderfully well, did as he was told, and
+fell back. 
+
+Just then, indeed, there was a general movement up the pass, in the wide
+mouth of which all this scene took place, for suddenly three Fung
+chieftains appeared galloping toward us, one of whom was veiled with a
+napkin in which were cut eyeholes. So universal was this retreat, in
+fact, that we three on our camels, and the Child of Kings on her
+beautiful mare, found ourselves left alone. 
+
+“An embassy,” said Maqueda, scanning the advancing horsemen, who
+carried with them a white flag tied to the blade of a spear.
+“Physician, will you and your friends come with me and speak to these
+messengers?” And without even waiting for an answer, she rode forward
+fifty yards or so on to the plain, and there reined up and halted till
+we could bring our camels round and join her. As we did so, the three
+Fung, splendid-looking, black-faced fellows, arrived at a furious
+gallop, their lances pointed at us. 
+
+“Stand still, friends,” said Maqueda; “they mean no
+harm.”
+
+As the words passed her lips, the Fung pulled the horses to their
+haunches, Arab-fashion, lifted spears and saluted. Then their
+leader—not the veiled man, but another—spoke in a dialect that I,
+who had spent so many years among the savages of the desert, understood
+well enough, especially as the base of it was Arabic.
+
+“O, Walda Nagasta, Daughter of Solomon,” he said, “we are the
+tongues of our Sultan Barung, Son of Barung for a hundred generations,
+and we speak his words to the brave white men who are your guests. Thus
+says Barung. Like the Fat One whom I have already captured, you white
+men are heroes. Three of you alone, you held the gate against my army.
+With the weapons of the white man you killed us from afar, here one and
+there one. Then, at last, with a great magic of thunder and lightning
+and earthquake, you sent us by scores into the bosom of our god, and
+shook down our walls about our ears and out of that hell you escaped
+yourselves. 
+
+“Now, O white men, this is the offer of Barung to you: Leave the curs
+of the Abati, the baboons who gibber and deck themselves out, the
+rock-rabbits who seek safety in the cliffs, and come to him. He will
+give you not only life, but all your heart’s desire—lands and wives
+and horses; great shall you be in his councils and happy shall you
+live. Moreover, for your sakes he will try to spare your brother, the
+Fat One, whose eyes look out of black windows, who blows fire from his
+mouth, and reviles his enemies as never man did before. Yes, although
+the priests have doomed him to sacrifice at the next feast of Harmac,
+he will try to spare him, which, perhaps, he can do by making him, like 
+the Singer of Egypt, also a priest of Harmac, and thus dedicate forever
+to the god with whom, indeed, he says he had been familiar for
+thousands of years. This is our message, O white men.” 
+
+Now, when I had translated the substance of this oration to Orme and
+Quick, for, as I saw by the quiver that passed through her at the Fung
+insults upon her tribe, Maqueda understood it, their tongues not
+differing greatly, Orme who, for the time at any rate, was almost
+himself again, said: 
+
+“Tell these fellows to say to their Sultan that he is a good old boy,
+and that we thank him very much; also that we are sorry to have been
+obliged to kill so many of them in a way that he must have thought
+unsportsmanlike, but we had to do it, as we are sure he will
+understand, in order to save our skins. Tell him also that, speaking
+personally, having sampled the Abati yonder and on our journey, I
+should like to accept his invitation. But although, as yet, we have
+found no men among them, only, as he says, baboons, rock-rabbits, and 
+boasters without a fight in them, we have”—and here he bowed his 
+bleeding head to Maqueda—“found a woman with a great heart. Of her 
+salt we have eaten, or are about to eat; to serve her we have come from
+far upon her camels, and, unless she should be pleased to accompany us,
+we cannot desert her.” 
+
+All of this I rendered faithfully, while every one, and especially
+Maqueda, listened with much attention. When they had considered our
+words, the spokesman of the messengers replied to the effect that the
+motives of our decision were of a nature that commanded their entire
+respect and sympathy, especially as their people quite concurred in our
+estimate of the character of the Abati ruler, Child of Kings. This
+being so, they would amend their proposition, knowing the mind of their
+Sultan, and having, indeed, plenipotentiary powers. 
+
+“Lady of Mur,” he went on, addressing Maqueda directly, “fair
+daughter of the great god Harmac and a mortal queen, what we have
+offered to the white lords, your guests, we offer to you also. Barung,
+our Sultan, shall make you his head wife; or, if that does not please
+you, you shall wed whom you will”—and, perhaps by accident, the
+envoy’s roving eyes rested for a moment upon Oliver Orme.
+
+“Leave, then, your rock-rabbits, who dare not quit their cliffs when
+but three messengers wait without with sticks,” and he glanced at the
+spear in his hand, “and come to dwell among men. Listen, high Lady;
+we know your case. You do your best in a hopeless task. Had it not been
+for you and your courage, Mur would have been ours three years ago, and
+it was ours before your tribe wandered thither. But while you can find
+but a hundred brave warriors to help you, you think the place
+impregnable, and you have perhaps that number, though we know they are
+not here; they guard the gates above. Yes, with a few of your
+Mountaineers whose hearts are as those of their forefathers were, so
+far as you have defied all the power of the Fung, and when you saw that
+the end drew near, using your woman’s wit, you sent for the white men
+to come with their magic, promising to pay them with the gold which you 
+have in such plenty in the tombs of our old kings and in the rocks of
+the mountains.” 
+
+“Who told you that, O Tongue of Barung?” asked Maqueda in a low
+voice, speaking for the first time. “The man of the West whom you took
+prisoner—he whom you call Fat One?”
+
+“No, no, O Walda Nagasta, the lord Black Windows has told us nothing
+as yet, except sundry things about the history of our god, with whom,
+as we said, he seems to be familiar, and to whom, therefore, we vowed
+him at once. But there are others who tell us things, for in times of
+truce our peoples trade together a little, and cowards are often spies.
+For instance, we knew that these white men were coming last night,
+though it is true that we did not know of their fire magic, for, had we
+done so, we should not have let the camels slip through, since there
+may be more of it on them——” 
+
+“For your comfort, learn that there is—much more,” I
+interrupted.
+
+“Ah!” replied the Tongue, shaking his head sadly, “and yet we
+suffered Cat, whom you call Shadrach, to make off with that of your fat
+brother; yes, and even gave it to him after his own beast had been lamed
+by accident. Well, it is our bad luck, and without doubt Harmac is
+angry with us to-day. But your answer, O Walda Nagasta, your answer, O
+Rose of Mur?” 
+
+“What can it be, O Voices of Barung the Sultan?” replied Maqueda.
+“You know that by my blood and by my oath of office I am sworn to
+protect Mur to the last.”
+
+“And so you shall,” pleaded the Tongue, “for when we have
+cleaned it of baboons and rock-rabbits, which, if you were among us, we
+soon should do, and thus fulfilled our oath to regain our ancient
+secret City of the Rocks, we will set you there once more as its Lady,
+under Barung, and give you a multitude of subjects of whom you may be
+proud.” 
+
+“It may not be, O Tongue, for they would be worshippers of Harmac, and
+between Jehovah, whom I serve, and Harmac there is war,” she answered
+with spirit.
+
+“Yes, sweet-smelling Bud of the Rose, there is war, and let it be
+admitted that the first battle has gone against Harmac, thanks to the
+magic of the white men. Yet yonder he sits in his glory as the spirits,
+his servants, fashioned him in the beginning,” and he pointed with
+his spear toward the valley of the idol. “You know our
+prophecy—that until Harmac rises from his seat and flies away, for
+where he goes, the Fung must follow—till then, I say, we shall hold
+the plains and the city of his name—that is, for ever.”
+
+“For ever is a long word, O Mouth of Barung.” Then she paused a
+little, and added slowly, “Did not certain of the gates of Harmac fly
+far this morning? Now what if your god should follow his gates and
+those worshippers who went with them, and be seen no more? Or what if
+the earth should open and swallow him, so that he goes down to hell,
+whither you cannot follow? Or what if the mountains should fall
+together and bury him from your sight eternally. Or what if the
+lightnings should leap out and shatter him to dust?”
+
+At these ominous words the envoys shivered, and it seemed to me that
+their faces for a moment turned grey.
+
+“Then, O Child of Kings,” answered the spokesman solemnly,
+“the Fung will acknowledge that your god is greater than our god, and
+that our glory is departed.”
+
+Thus he spoke and was silent, turning his eyes toward the third
+messenger, he who wore a cloth or napkin upon his head that was pierced
+with eyeholes and hung down to the breast. With a quick motion, the man
+dragged off this veil and threw it to the ground, revealing a very
+noble countenance, not black like that of his followers, but
+copper-coloured. He was about fifty years of age, with deep-set
+flashing eyes, hooked nose, and a flowing, grizzled beard. The collar 
+of gold about his neck showed that his rank was high, but when we
+noticed a second ornament of gold, also upon his brow, we knew that it
+must be supreme. For this ornament was nothing less than the symbol of
+royalty, once worn by the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, the double snakes
+of the _uraeus_ bending forward as though to strike, which, as we had
+seen, rose also from the brow of the lion-headed sphinx of Harmac. 
+
+As he uncovered, his two companions leapt to the ground and prostrated
+themselves before him, crying, “Barung! Barung!” while all three of
+us Englishmen saluted, involuntarily, I think, and even the Child of
+Kings bowed.
+
+The Sultan acknowledged our greetings by raising his spear. Then he
+spoke in a grave measured voice:
+
+“O Walda Nagasta, and you, white men, sons of great fathers, I have
+listened to the talk between you and my servants; I confirm their words
+and I add to them. I am sorry that my generals tried to kill you last
+night. I was making prayer to my god, or it should not have happened. I
+have been well repaid for that deed, since an army should not make war
+upon four men, even though by their secret power four men can defeat an
+army. I beseech you, and you also, Rose of Mur, to accept my proffered
+friendship, since otherwise, ere long, you will soon be dead, and your
+wisdom will perish with you for I am weary of this little war against a
+handful whom we despise. 
+
+“O Walda Nagasta, you have breathed threats against the Majesty of
+Harmac, but he is too strong for you, nor may the might that can turn a
+few bricks to dust and shatter the bones of men prevail against him who
+is shaped from the heart of a mountain and holds the spirit of
+eternity. So at least I think: but even if it is decreed otherwise,
+what will that avail you? If it should please the god to leave us
+because of your arts, the Fung will still remain to avenge him ere they
+follow. Then I swear to you by my majesty and by the bones of my
+ancestors who sit in the caves of Mur, that I will spare but one of the
+Abati Jews, yourself, O Child of Kings, because of your great heart, 
+and the three white men, your guests, should they survive the battle,
+because of their courage and their wisdom. As for their brother, Black
+Windows, whom I have captured, he must be sacrificed, since I have
+sworn it, unless you yield, when I will plead for his life to the god,
+with what result I cannot tell. Yield, then, and I will not even slay
+the Abati; they shall live on and serve the Fung as slaves and minister
+to the glory of Harmac.”    
+
+“It may not be, it may not be!” Maqueda answered, striking the
+pommel of her saddle with her small hand. “Shall Jehovah whom Solomon,
+my father, worshipped, Jehovah of all the generations, do homage to an
+idol shaped by the hands He made? My people are worn out; they have
+forgot their faith and gone astray, as did Israel in the desert. I know
+it. It may even happen that the time has come for them to perish, who
+are no longer warriors, as of old. Well, if so, let them die free, and
+not as slaves. At least I, in whom their best blood runs, do not seek
+your mercy, O Barung. I’ll be no plaything in your house, who, at the
+worst, can always die, having done my duty to my God and those who bred
+me. Thus I answer you as the Child of many Kings. Yet as a woman,”
+she added in a gentler voice, “I thank you for your courtesy. When I
+am slain, Barung, if I am fated to be slain, think kindly of me, as one
+who did her best against mighty odds,” and her voice broke. 
+
+“That I shall always do,” he answered gravely. “Is it
+ended?”
+
+“Not quite,” she answered. “These Western lords, I give them
+to you; I absolve them from their promise. Why should they perish in a
+lost cause? If they take their wisdom to you to use against me, you
+have vowed them their lives, and, perhaps, that of their brother, your
+captive. There is a slave of yours also—you spoke of him, or your
+servant did—Singer of Egypt is his name. One of them knew him as a
+child; perchance you will not refuse him to that man.”
+
+She paused, but Barung made no answer.
+
+“Go, my friends,” she went on, turning toward us. “I thank
+you for your long journey on my behalf and the blow you have struck for
+me, and in payment I will send you a gift of gold; the Sultan will see
+it safe into your hands. I thank you. I wish I could have known more of
+you, but mayhap we shall meet again in war. Farewell.”
+
+She ceased, and I could see that she was watching us intently through
+her thin veil. The Sultan also watched us, stroking his long beard, a
+look of speculation in his eyes, for evidently this play interested him
+and he wondered how it would end.
+
+“This won’t do,” said Orme, when he understood the thing.
+“Higgs would never forgive us if we ate dirt just on the off-chance of
+saving him from sacrifice. He’s too straight-minded on big things.
+But, of course, Doctor,” he added jerkily, “you have interests of
+your own and must decide for yourself. I think I can speak for the
+Sergeant.” 
+
+“I have decided,” I answered. “I hope that my son would never
+forgive me either; but if it is otherwise, why, so it must be. Also
+Barung has made no promises about him.”
+
+“Tell him, then,” said Orme. “My head aches infernally, and I
+want to go to bed, above ground or under it.”
+
+So I told him, although, to speak the truth, I felt like a man with a
+knife in his heart, for it was bitter to come so near to the desire of
+years, to the love of life, and then to lose all hope just because of
+duty to the head woman of a pack of effete curs to whom one had chanced
+to make a promise in order to gain this very end. If we could have
+surrendered with honour, at least I should have seen my son, whom now I
+might never see again. 
+
+One thing, however, I added on the spur of the moment—namely, a
+request that the Sultan would tell the Professor every word that had
+passed, in order that whatever happened to him he might know the exact
+situation. 
+
+“My Harmac,” said Barung when he had heard, “how disappointed
+should I have been with you if you had answered otherwise when a woman
+showed you the way. I have heard of you English before—Arabs and
+traders brought me tales of you. For instance, there was one who died
+defending a city against a worshipper of the Prophet who called himself
+a prophet, down yonder at Khartoum on the Nile—a great death, they
+told me, a great death, which your people avenged afterwards.
+
+“Well I did not quite believe the story, and I wished to judge of it
+by you. I have judged, white lords, I have judged, and I am sure that
+your fat brother, Black Windows, will be proud of you even in the
+lion’s jaws. Fear not; he shall hear every word. The Singer of Egypt,
+who, it appears, can talk his tongue, shall tell the tale to him, and
+make a song of it to be sung over your honourable graves. And now
+farewell; may it be my lot to cross swords with one of you before all
+is done. That shall not be yet, for you need rest, especially yonder
+tall son of a god who is wounded,” and he pointed to Orme. “Child
+of Kings with a heart of kings, permit me to kiss your hand and to lead
+you back to your people, that I would were more worthy of you. Ah! yes,
+I would that _we_ were your people.” 
+
+Maqueda stretched out her hand, and, taking it, the Sultan barely
+touched her fingers with his lips. Then, still holding them, he rode
+with her toward the pass.
+
+As we approached its mouth, where the Abati were crowded together,
+watching our conference, I heard them murmur, “The Sultan, the Sultan
+himself!” and saw the prince Joshua mutter some eager words to the
+officers about him. 
+
+“Look out, Doctor,” said Quick into my ear. “Unless I’m
+mistook, that porpoise is going to play some game.”
+
+Hardly were the words out of his mouth when, uttering the most valiant
+shouts and with swords drawn, Joshua and a body of his companions
+galloped up and surrounded our little group.
+
+“Now yield, Barung,” bellowed Joshua; “yield or die!”
+
+The Sultan stared at him in astonishment, then answered:
+
+“If I had any weapon (he had thrown down his lance when he took
+Maqueda by the hand), certainly one of us should die, O Hog in man’s
+clothes.”
+
+Then he turned to Maqueda and added, “Child of Kings, I knew these
+people of yours to be cowardly and treacherous, but is it thus that you
+suffer them to deal with envoys under a flag of peace?”
+
+“Not so, not so,” she cried. “My uncle Joshua, you disgrace
+me; you make our people a shame, a hissing, and a reproach. Stand back;
+let the Sultan of the Fung go free.”
+
+But they would not; the prize was too great to be readily disgorged.
+
+We looked at each other. “Not at all the game,” said Orme.
+“If they collar him, we shall be tarred with their extremely dirty
+brush. Shove your camel in front, Sergeant, and if that beggar Joshua
+tries any tricks, put a bullet through him.”
+
+Quick did not need to be told twice. Banging his dromedary’s ribs with
+the butt end of his rifle, he drove it straight on to Joshua, shouting:
+
+“Out of the light, porpoise!” with the result that the
+Prince’s horse took fright, and reared up so high that its rider slid
+off over its tail to find himself seated on the ground, a sorry
+spectacle in his gorgeous robes and armour.
+
+Taking advantage of the confusion which ensued, we surrounded the Sultan
+and escorted him out of the throng back to his two companions, who,
+seeing that there was something amiss, were galloping toward us.
+
+“I am your debtor,” said Barung, “but, O White Men, make me
+more so. Return, I pray you, to that hog in armour, and say that Barung,
+Sultan of the Fung, understands from his conduct that he desires to
+challenge him to single combat, and that, seeing he is fully armed, the
+Sultan, although he wears no mail, awaits him here and now.”
+
+So I went at once with the message. But Joshua was far too clever to be
+drawn into any such dangerous adventure.
+
+Nothing, he said, would have given him greater joy than to hack the head
+from the shoulders of this dog of a Gentile sheik. But, unhappily,
+owing to the conduct of one of us foreigners, he had been thrown from
+his horse, and hurt his back, so that he could scarcely stand, much
+less fight a duel. 
+
+So I returned with my answer, whereat Barung smiled and said nothing.
+Only, taking from his neck a gold chain which he wore, he proffered it
+to Quick, who, as he said, had induced the prince Joshua to show his
+horsemanship if not his courage. Then he bowed to us, one by one, and
+before the Abati could make up their mind whether to follow him or not,
+galloped off swiftly with his companions toward Harmac.
+
+Such was our introduction to Barung, Sultan of the Fung, a barbarian
+with many good points, among them courage, generosity, and appreciation
+of those qualities even in a foe, characteristics that may have been
+intensified by the blood of his mother, who, I am told, was an Arab of
+high lineage captured by the Fung in war and given as a wife to the
+father of Barung. 
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE SHADOW OF FATE
+
+
+Our ride from the plains up the pass that led to the high tableland of
+Mur was long and, in its way, wonderful enough. I doubt whether in the
+whole world there exists another home of men more marvellously defended
+by nature. Apparently the road by which we climbed was cut in the first
+instance, not by human hands, but by the action of primæval floods,
+pouring, perhaps, from the huge lake which doubtless once covered the
+whole area within the circle of the mountains, although to-day it is
+but a moderate-sized sheet of water, about twenty miles long by ten in
+breadth. However this may be, the old inhabitants had worked on it, the
+marks of their tools may still be seen upon the rock. 
+
+For the first mile or two the road is broad and the ascent so gentle
+that my horse was able to gallop up it on that dreadful night when,
+after seeing my son’s face, accident, or rather Providence, enabled
+me to escape the Fung. But from the spot where the lions pulled the
+poor beast down, its character changes. In places it is so narrow that
+travellers must advance in single file between walls of rock hundreds
+of feet high, where the sky above looks like a blue ribbon, and even at
+midday the path below is plunged in gloom. At other spots the slope is
+so precipitous that beasts of burden can scarcely keep their foothold;
+indeed, we were soon obliged to transfer ourselves from the camels to
+horses accustomed to the rocks. At others, again, it follows the brink
+of a yawning precipice, an ugly place to ride or turn rectangular
+corners, which half-a-dozen men could hold against an army, and twice
+it passes through tunnels, though whether these are natural I do not
+know.    
+
+Besides all these obstacles to an invader there were strong gates at
+intervals, with towers near by where guards were stationed night and
+day, and fosses or dry moats in front of them which could only be
+crossed by means of drawbridges. So the reader will easily understand
+how it came about that, whatever the cowardice of the Abati, though
+they strove for generations, the Fung had as yet never been able to
+recapture the ancient stronghold, which, or so it is said, in the
+beginning these Abati won from them by means of an Oriental trick. 
+
+Here I should add that, although there are two other roads to the
+plains—that by which, in order to outflank the Fung, the camels were
+let down when I started on my embassy to Egypt, and that to the north
+where the great swamps lie—these are both of them equally, if not
+more, impassable, at any rate to an enemy attacking from below.
+
+A strange cavalcade we must have seemed as we crawled up this terrific
+approach. First went a body of the Abati notables on horseback, forming
+a long line of colour and glittering steel, who chattered as they rode,
+for they seemed to have no idea of discipline. Next came a company of
+horsemen armed with spears, or rather two companies in the centre of
+which rode the Child of Kings, some of her courtiers and chief
+officers, and ourselves, perhaps, as Quick suggested, because infantry
+in the event of surprise would find it less easy to run away than those
+who were mounted upon horses. Last of all rode more cavalry, the duty
+of whose rear files it was to turn from time to time, and, after
+inspection, to shout out that we were not pursued. 
+
+It cannot be said that we who occupied the centre of the advance were a
+cheerful band. Orme, although so far he had borne up, was evidently very
+ill from the shock of the explosion, so much so that men had to be set
+on each side of him to see that he did not fall from the saddle. Also
+he was deeply depressed by the fact that honour had forced us to
+abandon Higgs to what seemed a certain and probably a cruel death; and
+if he felt thus, what was my own case, who left not only my friend, but
+also my son, in the hands of savage heathens?
+
+Maqueda’s face was not visible because of the thin spangled veil that
+she wore, but there was something about her attitude suggestive of
+shame and of despair. The droop of the head and even her back showed
+this, as I, who rode a little behind and on side of her, could see. I
+think, too, that she was anxious about Orme, for she turned toward him
+several times as though studying his condition. Also I am sure that she
+was indignant with Joshua and others of her officers, for when they
+spoke to her she would not answer or take the slightest notice of them
+beyond straightening herself in the saddle. As for the Prince himself,
+his temper seemed to be much ruffled, although apparently he had 
+overcome the hurt to his back which prevented him from accepting the 
+Sultan’s challenge, for at a difficult spot in the road he dismounted
+and ran along actively enough. At any rate, when his subordinates
+addressed him he only answered them with muttered oaths, and his
+attitude towards us Englishmen, especially Quick, was not amiable.
+Indeed, if looks could have killed us I am sure that we should all have
+been dead before ever we reached the Gate of Mur.    
+
+This so-called gate was the upper mouth of the pass whence first we saw,
+lying beneath us, the vast, mountain-ringed plain beyond. It was a
+beautiful sight in the sunshine. Almost at our feet, half-hidden in
+palms and other trees, lay the flat-roofed town itself, a place of
+considerable extent, as every house of any consequence seemed to be set
+in a garden, since here there was no need for cramping walls and
+defensive works. Beyond it to the northward, farther than the eye could
+reach, stretching down a gentle slope to the far-off shores of the
+great lake of glistening water, were cultivated fields, and amongst them
+ villas and, here and there, hamlets. 
+
+Whatever might be the faults of the Abati, evidently they were skilled
+husbandsmen, such as their reputed forefathers, the old inhabitants of
+Judæa, must have been before them, for of that strain presumably some
+trace was still present in their veins. However far he may have drifted
+from such pursuits, originally the Jew was a tiller of the soil, and
+here, where many of his other characteristics had evaporated under
+pressure of circumstances—notably the fierce courage that Titus
+knew—this taste remained to him, if only by tradition.
+
+Indeed, having no other outlet for their energies and none with whom to
+trade, the interests of the Abati were centred in the land. For and by
+the land they lived and died, and, since the amount available was
+limited by the mountain wall, he who had most land was great amongst
+them, he who had little land was small, he who had no land was
+practically a slave. Their law was in its essentials a law of the land;
+their ambitions, their crimes, everything to do with them, were
+concerned with the land, upon the produce of which they existed and
+grew rich, some of them, by means of a system of barter. They had no 
+coinage, their money being measures of corn or other produce, horses,
+camels, acres of their equivalent of soil, and so forth. 
+
+And yet, oddly enough, their country is the richest in gold and other
+metals that I have ever heard of even in Africa—so rich that,
+according to Higgs, the old Egyptians drew bullion from it to the value
+of millions of pounds every year. This, indeed, I can well believe, for
+I have seen the ancient mines which were worked, for the most part as
+open quarries, still showing plenty of visible gold on the face of the
+slopes. Yet to these alleged Jews this gold was of no account. Imagine
+it; as Quick said, such a topsy-turvy state of things was enough to
+make a mere Christian feel cold down the back and go to bed thinking
+that the world must be coming to an end. 
+
+To return, the prince Joshua, who appeared to be generalissimo of the
+army, in what was evidently a set phrase, exhorted the guards at the
+last gates to be brave and, if need were, deal with the heathen as some
+one or other dealt with Og, King of Bashan, and other unlucky persons
+of a different faith. In reply he received their earnest
+congratulations upon his escape from the frightful dangers of our
+journey. 
+
+These formalities concluded, casting off the iron discipline of war, we
+descended a joyous mob, or rather the Abati did, to partake of the
+delights of peace. Really, conquerors returning from some desperate
+adventure could not have been more warmly greeted. As we entered the
+suburbs of the town, women, some of them very handsome, ran out and
+embraced their lords or lovers, holding up babies for them to kiss, and
+a little farther on children appeared, throwing roses and pomegranate
+flowers before their triumphant feet. And all this because these
+gallant men had ridden to the bottom of a pass and back again! 
+
+“Heavens! Doctor,” exclaimed the sardonic Quick, after taking note
+of these demonstrations, “Heavens! what a hero I feel myself to be.
+And to think that when I got back from the war with them Boers, after
+being left for dead on Spion Kop with a bullet through my lung and
+mentioned in a dispatch—yes, I, Sergeant Quick, mentioned in a
+dispatch by the biggest ass of a general as ever I clapped eyes on, for
+a job that I won’t detail, no one in my native village ever took no
+note of me, although I had written to the parish clerk, who happens to
+be my brother-in-law, and told him the train I was coming by. I tell
+you, Doctor, no one so much as stood me a pint of beer, let alone
+wine,” and he pointed to a lady who was proffering that beverage to
+some one whom she admired. 
+
+“And as for chucking their arms round my neck and kissing me,” and
+he indicated another episode, “all my old mother said—she was alive
+then—was that she ‘hoped I’d done fooling about furrin’
+parts as I called soldiering, and come home to live respectable, better
+late than never.’ Well, Doctor, circumstances alter cases, or blood
+and climate do, which is the same thing, and I didn’t miss what I
+never expected, why should I when others like the Captain there, who
+had done so much more, fared worse? But, Lord! these Abati are a
+sickening lot, and I wish we were clear of them. Old Barung’s the boy
+for me.” 
+
+Passing down the main street of this charming town of Mur, accompanied
+by these joyous demonstrators, we came at last to its central square, a
+large, open space where, in the moist and genial climate, for the high
+surrounding mountains attracted plentiful showers of rain, trees and
+flowers grew luxuriantly. At the head of this square stood a long, low
+building with white-washed walls and gilded domes, backed by the
+towering cliff, but at a little distance from it, and surrounded by
+double walls with a moat of water between them, dug for purposes of
+defence. 
+
+This was the palace, which on my previous visit I had only entered once
+or twice when I was received by the Child of Kings in formal audience.
+Round the rest of this square, each placed in its own garden, were the
+houses of the great nobles and officials, and at its western end, among
+other public buildings, a synagogue or temple which looked like a model
+of that built by Solomon in Jerusalem, from the description of which it
+had indeed been copied, though, of course, upon a small scale.
+
+At the gate of the palace we halted, and Joshua, riding up, asked
+Maqueda sulkily whether he should conduct “the Gentiles,” for that
+was his polite description of us, to the lodging for pilgrims in the
+western town. 
+
+“No, my uncle,” answered Maqueda; “these foreign lords will
+be housed in the guest-wing of the palace.”
+
+“In the guest-wing of the palace? It is not usual,” gobbled Joshua,
+swelling himself out like a great turkey cock. “Remember, O niece,
+that you are still unmarried. I do not yet dwell in the palace to
+protect you.” 
+
+“So I found out in the plain yonder,” she replied; “still, I
+managed to protect myself. Now, I pray you, no words. I think it
+necessary that these my guests should be where their goods already are,
+in the safest place in Mur. You, my uncle, as you told us, are badly
+hurt, by which accident you were prevented from accepting the challenge
+of the Sultan of the Fung. Go, then, and rest; I will send the court
+physician to you at once. Good-night, my uncle; when you are recovered
+we will meet again, for we have much that we must discuss. Nay, nay,
+you are most kind, but I will not detain you another minute. Seek your
+bed, my uncle, and forget not to thank God for your escape from many 
+perils.” 
+
+At this polite mockery Joshua turned perfectly pale with rage, like the
+turkey cock when his wattles fade from scarlet into white. Before he
+could make any answer, however, Maqueda had vanished under the archway,
+so his only resource was to curse us, and especially Quick, who had
+caused him to fall from his horse. Unfortunately the Sergeant
+understood quite enough Arabic to be aware of the tenor of his remarks,
+which he resented and returned: 
+
+“Shut it, Porpoise,” he said, “and keep your eyes where
+Nature put ’em, or they’ll fall out.”
+
+“What says the Gentile?” spluttered Joshua, whereon Orme, waking up
+from one of his fits of lethargy, replied in Arabic:
+
+“He says that he prays you, O Prince of princes, to close your noble
+mouth and to keep your high-bred eyes within their sockets lest you
+should lose them”; at which words those who were listening broke into
+a fit of laughter, for one redeeming characteristic among the Abati was
+that they had a sense of humour.
+
+After this I do not quite know what happened for Orme showed signs of
+fainting, and I had to attend to him. When I looked round again the
+gates were shut and we were being conducted toward the guest-wing of
+the palace by a number of gaily dressed attendants.
+
+They took us to our rooms—cool, lofty chambers ornamented with glazed
+tiles of quaint colour and beautiful design, and furnished somewhat
+scantily with articles made of rich-hued woods. This guest-wing of the
+palace, where these rooms were situated, formed, we noted, a separate
+house, having its own gateway, but, so far as we could see, no passage
+or other connection joining it to the main building. In front of it was
+a small garden, and at its back a courtyard with buildings, in which we
+were informed our camels had been stabled. At the time we noted no
+more, for night was falling, and, even if it had not been, we were too
+worn out to make researches. 
+
+Moreover, Orme was now desperately ill—so ill that he could scarcely
+walk leaning even on our shoulders. Still, he would not be satisfied
+till he was sure that our stores were safe, and, before he could be
+persuaded to lie down, insisted upon being supported to a vault with
+copper-bound doors, which the officers opened, revealing the packages
+that had been taken from the camels. 
+
+“Count them, Sergeant,” he said, and Quick obeyed by the light of a
+lamp that the officer held at the open door. “All correct, sir,” he
+said, “so far as I can make out.”
+
+“Very good, Sergeant. Lock the door and take the keys.”
+
+Again he obeyed, and, when the officer demurred to their surrender,
+turned on him so fiercely that the man thought better of it and
+departed with a shrug of his shoulders, as I supposed to make report to
+his superiors. 
+
+Then at length we got Orme to bed, and, as he complained of intolerable
+pains in his head and would take nothing but some milk and water,
+having first ascertained that he had no serious physical injuries that
+I could discover, I administered to him a strong sleeping-draught from
+my little travelling medicine case. To our great relief this took
+effect upon him in about twenty minutes, causing him to sink into a
+stupor from which he did not awake for many hours.
+
+Quick and I washed ourselves, ate some food that was brought to us, and
+then took turns to watch Orme throughout the night. When I was at my
+post about six o’clock on the following morning he woke up and asked
+for drink, which I gave to him. After swallowing it he began to wander
+in his mind, and, on taking his temperature, I found that he had over
+five degrees of fever. The end of it was that he went off to sleep
+again, only waking up from time to time and asking for more drink.
+
+Twice during the night and early morning Maqueda sent to inquire as to
+his condition, and, apparently not satisfied with the replies, about
+ten in the forenoon arrived herself, accompanied by two waiting-ladies
+and a long-bearded old gentleman who, I understood, was the court
+physician. 
+
+“May I see him?” she asked anxiously.
+
+I answered yes, if she and those with her were quite quiet. Then I led
+them into the darkened room where Quick stood like a statue at the head
+of the bed, only acknowledging her presence with a silent salute. She
+gazed at Oliver’s flushed face and the forehead blackened where the
+gases from the explosion had struck him, and as she gazed I saw her
+beautiful violet eyes fill with tears. Then abruptly she turned and
+left the sick-chamber. Outside its doors she waved back her attendants
+imperiously and asked me in a whisper: 
+
+“Will he live?”
+
+“I do not know,” I answered, for I thought it best that she should
+learn the truth. “If he is only suffering from shock, fatigue, and
+fever, I think so, but if the explosion or the blow on his head where
+it cut has fractured the skull, then——”
+
+“Save him,” she muttered. “I will give you all I—nay,
+pardon me; what need is there to tempt you, his friend, with reward?
+Only save him, save him.”
+
+“I will do what I can, Lady, but the issue is in other hands than
+mine,” I answered, and just then her attendants came up and put an end
+to the conversation.
+
+To this day the memory of that old rabbi, the court physician, affects
+me like a nightmare, for of all the medical fools that ever I met he
+was by far the most pre-eminent. All about the place he followed me
+suggesting remedies that would have been absurd even in the Middle
+Ages. The least harmful of them, I remember, was that poor Orme’s
+head should be plastered with a compound of butter and the bones of a
+still-born child, and that he should be given some filthy compound to
+drink which had been specially blessed by the priests. Others there
+were also that would certainly have killed him in half-an-hour. 
+
+Well, I got rid of him at last for the time, and returned to my vigil.
+It was melancholy work, since no skill that I had could tell me whether
+my patient would live or die. Nowadays the young men might know, or say
+that they did, but it must be remembered that, as a doctor, I am
+entirely superannuated. How could it be otherwise, seeing that I have
+passed the best of my life in the desert without any opportunity of
+keeping up with the times. 
+
+Three days went by in this fashion, and very anxious days they were. For
+my part, although I said nothing of it to any one, I believed that
+there was some injury to the patient’s skull and that he would die,
+or at best be paralyzed. Quick, however, had a different opinion. He
+said that he had seen two men in this state before from the concussion
+caused by the bursting of large shells near to them, and that they both
+recovered although one of them became an idiot.
+
+But it was Maqueda who first gave me any definite hope. On the third
+evening she came and sat by Orme for awhile, her attendants standing at
+a little distance. When she left him there was a new look upon her
+face—a very joyful look—which caused me to ask her what had
+happened. 
+
+“Oh! he will live,” she answered.
+
+I inquired what made her think so.
+
+“This,” she replied, blushing. “Suddenly he looked up and in
+my own tongue asked me of what colour were my eyes. I answered that it
+depended upon the light in which they might be seen.
+
+“‘Not at all,’ he said. ‘They are always
+_vi-o-let_, whether the curtain is drawn or no.’ Now, physician
+Adams, tell me what is this colour _vi-o-let_?”
+
+“That of a little wild flower which grows in the West in the spring, O
+Maqueda—a very beautiful and sweet-scented flower which is dark blue
+like your eyes.”
+
+“Indeed, Physician,” she said. “Well, I do not know this
+flower, but what of that? Your friend will live and be sane. A dying man
+does not trouble about the colour of a lady’s eyes, and one who is
+mad does not give that colour right.”
+
+“Are you glad, O Child of Kings?” I asked.
+
+“Of course,” she answered, “seeing that I am told that this
+captain alone can handle the firestuffs which you have brought with you,
+and, therefore, that it is necessary to me that he should not die.”
+
+“I understand,” I replied. “Let us pray that we may keep him
+alive. But there are many kinds of firestuffs, O Maqueda, and of one of
+them which chances to give out violet flames I am not sure that my
+friend is master. Yet in this country it may be the most dangerous of
+all.” 
+
+Now when she heard these words the Child of Kings looked me up and down
+angrily. Then suddenly she laughed a little in a kind of silent way that
+is peculiar to her, and, without saying anything, beckoned to her
+ladies and left the place.
+
+“Very variegated thing, woman, sir,” remarked Quick, who was
+watching. (I think he meant to say “variable.”) “This one,
+for instance, comes up that passage like a tired horse—shuffle,
+shuffle, shuffle—for I could hear the heels of her slippers on the
+floor. But now she goes out like a buck seeking its mate—head in air
+and hoof lifted. How do you explain it, Doctor?”
+
+“You had better ask the lady herself, Quick. Did the Captain take that
+soup she brought him?”
+
+“Every drop, sir, and tried to kiss her hand afterward, being still
+dazed, poor man, poor man! I saw him do it, knowing no better. He’ll
+be sorry enough when he comes to himself.”
+
+“No doubt, Sergeant. But meanwhile let us be glad that both their
+spirits seem to have improved, and if she brings any more soup when I
+am not there, I should let him have it. It is always well to humour
+invalids and women.” 
+
+“Yes, Doctor; but,” he added, with a sudden fall of face,
+“invalids recover sometimes, and then how about the women.”
+
+“Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof,” I answered; “you
+had better go out for exercise; it is my watch.” But to myself I
+thought that Fate was already throwing its ominous shadow before, and
+that it lay deep in Maqueda’s violet eyes.
+
+Well, to cut a long story short, this was the turning-point of Orme’s
+illness, and from that day he recovered rapidly, for, as it proved,
+there was no secret injury to the skull, and he was suffering from
+nothing except shock and fever. During his convalescence the Child of
+Kings came to see him several times, or to be accurate, if my memory
+serves me right, every afternoon. Of course, her visits were those of
+ceremony—that is to say, she was always accompanied by several of her
+ladies, that thorn in my flesh, the old doctor, and one or two
+secretaries and officers-in-waiting. 
+
+But as Oliver was now moved by day into a huge reception room, and these
+people of the court were expected to stop at one end of it while she
+conversed with him at the other, to all intents and purposes, save for
+the presence of myself and Quick, her calls were of a private nature.
+Nor were we always present, since, now that my patient was out of
+danger the Sergeant and I went out riding a good deal—investigating
+Mur and its surroundings. 
+
+It may be asked what they talked about on these occasions. I can only
+answer that, so far as I heard, the general subject was the politics of
+Mur and its perpetual war with the Fung. Still, there must have been
+other topics which I did not hear, since incidently I discovered that
+Orme was acquainted with many of Maqueda’s private affairs whereof he
+could only have learned from her lips.
+
+Thus when I ventured to remark that perhaps it was not altogether wise
+for a young man in his position to become so intimate with the
+hereditary ruler of an exclusive tribe like the Abati, he replied
+cheerfully that this did not in the least matter, as, of course,
+according to their ancient laws, she could only marry with one of her
+own family, a fact which made all complications impossible. I inquired
+which of her cousins, of whom I knew she had several, was the happy
+man. He replied: 
+
+“None of them. As a matter of fact, I believe that she is officially
+affianced to that fat uncle of hers, the fellow who blows his own
+trumpet so much, but I needn’t add that this is only a form to which
+she submits in order to keep the others off.”
+
+“Ah!” I said. “I wonder if Prince Joshua thinks it only a
+form?”
+
+“Don’t know what he thinks, and don’t care,” he
+replied, yawning; “I only know that things stand as I say, and that
+the porpoise-man has as much chance of becoming the husband of Maqueda
+as you have of marrying the Empress of China. And now, to drop this
+matrimonial conversation and come to something more important, have you
+heard anything about Higgs and your son?”
+
+“You are more in the way of learning state secrets than I am,
+Orme,” I answered sarcastically, being rather irritated at the course
+of events and his foolishness. “What have you heard?”
+
+“This, old fellow. I can’t say how she knows it, but Maqueda says
+that they are both in good health and well treated. Only our friend
+Barung sticks to his word and proposes to sacrifice poor old Higgs on
+this day fortnight. Now, of course, that must be prevented somehow, and
+prevented it shall be if it costs me my life. Don’t you suppose that
+I have been thinking about myself all the time, for it isn’t so, only
+the trouble is that I can’t find any plan of rescue which will hold
+water.” 
+
+“Then what’s to be done, Orme? I haven’t spoken much of the
+matter before for fear of upsetting you when you were still weak, but
+now that you are all right again we must come to some decision.”
+
+“I know, I know,” he answered earnestly; “and I tell you
+this, that rather than let Higgs die alone there, I will give myself up
+to Barung, and, if I can’t save him, suffer with him, or for him if I
+can. Listen: there is to be a great council held by the Child of Kings
+on the day after to-morrow which we must attend, for it has only been
+postponed until I was well enough. At this council that rogue Shadrach
+is to be put upon his trial, and will, I believe, be condemned to
+death. Also we are formally to return Sheba’s ring which Maqueda lent
+to you to be used in proof of her story. Well, we may learn something
+then, or at any rate must make up our minds to definite action. And now
+I am to have my first ride, am I not? Come on, Pharaoh,” he added to
+the dog, which had stuck at his bedside all through his illness so
+closely that it was difficult to entice him away even to eat; “we are
+going for a ride, Pharaoh; do you hear that, you faithful beast?”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE SWEARING OF THE OATH
+
+
+Two or three days after this conversation, I forget exactly which it
+was, Maqueda held her council in the great hall of the palace. When we
+entered the place in charge of a guard, as though we were prisoners, we
+found some hundreds of Abati gathered there who were seated in orderly
+rows upon benches. At the farther end, in an apse-shaped space, sat the
+Child of Kings herself on a gilded or perhaps a golden chair of which
+the arms terminated in lions’ heads. She was dressed in a robe of
+glittering silver, and wore a ceremonial veil embroidered with stars,
+also of silver, and above it, set upon her dark hair, a little circlet
+of gold, in which shone a single gem that looked like a ruby. Thus
+attired, although her stature is small, her appearance was very 
+dignified and beautiful, especially as the gossamer veil added mystery
+to her face. 
+
+Behind the throne stood soldiers armed with spears and swords, and at
+its sides and in front of it were gathered her court to the number of a
+hundred or more, including her waiting-ladies, who in two companies
+were arranged to the right and left. Each member of this court was
+gorgeously dressed according to his profession.
+
+There were the generals and captains with Prince Joshua at the head of
+them in their Norman-like chain armour. There were judges in black
+robes and priests in gorgeous garments; there were territorial lords,
+of whose attire I remember only that they wore high boots, and men who
+were called Market-masters, whose business it was to regulate the rate
+of exchange of products, and with them the representatives of other
+trades. 
+
+In short, here was collected all the aristocracy of the little
+population of the town and territory of Mur, every one of whom, as we
+found afterwards, possessed some high-sounding title answering to those
+of our dukes and lords and Right Honourables, and knights, to say
+nothing of the Princes of the Blood, of whom Joshua was the first.
+
+Really, although it looked so fine and gay, the spectacle was, in a
+sense, piteous, being evidently but a poor mockery and survival of the
+pageantry of a people that had once been great. The vast hall in which
+they were assembled showed this, since, although the occasion was one
+that excited public interest, it was after all but a quarter filled by
+those who had a right to be present. 
+
+With much dignity and to the sound of music we were marched up the broad
+nave, if I may describe it thus, for the building, with its apse and
+supporting cedar columns, bore some resemblance to a cathedral, till we
+reached the open space in front of the throne, where our guards
+prostrated themselves in their Eastern fashion, and we saluted its
+occupant in our own. Then, chairs having been given to us, after a
+pause a trumpet blew, and from a side chamber was produced our late
+guide, Shadrach, heavily manacled and looking extremely frightened. 
+
+The trial that followed I need not describe at length. It took a long
+while, and the three of us were called upon to give evidence as to the
+quarrel between our companion, the Professor, and the prisoner about
+the dog Pharaoh and other matters. The testimony, however, that
+proclaimed the guilt of Shadrach was that of his companion guides, who,
+it appeared, had been threatened with floggings unless they told the
+truth. 
+
+These men swore, one after the other, that the abandonment of Higgs had
+been a preconceived plan. Several of them added that Shadrach was in
+traitorous communication with the Fung, whom he had warned of our
+advent by firing the reeds, and had even contrived to arrange that we
+were to be taken while he and the other Abati, with the camels laden
+with our rifles and goods which they hoped to steal, passed through in
+safety. 
+
+In defence Shadrach boldly denied the whole story, and especially that
+he had pushed the Gentile, Higgs, off his dromedary, as was alleged,
+and mounted it himself because his own beast had broken down or been
+injured. 
+
+However, his lies availed him little, since, after consultation with the
+Child of Kings, presently one of the black-robed judges condemned him
+to suffer death in a very cruel fashion which was reserved for
+traitors. Further, his possessions were to be forfeited to the State,
+and his wife and children and household to become public slaves, which
+meant that the males would be condemned to serve as soldiers, and the
+females allotted to certain officials in the order of their rank.
+
+Several of those who had conspired with him to betray us to the Fung
+were also deprived of their possessions and condemned to the army,
+which was their form of penal servitude.
+
+Thus amidst a mighty wailing of those concerned and of their friends and
+relatives ended this remarkable trial, of which I give some account
+because it throws light upon the social conditions of Abati. What hope
+is there for a people when its criminals are sent, not to jail, but to
+serve as soldiers, and their womenfolk however innocent, are doomed to
+become the slaves of the judges or whoever these may appoint. Be it
+added, however, that in this instance Shadrach and his friends deserved
+all they got, since, even allowing for a certain amount of false
+evidence, undoubtedly, for the purposes of robbery and private hate,
+they did betray those whom their ruler had sent them to guide and 
+protect. 
+
+When this trial was finished and Shadrach had been removed, howling for
+mercy and attempting to kiss our feet like the cur he was, the audience
+who had collected to hear it and to see us, the Gentile strangers,
+dispersed, and the members of the Privy Council, if I may call it so,
+were summoned by name to attend to their duties. When all had gathered,
+we three were requested to advance and take seats which had been placed
+for us among the councillors. 
+
+Then came a pause, and, as I had been instructed that I should do, I
+advanced and laid Sheba’s ring upon a cushion held by one of the
+court officers, who carried it to Maqueda.
+
+“Child of Kings,” I said, “take back this ancient token which
+you lent to me to be a proof of your good faith and mine. Know that by
+means of it I persuaded our brother who is captive, a man learned in
+all that has to do with the past, to undertake this mission, and
+through him the Captain Orme who stands before you, and his servant,
+the soldier.” 
+
+She took it and, after examination, showed it to several of the priests,
+by whom it was identified.
+
+“Though I parted from it with fear and doubt, the holy ring has served
+its purpose well,” she said, “and I thank you, Physician, for
+returning it to my people and to me in safety.”
+
+Then she replaced it on the finger from which it had been withdrawn when
+she gave it to me many months before.
+
+There, then, that matter ended.
+
+Now an officer cried:
+
+“Walda Nagasta speaks!” whereon every one repeated, “Walda
+Nagasta speaks,” and was silent.
+
+Then Maqueda began to address us in her soft and pleasant voice.
+
+“Strangers from the Western country called England,” she said,
+“be pleased to hear me. You know our case with the Fung—that they
+surround us and would destroy us. You know that in our extremity I took
+advantage of the wandering hither of one of you a year ago to beg him to
+go to his own land and there obtain firestuffs and those who understand
+them, with which to destroy the great and ancient idol of the Fung. For
+that people declare that if this idol is destroyed they will leave the
+land they dwell in for another, such being their ancient prophecy.”
+
+“Pardon, O Child of Kings,” interrupted Orme, “but you will
+remember that only the other day Barung, Sultan of the Fung, said that
+in this event his nation would still live on to avenge their god,
+Harmac. Also he said that of all the Abati he would leave you alive
+alone.” 
+
+Now at these ill-omened words a shiver and a murmur went through the
+Council. But Maqueda only shrugged her shoulders, causing the silver
+trimmings on her dress to tinkle.
+
+“I have told you the ancient prophecy,” she answered, “and
+for the rest words are not deeds. If the foul fiend, Harmac, goes I
+think that the Fung will follow him. Otherwise, why do they make
+sacrifice to Earthquake as the evil god they have to fear? And when
+some five centuries ago, such an earthquake shook down part of the
+secret city in the bowels of the mountains that I will show to you
+afterwards, why did they fly from Mur and take up their abode in the
+plain, as they said, to protect the god?” 
+
+“I do not know,” answered Oliver. “If our brother were here,
+he whom the Fung have captured, he might know, being learned in the ways
+of idol-worshipping, savage peoples.”
+
+“Alas! O Son of Orme,” she said, “thanks to that traitor whom
+but now we have condemned, he is not here and, perhaps, could tell us
+nothing if he were. At least, the saying runs as I have spoken it, and
+for many generations, because of it, we Abati have desired to destroy
+the idol of the Fung to which so many of us have been offered in
+sacrifice through the jaws of their sacred lions. Now I ask,” and she
+leaned forward, looking at Oliver, “will you do this for me?”
+
+“Speak of the reward, my niece,” broke in Joshua in his thick voice
+when he saw that we hesitated what to answer, “I have heard that these
+Western Gentiles are a very greedy people, who live and die for the gold
+which we despise.”
+
+“Ask him, Captain,” exclaimed Quick, “if they despise land
+also, since yesterday afternoon I saw one of them try to cut the throat
+of another over a piece not bigger than a large dog-kennel.”
+
+“Yes,” I added, for I confess that Joshua’s remarks nettled
+me, “and ask him whether the Jews did not despoil the Egyptians of
+their ornaments of gold in the old days, and whether Solomon, whom he
+claims as a forefather, did not trade in gold to Ophir, and lastly
+whether he knows that most of his kindred in other lands make a very
+god of gold.” 
+
+So Orme, as our spokesman, put these questions with great gusto to
+Joshua, whom he disliked intensely, whereat some of the Council, those
+who were not of the party of the Prince, smiled or even laughed, and
+the silvery ornaments upon Maqueda’s dress began to shake again as
+though she also were laughing behind her veil. Still, she did not seem
+to think it wise to allow Joshua to answer—if he could—but did so
+herself, saying: 
+
+“The truth is, O my friends, that here we set small store by gold
+because, being shut in and unable to trade, it is of no use to us save
+as an ornament. Were it otherwise, doubtless we should value it as much
+as the rest of the world, Jew or Gentile, and shall do so when we are
+freed from our foes who hem us in. Therefore, my uncle is wrong to
+claim as a virtue that which is only a necessity, especially when, as
+your servant says,” and she pointed to the Sergeant, “our people
+make land their gold and will spend their lives in gaining more of it,
+even when they have enough.” 
+
+“Then do the Gentiles seek no reward for their services?” sneered
+Joshua.
+
+“By no means, Prince,” answered Oliver, “we are soldiers of
+fortune, since otherwise why should we have come here to fight your
+quarrel” (laying an unpleasant emphasis on the “your”)
+“against a chief who, if half savage, to us seems to have some merits,
+those of honour and courage, for instance? If we risk our lives and do
+our work, we are not too proud to take whatever we can earn. Why should
+we be, seeing that some of us need wealth, and that our brother, who is
+as good as dead yonder, owing to the treachery of those who were sent
+to guard him, has relatives in England who are poor and should be
+compensated for his loss?” 
+
+“Why, indeed?” ejaculated Maqueda. “Listen, now, my friends.
+In my own name and in that of the Abati people I promised to you as many
+camel-loads of this gold as you can carry away from Mur, and before the
+day is done I will show it to you if you dare follow me to where it
+lies hid.” 
+
+“First the work, then the pay,” said Oliver. “Now tell us,
+Child of Kings, what is that work?”
+
+“This, O Son of Orme. You must swear—if this is not against your
+consciences as Christians—that for the space of one year from to-day
+you will serve me and fight for me and be subject to my laws, striving
+all the while to destroy the idol Harmac by your Western skill and
+weapons, after which you shall be free to go whither you will with your
+reward.” 
+
+“And if we swear, Lady,” asked Oliver after reflection, “tell
+us what rank shall we hold in your service?”
+
+“You shall be my chief captain for this enterprise, O Son of Orme, and
+those with you shall serve under you in such positions as you may
+please.” 
+
+At these words a murmur of dissatisfaction arose from the mail-clad
+generals in the Council.
+
+“Are we then, to obey this stranger, O Child of Kings?” queried
+Joshua as their spokesman.
+
+“Aye, my uncle, so far as this great enterprise is concerned, as I
+have said. Can you handle the firestuffs of which they alone have the
+secret? Could any three of you have held the gate of Harmac against the
+armies of the Fung and sent it flying skyward?”
+
+She paused and waited in the midst of a sullen silence.
+
+“You do not answer because you cannot,” continued Maqueda.
+“Then for this purpose be content to serve awhile under the command of
+those who have the skill and power which you lack.”
+
+Still there was no answer.
+
+“Lady,” said Orme in this ominous quiet, “you are so good as
+to make me a general among your soldiers, but will they obey me? And who
+are your soldiers? Does every man of the Abati bear arms?”
+
+“Alas! no,” she replied, fixing upon this latter question perhaps
+because she could not answer the first. “Alas! no. In the old days it
+was otherwise, when my great ancestresses ruled, and then we did not
+fear the Fung. But now the people will not serve as soldiers. They say
+it takes them from their trades and the games they love; they say they
+cannot give the time in youth; they say that it degrades a man to obey
+the orders of those set over him; they say that war is barbarous and
+should be abolished, and all the while the brave Fung wait without to
+massacre our men and make our women slaves. Only the very poor and the
+desperate, and those who have offended against the laws will serve in
+my army, except it be as officers. Oh! and therefore are the Abati
+doomed,” and, throwing back her veil, suddenly, she burst into tears
+before us all. 
+
+I do not know that I ever remember seeing a sight more pathetic in its
+way than that of this beautiful and high-spirited young woman weeping
+in the presence of her Council over the utter degeneracy of the race
+she was called upon to rule. Being old and accustomed to these Eastern
+expressions of emotion, I remained silent, however; but Oliver was so
+deeply affected that I feared lest he should do something foolish. He
+went red, he went white, and was rising from his seat to go to her, had
+I not caught him by the arm and pulled him back. As for Quick, he
+turned his eyes to the ceiling, as though engaged in prayer, and I 
+heard him muttering: 
+
+“The Lord help the poor thing, the Lord help her; the one pearl in the
+snout of all these gilded swine! Well, I understand I am a bit of a
+general now, and if I don’t make ‘em sit up for her sake my name
+ain’t Samuel Quick.”
+
+Meanwhile there was much consternation and indignant murmuring amongst
+the Court, which felt that reflections had been thrown upon it
+collectively and individually. At such a crisis, as usual, Prince
+Joshua took the lead. Rising from his seat, he knelt, not without
+difficulty, before the throne, and said: 
+
+“O Child of Kings, why do you distress us with such words? Have you
+not the God of Solomon to protect you?”
+
+“God protects those who protect themselves,” sobbed Maqueda.
+
+“And have you not many brave officers?”
+
+“What are officers without an army?”
+
+“And have you not me, your uncle, your affianced, your lover?” and
+he laid his hand where he conceived his heart to be, and stared up at
+her with his rolling, fish-like eyes. “Had it not been for the
+interference of these Gentiles, in whom you seem to put such trust,”
+he went on, “should I not have taken Barung captive the other day,
+and left the Fung without a head?”
+
+“And the Abati without such shreds of honour as still belong to them,
+my uncle.”
+
+“Let us be wed, O Bud of the Rose, O Flower of Mur, and soon I will
+free you from the Fung. We are helpless because we are separate, but
+together we shall triumph. Say, O Maqueda, when shall we be wed?”
+
+“When the idol Harmac is utterly destroyed, and the Fung have departed
+for ever, my uncle,” she answered impatiently. “But is this a time
+to talk of marriage? I declare the Council closed. Let the priests bring
+the rolls that these strangers from the West may take the oath, and
+then pardon me if I leave you.”
+
+Now from behind the throne there appeared a gorgeous gentleman arrayed
+in a head-dress that reminded me faintly of a bishop’s mitre, and
+wearing over his robes a breastplate of precious stones roughly
+polished, which was half hidden by a very long white beard.
+
+This person, who it seemed was the high priest, carried in his hand a
+double roll of parchment written over with characters which we
+afterwards discovered were bastard Hebrew, very ancient and only
+decipherable by three or four of the Abati, if indeed any of them could
+really read it. At least it was said to be the roll of the law brought
+by their forefathers centuries ago from Abyssinia, together with
+Sheba’s ring and a few other relics, among them the cradle (a
+palpable forgery), in which the child of Solomon and Maqueda, or
+Belchis, the first known Queen of Sheba, was traditionally reported to
+have been rocked. This roll of the law, which for generations had been
+used at all important ceremonies among the Abati, such as the
+swearing-in of their queens and chief officers, was now tendered to us
+to hold and kiss while we took the oath of obedience and allegiance in
+the names of Jehovah and of Solomon (a strange mixture, it struck us),
+solemnly vowing to perform those things which I have already set out. 
+
+“This seems a pretty wide promise,” said Oliver, after it had been
+read to us and translated by me to Quick. “Do you think that we ought
+to take it on?”
+
+I answered “Yes,” that was from my point of view, since otherwise I
+saw no chance of achieving the object that had caused me to enter upon
+this adventure. Then, being especially requested to do so, the
+Sergeant, after reflecting awhile, gave his considered opinion.
+
+“Sir,” he said to Orme, “we are three white men here
+consorting with a mob of quarter-bred African Jews and one real lady. It
+seems to me that we had best swear anything they want us to, trusting
+to the lady to see us through the mess, since otherwise we shall be
+mere filibusters in the country without official rank, and liable
+therefore to be shot on sight by the enemy, or any mutineers who get
+the upper hand here. Also, we have the Professor and the Doctor’s son
+to think of. Therefore I say: Swear to anything in reason, reserving
+allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, and trust to luck. You see,
+Captain, we are in their power anyway, and this oath may help, but
+can’t hurt us, while to refuse it must give offence to all these
+skunks, and perhaps to the lady also, which is of more consequence.” 
+
+“I think you are probably right, Sergeant,” said Orme.
+“Anyway, in for a penny, in for a pound.”
+
+Then he turned to Maqueda, who had been watching this conference in an
+unknown tongue with some anxiety, or so it seemed to me, and added in
+Arabic: “O Child of Kings, we will take your oath, although it is
+wide, trusting to your honour to protect us from any pitfalls which it
+may cover, for we would ask you to remember that we are strangers in
+your land who do not understand its laws and customs. Only we stipulate
+that we retain our allegiance to our own ruler far away, remaining the
+subjects of that monarch with all rights thereto appertaining. Also, we
+stipulate that before we enter on our duties, or at any rate during
+those duties, we shall be at full liberty to attempt the rescue of our
+friend and companion, now a prisoner in the hands of the Fung, and of
+the son of one of us who is believed to be a slave to them, and that we
+shall have all the assistance which you can give us in this matter.
+Moreover, we demand that if we should be tried for any offence under
+this oath, you to whom we swear allegiance shall be our judge alone,
+none others intermeddling in the trial. If you accept these terms we
+will swear the oath; otherwise we swear nothing, but will act as
+occasion may arise.”    
+
+Now we were requested to stand back while the Child of Kings consulted
+with her advisers, which she did for a considerable time, since
+evidently the questions raised involved differences of opinion. In the
+end, however, she and those who supported her seemed to overrule the
+objectors, and we were called up and told that our terms had been
+accepted and engrossed upon the form of the oath, and that everything
+there included would be faithfully observed by the Ruler and Council of
+the Abati. 
+
+So we signed and swore, kissing the book, or rather the roll, in the
+civilized fashion. Afterwards, very tired, for all this business had
+been anxious, we were conducted back to our own quarters to lunch, or
+rather to dine, for the Abati ate their heaviest meal at midday, taking
+a siesta after it according to the common Eastern custom.
+
+About four o’clock of that afternoon I was awakened from my nap by the
+growls of Pharaoh, and looked up to see a man crouching against the
+door, evidently in fear of the dog’s fangs. He proved to be a
+messenger from Maqueda, sent to ask us if we cared to accompany her to
+a place that we had never seen. Of course we answered “Yes,” and
+were at once led by the messenger to a disused and dusty hall at the
+back of the palace, where presently Maqueda and three of her ladies
+joined us, and with them a number of men who carried lighted lamps,
+gourds of oil, and bundles of torches. 
+
+“Doubtless, friends,” said Maqueda, who was unveiled and appeared
+to have quite recovered from our outburst of the morning, “you have
+seen many wonderful places in this Africa and other lands, but now I am
+about to show you one that, I think, is stranger than them all.”
+
+Following her, we came to a door at the end of the hall which the men
+unbolted and shut again behind us, and thence passed into a long
+passage cut in the rock, that sloped continuously downwards and at
+length led through another doorway to the vastest cave that we had ever
+heard of or seen. So vast was it, indeed, that the feeble light of our
+lamps did not suffice to reach the roof, and only dimly showed to right
+and left the outlines of what appeared to be shattered buildings of
+rock. 
+
+“Behold the cave city of Mur,” said Maqueda, waving the lamp she
+held. “Here it was that the ancients whom we believe to have been the
+forefathers of the Fung, had their secret stronghold. These walls were
+those of their granaries, temples, and places of ceremonial, but, as I
+have told you, centuries ago an earthquake shattered them, leaving them
+as they are now. Also, it broke down much of the cave itself, causing
+the roof to fall, so that there are many parts where it is not safe to
+enter. Come now and see what is left.”
+
+We followed her into the depth of the wonderful place, our lanterns and
+torches making little stars of light in that great blackness. We saw
+the ruins of granaries still filled with the dust of what I suppose had
+once been corn, and came at length to a huge, roofless building of
+which the area was strewn with shattered columns, and among them
+overgrown statues, covered so thick by dust that we could only discover
+that most of them seemed to be shaped like sphinxes. 
+
+“If only Higgs were here,” said Oliver with a sigh, and passed on
+to Maqueda, who was calling him to look at something else.
+
+Leaving the temple in which it was unsafe to walk, she led us to where a
+strong spring, the water supply of the place, bubbled up into a rock
+basin, and overflowing thence through prepared openings, ran away we
+knew not whither. 
+
+“Look, this fountain is very ancient,” said Maqueda, pointing to
+the lip of the basin that was worn away to the depth of several inches
+where those who drew water had for many generations rested their hands
+upon the hard rock.
+
+“How did they light so vast a cavern?” asked Oliver.
+
+“We do not know,” she answered, “since lamps would scarcely
+have served them. It is a secret of the past which none of the Abati
+have cared to recover, and another is how the air is always kept fresh
+so deep in the bowels of the mountain. We cannot even say whether this
+place is natural, as I think, or hollowed out by men.”
+
+“Both, I expect,” I answered. “But tell me, Lady, do the
+Abati make any use of this great cave?”
+
+“Some corn is still stored here in pits in case of siege,” she
+replied, adding sadly, “but it is not enough to be of real service,
+since almost all of it comes from the estates of the Child of Kings. In
+vain have I prayed the people to contribute, if only a hundredth part
+of their harvest, but they will not. Each says that he would give if
+his neighbour gave, and so none give. And yet a day may come when a
+store of corn alone would stand between them and death by hunger—if
+the Fung held the valley, for instance,” and she turned impatiently
+and walked forward to show us the stables where the ancients kept their
+horses and the marks of their chariot wheels in the stone floor.
+
+“Nice people, the Abati, sir,” said Quick to me. “If it
+weren’t for the women and children, and, above all, for this little
+lady, whom I am beginning to worship like my master, as in duty bound,
+I’d like to see them do a bit of hungering.”
+
+“There is one more place to show you,” said Maqueda, when we had
+inspected the stables and argued as to what possible causes could have
+induced the ancients to keep horses underground, “which perhaps you
+will think worth a visit, since it holds the treasures that are, or
+shall be, yours. Come!”
+
+We started forward again along various passages, the last of which
+suddenly widened into a broad and steep incline of rock, which we
+followed for quite fifty paces till it ended in what seemed to be a
+blank wall. Here Maqueda bade her ladies and attendants halt, which
+indeed they seemed very anxious to do, though at the moment we did not
+know why. Then she went to one end of the wall where it joined that of
+the passage, and, showing us some loose stones, asked me to pull them
+out, which I did, not without difficulty. When an aperture had been
+made large enough for a man to creep through, she turned to her people
+and said: 
+
+“You, I know, believe this place to be haunted, nor would the bravest
+of you enter it save by express command. But I and these strangers have
+no such fears. Therefore give us a gourd of oil and some torches and
+bide where you are till we return, setting a lamp in the hole in the
+wall to guide us in case our own should become extinguished. No, do not
+reason but obey. There is no danger, for though hot, the air within is
+pure, as I know who have breathed it more than once.”
+
+Then she gave her hand to Oliver, and with his assistance crept through
+the hole. We followed, to find ourselves in another cavern, where, as
+she had said, the temperature was much hotter than that without.
+
+“What is this place?” asked Orme in a low voice, for its aspect
+seemed to awe him.
+
+“The tomb of the old kings of Mur,” she replied. “Presently
+you shall see,” and once more she took his hand, for the slope was
+sharp and slippery.
+
+On we went, always descending, for perhaps four hundred yards, our
+footfalls echoing loudly in the intense silence, and our lamps, round
+which the bats circled in hundreds, making four stars of light in the
+utter blackness, till at length the passage widened out into what
+appeared to be a vast circular arena, with a lofty dome-like roof of
+rock. Maqueda turned to the right, and, halting before some objects
+that glimmered whitely, held up her light, saying, “Look!”
+
+This was what we saw: A great stone chair and, piled upon its seat and
+upon its base, human bones. Amongst these was a skull, and on it,
+grotesquely tilted, a crown of gold, while other ornaments—sceptres,
+rings, necklaces, weapons and armour—were mingled with the bones. Nor
+was this all, for in a wide circle round the chair were other
+skeletons, fifty or more of them, and amongst them the ornaments that
+their owners had worn. 
+
+Also, in front of each stood a tray of some metal, which we afterwards
+discovered to be silver or copper, and heaped upon it every kind of
+valuable, such as golden cups and vases, toilet utensils, necklaces,
+pectorals, bracelets, leglets, earrings and beads that seemed to be cut
+from precious stones, piles of ring money, and a hundred other things
+such as have been prized by mankind since the beginning of
+civilization. 
+
+“You understand,” said Maqueda, as we stared, open-mouthed at this
+awful and marvellous sight, “he in the chair was the king. Those about
+him were his officers, guards, and women. When he was buried they
+brought his household here, bearing his wealth, sat them down about
+him, and killed them. Blow away the dust, and you will see that the
+rock beneath is still stained with their blood; also, there are the
+sword-marks on their skulls, and neckbones.”
+
+Quick, who was of an inquiring mind, stepped forward and verified these
+statements.
+
+“Golly!” he said, throwing down the skull of a man over whom the
+tired executioners had evidently bungled badly, “I’m glad I
+didn’t serve the old kings of Mur. But the same game goes on in a
+small way to-day in Africa, for when I was campaigning on the West
+Coast I came across it not a fortnight old, only there they had buried
+the poor beggars living.”
+
+“Perhaps,” said Maqueda, when the Sergeant’s remarks had been
+translated to her. “Yet I do not think the custom is one that my
+people would love,” and she laughed a little, then added, “forward,
+friends, there are many more of these kings and oil does not burn for
+ever.”
+
+So we moved on, and at a distance of some twenty paces found another
+chair with scattered bones on and about the seat, lying where each had
+fallen as the dead man decayed. Round it were the skeletons of the
+unfortunates who had been doomed to accompany him upon his last
+journey, every one of them behind his tray of golden objects, or of
+simple treasure. In front of this king’s chair also were the bones of
+a dog with a jewelled collar. 
+
+Again we proceeded to a third mortuary, if it may so be called, and here
+Maqueda pointed out the skeleton of a man, in front of which stood a
+tray piled up with what evidently had been the medicine bottles of the
+period and among them a number of rude surgical instruments.
+
+“Say, O Physician Adams,” she remarked with a smile, “would
+you have wished to be court doctor to the kings of Mur, if indeed that
+was then their city’s name?”
+
+“No, Lady,” I answered; “but I do wish to examine his
+instruments if I have your leave,” and while she hurried forward I
+stooped down and filled my pockets. Here I may remark, that upon
+subsequent inspection I found among these instruments, manufactured I
+know not what number of thousands of years ago—for on that point
+controversy rages among the learned—many that with modifications are
+still in use to-day. 
+
+Of that strange and dreadful sepulchre there is little more to tell.
+From monarch to monarch we marched on till at length we grew weary of
+staring at bones and gold. Even Quick grew weary, who had passed his
+early youth in assisting his father, the parish sexton, and therefore,
+like myself, regarded these relics with professional interest, though
+of a different degree. At any rate, he remarked that this family vault
+was uncommonly hot, and perhaps, if it pleased her Majesty, as he
+called Maqueda, we might take the rest of the deceased gentlemen as
+read, like a recruit’s attestation questions. 
+
+But just then we came to No. 25, according to my counting, and were
+obliged to stop to wonder, for clearly this king had been the greatest
+of them all, since round him lay about two or three times the average
+number of dead, and an enormous quantity of wealth, some of it in the
+form of little statues of men and women, or perhaps of gods. Yet, oddly
+enough, he was hunchback with a huge skull, almost a monstrosity
+indeed. Perhaps his mind partook of the abnormal qualities of his body,
+since no less than eleven little children had been sacrificed at his
+obsequies, two of whom, judging from their crooked bones, must have
+been his own. 
+
+One wonders what chanced in Mur and the surrounding territories which
+then acknowledged its sway when King Hunchback ruled. Alas! history
+writes no record. 
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+QUICK LIGHTS A MATCH
+
+
+“Here we begin to turn, for this cave is a great circle,” said
+Maqueda over her shoulder.
+
+But Oliver, whom she addressed, had left her side and was engaged in
+taking observations behind the hunchback’s funeral chair with an
+instrument which he had produced from his pocket.
+
+She followed him and asked curiously what this thing might be, and why
+he made use of it here.
+
+“We call it a compass,” he answered, “and it tells me that
+beyond us lies the east, where the sun rises; also it shows at what
+height we stand above the sea, that great water which you have never
+seen, O Child of Kings. Say now, if we could walk through this rock,
+what should we find out yonder?”
+
+“The lion-headed idol of the Fung, I have been told,” she answered.
+“That which you saw before you blew up the gate of the city Harmac.
+But how far off it may be I do not know, for I cannot see through
+stone. Friend Adams, help me to refill the lamps, for they burn low,
+and all these dead would be ill company in the dark. So at least my
+people think, since there is not one of them that dares to enter this
+place. When first we found it only a few years ago and saw the company
+it held, they fled, and left me to search it alone. Look, yonder are my
+footsteps in the dust.” 
+
+So I refilled the shallow hand-lamps, and while I did so Orme took some
+hasty observations of which he jotted down the results in his
+pocket-book. 
+
+“What have you learned?” she asked, when at last he rejoined us
+somewhat unwillingly, for she had been calling to him to come.
+
+“Not so much as I should have done if you could have given me more
+time,” he replied, adding in explanation, “Lady, I was brought up
+as an engineer, that is, one who executes works, and to do so takes
+measurements and makes calculations. For instance, those dead men who
+hollowed or dressed these caves must have been engineers and no mean
+ones.” 
+
+“We have such among us now,” she said. “They raise dams and
+make drains and houses, though not so good as those which were built of
+old. But again I ask—what have you learned, O wise Engineer?”
+
+“Only that here we stand not so very far above the city Harmac, of
+which I chanced to take the level, and that behind yonder chair there
+was, I think, once a passage which has been built up. But be pleased to
+say nothing of the matter, Lady, and to ask me no more questions at
+present, as I cannot answer them with certainty.”
+
+“I see that you are discreet as well as wise,” she replied with
+some sarcasm. “Well, since I may not be trusted with your counsel,
+keep it to yourself.”
+
+Oliver bowed and obeyed this curt instruction.
+
+Then we began our return journey, passing many more groups of skeletons
+which now we scarcely troubled to look at, perhaps because the heavy
+air filled with dust that once had been the flesh of men, was telling
+on our energies. Only I noticed, or rather the observant Quick called
+my attention to the fact, that as we went the kings in their chairs
+were surrounded by fewer and fewer attendants and women, and that the
+offerings placed at their feet were of an ever-lessening value. Indeed,
+after we had passed another five or six of them, their murdered
+retinues dwindled to a few female skeletons, doubtless those of 
+favourite wives who had been singled out for this particular honour. 
+
+At length there were none at all, the poor monarchs, who now were
+crowded close together, being left to explore the shades alone, adorned
+merely with their own jewellery and regalia. Ultimately even these were
+replaced by funeral gold-foil ornaments, and the trays of treasure by
+earthenware jars which appeared to have contained nothing but food and
+wine, and added to these a few spears and other weapons. The last of
+the occupied chairs, for there were empty ones beyond, contained bones
+which, from their slenderness and the small size of the bracelets among
+them, I saw at once had belonged to a woman who had been sent to the
+grave without companions or any offerings at all. 
+
+“Doubtless,” said Maqueda, when I pointed this out to her,
+“at that time the ancients had grown weak and poor, since after so
+many kings they permitted a woman to rule over them and had no wealth
+to waste upon her burial. That may have been after the earthquake, when
+only a few people were left in Mur before the Abati took possession of
+it.” 
+
+“Where, then, are those of your own house buried?” asked Oliver,
+staring at the empty chairs.
+
+“Oh! not in this place,” she answered; “I have told you it
+was discovered but a few years ago. We rest in tombs outside, and for my
+part I will sleep in the simple earth, so that I may live on in grass
+and flowers, if in no other way. But enough of death and doom. Soon,
+who can tell how soon? we shall be as these are,” and she shuddered.
+“Meanwhile, we breathe, so let us make the best of breath. You have
+seen your fee, say, does it content you?”
+
+“What fee?” he asked. “Death, the reward of Life? How can I
+tell until I have passed its gate?”
+
+Here this philosophical discussion was interrupted by the sudden decease
+of Quick’s lamp.
+
+“Thought there was something wrong with the blooming thing,” said
+the Sergeant, “but couldn’t turn it up, as it hasn’t got a
+screw, without which these old-fashioned colza oils never were no good.
+Hullo! Doctor, there goes yours,” and as he spoke, go it did.
+
+“The wicks!” exclaimed Maqueda, “we forgot to bring new
+wicks, and without them of what use is oil? Come, be swift; we are still
+far from the mouth of this cave, where none except the high priests
+will dare to seek us,” and, taking Oliver by the hand, she began to
+run, leaving us two to follow as best we could.
+
+“Steady, Doctor,” said Quick, “steady. In the presence of
+disaster comrades should always stick together, as it says in the
+Red-book presented by the crown to warrant officers, but paid for out
+of their deferred allowance. Take my arm, Doctor. Ah! I thought so, the
+more haste the less speed. Look there,” and he pointed to the flying
+shapes ahead, now a long way off, and with only one lamp between them.
+
+Next instant Maqueda turned round holding up this remaining lamp and
+called to us. I saw the faint light gleam upon her beautiful face and
+glitter down the silver ornaments of her dress. Very wild and strange
+she looked in that huge vault, seen thus for a single moment, then seen
+no more, for presently where the flame had been was but a red spark,
+and then nothing at all. 
+
+“Stop still till we come back to you,” cried Oliver, “and
+shout at intervals.”
+
+“Yes, sir,” said Quick, and instantly let off a fearful yell, which
+echoed backward and forward across the vault till I was quite
+bewildered. 
+
+“All right, coming,” answered Oliver, and his voice sounded so far
+to the left that Quick thought it wise to yell again.
+
+To cut a long story short, we next heard him on our right and then
+behind us. 
+
+“Can’t trust sounds here, sir, echoes are too uncertain,”
+said the Sergeant; “but come on, I think I’ve placed them
+now,” and calling to _them_ not to move, we headed in what we were
+sure was the right direction.
+
+The end of that adventure was that presently I tripped up over a
+skeleton and found myself lying half stunned amidst trays of treasure,
+affectionately clasping a skull under the impression that it was
+Quick’s boot. 
+
+He hauled me up again somehow, and, as we did not know what to do, we
+sat down amidst the dead and listened. By now the others were
+apparently so far off that the sound of Oliver’s calling only reached
+us in faint, mysterious notes that came from we knew not whence.
+
+“As, like idiots, we started in such a hurry that we forgot to bring
+any matches with us, there is nothing to be done, except wait,” I
+said. “No doubt in due course those Abati will get over their fear of
+ghosts and come to look for us.”
+
+“Wish I could do the same, sir. I didn’t mind those deaders in the
+light, but the dark’s a different matter. Can’t you hear them
+rattling their shanks and talking all round us?”
+
+“Certainly I do hear something,” I answered, “but I think it
+must be the echo of our own voices.”
+
+“Well, let us hold our jaw, sir, and perhaps they will hold theirs,
+for this kind of conversation ain’t nice.”
+
+So we were silent, but the strange murmuring still went on, coming
+apparently from the wall of the cave behind us, and it occurred to me
+that I had once heard something like it before, though at the time I
+could not think where. Afterwards I remembered that it was when, as a
+boy, I had been taken to see the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul’s
+Cathedral in London. 
+
+Half-an-hour or so went by in this fashion, and still there were no
+signs of the Abati or of our missing pair. Quick began to fumble among
+his clothes. I asked him what he was doing.
+
+“Can’t help thinking I’ve got a wax match somewhere, Doctor.
+I remember feeling it in one of the pockets of this coat on the day
+before we left London, and thinking afterwards it wasn’t safe to have
+had it packed in a box marked ‘Hold.’ Now if only I could find that
+match, we have got plenty of torches, for I’ve stuck to my bundle all
+through, although I never thought of them when the lamps were going
+out.” 
+
+Having small belief in the Sergeant’s match, I made no answer, and the
+search went on till presently I heard him ejaculate:
+
+“By Jingo, here it is, in the lining. Yes, and the head feels all
+right. Now, Doctor, hold two of the torches toward me; make ready,
+present, fire!” and he struck the match and applied it to the heads
+of the resinous torches.
+
+Instantly these blazed up, giving an intense light in that awful
+darkness. By this light, for one moment only, we saw a strange, and not
+unattractive spectacle. I think I forgot to say that in the centre of
+this vault stood a kind of altar, which until that moment, indeed, I
+had not seen. This altar, which, doubtless, had been used for
+ceremonial purposes at the funerals of the ancient Kings, consisted of
+a plain block of basalt stone, whereon was cut the symbol of a human
+eye, the stone being approached by steps and supported upon carved and
+crouching sphinxes. 
+
+On the lowest of these steps, near enough to enable us to see them quite
+clearly, were seated Oliver Orme and Maqueda, Child of Kings. They were
+seated very close together; indeed, if I must tell the truth,
+Oliver’s arm was about Maqueda’s waist, her head rested upon his
+shoulder, and apparently he was engaged in kissing her upon the lips.
+
+“Right about face,” hissed the Sergeant, in a tone of command,
+“and mark time!”
+
+So we right-abouted for a decent period, then, coughing loudly—because
+of the irritant smoke of the torches—advanced to cross the cavern,
+and by accident stumbled upon our lost companions. I confess that I had
+nothing to say, but Quick rose to the occasion nobly.
+
+“Glad to see you, Captain,” he said to Oliver. “Was getting
+very anxious about you, sir, until by good luck I found a match in the
+lining of my coat. If the Professor had been here he’d have had
+plenty, which is an argument in favour of continuous smoking, even when
+ladies are present. Ah! no wonder her Majesty is faint in this hot
+place, poor young thing. It’s lucky you didn’t leave hold of her,
+sir. Do you think you could manage to support her, sir, as we ought to
+be moving. Can’t offer to do so myself, as I have lamed my foot with
+the tooth of a dead king, also my arms are full of torches. But if you
+prefer the Doctor—what do you say, sir? That you _can_ manage? There
+is such an echo in this vault that it is difficult to hear—very well,
+let us go on, for these torches won’t last for ever, and you
+wouldn’t like us to have to spend a whole night here with the lady in
+such a delicate condition, would you, especially as those 
+nasty-tempered Abati might say that you had done it on purpose? Take her
+ Majesty’s arm, Doctor, and let us trek. I’ll go ahead with the 
+torches.” 
+
+To all this artless harangue Oliver answered not a single word, but
+glared at us suspiciously over the shape of Maqueda, who apparently had
+fainted. Only when I ventured to offer her some professional assistance
+she recovered, and said that she could get on quite well alone, which
+meant upon Orme’s arm. 
+
+Well, the end of it was that she got on, and so did we, for the torches
+lasted until we reached the narrow, sloping passage, and, rounding the
+corner, saw the lantern burning in the hole in the wall, after which,
+of course, things were easy.
+
+“Doctor,” said Oliver to me in a voice of studied nonchalance that
+night, as we were preparing to turn in, “did you notice anything in
+the Vault of Kings this afternoon?”
+
+“Oh, yes,” I answered, “lots! Of course, myself, I am not
+given to archæology, like poor Higgs, but the sight struck me as
+absolutely unique. If I were inclined to moralize, for instance, what a
+contrast between those dead rulers and their young and beautiful
+successor, full of life and love”—here he looked at me
+sharply—“love of her people, such as I have no doubt in their
+day——” 
+
+“Oh, shut it, Adams! I don’t want a philosophical lecture with
+historical comparisons. Did you notice anything except bones and gold
+when that unutterable ass, Quick, suddenly turned on the lights—I
+mean struck the match which unfortunately he had with him.”
+
+Now I gave it up and faced the situation.
+
+“Well, if you want the truth,” I said, “not _very_ much
+myself, for my sight isn’t as good as it used to be. But the Sergeant,
+who has extraordinarily sharp eyes, thought that he saw you kissing
+Maqueda, a supposition that your relative attitudes seemed to confirm,
+which explains, moreover, some of the curious sounds we heard before he
+lit the torches. That’s why he asked me to turn my back. But, of
+course, we may have been mistaken. Do I understand you to say that the
+Sergeant was mistaken?” 
+
+Oliver consigned the Sergeant’s eyes to an ultimate fate worse than
+that which befell those of Peeping Tom; then, in a burst of candour,
+for subterfuge never was his forte, owned up:
+
+“You made no mistake,” he said, “we love each other, and it
+came out suddenly in the dark. I suppose that the unusual surroundings
+acted on our nerves.”
+
+“From a moral point of view I am glad that you love each other,” I
+remarked, “since embraces that are merely nervous cannot be commended.
+But from every other, in our circumstances the resulting situation
+strikes me as little short of awful, although Quick, a most observant
+man, warned me to expect it from the first.”
+
+“Curse Quick,” said Oliver again, with the utmost energy.
+“I’ll give him a month’s notice this very night.”
+
+“Don’t,” I said, “for then you’ll oblige him to
+take service with Barung, where he would be most dangerous. Look here,
+Orme, to drop chaff, this is a pretty mess.”
+
+“Why? What’s wrong about it, Doctor?” he asked indignantly.
+“Of course, she’s a Jew of some diluted sort or other, and
+I’m a Christian; but those things adapt themselves. Of course, too,
+she’s my superior, but after all hers is a strictly local rank, and in
+Europe we should be on much the same footing. As for her being an
+Eastern, what does that matter? Surely it is not an objection which
+should have weight with _you_. And for the rest, did you ever see her
+equal?” 
+
+“Never, never, _never_!” I answered with enthusiasm.
+“The young lady to whom any gentleman has just engaged himself is
+always absolutely unequalled, and, let me admit at once that this is
+perhaps the most original and charming that I have ever met in all
+Central Africa. Only, whatever may be the case with you, I don’t know
+whether this fact will console me and Quick when our throats are being
+cut. Look here, Orme,” I added, “didn’t I tell you long ago that
+the one thing you must _not_ do was to make love to the Child of
+Kings?” 
+
+“Did you? Really, I forget; you told me such a lot of things,
+Doctor,” he answered coolly enough, only unfortunately the colour that
+rose in his cheeks betrayed his lips.
+
+At this moment, Quick, who had entered the room unobserved, gave a dry
+cough, and remarked:
+
+“Don’t blame the Captain, Doctor, because he don’t remember.
+There’s nothing like shock from an explosion for upsetting the memory.
+I’ve seen that often in the Boer war, when, after a big shell had gone
+off somewhere near them, the very bravest soldiers would clean forget
+that it was their duty to stand still and not run like rabbits; indeed,
+it happened to me myself.”
+
+I laughed, and Oliver said something which I could not hear, but Quick
+went on imperturbably:
+
+“Still, truth is truth, and if the Captain has forgotten, the more
+reason that we should remind him. That evening at the Professor’s
+house in London you did warn him, sir, and he answered that you
+needn’t bother your head about the fascinations of a nigger
+woman——” 
+
+“Nigger woman,” broke out Oliver; “I never used such words; I
+never even thought them, and you are an impertinent fellow to put them
+into my mouth. Nigger woman! Good heavens! It’s desecration.”
+
+“Very sorry, Captain, now I come to think of it, I believe you said
+black woman, speaking in your haste. Yes and I begged you not to brag,
+seeing that if you did we might live to see you crawling after her,
+with myself, Samuel Quick bringing up the rear. Well, there it is we
+are, and the worst of it is that I can’t blame you, being as
+anticipated in the prophecy—for that’s what it was though I
+didn’t know it myself at the time—exactly in the same state myself,
+though, of course, at a distance, bringing up the rear respectfully, as
+said.” 
+
+“You don’t mean that you are in love with the Child of
+Kings?” said Oliver, staring at the Sergeant’s grim and battered
+figure.
+
+“Begging your pardon, Captain, that is exactly what I do mean. If a
+cat may look at a queen, why mayn’t a man love her? Howsoever, my
+kind of love ain’t likely to interfere with yours. My kind means
+sentry-go and perhaps a knife in my gizzard; yours—well, we saw what
+yours means this afternoon, though what it will all lead to we didn’t
+see. Still, Captain, speaking as one who hasn’t been keen on the sex
+heretofore, I say—sail in, since it’s worth it, even if you’ve
+got to sink afterwards, for this lady, although she is half a Jew, and
+I never could abide Jews, is the sweetest and the loveliest and the
+best and the bravest little woman that ever walked God’s earth.”
+
+At this point Oliver seized his hand and shook it warmly, and I may
+mention that I think some report of Quick’s summary of her character
+must have reached Maqueda’s ears. At any rate, thenceforward until
+the end she always treated the old fellow with what the French call the
+“most distinguished consideration.”
+
+But, as I was not in love, no one shook my hand, so, leaving the other
+two to discuss the virtues and graces of the Child of Kings, I went off
+to bed filled with the gloomiest forbodings. What a fool I had been not
+to insist that whatever expert accompanied Higgs should be a married
+man. And yet, now when I came to think of it, that might not have
+bettered matters, and perhaps would only have added to the transaction
+a degree of moral turpitude which at present was lacking, since even
+married men are sometimes weak. 
+
+The truth was that Maqueda’s attractions were extraordinarily great.
+To her remarkable beauty she added a wonderful charm of manner and
+force of mind. Also her situation must touch the heart and pity of any
+man, so helpless was she in the midst of all her hollow grandeur, so
+lonely amongst a nation of curs whom she strove in vain to save, and
+should she escape destruction with them, doomed to so sad and repulsive
+a fate, namely to become the wife of a fat poltroon who was her own
+uncle. Well, we know to what emotion pity is akin, and the catastrophe
+had occurred a little sooner than I had expected, that was all. 
+
+Doubtless to her, in comparison with the men to whom she was accustomed
+and allowed by etiquette to take as her associates, this brave and
+handsome young Englishman, who had come into her care sick and
+shattered after the doing of a great deed, must have seemed a veritable
+fairy prince. And she had helped to nurse him, and he had shown himself
+grateful for her kindness and condescension, and—the rest followed,
+as surely as the day follows the night.
+
+But how would it end? Sooner or later the secret must come out, for
+already the Abati nobles, if I may call them so for want of a better
+name, and especially Joshua, were bitterly jealous of the favour their
+lady showed to the foreigner, and watched them both. Then what—what
+would happen? Under the Abati law it was death for any one outside of
+the permitted degree of relationship to tamper with the affections of
+the Child of Kings. Nor was this wonderful, since that person held her
+seat in virtue of her supposed direct descent from Solomon and the
+first Maqueda, Queen of Sheba, and therefore the introduction of any 
+alien blood could not be tolerated. 
+
+Moreover, Orme, having sworn an oath of allegiance, had become subject
+to those laws. Lastly, I could not in the least hope from the character
+of the pair concerned that this was but a passing flirtation.
+
+Oh! without a doubt these two had signed their own death-warrant yonder
+in the Cave of Death, and incidentally ours also. This must be the end
+of our adventure and my long search for the son whom I had lost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE RESCUE FAILS
+
+
+Our breakfast on the following morning was a somewhat gloomy meal. By
+common consent no allusion was made to the events of the previous day,
+or to our conversation at bedtime.
+
+Indeed, there was no talk at all to speak of, since, not knowing what
+else to do, I thought I could best show my attitude of mind by
+preserving a severe silence, while Quick seemed to be absorbed in
+philosophical reflections, and Orme looked rather excited and
+dishevelled, as though he had been writing poetry, as I daresay was the
+case. In the midst of this dreary meal a messenger arrived, who
+announced that the Walda Nagasta would be pleased to see us all within
+half-an-hour. 
+
+Fearing lest Orme should say something foolish, I answered briefly that
+we would wait upon her, and the man went, leaving us wondering what had
+happened to cause her to desire our presence.
+
+At the appointed time we were shown into the small audience room, and,
+as we passed its door, I ventured to whisper to Oliver:
+
+“For your own sake and hers, as well as that of the rest of us, I
+implore you to be careful. Your face is watched as well as your
+words.” 
+
+“All right, old fellow,” he answered, colouring a little.
+“You may trust me.”
+
+“I wish I could,” I muttered.
+
+Then we were shown in ceremoniously, and made our bows to Maqueda, who
+was seated, surrounded by some of the judges and officers, among them,
+Prince Joshua, and talking to two rough-looking men clad in ordinary
+brown robes. She greeted us, and after the exchange of the usual
+compliments, said: 
+
+“Friends, I have summoned you for this reason. This morning when the
+traitor Shadrach was being led out to execution at the hands of these
+men, the officers of the law, he begged for a delay. When asked why, as
+his petition for reprieve had been refused, he said that if his life
+was spared he could show how your companion, he whom they call Black
+Windows, may be rescued from the Fung.”
+
+“How?” asked Orme and I in one breath.
+
+“I do not know,” she answered, “but wisely they spared the
+man. Let him be brought in.”
+
+A door opened, and Shadrach entered, his hands bound behind his back and
+shackles on his feet. He was a very fearful and much chastened Shadrach,
+for his eyes rolled and his teeth chattered with terror, as, having
+prostrated himself to the Walda Nagasta, he wriggled round and tried to
+kiss Orme’s boot. The guards pulled him to his feet again, and
+Maqueda said: 
+
+“What have you to tell us, traitor, before you die?”
+
+“The thing is secret, O Bud of the Rose. Must I speak before so
+many?”
+
+“Nay,” she answered, and ordered most of those present to leave the
+room, including the executioners and soldiers.
+
+“The man is desperate, and there will be none left to guard him,”
+said Joshua nervously.
+
+“I’ll do that, your Highness,” answered Quick in his bad
+Arabic, and stepping up behind Shadrach he added in English, “Now
+then, Pussy, you behave, or it will be the worse for you.”
+
+When all had gone again Shadrach was commanded to speak and say how he
+could save the Englishman whom he had betrayed into the hands of the
+Fung. 
+
+“Thus, Child of Kings,” he answered, “Black Windows, as we
+know, is imprisoned in the body of the great idol.”
+
+“How do you know it, man?”
+
+“O Lady, I do know it, and also the Sultan said so, did he not? Well,
+I can show a secret road to that idol whence he may be reached and
+rescued. In my boyhood I, who am called Cat, because I can climb so
+well, found that road, and when the Fung took me afterward and threw me
+to the lions, where I got these scars upon my face, by it I escaped.
+Spare me, and I will show it to you.” 
+
+“It is not enough to show the road,” said Maqueda. “Dog, you
+must save the foreign lord whom you betrayed. If you do not save him you
+die. Do you understand?”
+
+“That is a hard saying, Lady,” answered the man. “Am I God
+that I should promise to save this stranger who perchance is already
+dead? Yet I will do my best, knowing that if I fail you will kill me,
+and that if I succeed I shall be spared. At any rate, I will show you
+the road to where he is or was imprisoned, although I warn you that it
+is a rough one.” 
+
+“Where you can travel we can follow,” said Maqueda. “Tell us
+now what we must do.”
+
+So he told her, and when he had done the Prince Joshua intervened,
+saying that it was not fitting that the Child of Kings in her own
+sacred person should undertake such a dangerous journey. She listened
+to his remonstrances and thanked him for his care of her.
+
+“Still I am going,” she said, “not for the sake of the
+stranger who is called Black Windows, but because, if there is a secret
+way out of Mur I think it well that I should know that way. Yet I agree
+with you, my uncle, that on such a journey I ought not to be
+unprotected, and therefore I pray that you will be ready to start with
+us at noon, since I am sure that then we shall all be safe.”
+
+Now Joshua began to make excuses, but she would not listen to them.
+
+“No, no,” she said, “you are too honest. The honour of the
+Abati is involved in this manner, since, alas! it was an Abati that
+betrayed Black Windows, and an Abati—namely, yourself—must save
+him. You have often told me, my uncle, how clever you are at climbing
+rocks, and now you shall make proof of your skill and courage before
+these foreigners. It is a command, speak no more,” and she rose, to
+show that the audience was finished.
+
+That same afternoon Shadrach, by mountain paths that were known to him,
+led a little company of people to the crest of the western precipice of
+Mur. Fifteen hundred feet or more beneath us lay the great plains upon
+which, some miles away, could be seen the city of Harmac. But the idol
+in the valley we could not see, because here the precipice bent over
+and hid it from our sight. 
+
+“What now, fellow,” said Maqueda, who was clad in the rough
+sheepskin of a peasant woman, which somehow looked charming upon her.
+“Here is the cliff, there lies the plain; I see no road between the
+two, and my wise uncle, the prince, tells me that he never heard of
+one.” 
+
+“Lady,” answered the man, “now I take command, and you must
+follow me. But first let us see that nobody and nothing are lacking.”
+
+Then he went round the company and numbered them. In all we were
+sixteen; Maqueda and Joshua, we three Englishmen, armed with repeating
+rifles and revolvers, our guide Shadrach, and some picked Mountaineers
+chosen for their skill and courage. For even in Mur there were brave
+men left, especially among the shepherds and huntsmen, whose homes were
+on the cliffs. These sturdy guides were laden with ropes, lamps, and
+long, slender ladders that could be strapped together.
+
+When everything had been checked and all the ladders and straps tested,
+Shadrach went to a clump of bushes which grew feebly on the wind-swept
+crest of the precipice. In the midst of these he found and removed a
+large flat stone, revealing what evidently had been the head of a
+stair, although now its steps were much worn and crumbled by the water
+that in the wet season followed this natural drain to the depths below.
+
+“This is that road the ancients made for purposes of their own,”
+explained Shadrach, “which, as I have said, I chanced to discover when
+I was a boy. But let none follow it who are afraid, for it is steep and
+rough.”
+
+Now Joshua, who was already weary with his long ride and walk up to the
+crest of the precipice, implored Maqueda almost passionately to abandon
+the idea of entering this horrid hole, while Oliver backed up his
+entreaties with few words but many appealing glances, for on this
+point, though for different reasons, the prince and he were at one.
+
+But she would not listen.
+
+“My uncle,” she said, “with you, the experienced mountaineer,
+why should I be afraid? If the Doctor here, who is old enough to be the
+father of either of us” (so far as Joshua was concerned this remark
+lacked truth), “is willing to go, surely I can go also? Moreover, if
+I remained behind, you would wish to stay to guard me, and never should
+I forgive myself if I deprived you of such a great adventure. Also,
+like you, I love climbing. Come, let us waste no more time.”
+
+So we were roped up. First went Shadrach, with Quick next to him, a
+position which the Sergeant insisted upon occupying as his custodian,
+and several of the Mountaineers, carrying ladders, lamps, oil, food and
+other things. Then in a second gang came two more of these men, Oliver,
+Maqueda, myself, and next to me, Joshua. The remaining mountaineers
+brought up the rear, carrying spare stores, ladders, and so forth. When
+all was ready the lamps were lit, and we started upon a very strange
+journey. 
+
+For the first two hundred feet or so the stairs, though worn and almost
+perpendicular, for the place was like the shaft of a mine, were not
+difficult to descend, to any of us except Joshua, whom I heard puffing
+and groaning behind me. Then came a gallery running eastward at a steep
+slope for perhaps fifty paces, and at the end of it a second shaft of
+about the same depth as the first, but with the stairs much more worn,
+apparently by the washing of water, of which a good deal trickled out
+of the sides of the shaft. Another difficulty was that the air rushing
+up from below made it hard to keep the lamps alight. 
+
+Toward the bottom of this section there was scarcely any stair left, and
+the climbing became very dangerous. Here, indeed, Joshua slipped, and
+with a wail of terror slid down the shaft and landed with his legs
+across my back in such a fashion that had I not happened to have good
+hand and foot hold at the time, he would have propelled me on to
+Maqueda, and we must have all rolled down headlong, probably to our
+deaths. 
+
+As it was, this fat and terrified fellow cast his arms about my neck, to
+which he clung, nearly choking me, until, just when I was about to
+faint beneath his weight and pressure, the Mountaineers in the third
+party arrived and dragged him off. When they had got him in charge, for
+I refused to move another step while he was immediately behind me, we
+descended by a ladder which the first party had set up, to the second
+level, where began another long, eastward sloping passage that ended at
+the mouth of a third pit. 
+
+Here arose the great question as to what was to be done with the Prince
+Joshua, who vowed that he could go no farther, and demanded loudly to
+be taken back to the top of the cliff, although Shadrach assured him
+that thenceforward the road was much easier. At length we were obliged
+to refer the matter to Maqueda, who settled it in very few words.
+
+“My uncle,” she said, “you tell us that you cannot come on,
+and it is certain that we cannot spare the time and men to send you
+back. Therefore, it seems that you must stop where you are until we
+return, and if we should not return, make the best of your own way up
+the shaft. Farewell, my uncle, this place is safe and comfortable, and
+if you are wise you will rest awhile.”
+
+“Heartless woman!” gobbled Joshua, who was shaking like a jelly
+with fear and rage. “Would you leave your affianced lord and lover
+alone in this haunted hole while you scramble down rocks like a wild
+cat with strangers? If I must stay, do you stay with me?”
+
+“Certainly not,” replied Maqueda with decision. “Shall it be
+said that the Child of Kings is afraid to go where her guests can
+travel?” 
+
+Well, the end of it was that Joshua came on in the centre of the third
+body of Mountaineers, who were practically obliged to carry him.
+
+Shadrach was right, since for some reason or other the stairs
+thenceforward remained more perfect. Only they seemed almost endless,
+and before we reached our goal I calculated that we must have descended
+quite twelve hundred feet into the bowels of the rock. At length, when
+I was almost tired out and Maqueda was so breathless that she was
+obliged to lean on Oliver, dragging me behind her like a dog on a
+string, of a sudden we saw a glimmer of daylight that crept into the
+tunnel through a small hole. By the mouth of yet another pit or shaft, 
+we found Shadrach and the others waiting for us. Saluting, he said that
+we must unrope, leave our lamps behind, and follow him. Oliver asked
+him whither this last shaft led. 
+
+“To a still lower level, lord,” he answered, “but one which
+you will scarcely care to explore, since it ends in the great pit where
+the Fung keep their sacred lions.”
+
+“Indeed,” said Oliver, much interested for reasons of his own, and
+he glanced at Quick, who nodded his head and whistled.
+
+Then we all followed Shadrach to find ourselves presently upon a plateau
+about the size of a racquet court which, either by nature or by the
+hand of man, had been recessed into the face of that gigantic cliff.
+Going to the edge of this plateau, whereon grew many tree-ferns and
+some thick green bushes that would have made us invisible from below
+even had there been any one to see us, we saw that the sheer precipice
+ran down beneath for several hundred feet. Of these yawning depths,
+however, we did not at the moment make out much, partly because they
+were plunged in shadow and partly for another reason. 
+
+Rising out of the gulf below was what we took at first to be a rounded
+hill of black rock, oblong in shape, from which projected a gigantic
+shaft of stone ending in a kind of fretted bush that alone was of the
+size of a cottage. The point of this bush-like rock was exactly
+opposite the little plateau on to which we had emerged and distant from
+it not more than thirty, or at most, forty feet.
+
+“What is that?” asked Maqueda, of Shadrach, pointing in front of
+her, as she handed back to one of the Mountaineers a cup from which she
+had been drinking water.
+
+“That, O Walda Nagasta,” he answered, “is nothing else than
+the back of the mighty idol of the Fung, which is shaped like a lion.
+The great shaft of rock with the bush at the end of it is the tail of
+the lion. Doubtless this platform on which we stand is a place whence
+the old priests, when they owned Mur as well as the land of the Fung,
+used to hide themselves to watch whatever it was they wanted to see.
+Look,” and he pointed to certain grooves in the face of the rock,
+“I think that here there was once a bridge which could be let down at
+will on to the tail of the lion-god, though long ago it has rotted
+away. Yet ere now I have travelled this road without it.”
+
+We stared at him astonished, and in the silence that followed I heard
+Maqueda whisper to Oliver:
+
+“Perhaps that is how he whom we call Cat escaped from the Fung; or
+perhaps that is how he communicates with them as a spy.”
+
+“Or perhaps he is a liar, my Lady,” interrupted Quick, who had also
+overheard their talk, a solution which, I confess, commended itself to
+me. 
+
+“Why have you brought us here?” asked Maqueda presently.
+
+“Did I not tell you in Mur, Lady—to rescue Black Windows? Listen,
+now, it is the custom of the Fung to allow those who are imprisoned
+within the idol to walk unguarded upon its back at dawn and sunset. At
+least, this is their custom with Black Windows—ask me not how I know
+it; this is truth, I swear it on my life, which is at stake. Now this
+is my plan. We have with us a ladder which will reach from where we
+stand to the tail of the idol. Should the foreign lord appear upon the
+back of the god, which, if he still lives, as I believe he does, he is
+almost sure to do at sundown, as a man who dwells in the dark all day
+will love the light and air when he can get them, then some of us must
+cross and bring him back with us. Perhaps it had best be you, my lord 
+Orme, since if I went alone, or even with these men, after what is past
+Black Windows might not altogether trust me.” 
+
+“Fool,” broke in Maqueda, “how can a man do such a
+thing?”
+
+“O Lady, it is not so difficult as it looks. A few steps across the
+gulf, and then a hundred feet or so along the tail of the lion which is
+flat on the top and so broad that one may run down it if careful to
+follow the curves, that is on a still day—nothing more. But, of
+course, if the Lord Orme is afraid, which I did not think who have
+heard so much of his courage——” and the rogue shrugged his
+shoulders and paused. 
+
+“Afraid, fellow,” said Oliver, “well, I am not ashamed to be
+afraid of such a journey. Yet if there is need I will make it, though
+not before I see my brother alone yonder on the rock, since all this
+may be but a trick of yours to deliver me to the Fung, among whom I
+know that you have friends.”
+
+“It is madness; you shall not go,” said Maqueda. “You will
+fall and be dashed to pieces. I say that you shall not go.”
+
+“Why should he not go, my niece?” interrupted Joshua.
+“Shadrach is right; we have heard much of the courage of this Gentile.
+Now let us see him do something.”
+
+She turned on the Prince like a tiger.
+
+“Very good, my uncle, then you shall go with him. Surely one of the
+ancient blood of the Abati will not shirk from what a ‘Gentile’
+dares.”
+
+On hearing this Joshua relapsed into silence, and I have no clear memory
+of what he did or said in connection with the rest of that thrilling
+scene. 
+
+Now followed a pause in the midst of which Oliver sat down and began to
+take off his boots.
+
+“Why do you undress yourself, friend?” asked Maqueda nervously.
+
+“Because, Lady,” he answered, “if I have to walk yonder road
+it is safer to do so in my stockings. Have no fear,” he added gently,
+“from boyhood I have been accustomed to such feats, and when I served
+in my country’s army it was my pleasure to give instruction in them,
+although it is true that this one surpasses all that ever I
+attempted.” 
+
+“Still I do fear,” she said.
+
+Meanwhile Quick had sat down and begun to take off _his_ boots.
+
+“What are you doing, Sergeant?” I asked.
+
+“Getting ready to accompany the Captain upon forlorn hope, Doctor.”
+
+“Nonsense,” I said, “you are too old for the game, Sergeant.
+If any one goes, I should, seeing that I believe my son is over there,
+but I can’t try it, as I know my head would give out, and I should
+fall in a second, which would only upset everybody.”
+
+“Of course,” broke in Oliver, who had overheard us,
+“I’m in command here, and my orders are that neither of you shall
+come. Remember, Sergeant, that if anything happens to me it is your
+business to take over the stores and use them if necessary, which you
+alone can do. Now go and see to the preparations, and find out the plan
+of campaign, for I want to rest and keep quiet. I daresay the whole
+thing is humbug, and we shall see nothing of the Professor; still, one
+may as well be prepared.” 
+
+So Quick and I went to superintend the lashing of two of the light
+ladders together and the securing of some planks which we had brought
+with us upon the top of the rungs, so as to make these ladders easy to
+walk on. I asked who would be of the party besides Shadrach and Orme,
+and was told no one, as all were afraid. Ultimately, however, a man
+named Japhet, one of the Mountaineers, volunteered upon being promised
+a grant of land from the Child of Kings herself, which grant she
+proclaimed before them all was to be given to his relatives in the
+event of his death. 
+
+At length everything was ready, and there came another spell of silence,
+for the nerves of all of us were so strained that we did not seem able
+to talk. It was broken by a sound of sudden and terrible roaring that
+arose from the gulf beneath.
+
+“It is the hour of the feeding of the sacred lions which the Fung keep
+in the pit about the base of the idol,” explained Shadrach. Then he
+added, “Unless he should be rescued, I believe that Black Windows
+will be given to the lions to-night, which is that of full moon and a
+festival of Harmac, though maybe he will be kept till the next full
+moon when all the Fung come up to worship.”
+
+This information did not tend to raise anyone’s spirits, although
+Quick, who always tried to be cheerful, remarked that it was probably
+false. 
+
+The shadows began to gather in the Valley of Harmac, whereby we knew
+that the sun was setting behind the mountains. Indeed, had it not been
+for a clear and curious glow reflected from the eastern sky, the gulf
+would have plunged us in gloom. Presently, far away upon a rise of rock
+which we knew must be the sphinx head of the huge idol, a little figure
+appeared outlined against the sky, and there began to sing. The moment
+that I heard the distant voice I went near to fainting, and indeed
+should have fallen had not Quick caught me. 
+
+“What is it, Adams?” asked Oliver, looking up from where he and
+Maqueda sat whispering to each other while the fat Joshua glowered at
+them in the background. “Has Higgs appeared?”
+
+“No,” I answered, “but, thank God, my son still lives. That
+is his voice. Oh! if you can, save him, too.”
+
+Now there was much suppressed excitement, and some one thrust a pair of
+field-glasses into my hand, but either they were wrongly set or the
+state of my nerves would not allow me to see through them. So Quick
+took them and reported. 
+
+“Tall, slim figure wearing a white robe, but at the distance in this
+light can’t make out the face. One might hail him, perhaps, only it
+would give us away. Ah! the hymn is done and he’s gone; seemed to
+jump into a hole in the rock, which shows that he’s all right,
+anyway, or he couldn’t jump. So cheer up, Doctor, for you have much
+to be thankful for.”
+
+“Yes,” I repeated after him, “much to be thankful for, but
+still I would that I had more after all these years to search. To think
+that I should be so close to him and he know nothing of it.”
+
+After the ceasing of the song and the departure of my son, there
+appeared upon the back of the idol three Fung warriors, fine fellows
+clad in long robes and armed with spears, and behind them a trumpeter
+who carried a horn or hollowed elephant’s tusk. These men marched up
+and down the length of the platform from the rise of the neck to the
+root of the tail, apparently to make an inspection. Having found
+nothing, for, of course, they could not see us hidden behind the bushes
+on our little plateau, of which no doubt they did not even know the
+existence, and much less that it was connected with the mountain plain 
+of Mur, the trumpeter blew a shrill blast upon his horn, and before the
+echoes of it had died away, vanished with his companions. 
+
+“Sunset tour of inspection. Seen the same kind of thing as at
+Gib.,” said the Sergeant. “Oh! by Jingo! Pussy isn’t lying
+after all—there he is,” and he pointed to a figure that rose
+suddenly out of the black stone of the idol’s back just as the guards
+had done.
+
+It was Higgs, Higgs without a doubt; Higgs wearing his battered
+sun-helmet and his dark spectacles; Higgs smoking his big meerschaum
+pipe, and engaged in making notes in a pocket-book as calmly as though
+he sat before a new object in the British Museum.
+
+I gasped with astonishment, for somehow I had never expected that we
+should really see him, but Orme, rising very quietly from his seat
+beside Maqueda, only said:
+
+“Yes, that’s the old fellow right enough. Well, now for it. You,
+Shadrach, run out your ladder and cross first that I may be sure you
+play no trick.”
+
+“Nay,” broke in Maqueda, “this dog shall not go, for never
+would he return from his friends the Fung. Man,” she said, addressing
+Japhet, the Mountaineer to whom she had promised land, “go you over
+first and hold the end of the ladder while this lord crosses. If he
+returns safe your reward is doubled.”
+
+Japhet saluted, the ladder was run out and its end set upon the
+roughnesses in the rock that represented the hair of the sphinx’s
+tail. The Mountaineer paused a moment with hands and face uplifted;
+evidently he was praying. Then bidding his companions hold the hither
+end of the ladder, and having first tested it with his foot and found
+that it hung firm, calmly he walked across, being a brave fellow, and
+presently was seen seated on the opposing mass of rock.
+
+Now came Oliver’s turn. He nodded to Maqueda, who went white as a
+sheet, muttering some words to her that did not reach me. Then he
+turned and shook my hand.
+
+“If you can, save my son also,” I whispered.
+
+“I’ll do my best if I can get hold of him,” he answered.
+“Sergeant, if anything happens to me you know your duty.”
+
+“I’ll try and follow your example, Captain, under all
+circumstances, though that will be hard,” replied Quick in a rather
+shaky voice.
+
+Oliver stepped out on the ladder. I reckoned that twelve or fourteen
+short paces would take him across, and the first half of these he
+accomplished with quiet certainty. When he was in the exact middle of
+the passage, however, the end of one of the uprights of the ladder at
+the farther side slipped a little, notwithstanding the efforts of
+Japhet to keep it straight, with the result that the plank bound on the
+rungs lost its level, sinking an inch or so to the right, and nearly
+causing Oliver to fall from it into the gulf. He wavered like a
+wind-shaken reed, attempted to step forward, hesitated, stopped, and
+slowly sank on to his hands and knees. 
+
+“_Ah_!” panted Maqueda.
+
+“The Gentile has lost his head,” began Joshua in a voice full of
+the triumph that he could not hide. “He—will——”
+
+Joshua got no further, for Quick, turning, threatened him savagely with
+his fist, saying in English:
+
+“Stow your jaw if you don’t want to follow him, you swine,”
+whereon Joshua, who understood the gesture, if not the words, relapsed
+into silence.
+
+Now the Mountaineer on the farther side spoke, saying:
+
+“Have no fear, the ladder is safe.”
+
+For a moment Oliver remained in his crouching posture on the board,
+which was all that separated him from an awful death in the gulf
+beneath. Next, while we watched, agonized, he rose to his feet again,
+and with perfect calmness walked across to its other end.
+
+“Well done our side!” said Quick, addressing Joshua, “why
+don’t your Royal Highness cheer? No, you leave that knife alone, or
+presently there’ll be a hog the less in this world,” and stooping
+down he relieved the Prince of the weapon which he was fingering with
+his round eyes fixed upon the Sergeant.
+
+Maqueda, who had noted all, now interfered.
+
+“My uncle,” she said, “brave men are risking their lives
+yonder while we sit in safety. Be silent and cease from quarrelling, I
+pray you.”
+
+Next moment we had forgotten all about Joshua, being utterly absorbed in
+watching the drama in progress upon the farther side of the gulf. After
+a slight pause to recover his nerve or breath, Orme rose, and preceded
+by Japhet, climbed up the bush-like rock till he reached the shaft of
+the sphinx’s tail. Here he turned and waved his hand to us, then
+following the Mountaineer, walked, apparently with the utmost
+confidence, along the curves of the tail to where it sprang from the
+body of the idol. At this spot there was a little difficulty in
+climbing over the smooth slope of rock on to the broad terrace-like
+back. Soon, however, they surmounted it, and vanishing for a few 
+seconds into the hollow of the loins, which, of course, was a good many
+feet deep, re-appeared moving toward the shoulders. Between these we
+could see Higgs standing with his back toward us, utterly unconscious
+of all that was passing behind him. 
+
+Passing Japhet, Oliver walked up to the Professor and touched him on the
+arm. Higgs turned, stared at the pair for a moment, and then, in his
+astonishment, or so we guessed, sat down plump upon the rock. They
+pulled him to his feet, Orme pointing to the cliff behind, and
+evidently explaining the situation and what must be done. Then followed
+a short and animated talk. Through the glasses we could even see Higgs
+shaking his head. He told them something, they came to a determination,
+for now he turned, stepped forward a pace or two, and vanished, as I
+learnt afterwards, to fetch my son, without whom he would not try to
+escape. 
+
+A while went by; it seemed an age, but really was under a minute. We
+heard the sound of shouts. Higgs’s white helmet reappeared, and then
+his body, with two Fung guards clinging on to him. He yelled out in
+English and the words reached us faintly:
+
+“Save yourself! I’ll hold these devils. Run, you infernal fool,
+run!”
+
+Oliver hesitated, although the Mountaineer was pulling at him, till the
+heads of more Fung appeared. Then, with a gesture of despair, he turned
+and fled. First ran Oliver, then Japhet, whom he had outpaced, and
+after them came a number of priests or guards, waving knives, while in
+the background Higgs rolled on the rock with his captors.
+
+The rest was very short. Orme slid down the rump of the idol on to the
+tail, followed by the Mountaineer, and after them in single file came
+three Fung, who apparently thought no more of the perilous nature of
+their foothold than do the sheiks of the Egyptian pyramids when they
+swarm about those monuments like lizards. Nor, for the matter of that,
+did Oliver or Japhet, who doubled down the tail as though it were a
+race track. Oliver swung himself on to the ladder, and in a second was
+half across it, we holding its other end, when suddenly he heard his
+companion cry out. A Fung had got hold of Japhet by the leg and he lay
+face downward on the board. 
+
+Oliver halted and slowly turned round, drawing his revolver as he did
+so. Then he aimed and fired, and the Fung, leaving go of Japhet’s
+leg, threw up his arms and plunged headlong into the gulf beneath. The
+next thing I remember is that they were both among us, and somebody
+shouted, “Pull in the ladder.”
+
+“No,” said Quick, “wait a bit.”
+
+Vaguely I wondered why, till I perceived that three of those courageous
+Fung were following across it, resting their hands upon each other’s
+shoulders, while their companions cheered them.
+
+“Now, pull, brothers, pull!” shouted the Sergeant, and pull we did.
+Poor Fung! they deserved a better fate.
+
+“Always inflict loss upon the enemy when you get a chance,”
+remarked the Sergeant, as he opened fire with his repeating rifle upon
+other Fung who by now were clustering upon the back of the idol. This
+position, however, they soon abandoned as untenable, except one or two
+of them who remained there, dead or wounded.
+
+A silence followed, in the midst of which I heard Quick saying to Joshua
+in his very worst Arabic:
+
+“Now does your Royal Highness think that we Gentiles are cowards,
+although it is true those Fung are as good men as we any day?”
+
+Joshua declined argument, and I turned to watch Oliver, who had covered
+his face with his hands, and seemed to be weeping.
+
+“What is it, O friend, what is it?” I heard Maqueda say in her
+gentle voice—a voice full of tears, tears of gratitude I think.
+“You have done a great deed; you have returned safe; all is well.”
+
+“Nay,” he answered, forgetting her titles in his distress,
+“all is ill. I have failed, and to-night they throw my brother to the
+lions. He told me so.”
+
+Maqueda, finding no answer, stretched out her hand to the Mountaineer,
+his companion in adventure, who kissed it.
+
+“Japhet,” she said, “I am proud of you; your reward is
+fourfold, and henceforth you are a captain of my Mountaineers.”
+
+“Tell us what happened,” I said to Oliver.
+
+“This,” he answered: “I remembered about your son, and so did
+Higgs. In fact, he spoke of him first—they seem to have become
+friends. He said he would not escape without him, and could fetch him
+in a moment, as he was only just below. Well, he went to do so, and
+must have found the guard instead, who, I suppose, had heard us
+talking. You know as much about the rest as I do. To-night, when the
+full moon is two hours high, there is to be a ceremony of sacrifice,
+and poor Higgs will be let down into the den of lions. He was writing
+his will in a note-book when we saw him, as Barung had promised to send
+it to us.” 
+
+“Doctor,” said the Sergeant, in a confidential voice, when he had
+digested this information, “would you translate for me a bit, as I
+want to have a talk with Cat there, and my Arabic don’t run to it?”
+
+I nodded, and we went to that corner of the plateau where Shadrach stood
+apart, watching and listening.
+
+“Now, Cat,” said the Sergeant (I give his remarks in his own
+language, leaving out my rendering) “just listen to me, and understand
+that if you tell lies or play games either you or I don’t reach the
+top of this cliff again alive. Do you catch on?”
+
+Shadrach replied that he caught on.
+
+“Very well. You’ve told us that once you were a prisoner among the
+Fung and thrown to these holy lions, but got out. Now just explain what
+happened.”
+
+“This, O Quick. After ceremonies that do not matter, I was let down in
+the food-basket into the feeding-den, and thrown out of the basket like
+any other meat. Then the gates were lifted up by the chains, and the
+lions came in to devour me according to their custom.”
+
+“And what happened next, Shadrach?”
+
+“What happened? Why, of course I hid myself in the shadow as much as
+possible, right against the walls of the precipice, until a satan of a
+she-lion snuffled me out and gave a stroke at me. Look, here are the
+marks of her claws,” and he pointed to the scars upon his face.
+“Those claws stung like scorpions; they made me mad. The terror which
+I had lost when I saw their yellow eyes came back to me. I rushed at
+the precipice as a cat that is hunted by a dog rushes at a wall. I
+clung to its smooth side with my nails, with my toes, with my teeth. A
+lion leaped up and tore the flesh of my leg, here, here,” and he
+showed the marks, which we could scarcely see in that dim light. “He
+ran back for another spring. Above me I saw a tiny ledge, big enough
+for a hawk to sit on—no more. I jumped, I caught it, drawing up my
+legs so that the lion missed me. I made the effort a man makes once in 
+his life. Somehow I dragged myself to that ledge; I rested one thigh
+upon it and pressed against the rock to steady myself. Then the rock
+gave, and I tumbled backward into the bottom of a tunnel. Afterwards I
+escaped to the top of the cliff in the dark, O God of Israel! in the
+dark, smelling my way, climbing like a baboon, risking death a thousand
+times. It took me two whole days and nights, and the last of those
+nights I knew not what I did. Yet I found my way, and that is why my
+people name me Cat.”    
+
+“I understand,” said Quick in a new and more respectful voice,
+“and however big a rascal you may be, you’ve got pluck. Now, say,
+remembering what I told you,” and he tapped the handle of his
+revolver, “is that feeding-den where it used to be?”
+
+“I believe so, O Quick; why should it be changed? The victims are let
+down from the belly of the god, just there between his thighs where are
+doors. The feeding-place lies in a hollow of the cliff; this platform
+on which we stand is over it. None saw my escape, therefore none
+searched for the means of it, since they thought that the lions had
+devoured me, as they have devoured thousands. No one enters there, only
+when the beasts have fed full they draw back to their sleeping-dens,
+and those who watch above let down the bars. Listen,” and as he spoke
+we heard a crash and a rattle far below. “They fall now, the lions
+having eaten. When Black Windows and perhaps others are thrown to them,
+by and by, they will be drawn up again.” 
+
+“Is that hole in the rock still there, Shadrach?”
+
+“Without doubt, though I have not been down to look.”
+
+“Then, my boy, you are going now,” remarked Quick grimly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE DEN OF LIONS
+
+
+We returned to the others and told them everything that we had learned
+from Shadrach.
+
+“What’s your plan, Sergeant?” asked Oliver when he had heard.
+“Tell me, for I have none; my head is muddled.”
+
+“This, Captain, for what it is worth; that I should go down through
+the hole that Cat here speaks of, and get into the den. Then when they
+let down the Professor, if they do, and pull up the gates, that I
+should keep back the lions with my rifle while he bolts to the ladder
+which is ready for him, and I follow if I can.”
+
+“Capital,” said Orme, “but you can’t go alone.
+I’ll come too.”
+
+“And I also,” I said.
+
+“What schemes do you make?” asked Maqueda eagerly, for, of course,
+she could not understand our talk.
+
+We explained.
+
+“What, my friend,” she said to Oliver reproachfully, “would
+you risk your life again to-night? Surely it is tempting the goodness of
+God.”
+
+“It would be tempting the goodness of God much more if I left my
+friend to be eaten by lions, Lady,” he answered.
+
+Then followed much discussion. In the end it was agreed that we should
+descend to the level of the den, if this were possible; that Oliver and
+Quick should go down into the den with Japhet, who instantly
+volunteered to accompany them, and that I, with some of the
+Mountaineers, should stop in the mouth of the hole as a reserve to
+cover their retreat from the lions. I pleaded to be allowed to take a
+more active part, but of this they would not hear, saying with some 
+truth, that I was by far the best shot of the three, and could do much
+more to help them from above, if, as was hoped, the moon should shine
+brightly.    
+
+But I knew they really meant that I was too old to be of service in such
+an adventure as this. Also they desired to keep me out of risk.
+
+Then came the question as to who should descend the last tunnel to the
+place of operations. Oliver wished Maqueda to return to the top of the
+cliff and wait there, but she said at once that she could not think of
+attempting the ascent without our aid; also that she was determined to
+see the end of the matter. Even Joshua would not go; I think, that
+being an unpopular character among them, he distrusted the
+Mountaineers, whose duty it would have been to escort him.
+
+It was suggested that he should remain where he was until we returned,
+if we did return, but this idea commended itself to him still less than
+the other. Indeed he pointed out with much truth what we had
+overlooked, namely, that now the Fung knew of the passage and were
+quite capable of playing our own game, that is, of throwing a bridge
+across from the sphinx’s tail and attempting the storm of Mur.
+
+“And then what should I do if they found me here alone?” he added
+pathetically.
+
+Maqueda answered that she was sure she did not know, but that meanwhile
+it might be wise to block the mouth of the tunnel by which we had
+reached the plateau in such a fashion that it could not easily be
+forced. 
+
+“Yes,” answered Oliver, “and if we ever get out of this, to
+blow the shaft in and make sure that it cannot be used.”
+
+“That shaft might be useful, Captain,” said Quick doubtfully.
+
+“There is a better way, Sergeant, if we want to mine under the sphinx;
+I mean through the Tomb of Kings. I took the levels roughly, and the
+end of it can’t be far off. Anyhow, this shaft is of no more use to
+us now that the Fung have found it out.”
+
+Then we set to work to fill in the mouth of the passage with such loose
+stones as we could find. It was a difficult business, but in the end
+the Mountaineers made a very fair job of it under our direction, piling
+the rocks in such a fashion that they could scarcely be cleared away in
+any short time without the aid of explosives.
+
+While this work was going on, Japhet, Shadrach, and the Sergeant in
+charge of him, undertook to explore the last shaft which led down to
+the level of the den. To our relief, just as we had finished building
+up the hole, they returned with the news that now after they had
+removed a fallen stone or two it was quite practicable with the aid of
+ropes and ladders. 
+
+So, in the same order as before, we commenced its passage, and in about
+half-an-hour, for it was under three hundred feet in depth, arrived
+safely at the foot. Here we found a bat-haunted place like a room that
+evidently had been hollowed out by man. As Shadrach had said, at its
+eastern extremity was a large, oblong boulder, so balanced that if even
+one person pushed on either of its ends it swung around, leaving on
+each side a passage large enough to allow a man to walk through in a
+crouching attitude. 
+
+Very silently we propped open this primæval door and looked out. Now
+the full moon was up, and her brilliant light had begun to flood the
+gulf. By it we saw a dense shadow, that reached from the ground to
+three hundred feet or so above us. This we knew to be that thrown by
+the flanks of the gigantic sphinx which projected beyond the mountain
+of stone whereon it rested, those flanks whence, according to Shadrach,
+Higgs would be lowered in a food-basket. In this shadow and on either
+side of it, covering a space of quite a hundred yards square, lay the
+feeding-den, whence arose a sickly and horrible odour such as is common
+to any place frequented by cats, mingled with the more pungent smell of
+decaying flesh. 
+
+This darksome den was surrounded on three sides by precipices, and on
+the fourth, that toward the east, enclosed by a wall or barrier of rock
+pierced with several gates made of bars of metal, or so we judged by
+the light that flowed through them.
+
+From beyond this eastern wall came dreadful sounds of roars, snarls, and
+whimperings. Evidently there the sacred lions had their home.
+
+Only one more thing need be mentioned. On the rock floor almost
+immediately beneath us lay remains which, from their torn clothes and
+hair, we knew must be human. As somebody explained, I think it was
+Shadrach, they were those of the man whom Orme had shot upon the tail
+of the sphinx, and of his companions who had been tilted off the
+ladder. 
+
+For awhile we gazed at this horrible hole in silence. Then Oliver took
+out his watch, which was a repeater, and struck it.
+
+“Higgs told me,” he said, “that he was to be thrown to the
+lions two hours after moonrise, which is within fifteen minutes or so.
+Sergeant, I think we had better be getting ready.”
+
+“Yes, Captain,” answered Quick; “but everything is quite
+ready, including those brutes, to judge by the noise they make,
+excepting perhaps Samuel Quick, who never felt less ready for anything
+in his life. Now then, Pussy, run out that ladder. Here’s your rifle,
+Captain, and six reload clips of cartridges, five hollow-nosed bullets
+in each. You’ll never want more than that, and it’s no use carrying
+extra weight. In your right-hand pocket, Captain, don’t forget.
+I’ve the same in mine. Doctor, here’s a pile for you; laid upon
+that stone. If you lie there, you’ll have a good light and rest for
+your elbow, and at this range ought to make very pretty shooting, even
+in the moonlight. Best keep your pistol on the safe, Captain; at least,
+I’m doing so, as we might get a fall, and these new-fangled weapons
+are very hair-triggered. Here’s Japhet ready, too, so give us your
+marching orders, sir, and we will go to business; the Doctor will
+translate to Japhet.” 
+
+“We descend the ladder,” said Orme, “and advance about fifty
+paces into the shadow, where we can see without being seen; where also,
+according to Shadrach, the food-basket is let down. There we shall stand
+and await the arrival of this basket. If it contains the Professor, he
+whom the Fung and the Abati know as Black Windows, Japhet, you are to
+seize him and lead, or if necessary carry, him to the ladder, up which
+some of the mountaineers must be ready to help him. Your duty,
+Sergeant, and mine, also that of the Doctor firing from above, will be
+to keep off the lions as best we can, should any lions appear,
+retreating as we fire. If the brutes get one of us he must be left,
+since it is foolish that both lives should be sacrificed needlessly.
+For the rest, you, Sergeant, and you, Japhet, must be guided by 
+circumstances and act upon your own discretion. Do not wait for special
+orders from me which I may not be able to give. Now, come on. If we do
+not return, Adams, you will see the Child of Kings safely up the shafts
+and conduct her to Mur. Good-bye, Lady.” 
+
+“Good-bye,” answered Maqueda in a brave voice; I could not see her
+face in the darkness. “Presently, I am sure, you will return with your
+brother.”
+
+Just then Joshua broke in:
+
+“I will not be outdone in courage by these Gentiles,” he said.
+“Lacking their terrible weapons, I cannot advance into the den, but I
+will descend and guard the foot of the ladder.”
+
+“Very well, sir,” answered Orme in an astonished voice, “glad
+to have your company, I am sure. Only remember that you must be quick in
+going up it again, since hungry lions are active, and let all take
+notice that we are not responsible for anything that may happen to
+you.” 
+
+“Surely you had better stop where you are, my uncle,” remarked
+Maqueda.
+
+“To be mocked by you for ever after, my niece. No, I go to face the
+lions,” and very slowly he crept through the hole and began to descend
+the ladder. Indeed, when Quick followed after an interval he found him
+only half-way down, and had to hurry his movements by accidentally
+treading on his fingers.
+
+A minute or two later, peeping over the edge, I saw that they were all
+in the den, that is, except Joshua, who had reascended the ladder to
+the height of about six feet, and stood on it face outward, holding to
+the rock on either side with his hands as though he had been crucified.
+Fearing lest he should be seen there, even in the shadow, I suggested
+to Maqueda that she should order him either to go down, or to return,
+which she did vigorously, but without effect. So in the end we left him
+alone. 
+
+Meanwhile the three had vanished into the shadow of the sphinx, and we
+could see nothing of them. The great round moon rose higher and higher,
+flooding the rest of the charnel-house with light, and, save for an
+occasional roar or whimper from the lions beyond the wall, the silence
+was intense. Now I could make out the metal gates in this wall, and
+even dark and stealthy forms which passed and repassed beyond their
+bars. Then I made out something else also, the figures of men gathering
+on the top of the wall, though whence they came I knew not. By degrees
+their number increased till there were hundreds of them, for the wall
+was broad as a roadway. 
+
+Evidently these were spectators, come to witness the ceremony of
+sacrifice. 
+
+“Prince,” I whispered to Joshua, “you must get down off the
+ladder or you will betray us all. Nay, it is too late to come up here
+again, for already the moonlight strikes just above your head. Go down,
+or we will cast the ladder loose and let you fall.”
+
+So he went down and hid himself among some ferns and bushes where we saw
+no more of him for a while, and, to tell the truth, forgot his
+existence. 
+
+Far, far above us, from the back of the idol I suppose, came a faint
+sound of solemn chanting. It sank, and we heard shouts. Then suddenly
+it swelled again. Now Maqueda, who knelt near me, touched my arm and
+pointed to the shadow which gradually was becoming infiltrated with the
+moonlight flowing into it from either side. I looked, and high in the
+air, perhaps two hundred feet from the ground, saw something dark
+descending slowly. Doubtless it was the basket containing Higgs, and
+whether by coincidence or no, at this moment the lions on the farther
+side of the wall burst into peal upon peal of terrific roaring. Perhaps
+their sentries watching at the gate saw or smelt the familiar basket, 
+and communicated the intelligence to their fellows. 
+
+Slowly, slowly it descended, till it was within a few feet of the
+ground, when it began to sway backward and forward like a pendulum, at
+each swing covering a wider arc. Presently, when it hung over the edge
+of the shadow that was nearest to us, it was let down with a run and
+overset, and out of it, looking very small in those vast surroundings
+and that mysterious light, rolled the figure of a man. Although at that
+distance we could see little of him, accident assured us of his
+identity, for as he rolled the hat he wore fell from him, and I knew it
+at once for Higgs’s sun-helmet. He rose from the ground, limped very
+slowly and painfully after the helmet, picked it up, and proceeded to
+use it to dust his knees. At this moment there was a clanking sound. 
+
+“Oh! they lift the gates!” murmured Maqueda.
+
+Then followed more sounds, this time of wild beasts raging for their
+prey, and of other human beasts shrieking with excitement on the wall
+above. The Professor turned and saw. For a moment he seemed about to
+run, then changed his mind, clapped the helmet on his head, folded his
+arms and stood still, reminding me in some curious way, perhaps,
+because of the shortness of his thick figure, of a picture I had seen
+of the great Napoleon contemplating a disaster.
+
+To describe what followed is extremely difficult, for we watched not one
+but several simultaneous scenes. For instance, there were the lions,
+which did not behave as might have been expected. I thought that they
+would rush through the doors and bound upon the victim, but whether it
+was because they had already been fed that afternoon or because they
+thought that a single human being was not worth the trouble, they acted
+differently. 
+
+Through the open gates they came, in two indolent yellow lines, male
+lions, female lions, half-grown lions, cub lions that cuffed each other
+in play, in all perhaps fifty or sixty of them. Of these only two or
+three looked towards the Professor, for none of them ran or galloped,
+while the rest spread over the den, some of them vanishing into the
+shadow at the edge of the surrounding cliff where the moonlight could
+not reach. 
+
+Here one of them, at any rate, must have travelled fast enough, for it
+seemed only a few seconds later that we heard a terrific yell beneath
+us, and craning over the rock I saw the Prince Joshua running up the
+ladder more swiftly than ever did any London lamplighter when I was a
+boy. 
+
+But quickly as he came, the long, thin, sinuous thing beneath came
+quicker. It reared itself on its hind legs, it stretched up a great
+paw—I can see the gleaming claws in it now—and struck or hooked at
+poor Joshua. The paw caught him in the small of the back, and seemed to
+pin him against the ladder. Then it was drawn slowly downward, and
+heaven! how Joshua howled. Up came the other paw to repeat the
+operation, when, stretching myself outward and downward, with an Abati
+holding me by the ankles, I managed to shoot the beast through the head
+so that it fell all of a heap, taking with it a large portion of
+Joshua’s nether garments. 
+
+A few seconds later he was among us, and tumbled groaning into a corner,
+where he lay in charge of some of the mountaineers, for I had no time
+to attend to him just then.
+
+When the smoke cleared at length, I saw that Japhet had reached Higgs,
+and was gesticulating to him to run, while two lions, a male and a
+female, stood at a little distance, regarding the pair in an interested
+fashion. Higgs, after some brief words of explanation, pointed to his
+knee. Evidently he was lamed and could not run. Japhet, rising to the
+occasion, pointed to his back, and bent down. Higgs flung himself upon
+it, and was hitched up like a sack of flour. The pair began to advance
+toward the ladder, Japhet carrying Higgs as one schoolboy carries
+another. 
+
+The lion sat down like a great dog, watching this strange proceeding
+with mild interest, but the lioness, filled with feminine curiosity,
+followed sniffing at Higgs, who looked over his shoulder. Taking off
+his battered helmet, he threw it at the beast, hitting her on the head.
+She growled, then seized the helmet, playing with it for a moment as a
+kitten does with a ball of wool, and next instant, finding it
+unsatisfying, uttered a short and savage roar, ran forward, and
+crouched to spring, lashing her tail. I could not fire, because a bullet
+ that would hit her must first pass through Japhet and Higgs. 
+
+But, just when I thought that the end had come, a rifle went off in the
+shadow and she rolled over, kicking and biting the rock. Thereon the
+indolent male lion seemed to awake, and sprang, not at the men, but at
+the wounded lioness, and a hellish fight ensued, of which the details
+and end were lost in a mist of dust and flying hair.
+
+The crowd upon the wall, becoming alive to the real situation, began to
+scream in indignant excitement which quickly communicated itself to the
+less savage beasts. These set up a terrible roaring, and ran about,
+keeping for the most part to the shadows, while Japhet and his burden
+made slow but steady progress toward the ladder.
+
+Then from the gloom beneath the hind-quarters of the sphinx rose a sound
+of rapid firing, and presently Orme and Quick emerged into the
+moonlight, followed by a number of angry lions that advanced in short
+rushes. Evidently the pair had kept their heads, and were acting on a
+plan. 
+
+One of them emptied his rifle at the pursuing beasts, while the other
+ran back a few paces, thrusting in a fresh clip of cartridges as he
+went. Then he began to fire, and his companion in turn retreated behind
+him. In this way they knocked over a number of lions, for the range was
+too short for them to miss often, and the expanding bullets did their
+work very well, paralyzing even when they did not kill. I also opened
+fire over their heads, and, although in that uncertain light the
+majority of my shots did no damage, the others disposed of several
+animals which I saw were becoming dangerous. 
+
+So things went on until all four, that is, Japhet with Higgs upon his
+back, and Orme and Quick, were within twenty paces of the ladder,
+although separated from each other by perhaps half the length of a
+cricket pitch. We thought that they were safe, and shouted in our joy,
+while the hundreds of spectators on the wall who fortunately dared not
+descend into the den because of the lions, which are undiscriminating
+beasts, yelled with rage at the imminent rescue of the sacrifice.
+
+Then of a sudden the position changed. From every quarter fresh lions
+seemed to arrive, ringing the men round and clearly bent on slaughter,
+although the shouting and the sound of firearms, which they had never
+heard before, frightened them and made them cautious.
+
+A half-grown cub rushed in and knocked over Japhet and Higgs. I fired
+and hit it in the flank. It bit savagely at its wound, then sprang on
+to the prostrate pair, and stood over them growling, but in such pain
+that it forgot to kill them. The ring of beasts closed in—we could
+see their yellow eyes glowing in the gloom. Orme and Quick might have
+got through by the help of their rifles, but they could not leave the
+others. The dreadful climax seemed at hand. 
+
+“Follow me,” said Maqueda, who all this while had watched panting
+at my side, and rose to run to the ladder. I thrust her back.
+
+“Nay,” I shouted. “Follow me, Abati! Shall a woman lead
+you?”
+
+Of how I descended that ladder I have no recollection, nor do I in the
+least know how the Mountaineers came after me, but I think that the
+most of them rolled and scrambled down the thirty feet of rock. At
+least, to their honour be it said, they did come, yelling like demons
+and waving long knives in their hands.
+
+The effect of our sudden arrival from above was extraordinary. Scared by
+the rush and the noise, the lions gave way, then bolted in every
+direction, the wounded cub, which could not, or would not move, being
+stabbed to death where it stood over Higgs and Japhet.
+
+Five minutes more and all of us were safe in the mouth of the tunnel.
+
+That was how we rescued Higgs from the den of the sacred lions which
+guarded the idol of the Fung.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF HIGGS
+
+
+A more weary and dishevelled set of people than that which about the
+hour of dawn finally emerged from the mouth of the ancient shaft on to
+the cliffs of Mur it has seldom been my lot to behold. Yet with a
+single exception the party was a happy one, for we had come triumphant
+through great dangers, and actually effected our object—the rescue of
+Higgs, which, under the circumstances most people would have thought
+impossible. Yes, there he was in the flesh before us, having injured
+his knee and lost his hat, but otherwise quite sound save for a few
+trifling scratches inflicted by the cub, and still wearing what the
+natives called his “black windows.” 
+
+Even the Prince Joshua was happy, though wrapped in a piece of coarse
+sacking because the lion had taken most of his posterior clothing, and
+terribly sore from the deep cuts left by the claws.
+
+Had he not dared the dangers of the den, and thus proved himself a hero
+whose fame would last for generations? Had I not assured him that his
+honourable wounds, though painful (as a matter of fact, after they had
+set, they kept him stiff as a mummy for some days, so that unless he
+stood upon his feet, he had to be carried, or lie rigid on his face)
+would probably not prove fatal? And had he not actually survived to
+reach the upper air again, which was more than he ever expected to do?
+No wonder that he was happy. 
+
+I alone could not share in the general joy, since, although my friend
+was restored to me, my son still remained a prisoner among the Fung.
+Yet even in this matter things might have been worse, since I learned
+that he was well treated, and in no danger. But of that I will write
+presently. 
+
+Never shall I forget the scene after the arrival of Higgs in our hole,
+when the swinging boulder had been closed and made secure and the lamps
+lighted. There he sat on the floor, his red hair glowing like a torch,
+his clothes torn and bloody, his beard ragged and stretching in a
+Newgate frill to his ears. Indeed, his whole appearance, accentuated by
+the blue spectacles with wire gauze side-pieces, was more disreputable
+than words can tell; moreover, he smelt horribly of lion. He put his
+hand into his pocket, and produced his big pipe, which had remained
+unbroken in its case. 
+
+“Some tobacco, please,” he said. (Those were his first words to
+us!) “I have finished mine, saved up the last to smoke just before
+they put me into that stinking basket.”
+
+I gave him some, and as he lit his pipe the light of the match fell upon
+the face of Maqueda, who was staring at him with amused astonishment.
+
+“What an uncommonly pretty woman,” he said. “What’s she
+doing down here, and who is she?”
+
+I told him, whereon he rose, or rather tried to, felt for his hat,
+which, of course, had gone, with the idea of taking it off, and
+instantly addressed her in his beautiful and fluent Arabic, saying how
+glad he was to have this unexpected honour, and so forth.
+
+She congratulated him on his escape, whereon his face grew serious.
+
+“Yes, a nasty business,” he said, “as yet I can hardly
+remember whether my name is Daniel, or Ptolemy Higgs.” Then he turned
+to us and added, “Look here, you fellows, if I don’t thank you it
+isn’t because I am not grateful, but because I can’t. The truth is,
+I’m a bit dazed. Your son is all right, Adams; he’s a good fellow,
+and we grew great friends. Safe? Oh! yes, he’s safe as a church! Old
+Barung, he’s the Sultan, and another good fellow, although he did
+throw me to the lions—because the priests made him—is very fond of
+him, and is going to marry him to his daughter.”
+
+At this moment the men announced that everything was ready for our
+ascent, and when I had attended to Joshua with a heart made thankful by
+Higgs’s news, we began that toilsome business, and, as I have already
+said, at length accomplished it safely. But even then our labours were
+not ended, since it was necessary to fill up the mouth of the shaft so
+as to make it impossible that it should be used by the Fung, who now
+knew of its existence. 
+
+Nor was this a business that could be delayed, for as we passed the
+plateau whence Oliver and Japhet had crossed to the sphinx, we heard
+the voices of men on the farther side of the rough wall that we had
+built there. Evidently the priests, or idol guards, infuriated by the
+rescue of their victim, had already managed to bridge the gulf and were
+contemplating assault, a knowledge which caused us to hurry our
+movements considerably. If they had got through before we passed them,
+our fate would have been terrible, since at the best we must have
+slowly starved in the pit below. 
+
+Indeed, as soon as we reached the top and had blocked it temporarily,
+Quick, weary as he was, was sent off on horseback, accompanied by
+Maqueda, Shadrach, now under the terms of his contract once more a free
+man, and two Mountaineers, to gallop to the palace of Mur, and fetch a
+supply of explosives. The rest of us, for Higgs declined to leave, and
+we had no means of carrying Joshua, remained watching the place, or
+rather the Abati watched while we slept with our rifles in our hands.
+Before noon Quick returned, accompanied by many men with litters and
+all things needful. 
+
+Then we pulled out the stones, and Oliver, Japhet, and some others
+descended to the first level and arranged blasting charges. Awhile
+after he reappeared with his companions, looking somewhat pale and
+anxious, and shouted to us to get back. Following our retreat to a
+certain distance, unwinding a wire as he came, presently he stopped and
+pressed the button of a battery which he held in his hand. There was a
+muffled explosion and a tremor of the soil like to that of an 
+earthquake, while from the mouth of the shaft stones leapt into the air.
+   
+
+It was over, and all that could be noted was a sinkage in the ground
+where the ancient pit had been.
+
+“I am sorry for them,” said Oliver presently, “but it had to
+be done.”
+
+“Sorry for whom?” I asked.
+
+“For those Fung priests or soldiers. The levels below are full of
+them, dead or alive. They were pouring up at our heels. Well, no one
+will travel that road again.”
+
+Later, in the guest house at Mur, Higgs told us his story. After his
+betrayal by Shadrach, which, it appeared, was meant to include us all,
+for the Professor overheard the hurried talk between him and a Fung
+captain, he was seized and imprisoned in the body of the great sphinx,
+where many chambers and dungeons had been hollowed out by the primæval
+race that fashioned it. Here Barung the Sultan visited him and informed
+him of his meeting with the rest of us, to whom apparently he had taken
+a great liking, and also that we had refused to purchase a chance of
+his release at the price of being false to our trust. 
+
+“You know,” said Higgs, “that when first I heard this I was
+very angry with you, and thought you a set of beasts. But on considering
+things I saw the other side of it, and that you were right, although I
+never could come to fancy the idea of being sacrificed to a sphinx by
+being chucked like a piece of horse-flesh to a lot of holy lions.
+However, Barung, an excellent fellow in his way, assured me that there
+was no road out of the matter without giving grave offence to the
+priests, who are very powerful among the Fung, and bringing a fearful
+curse on the nation. 
+
+“Meanwhile, he made me as comfortable as he could. For instance, I was
+allowed to walk upon the back of the idol, to associate with the
+priests, a suspicious and most exclusive set, and to study their entire
+religious system, from which I have no doubt that of Egypt was derived.
+Indeed, I have made a great discovery which, if ever we get out of
+this, will carry my name down to all generations. The forefathers of
+these Fung were undoubtedly also the forefathers of the pre-dynastic
+Egyptians, as is shown by the similarity of their customs and spiritual
+theories. Further, intercourse was kept up between the Fung, who then
+had their headquarters here in Mur, and the Egyptians in the time of
+the ancient empire, till the Twentieth Dynasty, indeed, if not later. 
+My friends, in the dungeons in which I was confined there is an
+inscription, or, rather, a _graffite_, made by a prisoner extradited to
+Mur by Rameses II., after twenty years’ residence in Egypt, which was
+written by him on the night before he was thrown to the sacred lions,
+that even in those days were an established institution. And I have got
+a copy of that inscription in my pocket-book. I tell you,” he added
+in a scream of triumph, “I’ve got a certified copy of that
+inscription, thanks to Shadrach, on whose dirty head be blessings!” 
+
+I congratulated him heartily upon this triumph, and before he proceeded
+to give us further archæological details, asked him for some
+information about my boy. 
+
+“Oh,” said Higgs, “he is a very nice young man and extremely
+good looking. Indeed, I am quite proud to have such a godson. He was
+much interested to hear that you were hunting for him after so many
+years, quite touched indeed. He still talks English, though with a Fung
+accent, and, of course, would like to escape. Meanwhile, he is having a
+very good time, being chief singer to the god, for his voice is really
+beautiful, an office which carries with it all sorts of privileges. I
+told you, didn’t I, that he is to be married to Barung’s only
+legitimate daughter on the night of the next full moon but one. The
+ceremony is to take place in Harmac City, and will be the greatest of
+its sort for generations, a feast of the entire people in short. I
+should very much like to be present at it, but being an intelligent 
+young man he has promised to keep notes of everything, which I hope may
+become available in due course.” 
+
+“And is he attached to this savage lady?” I asked dismayed.
+
+“Attached? Oh, dear no, I think he said he had never seen her, and
+only knew that she was rather plain and reported to possess a haughty
+temper. He is a philosophical young man, however, as might be expected
+from one who has undergone so many vicissitudes, and, therefore, takes
+things as they come, thanking heaven that they are no worse. You see,
+as the husband of the Sultan’s daughter, unless the pair quarrel very
+violently, he will be safe from the lions, and he could never quite say
+as much before. But we didn’t go into these domestic matters very
+deeply as there were so many more important things to interest us both.
+He wanted to know all about you and our plans, and naturally I wanted
+to know all about the Fung and the ritual and traditions connected with
+the worship of Harmac, so that we were never dull for a single moment.
+In fact, I wish that we could have had longer together, for we became
+excellent friends. But whatever happens, I think that I have collected 
+the cream of his information,” and he tapped a fat note-book in his 
+hands, adding: 
+
+“What an awful thing it would have been if a lion had eaten this. For
+myself it did not matter; there may be many better Egyptologists, but I
+doubt if any one of them will again have such opportunities of original
+research. However, I took every possible precaution to save my notes by
+leaving a copy of the most important of them written with native ink
+upon sheepskin in charge of your son. Indeed, I meant to leave the
+originals also, but fortunately forgot in the excitement of my very
+hurried departure.” 
+
+I agreed with him that his chances had been unique and that he was a
+most lucky archæologist, and presently he went on puffing at his pipe.
+
+“Of course, when Oliver turned up in that unexpected fashion on the
+back of the idol, remembering your wishes and natural desire to recover
+your son, I did my best to rescue him also. But he wasn’t in the room
+beneath, where I thought I should find him. The priests were there
+instead, and they had heard us talking above, and you know the rest.
+Well, as it happens, it didn’t matter, though that descent into the
+den of lions—there were two or three hundred feet of it, and the rope
+seemed worn uncommonly thin with use—was a trying business to the
+nerves.” 
+
+“What did you think about all the time?” asked Oliver curiously.
+
+“Think about? I didn’t think much, was in too great a fright. I
+just wondered whether St. Paul had the same sensations when he was let
+down in a basket; wondered what the early Christian martyrs felt like
+in the arena; wondered whether Barung, with whom my parting was quite
+affectionate, would come in the morning and look for me as Darius did
+for Daniel and how much he would find if he did; hoped that my specs
+would give one of those brutes appendicitis, and so forth. My word! it
+was sickening, especially that kind of school-treat swing and bump at
+the end. I never could bear swinging. Still, it was all for the best,
+as I shouldn’t have gone a yard along that sphinx’s tail without
+tumbling off, tight-rope walking not being in my line; and I’ll tell
+you what, you are just the best three fellows in the whole world.
+Don’t you think I forget that because I haven’t said much. And now
+let’s have your yarn, for I want to hear how things stand, which I
+never expected to do this side of Judgment-day.” 
+
+So we told him all, while he listened open-mouthed. When we came to the
+description of the Tomb of the Kings his excitement could scarcely be
+restrained.
+
+“You haven’t touched them,” he almost screamed;
+“don’t say you have been vandals enough to touch them, for every
+article must be catalogued _in situ_ and drawings must be made. If
+possible, specimen groups with their surrounding offerings should be
+moved so that they can be set up again in museums. Why, there’s six
+months’ work before me, at least. And to think that if it hadn’t
+been for you, by now I should be in process of digestion by a lion, a
+stinking, mangy, sacred lion!”
+
+Next morning I was awakened by Higgs limping into my room in some weird
+sleeping-suit that he had contrived with the help of Quick.
+
+“I say, old fellow,” he said, “tell me some more about that
+girl, Walda Nagasta. What a sweet face she’s got, and what pluck! Of
+course, such things ain’t in my line, never looked at a woman these
+twenty years past, hard enough to remember her next morning, but, by
+Jingo! the eyes of that one made me feel quite queer here,” and he
+hit the sleeping-suit somewhere in the middle, “though perhaps it was
+only because she was such a contrast to the lions.”
+
+“Ptolemy,” I answered in a solemn voice, “let me tell you
+that she is more dangerous to meddle with than any lion, and what’s
+more, if you don’t want to further complicate matters with a flaming
+row, you had better keep to your old habits and leave her eyes alone. I
+mean that Oliver is in love with her.”
+
+“Of course he is. I never expected anything else, but what’s that
+got to do with it? Why shouldn’t I be in love with her too? Though I
+admit,” he added sadly, contemplating his rotund form, “the chances
+are in his favour, especially as he’s got the start.”
+
+“They are, Ptolemy, for she’s in love with him,” and I told
+him what we had seen in the Tomb of Kings.
+
+First he roared with laughter, then on second thoughts grew exceedingly
+indignant.
+
+“I call it scandalous of Oliver, compromising us all in this
+way—the lucky dog! These selfish, amorous adventures will let us in
+for no end of trouble. It is even probable, Adams, that you and I may
+come to a miserable end, solely because of this young man’s erotic
+tendencies. Just fancy neglecting business in order to run after a
+pretty, round-faced Jewess, that is if she _is_ a Jewess, which I
+doubt, as the blood must have got considerably mixed by now, and the
+first Queen of Sheba, if she ever existed, was an Ethiopian. As a
+friend almost old enough to be his father, I shall speak to him very
+seriously.” 
+
+“All right,” I called after him as he hobbled off to take his bath,
+“only if you are wise, you won’t speak to Maqueda, for she might
+misinterpret your motives if you go on staring at her as you did
+yesterday.”
+
+That morning I was summoned to see the Prince Joshua and dress his
+wounds, which, although not of a serious nature, were very painful. The
+moment that I entered the man’s presence I noticed a change in his
+face. Like the rest of us I had always set this fellow down as a mere
+poltroon and windbag, a blower of his own trumpet, as Oliver had called
+him. Now I got an insight into his real nature which showed me that
+although he might be these things and worse, he was also a very
+determined and dangerous person, animated by ambitions which he meant
+to satisfy at all hazards. 
+
+When I had done what I could for him and told him that in my opinion he
+had no ill results to fear from his hurts, since the thick clothes he
+was wearing at the time had probably cleaned the lion’s paws of any
+poison that might have been on them, he said,
+
+“Physician, I desire private words with you.”
+
+I bowed, and he went on:
+
+“The Child of Kings, hereditary ruler of this land, somewhat against
+the advice of her Council, has thought fit to employ you and your
+Gentile companions in order that by your skill and certain arts of
+which you are masters you may damage its ancient enemies, the Fung, and
+in reward has promised to pay you well should you succeed in your
+endeavours. Now, I wish you to understand that though you think
+yourselves great men, and may for aught I know be great in your own
+country, here you are but servants like any other mercenaries whom it
+may please us to hire.” 
+
+His tone was so offensive that, though it might have been wiser to keep
+silent, I could not help interrupting him.
+
+“You use hard words, Prince,” I said; “let me then explain
+what is the real pay for which we work and undergo some risks. Mine is
+the hope of recovering a son who is the slave of your enemies. That of
+the Captain Orme is the quest of adventure and war, since being a rich
+man in his own country he needs no further wealth. That of him whom you
+call Black Windows, but whose name is Higgs, is the pure love of
+learning. In England and throughout the West he is noted for his
+knowledge of dead peoples, their languages, and customs, and it is to
+study these that he has undertaken so terrible a journey. As for Quick,
+he is Orme’s man, who has known him from childhood, an old soldier 
+who has served with him in war and comes hither to be with the master
+whom he loves.” 
+
+“Ah!” said Joshua, “a servant, a person of no degree, who yet
+dares to threaten me, the premier prince of the Abati, to my face.”
+
+“In the presence of death all men are equal, Prince. You acted in a
+fashion that might have brought his lord, who was daring a desperate
+deed, to a hideous doom.”
+
+“And what do I care about his lord’s desperate deeds, Physician? I
+see that you set store by such things, and think those who accomplish
+them great and wonderful. Well, we do not. There is no savage among the
+barbarous Fung would not do all that your Orme does, and more, just
+because he is a savage. We who are civilized, we who are cultivated, we
+who are wise, know better. Our lives were given us to enjoy, not to
+throw away or to lose at the sword’s point, and, therefore, no doubt,
+you would call us cowards.” 
+
+“Yet, Prince, those who bear that title of coward which you hold one
+of honour, are apt to perish ‘at the sword’s point.’ The Fung
+wait without your gates, O Prince.”
+
+“And therefore, O Gentile, we hire you to fight the Fung. Still, I
+bear no grudge against your servant, Quick, who is himself but a
+white-skinned Fung, for he acted according to his nature, and I forgive
+him; only in the future let him beware! And now—for a greater matter.
+The Child of Kings is beautiful, she is young and high spirited; a new
+face from another land may perchance touch her fancy. But,” he added
+meaningly, “let the owner of that face remember who she is and what
+he is; let him remember that for any outside the circle of the ancient
+blood to lift his eyes to the daughter of Solomon is to earn death,
+death slow and cruel for himself and all who aid and abet him. Let him
+remember, lastly, that this high-born lady to whom he, an unknown and
+vagrant Gentile, dares to talk as equal to equal, has from childhood
+been my affianced, who will shortly be my wife, although it may please
+her to seem to flout me after the fashion of maidens, and that we Abati 
+are jealous of the honour of our women. Do you understand?” 
+
+“Yes, Prince,” I answered, for by now my temper was roused.
+“But I would have you understand something also—that we are men of
+a high race whose arm stretches over half the world, and that we differ
+from the little tribe of the Abati, whose fame is not known to us, in
+this—that we are jealous of our own honour, and do not need to hire
+strangers to fight the foes we fear to face. Next time I come to attend
+to your wounds, O Prince, I trust that they will be in front, and not
+behind. One word more, if you will be advised by me you will not
+threaten that Captain whom you call a Gentile and a mercenary, lest you
+should learn that it is not always well to be a coward, of blood
+however ancient.” 
+
+Then, in a towering rage, I left him, feeling that I had made a thorough
+fool of myself. But the truth was that I could not sit still and hear
+men such as my companions, to say nothing of myself, spoken of thus by
+a bloated cur, who called himself a prince and boasted of his own
+poltroonery. He glowered at me as I went, and the men of his party who
+hung about the end of the great room and in his courts, glowered at me
+also. Clearly he was a very dangerous cur, and I almost wished that
+instead of threatening to slap his face down in the tunnel, Quick had
+broken his neck and made an end of him. 
+
+So did the others when I told them the story, although I think it opened
+their eyes, and especially those of Oliver, to the grave and growing
+dangers of the situation. Afterward he informed me that he had spoken
+of the matter with Maqueda, and that she was much frightened for our
+sakes, and somewhat for her own. Joshua, she said, was a man capable of
+any crime, who had at his back the great majority of the Abati; a
+jealous, mean and intolerant race who made up in cunning for what they
+lacked in courage. 
+
+Yet, as I saw well, the peril of their situation did nothing to separate
+this pair or to lessen their love. Indeed, rather did it seem to bind
+them closer together, and to make them more completely one. In short,
+the tragedy took its appointed course, whilst we stood by and watched
+it helplessly. 
+
+On the afternoon of my angry interview with Joshua we were summoned to a
+meeting of the Council, whither we went, not without some trepidation,
+expecting trouble. Trouble there was, but of a different sort to that
+which we feared. Scarcely had we entered the great room where the Child
+of Kings was seated in her chair of state surrounded by all the pomp
+and ceremony of her mimic court, when the big doors at the end of it
+were opened, and through them marched three gray-bearded men in white
+robes whom we saw at once were heralds or ambassadors from the Fung.
+These men bowed to the veiled Maqueda and, turning toward where we
+stood in a little group apart, bowed to us also. 
+
+But of Joshua, who was there supported by two servants, for he could not
+yet stand alone, and the other notables and priests of the Abati, they
+took not the slightest heed.
+
+“Speak,” said Maqueda.
+
+“Lady,” answered the spokesman of the embassy, “we are sent
+by our Sultan, Barung, son of Barung, Ruler of the Fung nation. These
+are the words of Barung: O Walda Nagasta! ‘By the hands and the wit
+of the white lords whom you have called to your aid, you have of late
+done much evil to the god Harmac and to me his servant. You have
+destroyed one of the gates of my city, and with it many of my people.
+You have rescued a prisoner out of my hands, robbing Harmac of his
+sacrifice and thereby bringing his wrath upon us. You have slain sundry
+of the sacred beasts that are the mouth of sacrifice, you have killed
+certain of the priests and guards of Harmac in a hole of the rocks. 
+Moreover my spies tell me that you plan further ills against the god and
+ against me. Now I send to tell you that for these and other offences I
+will make an end of the people of the Abati, whom hitherto I have
+spared. In a little while I marry my daughter to the white man, that
+priest of Harmac who is called Singer of Egypt, and who is said to be
+the son of the physician in your service, but after I have celebrated
+this feast and my people have finished the hoeing of their crops, I
+take up the sword in earnest, nor will I lay it down again until the
+Abati are no more.    
+
+“‘Learn that last night after the holy beasts had been slain and
+the sacrifice snatched away, the god Harmac spoke to his priests in
+prophecy. And this was his prophecy; that before the gathering in of
+the harvest his _head_ should sleep above the plain of Mur. We know not
+the interpretation of the saying, but this I know, that before the
+gathering of the harvest I, or those who rule after me, will lie down
+to sleep within my city of Mur.’ 
+
+“‘Now, choose—surrender forthwith and, save for the dog,
+Joshua, who the other day tried to entrap me against the custom of
+peoples, and ten others whom I shall name, I will spare the lives of
+all of you, though Joshua and these ten I will hang, since they are not
+worthy to die by the sword. Or resist, and by Harmac himself I swear
+that every man among the Abati shall die save the white lords whom I
+honour because they are brave, and that servant of yours who stood with
+them last night in the den of lions, and that every woman shall be made
+a slave, save you, O Walda Nagasta, because of your great heart. Your
+answer, O Lady of the Abati!’” 
+
+Now Maqueda looked around the faces of her Council, and saw fear written
+upon them all. Indeed, as we noted, many of them shook in their terror.
+
+“My answer will be short, ambassadors of Barung,” she replied,
+“still, I am but one woman, and it is fitting that those who represent
+the people should speak for the people. My uncle, Joshua, you are the
+first of my Council, what have you to say? Are you willing to give up
+your life with ten others whose names I do not know, that there may be
+peace between us and the Fung?”
+
+“What?” answered Joshua, with a splutter of rage, “do I live
+to hear a Walda Nagasta suggest that the first prince of the land, her
+uncle and affianced husband, should be surrendered to our hereditary
+foes to be hanged like a worn-out hound, and do you, O unknown ten, who
+doubtless stand in this chamber, live to hear it also?”
+
+“My uncle, you do not. I asked if such was your wish, that is all.”
+
+“Then I answer that it is not my wish, nor the wish of the ten, nor
+the wish of the Abati. Nay, we will fight the Fung and destroy them,
+and of their beast-headed idol Harmac we will make blocks to build our
+synagogues and stones to pave our roads. Do you hear, savages of
+Fung?” and assisted by his two servants he hobbled towards them,
+grinning in their faces. 
+
+The envoys looked him up and down with their quiet eyes. “We hear and
+we are very glad to hear,” their spokesman answered, “since we Fung
+love to settle our quarrels with the sword and not by treaty. But to
+you, Joshua, we say: Make haste to die before we enter Mur, since the
+rope is not the only means of death whereof we know.”
+
+Very solemnly the three ambassadors saluted, first the Child of Kings
+and next ourselves, then turned to go.
+
+“Kill them!” shouted Joshua, “they have threatened and
+insulted me, the Prince!”
+
+But no one lifted a hand against the men, who passed safely out of the
+palace to the square, where an escort waited with their horses.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+HOW PHARAOH MET SHADRACH
+
+
+When the ambassadors had gone, at first there was silence, a very heavy
+silence, since even the frivolous Abati felt that the hour was big with
+fate. Of a sudden, however, the members of the Council began to chatter
+like so many monkeys, each talking without listening to what his
+neighbour said, till at length a gorgeously dressed person, I
+understood that he was a priest, stepped forward, and shouted down the
+others. 
+
+Then he spoke in an excited and venomous fashion. He pointed out that we
+Gentiles had brought all this trouble upon Mur, since before we came the
+Abati, although threatened, had lived in peace and glory—he actually
+used the word glory!—for generations. But now we had stung the Fung,
+as a hornet stings a bull, and made them mad, so that they wished to
+toss the Abati. He proposed, therefore, that we should at once be
+ejected from Mur. 
+
+At this point I saw Joshua whisper into the ear of a man, who called
+out:— 
+
+“No, no, for then they would go to their friend, Barung, a savage like
+themselves, and having learned our secrets, would doubtless use them
+against us. I say that they must be killed instantly,” and he drew a
+sword, and waved it.
+
+Quick walked up to the fellow and clapped a pistol to his head.
+
+“Drop that sword,” he said, “or _you_’ll never
+hear the end of the story,” and he obeyed, whereupon Quick came back.
+
+Now Maqueda began to speak, quietly enough, although I could see that
+she was quaking with passion.
+
+“These men are our guests,” she said, “come hither to serve
+us. Do you desire to murder our guests? Moreover, of what use would that
+be? One thing alone can save us, the destruction of the god of the
+Fung, since, according to the ancient saying of that people, when the
+idol is destroyed the Fung will leave their city of Harmac. Moreover,
+as to this new prophecy of the priests of the idol, that before the
+gathering in of the harvest his head shall sleep above the plain of
+Mur, how can that happen if it is destroyed, unless indeed it means
+that Harmac shall sleep in the heavens. Therefore what have you to fear
+from threats built upon that which cannot happen? 
+
+“But can _you_ destroy this false god Harmac, or dare _you_
+fight the Fung? You know that it is not so, for had it been so what need
+was there for me to send for these Westerns? And if you murder them,
+will Barung thereby be appeased? Nay, I tell you that being a brave and
+honourable man, although our enemy, he will become ten times more wroth
+with you than he was before, and exact a vengeance even more terrible.
+I tell you also, that then you must find another Walda Nagasta to rule
+over you, since I, Maqueda, will do so no more.”
+
+“That is impossible,” said some one, “you are the last woman
+of the true blood.”
+
+“Then you can choose one of blood that is not true, or elect a king,
+as the Jews elected Saul, for if my guests are butchered I shall die of
+very shame.”
+
+These words of hers seemed to cow the Council, one of whom asked what
+would she have them do?
+
+“Do?” she replied, throwing back her veil, “why, be men,
+raise an army of every male who can carry a sword; help the foreigners,
+and they will lead you to victory. People of the Abati, would you be
+slaughtered, would you see your women slaves, and your ancient name
+blotted out from the list of peoples?”
+
+Now some of them cried, “No.”
+
+“Then save yourselves. You are still many, the strangers here have
+skill in war, they can lead if you will follow. Be brave a while, and I
+swear to you that by harvest the Abati shall sit in the city of Harmac
+and not the Fung in Mur. I have spoken, now do what you will,” and
+rising from her chair of state Maqueda left the chamber, motioning to
+us to do likewise. 
+
+The end of all this business was that a peace was made between us and
+the Council of the Abati. After their pompous, pedantic fashion they
+swore solemnly on the roll of the Law that they would aid us in every
+way to overcome the Fung, and even obey such military orders as we
+might give them, subject to the confirmation of these orders by a small
+council of their generals. In short, being very frightened, for a time
+they forgot their hatred of us foreigners. 
+
+So a scheme of operations was agreed upon, and some law passed by the
+Council, the only governing body among the Abati, for they possessed no
+representative institutions, under which law a kind of conscription was
+established for a while. Let me say at once that it met with the most
+intense opposition. The Abati were agriculturalists who loathed
+military service. From their childhood they had heard of the imminence
+of invasion, but no actual invasion had ever yet taken place. The Fung
+were always without, and they were always within, an inland isle, the
+wall of rock that they thought impassable being their sea which
+protected them from danger. 
+
+They had no experience of slaughter and rapine, their imaginations were
+not sufficiently strong to enable them to understand what these things
+meant; they were lost in the pettiness of daily life and its pressing
+local interests. Their homes in flames, they themselves massacred,
+their women and children dragged off to be the slaves of the victors, a
+poor remnant left to die of starvation among the wasted fields or to
+become wild men of the rocks! All these things they looked upon as a
+mere tale, a romance such as their local poets repeated in the evenings
+of a wet season, dim and far-off events which might have happened to
+the Canaanites and Jebusites and Amalekites in the ancient days whereof
+the book of their Law told them, but which could never happen to
+_them_, the comfortable Abati. In that book the Israelites always
+conquered in the end, although the Philistines, alias Fung, sat at their
+ gates. For it will be remembered that it includes no account of the
+final fall of Jerusalem and awful destruction of its citizens, of which
+they had little if any knowledge. 
+
+So it came about that our recruiting parties, perhaps press gangs would
+be a better term, were not well received. I know it, for this branch of
+the business was handed over to me, of course as adviser to the Abati
+captains, and on several occasions, when riding round the villages on
+the shores of their beautiful lake, we were met by showers of stones,
+and were even the object of active attacks which had to be put down
+with bloodshed. Still, an army of five or six thousand men was got
+together somehow, and formed into camps, whence desertions were
+incessant, once or twice accompanied by the murder of officers. 
+
+“It’s ’opeless, downright ’opeless, Doctor,” said
+Quick to me, dropping his h’s, as he sometimes did in the excitement
+of the moment. “What can one do with a crowd of pigs, everyone of
+them bent on bolting to his own sty, or anywhere except toward the
+enemy? The sooner the Fung get them the better for all concerned, say
+I, and if it wasn’t for our Lady yonder” (Quick always called
+Maqueda after “our Lady,” after it had been impressed upon him that
+“her Majesty” was an incorrect title), “my advice to the Captain
+and you gentlemen would be: Get out of this infernal hole as quick as
+your legs can carry you, and let’s do a bit of hunting on the way
+home, leaving the Abati to settle their own affairs.”
+
+“You forget, Sergeant, that I have a reason for staying in this part
+of the world, and so perhaps have the others. For instance, the
+Professor is very fond of those old skeletons down in the cave,” and
+I paused. 
+
+“Yes, Doctor, and the Captain is very fond of something much better
+than a skeleton, and so are we all. Well, we’ve got to see it
+through, but somehow I don’t think that every one of us will have
+that luck, though it’s true that when a man has lived fairly straight
+according to his lights a few years more or less don’t matter much
+one way or the other. After all, except you gentlemen, who is there
+that will miss Samuel Quick?”
+
+Then without waiting for an answer, drawing himself up straight as a
+ramrod he marched off to assist some popinjays of Abati officers, whom
+he hated and who hated him, to instil the elements of drill into a
+newly raised company, leaving me to wonder what fears or premonitions
+filled his honest soul. 
+
+But this was not Quick’s principal work, since for at least six hours
+of every day he was engaged in helping Oliver in our great enterprise
+of driving a tunnel from the end of the Tomb of Kings deep into the
+solid rock that formed the base of the mighty idol of the Fung. The
+task was stupendous, and would indeed have been impossible had not
+Orme’s conjecture that some passage had once run from the extremity
+of the cave toward the idol proved to be perfectly accurate. Such a
+passage indeed was found walled up at the back of the chair containing
+the bones of the hunchbacked king. It descended very sharply for a
+distance of several hundred yards, after which for another hundred
+yards or more its walls and roof were so riven and shaky that, for fear 
+of accidents, we found it necessary to timber them as we went. 
+
+At last we came to a place where they had fallen in altogether, shaken
+down, I presume, by the great earthquake which had destroyed so much of
+the ancient cave-city. At this spot, if Oliver’s instruments and
+calculations could be trusted, we were within about two hundred feet of
+the floor of the den of lions, to which it seemed probable that the
+passage once led, and of course the question arose as to what should be
+done. 
+
+A Council was held to discuss this problem, at which Maqueda and a few
+of the Abati notables were present. To these Oliver explained that even
+if that were possible it would be useless to clear out the old passage
+and at the end find ourselves once more in the den of lions.
+
+“What, then, is your plan?” asked Maqueda.
+
+“Lady,” he answered, “I, your servant, am instructed to
+attempt to destroy the idol Harmac, by means of the explosives which we
+have brought with us from England. First, I would ask you if you still
+cling to that design?”
+
+“Why should it be abandoned?” inquired Maqueda. “What have
+you against it?”
+
+“Two things, Lady. As an act of war the deed seems useless, since
+supposing that the sphinx is shattered and a certain number of priests
+and guards are destroyed, how will that advance your cause? Secondly,
+such destruction will be very difficult, if it can be done at all. The
+stuff we have with us, it is true, is of fearful strength, yet who can
+be sure that there is enough of it to move this mountain of hard rock,
+of which I cannot calculate the weight, not having the measurements or
+any knowledge of the size of the cavities within its bulk. Lastly, if
+the attempt is to be made, a tunnel must be hollowed of not less than
+three hundred feet in length, first downward and then upward into the
+very base of the idol, and if this is to be done within six weeks, that
+is, by the night of the marriage of the daughter of Barung, the work
+will be very hard, if indeed it can be completed at all, although
+hundreds of men labour day and night.” 
+
+Now Maqueda thought a while, then looked up and said:
+
+“Friend, you are brave and skilful, tell us all your mind. If you sat
+in my place, what would you do?”
+
+“Lady, I would lead out every able-bodied man and attack the city of
+the Fung, say, on the night of the great festival when they are off
+their guard. I would blow in the gates of the city of Harmac, and storm
+it and drive away the Fung, and afterwards take possession of the idol,
+and if it is thought necessary, destroy it piecemeal from within.”
+
+Now Maqueda consulted with her councillors, who appeared to be much
+disturbed at this suggestion, and finally called us back and gave us
+her decision. 
+
+“These lords of the Council,” she said, speaking with a ring of
+contempt in her voice, “declare that your plan is mad, and that they
+will never sanction it because the Abati could not be persuaded to
+undertake so dangerous an enterprise as an attack upon the city of
+Harmac, which would end, they think, in all of them being killed. They
+point out, O Orme, that the prophecy is that the Fung will leave the
+plain of Harmac when their god is destroyed and not before, and that
+therefore it must be destroyed. They say, further, O Orme, that for a
+year you and your companions are the sworn servants of the Abati, and
+that it is your business to receive orders, not to give them, also that
+the condition upon which you earn your pay is that you destroy the idol
+of the Fung. This is the decision of the Council, spoken by the mouth of
+ the prince Joshua, who command further that you shall at once set about
+the business to execute which you and your companions are present here
+in Mur.” 
+
+“Is that _your_ command also, O Child of Kings?” answered
+Oliver, colouring.
+
+“Since I also think that the Abati can never be forced to attack the
+city of the Fung, it is, O Orme, though the words in which it is
+couched are not my words.”
+
+“Very well, O Child of Kings, I will do my best. Only blame us not if
+the end of this matter is other than these advisers of yours expect.
+Prophecies are two-edged swords to play with, and I do not believe that
+a race of fighting men like the Fung will fly and leave you triumphant
+just because a stone image is shattered, if that can be done in the
+time and with the means which we possess. Meanwhile, I ask that you
+should give me two hundred and fifty picked men of the Mountaineers,
+not of the townspeople, under the captaincy of Japhet, who must choose
+them, to assist us in our work.” 
+
+“It shall be done,” she answered, and we made our bows and went. As
+we passed through the Council we heard Joshua say in a loud voice meant
+for us to hear:
+
+“Thanks be to God, these hired Gentiles have been taught their place
+at last.”
+
+Oliver turned on him so fiercely that he recoiled, thinking that he was
+about to strike him.
+
+“Be careful, Prince Joshua,” he said, “that before this
+business is finished you are not taught yours, which I think may be
+lowly,” and he looked meaningly at the ground.
+
+So the labour began, and it was heavy indeed as well as dangerous.
+Fortunately, in addition to the picrate compounds that Quick called
+“azure stinging bees,” we had brought with us a few cases of
+dynamite, of which we now made use for blasting purposes. A hole was
+drilled in the face of the tunnel, and the charge inserted. Then all
+retreated back into the Tomb of Kings till the cartridge had exploded,
+and the smoke cleared off, which took a long while, when our people
+advanced with iron bars and baskets, and cleared away the débris,
+after which the process must be repeated. 
+
+Oh! the heat of that narrow hole deep in the bowels of the rock, and the
+reek of the stagnant air which sometimes was so bad that the lights
+would scarcely burn. Indeed, after a hundred feet had been completed,
+we thought that it would be impossible to proceed, since two men died
+of asphyxiation and the others, although they were good fellows enough,
+refused to return into the tunnel. At length, however, Orme and Japhet
+persuaded some of the best of them to do so, and shortly after this the
+atmosphere improved very much, I suppose because we cut some cranny or
+shaft which communicated with the open air. 
+
+There were other dangers also, notably of the collapse of the whole roof
+where the rock was rotten, as we found it to be in places. Then it
+proved very hard to deal with the water, for once or twice we struck
+small springs impregnated with copper or some other mineral that
+blistered the feet and skin, since every drop of this acid water had to
+be carried out in wooden pails. That difficulty we overcame at last by
+sinking a narrow well down to the level of the ancient tunnel of which
+I have spoken as having been shaken in by the earthquake. 
+
+Thus we, or rather Oliver and Quick with the Mountaineers, toiled on.
+Higgs did his best, but after a while proved quite unable to bear the
+heat, which became too much for so stout a man. The end of it was that
+he devoted himself to the superintendence of the removal of the rubbish
+into the Tomb of Kings, the care of the stores and so forth. At least
+that was supposed to be his business, but really he employed most of
+his time in drawing and cataloguing the objects of antiquity and the
+groups of bones that were buried there, and in exploring the remains of
+the underground city. In truth, this task of destruction was most 
+repellent to the poor Professor. 
+
+“To think,” he said to us, “to think that I, who all my life
+have preached the iniquity of not conserving every relic of the past,
+should now be employed in attempting to obliterate the most wonderful
+object ever fashioned by the ancients! It is enough to make a Vandal
+weep, and I pray heaven that you may not succeed in your infamous
+design. What does it matter if the Abati are wiped out, as lots of
+better people have been before them? What does it matter if we
+accompany them to oblivion so long as that noble sphinx is preserved to
+be the wonder of future generations? Well, thank goodness, at any rate
+I have seen it, which is more, probably, than any of you will ever do. 
+There, another brute is dumping his rubbish over the skull of No. 14!”
+   
+
+Thus we laboured continually, each at his different task, for the work
+in the mine never stopped, Oliver being in charge during the day and
+Quick at night for a whole week, since on each Sunday they changed with
+their gangs, Quick taking the day shift and Oliver the night, or _vice
+versa_. Sometimes Maqueda came down the cave to inspect progress,
+always, I noticed, at those hours when Oliver happened to be off duty.
+Then on this pretext or on that they would wander away together to
+visit I know not what in the recesses of the underground city, or
+elsewhere. In vain did I warn them that their every step was dogged,
+and that their every word and action were noted by spies who crept 
+after them continually, since twice I caught one of these gentry in the
+act. They were infatuated, and would not listen. 
+
+At this time Oliver only left the underground city twice or thrice a
+week to breathe the fresh air for an hour or two. In truth, he had no
+leisure. For this same reason he fitted himself up a bed in what had
+been a priest’s chamber, or a sanctuary in the old temple, and slept
+there, generally with no other guard but the great dog, Pharaoh, his
+constant companion even in the recesses of the mine.
+
+It was curious to see how this faithful beast accustomed itself to the
+darkness, and made its other senses, especially that of smell, serve the
+purpose of eyes as do the blind. By degrees, too, it learned all the
+details of the operations; thus, when the cartridge was in place for
+firing, it would rise and begin to walk out of the tunnel even before
+the men in charge. 
+
+One night the tragedy that I feared very nearly happened, and indeed
+must have happened had it not been for this same hound, Pharaoh. About
+six o’clock in the evening Oliver came off duty after an eight-hour
+shift in the tunnel, leaving Higgs in command for a little while until
+it was time for Quick to take charge. I had been at work outside all
+day in connection with the new conscript army, a regiment of which was
+in revolt, because the men, most of whom were what we should call
+small-holders, declared that they wanted to go home to weed their
+crops. Indeed, it had proved necessary for the Child of Kings herself to
+ be summoned to plead with them and condemn some of the ringleaders to 
+punishment. 
+
+When at length this business was over we left together, and the poor
+lady, exasperated almost to madness, sharply refusing the escort of any
+of her people, requested me to accompany her to the mine.
+
+At the mouth of the tunnel she met Oliver, as probably she had arranged
+to do, and after he had reported progress to her, wandered away with
+him as usual, each of them carrying a lamp, into some recess of the
+buried city. I followed them at a distance, not from curiosity, or
+because I wished to see more of the wonders of that city whereof I was
+heartily sick, but because I suspected that they were being spied upon.
+
+The pair vanished round a corner that I knew ended in a _cul-de-sac_, so
+extinguishing my lamp, I sat down on a fallen column and waited till I
+should see their light reappear, when I proposed to effect my retreat.
+Whilst I sat thus, thinking on many things and, to tell the truth, very
+depressed in mind, I heard a sound as of some one moving and instantly
+struck a match. The light of it fell full upon the face of a man whom I
+recognized at once as a body-servant of the prince Joshua, though
+whether he was passing me toward the pair or returning from their
+direction I could not be sure. 
+
+“What are you doing here?” I asked.
+
+“What is that to you, Physician?” he answered.
+
+Then the match burnt out, and before I could light another he had
+vanished, like a snake into a stone wall.
+
+My first impulse was to warn Maqueda and Oliver that they were being
+watched, but reflecting that the business was awkward, and that the spy
+would doubtless have given over his task for this day, I left it alone,
+and went down to the Tomb of the Kings to help Higgs. Just afterwards
+Quick came on duty, long before his time, the fact being that he had no
+confidence in the Professor as a director of mining operations. When he
+appeared Higgs and I retreated from that close and filthy tunnel, and,
+by way of recreation, put in an hour or so at the cataloguing and
+archæological research in which his soul delighted. 
+
+“If only we could get all this lot out of Mur,” he said, with a
+sweep of his hand, “we should be the most famous men in Europe for at
+least three days, and rich into the bargain.”
+
+“Ptolemy,” I answered, “we shall be fortunate if we get
+ourselves alive out of Mur, let alone these bones and ancient
+treasures,” and I told him what I had seen that evening.
+
+His fat and kindly face grew anxious.
+
+“Ah!” he said. “Well, I don’t blame him; should
+probably do the same myself if I got the chance, and so would you—if
+you were twenty years younger. No, I don’t blame him, or her either,
+for the fact is that although their race, education, and circumstances
+are so different, they are one of Nature’s pairs, and while they are
+alive nothing will keep them apart. You might as well expect a magnet
+and a bit of iron to remain separate on a sheet of notepaper. Moreover,
+they give themselves away, as people in that state always do. The
+pursuit of archæology has its dangers, but it is a jolly sight safer
+than that of woman, though it did land me in a den of lions. What’s
+going to happen, old fellow?” 
+
+“Can’t say, but I think it very probable that Oliver will be
+murdered, and that we shall follow the same road, or, if we are lucky,
+be only bundled out of Mur. Well, it’s time for dinner; if I get a
+chance I will give them a hint.”
+
+So we made our way to the old temple in the great cave, where we kept
+our stores and Oliver had his headquarters. Here we found him waiting
+for us and our meal ready, for food was always brought to us by the
+palace servants. When we had eaten and these men had cleared away, we
+lit our pipes and fed the dog Pharaoh upon the scraps that had been
+reserved for him. Then I told Oliver about the spy whom I had caught
+tracking him and Maqueda. 
+
+“Well, what of it?” he said, colouring in his tell-tale fashion;
+“she only took me to see what she believed to be an ancient
+inscription on a column in that northern aisle.”
+
+“Then she’d have done better to take me, my boy,” said Higgs.
+“What was the character like?”
+
+“Don’t know,” he answered guiltily. “She could not find
+it again.”
+
+An awkward silence followed, which I broke.
+
+“Oliver,” I said, “I don’t think you ought to go on
+sleeping here alone. You have too many enemies in this place.”
+
+“Rubbish,” he answered, “though it’s true Pharaoh
+seemed uneasy last night, and that once I woke up and thought I heard
+footsteps in the court outside. I set them down to ghosts, in which I
+have almost come to believe in this haunted place, and went to sleep
+again.” 
+
+“Ghosts be blowed!” said Higgs vulgarly, “if there were such
+things I have slept with too many mummies not to see them. That
+confounded Joshua is the wizard who raises your ghosts. Look here, old
+boy,” he added, “let me camp with you to-night, since Quick must be
+in the tunnel, and Adams has to sleep outside in case he is wanted on
+the army business.” 
+
+“Not a bit of it,” he answered; “you know you are too
+asthmatical to get a wink in this atmosphere. I won’t hear of such a
+thing.”
+
+“Then come and sleep with us in the guest-house.”
+
+“Can’t be done; the Sergeant has got a very nasty job down there
+about one o’clock, and I promised to be handy in case he calls me
+up,” and he pointed to the portable field telephone that fortunately
+we had brought with us from England, which was fixed closed by, adding,
+“if only that silly thing had another few hundred yards of wire,
+I’d come; but, you see, it hasn’t and I must be in touch with the
+work.” 
+
+At this moment the bell tinkled, and Orme made a jump for the receiver
+through which for the next five minutes he was engaged in giving rapid
+and to us quite unintelligible directions.
+
+“There you are,” he said, when he had replaced the mouthpiece on
+its hook, “if I hadn’t been here they would probably have had the
+roof of the tunnel down and killed some people. No, no; I can’t leave
+that receiver unless I go back to the mine, which I am too tired to do.
+However, don’t you fret. With a pistol, a telephone, and Pharaoh
+I’m safe enough. And now, good night; you fellows had better be
+getting home as I must be up early to-morrow and want to sleep while I
+can.” 
+
+On the following morning about five o’clock Higgs and I were awakened
+by some one knocking at our door. I rose and opened it, whereon in
+walked Quick, a grim and grimy figure, for, as his soaked clothes and
+soiled face told us, he had but just left his work in the mine.
+
+“Captain wants to see you as soon as possible, gentlemen,” he said.
+
+“What’s the matter, Sergeant?” asked Higgs, as we got into
+our garments.
+
+“You’ll see for yourself presently, Professor,” was the
+laconic reply, nor could we get anything more out of him.
+
+Five minutes later we were advancing at a run through the dense darkness
+of the underground city, each of us carrying a lamp. I reached the
+ruins of the old temple first, for Quick seemed very tired and lagged
+behind, and in that atmosphere Higgs was scant of breath and could not
+travel fast. At the doorway of the place where he slept stood the tall
+form of Oliver holding a lamp aloft. Evidently he was waiting for us.
+By his side sat the big yellow dog, Pharaoh, that, when he smelt us,
+gambolled forward, wagging his tail in greeting. 
+
+“Come here,” said Orme, in a low and solemn voice, “I have
+something to show you,” and he led the way into the priest’s
+chamber, or sanctuary, whatever it may have been, where he slept upon a
+rough, native-made bedstead. At the doorway he halted, lowered the lamp
+he held, and pointed to something dark on the floor to the right of his
+bedstead, saying, “Look!”
+
+There lay a dead man, and by his side a great knife that evidently had
+fallen from his hand. At the first glance we recognised the face which,
+by the way, was singularly peaceful, as though it were that of one
+plunged in deep sleep. This seemed odd, since the throat below was
+literally torn out. 
+
+“Shadrach!” we said, with one voice.
+
+Shadrach it was; Shadrach, our former guide, who had betrayed us;
+Shadrach who, to save his own life, had shown us how to rescue Higgs,
+and for that service been pardoned, as I think I mentioned. Shadrach
+and no other! 
+
+“Pussy seems to have been on the prowl and to have met a dog,”
+remarked Quick.
+
+“Do you understand what has happened?” asked Oliver, in a dry, hard
+voice. “Perhaps I had better explain before anything is moved.
+Shadrach must have crept in here last night—I don’t know at what
+time, for I slept through it all—for purposes of his own. But he
+forgot his old enemy Pharaoh, and Pharaoh killed him. See his throat?
+When Pharaoh bites he doesn’t growl, and, of course, Shadrach could
+say nothing, or, as he had dropped his knife, for the matter of that,
+do anything either. When I was woke up about an hour ago by the
+telephone bell the dog was fast asleep, for he is accustomed to that
+bell, with his head resting upon the body of Shadrach. Now why did
+Shadrach come into my room at night with a drawn knife in his hand?”
+
+“Doesn’t seem a difficult question to answer,” replied Higgs,
+in the high voice which was common to him when excited. “He came here
+to murder you, and Pharaoh was too quick for him, that’s all. That
+dog was the cheapest purchase you ever made, friend Oliver.”
+
+“Yes,” answered Orme, “he came here to murder me—you
+were right about the risk, after all—but what I wonder is, who sent
+him?”
+
+“And so you may go on wondering for the rest of your life,
+Captain,” exclaimed Quick. “Still, I think we might guess if we
+tried.”
+
+Then news of what had happened was sent to the palace, and within little
+over an hour Maqueda arrived, accompanied by Joshua and several other
+members of her Council. When she saw and understood everything she was
+horrified, and sternly asked Joshua what he knew of this business. Of
+course, he proved to be completely innocent, and had not the slightest
+idea of who had set the murderer on to work this deed of darkness. Nor
+had anybody else, the general suggestion being that Shadrach had
+attempted it out of revenge, and met with the due reward of his crime.
+
+Only that day poor Pharaoh was poisoned. Well, he had done his work, and
+his memory is blessed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT
+
+
+From this time forward all of us, and especially Oliver, were guarded
+night and day by picked men who it was believed could not be corrupted.
+As a consequence, the Tsar of Russia scarcely leads a life more irksome
+than ours became at Mur. Of privacy there was none left to us, since
+sentries and detectives lurked at every corner, while tasters were
+obliged to eat of each dish and drink from each cup before it touched
+our lips, lest our fate should be that of Pharaoh, whose loss we
+mourned as much as though the poor dog had been some beloved human
+being. 
+
+Most of all was it irksome, I think, to Oliver and Maqueda, whose
+opportunities of meeting were much curtailed by the exigencies of this
+rigid espionage. Who can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two
+soldiers armed to the teeth have been instructed never to let him out
+of their sight? Particularly is this so if the adored happens to be the
+ruler of those soldiers to whom the person guarded has no right to be
+making himself agreeable. For when off duty even the most faithful
+guardians are apt to talk. Of course, the result was that the pair took
+risks which did not escape observation. Indeed, their intimate 
+relations became a matter of gossip throughout the land. 
+
+Still, annoying as they might be, these precautions succeeded, for none
+of us were poisoned or got our throats cut, although we were constantly
+the victims of mysterious accidents. Thus, a heavy rock rolled down
+upon us when we sat together one evening upon the hill-side, and a
+flight of arrows passed between us while we were riding along the edge
+of a thicket, by one of which Higgs’s horse was killed. Only when the
+mountain and the thicket were searched no one could be found. Moreover,
+a great plot against us was discovered in which some of the lords and
+priests were implicated, but such was the state of feeling in the
+country that, beyond warning them privately that their machinations
+were known, Maqueda did not dare to take proceedings against these men.
+
+A little later on things mended so far as we were concerned, for the
+following reason: One day two shepherds arrived at the palace with some
+of their companions, saying that they had news to communicate. On being
+questioned, these peasants averred that while they were herding their
+goats upon the western cliffs many miles away, suddenly on the top of
+the hills appeared a body of fifteen Fung, who bound and blindfolded
+them, telling them in mocking language to take a message to the Council
+and to the white men. 
+
+This was the message: That they had better make haste to destroy the god
+Harmac, since otherwise his head would move to Mur according to the
+prophecy, and that when it did so, the Fung would follow as they knew
+how to do. Then they set the two men on a rock where they could be
+seen, and on the following morning were in fact found by some of their
+fellows, those who accompanied them to the Court and corroborated this
+story. 
+
+Of course the matter was duly investigated, but as I know, for I went
+with the search party, when we got to the place no trace of the Fung
+could be found, except one of their spears, of which the handle had
+been driven into the earth and the blade pointed toward Mur, evidently
+in threat or defiance. No other token of them remained, for, as it
+happened, a heavy rain had fallen and obliterated their footprints,
+which in any case must have been faint on this rocky ground.
+
+Notwithstanding the most diligent search by skilled men, their mode of
+approach and retreat remained a mystery, as, indeed, it does to this
+day. The only places where it was supposed to be possible to scale the
+precipice of Mur were watched continually, so that they could have
+climbed up by none of these. The inference was, therefore, that the
+Fung had discovered some unknown path, and, if fifteen men could climb
+that path, why not fifteen thousand! 
+
+Only, where was this path? In vain were great rewards in land and
+honours offered to him who should discover it, for although such
+discoveries were continually reported, on investigation these were
+found to be inventions or mares’ nests. Nothing but a bird could have
+travelled by such roads. 
+
+Then at last we saw the Abati thoroughly frightened, for, with
+additions, the story soon passed from mouth to mouth till the whole
+people talked of nothing else. It was as though we English learned that
+a huge foreign army had suddenly landed on our shores and, having cut
+the wires and seized the railways, was marching upon London. The effect
+of such tidings upon a nation that always believed invasion to be
+impossible may easily be imagined, only I hope that we should take them
+better than did the Abati. 
+
+Their swagger, their self-confidence, their talk about the “rocky
+walls of Mur,” evaporated in an hour. Now it was only of the
+disciplined and terrible regiments of the Fung, among whom every man
+was trained to war, and of what would happen to them, the civilized and
+domesticated Abati, a peace-loving people who rightly enough, as they
+declared, had refused all martial burdens, should these regiments
+suddenly appear in their midst. They cried out that they were
+betrayed—they clamoured for the blood of certain of the Councillors. 
+That carpet knight, Joshua, lost popularity for a while, while Maqueda,
+who was known always to have been in favour of conscription and perfect
+readiness to repel attack, gained what he had lost. 
+
+Leaving their farms, they crowded together into the towns and villages,
+where they made what in South Africa are called laagers. Religion,
+which practically had been dead among them, for they retained but few
+traces of the Jewish faith if, indeed, they had ever really practised
+it, became the craze of the hour. Priests were at a premium; sheep and
+cattle were sacrificed; it was even said that, after the fashion of
+their foes the Fung, some human beings shared the same fate. At any
+rate the Almighty was importuned hourly to destroy the hated Fung and
+to protect His people—the Abati—from the results of their own base
+selfishness and cowardly neglect. 
+
+Well, the world has seen such exhibitions before to-day, and will
+doubtless see more of them in the instance of greater peoples who allow
+luxury and pleasure-seeking to sap their strength and manhood.
+
+The upshot of it all was that the Abati became obsessed with the saying
+of the Fung scouts to the shepherds, which, after all, was but a
+repetition of that of their envoys delivered to the Council a little
+while before: that they should hasten to destroy the idol Harmac, lest
+he should move himself to Mur. How an idol of such proportions, or even
+its head, could move at all they did not stop to inquire. It was
+obvious to them, however, that if he was destroyed there would be
+nothing to move and, further, that we Gentiles were the only persons 
+who could possibly effect such destruction. So we also became popular
+for a little while. Everybody was pleasant and flattered
+us—everybody, even Joshua, bowed when we approached, and took a most
+lively interest in the progress of our work, which many deputations and
+prominent individuals urged us to expedite. 
+
+Better still, the untoward accidents such as those I have mentioned,
+ceased. Our dogs, for we had obtained some others, were no longer
+poisoned; rocks that appeared fixed did not fall; no arrows whistled
+among us when we went out riding. We even found it safe occasionally to
+dispense with our guards, since it was every one’s interest to keep
+us alive—for the present. Still, I for one was not deceived for a
+single moment, and in season and out of season warned the others that
+the wind would soon blow again from a less favourable quarter.
+
+We worked, we worked, we worked! Heaven alone knows how we did work.
+Think of the task, which, after all, was only one of several. A tunnel
+must be bored, for I forget how far, through virgin rock, with the help
+of inadequate tools and unskilled labour, and this tunnel must be
+finished by a certain date. A hundred unexpected difficulties arose,
+and one by one were conquered. Great dangers must be run, and were
+avoided, while the responsibility of this tremendous engineering feat
+lay upon the shoulders of a single individual, Oliver Orme, who,
+although he had been educated as an engineer, had no great practical
+experience of such enterprises. 
+
+Truly the occasion makes the man, for Orme rose to it in a way that I
+can only call heroic. When he was not actually in the tunnel he was
+labouring at his calculations, of which many must be made, or taking
+levels with such instruments as he had. For if there proved to be the
+slightest error all this toil would be in vain, and result only in the
+blowing of a useless hole through a mass of rock. Then there was a
+great question as to the effect which would be produced by the amount
+of explosive at his disposal, since terrible as might be the force of
+the stuff, unless it were scientifically placed and distributed it 
+would assuredly fail to accomplish the desired end. 
+
+At last, after superhuman efforts, the mine was finished. Our stock of
+concentrated explosive, about four full camel loads of it, was set in as
+many separate chambers, each of them just large enough to receive the
+charge, hollowed in the primæval rock from which the idol had been
+hewn. 
+
+These chambers were about twenty feet from each other, although if there
+had been time to prolong the tunnel, the distance should have been at
+least forty in order to give the stuff a wider range of action.
+According to Oliver’s mathematical reckoning, they were cut in the
+exact centre of the base of the idol, and about thirty feet below the
+actual body of the crouching sphinx. As a matter of fact this reckoning
+was wrong in several particulars, the charges having been set farther
+toward the east or head of the sphinx and higher up in the base than he
+supposed. When it is remembered that he had found no opportunity of
+measuring the monument which practically we had only seen once from
+behind under conditions not favourable to accuracy in such respects, or
+of knowing its actual length and depth, these trifling errors were not
+remarkable.    
+
+What was remarkable is that his general plan of operations, founded upon
+a mere hypothetical estimate, should have proved as accurate as it did.
+
+At length all was prepared, and the deadly cast-iron flasks had been
+packed in sand, together with dynamite cartridges, the necessary
+detonators, electric wires, and so forth, an anxious and indeed awful
+task executed entirely in that stifling atmosphere by the hands of Orme
+and Quick. Then began another labour, that of the filling in of the
+tunnels. This, it seems, was necessary, or so I understood, lest the
+expanding gases, following the line of least resistance, should blow
+back, as it were, through the vent-hole. What made that task the more
+difficult was the need of cutting a little channel in the rock to
+contain the wires, and thereby lessen the risk of the fracture of these
+wires in the course of the building-up process. Of course, if by any
+accident this should happen, the circuit would be severed, and no
+explosion would follow when the electric battery was set to work. 
+
+The arrangement was that the mine should be fired on the night of that
+full moon on which we had been told, and spies confirmed the
+information, the feast of the marriage of Barung’s daughter to my son
+would be celebrated in the city of Harmac. This date was fixed because
+the Sultan had announced that so soon as that festivity, which
+coincided with the conclusion of the harvest, was ended, he meant to
+deliver his attack on Mur. 
+
+Also, we were anxious that it should be adhered to for another reason,
+since we knew that on this day but a small number of priests and guards
+would be left in charge of the idol, and my son could not be among
+them. Now, whatever may have been the views of the Abati, we as
+Christians who bore them no malice did not at all desire to destroy an
+enormous number of innocent Fung, as might have happened if we had
+fired our mine when the people were gathered to sacrifice to their god.
+
+The fatal day arrived at last. All was completed, save for the blocking
+of the passage, which still went on, or, rather, was being reinforced
+by the piling up of loose rocks against its mouth, at which a hundred
+or so men laboured incessantly. The firing wires had been led into that
+little chamber in the old temple where the dog Pharaoh tore out the
+throat of Shadrach, and no inch of them was left unguarded for fear of
+accident or treachery. 
+
+The electric batteries—two of them, in case one should fail—had
+been tested but not connected with the wires. There they stood upon the
+floor, looking innocent enough, and we four sat round them like wizards
+round their magic pot, who await the working of some spell. We were not
+cheerful; who could be under so intense a strain? Orme, indeed, who had
+grown pale and thin with continuous labour of mind and body, seemed
+quite worn out. He could not eat nor smoke, and with difficulty I
+persuaded him to drink some of the native wine. He would not even go to
+look at the completion of the work or to test the wires. 
+
+“You can see to it,” he said; “I have done all I can. Now
+things must take their chance.”
+
+After our midday meal he lay down and slept quite soundly for several
+hours. About four o’clock those who were labouring at the piling up
+of débris over the mouth of the tunnel completed their task, and, in
+charge of Quick, were marched out of the underground city.
+
+Then Higgs and I took lamps and went along the length of the wires,
+which lay in a little trench covered over with dust, removing the dust
+and inspecting them at intervals. Discovering nothing amiss, we
+returned to the old temple, and at its doorway met the mountaineer,
+Japhet, who throughout all these proceedings had been our prop and
+stay. Indeed, without his help and that of his authority over the Abati
+the mine could never have been completed, at any rate within the time.
+
+The light of the lamp showed that his face was very anxious.
+
+“What is the matter?” I asked.
+
+“O Physician,” he answered, “I have words for the ear of the
+Captain Orme. Be pleased to lead me to him.”
+
+We explained that he slept and could not be disturbed, but Japhet only
+answered as before, adding:
+
+“Come you with me, my words are for your ears as well as his.”
+
+So we went into the little room and awoke Oliver, who sprang up in a
+great fright, thinking that something untoward had happened at the
+mine. 
+
+“What’s wrong?” he asked of Japhet. “Have the Fung cut
+the wires?”
+
+“Nay, O Orme, a worse thing; I have discovered that the Prince Joshua
+has laid a plot to steal away ‘Her-whose-name-is-high.’”
+
+“What do you mean? Set out all the story, Japhet,” said Oliver.
+
+“It is short, lord. I have some friends, one of whom—he is of my
+own blood, but ask me not his name—is in the service of the Prince. We
+drank a cup of wine together, which I needed, and I suppose it loosed
+his tongue. At any rate, he told me, and I believed him. This is the
+story. For his own sake and that of the people the Prince desires that
+you should destroy the idol of Fung, and therefore he has kept his
+hands off you of late. Yet should you succeed, he does not know what
+may happen. He fears lest the Abati in their gratitude should set you
+up as great men.” 
+
+“Then he is an ass!” interrupted Quick; “for the Abati have
+no gratitude.”
+
+“He fears,” went on Japhet, “other things also. For instance,
+that the Child of Kings may express that gratitude by a mark of her
+signal favour toward one of you,” and he stared at Orme, who turned
+his head aside. “Now, the Prince is affianced to this great lady,
+whom he desires to wed for two reasons: First, because this marriage
+will make him the chief man amongst the Abati, and, secondly, because
+of late he has come to think that he loves her whom he is afraid that
+he may lose. So he has set a snare.” 
+
+“What snare?” asked one of us, for Japhet paused.
+
+“I don’t know,” answered Japhet, “and I do not think
+that my friend knew either, or, if he did, he would not tell me. But I
+understand the plot is that the Child of Kings is to be carried off to
+the Prince Joshua’s castle at the other end of the lake, six hours’
+ride away, and there be forced to marry him at once.”
+
+“Indeed,” said Orme, “and when is all this to happen?”
+
+“I don’t know, lord. I know nothing except what my friend told me,
+which I thought it right to communicate to you instantly. I asked him
+the time, however, and he said that he believed the date was fixed for
+one night after next Sabbath.”
+
+“Next Sabbath is five days hence, so that this matter does not seem to
+be very pressing,” remarked Oliver with a sigh of relief. “Are you
+sure that you can trust your friend, Japhet?”
+
+“No, lord, I am not sure, especially as I have always known him to be
+a liar. Still, I thought that I ought to tell you.”
+
+“Very kind of you, Japhet, but I wish that you had let me have my
+sleep out first. Now go down the line and see that all is right, then
+return and report.”
+
+Japhet saluted in his native fashion and went.
+
+“What do you think of this story?” asked Oliver, as soon as he was
+out of hearing.
+
+“All bosh,” answered Higgs; “the place is full of talk and
+rumours, and this is one of them.”
+
+He paused and looked at me.
+
+“Oh!” I said, “I agree with Higgs. If Japhet’s friend
+had really anything to tell he would have told it in more detail. I
+daresay there are a good many things Joshua would like to do, but I
+expect he will stop there, at any rate, for the present. If you take my
+advice you will say nothing of the matter, especially to Maqueda.”
+
+“Then we are all agreed. But what are you thinking of, Sergeant?”
+asked Oliver, addressing Quick, who stood in a corner of the room, lost
+apparently in contemplation of the floor.
+
+“I, Captain,” he replied, coming to attention. “Well, begging
+their pardon, I was thinking that I don’t hold with these gentlemen,
+except in so far that I should say nothing of this job to our Lady, who
+has plenty to bother her just now, and won’t need to be frightened as
+well. Still, there may be something in it, for though that Japhet is
+stupid, he’s honest, and honest men sometimes get hold of the right
+end of the stick. At least, he believes there is something, and
+that’s what weighs with me.”
+
+“Well, if that’s your opinion, what’s best to be done
+Sergeant? I agree that the Child of Kings should not be told, and I
+shan’t leave this place till after ten o’clock to-night at the
+earliest, if we stick to our plans, as we had better do, for all that
+stuff in the tunnel wants a little time to settle, and for other
+reasons. What are you drawing there?” and he pointed to the floor, in
+the dust of which Quick was tracing something with his finger.
+
+“A plan of our Lady’s private rooms, Captain. She told you she was
+going to rest at sundown, didn’t she, or earlier, for she was up most
+of last night, and wanted to get a few hours’ sleep
+before—something happens. Well, her bed-chamber is there, isn’t it?
+and another before it, in which her maids sleep, and nothing behind
+except a high wall and a ditch which cannot be climbed.”
+
+“That’s quite true,” interrupted Higgs. “I got leave to
+make a plan of the palace, only there is a passage six feet wide and
+twenty long leading from the guard chamber to the ladies’
+anteroom.” 
+
+“Just so, Professor, and that passage has a turn in it, if I remember
+right, so that two well-armed men could hold it against quite a lot.
+Supposing now that you and I, Professor, should go and take a nap in
+that guard-room, which will be empty, for the watch is set at the
+palace gate. We shan’t be wanted here, since if the Captain can’t
+touch off that mine, no one can, with the Doctor to help him just in
+case anything goes wrong, and Japhet guarding the line. I daresay
+there’s nothing in this yarn, but who knows? There might be, and then
+we should blame ourselves. What do you say, Professor?”
+
+“I? Oh, I’ll do anything you wish, though I should rather have
+liked to climb the cliff and watch what happens.”
+
+“You’d see nothing, Higgs,” interrupted Oliver, “except
+perhaps the reflection of a flash in the sky; so, if you don’t mind, I
+wish you would go with the Sergeant. Somehow, although I am quite
+certain that we ought not to alarm Maqueda, I am not easy about her,
+and if you two fellows were there, I should know she was all right, and
+it would be a weight off my mind.”
+
+“That settles it,” said Higgs; “we’ll be off presently.
+Look here, give us that portable telephone, which is of no use anywhere
+else now. The wire will reach to the palace, and if the machine works
+all right we can talk to you and tell each other how things are going
+on.” 
+
+Ten minutes later they had made their preparations. Quick stepped up to
+Oliver and stood at attention, saying:
+
+“Ready to march. Any more orders, Captain?”
+
+“I think not, Sergeant,” he answered, lifting his eyes from the
+little batteries that he was watching as though they were live things.
+“You know the arrangements. At ten o’clock—that is about two
+hours hence—I touch this switch. Whatever happens it must not be done
+before, for fear lest the Doctor’s son should not have left the idol,
+to say nothing of all the other poor beggars. The spies say that the
+marriage feast will not be celebrated until at least three hours after
+moonrise.” 
+
+“And that’s what I heard when I was a prisoner,” interrupted
+Higgs.
+
+“I daresay,” answered Orme; “but it is always well to allow a
+margin in case the procession should be delayed, or something. So until
+ten o’clock I’ve got to stop where I am, and you may be sure,
+Doctor, that under no circumstances shall I fire the mine before that
+hour, as indeed you will be here to see. After that I can’t say what
+will happen, but if we don’t appear, you two had better come to look
+for us—in case of accidents, you know. Do your best at your end
+according to circumstances; the Doctor and I will do our best at ours.
+I think that is all, Sergeant. Report yourselves by the telephone if
+the wire is long enough and it will work, which I daresay it won’t,
+and, anyway, look out for us about half-past ten. Good-bye!”
+
+“Good-bye, Captain,” answered Quick, then stretched out his hand,
+shook that of Orme, and without another word took his lamp and left the
+chamber. 
+
+An impulse prompted me to follow him, leaving Orme and Higgs discussing
+something before they parted. When he had walked about fifty yards in
+the awful silence of that vast underground town, of which the ruined
+tenements yawned on either side of us, the Sergeant stopped and said
+suddenly: 
+
+“You don’t believe in presentiments, do you, Doctor?”
+
+“Not a bit,” I answered.
+
+“Glad of it, Doctor. Still, I have got a bad one now, and it is that I
+shan’t see the Captain or you any more.”
+
+“Then that’s a poor look-out for us, Quick.”
+
+“No, Doctor, for me. I think you are both all right, and the
+Professor, too. It’s my name they are calling up aloft, or so it
+seems to me. Well, I don’t care much, for, though no saint, I have
+tried to do my duty, and if it is done, it’s done. If it’s written,
+it’s got to come to pass, hasn’t it? For everything is written down
+for us long before we begin, or so I’ve always thought. Still, I’ll
+grieve to part from the Captain, seeing that I nursed him as a child,
+and I’d have liked to know him well out of this hole, and safely
+married to that sweet lady first, though I don’t doubt that it will
+be so.” 
+
+“Nonsense, Sergeant,” I said sharply; “you are not yourself;
+all this work and anxiety has got on your nerves.”
+
+“As it well might, Doctor, not but I daresay that’s true. Anyhow,
+if the other is the true thing, and you should all see old England again
+with some of the stuff in that dead-house, I’ve got three nieces
+living down at home whom you might remember. Don’t say nothing of
+what I told you to the Captain till this night’s game is played,
+seeing that it might upset him, and he’ll need to keep cool up to ten
+o’clock, and afterwards too, perhaps. Only if we shouldn’t meet
+again, say that Samuel Quick sent him his duty and God’s blessing.
+And the same on yourself, Doctor, and your son, too. And now here comes
+the Professor, so good-bye.” 
+
+A minute later they had left me, and I stood watching them until the two
+stars of light from their lanterns vanished into the blackness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+HARMAC COMES TO MUR
+
+
+Slowly and in very bad spirits I retraced my steps to the old temple,
+following the line of the telephone wire which Higgs and Quick had
+unreeled as they went. In the Sergeant’s prognostications of evil I
+had no particular belief, as they seemed to me to be born of the
+circumstances which surrounded us, and in different ways affected all
+our minds, even that of the buoyant Higgs. 
+
+To take my own case, for instance. Here I was about to assist in an act
+which for aught I knew might involve the destruction of my only son. It
+was true we believed that this was the night of his marriage at the
+town of Harmac, some miles away, and that the tale of our spies
+supported this information. But how could we be sure that the date, or
+the place of the ceremony, had not been changed at the last moment?
+Supposing, for instance, that it was held, not in the town, as
+arranged, but in the courts of the idol, and that the fearful 
+activities of the fiery agent which we were about to wake to life should
+sweep the celebrants into nothingness. 
+
+The thought made me turn cold, and yet the deed must be done; Roderick
+must take his chance. And if all were well, and he escaped that danger,
+were there not worse behind? Think of him, a Christian man, the husband
+of a savage woman who worshipped a stone image with a lion’s head,
+bound to her and her tribe, a state prisoner, trebly guarded, whom, so
+far as I could see, there would be no hope of rescuing. It was awful.
+Then there were other complications. If the plan succeeded and the idol
+was destroyed, my own belief was that the Fung must thereby be
+exasperated. Evidently they knew some road into this stronghold. It
+would be used. They would pour their thousands up it, a general
+massacre would follow, of which, justly, we should be the first 
+victims. 
+
+I reached the chamber where Oliver sat brooding alone, for Japhet was
+patrolling the line.
+
+“I am not happy about Maqueda, Doctor,” he said to me. “I am
+afraid there is something in that story. She wanted to be with us;
+indeed, she begged to be allowed to come almost with tears. But I
+wouldn’t have it, since accidents may always happen; the vibration
+might shake in the roof or something; in fact, I don’t think you
+should be here. Why don’t you go away and leave me?”
+
+I answered that nothing would induce me to do so, for such a job should
+not be left to one man.
+
+“No, you’re right,” he said; “I might faint or lose my
+head or anything. I wish now that we had arranged to send the spark from
+the palace, which perhaps we might have done by joining the telephone
+wire on to the others. But, to tell you the truth, I’m afraid of the
+batteries. The cells are new but very weak, for time and the climate
+have affected them, and I thought it possible the extra distance might
+make the difference and that they would fail to work. That’s why I
+fixed this as the firing point. Hullo, there’s the bell. What have
+they got to say?” 
+
+I snatched the receiver, and presently heard the cheerful voice of Higgs
+announcing that they had arrived safely in the little anteroom to
+Maqueda’s private apartments.
+
+“The palace seems very empty,” he added; “we only met one
+sentry, for I think that everybody else, except Maqueda and a few of her
+ladies, have cleared out, being afraid lest rocks should fall on them
+when the explosion occurs.”
+
+“Did the man say so?” I asked of Higgs.
+
+“Yes, something of that sort; also he wanted to forbid us to come
+here, saying that it was against the Prince Joshua’s orders that we
+Gentiles should approach the private apartments of the Child of Kings.
+Well, we soon settled that, and he bolted. Where to? Oh! I don’t
+know; to report, he said.”
+
+“How’s Quick?” I asked.
+
+“Much the same as usual. In fact, he is saying his prayers in the
+corner, looking like a melancholy brigand with rifles, revolvers, and
+knives stuck all over him. I wish he wouldn’t say his prayers,”
+added Higgs, and his voice reached me in an indignant squeak; “it
+makes me feel uncomfortable, as though I ought to join him. But not
+having been brought up a Dissenter or a Moslem, I can’t pray in
+public as he does. Hullo! Wait a minute, will you?”
+
+Then followed a longish pause, and after it Higgs’s voice again.
+
+“It’s all right,” it said. “Only one of Maqueda’s
+ladies who had heard us and come to see who we were. When she learns I
+expect she will join us here, as the girl says she’s nervous and
+can’t sleep.”
+
+Higgs proved right in his anticipations, for in about ten minutes we
+were rung up again, this time by Maqueda herself, whereon I handed the
+receiver to Oliver and retired to the other end of the room.
+
+Nor, to tell the truth, was I sorry for the interruption, since it
+cheered up Oliver and helped to pass the time.
+
+The next thing worth telling that happened was that, an hour or more
+later, Japhet arrived, looking very frightened. We asked him our usual
+question: if anything was wrong with the wires. With a groan he
+answered “No,” the wires seemed all right, but he had met a ghost.
+
+“What ghost, you donkey?” I said.
+
+“The ghost of one of the dead kings, O Physician, yonder in the burial
+cave. It was he with the bent bones who sits in the farthest chair. Only
+he had put some flesh on his bones, and I tell you he looked fearful, a
+very fierce man, or rather ghost.”
+
+“Indeed, and did he say anything to you, Japhet?”
+
+“Oh! yes, plenty, O Physician, only I could not understand it all,
+because his language was somewhat different to mine, and he spat out his
+words as a green log spits out sparks. I think that he asked me,
+however, how my miserable people dared to destroy his god, Harmac. I
+answered that I was only a servant and did not know, adding that he
+should put his questions to you.” 
+
+“And what did he say to that, Japhet?”
+
+“I think he said that Harmac would come to Mur and settle his account
+with the Abati, and that the foreign men would be wise to fly fast and
+far. That’s all I understood; ask me no more, who would not return
+into that cave to be made a prince.”
+
+“He’s got hold of what Barung’s envoys told us,” said
+Oliver, indifferently, “and no wonder, this place is enough to make
+anybody see ghosts. I’ll repeat it to Maqueda; it will amuse her.”
+
+“I wouldn’t if I were you,” I answered, “for it
+isn’t exactly a cheerful yarn, and perhaps she’s afraid of ghosts
+too. Also,” and I pointed to the watch that lay on the table beside
+the batteries, “it is five minutes to ten.”
+
+Oh! that last five minutes! It seemed as many centuries. Like stone
+statues we sat, each of us lost in his own thoughts, though for my part
+the power of clear thinking appeared to have left me. Visions of a sort
+flowed over my mind without sinking into it, as water flows over
+marble. All I could do was fix my eyes on the face of that watch, of
+which in the flickering lamp-light the second-hand seemed to my excited
+fancy to grow enormous and jump from one side of the room to the other.
+
+Orme began to count aloud. “One, two, three, four,
+five—_now_!” and almost simultaneously he touched the knob
+first of one battery and next of the other. Before his finger pressed
+the left-hand knob I felt the solid rock beneath us surge—no other
+word conveys its movement. Then the great stone cross-piece, weighing
+several tons, that was set as a transom above the tall door of our
+room, dislodged itself, and fell quite gently into the doorway, which
+it completely blocked. 
+
+Other rocks fell also at a distance, making a great noise, and somehow I
+found myself on the ground, my stool had slid away from me. Next
+followed a muffled, awful roar, and with it came a blast of wind
+blowing where wind never blew before since the beginning of the world,
+that with a terrible wailing howled itself to silence in the thousand
+recesses of the cave city. As it passed our lamps went out. Lastly,
+quite a minute later I should think, there was a thud, as though
+something of enormous weight had fallen on the surface of the earth far
+above us. 
+
+Then all was as it had been; all was darkness and utter quietude.
+
+“Well, that’s over,” said Oliver, in a strained voice which
+sounded very small and far away through that thick darkness; “all over
+for good or ill. I needn’t have been anxious; the first battery was
+strong enough, for I felt the mine spring as I touched the second. I
+wonder,” he went on, as though speaking to himself, “what amount of
+damage nearly a ton and a half of that awful azo-imide compound has done
+to the old sphinx. According to my calculations it ought to have been
+enough to break the thing up, if we could have spread the charge more.
+But, as it is, I am by no means certain. It may only have driven a hole
+in its bulk, especially if there were hollows through which the gases
+could run. Well, with luck, we may know more about it later. Strike a
+match, Adams, and light those lamps. Why, what’s that? Listen!”
+
+As he spoke, from somewhere came a series of tiny noises, that, though
+they were so faint and small, suggested rifles fired at a great
+distance. Crack, crack, crack! went the infinitesimal noises.
+
+I groped about, and finding the receiver of the field telephone, set it
+to my ear. In an instant all grew plain to me. Guns were being fired
+near the other end of the wire, and the transmitter was sending us the
+sound of them. Very faintly but with distinctness I could hear
+Higgs’s high voice saying, “Look out, Sergeant, there’s another
+rush coming!” and Quick answering, “Shoot low, Professor; for the
+Lord’s sake shoot low. You are empty, sir. Load up, load up! Here’s
+a clip of cartridges. Don’t fire too fast. Ah! that devil got me, but
+I’ve got him; he’ll never throw another spear.”
+
+“They are being attacked!” I exclaimed. “Quick is wounded.
+Now Maqueda is talking to you. She says, ‘Oliver, come! Joshua’s
+men assail me. Oliver, come!’”
+
+Then followed a great sound of shouting answered by more shots, and just
+as Orme snatched the receiver from my hand the wire went dead. In vain
+he called down it in an agonized voice. As well might he have addressed
+the planet Saturn. 
+
+“The wire’s cut,” he exclaimed, dashing down the receiver and
+seizing the lantern which Japhet had just succeeded in re-lighting;
+“come on, there’s murder being done,” and he sprang to the
+doorway, only to stagger back again from the great stone with which it
+was blocked. 
+
+“Good God!” he screamed, “we’re shut in. How can we get
+out? How can we get out?” and he began to run round and round the
+room, and even to spring at the walls like a frightened cat. Thrice he
+sprang, striving to climb to the coping, for the place had no roof,
+each time falling back, since it was too high for him to grasp. I
+caught him round the middle, and held him by main force, although he
+struck at me. 
+
+“Be quiet,” I said; “do you want to kill yourself? You will
+be no good dead or maimed. Let me think.”
+
+Meanwhile Japhet was acting on his own account, for he, too, had heard
+the tiny, ominous sounds given out by the telephone and guessed their
+purport. First he ran to the massive transom that blocked the doorway
+and pushed. It was useless; not even an elephant could have stirred it.
+Then he stepped back, examining it carefully.
+
+“I think it can be climbed, Physician,” he said. “Help me
+now,” and he motioned to me to take one end of the heavy table on
+which the batteries stood. We dragged it to the doorway, and, seeing
+his purpose, Oliver jumped on to it with him. Then at Japhet’s
+direction, while I supported the table to prevent its oversetting, Orme
+rested his forehead against the stone, making what schoolboys call “a
+back,” up which the mountaineer climbed actively until he stood upon
+his shoulders, and by stretching himself was able to grasp the end of
+the fallen transom. Next, while I held up the lamp to give him light,
+he gripped the roughnesses of the hewn stone with his toes, and in a
+few moments was upon the coping of the wall, twenty feet or more above
+the floor line. 
+
+The rest was comparatively easy, for taking off his linen robe, Japhet
+knotted it once or twice, and let it down to us. By the help of this
+improvised rope, with Orme supporting me beneath, I, too, was dragged
+up to the coping of the wall. Then both of us pulled up Oliver, who,
+without a word, swung himself over the wall, hanging to Japhet’s
+arms, and loosing his hold, dropped to the ground on the farther side.
+Next came my turn. It was a long fall, and had not Oliver caught me I
+think that I should have hurt myself. As it was, the breath was shaken
+out of me. Lastly, Japhet swung himself down, landing lightly as a cat.
+The lamps he had already dropped to us, and in another minute they were 
+all lighted, and we were speeding down the great cavern. 
+
+“Be careful,” I cried; “there may be fallen rocks
+about.”
+
+As it happened I was right, for at that moment Oliver struck his legs
+against one of them and fell, cutting himself a good deal. In a moment
+he was up again, but after this our progress grew slow, for hundreds of
+tons of stone had been shaken from the roof and blocked the path. Also,
+whole buildings of the ancient and underground city had been thrown
+down, although these were mostly blown inward by the rush of air. At
+length we came to the end of the cave, and halted dismayed, for here,
+where the blast of the explosion had been brought to a full stop, the
+place seemed to be crowded with rocks which it had rolled before it. 
+
+“My God! I believe we are shut in,” exclaimed Oliver in despair.
+
+But Japhet, lantern in hand, was already leaping from block to block,
+and presently, from the top of the débris, called to us to come to
+him. 
+
+“I think there is a road left, though a bad one, lords,” he said,
+and pointed to a jagged, well-like hole blown out, as I believe, by the
+recoil of the blast. With difficulty and danger, for many of the piled
+up stones were loose, we climbed down this place, and at its bottom
+squeezed ourselves through a narrow aperture on to the floor of the
+cave, praying that the huge door which led to the passage beyond might
+not be jammed, since if it were, as we knew well, our small strength
+would not avail to move it. Happily, this fear at least proved
+groundless, since it opened outward, and the force of the compressed
+air had torn it from its massive stone hinges and thrown it shattered
+to the ground. 
+
+We scrambled over it, and advanced down the passage, our revolvers in
+our hands. We reached the audience hall, which was empty and in
+darkness. We turned to the left, crossing various chambers, and in the
+last of them, through which one of the gates of the palace could be
+approached, met with the first signs of the tragedy, for there were
+bloodstains on the floor. 
+
+Orme pointed to them as he hurried on, and suddenly a man leapt out of
+the darkness as a buck leaps from a bush, and ran past us, holding his
+hands to his side, where evidently he had some grievous hurt. Now we
+entered the corridor leading to the private apartments of the Child of
+Kings, and found ourselves walking on the bodies of dead and dying men.
+One of the former I observed, as one does notice little things at such
+a moment, held in his hand the broken wire of the field telephone. I
+presume that he had snatched and severed it in his death pang at the
+moment when communication ceased between us and the palace.
+
+We rushed into the little antechamber, in which lights were burning, and
+there saw a sight that I for one never shall forget.
+
+In the foreground lay more dead men, all of them wearing the livery of
+Prince Joshua. Beyond was Sergeant Quick, seated on a chair. He seemed
+to be literally hacked to pieces. An arrow that no one had attempted to
+remove was fast in his shoulder; his head, which Maqueda was sponging
+with wet cloths—well, I will not describe his wounds.
+
+Leaning against the wall near by stood Higgs, also bleeding, and
+apparently quite exhausted. Behind, besides Maqueda herself, were two
+or three of her ladies, wringing their hands and weeping. In face of
+this terrible spectacle we came to a sudden halt. No word was spoken by
+any one, for the power of speech had left us.
+
+The dying Quick opened his eyes, lifted his hand, upon which there was a
+ghastly sword-cut, to his forehead, as though to shade them from the
+light—ah! how well I recall that pathetic motion—and from beneath
+this screen stared at us a while. Then he rose from the chair, touched
+his throat to show that he could not speak, as I suppose, saluted Orme,
+turned and pointed to Maqueda, and with a triumphant smile sank down
+and—died. 
+
+Such was the noble end of Sergeant Quick.
+
+To describe what followed is not easy, for the scene was confused. Also
+shock and sorrow have blurred its recollection in my mind. I remember
+Maqueda and Orme falling into each other’s arms before everybody. I
+remember her drawing herself up in that imperial way of hers, and
+saying, as she pointed to the body of Quick:
+
+“There lies one who has shown us how to die. This countryman of yours
+was a hero, O Oliver, and you should hold his memory in honour, since
+he saved me from worse than death.”
+
+“What’s the story?” asked Orme of Higgs.
+
+“A simple one enough,” he answered. “We got here all right,
+as we told you over the wire. Then Maqueda talked to you for a long
+while until you rang off, saying you wanted to speak to Japhet. After
+that, at ten o’clock precisely, we heard the thud of the explosion.
+Next, as we were preparing to go out to see what had happened, Joshua
+arrived alone, announced that the idol Harmac had been destroyed, and
+demanded that the Child of Kings, ‘for State reasons,’ should
+accompany him to his own castle. She declined and, as he insisted, I
+took it upon myself to kick him out of the place. He retired, and we
+saw no more of him, but a few minutes later there came a shower of
+arrows down the passage, and after them a rush of men, who called,
+‘Death to the Gentiles. Rescue the Rose.’ 
+
+“So we began to shoot and knocked over a lot of them, but Quick got
+that arrow through his shoulder. Three times they came on like that,
+and three times we drove them back. At last our cartridges ran low, and
+we only had our revolvers left, which we emptied into them. They hung a
+moment, but moved forward again, and all seemed up.
+
+“Then Quick went mad. He snatched the sword of a dead Abati and ran at
+them roaring like a bull. They hacked and cut at him, but the end of it
+was that he drove them right out of the passage, while I followed,
+firing past him. 
+
+“Well, those who were left of the blackguards bolted, and when they
+had gone the Sergeant tumbled down. The women and I carried him back
+here, but he never said another word, and at last you turned up. Now
+he’s gone, God rest him, for if ever there was a hero in this world
+he was christened Samuel Quick!” and, turning aside, the Professor
+pushed up the blue spectacles he always wore on to his forehead, and
+wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. 
+
+With grief more bitter than I can describe we lifted up the body of the
+gallant Quick and, bearing it into Maqueda’s private apartment,
+placed it on her own bed, for she insisted that the man who had died to
+protect her should be laid nowhere else. It was strange to see the grim
+old soldier, whose face, now that I had washed his wounds, looked calm
+and even beautiful, laid out to sleep his last sleep upon the couch of
+the Child of Kings. That bed, I remember, was a rich and splendid
+thing, made of some black wood inlaid with scrolls of gold, and having
+hung about it curtains of white net embroidered with golden stars, such
+as Maqueda wore upon her official veil. 
+
+There upon the scented pillows and silken coverlet we set our burden
+down, the work-worn hands clasped upon the breast in an attitude of
+prayer, and one by one bid our farewell to this faithful and upright
+man, whose face, as it chanced, we were never to see again, except in
+the glass of memory. Well, he had died as he had lived and would have
+wished to die—doing his duty and in war. And so we left him. Peace be
+to his honoured spirit! 
+
+In the blood-stained ante-room, while I dressed and stitched up the
+Professor’s wounds, a sword-cut on the head, an arrow-graze along the
+face, and a spear-prick in the thigh, none of them happily at all deep
+or dangerous, we held a brief council.
+
+“Friends,” said Maqueda, who was leaning on her lover’s arm,
+“it is not safe that we should stop here. My uncle’s plot has
+failed for the moment, but it was only a small and secret thing. I think
+that soon he will return again with a thousand at his back, and
+then——”
+
+“What is in your mind?” asked Oliver. “To fly from Mur?”
+
+“How can we fly,” she answered, “when the pass is guarded by
+Joshua’s men, and the Fung wait for us without? The Abati hate you, my
+friends, and now that you have done your work I think that they will
+kill you if they can, whom they bore with only till it was done. Alas!
+alas! that I should have brought you to this false and ungrateful
+country,” and she began to weep, while we stared at each other,
+helpless. 
+
+Then Japhet, who all this while had been crouched on the floor, rocking
+himself to and fro and mourning in his Eastern fashion for Quick, whom
+he had loved, rose, and, coming to the Child of Kings, prostrated
+himself before her. 
+
+“O Walda Nagasta,” he said, “hear the words of your servant.
+Only three miles away, near to the mouth of the pass, are encamped five
+hundred men of my own people, the Mountaineers, who hate Prince Joshua
+and his following. Fly to them, O Walda Nagasta, for they will cleave
+to you and listen to me whom you have made a chief among them.
+Afterwards you can act as may seem wisest.”
+
+Maqueda looked at Oliver questioningly.
+
+“I think that is good advice,” he said. “At any rate, we
+can’t be worse off among the Mountaineers than we are in this
+undefended place. Tell your women to bring cloaks that we can throw
+over our heads, and let us go.”
+
+Five minutes later, a forlorn group filled with fears, we had stolen
+over the dead and dying in the passage, and made our way to the side
+gate of the palace that we found open, and over the bridge that spanned
+the moat beyond, which was down. Doubtless Joshua’s ruffians had used
+it in their approach and retreat. Disguised in the long cloaks with
+monk-like hoods that the Abati wore at night or when the weather was
+cold and wet, we hurried across the great square. Here, since we could
+not escape them, we mingled with the crowd that was gathered at its
+farther end, all of them—men, women and children—chattering like
+monkeys in the tree-tops, and pointing to the cliff at the back of the
+palace, beneath which, it will be remembered, lay the underground city.
+
+A band of soldiers rode by, thrusting their way through the people, and
+in order to avoid them we thought it wise to take refuge in the shadow
+of a walk of green-leaved trees which grew close at hand, for we feared
+lest they might recognize Oliver by his height. Here we turned and
+looked up at the cliff, to discover what it was at which every one was
+staring. At that moment the full moon, which had been obscured by a
+cloud, broke out, and we saw a spectacle that under the circumstances
+was nothing less than terrifying. 
+
+The cliff behind the palace rose to a height of about a hundred and
+fifty feet, and, as it chanced, just there a portion of it jutted out
+in an oblong shape, which the Abati called the Lion Rock, although
+personally, heretofore, I had never been able to see in it any great
+resemblance to a lion. Now, however, it was different, for on the very
+extremity of this rock, staring down at Mur, sat the head and neck of
+the huge lion-faced idol of the Fung. Indeed, in that light, with the
+promontory stretching away behind it, it looked as though it were the
+idol itself, moved from the valley upon the farther side of the 
+precipice to the top of the cliff above. 
+
+“Oh! oh! oh!” groaned Japhet, “the prophecy is
+fulfilled—the head of Harmac has come to sleep at Mur.”
+
+“You mean that we have sent him there,” whispered Higgs.
+“Don’t be frightened, man; can’t you understand that the
+power of our medicine has blown the head off the sphinx high into the
+air, and landed it where it sits now?”
+
+“Yes,” I put in, “and what we felt in the cave was the shock
+of its fall.”
+
+“I don’t care what brought him,” replied Japhet, who seemed
+quite unstrung by all that he had gone through. “All I know is that
+the prophecy is fulfilled, and Harmac has come to Mur, and where Harmac
+goes the Fung follow.”
+
+“So much the better,” said the irreverent Higgs. “I may be
+able to sketch and measure him now.”
+
+But I saw that Maqueda was trembling, for she, too, thought this
+occurrence a very bad omen, and even Oliver remained silent, perhaps
+because he feared its effect upon the Abati.
+
+Nor was this wonderful since, from the talk around us, clearly that
+effect was great. Evidently the people were terrified, like Japhet. We
+could hear them foreboding ill, and cursing us Gentiles as wizards, who
+had not destroyed the idol of the Fung as we promised, but had only
+caused him to fly to Mur. 
+
+Here I may mention that as a matter of fact they were right. As we
+discovered afterwards, the whole force of the explosion, instead of
+shattering the vast bulk of the stone image, had rushed up through the
+hollow chambers in its interior until it struck against the solid head.
+Lifting this as though it were a toy, the expanding gas had hurled that
+mighty mass an unknown distance into the air, to light upon the crest
+of the cliffs of Mur, where probably it will remain forever.
+
+“Well,” I said, when we had stared a little while at this
+extraordinary phenomenon, “thank God it did not travel farther, and
+fall upon the palace.”
+
+“Oh! had it done so,” whispered Maqueda in a tearful voice,
+“I think you might have thanked God indeed, for then at least I should
+be free from all my troubles. Come, friends, let us be going before we
+are discovered.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+I FIND MY SON
+
+
+Our road toward the pass ran through the camping ground of the newly
+created Abati army, and what we saw on our journey thither told us more
+vividly than any words or reports could do, how utter was the
+demoralization of that people. Where should have been sentries were no
+sentries; where should have been soldiers were groups of officers
+talking with women; where should have been officers were camp followers
+drinking. 
+
+Through this confusion and excitement we made our way unobserved, or, at
+any rate, unquestioned, till at length we came to the regiment of the
+Mountaineers, who, for the most part, were goatherds, poor people who
+lived upon the slopes of the precipices that enclosed the land of Mur.
+These folk, having little to do with their more prosperous brethren of
+the plain, were hardy and primitive of nature, and therefore retained
+some of the primeval virtues of mankind, such as courage and loyalty.
+
+It was for the first of these reasons, and, indeed, for the second also,
+that they had been posted by Joshua at the mouth of the pass, which he
+knew well they alone could be trusted to defend in the event of serious
+attack. Moreover, it was desirable, from his point of view, to keep
+them out of the way while he developed his plans against the person of
+the Child of Kings, for whom these simple-minded men had a hereditary
+and almost a superstitious reverence. 
+
+As soon as we were within the lines of these Mountaineers we found the
+difference between them and the rest of the Abati. The other regiments
+we had passed unchallenged, but here we were instantly stopped by a
+picket. Japhet whispered something into the ear of its officer that
+caused him to stare hard at us. Then this officer saluted the veiled
+figure of the Child of Kings and led us to where the commander of the
+band and his subordinates were seated near a fire sitting together. At
+some sign or word that did not reach us the commander, an old fellow
+with a long grey beard, rose and said: 
+
+“Your pardon, but be pleased to show your faces.”
+
+Maqueda threw back her hood and turned so that the light of the moon
+fell full upon her, whereon the old man dropped to his knee, saying:
+
+“Your commands, O Walda Nagasta.”
+
+“Summon your regiment and I will give them,” she answered, and
+seated herself on a bench by the fire, we three and Japhet standing
+behind her. 
+
+The commander issued orders to his captains, and presently the
+Mountaineers formed up on three sides of a square above us, to the
+number of a little over five hundred men. When all were gathered
+Maqueda mounted the bench upon which she had been sitting, threw back
+her hood so that every one could see her face in the light of the fire,
+and addressed them: 
+
+“Men of the mountain-side, this night just after the idol of the Fung
+had been destroyed, the Prince Joshua, my uncle, came to me demanding
+my surrender to him, whether to kill me or to imprison me in his castle
+beyond the end of the lake, for reasons of State as he said, or for
+other vile purposes, I do not know.”
+
+At these words a murmur rose from the audience.
+
+“Wait,” said Maqueda, holding up her hand, “there is worse to
+come. I told my uncle, Prince Joshua, that he was a traitor and had best
+be gone. He went, threatening me and, when I do not know, withdrew the
+guards that should be stationed at my palace gates. Now, some rumour of
+my danger had reached the foreigners in my service, and two of them, he
+who is called Black Windows, whom we rescued from the Fung, and the
+soldier named Quick, came to watch over me, while the Lord Orme and the
+Doctor Adams stayed in the cave to send out that spark of fire which
+should destroy the idol. Nor did they come back without need, for
+presently arrived a band of Prince Joshua’s men to take me.
+
+“Then Black Windows and the soldier his companion fought a good fight,
+they two holding the narrow passage against many, and slaying a number
+of them with their terrible weapons. The end of it was, men of the
+mountains, that the warrior Quick, charging down the passage, drove
+away those servants of Joshua who remained alive. But in so doing he
+was wounded to the death. Yes, that brave man lies dead, having given
+his life to save the Child of Kings from the hands of her own people.
+Black Windows also was wounded—see the bandages about his head. Then
+came the Lord Orme and the Doctor Adams, and with them your brother
+Japhet, who had barely escaped with their lives from the cave city, and
+knowing that I was no longer safe in the palace, where even my 
+sleeping-room has been drenched with blood, with them I have fled to you
+for succour. Will you not protect me, O men of the mountain-side?” 
+
+“Yes, yes,” they answered with a great shout. “Command and we
+obey. What shall we do, O Child of Kings?”
+
+Now Maqueda called the officers of the regiment apart and consulted with
+them, asking their opinions, one by one. Some of them were in favour of
+finding out where Joshua might be, and attacking him at once. “Crush
+the snake’s head and its tail will soon cease wriggling!” these
+said, and I confess this was a view that in many ways commended itself
+to us. 
+
+But Maqueda would have none of it.
+
+“What!” she exclaimed, “shall I begin a civil war among my
+people when for aught I know the enemy is at our gates?” adding aside
+to us, “also, how can these few hundred men, brave though they be,
+hope to stand against the thousands under the command of Joshua?”
+
+“What, then, would you do?” asked Orme.
+
+“Return to the palace with these Mountaineers, O Oliver, and by help
+of that garrison, hold it against all enemies.”
+
+“Very well,” he replied. “To those who are quite lost one
+road is as good as another; they must trust to the stars to guide
+them.” 
+
+“Quite so,” echoed Higgs; “and the sooner we go the better,
+for my leg hurts, and I want a sleep.”
+
+So Maqueda gave her commands to the officers, by whom they were conveyed
+to the regiment, which received them with a shout, and instantly began
+to strike its camp.
+
+Then it was, coming hot-foot after so much sorrow, loss and doubt, that
+there followed the happiest event of all my life. Utterly tired out and
+very despondent, I was seated on an arrow-chest awaiting the order to
+march, idly watching Oliver and Maqueda talking with great earnestness
+at a little distance, and in the intervals trying to prevent poor Higgs
+at my side from falling asleep. While I was thus engaged, suddenly I
+heard a disturbance, and by the bright moonlight caught sight of a man
+being led into the camp in charge of a guard of Abati soldiers, whom
+from their dress I knew to belong to a company that just then was
+employed in watching the lower gates of the pass. 
+
+I took no particular heed of the incident, thinking only that they might
+have captured some spy, till a murmur of astonishment, and the general
+stir, warned me that something unusual had occurred. So I rose from my
+box and strolled towards the man, who now was hidden from me by a group
+of Mountaineers. As I advanced this group opened, the men who composed
+it bowing to me with a kind of wondering respect that impressed me, I
+did not know why. 
+
+Then for the first time I saw the prisoner. He was a tall, athletic
+young man, dressed in festal robes with a heavy gold chain about his
+neck, and I wondered vaguely what such a person should be doing here in
+this time of national commotion. He turned his head so that the
+moonlight showed his dark eyes, his somewhat oval-shaped face ending in
+a peaked black beard, and his finely cut features. In an instant I knew
+him. 
+
+_It was my son Roderick!_
+
+Next moment, for the first time for very many years, he was in my arms.
+
+The first thing that I remember saying to him was a typically
+Anglo-Saxon remark, for however much we live in the East or elsewhere,
+we never really shake off our native conventions, and habits of speech.
+It was, “How are you, my boy, and how on earth did you come here?”
+to which he answered, slowly, it is true, and speaking with a foreign
+accent: 
+
+“All right, thank you, father. I ran upon my legs.”
+
+By this time Higgs hobbled up, and was greeting my son warmly, for, of
+course, they were old friends.
+
+“Thought you were to be married to-night, Roderick?” he said.
+
+“Yes, yes,” he answered, “I am half married according to Fung
+custom, which counts not to my soul. Look, this is the dress of
+marriage,” and he pointed to his fine embroidered robe and rich
+ornaments. 
+
+“Then, where’s your wife?” asked Higgs.
+
+“I do not know and I do not care,” he answered, “for I did
+not like that wife. Also it is all nothing as I am not quite married to
+her. Fung marriage between big people takes two days to finish, and if
+not finished does not matter. So she marry some one else if she like,
+and I too.” 
+
+“What happened then?” I asked.
+
+“Oh, this, father. When we had eaten the marriage feast, but before we
+pass before priest, suddenly we hear a thunder and see a pillar of fire
+shoot up into sky, and sitting on top of it head of Harmac, which
+vanish into heaven and stop there. Then everybody jump up and say:
+
+“‘Magic of white man! Magic of white man! White man kill the god
+who sit there from beginning of world, now day of Fung finished
+according to prophecy. Run away, people of Fung, run away!’
+
+“Barung the Sultan tear his clothes too, and say—‘Run away,
+Fung,’ and my half-wife, she tear _her_ clothes and say nothing,
+but run like antelope. So they all run toward east, where great river
+is, and leave me alone. Then I get up and run too—toward west, for I
+know from Black Windows,” and he pointed to Higgs, “when we shut up
+together in belly of god before he let down to lions, what all this
+game mean, and therefore not frightened. Well, I run, meeting no one in
+night, till I come to pass, run up it, and find guards, to whom I tell
+story, so they not kill me, but let me through, and at last I come
+here, quite safe, without Fung wife, thank God, and that end of
+tale.” 
+
+“I am afraid you are wrong there, my boy,” I said, “out of
+the frying-pan into the fire, that’s all.”
+
+“Out of frying-pan into fire,” he repeated. “Not understand;
+father must remember I only little fellow when Khalifa’s people take
+me, and since then speak no English till I meet Black Windows. Only he
+give me Bible-book that he have in pocket when he go down to be eat by
+lions.” (Here Higgs blushed, for no one ever suspected him, a severe
+critic of all religions, of carrying a Bible in his pocket, and
+muttered something about “ancient customs of the Hebrews.”)
+
+“Well,” went on Roderick, “read that book ever since, and, as
+you see, all my English come back.”
+
+“The question is,” said Higgs, evidently in haste to talk of
+something else, “will the Fung come back?”
+
+“Oh! Black Windows, don’t know, can’t say. Think not. Their
+prophecy was that Harmac move to Mur, but when they see his head jump
+into sky and stop there, they run every man toward the sunrise, and I
+think go on running.”
+
+“But Harmac has come to Mur, Roderick,” I said; “at least his
+head has fallen on to the cliff that overlooks the city.”
+
+“Oh! my father,” he answered, “then that make great
+difference. When Fung find out that head of Harmac has come here, no
+doubt they come after him, for head his most holy bit, especially as
+they want hang all the Abati whom they not like.”
+
+“Well, let’s hope that they don’t find out anything about
+it,” I replied, to change the subject. Then taking Roderick by the
+hand I led him to where Maqueda stood a yard or two apart, listening to
+our talk, but, of course, understanding very little of it, and
+introduced him to her, explaining in a few words the wonderful thing
+that had happened. She welcomed him very kindly, and congratulated me
+upon my son’s escape. Meanwhile, Roderick had been staring at her
+with evident admiration. Now he turned to us and said in his quaint
+broken English: 
+
+“Walda Nagasta most lovely woman! No wonder King Solomon love her
+mother. If Barung’s daughter, my wife, had been like her, think I run
+through great river into rising sun with Fung.”
+
+Oliver instantly translated this remark, which made us all laugh,
+including Maqueda herself, and very grateful we were to find the
+opportunity for a little innocent merriment upon that tragic night.
+
+By this time the regiment was ready to start, and had formed up into
+companies. Before the march actually began, however, the officer of the
+Abati patrol, in whose charge Roderick had been brought to us, demanded
+his surrender that he might deliver his prisoner to the
+Commander-in-Chief, Prince Joshua. Of course, this was refused, whereon
+the man asked roughly: 
+
+“By whose order?”
+
+As it happened, Maqueda, of whose presence he was not aware, heard him,
+and acting on some impulse, came forward, and unveiled.
+
+“By mine,” she said. “Know that the Child of Kings rules the
+Abati, not the Prince Joshua, and that prisoners taken by her soldiers
+are hers, not his. Be gone back to your post!”
+
+The captain stared, saluted, and went with his companions, not to the
+pass, indeed, as he had been ordered, but to Joshua. To him he reported
+the arrival of the Gentile’s son, and the news he brought that the
+nation of the Fung, dismayed by the destruction of their god, were in
+full flight from the plains of Harmac, purposing to cross the great
+river and to return no more. 
+
+This glad tidings spread like wildfire; so fast, indeed, that almost
+before we had begun our march, we heard the shouts of exultation with
+which it was received by the terrified mob gathered in the great
+square. The cloud of terror was suddenly lifted from them. They went
+mad in their delight; they lit bonfires, they drank, they feasted, they
+embraced each other and boasted of their bravery that had caused the
+mighty nation of the Fung to flee away for ever.
+
+Meanwhile, our advance had begun, nor in the midst of the general
+jubilation was any particular notice taken of us till we were in the
+middle of the square of Mur and within half a mile of the palace, when
+we saw by the moonlight that a large body of troops, two or three
+thousand of them, were drawn up in front of us, apparently to bar our
+way. Still we went on till a number of officers rode up, and addressing
+the commander of the regiment of Mountaineers, demanded to know why he
+had left his post, and whither he went. 
+
+“I go whither I am ordered,” he answered, “for there is one
+here greater than I.”
+
+“If you mean the Gentile Orme and his fellows, the command of the
+Prince Joshua is that you hand them over to us that they may make
+report to him of their doings this night.”
+
+“And the command of the Child of Kings is,” replied the captain of
+the Mountaineers, “that I take them with her back to the palace.”
+
+“It has no weight,” said the spokesman insolently, “not being
+endorsed by the Council. Surrender the Gentiles, hand over to us the
+person of the Child of Kings of whom you have taken possession, and
+return to your post till the pleasure of the Prince Joshua be known.”
+
+Then the wrath of Maqueda blazed up.
+
+“Seize those men!” she said, and it was done instantly. “Now,
+cut the head from him who dared to demand the surrender of my person and
+of my officers, and give it to his companions to take back to the
+Prince Joshua as my answer to his message.”
+
+The man heard, and being a coward like all the Abati, flung himself upon
+his face before Maqueda, trying to kiss her robe and pleading for
+mercy. 
+
+“Dog!” she answered, “you were one of those who this very
+night dared to attack my chamber. Oh! lie not, I knew your voice and
+heard your fellow-traitors call you by your name. Away with him!”
+
+We tried to interfere, but she would not listen, even to Orme.
+
+“Would you plead for your brother’s murderer?” she asked,
+alluding to Quick. “I have spoken!”
+
+So they dragged him off behind us, and presently we saw a melancholy
+procession returning whence they came, carrying something on a shield.
+It reached the opposing ranks, whence there arose a murmur of wrath and
+fear. 
+
+“March on!” said Maqueda, “and gain the palace.”
+
+So the regiment formed into a square, and, setting Maqueda and ourselves
+in the centre of it, advanced again.
+
+Then the fight began. Great numbers of the Abati surrounded us and, as
+they did not dare to make a direct attack, commenced shooting arrows,
+which killed and wounded a number of men. But the Highlanders also were
+archers, and carried stronger bows. The square was halted, the first
+ranks kneeling and the second standing behind them. Then, at a given
+word, the stiff bows which these hardy people used against the lion and
+the buffalo upon their hills were drawn to the ear and loosed again and
+again with terrible effect. 
+
+On that open place it was almost impossible to miss the mobs of the
+Abati who, having no experience of war, were fighting without order.
+Nor could the light mail they wore withstand the rush of the heavy
+barbed arrows which pierced them through and through. In two minutes
+they began to give, in three they were flying back to their main body,
+those who were left of them, a huddled rout of men and horses. So the
+French must have fled before the terrible longbows of the English at
+Crécy and Poitiers, for, in fact, we were taking part in just such a
+mediæval battle. 
+
+Oliver, who was watching intently, went to Japhet and whispered
+something in his ear. He nodded and ran to seek the commander of the
+regiment. Presently the result of that whisper became apparent, for the
+sides of the hollow square wheeled outward and the rear moved up to
+strengthen the centre. 
+
+Now the Mountaineers were ranged in a double or triple line, behind
+which were only about a dozen soldiers, who marched round Maqueda,
+holding their shields aloft in order to protect her from stray arrows.
+With these, too, came our four selves, a number of camp-followers and
+others, carrying on their shields those of the regiment who were too
+badly wounded to walk. 
+
+Leaving the dead where they lay, we began to advance, pouring in volleys
+of arrows as we went. Twice the Abati tried to charge us, and twice
+those dreadful arrows drove them back. Then at the word of command, the
+Highlanders slung their bows upon their backs, drew their short swords,
+and in their turn charged. 
+
+Five minutes afterwards everything was over. Joshua’s soldiers threw
+down their arms, and ran or galloped to right and left, save a number
+of them who fled through the gates of the palace, which they had
+opened, and across the drawbridge into the courtyards within. After
+them, or, rather, mixed up with them, followed the Mountaineers,
+killing all whom they could find, for they were out of hand and would
+not listen to the commands of Maqueda and their officers, that they
+should show mercy. 
+
+So, just as the dawn broke this strange moonlit battle ended, a small
+affair, it is true, for there were only five hundred men engaged upon
+our side and three or four thousand on the other, yet one that cost a
+great number of lives and was the beginning of all the ruin that
+followed. 
+
+Well, we were safe for a while, since it was certain, after the lesson
+which he had just learned, that Joshua would not attempt to storm the
+double walls and fosse of the palace without long preparation. Yet even
+now a new trouble awaited us, for by some means, we never discovered
+how, that wing of the palace in which Maqueda’s private rooms were
+situated suddenly burst into flames. 
+
+Personally, I believe that the fire arose through the fact that a lamp
+had been left burning near the bed of the Child of Kings upon which was
+laid the body of Sergeant Quick. Perhaps a wounded man hidden there
+overturned the lamp; perhaps the draught blowing through the open doors
+brought the gold-spangled curtains into contact with the wick.
+
+At any rate, the wood-panelled chambers took fire, and had it not
+happened that the set of the wind was favourable, the whole palace
+might have been consumed. As it was, we succeeded in confining the
+conflagration to this particular part of it, which within two hours had
+burnt out, leaving nothing standing but the stark, stone walls.
+
+Such was the funeral pyre of Sergeant Quick, a noble one, I thought to
+myself, as I watched it burn.
+
+When the fire was so well under control, for we had pulled down the
+connecting passage where Higgs and Quick fought their great fight, that
+there was no longer any danger of its spreading, and the watches had
+been set, at length we got some rest.
+
+Maqueda and two or three of her ladies, one of them, I remember, her old
+nurse who had brought her up, for her mother died at her birth, took
+possession of some empty rooms, of which there were many in the palace,
+while we lay, or rather fell, down in the guest-chambers, where we had
+always slept, and never opened our eyes again until the evening.
+
+I remember that I woke thinking that I was the victim of some wonderful
+dream of mingled joy and tragedy. Oliver and Higgs were sleeping like
+logs, but my son Roderick, still dressed in his bridal robes, had risen
+and sat by my bed staring at me, a puzzled look upon his handsome face.
+
+“So you are here,” I said, taking his hand. “I thought I
+dreamed.”
+
+“No, Father,” he answered in his odd English, “no dream; all
+true. This is a strange world, Father. Look at me! For how many
+years—twelve—fourteen, slave of savage peoples for whom I sing,
+priest of Fung idol, always near death but never die. Then Sultan Barung
+take fancy to me, say I come of white blood and must be his
+daughter’s husband. Then your brother Higgs made prisoner with me and
+tell me that you hunt me all these years. Then Higgs thrown to lions
+and you save him. Then yesterday I married to Sultan’s daughter, whom
+I never see before but twice at fast of idol. Then Harmac’s head fly
+off to heaven, and all Fung people run away, and I run too, and find
+you. Then battle, and many killed, and arrow scratch my neck but not
+hurt me,” and he pointed to a graze just over his jugular vein,
+“and now we together. Oh! Father, very strange world! I think there
+God somewhere who look after us!” 
+
+“I think so, too, my boy,” I answered, “and I hope that He
+will continue to do so, for I tell you we are in a worse place than ever
+you were among the Fung.”
+
+“Oh, don’t mind that, Father,” he answered gaily, for
+Roderick is a cheerful soul. “As Fung say, there no house without
+door, although plenty people made blind and can’t see it. But we not
+blind, or we dead long ago. Find door by and by, but here come man to
+talk to you.” 
+
+The man proved to be Japhet, who had been sent by the Child of Kings to
+summon us, as she had news to tell. So I woke the others, and after I
+had dressed the Professor’s flesh wounds, which were stiff and sore,
+we joined her where she sat in the gateway tower of the inner wall. She
+greeted us rather sadly, asked Oliver how he had slept and Higgs if his
+cuts hurt him. Then she turned to my son, and congratulated him upon
+his wonderful escape and upon having found a father if he had lost a
+wife. 
+
+“Truly,” she added, “you are a fortunate man to be so well
+loved, O son of Adams. To how many sons are given fathers who for
+fourteen long years, abandoning all else, would search for them in
+peril of their lives, enduring slavery and blows and starvation and the
+desert’s heat and cold for the sake of a long-lost face? Such
+faithfulness is that of my forefather David for his brother Jonathan,
+and such love it is that passes the love of women. See that you pay it
+back to him, and to his memory until the last hour of your life, child
+of Adams.” 
+
+“I will, indeed, I will, O Walda Nagasta,” answered Roderick, and
+throwing his arms about my neck he embraced me before them all. It is
+not too much to say that this kiss of filial devotion more than repaid
+me for all I had undergone for his beloved sake. For now I knew that I
+had not toiled and suffered for one of no worth, as is so often the lot
+of true hearts in this bitter world.
+
+Just then some of Maqueda’s ladies brought food, and at her bidding we
+breakfasted.
+
+“Be sparing,” she said with a melancholy little laugh, “for I
+know not how long our store will last. Listen! I have received a last
+offer from my uncle Joshua. An arrow brought it—not a man; I think
+that no man would come lest his fate should be that of the traitor of
+yesterday,” and she produced a slip of parchment that had been tied
+to the shaft of an arrow and, unfolding it, read as follows—
+
+“O Walda Nagasta, deliver up to death the Gentiles who have bewitched
+you and led you to shed the blood of so many of your people, and with
+them the officers of the Mountaineers, and the rest shall be spared.
+You also I will forgive and make my wife. Resist, and all who cling to
+you shall be put to the sword, and to yourself I promise nothing.
+
+“Written by order of the Council,
+
+“Joshua, Prince of the Abati.”
+
+“What answer shall I send?” she asked, looking at us curiously.
+
+“Upon my word,” replied Orme, shrugging his shoulders, “if it
+were not for those faithful officers I am not sure but that you would be
+wise to accept the terms. We are cooped up here, but a few surrounded
+by thousands, who, if they dare not assault, still can starve us out,
+as this place is not victualled for a siege.”
+
+“You forget one of those terms, O Oliver!” she said slowly,
+pointing with her finger to the passage in the letter which stated that
+Joshua would make her his wife, “Now do you still counsel
+surrender?” 
+
+“How can I?” he answered, flushing, and was silent.
+
+“Well, it does not matter what you counsel,” she went on with a
+smile, “seeing that I have already sent my answer, also by arrow. See,
+here is a copy of it,” and she read—
+
+“To my rebellious People of the Abati:
+
+“Surrender to me Joshua, my uncle, and the members of the Council who
+have lifted sword against me, to be dealt with according to the ancient
+law, and the rest of you shall go unharmed. Refuse, and I swear to you
+that before the night of the new moon has passed there shall be such
+woe in Mur as fell upon the city of David when the barbarian standards
+were set upon her walls. Such is the counsel that has come to me, the
+Child of Solomon, in the watches of the night, and I tell you that it
+is true. Do what you will, people of the Abati, or what you must, since
+your fate and ours are written. But be sure that in me and the Western
+lords lies your only hope. 
+
+“Walda Nagasta.”
+
+“What do you mean, O Maqueda,” I asked, “about the counsel
+that came to you in the watches of the night?”
+
+“What I say, O Adams,” she answered calmly. “After we parted
+at dawn I slept heavily, and in my sleep a dark and royal woman stood
+before me whom I knew to be my great ancestress, the beloved of
+Solomon. She looked on me sadly, yet as I thought with love. Then she
+drew back, as it were, a curtain of thick cloud that hid the future and
+revealed to me the young moon riding the sky and beneath it Mur, a
+blackened ruin, her streets filled with dead. Yes, and she showed to me
+other things, though I may not tell them, which also shall come to
+pass, then held her hands over me as if in blessing, and was gone.”
+
+“Old Hebrew prophet business! Very interesting,” I heard Higgs
+mutter below his breath, while in my own heart I set the dream down to
+excitement and want of food. In fact, only two of us were impressed, my
+son very much, and Oliver a little, perhaps because everything Maqueda
+said was gospel to him.
+
+“Doubtless all will come to pass as you say, Walda Nagasta,” said
+Roderick with conviction. “The day of the Abati is finished.”
+
+“Why do you say that, Son?” I asked.
+
+“Because, Father, among the Fung people from a child I have two
+offices, that of Singer to the God and that of Reader of Dreams. Oh! do
+not laugh. I can tell you many that have come true as I read them; thus
+the dream of Barung which I read to mean that the head of Harmac would
+come to Mur, and see, there it sit,” and turning, he pointed through
+the doorway of the tower to the grim lion-head of the idol crouched
+upon the top of the precipice, watching Mur as a beast of prey watches
+the victim upon which it is about to spring. “I know when dreams true
+and when dreams false; it my gift, like my voice. I know that this
+dream true, that all,” and as he ceased speaking I saw his eyes catch
+Maqueda’s, and a very curious glance pass between them.
+
+As for Orme, he only said:
+
+“You Easterns are strange people, and if you believe a thing, Maqueda,
+there may be something in it. But you understand that this message of
+yours means war to the last, a very unequal war,” and he looked at
+the hordes of the Abati gathering on the great square.
+
+“Yes,” she answered quietly, “I understand, but however sore
+our straits, and however strange may seem the things that happen, have
+no fear of the end of that war, O my friends.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE BURNING OF THE PALACE
+
+
+Orme was right. Maqueda’s defiance did mean war, “an unequal
+war.” This was our position. We were shut up in a long range of
+buildings, of which one end had been burned, that on account of their
+moat and double wall, if defended with any vigour, could only be
+stormed by an enemy of great courage and determination, prepared to
+face a heavy sacrifice of life. This was a circumstance in our favour,
+since the Abati were not courageous, and very much disliked the idea of
+being killed, or even injured. 
+
+But here our advantage ended. Deducting those whom we had lost on the
+previous night, the garrison only amounted to something over four
+hundred men, of whom about fifty were wounded, some of them
+dangerously. Moreover, ammunition was short, for they had shot away
+most of their arrows in the battle of the square, and we had no means
+of obtaining more. But, worst of all, the palace was not provisioned
+for a siege, and the mountaineers had with them only three days’
+rations of sun-dried beef or goat’s flesh, and a hard kind of biscuit
+made of Indian corn mixed with barley meal. Thus, as we saw from the 
+beginning, unless we could manage to secure more food our case must soon
+grow hopeless. 
+
+There remained yet another danger. Although the palace itself was
+stone-built, its gilded domes and ornamental turrets were of timber,
+and therefore liable to be fired, as indeed had already happened. The
+roof also was of ancient cedar beams, thinly covered with concrete,
+while the interior contained an enormous quantity of panels, or rather
+boarding, cut from some resinous wood. 
+
+The Abati, on the other hand, were amply supplied with every kind of
+store and weapon, and could bring a great force to blockade us, though
+that force was composed of a timid and undisciplined rabble.
+
+Well, we made the best preparations that we could, although of these I
+did not see much, since all that day my time was occupied in attending
+to the wounded with the help of my son and a few rough orderlies, whose
+experience in doctoring had for the most part been confined to cattle.
+A pitiful business it proved without the aid of anæsthetics or a
+proper supply of bandages and other appliances. Although my medicine
+chest had been furnished upon a liberal scale, it proved totally
+inadequate to the casualties of battle. Still I did my best and saved
+some lives, though many cases developed gangrene and slipped through my
+fingers. 
+
+Meanwhile Higgs, who worked nobly, notwithstanding his flesh wounds,
+which pained him considerably, and Orme were also doing their best with
+the assistance of Japhet and the other officers of the highland
+regiment. The palace was thoroughly examined, and all weak places in
+its defences were made good. The available force was divided into
+watches and stationed to the best advantage. A number of men were set
+to work to manufacture arrow shafts from cedar beams, of which there
+were plenty in the wooden stables and outhouses that lay at the back of
+the main building, and to point and wing the same from a supply of iron
+barbs and feathers which fortunately was discovered in one of the
+guard-houses. A few horses that remained in a shed were killed and
+salted down for food, and so forth. 
+
+Also every possible preparation was made to repel attempts to storm,
+paving stones being piled up to throw upon the heads of assailants and
+fires lighted on the walls to heat pitch and oil and water for the same
+purpose. 
+
+But, to our disappointment, no direct assault was delivered, such
+desperate methods not commending themselves to the Abati. Their plan of
+attack was to take cover wherever they could, especially among the
+trees of the garden beyond the gates, and thence shoot arrows at any
+one who appeared upon the walls, or even fire them in volleys at the
+clouds, as the Normans did at Hastings, so that they might fall upon
+the heads of persons in the courtyards. Although these cautious tactics
+cost us several men, they had the advantage of furnishing us with a
+supply of ammunition which we sorely needed. All the spent arrows were
+carefully collected and made use of against the enemy, at whom we shot
+whenever opportunity offered. We did them but little damage, however, 
+since they were extremely careful not to expose themselves. 
+
+In this fashion three dreary days went past, unrelieved by any incident
+except a feint, for it was scarcely more, which the Abati made upon the
+second night, apparently with the object of forcing the great gates
+under cover of a rainstorm. The advance was discovered at once, and
+repelled by two or three volleys of arrows and some rifle shots. Of
+these rifles, indeed, whereof we possessed about a score, the Abati
+were terribly afraid. Picking out some of the most intelligent soldiers
+we taught them how to handle our spare guns, and though, of course,
+their shooting was extremely erratic, the result of it, backed up by
+our own more accurate marksmanship, was to force the enemy to take 
+cover. Indeed, after one or two experiences of the effect of bullets,
+not a man would show himself in the open within five hundred yards
+until night had fallen.    
+
+On the third afternoon we held a council to determine what must be done,
+since for the last twenty-four hours it had been obvious that things
+could not continue as they were. To begin with, we had only sufficient
+food left to keep our force from starvation for two more days. Also the
+spirits of our soldiers, brave men enough when actual fighting was
+concerned, were beginning to flag in this atmosphere of inaction.
+Gathered into groups, they talked of their wives and children, and of
+what would happen to them at the hands of Joshua; also of their cattle
+and crops, saying that doubtless these were being ravaged and their
+houses burned. In vain did Maqueda promise them five-fold their loss
+when the war was ended, for evidently in their hearts they thought it
+could only end one way. Moreover, as they pointed out, she could not
+give them back their children if these were killed. 
+
+At this melancholy council every possible plan was discussed, to find
+that these resolved themselves into two alternatives—to surrender, or
+to take the bull by the horns, sally out of the palace at night and
+attack Joshua. On the face of it, this latter scheme had the appearance
+of suicide, but, in fact, it was not so desperate as it seemed. The
+Abati being such cowards it was quite probable that they would run in
+their thousands before the onset of a few hundred determined men, and
+that, if once victory declared itself for the Child of Kings, the bulk
+of her subjects would return to their allegiance. So we settled on it
+in preference to surrender, which we knew meant death to ourselves, and
+for Maqueda a choice between that last grim solution of her troubles
+and a forced marriage. 
+
+But there were others to be convinced, namely, the Mountaineers. Japhet,
+who had been present at the council, was sent to summon all of them
+except those actually on guard, and when they were assembled in the
+large inner court Maqueda went out and addressed them.
+
+I do not remember the exact words of her speech, and I made no note of
+them, but it was extremely beautiful and touching. She pointed out her
+plight, and that we could halt no longer between two opinions, who must
+either fight or yield. For herself she said she did not care, since,
+although she was young and their ruler, she set no store upon her life,
+and would give it up gladly rather than be driven into a marriage which
+she considered shameful, and forced to pass beneath the yoke of
+traitors. 
+
+But for us foreigners she did care. We had come to her country at her
+invitation, we had served her nobly, one of us had given his life to
+protect her person, and now, in violation of her safeguard and that of
+the Council, we were threatened with a dreadful death. Were they, her
+subjects, so lacking in honour and hospitality that they would suffer
+such a thing with no blow struck to save us?
+
+Now the majority of them shouted “No,” but some were silent, and
+one old captain advanced, saluted, and spoke.
+
+“Child of Kings,” he said, “let us search out the truth of
+this matter. Is it not because of your love of the foreign soldier,
+Orme, that all this trouble has arisen? Is not that love unlawful
+according to our law, and are you not solemnly affianced to the Prince
+Joshua?” 
+
+Maqueda considered awhile before she replied, and said slowly:
+
+“Friend, my heart is my own, therefore upon this point answer your
+question for yourself. As regards my uncle Joshua, if there existed any
+abiding contract between us it was broken when a few nights ago he sent
+his servants armed to attack and drag me off I know not whither. Would
+you have me marry a traitor and a coward? I have spoken.”
+
+“No,” again shouted the majority of the soldiers.
+
+Then in the silence that followed the old captain replied, with a
+canniness that was almost Scotch:
+
+“On the point raised by you, O Child of Kings, I give no opinion,
+since you, being but a woman, if a high-born one, would not listen to
+me if I did, but will doubtless follow that heart of yours of which you
+speak to whatever end is appointed. Settle the matter with your
+betrothed Joshua as you will. But we also have a matter to settle with
+Joshua, who is a toad with a long tongue that if he seems slow yet
+never misses his fly. We took up your cause, and have killed a great
+number of his people, as he has killed some of ours. This he will not
+forget. Therefore it seems to me that it will be wise that we should 
+make what we can of the nest that we have built, since it is better to
+die in battle than on the gallows. For this reason, then, since we can
+stay here no longer, for my part I am willing to go out and fight for
+you this night, although Joshua’s people being so many and ours so
+few, I shall think myself fortunate if I live to see another sun.” 
+
+This hard and reasoned speech seemed to appeal to the dissentients, with
+the result that they withdrew their opposition, and it was agreed that
+we should attempt to break our way through the besieging army about one
+hour before the dawn, when they would be heavily asleep and most liable
+to panic. 
+
+Yet, as it chanced, that sortie was destined never to take place, which
+perhaps was fortunate for us, since I am convinced that it would have
+ended in failure. It is true that we might have forced our way through
+Joshua’s army, but afterwards those of us who remained alive would
+have been surrounded, starved out, and, when our strength and
+ammunition were exhausted taken prisoners or cut down.
+
+However that may be, events shaped a different course for us, perhaps
+because the Abati got wind of our intention and had no stomach for a
+pitched battle with desperate men. As it happened, this night from
+sunset on to moonrise was one of a darkness so remarkable that it was
+impossible to see anything even a foot away, also a wind blowing from
+the east made sounds very inaudible. Only a few of our men were on
+guard, since it was necessary that they should be rested till it was
+time for them to prepare for their great effort. Also, we had little
+fear of any direct attack. 
+
+About eight o’clock, however, my son Roderick, one of the watch
+stationed in the gateway towers, who was gifted with very quick ears,
+reported that he thought he heard people moving on the farther side of
+the massive wooden doors beyond the moat. Accordingly some of us went
+to listen, but could distinguish nothing, and concluded therefore that
+he was mistaken. So we retired to our posts and waited patiently for
+the moon to rise. But as it chanced no moon rose, or rather we could
+not see her, because the sky was completely covered by thick banks of
+thunder-clouds presaging the break-up of a period of great heat. These,
+as the wind had now died down, remained quite stationary upon the face 
+of the sky, blotting out all light. 
+
+Perhaps another hour had passed when, chancing to look behind me, I saw
+what I thought was a meteor falling from the crest of the cliff against
+which the palace was built, that cliff whither the head of the idol
+Harmac had been carried by the force of the explosion.
+
+“Look at that shooting star,” I said to Oliver, who was at my side.
+
+“It is not a shooting star, it is fire,” he replied in a startled
+voice, and, as he spoke, other streaks of light, scores of them, began
+to rain down from the brow of the cliff and land upon the wooden
+buildings to the rear of the palace that were dry as tinder with the
+drought, and, what was worse, upon the gilded timber domes of the roof.
+
+“Don’t you understand the game?” he went on. “They have
+tied firebrands to arrows and spears to burn us out. Sound the alarm.
+Sound the alarm!”
+
+It was done, and presently the great range of buildings began to hum
+like a hive of bees. The soldiers still half asleep, rushed hither and
+thither shouting. The officers also, developing the characteristic
+excitement of the Abati race in this hour of panic, yelled and screamed
+at them, beating them with their fists and swords till some kind of
+control was established. 
+
+Then attempts were made to extinguish the flames, which by this time had
+got hold in half-a-dozen places. From the beginning the effort was
+absolutely hopeless. It is true that there was plenty of water in the
+moat, which was fed by a perennial stream that flowed down the face of
+the precipice behind; but pumping engines of any sort were quite
+unknown to the Abati, who, if a building took fire, just let it burn,
+contenting themselves with safeguarding those in its neighbourhood.
+Moreover, even in the palace, such articles as pails, jugs, or other
+vessels were comparatively few and far between. 
+
+Those that we could find, however, were filled with water and passed by
+lines of men to the places in most danger—that is, practically
+everywhere—while other men tried to cut off the advance of the flames
+by pulling down portions of the building.
+
+But as fast as one fire was extinguished others broke out, for the rain
+of burning darts and of lighted pots or lamps filled with oil descended
+continuously from the cliff above. A strange and terrible sight it was
+to see them flashing down through the darkness, like the fiery darts
+that shall destroy the wicked in the day of Armageddon.
+
+Still, we toiled on despairingly. On the roof we four white men, and
+some soldiers under the command of Japhet, were pouring water on to
+several of the gilded domes, which now were well alight. Close by,
+wrapped in a dark cloak, and attended by some of her ladies, stood
+Maqueda. She was quite calm, although sundry burning arrows and spears,
+falling with great force from the cliff above, struck the flat roofs
+close to where she stood. 
+
+Her ladies, however, were not calm. They wept and wrung their hands,
+while one of them went into violent hysterics in her very natural
+terror. Maqueda turned and bade them descend to the courtyard of the
+gateway, where she said she would join them presently. They rushed off,
+rejoicing to escape the sight of those burning arrows, one of which had
+just pierced a man and set his clothes and hair on fire, causing him to
+leap from the roof in his madness. 
+
+At Oliver’s request I ran to the Child of Kings to lead her to some
+safer place, if it could be found. But she would not stir.
+
+“Let me be, O Adams,” she said. “If I am to die, I will die
+here. But I do not think that is fated,” and with her foot she kicked
+aside a burning spear that had struck the cement roof, and, rebounding,
+fallen quite close to her. “If my people will not fight,” she went
+on, with bitter sarcasm, “at least they understand the other arts of
+war, for this trick of theirs is clever. They are cruel also. Listen to
+them mocking us in the square. They ask whether we will roast alive or
+come out and have our throats cut. Oh!” she went on, clenching her
+hands, “oh! that I should have been born the head of such an accursed
+race. Let Sheol take them all, for in the day of their tribulation no
+finger will I lift to save them.”
+
+She was silent for a moment, and down below, near the gateway, I heard
+some brute screaming, “Pretty pigeons! Pretty pigeons, are your
+feathers singeing? Come then into our pie, pretty pigeons, pretty
+pigeons!” followed by shouts of ribald laughter.
+
+But it chanced it was this hound himself who went into the “pie.”
+Presently, when the flames were brighter, I saw him, in the midst of a
+crowd of his admirers, singing his foul song, another verse of it about
+Maqueda, which I will not repeat, and by good fortune managed to put a
+bullet through his head. It was not a bad shot considering the light
+and circumstances, and the only one I fired that night. I trust also
+that it will be the last I shall ever fire at any human being.
+
+Just as I was about to leave Maqueda and return with her message to
+Orme, to the effect that she would not move, the final catastrophe
+occurred. Amongst the stables was a large shed filled with dry fodder
+for the palace horses and camels. Suddenly this burst into a mass of
+flame that spread in all directions. Then came the last, hideous panic.
+From every part of the palace, the Mountaineers, men and officers
+together, rushed down to the gateway. In a minute, with the single
+exception of Japhet, we four and Maqueda were left alone upon the roof,
+where we stood overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. We heard the
+drawbridge fall; we heard the great doors burst open beneath the 
+pressure of a mob of men; we heard a coarse voice—I thought it was
+that of Joshua—yell: 
+
+“Kill whom you will, my children, but death to him who harms the Child
+of Kings. She is my spoil!”
+
+Then followed terrible sights and sounds. The cunning Abati had
+stretched ropes outside the doors; it was the noise they made at this
+work which had reached Roderick’s ears earlier during the darkness.
+The terrified soldiers, flying from the fire, stumbled and fell over
+these ropes, nor could they rise again because of those who pressed
+behind. What happened to them all I am sure I do not know, but
+doubtless many were crushed to death and many more killed by Joshua’s
+men. I trust, however, that some of them escaped, since, compared to
+the rest of the Abati, they were as lions are to cats, although, like
+all their race, they lacked the stamina to fight an uphill game. 
+
+It was at the commencement of this terrific scene that I shot the
+foul-mouthed singer.
+
+“You shouldn’t have done that, old fellow,” screamed Higgs in
+his high voice, striving to make himself heard above the tumult, “as
+it will show those swine where we are.”
+
+“I don’t think they will look for us here, anyway,” I
+answered.
+
+Then we watched awhile in silence.
+
+“Come,” said Orme at length, taking Maqueda by the hand.
+
+“Where are you going, O Oliver?” she asked, hanging back.
+“Sooner will I burn than yield to Joshua.”
+
+“I am going to the cave city,” he answered; “we have nowhere
+else to go, and little time to lose. Four men with rifles can hold that
+place against a thousand. Come.”
+
+“I obey,” she answered, bowing her head.
+
+We went down the stairway that led from the roof on which the
+inhabitants of the palace were accustomed to spend much of their day,
+and even to sleep in hot weather, as is common in the East. Another
+minute and we should have been too late. The fire from one of the domes
+had spread to the upper story, and was already appearing in little
+tongues of flame mingled with jets of black smoke through cracks in the
+crumbling partition wall. 
+
+As a matter of fact this wall fell in just as my son Roderick, the last
+of us, was passing down the stairs. With the curiosity of youth he had
+lingered for a few moments to watch the sad scene below, a delay which
+nearly cost him his life.
+
+On the ground floor we found ourselves out of immediate danger, since
+the fire was attacking this part of the palace from above and burning
+downward. We had even time to go to our respective sleeping-places and
+collect such of our possessions and valuables as we were able to carry.
+Fortunately, among other things, these included all our note-books,
+which to-day are of priceless value. Laden with these articles, we met
+again in the audience hall, which, although it was very hot, seemed as
+it had always been, a huge, empty place, whereof the roof, painted with
+stars, was supported upon thick cedar columns, each of them hewn from a
+single tree. 
+
+Passing down that splendid apartment, which an hour later had ceased to
+exist, lamps in hand, for these we had found time to fetch and light,
+we reached the mouth of the passage that led to the underground city
+without meeting a single human being.
+
+Had the Abati been a different race they could perfectly well have
+dashed in and made us prisoners, for the drawbridge was still intact.
+But their cowardice was our salvation, for they feared lest they should
+be trapped by the fire. So I think at least, but justice compels me to
+add that, on the spur of the moment, they may have found it impossible
+to clear the gateways of the mass of fallen or dead soldiers over which
+it would have been difficult to climb. 
+
+Such, at any rate, was the explanation that we heard afterwards.
+
+We reached the mouth of the vast cave in perfect safety, and clambered
+through the little orifice which was left between the rocks rolled
+thither by the force of the explosion, or shaken down from the roof.
+This hole, for it was nothing more, we proceeded to stop with a few
+stones in such a fashion that it could not be forced without much toil
+and considerable noise, only leaving one little tortuous channel
+through which, if necessary, a man could creep. 
+
+The labour of rock-carrying, in which even Maqueda shared, occupied our
+minds for awhile, and induced a kind of fictitious cheerfulness. But
+when it was done, and the chilly silence of that enormous cave, so
+striking in comparison with the roar of the flames and the hideous
+human tumult which we had left without, fell upon us like sudden cold
+and blinding night upon a wanderer in windy, sunlit mountains, all our
+excitement perished. In a flash, we understood our terrible position,
+we who had but escaped from the red fire to perish slowly in the black
+darkness. 
+
+Still we strove to keep our spirits as best we could. Leaving Higgs to
+watch the blocked passage, a somewhat superfluous task, since the fire
+without was our best watchman, the rest of us threaded our way up the
+cave, following the telephone wire which poor Quick had laid on the
+night of the blowing-up of the god Harmac, till we came to what had
+been our headquarters during the digging of the mine. Into the room
+which was Oliver’s, whence we had escaped with so much difficulty
+after that event, we could not enter because of the transom that
+blocked the doorway. Still, there were plenty of others at hand in the
+old temple, although they were foul with the refuse of the bats that
+wheeled about us in thousands, for these creatures evidently had some
+unknown access to the open air. One of these rooms had served as our
+store-chamber, and after a few rough preparations we assigned it to
+Maqueda.    
+
+“Friends,” she said, as she surveyed its darksome entrance,
+“it looks like the door of a tomb. Well, in the tomb there is rest,
+and rest I must have. Leave me to sleep, who, were it not for you, O
+Oliver, would pray that I might never wake again.
+
+“Man,” she added passionately, before us all, for now in face of
+the last peril every false shame and wish to conceal the truth had left
+her; “man, why were you born to bring woe upon my head and joy to my
+heart? Well, well, the joy outweighs the woe, and even if the angel who
+led you hither is named Azrael, still I shall bless him who has
+revealed to me my soul. Yet for you I weep, and if only your life could
+be spared to fulfil itself in happiness in the land that bore you, oh!
+for you I would gladly die.” 
+
+Now Oliver, who seemed deeply moved, stepped to her and began to whisper
+into her ear, evidently making some proposal of which I think I can
+guess the nature. She listened to him, smiling sadly, and made a motion
+with her hand as though to thrust him away.
+
+“Not so,” she said, “it is nobly offered, but did I accept,
+through whatever universes I may wander, those who came after me would
+know me by my trail of blood, the blood of him who loved me. Perhaps,
+too, by that crime I should be separated from you for ever. Moreover, I
+tell you that though all seems black as this thick darkness, I believe
+that things will yet end well for you and me—in this world or
+another.” 
+
+Then she was gone, leaving Orme staring after her like a man in a
+trance. 
+
+“I daresay they will,” remarked Higgs _sotto voce_ to me,
+“and that’s first-rate so far as they are concerned. But what I
+should jolly well like to know is how they are going to end for _us_ who
+haven’t got a charming lady to see us across the Styx.”
+
+“You needn’t puzzle your brain over that,” I answered
+gloomily, “for I think there will soon be a few more skeletons in this
+beastly cave, that’s all. Don’t you see that those Abati will
+believe we are burned in the palace?”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+STARVATION
+
+
+I was right. The Abati did think that we had been burned. It never
+occurred to them that we might have escaped to the underground city. So
+at least I judged from the fact that they made no attempt to seek us
+there until they learned the truth in the fashion that I am about to
+describe. If anything, this safety from our enemies added to the trials
+of those hideous days and nights. Had there been assaults to repel and
+the excitement of striving against overwhelming odds, at any rate we
+should have found occupation for our minds and remaining energies.
+
+But there were none. By turns we listened at the mouth of the passage
+for the echo of footsteps that never came. Nothing came to break a
+silence so intense that at last our ears, craving for sound, magnified
+the soft flitter of the bats into a noise as of eagle’s wings, till
+at last we spoke in whispers, because the full voice of man seemed to
+affront the solemn quietude, seemed intolerable to our nerves.
+
+Yet for the first day or two we found occupation of a sort. Of course
+our first need was to secure a supply of food, of which we had only a
+little originally laid up for our use in the chambers of the old
+temple, tinned meats that we had brought from London and so forth, now
+nearly all consumed. We remembered that Maqueda had told us of corn
+from her estates which was stored annually in pits to provide against
+the possibility of a siege of Mur, and asked her where it was.
+
+She led us to a place where round stone covers with rings attached to
+them were let into the floor of the cave, not unlike those which stop
+the coal-shoots in a town pavement, only larger. With great difficulty
+we prised one of these up; to me it did not seem to have been moved
+since the ancient kings ruled in Mur and, after leaving it open for a
+long while for the air within to purify, lowered Roderick by a rope we
+had to report its contents. Next moment we heard him saying: “Want to
+come up, please. This place is not pleasant.” 
+
+We pulled him out and asked what he had found.
+
+“Nothing good to eat,” he answered, “only plenty of dead
+bones and one rat that ran up my leg.”
+
+We tried the next two pits with the same result—they were full of
+human bones. Then we cross-examined Maqueda, who, after reflection,
+informed us that she now remembered that about five generations before
+a great plague had fallen on Mur, which reduced its population by
+one-half. She had heard, also, that those stricken with the plague were
+driven into the underground city in order that they might not infect
+the others, and supposed that the bones we saw were their remains. This
+information caused us to close up those pits again in a great hurry,
+though really it did not matter whether we caught the plague or no. 
+
+Still, as she was sure that corn was buried somewhere, we went to
+another group of pits in a distant chamber, and opened the first one.
+This time our search was rewarded, to the extent that we found at the
+bottom of it some mouldering dust that years ago had been grain. The
+other pits, two of which had been sealed up within three years as the
+date upon the wax showed, were quite empty. 
+
+Then Maqueda understood what had happened.
+
+“Surely the Abati are a people of rogues,” she said. “See
+now, the officers appointed to store away my corn which I gave them have
+stolen it! Oh! may they live to lack bread even more bitterly than we
+do to-day.” 
+
+We went back to our sleeping-place in silence. Well might we be silent,
+for of food we had only enough left for a single scanty meal. Water
+there was in plenty, but no food. When we had recovered a little from
+our horrible disappointment we consulted together.
+
+“If we could get through the mine tunnel,” said Oliver, “we
+might escape into the den of lions, which were probably all destroyed by
+the explosion, and so out into the open country.”
+
+“The Fung would take us there,” suggested Higgs.
+
+“No, no,” broke in Roderick, “Fung all gone, or if they do,
+anything better than this black hole, yes, even my wife.”
+
+“Let us look,” I said, and we started.
+
+When we reached the passage that led from the city to the Tomb of Kings,
+it was to find that the wall at the end of it had been blown bodily
+back into the parent cave, leaving an opening through which we could
+walk side by side. Of course the contents of the tomb itself were
+scattered. In all directions lay bones, objects of gold and other
+metals, or overturned thrones. The roof and walls alone remained as
+they had been. 
+
+“What vandalism!” exclaimed Higgs, indignant even in his misery.
+“Why wouldn’t you let me move the things when I wanted to,
+Orme?”
+
+“Because they would have thought that we were stealing them, old
+fellow. Also those Mountaineers were superstitious, and I did not want
+them to desert. But what does it matter, anyway? If you had, they would
+have been burned in the palace.”
+
+By this time we had reached that end of the vast tomb where the
+hunchbacked king used to sit, and saw at once that our quest was vain.
+The tunnel which we had dug beyond was utterly choked with masses of
+fallen rock that we could never hope to move, even with the aid of
+explosives, of which we had none left. 
+
+So we returned, our last hope gone.
+
+Also another trouble stared us in the face; our supply of the crude
+mineral oil which the Abati used for lighting purposes was beginning to
+run low. Measurement of what remained of the store laid up for our use
+while the mine was being made, revealed the fact that there was only
+enough left to supply four lamps for about three days and nights: one
+for Maqueda, one for ourselves, one for the watchman near the tunnel
+mouth, and one for general purposes. 
+
+This general-purpose lamp, as a matter of fact, was mostly made use of
+by Higgs. Truly, he furnished a striking instance of the ruling passion
+strong in death. All through those days of starvation and utter misery,
+until he grew too weak and the oil gave out, he trudged backward and
+forward between the old temple and the Tomb of Kings carrying a large
+basket on his arm. Going out with this basket empty, he would bring it
+back filled with gold cups and other precious objects that he had
+collected from among the bones and scattered rubbish in the Tomb. These
+objects he laboriously catalogued in his pocket-book at night, and
+afterwards packed away in empty cases that had contained our supplies
+of explosive and other goods, carefully nailing them down when filled. 
+
+“What on earth are you doing that for, Higgs?” I asked petulantly,
+as he finished off another case, I think it was his twentieth.
+
+“I don’t know, Doctor,” he answered in a thin voice, for like
+the rest of us he was growing feeble on a water-diet. “I suppose it
+amuses me to think how jolly it would be to open all these boxes in my
+rooms in London after a first-rate dinner of fried sole and steak cut
+thick,” and he smacked his poor, hungry lips. “Yes, yes,” he went
+on, “to take them out one by one and show them to —— and
+——,” and he mentioned by name officials of sundry great
+museums with whom he was at war, “and see them tear their hair with
+rage and jealousy, while they wondered in their hearts if they could
+not manage to seize the lot for the Crown as treasure-trove, or do me
+out of them somehow,” and he laughed a little in his old, pleasant
+fashion. 
+
+“Of course I never shall,” he added sadly, “but perhaps one
+day some other fellow will find them here and get them to Europe, and if
+he is a decent chap, publish my notes and descriptions, of which I have
+put a duplicate in each box, and so make my name immortal. Well, I’m
+off again. There are four more cases to fill before the oil gives out,
+and I must get that great gold head into one of them, though it is an
+awful job to carry it far at a time. Doctor, what disease is it that
+makes your legs suddenly give way beneath you, so that you find
+yourself sitting in a heap on the floor without knowing how you came
+there? You don’t know? Well, no more do I, but I’ve got it bad. I
+tell you I’m downright sore behind from continual and unexpected
+contact with the rock.” 
+
+Poor old Higgs! I did not like to tell him that his disease was
+starvation. 
+
+Well, he went on with his fetching and carrying and cataloguing and
+packing. I remember that the last load he brought in was the golden
+head he had spoken of, the wonderful likeness of some prehistoric king
+which has since excited so much interest throughout the world. The
+thing being too heavy for him to carry in his weakened state, for it is
+much over life-size, he was obliged to roll it before him, which
+accounts for the present somewhat damaged condition of the nose and
+semi-Egyptian diadem. 
+
+Never shall I forget the sight of the Professor as he appeared out of
+the darkness, shuffling along upon his knees where his garments were
+worn into holes, and by the feeble light of the lamp that he moved from
+time to time, painfully pushing the great yellow object forward, only a
+foot or two at each push.
+
+“Here it is at last,” he gasped triumphantly, whilst we watched him
+with indifferent eyes. “Japhet, help me to wrap it up in the mat and
+lift it into the box. No, no, you donkey—face upward—so. Never mind
+the corners, I’ll fill them with ring-money and other trifles,” and
+out of his wide pockets he emptied a golden shower, amongst which he
+sifted handfuls of dust from the floor and anything else he could find
+to serve as packing, finally covering all with a goat’s-hair blanket
+which he took from his bed.
+
+Then very slowly he found the lid of the box and nailed it down, resting
+between every few strokes of the hammer whilst we watched him in our
+intent, but idle, fashion, wondering at the strange form of his
+madness. 
+
+At length the last nail was driven, and seated on the box he put his
+hand into an inner pocket to find his note-book, then incontinently
+fainted. I struggled to my feet and sprinkled water over his face till
+he revived and rolled on to the floor, where presently he sank into
+sleep or torpor. As he did so the first lamp gave out.
+
+“Light it, Japhet,” said Maqueda, “it is dark in this
+place.”
+
+“O Child of Kings,” answered the man, “I would obey if I
+could, but there is no more oil.”
+
+Half-an-hour later the second lamp went out. By the light that remained
+we made such arrangements as we could, knowing that soon darkness would
+be on us. They were few and simple: the fetching of a jar or two of
+water, the placing of arms and ammunition to our hands, and the
+spreading out of some blankets on which to lie down side by side upon
+what I for one believed would be our bed of death. 
+
+While we were thus engaged, Japhet crawled into our circle from the
+outer gloom. Suddenly I saw his haggard face appear, looking like that
+of a spirit rising from the grave.
+
+“My lamp is burned out,” he moaned; “it began to fail whilst
+I was on watch at the tunnel mouth, and before I was half-way here it
+died altogether. Had it not been for the wire of the
+‘thing-that-speaks’ which guided me, I could never have reached
+you. I should have been lost in the darkness of the city and perished
+alone among the ghosts.” 
+
+“Well, you are here now,” said Oliver. “Have you anything to
+report?”
+
+“Nothing, lord, or at least very little. I moved some of the small
+rocks that we piled up, and crept down the hole till I came to a place
+where the blessed light of day fell upon me, only one little ray of it,
+but still the light of day. I think that something has fallen upon the
+tunnel and broken it, perhaps one of the outer walls of the palace. At
+least I looked through a crack and saw everywhere ruins—ruins that
+still smoke. From among them I heard the voices of men shouting to each
+other. 
+
+“One of them called to his companion that it was strange, if the
+Gentiles and the Child of Kings had perished in the fire, that they had
+not found their bones which would be known by the guns they carried.
+His friend answered that it was strange indeed, but being magicians,
+perhaps they had hidden away somewhere. For his part he hoped so, as
+then sooner or later they would be found and put to death slowly, as
+they deserved, who had led astray the Child of Kings and brought so
+many of the heaven-descended Abati to their death. Then fearing lest
+they should find and kill me, for they drew near as I could tell by
+their voices, I crept back again, and that is all my story.” 
+
+We said nothing; there seemed to be nothing to say, but sat in our sad
+circle and watched the dying lamp. When it began to flicker, leaping up
+and down like a thing alive, a sudden panic seized poor Japhet.
+
+“O Walda Nagasta,” he cried, throwing himself at her feet,
+“you have called me a brave man, but I am only brave where the sun and
+the stars shine. Here in the dark amongst so many angry spirits, and
+with hunger gnawing at my bowels, I am a great coward; Joshua himself
+is not such a coward as I. Let us go out into the light while there is
+yet time. Let us give ourselves up to the Prince. Perhaps he will be
+merciful and spare our lives, or at least he will spare yours, and if
+we die, it will be with the sun shining on us.”
+
+But Maqueda only shook her head, whereon he turned to Orme and went on:
+
+“Lord, would you have the blood of the Child of Kings upon your hands?
+Is it thus that you repay her for her love? Lead her forth. No harm
+will come to her who otherwise must perish here in misery.”
+
+“You hear what the man says, Maqueda?” said Orme heavily.
+“There is some truth in it. It really does not matter to us whether we
+die in the power of the Abati or here of starvation; in fact, I think
+that we should prefer the former end, and doubtless no hand will be
+laid on you. Will you go?”
+
+“Nay,” she answered passionately. “A hand would be laid on
+me, the hand of Joshua, and rather than that he should touch me I will
+die a hundred deaths. Let fate take its course, for as I have told you,
+I believe that then it will open to us some gate we cannot see. And if
+I believe in vain, why there is another gate which we can pass
+together, O Oliver, and beyond that gate lies peace. Bid the man be
+silent, or drive him away. Let him trouble me no more.”
+
+The lamp flame sank low. It flickered, once, twice, thrice, each time
+showing the pale, drawn faces of us six seated about it, like wizards
+making an incantation, like corpses in a tomb.
+
+Then it went out.
+
+How long were we in that place after this? At least three whole days and
+nights, I believe, if not more, but of course we soon lost all count of
+time. At first we suffered agonies from famine, which we strove in vain
+to assuage with great draughts of water. No doubt these kept us alive,
+but even Higgs, who it may be remembered was a teetotaller, afterwards
+confessed to me that he has loathed the sight and taste of water ever
+since. Indeed he now drinks beer and wine like other people. It was
+torture; we could have eaten anything. In fact the Professor did manage
+to catch and eat a bat that got entangled in his red hair. He offered
+me a bite of it, I remember, and was most grateful when I declined.
+
+The worst of it was also that we had a little food, a few hard ship’s
+biscuits, which we had saved up for a purpose, namely, to feed Maqueda.
+This was how we managed it. At certain intervals I would announce that
+it was time to eat, and hand Maqueda her biscuit. Then we would all
+pretend to eat also, saying how much we felt refreshed by the food and
+how we longed for more, smacking our lips and biting on a piece of wood
+so that she could not help hearing us.
+
+This piteous farce went on for forty-eight hours or more until at last
+the wretched Japhet, who was quite demoralized and in no mood for
+acting, betrayed us, exactly how I cannot remember. After this Maqueda
+would touch nothing more, which did not greatly matter as there was
+only one biscuit left. I offered it to her, whereon she thanked me and
+all of us for our courtesy toward a woman, took the biscuit, and gave
+it to Japhet, who ate it like a wolf. 
+
+It was some time after this incident that we discovered Japhet to be
+missing; at least we could no longer touch him, nor did he answer when
+we called. Therefore, we concluded that he had crept away to die and, I
+am sorry to say, thought little more about it for, after all, what he
+suffered, or had suffered, we suffered also.
+
+I recall that before we were overtaken by the last sleep, a strange fit
+came upon us. Our pangs passed away, much as the pain does when
+mortification follows a wound, and with them that horrible craving for
+nutriment. We grew cheerful and talked a great deal. Thus Roderick gave
+me the entire history of the Fung people and of his life among them and
+other savage tribes. Further, he explained every secret detail of their
+idol worship to Higgs, who was enormously interested, and tried to make
+some notes by the aid of our few remaining matches. When even that
+subject was exhausted, he sang to us in his beautiful voice—English
+hymns and Arab songs. Oliver and Maqueda also chatted together quite
+gaily, for I heard them laughing, and gathered that he was engaged in
+trying to teach her English. 
+
+The last thing that I recollect is the scene as it was revealed by the
+momentary light of one of the last matches. Maqueda sat by Oliver. His
+arm was about her waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, her long
+hair flowed loose, her large and tender eyes stared from her white, wan
+face up toward his face, which was almost that of a mummy.
+
+Then on the other side stood my son, supporting himself against the wall
+of the room, and beyond him Higgs, a shadow of his former self, feebly
+waving a pencil in the air and trying, apparently, to write a note upon
+his Panama straw hat, which he held in his left hand, as I suppose,
+imagining it to be his pocket-book. The incongruity of that sun-hat in
+a place where no sun had ever come made me laugh, and as the match went
+out I regretted that I had forgotten to look at his face to ascertain
+whether he was still wearing his smoked spectacles.
+
+“What is the use of a straw hat and smoked spectacles in
+kingdom-come?” I kept repeating to myself, while Roderick, whose arm I
+knew was about me, seemed to answer:
+
+“The Fung wizards say that the sphinx Harmac once wore a hat, but, my
+father, I do not know if he had spectacles.”
+
+Then a sensation as of being whirled round and round in some vast
+machine, down the sloping sides of which I sank at last into a vortex
+of utter blackness, whereof I knew the name was death.
+
+Dimly, very dimly, I became aware that I was being carried. I heard
+voices in my ears, but what they said I could not understand. Then a
+feeling of light struck upon my eyeballs which gave me great pain.
+Agony ran all through me as it does through the limbs of one who is
+being brought back from death by drowning. After this something warm
+was poured down my throat, and I went to sleep.
+
+When I awoke again it was to find myself in a large room that I did not
+know. I was lying on a bed, and by the light of sunrise which streamed
+through the window-places I saw the three others, my son Roderick, Orme
+and Higgs lying on the other beds, but they were still asleep.
+
+Abati servants entered the room bringing food, a kind of rough soup with
+pieces of meat in it of which they gave me a portion in a wooden bowl
+that I devoured greedily. Also they shook my companions until they
+awoke and almost automatically ate up the contents of similar bowls,
+after which they went to sleep again, as I did, thanking heaven that we
+were all still alive. 
+
+Every few hours I had a vision of these men entering with the bowls of
+soup or porridge, until at last life and reason came back to me in
+earnest, and I saw Higgs sitting up on the bed opposite and staring at
+me. 
+
+“I say, old fellow,” he said, “are we alive, or is this
+Hades?”
+
+“Can’t be Hades,” I answered, “because there are Abati
+here.”
+
+“Quite right,” he replied. “If the Abati go anywhere,
+it’s to hell, where they haven’t whitewashed walls and four-post
+beds. Oliver, wake up. We are out of that cave, anyway.”
+
+Orme raised himself on his hand and stared at us.
+
+“Where’s Maqueda?” he asked, a question to which of course,
+we could give no answer, till presently Roderick woke also and said:
+
+“I remember something. They carried us all out of the cave; Japhet was
+with them. They took the Child of Kings one way and us another, that is
+all I know.”
+
+Shortly afterwards the Abati servants arrived, bearing food more solid
+than the soup, and with them came one of their doctors, not that old
+idiot of a court physician, who examined us, and announced that we
+should all recover, a fact which we knew already. We asked many
+questions of him and the servants, but could get no answer, for
+evidently they were sworn to silence. However, we persuaded them to
+bring us water to wash in. It came, and with it a polished piece of
+metal, such as the Abati use for a looking-glass, in which we saw our 
+faces, the terrible, wasted faces of those who have gone within a
+hair’s breadth of death by starvation in the dark. 
+
+Yet although our gaolers would say nothing, something in their aspect
+told us that we were in sore peril of our lives. They looked at us
+hungrily, as a terrier looks at rats in a wire cage of which the door
+will presently be opened. Moreover, Roderick, who, as I think I have
+said, has very quick ears, overheard one of the attendants whisper to
+another: 
+
+“When does our service on these hounds of Gentiles come to an end?”
+to which his fellow answered, “The Council has not yet decided, but I
+think to-morrow or the next day, if they are strong enough. It will be a
+great show.”
+
+Also that evening, about sunset, we heard a mob shouting outside the
+barrack in which we were imprisoned, for that was its real use, “Give
+us the Gentiles! Give us the Gentiles! We are tired of waiting,”
+until at length some soldiers drove them away.
+
+Well, we talked the thing over, only to conclude that there was nothing
+to be done. We had no friend in the place except Maqueda, and she, it
+appeared, was a prisoner like ourselves, and therefore could not
+communicate with us. Nor could we see the slightest possibility of
+escape. 
+
+“Out of the frying-pan into the fire,” remarked Higgs gloomily.
+“I wish now that they had let us die in the cave. It would have been
+better than being baited to death by a mob of Abati.”
+
+“Yes,” answered Oliver with a sigh, for he was thinking of Maqueda,
+“but that’s why they saved us, the vindictive beasts, to kill us
+for what they are pleased to call high treason.”
+
+“High treason!” exclaimed Higgs. “I hope to goodness their
+punishment for the offence is not that of mediæval England; hanging is
+bad enough—but the rest——!”
+
+“I don’t think the Abati study European history,” I broke in;
+“but it is no use disguising from you that they have methods of their
+own. Look here, friends,” I added, “I have kept something about me
+in case the worst should come to the worst,” and I produced a little
+bottle containing a particularly swift and deadly poison done up into
+tabloids, and gave one to each of them. “My advice is,” I added,
+“that if you see we are going to be exposed to torture or to any
+dreadful form of death, you should take one of these, as I mean to do,
+and cheat the Abati of their vengeance.”
+
+“That is all very fine,” said the Professor as he pocketed his
+tabloid, “but I never could swallow a pill without water at the best
+of times, and I don’t believe those beasts will give one any. Well, I
+suppose I must suck it, that’s all. Oh! if only the luck would turn,
+if only the luck would turn!”
+
+Three more days went by without any sign of Higgs’s aspiration being
+fulfilled. On the contrary, except in one respect, the luck remained
+steadily against us. The exception was that we got plenty to eat and
+consequently regained our normal state of health and strength more
+rapidly than might have been expected. With us it was literally a case
+of “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.”
+
+Only somehow I don’t think that any of us really believed that we
+should die, though whether this was because we had all, except poor
+Quick, survived so much, or from a sneaking faith in Maqueda’s
+optimistic dreams, I cannot say. At any rate we ate our food with
+appetite, took exercise in an inner yard of the prison, and strove to
+grow as strong as we could, feeling that soon we might need all our
+powers. Oliver was the most miserable among us, not for his own sake,
+but because, poor fellow, he was haunted with fears as to Maqueda and 
+her fate, although of these he said little or nothing to us. On the
+other hand, my son Roderick was by far the most cheerful. He had lived
+for so many years upon the brink of death that this familiar gulf
+seemed to have no terrors for him. 
+
+“All come right somehow, my father,” he said airily. “Who can
+know what happen? Perhaps Child of King drag us out of mud-hole, for
+after all she was very strong cow, or what you call it, heifer, and I
+think toss Joshua if he drive her into corner. Or perhaps other thing
+occur.” 
+
+“What other thing, Roderick?” I asked.
+
+“Oh! don’t know, can’t say, but I think Fung thing. Believe
+we not done with Fung yet, believe they not run far. Believe they take
+thought for morrow and come back again. Only,” he added sadly,
+“hope my wife not come back, for that old girl too full of lofty
+temper for me. Still, cheer up, not dead yet by long day’s march, and
+meanwhile food good and this very jolly rest after beastly underground
+city. Now I tell Professor some more stories about Fung religion, den
+of lions, and so forth.” 
+
+On the morning after this conversation a crisis came. Just as we had
+finished breakfast the doors of our chamber were thrown open and in
+marched a number of soldiers wearing Joshua’s badge. They were headed
+by an officer of his household, who commanded us to rise and follow
+him. 
+
+“Where to?” asked Orme.
+
+“To take your trial before the Child of Kings and her Council,
+Gentile, upon the charge of having murdered certain of her subjects,”
+answered the officer sternly.
+
+“That’s all right,” said Higgs with a sigh of relief.
+“If Maqueda is chairman of the Bench we are pretty certain of an
+acquittal, for Orme’s sake if not for our own.”
+
+“Don’t you be too sure of that,” I whispered into his ear.
+“The circumstances are peculiar, and women have been known to change
+their minds.”
+
+“Adams,” he replied, glaring at me through his smoked spectacles,
+“If you talk like that we shall quarrel. Maqueda change her mind
+indeed! Why, it is an insult to suggest such a thing, and if you take
+my advice you won’t let Oliver hear you. Don’t you remember, man,
+that she’s in love with him?”
+
+“Oh, yes,” I answered, “but I remember also that Prince
+Joshua is in love with her, and that she is his prisoner.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE TRIAL AND AFTER
+
+
+They set us in a line, four ragged-looking fellows, all of us with
+beards of various degrees of growth, that is, all the other three, for
+mine had been an established fact for years, and everything having been
+taken away from us, we possessed neither razor nor scissors.
+
+In the courtyard of our barrack we were met by a company of soldiers,
+who encircled us about with a triple line of men, as we thought to
+prevent any attempt of escape. So soon as we passed the gates I found,
+however, that this was done for a different reason, namely, to protect
+us from the fury of the populace. All the way from the barrack to the
+courthouse, whither we were being taken now that the palace was burned,
+the people were gathered in hundreds, literally howling for our blood.
+It was a strange, and, in a way, a dreadful sight to see even the
+brightly dressed women and children shaking their fists and spitting at
+us with faces distorted by hate. 
+
+“Why they love you so little, father, when you do so much for
+them?” asked Roderick, shrugging his shoulders and dodging a stone
+that nearly hit him on the head.
+
+“For two reasons,” I answered. “Because their Lady loves one
+of us too much, and because through us many of their people have lost
+their lives. Also they hate strangers, and are by nature cruel, like
+most cowards, and now that they have no more fear of the Fung, they
+think it will be safe to kill us.”
+
+“Ah!” said Roderick; “yet Harmac has come to Mur,” and
+he pointed to the great head of the idol seated on the cliff, “and I
+think where Harmac goes, Fung follow, and if so they make them pay
+plenty for my life, for I great man among Fung; Fung myself husband of
+Sultan’s daughter. These fools, like children, because they see no
+Fung, think there are no Fung. Well, in one year, or perhaps one month,
+they learn.” 
+
+“I daresay, my boy,” I answered, “but I am afraid that
+won’t help us.”
+
+By now we were approaching the court-house where the Abati priests and
+learned men tried civil and some criminal cases. Through a mob of
+nobles and soldiers who mocked us as we went, we were hustled into the
+large hall of judgment that was already full to overflowing.
+
+Up the centre of it we marched to a clear space reserved for the parties
+to a cause, or prisoners and their advocates, beyond which, against the
+wall, were seats for the judges. These were five members of the
+Council, one of whom was Joshua, while in the centre as President of
+the Court, and wearing her veil and beautiful robes of ceremony, sat
+Maqueda herself. 
+
+“Thank God, she’s safe!” muttered Oliver with a gasp of
+relief.
+
+“Yes,” answered Higgs, “but what’s she doing there? She
+ought to be in the dock, too, not on the Bench.”
+
+We reached the open space, and were thrust by soldiers armed with swords
+to where we must stand, and although each of us bowed to her, I
+observed that Maqueda took not the slightest notice of our salutations.
+She only turned her head and said something to Joshua on her right,
+which caused him to laugh. 
+
+Then with startling suddenness the case began. A kind of public
+prosecutor stood forward and droned out the charge against us. It was
+that we, who were in the employ of the Abati, had traitorously taken
+advantage of our position as mercenary captains to stir up a civil war,
+in which many people had lost their lives, and some been actually
+murdered by ourselves and our companion who was dead. Moreover, that we
+had caused their palace to be burned and, greatest crime of all, had
+seized the sacred person of the Walda Nagasta, Rose of Mur, and dragged
+her away into the recesses of the underground city, whence she was only
+rescued by the chance of an accomplice of ours, one Japhet, betraying
+our hiding-place. 
+
+This was the charge which, it will be noted, contained no allusion
+whatever to the love entanglement between Maqueda and Oliver. When it
+was finished the prosecutor asked us what we pleaded, whereon Oliver
+answered as our spokesman that it was true there had been fighting and
+men killed, also that we had been driven into the cave, but as to all
+the rest the Child of Kings knew the truth, and must speak for us as
+she wished. 
+
+Now the audience began to shout, “They plead guilty! Give them to
+death!” and so forth, while the judges rising from their seats,
+gathered round Maqueda and consulted her.
+
+“By heaven! I believe she is going to give us away!” exclaimed
+Higgs, whereon Oliver turned on him fiercely and bade him hold his
+tongue, adding:
+
+“If you were anywhere else you should answer for that slander!”
+
+At length the consultation was finished; the judges resumed their seats,
+and Maqueda held up her hand. Thereon an intense silence fell upon the
+place. Then she began to speak in a cold, constrained voice:
+
+“Gentiles,” she said, addressing us, “you have pleaded guilty
+to the stirring up of civil war in Mur, and to the slaying of numbers of
+its people, facts of which there is no need for evidence, since many
+widows and fatherless children can testify to them to-day. Moreover,
+you did, as alleged by my officer, commit the crime of bearing off my
+person into the cave and keeping me there by force to be a hostage for
+your safety.” 
+
+We heard and gasped, Higgs ejaculating, “Good gracious, what a
+lie!” But none of the rest of us said anything.
+
+“For these offences,” went on Maqueda, “you are all of you
+justly worthy of a cruel death.” Then she paused and added, “Yet,
+as I have the power to do, I remit the sentence. I decree that this day
+you and all the goods that remain to you which have been found in the
+cave city, and elsewhere, together with camels for yourselves and your
+baggage, shall be driven from Mur, and that if any one of you returns
+hither, he shall without further trial be handed over to the
+executioners. This I do because at the beginning of your service a
+certain bargain was made with you, and although you have sinned so
+deeply I will not suffer that the glorious honour of the Abati people
+shall be tarnished even by the breath of suspicion. Get you gone, 
+Wanderers, and let us see your faces no more for ever!” 
+
+Now the mob gathered in the hall shouted in exultation, though I heard
+some crying out, “No, kill them! Kill them!”
+
+When the tumult had died down Maqueda spoke again saying:
+
+“O noble and generous Abati, you approve of this deed of mercy; you
+who would not be held merciless in far lands, O Abati, where, although
+you may not have heard of them, there are, I believe, other peoples who
+think themselves as great as you. You would not have it whispered, I
+say, that we who are the best of the world, we, the children of
+Solomon, have dealt harshly even with stray dogs that have wandered to
+our gates? Moreover, we called these dogs to hunt a certain beast for
+us, the lion-headed beast called Fung, and, to be just to them, they
+hunted well. Therefore spare them the noose, though they may have 
+deserved it, and let them run hence with their bone, say you, the bone
+which they think that they have earned. What does a bone more or less
+matter to the rich Abati, if only their holy ground is not defiled with
+the blood of Gentile dogs?” 
+
+“Nothing at all! Nothing at all!” they shouted. “Tie it to
+their tails and let them go!”
+
+“It shall be done, O my people! And now that we have finished with
+these dogs, I have another word to say to you. You may have thought or
+heard that I was too fond of them, and especially of one of them,”
+and she glanced toward Oliver. “Well, there are certain dogs who will
+not work unless you pat them on the head. Therefore I patted this one
+on the head, since, after all, he is a clever dog who knows things that
+we do not know; for instance, how to destroy the idol of the Fung. O
+great Abati, can any of you really have believed that I, of the ancient
+race of Solomon and Sheba, I, the Child of Kings, purposed to give my
+noble hand to a vagrant Gentile come hither for hire? Can you really
+have believed that I, the solemnly betrothed to yonder Prince of
+Princes, Joshua, my uncle, would for a moment even in my heart have 
+preferred to him such a man as that?” And once again she looked at 
+Oliver, who made a wild motion, as though he were about to speak. But
+before he could so much as open his lips Maqueda went on: 
+
+“Well, if you believed, not guessing all the while I was working for
+the safety of my people, soon shall you be undeceived, since to-morrow
+night I invite you to the great ceremony of my nuptials, when,
+according to the ancient custom, I break the glass with him whom on the
+following night I take to be my husband,” and rising, she bowed
+thrice to the audience, then stretched out her hand to Joshua.
+
+He, too, rose, puffing himself out like a great turkey-cock, and, taking
+her hand, kissed it, gobbling some words which we did not catch.
+
+Wild cheering followed, and in the momentary silence which followed
+Oliver spoke.
+
+“Lady,” he said, in a cold and bitter voice, “we
+‘Gentiles’ have heard your words. We thank you for your kind
+acknowledgment of our services, namely, the destruction of the idol of
+the Fung at the cost of some risk and labour to ourselves. We thank you
+also for your generosity in allowing us, as the reward of that service,
+to depart from Mur, with insult and hard words, and such goods as
+remain to us, instead of consigning us to death by torture, as you and
+your Council have the power to do. It is indeed a proof of your
+generosity, and of that of the Abati people which we shall always
+remember and repeat in our own land, should we live to reach it. Also,
+we trust that it will come to the ears of the savage Fung, so that at
+length they may understand that true nobility and greatness lie not in 
+brutal deeds of arms, but in the hearts of men. But now, Walda Nagasta,
+I have a last request to make of you, namely, that I may see your face
+once more to be sure that it is you who have spoken to us, and not
+another beneath your veil, and that if this be so, I may carry away
+with me a faithful picture of one so true to her country and noble to
+her guests as you have shown yourself this day.” 
+
+She listened, then very slowly lifted her veil, revealing such a
+countenance as I had never seen before. It was Maqueda without a doubt,
+but Maqueda changed. Her face was pale, which was only to be expected
+after all she had gone through; her eyes glowed in it like coals, her
+lips were set. But it was her expression, at once defiant and agonized,
+which impressed me so much that I never shall forget it. I confess I
+could not read it in the least, but it left upon my mind the belief
+that she was a false woman, and yet ashamed of her own falsity. There
+was the greatest triumph of her art, that in those terrible 
+circumstances she should still have succeeded in conveying to me, and to
+the hundreds of others who watched, this conviction of her own
+turpitude.    
+
+For a moment her eyes met those of Orme, but although he searched them
+with pleading and despair in his glance, I could trace in hers no
+relenting sign, but only challenge not unmixed with mockery. Then with
+a short, hard laugh she let fall her veil again and turned to talk with
+Joshua. Oliver stood silent a little while, long enough for Higgs to
+whisper to me: 
+
+“I say, isn’t this downright awful? I’d rather be back in the
+den of lions than live to see it.”
+
+As he spoke I saw Oliver put his hand to where his revolver usually
+hung, but, of course, it had been taken from him. Next he began to
+search in his pocket, and finding that tabloid of poison which I had
+given him, lifted it toward his mouth. But just as it touched his lips,
+my son, who was next to him, saw also. With a quick motion he struck it
+from his fingers, and ground it to powder on the floor beneath his
+heel. 
+
+Oliver raised his arm as though to hit him, then without a sound fell
+senseless. Evidently Maqueda noted all this also, for I saw a kind of
+quiver go through her, and her hands gripped the arms of her chair till
+the knuckles showed white beneath the skin. But she only said:
+
+“This Gentile has fainted because he is disappointed with his reward.
+Take him hence and let his companion, the Doctor Adams, attend to him.
+When he is recovered, conduct them all from Mur as I have decreed. See
+that they go unharmed, taking with them plenty of food lest it be said
+that we only spared their lives here in order that they might starve
+without our gates.” 
+
+Then waving her hand to show that the matter was done with, she rose
+and, followed by the judges and officers, left the court by some door
+behind them. 
+
+While she spoke a strong body of guards had surrounded us, some of whom
+came forward and lifted the senseless Oliver on to a stretcher. They
+carried him down the court, the rest of us following.
+
+“Look,” jeered the Abati as he passed, “look at the Gentile
+pig who thought to wear the Bud of the Rose upon his bosom. He has got
+the thorn now, not the rose. Is the swine dead, think you?”
+
+Thus they mocked him and us.
+
+We reached our prison in safety, and there I set to work to revive
+Oliver, a task in which I succeeded at length. When he had come to
+himself again he drank a cup of water, and said quite quietly:
+
+“You fellows have seen all, so there is no need for talk and
+explanations. One thing I beg of you, if you are any friends of mine,
+and it is that you will not reproach or even speak of Maqueda to me.
+Doubtless she had reasons for what she did; moreover, her bringing up
+has not been the same as ours, and her code is different. Do not let us
+judge her. I have been a great fool, that is all, and now I am paying
+for my folly, or, rather, I have paid. Come, let us have some dinner,
+for we don’t know when we shall get another meal.”
+
+We listened to this speech in silence, only I saw Roderick turn aside to
+hide a smile and wondered why he smiled.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating, or pretending to eat, when an officer
+entered the room and informed us roughly that it was time for us to be
+going. As he did so some attendants who had followed him threw us
+bundles of clothes, and with them four very beautiful camel-hair cloaks
+to protect us from the cold. With some of these garments we replaced
+our rags, for they were little more, tying them and the rest of the
+outfit up into bundles. 
+
+Then, clothed as Abati of the upper class, we were taken to the gates of
+the barrack, where we found a long train of riding camels waiting for
+us. The moment that I saw these beasts I knew that they were the best
+in the whole land, and of very great value. Indeed, that to which
+Oliver was conducted was Maqueda’s own favourite dromedary, which
+upon state occasions she sometimes rode instead of a horse. He
+recognized it at once, poor fellow, and coloured to the eyes at this
+unexpected mark of kindness, the only one she had vouchsafed to him.
+
+“Come, Gentiles,” said the officer, “and take count of your
+goods, that you may not say that we have stolen anything from you. Here
+are your firearms and all the ammunition that is left. These will be
+given to you at the foot of the pass, but not before, lest you should
+do more murder on the road. On those camels are fastened the boxes in
+which you brought up the magic fire. We found them in your quarters in
+the cave city, ready packed, but what they contain we neither know nor
+care. Full or empty, take them, they are yours. Those,” and he
+pointed to two other beasts, “are laden with your pay, which the
+Child of Kings sends to you, requesting that you will not count it till
+you reach Egypt or your own land, since she wishes no quarrelling with
+you as to the amount. The rest carry food for you to eat; also, there
+are two spare beasts. Now, mount and begone.” 
+
+So we climbed into the embroidered saddles of the kneeling dromedaries,
+and a few minutes later were riding through Mur toward the pass,
+accompanied by our guard and hooting mobs that once or twice became
+threatening, but were driven off by the soldiers.
+
+“I say, Doctor,” said Higgs to me excitedly, “do you know
+that we have got all the best of the treasure of the Tomb of Kings in
+those five-and-twenty crates? I have thought since that I was crazy
+when I packed them, picking out the most valuable and rare articles
+with such care, and filling in the cracks with ring money and small
+curiosities, but now I see it was the inspiration of genius. My
+subliminal self knew what was going to happen, and was on the job,
+that’s all. Oh, if only we can get it safe away, I shall not have
+played Daniel and been nearly starved to death for nothing. Why, I’d
+go through it all again for that golden head alone. Shove on, shove on,
+before they change their minds; it seems too good to be true.”
+
+Just then a rotten egg thrown by some sweet Abati youth landed full on
+the bridge of his nose, and dispersing itself into his mouth and over
+his smoked spectacles, cut short the Professor’s eloquence, or rather
+changed its tenor. So absurd was the sight that in spite of myself I
+burst out laughing, and with that laugh felt my heart grow lighter, as
+though our clouds of trouble were lifting at length.
+
+At the mouth of the pass we found Joshua himself waiting for us, clad in
+all his finery and chain armour, and looking more like a porpoise on
+horseback than he had ever done.
+
+“Farewell, Gentiles,” he said, bowing to us in mockery, “we
+wish you a quick journey to Sheol, or wherever such swine as you may go.
+Listen, you Orme. I have a message for you from the Walda Nagasta. It is
+that she is sorry she could not ask you to stop for her nuptial feast,
+which she would have done had she not been sure that, if you stayed,
+the people would have cut your throat, and she did not wish the holy
+soil of Mur to be defiled with your dog’s blood. Also she bids me say
+that she hopes that your stay here will have taught you a lesson, and
+that in future you will not believe that every woman who makes use of
+you for her own ends is therefore a victim of your charms. To-morrow
+night and the night after, I pray you think of our happiness and drink
+a cup of wine to the Walda Nagasta and her husband. Come, will you not
+wish me joy, O Gentile?” 
+
+Orme turned white as a sheet and gazed at him steadily. Then a strange
+look came into his grey eyes, almost a look of inspiration.
+
+“Prince Joshua,” he said in a very quiet voice, “who knows
+what may happen before the sun rises thrice on Mur? All things that
+begin well do not end well, as I have learned, and as you also may live
+to learn. At least, soon or late, your day of reckoning must come, and
+you, too, may be betrayed as I have been. Rather should you ask me to
+forgive your soul the insults that in your hour of triumph you have not
+been ashamed to heap upon one who is powerless to avenge them,” and
+he urged his camel past him. 
+
+As we followed I saw Joshua’s face turn as pale as Oliver’s had
+done, and his great round eyes protrude themselves like those of a fish.
+
+“What does he mean?” said the prince to his companions. “Pray
+God he is not a prophet of evil. Even now I have a mind—no, let him
+go. To break my marriage vow might bring bad luck upon me. Let him
+go!” and he glared after Oliver with fear and hatred written on his
+coarse features. 
+
+That was the last we ever saw of Joshua, uncle of Maqueda, and first
+prince among the Abati.
+
+Down the pass we went and through the various gates of the
+fortifications, which were thrown open as we came and closed behind us.
+We did not linger on that journey. Why should we when our guards were
+anxious to be rid of us and we of them? Indeed, so soon as the last
+gate was behind us, either from fear of the Fung or because they were
+in a hurry to return to share in the festivities of the approaching
+marriage, suddenly the Abati wheeled round, bade us farewell with a
+parting curse, and left us to our own devices. 
+
+So, having roped the camels into a long line, we went on alone, truly
+thankful to be rid of them, and praying, every one of us, that never in
+this world or the next might we see the face or hear the voice of
+another Abati. 
+
+We emerged on to the plain at the spot where months before we had held
+our conference with Barung, Sultan of the Fung, and where poor Quick
+had forced his camel on to Joshua’s horse and dismounted that hero.
+Here we paused awhile to arrange our little caravan and arm ourselves
+with the rifles, revolvers, and cartridges which until now we had not
+been allowed to touch. 
+
+There were but four of us to manage the long train of camels, so we were
+obliged to separate. Higgs and I went ahead, since I was best acquainted
+with the desert and the road, Oliver took the central station, and
+Roderick brought up the rear, because he was very keen of sight and
+hearing and from his long familiarity with them, knew how to drive
+camels that showed signs of obstinacy or a wish to turn.
+
+On our right lay the great city of Harmac. We noted that it seemed to be
+quite deserted. There, rebuilt now, frowned the gateway through which
+we had escaped from the Fung after we had blown so many of them to
+pieces, but beneath it none passed in or out. The town was empty, and
+although they were dead ripe the rich crops had not yet been reaped.
+Apparently the Fung people had now left the land. 
+
+Now we were opposite to the valley of Harmac, and saw that the huge
+sphinx still sat there as it had done for unknown thousands of years.
+Only its head was gone, for that had “moved to Mur,” and in its
+neck and shoulders appeared great clefts, caused by the terrific force
+of the explosion. Moreover, no sound came from the enclosures where the
+sacred lions used to be. Doubtless every one of them was dead.
+
+“Don’t you think,” suggested Higgs, whose archæological zeal
+was rekindling fast, “that we might spare half-an-hour to go up the
+valley and have a look at Harmac from the outside? Of course, both
+Roderick and I are thoroughly acquainted with his inside, and the den
+of lions, and so forth, but I would give a great deal just to study the
+rest of him and take a few measurements. You know one must camp
+somewhere, and if we can’t find the camera, at dawn one might make a
+sketch.” 
+
+“Are you mad?” I asked by way of answer, and Higgs collapsed, but
+to this hour he has never forgiven me.
+
+We looked our last upon Harmac, the god whose glory we had destroyed,
+and went on swiftly till darkness overtook us almost opposite to that
+ruined village where Shadrach had tried to poison the hound Pharaoh,
+which afterwards tore out his throat. Here we unloaded the camels, no
+light task, and camped, for near this spot there was water and a patch
+of maize on which the beasts could feed. 
+
+Before the light quite faded Roderick rode forward for a little way to
+reconnoitre, and presently returned announcing shortly that he had seen
+no one. So we ate of the food with which the Abati had provided us, not
+without fear lest it should be poisoned, and then held a council of
+war. 
+
+The question was whether we should take the old road toward Egypt, or
+now that the swamps were dry, strike up northward by the other route of
+which Shadrach had told us. According to the map this should be
+shorter, and Higgs advocated it strongly, as I discovered afterwards
+because he thought there might be more archæological remains in that
+direction. 
+
+I, on the other hand, was in favour of following the road we knew,
+which, although long and very wearisome, was comparatively safe, as in
+that vast desert there were few people to attack us, while Oliver, our
+captain, listened to all we had to say, and reserved his opinion.
+
+Presently, however, the question was settled for us by Roderick, who
+remarked that if we travelled to the north we should probably fall in
+with the Fung. I asked what he meant, and he replied that when he made
+his reconnaissance an hour or so before, although it was true that he
+had seen no one, not a thousand yards from where we sat he had come
+across the track of a great army. This army, from various indications,
+he felt sure was that of Barung, which had passed there within twelve
+hours. 
+
+“Perhaps my wife with them, so I no want to go that way, father,”
+he added with sincere simplicity.
+
+“Where could they be travelling?” I asked.
+
+“Don’t know,” he answered, “but think they go round to
+attack Mur from other side, or perhaps to find new land to north.”
+
+“We will stick to the old road,” said Oliver briefly. “Like
+Roderick I have had enough of all the inhabitants of this country. Now
+let us rest awhile; we need it.”
+
+About two o’clock we were up again and before it was dawn on the
+following morning we had loaded our camels and were on the road. By the
+first faint light we saw that what Roderick had told us was true. We
+were crossing the track of an army of many thousand men who had passed
+there recently with laden camels and horses. Moreover, those men were
+Fung, for we picked up some articles that could have belonged to no
+other people, such as a head-dress that had been lost or thrown away,
+and an arrow that had fallen from a quiver. 
+
+However, we saw nothing of them, and, travelling fast, to our great
+relief by midday reached the river Ebur, which we crossed without
+difficulty, for it was now low. That night we camped in the
+forest-lands beyond, having all the afternoon marched up the rising
+ground at the foot of which ran the river. 
+
+Toward dawn Higgs, whose turn it was to watch the camels, came and woke
+me. 
+
+“Sorry to disturb you, old fellow,” he said, “but there is a
+most curious sky effect behind us which I thought you might like to
+see.” 
+
+I rose and looked. In the clear, starlight night I could just discern
+the mighty outline of the mountains of Mur. Above them the firmament
+was suffused with a strange red glow. I formed my own conclusion at
+once, but only said: 
+
+“Let us go to tell Orme,” and led the way to where he had lain down
+under a tree.
+
+He was not sleeping; indeed, I do not think he had closed his eyes all
+night, the night of Maqueda’s marriage. On the contrary, he was
+standing on a little knoll staring at the distant mountains and the
+glow above them. 
+
+“Mur is on fire,” he said solemnly. “Oh, my God, Mur is on
+fire!” and turning he walked away.
+
+Just then Roderick joined us.
+
+“Fung got into Mur,” he said, “and now cut throat of all
+Abati. We well out of that, but pig Joshua have very warm wedding feast,
+because Barung hate Joshua who try to catch him not fairly, which he
+never forget; often talk of it.”
+
+“Poor Maqueda!” I said to Higgs, “what will happen to
+her?”
+
+“I don’t know,” he answered, “but although once, like
+everybody else, I adored that girl, really as a matter of justice she
+deserves all she gets, the false-hearted little wretch. Still it is
+true,” he added, relenting, “she gave us very good camels, to say
+nothing of their loads.”
+
+But I only repeated, “Poor Maqueda!”
+
+That day we made but a short journey, since we wished to rest ourselves
+and fill the camels before plunging into the wilderness, and feeling
+sure that we should not be pursued, had no cause to hurry. At night we
+camped in a little hollow by a stream that ran at the foot of a rise.
+As dawn broke we were awakened by the voice of Roderick, who was on
+watch, calling to us in tones of alarm to get up, as we were followed.
+We sprang to our feet, seizing our rifles. 
+
+“Where are they?” I asked.
+
+“There, there,” he said, pointing toward the rise behind us.
+
+We ran round some intervening bushes and looked, to see upon its crest a
+solitary figure seated on a very tired horse, for it panted and its head
+drooped. This figure, which was entirely hidden in a long cloak with a
+hood, appeared to be watching our camp just as a spy might do. Higgs
+lifted his rifle and fired at it, but Oliver, who was standing by him,
+knocked the barrel up so that the bullet went high, saying:
+
+“Don’t be a fool. If it is only one man there’s no need to
+shoot him, and if there are more you will bring them on to us.”
+
+Then the figure urged the weary horse and advanced slowly, and I noticed
+that it was very small. “A boy,” I thought to myself, “who is
+bringing some message.”
+
+The rider reached us, and slipping from the horse, stood still.
+
+“Who are you?” asked Oliver, scanning the cloaked form.
+
+“One who brings a token to you, lord,” was the answer, spoken in a
+low and muffled voice. “Here it is,” and a hand, a very delicate
+hand, was stretched out, holding between the fingers a ring.
+
+I knew it at once; it was Sheba’s ring which Maqueda had lent to me in
+proof of her good faith when I journeyed for help to England. This ring,
+it will be remembered, we returned to her with much ceremony at our
+first public audience. Oliver grew pale at the sight of it.
+
+“How did you come by this?” he asked hoarsely. “Is she who
+alone may wear it dead?”
+
+“Yes, yes,” answered the voice, a feigned voice as I thought.
+“The Child of Kings whom you knew is dead, and having no more need for
+this ancient symbol of her power, she bequeathed it to you whom she
+remembered kindly at the last.”
+
+Oliver covered his face with his hands and turned away.
+
+“But,” went on the speaker slowly, “the woman Maqueda whom
+once it is said you loved——”
+
+He dropped his hands and stared.
+
+“——the woman Maqueda whom once it is said
+you—loved—still lives.”
+
+Then the hood slipped back, and in the glow of the rising sun we saw the
+face beneath.
+
+It was that of Maqueda herself!
+
+A silence followed that in its way was almost awful.
+
+“My Lord Oliver,” asked Maqueda presently, “do you accept my
+offering of Queen Sheba’s ring?”
+
+NOTE BY MAQUEDA
+
+Once called Walda Nagasta and Takla Warda, that is, Child of Kings and
+Bud of the Rose, once also by birth Ruler of the Abati people, the Sons
+of Solomon and Sheba.
+
+I, Maqueda, write this by the command of Oliver, my lord, who desires
+that I should set out certain things in my own words.
+
+Truly all men are fools, and the greatest of them is Oliver, my lord,
+though perhaps he is almost equalled by the learned man whom the Abati
+called Black Windows, and by the doctor, Son of Adam. Only he who is
+named Roderick, child of Adam, is somewhat less blind, because having
+been brought up among the Fung and other people of the desert, he has
+gathered a little wisdom. This I know because he has told me that he
+alone saw through my plan to save all their lives, but said nothing of
+it because he desired to escape from Mur, where certain death waited on
+him and his companions. Perhaps, however, he lies to please me.
+
+Now, for the truth of the matter, which not being skilled in writing I
+will tell briefly.
+
+I was carried out of the cave city with my lord and the others,
+starving, starving, too weak to kill myself, which otherwise I would
+have done rather than fall into the hands of my accursed uncle, Joshua.
+Yet I was stronger than the rest, because as I have learned, they
+tricked me about those biscuits, pretending to eat when they were not
+eating, for which never will I forgive them. It was Japhet, a gallant
+man on one side, but a coward on the other like the rest of the Abati,
+who betrayed us, driven thereto by emptiness within, which, after all,
+is an ill enemy to fight. He went out and told Joshua where we lay hid,
+and then, of course, they came. 
+
+Well, they took away my lord and the others, and me too they bore to
+another place and fed me till my strength returned, and oh! how good
+was that honey which first I ate, for I could touch nothing else. When
+I was strong again came Prince Joshua to me and said, “Now I have you
+in my net; now you are mine.”
+
+Then I answered Joshua, “Fool, your net is of air; I will fly through
+it.”
+
+“How?” he asked. “By death,” I answered, “of
+which a hundred means lie to my hand. You have robbed me of one, but
+what does that matter when so many remain? I will go where you and your
+love cannot pursue me.”
+
+“Very well, Child of Kings,” he said, “but how about that
+tall Gentile who has caught your eyes, and his companions? They, too,
+have recovered, and they shall die every one of them after a certain
+fashion (which, I Maqueda, will not set down, since there are some
+things that ought not to be written). If you die, they die; as I told
+you, they die as a wolf dies that is caught by the shepherds; they die
+as a baboon dies that is caught by the husbandman.”
+
+Now I looked this way and that, and found that there was no escape. So I
+made a bargain.
+
+“Joshua,” I said, “let these men go and I swear upon the name
+of our mother, she of Sheba, that I will marry you. Keep them and kill
+them, and you will have none of me.”
+
+Well, in the end, because he desired me and the power that went with me,
+he consented.
+
+Then I played my part. My lord and his companions were brought before
+me, and in presence of all the people I mocked them; I spat in their
+faces, and oh! fools, fools, fools, they believed me! I lifted my veil,
+and showed them my eyes, and they believed also what they seemed to see
+in my eyes, forgetting that I am a woman who can play a part at need.
+Yes, they forgot that there were others to deceive as well, all the
+Abati people, who, if they thought I tricked them, would have torn the
+foreigners limb from limb. That was my bitterest morsel, that I should
+have succeeded in making even my own lord believe that of all the
+wicked women that ever trod this world, I was the most vile. Yet I did 
+so, and he cannot deny it, for often we have talked of this thing till
+he will hear of it no more. 
+
+Well, they went with all that I could give them, though I knew well that
+my lord cared nothing, for what I could give, nor the doctor, Child of
+Adam, either, who cared only for his son that God had restored to him.
+Only Black Windows cared, not because he loves wealth, but because he
+worships all that is old and ugly, for of such things he fashions up
+his god. 
+
+They went, for their going was reported to me, and I, I entered into
+hell because I knew that my lord thought me false, and that he would
+never learn the truth, namely, that what I did I did to save his life,
+until at length he came to his own country, if ever he came there, and
+opened the chests of treasure, if ever he opened them, which perhaps he
+would not care to do. And all that while he would believe me the wife
+of Joshua, and—oh! I cannot write of it. And I, I should be dead; I,
+I could not tell him the truth until he joined me in that land of
+death, if there men and women can talk together any more. 
+
+For this and no other was the road that I had planned to walk. When he
+and his companions had gone so far that they could not be followed,
+then I would tell Joshua and the Abati all the truth in such language
+as should never be forgotten for generations, and kill myself before
+their eyes, so that Joshua might lack a wife and the Abati a Child of
+Kings. 
+
+I sat through the Feast of Preparation and smiled and smiled. It passed
+and the next day passed, and came the night of the Feast of Marriage.
+The glass was broken, the ceremony was fulfilled. Joshua rose up to
+pledge me before all the priests, lords, and headmen. He devoured me
+with his hateful eyes, me, who was already his. But I, I handled the
+knife in my robe, wishing, such was the rage in my heart, that I could
+kill him also. 
+
+Then God spoke, and the dream that I had dreamed came true. Far away
+there rose a single cry, and after it other cries, and the sounds of
+shouting and of marching feet. Far away tongues of fire leapt into the
+air, and each man asked his neighbour, “What is this?” Then from
+all the thousands of the feasting people rose one giant scream, and
+that scream said, “Fung! Fung! The Fung are on us! Fly, fly, fly!”
+
+“Come,” shouted Joshua, seizing me by the arm, but I drew my dagger
+on him and he let go. Then he fled with the other lords, and I remained
+in my high seat beneath the golden canopy alone.
+
+The people fled past me without fighting; they fled into the cave city,
+they fled to the rocks; they hid themselves among the precipices, and
+after them came the Fung, slaying and burning, till all Mur went up in
+flames. And I, I sat and watched, waiting till it was time for me to
+die also. 
+
+At last, I know not how long afterwards, appeared before me Barung, a
+red sword in his hand, which he lifted to me in salute.
+
+“Greeting, Child of Kings,” he said. “You see Harmac is come
+to sleep at Mur.”
+
+“Yes,” I answered, “Harmac is come to sleep at Mur, and many
+of those who dwelt there sleep with him. What of it? Say, Barung, will
+you kill me, or shall I kill myself?”
+
+“Neither, Child of Kings,” he answered in his high fashion.
+“Did I not make you a promise yonder in the Pass of Mur, when I spoke
+with you and the Western men, and does a Fung Sultan break his word? I
+have taken back the city that was ours, as I swore to do, and purified
+it with fire,” and he pointed to the raging flames. “Now I will
+rebuild it, and you shall rule under me.”
+
+“Not so,” I answered; “but in place of that promise I ask of
+you three things.”
+
+“Name them,” said Barung.
+
+“They are these: First, that you give me a good horse and five
+days’ food, and let me go where I will. Secondly, that if he still
+lives you advance one Japhet, a certain Mountaineer who befriended me
+and brought others to do likewise, to a place of honour under you.
+Thirdly, that you spare the rest of the Abati people.”
+
+“You shall go whither you desire, and I think I know where you will
+go,” answered Barung. “Certain spies of mine last night saw four
+white men riding on fine camels towards Egypt, and reported it to me as
+I led my army to the secret pass that Harmac showed me, which you Abati
+could never find. But I said, ‘Let them go; it is right that brave
+men who have been the mock of the Abati should be allowed their
+freedom.’ Yes, I said this, although one of them was my daughter’s
+husband, or near to it. But she will have no more of him who fled to
+his father rather than with her, so it was best that he should go also,
+since, if I brought him back it must be to his death.”
+
+“Yes,” I answered boldly, “I go after the Western men; I who
+have done with these Abati. I wish to see new lands.”
+
+“And find an old love who thinks ill of you just now,” he said,
+stroking his beard. “Well, no wonder, for here has been a marriage
+feast. Say, what were you about to do, O Child of Kings? Take the fat
+Joshua to your breast?”
+
+“Nay, Barung, I was about to take _this_ husband to my
+breast,” and I showed him the knife that was hidden in my marriage
+robe. 
+
+“No,” he said, smiling, “I think the knife was for Joshua
+first. Still, you are a brave woman who could save the life of him you
+love at the cost of your own. Yet, bethink you, Child of Kings, for
+many a generation your mothers have been queens, and under me you may
+still remain a queen. How will one whose blood has ruled so long endure
+to serve a Western man in a strange land?”
+
+“That is what I go to find out, Barung, and if I cannot endure, then I
+shall come back again, though not to rule the Abati, of whom I wash my
+hands for ever. Yet, Barung, my heart tells me I shall endure.”
+
+“The Child of Kings has spoken,” he said, bowing to me. “My
+best horse awaits her, and five of my bravest guards shall ride with her
+to keep her safe till she sights the camp of the Western men. I say
+happy is he of them who was born to wear the sweet-scented Bud of the
+Rose upon his bosom. For the rest, the man Japhet is in my hands. He
+yielded himself to me who would not fight for his own people because of
+what they had done to his friends, the white men. Lastly, already I
+have given orders that the slaying should cease, since I need the Abati
+to be my slaves, they who are cowards, but cunning in many arts. Only
+one more man shall die,” he added sternly, “and that is Joshua, who
+would have taken me by a trick in the mouth of the pass. So plead not
+for him, for by the head of Harmac it is in vain.” 
+
+Now hearing this I did not plead, fearing lest I should anger Barung,
+and but waste my breath.
+
+At daybreak I started on the horse, having with me the five Fung
+captains. As we crossed the marketplace I met those that remained alive
+of the Abati, being driven in hordes like beasts, to hear their doom.
+Among them was Prince Joshua, my uncle, whom a man led by a rope about
+his neck, while another man thrust him forward from behind, since
+Joshua knew that he went to his death and the road was one which he did
+not wish to travel. He saw me, and cast himself down upon the ground,
+crying to me to save him. I told him that I could not, though it is the
+truth, I swear it before God, that, notwithstanding all the evil he had 
+worked toward me, toward Oliver my lord, and his companions, bringing to
+his end that gallant man who died to protect me, I would still have
+saved him if I could. But I could not, for although I tried once more,
+Barung would not listen. So I answered: 
+
+“Plead, O Joshua, with him who has the power in Mur to-day, for I have
+none. You have fashioned your own fate, and must travel the road you
+chose.”
+
+“What road do you ride, mounted on a horse of the plains, Maqueda? Oh!
+what need is there for me to ask? You go to see that accursed Gentile
+whom I would I had killed by inches, as I would that I could kill
+you.” 
+
+Then calling me by evil names, Joshua sprang at me as though to strike
+me down, but he who held the rope about his neck jerked him backward,
+so that he fell and I saw his face no more.
+
+But oh! it was sad, that journey across the great square, for the
+captive Abati by hundreds—men, women, and children together—with
+tears and lamentations cried to me to preserve them from death or
+slavery at the hands of the Fung. But I answered:
+
+“Your sins against me and the brave foreign men who fought so well for
+you I forgive, but search your hearts, O Abati, and say if you can
+forgive yourselves? If you had listened to me and to those whom I
+called in to help us, you might have beaten back the Fung, and remained
+free for ever. But you were cowards; you would not learn to bear arms
+like men, you would not even watch your mountain walls, and soon or
+late the people who refuse to be ready to fight must fall and become
+the servants of those who are ready.” 
+
+And now, my Oliver, I have no more to write, save that I am glad to have
+endured so many things, and thereby win the joy that is mine to-day. Not
+yet have I, Maqueda, wished to reign again in Mur, who have found
+another throne. 
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN SHEBA’S RING ***
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diff --git a/2602-0.zip b/2602-0.zip
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+<head>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Queen Sheba's Ring, by H. Rider Haggard</title>
+
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+body { margin-left: 20%;
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Queen Sheba’s Ring, by H. Rider Haggard</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world 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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Queen Sheba’s Ring</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Rider Haggard</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April, 2001 [eBook #2602]<br />
+[Most recently updated: January 9, 2022]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Bickers, Emma Dudding, Dagny and David Widger</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN SHEBA’S RING ***</div>
+
+<h1>QUEEN SHEBA&rsquo;S RING </h1>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">by H. Rider Haggard</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto">
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. THE COMING OF THE RING</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. THE ADVICE OF SERGEANT QUICK</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. THE DEATH WIND</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. PHARAOH MAKES TROUBLE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. HOW WE ESCAPED FROM HARMAC</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. BARUNG</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. THE SHADOW OF FATE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. THE SWEARING OF THE OATH</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. QUICK LIGHTS A MATCH</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. THE RESCUE FAILS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. THE DEN OF LIONS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. THE ADVENTURES OF HIGGS</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. HOW PHARAOH MET SHADRACH</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. HARMAC COMES TO MUR</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. I FIND MY SON</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII. THE BURNING OF THE PALACE</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX. STARVATION</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX. THE TRIAL AND AFTER</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br />
+THE COMING OF THE RING</h2>
+
+<p>
+Every one has read the monograph, I believe that is the right word, of my dear
+friend, Professor Higgs&mdash;Ptolemy Higgs to give him his full
+name&mdash;descriptive of the tableland of Mur in North Central Africa, of the
+ancient underground city in the mountains which surrounded it, and of the
+strange tribe of Abyssinian Jews, or rather their mixed descendants, by whom it
+is, or was, inhabited. I say every one advisedly, for although the public which
+studies such works is usually select, that which will take an interest in them,
+if the character of a learned and pugnacious personage is concerned, is very
+wide indeed. Not to mince matters, I may as well explain what I mean at once.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Professor Higgs&rsquo;s rivals and enemies, of whom either the brilliancy of
+his achievements or his somewhat abrupt and pointed methods of controversy seem
+to have made him a great many, have risen up, or rather seated themselves, and
+written him down&mdash;well, an individual who strains the truth. Indeed, only
+this morning one of these inquired, in a letter to the press, alluding to some
+adventurous traveller who, I am told, lectured to the British Association
+several years ago, whether Professor Higgs did not, in fact, ride across the
+desert to Mur, not upon a camel, as he alleged, but upon a land tortoise of
+extraordinary size.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The innuendo contained in this epistle has made the Professor, who, as I have
+already hinted, is not by nature of a meek disposition, extremely angry.
+Indeed, notwithstanding all that I could do, he left his London house under an
+hour ago with a whip of hippopotamus hide such as the Egyptians call a
+<i>koorbash</i>, purposing to avenge himself upon the person of his defamer. In
+order to prevent a public scandal, however, I have taken the liberty of
+telephoning to that gentleman, who, bold and vicious as he may be in print, is
+physically small and, I should say, of a timid character, to get out of the way
+at once. To judge from the abrupt fashion in which our conversation came to an
+end, I imagine that the hint has been taken. At any rate, I hope for the best,
+and, as an extra precaution, have communicated with the lawyers of my justly
+indignant friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reader will now probably understand that I am writing this book, not to
+bring myself or others before the public, or to make money of which I have no
+present need, or for any purpose whatsoever, except to set down the bare and
+actual truth. In fact, so many rumours are flying about as to where we have
+been and what befell us that this has become almost necessary. As soon as I
+laid down that cruel column of gibes and insinuations to which I have
+alluded&mdash;yes, this very morning, before breakfast, this conviction took
+hold of me so strongly that I cabled to Oliver, Captain Oliver Orme, the hero
+of my history, if it has any particular hero, who is at present engaged upon
+what must be an extremely agreeable journey round the world&mdash;asking his
+consent. Ten minutes since the answer arrived from Tokyo. Here it is:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do what you like and think necessary, but please alter all names, et
+cetera, as propose returning via America, and fear interviewers. Japan jolly
+place.&rdquo; Then follows some private matter which I need not insert. Oliver
+is always extravagant where cablegrams are concerned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I suppose that before entering on this narration, for the reader&rsquo;s
+benefit I had better give some short description of myself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My name is Richard Adams, and I am the son of a Cumberland yeoman who married a
+Welshwoman. Therefore I have Celtic blood in my veins, which perhaps accounts
+for my love of roving and other things. I am now an old man, near the end of my
+course, I suppose; at any rate, I was sixty-five last birthday. This is my
+appearance as I see it in the glass before me: tall, spare (I don&rsquo;t weigh
+more than a hundred and forty pounds&mdash;the desert has any superfluous flesh
+that I ever owned, my lot having been, like Falstaff, to lard the lean earth,
+but in a hot climate); my eyes are brown, my face is long, and I wear a pointed
+white beard, which matches the white hair above.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Truth compels me to add that my general appearance, as seen in that glass which
+will not lie, reminds me of that of a rather aged goat; indeed, to be frank, by
+the natives among whom I have sojourned, and especially among the
+Khalifa&rsquo;s people when I was a prisoner there, I have often been called
+the White Goat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of my very commonplace outward self let this suffice. As for my record, I am a
+doctor of the old school. Think of it! When I was a student at Bart.&lsquo;s
+the antiseptic treatment was quite a new thing, and administered when at all,
+by help of a kind of engine on wheels, out of which disinfectants were
+dispensed with a pump, much as the advanced gardener sprays a greenhouse to-day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I succeeded above the average as a student, and in my early time as a doctor.
+But in every man&rsquo;s life there happen things which, whatever excuses may
+be found for them, would not look particularly well in cold print
+(nobody&rsquo;s record, as understood by convention and the Pharisee, could
+really stand cold print); also something in my blood made me its servant. In
+short, having no strict ties at home, and desiring to see the world, I wandered
+far and wide for many years, earning my living as I went, never, in my
+experience, a difficult thing to do, for I was always a master of my trade.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My fortieth birthday found me practising at Cairo, which I mention only because
+it was here that first I met Ptolemy Higgs, who, even then in his youth, was
+noted for his extraordinary antiquarian and linguistic abilities. I remember
+that in those days the joke about him was that he could swear in fifteen
+languages like a native and in thirty-two with common proficiency, and could
+read hieroglyphics as easily as a bishop reads the <i>Times</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, I doctored him through a bad attack of typhoid, but as he had spent every
+farthing he owned on scarabs or something of the sort, made him no charge. This
+little kindness I am bound to say he never forgot, for whatever his failings
+may be (personally I would not trust him alone with any object that was more
+than a thousand years old), Ptolemy is a good and faithful friend.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Cairo I married a Copt. She was a lady of high descent, the tradition in her
+family being that they were sprung from one of the Ptolemaic Pharaohs, which is
+possible and even probable enough. Also, she was a Christian, and well educated
+in her way. But, of course, she remained an Oriental, and for a European to
+marry an Oriental is, as I have tried to explain to others, a very dangerous
+thing, especially if he continues to live in the East, where it cuts him off
+from social recognition and intimacy with his own race. Still, although this
+step of mine forced me to leave Cairo and go to Assouan, then a little-known
+place, to practise chiefly among the natives, God knows we were happy enough
+together till the plague took her, and with it my joy in life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I pass over all that business, since there are some things too dreadful and too
+sacred to write about. She left me one child, a son, who, to fill up my cup of
+sorrow, when he was twelve years of age, was kidnapped by the Mardi&rsquo;s
+people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This brings me to the real story. There is nobody else to write it; Oliver will
+not; Higgs cannot (outside of anything learned and antiquarian, he is
+hopeless); so I must. At any rate, if it is not interesting, the fault will be
+mine, not that of the story, which in all conscience is strange enough.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We are now in the middle of June, and it was a year ago last December that, on
+the evening of the day of my arrival in London after an absence of half a
+lifetime, I found myself knocking at the door of Professor Higgs&rsquo;s rooms
+in Guildford Street, W.C. It was opened by his housekeeper, Mrs. Reid, a thin
+and saturnine old woman, who reminded and still reminds me of a reanimated
+mummy. She told me that the Professor was in, but had a gentleman to dinner,
+and suggested sourly that I should call again the next morning. With difficulty
+I persuaded her at last to inform her master that an old Egyptian friend had
+brought him something which he certainly would like to see.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five minutes later I groped my way into Higgs&rsquo;s sitting-room, which Mrs.
+Reid had contented herself with indicating from a lower floor. It is a large
+room, running the whole width of the house, divided into two by an arch, where
+once, in the Georgian days, there had been folding doors. The place was in
+shadow, except for the firelight, which shone upon a table laid ready for
+dinner, and upon an extraordinary collection of antiquities, including a couple
+of mummies with gold faces arranged in their coffins against the wall. At the
+far end of the room, however, an electric lamp was alight in the bow-window
+hanging over another table covered with books, and by it I saw my host, whom I
+had not met for twenty years, although until I vanished into the desert we
+frequently corresponded, and with him the friend who had come to dinner.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+First, I will describe Higgs, who, I may state, is admitted, even by his
+enemies, to be one of the most learned antiquarians and greatest masters of
+dead languages in Europe, though this no one would guess from his appearance at
+the age of about forty-five. In build short and stout, face round and
+high-coloured, hair and beard of a fiery red, eyes, when they can be
+seen&mdash;for generally he wears a pair of large blue spectacles&mdash;small
+and of an indefinite hue, but sharp as needles. Dress so untidy, peculiar, and
+worn that it is said the police invariably request him to move on, should he
+loiter in the streets at night. Such was, and is, the outward seeming of my
+dearest friend, Professor Ptolemy Higgs, and I only hope that he won&rsquo;t be
+offended when he sees it set down in black and white.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That of his companion who was seated at the table, his chin resting on his
+hand, listening to some erudite discourse with a rather distracted air, was
+extraordinarily different, especially by contrast. A tall well-made young man,
+rather thin, but broad-shouldered, and apparently five or six and twenty years
+of age. Face clean-cut&mdash;so much so, indeed, that the dark eyes alone
+relieved it from a suspicion of hardness; hair short and straight, like the
+eyes, brown; expression that of a man of thought and ability, and, when he
+smiled, singularly pleasant. Such was, and is, Captain Oliver Orme, who, by the
+way, I should explain, is only a captain of some volunteer engineers, although,
+in fact, a very able soldier, as was proved in the South African War, whence he
+had then but lately returned.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I ought to add also that he gave me the impression of a man not in love with
+fortune, or rather of one with whom fortune was not in love; indeed, his young
+face seemed distinctly sad. Perhaps it was this that attracted me to him so
+much from the first moment that my eyes fell on him&mdash;me with whom fortune
+had also been out of love for many years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While I stood contemplating this pair, Higgs, looking up from the papyrus or
+whatever it might be that he was reading (I gathered later that he had spent
+the afternoon in unrolling a mummy, and was studying its spoils), caught sight
+of me standing in the shadow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who the devil are you?&rdquo; he exclaimed in a shrill and strident
+voice, for it acquires that quality when he is angry or alarmed, &ldquo;and
+what are you doing in my room?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Steady,&rdquo; said his companion; &ldquo;your housekeeper told you that
+some friend of yours had come to call.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, yes, so she did, only I can&rsquo;t remember any friend with a face
+and beard like a goat. Advance, friend, and all&rsquo;s well.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I stepped into the shining circle of the electric light and halted again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who is it? Who is it?&rdquo; muttered Higgs. &ldquo;The face is the face
+of&mdash;of&mdash;I have it&mdash;of old Adams, only he&rsquo;s been dead these
+ten years. The Khalifa got him, they said. Antique shade of the long-lost
+Adams, please be so good as to tell me your name, for we waste time over a
+useless mystery.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is no need, Higgs, since it is in your mouth already. Well, I
+should have known you anywhere; but then <i>your</i> hair doesn&rsquo;t go
+white.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not it; too much colouring matter; direct result of a sanguine
+disposition. Well, Adams&mdash;for Adams you must be&mdash;I am really
+delighted to see you, especially as you never answered some questions in my
+last letter as to where you got those First Dynasty scarabs, of which the
+genuineness, I may tell you, has been disputed by certain envious beasts.
+Adams, my dear old fellow, welcome a thousand times&rdquo;&mdash;and he seized
+my hands and wrung them, adding, as his eye fell upon a ring I wore,
+&ldquo;Why, what&rsquo;s that? Something quite unusual. But never mind; you
+shall tell me after dinner. Let me introduce you to my friend, Captain Orme, a
+very decent scholar of Arabic, with a quite elementary knowledge of
+Egyptology.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;<i>Mr.</i> Orme,&rdquo; interrupted the younger man, bowing to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, well, Mr. or Captain, whichever you like. He means that he is not in
+the regular army, although he has been all through the Boer War, and wounded
+three times, once straight through the lungs. Here&rsquo;s the soup. Mrs. Reid,
+lay another place. I am dreadfully hungry; nothing gives me such an appetite as
+unrolling mummies; it involves so much intellectual wear and tear, in addition
+to the physical labour. Eat, man, eat. We will talk afterwards.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we ate, Higgs largely, for his appetite was always excellent, perhaps
+because he was then practically a teetotaller; Mr. Orme very moderately, and I
+as becomes a person who has lived for months at a time on dates&mdash;mainly of
+vegetables, which, with fruits, form my principal diet&mdash;that is, if these
+are available, for at a pinch I can exist on anything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the meal was finished and our glasses had been filled with port, Higgs
+helped himself to water, lit the large meerschaum pipe he always smokes, and
+pushed round the tobacco-jar which had once served as a sepulchral urn for the
+heart of an old Egyptian.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, Adams,&rdquo; he said when we also had filled our pipes,
+&ldquo;tell us what has brought you back from the Shades. In short, your story,
+man, your story.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I drew the ring he had noticed off my hand, a thick band of rather
+light-coloured gold of a size such as an ordinary woman might wear upon her
+first or second finger, in which was set a splendid slab of sapphire engraved
+with curious and archaic characters. Pointing to these characters, I asked
+Higgs if he could read them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Read them? Of course,&rdquo; he answered, producing a magnifying glass.
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t you? No, I remember; you never were good at anything more
+than fifty years old. Hullo! this is early Hebrew. Ah! I&rsquo;ve got
+it,&rdquo; and he read:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;The gift of Solomon the ruler&mdash;no, the Great One&mdash;of
+Israel, Beloved of Jah, to Maqueda of Sheba-land, Queen, Daughter of Kings,
+Child of Wisdom, Beautiful.&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the writing on your ring, Adams&mdash;a really magnificent
+thing. &lsquo;Queen of Sheba&mdash;Bath-Melachim, Daughter of Kings,&rsquo;
+with our old friend Solomon chucked in. Splendid, quite
+splendid!&rdquo;&mdash;and he touched the gold with his tongue, and tested it
+with his teeth. &ldquo;Hum&mdash;where did you get this intelligent fraud from,
+Adams?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; I answered, laughing, &ldquo;the usual thing, of course. I
+bought it from a donkey-boy in Cairo for about thirty shillings.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; he replied suspiciously. &ldquo;I should have thought the
+stone in it was worth more than that, although, of course, it may be nothing
+but glass. The engraving, too, is first-rate. Adams,&rdquo; he added with
+severity, &ldquo;you are trying to hoax us, but let me tell you what I thought
+you knew by this time&mdash;that you can&rsquo;t take in Ptolemy Higgs. This
+ring is a shameless swindle; but who did the Hebrew on it? He&rsquo;s a good
+scholar, anyway.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; I answered; &ldquo;wasn&rsquo;t aware till now
+that it was Hebrew. To tell you the truth, I thought it was old Egyptian. All I
+do know is that it was given, or rather lent, to me by a lady whose title is
+Walda Nagasta, and who is supposed to be a descendant of Solomon and the Queen
+of Sheba.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Higgs took up the ring and looked at it again; then, as though in a fit of
+abstraction, slipped it into his waistcoat pocket.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be rude, therefore I will not contradict
+you,&rdquo; he answered with a kind of groan, &ldquo;or, indeed, say anything
+except that if any one else had spun me that yarn I should have told him he was
+a common liar. But, of course, as every schoolboy knows, Walda
+Nagasta&mdash;that is, Child of Kings in Ethiopic&mdash;is much the same as
+Bath-Melachim&mdash;that is, Daughter of Kings in Hebrew.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here Captain Orme burst out laughing, and remarked, &ldquo;It is easy to see
+why you are not altogether popular in the antiquarian world, Higgs. Your
+methods of controversy are those of a savage with a stone axe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If you only open your mouth to show your ignorance, Oliver, you had
+better keep it shut. The men who carried stone axes had advanced far beyond the
+state of savagery. But I suggest that you had better give Doctor Adams a chance
+of telling his story, after which you can criticize.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps Captain Orme does not wish to be bored with it,&rdquo; I said,
+whereon he answered at once:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;On the contrary, I should like to hear it very much&mdash;that is, if
+you are willing to confide in me as well as in Higgs.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I reflected a moment, since, to tell the truth, for sundry reasons, my
+intention had been to trust no one except the Professor, whom I knew to be as
+faithful as he is rough. Yet some instinct prompted me to make an exception in
+favour of this Captain Orme. I liked the man; there was something about those
+brown eyes of his that appealed to me. Also it struck me as odd that he should
+happen to be present on this occasion, for I have always held that there is
+nothing casual or accidental in the world; that even the most trivial
+circumstances are either ordained, or the result of the workings of some
+inexorable law whereof the end is known by whatever power may direct our steps,
+though it be not yet declared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Certainly I am willing,&rdquo; I answered; &ldquo;your face and your
+friendship with the Professor are passport enough for me. Only I must ask you
+to give me your word of honour that without my leave you will repeat nothing of
+what I am about to tell you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; he answered, whereon Higgs broke in:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There, that will do; you don&rsquo;t want us both to kiss the Book, do
+you? Who sold you that ring, and where have you been for the last dozen years,
+and whence do you come now?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have been a prisoner of the Khalifa&rsquo;s among other things. I had
+five years of that entertainment of which my back would give some evidence if I
+were to strip. I think I am about the only man who never embraced Islam whom
+they allowed to live, and that was because I am a doctor, and, therefore, a
+useful person. The rest of the time I have spent wandering about the North
+African deserts looking for my son, Roderick. You remember the boy, or should,
+for you are his godfather, and I used to send you photographs of him as a
+little chap.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of course, of course,&rdquo; said the Professor in a new tone; &ldquo;I
+came across a Christmas letter from him the other day. But, my dear Adams, what
+happened? I never heard.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He went up the river to shoot crocodiles against my orders, when he was
+about twelve years old&mdash;not very long after his mother&rsquo;s death, and
+some wandering Mahdi tribesmen kidnapped him and sold him as a slave. I have
+been looking for him ever since, for the poor boy was passed on from tribe to
+tribe, among which his skill as a musician enabled me to follow him. The Arabs
+call him the Singer of Egypt, because of his wonderful voice, and it seems that
+he has learned to play upon their native instruments.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And now where is he?&rdquo; asked Higgs, as one who feared the answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He is, or was, a favourite slave among a barbarous, half-negroid people
+called the Fung, who dwell in the far interior of North Central Africa. After
+the fall of the Khalifa I followed him there; it took me several years. Some
+Bedouin were making an expedition to trade with these Fung, and I disguised
+myself as one of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;On a certain night we camped at the foot of a valley outside a great
+wall which encloses the holy place where their idol is. I rode up to this wall
+and, through the open gateway, heard some one with a beautiful tenor voice
+singing in English. What he sang was a hymn that I had taught my son. It begins:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&lsquo;Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I knew the voice again. I dismounted and slipped through the gateway,
+and presently came to an open space, where a young man sat singing upon a sort
+of raised bench with lamps on either side of him, and a large audience in
+front. I saw his face and, notwithstanding the turban which he wore and his
+Eastern robe&mdash;yes, and the passage of all those years&mdash;I knew it for
+that of my son. Some spirit of madness entered into me, and I called aloud,
+&lsquo;Roderick, Roderick!&rsquo; and he started up, staring about him wildly.
+The audience started up also, and one of them caught sight of me lurking in the
+shadow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With a howl of rage, for I had desecrated their sanctuary, they sprang
+at me. To save my life, coward that I was, I fled back through the gates. Yes,
+after all those years of seeking, still I fled rather than die, and though I
+was wounded with a spear and stones, managed to reach and spring upon my horse.
+Then, as I was headed off from our camp, I galloped away anywhere, still to
+save my miserable life from those savages, so strongly is the instinct of
+self-preservation implanted in us. From a distance I looked back and saw by the
+light of the fired tents that the Fung were attacking the Arabs with whom I had
+travelled, I suppose because they thought them parties to the sacrilege.
+Afterwards I heard that they killed them every one, poor men, but I escaped,
+who unwittingly had brought their fate upon them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;On and on I galloped up a steep road. I remember hearing lions roaring
+round me in the darkness. I remember one of them springing upon my horse and
+the poor beast&rsquo;s scream. Then I remember no more till I found
+myself&mdash;I believe it was a week or so later&mdash;lying on the verandah of
+a nice house, and being attended by some good-looking women of an Abyssinian
+cast of countenance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sounds rather like one of the lost tribes of Israel,&rdquo; remarked
+Higgs sarcastically, puffing at his big meerschaum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, something of that sort. The details I will give you later. The main
+facts are that these people who picked me up outside their gates are called
+Abati, live in a town called Mur, and allege themselves to be descended from a
+tribe of Abyssinian Jews who were driven out and migrated to this place four or
+five centuries ago. Briefly, they look something like Jews, practise a very
+debased form of the Jewish religion, are civilized and clever after a fashion,
+but in the last stage of decadence from interbreeding&mdash;about nine thousand
+men is their total fighting force, although three or four generations ago they
+had twenty thousand&mdash;and live in hourly terror of extermination by the
+surrounding Fung, who hold them in hereditary hate as the possessors of the
+wonderful mountain fortress that once belonged to their forefathers.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Gibraltar and Spain over again,&rdquo; suggested Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, with this difference&mdash;that the position is reversed, the Abati
+of this Central African Gibraltar are decaying, and the Fung, who answer to the
+Spaniards, are vigorous and increasing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, what happened?&rdquo; asked the Professor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nothing particular. I tried to persuade these Abati to organize an
+expedition to rescue my son, but they laughed in my face. By degrees I found
+out that there was only one person among them who was worth anything at all,
+and she happened to be their hereditary ruler who bore the high-sounding titles
+of Walda Nagasta, or Child of Kings, and Takla Warda, or Bud of the Rose, a
+very handsome and spirited young woman, whose personal name is
+Maqueda&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;One of the names of the first known Queens of Sheba,&rdquo; muttered
+Higgs; &ldquo;the other was Belchis.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Under pretence of attending her medically,&rdquo; I went on, &ldquo;for
+otherwise their wretched etiquette would scarcely have allowed me access to one
+so exalted, I talked things over with her. She told me that the idol of the
+Fung is fashioned like a huge sphinx, or so I gathered from her description of
+the thing, for I have never seen it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What!&rdquo; exclaimed Higgs, jumping up, &ldquo;a sphinx in North
+Central Africa! Well, after all, why not? Some of the earlier Pharaohs are said
+to have had dealings with that part of the world, or even to have migrated from
+it. I think that the Makreezi repeats the legend. I suppose that it is
+ram-headed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;She told me also,&rdquo; I continued, &ldquo;that they have a tradition,
+or rather a belief, which amounts to an article of faith, that if this sphinx
+or god, which, by the way, is lion, not ram-headed, and is called
+Harmac&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Harmac!&rdquo; interrupted Higgs again. &ldquo;That is one of the names
+of the sphinx&mdash;Harmachis, god of dawn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If this god,&rdquo; I repeated, &ldquo;should be destroyed, the nation
+of the Fung, whose forefathers fashioned it as they say, must move away from
+that country across the great river which lies to the south. I have forgotten
+its name at the moment, but I think it must be a branch of the Nile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I suggested to her that, in the circumstances, her people had better try
+to destroy the idol. Maqueda laughed and said it was impossible, since the
+thing was the size of a small mountain, adding that the Abati had long ago lost
+all courage and enterprise, and were content to sit in their fertile and
+mountain-ringed land, feeding themselves with tales of departed grandeur and
+struggling for rank and high-sounding titles, till the day of doom overtook
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I inquired whether she were also content, and she replied,
+&lsquo;Certainly not&rsquo;; but what could she do to regenerate her people,
+she who was nothing but a woman, and the last of an endless line of rulers?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Rid me of the Fung,&rsquo; she added passionately, &lsquo;and I
+will give you such a reward as you never dreamed. The old cave-city yonder is
+full of treasure that was buried with its ancient kings long before we came to
+Mur. To us it is useless, since we have none to trade with, but I have heard
+that the peoples of the outside world worship gold.&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;I do not want gold,&rsquo; I answered; &lsquo;I want to rescue my
+son who is a prisoner yonder.&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Then,&rsquo; said the Child of Kings, &lsquo;you must begin by
+helping us to destroy the idol of the Fung. Are there no means by which this
+can be done?&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;There are means,&rsquo; I replied, and I tried to explain to her
+the properties of dynamite and of other more powerful explosives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Go to your own land,&rsquo; she exclaimed eagerly, &lsquo;and
+return with that stuff and two or three who can manage it, and I swear to them
+all the wealth of Mur. Thus only can you win my help to save your
+son.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, what was the end?&rdquo; asked Captain Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This: They gave me some gold and an escort with camels which were
+literally lowered down a secret path in the mountains so as to avoid the Fung,
+who ring them in and of whom they are terribly afraid. With these people I
+crossed the desert to Assouan in safety, a journey of many weeks, where I left
+them encamped about sixteen days ago, bidding them await my return. I arrived
+in England this morning, and as soon as I could ascertain that you still lived,
+and your address, from a book of reference called <i>Who&rsquo;s Who</i>, which
+they gave me in the hotel, I came on here.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why did you come to me? What do you want me to do?&rdquo; asked the
+Professor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I came to you, Higgs, because I know how deeply you are interested in
+anything antiquarian, and because I wished to give you the first opportunity,
+not only of winning wealth, but also of becoming famous as the discoverer of
+the most wonderful relics of antiquity that are left in the world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;With a very good chance of getting my throat cut thrown in,&rdquo;
+grumbled Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As to what I want you to do,&rdquo; I went on, &ldquo;I want you to find
+someone who understands explosives, and will undertake the business of blowing
+up the Fung idol.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, that&rsquo;s easy enough, anyhow,&rdquo; said the Professor,
+pointing to Captain Orme with the bowl of his pipe, and adding, &ldquo;he is an
+engineer by education, a soldier and a very fair chemist; also he knows Arabic
+and was brought up in Egypt as a boy&mdash;just the man for the job if he will
+go.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I reflected a moment, then, obeying some sort of instinct, looked up and asked:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Will you, Captain Orme, if terms can be arranged?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yesterday,&rdquo; he replied, colouring a little, &ldquo;I should have
+answered, &lsquo;Certainly not.&rsquo; To-day I answer that I am prepared to
+consider the matter&mdash;that is, if Higgs will go too, and you can enlighten
+me on certain points. But I warn you that I am only an amateur in the three
+trades that the Professor has mentioned, though, it is true, one with some
+experience.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Would it be rude to inquire, Captain Orme, why twenty-four hours have
+made such a difference in your views and plans?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not rude, only awkward,&rdquo; he replied, colouring again, this time
+more deeply. &ldquo;Still, as it is best to be frank, I will tell you.
+Yesterday I believed myself to be the inheritor of a very large fortune from an
+uncle whose fatal illness brought me back from South Africa before I meant to
+come, and as whose heir I have been brought up. To-day I have learned for the
+first time that he married secretly, last year, a woman much below him in rank,
+and has left a child, who, of course, will take all his property, as he died
+intestate. But that is not all. Yesterday I believed myself to be engaged to be
+married; to-day I am undeceived upon that point also. The lady,&rdquo; he added
+with some bitterness, &ldquo;who was willing to marry Anthony Orme&rsquo;s heir
+is no longer willing to marry Oliver Orme, whose total possessions amount to
+under £10,000. Well, small blame to her or to her relations, whichever it may
+be, especially as I understand that she has a better alliance in view.
+Certainly her decision has simplified matters,&rdquo; and he rose and walked to
+the other end of the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shocking business,&rdquo; whispered Higgs; &ldquo;been infamously
+treated,&rdquo; and he proceeded to express his opinion of the lady concerned,
+of her relatives, and of the late Anthony Orme, shipowner, in language that, if
+printed, would render this history unfit for family reading. The outspokenness
+of Professor Higgs is well known in the antiquarian world, so there is no need
+for me to enlarge upon it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What I do not exactly understand, Adams,&rdquo; he added in a loud
+voice, seeing that Orme had turned again, &ldquo;and what I think we should
+both like to know, is <i>your</i> exact object in making these proposals.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am afraid I have explained myself badly. I thought I had made it clear
+that I have only one object&mdash;to attempt the rescue of my son, if he still
+lives, as I believe he does. Higgs, put yourself in my position. Imagine
+yourself with nothing and no one left to care for except a single child, and
+that child stolen away from you by savages. Imagine yourself, after years of
+search, hearing his very voice, seeing his very face, adult now, but the same,
+the thing you had dreamed of and desired for years; that for which you would
+have given a thousand lives if you could have had time to think. And then the
+rush of the howling, fantastic mob, the breakdown of courage, of love, of
+everything that is noble under the pressure of primæval instinct, which has
+but one song&mdash;Save your life. Lastly, imagine this coward saved, dwelling
+within a few miles of the son whom he had deserted, and yet utterly unable to
+rescue or even to communicate with him because of the poltroonery of those
+among whom he had refuged.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; grunted Higgs, &ldquo;I have imagined all that
+high-faluting lot. What of it? If you mean that you are to blame, I don&rsquo;t
+agree with you. You wouldn&rsquo;t have helped your son by getting your own
+throat cut, and perhaps his also.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;I have brooded over the
+thing so long that it seems to me that I have disgraced myself. Well, there
+came a chance, and I took it. This lady, Walda Nagasta, or Maqueda, who, I
+think, had also brooded over things, made me an offer&mdash;I fancy without the
+knowledge or consent of her Council. &lsquo;Help me,&rsquo; she said,
+&lsquo;and I will help you. Save my people, and I will try to save your son. I
+can pay for your services and those of any whom you may bring with you.&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I answered that it was hopeless, as no one would believe the tale,
+whereon she drew from her finger the throne-ring or State signet which you have
+in your pocket, Higgs, saying: &lsquo;My mothers have worn this since the days
+of Maqueda, Queen of Sheba. If there are learned men among your people they
+will read her name upon it and know that I speak no lie. Take it as a token,
+and take also enough of our gold to buy the stuffs whereof you speak, which
+hide fires that can throw mountains skyward, and the services of skilled and
+trusty men who are masters of the stuff, two or three of them only, for more
+cannot be transported across the desert, and come back to save your son and
+me.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s all the story, Higgs. Will you take the business on, or
+shall I try elsewhere? You must make up your mind, because I have no time to
+lose, if I am to get into Mur again before the rains.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Got any of that gold you spoke of about you?&rdquo; asked the Professor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I drew a skin bag from the pocket of my coat, and poured some out upon the
+table, which he examined carefully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ring money,&rdquo; he said presently, &ldquo;might be Anglo-Saxon, might
+be anything; date absolutely uncertain, but from its appearance I should say
+slightly alloyed with silver; yes, there is a bit which has
+oxydized&mdash;undoubtedly old, that.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he produced the signet from his pocket, and examined the ring and the
+stone very carefully through a powerful glass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Seems all right,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and although I have been greened
+in my time, I don&rsquo;t make many mistakes nowadays. What do you say, Adams?
+Must have it back? A sacred trust! Only lent to you! All right, take it by all
+means. <i>I</i> don&rsquo;t want the thing. Well, it is a risky job, and if any
+one else had proposed it to me, I&rsquo;d have told him to go to&mdash;Mur.
+But, Adams, my boy, you saved my life once, and never sent in a bill, because I
+was hard up, and I haven&rsquo;t forgotten that. Also things are pretty hot for
+me here just now over a certain controversy of which I suppose you
+haven&rsquo;t heard in Central Africa. I think I&rsquo;ll go. What do you say,
+Oliver?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; said Captain Orme, waking up from a reverie, &ldquo;if you
+are satisfied, I am. It doesn&rsquo;t matter to me where I go.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br />
+THE ADVICE OF SERGEANT QUICK</h2>
+
+<p>
+At this moment a fearful hubbub arose without. The front door slammed, a cab
+drove off furiously, a policeman&rsquo;s whistle blew, heavy feet were heard
+trampling; then came an invocation of &ldquo;In the King&rsquo;s name,&rdquo;
+answered by &ldquo;Yes, and the Queen&rsquo;s, and the rest of the Royal
+Family&rsquo;s, and if you want it, take it, you chuckle-headed, flat-footed,
+pot-bellied Peelers.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed tumult indescribable as of heavy men and things rolling down the
+stairs, with cries of fear and indignation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What the dickens is that?&rdquo; asked Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The voice sounded like that of Samuel&mdash;I mean Sergeant
+Quick,&rdquo; answered Captain Orme with evident alarm; &ldquo;what can he be
+after? Oh, I know, it is something to do with that infernal mummy you unwrapped
+this afternoon, and asked him to bring round after dinner.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just then the door burst open, and a tall, soldier-like form stalked in,
+carrying in his arms a corpse wrapped in a sheet, which he laid upon the table
+among the wine glasses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry, Captain,&rdquo; he said, addressing Orme, &ldquo;but
+I&rsquo;ve lost the head of the departed. I think it is at the bottom of the
+stairs with the police. Had nothing else to defend myself with, sir, against
+their unwarranted attacks, so brought the body to the present and charged,
+thinking it very stiff and strong, but regret to say neck snapped, and that
+deceased&rsquo;s head is now under arrest.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As Sergeant Quick finished speaking, the door opened again, and through it
+appeared two very flurried and dishevelled policemen, one of whom held, as far
+as possible from his person, the grizzly head of a mummy by the long hair which
+still adhered to the skull.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What do you mean by breaking into my rooms like this? Where&rsquo;s your
+warrant?&rdquo; asked the indignant Higgs in his high voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There!&rdquo; answered the first policeman, pointing to the
+sheet-wrapped form on the table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And here!&rdquo; added the second, holding up the awful head. &ldquo;As
+in duty bound, we ask explanation from that man of the secret conveyance of a
+corpse through the open streets, whereon he assaults us with the same, for
+which assault, pending investigation of the corpse, I arrest him. Now,
+Guv&rsquo;nor&rdquo; (addressing Sergeant Quick), &ldquo;will you come along
+with us quietly, or must we take you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Sergeant, who seemed to be inarticulate with wrath, made a dash for the
+shrouded object on the table, with the intention, apparently, of once more
+using it as a weapon of offence, and the policemen drew their batons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Stop,&rdquo; said Orme, thrusting himself between the combatants,
+&ldquo;are you all mad? Do you know that this woman died about four thousand
+years ago?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, Lord!&rdquo; said the policeman who held the head, addressing his
+companion, &ldquo;it must be one of them mummies what they dig up in the
+British Museum. Seems pretty ancient and spicy, don&rsquo;t it?&rdquo; and he
+sniffed at the head, then set it down upon the table.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Explanations followed, and after the wounded dignity of the two officers of the
+Force had been soothed with sundry glasses of port wine and a written list of
+the names of all concerned, including that of the mummy, they departed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You take my advice, bobbies,&rdquo; I heard the indignant Sergeant
+declaim outside the door, &ldquo;and don&rsquo;t you believe things is always
+what they seem. A party ain&rsquo;t necessarily drunk because he rolls about
+and falls down in the street; he may be mad, or &lsquo;ungry, or epileptic, and
+a body ain&rsquo;t always a body jest because it&rsquo;s dead and cold and
+stiff. Why, men, as you&rsquo;ve seen, it may be a mummy, which is quite a
+different thing. If I was to put on that blue coat of yours, would that make me
+a policeman? Good heavens! I should hope not, for the sake of the Army to which
+I still belong, being in the Reserve. What you bobbies need is to study human
+nature and cultivate observation, which will learn you the difference between a
+new-laid corpse and a mummy, and many other things. Now you lay my words to
+heart, and you&rsquo;ll both of you rise to superintendents, instead of running
+in daily &lsquo;drunks&rsquo; until you retire on a pension. Good-night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Peace having been restored, and the headless mummy removed into the
+Professor&rsquo;s bedroom, since Captain Orme declared that he could not talk
+business in the presence of a body, however ancient, we resumed our discussion.
+First of all, at Higgs&rsquo;s suggestion I drew up a brief memorandum of
+agreement which set out the objects of the expedition, and provided for the
+equal division amongst us of any profit that might accrue; in the event of the
+death of one or more of us, the survivors or survivor to take their or his
+share.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To this arrangement personally I objected, who desired neither treasure nor
+antiquities, but only the rescue of my son. The others pointed out, however,
+that, like most people, I might in future want something to live on, or that if
+I did not, in the event of his escape, my boy certainly would; so in the end I
+gave way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Captain Orme very sensibly asked for a definition of our respective
+duties, and it was settled that I was to be guide to the expedition; Higgs,
+antiquarian, interpreter, and, on account of his vast knowledge, general
+referee; and Captain Orme, engineer and military commander, with the proviso
+that, in the event of a difference of opinion, the dissentient was to loyally
+accept the decision of the majority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This curious document having been copied out fair, I signed and passed it to
+the Professor, who hesitated a little, but, after refreshing himself with a
+further minute examination of Sheba&rsquo;s ring, signed also, remarking that
+he was an infernal fool for his pains, and pushed the paper across the table to
+Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Stop a minute,&rdquo; said the Captain; &ldquo;I forgot something. I
+should like my old servant, Sergeant Quick, to accompany us. He&rsquo;s a very
+handy man at a pinch, especially if, as I understand, we are expected to deal
+with explosives with which he has had a lot to do in the Engineers and
+elsewhere. If you agree I will call him, and ask if he will go. I expect
+he&rsquo;s somewhere round.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded, judging from the episode of the mummy and the policeman that the
+Sergeant was likely to be a useful man. As I was sitting next to it, I opened
+the door for the Captain, whereon the erect shape of Sergeant Quick, who had
+clearly been leaning against it, literally fell into the room, reminding me
+much of an overset wooden soldier.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hullo!&rdquo; said Orme as, without the slightest change of countenance,
+his retainer recovered himself and stood to attention. &ldquo;What the deuce
+are you doing there?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sentry go, Captain. Thought the police might change their minds and come
+back. Any orders, Captain?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes. I am going to North Central Africa. When can you be ready to
+start?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Brindisi mail leaves to-morrow night, Captain, if you travel by
+Egypt, but if you go by Tunis, 7.15 a.m. Saturday is the time from Charing
+Cross. Only, as I understand that high explosives and arms have to be provided,
+these might take awhile to lay in and pack so as to deceive customs.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You understand!&rdquo; said Orme. &ldquo;Pray, how do you
+understand?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doors in these old houses are apt to get away from their frames,
+Captain, and the gentleman there&rdquo;&mdash;and he pointed to the
+Professor&mdash;&ldquo;has a voice that carries like a dog-whistle. Oh, no
+offence, sir. A clear voice is an excellent thing&mdash;that is, if the doors
+fit&rdquo;&mdash;and although Sergeant Quick&rsquo;s wooden face did not move,
+I saw his humorous grey eyes twinkle beneath the bushy eyebrows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We burst out laughing, including Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you are willing to go?&rdquo; said Orme. &ldquo;But I hope you
+clearly understand that this is a risky business, and that you may not come
+back?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Spion Kop was a bit risky, Captain, and so was that business in the
+donga, where every one was hit except you and me and the sailor man, but we
+came back, for all that. Begging your pardon, Captain, there ain&rsquo;t no
+such thing as risk. Man comes here when he must, and dies when he must, and
+what he does between don&rsquo;t make a ha&rsquo;porth of difference.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hear, hear,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;we are much of the same way of
+thinking.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There have been several who held those views, sir, since old Solomon
+gave the lady that&rdquo;&mdash;and he pointed to Sheba&rsquo;s ring, which was
+lying on the table. &ldquo;But excuse me, Captain; how about local allowances?
+Not having been a marrying man myself, I&rsquo;ve none dependent upon me, but,
+as you know, I&rsquo;ve sisters that have, and a soldier&rsquo;s pension goes
+with him. Don&rsquo;t think me greedy, Captain,&rdquo; he added hastily,
+&ldquo;but, as you gentlemen understand, black and white at the beginning saves
+bother at the end&rdquo;&mdash;and he pointed to the agreement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite right. What do you want, Sergeant?&rdquo; asked Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nothing beyond my pay, if we get nothing, Captain, but if we get
+something, would five per cent. be too much?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It might be ten,&rdquo; I suggested. &ldquo;Sergeant Quick has a life to
+lose like the rest of us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thank you kindly, sir,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;but that, in my
+opinion, would be too much. Five per cent. was what I suggested.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So it was written down that Sergeant Samuel Quick was to receive five per cent.
+of the total profits, if any, provided that he behaved himself and obeyed
+orders. Then he also signed the agreement, and was furnished with a glass of
+whisky and water to drink to its good health.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, declining the chair which Higgs offered
+to him, apparently because, from long custom, he preferred his wooden-soldier
+attitude against the wall, &ldquo;as a humble five-per-cent. private in this
+very adventurous company I&rsquo;ll ask permission to say a word.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Permission was given accordingly, and the Sergeant proceeded to inquire what
+weight of rock it was wished to remove.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I told him that I did not know, as I had never seen the Fung idol, but I
+understood that its size was enormous, probably as large as St. Paul&rsquo;s
+Cathedral.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Which, if solid, would take some stirring,&rdquo; remarked the Sergeant.
+&ldquo;Dynamite might do it, but it is too bulky to be carried across the
+desert on camels in that quantity. Captain, how about them picrates? You
+remember those new Boer shells that blew a lot of us to kingdom come, and
+poisoned the rest?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Orme; &ldquo;I remember; but now they have stronger
+stuffs&mdash;azo-imides, I think they call them&mdash;terrific new compounds of
+nitrogen. We will inquire to-morrow, Sergeant.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Captain,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;but the point is, who&rsquo;ll
+pay? You can&rsquo;t buy hell-fire in bulk for nothing. I calculate that,
+allowing for the purchase of the explosives and, say, fifty military rifles
+with ammunition and all other necessaries, not including camels, the outfit of
+this expedition can&rsquo;t come to less than £1,500.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think I have that amount in gold,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;of which
+the lady of the Abati gave me as much as I could carry in comfort.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If not,&rdquo; said Orme, &ldquo;although I am a poor man now, I could
+find £500 or so in a pinch. So don&rsquo;t let us bother about the money. The
+question is&mdash;Are we all agreed that we will undertake this expedition and
+see it through to the end, whatever that may be?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We answered that we were.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then has anybody anything more to say?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I replied; &ldquo;I forgot to tell you that if we should
+ever get to Mur, none of you must make love to the Walda Nagasta. She is a kind
+of holy person, who can only marry into her own family, and to do so might mean
+that our throats would be cut.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you hear that, Oliver?&rdquo; said the Professor. &ldquo;I suppose
+that the Doctor&rsquo;s warning is meant for you, as the rest of us are rather
+past that kind of thing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; replied the Captain, colouring again after his fashion.
+&ldquo;Well, to tell you the truth, I feel a bit past it myself, and, so far as
+I am concerned, I don&rsquo;t think we need take the fascinations of this black
+lady into account.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t brag, Captain. Please don&rsquo;t brag,&rdquo; said Sergeant
+Quick in a hollow whisper. &ldquo;Woman is just the one thing about which you
+can never be sure. To-day she&rsquo;s poison, and to-morrow honey&mdash;God and
+the climate alone know why. Please don&rsquo;t brag, or we may live to see you
+crawling after this one on your knees, with the gent in the specs behind, and
+Samuel Quick, who hates the whole tribe of them, bringing up the rear. Tempt
+Providence, if you like, Captain, but don&rsquo;t tempt woman, lest she should
+turn round and tempt you, as she has done before to-day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Will you be so good as to stop talking nonsense and call a cab,&rdquo;
+said Captain Orme coldly. But Higgs began to laugh in his rude fashion, and I,
+remembering the appearance of &ldquo;Bud of the Rose&rdquo; when she lifted her
+veil of ceremony, and the soft earnestness of her voice, fell into reflection.
+&ldquo;Black lady&rdquo; indeed! What, I wondered, would this young gentleman
+think if ever he should live to set his eyes upon her sweet and comely face?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It seemed to me that Sergeant Quick was not so foolish as his master chose to
+imagine. Captain Orme undoubtedly was in every way qualified to be a partner in
+our venture; still, I could have wished either that he had been an older man,
+or that the lady to whom he was recently affianced had not chosen this occasion
+to break her engagement. In dealing with difficult and dangerous combinations,
+my experience has been that it is always well to eliminate the possibility of a
+love affair, especially in the East.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br />
+THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING</h2>
+
+<p>
+Of all our tremendous journey across the desert until we had passed the forest
+and reached the plains which surrounded the mountains of Mur, there are, I
+think, but few incidents with which the reader need be troubled. The first of
+these was at Assouan, where a letter and various telegrams overtook Captain
+Orme, which, as by this time we had become intimate, he showed to me. They
+informed him that the clandestine infant whom his uncle left behind him had
+suddenly sickened and died of some childish ailment, so that he was once again
+heir to the large property which he thought he had lost, since the widow only
+took a life interest in some of the personalty. I congratulated him and said I
+supposed this meant that we should not have the pleasure of his company to Mur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;I said I was going and I mean to go;
+indeed, I signed a document to that effect.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I daresay,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but circumstances alter cases. If I
+might say so, an adventure that perhaps was good enough for a young and
+well-born man of spirit and enterprise without any particular resources, is no
+longer good enough for one who has the ball at his feet. Think what a ball it
+is to a man of your birth, intelligence, record, and now, great fortune come to
+you in youth. Why, with these advantages there is absolutely nothing that you
+cannot do in England. You can go into Parliament and rule the country; if you
+like you can become a peer. You can marry any one who isn&rsquo;t of the blood
+royal; in short, with uncommonly little effort of your own, your career is made
+for you. Don&rsquo;t throw away a silver spoon like that in order, perhaps, to
+die of thirst in the desert or be killed in a fight among unknown tribes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I never set heart
+much on spoons, silver or other. When I lost this one I didn&rsquo;t cry, and
+now that I have found it again I shan&rsquo;t sing. Anyway, I am going on with
+you, and you can&rsquo;t prevent me under the agreement. Only as I have got
+such a lot to leave, I suppose I had better make a will first and post it home,
+which is a bore.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just then the Professor came in, followed by an Arab thief of a dealer, with
+whom he was trying to bargain for some object of antiquity. When the dealer had
+been ejected and the position explained to him, Higgs, who whatever may be his
+failings in small matters, is unselfish enough in big ones, said that he agreed
+with me and thought that under the circumstances, in his own interest, Orme
+ought to leave us and return home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You may save your breath, old fellow,&rdquo; answered the Captain,
+&ldquo;for this reason if for no other,&rdquo; and he threw him a letter across
+the table, which letter I saw afterwards. To be brief, it was from the young
+lady to whom he had been engaged to be married, and who on his loss of fortune
+had jilted him. Now she seemed to have changed her mind again, and, although
+she did not mention the matter, it is perhaps not uncharitable to suppose that
+the news of the death of the inconvenient child had something to do with her
+decision.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Have you answered this?&rdquo; asked Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Orme, setting his mouth. &ldquo;I have not answered,
+and I am not going to answer it, either in writing or in person. I intend to
+start to-morrow for Mur and to travel as far on that road as it pleases fate to
+allow, and now I am going to look at the rock sculptures by the cataract.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, that&rsquo;s flat,&rdquo; said Higgs after he had departed,
+&ldquo;and for my part I am glad of it, for somehow I think he will be a useful
+man among those Fung. Also, if he went I expect that the Sergeant would go too,
+and where should we be without Quick, I should like to know?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Afterwards I conversed with the said Quick about this same matter, repeating to
+him my opinions, to which the Sergeant listened with the deference which he was
+always kind enough to show to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Begging your pardon, sir,&rdquo; he said, when I had finished,
+&ldquo;but I think you are both right and wrong. Everything has two ends,
+hasn&rsquo;t it? You say that it would be wicked for the Captain to get himself
+killed, there being now so much money for him to live for, seeing that life is
+common as dirt while money is precious, rare and hard to come by. It
+ain&rsquo;t the kings we admire, it&rsquo;s their crowns; it ain&rsquo;t the
+millionaires, it&rsquo;s their millions; but, after all, the millionaires
+don&rsquo;t take their millions with them, for Providence, that, like Nature,
+hates waste, knows that if they did they&rsquo;d melt, so one man dead gives
+another bread, as the saying goes, or p&rsquo;raps I should say gingerbread in
+such cases.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Still, on the whole, sir, I admit you are right as to the sinfulness of
+wasting luck. But now comes the other end. I know this young lady what the
+Captain was engaged to, which he never would have been if he had taken my
+advice, since of all the fish-blooded little serpents that ever I set eyes on
+she&rsquo;s the serpentest, though pretty, I allow. Solomon said in his haste
+that an honest woman he had not found, but if he had met the Honourable
+Miss&mdash;well, never mind her name&mdash;he&rsquo;d have said it at his
+leisure, and gone on saying it. Now, no one should never take back a servant
+what has given notice and then says he&rsquo;s sorry, for if he does the sorrow
+will be on the other side before it&rsquo;s all done; and much less should he
+take back a <i>fiancée</i> (Quick said a &lsquo;finance&rsquo;), on the whole,
+he&rsquo;d better drown himself&mdash;I tried it once, and I know. So
+that&rsquo;s the tail of the business.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;it has a couple of fins as well, like
+that eel beast I caught in the Nile. One of them is that the Captain promised
+and vowed to go through with this expedition, and if a man&rsquo;s got to die,
+he&rsquo;d better die honest without breaking his word. And the other is what I
+said to you in London when I signed on, that he won&rsquo;t die a minute before
+his time, and nothing won&rsquo;t happen to him, but what&rsquo;s bound to
+happen, and therefore it ain&rsquo;t a ha&rsquo;porth of use bothering about
+anything, and that&rsquo;s where the East&rsquo;s well ahead of the West.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And now, sir, I&rsquo;ll go and look after the camels and those
+half-bred Jew boys what you call Abati, but I call rotten sneaks, for if they
+get their thieving fingers into those canisters of picric salts, thinking
+they&rsquo;re jam, as I found them trying to do yesterday, something may happen
+in Egypt that&rsquo;ll make the Pharaohs turn in their graves and the Ten
+Plagues look silly.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, having finished his oration, Quick went, and in due course we started for
+Mur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The second incident that is perhaps worth recording was an adventure that
+happened to us when we had completed about two of our four months&rsquo; 
+journey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After weeks of weary desert travel&mdash;if I remember right, it was exactly a
+fortnight after the dog Pharaoh, of which I shall soon have plenty to say, had
+come into Orme&rsquo;s possession&mdash;we reached an oasis called Zeu, where I
+had halted upon my road down to Egypt. In this oasis, which, although not large
+in extent, possesses springs of beautiful water and groves of date-trees, we
+were, as it chanced, very welcome, since when I was there before, I had been
+fortunate enough to cure its sheik of an attack of ophthalmia and to doctor
+several of his people for various ailments with good results. So, although I
+was burning to get forward, I agreed with the others that it would be wise to
+accede to the request of the leader of our caravan, a clever and resourceful,
+but to my mind untrustworthy Abati of the name of Shadrach, and camp in Zeu for
+a week or so to rest and feed our camels, which had wasted almost to nothing on
+the scant herbage of the desert.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This Shadrach, I may add here, whom his companions, for some reason unknown to
+me at that time, called the Cat, was remarkable for a triple line of scars upon
+his face, which, he informed me, had been set there by the claws of a lion. Now
+the great enemies of this people of Zeu were lions, which at certain seasons of
+the year, I suppose when food grew scarce, descended from the slopes of a range
+of hills that stretched east and west at a distance of about fifty miles north
+of the oasis, and, crossing the intervening desert, killed many of the Zeu
+sheep, camels, and other cattle, and often enough any of the tribe whom they
+could catch. As these poor Zeus practically possessed no firearms, they were at
+the mercy of the lions, which grew correspondingly bold. Indeed, their only
+resource was to kraal their animals within stone walls at night and take refuge
+in their huts, which they seldom left between sunset and dawn, except to
+replenish the fires that they lit to scare any beast of prey which might be
+prowling through the town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Though the lion season was now in full swing, as it happened, for the first
+five days of our stay at Zeu we saw none of these great cats, although in the
+darkness we heard them roaring in the distance. On the sixth night, however, we
+were awakened by a sound of wailing, which came from the village about a
+quarter of a mile away, and when we went out at dawn to see what was the
+matter, were met by a melancholy procession advancing from its walls. At the
+head of it marched the grey-haired old chief, followed by a number of screaming
+women, who in their excitement, or perhaps as a sign of mourning, had omitted
+to make their toilette, and by four men, who carried something horrid on a
+wickerwork door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Soon we learned what had happened. It seemed that hungry lions, two or three of
+them, had broken through the palm-leaf roof of the hut of one of the
+sheik&rsquo;s wives, she whose remains were stretched upon the door, and, in
+addition to killing her, had actually carried off his son. Now he came to
+implore us white men who had guns to revenge him on the lions, which otherwise,
+having once tasted human flesh, would destroy many more of his people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Through an interpreter who knew Arabic, for not even Higgs could understand the
+peculiar Zeu dialect, he explained in excited and incoherent words that the
+beasts lay up among the sand-hills not very far away, where some thick reeds
+grew around a little spring of water. Would we not come out and kill them and
+earn the blessing of the Zeus?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I said nothing, for the simple reason that, having such big matters on
+hand, although I was always fond of sport, I did not wish any of us to be led
+off after these lions. There is a time to hunt and a time to cease from
+hunting, and it seemed to me, except for the purposes of food, that this
+journey of ours was the latter. However, as I expected, Oliver Orme literally
+leaped at the idea. So did Higgs, who of late had been practising with a rifle
+and began to fancy himself a shot. He exclaimed loudly that nothing would give
+him greater pleasure, especially as he was sure that lions were in fact
+cowardly and overrated beasts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From that moment I foreboded disaster in my heart. Still, I said I would come
+too, partly because I had not shot a lion for many a day and had a score to
+settle with those beasts which, it may be remembered, nearly killed me on the
+Mountain of Mur, and partly because, knowing the desert and also the Zeu people
+much better than either the Professor or Orme, I thought that I might possibly
+be of service.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we fetched our rifles and cartridges, to which by an afterthought we added
+two large water-bottles, and ate a hearty breakfast. As we were preparing to
+start, Shadrach, the leader of the Abati camel-drivers, that man with the
+scarred face who was nicknamed the Cat, came up to me and asked me whither we
+were going. I told him, whereon he said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What have you to do with these savages and their troubles, lords? If a
+few of them are killed it is no matter, but as you should know, O Doctor, if
+you wish to hunt lions there are plenty in that land whither you travel, seeing
+that the lion is the fetish of the Fung and therefore never killed. But the
+desert about Zeu is dangerous and harm may come to you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then accompany us,&rdquo; broke in the Professor, between whom and
+Shadrach there was no love lost, &ldquo;for, of course, with you we should be
+quite safe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I and my people rest; only madmen
+would go to hunt worthless wild beasts when they might rest. Have we not enough
+of the desert and its dangers as it is? If you knew all that I do of lions you
+would leave them alone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of the desert we have plenty also, but of shooting very little,&rdquo;
+remarked the Captain, who talked Arabic well. &ldquo;Lie in your beds; we go to
+kill the beasts that harass the poor people who have treated us so
+kindly.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So be it,&rdquo; said Shadrach with a smile that struck me as malicious.
+&ldquo;A lion made this&rdquo;&mdash;pointing to the dreadful threefold scar
+upon his face. &ldquo;May the God of Israel protect you from lions. Remember,
+lords, that, the camels being fresh again, we march the day after to-morrow,
+should the weather hold, for if the wind blows on yonder sand-hills, no man may
+live among them;&rdquo; and, putting up his hand, he studied the sky carefully
+from beneath its shadow, then, with a grunt, turned and vanished behind a hut.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All this while Sergeant Quick was engaged at a little distance in washing up
+the tin breakfast things, to all appearance quite unconscious of what was going
+on. Orme called him, whereupon he advanced and stood to attention. I remember
+thinking how curious he looked in those surroundings&mdash;his tall, bony frame
+clothed in semi-military garments, his wooden face perfectly shaved, his
+iron-grey hair neatly parted and plastered down upon his head with pomade or
+some equivalent after the old private soldier fashion, and his sharp
+ferret-like grey eyes taking in everything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Are you coming with us, Sergeant?&rdquo; asked Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not unless ordered so to do, Captain. I like a bit of hunting well
+enough, but, with all three officers away, some one should mount guard over the
+stores and transport, so I think the dog Pharaoh and I had best stop
+behind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps you are right, Sergeant, only tie Pharaoh up, or he&rsquo;ll
+follow me. Well, what do you want to say? Out with it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Only this, Captain. Although I have served in three campaigns among
+these here Arabians (to Quick, all African natives north of the Equator were
+Arabians, and all south of it, niggers), I can&rsquo;t say I talk their lingo
+well. Still, I made out that the fellow they call Cat don&rsquo;t like this
+trip of yours, and, begging your pardon, Captain, whatever else Cat may be, he
+ain&rsquo;t no fool.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t help it, Sergeant. For one thing, it would never do to give
+in to his fancies now.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s true, Captain. When once it&rsquo;s hoist, right or wrong,
+keep the flag flying, and no doubt you&rsquo;ll come back safe and sound if
+you&rsquo;re meant to.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, having relieved his mind, the Sergeant ran his eye over our equipment to
+see that nothing had been forgotten, rapidly assured himself that the rifles
+were in working order, reported all well, and returned to his dishes. Little
+did any of us guess under what circumstances we should next meet with him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After leaving the town and marching for a mile or so along the oasis,
+accompanied by a mob of the Zeus armed with spears and bows, we were led by the
+bereaved chief, who also acted as tracker, out into the surrounding sands. The
+desert here, although I remembered it well enough, was different from any that
+we had yet encountered upon this journey, being composed of huge and abrupt
+sand-hills, some of which were quite three hundred feet high, separated from
+each other by deep, wind-cut valleys.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a distance, while they were within reach of the moist air of the oasis,
+these sand-mountains produced vegetation of various sorts. Presently, however,
+we passed out into the wilderness proper, and for a while climbed up and down
+the steep, shifting slopes, till from the crest of one of them the chief
+pointed out what in South Africa is called a pan, or <i>vlei</i>, covered with
+green reeds, and explained by signs that in these lay the lions. Descending a
+steep declivity, we posted ourselves, I at the top, and Higgs and Orme a little
+way down either side of this <i>vlei</i>. This done, we dispatched the Zeus to
+beat it out towards us, for although the reeds grew thick along the course of
+the underground water, it was but a narrow place, and not more than a quarter
+of a mile in length.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scarcely had the beaters entered the tall reeds, evidently with trepidation,
+for a good many of them held back from the adventure, when a sound of loud
+wailing informed us that something had happened. A minute or two later we saw
+two of them bearing away what appeared to be the mangled remains of the
+chief&rsquo;s son who had been carried off on the previous night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just then, too, we saw something else, for half-way down the marsh a great male
+lion broke cover, and began to steal off toward the sand-hills. It was about
+two hundred yards from Higgs, who chanced to be nearest to it, and, therefore,
+as any big-game hunter will know, for practical purposes, far out of shot. But
+the Professor, who was quite unaccustomed to this, or, indeed, any kind of
+sport, and, like all beginners, wildly anxious for blood, lifted his rifle and
+fired, as he might have done at a rabbit. By some marvellous accident the aim
+was good, and the bullet from the express, striking the lion fair behind the
+shoulder, passed through its heart, and knocked it over dead as a stone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By Jingo! Did you see that?&rdquo; screamed Higgs in his delight. Then,
+without even stopping to reload the empty barrel, he set off at the top of his
+speed toward the prostrate beast, followed by myself and by Orme, as fast as
+our astonishment would allow.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Running along the edge of the marsh, Higgs had covered about a hundred yards of
+the distance, when suddenly, charging straight at him out of the tall reeds,
+appeared a second lion, or rather lioness. Higgs wheeled round, and wildly
+fired the left barrel of his rifle without touching the infuriated brute. Next
+instant, to our horror, we saw him upon his back, with the lioness standing
+over him, lashing her tail, and growling.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We shouted as we ran, and so did the Zeus, although they made no attempt at
+rescue, with the result that the lioness, instead of tearing Higgs to pieces,
+turned her head confusedly first to one side and then to the other. By now I,
+who had a long start of Orme, was quite close, say within thirty yards, though
+fire I dared not as yet, fearing lest, should I do so, I might kill my friend.
+At this moment the lioness, recovering her nerves, squatted down on the
+prostrate Higgs, and though he hit at her with his fists, dropped her muzzle,
+evidently with the intention of biting him through the head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I felt that if I hesitated any more, all would be finished. The lioness was
+much longer than Higgs&mdash;a short, stout man&mdash;and her hind quarters
+projected beyond his feet. At these I aimed rapidly, and, pressing the trigger,
+next second heard the bullet clap upon the great beast&rsquo;s hide. Up she
+sprang with a roar, one hind leg dangling, and after a moment&rsquo;s
+hesitation, fled toward the sand-hill.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Orme, who was behind me, fired also, knocking up the dust beneath the
+lioness&rsquo;s belly, but although he had more cartridges in his rifle, which
+was a repeater, before either he or I could get another chance, it vanished
+behind a mound. Leaving it to go where it would, we ran on towards Higgs,
+expecting to find him either dead or badly mauled, but, to our amazement and
+delight, up jumped the Professor, his blue spectacles still on his nose, and,
+loading his rifle as he went, charged away after the wounded lioness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come back,&rdquo; shouted the Captain as he followed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not for Joe!&rdquo; yelled Higgs in his high voice. &ldquo;If you
+fellows think that I&rsquo;m going to let a great cat sit on my stomach for
+nothing, you are jolly well mistaken.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the top of the first rise the long-legged Orme caught him, but persuade him
+to return was more than he, or I when I arrived, could do. Beyond a scratch on
+his nose, which had stung him and covered him with blood, we found that he was
+quite uninjured, except in temper and dignity. But in vain did we beg him to be
+content with his luck and the honours he had won.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why?&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;Adams wounded the beast, and I&rsquo;d
+rather kill two lions than one; also I have a score to square. But if you
+fellows are afraid, you go home.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, I confess I felt inclined to accept the invitation, but Orme, who was
+nettled, replied:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come, come; that settles the question, doesn&rsquo;t it? You must be
+shaken by your fall, or you would not talk like that, Higgs. Look, here runs
+the spoor&mdash;see the blood? Well, let&rsquo;s go steady and keep our wind.
+We may come on her anywhere, but don&rsquo;t you try any more long distance
+shots. You won&rsquo;t kill another lion at two hundred and fifty yards.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All right,&rdquo; said Higgs, &ldquo;don&rsquo;t be offended. I
+didn&rsquo;t mean anything, except that I am going to teach that beast the
+difference between a white man and a Zeu.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we began our march, following the blood tracks up and down the steep
+sand-slopes. When we had been at it for about half-an-hour our spirits were
+cheered by catching sight of the lioness on a ridge five hundred yards away.
+Just then, too, some of the Zeus overtook us and joined the hunt, though
+without zeal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, as the day grew, the heat increased until it was so intense that the
+hot air danced above the sand slopes like billions of midges, and this although
+the sun was not visible, being hidden by a sort of mist. A strange silence,
+unusual even in the desert, pervaded the earth and sky; we could hear the
+grains of sand trickling from the ridges. The Zeus, who accompanied us, grew
+uneasy, and pointed upward with their spears, then behind toward the oasis of
+which we had long lost sight. Finally, when we were not looking, they
+disappeared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I would have followed them, guessing that they had some good reason for
+this sudden departure. But Higgs refused to come, and Orme, in whom his foolish
+taunt seemed still to rankle, only shrugged his shoulders and said nothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let the black curs go,&rdquo; exclaimed the Professor as he polished his
+blue spectacles and mopped his face. &ldquo;They are a white-livered lot of
+sneaks. Look! There she is, creeping off to the left. If we run round that
+sand-hill we shall meet her.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we ran round the sand-hill, but we did not meet her, although after long
+hunting we struck the blood spoor afresh, and followed it for several miles,
+first in this direction, and then in that, until Orme and I wondered at
+Higgs&rsquo;s obstinacy and endurance. At length, when even he was beginning to
+despair, we put up the lioness in a hollow, and fired several shots at her as
+she hobbled over the opposing slope, one of which hit her, for she rolled over,
+then picked herself up again, roaring. As a matter of fact, it came from the
+Captain&rsquo;s rifle, but Higgs, who, like many an inexperienced person was a
+jealous sportsman, declared that it was his and we did not think it worth while
+to contradict him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On we toiled, and, just beyond the ridge, walked straight into the lioness,
+sitting up like a great dog, so injured that she could do nothing but snarl
+hideously and paw at the air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now it is my turn, old lady,&rdquo; ejaculated Higgs, and straightway
+missed her clean from a distance of five yards. A second shot was more
+successful, and she rolled over, dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come on,&rdquo; said the exultant Professor, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;ll skin
+her. She sat on me, and I mean to sit on her for many a day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we began the job, although I, who had large experience of this desert, and
+did not like the appearance of the weather, wished to leave the beast where it
+lay and get back to the oasis. It proved long, for I was the only one of us who
+had any practical knowledge of flaying animals, and in that heat extremely
+unpleasant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length it was done, and, having doubled the hide over a rifle for two of us
+to carry in turns, we refreshed ourselves from the water-bottles (I even caught
+the Professor washing the blood off his face and hands with some of the
+precious fluid). Then we started for the oasis, only to discover, though we
+were all sure that we knew the way, that not one of us had a slightest idea of
+its real direction. In the hurry of our departure we had forgotten to bring a
+compass, and the sun, that would have been our guide in ordinary circumstances,
+and to which we always trusted in the open desert, was hidden by the curious
+haze that has been described.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, sensibly enough, we determined to return to the sand crest where we had
+killed the lioness, and then trace our own footprints backward. This seemed
+simple enough, for there, within half-a-mile, rose the identical ridge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We reached it, grumbling, for the lion-skin was heavy, only to discover that it
+was a totally different ridge. Now, after reflection and argument, we saw our
+exact mistake, and made for what was obviously the real ridge&mdash;with the
+same result.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were lost in the desert!
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br />
+THE DEATH WIND</h2>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The fact is,&rdquo; said Higgs presently, speaking with the air of an
+oracle, &ldquo;the fact is that all these accursed sand-hills are as like each
+other as mummy beads on the same necklace, and therefore it is very difficult
+to know them apart. Give me that water-bottle, Adams; I am as dry as a
+lime-kiln.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I said shortly; &ldquo;you may be drier before the end.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What do you mean? Oh! I see; but that&rsquo;s nonsense; those Zeus will
+hunt us up, or, at the worst, we have only to wait till the sun gets out.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he spoke, suddenly the air became filled with a curious singing sound
+impossible to describe, caused as I knew, who had often heard it before, by
+millions and millions of particles of sand being rubbed together. We turned to
+see whence it came, and perceived, far away, rushing towards us with
+extraordinary swiftness, a huge and dense cloud preceded by isolated columns
+and funnels of similar clouds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A sand-storm,&rdquo; said Higgs, his florid face paling a little.
+&ldquo;Bad luck for us! That&rsquo;s what comes of getting out of bed the wrong
+side first this morning. No, it&rsquo;s your fault, Adams; you helped me to
+salt last night, in spite of my remonstrances&rdquo; (the Professor has sundry
+little superstitions of this sort, particularly absurd in so learned a man).
+&ldquo;Well, what shall we do? Get under the lee of the hill until it blows
+over?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t suppose it will blow over. Can&rsquo;t see anything to do
+except say our prayers,&rdquo; remarked Orme with sweet resignation. Oliver is,
+I think, the coolest hand in an emergency of any one I ever met, except,
+perhaps, Sergeant Quick, a man, of course, nearly old enough to be his father.
+&ldquo;The game seems to be pretty well up,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Well, you
+have killed two lions, Higgs, and that is something.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, hang it! You can die if you like, Oliver. The world won&rsquo;t miss
+you; but think of its loss if anything happened to <i>me</i>. I don&rsquo;t
+intend to be wiped out by a beastly sand-storm. I intend to live to write a
+book on Mur,&rdquo; and Higgs shook his fist at the advancing clouds with an
+air that was really noble. It reminded me of Ajax defying the lightning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile I had been reflecting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;Our only chance is to stop where we are,
+for if we move we shall certainly be buried alive. Look; there is something
+solid to lie on,&rdquo; and I pointed to a ridge of rock, a kind of core of
+congealed sand, from which the surface had been swept by gales. &ldquo;Down
+with you, quick,&rdquo; I went on, &ldquo;and let&rsquo;s draw that lion-skin
+over our heads. It may help to keep the dust from choking us. Hurry, men;
+it&rsquo;s coming!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Coming, it was indeed, with a mighty, wailing roar. Scarcely had we got
+ourselves into position, our backs to the blast and our mouths and noses buried
+after the fashion of camels in a similar predicament, the lion-skin covering
+our heads and bodies to the middle, with the paws tucked securely beneath us to
+prevent it from being blown away, when the storm leaped upon us furiously,
+bringing darkness in its train. There we lay for hour after hour, unable to
+see, unable to talk because of the roaring noise about us, and only from time
+to time lifting ourselves a little upon our hands and knees to disturb the
+weight of sand that accumulated on our bodies, lest it should encase us in a
+living tomb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dreadful were the miseries we suffered&mdash;the misery of the heat beneath the
+stinking pelt of the lion, the misery of the dust-laden air that choked us
+almost to suffocation, the misery of thirst, for we could not get at our scanty
+supply of water to drink. But worst of all perhaps, was the pain caused by the
+continual friction of the sharp sand driven along at hurricane speed, which,
+incredible as it may seem, finally wore holes in our thin clothing and filed
+our skins to rawness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No wonder the Egyptian monuments get such a beautiful shine on
+them,&rdquo; I heard poor Higgs muttering in my ear again and again, for he was
+growing light-headed; &ldquo;no wonder, no wonder! My shin-bones will be very
+useful to polish Quick&rsquo;s tall riding-boots. Oh! curse the lions. Why did
+you help me to salt, you old ass; why did you help me to salt? It&rsquo;s
+pickling me behind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he became quite incoherent, and only groaned from time to time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perhaps, however, this suffering did us a service, since otherwise exhaustion,
+thirst, and dust might have overwhelmed our senses, and caused us to fall into
+a sleep from which we never should have awakened. Yet at the time we were not
+grateful to it, for at last the agony became almost unbearable. Indeed, Orme
+told me afterwards that the last thing he could remember was a quaint fancy
+that he had made a colossal fortune by selling the secret of a new torture to
+the Chinese&mdash;that of hot sand driven on to the victim by a continuous
+blast of hot air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After a while we lost count of time, nor was it until later that we learned
+that the storm endured for full twenty hours, during the latter part of which,
+notwithstanding our manifold sufferings, we must have become more or less
+insensible. At any rate, at one moment I remembered the awful roar and the
+stinging of the sand whips, followed by a kind of vision of the face of my
+son&mdash;that beloved, long-lost son whom I had sought for so many years, and
+for whose sake I endured all these things. Then, without any interval, as it
+were, I felt my limbs being scorched as though by hot irons or through a
+burning-glass, and with a fearful effort staggered up to find that the storm
+had passed, and that the furious sun was blistering my excoriated skin. Rubbing
+the caked dirt from my eyes, I looked down to see two mounds like those of
+graves, out of which projected legs that had been white. Just then one pair of
+legs, the longer pair, stirred, the sand heaved up convulsively, and, uttering
+wandering words in a choky voice, there arose the figure of Oliver Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a moment we stood and stared at each other, and strange spectacles we were.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is he dead?&rdquo; muttered Orme, pointing to the still buried Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fear so,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but we&rsquo;ll look;&rdquo; and
+painfully we began to disinter him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When we came to it beneath the lion-skin, the Professor&rsquo;s face was black
+and hideous to see, but, to our relief, we perceived that he was not dead, for
+he moved his hand and moaned. Orme looked at me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Water would save him,&rdquo; I said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then came the anxious moment. One of our water-bottles was emptied before the
+storm began, but the other, a large, patent flask covered with felt, and having
+a screw vulcanite top, should still contain a good quantity, perhaps three
+quarts&mdash;that is, if the fluid had not evaporated in the dreadful heat. If
+this had happened, it meant that Higgs would die, and unless help came, that
+soon we should follow him. Orme unscrewed the flask, for my hands refused that
+office, and used his teeth to draw the cork, which, providentially enough the
+thoughtful Quick had set in the neck beneath the screw. Some of the water,
+which, although it was quite hot, had <i>not</i> evaporated, thank God! flew
+against his parched lips, and I saw him bite them till the blood came in the
+fierceness of the temptation to assuage his raging thirst. But he resisted it
+like the man he is, and, without drinking a drop, handed me the bottle, saying
+simply:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You are the oldest; take care of this, Adams.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now it was my turn to be tempted, but I, too, overcame, and, sitting down, laid
+Higgs&rsquo;s head upon my knee; then, drop by drop, let a little of the water
+trickle between his swollen lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The effect was magical, for in less than a minute the Professor sat up, grasped
+at the flask with both hands, and strove to tear it away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You cruel brute! You cruel selfish brute!&rdquo; he moaned as I wrenched
+it from him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look here, Higgs,&rdquo; I answered thickly; &ldquo;Orme and I want
+water badly enough, and we have had none. But you might take it all if it would
+save you, only it wouldn&rsquo;t. We are lost in the desert, and must be
+sparing. If you drank everything now, in a few hours you would be thirsty again
+and die.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He thought awhile, then looked up and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Beg pardon&mdash;I understand. I&rsquo;m the selfish brute. But
+there&rsquo;s a good lot of water there; let&rsquo;s each have a drink; we
+can&rsquo;t move unless we do.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we drank, measuring out the water in a little india-rubber cup which we had
+with us. It held about as much as a port wine glass, and each of us drank, or
+rather slowly sipped, three cupfuls; we who felt as though we could have
+swallowed a gallon apiece, and asked for more. Small as was the allowance, it
+worked wonders in us; we were men again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We stood up and looked about us, but the great storm had changed everything.
+Where there had been sand-hills a hundred feet high, now were plains and
+valleys; where there had been valleys appeared sand-hills. Only the high ridge
+upon which we had lain was as before, because it stood above the others and had
+a core of rock. We tried to discover the direction of the oasis by the position
+of the sun, only to be baffled, since our two watches had run down, and we did
+not know the time of day or where the sun ought to be in the heavens. Also, in
+that howling wilderness there was nothing to show us the points of the compass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Higgs, whose obstinacy remained unimpaired, whatever may have happened to the
+rest of his vital forces, had one view of the matter, and Orme another
+diametrically opposed to it. They even argued as to whether the oasis lay to
+our right or to our left, for their poor heads were so confused that they were
+scarcely capable of accurate thought or observation. Meanwhile I sat down upon
+the sand and considered. Through the haze I could see the points of what I
+thought must be the hills whence the Zeus declared that the lions came,
+although of course, for aught I knew, they might be other hills.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;if lions live upon those hills, there must
+be water there. Let us try to reach them; perhaps we shall see the oasis as we
+go.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then began our dreadful march. The lion-skin that had saved our lives, and was
+now baked hard as a board, we left behind, but the rifles we took. All day long
+we dragged ourselves up and down steep sand-slopes, pausing now again to drink
+a sip of water, and hoping always that from the top of the next slope we should
+see a rescue party headed by Quick, or perhaps the oasis itself. Indeed, once
+we did see it, green and shining, not more than three miles away, but when we
+got to the head of the hill beyond which it should lie we found that the vision
+was only a mirage, and our hearts nearly broke with disappointment. Oh! to men
+dying of thirst, that mirage was indeed a cruel mockery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length night approached, and the mountains were yet a long way off. We could
+march no more, and sank down exhausted, lying on our faces, because our backs
+were so cut by the driving sand and blistered by the sun that we could not sit.
+By now almost all our water was gone. Suddenly Higgs nudged us and pointed
+upwards. Following the line of his hand, we saw, not thirty yards away and
+showing clear against the sky, a file of antelopes trekking along the
+sand-ridge, doubtless on a night journey from one pasturage to another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You fellows shoot,&rdquo; he muttered; &ldquo;I might miss and frighten
+them away,&rdquo; for in his distress poor Higgs was growing modest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slowly Orme and I drew ourselves to our knees, cocking our rifles. By this time
+all the buck save one had passed; there were but six of them, and this one
+marched along about twenty yards behind the others. Orme pulled the trigger,
+but his rifle would not go off because, as he discovered afterwards, some sand
+had worked into the mechanism of the lock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile I had also covered the buck, but the sunset dazzled my weakened eyes,
+and my arms were feeble; also my terrible anxiety for success, since I knew
+that on this shot hung our lives, unnerved me. But it must be now or never; in
+three more paces the beast would be down the dip.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I fired, and knowing that I had missed, turned sick and faint. The antelope
+bounded forward a few yards right to the edge of the dip; then, never having
+heard such a sound before, and being overcome by some fatal curiosity, stopped
+and turned around, staring at the direction whence it had come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Despairingly I fired again, almost without taking aim, and this time the bullet
+went in beneath the throat, and, raking the animal, dropped it dead as a stone.
+We scrambled to it, and presently were engaged in an awful meal of which we
+never afterwards liked to think. Happily for us that antelope must have drunk
+water not long before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Our hunger and thirst assuaged after this horrible fashion, we slept awhile by
+the carcase, then arose extraordinarily refreshed, and, having cut off some
+hunks of meat to carry with us, started on again. By the position of the stars,
+we now knew that the oasis must lie somewhere to the east of us; but as between
+us and it there appeared to be nothing but these eternal sand-hills stretching
+away for many miles, and as in front of us toward the range the character of
+the desert seemed to be changing, we thought it safer, if the word safety can
+be used in such a connection, to continue to head for that range. All the
+remainder of this night we marched, and, as we had no fuel wherewith to cook
+it, at dawn ate some of the raw meat, which we washed down with the last drops
+of our water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now we were out of the sand-hills, and had entered on a great pebbly plain that
+lay between us and the foot of the mountains. These looked quite close, but in
+fact were still far off. Feebly and ever more feebly we staggered on, meeting
+no one and finding no water, though here and there we came across little
+bushes, of which we chewed the stringy and aromatic leaves that contained some
+moisture, but drew up our mouths and throats like alum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Higgs, who was the softest of us, gave out the first, though to the last he
+struggled forward with surprising pluck, even after he had been obliged to
+throw away his rifle, because he could no longer carry it, though this we did
+not notice at the time. When he could not support himself upon his feet, Orme
+took him by one arm, and I by the other, and helped him on, much as I have seen
+two elephants do by a wounded companion of the herd.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half-an-hour or so later my strength failed me also. Although advanced in
+years, I am tough and accustomed to the desert and hardships; who would not be
+who had been a slave to the Khalifa? But now I could do no more, and halting,
+begged the others to go on and leave me. Orme&rsquo;s only answer was to
+proffer me his left arm. I took it, for life is sweet to us all, especially
+when one has something to live for&mdash;a desire to fulfil as I had, though to
+tell the truth, even at the time I felt ashamed of myself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus, then, we proceeded awhile, resembling a sober man attempting to lead two
+drunken friends out of reach of that stern policeman, Death. Orme&rsquo;s
+strength must be wonderful; or was it his great spirit and his tender pity for
+our helplessness which enabled him to endure beneath this double burden.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suddenly he fell down as though he had been shot, and lay there senseless. The
+Professor, however, retained some portion of his mind, although it wandered. He
+became light-headed, and rambled on about our madness in having undertaken such
+a journey, &ldquo;just to pot a couple of beastly lions,&rdquo; and although I
+did not answer them, I agreed heartily with his remarks. Then he seemed to
+imagine that I was a clergyman, and kneeling on the sand, he made a lengthy
+confession of his sins which, so far as I gathered, though I did not pay much
+attention to them, for I was thinking of my own, appeared chiefly to consist of
+the unlawful acquisition of certain objects of antiquity, or of having
+overmatched others in the purchase of such objects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To pacify him, for I feared lest he should go raving mad, I pronounced some
+religious absolution, whereon poor Higgs rolled over and lay still by Orme.
+Yes; he, the friend whom I had always loved, for his very failings were
+endearing, was dead or at the point of death, like the gallant young man at his
+side, and I myself was dying. Tremors shook my limbs; horrible waves of
+blackness seemed to well up from my vitals, through my breast to my brain, and
+thence to evaporate in queer, jagged lines and patches, which I realized, but
+could not actually see. Gay memories of my far-off childhood arose in me,
+particularly those of a Christmas party where I had met a little girl dressed
+like an elf, a little girl with blue eyes whom I had loved dearly for quite a
+fortnight, to be beaten down, stamped out, swallowed by that vision of the
+imminent shadow which awaits all mankind, the black womb of a re-birth, if
+re-birth there be.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What could I do? I thought of lighting a fire; at any rate it would serve to
+scare the lions and other wild beasts which else might prey upon us before we
+were quite dead. It would be dreadful to lie helpless but sentient, and feel
+their rending fangs. But I had no strength to collect the material. To do so at
+best must have meant a long walk, for even here it was not plentiful. I had a
+few cartridges left&mdash;three, to be accurate&mdash;in my repeating rifle;
+the rest I had thrown away to be rid of their weight. I determined to fire
+them, since, in my state I thought they could no longer serve either to win
+food or for the purposes of defence, although, as it happened, in this I was
+wrong. It was possible that, even in that endless desert, some one might hear
+the shots, and if not&mdash;well, good-night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I sat up and fired the first cartridge, wondering in a childish fashion
+where the bullet would fall. Then I went to sleep for awhile. The howling of a
+hyena woke me up, and, on glancing around, I saw the beast&rsquo;s flaming eyes
+quite close to me. I aimed and shot at it, and heard a yell of pain. That
+hyena, I reflected, would want no more food at present.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The silence of the desert overwhelmed me; it was so terrible that I almost
+wished the hyena back for company. Holding the rifle above my head, I fired the
+third cartridge. Then I took the hand of Higgs in my own, for, after all, it
+was a link&mdash;the last link with humanity and the world&mdash;and lay down
+in the company of death that seemed to fall upon me in black and smothering
+veils.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I woke up and became aware that some one was pouring water down my throat.
+Heaven! I thought to myself, for at that time heaven and water were synonymous
+in my mind. I drank a good deal of it, not all I wanted by any means, but as
+much as the pourer would allow, then raised myself upon my hands and looked.
+The starlight was extraordinarily clear in that pure desert atmosphere, and by
+it I saw the face of Sergeant Quick bending over me. Also, I saw Orme sitting
+up, staring about him stupidly, while a great yellow dog, with a head like a
+mastiff, licked his hand. I knew the dog at once; it was that which Orme had
+bought from some wandering natives, and named Pharaoh because he ruled over all
+other dogs. Moreover, I knew the two camels that stood near by. So I was still
+on earth&mdash;unless, indeed we had all moved on a step.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How did you find us, Sergeant?&rdquo; I asked feebly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Didn&rsquo;t find you, Doctor,&rdquo; answered Quick, &ldquo;dog Pharaoh
+found you. In a business like this a dog is more useful than man, for he can
+smell what one can&rsquo;t see. Now, if you feel better, Doctor, please look at
+Mr. Higgs, for I fear he&rsquo;s gone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I looked, and, although I did not say so, was of the same opinion. His jaw had
+fallen, and he lay limp and senseless; his eyes I could not see, because of the
+black spectacles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Water,&rdquo; I said, and Quick poured some into his mouth, where it
+vanished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still he did not stir, so I opened his garments and felt his heart. At first I
+could detect nothing; then there was the slightest possible flutter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There&rsquo;s hope,&rdquo; I said in answer to the questioning looks.
+&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t happen to have any brandy, do you?&rdquo; I added.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Never travelled without it yet, Doctor,&rdquo; replied Quick
+indignantly, producing a metal flask.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Give him some,&rdquo; I said, and the Sergeant obeyed with liberality
+and almost instantaneous effect, for Higgs sat up gasping and coughing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Brandy; filthy stuff; teetotaller! Cursed trick! Never forgive you.
+Water, water,&rdquo; he spluttered in a thick, low voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We gave it to him, and he drank copiously, until we would let him have no more
+indeed. Then, by degrees, his senses came back to him. He thrust up his black
+spectacles which he had worn all this while, and stared at the Sergeant with
+his sharp eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So we are not dead, after all,
+which perhaps is a pity after getting through the beastly preliminaries. What
+has happened?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t quite know,&rdquo; answered Orme; &ldquo;ask Quick.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the Sergeant was already engaged in lighting a little fire and setting a
+camp-kettle to boil, into which he poured a tin of beef extract that he had
+brought with other eatables from our stores on the chance that he might find
+us. In fifteen minutes we were drinking soup, for I forbade anything more solid
+as yet, and, oh! what a blessed meal was that. When it was finished, Quick
+fetched some blankets from the camels, which he threw over us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lie down and sleep, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;Pharaoh and I will
+watch.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last thing I remember was seeing the Sergeant, in his own fashion an
+extremely religious man, and not ashamed of it, kneeling upon the sand and
+apparently saying his prayers. As he explained afterwards, of course, as a
+fatalist, he knew well that whatever must happen would happen, but still he
+considered it right and proper to return thanks to the Power which had arranged
+that on this occasion the happenings should be good, and not ill, a sentiment
+with which every one of us agreed. Opposite to him, with one of his faithful
+eyes fixed on Orme, sat Pharaoh in grave contemplation. Doubtless, being an
+Eastern dog, he understood the meaning of public prayer; or perhaps he thought
+that he should receive some share of gratitude and thanks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When we awoke the sun was already high, and to show us that we had dreamed no
+dream, there was Quick frying tinned bacon over the fire, while Pharaoh sat
+still and watched him&mdash;or the bacon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look,&rdquo; said Orme to me, pointing to the mountains, &ldquo;they are
+still miles away. It was madness to think that we could reach them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded, then turned to stare at Higgs, who was just waking up, for, indeed,
+he was a sight to see. His fiery red hair was full of sand, his nether garments
+were gone, apparently at some stage in our march he had dispensed with the
+remains of them because they chafed his sore limbs, and his fair skin, not
+excluding that of his face, was a mass of blisters, raised by the sun. In fact
+he was so disfigured that his worst enemy would not have known him. He yawned,
+stretched himself, always a good sign in man or beast, and asked for a bath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am afraid you will have to wash yourself in sand here, sir, like them
+filthy Arabians,&rdquo; said Quick, saluting. &ldquo;No water to spare for
+baths in this dry country. But I&rsquo;ve got a tube of hazeline, also a
+hair-brush and a looking-glass,&rdquo; he added, producing these articles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite so, Sergeant,&rdquo; said Higgs, as he took them;
+&ldquo;it&rsquo;s sacrilege to think of using water to wash. I intend never to
+waste it in that way again.&rdquo; Then he looked at himself in the glass, and
+let it fall upon the sand, ejaculating, &ldquo;Oh! good Lord, is that me?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Please be careful, sir,&rdquo; said the Sergeant sternly; &ldquo;you
+told me the other day that it&rsquo;s unlucky to break a looking-glass; also I
+have no other.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Take it away,&rdquo; said the Professor; &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want it
+any more, and, Doctor, come and oil my face, there&rsquo;s a good fellow; yes,
+and the rest of me also, if there is enough hazeline.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we treated each other with the ointment, which at first made us smart
+fearfully, and then, very gingerly sat down to breakfast.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, Sergeant,&rdquo; said Orme, as he finished his fifth pannikin of
+tea, &ldquo;tell us your story.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t much of a story, Captain. Those Zeu fellows came back
+without you, and, not knowing the lingo, I could make nothing of their tale.
+Well, I soon made Shadrach and Co. understand that, death-wind or no
+death-wind&mdash;that&rsquo;s what they call it&mdash;they must come with me to
+look for you, and at last we started, although they said that I was mad, as you
+were dead already. Indeed, it wasn&rsquo;t until I asked that fellow Shadrach
+if he wanted to be dead too&rdquo;&mdash;and the Sergeant tapped his revolver
+grimly&mdash;&ldquo;that he would let any one go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As it proved, he was right, for we couldn&rsquo;t find you, and after
+awhile the camels refused to face the storm any longer; also one of the Abati
+drivers was lost, and hasn&rsquo;t been heard of since. It was all the rest of
+us could do to get back to the oasis alive, nor would Shadrach go out again
+even after the storm had blown itself away. It was no use arguing with the pig,
+so, as I did not want his blood upon my hands, I took two camels and started
+with the dog Pharaoh for company.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now this was my thought, although I could not explain it to the Abati
+crowd, that if you lived at all, you would almost certainly head for the hills
+as I knew you had no compass, and you would not be able to see anything else.
+So I rode along the plain which stretches between the desert and the mountains,
+keeping on the edge of the sand-hills. I rode all day, but when night came I
+halted, since I could see no more. There I sat in that great place, thinking,
+and after an hour or two I observed Pharaoh prick his ears and look toward the
+west. So I also started toward the west, and presently I thought that I saw one
+faint streak of light which seemed to go upward, and therefore couldn&rsquo;t
+come from a falling star, but might have come from a rifle fired toward the sky.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I listened, but no sound reached me, only presently, some seconds
+afterwards, the dog again pricked his ears as though <i>he</i> heard something.
+That settled me, and I mounted and rode forward through the night toward the
+place where I thought I had seen the flash. For two hours I rode, firing my
+revolver from time to time; then as no answer came, gave it up as a bad job,
+and stopped. But Pharaoh there wouldn&rsquo;t stop. He began to whine and sniff
+and run forward, and at last bolted into the darkness, out of which presently I
+heard him barking some hundreds of yards away, to call me, I suppose. So I
+followed and found you three gentlemen, dead, as I thought at first.
+That&rsquo;s all the story, Captain.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;One with a good end, anyway, Sergeant. We owe our lives to you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Beg your pardon, Captain,&rdquo; answered Quick modestly; &ldquo;not to
+me at all, but to Providence first that arranged everything, before we were
+born perhaps, and next to Pharaoh. He&rsquo;s a wise dog, Pharaoh, though
+fierce with some, and you did a good deal when you bought him for a bottle of
+whisky and a sixpenny pocket-knife.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was dawn on the following morning before we sighted the oasis, whither we
+could travel but slowly, since, owing to the lack of camels, two of us must
+walk. Of these two, as may be guessed, the Sergeant was always one and his
+master the other, for of all the men I ever knew I think that in such matters
+Orme is the most unselfish. Nothing would induce him to mount one of the
+camels, even for half-an-hour, so that when I walked, the brute went riderless.
+On the other hand, once he was on, notwithstanding the agonies he suffered from
+his soreness, nothing would induce Higgs to get off.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Here I am and here I stop,&rdquo; he said several times, in English,
+French, and sundry Oriental languages. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve tramped it enough to
+last me the rest of my life.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Both of us were dozing upon our saddles when suddenly I heard the Sergeant
+calling to the camels to halt and asked what was the matter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Looks like Arabians, Doctor,&rdquo; he said, pointing to a cloud of dust
+advancing toward us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, if so,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;our best chance is to show no
+fear and go on. I don&rsquo;t think they will harm us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, having made ready such weapons as we had, we advanced, Orme and the
+Sergeant walking between the two camels, until presently we encountered the
+other caravan, and, to our astonishment, saw none other than Shadrach riding at
+the head of it, mounted on my dromedary, which his own mistress, the Lady of
+the Abati, had given to me. We came face to face, and halted, staring at each
+other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By the beard of Aaron! is it you, lords?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;We
+thought you were dead.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By the hair of Moses! so I gather,&rdquo; I answered angrily,
+&ldquo;seeing that you are going off with all our belongings,&rdquo; and I
+pointed to the baggage camels laden with goods.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed explanations and voluble apologies, which Higgs for one accepted
+with a very bad grace. Indeed, as he can talk Arabic and its dialects
+perfectly, he made use of that tongue to pour upon the heads of Shadrach and
+his companions a stream of Eastern invective that must have astonished them,
+ably seconded as it was by Sergeant Quick in English.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme listened for some time, then said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;ll do, old fellow; if you go on, you will get up a row, and,
+Sergeant, be good enough to hold your tongue. We have met them, so there is no
+harm done. Now, friend Shadrach, turn back with us to the oasis. We are going
+to rest there for some days.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shadrach looked sulky, and said something about our turning and going on with
+<i>them</i>, whereon I produced the ancient ring, Sheba&rsquo;s ring, which I
+had brought as a token from Mur. This I held before his eyes, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Disobey, and there will be an account to settle when you come into the
+presence of her who sent you forth, for even if we four should
+die&rdquo;&mdash;and I looked at him meaningly&mdash;&ldquo;think not that you
+will be able to hide this matter; there are too many witnesses.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, without more words, he saluted the sacred ring, and we all went back to
+Zeu.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br />
+PHARAOH MAKES TROUBLE</h2>
+
+<p>
+Another six weeks or so had gone by, and at length the character of the country
+began to change. At last we were passing out of the endless desert over which
+we had travelled for so many hundreds of miles; at least a thousand, according
+to our observations and reckonings, which I checked by those that I had taken
+upon my eastward journey. Our march, after the great adventure at the oasis,
+was singularly devoid of startling events. Indeed, it had been awful in its
+monotony, and yet, oddly enough, not without a certain charm&mdash;at any rate
+for Higgs and Orme, to whom the experience was new.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Day by day to travel on across an endless sea of sand so remote, so unvisited
+that for whole weeks no man, not even a wandering Bedouin of the desert,
+crossed our path. Day by day to see the great red sun rise out of the eastern
+sands, and, its journey finished, sink into the western sands. Night by night
+to watch the moon, the same moon on which were fixed the million eyes of
+cities, turning those sands to a silver sea, or, in that pure air, to observe
+the constellations by which we steered our path making their majestic march
+through space. And yet to know that this vast region, now so utterly lonesome
+and desolate, had once been familiar to the feet of long-forgotten men who had
+trod the sands we walked, and dug the wells at which we drank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Armies had marched across these deserts, also, and perished there. For once we
+came to a place where a recent fearful gale had almost denuded the underlying
+rock, and there found the skeletons of thousands upon thousands of soldiers,
+with those of their beasts of burden, and among them heads of arrows,
+sword-blades, fragments of armour and of painted wooden shields.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here a whole host had died; perhaps Alexander sent it forth, or perhaps some
+far earlier monarch whose name has ceased to echo on the earth. At least they
+had died, for there we saw the memorial of that buried enterprise. There lay
+the kings, the captains, the soldiers, and the concubines, for I found the
+female bones heaped apart, some with the long hair still upon the skulls,
+showing where the poor, affrighted women had hived together in the last
+catastrophe of slaughter or of famine, thirst, and driven sand. Oh, if only
+those bones could speak, what a tale was theirs to tell!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There had been cities in this desert, too, where once were oases, now
+overwhelmed, except perhaps for a sand-choked spring. Twice we came upon the
+foundations of such places, old walls of clay or stone, stark skeletons of
+ancient homes that the shifting sands had disinterred, which once had been the
+theatre of human hopes and fears, where once men had been born, loved, and
+died, where once maidens had been fair, and good and evil wrestled, and little
+children played. Some Job may have dwelt here and written his immortal plaint,
+or some king of Sodom, and suffered the uttermost calamity. The world is very
+old; all we Westerns learned from the contemplation of these wrecks of men and
+of their works was just that the world is very old.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One evening against the clear sky there appeared the dim outline of towering
+cliffs, shaped like a horseshoe. They were the Mountains of Mur many miles
+away, but still the Mountains of Mur, sighted at last. Next morning we began to
+descend through wooded land toward a wide river that is, I believe, a tributary
+of the Nile, though upon this point I have no certain information. Three days
+later we reached the banks of this river, following some old road, and faring
+sumptuously all the way, since here there was much game and grass in plenty for
+the camels that, after their long abstinence, ate until we thought that they
+would burst. Evidently we had not arrived an hour too soon, for now the
+Mountains of Mur were hid by clouds, and we could see that it was raining upon
+the plains which lay between us and them. The wet season was setting in, and,
+had we been a single week later, it might have been impossible for us to cross
+the river, which would then have been in flood. As it was, we passed it without
+difficulty by the ancient ford, the water never rising above the knees of our
+camels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon its further bank we took counsel, for now we had entered the territory of
+the Fung, and were face to face with the real dangers of our journey. Fifty
+miles or so away rose the fortress of Mur, but, as I explained to my
+companions, the question was how to pass those fifty miles in safety. Shadrach
+was called to our conference, and at my request set out the facts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yonder, he said, rose the impregnable mountain home of the Abati, but all the
+vast plain included in the loop of the river which he called Ebur, was the home
+of the savage Fung race, whose warriors could be counted by the ten thousand,
+and whose principal city, Harmac, was built opposite to the stone effigy of
+their idol, that was also called Harmac&mdash;&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Harmac&mdash;that is Harmachis, god of dawn. Your Fung had something to
+do with the old Egyptians, or both of them came from a common stock,&rdquo;
+interrupted Higgs triumphantly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I daresay, old fellow,&rdquo; answered Orme; &ldquo;I think you told us
+that before in London; but we will go into the archæology afterwards if we
+survive to do so. Let Shadrach get on with his tale.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This city, which had quite fifty thousand inhabitants, continued Shadrach,
+commanded the mouth of the pass or cleft by which we must approach Mur, having
+probably been first built there for that very purpose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme asked if there was no other way into the stronghold, which, he understood,
+the embassy had left by being let down a precipice. Shadrach answered that this
+was true, but that although the camels and their loads had been let down that
+precipitous place, owing to the formation of its overhanging rocks, it would be
+perfectly impossible to haul them up it with any tackle that the Abati
+possessed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He asked again if there was not a way round, if that circle of mountains had no
+back door. Shadrach replied that there was such a back door facing to the north
+some eight days&rsquo; journey away. Only at this season of the year it could
+not be reached, since beyond the Mountains of Mur in that direction was a great
+lake, out of which flowed the river Ebur in two arms that enclosed the whole
+plain of Fung. By now this lake would be full, swollen with rains that fell on
+the hills of Northern Africa, and the space between it and the Mur range
+nothing but an impassable swamp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Being still unsatisfied, Orme inquired whether, if we abandoned the camels, we
+could not then climb the precipice down which the embassy had descended. To
+this the answer, which I corroborated, was that if our approach were known and
+help given to us from above, it might be possible, provided that we threw away
+the loads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Seeing what these loads are, and the purpose for which we have brought
+them so far, that is out of the question,&rdquo; said Orme. &ldquo;Therefore,
+tell us at once, Shadrach, how we are to win through the Fung to Mur.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In one way only, O son of Orme, should it be the will of God that we do
+so at all; by keeping ourselves hidden during the daytime and marching at
+night. According to their custom at this season, to-morrow, after sunset, the
+Fung hold their great spring feast in the city of Harmac, and at dawn go up to
+make sacrifice to their idol. But after sunset they eat and drink and are
+merry, and then it is their habit to withdraw their guards, that they may take
+part in the festival. For this reason I have timed our march that we should
+arrive on the night of this feast, which I know by the age of the moon, when,
+in the darkness, with God&rsquo;s help, perchance we may slip past Harmac, and
+at the first light find ourselves in the mouth of the road that runs up to Mur.
+Moreover, I will give warning to my people, the Abati, that we are coming, so
+that they may be at hand to help us if there is need.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How?&rdquo; asked Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By firing the reeds&rdquo;&mdash;and he pointed to the dense masses of
+dead vegetation about&mdash;&ldquo;as I arranged that I would do before we left
+Mur many months ago. The Fung, if they see it, will think only that it is the
+work of some wandering fisherman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme shrugged his shoulders, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, friend Shadrach, you know the place and these people, and I do
+not, so we must do what you tell us. But I say at once that if, as I
+understand, yonder Fung will kill us if they can, to me your plan seems very
+dangerous.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is dangerous,&rdquo; he answered, adding with a sneer, &ldquo;but I
+thought that you men of England were not cowards.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cowards! you son of a dog!&rdquo; broke in Higgs in his high voice.
+&ldquo;How dare you talk to us like that? You see this man
+here&rdquo;&mdash;and he pointed to Sergeant Quick, who, tall and upright,
+stood watching this scene grimly, and understanding most of what
+passed&mdash;&ldquo;well, he is the lowest among us&mdash;a servant only&rdquo;
+(here the Sergeant saluted), &ldquo;but I tell you that there is more courage
+in his little finger than in your whole body, or in that of all the Abati
+people, so far as I can make out.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here the Sergeant saluted again, murmuring beneath his breath, &ldquo;I hope
+so, sir. Being a Christian, I hope so, but till it comes to the sticking-point,
+one can never be sure.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You speak big words, O Higgs,&rdquo; answered Shadrach insolently, for,
+as I think I have said, he hated the Professor, who smelt the rogue in him, and
+scourged him continually with his sharp tongue, &ldquo;but if the Fung get hold
+of you, then we shall learn the truth.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shall I punch his head, sir?&rdquo; queried Quick in a meditative voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be quiet, please,&rdquo; interrupted Orme. &ldquo;We have troubles
+enough before us, without making more. It will be time to settle our quarrels
+when we have got through the Fung.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he turned to Shadrach and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Friend, this is no time for angry words. You are the guide of this
+party; lead us as you will, remembering only that if it comes to war, I, by the
+wish of my companions, am Captain. Also, there is another thing which you
+should not forget&mdash;namely, that in the end you must make answer to your
+own ruler, she who, I understand from the doctor here, is called Walda Nagasta,
+the Child of Kings. Now, no more words; we march as you wish and where you
+wish. On your head be it!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Abati heard and bowed sullenly. Then, with a look of hate at Higgs, he
+turned and went about his business.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Much better to have let me punch his head,&rdquo; soliloquized Quick.
+&ldquo;It would have done him a world of good, and perhaps saved many troubles,
+for, to tell the truth, I don&rsquo;t trust that quarter-bred Hebrew.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he departed to see to the camels and the guns while the rest of us went to
+our tents to get such sleep as the mosquitoes would allow. In my own case it
+was not much, since the fear of evil to come weighed upon me. Although I knew
+the enormous difficulty of entering the mountain stronghold of Mur by any other
+way, such as that by which I had quitted it, burdened as we were with our long
+train of camels laden with rifles, ammunition, and explosives, I dreaded the
+results of an attempt to pass through the Fung savages.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moreover, it occurred to me that Shadrach had insisted upon this route from a
+kind of jealous obstinacy, and to be in opposition to us Englishmen, whom he
+hated in his heart, or perhaps for some dark and secret reason. Still, the fact
+remained that we were in his power, since owing to the circumstances in which I
+had entered and left the place, it was impossible for me to act as guide to the
+party. If I attempted to do so, no doubt he and the Abati with him would
+desert, leaving the camels and their loads upon our hands. Why should they not,
+seeing that they would be quite safe in concluding that we should never have an
+opportunity of laying our side of the case before their ruler?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just as the sun was setting, Quick came to call me, saying that the camels were
+being loaded up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t much like the look of things, Doctor,&rdquo; he said as he
+helped me to pack my few belongings, &ldquo;for the fact is I can&rsquo;t trust
+that Shadrach man. His pals call him &lsquo;Cat,&rsquo; a good name for him, I
+think. Also, he is showing his claws just now, the truth being that he hates
+the lot of us, and would like to get back into Purr or Mur, or whatever the
+name of the place is, having lost us on the road. You should have seen the way
+he looked at the Professor just now. Oh! I wish the Captain had let me punch
+his head. I&rsquo;m sure it would have cleared the air a lot.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As it chanced, Shadrach was destined to get his head &ldquo;punched&rdquo;
+after all, but by another hand. It happened thus. The reeds were fired, as
+Shadrach had declared it was necessary to do, in order that the Abati watchmen
+on the distant mountains might see and report the signal, although in the light
+of subsequent events I am by no means certain that this warning was not meant
+for other eyes as well. Then, as arranged, we started out, leaving them burning
+in a great sheet of flame behind us, and all that night marched by the shine of
+the stars along some broken-down and undoubtedly ancient road.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the first sign of dawn we left this road and camped amid the overgrown ruins
+of a deserted town that had been built almost beneath the precipitous cliffs of
+Mur, fortunately without having met any one or being challenged. I took the
+first watch, while the others turned in to sleep after we had all breakfasted
+off cold meats, for here we dared not light a fire. As the sun grew high,
+dispelling the mists, I saw that we were entering upon a thickly-populated
+country which was no stranger to civilization of a sort. Below us, not more
+than fifteen or sixteen miles away, and clearly visible through my
+field-glasses, lay the great town of Harmac, which, during my previous visit to
+this land, I had never seen, as I passed it in the night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a city of the West Central African type, with open market-places and
+wide streets, containing thousands of white, flat-roofed houses, the most
+important of which were surrounded by gardens. Round it ran a high and thick
+wall, built, apparently, of sun-burnt brick, and in front of the gateways, of
+which I could see two, stood square towers whence these might be protected. All
+about this city the flat and fertile land was under cultivation, for the season
+being that of early spring, already the maize and other crops showed green upon
+the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Beyond this belt of plough-lands, with the aid of the field-glasses, I could
+make out great herds of grazing cattle and horses, mixed with wild game, a fact
+that assured me of the truth of what I had heard during my brief visit to Mur,
+that the Fung had few or no firearms, since otherwise the buck and quagga would
+have kept at a distance. Far off, too, and even on the horizon, I saw what
+appeared to be other towns and villages. Evidently this was a very numerous
+people, and one which could not justly be described as savage. No wonder that
+the little Abati tribe feared them so intensely, notwithstanding the mighty
+precipices by which they were protected from their hate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About eleven o&rsquo;clock Orme came on watch, and I turned in, having nothing
+to report. Soon I was fast asleep, notwithstanding the anxieties that, had I
+been less weary, might well have kept me wakeful. For these were many. On the
+coming night we must slip through the Fung, and before midday on the morrow we
+should either have entered Mur, or failed to have entered Mur, which
+meant&mdash;death, or, what was worse, captivity among barbarians, and
+subsequent execution, preceded probably by torture of one sort or another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of course, however, we might come thither without accident, travelling with
+good guides on a dark night, for, after all, the place was big, and the road
+lonely and little used, so that unless we met a watch, which, we were told,
+would not be there, our little caravan had a good chance to pass unobserved.
+Shadrach seemed to think that we should do so, but the worst of it was that,
+like Quick, I did not trust Shadrach. Even Maqueda, the Lady of the Abati, she
+whom they called Child of Kings, had her doubts about him, or so it had seemed
+to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At any rate, she had told me before I left Mur that she chose him for this
+mission because he was bold and cunning, one of the very few of her people also
+who, in his youth, had crossed the desert and, therefore, knew the road.
+&ldquo;Yet, Physician,&rdquo; she added meaningly, &ldquo;watch him, for is he
+not named &lsquo;Cat&rsquo;? Yes, watch him, for did I not hold his wife and
+children hostages, and were I not sure that he desires to win the great reward
+in land which I have promised to him, I would not trust you to this man&rsquo;s
+keeping.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, after many experiences in his company, my opinion coincided with
+Maqueda&rsquo;s, and so did that of Quick, no mean judge of men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look at him, Doctor,&rdquo; he said when he came to tell me that I could
+turn in, for whether it were his watch or not, the Sergeant never seemed to be
+off duty. &ldquo;Look, at him,&rdquo; and he pointed to Shadrach, who was
+seated under the shade of a tree, talking earnestly in whispers with two of his
+subordinates with a very curious and unpleasing smile upon his face. &ldquo;If
+God Almighty ever made a scamp, he&rsquo;s squatting yonder. My belief is that
+he wanted to be rid of us all at Zeu, so that he might steal our goods, and I
+hope he won&rsquo;t play the same trick again to-night. Even the dog
+can&rsquo;t abide him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before I could answer, I had proof of this last statement, for the great yellow
+hound, Pharaoh, that had found us in the desert, hearing our voices, emerged
+from some corner where it was hidden, and advanced toward us, wagging its tail.
+As it passed Shadrach, it stopped and growled, the hair rising on its back,
+whereon he hurled a stone at it and hit its leg. Next instant Pharaoh, a beast
+of enormous power, was on the top of him, and really, I thought, about to tear
+out his throat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, we got him off before any harm was done, but Shadrach&rsquo;s face, lined
+with its livid scars, was a thing to remember. Between rage and fear, it looked
+like that of a devil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To return. After this business I went to sleep, wondering if it were my last
+rest upon the earth, and whether, having endured so much for his sake, it would
+or would not be my fortune to see the face of my son again, if, indeed, he
+still lived, yonder not a score of miles away&mdash;or anywhere.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Toward evening I was awakened by a fearful hubbub, in which I distinguished the
+shrill voice of Higgs ejaculating language which I will not repeat, the baying
+of Pharaoh, and the smothered groans and curses of an Abati. Running from the
+little tent, I saw a curious sight, that of the Professor with Shadrach&rsquo;s
+head under his left arm, in chancery, as we used to call it at school, while
+with his right he punched the said Shadrach&rsquo;s nose and countenance
+generally with all his strength, which, I may add, is considerable. Close by,
+holding Pharaoh by the collar, which we had manufactured for him out of the
+skin of a camel that had died, stood Sergeant Quick, a look of grim amusement
+on his wooden face, while around, gesticulating after their Eastern fashion,
+and uttering guttural sounds of wrath, were several of the Abati drivers. Orme
+was absent, being, in fact, asleep at the time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What are you doing, Higgs?&rdquo; I shouted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t&mdash;you&mdash;see,&rdquo; he spluttered, accompanying each
+word with a blow on the unfortunate Shadrach&rsquo;s prominent nose. &ldquo;I
+am punching this fellow&rsquo;s beastly head. Ah! you&rsquo;d bite, would you?
+Then take that, and that and&mdash;that. Lord, how hard his teeth are. Well, I
+think he has had enough,&rdquo; and suddenly he released the Abati, who, a gory
+and most unpleasant spectacle, fell to the ground and lay there panting. His
+companions, seeing their chief&rsquo;s melancholy plight, advanced upon the
+Professor in a threatening fashion; indeed, one of them drew a knife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Put up that thing, sonny,&rdquo; said the Sergeant, &ldquo;or by heaven,
+I&rsquo;ll loose the dog upon you. Got your revolver handy, Doctor?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Evidently, if the man did not understand Quick&rsquo;s words, their purport was
+clear to him, for he sheathed his knife and fell back with the others.
+Shadrach, too, rose from the ground and went with them. At a distance of a few
+yards, however, he turned, and, glaring at Higgs out of his swollen eyes, said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be sure, accursed Gentile, that I will remember and repay.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment, too, Orme arrived upon the scene, yawning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What the deuce is the matter?&rdquo; he asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;d give five bob for a pint of iced stone ginger,&rdquo; replied
+Higgs inconsequently. Then he drank off a pannikin of warmish, muddy-coloured
+water which Quick gave to him, and handed it back, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thanks, Sergeant; that&rsquo;s better than nothing, and cold drink is
+always dangerous if you are hot. What&rsquo;s the matter? Oh! not much.
+Shadrach tried to poison Pharaoh; that&rsquo;s all. I was watching him out of
+the corner of my eye, and saw him go to the strychnine tin, roll a bit of meat
+in it which he had first wetted, and throw it to the poor beast. I got hold of
+it in time, and chucked it over that wall, where you will find it if you care
+to look. I asked Shadrach why he had done such a thing. He answered, &lsquo;To
+keep the dog quiet while we are passing through the Fung,&rsquo; adding that
+anyhow it was a savage beast and best out of the way, as it had tried to bite
+him that morning. Then I lost my temper and went for the blackguard, and
+although I gave up boxing twenty years ago, very soon had the best of it, for,
+as you may have observed, no Oriental can fight with his fists. That&rsquo;s
+all. Give me another cup of water, Sergeant.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I hope it may be,&rdquo; answered Orme, shrugging his shoulders.
+&ldquo;To tell the truth, old fellow, it would have been wiser to defer
+blacking Shadrach&rsquo;s eyes till we were safe in Mur. But it&rsquo;s no use
+talking now, and I daresay I should have done the same myself if I had seen him
+try to poison Pharaoh,&rdquo; and he patted the head of the great dog, of which
+we were all exceedingly fond, although in reality it only cared for Orme,
+merely tolerating the rest of us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doctor,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;perhaps you would try to patch up our
+guide&rsquo;s nose and soothe his feelings. You know him better than we do.
+Give him a rifle. No, don&rsquo;t do that, or he might shoot some one in the
+back&mdash;by accident done on purpose. Promise him a rifle when we get into
+Mur; I know he wants one badly, because I caught him trying to steal a carbine
+from the case. Promise him anything so long as you can square it up.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I went, taking a bottle of arnica and some court plaster with me, to find
+Shadrach surrounded by sympathizers and weeping with rage over the insult,
+which, he said, had been offered to his ancient and distinguished race in his
+own unworthy person. I did my best for him physically and mentally, pointing
+out, as I dabbed the arnica on his sadly disfigured countenance, that he had
+brought the trouble on himself, seeing that he had really no business to poison
+Pharaoh because he had tried to bite him. He answered that his reason for
+wishing to kill the dog was quite different, and repeated at great length what
+he had told the Professor&mdash;namely, that it might betray us while we were
+passing through the Fung. Also he went on so venomously about revenge that I
+thought it time to put a stop to the thing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;See here, Shadrach,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;unless you unsay those words
+and make peace at once, you shall be bound and tried. Perhaps we shall have a
+better chance of passing safely through the Fung if we leave you dead behind us
+than if you accompany us as a living enemy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On hearing this, he changed his note altogether, saying that he saw he had been
+wrong. Moreover, so soon as his injuries were dressed, he sought out Higgs,
+whose hand he kissed with many apologies, vowing that he had forgotten
+everything and that his heart toward him was like that of a twin brother.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very good, friend,&rdquo; answered Higgs, who never bore malice,
+&ldquo;only don&rsquo;t try to poison Pharaoh again, and, for my part,
+I&rsquo;ll promise not to remember this matter when we get to Mur.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite a converted character, ain&rsquo;t he, Doctor?&rdquo;
+sarcastically remarked Quick, who had been watching this edifying scene.
+&ldquo;Nasty Eastern temper all gone; no Hebrew talk of eye for eye or tooth
+for tooth, but kisses the fist that smote him in the best Christian spirit. All
+the same, I wouldn&rsquo;t trust the swine further than I could kick him,
+especially in the dark, which,&rdquo; he added meaningly, &ldquo;is what it
+will be to-night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I made no answer to the Sergeant, for although I agreed with him, there was
+nothing to be done, and talking about a bad business would only make it worse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By now the afternoon drew towards night&mdash;a very stormy night, to judge
+from the gathering clouds and rising wind. We were to start a little after
+sundown, that is, within an hour, and, having made ready my own baggage and
+assisted Higgs with his, we went to look for Orme and Quick, whom we found very
+busy in one of the rooms of an unroofed house. To all appearance they were
+engaged, Quick in sorting pound tins of tobacco or baking-powder, and Orme in
+testing an electric battery and carefully examining coils of insulated wire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your game?&rdquo; asked the Professor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Better than yours, old boy, when Satan taught your idle hands to punch
+Shadrach&rsquo;s head. But perhaps you had better put that pipe out. These
+azo-imide compounds are said to burn rather more safely than coal. Still, one
+never knows; the climate or the journey may have changed their
+constitution.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Higgs retreated hurriedly, to a distance of fifty yards indeed, whence he
+returned, having knocked out his pipe and even left his matches on a stone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t waste time in asking questions,&rdquo; said Orme as the
+Professor approached with caution. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll explain. We are going on a
+queer journey to-night&mdash;four white men with about a dozen half-bred
+mongrel scamps of doubtful loyalty, so you see Quick and I thought it as well
+to have some of this stuff handy. Probably it will never be wanted, and if
+wanted we shall have no time to use it; still, who knows? There, that will do.
+Ten canisters; enough to blow up half the Fung if they will kindly sit on them.
+You take five, Quick, a battery and three hundred yards of wire, and I&rsquo;ll
+take five, a battery, and three hundred yards of wire. Your detonators are all
+fixed, aren&rsquo;t they? Well, so are mine,&rdquo; and without more words he
+proceeded to stow away his share of the apparatus in the poacher pockets of his
+coat and elsewhere, while Quick did likewise with what remained. Then the case
+that they had opened was fastened up again and removed to be laden on a camel.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br />
+HOW WE ESCAPED FROM HARMAC</h2>
+
+<p>
+As finally arranged this was the order of our march: First went an Abati guide
+who was said to be conversant with every inch of the way. Then came Orme and
+Sergeant Quick, conducting the camels that were loaded with the explosives. I
+followed in order to keep an eye upon these precious beasts and those in charge
+of them. Next marched some more camels, carrying our baggage, provisions, and
+sundries, and finally in the rear were the Professor and Shadrach with two
+Abati.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shadrach, I should explain, had selected this situation for the reason, as he
+said, that if he went first, after what had passed, any mistake or untoward
+occurrence might be set down to his malice, whereas, if he were behind, he
+could not be thus slandered. On hearing this, Higgs, who is a generous soul,
+insisted upon showing his confidence in the virtue of Shadrach by accompanying
+him as a rearguard. So violently did he insist, and so flattered did Shadrach
+seem to be by this mark of faith, that Orme, who, I should say, if I have not
+already done so, was in sole command of the party now that hostilities were in
+the air, consented to the plan, if with evident reluctance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As I know, his own view was that it would be best for us four Englishmen to
+remain together, although, if we did so, whatever position we chose, it would
+be impossible for us in that darkness to keep touch with the line of camels and
+their loads, which were almost as important to us as our lives. At least,
+having made up our minds to deliver them in Mur, we thought that they were
+important, perhaps because it is the fashion of the Anglo-Saxon race to put
+even a self-created idea of duty before personal safety or convenience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Rightly or wrongly, so things were settled, for in such troublous conditions
+one can only do what seems best at the moment. Criticism subsequent to the
+event is always easy, as many an unlucky commander has found out when the issue
+went awry, but in emergency one must decide on something.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sun set, the darkness fell, and it began to rain and blow. We started quite
+unobserved, so far as we could tell, and, travelling downward from the
+overgrown, ruined town, gained the old road, and in complete silence, for the
+feet of camels make no noise, passed along it toward the lights of Harmac,
+which now and again, when the storm-clouds lifted, we saw glimmering in front
+of us and somewhat to our left.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all my long wanderings I cannot remember a more exciting or a more
+disagreeable journey. The blackness, relieved only from time to time by distant
+lightnings, was that of the plagues of Egypt; the driving rain worked through
+the openings of our camel-hair cloaks and the waterproofs we wore underneath
+them, and wet us through. The cold, damp wind chilled us to the bone, enervated
+as we were with the heat of the desert. But these discomforts, and they were
+serious enough, we forgot in the tremendous issue of the enterprise. Should we
+win through to Mur? Or, as a crown to our many labours and sufferings, should
+we perish presently on the road? That was the question; as I can assure the
+reader, one that we found very urgent and interesting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three hours had gone by. Now we were opposite to the lights of Harmac, also to
+other lights that shone up a valley in the mountain to our right. As yet
+everything was well; for this we knew by the words whispered up and down the
+line.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then of a sudden, in front of us a light flashed, although as yet it was a long
+way off. Next came another whispered message of &ldquo;Halt!&rdquo; So we
+halted, and presently one of the front guides crept back, informing us that a
+body of Fung cavalry had appeared upon the road ahead. We took counsel.
+Shadrach arrived from the rear, and said that if we waited awhile they might go
+away, as he thought that their presence must be accidental and connected with
+the great festival. He implored us to be quite silent. Accordingly, not knowing
+what to do, we waited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I think I have forgotten to say that the dog Pharaoh, to prevent accidents,
+occupied a big basket; this basket, in which he often rode when tired, being
+fixed upon one side of Orme&rsquo;s camel. Here he lay peaceably enough until,
+in an unlucky moment, Shadrach left me to go forward to talk to the Captain,
+whereon, smelling his enemy, Pharaoh burst out into furious baying. After that
+everything was confusion. Shadrach darted back toward the rear. The light ahead
+began to move quickly, advancing toward us. The front camels left the road, as
+I presume, following their leader according to the custom of these beasts when
+marching in line.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, I know not how, Orme, Quick, and myself found ourselves together in
+the darkness; at the time we thought Higgs was with us also, but in this we
+were mistaken. We heard shoutings and strange voices speaking a language that
+we could not understand. By the sudden glare of a flash of lightning, for the
+thunderstorm was now travelling over us, we saw several things. One of these
+was the Professor&rsquo;s riding-dromedary, which could not be mistaken because
+of its pure white colour and queer method of holding its head to one side,
+passing within ten yards, between us and the road, having a man upon its back
+who evidently was not the Professor. Then it was that we discovered his absence
+and feared the worst.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A Fung has got his camel,&rdquo; I said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Quick; &ldquo;Shadrach has got it. I saw his ugly
+mug against the light.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another vision was that of what appeared to be our baggage camels moving
+swiftly away from us, but off the road which was occupied by a body of horsemen
+in white robes. Orme issued a brief order to the effect that we were to follow
+the camels with which the Professor might be. We started to obey, but before we
+had covered twenty yards of the cornfield or whatever it was in which we were
+standing, heard voices ahead that were not those of Abati. Evidently the flash
+which showed the Fung to us had done them a like service, and they were now
+advancing to kill or capture us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was only one thing to do&mdash;turn and fly&mdash;and this we did,
+heading whither we knew not, but managing to keep touch of each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About a quarter of an hour later, just as we were entering a grove of palms or
+other trees which hid everything in front of us, the lightning blazed again,
+though much more faintly, for by this time the storm had passed over the
+Mountains of Mur, leaving heavy rain behind it. By the flash I, who was riding
+last and, as it chanced, looking back over my shoulder, saw that the Fung
+horsemen were not fifty yards behind, and hunting for us everywhere, their line
+being extended over a long front. I was, however, sure that they had not yet
+caught sight of us in the dense shadow of the trees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Get on,&rdquo; I said to the others; &ldquo;they will be here
+presently,&rdquo; and heard Quick add:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Give your camel his head, Captain; he can see in the dark, and perhaps
+will take us back to the road.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme acted on this suggestion, which, as the blackness round us was pitchy,
+seemed a good one. At any rate it answered, for off we went at a fair pace, the
+three camels marching in line, first over soft ground and afterwards on a road.
+Presently I thought that the rain had stopped, since for a few seconds none
+fell on us, but concluded from the echo of the camels&rsquo; feet and its
+recommencement that we had passed under some archway. On we went, and at length
+even through the gloom and rain I saw objects that looked like houses, though
+if so there were no lights in them, perhaps because the night drew toward
+morning. A dreadful idea struck me: we might be in Harmac! I passed it up for
+what it was worth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very likely,&rdquo; whispered Orme back. &ldquo;Perhaps these camels
+were bred here, and are looking for their stables. Well, there is only one
+thing to do&mdash;go on.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we went on for a long while, only interfered with by the occasional
+attentions of some barking dog. Luckily of these Pharaoh, in his basket, took
+no heed, probably because it was his habit if another dog barked at him to
+pretend complete indifference until it came so near that he could spring and
+fight, or kill it. At length we appeared to pass under another archway, after
+which, a hundred and fifty yards or so further on, the camels came to a sudden
+stop. Quick dismounted, and presently I heard him say:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doors. Can feel the brasswork on them. Tower above, I think, and wall on
+either side. Seem to be in a trap. Best stop here till light comes. Nothing
+else to be done.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accordingly, we stopped, and, having tied the camels to each other to prevent
+their straying, took shelter from the rain under the tower or whatever it might
+be. To pass away the time and keep life in us, for we were almost frozen with
+the wet and cold, we ate some tinned food and biscuits that we carried in our
+saddle-bags, and drank a dram of brandy from Quick&rsquo;s flask. This warmed
+us a little, though I do not think that a bottleful would have raised our
+spirits. Higgs, whom we all loved, was gone, dead, probably, by that time; the
+Abati had lost or deserted us, and we three white men appeared to have wandered
+into a savage stronghold, where, as soon as we were seen, we should be trapped
+like birds in a net, and butchered at our captor&rsquo;s will. Certainly the
+position was not cheerful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Overwhelmed with physical and mental misery, I began to doze; Orme grew silent,
+and the Sergeant, having remarked that there was no need to bother, since what
+must be must be, consoled himself in a corner by humming over and over again
+the verse of the hymn which begins:
+</p>
+
+<p class="poem">
+&ldquo;There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe,<br />
+Where trials never come nor tears of sorrow flow.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fortunately for us, shortly before dawn the &ldquo;tears of sorrow&rdquo; as
+represented by the rain ceased to flow. The sky cleared, showing the stars;
+suddenly the vault of heaven was suffused with a wonderful and pearly light,
+although on the earth the mist remained so thick that we could see nothing.
+Then above this sea of mist rose the great ball of the sun, but still we could
+see nothing that was more than a few yards away from us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+droned Quick beneath his breath for about the fiftieth time, since, apparently,
+he knew no other hymn which he considered suitable to our circumstances, then
+ejaculated suddenly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Hullo! here&rsquo;s a stair. With your leave I&rsquo;ll go up it,
+Captain,&rdquo; and he did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A minute later we heard his voice calling us softly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come here, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and see something worth
+looking at.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we scrambled up the steps, and, as I rather expected, found ourselves upon
+the top of one of two towers set above an archway, which towers were part of a
+great protective work outside the southern gates of a city that could be none
+other than Harmac. Soaring above the mist rose the mighty cliffs of Mur that,
+almost exactly opposite to us, were pierced by a deep valley.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Into this valley the sunlight poured, revealing a wondrous and awe-inspiring
+object of which the base was surrounded by billowy vapours, a huge, couchant
+animal fashioned of black stone, with a head carved to the likeness of that of
+a lion, and crowned with the <i>uraeus</i>, the asp-crested symbol of majesty
+in old Egypt. How big the creature might be it was impossible to say at that
+distance, for we were quite a mile away from it; but it was evident that no
+other monolithic monument that we had ever seen or heard of could approach its
+colossal dimensions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Compared to this tremendous effigy indeed, the boasted Sphinx of Gizeh seemed
+but a toy. It was no less than a small mountain of rock shaped by the genius
+and patient labour of some departed race of men to the form of a lion-headed
+monster. Its majesty and awfulness set thus above the rolling mists in the red
+light of the morning, reflected on it from the towering precipices beyond, were
+literally indescribable; even in our miserable state, they oppressed and
+overcame us, so that for awhile we were silent. Then we spoke, each after his
+own manner:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The idol of the Fung!&rdquo; said I. &ldquo;No wonder that savages
+should take it for a god.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The greatest monolith in all the world,&rdquo; muttered Orme, &ldquo;and
+Higgs is dead. Oh! if only he had lived to see it, he would have gone happy. I
+wish it had been I who was taken; I wish it had been I!&rdquo; and he wrung his
+hands, for it is the nature of Oliver Orme always to think of others before
+himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what we have come to blow up,&rdquo; soliloquized Quick.
+&ldquo;Well, those &lsquo;azure stinging-bees,&rsquo; or whatever they call the
+stuff (he meant azo-imides) are pretty active, but it will take a lot of
+stirring if ever we get there. Seems a pity, too, for the old pussy is handsome
+in his way.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come down,&rdquo; said Orme. &ldquo;We must find out where we are;
+perhaps we can escape in the mist.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;One moment,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;Do you see that?&rdquo; and I
+pointed to a needle-like rock that pierced the fog about a mile to the south of
+the idol valley, and say two miles from where we were. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the
+White Rock; it isn&rsquo;t white really, but the vultures roost on it and make
+it look so. I have never seen it before, for I passed it in the night, but I
+know that it marks the beginning of the cleft which runs up to Mur; you
+remember, Shadrach told us so. Well, if we can get to that White Rock we have a
+chance of life.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme studied it hurriedly and repeated, &ldquo;Come down; we may be seen up
+here.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We descended and began our investigations in feverish haste. This was the sum
+of them: In the arch under the tower were set two great doors covered with
+plates of copper or bronze beaten into curious shapes to represent animals and
+men, and apparently very ancient. These huge doors had grilles in them through
+which their defenders could peep out or shoot arrows. What seemed more
+important to us, however, was that they lacked locks, being secured only by
+thick bronze bolts and bars such as we could undo.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s clear out before the mist lifts,&rdquo; said Orme.
+&ldquo;With luck we may get to the pass.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We assented, and I ran to the camels that lay resting just outside the arch.
+Before I reached them, however, Quick called me back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look through there, Doctor,&rdquo; he said, pointing to one of the
+peep-holes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I did so, and in the dense mist saw a body of horsemen advancing toward the
+door.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They must have seen us on the top of the wall. &ldquo;Fools that we were to go
+there!&rdquo; exclaimed Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next instant he started back, not a second too soon, for through the hole where
+his face had been, flashed a spear which struck the ground beyond the archway.
+Also we heard other spears rattle upon the bronze plates of the doors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No luck!&rdquo; said Orme; &ldquo;that&rsquo;s all up, they mean to
+break in. Now I think we had better play a bold game. Got your rifles, Sergeant
+and Doctor? Yes? Then choose your loopholes, aim, and empty the magazines into
+them. Don&rsquo;t waste a shot. For heaven&rsquo;s sake don&rsquo;t waste a
+shot. Now&mdash;one&mdash;two&mdash;three, fire!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fire we did into the dense mass of men who had dismounted and were running up
+to the doors to burst them open. At that distance we could scarcely miss and
+the magazines of the repeating rifles held five shots apiece. As the smoke
+cleared away I counted quite half-a-dozen Fung down, while some others were
+staggering off, wounded. Also several of the men and horses beyond were struck
+by the bullets which had passed through the bodies of the fallen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The effect of this murderous discharge was instantaneous and remarkable. Brave
+though the Fung might be, they were quite unaccustomed to magazine rifles.
+Living as they did perfectly isolated and surrounded by a great river, even if
+they had heard of such things and occasionally seen an old gaspipe musket that
+reached them in the course of trade, of modern guns and their terrible power
+they knew nothing. Small blame to them, therefore, if their courage evaporated
+in face of a form of sudden death which to them must have been almost magical.
+At any rate they fled incontinently, leaving their dead and wounded on the
+ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now again we thought of flight, which perhaps would have proved our wisest
+course, but hesitated because we could not believe that the Fung had left the
+road clear, or done more than retreat a little to wait for us. While we lost
+time thus the mist thinned a great deal, so much indeed that we could see our
+exact position. In front of us, towards the city side, lay a wide open space,
+whereof the walls ended against those of Harmac itself, to which they formed a
+kind of vestibule or antechamber set there to protect this gateway of the town
+through which we had ridden in the darkness, not knowing whither we went.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Those inner doors are open,&rdquo; said Orme, nodding his head toward
+the great portals upon the farther side of the square. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s go
+see if we can shut them. Otherwise we shan&rsquo;t hold this place long.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we ran across to the further doors that were similar to those through which
+we had just fired, only larger, and as we met nobody to interfere with our
+efforts, found that the united strength of the three of us was just, only just,
+sufficient to turn first one and then the other of them upon its hinges and
+work the various bolts and bars into their respective places. Two men could
+never have done the job, but being three and fairly desperate we managed it.
+Then we retreated to our archway and, as nothing happened, took the opportunity
+to eat and drink a few mouthfuls, Quick remarking sagely that we might as well
+die upon full as upon empty stomachs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When we had crossed the square the fog was thinning rapidly, but as the sun
+rose, sucking the vapours from the rain-soaked earth, it thickened again for
+awhile.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sergeant,&rdquo; said Orme presently, &ldquo;these black men are bound
+to attack us soon. Now is the time to lay a mine while they can&rsquo;t see
+what we are after.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I was just thinking the same thing, Captain; the sooner the
+better,&rdquo; replied Quick. &ldquo;Perhaps the Doctor will keep a watch here
+over the camels, and if he sees any one stick up his head above the wall, he
+might bid him good-morning. We know he is a nice shot, is the Doctor,&rdquo;
+and he tapped my rifle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded and the two of them set out laden with wires and the packages that
+looked like tobacco tins, heading for a stone erection in the centre of the
+square which resembled an altar, but was, I believe, a rostrum whence the
+native auctioneers sold slaves and other merchandise. What they did there
+exactly, I am sure I do not know; indeed, I was too much occupied in keeping a
+watch upon the walls whereof I could clearly see the crest above the mist, to
+pay much attention to their proceedings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently my vigilance was rewarded, for over the great gateway opposite, at a
+distance of about a hundred and fifty paces from me, appeared some kind of a
+chieftain clad in white robes and wearing a very fine turban or coloured
+head-dress, who paraded up and down, waving a spear defiantly and uttering loud
+shouts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This man I covered very carefully, lying down to do so. As Quick had said, I am
+a good rifle shot, having practised that art for many years; still, one may
+always miss, which, although I bore no personal grudge against the poor fellow
+in the fine head-dress, on this occasion I did not wish to do. The sudden and
+mysterious death of that savage would, I felt sure, produce a great effect
+among his people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length he stopped exactly over the door and began to execute a kind of
+war-dance, turning his head from time to time to yell out something to others
+on the farther side of the wall. This was my opportunity. I covered him with as
+much care as though I were shooting at a target, with one bull&rsquo;s eye to
+win. Aiming a little low in case the rifle should throw high, very gently I
+pressed the trigger. The cartridge exploded, the bullet went on its way, and
+the man on the wall stopped dancing and shouting and stood quite still. Clearly
+he had heard the shot or felt the wind of the ball, but was untouched.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I worked the lever jerking out the empty case, preparatory to firing again, but
+on looking up saw that there was no need, for the Fung captain was spinning
+round on his heels like a top. Three or four times he whirled thus with
+incredible rapidity, then suddenly threw his arms wide, and dived headlong from
+the wall like a bather from a plank, but backward, and was seen no more. Only
+from the farther side of those gates arose a wail of wrath and consternation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this no other Fung appeared upon the wall, so I turned my attention to
+the spy-hole in the doors behind me, and seeing some horsemen moving about at a
+distance of four or five hundred yards on a rocky ridge where the mist did not
+lie, I opened fire on them and at the second shot was fortunate enough to knock
+a man out of the saddle. One of those with him, who must have been a brave
+fellow, instantly jumped down, threw him, dead or living, over the horse,
+leaped up behind him, and galloped away accompanied by the others, pursued by
+some probably ineffective bullets that I sent after them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the road to the Pass of Mur seemed to be clear, and I regretted that Orme
+and Quick were not with me to attempt escape. Indeed, I meditated fetching or
+calling them, when suddenly I saw them returning, burying a wire or wires in
+the sand as they came, and at the same time heard a noise of thunderous blows
+of which I could not mistake the meaning. Evidently the Fung were breaking down
+the farther bronze doors with some kind of battering-ram. I ran out to meet
+them and told my news.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well done,&rdquo; said Orme in a quiet voice. &ldquo;Now, Sergeant, just
+join up those wires to the battery, and be careful to screw them in tight. You
+have tested it, haven&rsquo;t you? Doctor, be good enough to unbar the gates.
+No, you can&rsquo;t do that alone; I&rsquo;ll help you presently. Look to the
+camels and tighten the girths. These Fung will have the doors down in a minute,
+and then there will be no time to lose.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What are you going to do?&rdquo; I asked as I obeyed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Show them some fireworks, I hope. Bring the camels into the archway so
+that they can&rsquo;t foul the wire with their feet. So&mdash;stand still, you
+grumbling brutes! Now for these bolts. Heavens! how stiff they are. I wonder
+why the Fung don&rsquo;t grease them. One door will do&mdash;never mind the
+other.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Labouring furiously we got it undone and ajar. So far as we could see there was
+no one in sight beyond. Scared by our bullets or for other reasons of their
+own, the guard there appeared to have moved away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shall we take the risk and ride for it?&rdquo; I suggested.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; answered Orme. &ldquo;If we do, even supposing there are no
+Fung waiting beyond the rise, those inside the town will soon catch us on their
+swift horses. We must scare them before we bolt, and then those that are left
+of them may let us alone. Now listen to me. When I give the word, you two take
+the camels outside and make them kneel about fifty yards away, not nearer, for
+I don&rsquo;t know the effective range of these new explosives; it may be
+greater than I think. I shall wait until the Fung are well over the mine and
+then fire it, after which I hope to join you. If I don&rsquo;t, ride as hard as
+you can go to that White Rock, and if you reach Mur give my compliments to the
+Child of Kings, or whatever she is called, and say that although I have been
+prevented from waiting upon her, Sergeant Quick understands as much about
+picrates as I do. Also get Shadrach tried and hanged if he is guilty of
+Higgs&rsquo;s death. Poor old Higgs! how he would have enjoyed this.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Beg your pardon, Captain,&rdquo; said Quick, &ldquo;but I&rsquo;ll stay
+with you. The doctor can see to the baggage animals.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Will you be good enough to obey orders and fall to the rear when you are
+told, Sergeant? Now, no words. It is necessary for the purposes of this
+expedition that one of us two should try to keep a whole skin.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, sir,&rdquo; pleaded Quick, &ldquo;mayn&rsquo;t I take charge of
+the battery?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered sternly. &ldquo;Ah! the doors are down at
+last,&rdquo; and he pointed to a horde of Fung, mounted and on foot, who poured
+through the gateway where they had stood, shouting after their fashion, and
+went on: &ldquo;Now then, pick out the captains and pepper away. I want to keep
+them back a bit, so that they come on in a crowd, not scattered.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We took up our repeating rifles and did as Orme told us, and so dense was the
+mass of humanity opposite that if we missed one man, we hit another, killing or
+wounding a number of them. The result of the loss of several of their leaders,
+to say nothing of meaner folk, was just what Orme had foreseen. The Fung
+soldiers, instead of rushing on independently, spread to right and left, until
+the whole farther side of the square filled up with thousands of them, a
+veritable sea of men, at which we pelted bullets as boys hurl stones at a wave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length the pressure of those behind thrust onward those in front, and the
+whole fierce, tumultuous mob began to flow forward across the square, a
+multitude bent on the destruction of three white men, armed with these new and
+terrible weapons. It was a very strange and thrilling sight; never have I seen
+its like.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now,&rdquo; said Orme, &ldquo;stop firing and do as I bid you. Kneel the
+camels fifty yards outside the wall, not less, and wait till you know the end.
+If we shouldn&rsquo;t meet again, well, good-bye and good luck.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we went, Quick literally weeping with shame and rage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good Lord!&rdquo; he exclaimed, &ldquo;good Lord! to think that, after
+four campaigns, Samuel Quick, Sergeant of Engineers, with five medals, should
+live to be sent off with the baggage like a pot-bellied bandmaster, leaving his
+captain to fight about three thousand niggers single-handed. Doctor, if he
+don&rsquo;t come out, you do the best you can for yourself, for I&rsquo;m going
+back to stop with him, that&rsquo;s all. There, that&rsquo;s fifty paces; down
+you go, you ugly beasts,&rdquo; and he bumped his camel viciously on the head
+with the butt of his rifle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From where we had halted we could only see through the archway into the space
+beyond. By now the square looked like a great Sunday meeting in Hyde Park,
+being filled up with men of whom the first rows were already past the
+altar-like rostrum in its centre.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why don&rsquo;t he loose off them stinging-bees?&rdquo; muttered Quick.
+&ldquo;Oh! I see his little game. Look,&rdquo; and he pointed to the figure of
+Orme, who had crept behind the unopened half of the door on our side of it and
+was looking intently round its edge, holding the battery in his right hand.
+&ldquo;He wants to let them get nearer so as to make a bigger bag.
+He&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I heard no more of Quick&rsquo;s remarks, for suddenly something like an
+earthquake took place, and the whole sky seemed to turn to one great flame. I
+saw a length of the wall of the square rush outward and upward. I saw the shut
+half of the bronze-plated door skipping and hopping playfully toward us, and in
+front of it the figure of a man. Then it began to rain all sorts of things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For instance, stones, none of which hit us, luckily, and other more unpleasant
+objects. It is a strange experience to be knocked backward by a dead fist
+separated from its parent body, yet on this occasion this actually happened to
+me, and, what is more, the fist had a spear in it. The camels tried to rise and
+bolt, but they are phlegmatic brutes, and, as ours were tired as well, we
+succeeded in quieting them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst we were thus occupied somewhat automatically, for the shock had dazed
+us, the figure that had been propelled before the dancing door arrived, reeling
+in a drunken fashion, and through the dust and falling <i>débris</i> we knew
+it for that of Oliver Orme. His face was blackened, his clothes were torn half
+off him, and blood from a scalp wound ran down his brown hair. But in his right
+hand he still held the little electric battery, and I knew at once that he had
+no limbs broken.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very successful mine,&rdquo; he said thickly. &ldquo;Boer melinite
+shells aren&rsquo;t in it with this new compound. Come on before the enemy
+recover from the shock,&rdquo; and he flung himself upon his camel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In another minute we had started at a trot toward the White Rock, whilst from
+the city of Harmac behind us rose a wail of fear and misery. We gained the top
+of the rise on which I had shot the horseman, and, as I expected, found that
+the Fung had posted a strong guard in the dip beyond, out of reach of our
+bullets, in order to cut us off, should we attempt to escape. Now, terrified by
+what had happened, to them a supernatural catastrophe, they were escaping
+themselves, for we perceived them galloping off to the left and right as fast
+as their horses would carry them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So for awhile we went on unmolested, though not very quickly, because of
+Orme&rsquo;s condition. When we had covered about half the distance between us
+and the White Rock, I looked round and became aware that we were being pursued
+by a body of cavalry about a hundred strong, which I supposed had emerged from
+some other gate of the city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Flog the animals,&rdquo; I shouted to Quick, &ldquo;or they will catch
+us after all.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He did so, and we advanced at a shambling gallop, the horsemen gaining on us
+every moment. Now I thought that all was over, especially when of a sudden from
+behind the White Rock emerged a second squad of horsemen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Cut off!&rdquo; I exclaimed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Suppose so, sir,&rdquo; answered Quick, &ldquo;but these seem a
+different crowd.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I scanned them and saw that he was right. They were a very different crowd, for
+in front of them floated the Abati banner, which I could not mistake, having
+studied it when I was a guest of the tribe: a curious, triangular, green flag
+covered with golden Hebrew characters, surrounding the figure of Solomon seated
+on a throne. Moreover, immediately behind the banner in the midst of a
+bodyguard rode a delicately shaped woman clothed in pure white. It was the
+Child of Kings herself!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two more minutes and we were among them. I halted my camel and looked round to
+see that the Fung cavalry were retreating. After the events of that morning
+clearly they had no stomach left for a fight with a superior force.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lady in white rode up to us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Greetings, friend,&rdquo; she exclaimed to me, for she knew me again at
+once. &ldquo;Now, who is captain among you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I pointed to the shattered Orme, who sat swaying on his camel with eyes half
+closed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Noble sir,&rdquo; she said, addressing him, &ldquo;if you can, tell me
+what has happened. I am Maqueda of the Abati, she who is named Child of Kings.
+Look at the symbol on my brow, and you will see that I speak truth,&rdquo; and,
+throwing back her veil, she revealed the coronet of gold that showed her rank.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br />
+BARUNG</h2>
+
+<p>
+At the sound of this soft voice (the extreme softness of Maqueda&rsquo;s voice
+was always one of her greatest charms), Orme opened his eyes and stared at her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very queer dream,&rdquo; I heard him mutter. &ldquo;Must be something in
+the Mohammedan business after all. Extremely beautiful woman, and that gold
+thing looks well on her dark hair.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What does the lord your companion say?&rdquo; asked Maqueda of me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having first explained that he was suffering from shock, I translated word for
+word, whereon Maqueda blushed to her lovely violet eyes and let fall her veil
+in a great hurry. In the confusion which ensued, I heard Quick saying to his
+master:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, no, sir; this one ain&rsquo;t no houri. She&rsquo;s a flesh and
+blood queen, and the pleasantest to look at I ever clapped eyes on, though a
+benighted African Jew. Wake up, Captain, wake up; you are out of that hell-fire
+now. It&rsquo;s got the Fung, not you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The word Fung seemed to rouse Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;I understand. The vapour of the stuff
+poisoned me, but it is passing now. Adams, ask that lady how many men
+she&rsquo;s got with her. What does she say? About five hundred? Well, then,
+let her attack Harmac at once. The outer and inner gates are down; the Fung
+think they have raised the devil and will run. She can inflict a defeat on them
+from which they will not recover for years, only it must be done at once,
+before they get their nerve again, for, after all, they are more frightened
+than hurt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda listened to this advice intently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is to my liking; it is very good,&rdquo; she said in her quaint
+archaic Arabic when I had finished translating. &ldquo;But I must consult my
+Council. Where is my uncle, the prince Joshua?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Here, Lady,&rdquo; answered a voice from the press behind, out of which
+presently emerged, mounted on a white horse, a stout man, well advanced in
+middle age, with a swarthy complexion and remarkably round, prominent eyes. He
+was clad in the usual Eastern robes, richly worked, over which he wore a shirt
+of chain-mail, and on his head a helmet, with mail flaps, an attire that gave
+the general effect of an obese Crusader of the early Norman period without his
+cross.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is that Joshua?&rdquo; said Orme, who was wandering a little again.
+&ldquo;Rummy-looking cock, isn&rsquo;t he? Sergeant, tell Joshua that the walls
+of Jericho are down, so there&rsquo;ll be no need to blow his own trumpet.
+I&rsquo;m sure from the look of him that he&rsquo;s a perfect devil with a
+trumpet.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What does your companion say?&rdquo; asked Maqueda again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I translated the middle part of Orme&rsquo;s remarks, but neither the
+commencement nor the end, but even these amused her very much, for she burst
+out laughing, and said, pointing to Harmac, over which still hung a cloud of
+dust:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, yes, Joshua, my uncle, the walls of Jericho are down, and the
+question is, will you not take your opportunity? So in an hour or two we shall
+be dead, or if God goes with us, perhaps free from the menace of the Fung for
+years.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The prince Joshua stared at her with his great, prominent eyes, then answered
+in a thick, gobbling voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Are you mad, Child of Kings? Of us Abati here there are but five hundred
+men, and of the Fung yonder tens of thousands. If we attacked, they would eat
+us up. Can five hundred men stand against tens of thousands?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It seems that three stood against them this morning, and worked some
+damage, my uncle, but it is true those three are of a different race from the
+Abati,&rdquo; she added with bitter sarcasm. Then she turned to those behind
+her and cried: &ldquo;Who of my captains and Council will accompany me, if I
+who am but a woman dare to advance on Harmac?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now here and there a voice cried, &ldquo;I will,&rdquo; or some gorgeously
+dressed person stepped forward in a hesitating way, and that was all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You see, men of the West!&rdquo; said Maqueda after a little pause,
+addressing us three. &ldquo;I thank you for the great deeds that you have done
+and for your counsel. But I cannot take it because my people are
+not&mdash;warlike,&rdquo; and she covered her face with her hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now there arose a great tumult among her followers, who all began to talk at
+once. Joshua in particular drew a large sword and waved it, shouting out a
+recital of the desperate actions of his youth and the names of Fung chieftains
+whom he alleged he had killed in single combat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Told you that fat cur was a first-class trumpeter,&rdquo; said Orme
+languidly, while the Sergeant ejaculated in tones of deep disgust:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good Lord! what a set. Why, Doctor, they ain&rsquo;t fit to savage a
+referee in a London football ground. Pharaoh there in his basket (where he was
+barking loudly) would make the whole lot run, and if he was out&mdash;oh my!
+Now, then, you porpoise&rdquo;&mdash;this he addressed to Joshua, who was
+flourishing his sword unpleasantly near&mdash;&ldquo;put your pasteboard up,
+won&rsquo;t you, or I&rsquo;ll knock your fat head off,&rdquo; whereon the
+Prince, who, if he did not understand Quick&rsquo;s words, at any rate caught
+their meaning wonderfully well, did as he was told, and fell back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just then, indeed, there was a general movement up the pass, in the wide mouth
+of which all this scene took place, for suddenly three Fung chieftains appeared
+galloping toward us, one of whom was veiled with a napkin in which were cut
+eyeholes. So universal was this retreat, in fact, that we three on our camels,
+and the Child of Kings on her beautiful mare, found ourselves left alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;An embassy,&rdquo; said Maqueda, scanning the advancing horsemen, who
+carried with them a white flag tied to the blade of a spear. &ldquo;Physician,
+will you and your friends come with me and speak to these messengers?&rdquo;
+And without even waiting for an answer, she rode forward fifty yards or so on
+to the plain, and there reined up and halted till we could bring our camels
+round and join her. As we did so, the three Fung, splendid-looking, black-faced
+fellows, arrived at a furious gallop, their lances pointed at us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Stand still, friends,&rdquo; said Maqueda; &ldquo;they mean no
+harm.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the words passed her lips, the Fung pulled the horses to their haunches,
+Arab-fashion, lifted spears and saluted. Then their leader&mdash;not the veiled
+man, but another&mdash;spoke in a dialect that I, who had spent so many years
+among the savages of the desert, understood well enough, especially as the base
+of it was Arabic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O, Walda Nagasta, Daughter of Solomon,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we are the
+tongues of our Sultan Barung, Son of Barung for a hundred generations, and we
+speak his words to the brave white men who are your guests. Thus says Barung.
+Like the Fat One whom I have already captured, you white men are heroes. Three
+of you alone, you held the gate against my army. With the weapons of the white
+man you killed us from afar, here one and there one. Then, at last, with a
+great magic of thunder and lightning and earthquake, you sent us by scores into
+the bosom of our god, and shook down our walls about our ears and out of that
+hell you escaped yourselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, O white men, this is the offer of Barung to you: Leave the curs of
+the Abati, the baboons who gibber and deck themselves out, the rock-rabbits who
+seek safety in the cliffs, and come to him. He will give you not only life, but
+all your heart&rsquo;s desire&mdash;lands and wives and horses; great shall you
+be in his councils and happy shall you live. Moreover, for your sakes he will
+try to spare your brother, the Fat One, whose eyes look out of black windows,
+who blows fire from his mouth, and reviles his enemies as never man did before.
+Yes, although the priests have doomed him to sacrifice at the next feast of
+Harmac, he will try to spare him, which, perhaps, he can do by making him, like
+the Singer of Egypt, also a priest of Harmac, and thus dedicate forever to the
+god with whom, indeed, he says he had been familiar for thousands of years.
+This is our message, O white men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, when I had translated the substance of this oration to Orme and Quick,
+for, as I saw by the quiver that passed through her at the Fung insults upon
+her tribe, Maqueda understood it, their tongues not differing greatly, Orme
+who, for the time at any rate, was almost himself again, said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Tell these fellows to say to their Sultan that he is a good old boy, and
+that we thank him very much; also that we are sorry to have been obliged to
+kill so many of them in a way that he must have thought unsportsmanlike, but we
+had to do it, as we are sure he will understand, in order to save our skins.
+Tell him also that, speaking personally, having sampled the Abati yonder and on
+our journey, I should like to accept his invitation. But although, as yet, we
+have found no men among them, only, as he says, baboons, rock-rabbits, and
+boasters without a fight in them, we have&rdquo;&mdash;and here he bowed his
+bleeding head to Maqueda&mdash;&ldquo;found a woman with a great heart. Of her
+salt we have eaten, or are about to eat; to serve her we have come from far
+upon her camels, and, unless she should be pleased to accompany us, we cannot
+desert her.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All of this I rendered faithfully, while every one, and especially Maqueda,
+listened with much attention. When they had considered our words, the spokesman
+of the messengers replied to the effect that the motives of our decision were
+of a nature that commanded their entire respect and sympathy, especially as
+their people quite concurred in our estimate of the character of the Abati
+ruler, Child of Kings. This being so, they would amend their proposition,
+knowing the mind of their Sultan, and having, indeed, plenipotentiary powers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lady of Mur,&rdquo; he went on, addressing Maqueda directly, &ldquo;fair
+daughter of the great god Harmac and a mortal queen, what we have offered to
+the white lords, your guests, we offer to you also. Barung, our Sultan, shall
+make you his head wife; or, if that does not please you, you shall wed whom you
+will&rdquo;&mdash;and, perhaps by accident, the envoy&rsquo;s roving eyes
+rested for a moment upon Oliver Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Leave, then, your rock-rabbits, who dare not quit their cliffs when but
+three messengers wait without with sticks,&rdquo; and he glanced at the spear
+in his hand, &ldquo;and come to dwell among men. Listen, high Lady; we know
+your case. You do your best in a hopeless task. Had it not been for you and
+your courage, Mur would have been ours three years ago, and it was ours before
+your tribe wandered thither. But while you can find but a hundred brave
+warriors to help you, you think the place impregnable, and you have perhaps
+that number, though we know they are not here; they guard the gates above. Yes,
+with a few of your Mountaineers whose hearts are as those of their forefathers
+were, so far as you have defied all the power of the Fung, and when you saw
+that the end drew near, using your woman&rsquo;s wit, you sent for the white
+men to come with their magic, promising to pay them with the gold which you
+have in such plenty in the tombs of our old kings and in the rocks of the
+mountains.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who told you that, O Tongue of Barung?&rdquo; asked Maqueda in a low
+voice, speaking for the first time. &ldquo;The man of the West whom you took
+prisoner&mdash;he whom you call Fat One?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, no, O Walda Nagasta, the lord Black Windows has told us nothing as
+yet, except sundry things about the history of our god, with whom, as we said,
+he seems to be familiar, and to whom, therefore, we vowed him at once. But
+there are others who tell us things, for in times of truce our peoples trade
+together a little, and cowards are often spies. For instance, we knew that
+these white men were coming last night, though it is true that we did not know
+of their fire magic, for, had we done so, we should not have let the camels
+slip through, since there may be more of it on them&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For your comfort, learn that there is&mdash;much more,&rdquo; I
+interrupted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; replied the Tongue, shaking his head sadly, &ldquo;and yet we
+suffered Cat, whom you call Shadrach, to make off with that of your fat
+brother; yes, and even gave it to him after his own beast had been lamed by
+accident. Well, it is our bad luck, and without doubt Harmac is angry with us
+to-day. But your answer, O Walda Nagasta, your answer, O Rose of Mur?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What can it be, O Voices of Barung the Sultan?&rdquo; replied Maqueda.
+&ldquo;You know that by my blood and by my oath of office I am sworn to protect
+Mur to the last.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And so you shall,&rdquo; pleaded the Tongue, &ldquo;for when we have
+cleaned it of baboons and rock-rabbits, which, if you were among us, we soon
+should do, and thus fulfilled our oath to regain our ancient secret City of the
+Rocks, we will set you there once more as its Lady, under Barung, and give you
+a multitude of subjects of whom you may be proud.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It may not be, O Tongue, for they would be worshippers of Harmac, and
+between Jehovah, whom I serve, and Harmac there is war,&rdquo; she answered
+with spirit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, sweet-smelling Bud of the Rose, there is war, and let it be
+admitted that the first battle has gone against Harmac, thanks to the magic of
+the white men. Yet yonder he sits in his glory as the spirits, his servants,
+fashioned him in the beginning,&rdquo; and he pointed with his spear toward the
+valley of the idol. &ldquo;You know our prophecy&mdash;that until Harmac rises
+from his seat and flies away, for where he goes, the Fung must
+follow&mdash;till then, I say, we shall hold the plains and the city of his
+name&mdash;that is, for ever.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For ever is a long word, O Mouth of Barung.&rdquo; Then she paused a
+little, and added slowly, &ldquo;Did not certain of the gates of Harmac fly far
+this morning? Now what if your god should follow his gates and those
+worshippers who went with them, and be seen no more? Or what if the earth
+should open and swallow him, so that he goes down to hell, whither you cannot
+follow? Or what if the mountains should fall together and bury him from your
+sight eternally. Or what if the lightnings should leap out and shatter him to
+dust?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At these ominous words the envoys shivered, and it seemed to me that their
+faces for a moment turned grey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, O Child of Kings,&rdquo; answered the spokesman solemnly,
+&ldquo;the Fung will acknowledge that your god is greater than our god, and
+that our glory is departed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus he spoke and was silent, turning his eyes toward the third messenger, he
+who wore a cloth or napkin upon his head that was pierced with eyeholes and
+hung down to the breast. With a quick motion, the man dragged off this veil and
+threw it to the ground, revealing a very noble countenance, not black like that
+of his followers, but copper-coloured. He was about fifty years of age, with
+deep-set flashing eyes, hooked nose, and a flowing, grizzled beard. The collar
+of gold about his neck showed that his rank was high, but when we noticed a
+second ornament of gold, also upon his brow, we knew that it must be supreme.
+For this ornament was nothing less than the symbol of royalty, once worn by the
+ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, the double snakes of the <i>uraeus</i> bending
+forward as though to strike, which, as we had seen, rose also from the brow of
+the lion-headed sphinx of Harmac.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he uncovered, his two companions leapt to the ground and prostrated
+themselves before him, crying, &ldquo;Barung! Barung!&rdquo; while all three of
+us Englishmen saluted, involuntarily, I think, and even the Child of Kings
+bowed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Sultan acknowledged our greetings by raising his spear. Then he spoke in a
+grave measured voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Walda Nagasta, and you, white men, sons of great fathers, I have
+listened to the talk between you and my servants; I confirm their words and I
+add to them. I am sorry that my generals tried to kill you last night. I was
+making prayer to my god, or it should not have happened. I have been well
+repaid for that deed, since an army should not make war upon four men, even
+though by their secret power four men can defeat an army. I beseech you, and
+you also, Rose of Mur, to accept my proffered friendship, since otherwise, ere
+long, you will soon be dead, and your wisdom will perish with you for I am
+weary of this little war against a handful whom we despise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Walda Nagasta, you have breathed threats against the Majesty of
+Harmac, but he is too strong for you, nor may the might that can turn a few
+bricks to dust and shatter the bones of men prevail against him who is shaped
+from the heart of a mountain and holds the spirit of eternity. So at least I
+think: but even if it is decreed otherwise, what will that avail you? If it
+should please the god to leave us because of your arts, the Fung will still
+remain to avenge him ere they follow. Then I swear to you by my majesty and by
+the bones of my ancestors who sit in the caves of Mur, that I will spare but
+one of the Abati Jews, yourself, O Child of Kings, because of your great heart,
+and the three white men, your guests, should they survive the battle, because
+of their courage and their wisdom. As for their brother, Black Windows, whom I
+have captured, he must be sacrificed, since I have sworn it, unless you yield,
+when I will plead for his life to the god, with what result I cannot tell.
+Yield, then, and I will not even slay the Abati; they shall live on and serve
+the Fung as slaves and minister to the glory of Harmac.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It may not be, it may not be!&rdquo; Maqueda answered, striking the
+pommel of her saddle with her small hand. &ldquo;Shall Jehovah whom Solomon, my
+father, worshipped, Jehovah of all the generations, do homage to an idol shaped
+by the hands He made? My people are worn out; they have forgot their faith and
+gone astray, as did Israel in the desert. I know it. It may even happen that
+the time has come for them to perish, who are no longer warriors, as of old.
+Well, if so, let them die free, and not as slaves. At least I, in whom their
+best blood runs, do not seek your mercy, O Barung. I&rsquo;ll be no plaything
+in your house, who, at the worst, can always die, having done my duty to my God
+and those who bred me. Thus I answer you as the Child of many Kings. Yet as a
+woman,&rdquo; she added in a gentler voice, &ldquo;I thank you for your
+courtesy. When I am slain, Barung, if I am fated to be slain, think kindly of
+me, as one who did her best against mighty odds,&rdquo; and her voice broke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That I shall always do,&rdquo; he answered gravely. &ldquo;Is it
+ended?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not quite,&rdquo; she answered. &ldquo;These Western lords, I give them
+to you; I absolve them from their promise. Why should they perish in a lost
+cause? If they take their wisdom to you to use against me, you have vowed them
+their lives, and, perhaps, that of their brother, your captive. There is a
+slave of yours also&mdash;you spoke of him, or your servant did&mdash;Singer of
+Egypt is his name. One of them knew him as a child; perchance you will not
+refuse him to that man.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She paused, but Barung made no answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Go, my friends,&rdquo; she went on, turning toward us. &ldquo;I thank
+you for your long journey on my behalf and the blow you have struck for me, and
+in payment I will send you a gift of gold; the Sultan will see it safe into
+your hands. I thank you. I wish I could have known more of you, but mayhap we
+shall meet again in war. Farewell.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She ceased, and I could see that she was watching us intently through her thin
+veil. The Sultan also watched us, stroking his long beard, a look of
+speculation in his eyes, for evidently this play interested him and he wondered
+how it would end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This won&rsquo;t do,&rdquo; said Orme, when he understood the thing.
+&ldquo;Higgs would never forgive us if we ate dirt just on the off-chance of
+saving him from sacrifice. He&rsquo;s too straight-minded on big things. But,
+of course, Doctor,&rdquo; he added jerkily, &ldquo;you have interests of your
+own and must decide for yourself. I think I can speak for the Sergeant.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have decided,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;I hope that my son would never
+forgive me either; but if it is otherwise, why, so it must be. Also Barung has
+made no promises about him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Tell him, then,&rdquo; said Orme. &ldquo;My head aches infernally, and I
+want to go to bed, above ground or under it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I told him, although, to speak the truth, I felt like a man with a knife in
+his heart, for it was bitter to come so near to the desire of years, to the
+love of life, and then to lose all hope just because of duty to the head woman
+of a pack of effete curs to whom one had chanced to make a promise in order to
+gain this very end. If we could have surrendered with honour, at least I should
+have seen my son, whom now I might never see again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One thing, however, I added on the spur of the moment&mdash;namely, a request
+that the Sultan would tell the Professor every word that had passed, in order
+that whatever happened to him he might know the exact situation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My Harmac,&rdquo; said Barung when he had heard, &ldquo;how disappointed
+should I have been with you if you had answered otherwise when a woman showed
+you the way. I have heard of you English before&mdash;Arabs and traders brought
+me tales of you. For instance, there was one who died defending a city against
+a worshipper of the Prophet who called himself a prophet, down yonder at
+Khartoum on the Nile&mdash;a great death, they told me, a great death, which
+your people avenged afterwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well I did not quite believe the story, and I wished to judge of it by
+you. I have judged, white lords, I have judged, and I am sure that your fat
+brother, Black Windows, will be proud of you even in the lion&rsquo;s jaws.
+Fear not; he shall hear every word. The Singer of Egypt, who, it appears, can
+talk his tongue, shall tell the tale to him, and make a song of it to be sung
+over your honourable graves. And now farewell; may it be my lot to cross swords
+with one of you before all is done. That shall not be yet, for you need rest,
+especially yonder tall son of a god who is wounded,&rdquo; and he pointed to
+Orme. &ldquo;Child of Kings with a heart of kings, permit me to kiss your hand
+and to lead you back to your people, that I would were more worthy of you. Ah!
+yes, I would that <i>we</i> were your people.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda stretched out her hand, and, taking it, the Sultan barely touched her
+fingers with his lips. Then, still holding them, he rode with her toward the
+pass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we approached its mouth, where the Abati were crowded together, watching our
+conference, I heard them murmur, &ldquo;The Sultan, the Sultan himself!&rdquo;
+and saw the prince Joshua mutter some eager words to the officers about him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look out, Doctor,&rdquo; said Quick into my ear. &ldquo;Unless I&rsquo;m
+mistook, that porpoise is going to play some game.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hardly were the words out of his mouth when, uttering the most valiant shouts
+and with swords drawn, Joshua and a body of his companions galloped up and
+surrounded our little group.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now yield, Barung,&rdquo; bellowed Joshua; &ldquo;yield or die!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Sultan stared at him in astonishment, then answered:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If I had any weapon (he had thrown down his lance when he took Maqueda
+by the hand), certainly one of us should die, O Hog in man&rsquo;s
+clothes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he turned to Maqueda and added, &ldquo;Child of Kings, I knew these people
+of yours to be cowardly and treacherous, but is it thus that you suffer them to
+deal with envoys under a flag of peace?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so, not so,&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;My uncle Joshua, you disgrace
+me; you make our people a shame, a hissing, and a reproach. Stand back; let the
+Sultan of the Fung go free.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But they would not; the prize was too great to be readily disgorged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We looked at each other. &ldquo;Not at all the game,&rdquo; said Orme.
+&ldquo;If they collar him, we shall be tarred with their extremely dirty brush.
+Shove your camel in front, Sergeant, and if that beggar Joshua tries any
+tricks, put a bullet through him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quick did not need to be told twice. Banging his dromedary&rsquo;s ribs with
+the butt end of his rifle, he drove it straight on to Joshua, shouting:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Out of the light, porpoise!&rdquo; with the result that the
+Prince&rsquo;s horse took fright, and reared up so high that its rider slid off
+over its tail to find himself seated on the ground, a sorry spectacle in his
+gorgeous robes and armour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Taking advantage of the confusion which ensued, we surrounded the Sultan and
+escorted him out of the throng back to his two companions, who, seeing that
+there was something amiss, were galloping toward us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am your debtor,&rdquo; said Barung, &ldquo;but, O White Men, make me
+more so. Return, I pray you, to that hog in armour, and say that Barung, Sultan
+of the Fung, understands from his conduct that he desires to challenge him to
+single combat, and that, seeing he is fully armed, the Sultan, although he
+wears no mail, awaits him here and now.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I went at once with the message. But Joshua was far too clever to be drawn
+into any such dangerous adventure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing, he said, would have given him greater joy than to hack the head from
+the shoulders of this dog of a Gentile sheik. But, unhappily, owing to the
+conduct of one of us foreigners, he had been thrown from his horse, and hurt
+his back, so that he could scarcely stand, much less fight a duel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I returned with my answer, whereat Barung smiled and said nothing. Only,
+taking from his neck a gold chain which he wore, he proffered it to Quick, who,
+as he said, had induced the prince Joshua to show his horsemanship if not his
+courage. Then he bowed to us, one by one, and before the Abati could make up
+their mind whether to follow him or not, galloped off swiftly with his
+companions toward Harmac.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was our introduction to Barung, Sultan of the Fung, a barbarian with many
+good points, among them courage, generosity, and appreciation of those
+qualities even in a foe, characteristics that may have been intensified by the
+blood of his mother, who, I am told, was an Arab of high lineage captured by
+the Fung in war and given as a wife to the father of Barung.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br />
+THE SHADOW OF FATE</h2>
+
+<p>
+Our ride from the plains up the pass that led to the high tableland of Mur was
+long and, in its way, wonderful enough. I doubt whether in the whole world
+there exists another home of men more marvellously defended by nature.
+Apparently the road by which we climbed was cut in the first instance, not by
+human hands, but by the action of primæval floods, pouring, perhaps, from the
+huge lake which doubtless once covered the whole area within the circle of the
+mountains, although to-day it is but a moderate-sized sheet of water, about
+twenty miles long by ten in breadth. However this may be, the old inhabitants
+had worked on it, the marks of their tools may still be seen upon the rock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the first mile or two the road is broad and the ascent so gentle that my
+horse was able to gallop up it on that dreadful night when, after seeing my
+son&rsquo;s face, accident, or rather Providence, enabled me to escape the
+Fung. But from the spot where the lions pulled the poor beast down, its
+character changes. In places it is so narrow that travellers must advance in
+single file between walls of rock hundreds of feet high, where the sky above
+looks like a blue ribbon, and even at midday the path below is plunged in
+gloom. At other spots the slope is so precipitous that beasts of burden can
+scarcely keep their foothold; indeed, we were soon obliged to transfer
+ourselves from the camels to horses accustomed to the rocks. At others, again,
+it follows the brink of a yawning precipice, an ugly place to ride or turn
+rectangular corners, which half-a-dozen men could hold against an army, and
+twice it passes through tunnels, though whether these are natural I do not know.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Besides all these obstacles to an invader there were strong gates at intervals,
+with towers near by where guards were stationed night and day, and fosses or
+dry moats in front of them which could only be crossed by means of drawbridges.
+So the reader will easily understand how it came about that, whatever the
+cowardice of the Abati, though they strove for generations, the Fung had as yet
+never been able to recapture the ancient stronghold, which, or so it is said,
+in the beginning these Abati won from them by means of an Oriental trick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here I should add that, although there are two other roads to the
+plains&mdash;that by which, in order to outflank the Fung, the camels were let
+down when I started on my embassy to Egypt, and that to the north where the
+great swamps lie&mdash;these are both of them equally, if not more, impassable,
+at any rate to an enemy attacking from below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A strange cavalcade we must have seemed as we crawled up this terrific
+approach. First went a body of the Abati notables on horseback, forming a long
+line of colour and glittering steel, who chattered as they rode, for they
+seemed to have no idea of discipline. Next came a company of horsemen armed
+with spears, or rather two companies in the centre of which rode the Child of
+Kings, some of her courtiers and chief officers, and ourselves, perhaps, as
+Quick suggested, because infantry in the event of surprise would find it less
+easy to run away than those who were mounted upon horses. Last of all rode more
+cavalry, the duty of whose rear files it was to turn from time to time, and,
+after inspection, to shout out that we were not pursued.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It cannot be said that we who occupied the centre of the advance were a
+cheerful band. Orme, although so far he had borne up, was evidently very ill
+from the shock of the explosion, so much so that men had to be set on each side
+of him to see that he did not fall from the saddle. Also he was deeply
+depressed by the fact that honour had forced us to abandon Higgs to what seemed
+a certain and probably a cruel death; and if he felt thus, what was my own
+case, who left not only my friend, but also my son, in the hands of savage
+heathens?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda&rsquo;s face was not visible because of the thin spangled veil that she
+wore, but there was something about her attitude suggestive of shame and of
+despair. The droop of the head and even her back showed this, as I, who rode a
+little behind and on side of her, could see. I think, too, that she was anxious
+about Orme, for she turned toward him several times as though studying his
+condition. Also I am sure that she was indignant with Joshua and others of her
+officers, for when they spoke to her she would not answer or take the slightest
+notice of them beyond straightening herself in the saddle. As for the Prince
+himself, his temper seemed to be much ruffled, although apparently he had
+overcome the hurt to his back which prevented him from accepting the
+Sultan&rsquo;s challenge, for at a difficult spot in the road he dismounted and
+ran along actively enough. At any rate, when his subordinates addressed him he
+only answered them with muttered oaths, and his attitude towards us Englishmen,
+especially Quick, was not amiable. Indeed, if looks could have killed us I am
+sure that we should all have been dead before ever we reached the Gate of Mur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This so-called gate was the upper mouth of the pass whence first we saw, lying
+beneath us, the vast, mountain-ringed plain beyond. It was a beautiful sight in
+the sunshine. Almost at our feet, half-hidden in palms and other trees, lay the
+flat-roofed town itself, a place of considerable extent, as every house of any
+consequence seemed to be set in a garden, since here there was no need for
+cramping walls and defensive works. Beyond it to the northward, farther than
+the eye could reach, stretching down a gentle slope to the far-off shores of
+the great lake of glistening water, were cultivated fields, and amongst them
+villas and, here and there, hamlets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever might be the faults of the Abati, evidently they were skilled
+husbandsmen, such as their reputed forefathers, the old inhabitants of Judæa,
+must have been before them, for of that strain presumably some trace was still
+present in their veins. However far he may have drifted from such pursuits,
+originally the Jew was a tiller of the soil, and here, where many of his other
+characteristics had evaporated under pressure of circumstances&mdash;notably
+the fierce courage that Titus knew&mdash;this taste remained to him, if only by
+tradition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, having no other outlet for their energies and none with whom to trade,
+the interests of the Abati were centred in the land. For and by the land they
+lived and died, and, since the amount available was limited by the mountain
+wall, he who had most land was great amongst them, he who had little land was
+small, he who had no land was practically a slave. Their law was in its
+essentials a law of the land; their ambitions, their crimes, everything to do
+with them, were concerned with the land, upon the produce of which they existed
+and grew rich, some of them, by means of a system of barter. They had no
+coinage, their money being measures of corn or other produce, horses, camels,
+acres of their equivalent of soil, and so forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And yet, oddly enough, their country is the richest in gold and other metals
+that I have ever heard of even in Africa&mdash;so rich that, according to
+Higgs, the old Egyptians drew bullion from it to the value of millions of
+pounds every year. This, indeed, I can well believe, for I have seen the
+ancient mines which were worked, for the most part as open quarries, still
+showing plenty of visible gold on the face of the slopes. Yet to these alleged
+Jews this gold was of no account. Imagine it; as Quick said, such a topsy-turvy
+state of things was enough to make a mere Christian feel cold down the back and
+go to bed thinking that the world must be coming to an end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To return, the prince Joshua, who appeared to be generalissimo of the army, in
+what was evidently a set phrase, exhorted the guards at the last gates to be
+brave and, if need were, deal with the heathen as some one or other dealt with
+Og, King of Bashan, and other unlucky persons of a different faith. In reply he
+received their earnest congratulations upon his escape from the frightful
+dangers of our journey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These formalities concluded, casting off the iron discipline of war, we
+descended a joyous mob, or rather the Abati did, to partake of the delights of
+peace. Really, conquerors returning from some desperate adventure could not
+have been more warmly greeted. As we entered the suburbs of the town, women,
+some of them very handsome, ran out and embraced their lords or lovers, holding
+up babies for them to kiss, and a little farther on children appeared, throwing
+roses and pomegranate flowers before their triumphant feet. And all this
+because these gallant men had ridden to the bottom of a pass and back again!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Heavens! Doctor,&rdquo; exclaimed the sardonic Quick, after taking note
+of these demonstrations, &ldquo;Heavens! what a hero I feel myself to be. And
+to think that when I got back from the war with them Boers, after being left
+for dead on Spion Kop with a bullet through my lung and mentioned in a
+dispatch&mdash;yes, I, Sergeant Quick, mentioned in a dispatch by the biggest
+ass of a general as ever I clapped eyes on, for a job that I won&rsquo;t
+detail, no one in my native village ever took no note of me, although I had
+written to the parish clerk, who happens to be my brother-in-law, and told him
+the train I was coming by. I tell you, Doctor, no one so much as stood me a
+pint of beer, let alone wine,&rdquo; and he pointed to a lady who was
+proffering that beverage to some one whom she admired.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And as for chucking their arms round my neck and kissing me,&rdquo; and
+he indicated another episode, &ldquo;all my old mother said&mdash;she was alive
+then&mdash;was that she &lsquo;hoped I&rsquo;d done fooling about furrin&rsquo;
+parts as I called soldiering, and come home to live respectable, better late
+than never.&rsquo; Well, Doctor, circumstances alter cases, or blood and
+climate do, which is the same thing, and I didn&rsquo;t miss what I never
+expected, why should I when others like the Captain there, who had done so much
+more, fared worse? But, Lord! these Abati are a sickening lot, and I wish we
+were clear of them. Old Barung&rsquo;s the boy for me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Passing down the main street of this charming town of Mur, accompanied by these
+joyous demonstrators, we came at last to its central square, a large, open
+space where, in the moist and genial climate, for the high surrounding
+mountains attracted plentiful showers of rain, trees and flowers grew
+luxuriantly. At the head of this square stood a long, low building with
+white-washed walls and gilded domes, backed by the towering cliff, but at a
+little distance from it, and surrounded by double walls with a moat of water
+between them, dug for purposes of defence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the palace, which on my previous visit I had only entered once or
+twice when I was received by the Child of Kings in formal audience. Round the
+rest of this square, each placed in its own garden, were the houses of the
+great nobles and officials, and at its western end, among other public
+buildings, a synagogue or temple which looked like a model of that built by
+Solomon in Jerusalem, from the description of which it had indeed been copied,
+though, of course, upon a small scale.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the gate of the palace we halted, and Joshua, riding up, asked Maqueda
+sulkily whether he should conduct &ldquo;the Gentiles,&rdquo; for that was his
+polite description of us, to the lodging for pilgrims in the western town.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, my uncle,&rdquo; answered Maqueda; &ldquo;these foreign lords will
+be housed in the guest-wing of the palace.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In the guest-wing of the palace? It is not usual,&rdquo; gobbled Joshua,
+swelling himself out like a great turkey cock. &ldquo;Remember, O niece, that
+you are still unmarried. I do not yet dwell in the palace to protect you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So I found out in the plain yonder,&rdquo; she replied; &ldquo;still, I
+managed to protect myself. Now, I pray you, no words. I think it necessary that
+these my guests should be where their goods already are, in the safest place in
+Mur. You, my uncle, as you told us, are badly hurt, by which accident you were
+prevented from accepting the challenge of the Sultan of the Fung. Go, then, and
+rest; I will send the court physician to you at once. Good-night, my uncle;
+when you are recovered we will meet again, for we have much that we must
+discuss. Nay, nay, you are most kind, but I will not detain you another minute.
+Seek your bed, my uncle, and forget not to thank God for your escape from many
+perils.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this polite mockery Joshua turned perfectly pale with rage, like the turkey
+cock when his wattles fade from scarlet into white. Before he could make any
+answer, however, Maqueda had vanished under the archway, so his only resource
+was to curse us, and especially Quick, who had caused him to fall from his
+horse. Unfortunately the Sergeant understood quite enough Arabic to be aware of
+the tenor of his remarks, which he resented and returned:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shut it, Porpoise,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and keep your eyes where
+Nature put &rsquo;em, or they&rsquo;ll fall out.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What says the Gentile?&rdquo; spluttered Joshua, whereon Orme, waking up
+from one of his fits of lethargy, replied in Arabic:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He says that he prays you, O Prince of princes, to close your noble
+mouth and to keep your high-bred eyes within their sockets lest you should lose
+them&rdquo;; at which words those who were listening broke into a fit of
+laughter, for one redeeming characteristic among the Abati was that they had a
+sense of humour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After this I do not quite know what happened for Orme showed signs of fainting,
+and I had to attend to him. When I looked round again the gates were shut and
+we were being conducted toward the guest-wing of the palace by a number of
+gaily dressed attendants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They took us to our rooms&mdash;cool, lofty chambers ornamented with glazed
+tiles of quaint colour and beautiful design, and furnished somewhat scantily
+with articles made of rich-hued woods. This guest-wing of the palace, where
+these rooms were situated, formed, we noted, a separate house, having its own
+gateway, but, so far as we could see, no passage or other connection joining it
+to the main building. In front of it was a small garden, and at its back a
+courtyard with buildings, in which we were informed our camels had been
+stabled. At the time we noted no more, for night was falling, and, even if it
+had not been, we were too worn out to make researches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moreover, Orme was now desperately ill&mdash;so ill that he could scarcely walk
+leaning even on our shoulders. Still, he would not be satisfied till he was
+sure that our stores were safe, and, before he could be persuaded to lie down,
+insisted upon being supported to a vault with copper-bound doors, which the
+officers opened, revealing the packages that had been taken from the camels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Count them, Sergeant,&rdquo; he said, and Quick obeyed by the light of a
+lamp that the officer held at the open door. &ldquo;All correct, sir,&rdquo; he
+said, &ldquo;so far as I can make out.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very good, Sergeant. Lock the door and take the keys.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again he obeyed, and, when the officer demurred to their surrender, turned on
+him so fiercely that the man thought better of it and departed with a shrug of
+his shoulders, as I supposed to make report to his superiors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then at length we got Orme to bed, and, as he complained of intolerable pains
+in his head and would take nothing but some milk and water, having first
+ascertained that he had no serious physical injuries that I could discover, I
+administered to him a strong sleeping-draught from my little travelling
+medicine case. To our great relief this took effect upon him in about twenty
+minutes, causing him to sink into a stupor from which he did not awake for many
+hours.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quick and I washed ourselves, ate some food that was brought to us, and then
+took turns to watch Orme throughout the night. When I was at my post about six
+o&rsquo;clock on the following morning he woke up and asked for drink, which I
+gave to him. After swallowing it he began to wander in his mind, and, on taking
+his temperature, I found that he had over five degrees of fever. The end of it
+was that he went off to sleep again, only waking up from time to time and
+asking for more drink.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Twice during the night and early morning Maqueda sent to inquire as to his
+condition, and, apparently not satisfied with the replies, about ten in the
+forenoon arrived herself, accompanied by two waiting-ladies and a long-bearded
+old gentleman who, I understood, was the court physician.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;May I see him?&rdquo; she asked anxiously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I answered yes, if she and those with her were quite quiet. Then I led them
+into the darkened room where Quick stood like a statue at the head of the bed,
+only acknowledging her presence with a silent salute. She gazed at
+Oliver&rsquo;s flushed face and the forehead blackened where the gases from the
+explosion had struck him, and as she gazed I saw her beautiful violet eyes fill
+with tears. Then abruptly she turned and left the sick-chamber. Outside its
+doors she waved back her attendants imperiously and asked me in a whisper:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Will he live?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; I answered, for I thought it best that she should
+learn the truth. &ldquo;If he is only suffering from shock, fatigue, and fever,
+I think so, but if the explosion or the blow on his head where it cut has
+fractured the skull, then&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Save him,&rdquo; she muttered. &ldquo;I will give you all I&mdash;nay,
+pardon me; what need is there to tempt you, his friend, with reward? Only save
+him, save him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I will do what I can, Lady, but the issue is in other hands than
+mine,&rdquo; I answered, and just then her attendants came up and put an end to
+the conversation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To this day the memory of that old rabbi, the court physician, affects me like
+a nightmare, for of all the medical fools that ever I met he was by far the
+most pre-eminent. All about the place he followed me suggesting remedies that
+would have been absurd even in the Middle Ages. The least harmful of them, I
+remember, was that poor Orme&rsquo;s head should be plastered with a compound
+of butter and the bones of a still-born child, and that he should be given some
+filthy compound to drink which had been specially blessed by the priests.
+Others there were also that would certainly have killed him in half-an-hour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, I got rid of him at last for the time, and returned to my vigil. It was
+melancholy work, since no skill that I had could tell me whether my patient
+would live or die. Nowadays the young men might know, or say that they did, but
+it must be remembered that, as a doctor, I am entirely superannuated. How could
+it be otherwise, seeing that I have passed the best of my life in the desert
+without any opportunity of keeping up with the times.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three days went by in this fashion, and very anxious days they were. For my
+part, although I said nothing of it to any one, I believed that there was some
+injury to the patient&rsquo;s skull and that he would die, or at best be
+paralyzed. Quick, however, had a different opinion. He said that he had seen
+two men in this state before from the concussion caused by the bursting of
+large shells near to them, and that they both recovered although one of them
+became an idiot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it was Maqueda who first gave me any definite hope. On the third evening
+she came and sat by Orme for awhile, her attendants standing at a little
+distance. When she left him there was a new look upon her face&mdash;a very
+joyful look&mdash;which caused me to ask her what had happened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! he will live,&rdquo; she answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I inquired what made her think so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This,&rdquo; she replied, blushing. &ldquo;Suddenly he looked up and in
+my own tongue asked me of what colour were my eyes. I answered that it depended
+upon the light in which they might be seen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Not at all,&rsquo; he said. &lsquo;They are always
+<i>vi-o-let</i>, whether the curtain is drawn or no.&rsquo; Now, physician
+Adams, tell me what is this colour <i>vi-o-let</i>?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That of a little wild flower which grows in the West in the spring, O
+Maqueda&mdash;a very beautiful and sweet-scented flower which is dark blue like
+your eyes.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed, Physician,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Well, I do not know this
+flower, but what of that? Your friend will live and be sane. A dying man does
+not trouble about the colour of a lady&rsquo;s eyes, and one who is mad does
+not give that colour right.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Are you glad, O Child of Kings?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;seeing that I am told that this
+captain alone can handle the firestuffs which you have brought with you, and,
+therefore, that it is necessary to me that he should not die.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; I replied. &ldquo;Let us pray that we may keep him
+alive. But there are many kinds of firestuffs, O Maqueda, and of one of them
+which chances to give out violet flames I am not sure that my friend is master.
+Yet in this country it may be the most dangerous of all.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now when she heard these words the Child of Kings looked me up and down
+angrily. Then suddenly she laughed a little in a kind of silent way that is
+peculiar to her, and, without saying anything, beckoned to her ladies and left
+the place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very variegated thing, woman, sir,&rdquo; remarked Quick, who was
+watching. (I think he meant to say &ldquo;variable.&rdquo;) &ldquo;This one,
+for instance, comes up that passage like a tired horse&mdash;shuffle, shuffle,
+shuffle&mdash;for I could hear the heels of her slippers on the floor. But now
+she goes out like a buck seeking its mate&mdash;head in air and hoof lifted.
+How do you explain it, Doctor?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You had better ask the lady herself, Quick. Did the Captain take that
+soup she brought him?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Every drop, sir, and tried to kiss her hand afterward, being still
+dazed, poor man, poor man! I saw him do it, knowing no better. He&rsquo;ll be
+sorry enough when he comes to himself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No doubt, Sergeant. But meanwhile let us be glad that both their spirits
+seem to have improved, and if she brings any more soup when I am not there, I
+should let him have it. It is always well to humour invalids and women.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Doctor; but,&rdquo; he added, with a sudden fall of face,
+&ldquo;invalids recover sometimes, and then how about the women.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof,&rdquo; I answered; &ldquo;you
+had better go out for exercise; it is my watch.&rdquo; But to myself I thought
+that Fate was already throwing its ominous shadow before, and that it lay deep
+in Maqueda&rsquo;s violet eyes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, to cut a long story short, this was the turning-point of Orme&rsquo;s
+illness, and from that day he recovered rapidly, for, as it proved, there was
+no secret injury to the skull, and he was suffering from nothing except shock
+and fever. During his convalescence the Child of Kings came to see him several
+times, or to be accurate, if my memory serves me right, every afternoon. Of
+course, her visits were those of ceremony&mdash;that is to say, she was always
+accompanied by several of her ladies, that thorn in my flesh, the old doctor,
+and one or two secretaries and officers-in-waiting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But as Oliver was now moved by day into a huge reception room, and these people
+of the court were expected to stop at one end of it while she conversed with
+him at the other, to all intents and purposes, save for the presence of myself
+and Quick, her calls were of a private nature. Nor were we always present,
+since, now that my patient was out of danger the Sergeant and I went out riding
+a good deal&mdash;investigating Mur and its surroundings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may be asked what they talked about on these occasions. I can only answer
+that, so far as I heard, the general subject was the politics of Mur and its
+perpetual war with the Fung. Still, there must have been other topics which I
+did not hear, since incidently I discovered that Orme was acquainted with many
+of Maqueda&rsquo;s private affairs whereof he could only have learned from her
+lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus when I ventured to remark that perhaps it was not altogether wise for a
+young man in his position to become so intimate with the hereditary ruler of an
+exclusive tribe like the Abati, he replied cheerfully that this did not in the
+least matter, as, of course, according to their ancient laws, she could only
+marry with one of her own family, a fact which made all complications
+impossible. I inquired which of her cousins, of whom I knew she had several,
+was the happy man. He replied:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;None of them. As a matter of fact, I believe that she is officially
+affianced to that fat uncle of hers, the fellow who blows his own trumpet so
+much, but I needn&rsquo;t add that this is only a form to which she submits in
+order to keep the others off.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; I said. &ldquo;I wonder if Prince Joshua thinks it only a
+form?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t know what he thinks, and don&rsquo;t care,&rdquo; he
+replied, yawning; &ldquo;I only know that things stand as I say, and that the
+porpoise-man has as much chance of becoming the husband of Maqueda as you have
+of marrying the Empress of China. And now, to drop this matrimonial
+conversation and come to something more important, have you heard anything
+about Higgs and your son?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You are more in the way of learning state secrets than I am,
+Orme,&rdquo; I answered sarcastically, being rather irritated at the course of
+events and his foolishness. &ldquo;What have you heard?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This, old fellow. I can&rsquo;t say how she knows it, but Maqueda says
+that they are both in good health and well treated. Only our friend Barung
+sticks to his word and proposes to sacrifice poor old Higgs on this day
+fortnight. Now, of course, that must be prevented somehow, and prevented it
+shall be if it costs me my life. Don&rsquo;t you suppose that I have been
+thinking about myself all the time, for it isn&rsquo;t so, only the trouble is
+that I can&rsquo;t find any plan of rescue which will hold water.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then what&rsquo;s to be done, Orme? I haven&rsquo;t spoken much of the
+matter before for fear of upsetting you when you were still weak, but now that
+you are all right again we must come to some decision.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I know, I know,&rdquo; he answered earnestly; &ldquo;and I tell you
+this, that rather than let Higgs die alone there, I will give myself up to
+Barung, and, if I can&rsquo;t save him, suffer with him, or for him if I can.
+Listen: there is to be a great council held by the Child of Kings on the day
+after to-morrow which we must attend, for it has only been postponed until I
+was well enough. At this council that rogue Shadrach is to be put upon his
+trial, and will, I believe, be condemned to death. Also we are formally to
+return Sheba&rsquo;s ring which Maqueda lent to you to be used in proof of her
+story. Well, we may learn something then, or at any rate must make up our minds
+to definite action. And now I am to have my first ride, am I not? Come on,
+Pharaoh,&rdquo; he added to the dog, which had stuck at his bedside all through
+his illness so closely that it was difficult to entice him away even to eat;
+&ldquo;we are going for a ride, Pharaoh; do you hear that, you faithful
+beast?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br />
+THE SWEARING OF THE OATH</h2>
+
+<p>
+Two or three days after this conversation, I forget exactly which it was,
+Maqueda held her council in the great hall of the palace. When we entered the
+place in charge of a guard, as though we were prisoners, we found some hundreds
+of Abati gathered there who were seated in orderly rows upon benches. At the
+farther end, in an apse-shaped space, sat the Child of Kings herself on a
+gilded or perhaps a golden chair of which the arms terminated in lions&rsquo;
+heads. She was dressed in a robe of glittering silver, and wore a ceremonial
+veil embroidered with stars, also of silver, and above it, set upon her dark
+hair, a little circlet of gold, in which shone a single gem that looked like a
+ruby. Thus attired, although her stature is small, her appearance was very
+dignified and beautiful, especially as the gossamer veil added mystery to her
+face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Behind the throne stood soldiers armed with spears and swords, and at its sides
+and in front of it were gathered her court to the number of a hundred or more,
+including her waiting-ladies, who in two companies were arranged to the right
+and left. Each member of this court was gorgeously dressed according to his
+profession.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were the generals and captains with Prince Joshua at the head of them in
+their Norman-like chain armour. There were judges in black robes and priests in
+gorgeous garments; there were territorial lords, of whose attire I remember
+only that they wore high boots, and men who were called Market-masters, whose
+business it was to regulate the rate of exchange of products, and with them the
+representatives of other trades.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In short, here was collected all the aristocracy of the little population of
+the town and territory of Mur, every one of whom, as we found afterwards,
+possessed some high-sounding title answering to those of our dukes and lords
+and Right Honourables, and knights, to say nothing of the Princes of the Blood,
+of whom Joshua was the first.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Really, although it looked so fine and gay, the spectacle was, in a sense,
+piteous, being evidently but a poor mockery and survival of the pageantry of a
+people that had once been great. The vast hall in which they were assembled
+showed this, since, although the occasion was one that excited public interest,
+it was after all but a quarter filled by those who had a right to be present.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With much dignity and to the sound of music we were marched up the broad nave,
+if I may describe it thus, for the building, with its apse and supporting cedar
+columns, bore some resemblance to a cathedral, till we reached the open space
+in front of the throne, where our guards prostrated themselves in their Eastern
+fashion, and we saluted its occupant in our own. Then, chairs having been given
+to us, after a pause a trumpet blew, and from a side chamber was produced our
+late guide, Shadrach, heavily manacled and looking extremely frightened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The trial that followed I need not describe at length. It took a long while,
+and the three of us were called upon to give evidence as to the quarrel between
+our companion, the Professor, and the prisoner about the dog Pharaoh and other
+matters. The testimony, however, that proclaimed the guilt of Shadrach was that
+of his companion guides, who, it appeared, had been threatened with floggings
+unless they told the truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These men swore, one after the other, that the abandonment of Higgs had been a
+preconceived plan. Several of them added that Shadrach was in traitorous
+communication with the Fung, whom he had warned of our advent by firing the
+reeds, and had even contrived to arrange that we were to be taken while he and
+the other Abati, with the camels laden with our rifles and goods which they
+hoped to steal, passed through in safety.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In defence Shadrach boldly denied the whole story, and especially that he had
+pushed the Gentile, Higgs, off his dromedary, as was alleged, and mounted it
+himself because his own beast had broken down or been injured.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, his lies availed him little, since, after consultation with the Child
+of Kings, presently one of the black-robed judges condemned him to suffer death
+in a very cruel fashion which was reserved for traitors. Further, his
+possessions were to be forfeited to the State, and his wife and children and
+household to become public slaves, which meant that the males would be
+condemned to serve as soldiers, and the females allotted to certain officials
+in the order of their rank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Several of those who had conspired with him to betray us to the Fung were also
+deprived of their possessions and condemned to the army, which was their form
+of penal servitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus amidst a mighty wailing of those concerned and of their friends and
+relatives ended this remarkable trial, of which I give some account because it
+throws light upon the social conditions of Abati. What hope is there for a
+people when its criminals are sent, not to jail, but to serve as soldiers, and
+their womenfolk however innocent, are doomed to become the slaves of the judges
+or whoever these may appoint. Be it added, however, that in this instance
+Shadrach and his friends deserved all they got, since, even allowing for a
+certain amount of false evidence, undoubtedly, for the purposes of robbery and
+private hate, they did betray those whom their ruler had sent them to guide and
+protect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When this trial was finished and Shadrach had been removed, howling for mercy
+and attempting to kiss our feet like the cur he was, the audience who had
+collected to hear it and to see us, the Gentile strangers, dispersed, and the
+members of the Privy Council, if I may call it so, were summoned by name to
+attend to their duties. When all had gathered, we three were requested to
+advance and take seats which had been placed for us among the councillors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then came a pause, and, as I had been instructed that I should do, I advanced
+and laid Sheba&rsquo;s ring upon a cushion held by one of the court officers,
+who carried it to Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Child of Kings,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;take back this ancient token which
+you lent to me to be a proof of your good faith and mine. Know that by means of
+it I persuaded our brother who is captive, a man learned in all that has to do
+with the past, to undertake this mission, and through him the Captain Orme who
+stands before you, and his servant, the soldier.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She took it and, after examination, showed it to several of the priests, by
+whom it was identified.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Though I parted from it with fear and doubt, the holy ring has served
+its purpose well,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and I thank you, Physician, for
+returning it to my people and to me in safety.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she replaced it on the finger from which it had been withdrawn when she
+gave it to me many months before.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There, then, that matter ended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now an officer cried:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Walda Nagasta speaks!&rdquo; whereon every one repeated, &ldquo;Walda
+Nagasta speaks,&rdquo; and was silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Maqueda began to address us in her soft and pleasant voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Strangers from the Western country called England,&rdquo; she said,
+&ldquo;be pleased to hear me. You know our case with the Fung&mdash;that they
+surround us and would destroy us. You know that in our extremity I took
+advantage of the wandering hither of one of you a year ago to beg him to go to
+his own land and there obtain firestuffs and those who understand them, with
+which to destroy the great and ancient idol of the Fung. For that people
+declare that if this idol is destroyed they will leave the land they dwell in
+for another, such being their ancient prophecy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Pardon, O Child of Kings,&rdquo; interrupted Orme, &ldquo;but you will
+remember that only the other day Barung, Sultan of the Fung, said that in this
+event his nation would still live on to avenge their god, Harmac. Also he said
+that of all the Abati he would leave you alive alone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now at these ill-omened words a shiver and a murmur went through the Council.
+But Maqueda only shrugged her shoulders, causing the silver trimmings on her
+dress to tinkle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I have told you the ancient prophecy,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;and
+for the rest words are not deeds. If the foul fiend, Harmac, goes I think that
+the Fung will follow him. Otherwise, why do they make sacrifice to Earthquake
+as the evil god they have to fear? And when some five centuries ago, such an
+earthquake shook down part of the secret city in the bowels of the mountains
+that I will show to you afterwards, why did they fly from Mur and take up their
+abode in the plain, as they said, to protect the god?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; answered Oliver. &ldquo;If our brother were here,
+he whom the Fung have captured, he might know, being learned in the ways of
+idol-worshipping, savage peoples.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Alas! O Son of Orme,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;thanks to that traitor whom
+but now we have condemned, he is not here and, perhaps, could tell us nothing
+if he were. At least, the saying runs as I have spoken it, and for many
+generations, because of it, we Abati have desired to destroy the idol of the
+Fung to which so many of us have been offered in sacrifice through the jaws of
+their sacred lions. Now I ask,&rdquo; and she leaned forward, looking at
+Oliver, &ldquo;will you do this for me?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Speak of the reward, my niece,&rdquo; broke in Joshua in his thick voice
+when he saw that we hesitated what to answer, &ldquo;I have heard that these
+Western Gentiles are a very greedy people, who live and die for the gold which
+we despise.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ask him, Captain,&rdquo; exclaimed Quick, &ldquo;if they despise land
+also, since yesterday afternoon I saw one of them try to cut the throat of
+another over a piece not bigger than a large dog-kennel.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I added, for I confess that Joshua&rsquo;s remarks nettled
+me, &ldquo;and ask him whether the Jews did not despoil the Egyptians of their
+ornaments of gold in the old days, and whether Solomon, whom he claims as a
+forefather, did not trade in gold to Ophir, and lastly whether he knows that
+most of his kindred in other lands make a very god of gold.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Orme, as our spokesman, put these questions with great gusto to Joshua, whom
+he disliked intensely, whereat some of the Council, those who were not of the
+party of the Prince, smiled or even laughed, and the silvery ornaments upon
+Maqueda&rsquo;s dress began to shake again as though she also were laughing
+behind her veil. Still, she did not seem to think it wise to allow Joshua to
+answer&mdash;if he could&mdash;but did so herself, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The truth is, O my friends, that here we set small store by gold
+because, being shut in and unable to trade, it is of no use to us save as an
+ornament. Were it otherwise, doubtless we should value it as much as the rest
+of the world, Jew or Gentile, and shall do so when we are freed from our foes
+who hem us in. Therefore, my uncle is wrong to claim as a virtue that which is
+only a necessity, especially when, as your servant says,&rdquo; and she pointed
+to the Sergeant, &ldquo;our people make land their gold and will spend their
+lives in gaining more of it, even when they have enough.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then do the Gentiles seek no reward for their services?&rdquo; sneered
+Joshua.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By no means, Prince,&rdquo; answered Oliver, &ldquo;we are soldiers of
+fortune, since otherwise why should we have come here to fight your
+quarrel&rdquo; (laying an unpleasant emphasis on the &ldquo;your&rdquo;)
+&ldquo;against a chief who, if half savage, to us seems to have some merits,
+those of honour and courage, for instance? If we risk our lives and do our
+work, we are not too proud to take whatever we can earn. Why should we be,
+seeing that some of us need wealth, and that our brother, who is as good as
+dead yonder, owing to the treachery of those who were sent to guard him, has
+relatives in England who are poor and should be compensated for his loss?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why, indeed?&rdquo; ejaculated Maqueda. &ldquo;Listen, now, my friends.
+In my own name and in that of the Abati people I promised to you as many
+camel-loads of this gold as you can carry away from Mur, and before the day is
+done I will show it to you if you dare follow me to where it lies hid.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;First the work, then the pay,&rdquo; said Oliver. &ldquo;Now tell us,
+Child of Kings, what is that work?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This, O Son of Orme. You must swear&mdash;if this is not against your
+consciences as Christians&mdash;that for the space of one year from to-day you
+will serve me and fight for me and be subject to my laws, striving all the
+while to destroy the idol Harmac by your Western skill and weapons, after which
+you shall be free to go whither you will with your reward.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And if we swear, Lady,&rdquo; asked Oliver after reflection, &ldquo;tell
+us what rank shall we hold in your service?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You shall be my chief captain for this enterprise, O Son of Orme, and
+those with you shall serve under you in such positions as you may please.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At these words a murmur of dissatisfaction arose from the mail-clad generals in
+the Council.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Are we then, to obey this stranger, O Child of Kings?&rdquo; queried
+Joshua as their spokesman.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Aye, my uncle, so far as this great enterprise is concerned, as I have
+said. Can you handle the firestuffs of which they alone have the secret? Could
+any three of you have held the gate of Harmac against the armies of the Fung
+and sent it flying skyward?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She paused and waited in the midst of a sullen silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You do not answer because you cannot,&rdquo; continued Maqueda.
+&ldquo;Then for this purpose be content to serve awhile under the command of
+those who have the skill and power which you lack.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still there was no answer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; said Orme in this ominous quiet, &ldquo;you are so good as
+to make me a general among your soldiers, but will they obey me? And who are
+your soldiers? Does every man of the Abati bear arms?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Alas! no,&rdquo; she replied, fixing upon this latter question perhaps
+because she could not answer the first. &ldquo;Alas! no. In the old days it was
+otherwise, when my great ancestresses ruled, and then we did not fear the Fung.
+But now the people will not serve as soldiers. They say it takes them from
+their trades and the games they love; they say they cannot give the time in
+youth; they say that it degrades a man to obey the orders of those set over
+him; they say that war is barbarous and should be abolished, and all the while
+the brave Fung wait without to massacre our men and make our women slaves. Only
+the very poor and the desperate, and those who have offended against the laws
+will serve in my army, except it be as officers. Oh! and therefore are the
+Abati doomed,&rdquo; and, throwing back her veil, suddenly, she burst into
+tears before us all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do not know that I ever remember seeing a sight more pathetic in its way than
+that of this beautiful and high-spirited young woman weeping in the presence of
+her Council over the utter degeneracy of the race she was called upon to rule.
+Being old and accustomed to these Eastern expressions of emotion, I remained
+silent, however; but Oliver was so deeply affected that I feared lest he should
+do something foolish. He went red, he went white, and was rising from his seat
+to go to her, had I not caught him by the arm and pulled him back. As for
+Quick, he turned his eyes to the ceiling, as though engaged in prayer, and I
+heard him muttering:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Lord help the poor thing, the Lord help her; the one pearl in the
+snout of all these gilded swine! Well, I understand I am a bit of a general
+now, and if I don&rsquo;t make &lsquo;em sit up for her sake my name
+ain&rsquo;t Samuel Quick.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile there was much consternation and indignant murmuring amongst the
+Court, which felt that reflections had been thrown upon it collectively and
+individually. At such a crisis, as usual, Prince Joshua took the lead. Rising
+from his seat, he knelt, not without difficulty, before the throne, and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Child of Kings, why do you distress us with such words? Have you not
+the God of Solomon to protect you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;God protects those who protect themselves,&rdquo; sobbed Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And have you not many brave officers?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What are officers without an army?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And have you not me, your uncle, your affianced, your lover?&rdquo; and
+he laid his hand where he conceived his heart to be, and stared up at her with
+his rolling, fish-like eyes. &ldquo;Had it not been for the interference of
+these Gentiles, in whom you seem to put such trust,&rdquo; he went on,
+&ldquo;should I not have taken Barung captive the other day, and left the Fung
+without a head?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And the Abati without such shreds of honour as still belong to them, my
+uncle.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let us be wed, O Bud of the Rose, O Flower of Mur, and soon I will free
+you from the Fung. We are helpless because we are separate, but together we
+shall triumph. Say, O Maqueda, when shall we be wed?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When the idol Harmac is utterly destroyed, and the Fung have departed
+for ever, my uncle,&rdquo; she answered impatiently. &ldquo;But is this a time
+to talk of marriage? I declare the Council closed. Let the priests bring the
+rolls that these strangers from the West may take the oath, and then pardon me
+if I leave you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now from behind the throne there appeared a gorgeous gentleman arrayed in a
+head-dress that reminded me faintly of a bishop&rsquo;s mitre, and wearing over
+his robes a breastplate of precious stones roughly polished, which was half
+hidden by a very long white beard.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This person, who it seemed was the high priest, carried in his hand a double
+roll of parchment written over with characters which we afterwards discovered
+were bastard Hebrew, very ancient and only decipherable by three or four of the
+Abati, if indeed any of them could really read it. At least it was said to be
+the roll of the law brought by their forefathers centuries ago from Abyssinia,
+together with Sheba&rsquo;s ring and a few other relics, among them the cradle
+(a palpable forgery), in which the child of Solomon and Maqueda, or Belchis,
+the first known Queen of Sheba, was traditionally reported to have been rocked.
+This roll of the law, which for generations had been used at all important
+ceremonies among the Abati, such as the swearing-in of their queens and chief
+officers, was now tendered to us to hold and kiss while we took the oath of
+obedience and allegiance in the names of Jehovah and of Solomon (a strange
+mixture, it struck us), solemnly vowing to perform those things which I have
+already set out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This seems a pretty wide promise,&rdquo; said Oliver, after it had been
+read to us and translated by me to Quick. &ldquo;Do you think that we ought to
+take it on?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I answered &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; that was from my point of view, since otherwise I
+saw no chance of achieving the object that had caused me to enter upon this
+adventure. Then, being especially requested to do so, the Sergeant, after
+reflecting awhile, gave his considered opinion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sir,&rdquo; he said to Orme, &ldquo;we are three white men here
+consorting with a mob of quarter-bred African Jews and one real lady. It seems
+to me that we had best swear anything they want us to, trusting to the lady to
+see us through the mess, since otherwise we shall be mere filibusters in the
+country without official rank, and liable therefore to be shot on sight by the
+enemy, or any mutineers who get the upper hand here. Also, we have the
+Professor and the Doctor&rsquo;s son to think of. Therefore I say: Swear to
+anything in reason, reserving allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, and
+trust to luck. You see, Captain, we are in their power anyway, and this oath
+may help, but can&rsquo;t hurt us, while to refuse it must give offence to all
+these skunks, and perhaps to the lady also, which is of more consequence.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think you are probably right, Sergeant,&rdquo; said Orme.
+&ldquo;Anyway, in for a penny, in for a pound.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he turned to Maqueda, who had been watching this conference in an unknown
+tongue with some anxiety, or so it seemed to me, and added in Arabic: &ldquo;O
+Child of Kings, we will take your oath, although it is wide, trusting to your
+honour to protect us from any pitfalls which it may cover, for we would ask you
+to remember that we are strangers in your land who do not understand its laws
+and customs. Only we stipulate that we retain our allegiance to our own ruler
+far away, remaining the subjects of that monarch with all rights thereto
+appertaining. Also, we stipulate that before we enter on our duties, or at any
+rate during those duties, we shall be at full liberty to attempt the rescue of
+our friend and companion, now a prisoner in the hands of the Fung, and of the
+son of one of us who is believed to be a slave to them, and that we shall have
+all the assistance which you can give us in this matter. Moreover, we demand
+that if we should be tried for any offence under this oath, you to whom we
+swear allegiance shall be our judge alone, none others intermeddling in the
+trial. If you accept these terms we will swear the oath; otherwise we swear
+nothing, but will act as occasion may arise.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now we were requested to stand back while the Child of Kings consulted with her
+advisers, which she did for a considerable time, since evidently the questions
+raised involved differences of opinion. In the end, however, she and those who
+supported her seemed to overrule the objectors, and we were called up and told
+that our terms had been accepted and engrossed upon the form of the oath, and
+that everything there included would be faithfully observed by the Ruler and
+Council of the Abati.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we signed and swore, kissing the book, or rather the roll, in the civilized
+fashion. Afterwards, very tired, for all this business had been anxious, we
+were conducted back to our own quarters to lunch, or rather to dine, for the
+Abati ate their heaviest meal at midday, taking a siesta after it according to
+the common Eastern custom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About four o&rsquo;clock of that afternoon I was awakened from my nap by the
+growls of Pharaoh, and looked up to see a man crouching against the door,
+evidently in fear of the dog&rsquo;s fangs. He proved to be a messenger from
+Maqueda, sent to ask us if we cared to accompany her to a place that we had
+never seen. Of course we answered &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; and were at once led by
+the messenger to a disused and dusty hall at the back of the palace, where
+presently Maqueda and three of her ladies joined us, and with them a number of
+men who carried lighted lamps, gourds of oil, and bundles of torches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doubtless, friends,&rdquo; said Maqueda, who was unveiled and appeared
+to have quite recovered from our outburst of the morning, &ldquo;you have seen
+many wonderful places in this Africa and other lands, but now I am about to
+show you one that, I think, is stranger than them all.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Following her, we came to a door at the end of the hall which the men unbolted
+and shut again behind us, and thence passed into a long passage cut in the
+rock, that sloped continuously downwards and at length led through another
+doorway to the vastest cave that we had ever heard of or seen. So vast was it,
+indeed, that the feeble light of our lamps did not suffice to reach the roof,
+and only dimly showed to right and left the outlines of what appeared to be
+shattered buildings of rock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Behold the cave city of Mur,&rdquo; said Maqueda, waving the lamp she
+held. &ldquo;Here it was that the ancients whom we believe to have been the
+forefathers of the Fung, had their secret stronghold. These walls were those of
+their granaries, temples, and places of ceremonial, but, as I have told you,
+centuries ago an earthquake shattered them, leaving them as they are now. Also,
+it broke down much of the cave itself, causing the roof to fall, so that there
+are many parts where it is not safe to enter. Come now and see what is
+left.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We followed her into the depth of the wonderful place, our lanterns and torches
+making little stars of light in that great blackness. We saw the ruins of
+granaries still filled with the dust of what I suppose had once been corn, and
+came at length to a huge, roofless building of which the area was strewn with
+shattered columns, and among them overgrown statues, covered so thick by dust
+that we could only discover that most of them seemed to be shaped like sphinxes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If only Higgs were here,&rdquo; said Oliver with a sigh, and passed on
+to Maqueda, who was calling him to look at something else.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving the temple in which it was unsafe to walk, she led us to where a strong
+spring, the water supply of the place, bubbled up into a rock basin, and
+overflowing thence through prepared openings, ran away we knew not whither.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look, this fountain is very ancient,&rdquo; said Maqueda, pointing to
+the lip of the basin that was worn away to the depth of several inches where
+those who drew water had for many generations rested their hands upon the hard
+rock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How did they light so vast a cavern?&rdquo; asked Oliver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We do not know,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;since lamps would scarcely
+have served them. It is a secret of the past which none of the Abati have cared
+to recover, and another is how the air is always kept fresh so deep in the
+bowels of the mountain. We cannot even say whether this place is natural, as I
+think, or hollowed out by men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Both, I expect,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;But tell me, Lady, do the
+Abati make any use of this great cave?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Some corn is still stored here in pits in case of siege,&rdquo; she
+replied, adding sadly, &ldquo;but it is not enough to be of real service, since
+almost all of it comes from the estates of the Child of Kings. In vain have I
+prayed the people to contribute, if only a hundredth part of their harvest, but
+they will not. Each says that he would give if his neighbour gave, and so none
+give. And yet a day may come when a store of corn alone would stand between
+them and death by hunger&mdash;if the Fung held the valley, for
+instance,&rdquo; and she turned impatiently and walked forward to show us the
+stables where the ancients kept their horses and the marks of their chariot
+wheels in the stone floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nice people, the Abati, sir,&rdquo; said Quick to me. &ldquo;If it
+weren&rsquo;t for the women and children, and, above all, for this little lady,
+whom I am beginning to worship like my master, as in duty bound, I&rsquo;d like
+to see them do a bit of hungering.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is one more place to show you,&rdquo; said Maqueda, when we had
+inspected the stables and argued as to what possible causes could have induced
+the ancients to keep horses underground, &ldquo;which perhaps you will think
+worth a visit, since it holds the treasures that are, or shall be, yours.
+Come!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We started forward again along various passages, the last of which suddenly
+widened into a broad and steep incline of rock, which we followed for quite
+fifty paces till it ended in what seemed to be a blank wall. Here Maqueda bade
+her ladies and attendants halt, which indeed they seemed very anxious to do,
+though at the moment we did not know why. Then she went to one end of the wall
+where it joined that of the passage, and, showing us some loose stones, asked
+me to pull them out, which I did, not without difficulty. When an aperture had
+been made large enough for a man to creep through, she turned to her people and
+said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You, I know, believe this place to be haunted, nor would the bravest of
+you enter it save by express command. But I and these strangers have no such
+fears. Therefore give us a gourd of oil and some torches and bide where you are
+till we return, setting a lamp in the hole in the wall to guide us in case our
+own should become extinguished. No, do not reason but obey. There is no danger,
+for though hot, the air within is pure, as I know who have breathed it more
+than once.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she gave her hand to Oliver, and with his assistance crept through the
+hole. We followed, to find ourselves in another cavern, where, as she had said,
+the temperature was much hotter than that without.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is this place?&rdquo; asked Orme in a low voice, for its aspect
+seemed to awe him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The tomb of the old kings of Mur,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Presently
+you shall see,&rdquo; and once more she took his hand, for the slope was sharp
+and slippery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On we went, always descending, for perhaps four hundred yards, our footfalls
+echoing loudly in the intense silence, and our lamps, round which the bats
+circled in hundreds, making four stars of light in the utter blackness, till at
+length the passage widened out into what appeared to be a vast circular arena,
+with a lofty dome-like roof of rock. Maqueda turned to the right, and, halting
+before some objects that glimmered whitely, held up her light, saying,
+&ldquo;Look!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was what we saw: A great stone chair and, piled upon its seat and upon its
+base, human bones. Amongst these was a skull, and on it, grotesquely tilted, a
+crown of gold, while other ornaments&mdash;sceptres, rings, necklaces, weapons
+and armour&mdash;were mingled with the bones. Nor was this all, for in a wide
+circle round the chair were other skeletons, fifty or more of them, and amongst
+them the ornaments that their owners had worn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also, in front of each stood a tray of some metal, which we afterwards
+discovered to be silver or copper, and heaped upon it every kind of valuable,
+such as golden cups and vases, toilet utensils, necklaces, pectorals,
+bracelets, leglets, earrings and beads that seemed to be cut from precious
+stones, piles of ring money, and a hundred other things such as have been
+prized by mankind since the beginning of civilization.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You understand,&rdquo; said Maqueda, as we stared, open-mouthed at this
+awful and marvellous sight, &ldquo;he in the chair was the king. Those about
+him were his officers, guards, and women. When he was buried they brought his
+household here, bearing his wealth, sat them down about him, and killed them.
+Blow away the dust, and you will see that the rock beneath is still stained
+with their blood; also, there are the sword-marks on their skulls, and
+neckbones.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quick, who was of an inquiring mind, stepped forward and verified these
+statements.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Golly!&rdquo; he said, throwing down the skull of a man over whom the
+tired executioners had evidently bungled badly, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad I
+didn&rsquo;t serve the old kings of Mur. But the same game goes on in a small
+way to-day in Africa, for when I was campaigning on the West Coast I came
+across it not a fortnight old, only there they had buried the poor beggars
+living.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; said Maqueda, when the Sergeant&rsquo;s remarks had been
+translated to her. &ldquo;Yet I do not think the custom is one that my people
+would love,&rdquo; and she laughed a little, then added, &ldquo;forward,
+friends, there are many more of these kings and oil does not burn for
+ever.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we moved on, and at a distance of some twenty paces found another chair with
+scattered bones on and about the seat, lying where each had fallen as the dead
+man decayed. Round it were the skeletons of the unfortunates who had been
+doomed to accompany him upon his last journey, every one of them behind his
+tray of golden objects, or of simple treasure. In front of this king&rsquo;s
+chair also were the bones of a dog with a jewelled collar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again we proceeded to a third mortuary, if it may so be called, and here
+Maqueda pointed out the skeleton of a man, in front of which stood a tray piled
+up with what evidently had been the medicine bottles of the period and among
+them a number of rude surgical instruments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Say, O Physician Adams,&rdquo; she remarked with a smile, &ldquo;would
+you have wished to be court doctor to the kings of Mur, if indeed that was then
+their city&rsquo;s name?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Lady,&rdquo; I answered; &ldquo;but I do wish to examine his
+instruments if I have your leave,&rdquo; and while she hurried forward I
+stooped down and filled my pockets. Here I may remark, that upon subsequent
+inspection I found among these instruments, manufactured I know not what number
+of thousands of years ago&mdash;for on that point controversy rages among the
+learned&mdash;many that with modifications are still in use to-day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of that strange and dreadful sepulchre there is little more to tell. From
+monarch to monarch we marched on till at length we grew weary of staring at
+bones and gold. Even Quick grew weary, who had passed his early youth in
+assisting his father, the parish sexton, and therefore, like myself, regarded
+these relics with professional interest, though of a different degree. At any
+rate, he remarked that this family vault was uncommonly hot, and perhaps, if it
+pleased her Majesty, as he called Maqueda, we might take the rest of the
+deceased gentlemen as read, like a recruit&rsquo;s attestation questions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But just then we came to No. 25, according to my counting, and were obliged to
+stop to wonder, for clearly this king had been the greatest of them all, since
+round him lay about two or three times the average number of dead, and an
+enormous quantity of wealth, some of it in the form of little statues of men
+and women, or perhaps of gods. Yet, oddly enough, he was hunchback with a huge
+skull, almost a monstrosity indeed. Perhaps his mind partook of the abnormal
+qualities of his body, since no less than eleven little children had been
+sacrificed at his obsequies, two of whom, judging from their crooked bones,
+must have been his own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One wonders what chanced in Mur and the surrounding territories which then
+acknowledged its sway when King Hunchback ruled. Alas! history writes no record.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br />
+QUICK LIGHTS A MATCH</h2>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Here we begin to turn, for this cave is a great circle,&rdquo; said
+Maqueda over her shoulder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Oliver, whom she addressed, had left her side and was engaged in taking
+observations behind the hunchback&rsquo;s funeral chair with an instrument
+which he had produced from his pocket.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She followed him and asked curiously what this thing might be, and why he made
+use of it here.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We call it a compass,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;and it tells me that
+beyond us lies the east, where the sun rises; also it shows at what height we
+stand above the sea, that great water which you have never seen, O Child of
+Kings. Say now, if we could walk through this rock, what should we find out
+yonder?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The lion-headed idol of the Fung, I have been told,&rdquo; she answered.
+&ldquo;That which you saw before you blew up the gate of the city Harmac. But
+how far off it may be I do not know, for I cannot see through stone. Friend
+Adams, help me to refill the lamps, for they burn low, and all these dead would
+be ill company in the dark. So at least my people think, since there is not one
+of them that dares to enter this place. When first we found it only a few years
+ago and saw the company it held, they fled, and left me to search it alone.
+Look, yonder are my footsteps in the dust.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So I refilled the shallow hand-lamps, and while I did so Orme took some hasty
+observations of which he jotted down the results in his pocket-book.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What have you learned?&rdquo; she asked, when at last he rejoined us
+somewhat unwillingly, for she had been calling to him to come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so much as I should have done if you could have given me more
+time,&rdquo; he replied, adding in explanation, &ldquo;Lady, I was brought up
+as an engineer, that is, one who executes works, and to do so takes
+measurements and makes calculations. For instance, those dead men who hollowed
+or dressed these caves must have been engineers and no mean ones.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We have such among us now,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;They raise dams and
+make drains and houses, though not so good as those which were built of old.
+But again I ask&mdash;what have you learned, O wise Engineer?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Only that here we stand not so very far above the city Harmac, of which
+I chanced to take the level, and that behind yonder chair there was, I think,
+once a passage which has been built up. But be pleased to say nothing of the
+matter, Lady, and to ask me no more questions at present, as I cannot answer
+them with certainty.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I see that you are discreet as well as wise,&rdquo; she replied with
+some sarcasm. &ldquo;Well, since I may not be trusted with your counsel, keep
+it to yourself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver bowed and obeyed this curt instruction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we began our return journey, passing many more groups of skeletons which
+now we scarcely troubled to look at, perhaps because the heavy air filled with
+dust that once had been the flesh of men, was telling on our energies. Only I
+noticed, or rather the observant Quick called my attention to the fact, that as
+we went the kings in their chairs were surrounded by fewer and fewer attendants
+and women, and that the offerings placed at their feet were of an
+ever-lessening value. Indeed, after we had passed another five or six of them,
+their murdered retinues dwindled to a few female skeletons, doubtless those of
+favourite wives who had been singled out for this particular honour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length there were none at all, the poor monarchs, who now were crowded close
+together, being left to explore the shades alone, adorned merely with their own
+jewellery and regalia. Ultimately even these were replaced by funeral gold-foil
+ornaments, and the trays of treasure by earthenware jars which appeared to have
+contained nothing but food and wine, and added to these a few spears and other
+weapons. The last of the occupied chairs, for there were empty ones beyond,
+contained bones which, from their slenderness and the small size of the
+bracelets among them, I saw at once had belonged to a woman who had been sent
+to the grave without companions or any offerings at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doubtless,&rdquo; said Maqueda, when I pointed this out to her,
+&ldquo;at that time the ancients had grown weak and poor, since after so many
+kings they permitted a woman to rule over them and had no wealth to waste upon
+her burial. That may have been after the earthquake, when only a few people
+were left in Mur before the Abati took possession of it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where, then, are those of your own house buried?&rdquo; asked Oliver,
+staring at the empty chairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! not in this place,&rdquo; she answered; &ldquo;I have told you it
+was discovered but a few years ago. We rest in tombs outside, and for my part I
+will sleep in the simple earth, so that I may live on in grass and flowers, if
+in no other way. But enough of death and doom. Soon, who can tell how soon? we
+shall be as these are,&rdquo; and she shuddered. &ldquo;Meanwhile, we breathe,
+so let us make the best of breath. You have seen your fee, say, does it content
+you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What fee?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Death, the reward of Life? How can I
+tell until I have passed its gate?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here this philosophical discussion was interrupted by the sudden decease of
+Quick&rsquo;s lamp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thought there was something wrong with the blooming thing,&rdquo; said
+the Sergeant, &ldquo;but couldn&rsquo;t turn it up, as it hasn&rsquo;t got a
+screw, without which these old-fashioned colza oils never were no good. Hullo!
+Doctor, there goes yours,&rdquo; and as he spoke, go it did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The wicks!&rdquo; exclaimed Maqueda, &ldquo;we forgot to bring new
+wicks, and without them of what use is oil? Come, be swift; we are still far
+from the mouth of this cave, where none except the high priests will dare to
+seek us,&rdquo; and, taking Oliver by the hand, she began to run, leaving us
+two to follow as best we could.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Steady, Doctor,&rdquo; said Quick, &ldquo;steady. In the presence of
+disaster comrades should always stick together, as it says in the Red-book
+presented by the crown to warrant officers, but paid for out of their deferred
+allowance. Take my arm, Doctor. Ah! I thought so, the more haste the less
+speed. Look there,&rdquo; and he pointed to the flying shapes ahead, now a long
+way off, and with only one lamp between them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next instant Maqueda turned round holding up this remaining lamp and called to
+us. I saw the faint light gleam upon her beautiful face and glitter down the
+silver ornaments of her dress. Very wild and strange she looked in that huge
+vault, seen thus for a single moment, then seen no more, for presently where
+the flame had been was but a red spark, and then nothing at all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Stop still till we come back to you,&rdquo; cried Oliver, &ldquo;and
+shout at intervals.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, sir,&rdquo; said Quick, and instantly let off a fearful yell, which
+echoed backward and forward across the vault till I was quite bewildered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All right, coming,&rdquo; answered Oliver, and his voice sounded so far
+to the left that Quick thought it wise to yell again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To cut a long story short, we next heard him on our right and then behind us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t trust sounds here, sir, echoes are too uncertain,&rdquo;
+said the Sergeant; &ldquo;but come on, I think I&rsquo;ve placed them
+now,&rdquo; and calling to <i>them</i> not to move, we headed in what we were
+sure was the right direction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The end of that adventure was that presently I tripped up over a skeleton and
+found myself lying half stunned amidst trays of treasure, affectionately
+clasping a skull under the impression that it was Quick&rsquo;s boot.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He hauled me up again somehow, and, as we did not know what to do, we sat down
+amidst the dead and listened. By now the others were apparently so far off that
+the sound of Oliver&rsquo;s calling only reached us in faint, mysterious notes
+that came from we knew not whence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As, like idiots, we started in such a hurry that we forgot to bring any
+matches with us, there is nothing to be done, except wait,&rdquo; I said.
+&ldquo;No doubt in due course those Abati will get over their fear of ghosts
+and come to look for us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Wish I could do the same, sir. I didn&rsquo;t mind those deaders in the
+light, but the dark&rsquo;s a different matter. Can&rsquo;t you hear them
+rattling their shanks and talking all round us?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Certainly I do hear something,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but I think it
+must be the echo of our own voices.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, let us hold our jaw, sir, and perhaps they will hold theirs, for
+this kind of conversation ain&rsquo;t nice.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we were silent, but the strange murmuring still went on, coming apparently
+from the wall of the cave behind us, and it occurred to me that I had once
+heard something like it before, though at the time I could not think where.
+Afterwards I remembered that it was when, as a boy, I had been taken to see the
+Whispering Gallery in St. Paul&rsquo;s Cathedral in London.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half-an-hour or so went by in this fashion, and still there were no signs of
+the Abati or of our missing pair. Quick began to fumble among his clothes. I
+asked him what he was doing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t help thinking I&rsquo;ve got a wax match somewhere, Doctor.
+I remember feeling it in one of the pockets of this coat on the day before we
+left London, and thinking afterwards it wasn&rsquo;t safe to have had it packed
+in a box marked &lsquo;Hold.&rsquo; Now if only I could find that match, we
+have got plenty of torches, for I&rsquo;ve stuck to my bundle all through,
+although I never thought of them when the lamps were going out.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Having small belief in the Sergeant&rsquo;s match, I made no answer, and the
+search went on till presently I heard him ejaculate:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By Jingo, here it is, in the lining. Yes, and the head feels all right.
+Now, Doctor, hold two of the torches toward me; make ready, present,
+fire!&rdquo; and he struck the match and applied it to the heads of the
+resinous torches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Instantly these blazed up, giving an intense light in that awful darkness. By
+this light, for one moment only, we saw a strange, and not unattractive
+spectacle. I think I forgot to say that in the centre of this vault stood a
+kind of altar, which until that moment, indeed, I had not seen. This altar,
+which, doubtless, had been used for ceremonial purposes at the funerals of the
+ancient Kings, consisted of a plain block of basalt stone, whereon was cut the
+symbol of a human eye, the stone being approached by steps and supported upon
+carved and crouching sphinxes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the lowest of these steps, near enough to enable us to see them quite
+clearly, were seated Oliver Orme and Maqueda, Child of Kings. They were seated
+very close together; indeed, if I must tell the truth, Oliver&rsquo;s arm was
+about Maqueda&rsquo;s waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, and apparently
+he was engaged in kissing her upon the lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Right about face,&rdquo; hissed the Sergeant, in a tone of command,
+&ldquo;and mark time!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we right-abouted for a decent period, then, coughing loudly&mdash;because of
+the irritant smoke of the torches&mdash;advanced to cross the cavern, and by
+accident stumbled upon our lost companions. I confess that I had nothing to
+say, but Quick rose to the occasion nobly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Glad to see you, Captain,&rdquo; he said to Oliver. &ldquo;Was getting
+very anxious about you, sir, until by good luck I found a match in the lining
+of my coat. If the Professor had been here he&rsquo;d have had plenty, which is
+an argument in favour of continuous smoking, even when ladies are present. Ah!
+no wonder her Majesty is faint in this hot place, poor young thing. It&rsquo;s
+lucky you didn&rsquo;t leave hold of her, sir. Do you think you could manage to
+support her, sir, as we ought to be moving. Can&rsquo;t offer to do so myself,
+as I have lamed my foot with the tooth of a dead king, also my arms are full of
+torches. But if you prefer the Doctor&mdash;what do you say, sir? That you
+<i>can</i> manage? There is such an echo in this vault that it is difficult to
+hear&mdash;very well, let us go on, for these torches won&rsquo;t last for
+ever, and you wouldn&rsquo;t like us to have to spend a whole night here with
+the lady in such a delicate condition, would you, especially as those
+nasty-tempered Abati might say that you had done it on purpose? Take her
+Majesty&rsquo;s arm, Doctor, and let us trek. I&rsquo;ll go ahead with the
+torches.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To all this artless harangue Oliver answered not a single word, but glared at
+us suspiciously over the shape of Maqueda, who apparently had fainted. Only
+when I ventured to offer her some professional assistance she recovered, and
+said that she could get on quite well alone, which meant upon Orme&rsquo;s arm.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, the end of it was that she got on, and so did we, for the torches lasted
+until we reached the narrow, sloping passage, and, rounding the corner, saw the
+lantern burning in the hole in the wall, after which, of course, things were
+easy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doctor,&rdquo; said Oliver to me in a voice of studied nonchalance that
+night, as we were preparing to turn in, &ldquo;did you notice anything in the
+Vault of Kings this afternoon?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;lots! Of course, myself, I am not
+given to archæology, like poor Higgs, but the sight struck me as absolutely
+unique. If I were inclined to moralize, for instance, what a contrast between
+those dead rulers and their young and beautiful successor, full of life and
+love&rdquo;&mdash;here he looked at me sharply&mdash;&ldquo;love of her people,
+such as I have no doubt in their day&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, shut it, Adams! I don&rsquo;t want a philosophical lecture with
+historical comparisons. Did you notice anything except bones and gold when that
+unutterable ass, Quick, suddenly turned on the lights&mdash;I mean struck the
+match which unfortunately he had with him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I gave it up and faced the situation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, if you want the truth,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;not <i>very</i> much
+myself, for my sight isn&rsquo;t as good as it used to be. But the Sergeant,
+who has extraordinarily sharp eyes, thought that he saw you kissing Maqueda, a
+supposition that your relative attitudes seemed to confirm, which explains,
+moreover, some of the curious sounds we heard before he lit the torches.
+That&rsquo;s why he asked me to turn my back. But, of course, we may have been
+mistaken. Do I understand you to say that the Sergeant was mistaken?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver consigned the Sergeant&rsquo;s eyes to an ultimate fate worse than that
+which befell those of Peeping Tom; then, in a burst of candour, for subterfuge
+never was his forte, owned up:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You made no mistake,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we love each other, and it
+came out suddenly in the dark. I suppose that the unusual surroundings acted on
+our nerves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;From a moral point of view I am glad that you love each other,&rdquo; I
+remarked, &ldquo;since embraces that are merely nervous cannot be commended.
+But from every other, in our circumstances the resulting situation strikes me
+as little short of awful, although Quick, a most observant man, warned me to
+expect it from the first.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Curse Quick,&rdquo; said Oliver again, with the utmost energy.
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll give him a month&rsquo;s notice this very night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;for then you&rsquo;ll oblige him to
+take service with Barung, where he would be most dangerous. Look here, Orme, to
+drop chaff, this is a pretty mess.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why? What&rsquo;s wrong about it, Doctor?&rdquo; he asked indignantly.
+&ldquo;Of course, she&rsquo;s a Jew of some diluted sort or other, and
+I&rsquo;m a Christian; but those things adapt themselves. Of course, too,
+she&rsquo;s my superior, but after all hers is a strictly local rank, and in
+Europe we should be on much the same footing. As for her being an Eastern, what
+does that matter? Surely it is not an objection which should have weight with
+<i>you</i>. And for the rest, did you ever see her equal?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Never, never, <i>never</i>!&rdquo; I answered with enthusiasm.
+&ldquo;The young lady to whom any gentleman has just engaged himself is always
+absolutely unequalled, and, let me admit at once that this is perhaps the most
+original and charming that I have ever met in all Central Africa. Only,
+whatever may be the case with you, I don&rsquo;t know whether this fact will
+console me and Quick when our throats are being cut. Look here, Orme,&rdquo; I
+added, &ldquo;didn&rsquo;t I tell you long ago that the one thing you must
+<i>not</i> do was to make love to the Child of Kings?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Did you? Really, I forget; you told me such a lot of things,
+Doctor,&rdquo; he answered coolly enough, only unfortunately the colour that
+rose in his cheeks betrayed his lips.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment, Quick, who had entered the room unobserved, gave a dry cough,
+and remarked:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t blame the Captain, Doctor, because he don&rsquo;t remember.
+There&rsquo;s nothing like shock from an explosion for upsetting the memory.
+I&rsquo;ve seen that often in the Boer war, when, after a big shell had gone
+off somewhere near them, the very bravest soldiers would clean forget that it
+was their duty to stand still and not run like rabbits; indeed, it happened to
+me myself.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I laughed, and Oliver said something which I could not hear, but Quick went on
+imperturbably:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Still, truth is truth, and if the Captain has forgotten, the more reason
+that we should remind him. That evening at the Professor&rsquo;s house in
+London you did warn him, sir, and he answered that you needn&rsquo;t bother
+your head about the fascinations of a nigger woman&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nigger woman,&rdquo; broke out Oliver; &ldquo;I never used such words; I
+never even thought them, and you are an impertinent fellow to put them into my
+mouth. Nigger woman! Good heavens! It&rsquo;s desecration.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very sorry, Captain, now I come to think of it, I believe you said black
+woman, speaking in your haste. Yes and I begged you not to brag, seeing that if
+you did we might live to see you crawling after her, with myself, Samuel Quick
+bringing up the rear. Well, there it is we are, and the worst of it is that I
+can&rsquo;t blame you, being as anticipated in the prophecy&mdash;for
+that&rsquo;s what it was though I didn&rsquo;t know it myself at the
+time&mdash;exactly in the same state myself, though, of course, at a distance,
+bringing up the rear respectfully, as said.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t mean that you are in love with the Child of
+Kings?&rdquo; said Oliver, staring at the Sergeant&rsquo;s grim and battered
+figure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Begging your pardon, Captain, that is exactly what I do mean. If a cat
+may look at a queen, why mayn&rsquo;t a man love her? Howsoever, my kind of
+love ain&rsquo;t likely to interfere with yours. My kind means sentry-go and
+perhaps a knife in my gizzard; yours&mdash;well, we saw what yours means this
+afternoon, though what it will all lead to we didn&rsquo;t see. Still, Captain,
+speaking as one who hasn&rsquo;t been keen on the sex heretofore, I
+say&mdash;sail in, since it&rsquo;s worth it, even if you&rsquo;ve got to sink
+afterwards, for this lady, although she is half a Jew, and I never could abide
+Jews, is the sweetest and the loveliest and the best and the bravest little
+woman that ever walked God&rsquo;s earth.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this point Oliver seized his hand and shook it warmly, and I may mention
+that I think some report of Quick&rsquo;s summary of her character must have
+reached Maqueda&rsquo;s ears. At any rate, thenceforward until the end she
+always treated the old fellow with what the French call the &ldquo;most
+distinguished consideration.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, as I was not in love, no one shook my hand, so, leaving the other two to
+discuss the virtues and graces of the Child of Kings, I went off to bed filled
+with the gloomiest forbodings. What a fool I had been not to insist that
+whatever expert accompanied Higgs should be a married man. And yet, now when I
+came to think of it, that might not have bettered matters, and perhaps would
+only have added to the transaction a degree of moral turpitude which at present
+was lacking, since even married men are sometimes weak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The truth was that Maqueda&rsquo;s attractions were extraordinarily great. To
+her remarkable beauty she added a wonderful charm of manner and force of mind.
+Also her situation must touch the heart and pity of any man, so helpless was
+she in the midst of all her hollow grandeur, so lonely amongst a nation of curs
+whom she strove in vain to save, and should she escape destruction with them,
+doomed to so sad and repulsive a fate, namely to become the wife of a fat
+poltroon who was her own uncle. Well, we know to what emotion pity is akin, and
+the catastrophe had occurred a little sooner than I had expected, that was all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Doubtless to her, in comparison with the men to whom she was accustomed and
+allowed by etiquette to take as her associates, this brave and handsome young
+Englishman, who had come into her care sick and shattered after the doing of a
+great deed, must have seemed a veritable fairy prince. And she had helped to
+nurse him, and he had shown himself grateful for her kindness and
+condescension, and&mdash;the rest followed, as surely as the day follows the
+night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But how would it end? Sooner or later the secret must come out, for already the
+Abati nobles, if I may call them so for want of a better name, and especially
+Joshua, were bitterly jealous of the favour their lady showed to the foreigner,
+and watched them both. Then what&mdash;what would happen? Under the Abati law
+it was death for any one outside of the permitted degree of relationship to
+tamper with the affections of the Child of Kings. Nor was this wonderful, since
+that person held her seat in virtue of her supposed direct descent from Solomon
+and the first Maqueda, Queen of Sheba, and therefore the introduction of any
+alien blood could not be tolerated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moreover, Orme, having sworn an oath of allegiance, had become subject to those
+laws. Lastly, I could not in the least hope from the character of the pair
+concerned that this was but a passing flirtation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oh! without a doubt these two had signed their own death-warrant yonder in the
+Cave of Death, and incidentally ours also. This must be the end of our
+adventure and my long search for the son whom I had lost.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br />
+THE RESCUE FAILS</h2>
+
+<p>
+Our breakfast on the following morning was a somewhat gloomy meal. By common
+consent no allusion was made to the events of the previous day, or to our
+conversation at bedtime.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, there was no talk at all to speak of, since, not knowing what else to
+do, I thought I could best show my attitude of mind by preserving a severe
+silence, while Quick seemed to be absorbed in philosophical reflections, and
+Orme looked rather excited and dishevelled, as though he had been writing
+poetry, as I daresay was the case. In the midst of this dreary meal a messenger
+arrived, who announced that the Walda Nagasta would be pleased to see us all
+within half-an-hour.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fearing lest Orme should say something foolish, I answered briefly that we
+would wait upon her, and the man went, leaving us wondering what had happened
+to cause her to desire our presence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the appointed time we were shown into the small audience room, and, as we
+passed its door, I ventured to whisper to Oliver:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For your own sake and hers, as well as that of the rest of us, I implore
+you to be careful. Your face is watched as well as your words.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All right, old fellow,&rdquo; he answered, colouring a little.
+&ldquo;You may trust me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I wish I could,&rdquo; I muttered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we were shown in ceremoniously, and made our bows to Maqueda, who was
+seated, surrounded by some of the judges and officers, among them, Prince
+Joshua, and talking to two rough-looking men clad in ordinary brown robes. She
+greeted us, and after the exchange of the usual compliments, said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Friends, I have summoned you for this reason. This morning when the
+traitor Shadrach was being led out to execution at the hands of these men, the
+officers of the law, he begged for a delay. When asked why, as his petition for
+reprieve had been refused, he said that if his life was spared he could show
+how your companion, he whom they call Black Windows, may be rescued from the
+Fung.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How?&rdquo; asked Orme and I in one breath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;but wisely they spared the
+man. Let him be brought in.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A door opened, and Shadrach entered, his hands bound behind his back and
+shackles on his feet. He was a very fearful and much chastened Shadrach, for
+his eyes rolled and his teeth chattered with terror, as, having prostrated
+himself to the Walda Nagasta, he wriggled round and tried to kiss Orme&rsquo;s
+boot. The guards pulled him to his feet again, and Maqueda said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What have you to tell us, traitor, before you die?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The thing is secret, O Bud of the Rose. Must I speak before so
+many?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; she answered, and ordered most of those present to leave the
+room, including the executioners and soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The man is desperate, and there will be none left to guard him,&rdquo;
+said Joshua nervously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do that, your Highness,&rdquo; answered Quick in his bad
+Arabic, and stepping up behind Shadrach he added in English, &ldquo;Now then,
+Pussy, you behave, or it will be the worse for you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When all had gone again Shadrach was commanded to speak and say how he could
+save the Englishman whom he had betrayed into the hands of the Fung.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thus, Child of Kings,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;Black Windows, as we
+know, is imprisoned in the body of the great idol.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How do you know it, man?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Lady, I do know it, and also the Sultan said so, did he not? Well, I
+can show a secret road to that idol whence he may be reached and rescued. In my
+boyhood I, who am called Cat, because I can climb so well, found that road, and
+when the Fung took me afterward and threw me to the lions, where I got these
+scars upon my face, by it I escaped. Spare me, and I will show it to you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is not enough to show the road,&rdquo; said Maqueda. &ldquo;Dog, you
+must save the foreign lord whom you betrayed. If you do not save him you die.
+Do you understand?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is a hard saying, Lady,&rdquo; answered the man. &ldquo;Am I God
+that I should promise to save this stranger who perchance is already dead? Yet
+I will do my best, knowing that if I fail you will kill me, and that if I
+succeed I shall be spared. At any rate, I will show you the road to where he is
+or was imprisoned, although I warn you that it is a rough one.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where you can travel we can follow,&rdquo; said Maqueda. &ldquo;Tell us
+now what we must do.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So he told her, and when he had done the Prince Joshua intervened, saying that
+it was not fitting that the Child of Kings in her own sacred person should
+undertake such a dangerous journey. She listened to his remonstrances and
+thanked him for his care of her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Still I am going,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;not for the sake of the
+stranger who is called Black Windows, but because, if there is a secret way out
+of Mur I think it well that I should know that way. Yet I agree with you, my
+uncle, that on such a journey I ought not to be unprotected, and therefore I
+pray that you will be ready to start with us at noon, since I am sure that then
+we shall all be safe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Joshua began to make excuses, but she would not listen to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you are too honest. The honour of the
+Abati is involved in this manner, since, alas! it was an Abati that betrayed
+Black Windows, and an Abati&mdash;namely, yourself&mdash;must save him. You
+have often told me, my uncle, how clever you are at climbing rocks, and now you
+shall make proof of your skill and courage before these foreigners. It is a
+command, speak no more,&rdquo; and she rose, to show that the audience was
+finished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That same afternoon Shadrach, by mountain paths that were known to him, led a
+little company of people to the crest of the western precipice of Mur. Fifteen
+hundred feet or more beneath us lay the great plains upon which, some miles
+away, could be seen the city of Harmac. But the idol in the valley we could not
+see, because here the precipice bent over and hid it from our sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What now, fellow,&rdquo; said Maqueda, who was clad in the rough
+sheepskin of a peasant woman, which somehow looked charming upon her.
+&ldquo;Here is the cliff, there lies the plain; I see no road between the two,
+and my wise uncle, the prince, tells me that he never heard of one.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; answered the man, &ldquo;now I take command, and you must
+follow me. But first let us see that nobody and nothing are lacking.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he went round the company and numbered them. In all we were sixteen;
+Maqueda and Joshua, we three Englishmen, armed with repeating rifles and
+revolvers, our guide Shadrach, and some picked Mountaineers chosen for their
+skill and courage. For even in Mur there were brave men left, especially among
+the shepherds and huntsmen, whose homes were on the cliffs. These sturdy guides
+were laden with ropes, lamps, and long, slender ladders that could be strapped
+together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When everything had been checked and all the ladders and straps tested,
+Shadrach went to a clump of bushes which grew feebly on the wind-swept crest of
+the precipice. In the midst of these he found and removed a large flat stone,
+revealing what evidently had been the head of a stair, although now its steps
+were much worn and crumbled by the water that in the wet season followed this
+natural drain to the depths below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This is that road the ancients made for purposes of their own,&rdquo;
+explained Shadrach, &ldquo;which, as I have said, I chanced to discover when I
+was a boy. But let none follow it who are afraid, for it is steep and
+rough.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Joshua, who was already weary with his long ride and walk up to the crest
+of the precipice, implored Maqueda almost passionately to abandon the idea of
+entering this horrid hole, while Oliver backed up his entreaties with few words
+but many appealing glances, for on this point, though for different reasons,
+the prince and he were at one.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But she would not listen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My uncle,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;with you, the experienced mountaineer,
+why should I be afraid? If the Doctor here, who is old enough to be the father
+of either of us&rdquo; (so far as Joshua was concerned this remark lacked
+truth), &ldquo;is willing to go, surely I can go also? Moreover, if I remained
+behind, you would wish to stay to guard me, and never should I forgive myself
+if I deprived you of such a great adventure. Also, like you, I love climbing.
+Come, let us waste no more time.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we were roped up. First went Shadrach, with Quick next to him, a position
+which the Sergeant insisted upon occupying as his custodian, and several of the
+Mountaineers, carrying ladders, lamps, oil, food and other things. Then in a
+second gang came two more of these men, Oliver, Maqueda, myself, and next to
+me, Joshua. The remaining mountaineers brought up the rear, carrying spare
+stores, ladders, and so forth. When all was ready the lamps were lit, and we
+started upon a very strange journey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For the first two hundred feet or so the stairs, though worn and almost
+perpendicular, for the place was like the shaft of a mine, were not difficult
+to descend, to any of us except Joshua, whom I heard puffing and groaning
+behind me. Then came a gallery running eastward at a steep slope for perhaps
+fifty paces, and at the end of it a second shaft of about the same depth as the
+first, but with the stairs much more worn, apparently by the washing of water,
+of which a good deal trickled out of the sides of the shaft. Another difficulty
+was that the air rushing up from below made it hard to keep the lamps alight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Toward the bottom of this section there was scarcely any stair left, and the
+climbing became very dangerous. Here, indeed, Joshua slipped, and with a wail
+of terror slid down the shaft and landed with his legs across my back in such a
+fashion that had I not happened to have good hand and foot hold at the time, he
+would have propelled me on to Maqueda, and we must have all rolled down
+headlong, probably to our deaths.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As it was, this fat and terrified fellow cast his arms about my neck, to which
+he clung, nearly choking me, until, just when I was about to faint beneath his
+weight and pressure, the Mountaineers in the third party arrived and dragged
+him off. When they had got him in charge, for I refused to move another step
+while he was immediately behind me, we descended by a ladder which the first
+party had set up, to the second level, where began another long, eastward
+sloping passage that ended at the mouth of a third pit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here arose the great question as to what was to be done with the Prince Joshua,
+who vowed that he could go no farther, and demanded loudly to be taken back to
+the top of the cliff, although Shadrach assured him that thenceforward the road
+was much easier. At length we were obliged to refer the matter to Maqueda, who
+settled it in very few words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My uncle,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you tell us that you cannot come on,
+and it is certain that we cannot spare the time and men to send you back.
+Therefore, it seems that you must stop where you are until we return, and if we
+should not return, make the best of your own way up the shaft. Farewell, my
+uncle, this place is safe and comfortable, and if you are wise you will rest
+awhile.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Heartless woman!&rdquo; gobbled Joshua, who was shaking like a jelly
+with fear and rage. &ldquo;Would you leave your affianced lord and lover alone
+in this haunted hole while you scramble down rocks like a wild cat with
+strangers? If I must stay, do you stay with me?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Certainly not,&rdquo; replied Maqueda with decision. &ldquo;Shall it be
+said that the Child of Kings is afraid to go where her guests can travel?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, the end of it was that Joshua came on in the centre of the third body of
+Mountaineers, who were practically obliged to carry him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shadrach was right, since for some reason or other the stairs thenceforward
+remained more perfect. Only they seemed almost endless, and before we reached
+our goal I calculated that we must have descended quite twelve hundred feet
+into the bowels of the rock. At length, when I was almost tired out and Maqueda
+was so breathless that she was obliged to lean on Oliver, dragging me behind
+her like a dog on a string, of a sudden we saw a glimmer of daylight that crept
+into the tunnel through a small hole. By the mouth of yet another pit or shaft,
+we found Shadrach and the others waiting for us. Saluting, he said that we must
+unrope, leave our lamps behind, and follow him. Oliver asked him whither this
+last shaft led.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To a still lower level, lord,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but one which
+you will scarcely care to explore, since it ends in the great pit where the
+Fung keep their sacred lions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Oliver, much interested for reasons of his own, and
+he glanced at Quick, who nodded his head and whistled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we all followed Shadrach to find ourselves presently upon a plateau about
+the size of a racquet court which, either by nature or by the hand of man, had
+been recessed into the face of that gigantic cliff. Going to the edge of this
+plateau, whereon grew many tree-ferns and some thick green bushes that would
+have made us invisible from below even had there been any one to see us, we saw
+that the sheer precipice ran down beneath for several hundred feet. Of these
+yawning depths, however, we did not at the moment make out much, partly because
+they were plunged in shadow and partly for another reason.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Rising out of the gulf below was what we took at first to be a rounded hill of
+black rock, oblong in shape, from which projected a gigantic shaft of stone
+ending in a kind of fretted bush that alone was of the size of a cottage. The
+point of this bush-like rock was exactly opposite the little plateau on to
+which we had emerged and distant from it not more than thirty, or at most,
+forty feet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is that?&rdquo; asked Maqueda, of Shadrach, pointing in front of
+her, as she handed back to one of the Mountaineers a cup from which she had
+been drinking water.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That, O Walda Nagasta,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;is nothing else than
+the back of the mighty idol of the Fung, which is shaped like a lion. The great
+shaft of rock with the bush at the end of it is the tail of the lion. Doubtless
+this platform on which we stand is a place whence the old priests, when they
+owned Mur as well as the land of the Fung, used to hide themselves to watch
+whatever it was they wanted to see. Look,&rdquo; and he pointed to certain
+grooves in the face of the rock, &ldquo;I think that here there was once a
+bridge which could be let down at will on to the tail of the lion-god, though
+long ago it has rotted away. Yet ere now I have travelled this road without
+it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We stared at him astonished, and in the silence that followed I heard Maqueda
+whisper to Oliver:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps that is how he whom we call Cat escaped from the Fung; or
+perhaps that is how he communicates with them as a spy.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Or perhaps he is a liar, my Lady,&rdquo; interrupted Quick, who had also
+overheard their talk, a solution which, I confess, commended itself to me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why have you brought us here?&rdquo; asked Maqueda presently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Did I not tell you in Mur, Lady&mdash;to rescue Black Windows? Listen,
+now, it is the custom of the Fung to allow those who are imprisoned within the
+idol to walk unguarded upon its back at dawn and sunset. At least, this is
+their custom with Black Windows&mdash;ask me not how I know it; this is truth,
+I swear it on my life, which is at stake. Now this is my plan. We have with us
+a ladder which will reach from where we stand to the tail of the idol. Should
+the foreign lord appear upon the back of the god, which, if he still lives, as
+I believe he does, he is almost sure to do at sundown, as a man who dwells in
+the dark all day will love the light and air when he can get them, then some of
+us must cross and bring him back with us. Perhaps it had best be you, my lord
+Orme, since if I went alone, or even with these men, after what is past Black
+Windows might not altogether trust me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fool,&rdquo; broke in Maqueda, &ldquo;how can a man do such a
+thing?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Lady, it is not so difficult as it looks. A few steps across the gulf,
+and then a hundred feet or so along the tail of the lion which is flat on the
+top and so broad that one may run down it if careful to follow the curves, that
+is on a still day&mdash;nothing more. But, of course, if the Lord Orme is
+afraid, which I did not think who have heard so much of his
+courage&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo; and the rogue shrugged his shoulders and paused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Afraid, fellow,&rdquo; said Oliver, &ldquo;well, I am not ashamed to be
+afraid of such a journey. Yet if there is need I will make it, though not
+before I see my brother alone yonder on the rock, since all this may be but a
+trick of yours to deliver me to the Fung, among whom I know that you have
+friends.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is madness; you shall not go,&rdquo; said Maqueda. &ldquo;You will
+fall and be dashed to pieces. I say that you shall not go.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why should he not go, my niece?&rdquo; interrupted Joshua.
+&ldquo;Shadrach is right; we have heard much of the courage of this Gentile.
+Now let us see him do something.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She turned on the Prince like a tiger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very good, my uncle, then you shall go with him. Surely one of the
+ancient blood of the Abati will not shirk from what a &lsquo;Gentile&rsquo;
+dares.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On hearing this Joshua relapsed into silence, and I have no clear memory of
+what he did or said in connection with the rest of that thrilling scene.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now followed a pause in the midst of which Oliver sat down and began to take
+off his boots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why do you undress yourself, friend?&rdquo; asked Maqueda nervously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because, Lady,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;if I have to walk yonder road
+it is safer to do so in my stockings. Have no fear,&rdquo; he added gently,
+&ldquo;from boyhood I have been accustomed to such feats, and when I served in
+my country&rsquo;s army it was my pleasure to give instruction in them,
+although it is true that this one surpasses all that ever I attempted.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Still I do fear,&rdquo; she said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Quick had sat down and begun to take off <i>his</i> boots.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What are you doing, Sergeant?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Getting ready to accompany the Captain upon forlorn hope, Doctor.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nonsense,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;you are too old for the game, Sergeant.
+If any one goes, I should, seeing that I believe my son is over there, but I
+can&rsquo;t try it, as I know my head would give out, and I should fall in a
+second, which would only upset everybody.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; broke in Oliver, who had overheard us,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;m in command here, and my orders are that neither of you shall
+come. Remember, Sergeant, that if anything happens to me it is your business to
+take over the stores and use them if necessary, which you alone can do. Now go
+and see to the preparations, and find out the plan of campaign, for I want to
+rest and keep quiet. I daresay the whole thing is humbug, and we shall see
+nothing of the Professor; still, one may as well be prepared.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Quick and I went to superintend the lashing of two of the light ladders
+together and the securing of some planks which we had brought with us upon the
+top of the rungs, so as to make these ladders easy to walk on. I asked who
+would be of the party besides Shadrach and Orme, and was told no one, as all
+were afraid. Ultimately, however, a man named Japhet, one of the Mountaineers,
+volunteered upon being promised a grant of land from the Child of Kings
+herself, which grant she proclaimed before them all was to be given to his
+relatives in the event of his death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length everything was ready, and there came another spell of silence, for
+the nerves of all of us were so strained that we did not seem able to talk. It
+was broken by a sound of sudden and terrible roaring that arose from the gulf
+beneath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is the hour of the feeding of the sacred lions which the Fung keep in
+the pit about the base of the idol,&rdquo; explained Shadrach. Then he added,
+&ldquo;Unless he should be rescued, I believe that Black Windows will be given
+to the lions to-night, which is that of full moon and a festival of Harmac,
+though maybe he will be kept till the next full moon when all the Fung come up
+to worship.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This information did not tend to raise anyone&rsquo;s spirits, although Quick,
+who always tried to be cheerful, remarked that it was probably false.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The shadows began to gather in the Valley of Harmac, whereby we knew that the
+sun was setting behind the mountains. Indeed, had it not been for a clear and
+curious glow reflected from the eastern sky, the gulf would have plunged us in
+gloom. Presently, far away upon a rise of rock which we knew must be the sphinx
+head of the huge idol, a little figure appeared outlined against the sky, and
+there began to sing. The moment that I heard the distant voice I went near to
+fainting, and indeed should have fallen had not Quick caught me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is it, Adams?&rdquo; asked Oliver, looking up from where he and
+Maqueda sat whispering to each other while the fat Joshua glowered at them in
+the background. &ldquo;Has Higgs appeared?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but, thank God, my son still lives. That
+is his voice. Oh! if you can, save him, too.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now there was much suppressed excitement, and some one thrust a pair of
+field-glasses into my hand, but either they were wrongly set or the state of my
+nerves would not allow me to see through them. So Quick took them and reported.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Tall, slim figure wearing a white robe, but at the distance in this
+light can&rsquo;t make out the face. One might hail him, perhaps, only it would
+give us away. Ah! the hymn is done and he&rsquo;s gone; seemed to jump into a
+hole in the rock, which shows that he&rsquo;s all right, anyway, or he
+couldn&rsquo;t jump. So cheer up, Doctor, for you have much to be thankful
+for.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I repeated after him, &ldquo;much to be thankful for, but
+still I would that I had more after all these years to search. To think that I
+should be so close to him and he know nothing of it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the ceasing of the song and the departure of my son, there appeared upon
+the back of the idol three Fung warriors, fine fellows clad in long robes and
+armed with spears, and behind them a trumpeter who carried a horn or hollowed
+elephant&rsquo;s tusk. These men marched up and down the length of the platform
+from the rise of the neck to the root of the tail, apparently to make an
+inspection. Having found nothing, for, of course, they could not see us hidden
+behind the bushes on our little plateau, of which no doubt they did not even
+know the existence, and much less that it was connected with the mountain plain
+of Mur, the trumpeter blew a shrill blast upon his horn, and before the echoes
+of it had died away, vanished with his companions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sunset tour of inspection. Seen the same kind of thing as at
+Gib.,&rdquo; said the Sergeant. &ldquo;Oh! by Jingo! Pussy isn&rsquo;t lying
+after all&mdash;there he is,&rdquo; and he pointed to a figure that rose
+suddenly out of the black stone of the idol&rsquo;s back just as the guards had
+done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Higgs, Higgs without a doubt; Higgs wearing his battered sun-helmet and
+his dark spectacles; Higgs smoking his big meerschaum pipe, and engaged in
+making notes in a pocket-book as calmly as though he sat before a new object in
+the British Museum.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I gasped with astonishment, for somehow I had never expected that we should
+really see him, but Orme, rising very quietly from his seat beside Maqueda,
+only said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, that&rsquo;s the old fellow right enough. Well, now for it. You,
+Shadrach, run out your ladder and cross first that I may be sure you play no
+trick.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; broke in Maqueda, &ldquo;this dog shall not go, for never
+would he return from his friends the Fung. Man,&rdquo; she said, addressing
+Japhet, the Mountaineer to whom she had promised land, &ldquo;go you over first
+and hold the end of the ladder while this lord crosses. If he returns safe your
+reward is doubled.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Japhet saluted, the ladder was run out and its end set upon the roughnesses in
+the rock that represented the hair of the sphinx&rsquo;s tail. The Mountaineer
+paused a moment with hands and face uplifted; evidently he was praying. Then
+bidding his companions hold the hither end of the ladder, and having first
+tested it with his foot and found that it hung firm, calmly he walked across,
+being a brave fellow, and presently was seen seated on the opposing mass of
+rock.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now came Oliver&rsquo;s turn. He nodded to Maqueda, who went white as a sheet,
+muttering some words to her that did not reach me. Then he turned and shook my
+hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If you can, save my son also,&rdquo; I whispered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do my best if I can get hold of him,&rdquo; he answered.
+&ldquo;Sergeant, if anything happens to me you know your duty.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll try and follow your example, Captain, under all
+circumstances, though that will be hard,&rdquo; replied Quick in a rather shaky
+voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver stepped out on the ladder. I reckoned that twelve or fourteen short
+paces would take him across, and the first half of these he accomplished with
+quiet certainty. When he was in the exact middle of the passage, however, the
+end of one of the uprights of the ladder at the farther side slipped a little,
+notwithstanding the efforts of Japhet to keep it straight, with the result that
+the plank bound on the rungs lost its level, sinking an inch or so to the
+right, and nearly causing Oliver to fall from it into the gulf. He wavered like
+a wind-shaken reed, attempted to step forward, hesitated, stopped, and slowly
+sank on to his hands and knees.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;<i>Ah</i>!&rdquo; panted Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Gentile has lost his head,&rdquo; began Joshua in a voice full of
+the triumph that he could not hide. &ldquo;He&mdash;will&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Joshua got no further, for Quick, turning, threatened him savagely with his
+fist, saying in English:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Stow your jaw if you don&rsquo;t want to follow him, you swine,&rdquo;
+whereon Joshua, who understood the gesture, if not the words, relapsed into
+silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the Mountaineer on the farther side spoke, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Have no fear, the ladder is safe.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a moment Oliver remained in his crouching posture on the board, which was
+all that separated him from an awful death in the gulf beneath. Next, while we
+watched, agonized, he rose to his feet again, and with perfect calmness walked
+across to its other end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well done our side!&rdquo; said Quick, addressing Joshua, &ldquo;why
+don&rsquo;t your Royal Highness cheer? No, you leave that knife alone, or
+presently there&rsquo;ll be a hog the less in this world,&rdquo; and stooping
+down he relieved the Prince of the weapon which he was fingering with his round
+eyes fixed upon the Sergeant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda, who had noted all, now interfered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My uncle,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;brave men are risking their lives
+yonder while we sit in safety. Be silent and cease from quarrelling, I pray
+you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next moment we had forgotten all about Joshua, being utterly absorbed in
+watching the drama in progress upon the farther side of the gulf. After a
+slight pause to recover his nerve or breath, Orme rose, and preceded by Japhet,
+climbed up the bush-like rock till he reached the shaft of the sphinx&rsquo;s
+tail. Here he turned and waved his hand to us, then following the Mountaineer,
+walked, apparently with the utmost confidence, along the curves of the tail to
+where it sprang from the body of the idol. At this spot there was a little
+difficulty in climbing over the smooth slope of rock on to the broad
+terrace-like back. Soon, however, they surmounted it, and vanishing for a few
+seconds into the hollow of the loins, which, of course, was a good many feet
+deep, re-appeared moving toward the shoulders. Between these we could see Higgs
+standing with his back toward us, utterly unconscious of all that was passing
+behind him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Passing Japhet, Oliver walked up to the Professor and touched him on the arm.
+Higgs turned, stared at the pair for a moment, and then, in his astonishment,
+or so we guessed, sat down plump upon the rock. They pulled him to his feet,
+Orme pointing to the cliff behind, and evidently explaining the situation and
+what must be done. Then followed a short and animated talk. Through the glasses
+we could even see Higgs shaking his head. He told them something, they came to
+a determination, for now he turned, stepped forward a pace or two, and
+vanished, as I learnt afterwards, to fetch my son, without whom he would not
+try to escape.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A while went by; it seemed an age, but really was under a minute. We heard the
+sound of shouts. Higgs&rsquo;s white helmet reappeared, and then his body, with
+two Fung guards clinging on to him. He yelled out in English and the words
+reached us faintly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Save yourself! I&rsquo;ll hold these devils. Run, you infernal fool,
+run!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver hesitated, although the Mountaineer was pulling at him, till the heads
+of more Fung appeared. Then, with a gesture of despair, he turned and fled.
+First ran Oliver, then Japhet, whom he had outpaced, and after them came a
+number of priests or guards, waving knives, while in the background Higgs
+rolled on the rock with his captors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rest was very short. Orme slid down the rump of the idol on to the tail,
+followed by the Mountaineer, and after them in single file came three Fung, who
+apparently thought no more of the perilous nature of their foothold than do the
+sheiks of the Egyptian pyramids when they swarm about those monuments like
+lizards. Nor, for the matter of that, did Oliver or Japhet, who doubled down
+the tail as though it were a race track. Oliver swung himself on to the ladder,
+and in a second was half across it, we holding its other end, when suddenly he
+heard his companion cry out. A Fung had got hold of Japhet by the leg and he
+lay face downward on the board.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver halted and slowly turned round, drawing his revolver as he did so. Then
+he aimed and fired, and the Fung, leaving go of Japhet&rsquo;s leg, threw up
+his arms and plunged headlong into the gulf beneath. The next thing I remember
+is that they were both among us, and somebody shouted, &ldquo;Pull in the
+ladder.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Quick, &ldquo;wait a bit.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Vaguely I wondered why, till I perceived that three of those courageous Fung
+were following across it, resting their hands upon each other&rsquo;s
+shoulders, while their companions cheered them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, pull, brothers, pull!&rdquo; shouted the Sergeant, and pull we did.
+Poor Fung! they deserved a better fate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Always inflict loss upon the enemy when you get a chance,&rdquo;
+remarked the Sergeant, as he opened fire with his repeating rifle upon other
+Fung who by now were clustering upon the back of the idol. This position,
+however, they soon abandoned as untenable, except one or two of them who
+remained there, dead or wounded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A silence followed, in the midst of which I heard Quick saying to Joshua in his
+very worst Arabic:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now does your Royal Highness think that we Gentiles are cowards,
+although it is true those Fung are as good men as we any day?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Joshua declined argument, and I turned to watch Oliver, who had covered his
+face with his hands, and seemed to be weeping.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is it, O friend, what is it?&rdquo; I heard Maqueda say in her
+gentle voice&mdash;a voice full of tears, tears of gratitude I think.
+&ldquo;You have done a great deed; you have returned safe; all is well.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; he answered, forgetting her titles in his distress,
+&ldquo;all is ill. I have failed, and to-night they throw my brother to the
+lions. He told me so.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda, finding no answer, stretched out her hand to the Mountaineer, his
+companion in adventure, who kissed it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Japhet,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I am proud of you; your reward is
+fourfold, and henceforth you are a captain of my Mountaineers.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Tell us what happened,&rdquo; I said to Oliver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This,&rdquo; he answered: &ldquo;I remembered about your son, and so did
+Higgs. In fact, he spoke of him first&mdash;they seem to have become friends.
+He said he would not escape without him, and could fetch him in a moment, as he
+was only just below. Well, he went to do so, and must have found the guard
+instead, who, I suppose, had heard us talking. You know as much about the rest
+as I do. To-night, when the full moon is two hours high, there is to be a
+ceremony of sacrifice, and poor Higgs will be let down into the den of lions.
+He was writing his will in a note-book when we saw him, as Barung had promised
+to send it to us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doctor,&rdquo; said the Sergeant, in a confidential voice, when he had
+digested this information, &ldquo;would you translate for me a bit, as I want
+to have a talk with Cat there, and my Arabic don&rsquo;t run to it?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I nodded, and we went to that corner of the plateau where Shadrach stood apart,
+watching and listening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Now, Cat,&rdquo; said the Sergeant (I give his remarks in his own
+language, leaving out my rendering) &ldquo;just listen to me, and understand
+that if you tell lies or play games either you or I don&rsquo;t reach the top
+of this cliff again alive. Do you catch on?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shadrach replied that he caught on.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very well. You&rsquo;ve told us that once you were a prisoner among the
+Fung and thrown to these holy lions, but got out. Now just explain what
+happened.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This, O Quick. After ceremonies that do not matter, I was let down in
+the food-basket into the feeding-den, and thrown out of the basket like any
+other meat. Then the gates were lifted up by the chains, and the lions came in
+to devour me according to their custom.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what happened next, Shadrach?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What happened? Why, of course I hid myself in the shadow as much as
+possible, right against the walls of the precipice, until a satan of a she-lion
+snuffled me out and gave a stroke at me. Look, here are the marks of her
+claws,&rdquo; and he pointed to the scars upon his face. &ldquo;Those claws
+stung like scorpions; they made me mad. The terror which I had lost when I saw
+their yellow eyes came back to me. I rushed at the precipice as a cat that is
+hunted by a dog rushes at a wall. I clung to its smooth side with my nails,
+with my toes, with my teeth. A lion leaped up and tore the flesh of my leg,
+here, here,&rdquo; and he showed the marks, which we could scarcely see in that
+dim light. &ldquo;He ran back for another spring. Above me I saw a tiny ledge,
+big enough for a hawk to sit on&mdash;no more. I jumped, I caught it, drawing
+up my legs so that the lion missed me. I made the effort a man makes once in
+his life. Somehow I dragged myself to that ledge; I rested one thigh upon it
+and pressed against the rock to steady myself. Then the rock gave, and I
+tumbled backward into the bottom of a tunnel. Afterwards I escaped to the top
+of the cliff in the dark, O God of Israel! in the dark, smelling my way,
+climbing like a baboon, risking death a thousand times. It took me two whole
+days and nights, and the last of those nights I knew not what I did. Yet I
+found my way, and that is why my people name me Cat.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; said Quick in a new and more respectful voice,
+&ldquo;and however big a rascal you may be, you&rsquo;ve got pluck. Now, say,
+remembering what I told you,&rdquo; and he tapped the handle of his revolver,
+&ldquo;is that feeding-den where it used to be?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I believe so, O Quick; why should it be changed? The victims are let
+down from the belly of the god, just there between his thighs where are doors.
+The feeding-place lies in a hollow of the cliff; this platform on which we
+stand is over it. None saw my escape, therefore none searched for the means of
+it, since they thought that the lions had devoured me, as they have devoured
+thousands. No one enters there, only when the beasts have fed full they draw
+back to their sleeping-dens, and those who watch above let down the bars.
+Listen,&rdquo; and as he spoke we heard a crash and a rattle far below.
+&ldquo;They fall now, the lions having eaten. When Black Windows and perhaps
+others are thrown to them, by and by, they will be drawn up again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is that hole in the rock still there, Shadrach?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Without doubt, though I have not been down to look.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, my boy, you are going now,&rdquo; remarked Quick grimly.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br />
+THE DEN OF LIONS</h2>
+
+<p>
+We returned to the others and told them everything that we had learned from
+Shadrach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s your plan, Sergeant?&rdquo; asked Oliver when he had heard.
+&ldquo;Tell me, for I have none; my head is muddled.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This, Captain, for what it is worth; that I should go down through the
+hole that Cat here speaks of, and get into the den. Then when they let down the
+Professor, if they do, and pull up the gates, that I should keep back the lions
+with my rifle while he bolts to the ladder which is ready for him, and I follow
+if I can.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Capital,&rdquo; said Orme, &ldquo;but you can&rsquo;t go alone.
+I&rsquo;ll come too.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And I also,&rdquo; I said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What schemes do you make?&rdquo; asked Maqueda eagerly, for, of course,
+she could not understand our talk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We explained.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What, my friend,&rdquo; she said to Oliver reproachfully, &ldquo;would
+you risk your life again to-night? Surely it is tempting the goodness of
+God.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It would be tempting the goodness of God much more if I left my friend
+to be eaten by lions, Lady,&rdquo; he answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed much discussion. In the end it was agreed that we should descend
+to the level of the den, if this were possible; that Oliver and Quick should go
+down into the den with Japhet, who instantly volunteered to accompany them, and
+that I, with some of the Mountaineers, should stop in the mouth of the hole as
+a reserve to cover their retreat from the lions. I pleaded to be allowed to
+take a more active part, but of this they would not hear, saying with some
+truth, that I was by far the best shot of the three, and could do much more to
+help them from above, if, as was hoped, the moon should shine brightly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I knew they really meant that I was too old to be of service in such an
+adventure as this. Also they desired to keep me out of risk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then came the question as to who should descend the last tunnel to the place of
+operations. Oliver wished Maqueda to return to the top of the cliff and wait
+there, but she said at once that she could not think of attempting the ascent
+without our aid; also that she was determined to see the end of the matter.
+Even Joshua would not go; I think, that being an unpopular character among
+them, he distrusted the Mountaineers, whose duty it would have been to escort
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was suggested that he should remain where he was until we returned, if we
+did return, but this idea commended itself to him still less than the other.
+Indeed he pointed out with much truth what we had overlooked, namely, that now
+the Fung knew of the passage and were quite capable of playing our own game,
+that is, of throwing a bridge across from the sphinx&rsquo;s tail and
+attempting the storm of Mur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And then what should I do if they found me here alone?&rdquo; he added
+pathetically.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda answered that she was sure she did not know, but that meanwhile it
+might be wise to block the mouth of the tunnel by which we had reached the
+plateau in such a fashion that it could not easily be forced.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Oliver, &ldquo;and if we ever get out of this, to
+blow the shaft in and make sure that it cannot be used.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That shaft might be useful, Captain,&rdquo; said Quick doubtfully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There is a better way, Sergeant, if we want to mine under the sphinx; I
+mean through the Tomb of Kings. I took the levels roughly, and the end of it
+can&rsquo;t be far off. Anyhow, this shaft is of no more use to us now that the
+Fung have found it out.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we set to work to fill in the mouth of the passage with such loose stones
+as we could find. It was a difficult business, but in the end the Mountaineers
+made a very fair job of it under our direction, piling the rocks in such a
+fashion that they could scarcely be cleared away in any short time without the
+aid of explosives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While this work was going on, Japhet, Shadrach, and the Sergeant in charge of
+him, undertook to explore the last shaft which led down to the level of the
+den. To our relief, just as we had finished building up the hole, they returned
+with the news that now after they had removed a fallen stone or two it was
+quite practicable with the aid of ropes and ladders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, in the same order as before, we commenced its passage, and in about
+half-an-hour, for it was under three hundred feet in depth, arrived safely at
+the foot. Here we found a bat-haunted place like a room that evidently had been
+hollowed out by man. As Shadrach had said, at its eastern extremity was a
+large, oblong boulder, so balanced that if even one person pushed on either of
+its ends it swung around, leaving on each side a passage large enough to allow
+a man to walk through in a crouching attitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Very silently we propped open this primæval door and looked out. Now the full
+moon was up, and her brilliant light had begun to flood the gulf. By it we saw
+a dense shadow, that reached from the ground to three hundred feet or so above
+us. This we knew to be that thrown by the flanks of the gigantic sphinx which
+projected beyond the mountain of stone whereon it rested, those flanks whence,
+according to Shadrach, Higgs would be lowered in a food-basket. In this shadow
+and on either side of it, covering a space of quite a hundred yards square, lay
+the feeding-den, whence arose a sickly and horrible odour such as is common to
+any place frequented by cats, mingled with the more pungent smell of decaying
+flesh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This darksome den was surrounded on three sides by precipices, and on the
+fourth, that toward the east, enclosed by a wall or barrier of rock pierced
+with several gates made of bars of metal, or so we judged by the light that
+flowed through them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From beyond this eastern wall came dreadful sounds of roars, snarls, and
+whimperings. Evidently there the sacred lions had their home.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Only one more thing need be mentioned. On the rock floor almost immediately
+beneath us lay remains which, from their torn clothes and hair, we knew must be
+human. As somebody explained, I think it was Shadrach, they were those of the
+man whom Orme had shot upon the tail of the sphinx, and of his companions who
+had been tilted off the ladder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For awhile we gazed at this horrible hole in silence. Then Oliver took out his
+watch, which was a repeater, and struck it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Higgs told me,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that he was to be thrown to the
+lions two hours after moonrise, which is within fifteen minutes or so.
+Sergeant, I think we had better be getting ready.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Captain,&rdquo; answered Quick; &ldquo;but everything is quite
+ready, including those brutes, to judge by the noise they make, excepting
+perhaps Samuel Quick, who never felt less ready for anything in his life. Now
+then, Pussy, run out that ladder. Here&rsquo;s your rifle, Captain, and six
+reload clips of cartridges, five hollow-nosed bullets in each. You&rsquo;ll
+never want more than that, and it&rsquo;s no use carrying extra weight. In your
+right-hand pocket, Captain, don&rsquo;t forget. I&rsquo;ve the same in mine.
+Doctor, here&rsquo;s a pile for you; laid upon that stone. If you lie there,
+you&rsquo;ll have a good light and rest for your elbow, and at this range ought
+to make very pretty shooting, even in the moonlight. Best keep your pistol on
+the safe, Captain; at least, I&rsquo;m doing so, as we might get a fall, and
+these new-fangled weapons are very hair-triggered. Here&rsquo;s Japhet ready,
+too, so give us your marching orders, sir, and we will go to business; the
+Doctor will translate to Japhet.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We descend the ladder,&rdquo; said Orme, &ldquo;and advance about fifty
+paces into the shadow, where we can see without being seen; where also,
+according to Shadrach, the food-basket is let down. There we shall stand and
+await the arrival of this basket. If it contains the Professor, he whom the
+Fung and the Abati know as Black Windows, Japhet, you are to seize him and
+lead, or if necessary carry, him to the ladder, up which some of the
+mountaineers must be ready to help him. Your duty, Sergeant, and mine, also
+that of the Doctor firing from above, will be to keep off the lions as best we
+can, should any lions appear, retreating as we fire. If the brutes get one of
+us he must be left, since it is foolish that both lives should be sacrificed
+needlessly. For the rest, you, Sergeant, and you, Japhet, must be guided by
+circumstances and act upon your own discretion. Do not wait for special orders
+from me which I may not be able to give. Now, come on. If we do not return,
+Adams, you will see the Child of Kings safely up the shafts and conduct her to
+Mur. Good-bye, Lady.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good-bye,&rdquo; answered Maqueda in a brave voice; I could not see her
+face in the darkness. &ldquo;Presently, I am sure, you will return with your
+brother.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just then Joshua broke in:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I will not be outdone in courage by these Gentiles,&rdquo; he said.
+&ldquo;Lacking their terrible weapons, I cannot advance into the den, but I
+will descend and guard the foot of the ladder.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very well, sir,&rdquo; answered Orme in an astonished voice, &ldquo;glad
+to have your company, I am sure. Only remember that you must be quick in going
+up it again, since hungry lions are active, and let all take notice that we are
+not responsible for anything that may happen to you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Surely you had better stop where you are, my uncle,&rdquo; remarked
+Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To be mocked by you for ever after, my niece. No, I go to face the
+lions,&rdquo; and very slowly he crept through the hole and began to descend
+the ladder. Indeed, when Quick followed after an interval he found him only
+half-way down, and had to hurry his movements by accidentally treading on his
+fingers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A minute or two later, peeping over the edge, I saw that they were all in the
+den, that is, except Joshua, who had reascended the ladder to the height of
+about six feet, and stood on it face outward, holding to the rock on either
+side with his hands as though he had been crucified. Fearing lest he should be
+seen there, even in the shadow, I suggested to Maqueda that she should order
+him either to go down, or to return, which she did vigorously, but without
+effect. So in the end we left him alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile the three had vanished into the shadow of the sphinx, and we could
+see nothing of them. The great round moon rose higher and higher, flooding the
+rest of the charnel-house with light, and, save for an occasional roar or
+whimper from the lions beyond the wall, the silence was intense. Now I could
+make out the metal gates in this wall, and even dark and stealthy forms which
+passed and repassed beyond their bars. Then I made out something else also, the
+figures of men gathering on the top of the wall, though whence they came I knew
+not. By degrees their number increased till there were hundreds of them, for
+the wall was broad as a roadway.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Evidently these were spectators, come to witness the ceremony of sacrifice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Prince,&rdquo; I whispered to Joshua, &ldquo;you must get down off the
+ladder or you will betray us all. Nay, it is too late to come up here again,
+for already the moonlight strikes just above your head. Go down, or we will
+cast the ladder loose and let you fall.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So he went down and hid himself among some ferns and bushes where we saw no
+more of him for a while, and, to tell the truth, forgot his existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Far, far above us, from the back of the idol I suppose, came a faint sound of
+solemn chanting. It sank, and we heard shouts. Then suddenly it swelled again.
+Now Maqueda, who knelt near me, touched my arm and pointed to the shadow which
+gradually was becoming infiltrated with the moonlight flowing into it from
+either side. I looked, and high in the air, perhaps two hundred feet from the
+ground, saw something dark descending slowly. Doubtless it was the basket
+containing Higgs, and whether by coincidence or no, at this moment the lions on
+the farther side of the wall burst into peal upon peal of terrific roaring.
+Perhaps their sentries watching at the gate saw or smelt the familiar basket,
+and communicated the intelligence to their fellows.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Slowly, slowly it descended, till it was within a few feet of the ground, when
+it began to sway backward and forward like a pendulum, at each swing covering a
+wider arc. Presently, when it hung over the edge of the shadow that was nearest
+to us, it was let down with a run and overset, and out of it, looking very
+small in those vast surroundings and that mysterious light, rolled the figure
+of a man. Although at that distance we could see little of him, accident
+assured us of his identity, for as he rolled the hat he wore fell from him, and
+I knew it at once for Higgs&rsquo;s sun-helmet. He rose from the ground, limped
+very slowly and painfully after the helmet, picked it up, and proceeded to use
+it to dust his knees. At this moment there was a clanking sound.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! they lift the gates!&rdquo; murmured Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed more sounds, this time of wild beasts raging for their prey, and
+of other human beasts shrieking with excitement on the wall above. The
+Professor turned and saw. For a moment he seemed about to run, then changed his
+mind, clapped the helmet on his head, folded his arms and stood still,
+reminding me in some curious way, perhaps, because of the shortness of his
+thick figure, of a picture I had seen of the great Napoleon contemplating a
+disaster.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To describe what followed is extremely difficult, for we watched not one but
+several simultaneous scenes. For instance, there were the lions, which did not
+behave as might have been expected. I thought that they would rush through the
+doors and bound upon the victim, but whether it was because they had already
+been fed that afternoon or because they thought that a single human being was
+not worth the trouble, they acted differently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Through the open gates they came, in two indolent yellow lines, male lions,
+female lions, half-grown lions, cub lions that cuffed each other in play, in
+all perhaps fifty or sixty of them. Of these only two or three looked towards
+the Professor, for none of them ran or galloped, while the rest spread over the
+den, some of them vanishing into the shadow at the edge of the surrounding
+cliff where the moonlight could not reach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here one of them, at any rate, must have travelled fast enough, for it seemed
+only a few seconds later that we heard a terrific yell beneath us, and craning
+over the rock I saw the Prince Joshua running up the ladder more swiftly than
+ever did any London lamplighter when I was a boy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But quickly as he came, the long, thin, sinuous thing beneath came quicker. It
+reared itself on its hind legs, it stretched up a great paw&mdash;I can see the
+gleaming claws in it now&mdash;and struck or hooked at poor Joshua. The paw
+caught him in the small of the back, and seemed to pin him against the ladder.
+Then it was drawn slowly downward, and heaven! how Joshua howled. Up came the
+other paw to repeat the operation, when, stretching myself outward and
+downward, with an Abati holding me by the ankles, I managed to shoot the beast
+through the head so that it fell all of a heap, taking with it a large portion
+of Joshua&rsquo;s nether garments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few seconds later he was among us, and tumbled groaning into a corner, where
+he lay in charge of some of the mountaineers, for I had no time to attend to
+him just then.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the smoke cleared at length, I saw that Japhet had reached Higgs, and was
+gesticulating to him to run, while two lions, a male and a female, stood at a
+little distance, regarding the pair in an interested fashion. Higgs, after some
+brief words of explanation, pointed to his knee. Evidently he was lamed and
+could not run. Japhet, rising to the occasion, pointed to his back, and bent
+down. Higgs flung himself upon it, and was hitched up like a sack of flour. The
+pair began to advance toward the ladder, Japhet carrying Higgs as one schoolboy
+carries another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lion sat down like a great dog, watching this strange proceeding with mild
+interest, but the lioness, filled with feminine curiosity, followed sniffing at
+Higgs, who looked over his shoulder. Taking off his battered helmet, he threw
+it at the beast, hitting her on the head. She growled, then seized the helmet,
+playing with it for a moment as a kitten does with a ball of wool, and next
+instant, finding it unsatisfying, uttered a short and savage roar, ran forward,
+and crouched to spring, lashing her tail. I could not fire, because a bullet
+that would hit her must first pass through Japhet and Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, just when I thought that the end had come, a rifle went off in the shadow
+and she rolled over, kicking and biting the rock. Thereon the indolent male
+lion seemed to awake, and sprang, not at the men, but at the wounded lioness,
+and a hellish fight ensued, of which the details and end were lost in a mist of
+dust and flying hair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The crowd upon the wall, becoming alive to the real situation, began to scream
+in indignant excitement which quickly communicated itself to the less savage
+beasts. These set up a terrible roaring, and ran about, keeping for the most
+part to the shadows, while Japhet and his burden made slow but steady progress
+toward the ladder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then from the gloom beneath the hind-quarters of the sphinx rose a sound of
+rapid firing, and presently Orme and Quick emerged into the moonlight, followed
+by a number of angry lions that advanced in short rushes. Evidently the pair
+had kept their heads, and were acting on a plan.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of them emptied his rifle at the pursuing beasts, while the other ran back
+a few paces, thrusting in a fresh clip of cartridges as he went. Then he began
+to fire, and his companion in turn retreated behind him. In this way they
+knocked over a number of lions, for the range was too short for them to miss
+often, and the expanding bullets did their work very well, paralyzing even when
+they did not kill. I also opened fire over their heads, and, although in that
+uncertain light the majority of my shots did no damage, the others disposed of
+several animals which I saw were becoming dangerous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So things went on until all four, that is, Japhet with Higgs upon his back, and
+Orme and Quick, were within twenty paces of the ladder, although separated from
+each other by perhaps half the length of a cricket pitch. We thought that they
+were safe, and shouted in our joy, while the hundreds of spectators on the wall
+who fortunately dared not descend into the den because of the lions, which are
+undiscriminating beasts, yelled with rage at the imminent rescue of the
+sacrifice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then of a sudden the position changed. From every quarter fresh lions seemed to
+arrive, ringing the men round and clearly bent on slaughter, although the
+shouting and the sound of firearms, which they had never heard before,
+frightened them and made them cautious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A half-grown cub rushed in and knocked over Japhet and Higgs. I fired and hit
+it in the flank. It bit savagely at its wound, then sprang on to the prostrate
+pair, and stood over them growling, but in such pain that it forgot to kill
+them. The ring of beasts closed in&mdash;we could see their yellow eyes glowing
+in the gloom. Orme and Quick might have got through by the help of their
+rifles, but they could not leave the others. The dreadful climax seemed at hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Follow me,&rdquo; said Maqueda, who all this while had watched panting
+at my side, and rose to run to the ladder. I thrust her back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; I shouted. &ldquo;Follow me, Abati! Shall a woman lead
+you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of how I descended that ladder I have no recollection, nor do I in the least
+know how the Mountaineers came after me, but I think that the most of them
+rolled and scrambled down the thirty feet of rock. At least, to their honour be
+it said, they did come, yelling like demons and waving long knives in their
+hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The effect of our sudden arrival from above was extraordinary. Scared by the
+rush and the noise, the lions gave way, then bolted in every direction, the
+wounded cub, which could not, or would not move, being stabbed to death where
+it stood over Higgs and Japhet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five minutes more and all of us were safe in the mouth of the tunnel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That was how we rescued Higgs from the den of the sacred lions which guarded
+the idol of the Fung.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br />
+THE ADVENTURES OF HIGGS</h2>
+
+<p>
+A more weary and dishevelled set of people than that which about the hour of
+dawn finally emerged from the mouth of the ancient shaft on to the cliffs of
+Mur it has seldom been my lot to behold. Yet with a single exception the party
+was a happy one, for we had come triumphant through great dangers, and actually
+effected our object&mdash;the rescue of Higgs, which, under the circumstances
+most people would have thought impossible. Yes, there he was in the flesh
+before us, having injured his knee and lost his hat, but otherwise quite sound
+save for a few trifling scratches inflicted by the cub, and still wearing what
+the natives called his &ldquo;black windows.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even the Prince Joshua was happy, though wrapped in a piece of coarse sacking
+because the lion had taken most of his posterior clothing, and terribly sore
+from the deep cuts left by the claws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had he not dared the dangers of the den, and thus proved himself a hero whose
+fame would last for generations? Had I not assured him that his honourable
+wounds, though painful (as a matter of fact, after they had set, they kept him
+stiff as a mummy for some days, so that unless he stood upon his feet, he had
+to be carried, or lie rigid on his face) would probably not prove fatal? And
+had he not actually survived to reach the upper air again, which was more than
+he ever expected to do? No wonder that he was happy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I alone could not share in the general joy, since, although my friend was
+restored to me, my son still remained a prisoner among the Fung. Yet even in
+this matter things might have been worse, since I learned that he was well
+treated, and in no danger. But of that I will write presently.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Never shall I forget the scene after the arrival of Higgs in our hole, when the
+swinging boulder had been closed and made secure and the lamps lighted. There
+he sat on the floor, his red hair glowing like a torch, his clothes torn and
+bloody, his beard ragged and stretching in a Newgate frill to his ears. Indeed,
+his whole appearance, accentuated by the blue spectacles with wire gauze
+side-pieces, was more disreputable than words can tell; moreover, he smelt
+horribly of lion. He put his hand into his pocket, and produced his big pipe,
+which had remained unbroken in its case.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Some tobacco, please,&rdquo; he said. (Those were his first words to
+us!) &ldquo;I have finished mine, saved up the last to smoke just before they
+put me into that stinking basket.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I gave him some, and as he lit his pipe the light of the match fell upon the
+face of Maqueda, who was staring at him with amused astonishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What an uncommonly pretty woman,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s she
+doing down here, and who is she?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I told him, whereon he rose, or rather tried to, felt for his hat, which, of
+course, had gone, with the idea of taking it off, and instantly addressed her
+in his beautiful and fluent Arabic, saying how glad he was to have this
+unexpected honour, and so forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She congratulated him on his escape, whereon his face grew serious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, a nasty business,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;as yet I can hardly
+remember whether my name is Daniel, or Ptolemy Higgs.&rdquo; Then he turned to
+us and added, &ldquo;Look here, you fellows, if I don&rsquo;t thank you it
+isn&rsquo;t because I am not grateful, but because I can&rsquo;t. The truth is,
+I&rsquo;m a bit dazed. Your son is all right, Adams; he&rsquo;s a good fellow,
+and we grew great friends. Safe? Oh! yes, he&rsquo;s safe as a church! Old
+Barung, he&rsquo;s the Sultan, and another good fellow, although he did throw
+me to the lions&mdash;because the priests made him&mdash;is very fond of him,
+and is going to marry him to his daughter.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment the men announced that everything was ready for our ascent, and
+when I had attended to Joshua with a heart made thankful by Higgs&rsquo;s news,
+we began that toilsome business, and, as I have already said, at length
+accomplished it safely. But even then our labours were not ended, since it was
+necessary to fill up the mouth of the shaft so as to make it impossible that it
+should be used by the Fung, who now knew of its existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was this a business that could be delayed, for as we passed the plateau
+whence Oliver and Japhet had crossed to the sphinx, we heard the voices of men
+on the farther side of the rough wall that we had built there. Evidently the
+priests, or idol guards, infuriated by the rescue of their victim, had already
+managed to bridge the gulf and were contemplating assault, a knowledge which
+caused us to hurry our movements considerably. If they had got through before
+we passed them, our fate would have been terrible, since at the best we must
+have slowly starved in the pit below.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indeed, as soon as we reached the top and had blocked it temporarily, Quick,
+weary as he was, was sent off on horseback, accompanied by Maqueda, Shadrach,
+now under the terms of his contract once more a free man, and two Mountaineers,
+to gallop to the palace of Mur, and fetch a supply of explosives. The rest of
+us, for Higgs declined to leave, and we had no means of carrying Joshua,
+remained watching the place, or rather the Abati watched while we slept with
+our rifles in our hands. Before noon Quick returned, accompanied by many men
+with litters and all things needful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we pulled out the stones, and Oliver, Japhet, and some others descended to
+the first level and arranged blasting charges. Awhile after he reappeared with
+his companions, looking somewhat pale and anxious, and shouted to us to get
+back. Following our retreat to a certain distance, unwinding a wire as he came,
+presently he stopped and pressed the button of a battery which he held in his
+hand. There was a muffled explosion and a tremor of the soil like to that of an
+earthquake, while from the mouth of the shaft stones leapt into the air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was over, and all that could be noted was a sinkage in the ground where the
+ancient pit had been.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am sorry for them,&rdquo; said Oliver presently, &ldquo;but it had to
+be done.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sorry for whom?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For those Fung priests or soldiers. The levels below are full of them,
+dead or alive. They were pouring up at our heels. Well, no one will travel that
+road again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Later, in the guest house at Mur, Higgs told us his story. After his betrayal
+by Shadrach, which, it appeared, was meant to include us all, for the Professor
+overheard the hurried talk between him and a Fung captain, he was seized and
+imprisoned in the body of the great sphinx, where many chambers and dungeons
+had been hollowed out by the primæval race that fashioned it. Here Barung the
+Sultan visited him and informed him of his meeting with the rest of us, to whom
+apparently he had taken a great liking, and also that we had refused to
+purchase a chance of his release at the price of being false to our trust.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You know,&rdquo; said Higgs, &ldquo;that when first I heard this I was
+very angry with you, and thought you a set of beasts. But on considering things
+I saw the other side of it, and that you were right, although I never could
+come to fancy the idea of being sacrificed to a sphinx by being chucked like a
+piece of horse-flesh to a lot of holy lions. However, Barung, an excellent
+fellow in his way, assured me that there was no road out of the matter without
+giving grave offence to the priests, who are very powerful among the Fung, and
+bringing a fearful curse on the nation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Meanwhile, he made me as comfortable as he could. For instance, I was
+allowed to walk upon the back of the idol, to associate with the priests, a
+suspicious and most exclusive set, and to study their entire religious system,
+from which I have no doubt that of Egypt was derived. Indeed, I have made a
+great discovery which, if ever we get out of this, will carry my name down to
+all generations. The forefathers of these Fung were undoubtedly also the
+forefathers of the pre-dynastic Egyptians, as is shown by the similarity of
+their customs and spiritual theories. Further, intercourse was kept up between
+the Fung, who then had their headquarters here in Mur, and the Egyptians in the
+time of the ancient empire, till the Twentieth Dynasty, indeed, if not later.
+My friends, in the dungeons in which I was confined there is an inscription,
+or, rather, a <i>graffite</i>, made by a prisoner extradited to Mur by Rameses
+II., after twenty years&rsquo; residence in Egypt, which was written by him on
+the night before he was thrown to the sacred lions, that even in those days
+were an established institution. And I have got a copy of that inscription in
+my pocket-book. I tell you,&rdquo; he added in a scream of triumph,
+&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve got a certified copy of that inscription, thanks to Shadrach,
+on whose dirty head be blessings!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I congratulated him heartily upon this triumph, and before he proceeded to give
+us further archæological details, asked him for some information about my boy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh,&rdquo; said Higgs, &ldquo;he is a very nice young man and extremely
+good looking. Indeed, I am quite proud to have such a godson. He was much
+interested to hear that you were hunting for him after so many years, quite
+touched indeed. He still talks English, though with a Fung accent, and, of
+course, would like to escape. Meanwhile, he is having a very good time, being
+chief singer to the god, for his voice is really beautiful, an office which
+carries with it all sorts of privileges. I told you, didn&rsquo;t I, that he is
+to be married to Barung&rsquo;s only legitimate daughter on the night of the
+next full moon but one. The ceremony is to take place in Harmac City, and will
+be the greatest of its sort for generations, a feast of the entire people in
+short. I should very much like to be present at it, but being an intelligent
+young man he has promised to keep notes of everything, which I hope may become
+available in due course.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And is he attached to this savage lady?&rdquo; I asked dismayed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Attached? Oh, dear no, I think he said he had never seen her, and only
+knew that she was rather plain and reported to possess a haughty temper. He is
+a philosophical young man, however, as might be expected from one who has
+undergone so many vicissitudes, and, therefore, takes things as they come,
+thanking heaven that they are no worse. You see, as the husband of the
+Sultan&rsquo;s daughter, unless the pair quarrel very violently, he will be
+safe from the lions, and he could never quite say as much before. But we
+didn&rsquo;t go into these domestic matters very deeply as there were so many
+more important things to interest us both. He wanted to know all about you and
+our plans, and naturally I wanted to know all about the Fung and the ritual and
+traditions connected with the worship of Harmac, so that we were never dull for
+a single moment. In fact, I wish that we could have had longer together, for we
+became excellent friends. But whatever happens, I think that I have collected
+the cream of his information,&rdquo; and he tapped a fat note-book in his
+hands, adding:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What an awful thing it would have been if a lion had eaten this. For
+myself it did not matter; there may be many better Egyptologists, but I doubt
+if any one of them will again have such opportunities of original research.
+However, I took every possible precaution to save my notes by leaving a copy of
+the most important of them written with native ink upon sheepskin in charge of
+your son. Indeed, I meant to leave the originals also, but fortunately forgot
+in the excitement of my very hurried departure.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I agreed with him that his chances had been unique and that he was a most lucky
+archæologist, and presently he went on puffing at his pipe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of course, when Oliver turned up in that unexpected fashion on the back
+of the idol, remembering your wishes and natural desire to recover your son, I
+did my best to rescue him also. But he wasn&rsquo;t in the room beneath, where
+I thought I should find him. The priests were there instead, and they had heard
+us talking above, and you know the rest. Well, as it happens, it didn&rsquo;t
+matter, though that descent into the den of lions&mdash;there were two or three
+hundred feet of it, and the rope seemed worn uncommonly thin with use&mdash;was
+a trying business to the nerves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What did you think about all the time?&rdquo; asked Oliver curiously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Think about? I didn&rsquo;t think much, was in too great a fright. I
+just wondered whether St. Paul had the same sensations when he was let down in
+a basket; wondered what the early Christian martyrs felt like in the arena;
+wondered whether Barung, with whom my parting was quite affectionate, would
+come in the morning and look for me as Darius did for Daniel and how much he
+would find if he did; hoped that my specs would give one of those brutes
+appendicitis, and so forth. My word! it was sickening, especially that kind of
+school-treat swing and bump at the end. I never could bear swinging. Still, it
+was all for the best, as I shouldn&rsquo;t have gone a yard along that
+sphinx&rsquo;s tail without tumbling off, tight-rope walking not being in my
+line; and I&rsquo;ll tell you what, you are just the best three fellows in the
+whole world. Don&rsquo;t you think I forget that because I haven&rsquo;t said
+much. And now let&rsquo;s have your yarn, for I want to hear how things stand,
+which I never expected to do this side of Judgment-day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we told him all, while he listened open-mouthed. When we came to the
+description of the Tomb of the Kings his excitement could scarcely be
+restrained.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You haven&rsquo;t touched them,&rdquo; he almost screamed;
+&ldquo;don&rsquo;t say you have been vandals enough to touch them, for every
+article must be catalogued <i>in situ</i> and drawings must be made. If
+possible, specimen groups with their surrounding offerings should be moved so
+that they can be set up again in museums. Why, there&rsquo;s six months&rsquo;
+work before me, at least. And to think that if it hadn&rsquo;t been for you, by
+now I should be in process of digestion by a lion, a stinking, mangy, sacred
+lion!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next morning I was awakened by Higgs limping into my room in some weird
+sleeping-suit that he had contrived with the help of Quick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I say, old fellow,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;tell me some more about that
+girl, Walda Nagasta. What a sweet face she&rsquo;s got, and what pluck! Of
+course, such things ain&rsquo;t in my line, never looked at a woman these
+twenty years past, hard enough to remember her next morning, but, by Jingo! the
+eyes of that one made me feel quite queer here,&rdquo; and he hit the
+sleeping-suit somewhere in the middle, &ldquo;though perhaps it was only
+because she was such a contrast to the lions.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ptolemy,&rdquo; I answered in a solemn voice, &ldquo;let me tell you
+that she is more dangerous to meddle with than any lion, and what&rsquo;s more,
+if you don&rsquo;t want to further complicate matters with a flaming row, you
+had better keep to your old habits and leave her eyes alone. I mean that Oliver
+is in love with her.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of course he is. I never expected anything else, but what&rsquo;s that
+got to do with it? Why shouldn&rsquo;t I be in love with her too? Though I
+admit,&rdquo; he added sadly, contemplating his rotund form, &ldquo;the chances
+are in his favour, especially as he&rsquo;s got the start.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;They are, Ptolemy, for she&rsquo;s in love with him,&rdquo; and I told
+him what we had seen in the Tomb of Kings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+First he roared with laughter, then on second thoughts grew exceedingly
+indignant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I call it scandalous of Oliver, compromising us all in this
+way&mdash;the lucky dog! These selfish, amorous adventures will let us in for
+no end of trouble. It is even probable, Adams, that you and I may come to a
+miserable end, solely because of this young man&rsquo;s erotic tendencies. Just
+fancy neglecting business in order to run after a pretty, round-faced Jewess,
+that is if she <i>is</i> a Jewess, which I doubt, as the blood must have got
+considerably mixed by now, and the first Queen of Sheba, if she ever existed,
+was an Ethiopian. As a friend almost old enough to be his father, I shall speak
+to him very seriously.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All right,&rdquo; I called after him as he hobbled off to take his bath,
+&ldquo;only if you are wise, you won&rsquo;t speak to Maqueda, for she might
+misinterpret your motives if you go on staring at her as you did
+yesterday.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That morning I was summoned to see the Prince Joshua and dress his wounds,
+which, although not of a serious nature, were very painful. The moment that I
+entered the man&rsquo;s presence I noticed a change in his face. Like the rest
+of us I had always set this fellow down as a mere poltroon and windbag, a
+blower of his own trumpet, as Oliver had called him. Now I got an insight into
+his real nature which showed me that although he might be these things and
+worse, he was also a very determined and dangerous person, animated by
+ambitions which he meant to satisfy at all hazards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I had done what I could for him and told him that in my opinion he had no
+ill results to fear from his hurts, since the thick clothes he was wearing at
+the time had probably cleaned the lion&rsquo;s paws of any poison that might
+have been on them, he said,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Physician, I desire private words with you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I bowed, and he went on:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Child of Kings, hereditary ruler of this land, somewhat against the
+advice of her Council, has thought fit to employ you and your Gentile
+companions in order that by your skill and certain arts of which you are
+masters you may damage its ancient enemies, the Fung, and in reward has
+promised to pay you well should you succeed in your endeavours. Now, I wish you
+to understand that though you think yourselves great men, and may for aught I
+know be great in your own country, here you are but servants like any other
+mercenaries whom it may please us to hire.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His tone was so offensive that, though it might have been wiser to keep silent,
+I could not help interrupting him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You use hard words, Prince,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;let me then explain
+what is the real pay for which we work and undergo some risks. Mine is the hope
+of recovering a son who is the slave of your enemies. That of the Captain Orme
+is the quest of adventure and war, since being a rich man in his own country he
+needs no further wealth. That of him whom you call Black Windows, but whose
+name is Higgs, is the pure love of learning. In England and throughout the West
+he is noted for his knowledge of dead peoples, their languages, and customs,
+and it is to study these that he has undertaken so terrible a journey. As for
+Quick, he is Orme&rsquo;s man, who has known him from childhood, an old soldier
+who has served with him in war and comes hither to be with the master whom he
+loves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Joshua, &ldquo;a servant, a person of no degree, who yet
+dares to threaten me, the premier prince of the Abati, to my face.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In the presence of death all men are equal, Prince. You acted in a
+fashion that might have brought his lord, who was daring a desperate deed, to a
+hideous doom.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what do I care about his lord&rsquo;s desperate deeds, Physician? I
+see that you set store by such things, and think those who accomplish them
+great and wonderful. Well, we do not. There is no savage among the barbarous
+Fung would not do all that your Orme does, and more, just because he is a
+savage. We who are civilized, we who are cultivated, we who are wise, know
+better. Our lives were given us to enjoy, not to throw away or to lose at the
+sword&rsquo;s point, and, therefore, no doubt, you would call us cowards.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yet, Prince, those who bear that title of coward which you hold one of
+honour, are apt to perish &lsquo;at the sword&rsquo;s point.&rsquo; The Fung
+wait without your gates, O Prince.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And therefore, O Gentile, we hire you to fight the Fung. Still, I bear
+no grudge against your servant, Quick, who is himself but a white-skinned Fung,
+for he acted according to his nature, and I forgive him; only in the future let
+him beware! And now&mdash;for a greater matter. The Child of Kings is
+beautiful, she is young and high spirited; a new face from another land may
+perchance touch her fancy. But,&rdquo; he added meaningly, &ldquo;let the owner
+of that face remember who she is and what he is; let him remember that for any
+outside the circle of the ancient blood to lift his eyes to the daughter of
+Solomon is to earn death, death slow and cruel for himself and all who aid and
+abet him. Let him remember, lastly, that this high-born lady to whom he, an
+unknown and vagrant Gentile, dares to talk as equal to equal, has from
+childhood been my affianced, who will shortly be my wife, although it may
+please her to seem to flout me after the fashion of maidens, and that we Abati
+are jealous of the honour of our women. Do you understand?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Prince,&rdquo; I answered, for by now my temper was roused.
+&ldquo;But I would have you understand something also&mdash;that we are men of
+a high race whose arm stretches over half the world, and that we differ from
+the little tribe of the Abati, whose fame is not known to us, in
+this&mdash;that we are jealous of our own honour, and do not need to hire
+strangers to fight the foes we fear to face. Next time I come to attend to your
+wounds, O Prince, I trust that they will be in front, and not behind. One word
+more, if you will be advised by me you will not threaten that Captain whom you
+call a Gentile and a mercenary, lest you should learn that it is not always
+well to be a coward, of blood however ancient.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, in a towering rage, I left him, feeling that I had made a thorough fool
+of myself. But the truth was that I could not sit still and hear men such as my
+companions, to say nothing of myself, spoken of thus by a bloated cur, who
+called himself a prince and boasted of his own poltroonery. He glowered at me
+as I went, and the men of his party who hung about the end of the great room
+and in his courts, glowered at me also. Clearly he was a very dangerous cur,
+and I almost wished that instead of threatening to slap his face down in the
+tunnel, Quick had broken his neck and made an end of him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So did the others when I told them the story, although I think it opened their
+eyes, and especially those of Oliver, to the grave and growing dangers of the
+situation. Afterward he informed me that he had spoken of the matter with
+Maqueda, and that she was much frightened for our sakes, and somewhat for her
+own. Joshua, she said, was a man capable of any crime, who had at his back the
+great majority of the Abati; a jealous, mean and intolerant race who made up in
+cunning for what they lacked in courage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet, as I saw well, the peril of their situation did nothing to separate this
+pair or to lessen their love. Indeed, rather did it seem to bind them closer
+together, and to make them more completely one. In short, the tragedy took its
+appointed course, whilst we stood by and watched it helplessly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the afternoon of my angry interview with Joshua we were summoned to a
+meeting of the Council, whither we went, not without some trepidation,
+expecting trouble. Trouble there was, but of a different sort to that which we
+feared. Scarcely had we entered the great room where the Child of Kings was
+seated in her chair of state surrounded by all the pomp and ceremony of her
+mimic court, when the big doors at the end of it were opened, and through them
+marched three gray-bearded men in white robes whom we saw at once were heralds
+or ambassadors from the Fung. These men bowed to the veiled Maqueda and,
+turning toward where we stood in a little group apart, bowed to us also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But of Joshua, who was there supported by two servants, for he could not yet
+stand alone, and the other notables and priests of the Abati, they took not the
+slightest heed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Speak,&rdquo; said Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; answered the spokesman of the embassy, &ldquo;we are sent
+by our Sultan, Barung, son of Barung, Ruler of the Fung nation. These are the
+words of Barung: O Walda Nagasta! &lsquo;By the hands and the wit of the white
+lords whom you have called to your aid, you have of late done much evil to the
+god Harmac and to me his servant. You have destroyed one of the gates of my
+city, and with it many of my people. You have rescued a prisoner out of my
+hands, robbing Harmac of his sacrifice and thereby bringing his wrath upon us.
+You have slain sundry of the sacred beasts that are the mouth of sacrifice, you
+have killed certain of the priests and guards of Harmac in a hole of the rocks.
+Moreover my spies tell me that you plan further ills against the god and
+against me. Now I send to tell you that for these and other offences I will
+make an end of the people of the Abati, whom hitherto I have spared. In a
+little while I marry my daughter to the white man, that priest of Harmac who is
+called Singer of Egypt, and who is said to be the son of the physician in your
+service, but after I have celebrated this feast and my people have finished the
+hoeing of their crops, I take up the sword in earnest, nor will I lay it down
+again until the Abati are no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Learn that last night after the holy beasts had been slain and
+the sacrifice snatched away, the god Harmac spoke to his priests in prophecy.
+And this was his prophecy; that before the gathering in of the harvest his
+<i>head</i> should sleep above the plain of Mur. We know not the interpretation
+of the saying, but this I know, that before the gathering of the harvest I, or
+those who rule after me, will lie down to sleep within my city of Mur.&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Now, choose&mdash;surrender forthwith and, save for the dog,
+Joshua, who the other day tried to entrap me against the custom of peoples, and
+ten others whom I shall name, I will spare the lives of all of you, though
+Joshua and these ten I will hang, since they are not worthy to die by the
+sword. Or resist, and by Harmac himself I swear that every man among the Abati
+shall die save the white lords whom I honour because they are brave, and that
+servant of yours who stood with them last night in the den of lions, and that
+every woman shall be made a slave, save you, O Walda Nagasta, because of your
+great heart. Your answer, O Lady of the Abati!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Maqueda looked around the faces of her Council, and saw fear written upon
+them all. Indeed, as we noted, many of them shook in their terror.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My answer will be short, ambassadors of Barung,&rdquo; she replied,
+&ldquo;still, I am but one woman, and it is fitting that those who represent
+the people should speak for the people. My uncle, Joshua, you are the first of
+my Council, what have you to say? Are you willing to give up your life with ten
+others whose names I do not know, that there may be peace between us and the
+Fung?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What?&rdquo; answered Joshua, with a splutter of rage, &ldquo;do I live
+to hear a Walda Nagasta suggest that the first prince of the land, her uncle
+and affianced husband, should be surrendered to our hereditary foes to be
+hanged like a worn-out hound, and do you, O unknown ten, who doubtless stand in
+this chamber, live to hear it also?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My uncle, you do not. I asked if such was your wish, that is all.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then I answer that it is not my wish, nor the wish of the ten, nor the
+wish of the Abati. Nay, we will fight the Fung and destroy them, and of their
+beast-headed idol Harmac we will make blocks to build our synagogues and stones
+to pave our roads. Do you hear, savages of Fung?&rdquo; and assisted by his two
+servants he hobbled towards them, grinning in their faces.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The envoys looked him up and down with their quiet eyes. &ldquo;We hear and we
+are very glad to hear,&rdquo; their spokesman answered, &ldquo;since we Fung
+love to settle our quarrels with the sword and not by treaty. But to you,
+Joshua, we say: Make haste to die before we enter Mur, since the rope is not
+the only means of death whereof we know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Very solemnly the three ambassadors saluted, first the Child of Kings and next
+ourselves, then turned to go.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Kill them!&rdquo; shouted Joshua, &ldquo;they have threatened and
+insulted me, the Prince!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But no one lifted a hand against the men, who passed safely out of the palace
+to the square, where an escort waited with their horses.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br />
+HOW PHARAOH MET SHADRACH</h2>
+
+<p>
+When the ambassadors had gone, at first there was silence, a very heavy
+silence, since even the frivolous Abati felt that the hour was big with fate.
+Of a sudden, however, the members of the Council began to chatter like so many
+monkeys, each talking without listening to what his neighbour said, till at
+length a gorgeously dressed person, I understood that he was a priest, stepped
+forward, and shouted down the others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he spoke in an excited and venomous fashion. He pointed out that we
+Gentiles had brought all this trouble upon Mur, since before we came the Abati,
+although threatened, had lived in peace and glory&mdash;he actually used the
+word glory!&mdash;for generations. But now we had stung the Fung, as a hornet
+stings a bull, and made them mad, so that they wished to toss the Abati. He
+proposed, therefore, that we should at once be ejected from Mur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this point I saw Joshua whisper into the ear of a man, who called out:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, no, for then they would go to their friend, Barung, a savage like
+themselves, and having learned our secrets, would doubtless use them against
+us. I say that they must be killed instantly,&rdquo; and he drew a sword, and
+waved it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Quick walked up to the fellow and clapped a pistol to his head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Drop that sword,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;or <i>you</i>&rsquo;ll never
+hear the end of the story,&rdquo; and he obeyed, whereupon Quick came back.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Maqueda began to speak, quietly enough, although I could see that she was
+quaking with passion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;These men are our guests,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;come hither to serve
+us. Do you desire to murder our guests? Moreover, of what use would that be?
+One thing alone can save us, the destruction of the god of the Fung, since,
+according to the ancient saying of that people, when the idol is destroyed the
+Fung will leave their city of Harmac. Moreover, as to this new prophecy of the
+priests of the idol, that before the gathering in of the harvest his head shall
+sleep above the plain of Mur, how can that happen if it is destroyed, unless
+indeed it means that Harmac shall sleep in the heavens. Therefore what have you
+to fear from threats built upon that which cannot happen?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But can <i>you</i> destroy this false god Harmac, or dare <i>you</i>
+fight the Fung? You know that it is not so, for had it been so what need was
+there for me to send for these Westerns? And if you murder them, will Barung
+thereby be appeased? Nay, I tell you that being a brave and honourable man,
+although our enemy, he will become ten times more wroth with you than he was
+before, and exact a vengeance even more terrible. I tell you also, that then
+you must find another Walda Nagasta to rule over you, since I, Maqueda, will do
+so no more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is impossible,&rdquo; said some one, &ldquo;you are the last woman
+of the true blood.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then you can choose one of blood that is not true, or elect a king, as
+the Jews elected Saul, for if my guests are butchered I shall die of very
+shame.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These words of hers seemed to cow the Council, one of whom asked what would she
+have them do?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do?&rdquo; she replied, throwing back her veil, &ldquo;why, be men,
+raise an army of every male who can carry a sword; help the foreigners, and
+they will lead you to victory. People of the Abati, would you be slaughtered,
+would you see your women slaves, and your ancient name blotted out from the
+list of peoples?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now some of them cried, &ldquo;No.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then save yourselves. You are still many, the strangers here have skill
+in war, they can lead if you will follow. Be brave a while, and I swear to you
+that by harvest the Abati shall sit in the city of Harmac and not the Fung in
+Mur. I have spoken, now do what you will,&rdquo; and rising from her chair of
+state Maqueda left the chamber, motioning to us to do likewise.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The end of all this business was that a peace was made between us and the
+Council of the Abati. After their pompous, pedantic fashion they swore solemnly
+on the roll of the Law that they would aid us in every way to overcome the
+Fung, and even obey such military orders as we might give them, subject to the
+confirmation of these orders by a small council of their generals. In short,
+being very frightened, for a time they forgot their hatred of us foreigners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So a scheme of operations was agreed upon, and some law passed by the Council,
+the only governing body among the Abati, for they possessed no representative
+institutions, under which law a kind of conscription was established for a
+while. Let me say at once that it met with the most intense opposition. The
+Abati were agriculturalists who loathed military service. From their childhood
+they had heard of the imminence of invasion, but no actual invasion had ever
+yet taken place. The Fung were always without, and they were always within, an
+inland isle, the wall of rock that they thought impassable being their sea
+which protected them from danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They had no experience of slaughter and rapine, their imaginations were not
+sufficiently strong to enable them to understand what these things meant; they
+were lost in the pettiness of daily life and its pressing local interests.
+Their homes in flames, they themselves massacred, their women and children
+dragged off to be the slaves of the victors, a poor remnant left to die of
+starvation among the wasted fields or to become wild men of the rocks! All
+these things they looked upon as a mere tale, a romance such as their local
+poets repeated in the evenings of a wet season, dim and far-off events which
+might have happened to the Canaanites and Jebusites and Amalekites in the
+ancient days whereof the book of their Law told them, but which could never
+happen to <i>them</i>, the comfortable Abati. In that book the Israelites
+always conquered in the end, although the Philistines, alias Fung, sat at their
+gates. For it will be remembered that it includes no account of the final fall
+of Jerusalem and awful destruction of its citizens, of which they had little if
+any knowledge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So it came about that our recruiting parties, perhaps press gangs would be a
+better term, were not well received. I know it, for this branch of the business
+was handed over to me, of course as adviser to the Abati captains, and on
+several occasions, when riding round the villages on the shores of their
+beautiful lake, we were met by showers of stones, and were even the object of
+active attacks which had to be put down with bloodshed. Still, an army of five
+or six thousand men was got together somehow, and formed into camps, whence
+desertions were incessant, once or twice accompanied by the murder of officers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s &rsquo;opeless, downright &rsquo;opeless, Doctor,&rdquo; said
+Quick to me, dropping his h&rsquo;s, as he sometimes did in the excitement of
+the moment. &ldquo;What can one do with a crowd of pigs, everyone of them bent
+on bolting to his own sty, or anywhere except toward the enemy? The sooner the
+Fung get them the better for all concerned, say I, and if it wasn&rsquo;t for
+our Lady yonder&rdquo; (Quick always called Maqueda after &ldquo;our
+Lady,&rdquo; after it had been impressed upon him that &ldquo;her
+Majesty&rdquo; was an incorrect title), &ldquo;my advice to the Captain and you
+gentlemen would be: Get out of this infernal hole as quick as your legs can
+carry you, and let&rsquo;s do a bit of hunting on the way home, leaving the
+Abati to settle their own affairs.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You forget, Sergeant, that I have a reason for staying in this part of
+the world, and so perhaps have the others. For instance, the Professor is very
+fond of those old skeletons down in the cave,&rdquo; and I paused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, Doctor, and the Captain is very fond of something much better than
+a skeleton, and so are we all. Well, we&rsquo;ve got to see it through, but
+somehow I don&rsquo;t think that every one of us will have that luck, though
+it&rsquo;s true that when a man has lived fairly straight according to his
+lights a few years more or less don&rsquo;t matter much one way or the other.
+After all, except you gentlemen, who is there that will miss Samuel
+Quick?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then without waiting for an answer, drawing himself up straight as a ramrod he
+marched off to assist some popinjays of Abati officers, whom he hated and who
+hated him, to instil the elements of drill into a newly raised company, leaving
+me to wonder what fears or premonitions filled his honest soul.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But this was not Quick&rsquo;s principal work, since for at least six hours of
+every day he was engaged in helping Oliver in our great enterprise of driving a
+tunnel from the end of the Tomb of Kings deep into the solid rock that formed
+the base of the mighty idol of the Fung. The task was stupendous, and would
+indeed have been impossible had not Orme&rsquo;s conjecture that some passage
+had once run from the extremity of the cave toward the idol proved to be
+perfectly accurate. Such a passage indeed was found walled up at the back of
+the chair containing the bones of the hunchbacked king. It descended very
+sharply for a distance of several hundred yards, after which for another
+hundred yards or more its walls and roof were so riven and shaky that, for fear
+of accidents, we found it necessary to timber them as we went.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last we came to a place where they had fallen in altogether, shaken down, I
+presume, by the great earthquake which had destroyed so much of the ancient
+cave-city. At this spot, if Oliver&rsquo;s instruments and calculations could
+be trusted, we were within about two hundred feet of the floor of the den of
+lions, to which it seemed probable that the passage once led, and of course the
+question arose as to what should be done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A Council was held to discuss this problem, at which Maqueda and a few of the
+Abati notables were present. To these Oliver explained that even if that were
+possible it would be useless to clear out the old passage and at the end find
+ourselves once more in the den of lions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What, then, is your plan?&rdquo; asked Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;I, your servant, am instructed to
+attempt to destroy the idol Harmac, by means of the explosives which we have
+brought with us from England. First, I would ask you if you still cling to that
+design?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why should it be abandoned?&rdquo; inquired Maqueda. &ldquo;What have
+you against it?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Two things, Lady. As an act of war the deed seems useless, since
+supposing that the sphinx is shattered and a certain number of priests and
+guards are destroyed, how will that advance your cause? Secondly, such
+destruction will be very difficult, if it can be done at all. The stuff we have
+with us, it is true, is of fearful strength, yet who can be sure that there is
+enough of it to move this mountain of hard rock, of which I cannot calculate
+the weight, not having the measurements or any knowledge of the size of the
+cavities within its bulk. Lastly, if the attempt is to be made, a tunnel must
+be hollowed of not less than three hundred feet in length, first downward and
+then upward into the very base of the idol, and if this is to be done within
+six weeks, that is, by the night of the marriage of the daughter of Barung, the
+work will be very hard, if indeed it can be completed at all, although hundreds
+of men labour day and night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Maqueda thought a while, then looked up and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Friend, you are brave and skilful, tell us all your mind. If you sat in
+my place, what would you do?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lady, I would lead out every able-bodied man and attack the city of the
+Fung, say, on the night of the great festival when they are off their guard. I
+would blow in the gates of the city of Harmac, and storm it and drive away the
+Fung, and afterwards take possession of the idol, and if it is thought
+necessary, destroy it piecemeal from within.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Maqueda consulted with her councillors, who appeared to be much disturbed
+at this suggestion, and finally called us back and gave us her decision.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;These lords of the Council,&rdquo; she said, speaking with a ring of
+contempt in her voice, &ldquo;declare that your plan is mad, and that they will
+never sanction it because the Abati could not be persuaded to undertake so
+dangerous an enterprise as an attack upon the city of Harmac, which would end,
+they think, in all of them being killed. They point out, O Orme, that the
+prophecy is that the Fung will leave the plain of Harmac when their god is
+destroyed and not before, and that therefore it must be destroyed. They say,
+further, O Orme, that for a year you and your companions are the sworn servants
+of the Abati, and that it is your business to receive orders, not to give them,
+also that the condition upon which you earn your pay is that you destroy the
+idol of the Fung. This is the decision of the Council, spoken by the mouth of
+the prince Joshua, who command further that you shall at once set about the
+business to execute which you and your companions are present here in
+Mur.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Is that <i>your</i> command also, O Child of Kings?&rdquo; answered
+Oliver, colouring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Since I also think that the Abati can never be forced to attack the city
+of the Fung, it is, O Orme, though the words in which it is couched are not my
+words.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very well, O Child of Kings, I will do my best. Only blame us not if the
+end of this matter is other than these advisers of yours expect. Prophecies are
+two-edged swords to play with, and I do not believe that a race of fighting men
+like the Fung will fly and leave you triumphant just because a stone image is
+shattered, if that can be done in the time and with the means which we possess.
+Meanwhile, I ask that you should give me two hundred and fifty picked men of
+the Mountaineers, not of the townspeople, under the captaincy of Japhet, who
+must choose them, to assist us in our work.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It shall be done,&rdquo; she answered, and we made our bows and went. As
+we passed through the Council we heard Joshua say in a loud voice meant for us
+to hear:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thanks be to God, these hired Gentiles have been taught their place at
+last.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver turned on him so fiercely that he recoiled, thinking that he was about
+to strike him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be careful, Prince Joshua,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that before this
+business is finished you are not taught yours, which I think may be
+lowly,&rdquo; and he looked meaningly at the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the labour began, and it was heavy indeed as well as dangerous. Fortunately,
+in addition to the picrate compounds that Quick called &ldquo;azure stinging
+bees,&rdquo; we had brought with us a few cases of dynamite, of which we now
+made use for blasting purposes. A hole was drilled in the face of the tunnel,
+and the charge inserted. Then all retreated back into the Tomb of Kings till
+the cartridge had exploded, and the smoke cleared off, which took a long while,
+when our people advanced with iron bars and baskets, and cleared away the
+débris, after which the process must be repeated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oh! the heat of that narrow hole deep in the bowels of the rock, and the reek
+of the stagnant air which sometimes was so bad that the lights would scarcely
+burn. Indeed, after a hundred feet had been completed, we thought that it would
+be impossible to proceed, since two men died of asphyxiation and the others,
+although they were good fellows enough, refused to return into the tunnel. At
+length, however, Orme and Japhet persuaded some of the best of them to do so,
+and shortly after this the atmosphere improved very much, I suppose because we
+cut some cranny or shaft which communicated with the open air.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were other dangers also, notably of the collapse of the whole roof where
+the rock was rotten, as we found it to be in places. Then it proved very hard
+to deal with the water, for once or twice we struck small springs impregnated
+with copper or some other mineral that blistered the feet and skin, since every
+drop of this acid water had to be carried out in wooden pails. That difficulty
+we overcame at last by sinking a narrow well down to the level of the ancient
+tunnel of which I have spoken as having been shaken in by the earthquake.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus we, or rather Oliver and Quick with the Mountaineers, toiled on. Higgs did
+his best, but after a while proved quite unable to bear the heat, which became
+too much for so stout a man. The end of it was that he devoted himself to the
+superintendence of the removal of the rubbish into the Tomb of Kings, the care
+of the stores and so forth. At least that was supposed to be his business, but
+really he employed most of his time in drawing and cataloguing the objects of
+antiquity and the groups of bones that were buried there, and in exploring the
+remains of the underground city. In truth, this task of destruction was most
+repellent to the poor Professor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To think,&rdquo; he said to us, &ldquo;to think that I, who all my life
+have preached the iniquity of not conserving every relic of the past, should
+now be employed in attempting to obliterate the most wonderful object ever
+fashioned by the ancients! It is enough to make a Vandal weep, and I pray
+heaven that you may not succeed in your infamous design. What does it matter if
+the Abati are wiped out, as lots of better people have been before them? What
+does it matter if we accompany them to oblivion so long as that noble sphinx is
+preserved to be the wonder of future generations? Well, thank goodness, at any
+rate I have seen it, which is more, probably, than any of you will ever do.
+There, another brute is dumping his rubbish over the skull of No. 14!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus we laboured continually, each at his different task, for the work in the
+mine never stopped, Oliver being in charge during the day and Quick at night
+for a whole week, since on each Sunday they changed with their gangs, Quick
+taking the day shift and Oliver the night, or <i>vice versa</i>. Sometimes
+Maqueda came down the cave to inspect progress, always, I noticed, at those
+hours when Oliver happened to be off duty. Then on this pretext or on that they
+would wander away together to visit I know not what in the recesses of the
+underground city, or elsewhere. In vain did I warn them that their every step
+was dogged, and that their every word and action were noted by spies who crept
+after them continually, since twice I caught one of these gentry in the act.
+They were infatuated, and would not listen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this time Oliver only left the underground city twice or thrice a week to
+breathe the fresh air for an hour or two. In truth, he had no leisure. For this
+same reason he fitted himself up a bed in what had been a priest&rsquo;s
+chamber, or a sanctuary in the old temple, and slept there, generally with no
+other guard but the great dog, Pharaoh, his constant companion even in the
+recesses of the mine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was curious to see how this faithful beast accustomed itself to the
+darkness, and made its other senses, especially that of smell, serve the
+purpose of eyes as do the blind. By degrees, too, it learned all the details of
+the operations; thus, when the cartridge was in place for firing, it would rise
+and begin to walk out of the tunnel even before the men in charge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One night the tragedy that I feared very nearly happened, and indeed must have
+happened had it not been for this same hound, Pharaoh. About six o&rsquo;clock
+in the evening Oliver came off duty after an eight-hour shift in the tunnel,
+leaving Higgs in command for a little while until it was time for Quick to take
+charge. I had been at work outside all day in connection with the new conscript
+army, a regiment of which was in revolt, because the men, most of whom were
+what we should call small-holders, declared that they wanted to go home to weed
+their crops. Indeed, it had proved necessary for the Child of Kings herself to
+be summoned to plead with them and condemn some of the ringleaders to
+punishment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When at length this business was over we left together, and the poor lady,
+exasperated almost to madness, sharply refusing the escort of any of her
+people, requested me to accompany her to the mine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the mouth of the tunnel she met Oliver, as probably she had arranged to do,
+and after he had reported progress to her, wandered away with him as usual,
+each of them carrying a lamp, into some recess of the buried city. I followed
+them at a distance, not from curiosity, or because I wished to see more of the
+wonders of that city whereof I was heartily sick, but because I suspected that
+they were being spied upon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pair vanished round a corner that I knew ended in a <i>cul-de-sac</i>, so
+extinguishing my lamp, I sat down on a fallen column and waited till I should
+see their light reappear, when I proposed to effect my retreat. Whilst I sat
+thus, thinking on many things and, to tell the truth, very depressed in mind, I
+heard a sound as of some one moving and instantly struck a match. The light of
+it fell full upon the face of a man whom I recognized at once as a body-servant
+of the prince Joshua, though whether he was passing me toward the pair or
+returning from their direction I could not be sure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What are you doing here?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is that to you, Physician?&rdquo; he answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the match burnt out, and before I could light another he had vanished,
+like a snake into a stone wall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My first impulse was to warn Maqueda and Oliver that they were being watched,
+but reflecting that the business was awkward, and that the spy would doubtless
+have given over his task for this day, I left it alone, and went down to the
+Tomb of the Kings to help Higgs. Just afterwards Quick came on duty, long
+before his time, the fact being that he had no confidence in the Professor as a
+director of mining operations. When he appeared Higgs and I retreated from that
+close and filthy tunnel, and, by way of recreation, put in an hour or so at the
+cataloguing and archæological research in which his soul delighted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If only we could get all this lot out of Mur,&rdquo; he said, with a
+sweep of his hand, &ldquo;we should be the most famous men in Europe for at
+least three days, and rich into the bargain.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ptolemy,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;we shall be fortunate if we get
+ourselves alive out of Mur, let alone these bones and ancient treasures,&rdquo;
+and I told him what I had seen that evening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+His fat and kindly face grew anxious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Well, I don&rsquo;t blame him; should
+probably do the same myself if I got the chance, and so would you&mdash;if you
+were twenty years younger. No, I don&rsquo;t blame him, or her either, for the
+fact is that although their race, education, and circumstances are so
+different, they are one of Nature&rsquo;s pairs, and while they are alive
+nothing will keep them apart. You might as well expect a magnet and a bit of
+iron to remain separate on a sheet of notepaper. Moreover, they give themselves
+away, as people in that state always do. The pursuit of archæology has its
+dangers, but it is a jolly sight safer than that of woman, though it did land
+me in a den of lions. What&rsquo;s going to happen, old fellow?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t say, but I think it very probable that Oliver will be
+murdered, and that we shall follow the same road, or, if we are lucky, be only
+bundled out of Mur. Well, it&rsquo;s time for dinner; if I get a chance I will
+give them a hint.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we made our way to the old temple in the great cave, where we kept our
+stores and Oliver had his headquarters. Here we found him waiting for us and
+our meal ready, for food was always brought to us by the palace servants. When
+we had eaten and these men had cleared away, we lit our pipes and fed the dog
+Pharaoh upon the scraps that had been reserved for him. Then I told Oliver
+about the spy whom I had caught tracking him and Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, what of it?&rdquo; he said, colouring in his tell-tale fashion;
+&ldquo;she only took me to see what she believed to be an ancient inscription
+on a column in that northern aisle.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then she&rsquo;d have done better to take me, my boy,&rdquo; said Higgs.
+&ldquo;What was the character like?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he answered guiltily. &ldquo;She could not find
+it again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An awkward silence followed, which I broke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oliver,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you ought to go on
+sleeping here alone. You have too many enemies in this place.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Rubbish,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;though it&rsquo;s true Pharaoh
+seemed uneasy last night, and that once I woke up and thought I heard footsteps
+in the court outside. I set them down to ghosts, in which I have almost come to
+believe in this haunted place, and went to sleep again.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ghosts be blowed!&rdquo; said Higgs vulgarly, &ldquo;if there were such
+things I have slept with too many mummies not to see them. That confounded
+Joshua is the wizard who raises your ghosts. Look here, old boy,&rdquo; he
+added, &ldquo;let me camp with you to-night, since Quick must be in the tunnel,
+and Adams has to sleep outside in case he is wanted on the army business.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not a bit of it,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;you know you are too
+asthmatical to get a wink in this atmosphere. I won&rsquo;t hear of such a
+thing.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then come and sleep with us in the guest-house.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t be done; the Sergeant has got a very nasty job down there
+about one o&rsquo;clock, and I promised to be handy in case he calls me
+up,&rdquo; and he pointed to the portable field telephone that fortunately we
+had brought with us from England, which was fixed closed by, adding, &ldquo;if
+only that silly thing had another few hundred yards of wire, I&rsquo;d come;
+but, you see, it hasn&rsquo;t and I must be in touch with the work.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this moment the bell tinkled, and Orme made a jump for the receiver through
+which for the next five minutes he was engaged in giving rapid and to us quite
+unintelligible directions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There you are,&rdquo; he said, when he had replaced the mouthpiece on
+its hook, &ldquo;if I hadn&rsquo;t been here they would probably have had the
+roof of the tunnel down and killed some people. No, no; I can&rsquo;t leave
+that receiver unless I go back to the mine, which I am too tired to do.
+However, don&rsquo;t you fret. With a pistol, a telephone, and Pharaoh
+I&rsquo;m safe enough. And now, good night; you fellows had better be getting
+home as I must be up early to-morrow and want to sleep while I can.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the following morning about five o&rsquo;clock Higgs and I were awakened by
+some one knocking at our door. I rose and opened it, whereon in walked Quick, a
+grim and grimy figure, for, as his soaked clothes and soiled face told us, he
+had but just left his work in the mine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Captain wants to see you as soon as possible, gentlemen,&rdquo; he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the matter, Sergeant?&rdquo; asked Higgs, as we got into
+our garments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;ll see for yourself presently, Professor,&rdquo; was the
+laconic reply, nor could we get anything more out of him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five minutes later we were advancing at a run through the dense darkness of the
+underground city, each of us carrying a lamp. I reached the ruins of the old
+temple first, for Quick seemed very tired and lagged behind, and in that
+atmosphere Higgs was scant of breath and could not travel fast. At the doorway
+of the place where he slept stood the tall form of Oliver holding a lamp aloft.
+Evidently he was waiting for us. By his side sat the big yellow dog, Pharaoh,
+that, when he smelt us, gambolled forward, wagging his tail in greeting.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come here,&rdquo; said Orme, in a low and solemn voice, &ldquo;I have
+something to show you,&rdquo; and he led the way into the priest&rsquo;s
+chamber, or sanctuary, whatever it may have been, where he slept upon a rough,
+native-made bedstead. At the doorway he halted, lowered the lamp he held, and
+pointed to something dark on the floor to the right of his bedstead, saying,
+&ldquo;Look!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There lay a dead man, and by his side a great knife that evidently had fallen
+from his hand. At the first glance we recognised the face which, by the way,
+was singularly peaceful, as though it were that of one plunged in deep sleep.
+This seemed odd, since the throat below was literally torn out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Shadrach!&rdquo; we said, with one voice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shadrach it was; Shadrach, our former guide, who had betrayed us; Shadrach who,
+to save his own life, had shown us how to rescue Higgs, and for that service
+been pardoned, as I think I mentioned. Shadrach and no other!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Pussy seems to have been on the prowl and to have met a dog,&rdquo;
+remarked Quick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Do you understand what has happened?&rdquo; asked Oliver, in a dry, hard
+voice. &ldquo;Perhaps I had better explain before anything is moved. Shadrach
+must have crept in here last night&mdash;I don&rsquo;t know at what time, for I
+slept through it all&mdash;for purposes of his own. But he forgot his old enemy
+Pharaoh, and Pharaoh killed him. See his throat? When Pharaoh bites he
+doesn&rsquo;t growl, and, of course, Shadrach could say nothing, or, as he had
+dropped his knife, for the matter of that, do anything either. When I was woke
+up about an hour ago by the telephone bell the dog was fast asleep, for he is
+accustomed to that bell, with his head resting upon the body of Shadrach. Now
+why did Shadrach come into my room at night with a drawn knife in his
+hand?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doesn&rsquo;t seem a difficult question to answer,&rdquo; replied Higgs,
+in the high voice which was common to him when excited. &ldquo;He came here to
+murder you, and Pharaoh was too quick for him, that&rsquo;s all. That dog was
+the cheapest purchase you ever made, friend Oliver.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Orme, &ldquo;he came here to murder me&mdash;you
+were right about the risk, after all&mdash;but what I wonder is, who sent
+him?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And so you may go on wondering for the rest of your life,
+Captain,&rdquo; exclaimed Quick. &ldquo;Still, I think we might guess if we
+tried.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then news of what had happened was sent to the palace, and within little over
+an hour Maqueda arrived, accompanied by Joshua and several other members of her
+Council. When she saw and understood everything she was horrified, and sternly
+asked Joshua what he knew of this business. Of course, he proved to be
+completely innocent, and had not the slightest idea of who had set the murderer
+on to work this deed of darkness. Nor had anybody else, the general suggestion
+being that Shadrach had attempted it out of revenge, and met with the due
+reward of his crime.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Only that day poor Pharaoh was poisoned. Well, he had done his work, and his
+memory is blessed.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br />
+SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT</h2>
+
+<p>
+From this time forward all of us, and especially Oliver, were guarded night and
+day by picked men who it was believed could not be corrupted. As a consequence,
+the Tsar of Russia scarcely leads a life more irksome than ours became at Mur.
+Of privacy there was none left to us, since sentries and detectives lurked at
+every corner, while tasters were obliged to eat of each dish and drink from
+each cup before it touched our lips, lest our fate should be that of Pharaoh,
+whose loss we mourned as much as though the poor dog had been some beloved
+human being.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Most of all was it irksome, I think, to Oliver and Maqueda, whose opportunities
+of meeting were much curtailed by the exigencies of this rigid espionage. Who
+can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two soldiers armed to the teeth
+have been instructed never to let him out of their sight? Particularly is this
+so if the adored happens to be the ruler of those soldiers to whom the person
+guarded has no right to be making himself agreeable. For when off duty even the
+most faithful guardians are apt to talk. Of course, the result was that the
+pair took risks which did not escape observation. Indeed, their intimate
+relations became a matter of gossip throughout the land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still, annoying as they might be, these precautions succeeded, for none of us
+were poisoned or got our throats cut, although we were constantly the victims
+of mysterious accidents. Thus, a heavy rock rolled down upon us when we sat
+together one evening upon the hill-side, and a flight of arrows passed between
+us while we were riding along the edge of a thicket, by one of which
+Higgs&rsquo;s horse was killed. Only when the mountain and the thicket were
+searched no one could be found. Moreover, a great plot against us was
+discovered in which some of the lords and priests were implicated, but such was
+the state of feeling in the country that, beyond warning them privately that
+their machinations were known, Maqueda did not dare to take proceedings against
+these men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A little later on things mended so far as we were concerned, for the following
+reason: One day two shepherds arrived at the palace with some of their
+companions, saying that they had news to communicate. On being questioned,
+these peasants averred that while they were herding their goats upon the
+western cliffs many miles away, suddenly on the top of the hills appeared a
+body of fifteen Fung, who bound and blindfolded them, telling them in mocking
+language to take a message to the Council and to the white men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the message: That they had better make haste to destroy the god
+Harmac, since otherwise his head would move to Mur according to the prophecy,
+and that when it did so, the Fung would follow as they knew how to do. Then
+they set the two men on a rock where they could be seen, and on the following
+morning were in fact found by some of their fellows, those who accompanied them
+to the Court and corroborated this story.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of course the matter was duly investigated, but as I know, for I went with the
+search party, when we got to the place no trace of the Fung could be found,
+except one of their spears, of which the handle had been driven into the earth
+and the blade pointed toward Mur, evidently in threat or defiance. No other
+token of them remained, for, as it happened, a heavy rain had fallen and
+obliterated their footprints, which in any case must have been faint on this
+rocky ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Notwithstanding the most diligent search by skilled men, their mode of approach
+and retreat remained a mystery, as, indeed, it does to this day. The only
+places where it was supposed to be possible to scale the precipice of Mur were
+watched continually, so that they could have climbed up by none of these. The
+inference was, therefore, that the Fung had discovered some unknown path, and,
+if fifteen men could climb that path, why not fifteen thousand!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Only, where was this path? In vain were great rewards in land and honours
+offered to him who should discover it, for although such discoveries were
+continually reported, on investigation these were found to be inventions or
+mares&rsquo; nests. Nothing but a bird could have travelled by such roads.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then at last we saw the Abati thoroughly frightened, for, with additions, the
+story soon passed from mouth to mouth till the whole people talked of nothing
+else. It was as though we English learned that a huge foreign army had suddenly
+landed on our shores and, having cut the wires and seized the railways, was
+marching upon London. The effect of such tidings upon a nation that always
+believed invasion to be impossible may easily be imagined, only I hope that we
+should take them better than did the Abati.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Their swagger, their self-confidence, their talk about the &ldquo;rocky walls
+of Mur,&rdquo; evaporated in an hour. Now it was only of the disciplined and
+terrible regiments of the Fung, among whom every man was trained to war, and of
+what would happen to them, the civilized and domesticated Abati, a peace-loving
+people who rightly enough, as they declared, had refused all martial burdens,
+should these regiments suddenly appear in their midst. They cried out that they
+were betrayed&mdash;they clamoured for the blood of certain of the Councillors.
+That carpet knight, Joshua, lost popularity for a while, while Maqueda, who was
+known always to have been in favour of conscription and perfect readiness to
+repel attack, gained what he had lost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving their farms, they crowded together into the towns and villages, where
+they made what in South Africa are called laagers. Religion, which practically
+had been dead among them, for they retained but few traces of the Jewish faith
+if, indeed, they had ever really practised it, became the craze of the hour.
+Priests were at a premium; sheep and cattle were sacrificed; it was even said
+that, after the fashion of their foes the Fung, some human beings shared the
+same fate. At any rate the Almighty was importuned hourly to destroy the hated
+Fung and to protect His people&mdash;the Abati&mdash;from the results of their
+own base selfishness and cowardly neglect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, the world has seen such exhibitions before to-day, and will doubtless see
+more of them in the instance of greater peoples who allow luxury and
+pleasure-seeking to sap their strength and manhood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The upshot of it all was that the Abati became obsessed with the saying of the
+Fung scouts to the shepherds, which, after all, was but a repetition of that of
+their envoys delivered to the Council a little while before: that they should
+hasten to destroy the idol Harmac, lest he should move himself to Mur. How an
+idol of such proportions, or even its head, could move at all they did not stop
+to inquire. It was obvious to them, however, that if he was destroyed there
+would be nothing to move and, further, that we Gentiles were the only persons
+who could possibly effect such destruction. So we also became popular for a
+little while. Everybody was pleasant and flattered us&mdash;everybody, even
+Joshua, bowed when we approached, and took a most lively interest in the
+progress of our work, which many deputations and prominent individuals urged us
+to expedite.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Better still, the untoward accidents such as those I have mentioned, ceased.
+Our dogs, for we had obtained some others, were no longer poisoned; rocks that
+appeared fixed did not fall; no arrows whistled among us when we went out
+riding. We even found it safe occasionally to dispense with our guards, since
+it was every one&rsquo;s interest to keep us alive&mdash;for the present.
+Still, I for one was not deceived for a single moment, and in season and out of
+season warned the others that the wind would soon blow again from a less
+favourable quarter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We worked, we worked, we worked! Heaven alone knows how we did work. Think of
+the task, which, after all, was only one of several. A tunnel must be bored,
+for I forget how far, through virgin rock, with the help of inadequate tools
+and unskilled labour, and this tunnel must be finished by a certain date. A
+hundred unexpected difficulties arose, and one by one were conquered. Great
+dangers must be run, and were avoided, while the responsibility of this
+tremendous engineering feat lay upon the shoulders of a single individual,
+Oliver Orme, who, although he had been educated as an engineer, had no great
+practical experience of such enterprises.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Truly the occasion makes the man, for Orme rose to it in a way that I can only
+call heroic. When he was not actually in the tunnel he was labouring at his
+calculations, of which many must be made, or taking levels with such
+instruments as he had. For if there proved to be the slightest error all this
+toil would be in vain, and result only in the blowing of a useless hole through
+a mass of rock. Then there was a great question as to the effect which would be
+produced by the amount of explosive at his disposal, since terrible as might be
+the force of the stuff, unless it were scientifically placed and distributed it
+would assuredly fail to accomplish the desired end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, after superhuman efforts, the mine was finished. Our stock of
+concentrated explosive, about four full camel loads of it, was set in as many
+separate chambers, each of them just large enough to receive the charge,
+hollowed in the primæval rock from which the idol had been hewn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These chambers were about twenty feet from each other, although if there had
+been time to prolong the tunnel, the distance should have been at least forty
+in order to give the stuff a wider range of action. According to Oliver&rsquo;s
+mathematical reckoning, they were cut in the exact centre of the base of the
+idol, and about thirty feet below the actual body of the crouching sphinx. As a
+matter of fact this reckoning was wrong in several particulars, the charges
+having been set farther toward the east or head of the sphinx and higher up in
+the base than he supposed. When it is remembered that he had found no
+opportunity of measuring the monument which practically we had only seen once
+from behind under conditions not favourable to accuracy in such respects, or of
+knowing its actual length and depth, these trifling errors were not remarkable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What was remarkable is that his general plan of operations, founded upon a mere
+hypothetical estimate, should have proved as accurate as it did.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length all was prepared, and the deadly cast-iron flasks had been packed in
+sand, together with dynamite cartridges, the necessary detonators, electric
+wires, and so forth, an anxious and indeed awful task executed entirely in that
+stifling atmosphere by the hands of Orme and Quick. Then began another labour,
+that of the filling in of the tunnels. This, it seems, was necessary, or so I
+understood, lest the expanding gases, following the line of least resistance,
+should blow back, as it were, through the vent-hole. What made that task the
+more difficult was the need of cutting a little channel in the rock to contain
+the wires, and thereby lessen the risk of the fracture of these wires in the
+course of the building-up process. Of course, if by any accident this should
+happen, the circuit would be severed, and no explosion would follow when the
+electric battery was set to work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The arrangement was that the mine should be fired on the night of that full
+moon on which we had been told, and spies confirmed the information, the feast
+of the marriage of Barung&rsquo;s daughter to my son would be celebrated in the
+city of Harmac. This date was fixed because the Sultan had announced that so
+soon as that festivity, which coincided with the conclusion of the harvest, was
+ended, he meant to deliver his attack on Mur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also, we were anxious that it should be adhered to for another reason, since we
+knew that on this day but a small number of priests and guards would be left in
+charge of the idol, and my son could not be among them. Now, whatever may have
+been the views of the Abati, we as Christians who bore them no malice did not
+at all desire to destroy an enormous number of innocent Fung, as might have
+happened if we had fired our mine when the people were gathered to sacrifice to
+their god.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The fatal day arrived at last. All was completed, save for the blocking of the
+passage, which still went on, or, rather, was being reinforced by the piling up
+of loose rocks against its mouth, at which a hundred or so men laboured
+incessantly. The firing wires had been led into that little chamber in the old
+temple where the dog Pharaoh tore out the throat of Shadrach, and no inch of
+them was left unguarded for fear of accident or treachery.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The electric batteries&mdash;two of them, in case one should fail&mdash;had
+been tested but not connected with the wires. There they stood upon the floor,
+looking innocent enough, and we four sat round them like wizards round their
+magic pot, who await the working of some spell. We were not cheerful; who could
+be under so intense a strain? Orme, indeed, who had grown pale and thin with
+continuous labour of mind and body, seemed quite worn out. He could not eat nor
+smoke, and with difficulty I persuaded him to drink some of the native wine. He
+would not even go to look at the completion of the work or to test the wires.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You can see to it,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;I have done all I can. Now
+things must take their chance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After our midday meal he lay down and slept quite soundly for several hours.
+About four o&rsquo;clock those who were labouring at the piling up of débris
+over the mouth of the tunnel completed their task, and, in charge of Quick,
+were marched out of the underground city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Higgs and I took lamps and went along the length of the wires, which lay
+in a little trench covered over with dust, removing the dust and inspecting
+them at intervals. Discovering nothing amiss, we returned to the old temple,
+and at its doorway met the mountaineer, Japhet, who throughout all these
+proceedings had been our prop and stay. Indeed, without his help and that of
+his authority over the Abati the mine could never have been completed, at any
+rate within the time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The light of the lamp showed that his face was very anxious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is the matter?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Physician,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;I have words for the ear of the
+Captain Orme. Be pleased to lead me to him.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We explained that he slept and could not be disturbed, but Japhet only answered
+as before, adding:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come you with me, my words are for your ears as well as his.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we went into the little room and awoke Oliver, who sprang up in a great
+fright, thinking that something untoward had happened at the mine.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s wrong?&rdquo; he asked of Japhet. &ldquo;Have the Fung cut
+the wires?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay, O Orme, a worse thing; I have discovered that the Prince Joshua has
+laid a plot to steal away &lsquo;Her-whose-name-is-high.&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What do you mean? Set out all the story, Japhet,&rdquo; said Oliver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is short, lord. I have some friends, one of whom&mdash;he is of my
+own blood, but ask me not his name&mdash;is in the service of the Prince. We
+drank a cup of wine together, which I needed, and I suppose it loosed his
+tongue. At any rate, he told me, and I believed him. This is the story. For his
+own sake and that of the people the Prince desires that you should destroy the
+idol of Fung, and therefore he has kept his hands off you of late. Yet should
+you succeed, he does not know what may happen. He fears lest the Abati in their
+gratitude should set you up as great men.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then he is an ass!&rdquo; interrupted Quick; &ldquo;for the Abati have
+no gratitude.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He fears,&rdquo; went on Japhet, &ldquo;other things also. For instance,
+that the Child of Kings may express that gratitude by a mark of her signal
+favour toward one of you,&rdquo; and he stared at Orme, who turned his head
+aside. &ldquo;Now, the Prince is affianced to this great lady, whom he desires
+to wed for two reasons: First, because this marriage will make him the chief
+man amongst the Abati, and, secondly, because of late he has come to think that
+he loves her whom he is afraid that he may lose. So he has set a snare.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What snare?&rdquo; asked one of us, for Japhet paused.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; answered Japhet, &ldquo;and I do not think
+that my friend knew either, or, if he did, he would not tell me. But I
+understand the plot is that the Child of Kings is to be carried off to the
+Prince Joshua&rsquo;s castle at the other end of the lake, six hours&rsquo;
+ride away, and there be forced to marry him at once.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed,&rdquo; said Orme, &ldquo;and when is all this to happen?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, lord. I know nothing except what my friend told me,
+which I thought it right to communicate to you instantly. I asked him the time,
+however, and he said that he believed the date was fixed for one night after
+next Sabbath.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Next Sabbath is five days hence, so that this matter does not seem to be
+very pressing,&rdquo; remarked Oliver with a sigh of relief. &ldquo;Are you
+sure that you can trust your friend, Japhet?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, lord, I am not sure, especially as I have always known him to be a
+liar. Still, I thought that I ought to tell you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very kind of you, Japhet, but I wish that you had let me have my sleep
+out first. Now go down the line and see that all is right, then return and
+report.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Japhet saluted in his native fashion and went.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What do you think of this story?&rdquo; asked Oliver, as soon as he was
+out of hearing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All bosh,&rdquo; answered Higgs; &ldquo;the place is full of talk and
+rumours, and this is one of them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He paused and looked at me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh!&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;I agree with Higgs. If Japhet&rsquo;s friend
+had really anything to tell he would have told it in more detail. I daresay
+there are a good many things Joshua would like to do, but I expect he will stop
+there, at any rate, for the present. If you take my advice you will say nothing
+of the matter, especially to Maqueda.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then we are all agreed. But what are you thinking of, Sergeant?&rdquo;
+asked Oliver, addressing Quick, who stood in a corner of the room, lost
+apparently in contemplation of the floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I, Captain,&rdquo; he replied, coming to attention. &ldquo;Well, begging
+their pardon, I was thinking that I don&rsquo;t hold with these gentlemen,
+except in so far that I should say nothing of this job to our Lady, who has
+plenty to bother her just now, and won&rsquo;t need to be frightened as well.
+Still, there may be something in it, for though that Japhet is stupid,
+he&rsquo;s honest, and honest men sometimes get hold of the right end of the
+stick. At least, he believes there is something, and that&rsquo;s what weighs
+with me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, if that&rsquo;s your opinion, what&rsquo;s best to be done
+Sergeant? I agree that the Child of Kings should not be told, and I
+shan&rsquo;t leave this place till after ten o&rsquo;clock to-night at the
+earliest, if we stick to our plans, as we had better do, for all that stuff in
+the tunnel wants a little time to settle, and for other reasons. What are you
+drawing there?&rdquo; and he pointed to the floor, in the dust of which Quick
+was tracing something with his finger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A plan of our Lady&rsquo;s private rooms, Captain. She told you she was
+going to rest at sundown, didn&rsquo;t she, or earlier, for she was up most of
+last night, and wanted to get a few hours&rsquo; sleep before&mdash;something
+happens. Well, her bed-chamber is there, isn&rsquo;t it? and another before it,
+in which her maids sleep, and nothing behind except a high wall and a ditch
+which cannot be climbed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s quite true,&rdquo; interrupted Higgs. &ldquo;I got leave to
+make a plan of the palace, only there is a passage six feet wide and twenty
+long leading from the guard chamber to the ladies&rsquo; anteroom.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Just so, Professor, and that passage has a turn in it, if I remember
+right, so that two well-armed men could hold it against quite a lot. Supposing
+now that you and I, Professor, should go and take a nap in that guard-room,
+which will be empty, for the watch is set at the palace gate. We shan&rsquo;t
+be wanted here, since if the Captain can&rsquo;t touch off that mine, no one
+can, with the Doctor to help him just in case anything goes wrong, and Japhet
+guarding the line. I daresay there&rsquo;s nothing in this yarn, but who knows?
+There might be, and then we should blame ourselves. What do you say,
+Professor?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I? Oh, I&rsquo;ll do anything you wish, though I should rather have
+liked to climb the cliff and watch what happens.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You&rsquo;d see nothing, Higgs,&rdquo; interrupted Oliver, &ldquo;except
+perhaps the reflection of a flash in the sky; so, if you don&rsquo;t mind, I
+wish you would go with the Sergeant. Somehow, although I am quite certain that
+we ought not to alarm Maqueda, I am not easy about her, and if you two fellows
+were there, I should know she was all right, and it would be a weight off my
+mind.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That settles it,&rdquo; said Higgs; &ldquo;we&rsquo;ll be off presently.
+Look here, give us that portable telephone, which is of no use anywhere else
+now. The wire will reach to the palace, and if the machine works all right we
+can talk to you and tell each other how things are going on.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ten minutes later they had made their preparations. Quick stepped up to Oliver
+and stood at attention, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ready to march. Any more orders, Captain?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think not, Sergeant,&rdquo; he answered, lifting his eyes from the
+little batteries that he was watching as though they were live things.
+&ldquo;You know the arrangements. At ten o&rsquo;clock&mdash;that is about two
+hours hence&mdash;I touch this switch. Whatever happens it must not be done
+before, for fear lest the Doctor&rsquo;s son should not have left the idol, to
+say nothing of all the other poor beggars. The spies say that the marriage
+feast will not be celebrated until at least three hours after moonrise.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And that&rsquo;s what I heard when I was a prisoner,&rdquo; interrupted
+Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I daresay,&rdquo; answered Orme; &ldquo;but it is always well to allow a
+margin in case the procession should be delayed, or something. So until ten
+o&rsquo;clock I&rsquo;ve got to stop where I am, and you may be sure, Doctor,
+that under no circumstances shall I fire the mine before that hour, as indeed
+you will be here to see. After that I can&rsquo;t say what will happen, but if
+we don&rsquo;t appear, you two had better come to look for us&mdash;in case of
+accidents, you know. Do your best at your end according to circumstances; the
+Doctor and I will do our best at ours. I think that is all, Sergeant. Report
+yourselves by the telephone if the wire is long enough and it will work, which
+I daresay it won&rsquo;t, and, anyway, look out for us about half-past ten.
+Good-bye!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good-bye, Captain,&rdquo; answered Quick, then stretched out his hand,
+shook that of Orme, and without another word took his lamp and left the chamber.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An impulse prompted me to follow him, leaving Orme and Higgs discussing
+something before they parted. When he had walked about fifty yards in the awful
+silence of that vast underground town, of which the ruined tenements yawned on
+either side of us, the Sergeant stopped and said suddenly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t believe in presentiments, do you, Doctor?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not a bit,&rdquo; I answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Glad of it, Doctor. Still, I have got a bad one now, and it is that I
+shan&rsquo;t see the Captain or you any more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then that&rsquo;s a poor look-out for us, Quick.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Doctor, for me. I think you are both all right, and the Professor,
+too. It&rsquo;s my name they are calling up aloft, or so it seems to me. Well,
+I don&rsquo;t care much, for, though no saint, I have tried to do my duty, and
+if it is done, it&rsquo;s done. If it&rsquo;s written, it&rsquo;s got to come
+to pass, hasn&rsquo;t it? For everything is written down for us long before we
+begin, or so I&rsquo;ve always thought. Still, I&rsquo;ll grieve to part from
+the Captain, seeing that I nursed him as a child, and I&rsquo;d have liked to
+know him well out of this hole, and safely married to that sweet lady first,
+though I don&rsquo;t doubt that it will be so.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nonsense, Sergeant,&rdquo; I said sharply; &ldquo;you are not yourself;
+all this work and anxiety has got on your nerves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;As it well might, Doctor, not but I daresay that&rsquo;s true. Anyhow,
+if the other is the true thing, and you should all see old England again with
+some of the stuff in that dead-house, I&rsquo;ve got three nieces living down
+at home whom you might remember. Don&rsquo;t say nothing of what I told you to
+the Captain till this night&rsquo;s game is played, seeing that it might upset
+him, and he&rsquo;ll need to keep cool up to ten o&rsquo;clock, and afterwards
+too, perhaps. Only if we shouldn&rsquo;t meet again, say that Samuel Quick sent
+him his duty and God&rsquo;s blessing. And the same on yourself, Doctor, and
+your son, too. And now here comes the Professor, so good-bye.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A minute later they had left me, and I stood watching them until the two stars
+of light from their lanterns vanished into the blackness.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br />
+HARMAC COMES TO MUR</h2>
+
+<p>
+Slowly and in very bad spirits I retraced my steps to the old temple, following
+the line of the telephone wire which Higgs and Quick had unreeled as they went.
+In the Sergeant&rsquo;s prognostications of evil I had no particular belief, as
+they seemed to me to be born of the circumstances which surrounded us, and in
+different ways affected all our minds, even that of the buoyant Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To take my own case, for instance. Here I was about to assist in an act which
+for aught I knew might involve the destruction of my only son. It was true we
+believed that this was the night of his marriage at the town of Harmac, some
+miles away, and that the tale of our spies supported this information. But how
+could we be sure that the date, or the place of the ceremony, had not been
+changed at the last moment? Supposing, for instance, that it was held, not in
+the town, as arranged, but in the courts of the idol, and that the fearful
+activities of the fiery agent which we were about to wake to life should sweep
+the celebrants into nothingness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The thought made me turn cold, and yet the deed must be done; Roderick must
+take his chance. And if all were well, and he escaped that danger, were there
+not worse behind? Think of him, a Christian man, the husband of a savage woman
+who worshipped a stone image with a lion&rsquo;s head, bound to her and her
+tribe, a state prisoner, trebly guarded, whom, so far as I could see, there
+would be no hope of rescuing. It was awful. Then there were other
+complications. If the plan succeeded and the idol was destroyed, my own belief
+was that the Fung must thereby be exasperated. Evidently they knew some road
+into this stronghold. It would be used. They would pour their thousands up it,
+a general massacre would follow, of which, justly, we should be the first
+victims.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I reached the chamber where Oliver sat brooding alone, for Japhet was
+patrolling the line.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am not happy about Maqueda, Doctor,&rdquo; he said to me. &ldquo;I am
+afraid there is something in that story. She wanted to be with us; indeed, she
+begged to be allowed to come almost with tears. But I wouldn&rsquo;t have it,
+since accidents may always happen; the vibration might shake in the roof or
+something; in fact, I don&rsquo;t think you should be here. Why don&rsquo;t you
+go away and leave me?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I answered that nothing would induce me to do so, for such a job should not be
+left to one man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, you&rsquo;re right,&rdquo; he said; &ldquo;I might faint or lose my
+head or anything. I wish now that we had arranged to send the spark from the
+palace, which perhaps we might have done by joining the telephone wire on to
+the others. But, to tell you the truth, I&rsquo;m afraid of the batteries. The
+cells are new but very weak, for time and the climate have affected them, and I
+thought it possible the extra distance might make the difference and that they
+would fail to work. That&rsquo;s why I fixed this as the firing point. Hullo,
+there&rsquo;s the bell. What have they got to say?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I snatched the receiver, and presently heard the cheerful voice of Higgs
+announcing that they had arrived safely in the little anteroom to
+Maqueda&rsquo;s private apartments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The palace seems very empty,&rdquo; he added; &ldquo;we only met one
+sentry, for I think that everybody else, except Maqueda and a few of her
+ladies, have cleared out, being afraid lest rocks should fall on them when the
+explosion occurs.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Did the man say so?&rdquo; I asked of Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, something of that sort; also he wanted to forbid us to come here,
+saying that it was against the Prince Joshua&rsquo;s orders that we Gentiles
+should approach the private apartments of the Child of Kings. Well, we soon
+settled that, and he bolted. Where to? Oh! I don&rsquo;t know; to report, he
+said.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How&rsquo;s Quick?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Much the same as usual. In fact, he is saying his prayers in the corner,
+looking like a melancholy brigand with rifles, revolvers, and knives stuck all
+over him. I wish he wouldn&rsquo;t say his prayers,&rdquo; added Higgs, and his
+voice reached me in an indignant squeak; &ldquo;it makes me feel uncomfortable,
+as though I ought to join him. But not having been brought up a Dissenter or a
+Moslem, I can&rsquo;t pray in public as he does. Hullo! Wait a minute, will
+you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed a longish pause, and after it Higgs&rsquo;s voice again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; it said. &ldquo;Only one of Maqueda&rsquo;s
+ladies who had heard us and come to see who we were. When she learns I expect
+she will join us here, as the girl says she&rsquo;s nervous and can&rsquo;t
+sleep.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Higgs proved right in his anticipations, for in about ten minutes we were rung
+up again, this time by Maqueda herself, whereon I handed the receiver to Oliver
+and retired to the other end of the room.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor, to tell the truth, was I sorry for the interruption, since it cheered up
+Oliver and helped to pass the time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The next thing worth telling that happened was that, an hour or more later,
+Japhet arrived, looking very frightened. We asked him our usual question: if
+anything was wrong with the wires. With a groan he answered &ldquo;No,&rdquo;
+the wires seemed all right, but he had met a ghost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What ghost, you donkey?&rdquo; I said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The ghost of one of the dead kings, O Physician, yonder in the burial
+cave. It was he with the bent bones who sits in the farthest chair. Only he had
+put some flesh on his bones, and I tell you he looked fearful, a very fierce
+man, or rather ghost.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Indeed, and did he say anything to you, Japhet?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! yes, plenty, O Physician, only I could not understand it all,
+because his language was somewhat different to mine, and he spat out his words
+as a green log spits out sparks. I think that he asked me, however, how my
+miserable people dared to destroy his god, Harmac. I answered that I was only a
+servant and did not know, adding that he should put his questions to you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And what did he say to that, Japhet?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think he said that Harmac would come to Mur and settle his account
+with the Abati, and that the foreign men would be wise to fly fast and far.
+That&rsquo;s all I understood; ask me no more, who would not return into that
+cave to be made a prince.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;He&rsquo;s got hold of what Barung&rsquo;s envoys told us,&rdquo; said
+Oliver, indifferently, &ldquo;and no wonder, this place is enough to make
+anybody see ghosts. I&rsquo;ll repeat it to Maqueda; it will amuse her.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t if I were you,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;for it
+isn&rsquo;t exactly a cheerful yarn, and perhaps she&rsquo;s afraid of ghosts
+too. Also,&rdquo; and I pointed to the watch that lay on the table beside the
+batteries, &ldquo;it is five minutes to ten.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oh! that last five minutes! It seemed as many centuries. Like stone statues we
+sat, each of us lost in his own thoughts, though for my part the power of clear
+thinking appeared to have left me. Visions of a sort flowed over my mind
+without sinking into it, as water flows over marble. All I could do was fix my
+eyes on the face of that watch, of which in the flickering lamp-light the
+second-hand seemed to my excited fancy to grow enormous and jump from one side
+of the room to the other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme began to count aloud. &ldquo;One, two, three, four,
+five&mdash;<i>now</i>!&rdquo; and almost simultaneously he touched the knob
+first of one battery and next of the other. Before his finger pressed the
+left-hand knob I felt the solid rock beneath us surge&mdash;no other word
+conveys its movement. Then the great stone cross-piece, weighing several tons,
+that was set as a transom above the tall door of our room, dislodged itself,
+and fell quite gently into the doorway, which it completely blocked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other rocks fell also at a distance, making a great noise, and somehow I found
+myself on the ground, my stool had slid away from me. Next followed a muffled,
+awful roar, and with it came a blast of wind blowing where wind never blew
+before since the beginning of the world, that with a terrible wailing howled
+itself to silence in the thousand recesses of the cave city. As it passed our
+lamps went out. Lastly, quite a minute later I should think, there was a thud,
+as though something of enormous weight had fallen on the surface of the earth
+far above us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then all was as it had been; all was darkness and utter quietude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, that&rsquo;s over,&rdquo; said Oliver, in a strained voice which
+sounded very small and far away through that thick darkness; &ldquo;all over
+for good or ill. I needn&rsquo;t have been anxious; the first battery was
+strong enough, for I felt the mine spring as I touched the second. I
+wonder,&rdquo; he went on, as though speaking to himself, &ldquo;what amount of
+damage nearly a ton and a half of that awful azo-imide compound has done to the
+old sphinx. According to my calculations it ought to have been enough to break
+the thing up, if we could have spread the charge more. But, as it is, I am by
+no means certain. It may only have driven a hole in its bulk, especially if
+there were hollows through which the gases could run. Well, with luck, we may
+know more about it later. Strike a match, Adams, and light those lamps. Why,
+what&rsquo;s that? Listen!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he spoke, from somewhere came a series of tiny noises, that, though they
+were so faint and small, suggested rifles fired at a great distance. Crack,
+crack, crack! went the infinitesimal noises.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I groped about, and finding the receiver of the field telephone, set it to my
+ear. In an instant all grew plain to me. Guns were being fired near the other
+end of the wire, and the transmitter was sending us the sound of them. Very
+faintly but with distinctness I could hear Higgs&rsquo;s high voice saying,
+&ldquo;Look out, Sergeant, there&rsquo;s another rush coming!&rdquo; and Quick
+answering, &ldquo;Shoot low, Professor; for the Lord&rsquo;s sake shoot low.
+You are empty, sir. Load up, load up! Here&rsquo;s a clip of cartridges.
+Don&rsquo;t fire too fast. Ah! that devil got me, but I&rsquo;ve got him;
+he&rsquo;ll never throw another spear.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;They are being attacked!&rdquo; I exclaimed. &ldquo;Quick is wounded.
+Now Maqueda is talking to you. She says, &lsquo;Oliver, come! Joshua&rsquo;s
+men assail me. Oliver, come!&rsquo;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed a great sound of shouting answered by more shots, and just as
+Orme snatched the receiver from my hand the wire went dead. In vain he called
+down it in an agonized voice. As well might he have addressed the planet Saturn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The wire&rsquo;s cut,&rdquo; he exclaimed, dashing down the receiver and
+seizing the lantern which Japhet had just succeeded in re-lighting; &ldquo;come
+on, there&rsquo;s murder being done,&rdquo; and he sprang to the doorway, only
+to stagger back again from the great stone with which it was blocked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Good God!&rdquo; he screamed, &ldquo;we&rsquo;re shut in. How can we get
+out? How can we get out?&rdquo; and he began to run round and round the room,
+and even to spring at the walls like a frightened cat. Thrice he sprang,
+striving to climb to the coping, for the place had no roof, each time falling
+back, since it was too high for him to grasp. I caught him round the middle,
+and held him by main force, although he struck at me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be quiet,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;do you want to kill yourself? You will
+be no good dead or maimed. Let me think.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Japhet was acting on his own account, for he, too, had heard the
+tiny, ominous sounds given out by the telephone and guessed their purport.
+First he ran to the massive transom that blocked the doorway and pushed. It was
+useless; not even an elephant could have stirred it. Then he stepped back,
+examining it carefully.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think it can be climbed, Physician,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Help me
+now,&rdquo; and he motioned to me to take one end of the heavy table on which
+the batteries stood. We dragged it to the doorway, and, seeing his purpose,
+Oliver jumped on to it with him. Then at Japhet&rsquo;s direction, while I
+supported the table to prevent its oversetting, Orme rested his forehead
+against the stone, making what schoolboys call &ldquo;a back,&rdquo; up which
+the mountaineer climbed actively until he stood upon his shoulders, and by
+stretching himself was able to grasp the end of the fallen transom. Next, while
+I held up the lamp to give him light, he gripped the roughnesses of the hewn
+stone with his toes, and in a few moments was upon the coping of the wall,
+twenty feet or more above the floor line.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rest was comparatively easy, for taking off his linen robe, Japhet knotted
+it once or twice, and let it down to us. By the help of this improvised rope,
+with Orme supporting me beneath, I, too, was dragged up to the coping of the
+wall. Then both of us pulled up Oliver, who, without a word, swung himself over
+the wall, hanging to Japhet&rsquo;s arms, and loosing his hold, dropped to the
+ground on the farther side. Next came my turn. It was a long fall, and had not
+Oliver caught me I think that I should have hurt myself. As it was, the breath
+was shaken out of me. Lastly, Japhet swung himself down, landing lightly as a
+cat. The lamps he had already dropped to us, and in another minute they were
+all lighted, and we were speeding down the great cavern.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be careful,&rdquo; I cried; &ldquo;there may be fallen rocks
+about.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As it happened I was right, for at that moment Oliver struck his legs against
+one of them and fell, cutting himself a good deal. In a moment he was up again,
+but after this our progress grew slow, for hundreds of tons of stone had been
+shaken from the roof and blocked the path. Also, whole buildings of the ancient
+and underground city had been thrown down, although these were mostly blown
+inward by the rush of air. At length we came to the end of the cave, and halted
+dismayed, for here, where the blast of the explosion had been brought to a full
+stop, the place seemed to be crowded with rocks which it had rolled before it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My God! I believe we are shut in,&rdquo; exclaimed Oliver in despair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Japhet, lantern in hand, was already leaping from block to block, and
+presently, from the top of the débris, called to us to come to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think there is a road left, though a bad one, lords,&rdquo; he said,
+and pointed to a jagged, well-like hole blown out, as I believe, by the recoil
+of the blast. With difficulty and danger, for many of the piled up stones were
+loose, we climbed down this place, and at its bottom squeezed ourselves through
+a narrow aperture on to the floor of the cave, praying that the huge door which
+led to the passage beyond might not be jammed, since if it were, as we knew
+well, our small strength would not avail to move it. Happily, this fear at
+least proved groundless, since it opened outward, and the force of the
+compressed air had torn it from its massive stone hinges and thrown it
+shattered to the ground.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We scrambled over it, and advanced down the passage, our revolvers in our
+hands. We reached the audience hall, which was empty and in darkness. We turned
+to the left, crossing various chambers, and in the last of them, through which
+one of the gates of the palace could be approached, met with the first signs of
+the tragedy, for there were bloodstains on the floor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme pointed to them as he hurried on, and suddenly a man leapt out of the
+darkness as a buck leaps from a bush, and ran past us, holding his hands to his
+side, where evidently he had some grievous hurt. Now we entered the corridor
+leading to the private apartments of the Child of Kings, and found ourselves
+walking on the bodies of dead and dying men. One of the former I observed, as
+one does notice little things at such a moment, held in his hand the broken
+wire of the field telephone. I presume that he had snatched and severed it in
+his death pang at the moment when communication ceased between us and the
+palace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We rushed into the little antechamber, in which lights were burning, and there
+saw a sight that I for one never shall forget.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the foreground lay more dead men, all of them wearing the livery of Prince
+Joshua. Beyond was Sergeant Quick, seated on a chair. He seemed to be literally
+hacked to pieces. An arrow that no one had attempted to remove was fast in his
+shoulder; his head, which Maqueda was sponging with wet cloths&mdash;well, I
+will not describe his wounds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaning against the wall near by stood Higgs, also bleeding, and apparently
+quite exhausted. Behind, besides Maqueda herself, were two or three of her
+ladies, wringing their hands and weeping. In face of this terrible spectacle we
+came to a sudden halt. No word was spoken by any one, for the power of speech
+had left us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dying Quick opened his eyes, lifted his hand, upon which there was a
+ghastly sword-cut, to his forehead, as though to shade them from the
+light&mdash;ah! how well I recall that pathetic motion&mdash;and from beneath
+this screen stared at us a while. Then he rose from the chair, touched his
+throat to show that he could not speak, as I suppose, saluted Orme, turned and
+pointed to Maqueda, and with a triumphant smile sank down and&mdash;died.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the noble end of Sergeant Quick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To describe what followed is not easy, for the scene was confused. Also shock
+and sorrow have blurred its recollection in my mind. I remember Maqueda and
+Orme falling into each other&rsquo;s arms before everybody. I remember her
+drawing herself up in that imperial way of hers, and saying, as she pointed to
+the body of Quick:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There lies one who has shown us how to die. This countryman of yours was
+a hero, O Oliver, and you should hold his memory in honour, since he saved me
+from worse than death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What&rsquo;s the story?&rdquo; asked Orme of Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A simple one enough,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;We got here all right,
+as we told you over the wire. Then Maqueda talked to you for a long while until
+you rang off, saying you wanted to speak to Japhet. After that, at ten
+o&rsquo;clock precisely, we heard the thud of the explosion. Next, as we were
+preparing to go out to see what had happened, Joshua arrived alone, announced
+that the idol Harmac had been destroyed, and demanded that the Child of Kings,
+&lsquo;for State reasons,&rsquo; should accompany him to his own castle. She
+declined and, as he insisted, I took it upon myself to kick him out of the
+place. He retired, and we saw no more of him, but a few minutes later there
+came a shower of arrows down the passage, and after them a rush of men, who
+called, &lsquo;Death to the Gentiles. Rescue the Rose.&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So we began to shoot and knocked over a lot of them, but Quick got that
+arrow through his shoulder. Three times they came on like that, and three times
+we drove them back. At last our cartridges ran low, and we only had our
+revolvers left, which we emptied into them. They hung a moment, but moved
+forward again, and all seemed up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then Quick went mad. He snatched the sword of a dead Abati and ran at
+them roaring like a bull. They hacked and cut at him, but the end of it was
+that he drove them right out of the passage, while I followed, firing past him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, those who were left of the blackguards bolted, and when they had
+gone the Sergeant tumbled down. The women and I carried him back here, but he
+never said another word, and at last you turned up. Now he&rsquo;s gone, God
+rest him, for if ever there was a hero in this world he was christened Samuel
+Quick!&rdquo; and, turning aside, the Professor pushed up the blue spectacles
+he always wore on to his forehead, and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With grief more bitter than I can describe we lifted up the body of the gallant
+Quick and, bearing it into Maqueda&rsquo;s private apartment, placed it on her
+own bed, for she insisted that the man who had died to protect her should be
+laid nowhere else. It was strange to see the grim old soldier, whose face, now
+that I had washed his wounds, looked calm and even beautiful, laid out to sleep
+his last sleep upon the couch of the Child of Kings. That bed, I remember, was
+a rich and splendid thing, made of some black wood inlaid with scrolls of gold,
+and having hung about it curtains of white net embroidered with golden stars,
+such as Maqueda wore upon her official veil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There upon the scented pillows and silken coverlet we set our burden down, the
+work-worn hands clasped upon the breast in an attitude of prayer, and one by
+one bid our farewell to this faithful and upright man, whose face, as it
+chanced, we were never to see again, except in the glass of memory. Well, he
+had died as he had lived and would have wished to die&mdash;doing his duty and
+in war. And so we left him. Peace be to his honoured spirit!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the blood-stained ante-room, while I dressed and stitched up the
+Professor&rsquo;s wounds, a sword-cut on the head, an arrow-graze along the
+face, and a spear-prick in the thigh, none of them happily at all deep or
+dangerous, we held a brief council.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Friends,&rdquo; said Maqueda, who was leaning on her lover&rsquo;s arm,
+&ldquo;it is not safe that we should stop here. My uncle&rsquo;s plot has
+failed for the moment, but it was only a small and secret thing. I think that
+soon he will return again with a thousand at his back, and
+then&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is in your mind?&rdquo; asked Oliver. &ldquo;To fly from Mur?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How can we fly,&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;when the pass is guarded by
+Joshua&rsquo;s men, and the Fung wait for us without? The Abati hate you, my
+friends, and now that you have done your work I think that they will kill you
+if they can, whom they bore with only till it was done. Alas! alas! that I
+should have brought you to this false and ungrateful country,&rdquo; and she
+began to weep, while we stared at each other, helpless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Japhet, who all this while had been crouched on the floor, rocking himself
+to and fro and mourning in his Eastern fashion for Quick, whom he had loved,
+rose, and, coming to the Child of Kings, prostrated himself before her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Walda Nagasta,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;hear the words of your servant.
+Only three miles away, near to the mouth of the pass, are encamped five hundred
+men of my own people, the Mountaineers, who hate Prince Joshua and his
+following. Fly to them, O Walda Nagasta, for they will cleave to you and listen
+to me whom you have made a chief among them. Afterwards you can act as may seem
+wisest.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda looked at Oliver questioningly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think that is good advice,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;At any rate, we
+can&rsquo;t be worse off among the Mountaineers than we are in this undefended
+place. Tell your women to bring cloaks that we can throw over our heads, and
+let us go.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five minutes later, a forlorn group filled with fears, we had stolen over the
+dead and dying in the passage, and made our way to the side gate of the palace
+that we found open, and over the bridge that spanned the moat beyond, which was
+down. Doubtless Joshua&rsquo;s ruffians had used it in their approach and
+retreat. Disguised in the long cloaks with monk-like hoods that the Abati wore
+at night or when the weather was cold and wet, we hurried across the great
+square. Here, since we could not escape them, we mingled with the crowd that
+was gathered at its farther end, all of them&mdash;men, women and
+children&mdash;chattering like monkeys in the tree-tops, and pointing to the
+cliff at the back of the palace, beneath which, it will be remembered, lay the
+underground city.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A band of soldiers rode by, thrusting their way through the people, and in
+order to avoid them we thought it wise to take refuge in the shadow of a walk
+of green-leaved trees which grew close at hand, for we feared lest they might
+recognize Oliver by his height. Here we turned and looked up at the cliff, to
+discover what it was at which every one was staring. At that moment the full
+moon, which had been obscured by a cloud, broke out, and we saw a spectacle
+that under the circumstances was nothing less than terrifying.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cliff behind the palace rose to a height of about a hundred and fifty feet,
+and, as it chanced, just there a portion of it jutted out in an oblong shape,
+which the Abati called the Lion Rock, although personally, heretofore, I had
+never been able to see in it any great resemblance to a lion. Now, however, it
+was different, for on the very extremity of this rock, staring down at Mur, sat
+the head and neck of the huge lion-faced idol of the Fung. Indeed, in that
+light, with the promontory stretching away behind it, it looked as though it
+were the idol itself, moved from the valley upon the farther side of the
+precipice to the top of the cliff above.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! oh! oh!&rdquo; groaned Japhet, &ldquo;the prophecy is
+fulfilled&mdash;the head of Harmac has come to sleep at Mur.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You mean that we have sent him there,&rdquo; whispered Higgs.
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be frightened, man; can&rsquo;t you understand that the
+power of our medicine has blown the head off the sphinx high into the air, and
+landed it where it sits now?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I put in, &ldquo;and what we felt in the cave was the shock
+of its fall.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care what brought him,&rdquo; replied Japhet, who seemed
+quite unstrung by all that he had gone through. &ldquo;All I know is that the
+prophecy is fulfilled, and Harmac has come to Mur, and where Harmac goes the
+Fung follow.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So much the better,&rdquo; said the irreverent Higgs. &ldquo;I may be
+able to sketch and measure him now.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I saw that Maqueda was trembling, for she, too, thought this occurrence a
+very bad omen, and even Oliver remained silent, perhaps because he feared its
+effect upon the Abati.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor was this wonderful since, from the talk around us, clearly that effect was
+great. Evidently the people were terrified, like Japhet. We could hear them
+foreboding ill, and cursing us Gentiles as wizards, who had not destroyed the
+idol of the Fung as we promised, but had only caused him to fly to Mur.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Here I may mention that as a matter of fact they were right. As we discovered
+afterwards, the whole force of the explosion, instead of shattering the vast
+bulk of the stone image, had rushed up through the hollow chambers in its
+interior until it struck against the solid head. Lifting this as though it were
+a toy, the expanding gas had hurled that mighty mass an unknown distance into
+the air, to light upon the crest of the cliffs of Mur, where probably it will
+remain forever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; I said, when we had stared a little while at this
+extraordinary phenomenon, &ldquo;thank God it did not travel farther, and fall
+upon the palace.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! had it done so,&rdquo; whispered Maqueda in a tearful voice,
+&ldquo;I think you might have thanked God indeed, for then at least I should be
+free from all my troubles. Come, friends, let us be going before we are
+discovered.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br />
+I FIND MY SON</h2>
+
+<p>
+Our road toward the pass ran through the camping ground of the newly created
+Abati army, and what we saw on our journey thither told us more vividly than
+any words or reports could do, how utter was the demoralization of that people.
+Where should have been sentries were no sentries; where should have been
+soldiers were groups of officers talking with women; where should have been
+officers were camp followers drinking.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Through this confusion and excitement we made our way unobserved, or, at any
+rate, unquestioned, till at length we came to the regiment of the Mountaineers,
+who, for the most part, were goatherds, poor people who lived upon the slopes
+of the precipices that enclosed the land of Mur. These folk, having little to
+do with their more prosperous brethren of the plain, were hardy and primitive
+of nature, and therefore retained some of the primeval virtues of mankind, such
+as courage and loyalty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was for the first of these reasons, and, indeed, for the second also, that
+they had been posted by Joshua at the mouth of the pass, which he knew well
+they alone could be trusted to defend in the event of serious attack. Moreover,
+it was desirable, from his point of view, to keep them out of the way while he
+developed his plans against the person of the Child of Kings, for whom these
+simple-minded men had a hereditary and almost a superstitious reverence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as we were within the lines of these Mountaineers we found the
+difference between them and the rest of the Abati. The other regiments we had
+passed unchallenged, but here we were instantly stopped by a picket. Japhet
+whispered something into the ear of its officer that caused him to stare hard
+at us. Then this officer saluted the veiled figure of the Child of Kings and
+led us to where the commander of the band and his subordinates were seated near
+a fire sitting together. At some sign or word that did not reach us the
+commander, an old fellow with a long grey beard, rose and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your pardon, but be pleased to show your faces.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda threw back her hood and turned so that the light of the moon fell full
+upon her, whereon the old man dropped to his knee, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your commands, O Walda Nagasta.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Summon your regiment and I will give them,&rdquo; she answered, and
+seated herself on a bench by the fire, we three and Japhet standing behind her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The commander issued orders to his captains, and presently the Mountaineers
+formed up on three sides of a square above us, to the number of a little over
+five hundred men. When all were gathered Maqueda mounted the bench upon which
+she had been sitting, threw back her hood so that every one could see her face
+in the light of the fire, and addressed them:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Men of the mountain-side, this night just after the idol of the Fung had
+been destroyed, the Prince Joshua, my uncle, came to me demanding my surrender
+to him, whether to kill me or to imprison me in his castle beyond the end of
+the lake, for reasons of State as he said, or for other vile purposes, I do not
+know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At these words a murmur rose from the audience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Wait,&rdquo; said Maqueda, holding up her hand, &ldquo;there is worse to
+come. I told my uncle, Prince Joshua, that he was a traitor and had best be
+gone. He went, threatening me and, when I do not know, withdrew the guards that
+should be stationed at my palace gates. Now, some rumour of my danger had
+reached the foreigners in my service, and two of them, he who is called Black
+Windows, whom we rescued from the Fung, and the soldier named Quick, came to
+watch over me, while the Lord Orme and the Doctor Adams stayed in the cave to
+send out that spark of fire which should destroy the idol. Nor did they come
+back without need, for presently arrived a band of Prince Joshua&rsquo;s men to
+take me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then Black Windows and the soldier his companion fought a good fight,
+they two holding the narrow passage against many, and slaying a number of them
+with their terrible weapons. The end of it was, men of the mountains, that the
+warrior Quick, charging down the passage, drove away those servants of Joshua
+who remained alive. But in so doing he was wounded to the death. Yes, that
+brave man lies dead, having given his life to save the Child of Kings from the
+hands of her own people. Black Windows also was wounded&mdash;see the bandages
+about his head. Then came the Lord Orme and the Doctor Adams, and with them
+your brother Japhet, who had barely escaped with their lives from the cave
+city, and knowing that I was no longer safe in the palace, where even my
+sleeping-room has been drenched with blood, with them I have fled to you for
+succour. Will you not protect me, O men of the mountain-side?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; they answered with a great shout. &ldquo;Command and we
+obey. What shall we do, O Child of Kings?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Maqueda called the officers of the regiment apart and consulted with them,
+asking their opinions, one by one. Some of them were in favour of finding out
+where Joshua might be, and attacking him at once. &ldquo;Crush the
+snake&rsquo;s head and its tail will soon cease wriggling!&rdquo; these said,
+and I confess this was a view that in many ways commended itself to us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Maqueda would have none of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What!&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;shall I begin a civil war among my
+people when for aught I know the enemy is at our gates?&rdquo; adding aside to
+us, &ldquo;also, how can these few hundred men, brave though they be, hope to
+stand against the thousands under the command of Joshua?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What, then, would you do?&rdquo; asked Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Return to the palace with these Mountaineers, O Oliver, and by help of
+that garrison, hold it against all enemies.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very well,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;To those who are quite lost one
+road is as good as another; they must trust to the stars to guide them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite so,&rdquo; echoed Higgs; &ldquo;and the sooner we go the better,
+for my leg hurts, and I want a sleep.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So Maqueda gave her commands to the officers, by whom they were conveyed to the
+regiment, which received them with a shout, and instantly began to strike its
+camp.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then it was, coming hot-foot after so much sorrow, loss and doubt, that there
+followed the happiest event of all my life. Utterly tired out and very
+despondent, I was seated on an arrow-chest awaiting the order to march, idly
+watching Oliver and Maqueda talking with great earnestness at a little
+distance, and in the intervals trying to prevent poor Higgs at my side from
+falling asleep. While I was thus engaged, suddenly I heard a disturbance, and
+by the bright moonlight caught sight of a man being led into the camp in charge
+of a guard of Abati soldiers, whom from their dress I knew to belong to a
+company that just then was employed in watching the lower gates of the pass.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I took no particular heed of the incident, thinking only that they might have
+captured some spy, till a murmur of astonishment, and the general stir, warned
+me that something unusual had occurred. So I rose from my box and strolled
+towards the man, who now was hidden from me by a group of Mountaineers. As I
+advanced this group opened, the men who composed it bowing to me with a kind of
+wondering respect that impressed me, I did not know why.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then for the first time I saw the prisoner. He was a tall, athletic young man,
+dressed in festal robes with a heavy gold chain about his neck, and I wondered
+vaguely what such a person should be doing here in this time of national
+commotion. He turned his head so that the moonlight showed his dark eyes, his
+somewhat oval-shaped face ending in a peaked black beard, and his finely cut
+features. In an instant I knew him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>It was my son Roderick!</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Next moment, for the first time for very many years, he was in my arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first thing that I remember saying to him was a typically Anglo-Saxon
+remark, for however much we live in the East or elsewhere, we never really
+shake off our native conventions, and habits of speech. It was, &ldquo;How are
+you, my boy, and how on earth did you come here?&rdquo; to which he answered,
+slowly, it is true, and speaking with a foreign accent:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All right, thank you, father. I ran upon my legs.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time Higgs hobbled up, and was greeting my son warmly, for, of course,
+they were old friends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thought you were to be married to-night, Roderick?&rdquo; he said.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;I am half married according to Fung
+custom, which counts not to my soul. Look, this is the dress of
+marriage,&rdquo; and he pointed to his fine embroidered robe and rich ornaments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Then, where&rsquo;s your wife?&rdquo; asked Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I do not know and I do not care,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;for I did
+not like that wife. Also it is all nothing as I am not quite married to her.
+Fung marriage between big people takes two days to finish, and if not finished
+does not matter. So she marry some one else if she like, and I too.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What happened then?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, this, father. When we had eaten the marriage feast, but before we
+pass before priest, suddenly we hear a thunder and see a pillar of fire shoot
+up into sky, and sitting on top of it head of Harmac, which vanish into heaven
+and stop there. Then everybody jump up and say:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&lsquo;Magic of white man! Magic of white man! White man kill the god
+who sit there from beginning of world, now day of Fung finished according to
+prophecy. Run away, people of Fung, run away!&rsquo; 
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Barung the Sultan tear his clothes too, and say&mdash;&lsquo;Run away,
+Fung,&rsquo; and my half-wife, she tear <i>her</i> clothes and say nothing,
+but run like antelope. So they all run toward east, where great river is, and
+leave me alone. Then I get up and run too&mdash;toward west, for I know from
+Black Windows,&rdquo; and he pointed to Higgs, &ldquo;when we shut up together
+in belly of god before he let down to lions, what all this game mean, and
+therefore not frightened. Well, I run, meeting no one in night, till I come to
+pass, run up it, and find guards, to whom I tell story, so they not kill me,
+but let me through, and at last I come here, quite safe, without Fung wife,
+thank God, and that end of tale.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am afraid you are wrong there, my boy,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;out of
+the frying-pan into the fire, that&rsquo;s all.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Out of frying-pan into fire,&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;Not understand;
+father must remember I only little fellow when Khalifa&rsquo;s people take me,
+and since then speak no English till I meet Black Windows. Only he give me
+Bible-book that he have in pocket when he go down to be eat by lions.&rdquo;
+(Here Higgs blushed, for no one ever suspected him, a severe critic of all
+religions, of carrying a Bible in his pocket, and muttered something about
+&ldquo;ancient customs of the Hebrews.&rdquo;)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; went on Roderick, &ldquo;read that book ever since, and, as
+you see, all my English come back.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The question is,&rdquo; said Higgs, evidently in haste to talk of
+something else, &ldquo;will the Fung come back?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! Black Windows, don&rsquo;t know, can&rsquo;t say. Think not. Their
+prophecy was that Harmac move to Mur, but when they see his head jump into sky
+and stop there, they run every man toward the sunrise, and I think go on
+running.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But Harmac has come to Mur, Roderick,&rdquo; I said; &ldquo;at least his
+head has fallen on to the cliff that overlooks the city.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! my father,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;then that make great
+difference. When Fung find out that head of Harmac has come here, no doubt they
+come after him, for head his most holy bit, especially as they want hang all
+the Abati whom they not like.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, let&rsquo;s hope that they don&rsquo;t find out anything about
+it,&rdquo; I replied, to change the subject. Then taking Roderick by the hand I
+led him to where Maqueda stood a yard or two apart, listening to our talk, but,
+of course, understanding very little of it, and introduced him to her,
+explaining in a few words the wonderful thing that had happened. She welcomed
+him very kindly, and congratulated me upon my son&rsquo;s escape. Meanwhile,
+Roderick had been staring at her with evident admiration. Now he turned to us
+and said in his quaint broken English:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Walda Nagasta most lovely woman! No wonder King Solomon love her mother.
+If Barung&rsquo;s daughter, my wife, had been like her, think I run through
+great river into rising sun with Fung.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver instantly translated this remark, which made us all laugh, including
+Maqueda herself, and very grateful we were to find the opportunity for a little
+innocent merriment upon that tragic night.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time the regiment was ready to start, and had formed up into companies.
+Before the march actually began, however, the officer of the Abati patrol, in
+whose charge Roderick had been brought to us, demanded his surrender that he
+might deliver his prisoner to the Commander-in-Chief, Prince Joshua. Of course,
+this was refused, whereon the man asked roughly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By whose order?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As it happened, Maqueda, of whose presence he was not aware, heard him, and
+acting on some impulse, came forward, and unveiled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By mine,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Know that the Child of Kings rules the
+Abati, not the Prince Joshua, and that prisoners taken by her soldiers are
+hers, not his. Be gone back to your post!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The captain stared, saluted, and went with his companions, not to the pass,
+indeed, as he had been ordered, but to Joshua. To him he reported the arrival
+of the Gentile&rsquo;s son, and the news he brought that the nation of the
+Fung, dismayed by the destruction of their god, were in full flight from the
+plains of Harmac, purposing to cross the great river and to return no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This glad tidings spread like wildfire; so fast, indeed, that almost before we
+had begun our march, we heard the shouts of exultation with which it was
+received by the terrified mob gathered in the great square. The cloud of terror
+was suddenly lifted from them. They went mad in their delight; they lit
+bonfires, they drank, they feasted, they embraced each other and boasted of
+their bravery that had caused the mighty nation of the Fung to flee away for
+ever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, our advance had begun, nor in the midst of the general jubilation
+was any particular notice taken of us till we were in the middle of the square
+of Mur and within half a mile of the palace, when we saw by the moonlight that
+a large body of troops, two or three thousand of them, were drawn up in front
+of us, apparently to bar our way. Still we went on till a number of officers
+rode up, and addressing the commander of the regiment of Mountaineers, demanded
+to know why he had left his post, and whither he went.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I go whither I am ordered,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;for there is one
+here greater than I.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If you mean the Gentile Orme and his fellows, the command of the Prince
+Joshua is that you hand them over to us that they may make report to him of
+their doings this night.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And the command of the Child of Kings is,&rdquo; replied the captain of
+the Mountaineers, &ldquo;that I take them with her back to the palace.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It has no weight,&rdquo; said the spokesman insolently, &ldquo;not being
+endorsed by the Council. Surrender the Gentiles, hand over to us the person of
+the Child of Kings of whom you have taken possession, and return to your post
+till the pleasure of the Prince Joshua be known.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the wrath of Maqueda blazed up.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Seize those men!&rdquo; she said, and it was done instantly. &ldquo;Now,
+cut the head from him who dared to demand the surrender of my person and of my
+officers, and give it to his companions to take back to the Prince Joshua as my
+answer to his message.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man heard, and being a coward like all the Abati, flung himself upon his
+face before Maqueda, trying to kiss her robe and pleading for mercy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Dog!&rdquo; she answered, &ldquo;you were one of those who this very
+night dared to attack my chamber. Oh! lie not, I knew your voice and heard your
+fellow-traitors call you by your name. Away with him!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We tried to interfere, but she would not listen, even to Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Would you plead for your brother&rsquo;s murderer?&rdquo; she asked,
+alluding to Quick. &ldquo;I have spoken!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So they dragged him off behind us, and presently we saw a melancholy procession
+returning whence they came, carrying something on a shield. It reached the
+opposing ranks, whence there arose a murmur of wrath and fear.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;March on!&rdquo; said Maqueda, &ldquo;and gain the palace.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So the regiment formed into a square, and, setting Maqueda and ourselves in the
+centre of it, advanced again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the fight began. Great numbers of the Abati surrounded us and, as they did
+not dare to make a direct attack, commenced shooting arrows, which killed and
+wounded a number of men. But the Highlanders also were archers, and carried
+stronger bows. The square was halted, the first ranks kneeling and the second
+standing behind them. Then, at a given word, the stiff bows which these hardy
+people used against the lion and the buffalo upon their hills were drawn to the
+ear and loosed again and again with terrible effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On that open place it was almost impossible to miss the mobs of the Abati who,
+having no experience of war, were fighting without order. Nor could the light
+mail they wore withstand the rush of the heavy barbed arrows which pierced them
+through and through. In two minutes they began to give, in three they were
+flying back to their main body, those who were left of them, a huddled rout of
+men and horses. So the French must have fled before the terrible longbows of
+the English at Crécy and Poitiers, for, in fact, we were taking part in just
+such a mediæval battle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver, who was watching intently, went to Japhet and whispered something in
+his ear. He nodded and ran to seek the commander of the regiment. Presently the
+result of that whisper became apparent, for the sides of the hollow square
+wheeled outward and the rear moved up to strengthen the centre.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the Mountaineers were ranged in a double or triple line, behind which were
+only about a dozen soldiers, who marched round Maqueda, holding their shields
+aloft in order to protect her from stray arrows. With these, too, came our four
+selves, a number of camp-followers and others, carrying on their shields those
+of the regiment who were too badly wounded to walk.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Leaving the dead where they lay, we began to advance, pouring in volleys of
+arrows as we went. Twice the Abati tried to charge us, and twice those dreadful
+arrows drove them back. Then at the word of command, the Highlanders slung
+their bows upon their backs, drew their short swords, and in their turn charged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five minutes afterwards everything was over. Joshua&rsquo;s soldiers threw down
+their arms, and ran or galloped to right and left, save a number of them who
+fled through the gates of the palace, which they had opened, and across the
+drawbridge into the courtyards within. After them, or, rather, mixed up with
+them, followed the Mountaineers, killing all whom they could find, for they
+were out of hand and would not listen to the commands of Maqueda and their
+officers, that they should show mercy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, just as the dawn broke this strange moonlit battle ended, a small affair,
+it is true, for there were only five hundred men engaged upon our side and
+three or four thousand on the other, yet one that cost a great number of lives
+and was the beginning of all the ruin that followed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, we were safe for a while, since it was certain, after the lesson which he
+had just learned, that Joshua would not attempt to storm the double walls and
+fosse of the palace without long preparation. Yet even now a new trouble
+awaited us, for by some means, we never discovered how, that wing of the palace
+in which Maqueda&rsquo;s private rooms were situated suddenly burst into flames.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Personally, I believe that the fire arose through the fact that a lamp had been
+left burning near the bed of the Child of Kings upon which was laid the body of
+Sergeant Quick. Perhaps a wounded man hidden there overturned the lamp; perhaps
+the draught blowing through the open doors brought the gold-spangled curtains
+into contact with the wick.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At any rate, the wood-panelled chambers took fire, and had it not happened that
+the set of the wind was favourable, the whole palace might have been consumed.
+As it was, we succeeded in confining the conflagration to this particular part
+of it, which within two hours had burnt out, leaving nothing standing but the
+stark, stone walls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the funeral pyre of Sergeant Quick, a noble one, I thought to myself,
+as I watched it burn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the fire was so well under control, for we had pulled down the connecting
+passage where Higgs and Quick fought their great fight, that there was no
+longer any danger of its spreading, and the watches had been set, at length we
+got some rest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda and two or three of her ladies, one of them, I remember, her old nurse
+who had brought her up, for her mother died at her birth, took possession of
+some empty rooms, of which there were many in the palace, while we lay, or
+rather fell, down in the guest-chambers, where we had always slept, and never
+opened our eyes again until the evening.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I remember that I woke thinking that I was the victim of some wonderful dream
+of mingled joy and tragedy. Oliver and Higgs were sleeping like logs, but my
+son Roderick, still dressed in his bridal robes, had risen and sat by my bed
+staring at me, a puzzled look upon his handsome face.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So you are here,&rdquo; I said, taking his hand. &ldquo;I thought I
+dreamed.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, Father,&rdquo; he answered in his odd English, &ldquo;no dream; all
+true. This is a strange world, Father. Look at me! For how many
+years&mdash;twelve&mdash;fourteen, slave of savage peoples for whom I sing,
+priest of Fung idol, always near death but never die. Then Sultan Barung take
+fancy to me, say I come of white blood and must be his daughter&rsquo;s
+husband. Then your brother Higgs made prisoner with me and tell me that you
+hunt me all these years. Then Higgs thrown to lions and you save him. Then
+yesterday I married to Sultan&rsquo;s daughter, whom I never see before but
+twice at fast of idol. Then Harmac&rsquo;s head fly off to heaven, and all Fung
+people run away, and I run too, and find you. Then battle, and many killed, and
+arrow scratch my neck but not hurt me,&rdquo; and he pointed to a graze just
+over his jugular vein, &ldquo;and now we together. Oh! Father, very strange
+world! I think there God somewhere who look after us!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I think so, too, my boy,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;and I hope that He
+will continue to do so, for I tell you we are in a worse place than ever you
+were among the Fung.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, don&rsquo;t mind that, Father,&rdquo; he answered gaily, for
+Roderick is a cheerful soul. &ldquo;As Fung say, there no house without door,
+although plenty people made blind and can&rsquo;t see it. But we not blind, or
+we dead long ago. Find door by and by, but here come man to talk to you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The man proved to be Japhet, who had been sent by the Child of Kings to summon
+us, as she had news to tell. So I woke the others, and after I had dressed the
+Professor&rsquo;s flesh wounds, which were stiff and sore, we joined her where
+she sat in the gateway tower of the inner wall. She greeted us rather sadly,
+asked Oliver how he had slept and Higgs if his cuts hurt him. Then she turned
+to my son, and congratulated him upon his wonderful escape and upon having
+found a father if he had lost a wife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Truly,&rdquo; she added, &ldquo;you are a fortunate man to be so well
+loved, O son of Adams. To how many sons are given fathers who for fourteen long
+years, abandoning all else, would search for them in peril of their lives,
+enduring slavery and blows and starvation and the desert&rsquo;s heat and cold
+for the sake of a long-lost face? Such faithfulness is that of my forefather
+David for his brother Jonathan, and such love it is that passes the love of
+women. See that you pay it back to him, and to his memory until the last hour
+of your life, child of Adams.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I will, indeed, I will, O Walda Nagasta,&rdquo; answered Roderick, and
+throwing his arms about my neck he embraced me before them all. It is not too
+much to say that this kiss of filial devotion more than repaid me for all I had
+undergone for his beloved sake. For now I knew that I had not toiled and
+suffered for one of no worth, as is so often the lot of true hearts in this
+bitter world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just then some of Maqueda&rsquo;s ladies brought food, and at her bidding we
+breakfasted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Be sparing,&rdquo; she said with a melancholy little laugh, &ldquo;for I
+know not how long our store will last. Listen! I have received a last offer
+from my uncle Joshua. An arrow brought it&mdash;not a man; I think that no man
+would come lest his fate should be that of the traitor of yesterday,&rdquo; and
+she produced a slip of parchment that had been tied to the shaft of an arrow
+and, unfolding it, read as follows&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Walda Nagasta, deliver up to death the Gentiles who have bewitched you
+and led you to shed the blood of so many of your people, and with them the
+officers of the Mountaineers, and the rest shall be spared. You also I will
+forgive and make my wife. Resist, and all who cling to you shall be put to the
+sword, and to yourself I promise nothing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Written by order of the Council,
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Joshua, Prince of the Abati.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What answer shall I send?&rdquo; she asked, looking at us curiously.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Upon my word,&rdquo; replied Orme, shrugging his shoulders, &ldquo;if it
+were not for those faithful officers I am not sure but that you would be wise
+to accept the terms. We are cooped up here, but a few surrounded by thousands,
+who, if they dare not assault, still can starve us out, as this place is not
+victualled for a siege.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You forget one of those terms, O Oliver!&rdquo; she said slowly,
+pointing with her finger to the passage in the letter which stated that Joshua
+would make her his wife, &ldquo;Now do you still counsel surrender?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How can I?&rdquo; he answered, flushing, and was silent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, it does not matter what you counsel,&rdquo; she went on with a
+smile, &ldquo;seeing that I have already sent my answer, also by arrow. See,
+here is a copy of it,&rdquo; and she read&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To my rebellious People of the Abati:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Surrender to me Joshua, my uncle, and the members of the Council who
+have lifted sword against me, to be dealt with according to the ancient law,
+and the rest of you shall go unharmed. Refuse, and I swear to you that before
+the night of the new moon has passed there shall be such woe in Mur as fell
+upon the city of David when the barbarian standards were set upon her walls.
+Such is the counsel that has come to me, the Child of Solomon, in the watches
+of the night, and I tell you that it is true. Do what you will, people of the
+Abati, or what you must, since your fate and ours are written. But be sure that
+in me and the Western lords lies your only hope.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Walda Nagasta.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What do you mean, O Maqueda,&rdquo; I asked, &ldquo;about the counsel
+that came to you in the watches of the night?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What I say, O Adams,&rdquo; she answered calmly. &ldquo;After we parted
+at dawn I slept heavily, and in my sleep a dark and royal woman stood before me
+whom I knew to be my great ancestress, the beloved of Solomon. She looked on me
+sadly, yet as I thought with love. Then she drew back, as it were, a curtain of
+thick cloud that hid the future and revealed to me the young moon riding the
+sky and beneath it Mur, a blackened ruin, her streets filled with dead. Yes,
+and she showed to me other things, though I may not tell them, which also shall
+come to pass, then held her hands over me as if in blessing, and was
+gone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Old Hebrew prophet business! Very interesting,&rdquo; I heard Higgs
+mutter below his breath, while in my own heart I set the dream down to
+excitement and want of food. In fact, only two of us were impressed, my son
+very much, and Oliver a little, perhaps because everything Maqueda said was
+gospel to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Doubtless all will come to pass as you say, Walda Nagasta,&rdquo; said
+Roderick with conviction. &ldquo;The day of the Abati is finished.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why do you say that, Son?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because, Father, among the Fung people from a child I have two offices,
+that of Singer to the God and that of Reader of Dreams. Oh! do not laugh. I can
+tell you many that have come true as I read them; thus the dream of Barung
+which I read to mean that the head of Harmac would come to Mur, and see, there
+it sit,&rdquo; and turning, he pointed through the doorway of the tower to the
+grim lion-head of the idol crouched upon the top of the precipice, watching Mur
+as a beast of prey watches the victim upon which it is about to spring.
+&ldquo;I know when dreams true and when dreams false; it my gift, like my
+voice. I know that this dream true, that all,&rdquo; and as he ceased speaking
+I saw his eyes catch Maqueda&rsquo;s, and a very curious glance pass between
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As for Orme, he only said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You Easterns are strange people, and if you believe a thing, Maqueda,
+there may be something in it. But you understand that this message of yours
+means war to the last, a very unequal war,&rdquo; and he looked at the hordes
+of the Abati gathering on the great square.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; she answered quietly, &ldquo;I understand, but however sore
+our straits, and however strange may seem the things that happen, have no fear
+of the end of that war, O my friends.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br />
+THE BURNING OF THE PALACE</h2>
+
+<p>
+Orme was right. Maqueda&rsquo;s defiance did mean war, &ldquo;an unequal
+war.&rdquo; This was our position. We were shut up in a long range of
+buildings, of which one end had been burned, that on account of their moat and
+double wall, if defended with any vigour, could only be stormed by an enemy of
+great courage and determination, prepared to face a heavy sacrifice of life.
+This was a circumstance in our favour, since the Abati were not courageous, and
+very much disliked the idea of being killed, or even injured.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But here our advantage ended. Deducting those whom we had lost on the previous
+night, the garrison only amounted to something over four hundred men, of whom
+about fifty were wounded, some of them dangerously. Moreover, ammunition was
+short, for they had shot away most of their arrows in the battle of the square,
+and we had no means of obtaining more. But, worst of all, the palace was not
+provisioned for a siege, and the mountaineers had with them only three
+days&rsquo; rations of sun-dried beef or goat&rsquo;s flesh, and a hard kind of
+biscuit made of Indian corn mixed with barley meal. Thus, as we saw from the
+beginning, unless we could manage to secure more food our case must soon grow
+hopeless.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There remained yet another danger. Although the palace itself was stone-built,
+its gilded domes and ornamental turrets were of timber, and therefore liable to
+be fired, as indeed had already happened. The roof also was of ancient cedar
+beams, thinly covered with concrete, while the interior contained an enormous
+quantity of panels, or rather boarding, cut from some resinous wood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Abati, on the other hand, were amply supplied with every kind of store and
+weapon, and could bring a great force to blockade us, though that force was
+composed of a timid and undisciplined rabble.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, we made the best preparations that we could, although of these I did not
+see much, since all that day my time was occupied in attending to the wounded
+with the help of my son and a few rough orderlies, whose experience in
+doctoring had for the most part been confined to cattle. A pitiful business it
+proved without the aid of anæsthetics or a proper supply of bandages and other
+appliances. Although my medicine chest had been furnished upon a liberal scale,
+it proved totally inadequate to the casualties of battle. Still I did my best
+and saved some lives, though many cases developed gangrene and slipped through
+my fingers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile Higgs, who worked nobly, notwithstanding his flesh wounds, which
+pained him considerably, and Orme were also doing their best with the
+assistance of Japhet and the other officers of the highland regiment. The
+palace was thoroughly examined, and all weak places in its defences were made
+good. The available force was divided into watches and stationed to the best
+advantage. A number of men were set to work to manufacture arrow shafts from
+cedar beams, of which there were plenty in the wooden stables and outhouses
+that lay at the back of the main building, and to point and wing the same from
+a supply of iron barbs and feathers which fortunately was discovered in one of
+the guard-houses. A few horses that remained in a shed were killed and salted
+down for food, and so forth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also every possible preparation was made to repel attempts to storm, paving
+stones being piled up to throw upon the heads of assailants and fires lighted
+on the walls to heat pitch and oil and water for the same purpose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, to our disappointment, no direct assault was delivered, such desperate
+methods not commending themselves to the Abati. Their plan of attack was to
+take cover wherever they could, especially among the trees of the garden beyond
+the gates, and thence shoot arrows at any one who appeared upon the walls, or
+even fire them in volleys at the clouds, as the Normans did at Hastings, so
+that they might fall upon the heads of persons in the courtyards. Although
+these cautious tactics cost us several men, they had the advantage of
+furnishing us with a supply of ammunition which we sorely needed. All the spent
+arrows were carefully collected and made use of against the enemy, at whom we
+shot whenever opportunity offered. We did them but little damage, however,
+since they were extremely careful not to expose themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this fashion three dreary days went past, unrelieved by any incident except
+a feint, for it was scarcely more, which the Abati made upon the second night,
+apparently with the object of forcing the great gates under cover of a
+rainstorm. The advance was discovered at once, and repelled by two or three
+volleys of arrows and some rifle shots. Of these rifles, indeed, whereof we
+possessed about a score, the Abati were terribly afraid. Picking out some of
+the most intelligent soldiers we taught them how to handle our spare guns, and
+though, of course, their shooting was extremely erratic, the result of it,
+backed up by our own more accurate marksmanship, was to force the enemy to take
+cover. Indeed, after one or two experiences of the effect of bullets, not a man
+would show himself in the open within five hundred yards until night had fallen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the third afternoon we held a council to determine what must be done, since
+for the last twenty-four hours it had been obvious that things could not
+continue as they were. To begin with, we had only sufficient food left to keep
+our force from starvation for two more days. Also the spirits of our soldiers,
+brave men enough when actual fighting was concerned, were beginning to flag in
+this atmosphere of inaction. Gathered into groups, they talked of their wives
+and children, and of what would happen to them at the hands of Joshua; also of
+their cattle and crops, saying that doubtless these were being ravaged and
+their houses burned. In vain did Maqueda promise them five-fold their loss when
+the war was ended, for evidently in their hearts they thought it could only end
+one way. Moreover, as they pointed out, she could not give them back their
+children if these were killed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this melancholy council every possible plan was discussed, to find that
+these resolved themselves into two alternatives&mdash;to surrender, or to take
+the bull by the horns, sally out of the palace at night and attack Joshua. On
+the face of it, this latter scheme had the appearance of suicide, but, in fact,
+it was not so desperate as it seemed. The Abati being such cowards it was quite
+probable that they would run in their thousands before the onset of a few
+hundred determined men, and that, if once victory declared itself for the Child
+of Kings, the bulk of her subjects would return to their allegiance. So we
+settled on it in preference to surrender, which we knew meant death to
+ourselves, and for Maqueda a choice between that last grim solution of her
+troubles and a forced marriage.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But there were others to be convinced, namely, the Mountaineers. Japhet, who
+had been present at the council, was sent to summon all of them except those
+actually on guard, and when they were assembled in the large inner court
+Maqueda went out and addressed them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do not remember the exact words of her speech, and I made no note of them,
+but it was extremely beautiful and touching. She pointed out her plight, and
+that we could halt no longer between two opinions, who must either fight or
+yield. For herself she said she did not care, since, although she was young and
+their ruler, she set no store upon her life, and would give it up gladly rather
+than be driven into a marriage which she considered shameful, and forced to
+pass beneath the yoke of traitors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But for us foreigners she did care. We had come to her country at her
+invitation, we had served her nobly, one of us had given his life to protect
+her person, and now, in violation of her safeguard and that of the Council, we
+were threatened with a dreadful death. Were they, her subjects, so lacking in
+honour and hospitality that they would suffer such a thing with no blow struck
+to save us?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the majority of them shouted &ldquo;No,&rdquo; but some were silent, and
+one old captain advanced, saluted, and spoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Child of Kings,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;let us search out the truth of
+this matter. Is it not because of your love of the foreign soldier, Orme, that
+all this trouble has arisen? Is not that love unlawful according to our law,
+and are you not solemnly affianced to the Prince Joshua?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Maqueda considered awhile before she replied, and said slowly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Friend, my heart is my own, therefore upon this point answer your
+question for yourself. As regards my uncle Joshua, if there existed any abiding
+contract between us it was broken when a few nights ago he sent his servants
+armed to attack and drag me off I know not whither. Would you have me marry a
+traitor and a coward? I have spoken.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; again shouted the majority of the soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then in the silence that followed the old captain replied, with a canniness
+that was almost Scotch:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;On the point raised by you, O Child of Kings, I give no opinion, since
+you, being but a woman, if a high-born one, would not listen to me if I did,
+but will doubtless follow that heart of yours of which you speak to whatever
+end is appointed. Settle the matter with your betrothed Joshua as you will. But
+we also have a matter to settle with Joshua, who is a toad with a long tongue
+that if he seems slow yet never misses his fly. We took up your cause, and have
+killed a great number of his people, as he has killed some of ours. This he
+will not forget. Therefore it seems to me that it will be wise that we should
+make what we can of the nest that we have built, since it is better to die in
+battle than on the gallows. For this reason, then, since we can stay here no
+longer, for my part I am willing to go out and fight for you this night,
+although Joshua&rsquo;s people being so many and ours so few, I shall think
+myself fortunate if I live to see another sun.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This hard and reasoned speech seemed to appeal to the dissentients, with the
+result that they withdrew their opposition, and it was agreed that we should
+attempt to break our way through the besieging army about one hour before the
+dawn, when they would be heavily asleep and most liable to panic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet, as it chanced, that sortie was destined never to take place, which perhaps
+was fortunate for us, since I am convinced that it would have ended in failure.
+It is true that we might have forced our way through Joshua&rsquo;s army, but
+afterwards those of us who remained alive would have been surrounded, starved
+out, and, when our strength and ammunition were exhausted taken prisoners or
+cut down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However that may be, events shaped a different course for us, perhaps because
+the Abati got wind of our intention and had no stomach for a pitched battle
+with desperate men. As it happened, this night from sunset on to moonrise was
+one of a darkness so remarkable that it was impossible to see anything even a
+foot away, also a wind blowing from the east made sounds very inaudible. Only a
+few of our men were on guard, since it was necessary that they should be rested
+till it was time for them to prepare for their great effort. Also, we had
+little fear of any direct attack.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About eight o&rsquo;clock, however, my son Roderick, one of the watch stationed
+in the gateway towers, who was gifted with very quick ears, reported that he
+thought he heard people moving on the farther side of the massive wooden doors
+beyond the moat. Accordingly some of us went to listen, but could distinguish
+nothing, and concluded therefore that he was mistaken. So we retired to our
+posts and waited patiently for the moon to rise. But as it chanced no moon
+rose, or rather we could not see her, because the sky was completely covered by
+thick banks of thunder-clouds presaging the break-up of a period of great heat.
+These, as the wind had now died down, remained quite stationary upon the face
+of the sky, blotting out all light.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Perhaps another hour had passed when, chancing to look behind me, I saw what I
+thought was a meteor falling from the crest of the cliff against which the
+palace was built, that cliff whither the head of the idol Harmac had been
+carried by the force of the explosion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look at that shooting star,&rdquo; I said to Oliver, who was at my side.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It is not a shooting star, it is fire,&rdquo; he replied in a startled
+voice, and, as he spoke, other streaks of light, scores of them, began to rain
+down from the brow of the cliff and land upon the wooden buildings to the rear
+of the palace that were dry as tinder with the drought, and, what was worse,
+upon the gilded timber domes of the roof.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you understand the game?&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;They have
+tied firebrands to arrows and spears to burn us out. Sound the alarm. Sound the
+alarm!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was done, and presently the great range of buildings began to hum like a
+hive of bees. The soldiers still half asleep, rushed hither and thither
+shouting. The officers also, developing the characteristic excitement of the
+Abati race in this hour of panic, yelled and screamed at them, beating them
+with their fists and swords till some kind of control was established.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then attempts were made to extinguish the flames, which by this time had got
+hold in half-a-dozen places. From the beginning the effort was absolutely
+hopeless. It is true that there was plenty of water in the moat, which was fed
+by a perennial stream that flowed down the face of the precipice behind; but
+pumping engines of any sort were quite unknown to the Abati, who, if a building
+took fire, just let it burn, contenting themselves with safeguarding those in
+its neighbourhood. Moreover, even in the palace, such articles as pails, jugs,
+or other vessels were comparatively few and far between.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Those that we could find, however, were filled with water and passed by lines
+of men to the places in most danger&mdash;that is, practically
+everywhere&mdash;while other men tried to cut off the advance of the flames by
+pulling down portions of the building.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But as fast as one fire was extinguished others broke out, for the rain of
+burning darts and of lighted pots or lamps filled with oil descended
+continuously from the cliff above. A strange and terrible sight it was to see
+them flashing down through the darkness, like the fiery darts that shall
+destroy the wicked in the day of Armageddon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still, we toiled on despairingly. On the roof we four white men, and some
+soldiers under the command of Japhet, were pouring water on to several of the
+gilded domes, which now were well alight. Close by, wrapped in a dark cloak,
+and attended by some of her ladies, stood Maqueda. She was quite calm, although
+sundry burning arrows and spears, falling with great force from the cliff
+above, struck the flat roofs close to where she stood.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Her ladies, however, were not calm. They wept and wrung their hands, while one
+of them went into violent hysterics in her very natural terror. Maqueda turned
+and bade them descend to the courtyard of the gateway, where she said she would
+join them presently. They rushed off, rejoicing to escape the sight of those
+burning arrows, one of which had just pierced a man and set his clothes and
+hair on fire, causing him to leap from the roof in his madness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At Oliver&rsquo;s request I ran to the Child of Kings to lead her to some safer
+place, if it could be found. But she would not stir.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let me be, O Adams,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;If I am to die, I will die
+here. But I do not think that is fated,&rdquo; and with her foot she kicked
+aside a burning spear that had struck the cement roof, and, rebounding, fallen
+quite close to her. &ldquo;If my people will not fight,&rdquo; she went on,
+with bitter sarcasm, &ldquo;at least they understand the other arts of war, for
+this trick of theirs is clever. They are cruel also. Listen to them mocking us
+in the square. They ask whether we will roast alive or come out and have our
+throats cut. Oh!&rdquo; she went on, clenching her hands, &ldquo;oh! that I
+should have been born the head of such an accursed race. Let Sheol take them
+all, for in the day of their tribulation no finger will I lift to save
+them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She was silent for a moment, and down below, near the gateway, I heard some
+brute screaming, &ldquo;Pretty pigeons! Pretty pigeons, are your feathers
+singeing? Come then into our pie, pretty pigeons, pretty pigeons!&rdquo;
+followed by shouts of ribald laughter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it chanced it was this hound himself who went into the &ldquo;pie.&rdquo;
+Presently, when the flames were brighter, I saw him, in the midst of a crowd of
+his admirers, singing his foul song, another verse of it about Maqueda, which I
+will not repeat, and by good fortune managed to put a bullet through his head.
+It was not a bad shot considering the light and circumstances, and the only one
+I fired that night. I trust also that it will be the last I shall ever fire at
+any human being.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just as I was about to leave Maqueda and return with her message to Orme, to
+the effect that she would not move, the final catastrophe occurred. Amongst the
+stables was a large shed filled with dry fodder for the palace horses and
+camels. Suddenly this burst into a mass of flame that spread in all directions.
+Then came the last, hideous panic. From every part of the palace, the
+Mountaineers, men and officers together, rushed down to the gateway. In a
+minute, with the single exception of Japhet, we four and Maqueda were left
+alone upon the roof, where we stood overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. We
+heard the drawbridge fall; we heard the great doors burst open beneath the
+pressure of a mob of men; we heard a coarse voice&mdash;I thought it was that
+of Joshua&mdash;yell:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Kill whom you will, my children, but death to him who harms the Child of
+Kings. She is my spoil!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then followed terrible sights and sounds. The cunning Abati had stretched ropes
+outside the doors; it was the noise they made at this work which had reached
+Roderick&rsquo;s ears earlier during the darkness. The terrified soldiers,
+flying from the fire, stumbled and fell over these ropes, nor could they rise
+again because of those who pressed behind. What happened to them all I am sure
+I do not know, but doubtless many were crushed to death and many more killed by
+Joshua&rsquo;s men. I trust, however, that some of them escaped, since,
+compared to the rest of the Abati, they were as lions are to cats, although,
+like all their race, they lacked the stamina to fight an uphill game.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was at the commencement of this terrific scene that I shot the foul-mouthed
+singer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You shouldn&rsquo;t have done that, old fellow,&rdquo; screamed Higgs in
+his high voice, striving to make himself heard above the tumult, &ldquo;as it
+will show those swine where we are.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they will look for us here, anyway,&rdquo; I
+answered.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then we watched awhile in silence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said Orme at length, taking Maqueda by the hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where are you going, O Oliver?&rdquo; she asked, hanging back.
+&ldquo;Sooner will I burn than yield to Joshua.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I am going to the cave city,&rdquo; he answered; &ldquo;we have nowhere
+else to go, and little time to lose. Four men with rifles can hold that place
+against a thousand. Come.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I obey,&rdquo; she answered, bowing her head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We went down the stairway that led from the roof on which the inhabitants of
+the palace were accustomed to spend much of their day, and even to sleep in hot
+weather, as is common in the East. Another minute and we should have been too
+late. The fire from one of the domes had spread to the upper story, and was
+already appearing in little tongues of flame mingled with jets of black smoke
+through cracks in the crumbling partition wall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As a matter of fact this wall fell in just as my son Roderick, the last of us,
+was passing down the stairs. With the curiosity of youth he had lingered for a
+few moments to watch the sad scene below, a delay which nearly cost him his
+life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the ground floor we found ourselves out of immediate danger, since the fire
+was attacking this part of the palace from above and burning downward. We had
+even time to go to our respective sleeping-places and collect such of our
+possessions and valuables as we were able to carry. Fortunately, among other
+things, these included all our note-books, which to-day are of priceless value.
+Laden with these articles, we met again in the audience hall, which, although
+it was very hot, seemed as it had always been, a huge, empty place, whereof the
+roof, painted with stars, was supported upon thick cedar columns, each of them
+hewn from a single tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Passing down that splendid apartment, which an hour later had ceased to exist,
+lamps in hand, for these we had found time to fetch and light, we reached the
+mouth of the passage that led to the underground city without meeting a single
+human being.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Had the Abati been a different race they could perfectly well have dashed in
+and made us prisoners, for the drawbridge was still intact. But their cowardice
+was our salvation, for they feared lest they should be trapped by the fire. So
+I think at least, but justice compels me to add that, on the spur of the
+moment, they may have found it impossible to clear the gateways of the mass of
+fallen or dead soldiers over which it would have been difficult to climb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such, at any rate, was the explanation that we heard afterwards.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We reached the mouth of the vast cave in perfect safety, and clambered through
+the little orifice which was left between the rocks rolled thither by the force
+of the explosion, or shaken down from the roof. This hole, for it was nothing
+more, we proceeded to stop with a few stones in such a fashion that it could
+not be forced without much toil and considerable noise, only leaving one little
+tortuous channel through which, if necessary, a man could creep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The labour of rock-carrying, in which even Maqueda shared, occupied our minds
+for awhile, and induced a kind of fictitious cheerfulness. But when it was
+done, and the chilly silence of that enormous cave, so striking in comparison
+with the roar of the flames and the hideous human tumult which we had left
+without, fell upon us like sudden cold and blinding night upon a wanderer in
+windy, sunlit mountains, all our excitement perished. In a flash, we understood
+our terrible position, we who had but escaped from the red fire to perish
+slowly in the black darkness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still we strove to keep our spirits as best we could. Leaving Higgs to watch
+the blocked passage, a somewhat superfluous task, since the fire without was
+our best watchman, the rest of us threaded our way up the cave, following the
+telephone wire which poor Quick had laid on the night of the blowing-up of the
+god Harmac, till we came to what had been our headquarters during the digging
+of the mine. Into the room which was Oliver&rsquo;s, whence we had escaped with
+so much difficulty after that event, we could not enter because of the transom
+that blocked the doorway. Still, there were plenty of others at hand in the old
+temple, although they were foul with the refuse of the bats that wheeled about
+us in thousands, for these creatures evidently had some unknown access to the
+open air. One of these rooms had served as our store-chamber, and after a few
+rough preparations we assigned it to Maqueda.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Friends,&rdquo; she said, as she surveyed its darksome entrance,
+&ldquo;it looks like the door of a tomb. Well, in the tomb there is rest, and
+rest I must have. Leave me to sleep, who, were it not for you, O Oliver, would
+pray that I might never wake again.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Man,&rdquo; she added passionately, before us all, for now in face of
+the last peril every false shame and wish to conceal the truth had left her;
+&ldquo;man, why were you born to bring woe upon my head and joy to my heart?
+Well, well, the joy outweighs the woe, and even if the angel who led you hither
+is named Azrael, still I shall bless him who has revealed to me my soul. Yet
+for you I weep, and if only your life could be spared to fulfil itself in
+happiness in the land that bore you, oh! for you I would gladly die.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now Oliver, who seemed deeply moved, stepped to her and began to whisper into
+her ear, evidently making some proposal of which I think I can guess the
+nature. She listened to him, smiling sadly, and made a motion with her hand as
+though to thrust him away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;it is nobly offered, but did I accept,
+through whatever universes I may wander, those who came after me would know me
+by my trail of blood, the blood of him who loved me. Perhaps, too, by that
+crime I should be separated from you for ever. Moreover, I tell you that though
+all seems black as this thick darkness, I believe that things will yet end well
+for you and me&mdash;in this world or another.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then she was gone, leaving Orme staring after her like a man in a trance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I daresay they will,&rdquo; remarked Higgs <i>sotto voce</i> to me,
+&ldquo;and that&rsquo;s first-rate so far as they are concerned. But what I
+should jolly well like to know is how they are going to end for <i>us</i> who
+haven&rsquo;t got a charming lady to see us across the Styx.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You needn&rsquo;t puzzle your brain over that,&rdquo; I answered
+gloomily, &ldquo;for I think there will soon be a few more skeletons in this
+beastly cave, that&rsquo;s all. Don&rsquo;t you see that those Abati will
+believe we are burned in the palace?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br />
+STARVATION</h2>
+
+<p>
+I was right. The Abati did think that we had been burned. It never occurred to
+them that we might have escaped to the underground city. So at least I judged
+from the fact that they made no attempt to seek us there until they learned the
+truth in the fashion that I am about to describe. If anything, this safety from
+our enemies added to the trials of those hideous days and nights. Had there
+been assaults to repel and the excitement of striving against overwhelming
+odds, at any rate we should have found occupation for our minds and remaining
+energies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But there were none. By turns we listened at the mouth of the passage for the
+echo of footsteps that never came. Nothing came to break a silence so intense
+that at last our ears, craving for sound, magnified the soft flitter of the
+bats into a noise as of eagle&rsquo;s wings, till at last we spoke in whispers,
+because the full voice of man seemed to affront the solemn quietude, seemed
+intolerable to our nerves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet for the first day or two we found occupation of a sort. Of course our first
+need was to secure a supply of food, of which we had only a little originally
+laid up for our use in the chambers of the old temple, tinned meats that we had
+brought from London and so forth, now nearly all consumed. We remembered that
+Maqueda had told us of corn from her estates which was stored annually in pits
+to provide against the possibility of a siege of Mur, and asked her where it
+was.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She led us to a place where round stone covers with rings attached to them were
+let into the floor of the cave, not unlike those which stop the coal-shoots in
+a town pavement, only larger. With great difficulty we prised one of these up;
+to me it did not seem to have been moved since the ancient kings ruled in Mur
+and, after leaving it open for a long while for the air within to purify,
+lowered Roderick by a rope we had to report its contents. Next moment we heard
+him saying: &ldquo;Want to come up, please. This place is not pleasant.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We pulled him out and asked what he had found.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nothing good to eat,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;only plenty of dead
+bones and one rat that ran up my leg.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We tried the next two pits with the same result&mdash;they were full of human
+bones. Then we cross-examined Maqueda, who, after reflection, informed us that
+she now remembered that about five generations before a great plague had fallen
+on Mur, which reduced its population by one-half. She had heard, also, that
+those stricken with the plague were driven into the underground city in order
+that they might not infect the others, and supposed that the bones we saw were
+their remains. This information caused us to close up those pits again in a
+great hurry, though really it did not matter whether we caught the plague or no.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Still, as she was sure that corn was buried somewhere, we went to another group
+of pits in a distant chamber, and opened the first one. This time our search
+was rewarded, to the extent that we found at the bottom of it some mouldering
+dust that years ago had been grain. The other pits, two of which had been
+sealed up within three years as the date upon the wax showed, were quite empty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Maqueda understood what had happened.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Surely the Abati are a people of rogues,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;See
+now, the officers appointed to store away my corn which I gave them have stolen
+it! Oh! may they live to lack bread even more bitterly than we do to-day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We went back to our sleeping-place in silence. Well might we be silent, for of
+food we had only enough left for a single scanty meal. Water there was in
+plenty, but no food. When we had recovered a little from our horrible
+disappointment we consulted together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If we could get through the mine tunnel,&rdquo; said Oliver, &ldquo;we
+might escape into the den of lions, which were probably all destroyed by the
+explosion, and so out into the open country.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Fung would take us there,&rdquo; suggested Higgs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No, no,&rdquo; broke in Roderick, &ldquo;Fung all gone, or if they do,
+anything better than this black hole, yes, even my wife.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let us look,&rdquo; I said, and we started.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When we reached the passage that led from the city to the Tomb of Kings, it was
+to find that the wall at the end of it had been blown bodily back into the
+parent cave, leaving an opening through which we could walk side by side. Of
+course the contents of the tomb itself were scattered. In all directions lay
+bones, objects of gold and other metals, or overturned thrones. The roof and
+walls alone remained as they had been.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What vandalism!&rdquo; exclaimed Higgs, indignant even in his misery.
+&ldquo;Why wouldn&rsquo;t you let me move the things when I wanted to,
+Orme?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Because they would have thought that we were stealing them, old fellow.
+Also those Mountaineers were superstitious, and I did not want them to desert.
+But what does it matter, anyway? If you had, they would have been burned in the
+palace.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By this time we had reached that end of the vast tomb where the hunchbacked
+king used to sit, and saw at once that our quest was vain. The tunnel which we
+had dug beyond was utterly choked with masses of fallen rock that we could
+never hope to move, even with the aid of explosives, of which we had none left.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we returned, our last hope gone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also another trouble stared us in the face; our supply of the crude mineral oil
+which the Abati used for lighting purposes was beginning to run low.
+Measurement of what remained of the store laid up for our use while the mine
+was being made, revealed the fact that there was only enough left to supply
+four lamps for about three days and nights: one for Maqueda, one for ourselves,
+one for the watchman near the tunnel mouth, and one for general purposes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This general-purpose lamp, as a matter of fact, was mostly made use of by
+Higgs. Truly, he furnished a striking instance of the ruling passion strong in
+death. All through those days of starvation and utter misery, until he grew too
+weak and the oil gave out, he trudged backward and forward between the old
+temple and the Tomb of Kings carrying a large basket on his arm. Going out with
+this basket empty, he would bring it back filled with gold cups and other
+precious objects that he had collected from among the bones and scattered
+rubbish in the Tomb. These objects he laboriously catalogued in his pocket-book
+at night, and afterwards packed away in empty cases that had contained our
+supplies of explosive and other goods, carefully nailing them down when filled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What on earth are you doing that for, Higgs?&rdquo; I asked petulantly,
+as he finished off another case, I think it was his twentieth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, Doctor,&rdquo; he answered in a thin voice, for like
+the rest of us he was growing feeble on a water-diet. &ldquo;I suppose it
+amuses me to think how jolly it would be to open all these boxes in my rooms in
+London after a first-rate dinner of fried sole and steak cut thick,&rdquo; and
+he smacked his poor, hungry lips. &ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;to
+take them out one by one and show them to &mdash;&mdash; and
+&mdash;&mdash;,&rdquo; and he mentioned by name officials of sundry great
+museums with whom he was at war, &ldquo;and see them tear their hair with rage
+and jealousy, while they wondered in their hearts if they could not manage to
+seize the lot for the Crown as treasure-trove, or do me out of them
+somehow,&rdquo; and he laughed a little in his old, pleasant fashion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Of course I never shall,&rdquo; he added sadly, &ldquo;but perhaps one
+day some other fellow will find them here and get them to Europe, and if he is
+a decent chap, publish my notes and descriptions, of which I have put a
+duplicate in each box, and so make my name immortal. Well, I&rsquo;m off again.
+There are four more cases to fill before the oil gives out, and I must get that
+great gold head into one of them, though it is an awful job to carry it far at
+a time. Doctor, what disease is it that makes your legs suddenly give way
+beneath you, so that you find yourself sitting in a heap on the floor without
+knowing how you came there? You don&rsquo;t know? Well, no more do I, but
+I&rsquo;ve got it bad. I tell you I&rsquo;m downright sore behind from
+continual and unexpected contact with the rock.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Poor old Higgs! I did not like to tell him that his disease was starvation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, he went on with his fetching and carrying and cataloguing and packing. I
+remember that the last load he brought in was the golden head he had spoken of,
+the wonderful likeness of some prehistoric king which has since excited so much
+interest throughout the world. The thing being too heavy for him to carry in
+his weakened state, for it is much over life-size, he was obliged to roll it
+before him, which accounts for the present somewhat damaged condition of the
+nose and semi-Egyptian diadem.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Never shall I forget the sight of the Professor as he appeared out of the
+darkness, shuffling along upon his knees where his garments were worn into
+holes, and by the feeble light of the lamp that he moved from time to time,
+painfully pushing the great yellow object forward, only a foot or two at each
+push.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Here it is at last,&rdquo; he gasped triumphantly, whilst we watched him
+with indifferent eyes. &ldquo;Japhet, help me to wrap it up in the mat and lift
+it into the box. No, no, you donkey&mdash;face upward&mdash;so. Never mind the
+corners, I&rsquo;ll fill them with ring-money and other trifles,&rdquo; and out
+of his wide pockets he emptied a golden shower, amongst which he sifted
+handfuls of dust from the floor and anything else he could find to serve as
+packing, finally covering all with a goat&rsquo;s-hair blanket which he took
+from his bed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then very slowly he found the lid of the box and nailed it down, resting
+between every few strokes of the hammer whilst we watched him in our intent,
+but idle, fashion, wondering at the strange form of his madness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length the last nail was driven, and seated on the box he put his hand into
+an inner pocket to find his note-book, then incontinently fainted. I struggled
+to my feet and sprinkled water over his face till he revived and rolled on to
+the floor, where presently he sank into sleep or torpor. As he did so the first
+lamp gave out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Light it, Japhet,&rdquo; said Maqueda, &ldquo;it is dark in this
+place.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Child of Kings,&rdquo; answered the man, &ldquo;I would obey if I
+could, but there is no more oil.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Half-an-hour later the second lamp went out. By the light that remained we made
+such arrangements as we could, knowing that soon darkness would be on us. They
+were few and simple: the fetching of a jar or two of water, the placing of arms
+and ammunition to our hands, and the spreading out of some blankets on which to
+lie down side by side upon what I for one believed would be our bed of death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While we were thus engaged, Japhet crawled into our circle from the outer
+gloom. Suddenly I saw his haggard face appear, looking like that of a spirit
+rising from the grave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My lamp is burned out,&rdquo; he moaned; &ldquo;it began to fail whilst
+I was on watch at the tunnel mouth, and before I was half-way here it died
+altogether. Had it not been for the wire of the &lsquo;thing-that-speaks&rsquo;
+which guided me, I could never have reached you. I should have been lost in the
+darkness of the city and perished alone among the ghosts.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, you are here now,&rdquo; said Oliver. &ldquo;Have you anything to
+report?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nothing, lord, or at least very little. I moved some of the small rocks
+that we piled up, and crept down the hole till I came to a place where the
+blessed light of day fell upon me, only one little ray of it, but still the
+light of day. I think that something has fallen upon the tunnel and broken it,
+perhaps one of the outer walls of the palace. At least I looked through a crack
+and saw everywhere ruins&mdash;ruins that still smoke. From among them I heard
+the voices of men shouting to each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;One of them called to his companion that it was strange, if the Gentiles
+and the Child of Kings had perished in the fire, that they had not found their
+bones which would be known by the guns they carried. His friend answered that
+it was strange indeed, but being magicians, perhaps they had hidden away
+somewhere. For his part he hoped so, as then sooner or later they would be
+found and put to death slowly, as they deserved, who had led astray the Child
+of Kings and brought so many of the heaven-descended Abati to their death. Then
+fearing lest they should find and kill me, for they drew near as I could tell
+by their voices, I crept back again, and that is all my story.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We said nothing; there seemed to be nothing to say, but sat in our sad circle
+and watched the dying lamp. When it began to flicker, leaping up and down like
+a thing alive, a sudden panic seized poor Japhet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O Walda Nagasta,&rdquo; he cried, throwing himself at her feet,
+&ldquo;you have called me a brave man, but I am only brave where the sun and
+the stars shine. Here in the dark amongst so many angry spirits, and with
+hunger gnawing at my bowels, I am a great coward; Joshua himself is not such a
+coward as I. Let us go out into the light while there is yet time. Let us give
+ourselves up to the Prince. Perhaps he will be merciful and spare our lives, or
+at least he will spare yours, and if we die, it will be with the sun shining on
+us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But Maqueda only shook her head, whereon he turned to Orme and went on:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lord, would you have the blood of the Child of Kings upon your hands? Is
+it thus that you repay her for her love? Lead her forth. No harm will come to
+her who otherwise must perish here in misery.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You hear what the man says, Maqueda?&rdquo; said Orme heavily.
+&ldquo;There is some truth in it. It really does not matter to us whether we
+die in the power of the Abati or here of starvation; in fact, I think that we
+should prefer the former end, and doubtless no hand will be laid on you. Will
+you go?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay,&rdquo; she answered passionately. &ldquo;A hand would be laid on
+me, the hand of Joshua, and rather than that he should touch me I will die a
+hundred deaths. Let fate take its course, for as I have told you, I believe
+that then it will open to us some gate we cannot see. And if I believe in vain,
+why there is another gate which we can pass together, O Oliver, and beyond that
+gate lies peace. Bid the man be silent, or drive him away. Let him trouble me
+no more.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lamp flame sank low. It flickered, once, twice, thrice, each time showing
+the pale, drawn faces of us six seated about it, like wizards making an
+incantation, like corpses in a tomb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then it went out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How long were we in that place after this? At least three whole days and
+nights, I believe, if not more, but of course we soon lost all count of time.
+At first we suffered agonies from famine, which we strove in vain to assuage
+with great draughts of water. No doubt these kept us alive, but even Higgs, who
+it may be remembered was a teetotaller, afterwards confessed to me that he has
+loathed the sight and taste of water ever since. Indeed he now drinks beer and
+wine like other people. It was torture; we could have eaten anything. In fact
+the Professor did manage to catch and eat a bat that got entangled in his red
+hair. He offered me a bite of it, I remember, and was most grateful when I
+declined.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The worst of it was also that we had a little food, a few hard ship&rsquo;s
+biscuits, which we had saved up for a purpose, namely, to feed Maqueda. This
+was how we managed it. At certain intervals I would announce that it was time
+to eat, and hand Maqueda her biscuit. Then we would all pretend to eat also,
+saying how much we felt refreshed by the food and how we longed for more,
+smacking our lips and biting on a piece of wood so that she could not help
+hearing us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This piteous farce went on for forty-eight hours or more until at last the
+wretched Japhet, who was quite demoralized and in no mood for acting, betrayed
+us, exactly how I cannot remember. After this Maqueda would touch nothing more,
+which did not greatly matter as there was only one biscuit left. I offered it
+to her, whereon she thanked me and all of us for our courtesy toward a woman,
+took the biscuit, and gave it to Japhet, who ate it like a wolf.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was some time after this incident that we discovered Japhet to be missing;
+at least we could no longer touch him, nor did he answer when we called.
+Therefore, we concluded that he had crept away to die and, I am sorry to say,
+thought little more about it for, after all, what he suffered, or had suffered,
+we suffered also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I recall that before we were overtaken by the last sleep, a strange fit came
+upon us. Our pangs passed away, much as the pain does when mortification
+follows a wound, and with them that horrible craving for nutriment. We grew
+cheerful and talked a great deal. Thus Roderick gave me the entire history of
+the Fung people and of his life among them and other savage tribes. Further, he
+explained every secret detail of their idol worship to Higgs, who was
+enormously interested, and tried to make some notes by the aid of our few
+remaining matches. When even that subject was exhausted, he sang to us in his
+beautiful voice&mdash;English hymns and Arab songs. Oliver and Maqueda also
+chatted together quite gaily, for I heard them laughing, and gathered that he
+was engaged in trying to teach her English.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last thing that I recollect is the scene as it was revealed by the
+momentary light of one of the last matches. Maqueda sat by Oliver. His arm was
+about her waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, her long hair flowed loose,
+her large and tender eyes stared from her white, wan face up toward his face,
+which was almost that of a mummy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then on the other side stood my son, supporting himself against the wall of the
+room, and beyond him Higgs, a shadow of his former self, feebly waving a pencil
+in the air and trying, apparently, to write a note upon his Panama straw hat,
+which he held in his left hand, as I suppose, imagining it to be his
+pocket-book. The incongruity of that sun-hat in a place where no sun had ever
+come made me laugh, and as the match went out I regretted that I had forgotten
+to look at his face to ascertain whether he was still wearing his smoked
+spectacles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What is the use of a straw hat and smoked spectacles in
+kingdom-come?&rdquo; I kept repeating to myself, while Roderick, whose arm I
+knew was about me, seemed to answer:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Fung wizards say that the sphinx Harmac once wore a hat, but, my
+father, I do not know if he had spectacles.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then a sensation as of being whirled round and round in some vast machine, down
+the sloping sides of which I sank at last into a vortex of utter blackness,
+whereof I knew the name was death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dimly, very dimly, I became aware that I was being carried. I heard voices in
+my ears, but what they said I could not understand. Then a feeling of light
+struck upon my eyeballs which gave me great pain. Agony ran all through me as
+it does through the limbs of one who is being brought back from death by
+drowning. After this something warm was poured down my throat, and I went to
+sleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I awoke again it was to find myself in a large room that I did not know. I
+was lying on a bed, and by the light of sunrise which streamed through the
+window-places I saw the three others, my son Roderick, Orme and Higgs lying on
+the other beds, but they were still asleep.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Abati servants entered the room bringing food, a kind of rough soup with pieces
+of meat in it of which they gave me a portion in a wooden bowl that I devoured
+greedily. Also they shook my companions until they awoke and almost
+automatically ate up the contents of similar bowls, after which they went to
+sleep again, as I did, thanking heaven that we were all still alive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every few hours I had a vision of these men entering with the bowls of soup or
+porridge, until at last life and reason came back to me in earnest, and I saw
+Higgs sitting up on the bed opposite and staring at me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I say, old fellow,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;are we alive, or is this
+Hades?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Can&rsquo;t be Hades,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;because there are Abati
+here.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Quite right,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;If the Abati go anywhere,
+it&rsquo;s to hell, where they haven&rsquo;t whitewashed walls and four-post
+beds. Oliver, wake up. We are out of that cave, anyway.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme raised himself on his hand and stared at us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where&rsquo;s Maqueda?&rdquo; he asked, a question to which of course,
+we could give no answer, till presently Roderick woke also and said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I remember something. They carried us all out of the cave; Japhet was
+with them. They took the Child of Kings one way and us another, that is all I
+know.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Shortly afterwards the Abati servants arrived, bearing food more solid than the
+soup, and with them came one of their doctors, not that old idiot of a court
+physician, who examined us, and announced that we should all recover, a fact
+which we knew already. We asked many questions of him and the servants, but
+could get no answer, for evidently they were sworn to silence. However, we
+persuaded them to bring us water to wash in. It came, and with it a polished
+piece of metal, such as the Abati use for a looking-glass, in which we saw our
+faces, the terrible, wasted faces of those who have gone within a hair&rsquo;s
+breadth of death by starvation in the dark.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet although our gaolers would say nothing, something in their aspect told us
+that we were in sore peril of our lives. They looked at us hungrily, as a
+terrier looks at rats in a wire cage of which the door will presently be
+opened. Moreover, Roderick, who, as I think I have said, has very quick ears,
+overheard one of the attendants whisper to another:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;When does our service on these hounds of Gentiles come to an end?&rdquo;
+to which his fellow answered, &ldquo;The Council has not yet decided, but I
+think to-morrow or the next day, if they are strong enough. It will be a great
+show.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Also that evening, about sunset, we heard a mob shouting outside the barrack in
+which we were imprisoned, for that was its real use, &ldquo;Give us the
+Gentiles! Give us the Gentiles! We are tired of waiting,&rdquo; until at length
+some soldiers drove them away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, we talked the thing over, only to conclude that there was nothing to be
+done. We had no friend in the place except Maqueda, and she, it appeared, was a
+prisoner like ourselves, and therefore could not communicate with us. Nor could
+we see the slightest possibility of escape.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Out of the frying-pan into the fire,&rdquo; remarked Higgs gloomily.
+&ldquo;I wish now that they had let us die in the cave. It would have been
+better than being baited to death by a mob of Abati.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Oliver with a sigh, for he was thinking of Maqueda,
+&ldquo;but that&rsquo;s why they saved us, the vindictive beasts, to kill us
+for what they are pleased to call high treason.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;High treason!&rdquo; exclaimed Higgs. &ldquo;I hope to goodness their
+punishment for the offence is not that of mediæval England; hanging is bad
+enough&mdash;but the rest&mdash;&mdash;!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the Abati study European history,&rdquo; I broke in;
+&ldquo;but it is no use disguising from you that they have methods of their
+own. Look here, friends,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;I have kept something about me
+in case the worst should come to the worst,&rdquo; and I produced a little
+bottle containing a particularly swift and deadly poison done up into tabloids,
+and gave one to each of them. &ldquo;My advice is,&rdquo; I added, &ldquo;that
+if you see we are going to be exposed to torture or to any dreadful form of
+death, you should take one of these, as I mean to do, and cheat the Abati of
+their vengeance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is all very fine,&rdquo; said the Professor as he pocketed his
+tabloid, &ldquo;but I never could swallow a pill without water at the best of
+times, and I don&rsquo;t believe those beasts will give one any. Well, I
+suppose I must suck it, that&rsquo;s all. Oh! if only the luck would turn, if
+only the luck would turn!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three more days went by without any sign of Higgs&rsquo;s aspiration being
+fulfilled. On the contrary, except in one respect, the luck remained steadily
+against us. The exception was that we got plenty to eat and consequently
+regained our normal state of health and strength more rapidly than might have
+been expected. With us it was literally a case of &ldquo;Let us eat and drink,
+for to-morrow we die.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Only somehow I don&rsquo;t think that any of us really believed that we should
+die, though whether this was because we had all, except poor Quick, survived so
+much, or from a sneaking faith in Maqueda&rsquo;s optimistic dreams, I cannot
+say. At any rate we ate our food with appetite, took exercise in an inner yard
+of the prison, and strove to grow as strong as we could, feeling that soon we
+might need all our powers. Oliver was the most miserable among us, not for his
+own sake, but because, poor fellow, he was haunted with fears as to Maqueda and
+her fate, although of these he said little or nothing to us. On the other hand,
+my son Roderick was by far the most cheerful. He had lived for so many years
+upon the brink of death that this familiar gulf seemed to have no terrors for
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;All come right somehow, my father,&rdquo; he said airily. &ldquo;Who can
+know what happen? Perhaps Child of King drag us out of mud-hole, for after all
+she was very strong cow, or what you call it, heifer, and I think toss Joshua
+if he drive her into corner. Or perhaps other thing occur.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What other thing, Roderick?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh! don&rsquo;t know, can&rsquo;t say, but I think Fung thing. Believe
+we not done with Fung yet, believe they not run far. Believe they take thought
+for morrow and come back again. Only,&rdquo; he added sadly, &ldquo;hope my
+wife not come back, for that old girl too full of lofty temper for me. Still,
+cheer up, not dead yet by long day&rsquo;s march, and meanwhile food good and
+this very jolly rest after beastly underground city. Now I tell Professor some
+more stories about Fung religion, den of lions, and so forth.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the morning after this conversation a crisis came. Just as we had finished
+breakfast the doors of our chamber were thrown open and in marched a number of
+soldiers wearing Joshua&rsquo;s badge. They were headed by an officer of his
+household, who commanded us to rise and follow him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where to?&rdquo; asked Orme.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;To take your trial before the Child of Kings and her Council, Gentile,
+upon the charge of having murdered certain of her subjects,&rdquo; answered the
+officer sternly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That&rsquo;s all right,&rdquo; said Higgs with a sigh of relief.
+&ldquo;If Maqueda is chairman of the Bench we are pretty certain of an
+acquittal, for Orme&rsquo;s sake if not for our own.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you be too sure of that,&rdquo; I whispered into his ear.
+&ldquo;The circumstances are peculiar, and women have been known to change
+their minds.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Adams,&rdquo; he replied, glaring at me through his smoked spectacles,
+&ldquo;If you talk like that we shall quarrel. Maqueda change her mind indeed!
+Why, it is an insult to suggest such a thing, and if you take my advice you
+won&rsquo;t let Oliver hear you. Don&rsquo;t you remember, man, that
+she&rsquo;s in love with him?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Oh, yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but I remember also that Prince
+Joshua is in love with her, and that she is his prisoner.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br />
+THE TRIAL AND AFTER</h2>
+
+<p>
+They set us in a line, four ragged-looking fellows, all of us with beards of
+various degrees of growth, that is, all the other three, for mine had been an
+established fact for years, and everything having been taken away from us, we
+possessed neither razor nor scissors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the courtyard of our barrack we were met by a company of soldiers, who
+encircled us about with a triple line of men, as we thought to prevent any
+attempt of escape. So soon as we passed the gates I found, however, that this
+was done for a different reason, namely, to protect us from the fury of the
+populace. All the way from the barrack to the courthouse, whither we were being
+taken now that the palace was burned, the people were gathered in hundreds,
+literally howling for our blood. It was a strange, and, in a way, a dreadful
+sight to see even the brightly dressed women and children shaking their fists
+and spitting at us with faces distorted by hate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why they love you so little, father, when you do so much for
+them?&rdquo; asked Roderick, shrugging his shoulders and dodging a stone that
+nearly hit him on the head.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For two reasons,&rdquo; I answered. &ldquo;Because their Lady loves one
+of us too much, and because through us many of their people have lost their
+lives. Also they hate strangers, and are by nature cruel, like most cowards,
+and now that they have no more fear of the Fung, they think it will be safe to
+kill us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Ah!&rdquo; said Roderick; &ldquo;yet Harmac has come to Mur,&rdquo; and
+he pointed to the great head of the idol seated on the cliff, &ldquo;and I
+think where Harmac goes, Fung follow, and if so they make them pay plenty for
+my life, for I great man among Fung; Fung myself husband of Sultan&rsquo;s
+daughter. These fools, like children, because they see no Fung, think there are
+no Fung. Well, in one year, or perhaps one month, they learn.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I daresay, my boy,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;but I am afraid that
+won&rsquo;t help us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By now we were approaching the court-house where the Abati priests and learned
+men tried civil and some criminal cases. Through a mob of nobles and soldiers
+who mocked us as we went, we were hustled into the large hall of judgment that
+was already full to overflowing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Up the centre of it we marched to a clear space reserved for the parties to a
+cause, or prisoners and their advocates, beyond which, against the wall, were
+seats for the judges. These were five members of the Council, one of whom was
+Joshua, while in the centre as President of the Court, and wearing her veil and
+beautiful robes of ceremony, sat Maqueda herself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Thank God, she&rsquo;s safe!&rdquo; muttered Oliver with a gasp of
+relief.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Higgs, &ldquo;but what&rsquo;s she doing there? She
+ought to be in the dock, too, not on the Bench.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We reached the open space, and were thrust by soldiers armed with swords to
+where we must stand, and although each of us bowed to her, I observed that
+Maqueda took not the slightest notice of our salutations. She only turned her
+head and said something to Joshua on her right, which caused him to laugh.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then with startling suddenness the case began. A kind of public prosecutor
+stood forward and droned out the charge against us. It was that we, who were in
+the employ of the Abati, had traitorously taken advantage of our position as
+mercenary captains to stir up a civil war, in which many people had lost their
+lives, and some been actually murdered by ourselves and our companion who was
+dead. Moreover, that we had caused their palace to be burned and, greatest
+crime of all, had seized the sacred person of the Walda Nagasta, Rose of Mur,
+and dragged her away into the recesses of the underground city, whence she was
+only rescued by the chance of an accomplice of ours, one Japhet, betraying our
+hiding-place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the charge which, it will be noted, contained no allusion whatever to
+the love entanglement between Maqueda and Oliver. When it was finished the
+prosecutor asked us what we pleaded, whereon Oliver answered as our spokesman
+that it was true there had been fighting and men killed, also that we had been
+driven into the cave, but as to all the rest the Child of Kings knew the truth,
+and must speak for us as she wished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the audience began to shout, &ldquo;They plead guilty! Give them to
+death!&rdquo; and so forth, while the judges rising from their seats, gathered
+round Maqueda and consulted her.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;By heaven! I believe she is going to give us away!&rdquo; exclaimed
+Higgs, whereon Oliver turned on him fiercely and bade him hold his tongue,
+adding:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;If you were anywhere else you should answer for that slander!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At length the consultation was finished; the judges resumed their seats, and
+Maqueda held up her hand. Thereon an intense silence fell upon the place. Then
+she began to speak in a cold, constrained voice:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Gentiles,&rdquo; she said, addressing us, &ldquo;you have pleaded guilty
+to the stirring up of civil war in Mur, and to the slaying of numbers of its
+people, facts of which there is no need for evidence, since many widows and
+fatherless children can testify to them to-day. Moreover, you did, as alleged
+by my officer, commit the crime of bearing off my person into the cave and
+keeping me there by force to be a hostage for your safety.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We heard and gasped, Higgs ejaculating, &ldquo;Good gracious, what a
+lie!&rdquo; But none of the rest of us said anything.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;For these offences,&rdquo; went on Maqueda, &ldquo;you are all of you
+justly worthy of a cruel death.&rdquo; Then she paused and added, &ldquo;Yet,
+as I have the power to do, I remit the sentence. I decree that this day you and
+all the goods that remain to you which have been found in the cave city, and
+elsewhere, together with camels for yourselves and your baggage, shall be
+driven from Mur, and that if any one of you returns hither, he shall without
+further trial be handed over to the executioners. This I do because at the
+beginning of your service a certain bargain was made with you, and although you
+have sinned so deeply I will not suffer that the glorious honour of the Abati
+people shall be tarnished even by the breath of suspicion. Get you gone,
+Wanderers, and let us see your faces no more for ever!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now the mob gathered in the hall shouted in exultation, though I heard some
+crying out, &ldquo;No, kill them! Kill them!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the tumult had died down Maqueda spoke again saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;O noble and generous Abati, you approve of this deed of mercy; you who
+would not be held merciless in far lands, O Abati, where, although you may not
+have heard of them, there are, I believe, other peoples who think themselves as
+great as you. You would not have it whispered, I say, that we who are the best
+of the world, we, the children of Solomon, have dealt harshly even with stray
+dogs that have wandered to our gates? Moreover, we called these dogs to hunt a
+certain beast for us, the lion-headed beast called Fung, and, to be just to
+them, they hunted well. Therefore spare them the noose, though they may have
+deserved it, and let them run hence with their bone, say you, the bone which
+they think that they have earned. What does a bone more or less matter to the
+rich Abati, if only their holy ground is not defiled with the blood of Gentile
+dogs?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nothing at all! Nothing at all!&rdquo; they shouted. &ldquo;Tie it to
+their tails and let them go!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;It shall be done, O my people! And now that we have finished with these
+dogs, I have another word to say to you. You may have thought or heard that I
+was too fond of them, and especially of one of them,&rdquo; and she glanced
+toward Oliver. &ldquo;Well, there are certain dogs who will not work unless you
+pat them on the head. Therefore I patted this one on the head, since, after
+all, he is a clever dog who knows things that we do not know; for instance, how
+to destroy the idol of the Fung. O great Abati, can any of you really have
+believed that I, of the ancient race of Solomon and Sheba, I, the Child of
+Kings, purposed to give my noble hand to a vagrant Gentile come hither for
+hire? Can you really have believed that I, the solemnly betrothed to yonder
+Prince of Princes, Joshua, my uncle, would for a moment even in my heart have
+preferred to him such a man as that?&rdquo; And once again she looked at
+Oliver, who made a wild motion, as though he were about to speak. But before he
+could so much as open his lips Maqueda went on:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Well, if you believed, not guessing all the while I was working for the
+safety of my people, soon shall you be undeceived, since to-morrow night I
+invite you to the great ceremony of my nuptials, when, according to the ancient
+custom, I break the glass with him whom on the following night I take to be my
+husband,&rdquo; and rising, she bowed thrice to the audience, then stretched
+out her hand to Joshua.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He, too, rose, puffing himself out like a great turkey-cock, and, taking her
+hand, kissed it, gobbling some words which we did not catch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Wild cheering followed, and in the momentary silence which followed Oliver
+spoke.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lady,&rdquo; he said, in a cold and bitter voice, &ldquo;we
+&lsquo;Gentiles&rsquo; have heard your words. We thank you for your kind
+acknowledgment of our services, namely, the destruction of the idol of the Fung
+at the cost of some risk and labour to ourselves. We thank you also for your
+generosity in allowing us, as the reward of that service, to depart from Mur,
+with insult and hard words, and such goods as remain to us, instead of
+consigning us to death by torture, as you and your Council have the power to
+do. It is indeed a proof of your generosity, and of that of the Abati people
+which we shall always remember and repeat in our own land, should we live to
+reach it. Also, we trust that it will come to the ears of the savage Fung, so
+that at length they may understand that true nobility and greatness lie not in
+brutal deeds of arms, but in the hearts of men. But now, Walda Nagasta, I have
+a last request to make of you, namely, that I may see your face once more to be
+sure that it is you who have spoken to us, and not another beneath your veil,
+and that if this be so, I may carry away with me a faithful picture of one so
+true to her country and noble to her guests as you have shown yourself this
+day.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+She listened, then very slowly lifted her veil, revealing such a countenance as
+I had never seen before. It was Maqueda without a doubt, but Maqueda changed.
+Her face was pale, which was only to be expected after all she had gone
+through; her eyes glowed in it like coals, her lips were set. But it was her
+expression, at once defiant and agonized, which impressed me so much that I
+never shall forget it. I confess I could not read it in the least, but it left
+upon my mind the belief that she was a false woman, and yet ashamed of her own
+falsity. There was the greatest triumph of her art, that in those terrible
+circumstances she should still have succeeded in conveying to me, and to the
+hundreds of others who watched, this conviction of her own turpitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a moment her eyes met those of Orme, but although he searched them with
+pleading and despair in his glance, I could trace in hers no relenting sign,
+but only challenge not unmixed with mockery. Then with a short, hard laugh she
+let fall her veil again and turned to talk with Joshua. Oliver stood silent a
+little while, long enough for Higgs to whisper to me:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I say, isn&rsquo;t this downright awful? I&rsquo;d rather be back in the
+den of lions than live to see it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As he spoke I saw Oliver put his hand to where his revolver usually hung, but,
+of course, it had been taken from him. Next he began to search in his pocket,
+and finding that tabloid of poison which I had given him, lifted it toward his
+mouth. But just as it touched his lips, my son, who was next to him, saw also.
+With a quick motion he struck it from his fingers, and ground it to powder on
+the floor beneath his heel.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver raised his arm as though to hit him, then without a sound fell
+senseless. Evidently Maqueda noted all this also, for I saw a kind of quiver go
+through her, and her hands gripped the arms of her chair till the knuckles
+showed white beneath the skin. But she only said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This Gentile has fainted because he is disappointed with his reward.
+Take him hence and let his companion, the Doctor Adams, attend to him. When he
+is recovered, conduct them all from Mur as I have decreed. See that they go
+unharmed, taking with them plenty of food lest it be said that we only spared
+their lives here in order that they might starve without our gates.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then waving her hand to show that the matter was done with, she rose and,
+followed by the judges and officers, left the court by some door behind them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While she spoke a strong body of guards had surrounded us, some of whom came
+forward and lifted the senseless Oliver on to a stretcher. They carried him
+down the court, the rest of us following.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Look,&rdquo; jeered the Abati as he passed, &ldquo;look at the Gentile
+pig who thought to wear the Bud of the Rose upon his bosom. He has got the
+thorn now, not the rose. Is the swine dead, think you?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus they mocked him and us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We reached our prison in safety, and there I set to work to revive Oliver, a
+task in which I succeeded at length. When he had come to himself again he drank
+a cup of water, and said quite quietly:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You fellows have seen all, so there is no need for talk and
+explanations. One thing I beg of you, if you are any friends of mine, and it is
+that you will not reproach or even speak of Maqueda to me. Doubtless she had
+reasons for what she did; moreover, her bringing up has not been the same as
+ours, and her code is different. Do not let us judge her. I have been a great
+fool, that is all, and now I am paying for my folly, or, rather, I have paid.
+Come, let us have some dinner, for we don&rsquo;t know when we shall get
+another meal.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We listened to this speech in silence, only I saw Roderick turn aside to hide a
+smile and wondered why he smiled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Scarcely had we finished eating, or pretending to eat, when an officer entered
+the room and informed us roughly that it was time for us to be going. As he did
+so some attendants who had followed him threw us bundles of clothes, and with
+them four very beautiful camel-hair cloaks to protect us from the cold. With
+some of these garments we replaced our rags, for they were little more, tying
+them and the rest of the outfit up into bundles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then, clothed as Abati of the upper class, we were taken to the gates of the
+barrack, where we found a long train of riding camels waiting for us. The
+moment that I saw these beasts I knew that they were the best in the whole
+land, and of very great value. Indeed, that to which Oliver was conducted was
+Maqueda&rsquo;s own favourite dromedary, which upon state occasions she
+sometimes rode instead of a horse. He recognized it at once, poor fellow, and
+coloured to the eyes at this unexpected mark of kindness, the only one she had
+vouchsafed to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come, Gentiles,&rdquo; said the officer, &ldquo;and take count of your
+goods, that you may not say that we have stolen anything from you. Here are
+your firearms and all the ammunition that is left. These will be given to you
+at the foot of the pass, but not before, lest you should do more murder on the
+road. On those camels are fastened the boxes in which you brought up the magic
+fire. We found them in your quarters in the cave city, ready packed, but what
+they contain we neither know nor care. Full or empty, take them, they are
+yours. Those,&rdquo; and he pointed to two other beasts, &ldquo;are laden with
+your pay, which the Child of Kings sends to you, requesting that you will not
+count it till you reach Egypt or your own land, since she wishes no quarrelling
+with you as to the amount. The rest carry food for you to eat; also, there are
+two spare beasts. Now, mount and begone.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So we climbed into the embroidered saddles of the kneeling dromedaries, and a
+few minutes later were riding through Mur toward the pass, accompanied by our
+guard and hooting mobs that once or twice became threatening, but were driven
+off by the soldiers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I say, Doctor,&rdquo; said Higgs to me excitedly, &ldquo;do you know
+that we have got all the best of the treasure of the Tomb of Kings in those
+five-and-twenty crates? I have thought since that I was crazy when I packed
+them, picking out the most valuable and rare articles with such care, and
+filling in the cracks with ring money and small curiosities, but now I see it
+was the inspiration of genius. My subliminal self knew what was going to
+happen, and was on the job, that&rsquo;s all. Oh, if only we can get it safe
+away, I shall not have played Daniel and been nearly starved to death for
+nothing. Why, I&rsquo;d go through it all again for that golden head alone.
+Shove on, shove on, before they change their minds; it seems too good to be
+true.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just then a rotten egg thrown by some sweet Abati youth landed full on the
+bridge of his nose, and dispersing itself into his mouth and over his smoked
+spectacles, cut short the Professor&rsquo;s eloquence, or rather changed its
+tenor. So absurd was the sight that in spite of myself I burst out laughing,
+and with that laugh felt my heart grow lighter, as though our clouds of trouble
+were lifting at length.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the mouth of the pass we found Joshua himself waiting for us, clad in all
+his finery and chain armour, and looking more like a porpoise on horseback than
+he had ever done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Farewell, Gentiles,&rdquo; he said, bowing to us in mockery, &ldquo;we
+wish you a quick journey to Sheol, or wherever such swine as you may go.
+Listen, you Orme. I have a message for you from the Walda Nagasta. It is that
+she is sorry she could not ask you to stop for her nuptial feast, which she
+would have done had she not been sure that, if you stayed, the people would
+have cut your throat, and she did not wish the holy soil of Mur to be defiled
+with your dog&rsquo;s blood. Also she bids me say that she hopes that your stay
+here will have taught you a lesson, and that in future you will not believe
+that every woman who makes use of you for her own ends is therefore a victim of
+your charms. To-morrow night and the night after, I pray you think of our
+happiness and drink a cup of wine to the Walda Nagasta and her husband. Come,
+will you not wish me joy, O Gentile?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Orme turned white as a sheet and gazed at him steadily. Then a strange look
+came into his grey eyes, almost a look of inspiration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Prince Joshua,&rdquo; he said in a very quiet voice, &ldquo;who knows
+what may happen before the sun rises thrice on Mur? All things that begin well
+do not end well, as I have learned, and as you also may live to learn. At
+least, soon or late, your day of reckoning must come, and you, too, may be
+betrayed as I have been. Rather should you ask me to forgive your soul the
+insults that in your hour of triumph you have not been ashamed to heap upon one
+who is powerless to avenge them,&rdquo; and he urged his camel past him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As we followed I saw Joshua&rsquo;s face turn as pale as Oliver&rsquo;s had
+done, and his great round eyes protrude themselves like those of a fish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What does he mean?&rdquo; said the prince to his companions. &ldquo;Pray
+God he is not a prophet of evil. Even now I have a mind&mdash;no, let him go.
+To break my marriage vow might bring bad luck upon me. Let him go!&rdquo; and
+he glared after Oliver with fear and hatred written on his coarse features.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That was the last we ever saw of Joshua, uncle of Maqueda, and first prince
+among the Abati.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Down the pass we went and through the various gates of the fortifications,
+which were thrown open as we came and closed behind us. We did not linger on
+that journey. Why should we when our guards were anxious to be rid of us and we
+of them? Indeed, so soon as the last gate was behind us, either from fear of
+the Fung or because they were in a hurry to return to share in the festivities
+of the approaching marriage, suddenly the Abati wheeled round, bade us farewell
+with a parting curse, and left us to our own devices.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+So, having roped the camels into a long line, we went on alone, truly thankful
+to be rid of them, and praying, every one of us, that never in this world or
+the next might we see the face or hear the voice of another Abati.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We emerged on to the plain at the spot where months before we had held our
+conference with Barung, Sultan of the Fung, and where poor Quick had forced his
+camel on to Joshua&rsquo;s horse and dismounted that hero. Here we paused
+awhile to arrange our little caravan and arm ourselves with the rifles,
+revolvers, and cartridges which until now we had not been allowed to touch.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were but four of us to manage the long train of camels, so we were
+obliged to separate. Higgs and I went ahead, since I was best acquainted with
+the desert and the road, Oliver took the central station, and Roderick brought
+up the rear, because he was very keen of sight and hearing and from his long
+familiarity with them, knew how to drive camels that showed signs of obstinacy
+or a wish to turn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On our right lay the great city of Harmac. We noted that it seemed to be quite
+deserted. There, rebuilt now, frowned the gateway through which we had escaped
+from the Fung after we had blown so many of them to pieces, but beneath it none
+passed in or out. The town was empty, and although they were dead ripe the rich
+crops had not yet been reaped. Apparently the Fung people had now left the land.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now we were opposite to the valley of Harmac, and saw that the huge sphinx
+still sat there as it had done for unknown thousands of years. Only its head
+was gone, for that had &ldquo;moved to Mur,&rdquo; and in its neck and
+shoulders appeared great clefts, caused by the terrific force of the explosion.
+Moreover, no sound came from the enclosures where the sacred lions used to be.
+Doubtless every one of them was dead.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you think,&rdquo; suggested Higgs, whose archæological zeal
+was rekindling fast, &ldquo;that we might spare half-an-hour to go up the
+valley and have a look at Harmac from the outside? Of course, both Roderick and
+I are thoroughly acquainted with his inside, and the den of lions, and so
+forth, but I would give a great deal just to study the rest of him and take a
+few measurements. You know one must camp somewhere, and if we can&rsquo;t find
+the camera, at dawn one might make a sketch.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Are you mad?&rdquo; I asked by way of answer, and Higgs collapsed, but
+to this hour he has never forgiven me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We looked our last upon Harmac, the god whose glory we had destroyed, and went
+on swiftly till darkness overtook us almost opposite to that ruined village
+where Shadrach had tried to poison the hound Pharaoh, which afterwards tore out
+his throat. Here we unloaded the camels, no light task, and camped, for near
+this spot there was water and a patch of maize on which the beasts could feed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the light quite faded Roderick rode forward for a little way to
+reconnoitre, and presently returned announcing shortly that he had seen no one.
+So we ate of the food with which the Abati had provided us, not without fear
+lest it should be poisoned, and then held a council of war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The question was whether we should take the old road toward Egypt, or now that
+the swamps were dry, strike up northward by the other route of which Shadrach
+had told us. According to the map this should be shorter, and Higgs advocated
+it strongly, as I discovered afterwards because he thought there might be more
+archæological remains in that direction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I, on the other hand, was in favour of following the road we knew, which,
+although long and very wearisome, was comparatively safe, as in that vast
+desert there were few people to attack us, while Oliver, our captain, listened
+to all we had to say, and reserved his opinion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Presently, however, the question was settled for us by Roderick, who remarked
+that if we travelled to the north we should probably fall in with the Fung. I
+asked what he meant, and he replied that when he made his reconnaissance an
+hour or so before, although it was true that he had seen no one, not a thousand
+yards from where we sat he had come across the track of a great army. This
+army, from various indications, he felt sure was that of Barung, which had
+passed there within twelve hours.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Perhaps my wife with them, so I no want to go that way, father,&rdquo;
+he added with sincere simplicity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where could they be travelling?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but think they go round to
+attack Mur from other side, or perhaps to find new land to north.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;We will stick to the old road,&rdquo; said Oliver briefly. &ldquo;Like
+Roderick I have had enough of all the inhabitants of this country. Now let us
+rest awhile; we need it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About two o&rsquo;clock we were up again and before it was dawn on the
+following morning we had loaded our camels and were on the road. By the first
+faint light we saw that what Roderick had told us was true. We were crossing
+the track of an army of many thousand men who had passed there recently with
+laden camels and horses. Moreover, those men were Fung, for we picked up some
+articles that could have belonged to no other people, such as a head-dress that
+had been lost or thrown away, and an arrow that had fallen from a quiver.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However, we saw nothing of them, and, travelling fast, to our great relief by
+midday reached the river Ebur, which we crossed without difficulty, for it was
+now low. That night we camped in the forest-lands beyond, having all the
+afternoon marched up the rising ground at the foot of which ran the river.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Toward dawn Higgs, whose turn it was to watch the camels, came and woke me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Sorry to disturb you, old fellow,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but there is a
+most curious sky effect behind us which I thought you might like to see.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I rose and looked. In the clear, starlight night I could just discern the
+mighty outline of the mountains of Mur. Above them the firmament was suffused
+with a strange red glow. I formed my own conclusion at once, but only said:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Let us go to tell Orme,&rdquo; and led the way to where he had lain down
+under a tree.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He was not sleeping; indeed, I do not think he had closed his eyes all night,
+the night of Maqueda&rsquo;s marriage. On the contrary, he was standing on a
+little knoll staring at the distant mountains and the glow above them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Mur is on fire,&rdquo; he said solemnly. &ldquo;Oh, my God, Mur is on
+fire!&rdquo; and turning he walked away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Just then Roderick joined us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Fung got into Mur,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and now cut throat of all
+Abati. We well out of that, but pig Joshua have very warm wedding feast,
+because Barung hate Joshua who try to catch him not fairly, which he never
+forget; often talk of it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Poor Maqueda!&rdquo; I said to Higgs, &ldquo;what will happen to
+her?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but although once, like
+everybody else, I adored that girl, really as a matter of justice she deserves
+all she gets, the false-hearted little wretch. Still it is true,&rdquo; he
+added, relenting, &ldquo;she gave us very good camels, to say nothing of their
+loads.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I only repeated, &ldquo;Poor Maqueda!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That day we made but a short journey, since we wished to rest ourselves and
+fill the camels before plunging into the wilderness, and feeling sure that we
+should not be pursued, had no cause to hurry. At night we camped in a little
+hollow by a stream that ran at the foot of a rise. As dawn broke we were
+awakened by the voice of Roderick, who was on watch, calling to us in tones of
+alarm to get up, as we were followed. We sprang to our feet, seizing our rifles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Where are they?&rdquo; I asked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;There, there,&rdquo; he said, pointing toward the rise behind us.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We ran round some intervening bushes and looked, to see upon its crest a
+solitary figure seated on a very tired horse, for it panted and its head
+drooped. This figure, which was entirely hidden in a long cloak with a hood,
+appeared to be watching our camp just as a spy might do. Higgs lifted his rifle
+and fired at it, but Oliver, who was standing by him, knocked the barrel up so
+that the bullet went high, saying:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t be a fool. If it is only one man there&rsquo;s no need to
+shoot him, and if there are more you will bring them on to us.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the figure urged the weary horse and advanced slowly, and I noticed that
+it was very small. &ldquo;A boy,&rdquo; I thought to myself, &ldquo;who is
+bringing some message.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The rider reached us, and slipping from the horse, stood still.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Who are you?&rdquo; asked Oliver, scanning the cloaked form.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;One who brings a token to you, lord,&rdquo; was the answer, spoken in a
+low and muffled voice. &ldquo;Here it is,&rdquo; and a hand, a very delicate
+hand, was stretched out, holding between the fingers a ring.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I knew it at once; it was Sheba&rsquo;s ring which Maqueda had lent to me in
+proof of her good faith when I journeyed for help to England. This ring, it
+will be remembered, we returned to her with much ceremony at our first public
+audience. Oliver grew pale at the sight of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How did you come by this?&rdquo; he asked hoarsely. &ldquo;Is she who
+alone may wear it dead?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes, yes,&rdquo; answered the voice, a feigned voice as I thought.
+&ldquo;The Child of Kings whom you knew is dead, and having no more need for
+this ancient symbol of her power, she bequeathed it to you whom she remembered
+kindly at the last.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oliver covered his face with his hands and turned away.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But,&rdquo; went on the speaker slowly, &ldquo;the woman Maqueda whom
+once it is said you loved&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He dropped his hands and stared.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;&mdash;&mdash;the woman Maqueda whom once it is said
+you&mdash;loved&mdash;still lives.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the hood slipped back, and in the glow of the rising sun we saw the face
+beneath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was that of Maqueda herself!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A silence followed that in its way was almost awful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;My Lord Oliver,&rdquo; asked Maqueda presently, &ldquo;do you accept my
+offering of Queen Sheba&rsquo;s ring?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+NOTE BY MAQUEDA
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once called Walda Nagasta and Takla Warda, that is, Child of Kings and Bud of
+the Rose, once also by birth Ruler of the Abati people, the Sons of Solomon and
+Sheba.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I, Maqueda, write this by the command of Oliver, my lord, who desires that I
+should set out certain things in my own words.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Truly all men are fools, and the greatest of them is Oliver, my lord, though
+perhaps he is almost equalled by the learned man whom the Abati called Black
+Windows, and by the doctor, Son of Adam. Only he who is named Roderick, child
+of Adam, is somewhat less blind, because having been brought up among the Fung
+and other people of the desert, he has gathered a little wisdom. This I know
+because he has told me that he alone saw through my plan to save all their
+lives, but said nothing of it because he desired to escape from Mur, where
+certain death waited on him and his companions. Perhaps, however, he lies to
+please me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, for the truth of the matter, which not being skilled in writing I will
+tell briefly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I was carried out of the cave city with my lord and the others, starving,
+starving, too weak to kill myself, which otherwise I would have done rather
+than fall into the hands of my accursed uncle, Joshua. Yet I was stronger than
+the rest, because as I have learned, they tricked me about those biscuits,
+pretending to eat when they were not eating, for which never will I forgive
+them. It was Japhet, a gallant man on one side, but a coward on the other like
+the rest of the Abati, who betrayed us, driven thereto by emptiness within,
+which, after all, is an ill enemy to fight. He went out and told Joshua where
+we lay hid, and then, of course, they came.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, they took away my lord and the others, and me too they bore to another
+place and fed me till my strength returned, and oh! how good was that honey
+which first I ate, for I could touch nothing else. When I was strong again came
+Prince Joshua to me and said, &ldquo;Now I have you in my net; now you are
+mine.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I answered Joshua, &ldquo;Fool, your net is of air; I will fly through
+it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;By death,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;of
+which a hundred means lie to my hand. You have robbed me of one, but what does
+that matter when so many remain? I will go where you and your love cannot
+pursue me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Very well, Child of Kings,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but how about that
+tall Gentile who has caught your eyes, and his companions? They, too, have
+recovered, and they shall die every one of them after a certain fashion (which,
+I Maqueda, will not set down, since there are some things that ought not to be
+written). If you die, they die; as I told you, they die as a wolf dies that is
+caught by the shepherds; they die as a baboon dies that is caught by the
+husbandman.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now I looked this way and that, and found that there was no escape. So I made a
+bargain.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Joshua,&rdquo; I said, &ldquo;let these men go and I swear upon the name
+of our mother, she of Sheba, that I will marry you. Keep them and kill them,
+and you will have none of me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, in the end, because he desired me and the power that went with me, he
+consented.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then I played my part. My lord and his companions were brought before me, and
+in presence of all the people I mocked them; I spat in their faces, and oh!
+fools, fools, fools, they believed me! I lifted my veil, and showed them my
+eyes, and they believed also what they seemed to see in my eyes, forgetting
+that I am a woman who can play a part at need. Yes, they forgot that there were
+others to deceive as well, all the Abati people, who, if they thought I tricked
+them, would have torn the foreigners limb from limb. That was my bitterest
+morsel, that I should have succeeded in making even my own lord believe that of
+all the wicked women that ever trod this world, I was the most vile. Yet I did
+so, and he cannot deny it, for often we have talked of this thing till he will
+hear of it no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Well, they went with all that I could give them, though I knew well that my
+lord cared nothing, for what I could give, nor the doctor, Child of Adam,
+either, who cared only for his son that God had restored to him. Only Black
+Windows cared, not because he loves wealth, but because he worships all that is
+old and ugly, for of such things he fashions up his god.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They went, for their going was reported to me, and I, I entered into hell
+because I knew that my lord thought me false, and that he would never learn the
+truth, namely, that what I did I did to save his life, until at length he came
+to his own country, if ever he came there, and opened the chests of treasure,
+if ever he opened them, which perhaps he would not care to do. And all that
+while he would believe me the wife of Joshua, and&mdash;oh! I cannot write of
+it. And I, I should be dead; I, I could not tell him the truth until he joined
+me in that land of death, if there men and women can talk together any more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For this and no other was the road that I had planned to walk. When he and his
+companions had gone so far that they could not be followed, then I would tell
+Joshua and the Abati all the truth in such language as should never be
+forgotten for generations, and kill myself before their eyes, so that Joshua
+might lack a wife and the Abati a Child of Kings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I sat through the Feast of Preparation and smiled and smiled. It passed and the
+next day passed, and came the night of the Feast of Marriage. The glass was
+broken, the ceremony was fulfilled. Joshua rose up to pledge me before all the
+priests, lords, and headmen. He devoured me with his hateful eyes, me, who was
+already his. But I, I handled the knife in my robe, wishing, such was the rage
+in my heart, that I could kill him also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then God spoke, and the dream that I had dreamed came true. Far away there rose
+a single cry, and after it other cries, and the sounds of shouting and of
+marching feet. Far away tongues of fire leapt into the air, and each man asked
+his neighbour, &ldquo;What is this?&rdquo; Then from all the thousands of the
+feasting people rose one giant scream, and that scream said, &ldquo;Fung! Fung!
+The Fung are on us! Fly, fly, fly!&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; shouted Joshua, seizing me by the arm, but I drew my dagger
+on him and he let go. Then he fled with the other lords, and I remained in my
+high seat beneath the golden canopy alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The people fled past me without fighting; they fled into the cave city, they
+fled to the rocks; they hid themselves among the precipices, and after them
+came the Fung, slaying and burning, till all Mur went up in flames. And I, I
+sat and watched, waiting till it was time for me to die also.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At last, I know not how long afterwards, appeared before me Barung, a red sword
+in his hand, which he lifted to me in salute.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Greeting, Child of Kings,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You see Harmac is come
+to sleep at Mur.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered, &ldquo;Harmac is come to sleep at Mur, and many
+of those who dwelt there sleep with him. What of it? Say, Barung, will you kill
+me, or shall I kill myself?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Neither, Child of Kings,&rdquo; he answered in his high fashion.
+&ldquo;Did I not make you a promise yonder in the Pass of Mur, when I spoke
+with you and the Western men, and does a Fung Sultan break his word? I have
+taken back the city that was ours, as I swore to do, and purified it with
+fire,&rdquo; and he pointed to the raging flames. &ldquo;Now I will rebuild it,
+and you shall rule under me.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Not so,&rdquo; I answered; &ldquo;but in place of that promise I ask of
+you three things.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Name them,&rdquo; said Barung.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;They are these: First, that you give me a good horse and five
+days&rsquo; food, and let me go where I will. Secondly, that if he still lives
+you advance one Japhet, a certain Mountaineer who befriended me and brought
+others to do likewise, to a place of honour under you. Thirdly, that you spare
+the rest of the Abati people.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You shall go whither you desire, and I think I know where you will
+go,&rdquo; answered Barung. &ldquo;Certain spies of mine last night saw four
+white men riding on fine camels towards Egypt, and reported it to me as I led
+my army to the secret pass that Harmac showed me, which you Abati could never
+find. But I said, &lsquo;Let them go; it is right that brave men who have been
+the mock of the Abati should be allowed their freedom.&rsquo; Yes, I said this,
+although one of them was my daughter&rsquo;s husband, or near to it. But she
+will have no more of him who fled to his father rather than with her, so it was
+best that he should go also, since, if I brought him back it must be to his
+death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; I answered boldly, &ldquo;I go after the Western men; I who
+have done with these Abati. I wish to see new lands.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;And find an old love who thinks ill of you just now,&rdquo; he said,
+stroking his beard. &ldquo;Well, no wonder, for here has been a marriage feast.
+Say, what were you about to do, O Child of Kings? Take the fat Joshua to your
+breast?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nay, Barung, I was about to take <i>this</i> husband to my
+breast,&rdquo; and I showed him the knife that was hidden in my marriage robe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;No,&rdquo; he said, smiling, &ldquo;I think the knife was for Joshua
+first. Still, you are a brave woman who could save the life of him you love at
+the cost of your own. Yet, bethink you, Child of Kings, for many a generation
+your mothers have been queens, and under me you may still remain a queen. How
+will one whose blood has ruled so long endure to serve a Western man in a
+strange land?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;That is what I go to find out, Barung, and if I cannot endure, then I
+shall come back again, though not to rule the Abati, of whom I wash my hands
+for ever. Yet, Barung, my heart tells me I shall endure.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Child of Kings has spoken,&rdquo; he said, bowing to me. &ldquo;My
+best horse awaits her, and five of my bravest guards shall ride with her to
+keep her safe till she sights the camp of the Western men. I say happy is he of
+them who was born to wear the sweet-scented Bud of the Rose upon his bosom. For
+the rest, the man Japhet is in my hands. He yielded himself to me who would not
+fight for his own people because of what they had done to his friends, the
+white men. Lastly, already I have given orders that the slaying should cease,
+since I need the Abati to be my slaves, they who are cowards, but cunning in
+many arts. Only one more man shall die,&rdquo; he added sternly, &ldquo;and
+that is Joshua, who would have taken me by a trick in the mouth of the pass. So
+plead not for him, for by the head of Harmac it is in vain.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now hearing this I did not plead, fearing lest I should anger Barung, and but
+waste my breath.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At daybreak I started on the horse, having with me the five Fung captains. As
+we crossed the marketplace I met those that remained alive of the Abati, being
+driven in hordes like beasts, to hear their doom. Among them was Prince Joshua,
+my uncle, whom a man led by a rope about his neck, while another man thrust him
+forward from behind, since Joshua knew that he went to his death and the road
+was one which he did not wish to travel. He saw me, and cast himself down upon
+the ground, crying to me to save him. I told him that I could not, though it is
+the truth, I swear it before God, that, notwithstanding all the evil he had
+worked toward me, toward Oliver my lord, and his companions, bringing to his
+end that gallant man who died to protect me, I would still have saved him if I
+could. But I could not, for although I tried once more, Barung would not
+listen. So I answered:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Plead, O Joshua, with him who has the power in Mur to-day, for I have
+none. You have fashioned your own fate, and must travel the road you
+chose.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What road do you ride, mounted on a horse of the plains, Maqueda? Oh!
+what need is there for me to ask? You go to see that accursed Gentile whom I
+would I had killed by inches, as I would that I could kill you.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Then calling me by evil names, Joshua sprang at me as though to strike me down,
+but he who held the rope about his neck jerked him backward, so that he fell
+and I saw his face no more.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But oh! it was sad, that journey across the great square, for the captive Abati
+by hundreds&mdash;men, women, and children together&mdash;with tears and
+lamentations cried to me to preserve them from death or slavery at the hands of
+the Fung. But I answered:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Your sins against me and the brave foreign men who fought so well for
+you I forgive, but search your hearts, O Abati, and say if you can forgive
+yourselves? If you had listened to me and to those whom I called in to help us,
+you might have beaten back the Fung, and remained free for ever. But you were
+cowards; you would not learn to bear arms like men, you would not even watch
+your mountain walls, and soon or late the people who refuse to be ready to
+fight must fall and become the servants of those who are ready.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And now, my Oliver, I have no more to write, save that I am glad to have
+endured so many things, and thereby win the joy that is mine to-day. Not yet
+have I, Maqueda, wished to reign again in Mur, who have found another throne.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
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+eBook #2602 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2602)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Sheba's Ring, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+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: Queen Sheba's Ring
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: April 3, 2006 [EBook #2602]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN SHEBA'S RING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers; Emma Dudding; Dagny; David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+QUEEN SHEBA'S RING
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE COMING OF THE RING
+
+Every one has read the monograph, I believe that is the right word,
+of my dear friend, Professor Higgs--Ptolemy Higgs to give him his full
+name--descriptive of the tableland of Mur in North Central Africa, of
+the ancient underground city in the mountains which surrounded it,
+and of the strange tribe of Abyssinian Jews, or rather their mixed
+descendants, by whom it is, or was, inhabited. I say every one
+advisedly, for although the public which studies such works is usually
+select, that which will take an interest in them, if the character of a
+learned and pugnacious personage is concerned, is very wide indeed. Not
+to mince matters, I may as well explain what I mean at once.
+
+Professor Higgs's rivals and enemies, of whom either the brilliancy
+of his achievements or his somewhat abrupt and pointed methods of
+controversy seem to have made him a great many, have risen up, or rather
+seated themselves, and written him down--well, an individual who strains
+the truth. Indeed, only this morning one of these inquired, in a letter
+to the press, alluding to some adventurous traveller who, I am told,
+lectured to the British Association several years ago, whether Professor
+Higgs did not, in fact, ride across the desert to Mur, not upon a camel,
+as he alleged, but upon a land tortoise of extraordinary size.
+
+The innuendo contained in this epistle has made the Professor, who, as
+I have already hinted, is not by nature of a meek disposition, extremely
+angry. Indeed, notwithstanding all that I could do, he left his London
+house under an hour ago with a whip of hippopotamus hide such as the
+Egyptians call a _koorbash_, purposing to avenge himself upon the person
+of his defamer. In order to prevent a public scandal, however, I have
+taken the liberty of telephoning to that gentleman, who, bold and
+vicious as he may be in print, is physically small and, I should say,
+of a timid character, to get out of the way at once. To judge from the
+abrupt fashion in which our conversation came to an end, I imagine that
+the hint has been taken. At any rate, I hope for the best, and, as
+an extra precaution, have communicated with the lawyers of my justly
+indignant friend.
+
+The reader will now probably understand that I am writing this book, not
+to bring myself or others before the public, or to make money of which I
+have no present need, or for any purpose whatsoever, except to set down
+the bare and actual truth. In fact, so many rumours are flying about
+as to where we have been and what befell us that this has become
+almost necessary. As soon as I laid down that cruel column of gibes and
+insinuations to which I have alluded--yes, this very morning, before
+breakfast, this conviction took hold of me so strongly that I cabled
+to Oliver, Captain Oliver Orme, the hero of my history, if it has
+any particular hero, who is at present engaged upon what must be an
+extremely agreeable journey round the world--asking his consent. Ten
+minutes since the answer arrived from Tokyo. Here it is:
+
+"Do what you like and think necessary, but please alter all names, et
+cetera, as propose returning via America, and fear interviewers. Japan
+jolly place." Then follows some private matter which I need not insert.
+Oliver is always extravagant where cablegrams are concerned.
+
+I suppose that before entering on this narration, for the reader's
+benefit I had better give some short description of myself.
+
+My name is Richard Adams, and I am the son of a Cumberland yeoman who
+married a Welshwoman. Therefore I have Celtic blood in my veins, which
+perhaps accounts for my love of roving and other things. I am now an old
+man, near the end of my course, I suppose; at any rate, I was sixty-five
+last birthday. This is my appearance as I see it in the glass before
+me: tall, spare (I don't weigh more than a hundred and forty pounds--the
+desert has any superfluous flesh that I ever owned, my lot having been,
+like Falstaff, to lard the lean earth, but in a hot climate); my eyes
+are brown, my face is long, and I wear a pointed white beard, which
+matches the white hair above.
+
+Truth compels me to add that my general appearance, as seen in that
+glass which will not lie, reminds me of that of a rather aged goat;
+indeed, to be frank, by the natives among whom I have sojourned, and
+especially among the Khalifa's people when I was a prisoner there, I
+have often been called the White Goat.
+
+Of my very commonplace outward self let this suffice. As for my record,
+I am a doctor of the old school. Think of it! When I was a student at
+Bart.'s the antiseptic treatment was quite a new thing, and administered
+when at all, by help of a kind of engine on wheels, out of which
+disinfectants were dispensed with a pump, much as the advanced gardener
+sprays a greenhouse to-day.
+
+I succeeded above the average as a student, and in my early time as
+a doctor. But in every man's life there happen things which, whatever
+excuses may be found for them, would not look particularly well in cold
+print (nobody's record, as understood by convention and the Pharisee,
+could really stand cold print); also something in my blood made me its
+servant. In short, having no strict ties at home, and desiring to see
+the world, I wandered far and wide for many years, earning my living
+as I went, never, in my experience, a difficult thing to do, for I was
+always a master of my trade.
+
+My fortieth birthday found me practising at Cairo, which I mention only
+because it was here that first I met Ptolemy Higgs, who, even then in
+his youth, was noted for his extraordinary antiquarian and linguistic
+abilities. I remember that in those days the joke about him was that he
+could swear in fifteen languages like a native and in thirty-two with
+common proficiency, and could read hieroglyphics as easily as a bishop
+reads the _Times_.
+
+Well, I doctored him through a bad attack of typhoid, but as he had
+spent every farthing he owned on scarabs or something of the sort, made
+him no charge. This little kindness I am bound to say he never forgot,
+for whatever his failings may be (personally I would not trust him alone
+with any object that was more than a thousand years old), Ptolemy is a
+good and faithful friend.
+
+In Cairo I married a Copt. She was a lady of high descent, the tradition
+in her family being that they were sprung from one of the Ptolemaic
+Pharaohs, which is possible and even probable enough. Also, she was a
+Christian, and well educated in her way. But, of course, she remained an
+Oriental, and for a European to marry an Oriental is, as I have tried to
+explain to others, a very dangerous thing, especially if he continues
+to live in the East, where it cuts him off from social recognition and
+intimacy with his own race. Still, although this step of mine forced me
+to leave Cairo and go to Assouan, then a little-known place, to practise
+chiefly among the natives, God knows we were happy enough together till
+the plague took her, and with it my joy in life.
+
+I pass over all that business, since there are some things too dreadful
+and too sacred to write about. She left me one child, a son, who, to
+fill up my cup of sorrow, when he was twelve years of age, was kidnapped
+by the Mardi's people.
+
+This brings me to the real story. There is nobody else to write
+it; Oliver will not; Higgs cannot (outside of anything learned and
+antiquarian, he is hopeless); so I must. At any rate, if it is not
+interesting, the fault will be mine, not that of the story, which in all
+conscience is strange enough.
+
+
+
+We are now in the middle of June, and it was a year ago last December
+that, on the evening of the day of my arrival in London after an absence
+of half a lifetime, I found myself knocking at the door of Professor
+Higgs's rooms in Guildford Street, W.C. It was opened by his
+housekeeper, Mrs. Reid, a thin and saturnine old woman, who reminded and
+still reminds me of a reanimated mummy. She told me that the Professor
+was in, but had a gentleman to dinner, and suggested sourly that I
+should call again the next morning. With difficulty I persuaded her at
+last to inform her master that an old Egyptian friend had brought him
+something which he certainly would like to see.
+
+Five minutes later I groped my way into Higgs's sitting-room, which Mrs.
+Reid had contented herself with indicating from a lower floor. It is a
+large room, running the whole width of the house, divided into two by
+an arch, where once, in the Georgian days, there had been folding doors.
+The place was in shadow, except for the firelight, which shone upon a
+table laid ready for dinner, and upon an extraordinary collection of
+antiquities, including a couple of mummies with gold faces arranged in
+their coffins against the wall. At the far end of the room, however, an
+electric lamp was alight in the bow-window hanging over another table
+covered with books, and by it I saw my host, whom I had not met for
+twenty years, although until I vanished into the desert we frequently
+corresponded, and with him the friend who had come to dinner.
+
+First, I will describe Higgs, who, I may state, is admitted, even by his
+enemies, to be one of the most learned antiquarians and greatest masters
+of dead languages in Europe, though this no one would guess from his
+appearance at the age of about forty-five. In build short and stout,
+face round and high-coloured, hair and beard of a fiery red, eyes,
+when they can be seen--for generally he wears a pair of large blue
+spectacles--small and of an indefinite hue, but sharp as needles. Dress
+so untidy, peculiar, and worn that it is said the police invariably
+request him to move on, should he loiter in the streets at night. Such
+was, and is, the outward seeming of my dearest friend, Professor Ptolemy
+Higgs, and I only hope that he won't be offended when he sees it set
+down in black and white.
+
+That of his companion who was seated at the table, his chin resting on
+his hand, listening to some erudite discourse with a rather distracted
+air, was extraordinarily different, especially by contrast. A tall
+well-made young man, rather thin, but broad-shouldered, and apparently
+five or six and twenty years of age. Face clean-cut--so much so, indeed,
+that the dark eyes alone relieved it from a suspicion of hardness; hair
+short and straight, like the eyes, brown; expression that of a man of
+thought and ability, and, when he smiled, singularly pleasant. Such was,
+and is, Captain Oliver Orme, who, by the way, I should explain, is only
+a captain of some volunteer engineers, although, in fact, a very able
+soldier, as was proved in the South African War, whence he had then but
+lately returned.
+
+I ought to add also that he gave me the impression of a man not in
+love with fortune, or rather of one with whom fortune was not in love;
+indeed, his young face seemed distinctly sad. Perhaps it was this that
+attracted me to him so much from the first moment that my eyes fell on
+him--me with whom fortune had also been out of love for many years.
+
+While I stood contemplating this pair, Higgs, looking up from the
+papyrus or whatever it might be that he was reading (I gathered later
+that he had spent the afternoon in unrolling a mummy, and was studying
+its spoils), caught sight of me standing in the shadow.
+
+"Who the devil are you?" he exclaimed in a shrill and strident voice,
+for it acquires that quality when he is angry or alarmed, "and what are
+you doing in my room?"
+
+"Steady," said his companion; "your housekeeper told you that some
+friend of yours had come to call."
+
+"Oh, yes, so she did, only I can't remember any friend with a face and
+beard like a goat. Advance, friend, and all's well."
+
+So I stepped into the shining circle of the electric light and halted
+again.
+
+"Who is it? Who is it?" muttered Higgs. "The face is the face of--of--I
+have it--of old Adams, only he's been dead these ten years. The Khalifa
+got him, they said. Antique shade of the long-lost Adams, please be so
+good as to tell me your name, for we waste time over a useless mystery."
+
+"There is no need, Higgs, since it is in your mouth already. Well, I
+should have known you anywhere; but then _your_ hair doesn't go white."
+
+"Not it; too much colouring matter; direct result of a sanguine
+disposition. Well, Adams--for Adams you must be--I am really delighted
+to see you, especially as you never answered some questions in my last
+letter as to where you got those First Dynasty scarabs, of which the
+genuineness, I may tell you, has been disputed by certain envious
+beasts. Adams, my dear old fellow, welcome a thousand times"--and he
+seized my hands and wrung them, adding, as his eye fell upon a ring I
+wore, "Why, what's that? Something quite unusual. But never mind; you
+shall tell me after dinner. Let me introduce you to my friend, Captain
+Orme, a very decent scholar of Arabic, with a quite elementary knowledge
+of Egyptology."
+
+"_Mr._ Orme," interrupted the younger man, bowing to me.
+
+"Oh, well, Mr. or Captain, whichever you like. He means that he is not
+in the regular army, although he has been all through the Boer War, and
+wounded three times, once straight through the lungs. Here's the soup.
+Mrs. Reid, lay another place. I am dreadfully hungry; nothing gives me
+such an appetite as unrolling mummies; it involves so much intellectual
+wear and tear, in addition to the physical labour. Eat, man, eat. We
+will talk afterwards."
+
+So we ate, Higgs largely, for his appetite was always excellent, perhaps
+because he was then practically a teetotaller; Mr. Orme very moderately,
+and I as becomes a person who has lived for months at a time on
+dates--mainly of vegetables, which, with fruits, form my principal
+diet--that is, if these are available, for at a pinch I can exist on
+anything.
+
+When the meal was finished and our glasses had been filled with port,
+Higgs helped himself to water, lit the large meerschaum pipe he always
+smokes, and pushed round the tobacco-jar which had once served as a
+sepulchural urn for the heart of an old Egyptian.
+
+"Now, Adams," he said when we also had filled our pipes, "tell us what
+has brought you back from the Shades. In short, your story, man, your
+story."
+
+I drew the ring he had noticed off my hand, a thick band of rather
+light-coloured gold of a size such as an ordinary woman might wear upon
+her first or second finger, in which was set a splendid slab of
+sapphire engraved with curious and archaic characters. Pointing to these
+characters, I asked Higgs if he could read them.
+
+"Read them? Of course," he answered, producing a magnifying glass.
+"Can't you? No, I remember; you never were good at anything more than
+fifty years old. Hullo! this is early Hebrew. Ah! I've got it," and he
+read:
+
+"'The gift of Solomon the ruler--no, the Great One--of Israel, Beloved
+of Jah, to Maqueda of Sheba-land, Queen, Daughter of Kings, Child of
+Wisdom, Beautiful.'
+
+"That's the writing on your ring, Adams--a really magnificent thing.
+'Queen of Sheba--Bath-Melachim, Daughter of Kings,' with our old friend
+Solomon chucked in. Splendid, quite splendid!"--and he touched the gold
+with his tongue, and tested it with his teeth. "Hum--where did you get
+this intelligent fraud from, Adams?"
+
+"Oh!" I answered, laughing, "the usual thing, of course. I bought it
+from a donkey-boy in Cairo for about thirty shillings."
+
+"Indeed," he replied suspiciously. "I should have thought the stone in
+it was worth more than that, although, of course, it may be nothing
+but glass. The engraving, too, is first-rate. Adams," he added with
+severity, "you are trying to hoax us, but let me tell you what I thought
+you knew by this time--that you can't take in Ptolemy Higgs. This
+ring is a shameless swindle; but who did the Hebrew on it? He's a good
+scholar, anyway."
+
+"Don't know," I answered; "wasn't aware till now that it was Hebrew. To
+tell you the truth, I thought it was old Egyptian. All I do know is
+that it was given, or rather lent, to me by a lady whose title is Walda
+Nagasta, and who is supposed to be a descendant of Solomon and the Queen
+of Sheba."
+
+Higgs took up the ring and looked at it again; then, as though in a fit
+of abstraction, slipped it into his waistcoat pocket.
+
+"I don't want to be rude, therefore I will not contradict you," he
+answered with a kind of groan, "or, indeed, say anything except that
+if any one else had spun me that yarn I should have told him he was
+a common liar. But, of course, as every schoolboy knows, Walda
+Nagasta--that is, Child of Kings in Ethiopic--is much the same as
+Bath-Melachim--that is, Daughter of Kings in Hebrew."
+
+Here Captain Orme burst out laughing, and remarked, "It is easy to see
+why you are not altogether popular in the antiquarian world, Higgs. Your
+methods of controversy are those of a savage with a stone axe."
+
+"If you only open your mouth to show your ignorance, Oliver, you had
+better keep it shut. The men who carried stone axes had advanced far
+beyond the state of savagery. But I suggest that you had better
+give Doctor Adams a chance of telling his story, after which you can
+criticize."
+
+"Perhaps Captain Orme does not wish to be bored with it," I said,
+whereon he answered at once:
+
+"On the contrary, I should like to hear it very much--that is, if you
+are willing to confide in me as well as in Higgs."
+
+I reflected a moment, since, to tell the truth, for sundry reasons, my
+intention had been to trust no one except the Professor, whom I knew to
+be as faithful as he is rough. Yet some instinct prompted me to make
+an exception in favour of this Captain Orme. I liked the man; there was
+something about those brown eyes of his that appealed to me. Also it
+struck me as odd that he should happen to be present on this occasion,
+for I have always held that there is nothing casual or accidental in the
+world; that even the most trivial circumstances are either ordained,
+or the result of the workings of some inexorable law whereof the end
+is known by whatever power may direct our steps, though it be not yet
+declared.
+
+"Certainly I am willing," I answered; "your face and your friendship
+with the Professor are passport enough for me. Only I must ask you
+to give me your word of honour that without my leave you will repeat
+nothing of what I am about to tell you."
+
+"Of course," he answered, whereon Higgs broke in:
+
+"There, that will do; you don't want us both to kiss the Book, do you?
+Who sold you that ring, and where have you been for the last dozen
+years, and whence do you come now?"
+
+"I have been a prisoner of the Khalifa's among other things. I had five
+years of that entertainment of which my back would give some evidence
+if I were to strip. I think I am about the only man who never embraced
+Islam whom they allowed to live, and that was because I am a doctor,
+and, therefore, a useful person. The rest of the time I have spent
+wandering about the North African deserts looking for my son, Roderick.
+You remember the boy, or should, for you are his godfather, and I used
+to send you photographs of him as a little chap."
+
+"Of course, of course," said the Professor in a new tone; "I came across
+a Christmas letter from him the other day. But, my dear Adams, what
+happened? I never heard."
+
+"He went up the river to shoot crocodiles against my orders, when he was
+about twelve years old--not very long after his mother's death, and some
+wandering Mahdi tribesmen kidnapped him and sold him as a slave. I have
+been looking for him ever since, for the poor boy was passed on from
+tribe to tribe, among which his skill as a musician enabled me to follow
+him. The Arabs call him the Singer of Egypt, because of his wonderful
+voice, and it seems that he has learned to play upon their native
+instruments."
+
+"And now where is he?" asked Higgs, as one who feared the answer.
+
+"He is, or was, a favourite slave among a barbarous, half-negroid people
+called the Fung, who dwell in the far interior of North Central Africa.
+After the fall of the Khalifa I followed him there; it took me several
+years. Some Bedouin were making an expedition to trade with these Fung,
+and I disguised myself as one of them.
+
+"On a certain night we camped at the foot of a valley outside a great
+wall which encloses the holy place where their idol is. I rode up to
+this wall and, through the open gateway, heard some one with a beautiful
+tenor voice singing in English. What he sang was a hymn that I had
+taught my son. It begins:
+
+'Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.'
+
+"I knew the voice again. I dismounted and slipped through the gateway,
+and presently came to an open space, where a young man sat singing upon
+a sort of raised bench with lamps on either side of him, and a large
+audience in front. I saw his face and, notwithstanding the turban which
+he wore and his Eastern robe--yes, and the passage of all those years--I
+knew it for that of my son. Some spirit of madness entered into me, and
+I called aloud, 'Roderick, Roderick!' and he started up, staring about
+him wildly. The audience started up also, and one of them caught sight
+of me lurking in the shadow.
+
+"With a howl of rage, for I had desecrated their sanctuary, they sprang
+at me. To save my life, coward that I was, I fled back through the
+gates. Yes, after all those years of seeking, still I fled rather than
+die, and though I was wounded with a spear and stones, managed to reach
+and spring upon my horse. Then, as I was headed off from our camp,
+I galloped away anywhere, still to save my miserable life from those
+savages, so strongly is the instinct of self-preservation implanted
+in us. From a distance I looked back and saw by the light of the fired
+tents that the Fung were attacking the Arabs with whom I had travelled,
+I suppose because they thought them parties to the sacrilege. Afterwards
+I heard that they killed them every one, poor men, but I escaped, who
+unwittingly had brought their fate upon them.
+
+"On and on I galloped up a steep road. I remember hearing lions roaring
+round me in the darkness. I remember one of them springing upon my
+horse and the poor beast's scream. Then I remember no more till I found
+myself--I believe it was a week or so later--lying on the verandah of
+a nice house, and being attended by some good-looking women of an
+Abyssinian cast of countenance."
+
+"Sounds rather like one of the lost tribes of Israel," remarked Higgs
+sarcastically, puffing at his big meerschaum.
+
+"Yes, something of that sort. The details I will give you later. The
+main facts are that these people who picked me up outside their gates
+are called Abati, live in a town called Mur, and allege themselves to
+be descended from a tribe of Abyssinian Jews who were driven out and
+migrated to this place four or five centuries ago. Briefly, they
+look something like Jews, practise a very debased form of the Jewish
+religion, are civilized and clever after a fashion, but in the last
+stage of decadence from interbreeding--about nine thousand men is their
+total fighting force, although three or four generations ago they had
+twenty thousand--and live in hourly terror of extermination by the
+surrounding Fung, who hold them in hereditary hate as the possessors
+of the wonderful mountain fortress that once belonged to their
+forefathers."
+
+"Gibraltar and Spain over again," suggested Orme.
+
+"Yes, with this difference--that the position is reversed, the Abati of
+this Central African Gibraltar are decaying, and the Fung, who answer to
+the Spaniards, are vigorous and increasing."
+
+"Well, what happened?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Nothing particular. I tried to persuade these Abati to organize an
+expedition to rescue my son, but they laughed in my face. By degrees
+I found out that there was only one person among them who was worth
+anything at all, and she happened to be their hereditary ruler who bore
+the high-sounding titles of Walda Nagasta, or Child of Kings, and Takla
+Warda, or Bud of the Rose, a very handsome and spirited young woman,
+whose personal name is Maqueda----"
+
+"One of the names of the first known Queens of Sheba," muttered Higgs;
+"the other was Belchis."
+
+"Under pretence of attending her medically," I went on, "for otherwise
+their wretched etiquette would scarcely have allowed me access to one so
+exalted, I talked things over with her. She told me that the idol of
+the Fung is fashioned like a huge sphinx, or so I gathered from her
+description of the thing, for I have never seen it."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Higgs, jumping up, "a sphinx in North Central Africa!
+Well, after all, why not? Some of the earlier Pharaohs are said to have
+had dealings with that part of the world, or even to have migrated from
+it. I think that the Makreezi repeats the legend. I suppose that it is
+ram-headed."
+
+"She told me also," I continued, "that they have a tradition, or rather
+a belief, which amounts to an article of faith, that if this sphinx
+or god, which, by the way, is lion, not ram-headed, and is called
+Harmac----"
+
+"Harmac!" interrupted Higgs again. "That is one of the names of the
+sphinx--Harmachis, god of dawn."
+
+"If this god," I repeated, "should be destroyed, the nation of the Fung,
+whose forefathers fashioned it as they say, must move away from that
+country across the great river which lies to the south. I have forgotten
+its name at the moment, but I think it must be a branch of the Nile.
+
+"I suggested to her that, in the circumstances, her people had better
+try to destroy the idol. Maqueda laughed and said it was impossible,
+since the thing was the size of a small mountain, adding that the Abati
+had long ago lost all courage and enterprise, and were content to sit in
+their fertile and mountain-ringed land, feeding themselves with tales of
+departed grandeur and struggling for rank and high-sounding titles, till
+the day of doom overtook them.
+
+"I inquired whether she were also content, and she replied, 'Certainly
+not'; but what could she do to regenerate her people, she who was
+nothing but a woman, and the last of an endless line of rulers?
+
+"'Rid me of the Fung,' she added passionately, 'and I will give you
+such a reward as you never dreamed. The old cave-city yonder is full of
+treasure that was buried with its ancient kings long before we came to
+Mur. To us it is useless, since we have none to trade with, but I have
+heard that the peoples of the outside world worship gold.'
+
+"'I do not want gold,' I answered; 'I want to rescue my son who is a
+prisoner yonder.'
+
+"'Then,' said the Child of Kings, 'you must begin by helping us to
+destroy the idol of the Fung. Are there no means by which this can be
+done?'
+
+"'There are means,' I replied, and I tried to explain to her the
+properties of dynamite and of other more powerful explosives.
+
+"'Go to your own land,' she exclaimed eagerly, 'and return with that
+stuff and two or three who can manage it, and I swear to them all the
+wealth of Mur. Thus only can you win my help to save your son.'"
+
+"Well, what was the end?" asked Captain Orme.
+
+"This: They gave me some gold and an escort with camels which were
+literally lowered down a secret path in the mountains so as to avoid the
+Fung, who ring them in and of whom they are terribly afraid. With these
+people I crossed the desert to Assouan in safety, a journey of many
+weeks, where I left them encamped about sixteen days ago, bidding them
+await my return. I arrived in England this morning, and as soon as I
+could ascertain that you still lived, and your address, from a book of
+reference called _Who's Who_, which they gave me in the hotel, I came on
+here."
+
+"Why did you come to me? What do you want me to do?" asked the
+Professor.
+
+"I came to you, Higgs, because I know how deeply you are interested
+in anything antiquarian, and because I wished to give you the first
+opportunity, not only of winning wealth, but also of becoming famous as
+the discoverer of the most wonderful relics of antiquity that are left
+in the world."
+
+"With a very good chance of getting my throat cut thrown in," grumbled
+Higgs.
+
+"As to what I want you to do," I went on, "I want you to find someone
+who understands explosives, and will undertake the business of blowing
+up the Fung idol."
+
+"Well, that's easy enough, anyhow," said the Professor, pointing to
+Captain Orme with the bowl of his pipe, and adding, "he is an engineer
+by education, a soldier and a very fair chemist; also he knows Arabic
+and was brought up in Egypt as a boy--just the man for the job if he
+will go."
+
+I reflected a moment, then, obeying some sort of instinct, looked up and
+asked:
+
+"Will you, Captain Orme, if terms can be arranged?"
+
+"Yesterday," he replied, colouring a little, "I should have answered,
+'Certainly not.' To-day I answer that I am prepared to consider the
+matter--that is, if Higgs will go too, and you can enlighten me on
+certain points. But I warn you that I am only an amateur in the three
+trades that the Professor has mentioned, though, it is true, one with
+some experience."
+
+"Would it be rude to inquire, Captain Orme, why twenty-four hours have
+made such a difference in your views and plans?"
+
+"Not rude, only awkward," he replied, colouring again, this time more
+deeply. "Still, as it is best to be frank, I will tell you. Yesterday
+I believed myself to be the inheritor of a very large fortune from an
+uncle whose fatal illness brought me back from South Africa before I
+meant to come, and as whose heir I have been brought up. To-day I have
+learned for the first time that he married secretly, last year, a woman
+much below him in rank, and has left a child, who, of course, will take
+all his property, as he died intestate. But that is not all. Yesterday I
+believed myself to be engaged to be married; to-day I am undeceived
+upon that point also. The lady," he added with some bitterness, "who
+was willing to marry Anthony Orme's heir is no longer willing to marry
+Oliver Orme, whose total possessions amount to under �10,000. Well,
+small blame to her or to her relations, whichever it may be, especially
+as I understand that she has a better alliance in view. Certainly her
+decision has simplified matters," and he rose and walked to the other
+end of the room.
+
+"Shocking business," whispered Higgs; "been infamously treated," and
+he proceeded to express his opinion of the lady concerned, of her
+relatives, and of the late Anthony Orme, shipowner, in language that,
+if printed, would render this history unfit for family reading. The
+outspokenness of Professor Higgs is well known in the antiquarian world,
+so there is no need for me to enlarge upon it.
+
+"What I do not exactly understand, Adams," he added in a loud voice,
+seeing that Orme had turned again, "and what I think we should both like
+to know, is _your_ exact object in making these proposals."
+
+"I am afraid I have explained myself badly. I thought I had made it
+clear that I have only one object--to attempt the rescue of my son,
+if he still lives, as I believe he does. Higgs, put yourself in my
+position. Imagine yourself with nothing and no one left to care for
+except a single child, and that child stolen away from you by savages.
+Imagine yourself, after years of search, hearing his very voice, seeing
+his very face, adult now, but the same, the thing you had dreamed of and
+desired for years; that for which you would have given a thousand lives
+if you could have had time to think. And then the rush of the howling,
+fantastic mob, the breakdown of courage, of love, of everything that
+is noble under the pressure of prim�val instinct, which has but one
+song--Save your life. Lastly, imagine this coward saved, dwelling within
+a few miles of the son whom he had deserted, and yet utterly unable to
+rescue or even to communicate with him because of the poltroonery of
+those among whom he had refuged."
+
+"Well," grunted Higgs, "I have imagined all that high-faluting lot. What
+of it? If you mean that you are to blame, I don't agree with you.
+You wouldn't have helped your son by getting your own throat cut, and
+perhaps his also."
+
+"I don't know," I answered. "I have brooded over the thing so long that
+it seems to me that I have disgraced myself. Well, there came a chance,
+and I took it. This lady, Walda Nagasta, or Maqueda, who, I think,
+had also brooded over things, made me an offer--I fancy without the
+knowledge or consent of her Council. 'Help me,' she said, 'and I will
+help you. Save my people, and I will try to save your son. I can pay for
+your services and those of any whom you may bring with you.'
+
+"I answered that it was hopeless, as no one would believe the tale,
+whereon she drew from her finger the throne-ring or State signet which
+you have in your pocket, Higgs, saying: 'My mothers have worn this since
+the days of Maqueda, Queen of Sheba. If there are learned men among your
+people they will read her name upon it and know that I speak no lie.
+Take it as a token, and take also enough of our gold to buy the stuffs
+whereof you speak, which hide fires that can throw mountains skyward,
+and the services of skilled and trusty men who are masters of the stuff,
+two or three of them only, for more cannot be transported across the
+desert, and come back to save your son and me.' That's all the story,
+Higgs. Will you take the business on, or shall I try elsewhere? You must
+make up your mind, because I have no time to lose, if I am to get into
+Mur again before the rains."
+
+"Got any of that gold you spoke of about you?" asked the Professor.
+
+I drew a skin bag from the pocket of my coat, and poured some out upon
+the table, which he examined carefully.
+
+"Ring money," he said presently, "might be Anglo-Saxon, might be
+anything; date absolutely uncertain, but from its appearance I should
+say slightly alloyed with silver; yes, there is a bit which has
+oxydized--undoubtedly old, that."
+
+Then he produced the signet from his pocket, and examined the ring and
+the stone very carefully through a powerful glass.
+
+"Seems all right," he said, "and although I have been greened in my
+time, I don't make many mistakes nowadays. What do you say, Adams? Must
+have it back? A sacred trust! Only lent to you! All right, take it by
+all means. _I_ don't want the thing. Well, it is a risky job, and if any
+one else had proposed it to me, I'd have told him to go to--Mur. But,
+Adams, my boy, you saved my life once, and never sent in a bill, because
+I was hard up, and I haven't forgotten that. Also things are pretty hot
+for me here just now over a certain controversy of which I suppose
+you haven't heard in Central Africa. I think I'll go. What do you say,
+Oliver?"
+
+"Oh!" said Captain Orme, waking up from a reverie, "if you are
+satisfied, I am. It doesn't matter to me where I go."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE ADVICE OF SERGEANT QUICK
+
+At this moment a fearful hubbub arose without. The front door slammed,
+a cab drove off furiously, a policeman's whistle blew, heavy feet
+were heard trampling; then came an invocation of "In the King's name,"
+answered by "Yes, and the Queen's, and the rest of the Royal Family's,
+and if you want it, take it, you chuckle-headed, flat-footed,
+pot-bellied Peelers."
+
+Then followed tumult indescribable as of heavy men and things rolling
+down the stairs, with cries of fear and indignation.
+
+"What the dickens is that?" asked Higgs.
+
+"The voice sounded like that of Samuel--I mean Sergeant Quick," answered
+Captain Orme with evident alarm; "what can he be after? Oh, I know,
+it is something to do with that infernal mummy you unwrapped this
+afternoon, and asked him to bring round after dinner."
+
+Just then the door burst open, and a tall, soldier-like form stalked in,
+carrying in his arms a corpse wrapped in a sheet, which he laid upon the
+table among the wine glasses.
+
+"I'm sorry, Captain," he said, addressing Orme, "but I've lost the head
+of the departed. I think it is at the bottom of the stairs with the
+police. Had nothing else to defend myself with, sir, against their
+unwarranted attacks, so brought the body to the present and charged,
+thinking it very stiff and strong, but regret to say neck snapped, and
+that deceased's head is now under arrest."
+
+As Sergeant Quick finished speaking, the door opened again, and through
+it appeared two very flurried and dishevelled policemen, one of whom
+held, as far as possible from his person, the grizzly head of a mummy by
+the long hair which still adhered to the skull.
+
+"What do you mean by breaking into my rooms like this? Where's your
+warrant?" asked the indignant Higgs in his high voice.
+
+"There!" answered the first policeman, pointing to the sheet-wrapped
+form on the table.
+
+"And here!" added the second, holding up the awful head. "As in duty
+bound, we ask explanation from that man of the secret conveyance of a
+corpse through the open streets, whereon he assaults us with the same,
+for which assault, pending investigation of the corpse, I arrest him.
+Now, Guv'nor" (addressing Sergeant Quick), "will you come along with us
+quietly, or must we take you?"
+
+The Sergeant, who seemed to be inarticulate with wrath, made a dash for
+the shrouded object on the table, with the intention, apparently, of
+once more using it as a weapon of offence, and the policemen drew their
+batons.
+
+"Stop," said Orme, thrusting himself between the combatants, "are you
+all mad? Do you know that this woman died about four thousand years
+ago?"
+
+"Oh, Lord!" said the policeman who held the head, addressing his
+companion, "it must be one of them mummies what they dig up in the
+British Museum. Seems pretty ancient and spicy, don't it?" and he
+sniffed at the head, then set it down upon the table.
+
+Explanations followed, and after the wounded dignity of the two officers
+of the Force had been soothed with sundry glasses of port wine and a
+written list of the names of all concerned, including that of the mummy,
+they departed.
+
+"You take my advice, bobbies," I heard the indignant Sergeant declaim
+outside the door, "and don't you believe things is always what they
+seem. A party ain't necessarily drunk because he rolls about and falls
+down in the street; he may be mad, or 'ungry, or epileptic, and a body
+ain't always a body jest because it's dead and cold and stiff. Why, men,
+as you've seen, it may be a mummy, which is quite a different thing. If
+I was to put on that blue coat of yours, would that make me a policeman?
+Good heavens! I should hope not, for the sake of the Army to which I
+still belong, being in the Reserve. What you bobbies need is to study
+human nature and cultivate observation, which will learn you the
+difference between a new-laid corpse and a mummy, and many other
+things. Now you lay my words to heart, and you'll both of you rise to
+superintendents, instead of running in daily 'drunks' until you retire
+on a pension. Good-night."
+
+Peace having been restored, and the headless mummy removed into the
+Professor's bedroom, since Captain Orme declared that he could not talk
+business in the presence of a body, however ancient, we resumed our
+discussion. First of all, at Higgs's suggestion I drew up a brief
+memorandum of agreement which set out the objects of the expedition,
+and provided for the equal division amongst us of any profit that might
+accrue; in the event of the death of one or more of us, the survivors or
+survivor to take their or his share.
+
+To this arrangement personally I objected, who desired neither treasure
+nor antiquities, but only the rescue of my son. The others pointed out,
+however, that, like most people, I might in future want something
+to live on, or that if I did not, in the event of his escape, my boy
+certainly would; so in the end I gave way.
+
+Then Captain Orme very sensibly asked for a definition of our respective
+duties, and it was settled that I was to be guide to the expedition;
+Higgs, antiquarian, interpreter, and, on account of his vast knowledge,
+general referee; and Captain Orme, engineer and military commander,
+with the proviso that, in the event of a difference of opinion, the
+dissentient was to loyally accept the decision of the majority.
+
+This curious document having been copied out fair, I signed and passed
+it to the Professor, who hesitated a little, but, after refreshing
+himself with a further minute examination of Sheba's ring, signed also,
+remarking that he was an infernal fool for his pains, and pushed the
+paper across the table to Orme.
+
+"Stop a minute," said the Captain; "I forgot something. I should like my
+old servant, Sergeant Quick, to accompany us. He's a very handy man at
+a pinch, especially if, as I understand, we are expected to deal with
+explosives with which he has had a lot to do in the Engineers and
+elsewhere. If you agree I will call him, and ask if he will go. I expect
+he's somewhere round."
+
+I nodded, judging from the episode of the mummy and the policeman that
+the Sergeant was likely to be a useful man. As I was sitting next to it,
+I opened the door for the Captain, whereon the erect shape of Sergeant
+Quick, who had clearly been leaning against it, literally fell into the
+room, reminding me much of an overset wooden soldier.
+
+"Hullo!" said Orme as, without the slightest change of countenance, his
+retainer recovered himself and stood to attention. "What the deuce are
+you doing there?"
+
+"Sentry go, Captain. Thought the police might change their minds and
+come back. Any orders, Captain?"
+
+"Yes. I am going to North Central Africa. When can you be ready to
+start?"
+
+"The Brindisi mail leaves to-morrow night, Captain, if you travel by
+Egypt, but if you go by Tunis, 7.15 a.m. Saturday is the time from
+Charing Cross. Only, as I understand that high explosives and arms have
+to be provided, these might take awhile to lay in and pack so as to
+deceive customs."
+
+"You understand!" said Orme. "Pray, how do you understand?"
+
+"Doors in these old houses are apt to get away from their frames,
+Captain, and the gentleman there"--and he pointed to the Professor--"has
+a voice that carries like a dog-whistle. Oh, no offence, sir. A clear
+voice is an excellent thing--that is, if the doors fit"--and although
+Sergeant Quick's wooden face did not move, I saw his humorous grey eyes
+twinkle beneath the bushy eyebrows.
+
+We burst out laughing, including Higgs.
+
+"So you are willing to go?" said Orme. "But I hope you clearly
+understand that this is a risky business, and that you may not come
+back?"
+
+"Spion Kop was a bit risky, Captain, and so was that business in the
+donga, where every one was hit except you and me and the sailor man, but
+we came back, for all that. Begging your pardon, Captain, there ain't no
+such thing as risk. Man comes here when he must, and dies when he must,
+and what he does between don't make a ha'porth of difference."
+
+"Hear, hear," I said; "we are much of the same way of thinking."
+
+"There have been several who held those views, sir, since old Solomon
+gave the lady that"--and he pointed to Sheba's ring, which was lying
+on the table. "But excuse me, Captain; how about local allowances? Not
+having been a marrying man myself, I've none dependent upon me, but, as
+you know, I've sisters that have, and a soldier's pension goes with
+him. Don't think me greedy, Captain," he added hastily, "but, as you
+gentlemen understand, black and white at the beginning saves bother at
+the end"--and he pointed to the agreement.
+
+"Quite right. What do you want, Sergeant?" asked Orme.
+
+"Nothing beyond my pay, if we get nothing, Captain, but if we get
+something, would five per cent. be too much?"
+
+"It might be ten," I suggested. "Sergeant Quick has a life to lose like
+the rest of us."
+
+"Thank you kindly, sir," he answered; "but that, in my opinion, would be
+too much. Five per cent. was what I suggested."
+
+So it was written down that Sergeant Samuel Quick was to receive five
+per cent. of the total profits, if any, provided that he behaved himself
+and obeyed orders. Then he also signed the agreement, and was furnished
+with a glass of whisky and water to drink to its good health.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," he said, declining the chair which Higgs offered
+to him, apparently because, from long custom, he preferred his
+wooden-soldier attitude against the wall, "as a humble five-per-cent.
+private in this very adventurous company I'll ask permission to say a
+word."
+
+Permission was given accordingly, and the Sergeant proceeded to inquire
+what weight of rock it was wished to remove.
+
+I told him that I did not know, as I had never seen the Fung idol, but
+I understood that its size was enormous, probably as large as St. Paul's
+Cathedral.
+
+"Which, if solid, would take some stirring," remarked the Sergeant.
+"Dynamite might do it, but it is too bulky to be carried across the
+desert on camels in that quantity. Captain, how about them picrates? You
+remember those new Boer shells that blew a lot of us to kingdom come,
+and poisoned the rest?"
+
+"Yes," answered Orme; "I remember; but now they have stronger
+stuffs--azo-imides, I think they call them--terrific new compounds of
+nitrogen. We will inquire to-morrow, Sergeant."
+
+"Yes, Captain," he answered; "but the point is, who'll pay? You can't
+buy hell-fire in bulk for nothing. I calculate that, allowing for
+the purchase of the explosives and, say, fifty military rifles with
+ammunition and all other necessaries, not including camels, the outfit
+of this expedition can't come to less than �1,500."
+
+"I think I have that amount in gold," I answered, "of which the lady of
+the Abati gave me as much as I could carry in comfort."
+
+"If not," said Orme, "although I am a poor man now, I could find �500
+or so in a pinch. So don't let us bother about the money. The question
+is--Are we all agreed that we will undertake this expedition and see it
+through to the end, whatever that may be?"
+
+We answered that we were.
+
+"Then has anybody anything more to say?"
+
+"Yes," I replied; "I forgot to tell you that if we should ever get to
+Mur, none of you must make love to the Walda Nagasta. She is a kind of
+holy person, who can only marry into her own family, and to do so might
+mean that our throats would be cut."
+
+"Do you hear that, Oliver?" said the Professor. "I suppose that the
+Doctor's warning is meant for you, as the rest of us are rather past
+that kind of thing."
+
+"Indeed," replied the Captain, colouring again after his fashion. "Well,
+to tell you the truth, I feel a bit past it myself, and, so far as I
+am concerned, I don't think we need take the fascinations of this black
+lady into account."
+
+"Don't brag, Captain. Please don't brag," said Sergeant Quick in a
+hollow whisper. "Woman is just the one thing about which you can never
+be sure. To-day she's poison, and to-morrow honey--God and the climate
+alone know why. Please don't brag, or we may live to see you crawling
+after this one on your knees, with the gent in the specs behind, and
+Samuel Quick, who hates the whole tribe of them, bringing up the rear.
+Tempt Providence, if you like, Captain, but don't tempt woman, lest she
+should turn round and tempt you, as she has done before to-day."
+
+"Will you be so good as to stop talking nonsense and call a cab," said
+Captain Orme coldly. But Higgs began to laugh in his rude fashion, and
+I, remembering the appearance of "Bud of the Rose" when she lifted
+her veil of ceremony, and the soft earnestness of her voice, fell into
+reflection. "Black lady" indeed! What, I wondered, would this young
+gentleman think if ever he should live to set his eyes upon her sweet
+and comely face?
+
+It seemed to me that Sergeant Quick was not so foolish as his master
+chose to imagine. Captain Orme undoubtedly was in every way qualified to
+be a partner in our venture; still, I could have wished either that
+he had been an older man, or that the lady to whom he was recently
+affianced had not chosen this occasion to break her engagement. In
+dealing with difficult and dangerous combinations, my experience has
+been that it is always well to eliminate the possibility of a love
+affair, especially in the East.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING
+
+Of all our tremendous journey across the desert until we had passed the
+forest and reached the plains which surrounded the mountains of Mur,
+there are, I think, but few incidents with which the reader need be
+troubled. The first of these was at Assouan, where a letter and various
+telegrams overtook Captain Orme, which, as by this time we had become
+intimate, he showed to me. They informed him that the clandestine infant
+whom his uncle left behind him had suddenly sickened and died of some
+childish ailment, so that he was once again heir to the large property
+which he thought he had lost, since the widow only took a life interest
+in some of the personalty. I congratulated him and said I supposed this
+meant that we should not have the pleasure of his company to Mur.
+
+"Why not?" he asked. "I said I was going and I mean to go; indeed, I
+signed a document to that effect."
+
+"I daresay," I answered, "but circumstances alter cases. If I might say
+so, an adventure that perhaps was good enough for a young and well-born
+man of spirit and enterprise without any particular resources, is no
+longer good enough for one who has the ball at his feet. Think what a
+ball it is to a man of your birth, intelligence, record, and now,
+great fortune come to you in youth. Why, with these advantages there
+is absolutely nothing that you cannot do in England. You can go into
+Parliament and rule the country; if you like you can become a peer.
+You can marry any one who isn't of the blood royal; in short, with
+uncommonly little effort of your own, your career is made for you. Don't
+throw away a silver spoon like that in order, perhaps, to die of thirst
+in the desert or be killed in a fight among unknown tribes."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," he answered. "I never set heart much on spoons,
+silver or other. When I lost this one I didn't cry, and now that I have
+found it again I shan't sing. Anyway, I am going on with you, and you
+can't prevent me under the agreement. Only as I have got such a lot to
+leave, I suppose I had better make a will first and post it home, which
+is a bore."
+
+Just then the Professor came in, followed by an Arab thief of a dealer,
+with whom he was trying to bargain for some object of antiquity. When
+the dealer had been ejected and the position explained to him, Higgs,
+who whatever may be his failings in small matters, is unselfish enough
+in big ones, said that he agreed with me and thought that under the
+circumstances, in his own interest, Orme ought to leave us and return
+home.
+
+"You may save your breath, old fellow," answered the Captain, "for this
+reason if for no other," and he threw him a letter across the table,
+which letter I saw afterwards. To be brief, it was from the young
+lady to whom he had been engaged to be married, and who on his loss of
+fortune had jilted him. Now she seemed to have changed her mind
+again, and, although she did not mention the matter, it is perhaps not
+uncharitable to suppose that the news of the death of the inconvenient
+child had something to do with her decision.
+
+"Have you answered this?" asked Higgs.
+
+"No," answered Orme, setting his mouth. "I have not answered, and I
+am not going to answer it, either in writing or in person. I intend to
+start to-morrow for Mur and to travel as far on that road as it pleases
+fate to allow, and now I am going to look at the rock sculptures by the
+cataract."
+
+"Well, that's flat," said Higgs after he had departed, "and for my part
+I am glad of it, for somehow I think he will be a useful man among those
+Fung. Also, if he went I expect that the Sergeant would go too, and
+where should we be without Quick, I should like to know?"
+
+Afterwards I conversed with the said Quick about this same matter,
+repeating to him my opinions, to which the Sergeant listened with the
+deference which he was always kind enough to show to me.
+
+"Begging your pardon, sir," he said, when I had finished, "but I think
+you are both right and wrong. Everything has two ends, hasn't it? You
+say that it would be wicked for the Captain to get himself killed, there
+being now so much money for him to live for, seeing that life is common
+as dirt while money is precious, rare and hard to come by. It ain't
+the kings we admire, it's their crowns; it ain't the millionaires,
+it's their millions; but, after all, the millionaires don't take their
+millions with them, for Providence, that, like Nature, hates waste,
+knows that if they did they'd melt, so one man dead gives another bread,
+as the saying goes, or p'raps I should say gingerbread in such cases.
+
+"Still, on the whole, sir, I admit you are right as to the sinfulness of
+wasting luck. But now comes the other end. I know this young lady what
+the Captain was engaged to, which he never would have been if he had
+taken my advice, since of all the fish-blooded little serpents that ever
+I set eyes on she's the serpentest, though pretty, I allow. Solomon said
+in his haste that an honest woman he had not found, but if he had met
+the Honourable Miss--well, never mind her name--he'd have said it at
+his leisure, and gone on saying it. Now, no one should never take back
+a servant what has given notice and then says he's sorry, for if he does
+the sorrow will be on the other side before it's all done; and much less
+should he take back a _fianc�e_ (Quick said a 'finance'), on the whole,
+he'd better drown himself--I tried it once, and I know. So that's the
+tail of the business.
+
+"But," he went on, "it has a couple of fins as well, like that eel beast
+I caught in the Nile. One of them is that the Captain promised and vowed
+to go through with this expedition, and if a man's got to die, he'd
+better die honest without breaking his word. And the other is what
+I said to you in London when I signed on, that he won't die a minute
+before his time, and nothing won't happen to him, but what's bound
+to happen, and therefore it ain't a ha'porth of use bothering about
+anything, and that's where the East's well ahead of the West.
+
+"And now, sir, I'll go and look after the camels and those half-bred
+Jew boys what you call Abati, but I call rotten sneaks, for if they get
+their thieving fingers into those canisters of picric salts, thinking
+they're jam, as I found them trying to do yesterday, something may
+happen in Egypt that'll make the Pharaohs turn in their graves and the
+Ten Plagues look silly."
+
+So, having finished his oration, Quick went, and in due course we
+started for Mur.
+
+The second incident that is perhaps worth recording was an adventure
+that happened to us when we had completed about two of our four months'
+journey.
+
+After weeks of weary desert travel--if I remember right, it was exactly
+a fortnight after the dog Pharaoh, of which I shall soon have plenty to
+say, had come into Orme's possession--we reached an oasis called Zeu,
+where I had halted upon my road down to Egypt. In this oasis, which,
+although not large in extent, possesses springs of beautiful water and
+groves of date-trees, we were, as it chanced, very welcome, since when
+I was there before, I had been fortunate enough to cure its sheik of
+an attack of ophthalmia and to doctor several of his people for various
+ailments with good results. So, although I was burning to get forward, I
+agreed with the others that it would be wise to accede to the request
+of the leader of our caravan, a clever and resourceful, but to my mind
+untrustworthy Abati of the name of Shadrach, and camp in Zeu for a week
+or so to rest and feed our camels, which had wasted almost to nothing on
+the scant herbage of the desert.
+
+This Shadrach, I may add here, whom his companions, for some reason
+unknown to me at that time, called the Cat, was remarkable for a triple
+line of scars upon his face, which, he informed me, had been set there
+by the claws of a lion. Now the great enemies of this people of Zeu were
+lions, which at certain seasons of the year, I suppose when food grew
+scarce, descended from the slopes of a range of hills that stretched
+east and west at a distance of about fifty miles north of the oasis,
+and, crossing the intervening desert, killed many of the Zeu sheep,
+camels, and other cattle, and often enough any of the tribe whom they
+could catch. As these poor Zeus practically possessed no firearms, they
+were at the mercy of the lions, which grew correspondingly bold. Indeed,
+their only resource was to kraal their animals within stone walls at
+night and take refuge in their huts, which they seldom left between
+sunset and dawn, except to replenish the fires that they lit to scare
+any beast of prey which might be prowling through the town.
+
+Though the lion season was now in full swing, as it happened, for the
+first five days of our stay at Zeu we saw none of these great cats,
+although in the darkness we heard them roaring in the distance. On the
+sixth night, however, we were awakened by a sound of wailing, which came
+from the village about a quarter of a mile away, and when we went out
+at dawn to see what was the matter, were met by a melancholy procession
+advancing from its walls. At the head of it marched the grey-haired old
+chief, followed by a number of screaming women, who in their excitement,
+or perhaps as a sign of mourning, had omitted to make their toilette,
+and by four men, who carried something horrid on a wickerwork door.
+
+Soon we learned what had happened. It seemed that hungry lions, two or
+three of them, had broken through the palm-leaf roof of the hut of one
+of the sheik's wives, she whose remains were stretched upon the door,
+and, in addition to killing her, had actually carried off his son.
+Now he came to implore us white men who had guns to revenge him on the
+lions, which otherwise, having once tasted human flesh, would destroy
+many more of his people.
+
+Through an interpreter who knew Arabic, for not even Higgs could
+understand the peculiar Zeu dialect, he explained in excited and
+incoherent words that the beasts lay up among the sand-hills not very
+far away, where some thick reeds grew around a little spring of water.
+Would we not come out and kill them and earn the blessing of the Zeus?
+
+Now I said nothing, for the simple reason that, having such big matters
+on hand, although I was always fond of sport, I did not wish any of us
+to be led off after these lions. There is a time to hunt and a time
+to cease from hunting, and it seemed to me, except for the purposes of
+food, that this journey of ours was the latter. However, as I expected,
+Oliver Orme literally leaped at the idea. So did Higgs, who of late
+had been practising with a rifle and began to fancy himself a shot.
+He exclaimed loudly that nothing would give him greater pleasure,
+especially as he was sure that lions were in fact cowardly and overrated
+beasts.
+
+From that moment I foreboded disaster in my heart. Still, I said I would
+come too, partly because I had not shot a lion for many a day and had
+a score to settle with those beasts which, it may be remembered, nearly
+killed me on the Mountain of Mur, and partly because, knowing the desert
+and also the Zeu people much better than either the Professor or Orme, I
+thought that I might possibly be of service.
+
+So we fetched our rifles and cartridges, to which by an afterthought we
+added two large water-bottles, and ate a hearty breakfast. As we were
+preparing to start, Shadrach, the leader of the Abati camel-drivers,
+that man with the scarred face who was nicknamed the Cat, came up to me
+and asked me whither we were going. I told him, whereon he said:
+
+"What have you to do with these savages and their troubles, lords? If
+a few of them are killed it is no matter, but as you should know, O
+Doctor, if you wish to hunt lions there are plenty in that land whither
+you travel, seeing that the lion is the fetish of the Fung and therefore
+never killed. But the desert about Zeu is dangerous and harm may come to
+you."
+
+"Then accompany us," broke in the Professor, between whom and Shadrach
+there was no love lost, "for, of course, with you we should be quite
+safe."
+
+"Not so," he replied, "I and my people rest; only madmen would go to
+hunt worthless wild beasts when they might rest. Have we not enough of
+the desert and its dangers as it is? If you knew all that I do of lions
+you would leave them alone."
+
+"Of the desert we have plenty also, but of shooting very little,"
+remarked the Captain, who talked Arabic well. "Lie in your beds; we go
+to kill the beasts that harass the poor people who have treated us so
+kindly."
+
+"So be it," said Shadrach with a smile that struck me as malicious. "A
+lion made this"--pointing to the dreadful threefold scar upon his face.
+"May the God of Israel protect you from lions. Remember, lords, that,
+the camels being fresh again, we march the day after to-morrow, should
+the weather hold, for if the wind blows on yonder sand-hills, no man may
+live among them;" and, putting up his hand, he studied the sky carefully
+from beneath its shadow, then, with a grunt, turned and vanished behind
+a hut.
+
+All this while Sergeant Quick was engaged at a little distance in
+washing up the tin breakfast things, to all appearance quite unconscious
+of what was going on. Orme called him, whereupon he advanced and
+stood to attention. I remember thinking how curious he looked in those
+surroundings--his tall, bony frame clothed in semi-military garments,
+his wooden face perfectly shaved, his iron-grey hair neatly parted and
+plastered down upon his head with pomade or some equivalent after the
+old private soldier fashion, and his sharp ferret-like grey eyes taking
+in everything.
+
+"Are you coming with us, Sergeant?" asked Orme.
+
+"Not unless ordered so to do, Captain. I like a bit of hunting well
+enough, but, with all three officers away, some one should mount guard
+over the stores and transport, so I think the dog Pharaoh and I had best
+stop behind."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Sergeant, only tie Pharaoh up, or he'll follow
+me. Well, what do you want to say? Out with it."
+
+"Only this, Captain. Although I have served in three campaigns among
+these here Arabians (to Quick, all African natives north of the Equator
+were Arabians, and all south of it, niggers), I can't say I talk their
+lingo well. Still, I made out that the fellow they call Cat don't like
+this trip of yours, and, begging your pardon, Captain, whatever else Cat
+may be, he ain't no fool."
+
+"Can't help it, Sergeant. For one thing, it would never do to give in to
+his fancies now."
+
+"That's true, Captain. When once it's hoist, right or wrong, keep the
+flag flying, and no doubt you'll come back safe and sound if you're
+meant to."
+
+Then, having relieved his mind, the Sergeant ran his eye over our
+equipment to see that nothing had been forgotten, rapidly assured
+himself that the rifles were in working order, reported all well,
+and returned to his dishes. Little did any of us guess under what
+circumstances we should next meet with him.
+
+After leaving the town and marching for a mile or so along the oasis,
+accompanied by a mob of the Zeus armed with spears and bows, we were
+led by the bereaved chief, who also acted as tracker, out into the
+surrounding sands. The desert here, although I remembered it well
+enough, was different from any that we had yet encountered upon this
+journey, being composed of huge and abrupt sand-hills, some of which
+were quite three hundred feet high, separated from each other by deep,
+wind-cut valleys.
+
+For a distance, while they were within reach of the moist air of the
+oasis, these sand-mountains produced vegetation of various sorts.
+Presently, however, we passed out into the wilderness proper, and for
+a while climbed up and down the steep, shifting slopes, till from the
+crest of one of them the chief pointed out what in South Africa is
+called a pan, or _vlei_, covered with green reeds, and explained by
+signs that in these lay the lions. Descending a steep declivity, we
+posted ourselves, I at the top, and Higgs and Orme a little way down
+either side of this _vlei_. This done, we dispatched the Zeus to beat
+it out towards us, for although the reeds grew thick along the course
+of the underground water, it was but a narrow place, and not more than a
+quarter of a mile in length.
+
+Scarcely had the beaters entered the tall reeds, evidently with
+trepidation, for a good many of them held back from the adventure,
+when a sound of loud wailing informed us that something had happened. A
+minute or two later we saw two of them bearing away what appeared to be
+the mangled remains of the chief's son who had been carried off on the
+previous night.
+
+Just then, too, we saw something else, for half-way down the marsh
+a great male lion broke cover, and began to steal off toward the
+sand-hills. It was about two hundred yards from Higgs, who chanced to
+be nearest to it, and, therefore, as any big-game hunter will know, for
+practical purposes, far out of shot. But the Professor, who was quite
+unaccustomed to this, or, indeed, any kind of sport, and, like all
+beginners, wildly anxious for blood, lifted his rifle and fired, as he
+might have done at a rabbit. By some marvellous accident the aim was
+good, and the bullet from the express, striking the lion fair behind the
+shoulder, passed through its heart, and knocked it over dead as a stone.
+
+"By Jingo! Did you see that?" screamed Higgs in his delight. Then,
+without even stopping to reload the empty barrel, he set off at the top
+of his speed toward the prostrate beast, followed by myself and by Orme,
+as fast as our astonishment would allow.
+
+Running along the edge of the marsh, Higgs had covered about a hundred
+yards of the distance, when suddenly, charging straight at him out of
+the tall reeds, appeared a second lion, or rather lioness. Higgs wheeled
+round, and wildly fired the left barrel of his rifle without touching
+the infuriated brute. Next instant, to our horror, we saw him upon
+his back, with the lioness standing over him, lashing her tail, and
+growling.
+
+We shouted as we ran, and so did the Zeus, although they made no attempt
+at rescue, with the result that the lioness, instead of tearing Higgs
+to pieces, turned her head confusedly first to one side and then to
+the other. By now I, who had a long start of Orme, was quite close,
+say within thirty yards, though fire I dared not as yet, fearing lest,
+should I do so, I might kill my friend. At this moment the lioness,
+recovering her nerves, squatted down on the prostrate Higgs, and though
+he hit at her with his fists, dropped her muzzle, evidently with the
+intention of biting him through the head.
+
+Now I felt that if I hesitated any more, all would be finished. The
+lioness was much longer than Higgs--a short, stout man--and her hind
+quarters projected beyond his feet. At these I aimed rapidly, and,
+pressing the trigger, next second heard the bullet clap upon the great
+beast's hide. Up she sprang with a roar, one hind leg dangling, and
+after a moment's hesitation, fled toward the sand-hill.
+
+Now Orme, who was behind me, fired also, knocking up the dust beneath
+the lioness's belly, but although he had more cartridges in his rifle,
+which was a repeater, before either he or I could get another chance,
+it vanished behind a mound. Leaving it to go where it would, we ran on
+towards Higgs, expecting to find him either dead or badly mauled,
+but, to our amazement and delight, up jumped the Professor, his blue
+spectacles still on his nose, and, loading his rifle as he went, charged
+away after the wounded lioness.
+
+"Come back," shouted the Captain as he followed.
+
+"Not for Joe!" yelled Higgs in his high voice. "If you fellows think
+that I'm going to let a great cat sit on my stomach for nothing, you are
+jolly well mistaken."
+
+At the top of the first rise the long-legged Orme caught him, but
+persuade him to return was more than he, or I when I arrived, could do.
+Beyond a scratch on his nose, which had stung him and covered him
+with blood, we found that he was quite uninjured, except in temper and
+dignity. But in vain did we beg him to be content with his luck and the
+honours he had won.
+
+"Why?" he answered, "Adams wounded the beast, and I'd rather kill two
+lions than one; also I have a score to square. But if you fellows are
+afraid, you go home."
+
+Well, I confess I felt inclined to accept the invitation, but Orme, who
+was nettled, replied:
+
+"Come, come; that settles the question, doesn't it? You must be shaken
+by your fall, or you would not talk like that, Higgs. Look, here runs
+the spoor--see the blood? Well, let's go steady and keep our wind.
+We may come on her anywhere, but don't you try any more long distance
+shots. You won't kill another lion at two hundred and fifty yards."
+
+"All right," said Higgs, "don't be offended. I didn't mean anything,
+except that I am going to teach that beast the difference between a
+white man and a Zeu."
+
+Then we began our march, following the blood tracks up and down the
+steep sand-slopes. When we had been at it for about half-an-hour our
+spirits were cheered by catching sight of the lioness on a ridge five
+hundred yards away. Just then, too, some of the Zeus overtook us and
+joined the hunt, though without zeal.
+
+Meanwhile, as the day grew, the heat increased until it was so intense
+that the hot air danced above the sand slopes like billions of midges,
+and this although the sun was not visible, being hidden by a sort of
+mist. A strange silence, unusual even in the desert, pervaded the earth
+and sky; we could hear the grains of sand trickling from the ridges.
+The Zeus, who accompanied us, grew uneasy, and pointed upward with their
+spears, then behind toward the oasis of which we had long lost sight.
+Finally, when we were not looking, they disappeared.
+
+Now I would have followed them, guessing that they had some good reason
+for this sudden departure. But Higgs refused to come, and Orme, in whom
+his foolish taunt seemed still to rankle, only shrugged his shoulders
+and said nothing.
+
+"Let the black curs go," exclaimed the Professor as he polished his blue
+spectacles and mopped his face. "They are a white-livered lot of sneaks.
+Look! There she is, creeping off to the left. If we run round that
+sand-hill we shall meet her."
+
+So we ran round the sand-hill, but we did not meet her, although after
+long hunting we struck the blood spoor afresh, and followed it for
+several miles, first in this direction, and then in that, until Orme and
+I wondered at Higgs's obstinacy and endurance. At length, when even he
+was beginning to despair, we put up the lioness in a hollow, and fired
+several shots at her as she hobbled over the opposing slope, one of
+which hit her, for she rolled over, then picked herself up again,
+roaring. As a matter of fact, it came from the Captain's rifle, but
+Higgs, who, like many an inexperienced person was a jealous sportsman,
+declared that it was his and we did not think it worth while to
+contradict him.
+
+On we toiled, and, just beyond the ridge, walked straight into the
+lioness, sitting up like a great dog, so injured that she could do
+nothing but snarl hideously and paw at the air.
+
+"Now it is my turn, old lady," ejaculated Higgs, and straightway
+missed her clean from a distance of five yards. A second shot was more
+successful, and she rolled over, dead.
+
+"Come on," said the exultant Professor, "and we'll skin her. She sat on
+me, and I mean to sit on her for many a day."
+
+So we began the job, although I, who had large experience of this
+desert, and did not like the appearance of the weather, wished to leave
+the beast where it lay and get back to the oasis. It proved long, for
+I was the only one of us who had any practical knowledge of flaying
+animals, and in that heat extremely unpleasant.
+
+At length it was done, and, having doubled the hide over a rifle for two
+of us to carry in turns, we refreshed ourselves from the water-bottles
+(I even caught the Professor washing the blood off his face and hands
+with some of the precious fluid). Then we started for the oasis, only to
+discover, though we were all sure that we knew the way, that not one
+of us had a slightest idea of its real direction. In the hurry of our
+departure we had forgotten to bring a compass, and the sun, that would
+have been our guide in ordinary circumstances, and to which we always
+trusted in the open desert, was hidden by the curious haze that has been
+described.
+
+So, sensibly enough, we determined to return to the sand crest where we
+had killed the lioness, and then trace our own footprints backward. This
+seemed simple enough, for there, within half-a-mile, rose the identical
+ridge.
+
+We reached it, grumbling, for the lion-skin was heavy, only to discover
+that it was a totally different ridge. Now, after reflection and
+argument, we saw our exact mistake, and made for what was obviously the
+real ridge--with the same result.
+
+We were lost in the desert!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE DEATH WIND
+
+"The fact is," said Higgs presently, speaking with the air of an oracle,
+"the fact is that all these accursed sand-hills are as like each other
+as mummy beads on the same necklace, and therefore it is very difficult
+to know them apart. Give me that water-bottle, Adams; I am as dry as a
+lime-kiln."
+
+"No," I said shortly; "you may be drier before the end."
+
+"What do you mean? Oh! I see; but that's nonsense; those Zeus will hunt
+us up, or, at the worst, we have only to wait till the sun gets out."
+
+As he spoke, suddenly the air became filled with a curious singing sound
+impossible to describe, caused as I knew, who had often heard it before,
+by millions and millions of particles of sand being rubbed together. We
+turned to see whence it came, and perceived, far away, rushing towards
+us with extraordinary swiftness, a huge and dense cloud preceded by
+isolated columns and funnels of similar clouds.
+
+"A sand-storm," said Higgs, his florid face paling a little. "Bad luck
+for us! That's what comes of getting out of bed the wrong side first
+this morning. No, it's your fault, Adams; you helped me to salt last
+night, in spite of my remonstrances" (the Professor has sundry little
+superstitions of this sort, particularly absurd in so learned a man).
+"Well, what shall we do? Get under the lee of the hill until it blows
+over?"
+
+"Don't suppose it will blow over. Can't see anything to do except say
+our prayers," remarked Orme with sweet resignation. Oliver is, I think,
+the coolest hand in an emergency of any one I ever met, except, perhaps,
+Sergeant Quick, a man, of course, nearly old enough to be his father.
+"The game seems to be pretty well up," he added. "Well, you have killed
+two lions, Higgs, and that is something."
+
+"Oh, hang it! You can die if you like, Oliver. The world won't miss you;
+but think of its loss if anything happened to _me_. I don't intend to be
+wiped out by a beastly sand-storm. I intend to live to write a book on
+Mur," and Higgs shook his fist at the advancing clouds with an air that
+was really noble. It reminded me of Ajax defying the lightning.
+
+Meanwhile I had been reflecting.
+
+"Listen," I said. "Our only chance is to stop where we are, for if we
+move we shall certainly be buried alive. Look; there is something
+solid to lie on," and I pointed to a ridge of rock, a kind of core of
+congealed sand, from which the surface had been swept by gales. "Down
+with you, quick," I went on, "and let's draw that lion-skin over our
+heads. It may help to keep the dust from choking us. Hurry, men; it's
+coming!"
+
+Coming, it was indeed, with a mighty, wailing roar. Scarcely had we got
+ourselves into position, our backs to the blast and our mouths and
+noses buried after the fashion of camels in a similar predicament, the
+lion-skin covering our heads and bodies to the middle, with the paws
+tucked securely beneath us to prevent it from being blown away, when the
+storm leaped upon us furiously, bringing darkness in its train. There
+we lay for hour after hour, unable to see, unable to talk because of the
+roaring noise about us, and only from time to time lifting ourselves
+a little upon our hands and knees to disturb the weight of sand that
+accumulated on our bodies, lest it should encase us in a living tomb.
+
+Dreadful were the miseries we suffered--the misery of the heat beneath
+the stinking pelt of the lion, the misery of the dust-laden air that
+choked us almost to suffocation, the misery of thirst, for we could not
+get at our scanty supply of water to drink. But worst of all perhaps,
+was the pain caused by the continual friction of the sharp sand driven
+along at hurricane speed, which, incredible as it may seem, finally wore
+holes in our thin clothing and filed our skins to rawness.
+
+"No wonder the Egyptian monuments get such a beautiful shine on them," I
+heard poor Higgs muttering in my ear again and again, for he was growing
+light-headed; "no wonder, no wonder! My shin-bones will be very useful
+to polish Quick's tall riding-boots. Oh! curse the lions. Why did you
+help me to salt, you old ass; why did you help me to salt? It's pickling
+me behind."
+
+Then he became quite incoherent, and only groaned from time to time.
+
+Perhaps, however, this suffering did us a service, since otherwise
+exhaustion, thirst, and dust might have overwhelmed our senses, and
+caused us to fall into a sleep from which we never should have awakened.
+Yet at the time we were not grateful to it, for at last the agony became
+almost unbearable. Indeed, Orme told me afterwards that the last thing
+he could remember was a quaint fancy that he had made a colossal fortune
+by selling the secret of a new torture to the Chinese--that of hot sand
+driven on to the victim by a continuous blast of hot air.
+
+After a while we lost count of time, nor was it until later that we
+learned that the storm endured for full twenty hours, during the latter
+part of which, notwithstanding our manifold sufferings, we must have
+become more or less insensible. At any rate, at one moment I remembered
+the awful roar and the stinging of the sand whips, followed by a kind
+of vision of the face of my son--that beloved, long-lost son whom I had
+sought for so many years, and for whose sake I endured all these things.
+Then, without any interval, as it were, I felt my limbs being scorched
+as though by hot irons or through a burning-glass, and with a fearful
+effort staggered up to find that the storm had passed, and that the
+furious sun was blistering my excoriated skin. Rubbing the caked dirt
+from my eyes, I looked down to see two mounds like those of graves, out
+of which projected legs that had been white. Just then one pair of legs,
+the longer pair, stirred, the sand heaved up convulsively, and, uttering
+wandering words in a choky voice, there arose the figure of Oliver Orme.
+
+For a moment we stood and stared at each other, and strange spectacles
+we were.
+
+"Is he dead?" muttered Orme, pointing to the still buried Higgs.
+
+"Fear so," I answered, "but we'll look;" and painfully we began to
+disinter him.
+
+When we came to it beneath the lion-skin, the Professor's face was black
+and hideous to see, but, to our relief, we perceived that he was not
+dead, for he moved his hand and moaned. Orme looked at me.
+
+"Water would save him," I said.
+
+Then came the anxious moment. One of our water-bottles was emptied
+before the storm began, but the other, a large, patent flask covered
+with felt, and having a screw vulcanite top, should still contain a good
+quantity, perhaps three quarts--that is, if the fluid had not evaporated
+in the dreadful heat. If this had happened, it meant that Higgs
+would die, and unless help came, that soon we should follow him. Orme
+unscrewed the flask, for my hands refused that office, and used his
+teeth to draw the cork, which, providentially enough the thoughtful
+Quick had set in the neck beneath the screw. Some of the water, which,
+although it was quite hot, had _not_ evaporated, thank God! flew against
+his parched lips, and I saw him bite them till the blood came in the
+fierceness of the temptation to assuage his raging thirst. But he
+resisted it like the man he is, and, without drinking a drop, handed me
+the bottle, saying simply:
+
+"You are the oldest; take care of this, Adams."
+
+Now it was my turn to be tempted, but I, too, overcame, and, sitting
+down, laid Higgs's head upon my knee; then, drop by drop, let a little
+of the water trickle between his swollen lips.
+
+The effect was magical, for in less than a minute the Professor sat up,
+grasped at the flask with both hands, and strove to tear it away.
+
+"You cruel brute! You cruel selfish brute!" he moaned as I wrenched it
+from him.
+
+"Look here, Higgs," I answered thickly; "Orme and I want water badly
+enough, and we have had none. But you might take it all if it would save
+you, only it wouldn't. We are lost in the desert, and must be sparing.
+If you drank everything now, in a few hours you would be thirsty again
+and die."
+
+He thought awhile, then looked up and said:
+
+"Beg pardon--I understand. I'm the selfish brute. But there's a good lot
+of water there; let's each have a drink; we can't move unless we do."
+
+So we drank, measuring out the water in a little india-rubber cup which
+we had with us. It held about as much as a port wine glass, and each of
+us drank, or rather slowly sipped, three cupfuls; we who felt as though
+we could have swallowed a gallon apiece, and asked for more. Small as
+was the allowance, it worked wonders in us; we were men again.
+
+We stood up and looked about us, but the great storm had changed
+everything. Where there had been sand-hills a hundred feet high,
+now were plains and valleys; where there had been valleys appeared
+sand-hills. Only the high ridge upon which we had lain was as before,
+because it stood above the others and had a core of rock. We tried to
+discover the direction of the oasis by the position of the sun, only to
+be baffled, since our two watches had run down, and we did not know the
+time of day or where the sun ought to be in the heavens. Also, in
+that howling wilderness there was nothing to show us the points of the
+compass.
+
+Higgs, whose obstinacy remained unimpaired, whatever may have happened
+to the rest of his vital forces, had one view of the matter, and Orme
+another diametrically opposed to it. They even argued as to whether
+the oasis lay to our right or to our left, for their poor heads were
+so confused that they were scarcely capable of accurate thought or
+observation. Meanwhile I sat down upon the sand and considered. Through
+the haze I could see the points of what I thought must be the hills
+whence the Zeus declared that the lions came, although of course, for
+aught I knew, they might be other hills.
+
+"Listen," I said; "if lions live upon those hills, there must be water
+there. Let us try to reach them; perhaps we shall see the oasis as we
+go."
+
+Then began our dreadful march. The lion-skin that had saved our lives,
+and was now baked hard as a board, we left behind, but the rifles we
+took. All day long we dragged ourselves up and down steep sand-slopes,
+pausing now again to drink a sip of water, and hoping always that from
+the top of the next slope we should see a rescue party headed by Quick,
+or perhaps the oasis itself. Indeed, once we did see it, green and
+shining, not more than three miles away, but when we got to the head of
+the hill beyond which it should lie we found that the vision was only
+a mirage, and our hearts nearly broke with disappointment. Oh! to men
+dying of thirst, that mirage was indeed a cruel mockery.
+
+At length night approached, and the mountains were yet a long way off.
+We could march no more, and sank down exhausted, lying on our faces,
+because our backs were so cut by the driving sand and blistered by
+the sun that we could not sit. By now almost all our water was gone.
+Suddenly Higgs nudged us and pointed upwards. Following the line of his
+hand, we saw, not thirty yards away and showing clear against the sky,
+a file of antelopes trekking along the sand-ridge, doubtless on a night
+journey from one pasturage to another.
+
+"You fellows shoot," he muttered; "I might miss and frighten them away,"
+for in his distress poor Higgs was growing modest.
+
+Slowly Orme and I drew ourselves to our knees, cocking our rifles. By
+this time all the buck save one had passed; there were but six of them,
+and this one marched along about twenty yards behind the others. Orme
+pulled the trigger, but his rifle would not go off because, as he
+discovered afterwards, some sand had worked into the mechanism of the
+lock.
+
+Meanwhile I had also covered the buck, but the sunset dazzled my
+weakened eyes, and my arms were feeble; also my terrible anxiety for
+success, since I knew that on this shot hung our lives, unnerved me. But
+it must be now or never; in three more paces the beast would be down the
+dip.
+
+I fired, and knowing that I had missed, turned sick and faint. The
+antelope bounded forward a few yards right to the edge of the dip; then,
+never having heard such a sound before, and being overcome by some fatal
+curiosity, stopped and turned around, staring at the direction whence it
+had come.
+
+Despairingly I fired again, almost without taking aim, and this time the
+bullet went in beneath the throat, and, raking the animal, dropped it
+dead as a stone. We scrambled to it, and presently were engaged in an
+awful meal of which we never afterwards liked to think. Happily for us
+that antelope must have drunk water not long before.
+
+Our hunger and thirst assuaged after this horrible fashion, we slept
+awhile by the carcase, then arose extraordinarily refreshed, and, having
+cut off some hunks of meat to carry with us, started on again. By the
+position of the stars, we now knew that the oasis must lie somewhere to
+the east of us; but as between us and it there appeared to be nothing
+but these eternal sand-hills stretching away for many miles, and as in
+front of us toward the range the character of the desert seemed to be
+changing, we thought it safer, if the word safety can be used in such
+a connection, to continue to head for that range. All the remainder of
+this night we marched, and, as we had no fuel wherewith to cook it, at
+dawn ate some of the raw meat, which we washed down with the last drops
+of our water.
+
+Now we were out of the sand-hills, and had entered on a great pebbly
+plain that lay between us and the foot of the mountains. These looked
+quiet close, but in fact were still far off. Feebly and ever more feebly
+we staggered on, meeting no one and finding no water, though here and
+there we came across little bushes, of which we chewed the stringy and
+aromatic leaves that contained some moisture, but drew up our mouths and
+throats like alum.
+
+Higgs, who was the softest of us, gave out the first, though to the
+last he struggled forward with surprising pluck, even after he had been
+obliged to throw away his rifle, because he could no longer carry it,
+though this we did not notice at the time. When he could not support
+himself upon his feet, Orme took him by one arm, and I by the other,
+and helped him on, much as I have seen two elephants do by a wounded
+companion of the herd.
+
+Half-an-hour or so later my strength failed me also. Although advanced
+in years, I am tough and accustomed to the desert and hardships; who
+would not be who had been a slave to the Khalifa? But now I could do no
+more, and halting, begged the others to go on and leave me. Orme's only
+answer was to proffer me his left arm. I took it, for life is sweet
+to us all, especially when one has something to live for--a desire
+to fulfil as I had, though to tell the truth, even at the time I felt
+ashamed of myself.
+
+Thus, then, we proceeded awhile, resembling a sober man attempting to
+lead two drunken friends out of reach of that stern policeman, Death.
+Orme's strength must be wonderful; or was it his great spirit and his
+tender pity for our helplessness which enabled him to endure beneath
+this double burden.
+
+Suddenly he fell down as though he had been shot, and lay there
+senseless. The Professor, however, retained some portion of his mind,
+although it wandered. He became light-headed, and rambled on about our
+madness in having undertaken such a journey, "just to pot a couple of
+beastly lions," and although I did not answer them, I agreed heartily
+with his remarks. Then he seemed to imagine that I was a clergyman, and
+kneeling on the sand, he made a lengthy confession of his sins which,
+so far as I gathered, though I did not pay much attention to them, for
+I was thinking of my own, appeared chiefly to consist of the unlawful
+acquisition of certain objects of antiquity, or of having overmatched
+others in the purchase of such objects.
+
+To pacify him, for I feared lest he should go raving mad, I pronounced
+some religious absolution, whereon poor Higgs rolled over and lay still
+by Orme. Yes; he, the friend whom I had always loved, for his very
+failings were endearing, was dead or at the point of death, like the
+gallant young man at his side, and I myself was dying. Tremors shook
+my limbs; horrible waves of blackness seemed to well up from my vitals,
+through my breast to my brain, and thence to evaporate in queer, jagged
+lines and patches, which I realized, but could not actually see. Gay
+memories of my far-off childhood arose in me, particularly those of a
+Christmas party where I had met a little girl dressed like an elf,
+a little girl with blue eyes whom I had loved dearly for quite a
+fortnight, to be beaten down, stamped out, swallowed by that vision
+of the imminent shadow which awaits all mankind, the black womb of a
+re-birth, if re-birth there be.
+
+What could I do? I thought of lighting a fire; at any rate it would
+serve to scare the lions and other wild beasts which else might prey
+upon us before we were quite dead. It would be dreadful to lie helpless
+but sentient, and feel their rending fangs. But I had no strength to
+collect the material. To do so at best must have meant a long walk, for
+even here it was not plentiful. I had a few cartridges left--three, to
+be accurate--in my repeating rifle; the rest I had thrown away to be rid
+of their weight. I determined to fire them, since, in my state I thought
+they could no longer serve either to win food or for the purposes of
+defence, although, as it happened, in this I was wrong. It was possible
+that, even in that endless desert, some one might hear the shots, and if
+not--well, good-night.
+
+So I sat up and fired the first cartridge, wondering in a childish
+fashion where the bullet would fall. Then I went to sleep for awhile.
+The howling of a hyena woke me up, and, on glancing around, I saw the
+beast's flaming eyes quite close to me. I aimed and shot at it, and
+heard a yell of pain. That hyena, I reflected, would want no more food
+at present.
+
+The silence of the desert overwhelmed me; it was so terrible that I
+almost wished the hyena back for company. Holding the rifle above my
+head, I fired the third cartridge. Then I took the hand of Higgs in my
+own, for, after all, it was a link--the last link with humanity and the
+world--and lay down in the company of death that seemed to fall upon me
+in black and smothering veils.
+
+
+
+I woke up and became aware that some one was pouring water down my
+throat. Heaven! I thought to myself, for at that time heaven and water
+were synonymous in my mind. I drank a good deal of it, not all I wanted
+by any means, but as much as the pourer would allow, then raised myself
+upon my hands and looked. The starlight was extraordinarily clear in
+that pure desert atmosphere, and by it I saw the face of Sergeant
+Quick bending over me. Also, I saw Orme sitting up, staring about him
+stupidly, while a great yellow dog, with a head like a mastiff, licked
+his hand. I knew the dog at once; it was that which Orme had bought
+from some wandering natives, and named Pharaoh because he ruled over all
+other dogs. Moreover, I knew the two camels that stood near by. So I was
+still on earth--unless, indeed we had all moved on a step.
+
+"How did you find us, Sergeant?" I asked feebly.
+
+"Didn't find you, Doctor," answered Quick, "dog Pharaoh found you. In a
+business like this a dog is more useful than man, for he can smell
+what one can't see. Now, if you feel better, Doctor, please look at Mr.
+Higgs, for I fear he's gone."
+
+I looked, and, although I did not say so, was of the same opinion. His
+jaw had fallen, and he lay limp and senseless; his eyes I could not see,
+because of the black spectacles.
+
+"Water," I said, and Quick poured some into his mouth, where it
+vanished.
+
+Still he did not stir, so I opened his garments and felt his heart.
+At first I could detect nothing; then there was the slightest possible
+flutter.
+
+"There's hope," I said in answer to the questioning looks. "You don't
+happen to have any brandy, do you?" I added.
+
+"Never travelled without it yet, Doctor," replied Quick indignantly,
+producing a metal flask.
+
+"Give him some," I said, and the Sergeant obeyed with liberality and
+almost instantaneous effect, for Higgs sat up gasping and coughing.
+
+"Brandy; filthy stuff; teetotaller! Cursed trick! Never forgive you.
+Water, water," he spluttered in a thick, low voice.
+
+We gave it to him, and he drank copiously, until we would let him have
+no more indeed. Then, by degrees, his senses came back to him. He thrust
+up his black spectacles which he had worn all this while, and stared at
+the Sergeant with his sharp eyes.
+
+"I understand," he said. "So we are not dead, after all, which perhaps
+is a pity after getting through the beastly preliminaries. What has
+happened?"
+
+"Don't quite know," answered Orme; "ask Quick."
+
+But the Sergeant was already engaged in lighting a little fire and
+setting a camp-kettle to boil, into which he poured a tin of beef
+extract that he had brought with other eatables from our stores on the
+chance that he might find us. In fifteen minutes we were drinking soup,
+for I forbade anything more solid as yet, and, oh! what a blessed meal
+was that. When it was finished, Quick fetched some blankets from the
+camels, which he threw over us.
+
+"Lie down and sleep, gentlemen," he said; "Pharaoh and I will watch."
+
+The last thing I remember was seeing the Sergeant, in his own fashion an
+extremely religious man, and not ashamed of it, kneeling upon the
+sand and apparently saying his prayers. As he explained afterwards,
+of course, as a fatalist, he knew well that whatever must happen would
+happen, but still he considered it right and proper to return thanks to
+the Power which had arranged that on this occasion the happenings should
+be good, and not ill, a sentiment with which every one of us agreed.
+Opposite to him, with one of his faithful eyes fixed on Orme, sat
+Pharaoh in grave contemplation. Doubtless, being an Eastern dog, he
+understood the meaning of public prayer; or perhaps he thought that he
+should receive some share of gratitude and thanks.
+
+When we awoke the sun was already high, and to show us that we had
+dreamed no dream, there was Quick frying tinned bacon over the fire,
+while Pharaoh sat still and watched him--or the bacon.
+
+"Look," said Orme to me, pointing to the mountains, "they are still
+miles away. It was madness to think that we could reach them."
+
+I nodded, then turned to stare at Higgs, who was just waking up, for,
+indeed, he was a sight to see. His fiery red hair was full of sand, his
+nether garments were gone, apparently at some stage in our march he had
+dispensed with the remains of them because they chafed his sore limbs,
+and his fair skin, not excluding that of his face, was a mass of
+blisters, raised by the sun. In fact he was so disfigured that his worst
+enemy would not have known him. He yawned, stretched himself, always a
+good sign in man or beast, and asked for a bath.
+
+"I am afraid you will have to wash yourself in sand here, sir, like them
+filthy Arabians," said Quick, saluting. "No water to spare for baths in
+this dry country. But I've got a tube of hazeline, also a hair-brush and
+a looking-glass," he added, producing these articles.
+
+"Quite so, Sergeant," said Higgs, as he took them; "it's sacrilege to
+think of using water to wash. I intend never to waste it in that way
+again." Then he looked at himself in the glass, and let it fall upon the
+sand, ejaculating, "Oh! good Lord, is that me?"
+
+"Please be careful, sir," said the Sergeant sternly; "you told me the
+other day that it's unlucky to break a looking-glass; also I have no
+other."
+
+"Take it away," said the Professor; "I don't want it any more, and,
+Doctor, come and oil my face, there's a good fellow; yes, and the rest
+of me also, if there is enough hazeline."
+
+So we treated each other with the ointment, which at first made us smart
+fearfully, and then, very gingerly sat down to breakfast.
+
+"Now, Sergeant," said Orme, as he finished his fifth pannikin of tea,
+"tell us your story."
+
+"There isn't much of a story, Captain. Those Zeu fellows came back
+without you, and, not knowing the lingo, I could make nothing of their
+tale. Well, I soon made Shadrach and Co. understand that, death-wind or
+no death-wind--that's what they call it--they must come with me to look
+for you, and at last we started, although they said that I was mad,
+as you were dead already. Indeed, it wasn't until I asked that fellow
+Shadrach if he wanted to be dead too"--and the Sergeant tapped his
+revolver grimly--"that he would let any one go.
+
+"As it proved, he was right, for we couldn't find you, and after awhile
+the camels refused to face the storm any longer; also one of the Abati
+drivers was lost, and hasn't been heard of since. It was all the rest
+of us could do to get back to the oasis alive, nor would Shadrach go out
+again even after the storm had blown itself away. It was no use arguing
+with the pig, so, as I did not want his blood upon my hands, I took two
+camels and started with the dog Pharaoh for company.
+
+"Now this was my thought, although I could not explain it to the Abati
+crowd, that if you lived at all, you would almost certainly head for
+the hills as I knew you had no compass, and you would not be able to
+see anything else. So I rode along the plain which stretches between the
+desert and the mountains, keeping on the edge of the sand-hills. I rode
+all day, but when night came I halted, since I could see no more. There
+I sat in that great place, thinking, and after an hour or two I observed
+Pharaoh prick his ears and look toward the west. So I also started
+toward the west, and presently I thought that I saw one faint streak
+of light which seemed to go upward, and therefore couldn't come from a
+falling star, but might have come from a rifle fired toward the sky.
+
+"I listened, but no sound reached me, only presently, some seconds
+afterwards, the dog again pricked his ears as though _he_ heard
+something. That settled me, and I mounted and rode forward through the
+night toward the place where I thought I had seen the flash. For two
+hours I rode, firing my revolver from time to time; then as no answer
+came, gave it up as a bad job, and stopped. But Pharaoh there wouldn't
+stop. He began to whine and sniff and run forward, and at last bolted
+into the darkness, out of which presently I heard him barking some
+hundreds of yards away, to call me, I suppose. So I followed and found
+you three gentlemen, dead, as I thought at first. That's all the story,
+Captain."
+
+"One with a good end, anyway, Sergeant. We owe our lives to you."
+
+"Beg your pardon, Captain," answered Quick modestly; "not to me at all,
+but to Providence first that arranged everything, before we were born
+perhaps, and next to Pharaoh. He's a wise dog, Pharaoh, though fierce
+with some, and you did a good deal when you bought him for a bottle of
+whisky and a sixpenny pocket-knife."
+
+
+
+It was dawn on the following morning before we sighted the oasis,
+whither we could travel but slowly, since, owing to the lack of camels,
+two of us must walk. Of these two, as may be guessed, the Sergeant was
+always one and his master the other, for of all the men I ever knew I
+think that in such matters Orme is the most unselfish. Nothing would
+induce him to mount one of the camels, even for half-an-hour, so that
+when I walked, the brute went riderless. On the other hand, once he was
+on, notwithstanding the agonies he suffered from his soreness, nothing
+would induce Higgs to get off.
+
+"Here I am and here I stop," he said several times, in English, French,
+and sundry Oriental languages. "I've tramped it enough to last me the
+rest of my life."
+
+Both of us were dozing upon our saddles when suddenly I heard the
+Sergeant calling to the camels to halt and asked what was the matter.
+
+"Looks like Arabians, Doctor," he said, pointing to a cloud of dust
+advancing toward us.
+
+"Well, if so," I answered, "our best chance is to show no fear and go
+on. I don't think they will harm us."
+
+So, having made ready such weapons as we had, we advanced, Orme and the
+Sergeant walking between the two camels, until presently we encountered
+the other caravan, and, to our astonishment, saw none other than
+Shadrach riding at the head of it, mounted on my dromedary, which his
+own mistress, the Lady of the Abati, had given to me. We came face to
+face, and halted, staring at each other.
+
+"By the beard of Aaron! is it you, lords?" he asked. "We thought you
+were dead."
+
+"By the hair of Moses! so I gather," I answered angrily, "seeing that
+you are going off with all our belongings," and I pointed to the baggage
+camels laden with goods.
+
+Then followed explanations and voluble apologies, which Higgs for one
+accepted with a very bad grace. Indeed, as he can talk Arabic and its
+dialects perfectly, he made use of that tongue to pour upon the heads of
+Shadrach and his companions a stream of Eastern invective that must have
+astonished them, ably seconded as it was by Sergeant Quick in English.
+
+Orme listened for some time, then said:
+
+"That'll do, old fellow; if you go on, you will get up a row, and,
+Sergeant, be good enough to hold your tongue. We have met them, so there
+is no harm done. Now, friend Shadrach, turn back with us to the oasis.
+We are going to rest there for some days."
+
+Shadrach looked sulky, and said something about our turning and going on
+with _them_, whereon I produced the ancient ring, Sheba's ring, which I
+had brought as a token from Mur. This I held before his eyes, saying:
+
+"Disobey, and there will be an account to settle when you come into the
+presence of her who sent you forth, for even if we four should die"--and
+I looked at him meaningly--"think not that you will be able to hide this
+matter; there are too many witnesses."
+
+Then, without more words, he saluted the sacred ring, and we all went
+back to Zeu.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+PHARAOH MAKES TROUBLE
+
+Another six weeks or so had gone by, and at length the character of
+the country began to change. At last we were passing out of the endless
+desert over which we had travelled for so many hundreds of miles; at
+least a thousand, according to our observations and reckonings, which I
+checked by those that I had taken upon my eastward journey. Our march,
+after the great adventure at the oasis, was singularly devoid of
+startling events. Indeed, it had been awful in its monotony, and yet,
+oddly enough, not without a certain charm--at any rate for Higgs and
+Orme, to whom the experience was new.
+
+Day by day to travel on across an endless sea of sand so remote, so
+unvisited that for whole weeks no man, not even a wandering Bedouin of
+the desert, crossed our path. Day by day to see the great red sun rise
+out of the eastern sands, and, its journey finished, sink into the
+western sands. Night by night to watch the moon, the same moon on which
+were fixed the million eyes of cities, turning those sands to a silver
+sea, or, in that pure air, to observe the constellations by which we
+steered our path making their majestic march through space. And yet to
+know that this vast region, now so utterly lonesome and desolate, had
+once been familiar to the feet of long-forgotten men who had trod the
+sands we walked, and dug the wells at which we drank.
+
+Armies had marched across these deserts, also, and perished there. For
+once we came to a place where a recent fearful gale had almost denuded
+the underlying rock, and there found the skeletons of thousands upon
+thousands of soldiers, with those of their beasts of burden, and among
+them heads of arrows, sword-blades, fragments of armour and of painted
+wooden shields.
+
+Here a whole host had died; perhaps Alexander sent it forth, or perhaps
+some far earlier monarch whose name has ceased to echo on the earth.
+At least they had died, for there we saw the memorial of that buried
+enterprise. There lay the kings, the captains, the soldiers, and the
+concubines, for I found the female bones heaped apart, some with the
+long hair still upon the skulls, showing where the poor, affrighted
+women had hived together in the last catastrophe of slaughter or of
+famine, thirst, and driven sand. Oh, if only those bones could speak,
+what a tale was theirs to tell!
+
+There had been cities in this desert, too, where once were oases, now
+overwhelmed, except perhaps for a sand-choked spring. Twice we came
+upon the foundations of such places, old walls of clay or stone, stark
+skeletons of ancient homes that the shifting sands had disinterred,
+which once had been the theatre of human hopes and fears, where once men
+had been born, loved, and died, where once maidens had been fair, and
+good and evil wrestled, and little children played. Some Job may have
+dwelt here and written his immortal plaint, or some king of Sodom, and
+suffered the uttermost calamity. The world is very old; all we Westerns
+learned from the contemplation of these wrecks of men and of their works
+was just that the world is very old.
+
+
+
+One evening against the clear sky there appeared the dim outline of
+towering cliffs, shaped like a horseshoe. They were the Mountains of Mur
+many miles away, but still the Mountains of Mur, sighted at last. Next
+morning we began to descend through wooded land toward a wide river that
+is, I believe, a tributary of the Nile, though upon this point I have
+no certain information. Three days later we reached the banks of this
+river, following some old road, and faring sumptuously all the way,
+since here there was much game and grass in plenty for the camels that,
+after their long abstinence, ate until we thought that they would burst.
+Evidently we had not arrived an hour too soon, for now the Mountains of
+Mur were hid by clouds, and we could see that it was raining upon the
+plains which lay between us and them. The wet season was setting in,
+and, had we been a single week later, it might have been impossible for
+us to cross the river, which would then have been in flood. As it was,
+we passed it without difficulty by the ancient ford, the water never
+rising above the knees of our camels.
+
+Upon its further bank we took counsel, for now we had entered the
+territory of the Fung, and were face to face with the real dangers of
+our journey. Fifty miles or so away rose the fortress of Mur, but, as
+I explained to my companions, the question was how to pass those fifty
+miles in safety. Shadrach was called to our conference, and at my
+request set out the facts.
+
+Yonder, he said, rose the impregnable mountain home of the Abati, but
+all the vast plain included in the loop of the river which he called
+Ebur, was the home of the savage Fung race, whose warriors could be
+counted by the ten thousand, and whose principal city, Harmac, was
+built opposite to the stone effigy of their idol, that was also called
+Harmac----
+
+"Harmac--that is Harmachis, god of dawn. Your Fung had something to
+do with the old Egyptians, or both of them came from a common stock,"
+interrupted Higgs triumphantly.
+
+"I daresay, old fellow," answered Orme; "I think you told us that before
+in London; but we will go into the arch�ology afterwards if we survive
+to do so. Let Shadrach get on with his tale."
+
+This city, which had quite fifty thousand inhabitants, continued
+Shadrach, commanded the mouth of the pass or cleft by which we must
+approach Mur, having probably been first built there for that very
+purpose.
+
+Orme asked if there was no other way into the stronghold, which, he
+understood, the embassy had left by being let down a precipice. Shadrach
+answered that this was true, but that although the camels and their
+loads had been let down that precipitous place, owing to the formation
+of its overhanging rocks, it would be perfectly impossible to haul them
+up it with any tackle that the Abati possessed.
+
+He asked again if there was not a way round, if that circle of mountains
+had no back door. Shadrach replied that there was such a back door
+facing to the north some eight days' journey away. Only at this season
+of the year it could not be reached, since beyond the Mountains of Mur
+in that direction was a great lake, out of which flowed the river Ebur
+in two arms that enclosed the whole plain of Fung. By now this lake
+would be full, swollen with rains that fell on the hills of Northern
+Africa, and the space between it and the Mur range nothing but an
+impassable swamp.
+
+Being still unsatisfied, Orme inquired whether, if we abandoned the
+camels, we could not then climb the precipice down which the embassy
+had descended. To this the answer, which I corroborated, was that if
+our approach were known and help given to us from above, it might be
+possible, provided that we threw away the loads.
+
+"Seeing what these loads are, and the purpose for which we have brought
+them so far, that is out of the question," said Orme. "Therefore, tell
+us at once, Shadrach, how we are to win through the Fung to Mur."
+
+"In one way only, O son of Orme, should it be the will of God that we do
+so at all; by keeping ourselves hidden during the daytime and marching
+at night. According to their custom at this season, to-morrow, after
+sunset, the Fung hold their great spring feast in the city of Harmac,
+and at dawn go up to make sacrifice to their idol. But after sunset
+they eat and drink and are merry, and then it is their habit to withdraw
+their guards, that they may take part in the festival. For this reason
+I have timed our march that we should arrive on the night of this feast,
+which I know by the age of the moon, when, in the darkness, with God's
+help, perchance we may slip past Harmac, and at the first light find
+ourselves in the mouth of the road that runs up to Mur. Moreover, I will
+give warning to my people, the Abati, that we are coming, so that they
+may be at hand to help us if there is need."
+
+"How?" asked Orme.
+
+"By firing the reeds"--and he pointed to the dense masses of dead
+vegetation about--"as I arranged that I would do before we left Mur many
+months ago. The Fung, if they see it, will think only that it is the
+work of some wandering fisherman."
+
+Orme shrugged his shoulders, saying:
+
+"Well, friend Shadrach, you know the place and these people, and I do
+not, so we must do what you tell us. But I say at once that if, as I
+understand, yonder Fung will kill us if they can, to me your plan seems
+very dangerous."
+
+"It is dangerous," he answered, adding with a sneer, "but I thought that
+you men of England were not cowards."
+
+"Cowards! you son of a dog!" broke in Higgs in his high voice. "How
+dare you talk to us like that? You see this man here"--and he pointed to
+Sergeant Quick, who, tall and upright, stood watching this scene grimly,
+and understanding most of what passed--"well, he is the lowest among
+us--a servant only" (here the Sergeant saluted), "but I tell you that
+there is more courage in his little finger than in your whole body, or
+in that of all the Abati people, so far as I can make out."
+
+Here the Sergeant saluted again, murmuring beneath his breath, "I
+hope so, sir. Being a Christian, I hope so, but till it comes to the
+sticking-point, one can never be sure."
+
+"You speak big words, O Higgs," answered Shadrach insolently, for, as I
+think I have said, he hated the Professor, who smelt the rogue in him,
+and scourged him continually with his sharp tongue, "but if the Fung get
+hold of you, then we shall learn the truth."
+
+"Shall I punch his head, sir?" queried Quick in a meditative voice.
+
+"Be quiet, please," interrupted Orme. "We have troubles enough before
+us, without making more. It will be time to settle our quarrels when we
+have got through the Fung."
+
+Then he turned to Shadrach and said:
+
+"Friend, this is no time for angry words. You are the guide of this
+party; lead us as you will, remembering only that if it comes to war, I,
+by the wish of my companions, am Captain. Also, there is another thing
+which you should not forget--namely, that in the end you must make
+answer to your own ruler, she who, I understand from the doctor here, is
+called Walda Nagasta, the Child of Kings. Now, no more words; we march
+as you wish and where you wish. On your head be it!"
+
+The Abati heard and bowed sullenly. Then, with a look of hate at Higgs,
+he turned and went about his business.
+
+"Much better to have let me punch his head," soliloquized Quick. "It
+would have done him a world of good, and perhaps saved many troubles,
+for, to tell the truth, I don't trust that quarter-bred Hebrew."
+
+Then he departed to see to the camels and the guns while the rest of us
+went to our tents to get such sleep as the mosquitoes would allow. In
+my own case it was not much, since the fear of evil to come weighed upon
+me. Although I knew the enormous difficulty of entering the mountain
+stronghold of Mur by any other way, such as that by which I had quitted
+it, burdened as we were with our long train of camels laden with rifles,
+ammunition, and explosives, I dreaded the results of an attempt to pass
+through the Fung savages.
+
+Moreover, it occurred to me that Shadrach had insisted upon this
+route from a kind of jealous obstinacy, and to be in opposition to us
+Englishmen, whom he hated in his heart, or perhaps for some dark and
+secret reason. Still, the fact remained that we were in his power, since
+owing to the circumstances in which I had entered and left the place, it
+was impossible for me to act as guide to the party. If I attempted to do
+so, no doubt he and the Abati with him would desert, leaving the camels
+and their loads upon our hands. Why should they not, seeing that
+they would be quite safe in concluding that we should never have an
+opportunity of laying our side of the case before their ruler?
+
+Just as the sun was setting, Quick came to call me, saying that the
+camels were being loaded up.
+
+"I don't much like the look of things, Doctor," he said as he helped me
+to pack my few belongings, "for the fact is I can't trust that Shadrach
+man. His pals call him 'Cat,' a good name for him, I think. Also, he is
+showing his claws just now, the truth being that he hates the lot of us,
+and would like to get back into Purr or Mur, or whatever the name of the
+place is, having lost us on the road. You should have seen the way he
+looked at the Professor just now. Oh! I wish the Captain had let me
+punch his head. I'm sure it would have cleared the air a lot."
+
+As it chanced, Shadrach was destined to get his head "punched" after
+all, but by another hand. It happened thus. The reeds were fired, as
+Shadrach had declared it was necessary to do, in order that the Abati
+watchmen on the distant mountains might see and report the signal,
+although in the light of subsequent events I am by no means certain that
+this warning was not meant for other eyes as well. Then, as arranged, we
+started out, leaving them burning in a great sheet of flame behind
+us, and all that night marched by the shine of the stars along some
+broken-down and undoubtedly ancient road.
+
+At the first sign of dawn we left this road and camped amid the
+overgrown ruins of a deserted town that had been built almost beneath
+the precipitous cliffs of Mur, fortunately without having met any one or
+being challenged. I took the first watch, while the others turned in to
+sleep after we had all breakfasted off cold meats, for here we dared not
+light a fire. As the sun grew high, dispelling the mists, I saw that we
+were entering upon a thickly-populated country which was no stranger to
+civilization of a sort. Below us, not more than fifteen or sixteen miles
+away, and clearly visible through my field-glasses, lay the great town
+of Harmac, which, during my previous visit to this land, I had never
+seen, as I passed it in the night.
+
+It was a city of the West Central African type, with open market-places
+and wide streets, containing thousands of white, flat-roofed houses, the
+most important of which were surrounded by gardens. Round it ran a high
+and thick wall, built, apparently, of sun-burnt brick, and in front of
+the gateways, of which I could see two, stood square towers whence these
+might be protected. All about this city the flat and fertile land was
+under cultivation, for the season being that of early spring, already
+the maize and other crops showed green upon the ground.
+
+Beyond this belt of plough-lands, with the aid of the field-glasses, I
+could make out great herds of grazing cattle and horses, mixed with wild
+game, a fact that assured me of the truth of what I had heard during
+my brief visit to Mur, that the Fung had few or no firearms, since
+otherwise the buck and quagga would have kept at a distance. Far off,
+too, and even on the horizon, I saw what appeared to be other towns and
+villages. Evidently this was a very numerous people, and one which could
+not justly be described as savage. No wonder that the little Abati tribe
+feared them so intensely, notwithstanding the mighty precipices by which
+they were protected from their hate.
+
+About eleven o'clock Orme came on watch, and I turned in, having nothing
+to report. Soon I was fast asleep, notwithstanding the anxieties that,
+had I been less weary, might well have kept me wakeful. For these were
+many. On the coming night we must slip through the Fung, and before
+midday on the morrow we should either have entered Mur, or failed to
+have entered Mur, which meant--death, or, what was worse, captivity
+among barbarians, and subsequent execution, preceded probably by torture
+of one sort or another.
+
+Of course, however, we might come thither without accident, travelling
+with good guides on a dark night, for, after all, the place was big, and
+the road lonely and little used, so that unless we met a watch, which,
+we were told, would not be there, our little caravan had a good chance
+to pass unobserved. Shadrach seemed to think that we should do so, but
+the worst of it was that, like Quick, I did not trust Shadrach. Even
+Maqueda, the Lady of the Abati, she whom they called Child of Kings, had
+her doubts about him, or so it had seemed to me.
+
+At any rate, she had told me before I left Mur that she chose him for
+this mission because he was bold and cunning, one of the very few of her
+people also who, in his youth, had crossed the desert and, therefore,
+knew the road. "Yet, Physician," she added meaningly, "watch him, for
+is he not named 'Cat'? Yes, watch him, for did I not hold his wife and
+children hostages, and were I not sure that he desires to win the great
+reward in land which I have promised to him, I would not trust you to
+this man's keeping."
+
+Well, after many experiences in his company, my opinion coincided with
+Maqueda's, and so did that of Quick, no mean judge of men.
+
+"Look at him, Doctor," he said when he came to tell me that I could turn
+in, for whether it were his watch or not, the Sergeant never seemed to
+be off duty. "Look, at him," and he pointed to Shadrach, who was seated
+under the shade of a tree, talking earnestly in whispers with two of his
+subordinates with a very curious and unpleasing smile upon his face. "If
+God Almighty ever made a scamp, he's squatting yonder. My belief is that
+he wanted to be rid of us all at Zeu, so that he might steal our goods,
+and I hope he won't play the same trick again to-night. Even the dog
+can't abide him."
+
+Before I could answer, I had proof of this last statement, for the great
+yellow hound, Pharaoh, that had found us in the desert, hearing our
+voices, emerged from some corner where it was hidden, and advanced
+toward us, wagging its tail. As it passed Shadrach, it stopped and
+growled, the hair rising on its back, whereon he hurled a stone at it
+and hit its leg. Next instant Pharaoh, a beast of enormous power, was on
+the top of him, and really, I thought, about to tear out his throat.
+
+Well, we got him off before any harm was done, but Shadrach's face,
+lined with its livid scars, was a thing to remember. Between rage and
+fear, it looked like that of a devil.
+
+To return. After this business I went to sleep, wondering if it were my
+last rest upon the earth, and whether, having endured so much for his
+sake, it would or would not be my fortune to see the face of my son
+again, if, indeed, he still lived, yonder not a score of miles away--or
+anywhere.
+
+Toward evening I was awakened by a fearful hubbub, in which I
+distinguished the shrill voice of Higgs ejaculating language which I
+will not repeat, the baying of Pharaoh, and the smothered groans and
+curses of an Abati. Running from the little tent, I saw a curious
+sight, that of the Professor with Shadrach's head under his left arm,
+in chancery, as we used to call it at school, while with his right he
+punched the said Shadrach's nose and countenance generally with all his
+strength, which, I may add, is considerable. Close by, holding Pharaoh
+by the collar, which we had manufactured for him out of the skin of a
+camel that had died, stood Sergeant Quick, a look of grim amusement
+on his wooden face, while around, gesticulating after their Eastern
+fashion, and uttering guttural sounds of wrath, were several of the
+Abati drivers. Orme was absent, being, in fact, asleep at the time.
+
+"What are you doing, Higgs?" I shouted.
+
+"Can't--you--see," he spluttered, accompanying each word with a blow on
+the unfortunate Shadrach's prominent nose. "I am punching this fellow's
+beastly head. Ah! you'd bite, would you? Then take that, and that
+and--that. Lord, how hard his teeth are. Well, I think he has had
+enough," and suddenly he released the Abati, who, a gory and most
+unpleasant spectacle, fell to the ground and lay there panting. His
+companions, seeing their chief's melancholy plight, advanced upon the
+Professor in a threatening fashion; indeed, one of them drew a knife.
+
+"Put up that thing, sonny," said the Sergeant, "or by heaven, I'll loose
+the dog upon you. Got your revolver handy, Doctor?"
+
+Evidently, if the man did not understand Quick's words, their purport
+was clear to him, for he sheathed his knife and fell back with the
+others. Shadrach, too, rose from the ground and went with them. At a
+distance of a few yards, however, he turned, and, glaring at Higgs out
+of his swollen eyes, said:
+
+"Be sure, accursed Gentile, that I will remember and repay."
+
+At this moment, too, Orme arrived upon the scene, yawning.
+
+"What the deuce is the matter?" he asked.
+
+"I'd give five bob for a pint of iced stone ginger," replied Higgs
+inconsequently. Then he drank off a pannikin of warmish, muddy-coloured
+water which Quick gave to him, and handed it back, saying:
+
+"Thanks, Sergeant; that's better than nothing, and cold drink is always
+dangerous if you are hot. What's the matter? Oh! not much. Shadrach
+tried to poison Pharaoh; that's all. I was watching him out of the
+corner of my eye, and saw him go to the strychnine tin, roll a bit of
+meat in it which he had first wetted, and throw it to the poor beast.
+I got hold of it in time, and chucked it over that wall, where you will
+find it if you care to look. I asked Shadrach why he had done such a
+thing. He answered, 'To keep the dog quiet while we are passing through
+the Fung,' adding that anyhow it was a savage beast and best out of the
+way, as it had tried to bite him that morning. Then I lost my temper and
+went for the blackguard, and although I gave up boxing twenty years ago,
+very soon had the best of it, for, as you may have observed, no Oriental
+can fight with his fists. That's all. Give me another cup of water,
+Sergeant."
+
+"I hope it may be," answered Orme, shrugging his shoulders. "To tell the
+truth, old fellow, it would have been wiser to defer blacking Shadrach's
+eyes till we were safe in Mur. But it's no use talking now, and I
+daresay I should have done the same myself if I had seen him try to
+poison Pharaoh," and he patted the head of the great dog, of which we
+were all exceedingly fond, although in reality it only cared for Orme,
+merely tolerating the rest of us.
+
+"Doctor," he added, "perhaps you would try to patch up our guide's nose
+and soothe his feelings. You know him better than we do. Give him a
+rifle. No, don't do that, or he might shoot some one in the back--by
+accident done on purpose. Promise him a rifle when we get into Mur; I
+know he wants one badly, because I caught him trying to steal a carbine
+from the case. Promise him anything so long as you can square it up."
+
+So I went, taking a bottle of arnica and some court plaster with me, to
+find Shadrach surrounded by sympathizers and weeping with rage over
+the insult, which, he said, had been offered to his ancient and
+distinguished race in his own unworthy person. I did my best for him
+physically and mentally, pointing out, as I dabbed the arnica on
+his sadly disfigured countenance, that he had brought the trouble on
+himself, seeing that he had really no business to poison Pharaoh because
+he had tried to bite him. He answered that his reason for wishing to
+kill the dog was quite different, and repeated at great length what he
+had told the Professor--namely, that it might betray us while we were
+passing through the Fung. Also he went on so venomously about revenge
+that I thought it time to put a stop to the thing.
+
+"See here, Shadrach," I said, "unless you unsay those words and make
+peace at once, you shall be bound and tried. Perhaps we shall have a
+better chance of passing safely through the Fung if we leave you dead
+behind us than if you accompany us as a living enemy."
+
+On hearing this, he changed his note altogether, saying that he saw
+he had been wrong. Moreover, so soon as his injuries were dressed, he
+sought out Higgs, whose hand he kissed with many apologies, vowing that
+he had forgotten everything and that his heart toward him was like that
+of a twin brother.
+
+"Very good, friend," answered Higgs, who never bore malice, "only don't
+try to poison Pharaoh again, and, for my part, I'll promise not to
+remember this matter when we get to Mur."
+
+"Quite a converted character, ain't he, Doctor?" sarcastically remarked
+Quick, who had been watching this edifying scene. "Nasty Eastern temper
+all gone; no Hebrew talk of eye for eye or tooth for tooth, but kisses
+the fist that smote him in the best Christian spirit. All the same, I
+wouldn't trust the swine further than I could kick him, especially in
+the dark, which," he added meaningly, "is what it will be to-night."
+
+I made no answer to the Sergeant, for although I agreed with him, there
+was nothing to be done, and talking about a bad business would only make
+it worse.
+
+By now the afternoon drew towards night--a very stormy night, to judge
+from the gathering clouds and rising wind. We were to start a little
+after sundown, that is, within an hour, and, having made ready my own
+baggage and assisted Higgs with his, we went to look for Orme and Quick,
+whom we found very busy in one of the rooms of an unroofed house. To all
+appearance they were engaged, Quick in sorting pound tins of tobacco
+or baking-powder, and Orme in testing an electric battery and carefully
+examining coils of insulated wire.
+
+"What's your game?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Better than yours, old boy, when Satan taught your idle hands to punch
+Shadrach's head. But perhaps you had better put that pipe out. These
+azo-imide compounds are said to burn rather more safely than coal.
+Still, one never knows; the climate or the journey may have changed
+their constitution."
+
+Higgs retreated hurriedly, to a distance of fifty yards indeed, whence
+he returned, having knocked out his pipe and even left his matches on a
+stone.
+
+"Don't waste time in asking questions," said Orme as the Professor
+approached with caution. "I'll explain. We are going on a queer journey
+to-night--four white men with about a dozen half-bred mongrel scamps of
+doubtful loyalty, so you see Quick and I thought it as well to have some
+of this stuff handy. Probably it will never be wanted, and if wanted we
+shall have no time to use it; still, who knows? There, that will do. Ten
+canisters; enough to blow up half the Fung if they will kindly sit on
+them. You take five, Quick, a battery and three hundred yards of wire,
+and I'll take five, a battery, and three hundred yards of wire. Your
+detonators are all fixed, aren't they? Well, so are mine," and without
+more words he proceeded to stow away his share of the apparatus in the
+poacher pockets of his coat and elsewhere, while Quick did likewise with
+what remained. Then the case that they had opened was fastened up again
+and removed to be laden on a camel.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HOW WE ESCAPED FROM HARMAC
+
+As finally arranged this was the order of our march: First went an Abati
+guide who was said to be conversant with every inch of the way. Then
+came Orme and Sergeant Quick, conducting the camels that were loaded
+with the explosives. I followed in order to keep an eye upon these
+precious beasts and those in charge of them. Next marched some more
+camels, carrying our baggage, provisions, and sundries, and finally in
+the rear were the Professor and Shadrach with two Abati.
+
+Shadrach, I should explain, had selected this situation for the reason,
+as he said, that if he went first, after what had passed, any mistake or
+untoward occurrence might be set down to his malice, whereas, if he were
+behind, he could not be thus slandered. On hearing this, Higgs, who is
+a generous soul, insisted upon showing his confidence in the virtue of
+Shadrach by accompanying him as a rearguard. So violently did he insist,
+and so flattered did Shadrach seem to be by this mark of faith, that
+Orme, who, I should say, if I have not already done so, was in sole
+command of the party now that hostilities were in the air, consented to
+the plan, if with evident reluctance.
+
+As I know, his own view was that it would be best for us four Englishmen
+to remain together, although, if we did so, whatever position we chose,
+it would be impossible for us in that darkness to keep touch with the
+line of camels and their loads, which were almost as important to us as
+our lives. At least, having made up our minds to deliver them in Mur, we
+thought that they were important, perhaps because it is the fashion
+of the Anglo-Saxon race to put even a self-created idea of duty before
+personal safety or convenience.
+
+Rightly or wrongly, so things were settled, for in such troublous
+conditions one can only do what seems best at the moment. Criticism
+subsequent to the event is always easy, as many an unlucky commander has
+found out when the issue went awry, but in emergency one must decide on
+something.
+
+The sun set, the darkness fell, and it began to rain and blow. We
+started quite unobserved, so far as we could tell, and, travelling
+downward from the overgrown, ruined town, gained the old road, and in
+complete silence, for the feet of camels make no noise, passed along it
+toward the lights of Harmac, which now and again, when the storm-clouds
+lifted, we saw glimmering in front of us and somewhat to our left.
+
+In all my long wanderings I cannot remember a more exciting or a more
+disagreeable journey. The blackness, relieved only from time to time by
+distant lightnings, was that of the plagues of Egypt; the driving rain
+worked through the openings of our camel-hair cloaks and the waterproofs
+we wore underneath them, and wet us through. The cold, damp wind chilled
+us to the bone, enervated as we were with the heat of the desert.
+But these discomforts, and they were serious enough, we forgot in the
+tremendous issue of the enterprise. Should we win through to Mur? Or, as
+a crown to our many labours and sufferings, should we perish presently
+on the road? That was the question; as I can assure the reader, one that
+we found very urgent and interesting.
+
+Three hours had gone by. Now we were opposite to the lights of Harmac,
+also to other lights that shone up a valley in the mountain to our
+right. As yet everything was well; for this we knew by the words
+whispered up and down the line.
+
+Then of a sudden, in front of us a light flashed, although as yet it
+was a long way off. Next came another whispered message of "Halt!" So we
+halted, and presently one of the front guides crept back, informing us
+that a body of Fung cavalry had appeared upon the road ahead. We took
+counsel. Shadrach arrived from the rear, and said that if we waited
+awhile they might go away, as he thought that their presence must be
+accidental and connected with the great festival. He implored us to be
+quite silent. Accordingly, not knowing what to do, we waited.
+
+Now I think I have forgotten to say that the dog Pharaoh, to prevent
+accidents, occupied a big basket; this basket, in which he often rode
+when tired, being fixed upon one side of Orme's camel. Here he lay
+peaceably enough until, in an unlucky moment, Shadrach left me to go
+forward to talk to the Captain, whereon, smelling his enemy, Pharaoh
+burst out into furious baying. After that everything was confusion.
+Shadrach darted back toward the rear. The light ahead began to move
+quickly, advancing toward us. The front camels left the road, as I
+presume, following their leader according to the custom of these beasts
+when marching in line.
+
+Presently, I know not how, Orme, Quick, and myself found ourselves
+together in the darkness; at the time we thought Higgs was with us also,
+but in this we were mistaken. We heard shoutings and strange voices
+speaking a language that we could not understand. By the sudden glare of
+a flash of lightning, for the thunderstorm was now travelling over
+us, we saw several things. One of these was the Professor's
+riding-dromedary, which could not be mistaken because of its pure white
+colour and queer method of holding its head to one side, passing within
+ten yards, between us and the road, having a man upon its back who
+evidently was not the Professor. Then it was that we discovered his
+absence and feared the worst.
+
+"A Fung has got his camel," I said.
+
+"No," answered Quick; "Shadrach has got it. I saw his ugly mug against
+the light."
+
+Another vision was that of what appeared to be our baggage camels moving
+swiftly away from us, but off the road which was occupied by a body of
+horsemen in white robes. Orme issued a brief order to the effect that we
+were to follow the camels with which the Professor might be. We started
+to obey, but before we had covered twenty yards of the cornfield or
+whatever it was in which we were standing, heard voices ahead that were
+not those of Abati. Evidently the flash which showed the Fung to us had
+done them a like service, and they were now advancing to kill or capture
+us.
+
+There was only one thing to do--turn and fly--and this we did, heading
+whither we knew not, but managing to keep touch of each other.
+
+About a quarter of an hour later, just as we were entering a grove of
+palms or other trees which hid everything in front of us, the lightning
+blazed again, though much more faintly, for by this time the storm had
+passed over the Mountains of Mur, leaving heavy rain behind it. By the
+flash I, who was riding last and, as it chanced, looking back over my
+shoulder, saw that the Fung horsemen were not fifty yards behind, and
+hunting for us everywhere, their line being extended over a long front.
+I was, however, sure that they had not yet caught sight of us in the
+dense shadow of the trees.
+
+"Get on," I said to the others; "they will be here presently," and heard
+Quick add:
+
+"Give your camel his head, Captain; he can see in the dark, and perhaps
+will take us back to the road."
+
+Orme acted on this suggestion, which, as the blackness round us was
+pitchy, seemed a good one. At any rate it answered, for off we went at a
+fair pace, the three camels marching in line, first over soft ground
+and afterwards on a road. Presently I thought that the rain had stopped,
+since for a few seconds none fell on us, but concluded from the echo of
+the camels' feet and its recommencement that we had passed under some
+archway. On we went, and at length even through the gloom and rain I saw
+objects that looked like houses, though if so there were no lights in
+them, perhaps because the night drew toward morning. A dreadful idea
+struck me: we might be in Harmac! I passed it up for what it was worth.
+
+"Very likely," whispered Orme back. "Perhaps these camels were bred
+here, and are looking for their stables. Well, there is only one thing
+to do--go on."
+
+So we went on for a long while, only interfered with by the occasional
+attentions of some barking dog. Luckily of these Pharaoh, in his basket,
+took no heed, probably because it was his habit if another dog barked at
+him to pretend complete indifference until it came so near that he
+could spring and fight, or kill it. At length we appeared to pass under
+another archway, after which, a hundred and fifty yards or so further
+on, the camels came to a sudden stop. Quick dismounted, and presently I
+heard him say:
+
+"Doors. Can feel the brasswork on them. Tower above, I think, and wall
+on either side. Seem to be in a trap. Best stop here till light comes.
+Nothing else to be done."
+
+Accordingly, we stopped, and, having tied the camels to each other to
+prevent their straying, took shelter from the rain under the tower or
+whatever it might be. To pass away the time and keep life in us, for we
+were almost frozen with the wet and cold, we ate some tinned food and
+biscuits that we carried in our saddle-bags, and drank a dram of brandy
+from Quick's flask. This warmed us a little, though I do not think that
+a bottleful would have raised our spirits. Higgs, whom we all loved, was
+gone, dead, probably, by that time; the Abati had lost or deserted
+us, and we three white men appeared to have wandered into a savage
+stronghold, where, as soon as we were seen, we should be trapped like
+birds in a net, and butchered at our captor's will. Certainly the
+position was not cheerful.
+
+Overwhelmed with physical and mental misery, I began to doze; Orme grew
+silent, and the Sergeant, having remarked that there was no need to
+bother, since what must be must be, consoled himself in a corner by
+humming over and over again the verse of the hymn which begins:
+
+     "There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe,
+     Where trials never come nor tears of sorrow flow."
+
+Fortunately for us, shortly before dawn the "tears of sorrow" as
+represented by the rain ceased to flow. The sky cleared, showing the
+stars; suddenly the vault of heaven was suffused with a wonderful and
+pearly light, although on the earth the mist remained so thick that we
+could see nothing. Then above this sea of mist rose the great ball of
+the sun, but still we could see nothing that was more than a few yards
+away from us.
+
+"There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe"
+
+droned Quick beneath his breath for about the fiftieth time, since,
+apparently, he knew no other hymn which he considered suitable to our
+circumstances, then ejaculated suddenly:
+
+"Hullo! here's a stair. With your leave I'll go up it, Captain," and he
+did.
+
+A minute later we heard his voice calling us softly:
+
+"Come here, gentlemen," he said, "and see something worth looking at."
+
+So we scrambled up the steps, and, as I rather expected, found ourselves
+upon the top of one of two towers set above an archway, which towers
+were part of a great protective work outside the southern gates of a
+city that could be none other than Harmac. Soaring above the mist rose
+the mighty cliffs of Mur that, almost exactly opposite to us, were
+pierced by a deep valley.
+
+Into this valley the sunlight poured, revealing a wondrous and
+awe-inspiring object of which the base was surrounded by billowy
+vapours, a huge, couchant animal fashioned of black stone, with a head
+carved to the likeness of that of a lion, and crowned with the _uraeus_,
+the asp-crested symbol of majesty in old Egypt. How big the creature
+might be it was impossible to say at that distance, for we were quite a
+mile away from it; but it was evident that no other monolithic
+monument that we had ever seen or heard of could approach its colossal
+dimensions.
+
+Compared to this tremendous effigy indeed, the boasted Sphinx of Gizeh
+seemed but a toy. It was no less than a small mountain of rock shaped by
+the genius and patient labour of some departed race of men to the form
+of a lion-headed monster. Its majesty and awfulness set thus above the
+rolling mists in the red light of the morning, reflected on it from the
+towering precipices beyond, were literally indescribable; even in our
+miserable state, they oppressed and overcame us, so that for awhile we
+were silent. Then we spoke, each after his own manner:
+
+"The idol of the Fung!" said I. "No wonder that savages should take it
+for a god."
+
+"The greatest monolith in all the world," muttered Orme, "and Higgs is
+dead. Oh! if only he had lived to see it, he would have gone happy. I
+wish it had been I who was taken; I wish it had been I!" and he wrung
+his hands, for it is the nature of Oliver Orme always to think of others
+before himself.
+
+"That's what we have come to blow up," soliloquized Quick. "Well,
+those 'azure stinging-bees,' or whatever they call the stuff (he meant
+azo-imides) are pretty active, but it will take a lot of stirring if
+ever we get there. Seems a pity, too, for the old pussy is handsome in
+his way."
+
+"Come down," said Orme. "We must find out where we are; perhaps we can
+escape in the mist."
+
+"One moment," I answered. "Do you see that?" and I pointed to a
+needle-like rock that pierced the fog about a mile to the south of the
+idol valley, and say two miles from where we were. "That's the White
+Rock; it isn't white really, but the vultures roost on it and make it
+look so. I have never seen it before, for I passed it in the night, but
+I know that it marks the beginning of the cleft which runs up to Mur;
+you remember, Shadrach told us so. Well, if we can get to that White
+Rock we have a chance of life."
+
+Orme studied it hurriedly and repeated, "Come down; we may be seen up
+here."
+
+We descended and began our investigations in feverish haste. This was
+the sum of them: In the arch under the tower were set two great doors
+covered with plates of copper or bronze beaten into curious shapes to
+represent animals and men, and apparently very ancient. These huge doors
+had grilles in them through which their defenders could peep out or
+shoot arrows. What seemed more important to us, however, was that they
+lacked locks, being secured only by thick bronze bolts and bars such as
+we could undo.
+
+"Let's clear out before the mist lifts," said Orme. "With luck we may
+get to the pass."
+
+We assented, and I ran to the camels that lay resting just outside the
+arch. Before I reached them, however, Quick called me back.
+
+"Look through there, Doctor," he said, pointing to one of the
+peep-holes.
+
+I did so, and in the dense mist saw a body of horsemen advancing toward
+the door.
+
+They must have seen us on the top of the wall. "Fools that we were to go
+there!" exclaimed Orme.
+
+Next instant he started back, not a second too soon, for through the
+hole where his face had been, flashed a spear which struck the ground
+beyond the archway. Also we heard other spears rattle upon the bronze
+plates of the doors.
+
+"No luck!" said Orme; "that's all up, they mean to break in. Now I think
+we had better play a bold game. Got your rifles, Sergeant and Doctor?
+Yes? Then choose your loopholes, aim, and empty the magazines into
+them. Don't waste a shot. For heaven's sake don't waste a shot.
+Now--one--two--three, fire!"
+
+Fire we did into the dense mass of men who had dismounted and were
+running up to the doors to burst them open. At that distance we could
+scarcely miss and the magazines of the repeating rifles held five shots
+apiece. As the smoke cleared away I counted quite half-a-dozen Fung
+down, while some others were staggering off, wounded. Also several of
+the men and horses beyond were struck by the bullets which had passed
+through the bodies of the fallen.
+
+The effect of this murderous discharge was instantaneous and remarkable.
+Brave though the Fung might be, they were quite unaccustomed to magazine
+rifles. Living as they did perfectly isolated and surrounded by a great
+river, even if they had heard of such things and occasionally seen an
+old gaspipe musket that reached them in the course of trade, of modern
+guns and their terrible power they knew nothing. Small blame to them,
+therefore, if their courage evaporated in face of a form of sudden
+death which to them must have been almost magical. At any rate they fled
+incontinently, leaving their dead and wounded on the ground.
+
+Now again we thought of flight, which perhaps would have proved our
+wisest course, but hesitated because we could not believe that the Fung
+had left the road clear, or done more than retreat a little to wait
+for us. While we lost time thus the mist thinned a great deal, so much
+indeed that we could see our exact position. In front of us, towards the
+city side, lay a wide open space, whereof the walls ended against
+those of Harmac itself, to which they formed a kind of vestibule or
+antechamber set there to protect this gateway of the town through which
+we had ridden in the darkness, not knowing whither we went.
+
+"Those inner doors are open," said Orme, nodding his head toward the
+great portals upon the farther side of the square. "Let's go see if we
+can shut them. Otherwise we shan't hold this place long."
+
+So we ran across to the further doors that were similar to those through
+which we had just fired, only larger, and as we met nobody to interfere
+with our efforts, found that the united strength of the three of us was
+just, only just, sufficient to turn first one and then the other of
+them upon its hinges and work the various bolts and bars into their
+respective places. Two men could never have done the job, but being
+three and fairly desperate we managed it. Then we retreated to our
+archway and, as nothing happened, took the opportunity to eat and drink
+a few mouthfuls, Quick remarking sagely that we might as well die upon
+full as upon empty stomachs.
+
+When we had crossed the square the fog was thinning rapidly, but as the
+sun rose, sucking the vapours from the rain-soaked earth, it thickened
+again for awhile.
+
+"Sergeant," said Orme presently, "these black men are bound to attack
+us soon. Now is the time to lay a mine while they can't see what we are
+after."
+
+"I was just thinking the same thing, Captain; the sooner the better,"
+replied Quick. "Perhaps the Doctor will keep a watch here over the
+camels, and if he sees any one stick up his head above the wall, he
+might bid him good-morning. We know he is a nice shot, is the Doctor,"
+and he tapped my rifle.
+
+I nodded and the two of them set out laden with wires and the packages
+that looked like tobacco tins, heading for a stone erection in the
+centre of the square which resembled an altar, but was, I believe, a
+rostrum whence the native auctioneers sold slaves and other merchandise.
+What they did there exactly, I am sure I do not know; indeed, I was too
+much occupied in keeping a watch upon the walls whereof I could
+clearly see the crest above the mist, to pay much attention to their
+proceedings.
+
+Presently my vigilance was rewarded, for over the great gateway
+opposite, at a distance of about a hundred and fifty paces from me,
+appeared some kind of a chieftain clad in white robes and wearing a very
+fine turban or coloured head-dress, who paraded up and down, waving a
+spear defiantly and uttering loud shouts.
+
+This man I covered very carefully, lying down to do so. As Quick had
+said, I am a good rifle shot, having practised that art for many years;
+still, one may always miss, which, although I bore no personal grudge
+against the poor fellow in the fine head-dress, on this occasion I did
+not wish to do. The sudden and mysterious death of that savage would, I
+felt sure, produce a great effect among his people.
+
+At length he stopped exactly over the door and began to execute a kind
+of war-dance, turning his head from time to time to yell out something
+to others on the farther side of the wall. This was my opportunity. I
+covered him with as much care as though I were shooting at a target,
+with one bull's eye to win. Aiming a little low in case the rifle should
+throw high, very gently I pressed the trigger. The cartridge exploded,
+the bullet went on its way, and the man on the wall stopped dancing and
+shouting and stood quite still. Clearly he had heard the shot or felt
+the wind of the ball, but was untouched.
+
+I worked the lever jerking out the empty case, preparatory to firing
+again, but on looking up saw that there was no need, for the Fung
+captain was spinning round on his heels like a top. Three or four times
+he whirled thus with incredible rapidity, then suddenly threw his arms
+wide, and dived headlong from the wall like a bather from a plank, but
+backward, and was soon no more. Only from the farther side of those
+gates arose a wail of wrath and consternation.
+
+After this no other Fung appeared upon the wall, so I turned my
+attention to the spy-hole in the doors behind me, and seeing some
+horsemen moving about at a distance of four or five hundred yards on a
+rocky ridge where the mist did not lie, I opened fire on them and at the
+second shot was fortunate enough to knock a man out of the saddle. One
+of those with him, who must have been a brave fellow, instantly jumped
+down, threw him, dead or living, over the horse, leaped up behind him,
+and galloped away accompanied by the others, pursued by some probably
+ineffective bullets that I sent after them.
+
+Now the road to the Pass of Mur seemed to be clear, and I regretted that
+Orme and Quick were not with me to attempt escape. Indeed, I meditated
+fetching or calling them, when suddenly I saw them returning, burying
+a wire or wires in the sand as they came, and at the same time heard
+a noise of thunderous blows of which I could not mistake the meaning.
+Evidently the Fung were breaking down the farther bronze doors with some
+kind of battering-ram. I ran out to meet them and told my news.
+
+"Well done," said Orme in a quiet voice. "Now, Sergeant, just join up
+those wires to the battery, and be careful to screw them in tight. You
+have tested it, haven't you? Doctor, be good enough to unbar the gates.
+No, you can't do that alone; I'll help you presently. Look to the camels
+and tighten the girths. These Fung will have the doors down in a minute,
+and then there will be no time to lose."
+
+"What are you going to do?" I asked as I obeyed.
+
+"Show them some fireworks, I hope. Bring the camels into the archway
+so that they can't foul the wire with their feet. So--stand still, you
+grumbling brutes! Now for these bolts. Heavens! how stiff they are. I
+wonder why the Fung don't grease them. One door will do--never mind the
+other."
+
+Labouring furiously we got it undone and ajar. So far as we could see
+there was no one in sight beyond. Scared by our bullets or for other
+reasons of their own, the guard there appeared to have moved away.
+
+"Shall we take the risk and ride for it?" I suggested.
+
+"No," answered Orme. "If we do, even supposing there are no Fung waiting
+beyond the rise, those inside the town will soon catch us on their swift
+horses. We must scare them before we bolt, and then those that are left
+of them may let us alone. Now listen to me. When I give the word, you
+two take the camels outside and make them kneel about fifty yards
+away, not nearer, for I don't know the effective range of these new
+explosives; it may be greater than I think. I shall wait until the Fung
+are well over the mine and then fire it, after which I hope to join you.
+If I don't, ride as hard as you can go to that White Rock, and if you
+reach Mur give my compliments to the Child of Kings, or whatever she is
+called, and say that although I have been prevented from waiting upon
+her, Sergeant Quick understands as much about picrates as I do. Also
+get Shadrach tried and hanged if he is guilty of Higgs's death. Poor old
+Higgs! how he would have enjoyed this."
+
+"Beg your pardon, Captain," said Quick, "but I'll stay with you. The
+doctor can see to the baggage animals."
+
+"Will you be good enough to obey orders and fall to the rear when you
+are told, Sergeant? Now, no words. It is necessary for the purposes of
+this expedition that one of us two should try to keep a whole skin."
+
+"Then, sir," pleaded Quick, "mayn't I take charge of the battery?"
+
+"No," he answered sternly. "Ah! the doors are down at last," and he
+pointed to a horde of Fung, mounted and on foot, who poured through the
+gateway where they had stood, shouting after their fashion, and went on:
+"Now then, pick out the captains and pepper away. I want to keep them
+back a bit, so that they come on in a crowd, not scattered."
+
+We took up our repeating rifles and did as Orme told us, and so dense
+was the mass of humanity opposite that if we missed one man, we hit
+another, killing or wounding a number of them. The result of the loss of
+several of their leaders, to say nothing of meaner folk, was just
+what Orme had foreseen. The Fung soldiers, instead of rushing on
+independently, spread to right and left, until the whole farther side of
+the square filled up with thousands of them, a veritable sea of men, at
+which we pelted bullets as boys hurl stones at a wave.
+
+At length the pressure of those behind thrust onward those in front,
+and the whole fierce, tumultuous mob began to flow forward across the
+square, a multitude bent on the destruction of three white men, armed
+with these new and terrible weapons. It was a very strange and thrilling
+sight; never have I seen its like.
+
+"Now," said Orme, "stop firing and do as I bid you. Kneel the camels
+fifty yards outside the wall, not less, and wait till you know the end.
+If we shouldn't meet again, well, good-bye and good luck."
+
+So we went, Quick literally weeping with shame and rage.
+
+"Good Lord!" he exclaimed, "good Lord! to think that, after four
+campaigns, Samuel Quick, Sergeant of Engineers, with five medals, should
+live to be sent off with the baggage like a pot-bellied bandmaster,
+leaving his captain to fight about three thousand niggers single-handed.
+Doctor, if he don't come out, you do the best you can for yourself, for
+I'm going back to stop with him, that's all. There, that's fifty paces;
+down you go, you ugly beasts," and he bumped his camel viciously on the
+head with the butt of his rifle.
+
+From where we had halted we could only see through the archway into the
+space beyond. By now the square looked like a great Sunday meeting in
+Hyde Park, being filled up with men of whom the first rows were already
+past the altar-like rostrum in its centre.
+
+"Why don't he loose off them stinging-bees?" muttered Quick. "Oh! I see
+his little game. Look," and he pointed to the figure of Orme, who had
+crept behind the unopened half of the door on our side of it and was
+looking intently round its edge, holding the battery in his right hand.
+"He wants to let them get nearer so as to make a bigger bag. He----"
+
+I heard no more of Quick's remarks, for suddenly something like an
+earthquake took place, and the whole sky seemed to turn to one great
+flame. I saw a length of the wall of the square rush outward and upward.
+I saw the shut half of the bronze-plated door skipping and hopping
+playfully toward us, and in front of it the figure of a man. Then it
+began to rain all sorts of things.
+
+For instance, stones, none of which hit us, luckily, and other more
+unpleasant objects. It is a strange experience to be knocked backward
+by a dead fist separated from its parent body, yet on this occasion this
+actually happened to me, and, what is more, the fist had a spear in it.
+The camels tried to rise and bolt, but they are phlegmatic brutes, and,
+as ours were tired as well, we succeeded in quieting them.
+
+Whilst we were thus occupied somewhat automatically, for the shock had
+dazed us, the figure that had been propelled before the dancing door
+arrived, reeling in a drunken fashion, and through the dust and falling
+_d�bris_ we knew it for that of Oliver Orme. His face was blackened, his
+clothes were torn half off him, and blood from a scalp wound ran down
+his brown hair. But in his right hand he still held the little electric
+battery, and I knew at once that he had no limbs broken.
+
+"Very successful mine," he said thickly. "Boer melinite shells aren't
+in it with this new compound. Come on before the enemy recover from the
+shock," and he flung himself upon his camel.
+
+In another minute we had started at a trot toward the White Rock, whilst
+from the city of Harmac behind us rose a wail of fear and misery. We
+gained the top of the rise on which I had shot the horseman, and, as
+I expected, found that the Fung had posted a strong guard in the dip
+beyond, out of reach of our bullets, in order to cut us off, should
+we attempt to escape. Now, terrified by what had happened, to them
+a supernatural catastrophe, they were escaping themselves, for we
+perceived them galloping off to the left and right as fast as their
+horses would carry them.
+
+So for awhile we went on unmolested, though not very quickly, because of
+Orme's condition. When we had covered about half the distance between us
+and the White Rock, I looked round and became aware that we were being
+pursued by a body of cavalry about a hundred strong, which I supposed
+had emerged from some other gate of the city.
+
+"Flog the animals," I shouted to Quick, "or they will catch us after
+all."
+
+He did so, and we advanced at a shambling gallop, the horsemen gaining
+on us every moment. Now I thought that all was over, especially when of
+a sudden from behind the White Rock emerged a second squad of horsemen.
+
+"Cut off!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Suppose so, sir," answered Quick, "but these seem a different crowd."
+
+I scanned them and saw that he was right. They were a very different
+crowd, for in front of them floated the Abati banner, which I could not
+mistake, having studied it when I was a guest of the tribe: a
+curious, triangular, green flag covered with golden Hebrew characters,
+surrounding the figure of Solomon seated on a throne. Moreover,
+immediately behind the banner in the midst of a bodyguard rode a
+delicately shaped woman clothed in pure white. It was the Child of Kings
+herself!
+
+Two more minutes and we were among them. I halted my camel and looked
+round to see that the Fung cavalry were retreating. After the events
+of that morning clearly they had no stomach left for a fight with a
+superior force.
+
+The lady in white rode up to us.
+
+"Greetings, friend," she exclaimed to me, for she knew me again at once.
+"Now, who is captain among you?"
+
+I pointed to the shattered Orme, who sat swaying on his camel with eyes
+half closed.
+
+"Noble sir," she said, addressing him, "if you can, tell me what has
+happened. I am Maqueda of the Abati, she who is named Child of Kings.
+Look at the symbol on my brow, and you will see that I speak truth,"
+and, throwing back her veil, she revealed the coronet of gold that
+showed her rank.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+BARUNG
+
+At the sound of this soft voice (the extreme softness of Maqueda's voice
+was always one of her greatest charms), Orme opened his eyes and stared
+at her.
+
+"Very queer dream," I heard him mutter. "Must be something in the
+Mohammedan business after all. Extremely beautiful woman, and that gold
+thing looks well on her dark hair."
+
+"What does the lord your companion say?" asked Maqueda of me.
+
+Having first explained that he was suffering from shock, I translated
+word for word, whereon Maqueda blushed to her lovely violet eyes and let
+fall her veil in a great hurry. In the confusion which ensued, I heard
+Quick saying to his master:
+
+"No, no, sir; this one ain't no houri. She's a flesh and blood queen,
+and the pleasantest to look at I ever clapped eyes on, though a
+benighted African Jew. Wake up, Captain, wake up; you are out of that
+hell-fire now. It's got the Fung, not you."
+
+The word Fung seemed to rouse Orme.
+
+"Yes," he said; "I understand. The vapour of the stuff poisoned me, but
+it is passing now. Adams, ask that lady how many men she's got with her.
+What does she say? About five hundred? Well, then, let her attack Harmac
+at once. The outer and inner gates are down; the Fung think they have
+raised the devil and will run. She can inflict a defeat on them from
+which they will not recover for years, only it must be done at once,
+before they get their nerve again, for, after all, they are more
+frightened than hurt."
+
+Maqueda listened to this advice intently.
+
+"It is to my liking; it is very good," she said in her quaint archaic
+Arabic when I had finished translating. "But I must consult my Council.
+Where is my uncle, the prince Joshua?"
+
+"Here, Lady," answered a voice from the press behind, out of which
+presently emerged, mounted on a white horse, a stout man, well advanced
+in middle age, with a swarthy complexion and remarkably round, prominent
+eyes. He was clad in the usual Eastern robes, richly worked, over which
+he wore a shirt of chain-mail, and on his head a helmet, with mail
+flaps, an attire that gave the general effect of an obese Crusader of
+the early Norman period without his cross.
+
+"Is that Joshua?" said Orme, who was wandering a little again.
+"Rummy-looking cock, isn't he? Sergeant, tell Joshua that the walls of
+Jericho are down, so there'll be no need to blow his own trumpet. I'm
+sure from the look of him that he's a perfect devil with a trumpet."
+
+"What does your companion say?" asked Maqueda again.
+
+I translated the middle part of Orme's remarks, but neither the
+commencement nor the end, but even these amused her very much, for she
+burst out laughing, and said, pointing to Harmac, over which still hung
+a cloud of dust:
+
+"Yes, yes, Joshua, my uncle, the walls of Jericho are down, and the
+question is, will you not take your opportunity? So in an hour or two we
+shall be dead, or if God goes with us, perhaps free from the menace of
+the Fung for years."
+
+The prince Joshua stared at her with his great, prominent eyes, then
+answered in a thick, gobbling voice:
+
+"Are you mad, Child of Kings? Of us Abati here there are but five
+hundred men, and of the Fung yonder tens of thousands. If we attacked,
+they would eat us up. Can five hundred men stand against tens of
+thousands?"
+
+"It seems that three stood against them this morning, and worked some
+damage, my uncle, but it is true those three are of a different race
+from the Abati," she added with bitter sarcasm. Then she turned to those
+behind her and cried: "Who of my captains and Council will accompany me,
+if I who am but a woman dare to advance on Harmac?"
+
+Now here and there a voice cried, "I will," or some gorgeously dressed
+person stepped forward in a hesitating way, and that was all.
+
+"You see, men of the West!" said Maqueda after a little pause,
+addressing us three. "I thank you for the great deeds that you have
+done and for your counsel. But I cannot take it because my people are
+not--warlike," and she covered her face with her hands.
+
+Now there arose a great tumult among her followers, who all began to
+talk at once. Joshua in particular drew a large sword and waved it,
+shouting out a recital of the desperate actions of his youth and the
+names of Fung chieftains whom he alleged he had killed in single combat.
+
+"Told you that fat cur was a first-class trumpeter," said Orme
+languidly, while the Sergeant ejaculated in tones of deep disgust:
+
+"Good Lord! what a set. Why, Doctor, they ain't fit to savage a referee
+in a London football ground. Pharaoh there in his basket (where he was
+barking loudly) would make the whole lot run, and if he was out--oh
+my! Now, then, you porpoise"--this he addressed to Joshua, who was
+flourishing his sword unpleasantly near--"put your pasteboard up, won't
+you, or I'll knock your fat head off," whereon the Prince, who, if
+he did not understand Quick's words, at any rate caught their meaning
+wonderfully well, did as he was told, and fell back.
+
+Just then, indeed, there was a general movement up the pass, in the
+wide mouth of which all this scene took place, for suddenly three Fung
+chieftains appeared galloping toward us, one of whom was veiled with
+a napkin in which were cut eyeholes. So universal was this retreat,
+in fact, that we three on our camels, and the Child of Kings on her
+beautiful mare, found ourselves left alone.
+
+"An embassy," said Maqueda, scanning the advancing horsemen, who carried
+with them a white flag tied to the blade of a spear. "Physician, will
+you and your friends come with me and speak to these messengers?" And
+without even waiting for an answer, she rode forward fifty yards or so
+on to the plain, and there reined up and halted till we could bring
+our camels round and join her. As we did so, the three Fung,
+splendid-looking, black-faced fellows, arrived at a furious gallop,
+their lances pointed at us.
+
+"Stand still, friends," said Maqueda; "they mean no harm."
+
+As the words passed her lips, the Fung pulled the horses to their
+haunches, Arab-fashion, lifted spears and saluted. Then their
+leader--not the veiled man, but another--spoke in a dialect that I, who
+had spent so many years among the savages of the desert, understood well
+enough, especially as the base of it was Arabic.
+
+"O, Walda Nagasta, Daughter of Solomon," he said, "we are the tongues of
+our Sultan Barung, Son of Barung for a hundred generations, and we speak
+his words to the brave white men who are your guests. Thus says Barung.
+Like the Fat One whom I have already captured, you white men are heroes.
+Three of you alone, you held the gate against my army. With the weapons
+of the white man you killed us from afar, here one and there one. Then,
+at last, with a great magic of thunder and lightning and earthquake, you
+sent us by scores into the bosom of our god, and shook down our walls
+about our ears and out of that hell you escaped yourselves.
+
+"Now, O white men, this is the offer of Barung to you: Leave the curs
+of the Abati, the baboons who gibber and deck themselves out, the
+rock-rabbits who seek safety in the cliffs, and come to him. He will
+give you not only life, but all your heart's desire--lands and wives
+and horses; great shall you be in his councils and happy shall you live.
+Moreover, for your sakes he will try to spare your brother, the Fat One,
+whose eyes look out of black windows, who blows fire from his mouth, and
+reviles his enemies as never man did before. Yes, although the priests
+have doomed him to sacrifice at the next feast of Harmac, he will try to
+spare him, which, perhaps, he can do by making him, like the Singer of
+Egypt, also a priest of Harmac, and thus dedicate forever to the god
+with whom, indeed, he says he had been familiar for thousands of years.
+This is our message, O white men."
+
+Now, when I had translated the substance of this oration to Orme and
+Quick, for, as I saw by the quiver that passed through her at the
+Fung insults upon her tribe, Maqueda understood it, their tongues
+not differing greatly, Orme who, for the time at any rate, was almost
+himself again, said:
+
+"Tell these fellows to say to their Sultan that he is a good old boy,
+and that we thank him very much; also that we are sorry to have been
+obliged to kill so many of them in a way that he must have thought
+unsportsmanlike, but we had to do it, as we are sure he will understand,
+in order to save our skins. Tell him also that, speaking personally,
+having sampled the Abati yonder and on our journey, I should like to
+accept his invitation. But although, as yet, we have found no men among
+them, only, as he says, baboons, rock-rabbits, and boasters without
+a fight in them, we have"--and here he bowed his bleeding head to
+Maqueda--"found a woman with a great heart. Of her salt we have eaten,
+or are about to eat; to serve her we have come from far upon her camels,
+and, unless she should be pleased to accompany us, we cannot desert
+her."
+
+All of this I rendered faithfully, while every one, and especially
+Maqueda, listened with much attention. When they had considered our
+words, the spokesman of the messengers replied to the effect that the
+motives of our decision were of a nature that commanded their entire
+respect and sympathy, especially as their people quite concurred in our
+estimate of the character of the Abati ruler, Child of Kings. This
+being so, they would amend their proposition, knowing the mind of their
+Sultan, and having, indeed, plenipotentiary powers.
+
+"Lady of Mur," he went on, addressing Maqueda directly, "fair daughter
+of the great god Harmac and a mortal queen, what we have offered to
+the white lords, your guests, we offer to you also. Barung, our Sultan,
+shall make you his head wife; or, if that does not please you, you shall
+wed whom you will"--and, perhaps by accident, the envoy's roving eyes
+rested for a moment upon Oliver Orme.
+
+"Leave, then, your rock-rabbits, who dare not quit their cliffs when but
+three messengers wait without with sticks," and he glanced at the spear
+in his hand, "and come to dwell among men. Listen, high Lady; we know
+your case. You do your best in a hopeless task. Had it not been for you
+and your courage, Mur would have been ours three years ago, and it was
+ours before your tribe wandered thither. But while you can find but a
+hundred brave warriors to help you, you think the place impregnable,
+and you have perhaps that number, though we know they are not here; they
+guard the gates above. Yes, with a few of your Mountaineers whose hearts
+are as those of their forefathers were, so far as you have defied all
+the power of the Fung, and when you saw that the end drew near, using
+your woman's wit, you sent for the white men to come with their magic,
+promising to pay them with the gold which you have in such plenty in the
+tombs of our old kings and in the rocks of the mountains."
+
+"Who told you that, O Tongue of Barung?" asked Maqueda in a low
+voice, speaking for the first time. "The man of the West whom you took
+prisoner--he whom you call Fat One?"
+
+"No, no, O Walda Nagasta, the lord Black Windows has told us nothing as
+yet, except sundry things about the history of our god, with whom, as we
+said, he seems to be familiar, and to whom, therefore, we vowed him at
+once. But there are others who tell us things, for in times of truce
+our peoples trade together a little, and cowards are often spies. For
+instance, we knew that these white men were coming last night, though it
+is true that we did not know of their fire magic, for, had we done so,
+we should not have let the camels slip through, since there may be more
+of it on them----"
+
+"For your comfort, learn that there is--much more," I interrupted.
+
+"Ah!" replied the Tongue, shaking his head sadly, "and yet we suffered
+Cat, whom you call Shadrach, to make off with that of your fat brother;
+yes, and even gave it to him after his own beast had been lamed by
+accident. Well, it is our bad luck, and without doubt Harmac is angry
+with us to-day. But your answer, O Walda Nagasta, your answer, O Rose of
+Mur?"
+
+"What can it be, O Voices of Barung the Sultan?" replied Maqueda. "You
+know that by my blood and by my oath of office I am sworn to protect Mur
+to the last."
+
+"And so you shall," pleaded the Tongue, "for when we have cleaned it of
+baboons and rock-rabbits, which, if you were among us, we soon should
+do, and thus fulfilled our oath to regain our ancient secret City of the
+Rocks, we will set you there once more as its Lady, under Barung, and
+give you a multitude of subjects of whom you may be proud."
+
+"It may not be, O Tongue, for they would be worshippers of Harmac, and
+between Jehovah, whom I serve, and Harmac there is war," she answered
+with spirit.
+
+"Yes, sweet-smelling Bud of the Rose, there is war, and let it be
+admitted that the first battle has gone against Harmac, thanks to the
+magic of the white men. Yet yonder he sits in his glory as the spirits,
+his servants, fashioned him in the beginning," and he pointed with his
+spear toward the valley of the idol. "You know our prophecy--that until
+Harmac rises from his seat and flies away, for where he goes, the Fung
+must follow--till then, I say, we shall hold the plains and the city of
+his name--that is, for ever."
+
+"For ever is a long word, O Mouth of Barung." Then she paused a little,
+and added slowly, "Did not certain of the gates of Harmac fly far
+this morning? Now what if your god should follow his gates and those
+worshippers who went with them, and be seen no more? Or what if the
+earth should open and swallow him, so that he goes down to hell, whither
+you cannot follow? Or what if the mountains should fall together and
+bury him from your sight eternally. Or what if the lightnings should
+leap out and shatter him to dust?"
+
+At these ominous words the envoys shivered, and it seemed to me that
+their faces for a moment turned grey.
+
+"Then, O Child of Kings," answered the spokesman solemnly, "the Fung
+will acknowledge that your god is greater than our god, and that our
+glory is departed."
+
+Thus he spoke and was silent, turning his eyes toward the third
+messenger, he who wore a cloth or napkin upon his head that was pierced
+with eyeholes and hung down to the breast. With a quick motion, the man
+dragged off this veil and threw it to the ground, revealing a very noble
+countenance, not black like that of his followers, but copper-coloured.
+He was about fifty years of age, with deep-set flashing eyes, hooked
+nose, and a flowing, grizzled beard. The collar of gold about his neck
+showed that his rank was high, but when we noticed a second ornament
+of gold, also upon his brow, we knew that it must be supreme. For this
+ornament was nothing less than the symbol of royalty, once worn by the
+ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, the double snakes of the _uraeus_ bending
+forward as though to strike, which, as we had seen, rose also from the
+brow of the lion-headed sphinx of Harmac.
+
+As he uncovered, his two companions leapt to the ground and prostrated
+themselves before him, crying, "Barung! Barung!" while all three of us
+Englishmen saluted, involuntarily, I think, and even the Child of Kings
+bowed.
+
+The Sultan acknowledged our greetings by raising his spear. Then he
+spoke in a grave measured voice:
+
+"O Walda Nagasta, and you, white men, sons of great fathers, I have
+listened to the talk between you and my servants; I confirm their words
+and I add to them. I am sorry that my generals tried to kill you last
+night. I was making prayer to my god, or it should not have happened. I
+have been well repaid for that deed, since an army should not make war
+upon four men, even though by their secret power four men can defeat an
+army. I beseech you, and you also, Rose of Mur, to accept my proffered
+friendship, since otherwise, ere long, you will soon be dead, and your
+wisdom will perish with you for I am weary of this little war against a
+handful whom we despise.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta, you have breathed threats against the Majesty of
+Harmac, but he is too strong for you, nor may the might that can turn a
+few bricks to dust and shatter the bones of men prevail against him who
+is shaped from the heart of a mountain and holds the spirit of eternity.
+So at least I think: but even if it is decreed otherwise, what will that
+avail you? If it should please the god to leave us because of your arts,
+the Fung will still remain to avenge him ere they follow. Then I swear
+to you by my majesty and by the bones of my ancestors who sit in the
+caves of Mur, that I will spare but one of the Abati Jews, yourself, O
+Child of Kings, because of your great heart, and the three white men,
+your guests, should they survive the battle, because of their courage
+and their wisdom. As for their brother, Black Windows, whom I have
+captured, he must be sacrificed, since I have sworn it, unless you
+yield, when I will plead for his life to the god, with what result I
+cannot tell. Yield, then, and I will not even slay the Abati; they
+shall live on and serve the Fung as slaves and minister to the glory of
+Harmac."
+
+"It may not be, it may not be!" Maqueda answered, striking the pommel of
+her saddle with her small hand. "Shall Jehovah whom Solomon, my father,
+worshipped, Jehovah of all the generations, do homage to an idol shaped
+by the hands He made? My people are worn out; they have forgot their
+faith and gone astray, as did Israel in the desert. I know it. It may
+even happen that the time has come for them to perish, who are no longer
+warriors, as of old. Well, if so, let them die free, and not as slaves.
+At least I, in whom their best blood runs, do not seek your mercy,
+O Barung. I'll be no plaything in your house, who, at the worst, can
+always die, having done my duty to my God and those who bred me. Thus I
+answer you as the Child of many Kings. Yet as a woman," she added in a
+gentler voice, "I thank you for your courtesy. When I am slain, Barung,
+if I am fated to be slain, think kindly of me, as one who did her best
+against mighty odds," and her voice broke.
+
+"That I shall always do," he answered gravely. "Is it ended?"
+
+"Not quite," she answered. "These Western lords, I give them to you; I
+absolve them from their promise. Why should they perish in a lost cause?
+If they take their wisdom to you to use against me, you have vowed them
+their lives, and, perhaps, that of their brother, your captive. There is
+a slave of yours also--you spoke of him, or your servant did--Singer of
+Egypt is his name. One of them knew him as a child; perchance you will
+not refuse him to that man."
+
+She paused, but Barung made no answer.
+
+"Go, my friends," she went on, turning toward us. "I thank you for your
+long journey on my behalf and the blow you have struck for me, and in
+payment I will send you a gift of gold; the Sultan will see it safe
+into your hands. I thank you. I wish I could have known more of you, but
+mayhap we shall meet again in war. Farewell."
+
+She ceased, and I could see that she was watching us intently through
+her thin veil. The Sultan also watched us, stroking his long beard, a
+look of speculation in his eyes, for evidently this play interested him
+and he wondered how it would end.
+
+"This won't do," said Orme, when he understood the thing. "Higgs would
+never forgive us if we ate dirt just on the off-chance of saving him
+from sacrifice. He's too straight-minded on big things. But, of course,
+Doctor," he added jerkily, "you have interests of your own and must
+decide for yourself. I think I can speak for the Sergeant."
+
+"I have decided," I answered. "I hope that my son would never forgive me
+either; but if it is otherwise, why, so it must be. Also Barung has made
+no promises about him."
+
+"Tell him, then," said Orme. "My head aches infernally, and I want to go
+to bed, above ground or under it."
+
+So I told him, although, to speak the truth, I felt like a man with a
+knife in his heart, for it was bitter to come so near to the desire of
+years, to the love of life, and then to lose all hope just because of
+duty to the head woman of a pack of effete curs to whom one had chanced
+to make a promise in order to gain this very end. If we could have
+surrendered with honour, at least I should have seen my son, whom now I
+might never see again.
+
+One thing, however, I added on the spur of the moment--namely, a request
+that the Sultan would tell the Professor every word that had passed, in
+order that whatever happened to him he might know the exact situation.
+
+"My Harmac," said Barung when he had heard, "how disappointed should I
+have been with you if you had answered otherwise when a woman showed you
+the way. I have heard of you English before--Arabs and traders brought
+me tales of you. For instance, there was one who died defending a city
+against a worshipper of the Prophet who called himself a prophet, down
+yonder at Khartoum on the Nile--a great death, they told me, a great
+death, which your people avenged afterwards.
+
+"Well I did not quite believe the story, and I wished to judge of it by
+you. I have judged, white lords, I have judged, and I am sure that your
+fat brother, Black Windows, will be proud of you even in the lion's
+jaws. Fear not; he shall hear every word. The Singer of Egypt, who, it
+appears, can talk his tongue, shall tell the tale to him, and make a
+song of it to be sung over your honourable graves. And now farewell; may
+it be my lot to cross swords with one of you before all is done. That
+shall not be yet, for you need rest, especially yonder tall son of a god
+who is wounded," and he pointed to Orme. "Child of Kings with a heart of
+kings, permit me to kiss your hand and to lead you back to your people,
+that I would were more worthy of you. Ah! yes, I would that _we_ were
+your people."
+
+Maqueda stretched out her hand, and, taking it, the Sultan barely
+touched her fingers with his lips. Then, still holding them, he rode
+with her toward the pass.
+
+As we approached its mouth, where the Abati were crowded together,
+watching our conference, I heard them murmur, "The Sultan, the Sultan
+himself!" and saw the prince Joshua mutter some eager words to the
+officers about him.
+
+"Look out, Doctor," said Quick into my ear. "Unless I'm mistook, that
+porpoise is going to play some game."
+
+Hardly were the words out of his mouth when, uttering the most valiant
+shouts and with swords drawn, Joshua and a body of his companions
+galloped up and surrounded our little group.
+
+"Now yield, Barung," bellowed Joshua; "yield or die!"
+
+The Sultan stared at him in astonishment, then answered:
+
+"If I had any weapon (he had thrown down his lance when he took Maqueda
+by the hand), certainly one of us should die, O Hog in man's clothes."
+
+Then he turned to Maqueda and added, "Child of Kings, I knew these
+people of yours to be cowardly and treacherous, but is it thus that you
+suffer them to deal with envoys under a flag of peace?"
+
+"Not so, not so," she cried. "My uncle Joshua, you disgrace me; you
+make our people a shame, a hissing, and a reproach. Stand back; let the
+Sultan of the Fung go free."
+
+But they would not; the prize was too great to be readily disgorged.
+
+We looked at each other. "Not at all the game," said Orme. "If they
+collar him, we shall be tarred with their extremely dirty brush. Shove
+your camel in front, Sergeant, and if that beggar Joshua tries any
+tricks, put a bullet through him."
+
+Quick did not need to be told twice. Banging his dromedary's ribs with
+the butt end of his rifle, he drove it straight on to Joshua, shouting:
+
+"Out of the light, porpoise!" with the result that the Prince's horse
+took fright, and reared up so high that its rider slid off over its tail
+to find himself seated on the ground, a sorry spectacle in his gorgeous
+robes and armour.
+
+Taking advantage of the confusion which ensued, we surrounded the Sultan
+and escorted him out of the throng back to his two companions, who,
+seeing that there was something amiss, were galloping toward us.
+
+"I am your debtor," said Barung, "but, O White Men, make me more so.
+Return, I pray you, to that hog in armour, and say that Barung, Sultan
+of the Fung, understands from his conduct that he desires to challenge
+him to single combat, and that, seeing he is fully armed, the Sultan,
+although he wears no mail, awaits him here and now."
+
+So I went at once with the message. But Joshua was far too clever to be
+drawn into any such dangerous adventure.
+
+Nothing, he said, would have given him greater joy than to hack the head
+from the shoulders of this dog of a Gentile sheik. But, unhappily, owing
+to the conduct of one of us foreigners, he had been thrown from his
+horse, and hurt his back, so that he could scarcely stand, much less
+fight a duel.
+
+So I returned with my answer, whereat Barung smiled and said nothing.
+Only, taking from his neck a gold chain which he wore, he proffered it
+to Quick, who, as he said, had induced the prince Joshua to show his
+horsemanship if not his courage. Then he bowed to us, one by one, and
+before the Abati could make up their mind whether to follow him or not,
+galloped off swiftly with his companions toward Harmac.
+
+Such was our introduction to Barung, Sultan of the Fung, a barbarian
+with many good points, among them courage, generosity, and appreciation
+of those qualities even in a foe, characteristics that may have been
+intensified by the blood of his mother, who, I am told, was an Arab
+of high lineage captured by the Fung in war and given as a wife to the
+father of Barung.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE SHADOW OF FATE
+
+Our ride from the plains up the pass that led to the high tableland of
+Mur was long and, in its way, wonderful enough. I doubt whether in the
+whole world there exists another home of men more marvellously defended
+by nature. Apparently the road by which we climbed was cut in the first
+instance, not by human hands, but by the action of prim�val floods,
+pouring, perhaps, from the huge lake which doubtless once covered the
+whole area within the circle of the mountains, although to-day it is
+but a moderate-sized sheet of water, about twenty miles long by ten in
+breadth. However this may be, the old inhabitants had worked on it, the
+marks of their tools may still be seen upon the rock.
+
+For the first mile or two the road is broad and the ascent so gentle
+that my horse was able to gallop up it on that dreadful night when,
+after seeing my son's face, accident, or rather Providence, enabled me
+to escape the Fung. But from the spot where the lions pulled the poor
+beast down, its character changes. In places it is so narrow that
+travellers must advance in single file between walls of rock hundreds
+of feet high, where the sky above looks like a blue ribbon, and even at
+midday the path below is plunged in gloom. At other spots the slope is
+so precipitous that beasts of burden can scarcely keep their foothold;
+indeed, we were soon obliged to transfer ourselves from the camels to
+horses accustomed to the rocks. At others, again, it follows the brink
+of a yawning precipice, an ugly place to ride or turn rectangular
+corners, which half-a-dozen men could hold against an army, and twice it
+passes through tunnels, though whether these are natural I do not know.
+
+Besides all these obstacles to an invader there were strong gates at
+intervals, with towers near by where guards were stationed night and
+day, and fosses or dry moats in front of them which could only be
+crossed by means of drawbridges. So the reader will easily understand
+how it came about that, whatever the cowardice of the Abati, though they
+strove for generations, the Fung had as yet never been able to recapture
+the ancient stronghold, which, or so it is said, in the beginning these
+Abati won from them by means of an Oriental trick.
+
+Here I should add that, although there are two other roads to the
+plains--that by which, in order to outflank the Fung, the camels were
+let down when I started on my embassy to Egypt, and that to the north
+where the great swamps lie--these are both of them equally, if not more,
+impassable, at any rate to an enemy attacking from below.
+
+A strange cavalcade we must have seemed as we crawled up this terrific
+approach. First went a body of the Abati notables on horseback, forming
+a long line of colour and glittering steel, who chattered as they rode,
+for they seemed to have no idea of discipline. Next came a company of
+horsemen armed with spears, or rather two companies in the centre of
+which rode the Child of Kings, some of her courtiers and chief officers,
+and ourselves, perhaps, as Quick suggested, because infantry in the
+event of surprise would find it less easy to run away than those who
+were mounted upon horses. Last of all rode more cavalry, the duty
+of whose rear files it was to turn from time to time, and, after
+inspection, to shout out that we were not pursued.
+
+It cannot be said that we who occupied the centre of the advance were a
+cheerful band. Orme, although so far he had borne up, was evidently very
+ill from the shock of the explosion, so much so that men had to be set
+on each side of him to see that he did not fall from the saddle. Also
+he was deeply depressed by the fact that honour had forced us to abandon
+Higgs to what seemed a certain and probably a cruel death; and if he
+felt thus, what was my own case, who left not only my friend, but also
+my son, in the hands of savage heathens?
+
+Maqueda's face was not visible because of the thin spangled veil that
+she wore, but there was something about her attitude suggestive of shame
+and of despair. The droop of the head and even her back showed this, as
+I, who rode a little behind and on side of her, could see. I think, too,
+that she was anxious about Orme, for she turned toward him several times
+as though studying his condition. Also I am sure that she was indignant
+with Joshua and others of her officers, for when they spoke to her
+she would not answer or take the slightest notice of them beyond
+straightening herself in the saddle. As for the Prince himself, his
+temper seemed to be much ruffled, although apparently he had overcome
+the hurt to his back which prevented him from accepting the Sultan's
+challenge, for at a difficult spot in the road he dismounted and ran
+along actively enough. At any rate, when his subordinates addressed him
+he only answered them with muttered oaths, and his attitude towards us
+Englishmen, especially Quick, was not amiable. Indeed, if looks could
+have killed us I am sure that we should all have been dead before ever
+we reached the Gate of Mur.
+
+This so-called gate was the upper mouth of the pass whence first we
+saw, lying beneath us, the vast, mountain-ringed plain beyond. It was
+a beautiful sight in the sunshine. Almost at our feet, half-hidden
+in palms and other trees, lay the flat-roofed town itself, a place of
+considerable extent, as every house of any consequence seemed to be
+set in a garden, since here there was no need for cramping walls and
+defensive works. Beyond it to the northward, farther than the eye could
+reach, stretching down a gentle slope to the far-off shores of the
+great lake of glistening water, were cultivated fields, and amongst them
+villas and, here and there, hamlets.
+
+Whatever might be the faults of the Abati, evidently they were skilled
+husbandsmen, such as their reputed forefathers, the old inhabitants of
+Jud�a, must have been before them, for of that strain presumably some
+trace was still present in their veins. However far he may have drifted
+from such pursuits, originally the Jew was a tiller of the soil, and
+here, where many of his other characteristics had evaporated under
+pressure of circumstances--notably the fierce courage that Titus
+knew--this taste remained to him, if only by tradition.
+
+Indeed, having no other outlet for their energies and none with whom to
+trade, the interests of the Abati were centred in the land. For and
+by the land they lived and died, and, since the amount available was
+limited by the mountain wall, he who had most land was great amongst
+them, he who had little land was small, he who had no land was
+practically a slave. Their law was in its essentials a law of the
+land; their ambitions, their crimes, everything to do with them, were
+concerned with the land, upon the produce of which they existed and grew
+rich, some of them, by means of a system of barter. They had no coinage,
+their money being measures of corn or other produce, horses, camels,
+acres of their equivalent of soil, and so forth.
+
+And yet, oddly enough, their country is the richest in gold and other
+metals that I have ever heard of even in Africa--so rich that, according
+to Higgs, the old Egyptians drew bullion from it to the value of
+millions of pounds every year. This, indeed, I can well believe, for I
+have seen the ancient mines which were worked, for the most part as
+open quarries, still showing plenty of visible gold on the face of the
+slopes. Yet to these alleged Jews this gold was of no account. Imagine
+it; as Quick said, such a topsy-turvy state of things was enough to make
+a mere Christian feel cold down the back and go to bed thinking that the
+world must be coming to an end.
+
+To return, the prince Joshua, who appeared to be generalissimo of the
+army, in what was evidently a set phrase, exhorted the guards at the
+last gates to be brave and, if need were, deal with the heathen as some
+one or other dealt with Og, King of Bashan, and other unlucky persons
+of a different faith. In reply he received their earnest congratulations
+upon his escape from the frightful dangers of our journey.
+
+These formalities concluded, casting off the iron discipline of war,
+we descended a joyous mob, or rather the Abati did, to partake of the
+delights of peace. Really, conquerors returning from some desperate
+adventure could not have been more warmly greeted. As we entered the
+suburbs of the town, women, some of them very handsome, ran out and
+embraced their lords or lovers, holding up babies for them to kiss, and
+a little farther on children appeared, throwing roses and pomegranate
+flowers before their triumphant feet. And all this because these gallant
+men had ridden to the bottom of a pass and back again!
+
+"Heavens! Doctor," exclaimed the sardonic Quick, after taking note of
+these demonstrations, "Heavens! what a hero I feel myself to be. And
+to think that when I got back from the war with them Boers, after being
+left for dead on Spion Kop with a bullet through my lung and mentioned
+in a dispatch--yes, I, Sergeant Quick, mentioned in a dispatch by the
+biggest ass of a general as ever I clapped eyes on, for a job that
+I won't detail, no one in my native village ever took no note of
+me, although I had written to the parish clerk, who happens to be my
+brother-in-law, and told him the train I was coming by. I tell you,
+Doctor, no one so much as stood me a pint of beer, let alone wine," and
+he pointed to a lady who was proffering that beverage to some one whom
+she admired.
+
+"And as for chucking their arms round my neck and kissing me," and
+he indicated another episode, "all my old mother said--she was alive
+then--was that she 'hoped I'd done fooling about furrin' parts as I
+called soldiering, and come home to live respectable, better late than
+never.' Well, Doctor, circumstances alter cases, or blood and climate
+do, which is the same thing, and I didn't miss what I never expected,
+why should I when others like the Captain there, who had done so much
+more, fared worse? But, Lord! these Abati are a sickening lot, and I
+wish we were clear of them. Old Barung's the boy for me."
+
+Passing down the main street of this charming town of Mur, accompanied
+by these joyous demonstrators, we came at last to its central square, a
+large, open space where, in the moist and genial climate, for the high
+surrounding mountains attracted plentiful showers of rain, trees and
+flowers grew luxuriantly. At the head of this square stood a long,
+low building with white-washed walls and gilded domes, backed by the
+towering cliff, but at a little distance from it, and surrounded by
+double walls with a moat of water between them, dug for purposes of
+defence.
+
+This was the palace, which on my previous visit I had only entered once
+or twice when I was received by the Child of Kings in formal audience.
+Round the rest of this square, each placed in its own garden, were the
+houses of the great nobles and officials, and at its western end, among
+other public buildings, a synagogue or temple which looked like a model
+of that built by Solomon in Jerusalem, from the description of which it
+had indeed been copied, though, of course, upon a small scale.
+
+At the gate of the palace we halted, and Joshua, riding up, asked
+Maqueda sulkily whether he should conduct "the Gentiles," for that was
+his polite description of us, to the lodging for pilgrims in the western
+town.
+
+"No, my uncle," answered Maqueda; "these foreign lords will be housed in
+the guest-wing of the palace."
+
+"In the guest-wing of the palace? It is not usual," gobbled Joshua,
+swelling himself out like a great turkey cock. "Remember, O niece, that
+you are still unmarried. I do not yet dwell in the palace to protect
+you."
+
+"So I found out in the plain yonder," she replied; "still, I managed
+to protect myself. Now, I pray you, no words. I think it necessary that
+these my guests should be where their goods already are, in the safest
+place in Mur. You, my uncle, as you told us, are badly hurt, by which
+accident you were prevented from accepting the challenge of the Sultan
+of the Fung. Go, then, and rest; I will send the court physician to
+you at once. Good-night, my uncle; when you are recovered we will meet
+again, for we have much that we must discuss. Nay, nay, you are most
+kind, but I will not detain you another minute. Seek your bed, my uncle,
+and forget not to thank God for your escape from many perils."
+
+At this polite mockery Joshua turned perfectly pale with rage, like the
+turkey cock when his wattles fade from scarlet into white. Before he
+could make any answer, however, Maqueda had vanished under the archway,
+so his only resource was to curse us, and especially Quick, who had
+caused him to fall from his horse. Unfortunately the Sergeant understood
+quite enough Arabic to be aware of the tenor of his remarks, which he
+resented and returned:
+
+"Shut it, Porpoise," he said, "and keep your eyes where Nature put 'em,
+or they'll fall out."
+
+"What says the Gentile?" spluttered Joshua, whereon Orme, waking up from
+one of his fits of lethargy, replied in Arabic:
+
+"He says that he prays you, O Prince of princes, to close your noble
+mouth and to keep your high-bred eyes within their sockets lest you
+should lose them"; at which words those who were listening broke into
+a fit of laughter, for one redeeming characteristic among the Abati was
+that they had a sense of humour.
+
+After this I do not quite know what happened for Orme showed signs of
+fainting, and I had to attend to him. When I looked round again the
+gates were shut and we were being conducted toward the guest-wing of the
+palace by a number of gaily dressed attendants.
+
+They took us to our rooms--cool, lofty chambers ornamented with glazed
+tiles of quaint colour and beautiful design, and furnished somewhat
+scantily with articles made of rich-hued woods. This guest-wing of the
+palace, where these rooms were situated, formed, we noted, a separate
+house, having its own gateway, but, so far as we could see, no passage
+or other connection joining it to the main building. In front of it was
+a small garden, and at its back a courtyard with buildings, in which we
+were informed our camels had been stabled. At the time we noted no more,
+for night was falling, and, even if it had not been, we were too worn
+out to make researches.
+
+Moreover, Orme was now desperately ill--so ill that he could scarcely
+walk leaning even on our shoulders. Still, he would not be satisfied
+till he was sure that our stores were safe, and, before he could be
+persuaded to lie down, insisted upon being supported to a vault with
+copper-bound doors, which the officers opened, revealing the packages
+that had been taken from the camels.
+
+"Count them, Sergeant," he said, and Quick obeyed by the light of a lamp
+that the officer held at the open door. "All correct, sir," he said, "so
+far as I can make out."
+
+"Very good, Sergeant. Lock the door and take the keys."
+
+Again he obeyed, and, when the officer demurred to their surrender,
+turned on him so fiercely that the man thought better of it and departed
+with a shrug of his shoulders, as I supposed to make report to his
+superiors.
+
+Then at length we got Orme to bed, and, as he complained of intolerable
+pains in his head and would take nothing but some milk and water, having
+first ascertained that he had no serious physical injuries that I could
+discover, I administered to him a strong sleeping-draught from my little
+travelling medicine case. To our great relief this took effect upon him
+in about twenty minutes, causing him to sink into a stupor from which he
+did not awake for many hours.
+
+Quick and I washed ourselves, ate some food that was brought to us, and
+then took turns to watch Orme throughout the night. When I was at my
+post about six o'clock on the following morning he woke up and asked for
+drink, which I gave to him. After swallowing it he began to wander in
+his mind, and, on taking his temperature, I found that he had over five
+degrees of fever. The end of it was that he went off to sleep again,
+only waking up from time to time and asking for more drink.
+
+Twice during the night and early morning Maqueda sent to inquire as to
+his condition, and, apparently not satisfied with the replies, about ten
+in the forenoon arrived herself, accompanied by two waiting-ladies and a
+long-bearded old gentleman who, I understood, was the court physician.
+
+"May I see him?" she asked anxiously.
+
+I answered yes, if she and those with her were quite quiet. Then I led
+them into the darkened room where Quick stood like a statue at the head
+of the bed, only acknowledging her presence with a silent salute. She
+gazed at Oliver's flushed face and the forehead blackened where the
+gases from the explosion had struck him, and as she gazed I saw her
+beautiful violet eyes fill with tears. Then abruptly she turned and
+left the sick-chamber. Outside its doors she waved back her attendants
+imperiously and asked me in a whisper:
+
+"Will he live?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered, for I thought it best that she should learn
+the truth. "If he is only suffering from shock, fatigue, and fever, I
+think so, but if the explosion or the blow on his head where it cut has
+fractured the skull, then----"
+
+"Save him," she muttered. "I will give you all I--nay, pardon me; what
+need is there to tempt you, his friend, with reward? Only save him, save
+him."
+
+"I will do what I can, Lady, but the issue is in other hands than mine,"
+I answered, and just then her attendants came up and put an end to the
+conversation.
+
+To this day the memory of that old rabbi, the court physician, affects
+me like a nightmare, for of all the medical fools that ever I met he
+was by far the most pre-eminent. All about the place he followed me
+suggesting remedies that would have been absurd even in the Middle Ages.
+The least harmful of them, I remember, was that poor Orme's head should
+be plastered with a compound of butter and the bones of a still-born
+child, and that he should be given some filthy compound to drink which
+had been specially blessed by the priests. Others there were also that
+would certainly have killed him in half-an-hour.
+
+Well, I got rid of him at last for the time, and returned to my vigil.
+It was melancholy work, since no skill that I had could tell me whether
+my patient would live or die. Nowadays the young men might know, or
+say that they did, but it must be remembered that, as a doctor, I am
+entirely superannuated. How could it be otherwise, seeing that I have
+passed the best of my life in the desert without any opportunity of
+keeping up with the times.
+
+Three days went by in this fashion, and very anxious days they were. For
+my part, although I said nothing of it to any one, I believed that there
+was some injury to the patient's skull and that he would die, or at best
+be paralyzed. Quick, however, had a different opinion. He said that he
+had seen two men in this state before from the concussion caused by
+the bursting of large shells near to them, and that they both recovered
+although one of them became an idiot.
+
+But it was Maqueda who first gave me any definite hope. On the third
+evening she came and sat by Orme for awhile, her attendants standing
+at a little distance. When she left him there was a new look upon her
+face--a very joyful look--which caused me to ask her what had happened.
+
+"Oh! he will live," she answered.
+
+I inquired what made her think so.
+
+"This," she replied, blushing. "Suddenly he looked up and in my own
+tongue asked me of what colour were my eyes. I answered that it depended
+upon the light in which they might be seen.
+
+"'Not at all,' he said. 'They are always _vi-o-let_, whether the curtain
+is drawn or no.' Now, physician Adams, tell me what is this colour
+_vi-o-let_?"
+
+"That of a little wild flower which grows in the West in the spring, O
+Maqueda--a very beautiful and sweet-scented flower which is dark blue
+like your eyes."
+
+"Indeed, Physician," she said. "Well, I do not know this flower, but
+what of that? Your friend will live and be sane. A dying man does not
+trouble about the colour of a lady's eyes, and one who is mad does not
+give that colour right."
+
+"Are you glad, O Child of Kings?" I asked.
+
+"Of course," she answered, "seeing that I am told that this captain
+alone can handle the firestuffs which you have brought with you, and,
+therefore, that it is necessary to me that he should not die."
+
+"I understand," I replied. "Let us pray that we may keep him alive. But
+there are many kinds of firestuffs, O Maqueda, and of one of them
+which chances to give out violet flames I am not sure that my friend is
+master. Yet in this country it may be the most dangerous of all."
+
+Now when she heard these words the Child of Kings looked me up and down
+angrily. Then suddenly she laughed a little in a kind of silent way that
+is peculiar to her, and, without saying anything, beckoned to her ladies
+and left the place.
+
+"Very variegated thing, woman, sir," remarked Quick, who was watching.
+(I think he meant to say "variable.") "This one, for instance, comes up
+that passage like a tired horse--shuffle, shuffle, shuffle--for I could
+hear the heels of her slippers on the floor. But now she goes out like
+a buck seeking its mate--head in air and hoof lifted. How do you explain
+it, Doctor?"
+
+"You had better ask the lady herself, Quick. Did the Captain take that
+soup she brought him?"
+
+"Every drop, sir, and tried to kiss her hand afterward, being still
+dazed, poor man, poor man! I saw him do it, knowing no better. He'll be
+sorry enough when he comes to himself."
+
+"No doubt, Sergeant. But meanwhile let us be glad that both their
+spirits seem to have improved, and if she brings any more soup when I
+am not there, I should let him have it. It is always well to humour
+invalids and women."
+
+"Yes, Doctor; but," he added, with a sudden fall of face, "invalids
+recover sometimes, and then how about the women."
+
+"Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof," I answered; "you had better
+go out for exercise; it is my watch." But to myself I thought that Fate
+was already throwing its ominous shadow before, and that it lay deep in
+Maqueda's violet eyes.
+
+Well, to cut a long story short, this was the turning-point of Orme's
+illness, and from that day he recovered rapidly, for, as it proved,
+there was no secret injury to the skull, and he was suffering from
+nothing except shock and fever. During his convalescence the Child of
+Kings came to see him several times, or to be accurate, if my memory
+serves me right, every afternoon. Of course, her visits were those of
+ceremony--that is to say, she was always accompanied by several of
+her ladies, that thorn in my flesh, the old doctor, and one or two
+secretaries and officers-in-waiting.
+
+But as Oliver was now moved by day into a huge reception room, and these
+people of the court were expected to stop at one end of it while she
+conversed with him at the other, to all intents and purposes, save for
+the presence of myself and Quick, her calls were of a private nature.
+Nor were we always present, since, now that my patient was out of danger
+the Sergeant and I went out riding a good deal--investigating Mur and
+its surroundings.
+
+It may be asked what they talked about on these occasions. I can only
+answer that, so far as I heard, the general subject was the politics
+of Mur and its perpetual war with the Fung. Still, there must have been
+other topics which I did not hear, since incidently I discovered that
+Orme was acquainted with many of Maqueda's private affairs whereof he
+could only have learned from her lips.
+
+Thus when I ventured to remark that perhaps it was not altogether
+wise for a young man in his position to become so intimate with the
+hereditary ruler of an exclusive tribe like the Abati, he replied
+cheerfully that this did not in the least matter, as, of course,
+according to their ancient laws, she could only marry with one of her
+own family, a fact which made all complications impossible. I inquired
+which of her cousins, of whom I knew she had several, was the happy man.
+He replied:
+
+"None of them. As a matter of fact, I believe that she is officially
+affianced to that fat uncle of hers, the fellow who blows his own
+trumpet so much, but I needn't add that this is only a form to which she
+submits in order to keep the others off."
+
+"Ah!" I said. "I wonder if Prince Joshua thinks it only a form?"
+
+"Don't know what he thinks, and don't care," he replied, yawning; "I
+only know that things stand as I say, and that the porpoise-man has as
+much chance of becoming the husband of Maqueda as you have of marrying
+the Empress of China. And now, to drop this matrimonial conversation and
+come to something more important, have you heard anything about Higgs
+and your son?"
+
+"You are more in the way of learning state secrets than I am, Orme," I
+answered sarcastically, being rather irritated at the course of events
+and his foolishness. "What have you heard?"
+
+"This, old fellow. I can't say how she knows it, but Maqueda says that
+they are both in good health and well treated. Only our friend Barung
+sticks to his word and proposes to sacrifice poor old Higgs on this day
+fortnight. Now, of course, that must be prevented somehow, and prevented
+it shall be if it costs me my life. Don't you suppose that I have been
+thinking about myself all the time, for it isn't so, only the trouble is
+that I can't find any plan of rescue which will hold water."
+
+"Then what's to be done, Orme? I haven't spoken much of the matter
+before for fear of upsetting you when you were still weak, but now that
+you are all right again we must come to some decision."
+
+"I know, I know," he answered earnestly; "and I tell you this, that
+rather than let Higgs die alone there, I will give myself up to Barung,
+and, if I can't save him, suffer with him, or for him if I can. Listen:
+there is to be a great council held by the Child of Kings on the day
+after to-morrow which we must attend, for it has only been postponed
+until I was well enough. At this council that rogue Shadrach is to be
+put upon his trial, and will, I believe, be condemned to death. Also we
+are formally to return Sheba's ring which Maqueda lent to you to be used
+in proof of her story. Well, we may learn something then, or at any rate
+must make up our minds to definite action. And now I am to have my first
+ride, am I not? Come on, Pharaoh," he added to the dog, which had stuck
+at his bedside all through his illness so closely that it was difficult
+to entice him away even to eat; "we are going for a ride, Pharaoh; do
+you hear that, you faithful beast?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE SWEARING OF THE OATH
+
+Two or three days after this conversation, I forget exactly which it
+was, Maqueda held her council in the great hall of the palace. When we
+entered the place in charge of a guard, as though we were prisoners, we
+found some hundreds of Abati gathered there who were seated in orderly
+rows upon benches. At the farther end, in an apse-shaped space, sat the
+Child of Kings herself on a gilded or perhaps a golden chair of which
+the arms terminated in lions' heads. She was dressed in a robe of
+glittering silver, and wore a ceremonial veil embroidered with stars,
+also of silver, and above it, set upon her dark hair, a little circlet
+of gold, in which shone a single gem that looked like a ruby. Thus
+attired, although her stature is small, her appearance was very
+dignified and beautiful, especially as the gossamer veil added mystery
+to her face.
+
+Behind the throne stood soldiers armed with spears and swords, and at
+its sides and in front of it were gathered her court to the number of a
+hundred or more, including her waiting-ladies, who in two companies were
+arranged to the right and left. Each member of this court was gorgeously
+dressed according to his profession.
+
+There were the generals and captains with Prince Joshua at the head of
+them in their Norman-like chain armour. There were judges in black robes
+and priests in gorgeous garments; there were territorial lords, of
+whose attire I remember only that they wore high boots, and men who were
+called Market-masters, whose business it was to regulate the rate of
+exchange of products, and with them the representatives of other trades.
+
+In short, here was collected all the aristocracy of the little
+population of the town and territory of Mur, every one of whom, as we
+found afterwards, possessed some high-sounding title answering to
+those of our dukes and lords and Right Honourables, and knights, to say
+nothing of the Princes of the Blood, of whom Joshua was the first.
+
+Really, although it looked so fine and gay, the spectacle was, in a
+sense, piteous, being evidently but a poor mockery and survival of the
+pageantry of a people that had once been great. The vast hall in which
+they were assembled showed this, since, although the occasion was one
+that excited public interest, it was after all but a quarter filled by
+those who had a right to be present.
+
+With much dignity and to the sound of music we were marched up the broad
+nave, if I may describe it thus, for the building, with its apse and
+supporting cedar columns, bore some resemblance to a cathedral, till
+we reached the open space in front of the throne, where our guards
+prostrated themselves in their Eastern fashion, and we saluted its
+occupant in our own. Then, chairs having been given to us, after a pause
+a trumpet blew, and from a side chamber was produced our late guide,
+Shadrach, heavily manacled and looking extremely frightened.
+
+The trial that followed I need not describe at length. It took a long
+while, and the three of us were called upon to give evidence as to the
+quarrel between our companion, the Professor, and the prisoner about the
+dog Pharaoh and other matters. The testimony, however, that proclaimed
+the guilt of Shadrach was that of his companion guides, who, it
+appeared, had been threatened with floggings unless they told the truth.
+
+These men swore, one after the other, that the abandonment of Higgs had
+been a preconceived plan. Several of them added that Shadrach was in
+traitorous communication with the Fung, whom he had warned of our advent
+by firing the reeds, and had even contrived to arrange that we were to
+be taken while he and the other Abati, with the camels laden with our
+rifles and goods which they hoped to steal, passed through in safety.
+
+In defence Shadrach boldly denied the whole story, and especially that
+he had pushed the Gentile, Higgs, off his dromedary, as was alleged,
+and mounted it himself because his own beast had broken down or been
+injured.
+
+However, his lies availed him little, since, after consultation with the
+Child of Kings, presently one of the black-robed judges condemned him
+to suffer death in a very cruel fashion which was reserved for traitors.
+Further, his possessions were to be forfeited to the State, and his wife
+and children and household to become public slaves, which meant that the
+males would be condemned to serve as soldiers, and the females allotted
+to certain officials in the order of their rank.
+
+Several of those who had conspired with him to betray us to the Fung
+were also deprived of their possessions and condemned to the army, which
+was their form of penal servitude.
+
+Thus amidst a mighty wailing of those concerned and of their friends
+and relatives ended this remarkable trial, of which I give some account
+because it throws light upon the social conditions of Abati. What hope
+is there for a people when its criminals are sent, not to jail, but to
+serve as soldiers, and their womenfolk however innocent, are doomed
+to become the slaves of the judges or whoever these may appoint. Be it
+added, however, that in this instance Shadrach and his friends deserved
+all they got, since, even allowing for a certain amount of false
+evidence, undoubtedly, for the purposes of robbery and private hate,
+they did betray those whom their ruler had sent them to guide and
+protect.
+
+When this trial was finished and Shadrach had been removed, howling for
+mercy and attempting to kiss our feet like the cur he was, the audience
+who had collected to hear it and to see us, the Gentile strangers,
+dispersed, and the members of the Privy Council, if I may call it so,
+were summoned by name to attend to their duties. When all had gathered,
+we three were requested to advance and take seats which had been placed
+for us among the councillors.
+
+Then came a pause, and, as I had been instructed that I should do, I
+advanced and laid Sheba's ring upon a cushion held by one of the court
+officers, who carried it to Maqueda.
+
+"Child of Kings," I said, "take back this ancient token which you lent
+to me to be a proof of your good faith and mine. Know that by means of
+it I persuaded our brother who is captive, a man learned in all that
+has to do with the past, to undertake this mission, and through him the
+Captain Orme who stands before you, and his servant, the soldier."
+
+She took it and, after examination, showed it to several of the priests,
+by whom it was identified.
+
+"Though I parted from it with fear and doubt, the holy ring has served
+its purpose well," she said, "and I thank you, Physician, for returning
+it to my people and to me in safety."
+
+Then she replaced it on the finger from which it had been withdrawn when
+she gave it to me many months before.
+
+There, then, that matter ended.
+
+Now an officer cried:
+
+"Walda Nagasta speaks!" whereon every one repeated, "Walda Nagasta
+speaks," and was silent.
+
+Then Maqueda began to address us in her soft and pleasant voice.
+
+"Strangers from the Western country called England," she said, "be
+pleased to hear me. You know our case with the Fung--that they surround
+us and would destroy us. You know that in our extremity I took advantage
+of the wandering hither of one of you a year ago to beg him to go to his
+own land and there obtain firestuffs and those who understand them, with
+which to destroy the great and ancient idol of the Fung. For that people
+declare that if this idol is destroyed they will leave the land they
+dwell in for another, such being their ancient prophecy."
+
+"Pardon, O Child of Kings," interrupted Orme, "but you will remember
+that only the other day Barung, Sultan of the Fung, said that in this
+event his nation would still live on to avenge their god, Harmac. Also
+he said that of all the Abati he would leave you alive alone."
+
+Now at these ill-omened words a shiver and a murmur went through the
+Council. But Maqueda only shrugged her shoulders, causing the silver
+trimmings on her dress to tinkle.
+
+"I have told you the ancient prophecy," she answered, "and for the rest
+words are not deeds. If the foul fiend, Harmac, goes I think that
+the Fung will follow him. Otherwise, why do they make sacrifice to
+Earthquake as the evil god they have to fear? And when some five
+centuries ago, such an earthquake shook down part of the secret city in
+the bowels of the mountains that I will show to you afterwards, why did
+they fly from Mur and take up their abode in the plain, as they said, to
+protect the god?"
+
+"I do not know," answered Oliver. "If our brother were here, he whom
+the Fung have captured, he might know, being learned in the ways of
+idol-worshipping, savage peoples."
+
+"Alas! O Son of Orme," she said, "thanks to that traitor whom but now we
+have condemned, he is not here and, perhaps, could tell us nothing if
+he were. At least, the saying runs as I have spoken it, and for many
+generations, because of it, we Abati have desired to destroy the idol of
+the Fung to which so many of us have been offered in sacrifice through
+the jaws of their sacred lions. Now I ask," and she leaned forward,
+looking at Oliver, "will you do this for me?"
+
+"Speak of the reward, my niece," broke in Joshua in his thick voice
+when he saw that we hesitated what to answer, "I have heard that these
+Western Gentiles are a very greedy people, who live and die for the gold
+which we despise."
+
+"Ask him, Captain," exclaimed Quick, "if they despise land also, since
+yesterday afternoon I saw one of them try to cut the throat of another
+over a piece not bigger than a large dog-kennel."
+
+"Yes," I added, for I confess that Joshua's remarks nettled me, "and ask
+him whether the Jews did not despoil the Egyptians of their ornaments
+of gold in the old days, and whether Solomon, whom he claims as a
+forefather, did not trade in gold to Ophir, and lastly whether he knows
+that most of his kindred in other lands make a very god of gold."
+
+So Orme, as our spokesman, put these questions with great gusto to
+Joshua, whom he disliked intensely, whereat some of the Council, those
+who were not of the party of the Prince, smiled or even laughed, and the
+silvery ornaments upon Maqueda's dress began to shake again as though
+she also were laughing behind her veil. Still, she did not seem to think
+it wise to allow Joshua to answer--if he could--but did so herself,
+saying:
+
+"The truth is, O my friends, that here we set small store by gold
+because, being shut in and unable to trade, it is of no use to us save
+as an ornament. Were it otherwise, doubtless we should value it as much
+as the rest of the world, Jew or Gentile, and shall do so when we are
+freed from our foes who hem us in. Therefore, my uncle is wrong to claim
+as a virtue that which is only a necessity, especially when, as your
+servant says," and she pointed to the Sergeant, "our people make land
+their gold and will spend their lives in gaining more of it, even when
+they have enough."
+
+"Then do the Gentiles seek no reward for their services?" sneered
+Joshua.
+
+"By no means, Prince," answered Oliver, "we are soldiers of fortune,
+since otherwise why should we have come here to fight your quarrel"
+(laying an unpleasant emphasis on the "your") "against a chief who,
+if half savage, to us seems to have some merits, those of honour and
+courage, for instance? If we risk our lives and do our work, we are not
+too proud to take whatever we can earn. Why should we be, seeing that
+some of us need wealth, and that our brother, who is as good as dead
+yonder, owing to the treachery of those who were sent to guard him,
+has relatives in England who are poor and should be compensated for his
+loss?"
+
+"Why, indeed?" ejaculated Maqueda. "Listen, now, my friends. In my
+own name and in that of the Abati people I promised to you as many
+camel-loads of this gold as you can carry away from Mur, and before the
+day is done I will show it to you if you dare follow me to where it lies
+hid."
+
+"First the work, then the pay," said Oliver. "Now tell us, Child of
+Kings, what is that work?"
+
+"This, O Son of Orme. You must swear--if this is not against your
+consciences as Christians--that for the space of one year from to-day
+you will serve me and fight for me and be subject to my laws, striving
+all the while to destroy the idol Harmac by your Western skill and
+weapons, after which you shall be free to go whither you will with your
+reward."
+
+"And if we swear, Lady," asked Oliver after reflection, "tell us what
+rank shall we hold in your service?"
+
+"You shall be my chief captain for this enterprise, O Son of Orme,
+and those with you shall serve under you in such positions as you may
+please."
+
+At these words a murmur of dissatisfaction arose from the mail-clad
+generals in the Council.
+
+"Are we then, to obey this stranger, O Child of Kings?" queried Joshua
+as their spokesman.
+
+"Aye, my uncle, so far as this great enterprise is concerned, as I have
+said. Can you handle the firestuffs of which they alone have the secret?
+Could any three of you have held the gate of Harmac against the armies
+of the Fung and sent it flying skyward?"
+
+She paused and waited in the midst of a sullen silence.
+
+"You do not answer because you cannot," continued Maqueda. "Then for
+this purpose be content to serve awhile under the command of those who
+have the skill and power which you lack."
+
+Still there was no answer.
+
+"Lady," said Orme in this ominous quiet, "you are so good as to make me
+a general among your soldiers, but will they obey me? And who are your
+soldiers? Does every man of the Abati bear arms?"
+
+"Alas! no," she replied, fixing upon this latter question perhaps
+because she could not answer the first. "Alas! no. In the old days it
+was otherwise, when my great ancestresses ruled, and then we did not
+fear the Fung. But now the people will not serve as soldiers. They say
+it takes them from their trades and the games they love; they say they
+cannot give the time in youth; they say that it degrades a man to obey
+the orders of those set over him; they say that war is barbarous and
+should be abolished, and all the while the brave Fung wait without to
+massacre our men and make our women slaves. Only the very poor and the
+desperate, and those who have offended against the laws will serve in my
+army, except it be as officers. Oh! and therefore are the Abati doomed,"
+and, throwing back her veil, suddenly, she burst into tears before us
+all.
+
+I do not know that I ever remember seeing a sight more pathetic in its
+way than that of this beautiful and high-spirited young woman weeping
+in the presence of her Council over the utter degeneracy of the race
+she was called upon to rule. Being old and accustomed to these Eastern
+expressions of emotion, I remained silent, however; but Oliver was so
+deeply affected that I feared lest he should do something foolish. He
+went red, he went white, and was rising from his seat to go to her, had
+I not caught him by the arm and pulled him back. As for Quick, he turned
+his eyes to the ceiling, as though engaged in prayer, and I heard him
+muttering:
+
+"The Lord help the poor thing, the Lord help her; the one pearl in the
+snout of all these gilded swine! Well, I understand I am a bit of a
+general now, and if I don't make 'em sit up for her sake my name ain't
+Samuel Quick."
+
+Meanwhile there was much consternation and indignant murmuring
+amongst the Court, which felt that reflections had been thrown upon it
+collectively and individually. At such a crisis, as usual, Prince Joshua
+took the lead. Rising from his seat, he knelt, not without difficulty,
+before the throne, and said:
+
+"O Child of Kings, why do you distress us with such words? Have you not
+the God of Solomon to protect you?"
+
+"God protects those who protect themselves," sobbed Maqueda.
+
+"And have you not many brave officers?"
+
+"What are officers without an army?"
+
+"And have you not me, your uncle, your affianced, your lover?" and he
+laid his hand where he conceived his heart to be, and stared up at her
+with his rolling, fish-like eyes. "Had it not been for the interference
+of these Gentiles, in whom you seem to put such trust," he went on,
+"should I not have taken Barung captive the other day, and left the Fung
+without a head?"
+
+"And the Abati without such shreds of honour as still belong to them, my
+uncle."
+
+"Let us be wed, O Bud of the Rose, O Flower of Mur, and soon I will free
+you from the Fung. We are helpless because we are separate, but together
+we shall triumph. Say, O Maqueda, when shall we be wed?"
+
+"When the idol Harmac is utterly destroyed, and the Fung have departed
+for ever, my uncle," she answered impatiently. "But is this a time to
+talk of marriage? I declare the Council closed. Let the priests bring
+the rolls that these strangers from the West may take the oath, and then
+pardon me if I leave you."
+
+Now from behind the throne there appeared a gorgeous gentleman arrayed
+in a head-dress that reminded me faintly of a bishop's mitre, and
+wearing over his robes a breastplate of precious stones roughly
+polished, which was half hidden by a very long white beard.
+
+This person, who it seemed was the high priest, carried in his hand
+a double roll of parchment written over with characters which we
+afterwards discovered were bastard Hebrew, very ancient and only
+decipherable by three or four of the Abati, if indeed any of them could
+really read it. At least it was said to be the roll of the law brought
+by their forefathers centuries ago from Abyssinia, together with Sheba's
+ring and a few other relics, among them the cradle (a palpable forgery),
+in which the child of Solomon and Maqueda, or Belchis, the first known
+Queen of Sheba, was traditionally reported to have been rocked. This
+roll of the law, which for generations had been used at all important
+ceremonies among the Abati, such as the swearing-in of their queens and
+chief officers, was now tendered to us to hold and kiss while we took
+the oath of obedience and allegiance in the names of Jehovah and of
+Solomon (a strange mixture, it struck us), solemnly vowing to perform
+those things which I have already set out.
+
+"This seems a pretty wide promise," said Oliver, after it had been read
+to us and translated by me to Quick. "Do you think that we ought to take
+it on?"
+
+I answered "Yes," that was from my point of view, since otherwise I saw
+no chance of achieving the object that had caused me to enter upon this
+adventure. Then, being especially requested to do so, the Sergeant,
+after reflecting awhile, gave his considered opinion.
+
+"Sir," he said to Orme, "we are three white men here consorting with a
+mob of quarter-bred African Jews and one real lady. It seems to me that
+we had best swear anything they want us to, trusting to the lady to see
+us through the mess, since otherwise we shall be mere filibusters in the
+country without official rank, and liable therefore to be shot on sight
+by the enemy, or any mutineers who get the upper hand here. Also, we
+have the Professor and the Doctor's son to think of. Therefore I say:
+Swear to anything in reason, reserving allegiance to the Crown of Great
+Britain, and trust to luck. You see, Captain, we are in their power
+anyway, and this oath may help, but can't hurt us, while to refuse it
+must give offence to all these skunks, and perhaps to the lady also,
+which is of more consequence."
+
+"I think you are probably right, Sergeant," said Orme. "Anyway, in for a
+penny, in for a pound."
+
+Then he turned to Maqueda, who had been watching this conference in an
+unknown tongue with some anxiety, or so it seemed to me, and added in
+Arabic: "O Child of Kings, we will take your oath, although it is wide,
+trusting to your honour to protect us from any pitfalls which it may
+cover, for we would ask you to remember that we are strangers in your
+land who do not understand its laws and customs. Only we stipulate
+that we retain our allegiance to our own ruler far away, remaining the
+subjects of that monarch with all rights thereto appertaining. Also,
+we stipulate that before we enter on our duties, or at any rate during
+those duties, we shall be at full liberty to attempt the rescue of our
+friend and companion, now a prisoner in the hands of the Fung, and of
+the son of one of us who is believed to be a slave to them, and that
+we shall have all the assistance which you can give us in this matter.
+Moreover, we demand that if we should be tried for any offence under
+this oath, you to whom we swear allegiance shall be our judge alone,
+none others intermeddling in the trial. If you accept these terms
+we will swear the oath; otherwise we swear nothing, but will act as
+occasion may arise."
+
+Now we were requested to stand back while the Child of Kings consulted
+with her advisers, which she did for a considerable time, since
+evidently the questions raised involved differences of opinion. In the
+end, however, she and those who supported her seemed to overrule the
+objectors, and we were called up and told that our terms had been
+accepted and engrossed upon the form of the oath, and that everything
+there included would be faithfully observed by the Ruler and Council of
+the Abati.
+
+So we signed and swore, kissing the book, or rather the roll, in the
+civilized fashion. Afterwards, very tired, for all this business had
+been anxious, we were conducted back to our own quarters to lunch, or
+rather to dine, for the Abati ate their heaviest meal at midday, taking
+a siesta after it according to the common Eastern custom.
+
+About four o'clock of that afternoon I was awakened from my nap by the
+growls of Pharaoh, and looked up to see a man crouching against the
+door, evidently in fear of the dog's fangs. He proved to be a messenger
+from Maqueda, sent to ask us if we cared to accompany her to a place
+that we had never seen. Of course we answered "Yes," and were at once
+led by the messenger to a disused and dusty hall at the back of the
+palace, where presently Maqueda and three of her ladies joined us, and
+with them a number of men who carried lighted lamps, gourds of oil, and
+bundles of torches.
+
+"Doubtless, friends," said Maqueda, who was unveiled and appeared to
+have quite recovered from our outburst of the morning, "you have seen
+many wonderful places in this Africa and other lands, but now I am about
+to show you one that, I think, is stranger than them all."
+
+Following her, we came to a door at the end of the hall which the men
+unbolted and shut again behind us, and thence passed into a long passage
+cut in the rock, that sloped continuously downwards and at length led
+through another doorway to the vastest cave that we had ever heard of or
+seen. So vast was it, indeed, that the feeble light of our lamps did not
+suffice to reach the roof, and only dimly showed to right and left the
+outlines of what appeared to be shattered buildings of rock.
+
+"Behold the cave city of Mur," said Maqueda, waving the lamp she
+held. "Here it was that the ancients whom we believe to have been the
+forefathers of the Fung, had their secret stronghold. These walls were
+those of their granaries, temples, and places of ceremonial, but, as I
+have told you, centuries ago an earthquake shattered them, leaving them
+as they are now. Also, it broke down much of the cave itself, causing
+the roof to fall, so that there are many parts where it is not safe to
+enter. Come now and see what is left."
+
+We followed her into the depth of the wonderful place, our lanterns and
+torches making little stars of light in that great blackness. We saw the
+ruins of granaries still filled with the dust of what I suppose had once
+been corn, and came at length to a huge, roofless building of which
+the area was strewn with shattered columns, and among them overgrown
+statues, covered so thick by dust that we could only discover that most
+of them seemed to be shaped like sphinxes.
+
+"If only Higgs were here," said Oliver with a sigh, and passed on to
+Maqueda, who was calling him to look at something else.
+
+Leaving the temple in which it was unsafe to walk, she led us to where
+a strong spring, the water supply of the place, bubbled up into a rock
+basin, and overflowing thence through prepared openings, ran away we
+knew not whither.
+
+"Look, this fountain is very ancient," said Maqueda, pointing to the
+lip of the basin that was worn away to the depth of several inches where
+those who drew water had for many generations rested their hands upon
+the hard rock.
+
+"How did they light so vast a cavern?" asked Oliver.
+
+"We do not know," she answered, "since lamps would scarcely have served
+them. It is a secret of the past which none of the Abati have cared to
+recover, and another is how the air is always kept fresh so deep in
+the bowels of the mountain. We cannot even say whether this place is
+natural, as I think, or hollowed out by men."
+
+"Both, I expect," I answered. "But tell me, Lady, do the Abati make any
+use of this great cave?"
+
+"Some corn is still stored here in pits in case of siege," she replied,
+adding sadly, "but it is not enough to be of real service, since almost
+all of it comes from the estates of the Child of Kings. In vain have
+I prayed the people to contribute, if only a hundredth part of their
+harvest, but they will not. Each says that he would give if his
+neighbour gave, and so none give. And yet a day may come when a store
+of corn alone would stand between them and death by hunger--if the Fung
+held the valley, for instance," and she turned impatiently and walked
+forward to show us the stables where the ancients kept their horses and
+the marks of their chariot wheels in the stone floor.
+
+"Nice people, the Abati, sir," said Quick to me. "If it weren't for
+the women and children, and, above all, for this little lady, whom I am
+beginning to worship like my master, as in duty bound, I'd like to see
+them do a bit of hungering."
+
+"There is one more place to show you," said Maqueda, when we had
+inspected the stables and argued as to what possible causes could have
+induced the ancients to keep horses underground, "which perhaps you will
+think worth a visit, since it holds the treasures that are, or shall be,
+yours. Come!"
+
+We started forward again along various passages, the last of which
+suddenly widened into a broad and steep incline of rock, which we
+followed for quite fifty paces till it ended in what seemed to be a
+blank wall. Here Maqueda bade her ladies and attendants halt, which
+indeed they seemed very anxious to do, though at the moment we did not
+know why. Then she went to one end of the wall where it joined that of
+the passage, and, showing us some loose stones, asked me to pull them
+out, which I did, not without difficulty. When an aperture had been made
+large enough for a man to creep through, she turned to her people and
+said:
+
+"You, I know, believe this place to be haunted, nor would the bravest of
+you enter it save by express command. But I and these strangers have no
+such fears. Therefore give us a gourd of oil and some torches and bide
+where you are till we return, setting a lamp in the hole in the wall to
+guide us in case our own should become extinguished. No, do not reason
+but obey. There is no danger, for though hot, the air within is pure, as
+I know who have breathed it more than once."
+
+Then she gave her hand to Oliver, and with his assistance crept through
+the hole. We followed, to find ourselves in another cavern, where, as
+she had said, the temperature was much hotter than that without.
+
+"What is this place?" asked Orme in a low voice, for its aspect seemed
+to awe him.
+
+"The tomb of the old kings of Mur," she replied. "Presently you shall
+see," and once more she took his hand, for the slope was sharp and
+slippery.
+
+On we went, always descending, for perhaps four hundred yards, our
+footfalls echoing loudly in the intense silence, and our lamps, round
+which the bats circled in hundreds, making four stars of light in
+the utter blackness, till at length the passage widened out into what
+appeared to be a vast circular arena, with a lofty dome-like roof of
+rock. Maqueda turned to the right, and, halting before some objects that
+glimmered whitely, held up her light, saying, "Look!"
+
+This was what we saw: A great stone chair and, piled upon its seat
+and upon its base, human bones. Amongst these was a skull, and on it,
+grotesquely tilted, a crown of gold, while other ornaments--sceptres,
+rings, necklaces, weapons and armour--were mingled with the bones. Nor
+was this all, for in a wide circle round the chair were other skeletons,
+fifty or more of them, and amongst them the ornaments that their owners
+had worn.
+
+Also, in front of each stood a tray of some metal, which we afterwards
+discovered to be silver or copper, and heaped upon it every kind of
+valuable, such as golden cups and vases, toilet utensils, necklaces,
+pectorals, bracelets, leglets, earrings and beads that seemed to be cut
+from precious stones, piles of ring money, and a hundred other things
+such as have been prized by mankind since the beginning of civilization.
+
+"You understand," said Maqueda, as we stared, open-mouthed at this awful
+and marvellous sight, "he in the chair was the king. Those about him
+were his officers, guards, and women. When he was buried they brought
+his household here, bearing his wealth, sat them down about him, and
+killed them. Blow away the dust, and you will see that the rock beneath
+is still stained with their blood; also, there are the sword-marks on
+their skulls, and neckbones."
+
+Quick, who was of an inquiring mind, stepped forward and verified these
+statements.
+
+"Golly!" he said, throwing down the skull of a man over whom the tired
+executioners had evidently bungled badly, "I'm glad I didn't serve the
+old kings of Mur. But the same game goes on in a small way to-day in
+Africa, for when I was campaigning on the West Coast I came across
+it not a fortnight old, only there they had buried the poor beggars
+living."
+
+"Perhaps," said Maqueda, when the Sergeant's remarks had been translated
+to her. "Yet I do not think the custom is one that my people would
+love," and she laughed a little, then added, "forward, friends, there
+are many more of these kings and oil does not burn for ever."
+
+So we moved on, and at a distance of some twenty paces found another
+chair with scattered bones on and about the seat, lying where each
+had fallen as the dead man decayed. Round it were the skeletons of the
+unfortunates who had been doomed to accompany him upon his last journey,
+every one of them behind his tray of golden objects, or of simple
+treasure. In front of this king's chair also were the bones of a dog
+with a jewelled collar.
+
+Again we proceeded to a third mortuary, if it may so be called, and here
+Maqueda pointed out the skeleton of a man, in front of which stood a
+tray piled up with what evidently had been the medicine bottles of the
+period and among them a number of rude surgical instruments.
+
+"Say, O Physician Adams," she remarked with a smile, "would you have
+wished to be court doctor to the kings of Mur, if indeed that was then
+their city's name?"
+
+"No, Lady," I answered; "but I do wish to examine his instruments if
+I have your leave," and while she hurried forward I stooped down and
+filled my pockets. Here I may remark, that upon subsequent inspection
+I found among these instruments, manufactured I know not what number of
+thousands of years ago--for on that point controversy rages among the
+learned--many that with modifications are still in use to-day.
+
+Of that strange and dreadful sepulchre there is little more to tell.
+From monarch to monarch we marched on till at length we grew weary of
+staring at bones and gold. Even Quick grew weary, who had passed his
+early youth in assisting his father, the parish sexton, and therefore,
+like myself, regarded these relics with professional interest, though of
+a different degree. At any rate, he remarked that this family vault was
+uncommonly hot, and perhaps, if it pleased her Majesty, as he called
+Maqueda, we might take the rest of the deceased gentlemen as read, like
+a recruit's attestation questions.
+
+But just then we came to No. 25, according to my counting, and were
+obliged to stop to wonder, for clearly this king had been the greatest
+of them all, since round him lay about two or three times the average
+number of dead, and an enormous quantity of wealth, some of it in the
+form of little statues of men and women, or perhaps of gods. Yet, oddly
+enough, he was hunchback with a huge skull, almost a monstrosity indeed.
+Perhaps his mind partook of the abnormal qualities of his body, since no
+less than eleven little children had been sacrificed at his obsequies,
+two of whom, judging from their crooked bones, must have been his own.
+
+One wonders what chanced in Mur and the surrounding territories which
+then acknowledged its sway when King Hunchback ruled. Alas! history
+writes no record.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+QUICK LIGHTS A MATCH
+
+"Here we begin to turn, for this cave is a great circle," said Maqueda
+over her shoulder.
+
+But Oliver, whom she addressed, had left her side and was engaged
+in taking observations behind the hunchback's funeral chair with an
+instrument which he had produced from his pocket.
+
+She followed him and asked curiously what this thing might be, and why
+he made use of it here.
+
+"We call it a compass," he answered, "and it tells me that beyond us
+lies the east, where the sun rises; also it shows at what height we
+stand above the sea, that great water which you have never seen, O Child
+of Kings. Say now, if we could walk through this rock, what should we
+find out yonder?"
+
+"The lion-headed idol of the Fung, I have been told," she answered.
+"That which you saw before you blew up the gate of the city Harmac. But
+how far off it may be I do not know, for I cannot see through stone.
+Friend Adams, help me to refill the lamps, for they burn low, and all
+these dead would be ill company in the dark. So at least my people
+think, since there is not one of them that dares to enter this place.
+When first we found it only a few years ago and saw the company it held,
+they fled, and left me to search it alone. Look, yonder are my footsteps
+in the dust."
+
+So I refilled the shallow hand-lamps, and while I did so Orme took
+some hasty observations of which he jotted down the results in his
+pocket-book.
+
+"What have you learned?" she asked, when at last he rejoined us somewhat
+unwillingly, for she had been calling to him to come.
+
+"Not so much as I should have done if you could have given me more
+time," he replied, adding in explanation, "Lady, I was brought up as
+an engineer, that is, one who executes works, and to do so takes
+measurements and makes calculations. For instance, those dead men who
+hollowed or dressed these caves must have been engineers and no mean
+ones."
+
+"We have such among us now," she said. "They raise dams and make drains
+and houses, though not so good as those which were built of old. But
+again I ask--what have you learned, O wise Engineer?"
+
+"Only that here we stand not so very far above the city Harmac, of which
+I chanced to take the level, and that behind yonder chair there was,
+I think, once a passage which has been built up. But be pleased to say
+nothing of the matter, Lady, and to ask me no more questions at present,
+as I cannot answer them with certainty."
+
+"I see that you are discreet as well as wise," she replied with some
+sarcasm. "Well, since I may not be trusted with your counsel, keep it to
+yourself."
+
+Oliver bowed and obeyed this curt instruction.
+
+Then we began our return journey, passing many more groups of skeletons
+which now we scarcely troubled to look at, perhaps because the heavy air
+filled with dust that once had been the flesh of men, was telling on
+our energies. Only I noticed, or rather the observant Quick called my
+attention to the fact, that as we went the kings in their chairs
+were surrounded by fewer and fewer attendants and women, and that the
+offerings placed at their feet were of an ever-lessening value. Indeed,
+after we had passed another five or six of them, their murdered retinues
+dwindled to a few female skeletons, doubtless those of favourite wives
+who had been singled out for this particular honour.
+
+At length there were none at all, the poor monarchs, who now were
+crowded close together, being left to explore the shades alone, adorned
+merely with their own jewellery and regalia. Ultimately even these were
+replaced by funeral gold-foil ornaments, and the trays of treasure by
+earthenware jars which appeared to have contained nothing but food and
+wine, and added to these a few spears and other weapons. The last of
+the occupied chairs, for there were empty ones beyond, contained bones
+which, from their slenderness and the small size of the bracelets among
+them, I saw at once had belonged to a woman who had been sent to the
+grave without companions or any offerings at all.
+
+"Doubtless," said Maqueda, when I pointed this out to her, "at that time
+the ancients had grown weak and poor, since after so many kings they
+permitted a woman to rule over them and had no wealth to waste upon her
+burial. That may have been after the earthquake, when only a few people
+were left in Mur before the Abati took possession of it."
+
+"Where, then, are those of your own house buried?" asked Oliver, staring
+at the empty chairs.
+
+"Oh! not in this place," she answered; "I have told you it was
+discovered but a few years ago. We rest in tombs outside, and for my
+part I will sleep in the simple earth, so that I may live on in grass
+and flowers, if in no other way. But enough of death and doom. Soon,
+who can tell how soon? we shall be as these are," and she shuddered.
+"Meanwhile, we breathe, so let us make the best of breath. You have seen
+your fee, say, does it content you?"
+
+"What fee?" he asked. "Death, the reward of Life? How can I tell until I
+have passed its gate?"
+
+Here this philosophical discussion was interrupted by the sudden decease
+of Quick's lamp.
+
+"Thought there was something wrong with the blooming thing," said the
+Sergeant, "but couldn't turn it up, as it hasn't got a screw, without
+which these old-fashioned colza oils never were no good. Hullo! Doctor,
+there goes yours," and as he spoke, go it did.
+
+"The wicks!" exclaimed Maqueda, "we forgot to bring new wicks, and
+without them of what use is oil? Come, be swift; we are still far from
+the mouth of this cave, where none except the high priests will dare to
+seek us," and, taking Oliver by the hand, she began to run, leaving us
+two to follow as best we could.
+
+"Steady, Doctor," said Quick, "steady. In the presence of disaster
+comrades should always stick together, as it says in the Red-book
+presented by the crown to warrant officers, but paid for out of their
+deferred allowance. Take my arm, Doctor. Ah! I thought so, the more
+haste the less speed. Look there," and he pointed to the flying shapes
+ahead, now a long way off, and with only one lamp between them.
+
+Next instant Maqueda turned round holding up this remaining lamp and
+called to us. I saw the faint light gleam upon her beautiful face and
+glitter down the silver ornaments of her dress. Very wild and strange
+she looked in that huge vault, seen thus for a single moment, then seen
+no more, for presently where the flame had been was but a red spark, and
+then nothing at all.
+
+"Stop still till we come back to you," cried Oliver, "and shout at
+intervals."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Quick, and instantly let off a fearful yell,
+which echoed backward and forward across the vault till I was quite
+bewildered.
+
+"All right, coming," answered Oliver, and his voice sounded so far to
+the left that Quick thought it wise to yell again.
+
+To cut a long story short, we next heard him on our right and then
+behind us.
+
+"Can't trust sounds here, sir, echoes are too uncertain," said the
+Sergeant; "but come on, I think I've placed them now," and calling
+to _them_ not to move, we headed in what we were sure was the right
+direction.
+
+The end of that adventure was that presently I tripped up over a
+skeleton and found myself lying half stunned amidst trays of treasure,
+affectionately clasping a skull under the impression that it was Quick's
+boot.
+
+He hauled me up again somehow, and, as we did not know what to do, we
+sat down amidst the dead and listened. By now the others were apparently
+so far off that the sound of Oliver's calling only reached us in faint,
+mysterious notes that came from we knew not whence.
+
+"As, like idiots, we started in such a hurry that we forgot to bring any
+matches with us, there is nothing to be done, except wait," I said. "No
+doubt in due course those Abati will get over their fear of ghosts and
+come to look for us."
+
+"Wish I could do the same, sir. I didn't mind those deaders in the
+light, but the dark's a different matter. Can't you hear them rattling
+their shanks and talking all round us?"
+
+"Certainly I do hear something," I answered, "but I think it must be the
+echo of our own voices."
+
+"Well, let us hold our jaw, sir, and perhaps they will hold theirs, for
+this kind of conversation ain't nice."
+
+So we were silent, but the strange murmuring still went on, coming
+apparently from the wall of the cave behind us, and it occurred to me
+that I had once heard something like it before, though at the time I
+could not think where. Afterwards I remembered that it was when, as
+a boy, I had been taken to see the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul's
+Cathedral in London.
+
+Half-an-hour or so went by in this fashion, and still there were no
+signs of the Abati or of our missing pair. Quick began to fumble among
+his clothes. I asked him what he was doing.
+
+"Can't help thinking I've got a wax match somewhere, Doctor. I remember
+feeling it in one of the pockets of this coat on the day before we left
+London, and thinking afterwards it wasn't safe to have had it packed in
+a box marked 'Hold.' Now if only I could find that match, we have got
+plenty of torches, for I've stuck to my bundle all through, although I
+never thought of them when the lamps were going out."
+
+Having small belief in the Sergeant's match, I made no answer, and the
+search went on till presently I heard him ejaculate:
+
+"By Jingo, here it is, in the lining. Yes, and the head feels all right.
+Now, Doctor, hold two of the torches toward me; make ready, present,
+fire!" and he struck the match and applied it to the heads of the
+resinous torches.
+
+Instantly these blazed up, giving an intense light in that awful
+darkness. By this light, for one moment only, we saw a strange, and not
+unattractive spectacle. I think I forgot to say that in the centre of
+this vault stood a kind of altar, which until that moment, indeed, I
+had not seen. This altar, which, doubtless, had been used for ceremonial
+purposes at the funerals of the ancient Kings, consisted of a plain
+block of basalt stone, whereon was cut the symbol of a human eye, the
+stone being approached by steps and supported upon carved and crouching
+sphinxes.
+
+On the lowest of these steps, near enough to enable us to see them quite
+clearly, were seated Oliver Orme and Maqueda, Child of Kings. They were
+seated very close together; indeed, if I must tell the truth, Oliver's
+arm was about Maqueda's waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, and
+apparently he was engaged in kissing her upon the lips.
+
+"Right about face," hissed the Sergeant, in a tone of command, "and mark
+time!"
+
+So we right-abouted for a decent period, then, coughing loudly--because
+of the irritant smoke of the torches--advanced to cross the cavern,
+and by accident stumbled upon our lost companions. I confess that I had
+nothing to say, but Quick rose to the occasion nobly.
+
+"Glad to see you, Captain," he said to Oliver. "Was getting very anxious
+about you, sir, until by good luck I found a match in the lining of my
+coat. If the Professor had been here he'd have had plenty, which is an
+argument in favour of continuous smoking, even when ladies are present.
+Ah! no wonder her Majesty is faint in this hot place, poor young thing.
+It's lucky you didn't leave hold of her, sir. Do you think you could
+manage to support her, sir, as we ought to be moving. Can't offer to do
+so myself, as I have lamed my foot with the tooth of a dead king, also
+my arms are full of torches. But if you prefer the Doctor--what do you
+say, sir? That you _can_ manage? There is such an echo in this vault
+that it is difficult to hear--very well, let us go on, for these torches
+won't last for ever, and you wouldn't like us to have to spend a whole
+night here with the lady in such a delicate condition, would you,
+especially as those nasty-tempered Abati might say that you had done
+it on purpose? Take her Majesty's arm, Doctor, and let us trek. I'll go
+ahead with the torches."
+
+To all this artless harangue Oliver answered not a single word, but
+glared at us suspiciously over the shape of Maqueda, who apparently had
+fainted. Only when I ventured to offer her some professional assistance
+she recovered, and said that she could get on quite well alone, which
+meant upon Orme's arm.
+
+Well, the end of it was that she got on, and so did we, for the torches
+lasted until we reached the narrow, sloping passage, and, rounding the
+corner, saw the lantern burning in the hole in the wall, after which, of
+course, things were easy.
+
+
+
+"Doctor," said Oliver to me in a voice of studied nonchalance that
+night, as we were preparing to turn in, "did you notice anything in the
+Vault of Kings this afternoon?"
+
+"Oh, yes," I answered, "lots! Of course, myself, I am not given to
+arch�ology, like poor Higgs, but the sight struck me as absolutely
+unique. If I were inclined to moralize, for instance, what a contrast
+between those dead rulers and their young and beautiful successor, full
+of life and love"--here he looked at me sharply--"love of her people,
+such as I have no doubt in their day----"
+
+"Oh, shut it, Adams! I don't want a philosophical lecture with
+historical comparisons. Did you notice anything except bones and gold
+when that unutterable ass, Quick, suddenly turned on the lights--I mean
+struck the match which unfortunately he had with him."
+
+Now I gave it up and faced the situation.
+
+"Well, if you want the truth," I said, "not _very_ much myself, for
+my sight isn't as good as it used to be. But the Sergeant, who has
+extraordinarily sharp eyes, thought that he saw you kissing Maqueda,
+a supposition that your relative attitudes seemed to confirm, which
+explains, moreover, some of the curious sounds we heard before he lit
+the torches. That's why he asked me to turn my back. But, of course, we
+may have been mistaken. Do I understand you to say that the Sergeant was
+mistaken?"
+
+Oliver consigned the Sergeant's eyes to an ultimate fate worse than
+that which befell those of Peeping Tom; then, in a burst of candour, for
+subterfuge never was his forte, owned up:
+
+"You made no mistake," he said, "we love each other, and it came out
+suddenly in the dark. I suppose that the unusual surroundings acted on
+our nerves."
+
+"From a moral point of view I am glad that you love each other," I
+remarked, "since embraces that are merely nervous cannot be commended.
+But from every other, in our circumstances the resulting situation
+strikes me as a little short of awful, although Quick, a most observant
+man, warned me to expect it from the first."
+
+"Curse Quick," said Oliver again, with the utmost energy. "I'll give him
+a month's notice this very night."
+
+"Don't," I said, "for then you'll oblige him to take service with
+Barung, where he would be most dangerous. Look here, Orme, to drop
+chaff, this is a pretty mess."
+
+"Why? What's wrong about it, Doctor?" he asked indignantly. "Of course,
+she's a Jew of some diluted sort or other, and I'm a Christian; but
+those things adapt themselves. Of course, too, she's my superior, but
+after all hers is a strictly local rank, and in Europe we should be
+on much the same footing. As for her being an Eastern, what does that
+matter? Surely it is not an objection which should have weight with
+_you_. And for the rest, did you ever see her equal?"
+
+"Never, never, _never_!" I answered with enthusiasm. "The young lady
+to whom any gentleman has just engaged himself is always absolutely
+unequalled, and, let me admit at once that this is perhaps the most
+original and charming that I have ever met in all Central Africa. Only,
+whatever may be the case with you, I don't know whether this fact will
+console me and Quick when our throats are being cut. Look here, Orme," I
+added, "didn't I tell you long ago that the one thing you must _not_ do
+was to make love to the Child of Kings?"
+
+"Did you? Really, I forget; you told me such a lot of things, Doctor,"
+he answered coolly enough, only unfortunately the colour that rose in
+his cheeks betrayed his lips.
+
+At this moment, Quick, who had entered the room unobserved, gave a dry
+cough, and remarked:
+
+"Don't blame the Captain, Doctor, because he don't remember. There's
+nothing like shock from an explosion for upsetting the memory. I've
+seen that often in the Boer war, when, after a big shell had gone off
+somewhere near them, the very bravest soldiers would clean forget that
+it was their duty to stand still and not run like rabbits; indeed, it
+happened to me myself."
+
+I laughed, and Oliver said something which I could not hear, but Quick
+went on imperturbably:
+
+"Still, truth is truth, and if the Captain has forgotten, the more
+reason that we should remind him. That evening at the Professor's house
+in London you did warn him, sir, and he answered that you needn't bother
+your head about the fascinations of a nigger woman----"
+
+"Nigger woman," broke out Oliver; "I never used such words; I never
+even thought them, and you are an impertinent fellow to put them into my
+mouth. Nigger woman! Good heavens! It's desecration."
+
+"Very sorry, Captain, now I come to think of it, I believe you said
+black woman, speaking in your haste. Yes and I begged you not to brag,
+seeing that if you did we might live to see you crawling after her, with
+myself, Samuel Quick bringing up the rear. Well, there it is we are, and
+the worst of it is that I can't blame you, being as anticipated in the
+prophecy--for that's what it was though I didn't know it myself at
+the time--exactly in the same state myself, though, of course, at a
+distance, bringing up the rear respectfully, as said."
+
+"You don't mean that you are in love with the Child of Kings?" said
+Oliver, staring at the Sergeant's grim and battered figure.
+
+"Begging your pardon, Captain, that is exactly what I do mean. If a cat
+may look at a queen, why mayn't a man love her? Howsoever, my kind of
+love ain't likely to interfere with yours. My kind means sentry-go and
+perhaps a knife in my gizzard; yours--well, we saw what yours means
+this afternoon, though what it will all lead to we didn't see. Still,
+Captain, speaking as one who hasn't been keen on the sex heretofore,
+I say--sail in, since it's worth it, even if you've got to sink
+afterwards, for this lady, although she is half a Jew, and I never
+could abide Jews, is the sweetest and the loveliest and the best and the
+bravest little woman that ever walked God's earth."
+
+At this point Oliver seized his hand and shook it warmly, and I may
+mention that I think some report of Quick's summary of her character
+must have reached Maqueda's ears. At any rate, thenceforward until the
+end she always treated the old fellow with what the French call the
+"most distinguished consideration."
+
+But, as I was not in love, no one shook my hand, so, leaving the other
+two to discuss the virtues and graces of the Child of Kings, I went off
+to bed filled with the gloomiest forbodings. What a fool I had been not
+to insist that whatever expert accompanied Higgs should be a married
+man. And yet, now when I came to think of it, that might not have
+bettered matters, and perhaps would only have added to the transaction
+a degree of moral turpitude which at present was lacking, since even
+married men are sometimes weak.
+
+The truth was that Maqueda's attractions were extraordinarily great. To
+her remarkable beauty she added a wonderful charm of manner and force
+of mind. Also her situation must touch the heart and pity of any man,
+so helpless was she in the midst of all her hollow grandeur, so lonely
+amongst a nation of curs whom she strove in vain to save, and should
+she escape destruction with them, doomed to so sad and repulsive a fate,
+namely to become the wife of a fat poltroon who was her own uncle. Well,
+we know to what emotion pity is akin, and the catastrophe had occurred a
+little sooner than I had expected, that was all.
+
+Doubtless to her, in comparison with the men to whom she was accustomed
+and allowed by etiquette to take as her associates, this brave and
+handsome young Englishman, who had come into her care sick and shattered
+after the doing of a great deed, must have seemed a veritable fairy
+prince. And she had helped to nurse him, and he had shown himself
+grateful for her kindness and condescension, and--the rest followed, as
+surely as the day follows the night.
+
+But how would it end? Sooner or later the secret must come out, for
+already the Abati nobles, if I may call them so for want of a better
+name, and especially Joshua, were bitterly jealous of the favour their
+lady showed to the foreigner, and watched them both. Then what--what
+would happen? Under the Abati law it was death for any one outside of
+the permitted degree of relationship to tamper with the affections of
+the Child of Kings. Nor was this wonderful, since that person held her
+seat in virtue of her supposed direct descent from Solomon and the first
+Maqueda, Queen of Sheba, and therefore the introduction of any alien
+blood could not be tolerated.
+
+Moreover, Orme, having sworn an oath of allegiance, had become subject
+to those laws. Lastly, I could not in the least hope from the character
+of the pair concerned that this was but a passing flirtation.
+
+Oh! without a doubt these two had signed their own death-warrant yonder
+in the Cave of Death, and incidentally ours also. This must be the end
+of our adventure and my long search for the son whom I had lost.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE RESCUE FAILS
+
+Our breakfast on the following morning was a somewhat gloomy meal. By
+common consent no allusion was made to the events of the previous day,
+or to our conversation at bedtime.
+
+Indeed, there was no talk at all to speak of, since, not knowing
+what else to do, I thought I could best show my attitude of mind by
+preserving a severe silence, while Quick seemed to be absorbed
+in philosophical reflections, and Orme looked rather excited and
+dishevelled, as though he had been writing poetry, as I daresay was
+the case. In the midst of this dreary meal a messenger arrived, who
+announced that the Walda Nagasta would be pleased to see us all within
+half-an-hour.
+
+Fearing lest Orme should say something foolish, I answered briefly that
+we would wait upon her, and the man went, leaving us wondering what had
+happened to cause her to desire our presence.
+
+At the appointed time we were shown into the small audience room, and,
+as we passed its door, I ventured to whisper to Oliver:
+
+"For your own sake and hers, as well as that of the rest of us, I
+implore you to be careful. Your face is watched as well as your words."
+
+"All right, old fellow," he answered, colouring a little. "You may trust
+me."
+
+"I wish I could," I muttered.
+
+Then we were shown in ceremoniously, and made our bows to Maqueda, who
+was seated, surrounded by some of the judges and officers, among them,
+Prince Joshua, and talking to two rough-looking men clad in ordinary
+brown robes. She greeted us, and after the exchange of the usual
+compliments, said:
+
+"Friends, I have summoned you for this reason. This morning when the
+traitor Shadrach was being led out to execution at the hands of these
+men, the officers of the law, he begged for a delay. When asked why, as
+his petition for reprieve had been refused, he said that if his life
+was spared he could show how your companion, he whom they call Black
+Windows, may be rescued from the Fung."
+
+"How?" asked Orme and I in one breath.
+
+"I do not know," she answered, "but wisely they spared the man. Let him
+be brought in."
+
+A door opened, and Shadrach entered, his hands bound behind his back and
+shackles on his feet. He was a very fearful and much chastened Shadrach,
+for his eyes rolled and his teeth chattered with terror, as, having
+prostrated himself to the Walda Nagasta, he wriggled round and tried to
+kiss Orme's boot. The guards pulled him to his feet again, and Maqueda
+said:
+
+"What have you to tell us, traitor, before you die?"
+
+"The thing is secret, O Bud of the Rose. Must I speak before so many?"
+
+"Nay," she answered, and ordered most of those present to leave the
+room, including the executioners and soldiers.
+
+"The man is desperate, and there will be none left to guard him," said
+Joshua nervously.
+
+"I'll do that, your Highness," answered Quick in his bad Arabic, and
+stepping up behind Shadrach he added in English, "Now then, Pussy, you
+behave, or it will be the worse for you."
+
+When all had gone again Shadrach was commanded to speak and say how he
+could save the Englishman whom he had betrayed into the hands of the
+Fung.
+
+"Thus, Child of Kings," he answered, "Black Windows, as we know, is
+imprisoned in the body of the great idol."
+
+"How do you know it, man?"
+
+"O Lady, I do know it, and also the Sultan said so, did he not? Well,
+I can show a secret road to that idol whence he may be reached and
+rescued. In my boyhood I, who am called Cat, because I can climb so
+well, found that road, and when the Fung took me afterward and threw
+me to the lions, where I got these scars upon my face, by it I escaped.
+Spare me, and I will show it to you."
+
+"It is not enough to show the road," said Maqueda. "Dog, you must save
+the foreign lord whom you betrayed. If you do not save him you die. Do
+you understand?"
+
+"That is a hard saying, Lady," answered the man. "Am I God that I should
+promise to save this stranger who perchance is already dead? Yet I
+will do my best, knowing that if I fail you will kill me, and that if
+I succeed I shall be spared. At any rate, I will show you the road to
+where he is or was imprisoned, although I warn you that it is a rough
+one."
+
+"Where you can travel we can follow," said Maqueda. "Tell us now what we
+must do."
+
+So he told her, and when he had done the Prince Joshua intervened,
+saying that it was not fitting that the Child of Kings in her own sacred
+person should undertake such a dangerous journey. She listened to his
+remonstrances and thanked him for his care of her.
+
+"Still I am going," she said, "not for the sake of the stranger who is
+called Black Windows, but because, if there is a secret way out of Mur
+I think it well that I should know that way. Yet I agree with you,
+my uncle, that on such a journey I ought not to be unprotected, and
+therefore I pray that you will be ready to start with us at noon, since
+I am sure that then we shall all be safe."
+
+Now Joshua began to make excuses, but she would not listen to them.
+
+"No, no," she said, "you are too honest. The honour of the Abati is
+involved in this manner, since, alas! it was an Abati that betrayed
+Black Windows, and an Abati--namely, yourself--must save him. You have
+often told me, my uncle, how clever you are at climbing rocks, and now
+you shall make proof of your skill and courage before these foreigners.
+It is a command, speak no more," and she rose, to show that the audience
+was finished.
+
+
+
+That same afternoon Shadrach, by mountain paths that were known to him,
+led a little company of people to the crest of the western precipice of
+Mur. Fifteen hundred feet or more beneath us lay the great plains upon
+which, some miles away, could be seen the city of Harmac. But the idol
+in the valley we could not see, because here the precipice bent over and
+hid it from our sight.
+
+"What now, fellow," said Maqueda, who was clad in the rough sheepskin
+of a peasant woman, which somehow looked charming upon her. "Here is the
+cliff, there lies the plain; I see no road between the two, and my wise
+uncle, the prince, tells me that he never heard of one."
+
+"Lady," answered the man, "now I take command, and you must follow me.
+But first let us see that nobody and nothing are lacking."
+
+Then he went round the company and numbered them. In all we were
+sixteen; Maqueda and Joshua, we three Englishmen, armed with repeating
+rifles and revolvers, our guide Shadrach, and some picked Mountaineers
+chosen for their skill and courage. For even in Mur there were brave men
+left, especially among the shepherds and huntsmen, whose homes were on
+the cliffs. These sturdy guides were laden with ropes, lamps, and long,
+slender ladders that could be strapped together.
+
+When everything had been checked and all the ladders and straps tested,
+Shadrach went to a clump of bushes which grew feebly on the wind-swept
+crest of the precipice. In the midst of these he found and removed a
+large flat stone, revealing what evidently had been the head of a stair,
+although now its steps were much worn and crumbled by the water that in
+the wet season followed this natural drain to the depths below.
+
+"This is that road the ancients made for purposes of their own,"
+explained Shadrach, "which, as I have said, I chanced to discover when
+I was a boy. But let none follow it who are afraid, for it is steep and
+rough."
+
+Now Joshua, who was already weary with his long ride and walk up to the
+crest of the precipice, implored Maqueda almost passionately to abandon
+the idea of entering this horrid hole, while Oliver backed up his
+entreaties with few words but many appealing glances, for on this point,
+though for different reasons, the prince and he were at one.
+
+But she would not listen.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "with you, the experienced mountaineer, why should
+I be afraid? If the Doctor here, who is old enough to be the father of
+either of us" (so far as Joshua was concerned this remark lacked truth),
+"is willing to go, surely I can go also? Moreover, if I remained behind,
+you would wish to stay to guard me, and never should I forgive myself
+if I deprived you of such a great adventure. Also, like you, I love
+climbing. Come, let us waste no more time."
+
+So we were roped up. First went Shadrach, with Quick next to him, a
+position which the Sergeant insisted upon occupying as his custodian,
+and several of the Mountaineers, carrying ladders, lamps, oil, food and
+other things. Then in a second gang came two more of these men, Oliver,
+Maqueda, myself, and next to me, Joshua. The remaining mountaineers
+brought up the rear, carrying spare stores, ladders, and so forth. When
+all was ready the lamps were lit, and we started upon a very strange
+journey.
+
+For the first two hundred feet or so the stairs, though worn and almost
+perpendicular, for the place was like the shaft of a mine, were not
+difficult to descend, to any of us except Joshua, whom I heard puffing
+and groaning behind me. Then came a gallery running eastward at a steep
+slope for perhaps fifty paces, and at the end of it a second shaft of
+about the same depth as the first, but with the stairs much more worn,
+apparently by the washing of water, of which a good deal trickled out of
+the sides of the shaft. Another difficulty was that the air rushing up
+from below made it hard to keep the lamps alight.
+
+Toward the bottom of this section there was scarcely any stair left, and
+the climbing became very dangerous. Here, indeed, Joshua slipped, and
+with a wail of terror slid down the shaft and landed with his legs
+across my back in such a fashion that had I not happened to have
+good hand and foot hold at the time, he would have propelled me on to
+Maqueda, and we must have all rolled down headlong, probably to our
+deaths.
+
+As it was, this fat and terrified fellow cast his arms about my neck, to
+which he clung, nearly choking me, until, just when I was about to faint
+beneath his weight and pressure, the Mountaineers in the third party
+arrived and dragged him off. When they had got him in charge, for I
+refused to move another step while he was immediately behind me, we
+descended by a ladder which the first party had set up, to the second
+level, where began another long, eastward sloping passage that ended at
+the mouth of a third pit.
+
+Here arose the great question as to what was to be done with the Prince
+Joshua, who vowed that he could go no farther, and demanded loudly to be
+taken back to the top of the cliff, although Shadrach assured him that
+thenceforward the road was much easier. At length we were obliged to
+refer the matter to Maqueda, who settled it in very few words.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "you tell us that you cannot come on, and it
+is certain that we cannot spare the time and men to send you back.
+Therefore, it seems that you must stop where you are until we return,
+and if we should not return, make the best of your own way up the shaft.
+Farewell, my uncle, this place is safe and comfortable, and if you are
+wise you will rest awhile."
+
+"Heartless woman!" gobbled Joshua, who was shaking like a jelly with
+fear and rage. "Would you leave your affianced lord and lover alone in
+this haunted hole while you scramble down rocks like a wild cat with
+strangers? If I must stay, do you stay with me?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Maqueda with decision. "Shall it be said that
+the Child of Kings is afraid to go where her guests can travel?"
+
+Well, the end of it was that Joshua came on in the centre of the third
+body of Mountaineers, who were practically obliged to carry him.
+
+Shadrach was right, since for some reason or other the stairs
+thenceforward remained more perfect. Only they seemed almost endless,
+and before we reached our goal I calculated that we must have descended
+quite twelve hundred feet into the bowels of the rock. At length, when I
+was almost tired out and Maqueda was so breathless that she was obliged
+to lean on Oliver, dragging me behind her like a dog on a string, of a
+sudden we saw a glimmer of daylight that crept into the tunnel through a
+small hole. By the mouth of yet another pit or shaft, we found Shadrach
+and the others waiting for us. Saluting, he said that we must unrope,
+leave our lamps behind, and follow him. Oliver asked him whither this
+last shaft led.
+
+"To a still lower level, lord," he answered, "but one which you will
+scarcely care to explore, since it ends in the great pit where the Fung
+keep their sacred lions."
+
+"Indeed," said Oliver, much interested for reasons of his own, and he
+glanced at Quick, who nodded his head and whistled.
+
+Then we all followed Shadrach to find ourselves presently upon a plateau
+about the size of a racquet court which, either by nature or by the hand
+of man, had been recessed into the face of that gigantic cliff. Going
+to the edge of this plateau, whereon grew many tree-ferns and some thick
+green bushes that would have made us invisible from below even had there
+been any one to see us, we saw that the sheer precipice ran down beneath
+for several hundred feet. Of these yawning depths, however, we did not
+at the moment make out much, partly because they were plunged in shadow
+and partly for another reason.
+
+Rising out of the gulf below was what we took at first to be a rounded
+hill of black rock, oblong in shape, from which projected a gigantic
+shaft of stone ending in a kind of fretted bush that alone was of the
+size of a cottage. The point of this bush-like rock was exactly opposite
+the little plateau on to which we had emerged and distant from it not
+more than thirty, or at most, forty feet.
+
+"What is that?" asked Maqueda, of Shadrach, pointing in front of her, as
+she handed back to one of the Mountaineers a cup from which she had been
+drinking water.
+
+"That, O Walda Nagasta," he answered, "is nothing else than the back
+of the mighty idol of the Fung, which is shaped like a lion. The great
+shaft of rock with the bush at the end of it is the tail of the lion.
+Doubtless this platform on which we stand is a place whence the old
+priests, when they owned Mur as well as the land of the Fung, used to
+hide themselves to watch whatever it was they wanted to see. Look," and
+he pointed to certain grooves in the face of the rock, "I think that
+here there was once a bridge which could be let down at will on to the
+tail of the lion-god, though long ago it has rotted away. Yet ere now I
+have travelled this road without it."
+
+We stared at him astonished, and in the silence that followed I heard
+Maqueda whisper to Oliver:
+
+"Perhaps that is how he whom we call Cat escaped from the Fung; or
+perhaps that is how he communicates with them as a spy."
+
+"Or perhaps he is a liar, my Lady," interrupted Quick, who had also
+overheard their talk, a solution which, I confess, commended itself to
+me.
+
+"Why have you brought us here?" asked Maqueda presently.
+
+"Did I not tell you in Mur, Lady--to rescue Black Windows? Listen, now,
+it is the custom of the Fung to allow those who are imprisoned within
+the idol to walk unguarded upon its back at dawn and sunset. At least,
+this is their custom with Black Windows--ask me not how I know it; this
+is truth, I swear it on my life, which is at stake. Now this is my plan.
+We have with us a ladder which will reach from where we stand to the
+tail of the idol. Should the foreign lord appear upon the back of the
+god, which, if he still lives, as I believe he does, he is almost sure
+to do at sundown, as a man who dwells in the dark all day will love the
+light and air when he can get them, then some of us must cross and bring
+him back with us. Perhaps it had best be you, my lord Orme, since if
+I went alone, or even with these men, after what is past Black Windows
+might not altogether trust me."
+
+"Fool," broke in Maqueda, "how can a man do such a thing?"
+
+"O Lady, it is not so difficult as it looks. A few steps across the
+gulf, and then a hundred feet or so along the tail of the lion which
+is flat on the top and so broad that one may run down it if careful to
+follow the curves, that is on a still day--nothing more. But, of course,
+if the Lord Orme is afraid, which I did not think who have heard so much
+of his courage----" and the rogue shrugged his shoulders and paused.
+
+"Afraid, fellow," said Oliver, "well, I am not ashamed to be afraid of
+such a journey. Yet if there is need I will make it, though not before
+I see my brother alone yonder on the rock, since all this may be but
+a trick of yours to deliver me to the Fung, among whom I know that you
+have friends."
+
+"It is madness; you shall not go," said Maqueda. "You will fall and be
+dashed to pieces. I say that you shall not go."
+
+"Why should he not go, my niece?" interrupted Joshua. "Shadrach is
+right; we have heard much of the courage of this Gentile. Now let us see
+him do something."
+
+She turned on the Prince like a tiger.
+
+"Very good, my uncle, then you shall go with him. Surely one of the
+ancient blood of the Abati will not shirk from what a 'Gentile' dares."
+
+On hearing this Joshua relapsed into silence, and I have no clear memory
+of what he did or said in connection with the rest of that thrilling
+scene.
+
+Now followed a pause in the midst of which Oliver sat down and began to
+take off his boots.
+
+"Why do you undress yourself, friend?" asked Maqueda nervously.
+
+"Because, Lady," he answered, "if I have to walk yonder road it is safer
+to do so in my stockings. Have no fear," he added gently, "from boyhood
+I have been accustomed to such feats, and when I served in my country's
+army it was my pleasure to give instruction in them, although it is true
+that this one surpasses all that ever I attempted."
+
+"Still I do fear," she said.
+
+Meanwhile Quick had sat down and begun to take off _his_ boots.
+
+"What are you doing, Sergeant?" I asked.
+
+"Getting ready to accompany the Captain upon forlorn hope, Doctor."
+
+"Nonsense," I said, "you are too old for the game, Sergeant. If any one
+goes, I should, seeing that I believe my son is over there, but I can't
+try it, as I know my head would give out, and I should fall in a second,
+which would only upset everybody."
+
+"Of course," broke in Oliver, who had overheard us, "I'm in command
+here, and my orders are that neither of you shall come. Remember,
+Sergeant, that if anything happens to me it is your business to take
+over the stores and use them if necessary, which you alone can do. Now
+go and see to the preparations, and find out the plan of campaign, for I
+want to rest and keep quiet. I daresay the whole thing is humbug, and we
+shall see nothing of the Professor; still, one may as well be prepared."
+
+So Quick and I went to superintend the lashing of two of the light
+ladders together and the securing of some planks which we had brought
+with us upon the top of the rungs, so as to make these ladders easy to
+walk on. I asked who would be of the party besides Shadrach and Orme,
+and was told no one, as all were afraid. Ultimately, however, a man
+named Japhet, one of the Mountaineers, volunteered upon being promised
+a grant of land from the Child of Kings herself, which grant she
+proclaimed before them all was to be given to his relatives in the event
+of his death.
+
+At length everything was ready, and there came another spell of silence,
+for the nerves of all of us were so strained that we did not seem able
+to talk. It was broken by a sound of sudden and terrible roaring that
+arose from the gulf beneath.
+
+"It is the hour of the feeding of the sacred lions which the Fung keep
+in the pit about the base of the idol," explained Shadrach. Then he
+added, "Unless he should be rescued, I believe that Black Windows
+will be given to the lions to-night, which is that of full moon and a
+festival of Harmac, though maybe he will be kept till the next full moon
+when all the Fung come up to worship."
+
+This information did not tend to raise anyone's spirits, although Quick,
+who always tried to be cheerful, remarked that it was probably false.
+
+The shadows began to gather in the Valley of Harmac, whereby we knew
+that the sun was setting behind the mountains. Indeed, had it not been
+for a clear and curious glow reflected from the eastern sky, the gulf
+would have plunged us in gloom. Presently, far away upon a rise of rock
+which we knew must be the sphinx head of the huge idol, a little figure
+appeared outlined against the sky, and there began to sing. The moment
+that I heard the distant voice I went near to fainting, and indeed
+should have fallen had not Quick caught me.
+
+"What is it, Adams?" asked Oliver, looking up from where he and Maqueda
+sat whispering to each other while the fat Joshua glowered at them in
+the background. "Has Higgs appeared?"
+
+"No," I answered, "but, thank God, my son still lives. That is his
+voice. Oh! if you can, save him, too."
+
+Now there was much suppressed excitement, and some one thrust a pair
+of field-glasses into my hand, but either they were wrongly set or the
+state of my nerves would not allow me to see through them. So Quick took
+them and reported.
+
+"Tall, slim figure wearing a white robe, but at the distance in this
+light can't make out the face. One might hail him, perhaps, only it
+would give us away. Ah! the hymn is done and he's gone; seemed to jump
+into a hole in the rock, which shows that he's all right, anyway, or
+he couldn't jump. So cheer up, Doctor, for you have much to be thankful
+for."
+
+"Yes," I repeated after him, "much to be thankful for, but still I would
+that I had more after all these years to search. To think that I should
+be so close to him and he know nothing of it."
+
+After the ceasing of the song and the departure of my son, there
+appeared upon the back of the idol three Fung warriors, fine fellows
+clad in long robes and armed with spears, and behind them a trumpeter
+who carried a horn or hollowed elephant's tusk. These men marched up and
+down the length of the platform from the rise of the neck to the root of
+the tail, apparently to make an inspection. Having found nothing, for,
+of course, they could not see us hidden behind the bushes on our little
+plateau, of which no doubt they did not even know the existence, and
+much less that it was connected with the mountain plain of Mur, the
+trumpeter blew a shrill blast upon his horn, and before the echoes of it
+had died away, vanished with his companions.
+
+"Sunset tour of inspection. Seen the same kind of thing as at Gib.,"
+said the Sergeant. "Oh! by Jingo! Pussy isn't lying after all--there
+he is," and he pointed to a figure that rose suddenly out of the black
+stone of the idol's back just as the guards had done.
+
+It was Higgs, Higgs without a doubt; Higgs wearing his battered
+sun-helmet and his dark spectacles; Higgs smoking his big meerschaum
+pipe, and engaged in making notes in a pocket-book as calmly as though
+he sat before a new object in the British Museum.
+
+I gasped with astonishment, for somehow I had never expected that we
+should really see him, but Orme, rising very quietly from his seat
+beside Maqueda, only said:
+
+"Yes, that's the old fellow right enough. Well, now for it. You,
+Shadrach, run out your ladder and cross first that I may be sure you
+play no trick."
+
+"Nay," broke in Maqueda, "this dog shall not go, for never would he
+return from his friends the Fung. Man," she said, addressing Japhet, the
+Mountaineer to whom she had promised land, "go you over first and hold
+the end of the ladder while this lord crosses. If he returns safe your
+reward is doubled."
+
+Japhet saluted, the ladder was run out and its end set upon the
+roughnesses in the rock that represented the hair of the sphinx's tail.
+The Mountaineer paused a moment with hands and face uplifted; evidently
+he was praying. Then bidding his companions hold the hither end of the
+ladder, and having first tested it with his foot and found that it hung
+firm, calmly he walked across, being a brave fellow, and presently was
+seen seated on the opposing mass of rock.
+
+Now came Oliver's turn. He nodded to Maqueda, who went white as a sheet,
+muttering some words to her that did not reach me. Then he turned and
+shook my hand.
+
+"If you can, save my son also," I whispered.
+
+"I'll do my best if I can get hold of him," he answered. "Sergeant, if
+anything happens to me you know your duty."
+
+"I'll try and follow your example, Captain, under all circumstances,
+though that will be hard," replied Quick in a rather shaky voice.
+
+Oliver stepped out on the ladder. I reckoned that twelve or fourteen
+short paces would take him across, and the first half of these he
+accomplished with quiet certainty. When he was in the exact middle of
+the passage, however, the end of one of the uprights of the ladder at
+the farther side slipped a little, notwithstanding the efforts of Japhet
+to keep it straight, with the result that the plank bound on the rungs
+lost its level, sinking an inch or so to the right, and nearly causing
+Oliver to fall from it into the gulf. He wavered like a wind-shaken
+reed, attempted to step forward, hesitated, stopped, and slowly sank on
+to his hands and knees.
+
+"_Ah_!" panted Maqueda.
+
+"The Gentile has lost his head," began Joshua in a voice full of the
+triumph that he could not hide. "He--will----"
+
+Joshua got no further, for Quick, turning, threatened him savagely with
+his fist, saying in English:
+
+"Stow your jaw if you don't want to follow him, you swine," whereon
+Joshua, who understood the gesture, if not the words, relapsed into
+silence.
+
+Now the Mountaineer on the farther side spoke, saying:
+
+"Have no fear, the ladder is safe."
+
+For a moment Oliver remained in his crouching posture on the board,
+which was all that separated him from an awful death in the gulf
+beneath. Next, while we watched, agonized, he rose to his feet again,
+and with perfect calmness walked across to its other end.
+
+"Well done our side!" said Quick, addressing Joshua, "why don't your
+Royal Highness cheer? No, you leave that knife alone, or presently
+there'll be a hog the less in this world," and stooping down he relieved
+the Prince of the weapon which he was fingering with his round eyes
+fixed upon the Sergeant.
+
+Maqueda, who had noted all, now interfered.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "brave men are risking their lives yonder while we
+sit in safety. Be silent and cease from quarrelling, I pray you."
+
+Next moment we had forgotten all about Joshua, being utterly absorbed in
+watching the drama in progress upon the farther side of the gulf. After
+a slight pause to recover his nerve or breath, Orme rose, and preceded
+by Japhet, climbed up the bush-like rock till he reached the shaft
+of the sphinx's tail. Here he turned and waved his hand to us,
+then following the Mountaineer, walked, apparently with the utmost
+confidence, along the curves of the tail to where it sprang from the
+body of the idol. At this spot there was a little difficulty in climbing
+over the smooth slope of rock on to the broad terrace-like back. Soon,
+however, they surmounted it, and vanishing for a few seconds into
+the hollow of the loins, which, of course, was a good many feet deep,
+re-appeared moving toward the shoulders. Between these we could see
+Higgs standing with his back toward us, utterly unconscious of all that
+was passing behind him.
+
+Passing Japhet, Oliver walked up to the Professor and touched him on
+the arm. Higgs turned, stared at the pair for a moment, and then, in
+his astonishment, or so we guessed, sat down plump upon the rock. They
+pulled him to his feet, Orme pointing to the cliff behind, and evidently
+explaining the situation and what must be done. Then followed a short
+and animated talk. Through the glasses we could even see Higgs shaking
+his head. He told them something, they came to a determination, for
+now he turned, stepped forward a pace or two, and vanished, as I learnt
+afterwards, to fetch my son, without whom he would not try to escape.
+
+A while went by; it seemed an age, but really was under a minute. We
+heard the sound of shouts. Higgs's white helmet reappeared, and then his
+body, with two Fung guards clinging on to him. He yelled out in English
+and the words reached us faintly:
+
+"Save yourself! I'll hold these devils. Run, you infernal fool, run!"
+
+Oliver hesitated, although the Mountaineer was pulling at him, till the
+heads of more Fung appeared. Then, with a gesture of despair, he turned
+and fled. First ran Oliver, then Japhet, whom he had outpaced, and after
+them came a number of priests or guards, waving knives, while in the
+background Higgs rolled on the rock with his captors.
+
+The rest was very short. Orme slid down the rump of the idol on to the
+tail, followed by the Mountaineer, and after them in single file came
+three Fung, who apparently thought no more of the perilous nature of
+their foothold than do the sheiks of the Egyptian pyramids when they
+swarm about those monuments like lizards. Nor, for the matter of that,
+did Oliver or Japhet, who doubled down the tail as though it were a race
+track. Oliver swung himself on to the ladder, and in a second was
+half across it, we holding its other end, when suddenly he heard his
+companion cry out. A Fung had got hold of Japhet by the leg and he lay
+face downward on the board.
+
+Oliver halted and slowly turned round, drawing his revolver as he did
+so. Then he aimed and fired, and the Fung, leaving go of Japhet's leg,
+threw up his arms and plunged headlong into the gulf beneath. The next
+thing I remember is that they were both among us, and somebody shouted,
+"Pull in the ladder."
+
+"No," said Quick, "wait a bit."
+
+Vaguely I wondered why, till I perceived that three of those courageous
+Fung were following across it, resting their hands upon each other's
+shoulders, while their companions cheered them.
+
+"Now, pull, brothers, pull!" shouted the Sergeant, and pull we did. Poor
+Fung! they deserved a better fate.
+
+"Always inflict loss upon the enemy when you get a chance," remarked the
+Sergeant, as he opened fire with his repeating rifle upon other Fung
+who by now were clustering upon the back of the idol. This position,
+however, they soon abandoned as untenable, except one or two of them who
+remained there, dead or wounded.
+
+A silence followed, in the midst of which I heard Quick saying to Joshua
+in his very worst Arabic:
+
+"Now does your Royal Highness think that we Gentiles are cowards,
+although it is true those Fung are as good men as we any day?"
+
+Joshua declined argument, and I turned to watch Oliver, who had covered
+his face with his hands, and seemed to be weeping.
+
+"What is it, O friend, what is it?" I heard Maqueda say in her gentle
+voice--a voice full of tears, tears of gratitude I think. "You have done
+a great deed; you have returned safe; all is well."
+
+"Nay," he answered, forgetting her titles in his distress, "all is ill.
+I have failed, and to-night they throw my brother to the lions. He told
+me so."
+
+Maqueda, finding no answer, stretched out her hand to the Mountaineer,
+his companion in adventure, who kissed it.
+
+"Japhet," she said, "I am proud of you; your reward is fourfold, and
+henceforth you are a captain of my Mountaineers."
+
+"Tell us what happened," I said to Oliver.
+
+"This," he answered: "I remembered about your son, and so did Higgs. In
+fact, he spoke of him first--they seem to have become friends. He said
+he would not escape without him, and could fetch him in a moment, as
+he was only just below. Well, he went to do so, and must have found the
+guard instead, who, I suppose, had heard us talking. You know as much
+about the rest as I do. To-night, when the full moon is two hours high,
+there is to be a ceremony of sacrifice, and poor Higgs will be let down
+into the den of lions. He was writing his will in a note-book when we
+saw him, as Barung had promised to send it to us."
+
+"Doctor," said the Sergeant, in a confidential voice, when he had
+digested this information, "would you translate for me a bit, as I want
+to have a talk with Cat there, and my Arabic don't run to it?"
+
+I nodded, and we went to that corner of the plateau where Shadrach stood
+apart, watching and listening.
+
+"Now, Cat," said the Sergeant (I give his remarks in his own language,
+leaving out my rendering) "just listen to me, and understand that if
+you tell lies or play games either you or I don't reach the top of this
+cliff again alive. Do you catch on?"
+
+Shadrach replied that he caught on.
+
+"Very well. You've told us that once you were a prisoner among the
+Fung and thrown to these holy lions, but got out. Now just explain what
+happened."
+
+"This, O Quick. After ceremonies that do not matter, I was let down in
+the food-basket into the feeding-den, and thrown out of the basket like
+any other meat. Then the gates were lifted up by the chains, and the
+lions came in to devour me according to their custom."
+
+"And what happened next, Shadrach?"
+
+"What happened? Why, of course I hid myself in the shadow as much as
+possible, right against the walls of the precipice, until a satan of
+a she-lion snuffled me out and gave a stroke at me. Look, here are the
+marks of her claws," and he pointed to the scars upon his face. "Those
+claws stung like scorpions; they made me mad. The terror which I had
+lost when I saw their yellow eyes came back to me. I rushed at the
+precipice as a cat that is hunted by a dog rushes at a wall. I clung
+to its smooth side with my nails, with my toes, with my teeth. A lion
+leaped up and tore the flesh of my leg, here, here," and he showed the
+marks, which we could scarcely see in that dim light. "He ran back for
+another spring. Above me I saw a tiny ledge, big enough for a hawk to
+sit on--no more. I jumped, I caught it, drawing up my legs so that the
+lion missed me. I made the effort a man makes once in his life. Somehow
+I dragged myself to that ledge; I rested one thigh upon it and pressed
+against the rock to steady myself. Then the rock gave, and I tumbled
+backward into the bottom of a tunnel. Afterwards I escaped to the top
+of the cliff in the dark, O God of Israel! in the dark, smelling my way,
+climbing like a baboon, risking death a thousand times. It took me two
+whole days and nights, and the last of those nights I knew not what I
+did. Yet I found my way, and that is why my people name me Cat."
+
+"I understand," said Quick in a new and more respectful voice, "and
+however big a rascal you may be, you've got pluck. Now, say, remembering
+what I told you," and he tapped the handle of his revolver, "is that
+feeding-den where it used to be?"
+
+"I believe so, O Quick; why should it be changed? The victims are let
+down from the belly of the god, just there between his thighs where are
+doors. The feeding-place lies in a hollow of the cliff; this platform on
+which we stand is over it. None saw my escape, therefore none searched
+for the means of it, since they thought that the lions had devoured
+me, as they have devoured thousands. No one enters there, only when the
+beasts have fed full they draw back to their sleeping-dens, and those
+who watch above let down the bars. Listen," and as he spoke we heard a
+crash and a rattle far below. "They fall now, the lions having eaten.
+When Black Windows and perhaps others are thrown to them, by and by,
+they will be drawn up again."
+
+"Is that hole in the rock still there, Shadrach?"
+
+"Without doubt, though I have not been down to look."
+
+"Then, my boy, you are going now," remarked Quick grimly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DEN OF LIONS
+
+We returned to the others and told them everything that we had learned
+from Shadrach.
+
+"What's your plan, Sergeant?" asked Oliver when he had heard. "Tell me,
+for I have none; my head is muddled."
+
+"This, Captain, for what it is worth; that I should go down through the
+hole that Cat here speaks of, and get into the den. Then when they let
+down the Professor, if they do, and pull up the gates, that I should
+keep back the lions with my rifle while he bolts to the ladder which is
+ready for him, and I follow if I can."
+
+"Capital," said Orme, "but you can't go alone. I'll come too."
+
+"And I also," I said.
+
+"What schemes do you make?" asked Maqueda eagerly, for, of course, she
+could not understand our talk.
+
+We explained.
+
+"What, my friend," she said to Oliver reproachfully, "would you risk
+your life again to-night? Surely it is tempting the goodness of God."
+
+"It would be tempting the goodness of God much more if I left my friend
+to be eaten by lions, Lady," he answered.
+
+Then followed much discussions. In the end it was agreed that we should
+descend to the level of the den, if this were possible; that Oliver and
+Quick should go down into the den with Japhet, who instantly volunteered
+to accompany them, and that I, with some of the Mountaineers, should
+stop in the mouth of the hole as a reserve to cover their retreat from
+the lions. I pleaded to be allowed to take a more active part, but of
+this they would not hear, saying with some truth, that I was by far the
+best shot of the three, and could do much more to help them from above,
+if, as was hoped, the moon should shine brightly.
+
+But I knew they really meant that I was too old to be of service in such
+an adventure as this. Also they desired to keep me out of risk.
+
+Then came the question as to who should descend the last tunnel to the
+place of operations. Oliver wished Maqueda to return to the top of the
+cliff and wait there, but she said at once that she could not think of
+attempting the ascent without our aid; also that she was determined to
+see the end of the matter. Even Joshua would not go; I think, that being
+an unpopular character among them, he distrusted the Mountaineers, whose
+duty it would have been to escort him.
+
+It was suggested that he should remain where he was until we returned,
+if we did return, but this idea commended itself to him still less than
+the other. Indeed he pointed out with much truth what we had overlooked,
+namely, that now the Fung knew of the passage and were quite capable
+of playing our own game, that is, of throwing a bridge across from the
+sphinx's tail and attempting the storm of Mur.
+
+"And then what should I do if they found me here alone?" he added
+pathetically.
+
+Maqueda answered that she was sure she did not know, but that meanwhile
+it might be wise to block the mouth of the tunnel by which we had
+reached the plateau in such a fashion that it could not easily be
+forced.
+
+"Yes," answered Oliver, "and if we ever get out of this, to blow the
+shaft in and make sure that it cannot be used."
+
+"That shaft might be useful, Captain," said Quick doubtfully.
+
+"There is a better way, Sergeant, if we want to mine under the sphinx;
+I mean through the Tomb of Kings. I took the levels roughly, and the end
+of it can't be far off. Anyhow, this shaft is of no more use to us now
+that the Fung have found it out."
+
+Then we set to work to fill in the mouth of the passage with such loose
+stones as we could find. It was a difficult business, but in the end the
+Mountaineers made a very fair job of it under our direction, piling the
+rocks in such a fashion that they could scarcely be cleared away in any
+short time without the aid of explosives.
+
+While this work was going on, Japhet, Shadrach, and the Sergeant in
+charge of him, undertook to explore the last shaft which led down to the
+level of the den. To our relief, just as we had finished building up
+the hole, they returned with the news that now after they had removed a
+fallen stone or two it was quite practicable with the aid of ropes and
+ladders.
+
+So, in the same order as before, we commenced its passage, and in about
+half-an-hour, for it was under three hundred feet in depth, arrived
+safely at the foot. Here we found a bat-haunted place like a room that
+evidently had been hollowed out by man. As Shadrach had said, at its
+eastern extremity was a large, oblong boulder, so balanced that if even
+one person pushed on either of its ends it swung around, leaving on
+each side a passage large enough to allow a man to walk through in a
+crouching attitude.
+
+Very silently we propped open this prim�val door and looked out. Now the
+full moon was up, and her brilliant light had begun to flood the gulf.
+By it we saw a dense shadow, that reached from the ground to three
+hundred feet or so above us. This we knew to be that thrown by the
+flanks of the gigantic sphinx which projected beyond the mountain of
+stone whereon it rested, those flanks whence, according to Shadrach,
+Higgs would be lowered in a food-basket. In this shadow and on either
+side of it, covering a space of quite a hundred yards square, lay the
+feeding-den, whence arose a sickly and horrible odour such as is common
+to any place frequented by cats, mingled with the more pungent smell of
+decaying flesh.
+
+This darksome den was surrounded on three sides by precipices, and on
+the fourth, that toward the east, enclosed by a wall or barrier of rock
+pierced with several gates made of bars of metal, or so we judged by the
+light that flowed through them.
+
+From beyond this eastern wall came dreadful sounds of roars, snarls, and
+whimperings. Evidently there the sacred lions had their home.
+
+Only one more thing need be mentioned. On the rock floor almost
+immediately beneath us lay remains which, from their torn clothes and
+hair, we knew must be human. As somebody explained, I think it was
+Shadrach, they were those of the man whom Orme had shot upon the tail of
+the sphinx, and of his companions who had been tilted off the ladder.
+
+For awhile we gazed at this horrible hole in silence. Then Oliver took
+out his watch, which was a repeater, and struck it.
+
+"Higgs told me," he said, "that he was to be thrown to the lions two
+hours after moonrise, which is within fifteen minutes or so. Sergeant, I
+think we had better be getting ready."
+
+"Yes, Captain," answered Quick; "but everything is quite ready,
+including those brutes, to judge by the noise they make, excepting
+perhaps Samuel Quick, who never felt less ready for anything in his
+life. Now then, Pussy, run out that ladder. Here's your rifle, Captain,
+and six reload clips of cartridges, five hollow-nosed bullets in each.
+You'll never want more than that, and it's no use carrying extra weight.
+In your right-hand pocket, Captain, don't forget. I've the same in mine.
+Doctor, here's a pile for you; laid upon that stone. If you lie there,
+you'll have a good light and rest for your elbow, and at this range
+ought to make very pretty shooting, even in the moonlight. Best keep
+your pistol on the safe, Captain; at least, I'm doing so, as we might
+get a fall, and these new-fangled weapons are very hair-triggered.
+Here's Japhet ready, too, so give us your marching orders, sir, and we
+will go to business; the Doctor will translate to Japhet."
+
+"We descend the ladder," said Orme, "and advance about fifty paces into
+the shadow, where we can see without being seen; where also, according
+to Shadrach, the food-basket is let down. There we shall stand and await
+the arrival of this basket. If it contains the Professor, he whom the
+Fung and the Abati know as Black Windows, Japhet, you are to seize him
+and lead, or if necessary carry, him to the ladder, up which some of the
+mountaineers must be ready to help him. Your duty, Sergeant, and mine,
+also that of the Doctor firing from above, will be to keep off the lions
+as best we can, should any lions appear, retreating as we fire. If the
+brutes get one of us he must be left, since it is foolish that both
+lives should be sacrificed needlessly. For the rest, you, Sergeant,
+and you, Japhet, must be guided by circumstances and act upon your own
+discretion. Do not wait for special orders from me which I may not be
+able to give. Now, come on. If we do not return, Adams, you will see the
+Child of Kings safely up the shafts and conduct her to Mur. Good-bye,
+Lady."
+
+"Good-bye," answered Maqueda in a brave voice; I could not see her
+face in the darkness. "Presently, I am sure, you will return with your
+brother."
+
+Just then Joshua broke in:
+
+"I will not be outdone in courage by these Gentiles," he said. "Lacking
+their terrible weapons, I cannot advance into the den, but I will
+descend and guard the foot of the ladder."
+
+"Very well, sir," answered Orme in an astonished voice, "glad to have
+your company, I am sure. Only remember that you must be quick in going
+up it again, since hungry lions are active, and let all take notice that
+we are not responsible for anything that may happen to you."
+
+"Surely you had better stop where you are, my uncle," remarked Maqueda.
+
+"To be mocked by you for ever after, my niece. No, I go to face the
+lions," and very slowly he crept through the hole and began to descend
+the ladder. Indeed, when Quick followed after an interval he found
+him only half-way down, and had to hurry his movements by accidentally
+treading on his fingers.
+
+A minute or two later, peeping over the edge, I saw that they were all
+in the den, that is, except Joshua, who had reascended the ladder to the
+height of about six feet, and stood on it face outward, holding to the
+rock on either side with his hands as though he had been crucified.
+Fearing lest he should be seen there, even in the shadow, I suggested to
+Maqueda that she should order him either to go down, or to return, which
+she did vigorously, but without effect. So in the end we left him alone.
+
+Meanwhile the three had vanished into the shadow of the sphinx, and we
+could see nothing of them. The great round moon rose higher and higher,
+flooding the rest of the charnel-house with light, and, save for an
+occasional roar or whimper from the lions beyond the wall, the silence
+was intense. Now I could make out the metal gates in this wall, and even
+dark and stealthy forms which passed and repassed beyond their bars.
+Then I made out something else also, the figures of men gathering on the
+top of the wall, though whence they came I knew not. By degrees their
+number increased till there were hundreds of them, for the wall was
+broad as a roadway.
+
+Evidently these were spectators, come to witness the ceremony of
+sacrifice.
+
+"Prince," I whispered to Joshua, "you must get down off the ladder or
+you will betray us all. Nay, it is too late to come up here again, for
+already the moonlight strikes just above your head. Go down, or we will
+cast the ladder loose and let you fall."
+
+So he went down and hid himself among some ferns and bushes where we
+saw no more of him for a while, and, to tell the truth, forgot his
+existence.
+
+Far, far above us, from the back of the idol I suppose, came a faint
+sound of solemn chanting. It sank, and we heard shouts. Then suddenly
+it swelled again. Now Maqueda, who knelt near me, touched my arm and
+pointed to the shadow which gradually was becoming infiltrated with the
+moonlight flowing into it from either side. I looked, and high in
+the air, perhaps two hundred feet from the ground, saw something dark
+descending slowly. Doubtless it was the basket containing Higgs, and
+whether by coincidence or no, at this moment the lions on the farther
+side of the wall burst into peal upon peal of terrific roaring. Perhaps
+their sentries watching at the gate saw or smelt the familiar basket,
+and communicated the intelligence to their fellows.
+
+Slowly, slowly it descended, till it was within a few feet of the
+ground, when it began to sway backward and forward like a pendulum, at
+each swing covering a wider arc. Presently, when it hung over the edge
+of the shadow that was nearest to us, it was let down with a run and
+overset, and out of it, looking very small in those vast surroundings
+and that mysterious light, rolled the figure of a man. Although at
+that distance we could see little of him, accident assured us of his
+identity, for as he rolled the hat he wore fell from him, and I knew
+it at once for Higgs's sun-helmet. He rose from the ground, limped very
+slowly and painfully after the helmet, picked it up, and proceeded to
+use it to dust his knees. At this moment there was a clanking sound.
+
+"Oh! they lift the gates!" murmured Maqueda.
+
+Then followed more sounds, this time of wild beasts raging for their
+prey, and of other human beasts shrieking with excitement on the wall
+above. The Professor turned and saw. For a moment he seemed about to
+run, then changed his mind, clapped the helmet on his head, folded his
+arms and stood still, reminding me in some curious way, perhaps, because
+of the shortness of his thick figure, of a picture I had seen of the
+great Napoleon contemplating a disaster.
+
+To describe what followed is extremely difficult, for we watched not
+one but several simultaneous scenes. For instance, there were the lions,
+which did not behave as might have been expected. I thought that they
+would rush through the doors and bound upon the victim, but whether it
+was because they had already been fed that afternoon or because they
+thought that a single human being was not worth the trouble, they acted
+differently.
+
+Through the open gates they came, in two indolent yellow lines, male
+lions, female lions, half-grown lions, cub lions that cuffed each other
+in play, in all perhaps fifty or sixty of them. Of these only two or
+three looked towards the Professor, for none of them ran or galloped,
+while the rest spread over the den, some of them vanishing into the
+shadow at the edge of the surrounding cliff where the moonlight could
+not reach.
+
+Here one of them, at any rate, must have travelled fast enough, for it
+seemed only a few seconds later that we heard a terrific yell beneath
+us, and craning over the rock I saw the Prince Joshua running up the
+ladder more swiftly than ever did any London lamplighter when I was a
+boy.
+
+But quickly as he came, the long, thin, sinuous thing beneath came
+quicker. It reared itself on its hind legs, it stretched up a great
+paw--I can see the gleaming claws in it now--and struck or hooked at
+poor Joshua. The paw caught him in the small of the back, and seemed
+to pin him against the ladder. Then it was drawn slowly downward,
+and heaven! how Joshua howled. Up came the other paw to repeat the
+operation, when, stretching myself outward and downward, with an Abati
+holding me by the ankles, I managed to shoot the beast through the
+head so that it fell all of a heap, taking with it a large portion of
+Joshua's nether garments.
+
+A few seconds later he was among us, and tumbled groaning into a corner,
+where he lay in charge of some of the mountaineers, for I had no time to
+attend to him just then.
+
+When the smoke cleared at length, I saw that Japhet had reached Higgs,
+and was gesticulating to him to run, while two lions, a male and a
+female, stood at a little distance, regarding the pair in an interested
+fashion. Higgs, after some brief words of explanation, pointed to his
+knee. Evidently he was lamed and could not run. Japhet, rising to the
+occasion, pointed to his back, and bent down. Higgs flung himself upon
+it, and was hitched up like a sack of flour. The pair began to advance
+toward the ladder, Japhet carrying Higgs as one schoolboy carries
+another.
+
+The lion sat down like a great dog, watching this strange proceeding
+with mild interest, but the lioness, filled with feminine curiosity,
+followed sniffing at Higgs, who looked over his shoulder. Taking off his
+battered helmet, he threw it at the beast, hitting her on the head.
+She growled, then seized the helmet, playing with it for a moment as
+a kitten does with a ball of wool, and next instant, finding it
+unsatisfying, uttered a short and savage roar, ran forward, and crouched
+to spring, lashing her tail. I could not fire, because a bullet that
+would hit her must first pass through Japhet and Higgs.
+
+But, just when I thought that the end had come, a rifle went off in the
+shadow and she rolled over, kicking and biting the rock. Thereon the
+indolent male lion seemed to awake, and sprang, not at the men, but at
+the wounded lioness, and a hellish fight ensued, of which the details
+and end were lost in a mist of dust and flying hair.
+
+The crowd upon the wall, becoming alive to the real situation, began to
+scream in indignant excitement which quickly communicated itself to
+the less savage beasts. These set up a terrible roaring, and ran about,
+keeping for the most part to the shadows, while Japhet and his burden
+made slow but steady progress toward the ladder.
+
+Then from the gloom beneath the hind-quarters of the sphinx rose a
+sound of rapid firing, and presently Orme and Quick emerged into the
+moonlight, followed by a number of angry lions that advanced in short
+rushes. Evidently the pair had kept their heads, and were acting on a
+plan.
+
+One of them emptied his rifle at the pursuing beasts, while the other
+ran back a few paces, thrusting in a fresh clip of cartridges as he
+went. Then he began to fire, and his companion in turn retreated behind
+him. In this way they knocked over a number of lions, for the range was
+too short for them to miss often, and the expanding bullets did their
+work very well, paralyzing even when they did not kill. I also opened
+fire over their heads, and, although in that uncertain light the
+majority of my shots did no damage, the others disposed of several
+animals which I saw were becoming dangerous.
+
+So things went on until all four, that is, Japhet with Higgs upon
+his back, and Orme and Quick, were within twenty paces of the ladder,
+although separated from each other by perhaps half the length of a
+cricket pitch. We thought that they were safe, and shouted in our joy,
+while the hundreds of spectators on the wall who fortunately dared not
+descend into the den because of the lions, which are undiscriminating
+beasts, yelled with rage at the imminent rescue of the sacrifice.
+
+Then of a sudden the position changed. From every quarter fresh lions
+seemed to arrive, ringing the men round and clearly bent on slaughter,
+although the shouting and the sound of firearms, which they had never
+heard before, frightened them and made them cautious.
+
+A half-grown cub rushed in and knocked over Japhet and Higgs. I fired
+and hit it in the flank. It bit savagely at its wound, then sprang on to
+the prostrate pair, and stood over them growling, but in such pain that
+it forgot to kill them. The ring of beasts closed in--we could see their
+yellow eyes glowing in the gloom. Orme and Quick might have got through
+by the help of their rifles, but they could not leave the others. The
+dreadful climax seemed at hand.
+
+"Follow me," said Maqueda, who all this while had watched panting at my
+side, and rose to run to the ladder. I thrust her back.
+
+"Nay," I shouted. "Follow me, Abati! Shall a woman lead you?"
+
+Of how I descended that ladder I have no recollection, nor do I in the
+least know how the Mountaineers came after me, but I think that the most
+of them rolled and scrambled down the thirty feet of rock. At least, to
+their honour be it said, they did come, yelling like demons and waving
+long knives in their hands.
+
+The effect of our sudden arrival from above was extraordinary. Scared
+by the rush and the noise, the lions gave way, then bolted in every
+direction, the wounded cub, which could not, or would not move, being
+stabbed to death where it stood over Higgs and Japhet.
+
+Five minutes more and all of us were safe in the mouth of the tunnel.
+
+
+
+That was how we rescued Higgs from the den of the sacred lions which
+guarded the idol of the Fung.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF HIGGS
+
+A more weary and dishevelled set of people than that which about the
+hour of dawn finally emerged from the mouth of the ancient shaft on to
+the cliffs of Mur it has seldom been my lot to behold. Yet with a single
+exception the party was a happy one, for we had come triumphant through
+great dangers, and actually effected our object--the rescue of
+Higgs, which, under the circumstances most people would have thought
+impossible. Yes, there he was in the flesh before us, having injured his
+knee and lost his hat, but otherwise quite sound save for a few trifling
+scratches inflicted by the cub, and still wearing what the natives
+called his "black windows."
+
+Even the Prince Joshua was happy, though wrapped in a piece of coarse
+sacking because the lion had taken most of his posterior clothing, and
+terribly sore from the deep cuts left by the claws.
+
+Had he not dared the dangers of the den, and thus proved himself a hero
+whose fame would last for generations? Had I not assured him that his
+honourable wounds, though painful (as a matter of fact, after they had
+set, they kept him stiff as a mummy for some days, so that unless he
+stood upon his feet, he had to be carried, or lie rigid on his face)
+would probably not prove fatal? And had he not actually survived to
+reach the upper air again, which was more than he ever expected to do?
+No wonder that he was happy.
+
+I alone could not share in the general joy, since, although my friend
+was restored to me, my son still remained a prisoner among the Fung. Yet
+even in this matter things might have been worse, since I learned
+that he was well treated, and in no danger. But of that I will write
+presently.
+
+Never shall I forget the scene after the arrival of Higgs in our hole,
+when the swinging boulder had been closed and made secure and the lamps
+lighted. There he sat on the floor, his red hair glowing like a torch,
+his clothes torn and bloody, his beard ragged and stretching in a
+Newgate frill to his ears. Indeed, his whole appearance, accentuated by
+the blue spectacles with wire gauze side-pieces, was more disreputable
+than words can tell; moreover, he smelt horribly of lion. He put his
+hand into his pocket, and produced his big pipe, which had remained
+unbroken in its case.
+
+"Some tobacco, please," he said. (Those were his first words to us!) "I
+have finished mine, saved up the last to smoke just before they put me
+into that stinking basket."
+
+I gave him some, and as he lit his pipe the light of the match fell upon
+the face of Maqueda, who was staring at him with amused astonishment.
+
+"What an uncommonly pretty woman," he said. "What's she doing down here,
+and who is she?"
+
+I told him, whereon he rose, or rather tried to, felt for his hat,
+which, of course, had gone, with the idea of taking it off, and
+instantly addressed her in his beautiful and fluent Arabic, saying how
+glad he was to have this unexpected honour, and so forth.
+
+She congratulated him on his escape, whereon his face grew serious.
+
+"Yes, a nasty business," he said, "as yet I can hardly remember whether
+my name is Daniel, or Ptolemy Higgs." Then he turned to us and added,
+"Look here, you fellows, if I don't thank you it isn't because I am not
+grateful, but because I can't. The truth is, I'm a bit dazed. Your son
+is all right, Adams; he's a good fellow, and we grew great friends.
+Safe? Oh! yes, he's safe as a church! Old Barung, he's the Sultan, and
+another good fellow, although he did throw me to the lions--because the
+priests made him--is very fond of him, and is going to marry him to his
+daughter."
+
+At this moment the men announced that everything was ready for our
+ascent, and when I had attended to Joshua with a heart made thankful by
+Higgs's news, we began that toilsome business, and, as I have already
+said, at length accomplished it safely. But even then our labours were
+not ended, since it was necessary to fill up the mouth of the shaft so
+as to make it impossible that it should be used by the Fung, who now
+knew of its existence.
+
+Nor was this a business that could be delayed, for as we passed the
+plateau whence Oliver and Japhet had crossed to the sphinx, we heard the
+voices of men on the farther side of the rough wall that we had built
+there. Evidently the priests, or idol guards, infuriated by the rescue
+of their victim, had already managed to bridge the gulf and were
+contemplating assault, a knowledge which caused us to hurry our
+movements considerably. If they had got through before we passed them,
+our fate would have been terrible, since at the best we must have slowly
+starved in the pit below.
+
+Indeed, as soon as we reached the top and had blocked it temporarily,
+Quick, weary as he was, was sent off on horseback, accompanied by
+Maqueda, Shadrach, now under the terms of his contract once more a free
+man, and two Mountaineers, to gallop to the palace of Mur, and fetch a
+supply of explosives. The rest of us, for Higgs declined to leave, and
+we had no means of carrying Joshua, remained watching the place, or
+rather the Abati watched while we slept with our rifles in our hands.
+Before noon Quick returned, accompanied by many men with litters and all
+things needful.
+
+Then we pulled out the stones, and Oliver, Japhet, and some others
+descended to the first level and arranged blasting charges. Awhile after
+he reappeared with his companions, looking somewhat pale and anxious,
+and shouted to us to get back. Following our retreat to a certain
+distance, unwinding a wire as he came, presently he stopped and pressed
+the button of a battery which he held in his hand. There was a muffled
+explosion and a tremor of the soil like to that of an earthquake, while
+from the mouth of the shaft stones leapt into the air.
+
+It was over, and all that could be noted was a sinkage in the ground
+where the ancient pit had been.
+
+"I am sorry for them," said Oliver presently, "but it had to be done."
+
+"Sorry for whom?" I asked.
+
+"For those Fung priests or soldiers. The levels below are full of them,
+dead or alive. They were pouring up at our heels. Well, no one will
+travel that road again."
+
+
+
+Later, in the guest house at Mur, Higgs told us his story. After his
+betrayal by Shadrach, which, it appeared, was meant to include us all,
+for the Professor overheard the hurried talk between him and a Fung
+captain, he was seized and imprisoned in the body of the great sphinx,
+where many chambers and dungeons had been hollowed out by the prim�val
+race that fashioned it. Here Barung the Sultan visited him and informed
+him of his meeting with the rest of us, to whom apparently he had taken
+a great liking, and also that we had refused to purchase a chance of his
+release at the price of being false to our trust.
+
+"You know," said Higgs, "that when first I heard this I was very angry
+with you, and thought you a set of beasts. But on considering things
+I saw the other side of it, and that you were right, although I never
+could come to fancy the idea of being sacrificed to a sphinx by being
+chucked like a piece of horse-flesh to a lot of holy lions. However,
+Barung, an excellent fellow in his way, assured me that there was no
+road out of the matter without giving grave offence to the priests, who
+are very powerful among the Fung, and bringing a fearful curse on the
+nation.
+
+"Meanwhile, he made me as comfortable as he could. For instance, I
+was allowed to walk upon the back of the idol, to associate with the
+priests, a suspicious and most exclusive set, and to study their entire
+religious system, from which I have no doubt that of Egypt was derived.
+Indeed, I have made a great discovery which, if ever we get out of this,
+will carry my name down to all generations. The forefathers of
+these Fung were undoubtedly also the forefathers of the pre-dynastic
+Egyptians, as is shown by the similarity of their customs and spiritual
+theories. Further, intercourse was kept up between the Fung, who then
+had their headquarters here in Mur, and the Egyptians in the time of
+the ancient empire, till the Twentieth Dynasty, indeed, if not later.
+My friends, in the dungeons in which I was confined there is an
+inscription, or, rather, a _graffite_, made by a prisoner extradited to
+Mur by Rameses II., after twenty years' residence in Egypt, which was
+written by him on the night before he was thrown to the sacred lions,
+that even in those days were an established institution. And I have got
+a copy of that inscription in my pocket-book. I tell you," he added in
+a scream of triumph, "I've got a certified copy of that inscription,
+thanks to Shadrach, on whose dirty head be blessings!"
+
+I congratulated him heartily upon this triumph, and before he proceeded
+to give us further arch�ological details, asked him for some information
+about my boy.
+
+"Oh," said Higgs, "he is a very nice young man and extremely good
+looking. Indeed, I am quite proud to have such a godson. He was much
+interested to hear that you were hunting for him after so many years,
+quite touched indeed. He still talks English, though with a Fung accent,
+and, of course, would like to escape. Meanwhile, he is having a very
+good time, being chief singer to the god, for his voice is really
+beautiful, an office which carries with it all sorts of privileges. I
+told you, didn't I, that he is to be married to Barung's only legitimate
+daughter on the night of the next full moon but one. The ceremony is
+to take place in Harmac City, and will be the greatest of its sort for
+generations, a feast of the entire people in short. I should very much
+like to be present at it, but being an intelligent young man he has
+promised to keep notes of everything, which I hope may become available
+in due course."
+
+"And is he attached to this savage lady?" I asked dismayed.
+
+"Attached? Oh, dear no, I think he said he had never seen her, and only
+knew that she was rather plain and reported to possess a haughty temper.
+He is a philosophical young man, however, as might be expected from one
+who has undergone so many vicissitudes, and, therefore, takes things
+as they come, thanking heaven that they are no worse. You see, as
+the husband of the Sultan's daughter, unless the pair quarrel very
+violently, he will be safe from the lions, and he could never quite say
+as much before. But we didn't go into these domestic matters very deeply
+as there were so many more important things to interest us both. He
+wanted to know all about you and our plans, and naturally I wanted to
+know all about the Fung and the ritual and traditions connected with the
+worship of Harmac, so that we were never dull for a single moment.
+In fact, I wish that we could have had longer together, for we became
+excellent friends. But whatever happens, I think that I have collected
+the cream of his information," and he tapped a fat note-book in his
+hands, adding:
+
+"What an awful thing it would have been if a lion had eaten this. For
+myself it did not matter; there may be many better Egyptologists, but I
+doubt if any one of them will again have such opportunities of original
+research. However, I took every possible precaution to save my notes
+by leaving a copy of the most important of them written with native
+ink upon sheepskin in charge of your son. Indeed, I meant to leave the
+originals also, but fortunately forgot in the excitement of my very
+hurried departure."
+
+I agreed with him that his chances had been unique and that he was a
+most lucky arch�ologist, and presently he went on puffing at his pipe.
+
+"Of course, when Oliver turned up in that unexpected fashion on the back
+of the idol, remembering your wishes and natural desire to recover
+your son, I did my best to rescue him also. But he wasn't in the room
+beneath, where I thought I should find him. The priests were there
+instead, and they had heard us talking above, and you know the rest.
+Well, as it happens, it didn't matter, though that descent into the
+den of lions--there were two or three hundred feet of it, and the rope
+seemed worn uncommonly thin with use--was a trying business to the
+nerves."
+
+"What did you think about all the time?" asked Oliver curiously.
+
+"Think about? I didn't think much, was in too great a fright. I just
+wondered whether St. Paul had the same sensations when he was let down
+in a basket; wondered what the early Christian martyrs felt like in
+the arena; wondered whether Barung, with whom my parting was quite
+affectionate, would come in the morning and look for me as Darius did
+for Daniel and how much he would find if he did; hoped that my specs
+would give one of those brutes appendicitis, and so forth. My word! it
+was sickening, especially that kind of school-treat swing and bump at
+the end. I never could bear swinging. Still, it was all for the best, as
+I shouldn't have gone a yard along that sphinx's tail without tumbling
+off, tight-rope walking not being in my line; and I'll tell you what,
+you are just the best three fellows in the whole world. Don't you think
+I forget that because I haven't said much. And now let's have your yarn,
+for I want to hear how things stand, which I never expected to do this
+side of Judgment-day."
+
+So we told him all, while he listened open-mouthed. When we came to the
+description of the Tomb of the Kings his excitement could scarcely be
+restrained.
+
+"You haven't touched them," he almost screamed; "don't say you have been
+vandals enough to touch them, for every article must be catalogued _in
+situ_ and drawings must be made. If possible, specimen groups with their
+surrounding offerings should be moved so that they can be set up again
+in museums. Why, there's six months' work before me, at least. And to
+think that if it hadn't been for you, by now I should be in process of
+digestion by a lion, a stinking, mangy, sacred lion!"
+
+Next morning I was awakened by Higgs limping into my room in some weird
+sleeping-suit that he had contrived with the help of Quick.
+
+"I say, old fellow," he said, "tell me some more about that girl, Walda
+Nagasta. What a sweet face she's got, and what pluck! Of course, such
+things ain't in my line, never looked at a woman these twenty years
+past, hard enough to remember her next morning, but, by Jingo! the eyes
+of that one made me feel quite queer here," and he hit the sleeping-suit
+somewhere in the middle, "though perhaps it was only because she was
+such a contrast to the lions."
+
+"Ptolemy," I answered in a solemn voice, "let me tell you that she is
+more dangerous to meddle with than any lion, and what's more, if you
+don't want to further complicate matters with a flaming row, you had
+better keep to your old habits and leave her eyes alone. I mean that
+Oliver is in love with her."
+
+"Of course he is. I never expected anything else, but what's that got to
+do with it? Why shouldn't I be in love with her too? Though I admit,"
+he added sadly, contemplating his rotund form, "the chances are in his
+favour, especially as he's got the start."
+
+"They are, Ptolemy, for she's in love with him," and I told him what we
+had seen in the Tomb of Kings.
+
+First he roared with laughter, then on second thoughts grew exceedingly
+indignant.
+
+"I call it scandalous of Oliver, compromising us all in this way--the
+lucky dog! These selfish, amorous adventures will let us in for no end
+of trouble. It is even probably, Adams, that you and I may come to a
+miserable end, solely because of this young man's erotic tendencies.
+Just fancy neglecting business in order to run after a pretty,
+round-faced Jewess, that is if she _is_ a Jewess, which I doubt, as the
+blood must have got considerably mixed by now, and the first Queen of
+Sheba, if she ever existed, was an Ethiopian. As a friend almost old
+enough to be his father, I shall speak to him very seriously."
+
+"All right," I called after him as he hobbled off to take his bath,
+"only if you are wise, you won't speak to Maqueda, for she might
+misinterpret your motives if you go on staring at her as you did
+yesterday."
+
+
+
+That morning I was summoned to see the Prince Joshua and dress his
+wounds, which, although not of a serious nature, were very painful. The
+moment that I entered the man's presence I noticed a change in his face.
+Like the rest of us I had always set this fellow down as a mere poltroon
+and windbag, a blower of his own trumpet, as Oliver had called him. Now
+I got an insight into his real nature which showed me that although
+he might be these things and worse, he was also a very determined and
+dangerous person, animated by ambitions which he meant to satisfy at all
+hazards.
+
+When I had done what I could for him and told him that in my opinion he
+had no ill results to fear from his hurts, since the thick clothes he
+was wearing at the time had probably cleaned the lion's paws of any
+poison that might have been on them, he said,
+
+"Physician, I desire private words with you."
+
+I bowed, and he went on:
+
+"The Child of Kings, hereditary ruler of this land, somewhat against the
+advice of her Council, has thought fit to employ you and your Gentile
+companions in order that by your skill and certain arts of which you are
+masters you may damage its ancient enemies, the Fung, and in reward has
+promised to pay you well should you succeed in your endeavours. Now, I
+wish you to understand that though you think yourselves great men, and
+may for aught I know be great in your own country, here you are but
+servants like any other mercenaries whom it may please us to hire."
+
+His tone was so offensive that, though it might have been wiser to keep
+silent, I could not help interrupting him.
+
+"You use hard words, Prince," I said; "let me then explain what is the
+real pay for which we work and undergo some risks. Mine is the hope of
+recovering a son who is the slave of your enemies. That of the Captain
+Orme is the quest of adventure and war, since being a rich man in his
+own country he needs no further wealth. That of him whom you call Black
+Windows, but whose name is Higgs, is the pure love of learning. In
+England and throughout the West he is noted for his knowledge of dead
+peoples, their languages, and customs, and it is to study these that he
+has undertaken so terrible a journey. As for Quick, he is Orme's man,
+who has known him from childhood, an old soldier who has served with him
+in war and comes hither to be with the master whom he loves."
+
+"Ah!" said Joshua, "a servant, a person of no degree, who yet dares to
+threaten me, the premier prince of the Abati, to my face."
+
+"In the presence of death all men are equal, Prince. You acted in a
+fashion that might have brought his lord, who was daring a desperate
+deed, to a hideous doom."
+
+"And what do I care about his lord's desperate deeds, Physician? I see
+that you set store by such things, and think those who accomplish them
+great and wonderful. Well, we do not. There is no savage among the
+barbarous Fung would not do all that your Orme does, and more, just
+because he is a savage. We who are civilized, we who are cultivated,
+we who are wise, know better. Our lives were given us to enjoy, not to
+throw away or to lose at the sword's point, and, therefore, no doubt,
+you would call us cowards."
+
+"Yet, Prince, those who bear that title of coward which you hold one of
+honour, are apt to perish 'at the sword's point.' The Fung wait without
+your gates, O Prince."
+
+"And therefore, O Gentile, we hire you to fight the Fung. Still, I
+bear no grudge against your servant, Quick, who is himself but a
+white-skinned Fung, for he acted according to his nature, and I forgive
+him; only in the future let him beware! And now--for a greater matter.
+The Child of Kings is beautiful, she is young and high spirited; a new
+face from another land may perchance touch her fancy. But," he added
+meaningly, "let the owner of that face remember who she is and what
+he is; let him remember that for any outside the circle of the ancient
+blood to lift his eyes to the daughter of Solomon is to earn death,
+death slow and cruel for himself and all who aid and abet him. Let him
+remember, lastly, that this high-born lady to whom he, an unknown and
+vagrant Gentile, dares to talk as equal to equal, has from childhood
+been my affianced, who will shortly be my wife, although it may please
+her to seem to flout me after the fashion of maidens, and that we Abati
+are jealous of the honour of our women. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, Prince," I answered, for by now my temper was roused. "But I would
+have you understand something also--that we are men of a high race whose
+arm stretches over half the world, and that we differ from the little
+tribe of the Abati, whose fame is not known to us, in this--that we are
+jealous of our own honour, and do not need to hire strangers to fight
+the foes we fear to face. Next time I come to attend to your wounds,
+O Prince, I trust that they will be in front, and not behind. One word
+more, if you will be advised by me you will not threaten that Captain
+whom you call a Gentile and a mercenary, lest you should learn that it
+is not always well to be a coward, of blood however ancient."
+
+Then, in a towering rage, I left him, feeling that I had made a thorough
+fool of myself. But the truth was that I could not sit still and hear
+men such as my companions, to say nothing of myself, spoken of thus by
+a bloated cur, who called himself a prince and boasted of his own
+poltroonery. He glowered at me as I went, and the men of his party who
+hung about the end of the great room and in his courts, glowered at
+me also. Clearly he was a very dangerous cur, and I almost wished that
+instead of threatening to slap his face down in the tunnel, Quick had
+broken his neck and made an end of him.
+
+So did the others when I told them the story, although I think it opened
+their eyes, and especially those of Oliver, to the grave and growing
+dangers of the situation. Afterward he informed me that he had spoken of
+the matter with Maqueda, and that she was much frightened for our sakes,
+and somewhat for her own. Joshua, she said, was a man capable of any
+crime, who had at his back the great majority of the Abati; a jealous,
+mean and intolerant race who made up in cunning for what they lacked in
+courage.
+
+Yet, as I saw well, the peril of their situation did nothing to separate
+this pair or to lessen their love. Indeed, rather did it seem to bind
+them closer together, and to make them more completely one. In short,
+the tragedy took its appointed course, whilst we stood by and watched it
+helplessly.
+
+On the afternoon of my angry interview with Joshua we were summoned to
+a meeting of the Council, whither we went, not without some trepidation,
+expecting trouble. Trouble there was, but of a different sort to that
+which we feared. Scarcely had we entered the great room where the Child
+of Kings was seated in her chair of state surrounded by all the pomp and
+ceremony of her mimic court, when the big doors at the end of it were
+opened, and through them marched three gray-bearded men in white robes
+whom we saw at once were heralds or ambassadors from the Fung. These
+men bowed to the veiled Maqueda and, turning toward where we stood in a
+little group apart, bowed to us also.
+
+But of Joshua, who was there supported by two servants, for he could not
+yet stand alone, and the other notables and priests of the Abati, they
+took not the slightest heed.
+
+"Speak," said Maqueda.
+
+"Lady," answered the spokesman of the embassy, "we are sent by our
+Sultan, Barung, son of Barung, Ruler of the Fung nation. These are the
+words of Barung: O Walda Nagasta! 'By the hands and the wit of the white
+lords whom you have called to your aid, you have of late done much evil
+to the god Harmac and to me his servant. You have destroyed one of the
+gates of my city, and with it many of my people. You have rescued a
+prisoner out of my hands, robbing Harmac of his sacrifice and thereby
+bringing his wrath upon us. You have slain sundry of the sacred beasts
+that are the mouth of sacrifice, you have killed certain of the priests
+and guards of Harmac in a hole of the rocks. Moreover my spies tell me
+that you plan further ills against the god and against me. Now I send
+to tell you that for these and other offences I will make an end of the
+people of the Abati, whom hitherto I have spared. In a little while I
+marry my daughter to the white man, that priest of Harmac who is called
+Singer of Egypt, and who is said to be the son of the physician in
+your service, but after I have celebrated this feast and my people have
+finished the hoeing of their crops, I take up the sword in earnest, nor
+will I lay it down again until the Abati are no more.
+
+"'Learn that last night after the holy beasts had been slain and
+the sacrifice snatched away, the god Harmac spoke to his priests in
+prophecy. And this was his prophecy; that before the gathering in of the
+harvest his _head_ should sleep above the plain of Mur. We know not the
+interpretation of the saying, but this I know, that before the gathering
+of the harvest I, or those who rule after me, will lie down to sleep
+within my city of Mur.'
+
+"'Now, choose--surrender forthwith and, save for the dog, Joshua, who
+the other day tried to entrap me against the custom of peoples, and ten
+others whom I shall name, I will spare the lives of all of you, though
+Joshua and these ten I will hang, since they are not worthy to die by
+the sword. Or resist, and by Harmac himself I swear that every man among
+the Abati shall die save the white lords whom I honour because they are
+brave, and that servant of yours who stood with them last night in the
+den of lions, and that every woman shall be made a slave, save you, O
+Walda Nagasta, because of your great heart. Your answer, O Lady of the
+Abati!'"
+
+Now Maqueda looked around the faces of her Council, and saw fear written
+upon them all. Indeed, as we noted, many of them shook in their terror.
+
+"My answer will be short, ambassadors of Barung," she replied, "still, I
+am but one woman, and it is fitting that those who represent the people
+should speak for the people. My uncle, Joshua, you are the first of my
+Council, what have you to say? Are you willing to give up your life with
+ten others whose names I do not know, that there may be peace between us
+and the Fung?"
+
+"What?" answered Joshua, with a splutter of rage, "do I live to hear a
+Walda Nagasta suggest that the first prince of the land, her uncle and
+affianced husband, should be surrendered to our hereditary foes to be
+hanged like a worn-out hound, and do you, O unknown ten, who doubtless
+stand in this chamber, live to hear it also?"
+
+"My uncle, you do not. I asked if such was your wish, that is all."
+
+"Then I answer that it is not my wish, nor the wish of the ten, nor the
+wish of the Abati. Nay, we will fight the Fung and destroy them, and
+of their beast-headed idol Harmac we will make blocks to build our
+synagogues and stones to pave our roads. Do you hear, savages of Fung?"
+and assisted by his two servants he hobbled towards them, grinning in
+their faces.
+
+The envoys looked him up and down with their quiet eyes. "We hear and we
+are very glad to hear," their spokesman answered, "since we Fung love
+to settle our quarrels with the sword and not by treaty. But to you,
+Joshua, we say: Make haste to die before we enter Mur, since the rope is
+not the only means of death whereof we know."
+
+Very solemnly the three ambassadors saluted, first the Child of Kings
+and next ourselves, then turned to go.
+
+"Kill them!" shouted Joshua, "they have threatened and insulted me, the
+Prince!"
+
+But no one lifted a hand against the men, who passed safely out of the
+palace to the square, where an escort waited with their horses.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HOW PHARAOH MET SHADRACH
+
+When the ambassadors had gone, at first there was silence, a very heavy
+silence, since even the frivolous Abati felt that the hour was big with
+fate. Of a sudden, however, the members of the Council began to chatter
+like so many monkeys, each talking without listening to what his
+neighbour said, till at length a gorgeously dressed person, I understood
+that he was a priest, stepped forward, and shouted down the others.
+
+Then he spoke in an excited and venomous fashion. He pointed out that we
+Gentiles had brought all this trouble upon Mur, since before we came the
+Abati, although threatened, had lived in peace and glory--he actually
+used the word glory!--for generations. But now we had stung the Fung, as
+a hornet stings a bull, and made them mad, so that they wished to toss
+the Abati. He proposed, therefore, that we should at once be ejected
+from Mur.
+
+At this point I saw Joshua whisper into the ear of a man, who called
+out:--
+
+"No, no, for then they would go to their friend, Barung, a savage like
+themselves, and having learned our secrets, would doubtless use them
+against us. I say that they must be killed instantly," and he drew a
+sword, and waved it.
+
+Quick walked up to the fellow and clapped a pistol to his head.
+
+"Drop that sword," he said, "or _you_'ll never hear the end of the
+story," and he obeyed, whereupon Quick came back.
+
+Now Maqueda began to speak, quietly enough, although I could see that
+she was quaking with passion.
+
+"These men are our guests," she said, "come hither to serve us. Do you
+desire to murder our guests? Moreover, of what use would that be? One
+thing alone can save us, the destruction of the god of the Fung,
+since, according to the ancient saying of that people, when the idol is
+destroyed the Fung will leave their city of Harmac. Moreover, as to this
+new prophecy of the priests of the idol, that before the gathering in
+of the harvest his head shall sleep above the plain of Mur, how can
+that happen if it is destroyed, unless indeed it means that Harmac shall
+sleep in the heavens. Therefore what have you to fear from threats built
+upon that which cannot happen?
+
+"But can _you_ destroy this false god Harmac, or dare _you_ fight the
+Fung? You know that it is not so, for had it been so what need was there
+for me to send for these Westerns? And if you murder them, will Barung
+thereby be appeased? Nay, I tell you that being a brave and honourable
+man, although our enemy, he will become ten times more wroth with you
+than he was before, and exact a vengeance even more terrible. I tell you
+also, that then you must find another Walda Nagasta to rule over you,
+since I, Maqueda, will do so no more."
+
+"That is impossible," said some one, "you are the last woman of the true
+blood."
+
+"Then you can choose one of blood that is not true, or elect a king,
+as the Jews elected Saul, for if my guests are butchered I shall die of
+very shame."
+
+These words of hers seemed to cow the Council, one of whom asked what
+would she have them do?
+
+"Do?" she replied, throwing back her veil, "why, be men, raise an army
+of every male who can carry a sword; help the foreigners, and they will
+lead you to victory. People of the Abati, would you be slaughtered,
+would you see your women slaves, and your ancient name blotted out from
+the list of peoples?"
+
+Now some of them cried, "No."
+
+"Then save yourselves. You are still many, the strangers here have skill
+in war, they can lead if you will follow. Be brave a while, and I swear
+to you that by harvest the Abati shall sit in the city of Harmac and not
+the Fung in Mur. I have spoken, now do what you will," and rising from
+her chair of state Maqueda left the chamber, motioning to us to do
+likewise.
+
+
+
+The end of all this business was that a peace was made between us and
+the Council of the Abati. After their pompous, pedantic fashion they
+swore solemnly on the roll of the Law that they would aid us in every
+way to overcome the Fung, and even obey such military orders as we
+might give them, subject to the confirmation of these orders by a small
+council of their generals. In short, being very frightened, for a time
+they forgot their hatred of us foreigners.
+
+So a scheme of operations was agreed upon, and some law passed by the
+Council, the only governing body among the Abati, for they possessed no
+representative institutions, under which law a kind of conscription was
+established for a while. Let me say at once that it met with the most
+intense opposition. The Abati were agriculturalists who loathed military
+service. From their childhood they had heard of the imminence of
+invasion, but no actual invasion had ever yet taken place. The Fung were
+always without, and they were always within, an inland isle, the wall of
+rock that they thought impassable being their sea which protected them
+from danger.
+
+They had no experience of slaughter and rapine, their imaginations were
+not sufficiently strong to enable them to understand what these things
+meant; they were lost in the pettiness of daily life and its pressing
+local interests. Their homes in flames, they themselves massacred, their
+women and children dragged off to be the slaves of the victors, a poor
+remnant left to die of starvation among the wasted fields or to become
+wild men of the rocks! All these things they looked upon as a mere tale,
+a romance such as their local poets repeated in the evenings of a
+wet season, dim and far-off events which might have happened to the
+Canaanites and Jebusites and Amalekites in the ancient days whereof the
+book of their Law told them, but which could never happen to _them_, the
+comfortable Abati. In that book the Israelites always conquered in the
+end, although the Philistines, alias Fung, sat at their gates. For it
+will be remembered that it includes no account of the final fall of
+Jerusalem and awful destruction of its citizens, of which they had
+little if any knowledge.
+
+So it came about that our recruiting parties, perhaps press gangs would
+be a better term, were not well received. I know it, for this branch of
+the business was handed over to me, of course as adviser to the Abati
+captains, and on several occasions, when riding round the villages on
+the shores of their beautiful lake, we were met by showers of stones,
+and were even the object of active attacks which had to be put down with
+bloodshed. Still, an army of five or six thousand men was got together
+somehow, and formed into camps, whence desertions were incessant, once
+or twice accompanied by the murder of officers.
+
+"It's 'opeless, downright 'opeless, Doctor," said Quick to me, dropping
+his h's, as he sometimes did in the excitement of the moment. "What can
+one do with a crowd of pigs, everyone of them bent on bolting to his own
+sty, or anywhere except toward the enemy? The sooner the Fung get them
+the better for all concerned, say I, and if it wasn't for our Lady
+yonder" (Quick always called Maqueda after "our Lady," after it had been
+impressed upon him that "her Majesty" was an incorrect title), "my advice
+to the Captain and you gentlemen would be: Get out of this infernal hole
+as quick as your legs can carry you, and let's do a bit of hunting on
+the way home, leaving the Abati to settle their own affairs."
+
+"You forget, Sergeant, that I have a reason for staying in this part of
+the world, and so perhaps have the others. For instance, the Professor
+is very fond of those old skeletons down in the cave," and I paused.
+
+"Yes, Doctor, and the Captain is very fond of something much better than
+a skeleton, and so are we all. Well, we've got to see it through, but
+somehow I don't think that every one of us will have that luck, though
+it's true that when a man has lived fairly straight according to his
+lights a few years more or less don't matter much one way or the other.
+After all, except you gentlemen, who is there that will miss Samuel
+Quick?"
+
+Then without waiting for an answer, drawing himself up straight as a
+ramrod he marched off to assist some popinjays of Abati officers, whom
+he hated and who hated him, to instil the elements of drill into a newly
+raised company, leaving me to wonder what fears or premonitions filled
+his honest soul.
+
+But this was not Quick's principal work, since for at least six hours
+of every day he was engaged in helping Oliver in our great enterprise of
+driving a tunnel from the end of the Tomb of Kings deep into the solid
+rock that formed the base of the mighty idol of the Fung. The task
+was stupendous, and would indeed have been impossible had not Orme's
+conjecture that some passage had once run from the extremity of the cave
+toward the idol proved to be perfectly accurate. Such a passage indeed
+was found walled up at the back of the chair containing the bones of the
+hunchbacked king. It descended very sharply for a distance of several
+hundred yards, after which for another hundred yards or more its walls
+and roof were so riven and shaky that, for fear of accidents, we found
+it necessary to timber them as we went.
+
+At last we came to a place where they had fallen in altogether, shaken
+down, I presume, by the great earthquake which had destroyed so much
+of the ancient cave-city. At this spot, if Oliver's instruments and
+calculations could be trusted, we were within about two hundred feet
+of the floor of the den of lions, to which it seemed probable that the
+passage once led, and of course the question arose as to what should be
+done.
+
+A Council was held to discuss this problem, at which Maqueda and a few
+of the Abati notables were present. To these Oliver explained that even
+if that were possible it would be useless to clear out the old passage
+and at the end find ourselves once more in the den of lions.
+
+"What, then, is your plan?" asked Maqueda.
+
+"Lady," he answered, "I, your servant, am instructed to attempt to
+destroy the idol Harmac, by means of the explosives which we have
+brought with us from England. First, I would ask you if you still cling
+to that design?"
+
+"Why should it be abandoned?" inquired Maqueda. "What have you against
+it?"
+
+"Two things, Lady. As an act of war the deed seems useless, since
+supposing that the sphinx is shattered and a certain number of priests
+and guards are destroyed, how will that advance your cause? Secondly,
+such destruction will be very difficult, if it can be done at all. The
+stuff we have with us, it is true, is of fearful strength, yet who can
+be sure that there is enough of it to move this mountain of hard rock,
+of which I cannot calculate the weight, not having the measurements or
+any knowledge of the size of the cavities within its bulk. Lastly, if
+the attempt is to be made, a tunnel must be hollowed of not less than
+three hundred feet in length, first downward and then upward into the
+very base of the idol, and if this is to be done within six weeks, that
+is, by the night of the marriage of the daughter of Barung, the work
+will be very hard, if indeed it can be completed at all, although
+hundreds of men labour day and night."
+
+Now Maqueda thought a while, then looked up and said:
+
+"Friend, you are brave and skilful, tell us all your mind. If you sat in
+my place, what would you do?"
+
+"Lady, I would lead out every able-bodied man and attack the city of the
+Fung, say, on the night of the great festival when they are off their
+guard. I would blow in the gates of the city of Harmac, and storm it and
+drive away the Fung, and afterwards take possession of the idol, and if
+it is thought necessary, destroy it piecemeal from within."
+
+Now Maqueda consulted with her councillors, who appeared to be much
+disturbed at this suggestion, and finally called us back and gave us her
+decision.
+
+"These lords of the Council," she said, speaking with a ring of contempt
+in her voice, "declare that your plan is mad, and that they will never
+sanction it because the Abati could not be persuaded to undertake so
+dangerous an enterprise as an attack upon the city of Harmac, which
+would end, they think, in all of them being killed. They point out, O
+Orme, that the prophecy is that the Fung will leave the plain of Harmac
+when their god is destroyed and not before, and that therefore it must
+be destroyed. They say, further, O Orme, that for a year you and your
+companions are the sworn servants of the Abati, and that it is your
+business to receive orders, not to give them, also that the condition
+upon which you earn your pay is that you destroy the idol of the Fung.
+This is the decision of the Council, spoken by the mouth of the prince
+Joshua, who command further that you shall at once set about the
+business to execute which you and your companions are present here in
+Mur."
+
+"Is that _your_ command also, O Child of Kings?" answered Oliver,
+colouring.
+
+"Since I also think that the Abati can never be forced to attack the
+city of the Fung, it is, O Orme, though the words in which it is couched
+are not my words."
+
+"Very well, O Child of Kings, I will do my best. Only blame us not if
+the end of this matter is other than these advisers of yours expect.
+Prophecies are two-edged swords to play with, and I do not believe that
+a race of fighting men like the Fung will fly and leave you triumphant
+just because a stone image is shattered, if that can be done in the time
+and with the means which we possess. Meanwhile, I ask that you should
+give me two hundred and fifty picked men of the Mountaineers, not of
+the townspeople, under the captaincy of Japhet, who must choose them, to
+assist us in our work."
+
+"It shall be done," she answered, and we made our bows and went. As we
+passed through the Council we heard Joshua say in a loud voice meant for
+us to hear:
+
+"Thanks be to God, these hired Gentiles have been taught their place at
+last."
+
+Oliver turned on him so fiercely that he recoiled, thinking that he was
+about to strike him.
+
+"Be careful, Prince Joshua," he said, "that before this business is
+finished you are not taught yours, which I think may be lowly," and he
+looked meaningly at the ground.
+
+So the labour began, and it was heavy indeed as well as dangerous.
+Fortunately, in addition to the picrate compounds that Quick called
+"azure stinging bees," we had brought with us a few cases of dynamite,
+of which we now made use for blasting purposes. A hole was drilled in
+the face of the tunnel, and the charge inserted. Then all retreated back
+into the Tomb of Kings till the cartridge had exploded, and the smoke
+cleared off, which took a long while, when our people advanced with iron
+bars and baskets, and cleared away the d�bris, after which the process
+must be repeated.
+
+Oh! the heat of that narrow hole deep in the bowels of the rock, and
+the reek of the stagnant air which sometimes was so bad that the lights
+would scarcely burn. Indeed, after a hundred feet had been completed,
+we thought that it would be impossible to proceed, since two men died
+of asphyxiation and the others, although they were good fellows enough,
+refused to return into the tunnel. At length, however, Orme and Japhet
+persuaded some of the best of them to do so, and shortly after this the
+atmosphere improved very much, I suppose because we cut some cranny or
+shaft which communicated with the open air.
+
+There were other dangers also, notably of the collapse of the whole
+roof where the rock was rotten, as we found it to be in places. Then
+it proved very hard to deal with the water, for once or twice we
+struck small springs impregnated with copper or some other mineral that
+blistered the feet and skin, since every drop of this acid water had to
+be carried out in wooden pails. That difficulty we overcame at last by
+sinking a narrow well down to the level of the ancient tunnel of which I
+have spoken as having been shaken in by the earthquake.
+
+Thus we, or rather Oliver and Quick with the Mountaineers, toiled on.
+Higgs did his best, but after a while proved quite unable to bear the
+heat, which became too much for so stout a man. The end of it was that
+he devoted himself to the superintendence of the removal of the rubbish
+into the Tomb of Kings, the care of the stores and so forth. At least
+that was supposed to be his business, but really he employed most of his
+time in drawing and cataloguing the objects of antiquity and the groups
+of bones that were buried there, and in exploring the remains of the
+underground city. In truth, this task of destruction was most repellent
+to the poor Professor.
+
+"To think," he said to us, "to think that I, who all my life have
+preached the iniquity of not conserving every relic of the past, should
+now be employed in attempting to obliterate the most wonderful object
+ever fashioned by the ancients! It is enough to make a Vandal weep, and
+I pray heaven that you may not succeed in your infamous design. What
+does it matter if the Abati are wiped out, as lots of better people have
+been before them? What does it matter if we accompany them to oblivion
+so long as that noble sphinx is preserved to be the wonder of future
+generations? Well, thank goodness, at any rate I have seen it, which is
+more, probably, than any of you will ever do. There, another brute is
+dumping his rubbish over the skull of No. 14!"
+
+Thus we laboured continually, each at his different task, for the work
+in the mine never stopped, Oliver being in charge during the day and
+Quick at night for a whole week, since on each Sunday they changed with
+their gangs, Quick taking the day shift and Oliver the night, or _vice
+versa_. Sometimes Maqueda came down the cave to inspect progress,
+always, I noticed, at those hours when Oliver happened to be off duty.
+Then on this pretext or on that they would wander away together to visit
+I know not what in the recesses of the underground city, or elsewhere.
+In vain did I warn them that their every step was dogged, and that
+their every word and action were noted by spies who crept after them
+continually, since twice I caught one of these gentry in the act. They
+were infatuated, and would not listen.
+
+At this time Oliver only left the underground city twice or thrice a
+week to breathe the fresh air for an hour or two. In truth, he had no
+leisure. For this same reason he fitted himself up a bed in what had
+been a priest's chamber, or a sanctuary in the old temple, and slept
+there, generally with no other guard but the great dog, Pharaoh, his
+constant companion even in the recesses of the mine.
+
+It was curious to see how this faithful beast accustomed itself to the
+darkness, and made its other senses, especially that of smell, serve
+the purpose of eyes as do the blind. By degrees, too, it learned all
+the details of the operations; thus, when the cartridge was in place for
+firing, it would rise and begin to walk out of the tunnel even before
+the men in charge.
+
+One night the tragedy that I feared very nearly happened, and indeed
+must have happened had it not been for this same hound, Pharaoh. About
+six o'clock in the evening Oliver came off duty after an eight-hour
+shift in the tunnel, leaving Higgs in command for a little while until
+it was time for Quick to take charge. I had been at work outside all day
+in connection with the new conscript army, a regiment of which was
+in revolt, because the men, most of whom were what we should call
+small-holders, declared that they wanted to go home to weed their crops.
+Indeed, it had proved necessary for the Child of Kings herself to be
+summoned to plead with them and condemn some of the ringleaders to
+punishment.
+
+When at length this business was over we left together, and the poor
+lady, exasperated almost to madness, sharply refusing the escort of any
+of her people, requested me to accompany her to the mine.
+
+At the mouth of the tunnel she met Oliver, as probably she had arranged
+to do, and after he had reported progress to her, wandered away with him
+as usual, each of them carrying a lamp, into some recess of the buried
+city. I followed them at a distance, not from curiosity, or because I
+wished to see more of the wonders of that city whereof I was heartily
+sick, but because I suspected that they were being spied upon.
+
+The pair vanished round a corner that I knew ended in a _cul-de-sac_, so
+extinguishing my lamp, I sat down on a fallen column and waited till I
+should see their light reappear, when I proposed to effect my retreat.
+Whilst I sat thus, thinking on many things and, to tell the truth, very
+depressed in mind, I heard a sound as of some one moving and instantly
+struck a match. The light of it fell full upon the face of a man whom
+I recognized at once as a body-servant of the prince Joshua, though
+whether he was passing me toward the pair or returning from their
+direction I could not be sure.
+
+"What are you doing here?" I asked.
+
+"What is that to you, Physician?" he answered.
+
+Then the match burnt out, and before I could light another he had
+vanished, like a snake into a stone wall.
+
+My first impulse was to warn Maqueda and Oliver that they were being
+watched, but reflecting that the business was awkward, and that the spy
+would doubtless have given over his task for this day, I left it alone,
+and went down to the Tomb of the Kings to help Higgs. Just afterwards
+Quick came on duty, long before his time, the fact being that he had no
+confidence in the Professor as a director of mining operations. When he
+appeared Higgs and I retreated from that close and filthy tunnel,
+and, by way of recreation, put in an hour or so at the cataloguing and
+arch�ological research in which his soul delighted.
+
+"If only we could get all this lot out of Mur," he said, with a sweep of
+his hand, "we should be the most famous men in Europe for at least three
+days, and rich into the bargain."
+
+"Ptolemy," I answered, "we shall be fortunate if we get ourselves alive
+out of Mur, let alone these bones and ancient treasures," and I told him
+what I had seen that evening.
+
+His fat and kindly face grew anxious.
+
+"Ah!" he said. "Well, I don't blame him; should probably do the same
+myself if I got the chance, and so would you--if you were twenty years
+younger. No, I don't blame him, or her either, for the fact is that
+although their race, education, and circumstances are so different, they
+are one of Nature's pairs, and while they are alive nothing will keep
+them apart. You might as well expect a magnet and a bit of iron to
+remain separate on a sheet of notepaper. Moreover, they give themselves
+away, as people in that state always do. The pursuit of arch�ology has
+its dangers, but it is a jolly sight safer than that of woman, though it
+did land me in a den of lions. What's going to happen, old fellow?"
+
+"Can't say, but I think it very probable that Oliver will be murdered,
+and that we shall follow the same road, or, if we are lucky, be only
+bundled out of Mur. Well, it's time for dinner; if I get a chance I will
+give them a hint."
+
+So we made our way to the old temple in the great cave, where we kept
+our stores and Oliver had his headquarters. Here we found him waiting
+for us and our meal ready, for food was always brought to us by the
+palace servants. When we had eaten and these men had cleared away, we
+lit our pipes and fed the dog Pharaoh upon the scraps that had been
+reserved for him. Then I told Oliver about the spy whom I had caught
+tracking him and Maqueda.
+
+"Well, what of it?" he said, colouring in his tell-tale fashion; "she
+only took me to see what she believed to be an ancient inscription on a
+column in that northern aisle."
+
+"Then she'd have done better to take me, my boy," said Higgs. "What was
+the character like?"
+
+"Don't know," he answered guiltily. "She could not find it again."
+
+An awkward silence followed, which I broke.
+
+"Oliver," I said, "I don't think you ought to go on sleeping here alone.
+You have too many enemies in this place."
+
+"Rubbish," he answered, "though it's true Pharaoh seemed uneasy last
+night, and that once I woke up and thought I heard footsteps in the
+court outside. I set them down to ghosts, in which I have almost come to
+believe in this haunted place, and went to sleep again."
+
+"Ghosts be blowed!" said Higgs vulgarly, "if there were such things I
+have slept with too many mummies not to see them. That confounded Joshua
+is the wizard who raises your ghosts. Look here, old boy," he added,
+"let me camp with you to-night, since Quick must be in the tunnel, and
+Adams has to sleep outside in case he is wanted on the army business."
+
+"Not a bit of it," he answered; "you know you are too asthmatical to get
+a wink in this atmosphere. I won't hear of such a thing."
+
+"Then come and sleep with us in the guest-house."
+
+"Can't be done; the Sergeant has got a very nasty job down there about
+one o'clock, and I promised to be handy in case he calls me up," and he
+pointed to the portable field telephone that fortunately we had brought
+with us from England, which was fixed closed by, adding, "if only that
+silly thing had another few hundred yards of wire, I'd come; but, you
+see, it hasn't and I must be in touch with the work."
+
+At this moment the bell tinkled, and Orme made a jump for the receiver
+through which for the next five minutes he was engaged in giving rapid
+and to us quite unintelligible directions.
+
+"There you are," he said, when he had replaced the mouthpiece on its
+hook, "if I hadn't been here they would probably have had the roof
+of the tunnel down and killed some people. No, no; I can't leave that
+receiver unless I go back to the mine, which I am too tired to do.
+However, don't you fret. With a pistol, a telephone, and Pharaoh I'm
+safe enough. And now, good night; you fellows had better be getting home
+as I must be up early to-morrow and want to sleep while I can."
+
+
+
+On the following morning about five o'clock Higgs and I were awakened by
+some one knocking at our door. I rose and opened it, whereon in walked
+Quick, a grim and grimy figure, for, as his soaked clothes and soiled
+face told us, he had but just left his work in the mine.
+
+"Captain wants to see you as soon as possible, gentlemen," he said.
+
+"What's the matter, Sergeant?" asked Higgs, as we got into our garments.
+
+"You'll see for yourself presently, Professor," was the laconic reply,
+nor could we get anything more out of him.
+
+Five minutes later we were advancing at a run through the dense darkness
+of the underground city, each of us carrying a lamp. I reached the ruins
+of the old temple first, for Quick seemed very tired and lagged behind,
+and in that atmosphere Higgs was scant of breath and could not travel
+fast. At the doorway of the place where he slept stood the tall form
+of Oliver holding a lamp aloft. Evidently he was waiting for us. By his
+side sat the big yellow dog, Pharaoh, that, when he smelt us, gambolled
+forward, wagging his tail in greeting.
+
+"Come here," said Orme, in a low and solemn voice, "I have something to
+show you," and he led the way into the priest's chamber, or sanctuary,
+whatever it may have been, where he slept upon a rough, native-made
+bedstead. At the doorway he halted, lowered the lamp he held, and
+pointed to something dark on the floor to the right of his bedstead,
+saying, "Look!"
+
+There lay a dead man, and by his side a great knife that evidently had
+fallen from his hand. At the first glance we recognised the face which,
+by the way, was singularly peaceful, as though it were that of one
+plunged in deep sleep. This seemed odd, since the throat below was
+literally torn out.
+
+"Shadrach!" we said, with one voice.
+
+Shadrach it was; Shadrach, our former guide, who had betrayed us;
+Shadrach who, to save his own life, had shown us how to rescue Higgs,
+and for that service been pardoned, as I think I mentioned. Shadrach and
+no other!
+
+"Pussy seems to have been on the prowl and to have met a dog," remarked
+Quick.
+
+"Do you understand what has happened?" asked Oliver, in a dry, hard
+voice. "Perhaps I had better explain before anything is moved. Shadrach
+must have crept in here last night--I don't know at what time, for I
+slept through it all--for purposes of his own. But he forgot his old
+enemy Pharaoh, and Pharaoh killed him. See his throat? When Pharaoh
+bites he doesn't growl, and, of course, Shadrach could say nothing, or,
+as he had dropped his knife, for the matter of that, do anything either.
+When I was woke up about an hour ago by the telephone bell the dog was
+fast asleep, for he is accustomed to that bell, with his head resting
+upon the body of Shadrach. Now why did Shadrach come into my room at
+night with a drawn knife in his hand?"
+
+"Doesn't seem a difficult question to answer," replied Higgs, in the
+high voice which was common to him when excited. "He came here to murder
+you, and Pharaoh was too quick for him, that's all. That dog was the
+cheapest purchase you ever made, friend Oliver."
+
+"Yes," answered Orme, "he came here to murder me--you were right about
+the risk, after all--but what I wonder is, who sent him?"
+
+"And so you may go on wondering for the rest of your life, Captain,"
+exclaimed Quick. "Still, I think we might guess if we tried."
+
+Then news of what had happened was sent to the palace, and within little
+over an hour Maqueda arrived, accompanied by Joshua and several other
+members of her Council. When she saw and understood everything she was
+horrified, and sternly asked Joshua what he knew of this business. Of
+course, he proved to be completely innocent, and had not the slightest
+idea of who had set the murderer on to work this deed of darkness.
+Nor had anybody else, the general suggestion being that Shadrach had
+attempted it out of revenge, and met with the due reward of his crime.
+
+Only that day poor Pharaoh was poisoned. Well, he had done his work, and
+his memory is blessed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT
+
+From this time forward all of us, and especially Oliver, were guarded
+night and day by picked men who it was believed could not be corrupted.
+As a consequence, the Tsar of Russia scarcely leads a life more irksome
+than ours became at Mur. Of privacy there was none left to us, since
+sentries and detectives lurked at every corner, while tasters were
+obliged to eat of each dish and drink from each cup before it touched
+our lips, lest our fate should be that of Pharaoh, whose loss we mourned
+as much as though the poor dog had been some beloved human being.
+
+Most of all was it irksome, I think, to Oliver and Maqueda, whose
+opportunities of meeting were much curtailed by the exigencies of this
+rigid espionage. Who can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two
+soldiers armed to the teeth have been instructed never to let him out
+of their sight? Particularly is this so if the adored happens to be the
+ruler of those soldiers to whom the person guarded has no right to
+be making himself agreeable. For when off duty even the most faithful
+guardians are apt to talk. Of course, the result was that the pair took
+risks which did not escape observation. Indeed, their intimate relations
+became a matter of gossip throughout the land.
+
+Still, annoying as they might be, these precautions succeeded, for none
+of us were poisoned or got our throats cut, although we were constantly
+the victims of mysterious accidents. Thus, a heavy rock rolled down upon
+us when we sat together one evening upon the hill-side, and a flight
+of arrows passed between us while we were riding along the edge of
+a thicket, by one of which Higgs's horse was killed. Only when the
+mountain and the thicket were searched no one could be found. Moreover,
+a great plot against us was discovered in which some of the lords
+and priests were implicated, but such was the state of feeling in the
+country that, beyond warning them privately that their machinations were
+known, Maqueda did not dare to take proceedings against these men.
+
+A little later on things mended so far as we were concerned, for the
+following reason: One day two shepherds arrived at the palace with some
+of their companions, saying that they had news to communicate. On being
+questioned, these peasants averred that while they were herding their
+goats upon the western cliffs many miles away, suddenly on the top of
+the hills appeared a body of fifteen Fung, who bound and blindfolded
+them, telling them in mocking language to take a message to the Council
+and to the white men.
+
+This was the message: That they had better make haste to destroy the
+god Harmac, since otherwise his head would move to Mur according to the
+prophecy, and that when it did so, the Fung would follow as they knew
+how to do. Then they set the two men on a rock where they could be
+seen, and on the following morning were in fact found by some of their
+fellows, those who accompanied them to the Court and corroborated this
+story.
+
+Of course the matter was duly investigated, but as I know, for I went
+with the search party, when we got to the place no trace of the Fung
+could be found, except one of their spears, of which the handle had been
+driven into the earth and the blade pointed toward Mur, evidently
+in threat or defiance. No other token of them remained, for, as it
+happened, a heavy rain had fallen and obliterated their footprints,
+which in any case must have been faint on this rocky ground.
+
+Notwithstanding the most diligent search by skilled men, their mode of
+approach and retreat remained a mystery, as, indeed, it does to this
+day. The only places where it was supposed to be possible to scale
+the precipice of Mur were watched continually, so that they could have
+climbed up by none of these. The inference was, therefore, that the Fung
+had discovered some unknown path, and, if fifteen men could climb that
+path, why not fifteen thousand!
+
+Only, where was this path? In vain were great rewards in land and
+honours offered to him who should discover it, for although such
+discoveries were continually reported, on investigation these were
+found to be inventions or mares' nests. Nothing but a bird could have
+travelled by such roads.
+
+Then at last we saw the Abati thoroughly frightened, for, with
+additions, the story soon passed from mouth to mouth till the whole
+people talked of nothing else. It was as though we English learned that
+a huge foreign army had suddenly landed on our shores and, having cut
+the wires and seized the railways, was marching upon London. The effect
+of such tidings upon a nation that always believed invasion to be
+impossible may easily be imagined, only I hope that we should take them
+better than did the Abati.
+
+Their swagger, their self-confidence, their talk about the "rocky walls
+of Mur," evaporated in an hour. Now it was only of the disciplined and
+terrible regiments of the Fung, among whom every man was trained to war,
+and of what would happen to them, the civilized and domesticated Abati,
+a peace-loving people who rightly enough, as they declared, had refused
+all martial burdens, should these regiments suddenly appear in their
+midst. They cried out that they were betrayed--they clamoured for the
+blood of certain of the Councillors. That carpet knight, Joshua, lost
+popularity for a while, while Maqueda, who was known always to have been
+in favour of conscription and perfect readiness to repel attack, gained
+what he had lost.
+
+Leaving their farms, they crowded together into the towns and villages,
+where they made what in South Africa are called laagers. Religion, which
+practically had been dead among them, for they retained but few traces
+of the Jewish faith if, indeed, they had ever really practised it,
+became the craze of the hour. Priests were at a premium; sheep and
+cattle were sacrificed; it was even said that, after the fashion of
+their foes the Fung, some human beings shared the same fate. At any
+rate the Almighty was importuned hourly to destroy the hated Fung and
+to protect His people--the Abati--from the results of their own base
+selfishness and cowardly neglect.
+
+Well, the world has seen such exhibitions before to-day, and will
+doubtless see more of them in the instance of greater peoples who allow
+luxury and pleasure-seeking to sap their strength and manhood.
+
+The upshot of it all was that the Abati became obsessed with the
+saying of the Fung scouts to the shepherds, which, after all, was but
+a repetition of that of their envoys delivered to the Council a little
+while before: that they should hasten to destroy the idol Harmac, lest
+he should move himself to Mur. How an idol of such proportions, or even
+its head, could move at all they did not stop to inquire. It was obvious
+to them, however, that if he was destroyed there would be nothing to
+move and, further, that we Gentiles were the only persons who could
+possibly effect such destruction. So we also became popular for a little
+while. Everybody was pleasant and flattered us--everybody, even Joshua,
+bowed when we approached, and took a most lively interest in the
+progress of our work, which many deputations and prominent individuals
+urged us to expedite.
+
+Better still, the untoward accidents such as those I have mentioned,
+ceased. Our dogs, for we had obtained some others, were no longer
+poisoned; rocks that appeared fixed did not fall; no arrows whistled
+among us when we went out riding. We even found it safe occasionally to
+dispense with our guards, since it was every one's interest to keep us
+alive--for the present. Still, I for one was not deceived for a single
+moment, and in season and out of season warned the others that the wind
+would soon blow again from a less favourable quarter.
+
+We worked, we worked, we worked! Heaven alone knows how we did work.
+Think of the task, which, after all, was only one of several. A tunnel
+must be bored, for I forget how far, through virgin rock, with the
+help of inadequate tools and unskilled labour, and this tunnel must be
+finished by a certain date. A hundred unexpected difficulties arose, and
+one by one were conquered. Great dangers must be run, and were avoided,
+while the responsibility of this tremendous engineering feat lay upon
+the shoulders of a single individual, Oliver Orme, who, although he had
+been educated as an engineer, had no great practical experience of such
+enterprises.
+
+Truly the occasion makes the man, for Orme rose to it in a way that
+I can only call heroic. When he was not actually in the tunnel he was
+labouring at his calculations, of which many must be made, or taking
+levels with such instruments as he had. For if there proved to be the
+slightest error all this toil would be in vain, and result only in the
+blowing of a useless hole through a mass of rock. Then there was a
+great question as to the effect which would be produced by the amount of
+explosive at his disposal, since terrible as might be the force of the
+stuff, unless it were scientifically placed and distributed it would
+assuredly fail to accomplish the desired end.
+
+At last, after superhuman efforts, the mine was finished. Our stock of
+concentrated explosive, about four full camel loads of it, was set in
+as many separate chambers, each of them just large enough to receive the
+charge, hollowed in the prim�val rock from which the idol had been hewn.
+
+These chambers were about twenty feet from each other, although if there
+had been time to prolong the tunnel, the distance should have been
+at least forty in order to give the stuff a wider range of action.
+According to Oliver's mathematical reckoning, they were cut in the exact
+centre of the base of the idol, and about thirty feet below the actual
+body of the crouching sphinx. As a matter of fact this reckoning was
+wrong in several particulars, the charges having been set farther
+toward the east or head of the sphinx and higher up in the base than
+he supposed. When it is remembered that he had found no opportunity
+of measuring the monument which practically we had only seen once from
+behind under conditions not favourable to accuracy in such respects, or
+of knowing its actual length and depth, these trifling errors were not
+remarkable.
+
+What was remarkable is that his general plan of operations, founded upon
+a mere hypothetical estimate, should have proved as accurate as it did.
+
+At length all was prepared, and the deadly cast-iron flasks had been
+packed in sand, together with dynamite cartridges, the necessary
+detonators, electric wires, and so forth, an anxious and indeed awful
+task executed entirely in that stifling atmosphere by the hands of Orme
+and Quick. Then began another labour, that of the filling in of the
+tunnels. This, it seems, was necessary, or so I understood, lest the
+expanding gases, following the line of least resistance, should blow
+back, as it were, through the vent-hole. What made that task the more
+difficult was the need of cutting a little channel in the rock to
+contain the wires, and thereby lessen the risk of the fracture of these
+wires in the course of the building-up process. Of course, if by any
+accident this should happen, the circuit would be severed, and no
+explosion would follow when the electric battery was set to work.
+
+The arrangement was that the mine should be fired on the night of
+that full moon on which we had been told, and spies confirmed the
+information, the feast of the marriage of Barung's daughter to my son
+would be celebrated in the city of Harmac. This date was fixed because
+the Sultan had announced that so soon as that festivity, which coincided
+with the conclusion of the harvest, was ended, he meant to deliver his
+attack on Mur.
+
+Also, we were anxious that it should be adhered to for another reason,
+since we knew that on this day but a small number of priests and guards
+would be left in charge of the idol, and my son could not be among them.
+Now, whatever may have been the views of the Abati, we as Christians who
+bore them no malice did not at all desire to destroy an enormous number
+of innocent Fung, as might have happened if we had fired our mine when
+the people were gathered to sacrifice to their god.
+
+
+The fatal day arrived at last. All was completed, save for the blocking
+of the passage, which still went on, or, rather, was being reinforced by
+the piling up of loose rocks against its mouth, at which a hundred or so
+men laboured incessantly. The firing wires had been led into that little
+chamber in the old temple where the dog Pharaoh tore out the throat of
+Shadrach, and no inch of them was left unguarded for fear of accident or
+treachery.
+
+The electric batteries--two of them, in case one should fail--had been
+tested but not connected with the wires. There they stood upon the
+floor, looking innocent enough, and we four sat round them like wizards
+round their magic pot, who await the working of some spell. We were not
+cheerful; who could be under so intense a strain? Orme, indeed, who
+had grown pale and thin with continuous labour of mind and body, seemed
+quite worn out. He could not eat nor smoke, and with difficulty I
+persuaded him to drink some of the native wine. He would not even go to
+look at the completion of the work or to test the wires.
+
+"You can see to it," he said; "I have done all I can. Now things must
+take their chance."
+
+After our midday meal he lay down and slept quite soundly for several
+hours. About four o'clock those who were labouring at the piling up of
+d�bris over the mouth of the tunnel completed their task, and, in charge
+of Quick, were marched out of the underground city.
+
+Then Higgs and I took lamps and went along the length of the wires,
+which lay in a little trench covered over with dust, removing the dust
+and inspecting them at intervals. Discovering nothing amiss, we returned
+to the old temple, and at its doorway met the mountaineer, Japhet, who
+throughout all these proceedings had been our prop and stay. Indeed,
+without his help and that of his authority over the Abati the mine could
+never have been completed, at any rate within the time.
+
+The light of the lamp showed that his face was very anxious.
+
+"What is the matter?" I asked.
+
+"O Physician," he answered, "I have words for the ear of the Captain
+Orme. Be pleased to lead me to him."
+
+We explained that he slept and could not be disturbed, but Japhet only
+answered as before, adding:
+
+"Come you with me, my words are for your ears as well as his."
+
+So we went into the little room and awoke Oliver, who sprang up in a
+great fright, thinking that something untoward had happened at the mine.
+
+"What's wrong?" he asked of Japhet. "Have the Fung cut the wires?"
+
+"Nay, O Orme, a worse thing; I have discovered that the Prince Joshua
+has laid a plot to steal away 'Her-whose-name-is-high.'"
+
+"What do you mean? Set out all the story, Japhet," said Oliver.
+
+"It is short, lord. I have some friends, one of whom--he is of my own
+blood, but ask me not his name--is in the service of the Prince. We
+drank a cup of wine together, which I needed, and I suppose it loosed
+his tongue. At any rate, he told me, and I believed him. This is the
+story. For his own sake and that of the people the Prince desires that
+you should destroy the idol of Fung, and therefore he has kept his
+hands off you of late. Yet should you succeed, he does not know what may
+happen. He fears lest the Abati in their gratitude should set you up as
+great men."
+
+"Then he is an ass!" interrupted Quick; "for the Abati have no
+gratitude."
+
+"He fears," went on Japhet, "other things also. For instance, that the
+Child of Kings may express that gratitude by a mark of her signal favour
+toward one of you," and he stared at Orme, who turned his head aside.
+"Now, the Prince is affianced to this great lady, whom he desires to wed
+for two reasons: First, because this marriage will make him the chief
+man amongst the Abati, and, secondly, because of late he has come to
+think that he loves her whom he is afraid that he may lose. So he has
+set a snare."
+
+"What snare?" asked one of us, for Japhet paused.
+
+"I don't know," answered Japhet, "and I do not think that my friend knew
+either, or, if he did, he would not tell me. But I understand the plot
+is that the Child of Kings is to be carried off to the Prince Joshua's
+castle at the other end of the lake, six hours' ride away, and there be
+forced to marry him at once."
+
+"Indeed," said Orme, "and when is all this to happen?"
+
+"I don't know, lord. I know nothing except what my friend told me, which
+I thought it right to communicate to you instantly. I asked him the
+time, however, and he said that he believed the date was fixed for one
+night after next Sabbath."
+
+"Next Sabbath is five days hence, so that this matter does not seem to
+be very pressing," remarked Oliver with a sigh of relief. "Are you sure
+that you can trust your friend, Japhet?"
+
+"No, lord, I am not sure, especially as I have always known him to be a
+liar. Still, I thought that I ought to tell you."
+
+"Very kind of you, Japhet, but I wish that you had let me have my sleep
+out first. Now go down the line and see that all is right, then return
+and report."
+
+Japhet saluted in his native fashion and went.
+
+"What do you think of this story?" asked Oliver, as soon as he was out
+of hearing.
+
+"All bosh," answered Higgs; "the place is full of talk and rumours, and
+this is one of them."
+
+He paused and looked at me.
+
+"Oh!" I said, "I agree with Higgs. If Japhet's friend had really
+anything to tell he would have told it in more detail. I daresay there
+are a good many things Joshua would like to do, but I expect he will
+stop there, at any rate, for the present. If you take my advice you will
+say nothing of the matter, especially to Maqueda."
+
+"Then we are all agreed. But what are you thinking of, Sergeant?"
+asked Oliver, addressing Quick, who stood in a corner of the room, lost
+apparently in contemplation of the floor.
+
+"I, Captain," he replied, coming to attention. "Well, begging their
+pardon, I was thinking that I don't hold with these gentlemen, except in
+so far that I should say nothing of this job to our Lady, who has plenty
+to bother her just now, and won't need to be frightened as well. Still,
+there may be something in it, for though that Japhet is stupid, he's
+honest, and honest men sometimes get hold of the right end of the stick.
+At least, he believes there is something, and that's what weighs with
+me."
+
+"Well, if that's your opinion, what's best to be done Sergeant? I agree
+that the Child of Kings should not be told, and I shan't leave this
+place till after ten o'clock to-night at the earliest, if we stick to
+our plans, as we had better do, for all that stuff in the tunnel wants
+a little time to settle, and for other reasons. What are you drawing
+there?" and he pointed to the floor, in the dust of which Quick was
+tracing something with his finger.
+
+"A plan of our Lady's private rooms, Captain. She told you she was going
+to rest at sundown, didn't she, or earlier, for she was up most of last
+night, and wanted to get a few hours' sleep before--something happens.
+Well, her bed-chamber is there, isn't it? and another before it, in
+which her maids sleep, and nothing behind except a high wall and a ditch
+which cannot be climbed."
+
+"That's quite true," interrupted Higgs. "I got leave to make a plan
+of the palace, only there is a passage six feet wide and twenty long
+leading from the guard chamber to the ladies' anteroom."
+
+"Just so, Professor, and that passage has a turn in it, if I remember
+right, so that two well-armed men could hold it against quite a lot.
+Supposing now that you and I, Professor, should go and take a nap in
+that guard-room, which will be empty, for the watch is set at the palace
+gate. We shan't be wanted here, since if the Captain can't touch off
+that mine, no one can, with the Doctor to help him just in case anything
+goes wrong, and Japhet guarding the line. I daresay there's nothing
+in this yarn, but who knows? There might be, and then we should blame
+ourselves. What do you say, Professor?"
+
+"I? Oh, I'll do anything you wish, though I should rather have liked to
+climb the cliff and watch what happens."
+
+"You'd see nothing, Higgs," interrupted Oliver, "except perhaps the
+reflection of a flash in the sky; so, if you don't mind, I wish you
+would go with the Sergeant. Somehow, although I am quite certain that
+we ought not to alarm Maqueda, I am not easy about her, and if you two
+fellows were there, I should know she was all right, and it would be a
+weight off my mind."
+
+"That settles it," said Higgs; "we'll be off presently. Look here, give
+us that portable telephone, which is of no use anywhere else now. The
+wire will reach to the palace, and if the machine works all right we can
+talk to you and tell each other how things are going on."
+
+Ten minutes later they had made their preparations. Quick stepped up to
+Oliver and stood at attention, saying:
+
+"Ready to march. Any more orders, Captain?"
+
+"I think not, Sergeant," he answered, lifting his eyes from the little
+batteries that he was watching as though they were live things. "You
+know the arrangements. At ten o'clock--that is about two hours hence--I
+touch this switch. Whatever happens it must not be done before, for fear
+lest the Doctor's son should not have left the idol, to say nothing of
+all the other poor beggars. The spies say that the marriage feast will
+not be celebrated until at least three hours after moonrise."
+
+"And that's what I heard when I was a prisoner," interrupted Higgs.
+
+"I daresay," answered Orme; "but it is always well to allow a margin
+in case the procession should be delayed, or something. So until ten
+o'clock I've got to stop where I am, and you may be sure, Doctor, that
+under no circumstances shall I fire the mine before that hour, as indeed
+you will be here to see. After that I can't say what will happen, but
+if we don't appear, you two had better come to look for us--in case
+of accidents, you know. Do your best at your end according to
+circumstances; the Doctor and I will do our best at ours. I think that
+is all, Sergeant. Report yourselves by the telephone if the wire is long
+enough and it will work, which I daresay it won't, and, anyway, look out
+for us about half-past ten. Good-bye!"
+
+"Good-bye, Captain," answered Quick, then stretched out his hand,
+shook that of Orme, and without another word took his lamp and left the
+chamber.
+
+An impulse prompted me to follow him, leaving Orme and Higgs discussing
+something before they parted. When he had walked about fifty yards in
+the awful silence of that vast underground town, of which the ruined
+tenements yawned on either side of us, the Sergeant stopped and said
+suddenly:
+
+"You don't believe in presentiments, do you, Doctor?"
+
+"Not a bit," I answered.
+
+"Glad of it, Doctor. Still, I have got a bad one now, and it is that I
+shan't see the Captain or you any more."
+
+"Then that's a poor look-out for us, Quick."
+
+"No, Doctor, for me. I think you are both all right, and the Professor,
+too. It's my name they are calling up aloft, or so it seems to me. Well,
+I don't care much, for, though no saint, I have tried to do my duty,
+and if it is done, it's done. If it's written, it's got to come to pass,
+hasn't it? For everything is written down for us long before we begin,
+or so I've always thought. Still, I'll grieve to part from the Captain,
+seeing that I nursed him as a child, and I'd have liked to know him well
+out of this hole, and safely married to that sweet lady first, though I
+don't doubt that it will be so."
+
+"Nonsense, Sergeant," I said sharply; "you are not yourself; all this
+work and anxiety has got on your nerves."
+
+"As it well might, Doctor, not but I daresay that's true. Anyhow, if the
+other is the true thing, and you should all see old England again with
+some of the stuff in that dead-house, I've got three nieces living down
+at home whom you might remember. Don't say nothing of what I told you to
+the Captain till this night's game is played, seeing that it might upset
+him, and he'll need to keep cool up to ten o'clock, and afterwards too,
+perhaps. Only if we shouldn't meet again, say that Samuel Quick sent him
+his duty and God's blessing. And the same on yourself, Doctor, and your
+son, too. And now here comes the Professor, so good-bye."
+
+
+
+A minute later they had left me, and I stood watching them until the two
+stars of light from their lanterns vanished into the blackness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HARMAC COMES TO MUR
+
+Slowly and in very bad spirits I retraced my steps to the old temple,
+following the line of the telephone wire which Higgs and Quick had
+unreeled as they went. In the Sergeant's prognostications of evil I
+had no particular belief, as they seemed to me to be born of the
+circumstances which surrounded us, and in different ways affected all
+our minds, even that of the buoyant Higgs.
+
+To take my own case, for instance. Here I was about to assist in an act
+which for aught I knew might involve the destruction of my only son. It
+was true we believed that this was the night of his marriage at the town
+of Harmac, some miles away, and that the tale of our spies supported
+this information. But how could we be sure that the date, or the place
+of the ceremony, had not been changed at the last moment? Supposing,
+for instance, that it was held, not in the town, as arranged, but in the
+courts of the idol, and that the fearful activities of the fiery agent
+which we were about to wake to life should sweep the celebrants into
+nothingness.
+
+The thought made me turn cold, and yet the deed must be done; Roderick
+must take his chance. And if all were well, and he escaped that danger,
+were there not worse behind? Think of him, a Christian man, the husband
+of a savage woman who worshipped a stone image with a lion's head, bound
+to her and her tribe, a state prisoner, trebly guarded, whom, so far
+as I could see, there would be no hope of rescuing. It was awful. Then
+there were other complications. If the plan succeeded and the idol was
+destroyed, my own belief was that the Fung must thereby be exasperated.
+Evidently they knew some road into this stronghold. It would be used.
+They would pour their thousands up it, a general massacre would follow,
+of which, justly, we should be the first victims.
+
+I reached the chamber where Oliver sat brooding alone, for Japhet was
+patrolling the line.
+
+"I am not happy about Maqueda, Doctor," he said to me. "I am afraid
+there is something in that story. She wanted to be with us; indeed, she
+begged to be allowed to come almost with tears. But I wouldn't have it,
+since accidents may always happen; the vibration might shake in the roof
+or something; in fact, I don't think you should be here. Why don't you
+go away and leave me?"
+
+I answered that nothing would induce me to do so, for such a job should
+not be left to one man.
+
+"No, you're right," he said; "I might faint or lose my head or anything.
+I wish now that we had arranged to send the spark from the palace,
+which perhaps we might have done by joining the telephone wire on to
+the others. But, to tell you the truth, I'm afraid of the batteries.
+The cells are new but very weak, for time and the climate have affected
+them, and I thought it possible the extra difference might make the
+difference and that they would fail to work. That's why I fixed this as
+the firing point. Hullo, there's the bell. What have they got to say?"
+
+I snatched the receiver, and presently heard the cheerful voice of
+Higgs announcing that they had arrived safely in the little anteroom to
+Maqueda's private apartments.
+
+"The palace seems very empty," he added; "we only met one sentry, for I
+think that everybody else, except Maqueda and a few of her ladies,
+have cleared out, being afraid lest rocks should fall on them when the
+explosion occurs."
+
+"Did the man say so?" I asked of Higgs.
+
+"Yes, something of that sort; also he wanted to forbid us to come here,
+saying that it was against the Prince Joshua's orders that we Gentiles
+should approach the private apartments of the Child of Kings. Well, we
+soon settled that, and he bolted. Where to? Oh! I don't know; to report,
+he said."
+
+"How's Quick?" I asked.
+
+"Much the same as usual. In fact, he is saying his prayers in the
+corner, looking like a melancholy brigand with rifles, revolvers, and
+knives stuck all over him. I wish he wouldn't say his prayers," added
+Higgs, and his voice reached me in an indignant squeak; "it makes me
+feel uncomfortable, as though I ought to join him. But not having been
+brought up a Dissenter or a Moslem, I can't pray in public as he does.
+Hullo! Wait a minute, will you?"
+
+Then followed a longish pause, and after it Higgs's voice again.
+
+"It's all right," it said. "Only one of Maqueda's ladies who had heard
+us and come to see who we were. When she learns I expect she will join
+us here, as the girl says she's nervous and can't sleep."
+
+Higgs proved right in his anticipations, for in about ten minutes we
+were rung up again, this time by Maqueda herself, whereon I handed the
+receiver to Oliver and retired to the other end of the room.
+
+Nor, to tell the truth, was I sorry for the interruption, since it
+cheered up Oliver and helped to pass the time.
+
+The next thing worth telling that happened was that, an hour or more
+later, Japhet arrived, looking very frightened. We asked him our usual
+question: if anything was wrong with the wires. With a groan he answered
+"No," the wires seemed all right, but he had met a ghost.
+
+"What ghost, you donkey?" I said.
+
+"The ghost of one of the dead kings, O Physician, yonder in the burial
+cave. It was he with the bent bones who sits in the farthest chair. Only
+he had put some flesh on his bones, and I tell you he looked fearful, a
+very fierce man, or rather ghost."
+
+"Indeed, and did he say anything to you, Japhet?"
+
+"Oh! yes, plenty, O Physician, only I could not understand it all,
+because his language was somewhat different to mine, and he spat out
+his words as a green log spits out sparks. I think that he asked me,
+however, how my miserable people dared to destroy his god, Harmac. I
+answered that I was only a servant and did not know, adding that he
+should put his questions to you."
+
+"And what did he say to that, Japhet?"
+
+"I think he said that Harmac would come to Mur and settle his account
+with the Abati, and that the foreign men would be wise to fly fast and
+far. That's all I understood; ask me no more, who would not return into
+that cave to be made a prince."
+
+"He's got hold of what Barung's envoys told us," said Oliver,
+indifferently, "and no wonder, this place is enough to make anybody see
+ghosts. I'll repeat it to Maqueda; it will amuse her."
+
+"I wouldn't if I were you," I answered, "for it isn't exactly a cheerful
+yarn, and perhaps she's afraid of ghosts too. Also," and I pointed
+to the watch that lay on the table beside the batteries, "it is five
+minutes to ten."
+
+Oh! that last five minutes! It seemed as many centuries. Like stone
+statues we sat, each of us lost in his own thoughts, though for my part
+the power of clear thinking appeared to have left me. Visions of a sort
+flowed over my mind without sinking into it, as water flows over marble.
+All I could do was fix my eyes on the face of that watch, of which in
+the flickering lamp-light the second-hand seemed to my excited fancy to
+grow enormous and jump from one side of the room to the other.
+
+Orme began to count aloud. "One, two, three, four, five--_now_!" and
+almost simultaneously he touched the knob first of one battery and next
+of the other. Before his finger pressed the left-hand knob I felt the
+solid rock beneath us surge--no other word conveys its movement. Then
+the great stone cross-piece, weighing several tons, that was set as
+a transom above the tall door of our room, dislodged itself, and fell
+quite gently into the doorway, which it completely blocked.
+
+Other rocks fell also at a distance, making a great noise, and somehow
+I found myself on the ground, my stool had slid away from me. Next
+followed a muffled, awful roar, and with it came a blast of wind blowing
+where wind never blew before since the beginning of the world, that with
+a terrible wailing howled itself to silence in the thousand recesses of
+the cave city. As it passed our lamps went out. Lastly, quite a minute
+later I should think, there was a thud, as though something of enormous
+weight had fallen on the surface of the earth far above us.
+
+Then all was as it had been; all was darkness and utter quietude.
+
+"Well, that's over," said Oliver, in a strained voice which sounded very
+small and far away through that thick darkness; "all over for good or
+ill. I needn't have been anxious; the first battery was strong enough,
+for I felt the mine spring as I touched the second. I wonder," he went
+on, as though speaking to himself, "what amount of damage nearly a ton
+and a half of that awful azo-imide compound has done to the old sphinx.
+According to my calculations it ought to have been enough to break the
+thing up, if we could have spread the charge more. But, as it is, I
+am by no means certain. It may only have driven a hole in its bulk,
+especially if there were hollows through which the gases could run.
+Well, with luck, we may know more about it later. Strike a match, Adams,
+and light those lamps. Why, what's that? Listen!"
+
+As he spoke, from somewhere came a series of tiny noises, that,
+though they were so faint and small, suggested rifles fired at a great
+distance. Crack, crack, crack! went the infinitesimal noises.
+
+I groped about, and finding the receiver of the field telephone, set
+it to my ear. In an instant all grew plain to me. Guns were being fired
+near the other end of the wire, and the transmitter was sending us the
+sound of them. Very faintly but with distinctness I could hear Higgs's
+high voice saying, "Look out, Sergeant, there's another rush coming!"
+and Quick answering, "Shoot low, Professor; for the Lord's sake shoot
+low. You are empty, sir. Load up, load up! Here's a clip of cartridges.
+Don't fire too fast. Ah! that devil got me, but I've got him; he'll
+never throw another spear."
+
+"They are being attacked!" I exclaimed. "Quick is wounded. Now Maqueda
+is talking to you. She says, 'Oliver, come! Joshua's men assail me.
+Oliver, come!'"
+
+Then followed a great sound of shouting answered by more shots, and just
+as Orme snatched the receiver from my hand the wire went dead. In vain
+he called down it in an agonized voice. As well might he have addressed
+the planet Saturn.
+
+"The wire's cut," he exclaimed, dashing down the receiver and seizing
+the lantern which Japhet had just succeeded in re-lighting; "come
+on, there's murder being done," and he sprang to the doorway, only to
+stagger back again from the great stone with which it was blocked.
+
+"Good God!" he screamed, "we're shut in. How can we get out? How can
+we get out?" and he began to run round and round the room, and even to
+spring at the walls like a frightened cat. Thrice he sprang, striving to
+climb to the coping, for the place had no roof, each time falling back,
+since it was too high for him to grasp. I caught him round the middle,
+and held him by main force, although he struck at me.
+
+"Be quiet," I said; "do you want to kill yourself? You will be no good
+dead or maimed. Let me think."
+
+Meanwhile Japhet was acting on his own account, for he, too, had heard
+the tiny, ominous sounds given out by the telephone and guessed their
+purport. First he ran to the massive transom that blocked the doorway
+and pushed. It was useless; not even an elephant could have stirred it.
+Then he stepped back, examining it carefully.
+
+"I think it can be climbed, Physician," he said. "Help me now," and he
+motioned to me to take one end of the heavy table on which the batteries
+stood. We dragged it to the doorway, and, seeing his purpose, Oliver
+jumped on to it with him. Then at Japhet's direction, while I supported
+the table to prevent its oversetting, Orme rested his forehead
+against the stone, making what schoolboy's call "a back," up which the
+mountaineer climbed actively until he stood upon his shoulders, and
+by stretching himself was able to grasp the end of the fallen transom.
+Next, while I held up the lamp to give him light, he gripped the
+roughnesses of the hewn stone with his toes, and in a few moments was
+upon the coping of the wall, twenty feet or more above the floor line.
+
+The rest was comparatively easy, for taking off his linen robe, Japhet
+knotted it once or twice, and let it down to us. By the help of this
+improvised rope, with Orme supporting me beneath, I, too, was dragged
+up to the coping of the wall. Then both of us pulled up Oliver, who,
+without a word, swung himself over the wall, hanging to Japhet's arms,
+and loosing his hold, dropped to the ground on the farther side. Next
+came my turn. It was a long fall, and had not Oliver caught me I think
+that I should have hurt myself. As it was, the breath was shaken out
+of me. Lastly, Japhet swung himself down, landing lightly as a cat. The
+lamps he had already dropped to us, and in another minute they were all
+lighted, and we were speeding down the great cavern.
+
+"Be careful," I cried; "there may be fallen rocks about."
+
+As it happened I was right, for at that moment Oliver struck his legs
+against one of them and fell, cutting himself a good deal. In a moment
+he was up again, but after this our progress grew slow, for hundreds of
+tons of stone had been shaken from the roof and blocked the path. Also,
+whole buildings of the ancient and underground city had been thrown
+down, although these were mostly blown inward by the rush of air. At
+length we came to the end of the cave, and halted dismayed, for here,
+where the blast of the explosion had been brought to a full stop, the
+place seemed to be crowded with rocks which it had rolled before it.
+
+"My God! I believe we are shut in," exclaimed Oliver in despair.
+
+But Japhet, lantern in hand, was already leaping from block to block,
+and presently, from the top of the d�bris, called to us to come to him.
+
+"I think there is a road left, though a bad one, lords," he said, and
+pointed to a jagged, well-like hole blown out, as I believe, by the
+recoil of the blast. With difficulty and danger, for many of the piled
+up stones were loose, we climbed down this place, and at its bottom
+squeezed ourselves through a narrow aperture on to the floor of the
+cave, praying that the huge door which led to the passage beyond might
+not be jammed, since if it were, as we knew well, our small strength
+would not avail to move it. Happily, this fear at least proved
+groundless, since it opened outward, and the force of the compressed air
+had torn it from its massive stone hinges and thrown it shattered to the
+ground.
+
+We scrambled over it, and advanced down the passage, our revolvers
+in our hands. We reached the audience hall, which was empty and in
+darkness. We turned to the left, crossing various chambers, and in the
+last of them, through which one of the gates of the palace could be
+approached, met with the first signs of the tragedy, for there were
+bloodstains on the floor.
+
+Orme pointed to them as he hurried on, and suddenly a man leapt out of
+the darkness as a buck leaps from a bush, and ran past us, holding his
+hands to his side, where evidently he had some grievous hurt. Now we
+entered the corridor leading to the private apartments of the Child of
+Kings, and found ourselves walking on the bodies of dead and dying men.
+One of the former I observed, as one does notice little things at such
+a moment, held in his hand the broken wire of the field telephone. I
+presume that he had snatched and severed it in his death pang at the
+moment when communication ceased between us and the palace.
+
+We rushed into the little antechamber, in which lights were burning, and
+there saw a sight that I for one never shall forget.
+
+In the foreground lay more dead men, all of them wearing the livery of
+Prince Joshua. Beyond was Sergeant Quick, seated on a chair. He seemed
+to be literally hacked to pieces. An arrow that no one had attempted to
+remove was fast in his shoulder; his head, which Maqueda was sponging
+with wet cloths--well, I will not describe his wounds.
+
+Leaning against the wall near by stood Higgs, also bleeding, and
+apparently quite exhausted. Behind, besides Maqueda herself, were two or
+three of her ladies, wringing their hands and weeping. In face of this
+terrible spectacle we came to a sudden halt. No word was spoken of by
+any one, for the power of speech had left us.
+
+The dying Quick opened his eyes, lifted his hand, upon which there was
+a ghastly sword-cut, to his forehead, as though to shade them from the
+light--ah! how well I recall that pathetic motion--and from beneath this
+screen stared at us a while. Then he rose from the chair, touched his
+throat to show that he could not speak, as I suppose, saluted Orme,
+turned and pointed to Maqueda, and with a triumphant smile sank down
+and--died.
+
+Such was the noble end of Sergeant Quick.
+
+To describe what followed is not easy, for the scene was confused. Also
+shock and sorrow have blurred its recollection in my mind. I remember
+Maqueda and Orme falling into each other's arms before everybody.
+I remember her drawing herself up in that imperial way of hers, and
+saying, as she pointed to the body of Quick:
+
+"There lies one who has shown us how to die. This countryman of yours
+was a hero, O Oliver, and you should hold his memory in honour, since he
+saved me from worse than death."
+
+"What's the story?" asked Orme of Higgs.
+
+"A simple one enough," he answered. "We got here all right, as we told
+you over the wire. Then Maqueda talked to you for a long while until
+you rang off, saying you wanted to speak to Japhet. After that, at ten
+o'clock precisely, we heard the thud of the explosion. Next, as we were
+preparing to go out to see what had happened, Joshua arrived alone,
+announced that the idol Harmac had been destroyed, and demanded that
+the Child of Kings, 'for State reasons,' should accompany him to his own
+castle. She declined and, as he insisted, I took it upon myself to kick
+him out of the place. He retired, and we saw no more of him, but a few
+minutes later there came a shower of arrows down the passage, and after
+them a rush of men, who called, 'Death to the Gentiles. Rescue the
+Rose.'
+
+"So we began to shoot and knocked over a lot of them, but Quick got
+that arrow through his shoulder. Three times they came on like that, and
+three times we drove them back. At last our cartridges ran low, and we
+only had our revolvers left, which we emptied into them. They hung a
+moment, but moved forward again, and all seemed up.
+
+"Then Quick went mad. He snatched the sword of a dead Abati and ran at
+them roaring like a bull. They hacked and cut at him, but the end of
+it was that he drove them right out of the passage, while I followed,
+firing past him.
+
+"Well, those who were left of the blackguards bolted, and when they had
+gone the Sergeant tumbled down. The women and I carried him back here,
+but he never said another word, and at last you turned up. Now he's
+gone, God rest him, for if ever there was a hero in this world he was
+christened Samuel Quick!" and, turning aside, the Professor pushed up
+the blue spectacles he always wore on to his forehead, and wiped his
+eyes with the back of his hand.
+
+With grief more bitter than I can describe we lifted up the body of the
+gallant Quick and, bearing it into Maqueda's private apartment, placed
+it on her own bed, for she insisted that the man who had died to protect
+her should be laid nowhere else. It was strange to see the grim old
+soldier, whose face, now that I had washed his wounds, looked calm and
+even beautiful, laid out to sleep his last sleep upon the couch of the
+Child of Kings. That bed, I remember, was a rich and splendid thing,
+made of some black wood inlaid with scrolls of gold, and having hung
+about it curtains of white net embroidered with golden stars, such as
+Maqueda wore upon her official veil.
+
+There upon the scented pillows and silken coverlet we set our burden
+down, the work-worn hands clasped upon the breast in an attitude of
+prayer, and one by one bid our farewell to this faithful and upright
+man, whose face, as it chanced, we were never to see again, except in
+the glass of memory. Well, he had died as he had lived and would have
+wished to die--doing his duty and in war. And so we left him. Peace be
+to his honoured spirit!
+
+In the blood-stained ante-room, while I dressed and stitched up the
+Professor's wounds, a sword-cut on the head, an arrow-graze along the
+face, and a spear-prick in the thigh, none of them happily at all deep
+or dangerous, we held a brief council.
+
+"Friends," said Maqueda, who was leaning on her lover's arm, "it is
+not safe that we should stop here. My uncle's plot has failed for the
+moment, but it was only a small and secret thing. I think that soon he
+will return again with a thousand at his back, and then----"
+
+"What is in your mind?" asked Oliver. "To fly from Mur?"
+
+"How can we fly," she answered, "when the pass is guarded by Joshua's
+men, and the Fung wait for us without? The Abati hate you, my friends,
+and now that you have done your work I think that they will kill you if
+they can, whom they bore with only till it was done. Alas! alas! that I
+should have brought you to this false and ungrateful country," and she
+began to weep, while we stared at each other, helpless.
+
+Then Japhet, who all this while had been crouched on the floor, rocking
+himself too and fro and mourning in his Eastern fashion for Quick,
+whom he had loved, rose, and, coming to the Child of Kings, prostrated
+himself before her.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta," he said, "hear the words of your servant. Only three
+miles away, near to the mouth of the pass, are encamped five hundred
+men of my own people, the Mountaineers, who hate Prince Joshua and his
+following. Fly to them, O Walda Nagasta, for they will cleave to you and
+listen to me whom you have made a chief among them. Afterwards you can
+act as may seem wisest."
+
+Maqueda looked at Oliver questioningly.
+
+"I think that is good advice," he said. "At any rate, we can't be worse
+off among the Mountaineers than we are in this undefended place. Tell
+your women to bring cloaks that we can throw over our heads, and let us
+go."
+
+Five minutes later, a forlorn group filled with fears, we had stolen
+over the dead and dying in the passage, and made our way to the side
+gate of the palace that we found open, and over the bridge that spanned
+the moat beyond, which was down. Doubtless Joshua's ruffians had used
+it in their approach and retreat. Disguised in the long cloaks with
+monk-like hoods that the Abati wore at night or when the weather was
+cold and wet, we hurried across the great square. Here, since we could
+not escape them, we mingled with the crowd that was gathered at its
+farther end, all of them--men, women and children--chattering like
+monkeys in the tree-tops, and pointing to the cliff at the back of the
+palace, beneath which, it will be remembered, lay the underground city.
+
+A band of soldiers rode by, thrusting their way through the people, and
+in order to avoid them we thought it wise to take refuge in the shadow
+of a walk of green-leaved trees which grew close at hand, for we feared
+lest they might recognize Oliver by his height. Here we turned and
+looked up at the cliff, to discover what it was at which every one was
+staring. At that moment the full moon, which had been obscured by a
+cloud, broke out, and we saw a spectacle that under the circumstances
+was nothing less than terrifying.
+
+The cliff behind the palace rose to a height of about a hundred and
+fifty feet, and, as it chanced, just there a portion of it jutted out
+in an oblong shape, which the Abati called the Lion Rock, although
+personally, heretofore, I had never been able to see in it any great
+resemblance to a lion. Now, however, it was different, for on the very
+extremity of this rock, staring down at Mur, sat the head and neck of
+the huge lion-faced idol of the Fung. Indeed, in that light, with the
+promontory stretching away behind it, it looked as though it were
+the idol itself, moved from the valley upon the farther side of the
+precipice to the top of the cliff above.
+
+"Oh! oh! oh!" groaned Japhet, "the prophecy is fulfilled--the head of
+Harmac has come to sleep at Mur."
+
+"You mean that we have sent him there," whispered Higgs. "Don't be
+frightened, man; can't you understand that the power of our medicine has
+blown the head off the sphinx high into the air, and landed it where it
+sits now?"
+
+"Yes," I put in, "and what we felt in the cave was the shock of its
+fall."
+
+"I don't care what brought him," replied Japhet, who seemed quite
+unstrung by all that he had gone through. "All I know is that the
+prophecy is fulfilled, and Harmac has come to Mur, and where Harmac goes
+the Fung follow."
+
+"So much the better," said the irreverent Higgs. "I may be able to
+sketch and measure him now."
+
+But I saw that Maqueda was trembling, for she, too, thought this
+occurrence a very bad omen, and even Oliver remained silent, perhaps
+because he feared its effect upon the Abati.
+
+Nor was this wonderful since, from the talk around us, clearly that
+effect was great. Evidently the people were terrified, like Japhet. We
+could hear them foreboding ill, and cursing us Gentiles as wizards,
+who had not destroyed the idol of the Fung as we promised, but had only
+caused him to fly to Mur.
+
+Here I may mention that as a matter of fact they were right. As we
+discovered afterwards, the whole force of the explosion, instead of
+shattering the vast bulk of the stone image, had rushed up through the
+hollow chambers in its interior until it struck against the solid head.
+Lifting this as though it were a toy, the expanding gas had hurled that
+mighty mass an unknown distance into the air, to light upon the crest of
+the cliffs of Mur, where probably it will remain forever.
+
+"Well," I said, when we had stared a little while at this extraordinary
+phenomenon, "thank God it did not travel farther, and fall upon the
+palace."
+
+"Oh! had it done so," whispered Maqueda in a tearful voice, "I think you
+might have thanked God indeed, for then at least I should be free
+from all my troubles. Come, friends, let us be going before we are
+discovered."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+I FIND MY SON
+
+Our road toward the pass ran through the camping ground of the newly
+created Abati army, and what we saw on our journey thither told us
+more vividly than any words or reports could do, how utter was the
+demoralization of that people. Where should have been sentries were
+no sentries; where should have been soldiers were groups of officers
+talking with women; where should have been officers were camp followers
+drinking.
+
+Through this confusion and excitement we made our way unobserved, or,
+at any rate, unquestioned, till at length we came to the regiment of the
+Mountaineers, who, for the most part, were goatherds, poor people who
+lived upon the slopes of the precipices that enclosed the land of Mur.
+These folk, having little to do with their more prosperous brethren of
+the plain, were hardy and primitive of nature, and therefore retained
+some of the primeval virtues of mankind, such as courage and loyalty.
+
+It was for the first of these reasons, and, indeed, for the second also,
+that they had been posted by Joshua at the mouth of the pass, which he
+knew well they alone could be trusted to defend in the event of serious
+attack. Moreover, it was desirable, from his point of view, to keep them
+out of the way while he developed his plans against the person of the
+Child of Kings, for whom these simple-minded men had a hereditary and
+almost a superstitious reverence.
+
+As soon as we were within the lines of these Mountaineers we found the
+difference between them and the rest of the Abati. The other regiments
+we had passed unchallenged, but here we were instantly stopped by a
+picket. Japhet whispered something into the ear of its officer that
+caused him to stare hard at us. Then this officer saluted the veiled
+figure of the Child of Kings and led us to where the commander of the
+band and his subordinates were seated near a fire sitting together. At
+some sign or word that did not reach us the commander, an old fellow
+with a long grey beard, rose and said:
+
+"Your pardon, but be pleased to show your faces."
+
+Maqueda threw back her hood and turned so that the light of the moon
+fell full upon her, whereon the old man dropped to his knee, saying:
+
+"Your commands, O Walda Nagasta."
+
+"Summon your regiment and I will give them," she answered, and seated
+herself on a bench by the fire, we three and Japhet standing behind her.
+
+The commander issued orders to his captains, and presently the
+Mountaineers formed up on three sides of a square above us, to the
+number of a little over five hundred men. When all were gathered Maqueda
+mounted the bench upon which she had been sitting, threw back her hood
+so that every one could see her face in the light of the fire, and
+addressed them:
+
+"Men of the mountain-side, this night just after the idol of the Fung
+had been destroyed, the Prince Joshua, my uncle, came to me demanding
+my surrender to him, whether to kill me or to imprison me in his castle
+beyond the end of the lake, for reasons of State as he said, or for
+other vile purposes, I do not know."
+
+At these words a murmur rose from the audience.
+
+"Wait," said Maqueda, holding up her hand, "there is worse to come.
+I told my uncle, Prince Joshua, that he was a traitor and had best be
+gone. He went, threatening me and, when I do not know, withdrew the
+guards that should be stationed at my palace gates. Now, some rumour of
+my danger had reached the foreigners in my service, and two of them,
+he who is called Black Windows, whom we rescued from the Fung, and the
+soldier named Quick, came to watch over me, while the Lord Orme and the
+Doctor Adams stayed in the cave to send out that spark of fire which
+should destroy the idol. Nor did they come back without need, for
+presently arrived a band of Prince Joshua's men to take me.
+
+"Then Black Windows and the soldier his companion fought a good fight,
+they two holding the narrow passage against many, and slaying a number
+of them with their terrible weapons. The end of it was, men of the
+mountains, that the warrior Quick, charging down the passage, drove
+away those servants of Joshua who remained alive. But in so doing he was
+wounded to the death. Yes, that brave man lies dead, having given his
+life to save the Child of Kings from the hands of her own people. Black
+Windows also was wounded--see the bandages about his head. Then came the
+Lord Orme and the Doctor Adams, and with them your brother Japhet, who
+had barely escaped with their lives from the cave city, and knowing that
+I was no longer safe in the palace, where even my sleeping-room has been
+drenched with blood, with them I have fled to you for succour. Will you
+not protect me, O men of the mountain-side?"
+
+"Yes, yes," they answered with a great shout. "Command we obey. What
+shall we do, O Child of Kings?"
+
+Now Maqueda called the officers of the regiment apart and consulted with
+them, asking their opinions, one by one. Some of them were in favour of
+finding out where Joshua might be, and attacking him at once. "Crush the
+snake's head and its tail will soon cease wriggling!" these said, and I
+confess this was a view that in many ways commended itself to us.
+
+But Maqueda would have none of it.
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, "shall I begin a civil war among my people when
+for aught I know the enemy is at our gates?" adding aside to us, "also,
+how can these few hundred men, brave though they be, hope to stand
+against the thousands under the command of Joshua?"
+
+"What, then, would you do?" asked Orme.
+
+"Return to the palace with these Mountaineers, O Oliver, and by help of
+that garrison, hold it against all enemies."
+
+"Very well," he replied. "To those who are quite lost one road is as
+good as another; they must trust to the stars to guide them."
+
+"Quite so," echoed Higgs; "and the sooner we go the better, for my leg
+hurts, and I want a sleep."
+
+So Maqueda gave her commands to the officers, by whom they were conveyed
+to the regiment, which received them with a shout, and instantly began
+to strike its camp.
+
+Then it was, coming hot-foot after so much sorrow, loss and doubt, that
+there followed the happiest event of all my life. Utterly tired out and
+very despondent, I was seated on an arrow-chest awaiting the order to
+march, idly watching Oliver and Maqueda talking with great earnestness
+at a little distance, and in the intervals trying to prevent poor Higgs
+at my side from falling asleep. While I was thus engaged, suddenly I
+heard a disturbance, and by the bright moonlight caught sight of a man
+being led into the camp in charge of a guard of Abati soldiers, whom
+from their dress I knew to belong to a company that just then was
+employed in watching the lower gates of the pass.
+
+I took no particular heed of the incident, thinking only that they might
+have captured some spy, till a murmur of astonishment, and the general
+stir, warned me that something unusual had occurred. So I rose from my
+box and strolled towards the man, who now was hidden from me by a group
+of Mountaineers. As I advanced this group opened, the men who composed
+it bowing to me with a kind of wondering respect that impressed me, I
+did not know why.
+
+Then for the first time I saw the prisoner. He was a tall, athletic
+young man, dressed in festal robes with a heavy gold chain about his
+neck, and I wondered vaguely what such a person should be doing here
+in this time of national commotion. He turned his head so that the
+moonlight showed his dark eyes, his somewhat oval-shaped face ending in
+a peaked black beard, and his finely cut features. In an instant I knew
+him.
+
+_It was my son Roderick!_
+
+Next moment, for the first time for very many years, he was in my arms.
+
+The first thing that I remember saying to him was a typically
+Anglo-Saxon remark, for however much we live in the East or elsewhere,
+we never really shake off our native conventions, and habits of speech.
+It was, "How are you, my boy, and how on earth did you come here?"
+to which he answered, slowly, it is true, and speaking with a foreign
+accent:
+
+"All right, thank you, father. I ran upon my legs."
+
+By this time Higgs hobbled up, and was greeting my son warmly, for, of
+course, they were old friends.
+
+"Thought you were to be married to-night, Roderick?" he said.
+
+"Yes, yes," he answered, "I am half married according to Fung custom,
+which counts not to my soul. Look, this is the dress of marriage," and
+he pointed to his fine embroidered robe and rich ornaments.
+
+"Then, where's your wife?" asked Higgs.
+
+"I do not know and I do not care," he answered, "for I did not like
+that wife. Also it is all nothing as I am not quite married to her.
+Fung marriage between big people takes two days to finish, and if not
+finished does not matter. So she marry some one else if she like, and I
+too."
+
+"What happened then?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, this, father. When we had eaten the marriage feast, but before we
+past before priest, suddenly we hear a thunder and see a pillar of fire
+shoot up into sky, and sitting on top of it head of Harmac, which vanish
+into heaven and stop there. Then everybody jump up and say:
+
+"'Magic of white man! Magic of white man! White man kill the god who
+sit there from beginning of world, now day of Fung finished according to
+prophecy. Run away, people of Fung, run away!'
+
+"Barung the Sultan tear his clothes too, and say--'Run away, Fung,'
+and my half-wife, she tear _her_ clothes and say nothing, but run like
+antelope. So they all run toward east, where great river is, and leave
+me alone. Then I get up and run too--toward west, for I know from Black
+Windows," and he pointed to Higgs, "when we shut up together in belly of
+god before he let down to lions, what all this game mean, and therefore
+not frightened. Well, I run, meeting no one in night, till I come to
+pass, run up it, and find guards, to whom I tell story, so they not kill
+me, but let me through, and at last I come here, quite safe, without
+Fung wife, thank God, and that end of tale."
+
+"I am afraid you are wrong there, my boy," I said, "out of the
+frying-pan into the fire, that's all."
+
+"Out of frying-pan into fire," he repeated. "Not understand; father must
+remember I only little fellow when Khalifa's people take me, and
+since then speak no English till I meet Black Windows. Only he give me
+Bible-book that he have in pocket when he go down to be eat by lions."
+(Here Higgs blushed, for no one ever suspected him, a severe critic of
+all religions, of carrying a Bible in his pocket, and muttered something
+about "ancient customs of the Hebrews.")
+
+"Well," went on Roderick, "read that book ever since, and, as you see,
+all my English come back."
+
+"The question is," said Higgs, evidently in haste to talk of something
+else, "will the Fung come back?"
+
+"Oh! Black Windows, don't know, can't say. Think not. Their prophecy was
+that Harmac move to Mur, but when they see his head jump into sky and
+stop there, they run every man toward the sunrise, and I think go on
+running."
+
+"But Harmac has come to Mur, Roderick," I said; "at least his head has
+fallen on to the cliff that overlooks the city."
+
+"Oh! my father," he answered, "then that make great difference. When
+Fung find out that head of Harmac has come here, no doubt they come
+after him, for head his most holy bit, especially as they want hang all
+the Abati whom they not like."
+
+"Well, let's hope that they don't find out anything about it," I
+replied, to change the subject. Then taking Roderick by the hand I led
+him to where Maqueda stood a yard or two apart, listening to our talk,
+but, of course, understanding very little of it, and introduced him to
+her, explaining in a few words the wonderful thing that had happened.
+She welcomed him very kindly, and congratulated me upon my son's escape.
+Meanwhile, Roderick had been staring at her with evident admiration. Now
+he turned to us and said in his quaint broken English:
+
+"Walda Nagasta most lovely woman! No wonder King Solomon love her
+mother. If Barung's daughter, my wife, had been like her, think I run
+through great river into rising sun with Fung."
+
+Oliver instantly translated this remark, which made us all laugh,
+including Maqueda herself, and very grateful we were to find the
+opportunity for a little innocent merriment upon that tragic night.
+
+By this time the regiment was ready to start, and had formed up into
+companies. Before the march actually began, however, the officer of the
+Abati patrol, in whose charge Roderick had been brought to us,
+demanded his surrender that he might deliver his prisoner to the
+Commander-in-Chief, Prince Joshua. Of course, this was refused, whereon
+the man asked roughly:
+
+"By whose order?"
+
+As it happened, Maqueda, of whose presence he was not aware, heard him,
+and acting on some impulse, came forward, and unveiled.
+
+"By mine," she said. "Know that the Child of Kings rules the Abati, not
+the Prince Joshua, and that prisoners taken by her soldiers are hers,
+not his. Be gone back to your post!"
+
+The captain stared, saluted, and went with his companions, not to the
+pass, indeed, as he had been ordered, but to Joshua. To him he reported
+the arrival of the Gentile's son, and the news he brought that the
+nation of the Fung, dismayed by the destruction of their god, were in
+full flight from the plains of Harmac, purposing to cross the great
+river and to return no more.
+
+This glad tidings spread like wildfire; so fast, indeed, that almost
+before we had begun our march, we heard the shouts of exultation with
+which it was received by the terrified mob gathered in the great square.
+The cloud of terror was suddenly lifted from them. They went mad
+in their delight; they lit bonfires, they drank, they feasted, they
+embraced each other and boasted of their bravery that had caused the
+mighty nation of the Fung to flee away for ever.
+
+Meanwhile, our advance had begun, nor in the midst of the general
+jubilation was any particular notice taken of us till we were in the
+middle of the square of Mur and within half a mile of the palace,
+when we saw by the moonlight that a large body of troops, two or three
+thousand of them, were drawn up in front of us, apparently to bar our
+way. Still we went on till a number of officers rode up, and addressing
+the commander of the regiment of Mountaineers, demanded to know why he
+had left his post, and whither he went.
+
+"I go whither I am ordered," he answered, "for there is one here greater
+than I."
+
+"If you mean the Gentile Orme and his fellows, the command of the Prince
+Joshua is that you hand them over to us that they may make report to him
+of their doings this night."
+
+"And the command of the Child of Kings is," replied the captain of the
+Mountaineers, "that I take them with her back to the palace."
+
+"It has no weight," said the spokesman insolently, "not being endorsed
+by the Council. Surrender the Gentiles, hand over to us the person of
+the Child of Kings of whom you have taken possession, and return to your
+post till the pleasure of the Prince Joshua be known."
+
+Then the wrath of Maqueda blazed up.
+
+"Seize those men!" she said, and it was done instantly. "Now, cut the
+head from him who dared to demand the surrender of my person and of
+my officers, and give it to his companions to take back to the Prince
+Joshua as my answer to his message."
+
+The man heard, and being a coward like all the Abati, flung himself upon
+his face before Maqueda, trying to kiss her robe and pleading for mercy.
+
+"Dog!" she answered, "you were one of those who this very night dared
+to attack my chamber. Oh! lie not, I knew your voice and heard your
+fellow-traitors call you by your name. Away with him!"
+
+We tried to interfere, but she would not listen, even to Orme.
+
+"Would you plead for your brother's murderer?" she asked, alluding to
+Quick. "I have spoken!"
+
+So they dragged him off behind us, and presently we saw a melancholy
+procession returning whence they came, carrying something on a shield.
+It reached the opposing ranks, whence there arose a murmur of wrath and
+fear.
+
+"March on!" said Maqueda, "and gain the palace."
+
+So the regiment formed into a square, and, setting Maqueda and ourselves
+in the centre of it, advanced again.
+
+Then the fight began. Great numbers of the Abati surrounded us and, as
+they did not dare to make a direct attack, commenced shooting arrows,
+which killed and wounded a number of men. But the Highlanders also were
+archers, and carried stronger bows. The square was halted, the first
+ranks kneeling and the second standing behind them. Then, at a given
+word, the stiff bows which these hardy people used against the lion and
+the buffalo upon their hills were drawn to the ear and loosed again and
+again with terrible effect.
+
+On that open place it was almost impossible to miss the mobs of the
+Abati who, having no experience of war, were fighting without order. Nor
+could the light mail they wore withstand the rush of the heavy barbed
+arrows which pierced them through and through. In two minutes they began
+to give, in three they were flying back to their main body, those who
+were left of them, a huddled rout of men and horses. So the French
+must have fled before the terrible longbows of the English at Cr�cy
+and Poitiers, for, in fact, we were taking part in just such a medi�val
+battle.
+
+Oliver, who was watching intently, went to Japhet and whispered
+something in his ear. He nodded and ran to seek the commander of the
+regiment. Presently the result of that whisper became apparent, for
+the sides of the hollow square wheeled outward and the rear moved up to
+strengthen the centre.
+
+Now the Mountaineers were ranged in a double or triple line, behind
+which were only about a dozen soldiers, who marched round Maqueda,
+holding their shields aloft in order to protect her from stray arrows.
+With these, too, came our four selves, a number of camp-followers and
+others, carrying on their shields those of the regiment who were too
+badly wounded to walk.
+
+Leaving the dead where they lay, we began to advance, pouring in volleys
+of arrows as we went. Twice the Abati tried to charge us, and twice
+those dreadful arrows drove them back. Then at the word of command, the
+Highlanders slung their bows upon their backs, drew their short swords,
+and in their turn charged.
+
+Five minutes afterwards everything was over. Joshua's soldiers threw
+down their arms, and ran or galloped to right and left, save a number
+of them who fled through the gates of the palace, which they had opened,
+and across the drawbridge into the courtyards within. After them, or,
+rather, mixed up with them, followed the Mountaineers, killing all whom
+they could find, for they were out of hand and would not listen to the
+commands of Maqueda and their officers, that they should show mercy.
+
+So, just as the dawn broke this strange moonlit battle ended, a small
+affair, it is true, for there were only five hundred men engaged upon
+our side and three or four thousand on the other, yet one that cost
+a great number of lives and was the beginning of all the ruin that
+followed.
+
+Well, we were safe for a while, since it was certain, after the lesson
+which he had just learned, that Joshua would not attempt to storm the
+double walls and fosse of the palace without long preparation. Yet even
+now a new trouble awaited us, for by some means, we never discovered
+how, that wing of the palace in which Maqueda's private rooms were
+situated suddenly burst into flames.
+
+Personally, I believe that the fire arose through the fact that a lamp
+had been left burning near the bed of the Child of Kings upon which
+was laid the body of Sergeant Quick. Perhaps a wounded man hidden there
+overturned the lamp; perhaps the draught blowing through the open doors
+brought the gold-spangled curtains into contact with the wick.
+
+At any rate, the wood-panelled chambers took fire, and had it not
+happened that the set of the wind was favourable, the whole palace
+might have been consumed. As it was, we succeeded in confining the
+conflagration to this particular part of it, which within two hours had
+burnt out, leaving nothing standing but the stark, stone walls.
+
+Such was the funeral pyre of Sergeant Quick, a noble one, I thought to
+myself, as I watched it burn.
+
+When the fire was so well under control, for we had pulled down the
+connecting passage where Higgs and Quick fought their great fight, that
+there was no longer any danger of its spreading, and the watches had
+been set, at length we got some rest.
+
+Maqueda and two or three of her ladies, one of them, I remember, her
+old nurse who had brought her up, for her mother died at her birth, took
+possession of some empty rooms, of which there were many in the palace,
+while we lay, or rather fell, down in the guest-chambers, where we had
+always slept, and never opened our eyes again until the evening.
+
+I remember that I woke thinking that I was the victim of some wonderful
+dream of mingled joy and tragedy. Oliver and Higgs were sleeping like
+logs, but my son Roderick, still dressed in his bridal robes, had risen
+and sat by my bed staring at me, a puzzled look upon his handsome face.
+
+"So you are here," I said, taking his hand. "I thought I dreamed."
+
+"No, Father," he answered in his odd English, "no dream; all true.
+This is a strange world, Father. Look at me! For how many
+years--twelve--fourteen, slave of savage peoples for whom I sing, priest
+of Fung idol, always near death but never die. Then Sultan Barung
+take fancy to me, say I come of white blood and must be his daughter's
+husband. Then your brother Higgs made prisoner with me and tell me that
+you hunt me all these years. Then Higgs thrown to lions and you save
+him. Then yesterday I married to Sultan's daughter, whom I never see
+before but twice at fast of idol. Then Harmac's head fly off to heaven,
+and all Fung people run away, and I run too, and find you. Then battle,
+and many killed, and arrow scratch my neck but not hurt me," and he
+pointed to a graze just over his jugular vein, "and now we together. Oh!
+Father, very strange world! I think there God somewhere who look after
+us!"
+
+"I think so, too, my boy," I answered, "and I hope that He will continue
+to do so, for I tell you we are in a worse place than ever you were
+among the Fung."
+
+"Oh, don't mind that, Father," he answered gaily, for Roderick is a
+cheerful soul. "As Fung say, there no house without door, although
+plenty people made blind and can't see it. But we not blind, or we dead
+long ago. Find door by and by, but here come man to talk to you."
+
+The man proved to be Japhet, who had been sent by the Child of Kings to
+summon us, as she had news to tell. So I woke the others, and after I
+had dressed the Professor's flesh wounds, which were stiff and sore,
+we joined her where she sat in the gateway tower of the inner wall. She
+greeted us rather sadly, asked Oliver how he had slept and Higgs if his
+cuts hurt him. Then she turned to my son, and congratulated him upon his
+wonderful escape and upon having found a father if he had lost a wife.
+
+"Truly," she added, "you are a fortunate man to be so well loved, O
+son of Adams. To how many sons are given fathers who for fourteen long
+years, abandoning all else, would search for them in peril of their
+lives, enduring slavery and blows and starvation and the desert's heat
+and cold for the sake of a long-lost face? Such faithfulness is that of
+my forefather David for his brother Jonathan, and such love it is that
+passes the love of women. See that you pay it back to him, and to his
+memory until the last hour of your life, child of Adams."
+
+"I will, indeed, I will, O Walda Nagasta," answered Roderick, and
+throwing his arms about my neck he embraced me before them all. It is
+not too much to say that this kiss of filial devotion more than repaid
+me for all I had undergone for his beloved sake. For now I knew that I
+had not toiled and suffered for one of no worth, as is so often the lot
+of true hearts in this bitter world.
+
+Just then some of Maqueda's ladies brought food, and at her bidding we
+breakfasted.
+
+"Be sparing," she said with a melancholy little laugh, "for I know not
+how long our store will last. Listen! I have received a last offer from
+my uncle Joshua. An arrow brought it--not a man; I think that no man
+would come lest his fate should be that of the traitor of yesterday,"
+and she produced a slip of parchment that had been tied to the shaft of
+an arrow and, unfolding it, read as follows--
+
+"O Walda Nagasta, deliver up to death the Gentiles who have bewitched
+you and led you to shed the blood of so many of your people, and with
+them the officers of the Mountaineers, and the rest shall be spared. You
+also I will forgive and make my wife. Resist, and all who cling to you
+shall be put to the sword, and to yourself I promise nothing.
+
+"Written by order of the Council,
+
+"Joshua, Prince of the Abati."
+
+
+"What answer shall I send?" she asked, looking at us curiously.
+
+"Upon my word," replied Orme, shrugging his shoulders, "if it were not
+for those faithful officers I am not sure but that you would be wise
+to accept the terms. We are cooped up here, but a few surrounded by
+thousands, who, if they dare not assault, still can starve us out, as
+this place is not victualled for a siege."
+
+"You forget one of those terms, O Oliver!" she said slowly, pointing
+with her finger to the passage in the letter which stated that Joshua
+would make her his wife, "Now do you still counsel surrender?"
+
+"How can I?" he answered, flushing, and was silent.
+
+"Well, it does not matter what you counsel," she went on with a smile,
+"seeing that I have already sent my answer, also by arrow. See, here is
+a copy of it," and she read--
+
+"To my rebellious People of the Abati:
+
+"Surrender to me Joshua, my uncle, and the members of the Council who
+have lifted sword against me, to be dealt with according to the ancient
+law, and the rest of you shall go unharmed. Refuse, and I swear to you
+that before the night of the new moon has passed there shall be such woe
+in Mur as fell upon the city of David when the barbarian standards were
+set upon her walls. Such is the counsel that has come to me, the Child
+of Solomon, in the watches of the night, and I tell you that it is true.
+Do what you will, people of the Abati, or what you must, since your fate
+and ours are written. But be sure that in me and the Western lords lies
+your only hope.
+
+"Walda Nagasta."
+
+
+"What do you mean, O Maqueda," I asked, "about the counsel that came to
+you in the watches of the night?"
+
+"What I say, O Adams," she answered calmly. "After we parted at dawn I
+slept heavily, and in my sleep a dark and royal woman stood before
+me whom I knew to be my great ancestress, the beloved of Solomon. She
+looked on me sadly, yet as I thought with love. Then she drew back, as
+it were, a curtain of thick cloud that hid the future and revealed to me
+the young moon riding the sky and beneath it Mur, a blackened ruin, her
+streets filled with dead. Yes, and she showed to me other things, though
+I may not tell them, which also shall come to pass, then held her hands
+over me as if in blessing, and was gone."
+
+"Old Hebrew prophet business! Very interesting," I heard Higgs mutter
+below his breath, while in my own heart I set the dream down to
+excitement and want of food. In fact, only two of us were impressed, my
+son very much, and Oliver a little, perhaps because everything Maqueda
+said was gospel to him.
+
+"Doubtless all will come to pass as you say, Walda Nagasta," said
+Roderick with conviction. "The day of the Abati is finished."
+
+"Why do you say that, Son?" I asked.
+
+"Because, Father, among the Fung people from a child I have two offices,
+that of Singer to the God and that of Reader of Dreams. Oh! do not
+laugh. I can tell you many that have come true as I read them; thus the
+dream of Barung which I read to mean that the head of Harmac would come
+to Mur, and see, there it sit," and turning, he pointed through the
+doorway of the tower to the grim lion-head of the idol crouched upon the
+top of the precipice, watching Mur as a beast of prey watches the victim
+upon which it is about to spring. "I know when dreams true and when
+dreams false; it my gift, like my voice. I know that this dream true,
+that all," and as he ceased speaking I saw his eyes catch Maqueda's, and
+a very curious glance pass between them.
+
+As for Orme, he only said:
+
+"You Easterns are strange people, and if you believe a thing, Maqueda,
+there may be something in it. But you understand that this message of
+yours means war to the last, a very unequal war," and he looked at the
+hordes of the Abati gathering on the great square.
+
+"Yes," she answered quietly, "I understand, but however sore our
+straits, and however strange may seem the things that happen, have no
+fear of the end of that war, O my friends."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE BURNING OF THE PALACE
+
+Orme was right. Maqueda's defiance did mean war, "an unequal war." This
+was our position. We were shut up in a long range of buildings, of which
+one end had been burned, that on account of their moat and double wall,
+if defended with any vigour, could only be stormed by an enemy of great
+courage and determination, prepared to face a heavy sacrifice of
+life. This was a circumstance in our favour, since the Abati were not
+courageous, and very much disliked the idea of being killed, or even
+injured.
+
+But here our advantage ended. Deducting those whom we had lost on
+the previous night, the garrison only amounted to something over four
+hundred men, of whom about fifty were wounded, some of them dangerously.
+Moreover, ammunition was short, for they had shot away most of their
+arrows in the battle of the square, and we had no means of obtaining
+more. But, worst of all, the palace was not provisioned for a siege,
+and the mountaineers had with them only three days' rations of sun-dried
+beef or goat's flesh, and a hard kind of biscuit made of Indian corn
+mixed with barley meal. Thus, as we saw from the beginning, unless we
+could manage to secure more food our case must soon grow hopeless.
+
+There remained yet another danger. Although the palace itself was
+stone-built, its gilded domes and ornamental turrets were of timber, and
+therefore liable to be fired, as indeed had already happened. The roof
+also was of ancient cedar beams, thinly covered with concrete, while the
+interior containing an enormous quantity of panels, or rather boarding,
+cut from some resinous wood.
+
+The Abati, on the other hand, were amply supplied with every kind of
+store and weapon, and could bring a great force to blockade us, though
+that force was composed of a timid and undisciplined rabble.
+
+Well, we made the best preparations that we could, although of these I
+did not see much, since all that day my time was occupied in attending
+to the wounded with the help of my son and a few rough orderlies, whose
+experience in doctoring had for the most part been confined to cattle.
+A pitiful business it proved without the aid of an�sthetics or a proper
+supply of bandages and other appliances. Although my medicine chest had
+been furnished upon a liberal scale, it proved totally inadequate to the
+casualties of battle. Still I did my best and saved some lives, though
+many cases developed gangrene and slipped through my fingers.
+
+Meanwhile Higgs, who worked nobly, notwithstanding his flesh wounds,
+which pained him considerably, and Orme were also doing their best
+with the assistance of Japhet and the other officers of the highland
+regiment. The palace was thoroughly examined, and all weak places in its
+defences were made good. The available force was divided into watches
+and stationed to the best advantage. A number of men were set to work to
+manufacture arrow shafts from cedar beams, of which there were plenty
+in the wooden stables and outhouses that lay at the back of the main
+building, and to point and wing the same from a supply of iron barbs and
+feathers which fortunately was discovered in one of the guard-houses. A
+few horses that remained in a shed were killed and salted down for food,
+and so forth.
+
+Also every possible preparation was made to repel attempts to storm,
+paving stones being piled up to throw upon the heads of assailants and
+fires lighted on the walls to heat pitch and oil and water for the same
+purpose.
+
+But, to our disappointment, no direct assault was delivered, such
+desperate methods not commending themselves to the Abati. Their plan of
+attack was to take cover wherever they could, especially among the trees
+of the garden beyond the gates, and thence shoot arrows at any one who
+appeared upon the walls, or even fire them in volleys at the clouds, as
+the Normans did at Hastings, so that they might fall upon the heads
+of persons in the courtyards. Although these cautious tactics cost us
+several men, they had the advantage of furnishing us with a supply of
+ammunition which we sorely needed. All the spent arrows were carefully
+collected and made use of against the enemy, at whom we shot whenever
+opportunity offered. We did them but little damage, however, since they
+were extremely careful not to expose themselves.
+
+In this fashion three dreary days went past, unrelieved by any incident
+except a feint, for it was scarcely more, which the Abati made upon
+the second night, apparently with the object of forcing the great gates
+under cover of a rainstorm. The advance was discovered at once, and
+repelled by two or three volleys of arrows and some rifle shots. Of
+these rifles, indeed, whereof we possessed about a score, the Abati were
+terribly afraid. Picking out some of the most intelligent soldiers we
+taught them how to handle our spare guns, and though, of course, their
+shooting was extremely erratic, the result of it, backed up by our
+own more accurate marksmanship, was to force the enemy to take cover.
+Indeed, after one or two experiences of the effect of bullets, not a man
+would show himself in the open within five hundred yards until night had
+fallen.
+
+On the third afternoon we held a council to determine what must be done,
+since for the last twenty-four hours it had been obvious that things
+could not continue as they were. To begin with, we had only sufficient
+food left to keep our force from starvation for two more days. Also
+the spirits of our soldiers, brave men enough when actual fighting
+was concerned, were beginning to flag in this atmosphere of inaction.
+Gathered into groups, they talked of their wives and children, and of
+what would happen to them at the hands of Joshua; also of their cattle
+and crops, saying that doubtless these were being ravaged and their
+houses burned. In vain did Maqueda promise them five-fold their loss
+when the war was ended, for evidently in their hearts they thought it
+could only end one way. Moreover, as they pointed out, she could not
+give them back their children if these were killed.
+
+At this melancholy council every possible plan was discussed, to find
+that these resolved themselves into two alternatives--to surrender,
+or to take the bull by the horns, sally out of the palace at night and
+attack Joshua. On the face of it, this latter scheme had the appearance
+of suicide, but, in fact, it was not so desperate as it seemed. The
+Abati being such cowards it was quite probable that they would run in
+their thousands before the onset of a few hundred determined men, and
+that, if once victory declared itself for the Child of Kings, the bulk
+of her subjects would return to their allegiance. So we settled on it in
+preference to surrender, which we knew meant death to ourselves, and for
+Maqueda a choice between that last grim solution of her troubles and a
+forced marriage.
+
+But there were others to be convinced, namely, the Mountaineers. Japhet,
+who had been present at the council, was sent to summon all of them
+except those actually on guard, and when they were assembled in the
+large inner court Maqueda went out and addressed them.
+
+I do not remember the exact words of her speech, and I made no note of
+them, but it was extremely beautiful and touching. She pointed out her
+plight, and that we could halt no longer between two opinions, who must
+either fight or yield. For herself she said she did not care, since,
+although she was young and their ruler, she set no store upon her life,
+and would give it up gladly rather than be driven into a marriage
+which she considered shameful, and forced to pass beneath the yoke of
+traitors.
+
+But for us foreigners she did care. We had come to her country at her
+invitation, we had served her nobly, one of us had given his life to
+protect her person, and now, in violation of her safeguard and that of
+the Council, we were threatened with a dreadful death. Were they, her
+subjects, so lacking in honour and hospitality that they would suffer
+such a thing with no blow struck to save us?
+
+Now the majority of them shouted "No," but some were silent, and one old
+captain advanced, saluted, and spoke.
+
+"Child of Kings," he said, "let us search out the truth of this matter.
+Is it not because of your love of the foreign soldier, Orme, that all
+this trouble has arisen? Is not that love unlawful according to our law,
+and are you not solemnly affianced to the Prince Joshua?"
+
+Maqueda considered awhile before she replied, and said slowly:
+
+"Friend, my heart is my own, therefore upon this point answer your
+question for yourself. As regards my uncle Joshua, if there existed any
+abiding contract between us it was broken when a few nights ago he sent
+his servants armed to attack and drag me off I know not whither. Would
+you have me marry a traitor and a coward? I have spoken."
+
+"No," again shouted the majority of the soldiers.
+
+Then in the silence that followed the old captain replied, with a
+canniness that was almost Scotch:
+
+"On the point raised by you, O Child of Kings, I give no opinion, since
+you, being but a woman, if a high-born one, would not listen to me if I
+did, but will doubtless follow that heart of yours of which you speak to
+whatever end is appointed. Settle the matter with your betrothed Joshua
+as you will. But we also have a matter to settle with Joshua, who is a
+toad with a long tongue that if he seems slow yet never misses his fly.
+We took up your cause, and have killed a great number of his people, as
+he has killed some of ours. This he will not forget. Therefore it seems
+to me that it will be wise that we should make what we can of the nest
+that we have built, since it is better to die in battle than on the
+gallows. For this reason, then, since we can stay here no longer, for
+my part I am willing to go out and fight for you this night, although
+Joshua's people being so many and ours so few, I shall think myself
+fortunate if I live to see another sun."
+
+This hard and reasoned speech seemed to appeal to the dissentients, with
+the result that they withdrew their opposition, and it was agreed that
+we should attempt to break our way through the besieging army about one
+hour before the dawn, when they would be heavily asleep and most liable
+to panic.
+
+Yet, as it chanced, that sortie was destined never to take place, which
+perhaps was fortunate for us, since I am convinced that it would have
+ended in failure. It is true that we might have forced our way through
+Joshua's army, but afterwards those of us who remained alive would have
+been surrounded, starved out, and, when our strength and ammunition were
+exhausted taken prisoners or cut down.
+
+However that may be, events shaped a different course for us, perhaps
+because the Abati got wind of our intention and had no stomach for
+a pitched battle with desperate men. As it happened, this night from
+sunset on to moonrise was one of a darkness so remarkable that it was
+impossible to see anything even a foot away, also a wind blowing from
+the east made sounds very inaudible. Only a few of our men were on
+guard, since it was necessary that they should be rested till it was
+time for them to prepare for their great effort. Also, we had little
+fear of any direct attack.
+
+About eight o'clock, however, my son Roderick, one of the watch
+stationed in the gateway towers, who was gifted with very quick ears,
+reported that he thought he heard people moving on the farther side of
+the massive wooden doors beyond the moat. Accordingly some of us went to
+listen, but could distinguish nothing, and concluded therefore that he
+was mistaken. So we retired to our posts and waited patiently for the
+moon to rise. But as it chanced no moon rose, or rather we could not
+see her, because the sky was completely covered by thick banks of
+thunder-clouds presaging the break-up of a period of great heat. These,
+as the wind had now died down, remained quite stationary upon the face
+of the sky, blotting out all light.
+
+Perhaps another hour had passed when, chancing to look behind me, I saw
+what I thought was a meteor falling from the crest of the cliff against
+which the palace was built, that cliff whither the head of the idol
+Harmac had been carried by the force of the explosion.
+
+"Look at that shooting star," I said to Oliver, who was at my side.
+
+"It is not a shooting star, it is fire," he replied in a startled voice,
+and, as he spoke, other streaks of light, scores of them, began to rain
+down from the brow of the cliff and land upon the wooden buildings to
+the rear of the palace that were dry as tinder with the drought, and,
+what was worse, upon the gilded timber domes of the roof.
+
+"Don't you understand the game?" he went on. "They have tied firebrands
+to arrows and spears to burn us out. Sound the alarm. Sound the alarm!"
+
+It was done, and presently the great range of buildings began to hum
+like a hive of bees. The soldiers still half asleep, rushed hither
+and thither shouting. The officers also, developing the characteristic
+excitement of the Abati race in this hour of panic, yelled and screamed
+at them, beating them with their fists and swords till some kind of
+control was established.
+
+Then attempts were made to extinguish the flames, which by this time
+had got hold in half-a-dozen places. From the beginning the effort was
+absolutely hopeless. It is true that there was plenty of water in the
+moat, which was fed by a perennial stream that flowed down the face of
+the precipice behind; but pumping engines of any sort were quite unknown
+to the Abati, who, if a building took fire, just let it burn, contenting
+themselves with safeguarding those in its neighbourhood. Moreover,
+even in the palace, such articles as pails, jugs, or other vessels were
+comparatively few and far between.
+
+Those that we could find, however, were filled with water and passed
+by lines of men to the places in most danger--that is, practically
+everywhere--while other men tried to cut off the advance of the flames
+by pulling down portions of the building.
+
+But as fast as one fire was extinguished others broke out, for the rain
+of burning darts and of lighted pots or lamps filled with oil descended
+continuously from the cliff above. A strange and terrible sight it was
+to see them flashing down through the darkness, like the fiery darts
+that shall destroy the wicked in the day of Armageddon.
+
+Still, we toiled on despairingly. On the roof we four white men, and
+some soldiers under the command of Japhet, were pouring water on to
+several of the gilded domes, which now were well alight. Close by,
+wrapped in a dark cloak, and attended by some of her ladies, stood
+Maqueda. She was quite calm, although sundry burning arrows and spears,
+falling with great force from the cliff above, struck the flat roofs
+close to where she stood.
+
+Her ladies, however, were not calm. They wept and wrung their hands,
+while one of them went into violent hysterics in her very natural
+terror. Maqueda turned and bade them descend to the courtyard of the
+gateway, where she said she would join them presently. They rushed off,
+rejoicing to escape the sight of those burning arrows, one of which had
+just pierced a man and set his clothes and hair on fire, causing him to
+leap from the roof in his madness.
+
+At Oliver's request I ran to the Child of Kings to lead her to some
+safer place, if it could be found. But she would not stir.
+
+"Let me be, O Adams," she said. "If I am to die, I will die here. But
+I do not think that is fated," and with her foot she kicked aside a
+burning spear that had struck the cement roof, and, rebounding, fallen
+quite close to her. "If my people will not fight," she went on, with
+bitter sarcasm, "at least they understand the other arts of war, for
+this trick of theirs is clever. They are cruel also. Listen to them
+mocking us in the square. They ask whether we will roast alive or come
+out and have our throats cut. Oh!" she went on, clenching her hands,
+"oh! that I should have been born the head of such an accursed race. Let
+Sheol take them all, for in the day of their tribulation no finger will
+I lift to save them."
+
+She was silent for a moment, and down below, near the gateway, I heard
+some brute screaming, "Pretty pigeons! Pretty pigeons, are your feathers
+singeing? Come then into our pie, pretty pigeons, pretty pigeons!"
+followed by shouts of ribald laughter.
+
+But it chanced it was this hound himself who went into the "pie."
+Presently, when the flames were brighter, I saw him, in the midst of a
+crowd of his admirers, singing his foul song, another verse of it about
+Maqueda, which I will not repeat, and by good fortune managed to put a
+bullet through his head. It was not a bad shot considering the light and
+circumstances, and the only one I fired that night. I trust also that it
+will be the last I shall ever fire at any human being.
+
+Just as I was about to leave Maqueda and return with her message to
+Orme, to the effect that she would not move, the final catastrophe
+occurred. Amongst the stables was a large shed filled with dry fodder
+for the palace horses and camels. Suddenly this burst into a mass of
+flame that spread in all directions. Then came the last, hideous panic.
+From every part of the palace, the Mountaineers, men and officers
+together, rushed down to the gateway. In a minute, with the single
+exception of Japhet, we four and Maqueda were left alone upon the
+roof, where we stood overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. We heard
+the drawbridge fall; we heard the great doors burst upon beneath the
+pressure of a mob of men; we heard a coarse voice--I thought it was that
+of Joshua--yell:
+
+"Kill whom you will, my children, but death to him who harms the Child
+of Kings. She is my spoil!"
+
+Then followed terrible sights and sounds. The cunning Abati had
+stretched ropes outside the doors; it was the noise they made at this
+work which had reached Roderick's ears earlier during the darkness. The
+terrified soldiers, flying from the fire, stumbled and fell over these
+ropes, nor could they rise again because of those who pressed behind.
+What happened to them all I am sure I do not know, but doubtless many
+were crushed to death and many more killed by Joshua's men. I trust,
+however, that some of them escaped, since, compared to the rest of the
+Abati, they were as lions are to cats, although, like all their race,
+they lacked the stamina to fight an uphill game.
+
+It was at the commencement of this terrific scene that I shot the
+foul-mouthed singer.
+
+"You shouldn't have done that, old fellow," screamed Higgs in his high
+voice, striving to make himself heard above the tumult, "as it will show
+those swine where we are."
+
+"I don't think they will look for us here, anyway," I answered.
+
+Then we watched awhile in silence.
+
+"Come," said Orme at length, taking Maqueda by the hand.
+
+"Where are you going, O Oliver?" she asked, hanging back. "Sooner will I
+burn than yield to Joshua."
+
+"I am going to the cave city," he answered; "we have nowhere else to
+go, and little time to lose. Four men with rifles can hold that place
+against a thousand. Come."
+
+"I obey," she answered, bowing her head.
+
+We went down the stairway that led from the roof on which the
+inhabitants of the palace were accustomed to spend much of their day,
+and even to sleep in hot weather, as is common in the East. Another
+minute and we should have been too late. The fire from one of the domes
+had spread to the upper story, and was already appearing in little
+tongues of flame mingled with jets of black smoke through cracks in the
+crumbling partition wall.
+
+As a matter of fact this wall fell in just as my son Roderick, the last
+of us, was passing down the stairs. With the curiosity of youth he had
+lingered for a few moments to watch the sad scene below, a delay which
+nearly cost him his life.
+
+On the ground floor we found ourselves out of immediate danger, since
+the fire was attacking this part of the palace from above and burning
+downward. We had even time to go to our respective sleeping-places and
+collect such of our possessions and valuables as we were able to carry.
+Fortunately, among other things, these included all our note-books,
+which to-day are of priceless value. Laden with these articles, we met
+again in the audience hall, which, although it was very hot, seemed as
+it had always been, a huge, empty place, whereof the roof, painted with
+stars, was supported upon thick cedar columns, each of them hewn from a
+single tree.
+
+Passing down that splendid apartment, which an hour later had ceased to
+exist, lamps in hand, for these we had found time to fetch and light,
+we reached the mouth of the passage that led to the underground city
+without meeting a single human being.
+
+Had the Abati been a different race they could perfectly well have
+dashed in and made us prisoners, for the drawbridge was still intact.
+But their cowardice was our salvation, for they feared lest they should
+be trapped by the fire. So I think at least, but justice compels me to
+add that, on the spur of the moment, they may have found it impossible
+to clear the gateways of the mass of fallen or dead soldiers over which
+it would have been difficult to climb.
+
+Such, at any rate, was the explanation that we heard afterwards.
+
+We reached the mouth of the vast cave in perfect safety, and clambered
+through the little orifice which was left between the rocks rolled
+thither by the force of the explosion, or shaken down from the roof.
+This hole, for it was nothing more, we proceeded to stop with a few
+stones in such a fashion that it could not be forced without much toil
+and considerable noise, only leaving one little tortuous channel through
+which, if necessary, a man could creep.
+
+The labour of rock-carrying, in which even Maqueda shared, occupied our
+minds for awhile, and induced a kind of fictitious cheerfulness. But
+when it was done, and the chilly silence of that enormous cave, so
+striking in comparison with the roar of the flames and the hideous human
+tumult which we had left without, fell upon us like sudden cold and
+blinding night upon a wanderer in windy, sunlit mountains, all our
+excitement perished. In a flash, we understood our terrible position,
+we who had but escaped from the red fire to perish slowly in the black
+darkness.
+
+Still we strove to keep our spirits as best we could. Leaving Higgs to
+watch the blocked passage, a somewhat superfluous task, since the fire
+without was our best watchman, the rest of us threaded our way up the
+cave, following the telephone wire which poor Quick had laid on the
+night of the blowing-up of the god Harmac, till we came to what had been
+our headquarters during the digging of the mine. Into the room which
+was Oliver's, whence we had escaped with so much difficulty after
+that event, we could not enter because of the transom that blocked the
+doorway. Still, there were plenty of others at hand in the old temple,
+although they were foul with the refuse of the bats that wheeled about
+us in thousands, for these creatures evidently had some unknown access
+to the open air. One of these rooms had served as our store-chamber, and
+after a few rough preparations we assigned it to Maqueda.
+
+"Friends," she said, as she surveyed its darksome entrance, "it looks
+like the door of a tomb. Well, in the tomb there is rest, and rest I
+must have. Leave me to sleep, who, were it not for you, O Oliver, would
+pray that I might never wake again.
+
+"Man," she added passionately, before us all, for now in face of the
+last peril every false shame and wish to conceal the truth had left her;
+"man, why were you born to bring woe upon my head and joy to my heart?
+Well, well, the joy outweighs the woe, and even if the angel who led you
+hither is named Azrael, still I shall bless him who has revealed to me
+my soul. Yet for you I weep, and if only your life could be spared to
+fulfil itself in happiness in the land that bore you, oh! for you I
+would gladly die."
+
+Now Oliver, who seemed deeply moved, stepped to her and began to whisper
+into her ear, evidently making some proposal of which I think I can
+guess the nature. She listened to him, smiling sadly, and made a motion
+with her hand as though to thrust him away.
+
+"Not so," she said, "it is nobly offered, but did I accept, through
+whatever universes I may wander, those who came after me would know me
+by my trail of blood, the blood of him who loved me. Perhaps, too, by
+that crime I should be separated from you for ever. Moreover, I tell
+you that though all seems black as this thick darkness, I believe that
+things will yet end well for you and me--in this world or another."
+
+Then she was gone, leaving Orme staring after her like a man in a
+trance.
+
+"I daresay they will," remarked Higgs _sotto voce_ to me, "and that's
+first-rate so far as they are concerned. But what I should jolly well
+like to know is how they are going to end for _us_ who haven't got a
+charming lady to see us across the Styx."
+
+"You needn't puzzle your brain over that," I answered gloomily, "for
+I think there will soon be a few more skeletons in this beastly cave,
+that's all. Don't you see that those Abati will believe we are burned in
+the palace?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+STARVATION
+
+I was right. The Abati did think that we had been burned. It never
+occurred to them that we might have escaped to the underground city.
+So at least I judged from the fact that they made no attempt to seek
+us there until they learned the truth in the fashion that I am about to
+describe. If anything, this safety from our enemies added to the trials
+of those hideous days and nights. Had there been assaults to repel and
+the excitement of striving against overwhelming odds, at any rate we
+should have found occupation for our minds and remaining energies.
+
+But there were none. By turns we listened at the mouth of the passage
+for the echo of footsteps that never came. Nothing came to break a
+silence so intense that at last our ears, craving for sound, magnified
+the soft flitter of the bats into a noise as of eagle's wings, till
+at last we spoke in whispers, because the full voice of man seemed to
+affront the solemn quietude, seemed intolerable to our nerves.
+
+Yet for the first day or two we found occupation of a sort. Of course
+our first need was to secure a supply of food, of which we had only a
+little originally laid up for our use in the chambers of the old temple,
+tinned meats that we had brought from London and so forth, now nearly
+all consumed. We remembered that Maqueda had told us of corn from
+her estates which was stored annually in pits to provide against the
+possibility of a siege of Mur, and asked her where it was.
+
+She led us to a place where round stone covers with rings attached to
+them were let into the floor of the cave, not unlike those which stop
+the coal-shoots in a town pavement, only larger. With great difficulty
+we prised one of these up; to me it did not seem to have been moved
+since the ancient kings ruled in Mur and, after leaving it open for a
+long while for the air within to purify, lowered Roderick by a rope we
+had to report its contents. Next moment we heard him saying: "Want to
+come up, please. This place is not pleasant."
+
+We pulled him out and asked what he had found.
+
+"Nothing good to eat," he answered, "only plenty of dead bones and one
+rat that ran up my leg."
+
+We tried the next two pits with the same result--they were full of human
+bones. Then we cross-examined Maqueda, who, after reflection, informed
+us that she now remembered that about five generations before a great
+plague had fallen on Mur, which reduced its population by one-half. She
+had heard, also, that those stricken with the plague were driven into
+the underground city in order that they might not infect the others,
+and supposed that the bones we saw were their remains. This information
+caused us to close up those pits again in a great hurry, though really
+it did not matter whether we caught the plague or no.
+
+Still, as she was sure that corn was buried somewhere, we went to
+another group of pits in a distant chamber, and opened the first one.
+This time our search was rewarded, to the extent that we found at the
+bottom of it some mouldering dust that years ago had been grain. The
+other pits, two of which had been sealed up within three years as the
+date upon the wax showed, were quite empty.
+
+Then Maqueda understood what had happened.
+
+"Surely the Abati are a people of rogues," she said. "See now, the
+officers appointed to store away my corn which I gave them have stolen
+it! Oh! may they live to lack bread even more bitterly than we do
+to-day."
+
+We went back to our sleeping-place in silence. Well might we be silent,
+for of food we had only enough left for a single scanty meal. Water
+there was in plenty, but no food. When we had recovered a little from
+our horrible disappointment we consulted together.
+
+"If we could get through the mine tunnel," said Oliver, "we might
+escape into the den of lions, which were probably all destroyed by the
+explosion, and so out into the open country."
+
+"The Fung would take us there," suggested Higgs.
+
+"No, no," broke in Roderick, "Fung all gone, or if they do, anything
+better than this black hole, yes, even my wife."
+
+"Let us look," I said, and we started.
+
+When we reached the passage that led from the city to the Tomb of Kings,
+it was to find that the wall at the end of it had been blown bodily back
+into the parent cave, leaving an opening through which we could walk
+side by side. Of course the contents of the tomb itself were scattered.
+In all directions lay bones, objects of gold and other metals, or
+overturned thrones. The roof and walls alone remained as they had been.
+
+"What vandalism!" exclaimed Higgs, indignant even in his misery. "Why
+wouldn't you let me move the things when I wanted to, Orme?"
+
+"Because they would have thought that we were stealing them, old fellow.
+Also those Mountaineers were superstitious, and I did not want them to
+desert. But what does it matter, anyway? If you had, they would have
+been burned in the palace."
+
+By this time we had reached that end of the vast tomb where the
+hunchbacked king used to sit, and saw at once that our quest was vain.
+The tunnel which we had dug beyond was utterly choked with masses of
+fallen rock that we could never hope to move, even with the aid of
+explosives, of which we had none left.
+
+So we returned, our last hope gone.
+
+Also another trouble stared us in the face; our supply of the crude
+mineral oil which the Abati used for lighting purposes was beginning to
+run low. Measurement of what remained of the store laid up for our use
+while the mine was being made, revealed the fact that there was only
+enough left to supply four lamps for about three days and nights: one
+for Maqueda, one for ourselves, one for the watchman near the tunnel
+mouth, and one for general purposes.
+
+This general-purpose lamp, as a matter of fact, was mostly made use of
+by Higgs. Truly, he furnished a striking instance of the ruling passion
+strong in death. All through those days of starvation and utter misery,
+until he grew too weak and the oil gave out, he trudged backward and
+forward between the old temple and the Tomb of Kings carrying a large
+basket on his arm. Going out with this basket empty, he would bring
+it back filled with gold cups and other precious objects that he had
+collected from among the bones and scattered rubbish in the Tomb. These
+objects he laboriously catalogued in his pocket-book at night, and
+afterwards packed away in empty cases that had contained our supplies of
+explosive and other goods, carefully nailing them down when filled.
+
+"What on earth are you doing that for, Higgs?" I asked petulantly, as he
+finished off another case, I think it was his twentieth.
+
+"I don't know, Doctor," he answered in a thin voice, for like the rest
+of us he was growing feeble on a water-diet. "I suppose it amuses me
+to think how jolly it would be to open all these boxes in my rooms in
+London after a first-rate dinner of fried sole and steak cut thick," and
+he smacked his poor, hungry lips. "Yes, yes," he went on, "to take them
+out one by one and show them to ---- and ----," and he mentioned by name
+officials of sundry great museums with whom he was at war, "and see them
+tear their hair with rage and jealousy, while they wondered in their
+hearts if they could not manage to seize the lot for the Crown as
+treasure-trove, or do me out of them somehow," and he laughed a little
+in his old, pleasant fashion.
+
+"Of course I never shall," he added sadly, "but perhaps one day some
+other fellow will find them here and get them to Europe, and if he is
+a decent chap, publish my notes and descriptions, of which I have put
+a duplicate in each box, and so make my name immortal. Well, I'm off
+again. There are four more cases to fill before the oil gives out, and
+I must get that great gold head into one of them, though it is an awful
+job to carry it far at a time. Doctor, what disease is it that makes
+your legs suddenly give way beneath you, so that you find yourself
+sitting in a heap on the floor without knowing how you came there? You
+don't know? Well, no more do I, but I've got it bad. I tell you I'm
+downright sore behind from continual and unexpected contact with the
+rock."
+
+Poor old Higgs! I did not like to tell him that his disease was
+starvation.
+
+Well, he went on with his fetching and carrying and cataloguing and
+packing. I remember that the last load he brought in was the golden head
+he had spoken of, the wonderful likeness of some prehistoric king which
+has since excited so much interest throughout the world. The thing being
+too heavy for him to carry in his weakened state, for it is much over
+life-size, he was obliged to roll it before him, which accounts for the
+present somewhat damaged condition of the nose and semi-Egyptian diadem.
+
+Never shall I forget the sight of the Professor as he appeared out of
+the darkness, shuffling along upon his knees where his garments were
+worn into holes, and by the feeble light of the lamp that he moved from
+time to time, painfully pushing the great yellow object forward, only a
+foot or two at each push.
+
+"Here it is at last," he gasped triumphantly, whilst we watched him with
+indifferent eyes. "Japhet, help me to wrap it up in the mat and lift
+it into the box. No, no, you donkey--face upward--so. Never mind the
+corners, I'll fill them with ring-money and other trifles," and out of
+his wide pockets he emptied a golden shower, amongst which he sifted
+handfuls of dust from the floor and anything else he could find to serve
+as packing, finally covering all with a goat's-hair blanket which he
+took from his bed.
+
+Then very slowly he found the lid of the box and nailed it down, resting
+between every few strokes of the hammer whilst we watched him in our
+intent, but idle, fashion, wondering at the strange form of his madness.
+
+At length the last nail was driven, and seated on the box he put his
+hand into an inner pocket to find his note-book, then incontinently
+fainted. I struggled to my feet and sprinkled water over his face till
+he revived and rolled on to the floor, where presently he sank into
+sleep or torpor. As he did so the first lamp gave out.
+
+"Light it, Japhet," said Maqueda, "it is dark in this place."
+
+"O Child of Kings," answered the man, "I would obey if I could, but
+there is no more oil."
+
+Half-an-hour later the second lamp went out. By the light that remained
+we made such arrangements as we could, knowing that soon darkness would
+be on us. They were few and simple: the fetching of a jar or two
+of water, the placing of arms and ammunition to our hands, and the
+spreading out of some blankets on which to lie down side by side upon
+what I for one believed would be our bed of death.
+
+While we were thus engaged, Japhet crawled into our circle from the
+outer gloom. Suddenly I saw his haggard face appear, looking like that
+of a spirit rising from the grave.
+
+"My lamp is burned out," he moaned; "it began to fail whilst I was
+on watch at the tunnel mouth, and before I was half-way here it died
+altogether. Had it not been for the wire of the 'thing-that-speaks'
+which guided me, I could never have reached you. I should have been lost
+in the darkness of the city and perished alone among the ghosts."
+
+"Well, you are here now," said Oliver. "Have you anything to report?"
+
+"Nothing, lord, or at least very little. I moved some of the small rocks
+that we piled up, and crept down the hole till I came to a place where
+the blessed light of day fell upon me, only one little ray of it, but
+still the light of day. I think that something has fallen upon the
+tunnel and broken it, perhaps one of the outer walls of the palace.
+At least I looked through a crack and saw everywhere ruins--ruins that
+still smoke. From among them I heard the voices of men shouting to each
+other.
+
+"One of them called to his companion that it was strange, if the
+Gentiles and the Child of Kings had perished in the fire, that they had
+not found their bones which would be known by the guns they carried. His
+friend answered that it was strange indeed, but being magicians, perhaps
+they had hidden away somewhere. For his part he hoped so, as then sooner
+or later they would be found and put to death slowly, as they deserved,
+who had led astray the Child of Kings and brought so many of the
+heaven-descended Abati to their death. Then fearing lest they should
+find and kill me, for they drew near as I could tell by their voices, I
+crept back again, and that is all my story."
+
+We said nothing; there seemed to be nothing to say, but sat in our sad
+circle and watched the dying lamp. When it began to flicker, leaping up
+and down like a thing alive, a sudden panic seized poor Japhet.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta," he cried, throwing himself at her feet, "you have
+called me a brave man, but I am only brave where the sun and the stars
+shine. Here in the dark amongst so many angry spirits, and with hunger
+gnawing at my bowels, I am a great coward; Joshua himself is not such a
+coward as I. Let us go out into the light while there is yet time. Let
+us give ourselves up to the Prince. Perhaps he will be merciful and
+spare our lives, or at least he will spare yours, and if we die, it will
+be with the sun shining on us."
+
+But Maqueda only shook her head, whereon he turned to Orme and went on:
+
+"Lord, would you have the blood of the Child of Kings upon your hands?
+Is it thus that you repay her for her love? Lead her forth. No harm will
+come to her who otherwise must perish here in misery."
+
+"You hear what the man says, Maqueda?" said Orme heavily. "There is some
+truth in it. It really does not matter to us whether we die in the power
+of the Abati or here of starvation; in fact, I think that we should
+prefer the former end, and doubtless no hand will be laid on you. Will
+you go?"
+
+"Nay," she answered passionately. "A hand would be laid on me, the hand
+of Joshua, and rather than that he should touch me I will die a hundred
+deaths. Let fate take its course, for as I have told you, I believe that
+then it will open to us some gate we cannot see. And if I believe in
+vain, why there is another gate which we can pass together, O Oliver,
+and beyond that gate lies peace. Bid the man be silent, or drive him
+away. Let him trouble me no more."
+
+
+
+The lamp flame sank low. It flickered, once, twice, thrice, each time
+showing the pale, drawn faces of us six seated about it, like wizards
+making an incantation, like corpses in a tomb.
+
+Then it went out.
+
+How long were we in that place after this? At least three whole days and
+nights, I believe, if not more, but of course we soon lost all count of
+time. At first we suffered agonies from famine, which we strove in vain
+to assuage with great draughts of water. No doubt these kept us alive,
+but even Higgs, who it may be remembered was a teetotaller, afterwards
+confessed to me that he has loathed the sight and taste of water ever
+since. Indeed he now drinks beer and wine like other people. It was
+torture; we could have eaten anything. In fact the Professor did manage
+to catch and eat a bat that got entangled in his red hair. He offered me
+a bite of it, I remember, and was most grateful when I declined.
+
+The worst of it was also that we had a little food, a few hard ship's
+biscuits, which we had saved up for a purpose, namely, to feed Maqueda.
+This was how we managed it. At certain intervals I would announce that
+it was time to eat, and hand Maqueda her biscuit. Then we would all
+pretend to eat also, saying how much we felt refreshed by the food and
+how we longed for more, smacking our lips and biting on a piece of wood
+so that she could not help hearing us.
+
+This piteous farce went on for forty-eight hours or more until at
+last the wretched Japhet, who was quite demoralized and in no mood for
+acting, betrayed us, exactly how I cannot remember. After this Maqueda
+would touch nothing more, which did not greatly matter as there was only
+one biscuit left. I offered it to her, whereon she thanked me and all
+of us for our courtesy toward a woman, took the biscuit, and gave it to
+Japhet, who ate it like a wolf.
+
+It was some time after this incident that we discovered Japhet to be
+missing; at least we could no longer touch him, nor did he answer when
+we called. Therefore, we concluded that he had crept away to die and,
+I am sorry to say, thought little more about it for, after all, what he
+suffered, or had suffered, we suffered also.
+
+I recall that before we were overtaken by the last sleep, a strange
+fit came upon us. Our pangs passed away, much as the pain does when
+mortification follows a wound, and with them that horrible craving for
+nutriment. We grew cheerful and talked a great deal. Thus Roderick gave
+me the entire history of the Fung people and of his life among them and
+other savage tribes. Further, he explained every secret detail of their
+idol worship to Higgs, who was enormously interested, and tried to
+make some notes by the aid of our few remaining matches. When even that
+subject was exhausted, he sang to us in his beautiful voice--English
+hymns and Arab songs. Oliver and Maqueda also chatted together quite
+gaily, for I heard them laughing, and gathered that he was engaged in
+trying to teach her English.
+
+The last thing that I recollect is the scene as it was revealed by the
+momentary light of one of the last matches. Maqueda sat by Oliver. His
+arm was about her waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, her long
+hair flowed loose, her large and tender eyes stared from her white, wan
+face up toward his face, which was almost that of a mummy.
+
+Then on the other side stood my son, supporting himself against the wall
+of the room, and beyond him Higgs, a shadow of his former self, feebly
+waving a pencil in the air and trying, apparently, to write a note upon
+his Panama straw hat, which he held in his left hand, as I suppose,
+imagining it to be his pocket-book. The incongruity of that sun-hat in
+a place where no sun had ever come made me laugh, and as the match went
+out I regretted that I had forgotten to look at his face to ascertain
+whether he was still wearing his smoked spectacles.
+
+"What is the use of a straw hat and smoked spectacles in kingdom-come?"
+I kept repeating to myself, while Roderick, whose arm I knew was about
+me, seemed to answer:
+
+"The Fung wizards say that the sphinx Harmac once wore a hat, but, my
+father, I do not know if he had spectacles."
+
+Then a sensation as of being whirled round and round in some vast
+machine, down the sloping sides of which I sank at last into a vortex of
+utter blackness, whereof I knew the name was death.
+
+Dimly, very dimly, I became aware that I was being carried. I heard
+voices in my ears, but what they said I could not understand. Then a
+feeling of light struck upon my eyeballs which gave me great pain. Agony
+ran all through me as it does through the limbs of one who is being
+brought back from death by drowning. After this something warm was
+poured down my throat, and I went to sleep.
+
+When I awoke again it was to find myself in a large room that I did not
+know. I was lying on a bed, and by the light of sunrise which streamed
+through the window-places I saw the three others, my son Roderick, Orme
+and Higgs lying on the other beds, but they were still asleep.
+
+Abati servants entered the room bringing food, a kind of rough soup with
+pieces of meat in it of which they gave me a portion in a wooden bowl
+that I devoured greedily. Also they shook my companions until they awoke
+and almost automatically ate up the contents of similar bowls, after
+which they went to sleep again, as I did, thanking heaven that we were
+all still alive.
+
+Every few hours I had a vision of these men entering with the bowls
+of soup or porridge, until at last life and reason came back to me in
+earnest, and I saw Higgs sitting up on the bed opposite and staring at
+me.
+
+"I say, old fellow," he said, "are we alive, or is this Hades?"
+
+"Can't be Hades," I answered, "because there are Abati here."
+
+"Quite right," he replied. "If the Abati go anywhere, it's to hell,
+where they haven't whitewashed walls and four-post beds. Oliver, wake
+up. We are out of that cave, anyway."
+
+Orme raised himself on his hand and stared at us.
+
+"Where's Maqueda?" he asked, a question to which of course, we could
+give no answer, till presently Roderick woke also and said:
+
+"I remember something. They carried us all out of the cave; Japhet was
+with them. They took the Child of Kings one way and us another, that is
+all I know."
+
+Shortly afterwards the Abati servants arrived, bearing food more solid
+than the soup, and with them came one of their doctors, not that old
+idiot of a court physician, who examined us, and announced that
+we should all recover, a fact which we knew already. We asked many
+questions of him and the servants, but could get no answer, for
+evidently they were sworn to silence. However, we persuaded them to
+bring us water to wash in. It came, and with it a polished piece of
+metal, such as the Abati use for a looking-glass, in which we saw our
+faces, the terrible, wasted faces of those who have gone within a hair's
+breadth of death by starvation in the dark.
+
+Yet although our gaolers would say nothing, something in their aspect
+told us that we were in sore peril of our lives. They looked at us
+hungrily, as a terrier looks at rats in a wire cage of which the door
+will presently be opened. Moreover, Roderick, who, as I think I have
+said, has very quick ears, overheard one of the attendants whisper to
+another:
+
+"When does our service on these hounds of Gentiles come to an end?" to
+which his fellow answered, "The Council has not yet decided, but I think
+to-morrow or the next day, if they are strong enough. It will be a great
+show."
+
+Also that evening, about sunset, we heard a mob shouting outside the
+barrack in which we were imprisoned, for that was its real use, "Give us
+the Gentiles! Give us the Gentiles! We are tired of waiting," until at
+length some soldiers drove them away.
+
+Well, we talked the thing over, only to conclude that there was nothing
+to be done. We had no friend in the place except Maqueda, and she,
+it appeared, was a prisoner like ourselves, and therefore could not
+communicate with us. Nor could we see the slightest possibility of
+escape.
+
+"Out of the frying-pan into the fire," remarked Higgs gloomily. "I wish
+now that they had let us die in the cave. It would have been better than
+being baited to death by a mob of Abati."
+
+"Yes," answered Oliver with a sigh, for he was thinking of Maqueda, "but
+that's why they saved us, the vindictive beasts, to kill us for what
+they are pleased to call high treason."
+
+"High treason!" exclaimed Higgs. "I hope to goodness their punishment
+for the offence is not that of medi�val England; hanging is bad
+enough--but the rest----!"
+
+"I don't think the Abati study European history," I broke in; "but it
+is no use disguising from you that they have methods of their own. Look
+here, friends," I added, "I have kept something about me in case
+the worst should come to the worst," and I produced a little bottle
+containing a particularly swift and deadly poison done up into tabloids,
+and gave one to each of them. "My advice is," I added, "that if you see
+we are going to be exposed to torture or to any dreadful form of death,
+you should take one of these, as I mean to do, and cheat the Abati of
+their vengeance."
+
+"That is all very fine," said the Professor as he pocketed his tabloid,
+"but I never could swallow a pill without water at the best of times,
+and I don't believe those beasts will give one any. Well, I suppose I
+must suck it, that's all. Oh! if only the luck would turn, if only the
+luck would turn!"
+
+Three more days went by without any sign of Higgs's aspiration being
+fulfilled. On the contrary, except in one respect, the luck remained
+steadily against us. The exception was that we got plenty to eat and
+consequently regained our normal state of health and strength more
+rapidly than might have been expected. With us it was literally a case
+of "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
+
+Only somehow I don't think that any of us really believed that we should
+die, though whether this was because we had all, except poor Quick,
+survived so much, or from a sneaking faith in Maqueda's optimistic
+dreams, I cannot say. At any rate we ate our food with appetite, took
+exercise in an inner yard of the prison, and strove to grow as strong as
+we could, feeling that soon we might need all our powers. Oliver was the
+most miserable among us, not for his own sake, but because, poor fellow,
+he was haunted with fears as to Maqueda and her fate, although of these
+he said little or nothing to us. On the other hand, my son Roderick was
+by far the most cheerful. He had lived for so many years upon the brink
+of death that this familiar gulf seemed to have no terrors for him.
+
+"All come right somehow, my father," he said airily. "Who can know what
+happen? Perhaps Child of King drag us out of mud-hole, for after all
+she was very strong cow, or what you call it, heifer, and I think toss
+Joshua if he drive her into corner. Or perhaps other thing occur."
+
+"What other thing, Roderick?" I asked.
+
+"Oh! don't know, can't say, but I think Fung thing. Believe we not done
+with Fung yet, believe they not run far. Believe they take thought for
+morrow and come back again. Only," he added sadly, "hope my wife not
+come back, for that old girl too full of lofty temper for me. Still,
+cheer up, not dead yet by long day's march, and meanwhile food good
+and this very jolly rest after beastly underground city. Now I tell
+Professor some more stories about Fung religion, den of lions, and so
+forth."
+
+On the morning after this conversation a crisis came. Just as we had
+finished breakfast the doors of our chamber were thrown open and in
+marched a number of soldiers wearing Joshua's badge. They were headed by
+an officer of his household, who commanded us to rise and follow him.
+
+"Where to?" asked Orme.
+
+"To take your trial before the Child of Kings and her Council, Gentile,
+upon the charge of having murdered certain of her subjects," answered
+the officer sternly.
+
+"That's all right," said Higgs with a sigh of relief. "If Maqueda is
+chairman of the Bench we are pretty certain of an acquittal, for Orme's
+sake if not for our own."
+
+"Don't you be too sure of that," I whispered into his ear. "The
+circumstances are peculiar, and women have been known to change their
+minds."
+
+"Adams," he replied, glaring at me through his smoked spectacles, "If
+you talk like that we shall quarrel. Maqueda change her mind indeed!
+Why, it is an insult to suggest such a thing, and if you take my advice
+you won't let Oliver hear you. Don't you remember, man, that she's in
+love with him?"
+
+"Oh, yes," I answered, "but I remember also that Prince Joshua is in
+love with her, and that she is his prisoner."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE TRIAL AND AFTER
+
+They set us in a line, four ragged-looking fellows, all of us with
+beards of various degrees of growth, that is, all the other three, for
+mine had been an established fact for years, and everything having been
+taken away from us, we possessed neither razor nor scissors.
+
+In the courtyard of our barrack we were met by a company of soldiers,
+who encircled us about with a triple line of men, as we thought to
+prevent any attempt of escape. So soon as we passed the gates I found,
+however, that this was done for a different reason, namely, to protect
+us from the fury of the populace. All the way from the barrack to the
+courthouse, whither we were being taken now that the palace was burned,
+the people were gathered in hundreds, literally howling for our blood.
+It was a strange, and, in a way, a dreadful sight to see even the
+brightly dressed women and children shaking their fists and spitting at
+us with faces distorted by hate.
+
+"Why they love you so little, father, when you do so much for them?"
+asked Roderick, shrugging his shoulders and dodging a stone that nearly
+hit him on the head.
+
+"For two reasons," I answered. "Because their Lady loves one of us too
+much, and because through us many of their people have lost their lives.
+Also they hate strangers, and are by nature cruel, like most cowards,
+and now that they have no more fear of the Fung, they think it will be
+safe to kill us."
+
+"Ah!" said Roderick; "yet Harmac has come to Mur," and he pointed to the
+great head of the idol seated on the cliff, "and I think where Harmac
+goes, Fung follow, and if so they make them pay plenty for my life, for
+I great man among Fung; Fung myself husband of Sultan's daughter. These
+fools, like children, because they see no Fung, think there are no Fung.
+Well, in one year, or perhaps one month, they learn."
+
+"I daresay, my boy," I answered, "but I am afraid that won't help us."
+
+By now we were approaching the court-house where the Abati priests and
+learned men tried civil and some criminal cases. Through a mob of nobles
+and soldiers who mocked us as we went, we were hustled into the large
+hall of judgment that was already full to overflowing.
+
+Up the centre of it we marched to a clear space reserved for the parties
+to a cause, or prisoners and their advocates, beyond which, against the
+wall, were seats for the judges. These were five members of the Council,
+one of whom was Joshua, while in the centre as President of the Court,
+and wearing her veil and beautiful robes of ceremony, sat Maqueda
+herself.
+
+"Thank God, she's safe!" muttered Oliver with a gasp of relief.
+
+"Yes," answered Higgs, "but what's she doing there? She ought to be in
+the dock, too, not on the Bench."
+
+We reached the open space, and were thrust by soldiers armed with swords
+to where we must stand, and although each of us bowed to her, I observed
+that Maqueda took not the slightest notice of our salutations. She only
+turned her head and said something to Joshua on her right, which caused
+him to laugh.
+
+Then with startling suddenness the case began. A kind of public
+prosecutor stood forward and droned out the charge against us. It was
+that we, who were in the employ of the Abati, had traitorously taken
+advantage of our position as mercenary captains to stir up a civil
+war, in which many people had lost their lives, and some been actually
+murdered by ourselves and our companion who was dead. Moreover, that
+we had caused their palace to be burned and, greatest crime of all, had
+seized the sacred person of the Walda Nagasta, Rose of Mur, and dragged
+her away into the recesses of the underground city, whence she was only
+rescued by the chance of an accomplice of ours, one Japhet, betraying
+our hiding-place.
+
+This was the charge which, it will be noted, contained no allusion
+whatever to the love entanglement between Maqueda and Oliver. When it
+was finished the prosecutor asked us what we pleaded, whereon Oliver
+answered as our spokesman that it was true there had been fighting and
+men killed, also that we had been driven into the cave, but as to all
+the rest the Child of Kings knew the truth, and must speak for us as she
+wished.
+
+Now the audience began to shout, "They plead guilty! Give them to
+death!" and so forth, while the judges rising from their seats, gathered
+round Maqueda and consulted her.
+
+"By heaven! I believe she is going to give us away!" exclaimed Higgs,
+whereon Oliver turned on him fiercely and bade him hold his tongue,
+adding:
+
+"If you were anywhere else you should answer for that slander!"
+
+At length the consultation was finished; the judges resumed their seats,
+and Maqueda held up her hand. Thereon an intense silence fell upon the
+place. Then she began to speak in a cold, constrained voice:
+
+"Gentiles," she said, addressing us, "you have pleaded guilty to the
+stirring up of civil war in Mur, and to the slaying of numbers of its
+people, facts of which there is no need for evidence, since many widows
+and fatherless children can testify to them to-day. Moreover, you did,
+as alleged by my officer, commit the crime of bearing off my person into
+the cave and keeping me there by force to be a hostage for your safety."
+
+We heard and gasped, Higgs ejaculating, "Good gracious, what a lie!" But
+none of the rest of us said anything.
+
+"For these offences," went on Maqueda, "you are all of you justly worthy
+of a cruel death." Then she paused and added, "Yet, as I have the power
+to do, I remit the sentence. I decree that this day you and all the
+goods that remain to you which have been found in the cave city, and
+elsewhere, together with camels for yourselves and your baggage, shall
+be driven from Mur, and that if any one of you returns hither, he shall
+without further trial be handed over to the executioners. This I do
+because at the beginning of your service a certain bargain was made with
+you, and although you have sinned so deeply I will not suffer that
+the glorious honour of the Abati people shall be tarnished even by the
+breath of suspicion. Get you gone, Wanderers, and let us see your faces
+no more for ever!"
+
+Now the mob gathered in the hall shouted in exultation, though I heard
+some crying out, "No, kill them! Kill them!"
+
+When the tumult had died down Maqueda spoke again saying:
+
+"O noble and generous Abati, you approve of this deed of mercy; you who
+would not be held merciless in far lands, O Abati, where, although you
+may not have heard of them, there are, I believe, other peoples who
+think themselves as great as you. You would not have it whispered, I
+say, that we who are the best of the world, we, the children of Solomon,
+have dealt harshly even with stray dogs that have wandered to our gates?
+Moreover, we called these dogs to hunt a certain beast for us, the
+lion-headed beast called Fung, and, to be just to them, they hunted
+well. Therefore spare them the noose, though they may have deserved it,
+and let them run hence with their bone, say you, the bone which they
+think that they have earned. What does a bone more or less matter to the
+rich Abati, if only their holy ground is not defiled with the blood of
+Gentile dogs?"
+
+"Nothing at all! Nothing at all!" they shouted. "Tie it to their tails
+and let them go!"
+
+"It shall be done, O my people! And now that we have finished with these
+dogs, I have another word to say to you. You may have thought or heard
+that I was too fond of them, and especially of one of them," and she
+glanced toward Oliver. "Well, there are certain dogs who will not work
+unless you pat them on the head. Therefore I patted this one on the
+head, since, after all, he is a clever dog who knows things that we do
+not know; for instance, how to destroy the idol of the Fung. O great
+Abati, can any of you really have believed that I, of the ancient race
+of Solomon and Sheba, I, the Child of Kings, purposed to give my noble
+hand to a vagrant Gentile come hither for hire? Can you really have
+believed that I, the solemnly betrothed to yonder Prince of Princes,
+Joshua, my uncle, would for a moment even in my heart have preferred to
+him such a man as that?" And once again she looked at Oliver, who made
+a wild motion, as though he were about to speak. But before he could so
+much as open his lips Maqueda went on:
+
+"Well, if you believed, not guessing all the while I was working for the
+safety of my people, soon shall you be undeceived, since to-morrow night
+I invite you to the great ceremony of my nuptials, when, according to
+the ancient custom, I break the glass with him whom on the following
+night I take to be my husband," and rising, she bowed thrice to the
+audience, then stretched out her hand to Joshua.
+
+He, too, rose, puffing himself out like a great turkey-cock, and, taking
+her hand, kissed it, gobbling some words which we did not catch.
+
+Wild cheering followed, and in the momentary silence which followed
+Oliver spoke.
+
+"Lady," he said, in a cold and bitter voice, "we 'Gentiles' have heard
+your words. We thank you for your kind acknowledgment of our services,
+namely, the destruction of the idol of the Fung at the cost of some
+risk and labour to ourselves. We thank you also for your generosity in
+allowing us, as the reward of that service, to depart from Mur, with
+insult and hard words, and such goods as remain to us, instead of
+consigning us to death by torture, as you and your Council have the
+power to do. It is indeed a proof of your generosity, and of that of the
+Abati people which we shall always remember and repeat in our own land,
+should we live to reach it. Also, we trust that it will come to the
+ears of the savage Fung, so that at length they may understand that
+true nobility and greatness lie not in brutal deeds of arms, but in the
+hearts of men. But now, Walda Nagasta, I have a last request to make of
+you, namely, that I may see your face once more to be sure that it is
+you who have spoken to us, and not another beneath your veil, and that
+if this be so, I may carry away with me a faithful picture of one so
+true to her country and noble to her guests as you have shown yourself
+this day."
+
+She listened, then very slowly lifted her veil, revealing such a
+countenance as I had never seen before. It was Maqueda without a doubt,
+but Maqueda changed. Her face was pale, which was only to be expected
+after all she had gone through; her eyes glowed in it like coals, her
+lips were set. But it was her expression, at once defiant and agonized,
+which impressed me so much that I never shall forget it. I confess I
+could not read it in the least, but it left upon my mind the belief that
+she was a false woman, and yet ashamed of her own falsity. There was the
+greatest triumph of her art, that in those terrible circumstances she
+should still have succeeded in conveying to me, and to the hundreds of
+others who watched, this conviction of her own turpitude.
+
+For a moment her eyes met those of Orme, but although he searched
+them with pleading and despair in his glance, I could trace in hers no
+relenting sign, but only challenge not unmixed with mockery. Then with
+a short, hard laugh she let fall her veil again and turned to talk with
+Joshua. Oliver stood silent a little while, long enough for Higgs to
+whisper to me:
+
+"I say, isn't this downright awful? I'd rather be back in the den of
+lions than live to see it."
+
+As he spoke I saw Oliver put his hand to where his revolver usually
+hung, but, of course, it had been taken from him. Next he began to
+search in his pocket, and finding that tabloid of poison which I had
+given him, lifted it toward his mouth. But just as it touched his lips,
+my son, who was next to him, saw also. With a quick motion he struck it
+from his fingers, and ground it to powder on the floor beneath his heel.
+
+Oliver raised his arm as though to hit him, then without a sound fell
+senseless. Evidently Maqueda noted all this also, for I saw a kind of
+quiver go through her, and her hands gripped the arms of her chair till
+the knuckles showed white beneath the skin. But she only said:
+
+"This Gentile has fainted because he is disappointed with his reward.
+Take him hence and let his companion, the Doctor Adams, attend to him.
+When he is recovered, conduct them all from Mur as I have decreed. See
+that they go unharmed, taking with them plenty of food lest it be said
+that we only spared their lives here in order that they might starve
+without our gates."
+
+Then waving her hand to show that the matter was done with, she rose
+and, followed by the judges and officers, left the court by some door
+behind them.
+
+While she spoke a strong body of guards had surrounded us, some of whom
+came forward and lifted the senseless Oliver on to a stretcher. They
+carried him down the court, the rest of us following.
+
+"Look," jeered the Abati as he passed, "look at the Gentile pig who
+thought to wear the Bud of the Rose upon his bosom. He has got the thorn
+now, not the rose. Is the swine dead, think you?"
+
+Thus they mocked him and us.
+
+We reached our prison in safety, and there I set to work to revive
+Oliver, a task in which I succeeded at length. When he had come to
+himself again he drank a cup of water, and said quite quietly:
+
+"You fellows have seen all, so there is no need for talk and
+explanations. One thing I beg of you, if you are any friends of mine,
+and it is that you will not reproach or even speak of Maqueda to me.
+Doubtless she had reasons for what she did; moreover, her bringing up
+has not been the same as ours, and her code is different. Do not let us
+judge her. I have been a great fool, that is all, and now I am paying
+for my folly, or, rather, I have paid. Come, let us have some dinner,
+for we don't know when we shall get another meal."
+
+We listened to this speech in silence, only I saw Roderick turn aside to
+hide a smile and wondered why he smiled.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating, or pretending to eat, when an officer
+entered the room and informed us roughly that it was time for us to
+be going. As he did so some attendants who had followed him threw us
+bundles of clothes, and with them four very beautiful camel-hair cloaks
+to protect us from the cold. With some of these garments we replaced our
+rags, for they were little more, tying them and the rest of the outfit
+up into bundles.
+
+Then, clothed as Abati of the upper class, we were taken to the gates
+of the barrack, where we found a long train of riding camels waiting for
+us. The moment that I saw these beasts I knew that they were the best
+in the whole land, and of very great value. Indeed, that to which Oliver
+was conducted was Maqueda's own favourite dromedary, which upon state
+occasions she sometimes rode instead of a horse. He recognized it at
+once, poor fellow, and coloured to the eyes at this unexpected mark of
+kindness, the only one she had vouchsafed to him.
+
+"Come, Gentiles," said the officer, "and take count of your goods, that
+you may not say that we have stolen anything from you. Here are your
+firearms and all the ammunition that is left. These will be given to you
+at the foot of the pass, but not before, lest you should do more murder
+on the road. On those camels are fastened the boxes in which you brought
+up the magic fire. We found them in your quarters in the cave city,
+ready packed, but what they contain we neither know nor care. Full or
+empty, take them, they are yours. Those," and he pointed to two other
+beasts, "are laden with your pay, which the Child of Kings sends to you,
+requesting that you will not count it till you reach Egypt or your own
+land, since she wishes no quarrelling with you as to the amount. The
+rest carry food for you to eat; also, there are two spare beasts. Now,
+mount and begone."
+
+So we climbed into the embroidered saddles of the kneeling dromedaries,
+and a few minutes later were riding through Mur toward the pass,
+accompanied by our guard and hooting mobs that once or twice became
+threatening, but were driven off by the soldiers.
+
+"I say, Doctor," said Higgs to me excitedly, "do you know that we
+have got all the best of the treasure of the Tomb of Kings in those
+five-and-twenty crates? I have thought since that I was crazy when I
+packed them, picking out the most valuable and rare articles with such
+care, and filling in the cracks with ring money and small curiosities,
+but now I see it was the inspiration of genius. My subliminal self knew
+what was going to happen, and was on the job, that's all. Oh, if only
+we can get it safe away, I shall not have played Daniel and been nearly
+starved to death for nothing. Why, I'd go through it all again for that
+golden head alone. Shove on, shove on, before they change their minds;
+it seems too good to be true."
+
+Just then a rotten egg thrown by some sweet Abati youth landed full on
+the bridge of his nose, and dispersing itself into his mouth and over
+his smoked spectacles, cut short the Professor's eloquence, or rather
+changed its tenor. So absurd was the sight that in spite of myself I
+burst out laughing, and with that laugh felt my heart grow lighter, as
+though our clouds of trouble were lifting at length.
+
+At the mouth of the pass we found Joshua himself waiting for us, clad
+in all his finery and chain armour, and looking more like a porpoise on
+horseback than he had ever done.
+
+"Farewell, Gentiles," he said, bowing to us in mockery, "we wish you a
+quick journey to Sheol, or wherever such swine as you may go. Listen,
+you Orme. I have a message for you from the Walda Nagasta. It is that
+she is sorry she could not ask you to stop for her nuptial feast, which
+she would have done had she not been sure that, if you stayed, the
+people would have cut your throat, and she did not wish the holy soil of
+Mur to be defiled with your dog's blood. Also she bids me say that she
+hopes that your stay here will have taught you a lesson, and that in
+future you will not believe that every woman who makes use of you for
+her own ends is therefore a victim of your charms. To-morrow night and
+the night after, I pray you think of our happiness and drink a cup of
+wine to the Walda Nagasta and her husband. Come, will you not wish me
+joy, O Gentile?"
+
+Orme turned white as a sheet and gazed at him steadily. Then a strange
+look came into his grey eyes, almost a look of inspiration.
+
+"Prince Joshua," he said in a very quiet voice, "who knows what may
+happen before the sun rises thrice on Mur? All things that begin well do
+not end well, as I have learned, and as you also may live to learn. At
+least, soon or late, your day of reckoning must come, and you, too, may
+be betrayed as I have been. Rather should you ask me to forgive your
+soul the insults that in your hour of triumph you have not been ashamed
+to heap upon one who is powerless to avenge them," and he urged his
+camel past him.
+
+As we followed I saw Joshua's face turn as pale as Oliver's had done,
+and his great round eyes protrude themselves like those of a fish.
+
+"What does he mean?" said the prince to his companions. "Pray God he is
+not a prophet of evil. Even now I have a mind--no, let him go. To break
+my marriage vow might bring bad luck upon me. Let him go!" and he glared
+after Oliver with fear and hatred written on his coarse features.
+
+That was the last we ever saw of Joshua, uncle of Maqueda, and first
+prince among the Abati.
+
+
+
+Down the pass we went and through the various gates of the
+fortifications, which were thrown open as we came and closed behind us.
+We did not linger on that journey. Why should we when our guards were
+anxious to be rid of us and we of them? Indeed, so soon as the last gate
+was behind us, either from fear of the Fung or because they were in a
+hurry to return to share in the festivities of the approaching marriage,
+suddenly the Abati wheeled round, bade us farewell with a parting curse,
+and left us to our own devices.
+
+So, having roped the camels into a long line, we went on alone, truly
+thankful to be rid of them, and praying, every one of us, that never
+in this world or the next might we see the face or hear the voice of
+another Abati.
+
+We emerged on to the plain at the spot where months before we had held
+our conference with Barung, Sultan of the Fung, and where poor Quick had
+forced his camel on to Joshua's horse and dismounted that hero. Here we
+paused awhile to arrange our little caravan and arm ourselves with
+the rifles, revolvers, and cartridges which until now we had not been
+allowed to touch.
+
+There were but four of us to manage the long train of camels, so we were
+obliged to separate. Higgs and I went ahead, since I was best acquainted
+with the desert and the road, Oliver took the central station, and
+Roderick brought up the rear, because he was very keen of sight and
+hearing and from his long familiarity with them, knew how to drive
+camels that showed signs of obstinacy or a wish to turn.
+
+On our right lay the great city of Harmac. We noted that it seemed to be
+quite deserted. There, rebuilt now, frowned the gateway through which we
+had escaped from the Fung after we had blown so many of them to pieces,
+but beneath it none passed in or out. The town was empty, and although
+they were dead ripe the rich crops had not yet been reaped. Apparently
+the Fung people had now left the land.
+
+Now we were opposite to the valley of Harmac, and saw that the huge
+sphinx still sat there as it had done for unknown thousands of years.
+Only its head was gone, for that had "moved to Mur," and in its neck
+and shoulders appeared great clefts, caused by the terrific force of the
+explosion. Moreover, no sound came from the enclosures where the sacred
+lions used to be. Doubtless every one of them was dead.
+
+"Don't you think," suggested Higgs, whose arch�ological zeal was
+rekindling fast, "that we might spare half-an-hour to go up the valley
+and have a look at Harmac from the outside? Of course, both Roderick and
+I are thoroughly acquainted with his inside, and the den of lions, and
+so forth, but I would give a great deal just to study the rest of him
+and take a few measurements. You know one must camp somewhere, and if we
+can't find the camera, at dawn one might make a sketch."
+
+"Are you mad?" I asked by way of answer, and Higgs collapsed, but to
+this hour he has never forgiven me.
+
+We looked our last upon Harmac, the god whose glory we had destroyed,
+and went on swiftly till darkness overtook us almost opposite to that
+ruined village where Shadrach had tried to poison the hound Pharaoh,
+which afterwards tore out his throat. Here we unloaded the camels, no
+light task, and camped, for near this spot there was water and a patch
+of maize on which the beasts could feed.
+
+Before the light quite faded Roderick rode forward for a little way to
+reconnoitre, and presently returned announcing shortly that he had seen
+no one. So we ate of the food with which the Abati had provided us, not
+without fear lest it should be poisoned, and then held a council of war.
+
+The question was whether we should take the old road toward Egypt, or
+now that the swamps were dry, strike up northward by the other route of
+which Shadrach had told us. According to the map this should be shorter,
+and Higgs advocated it strongly, as I discovered afterwards because he
+thought there might be more arch�ological remains in that direction.
+
+I, on the other hand, was in favour of following the road we knew,
+which, although long and very wearisome, was comparatively safe, as in
+that vast desert there were few people to attack us, while Oliver, our
+captain, listened to all we had to say, and reserved his opinion.
+
+Presently, however, the question was settled for us by Roderick, who
+remarked that if we travelled to the north we should probably fall in
+with the Fung. I asked what he meant, and he replied that when he made
+his reconnaissance an hour or so before, although it was true that he
+had seen no one, not a thousand yards from where we sat he had come
+across the track of a great army. This army, from various indications,
+he felt sure was that of Barung, which had passed there within twelve
+hours.
+
+"Perhaps my wife with them, so I no want to go that way, father," he
+added with sincere simplicity.
+
+"Where could they be travelling?" I asked.
+
+"Don't know," he answered, "but think they go round to attack Mur from
+other side, or perhaps to find new land to north."
+
+"We will stick to the old road," said Oliver briefly. "Like Roderick I
+have had enough of all the inhabitants of this country. Now let us rest
+awhile; we need it."
+
+About two o'clock we were up again and before it was dawn on the
+following morning we had loaded our camels and were on the road. By the
+first faint light we saw that what Roderick had told us was true. We
+were crossing the track of an army of many thousand men who had passed
+there recently with laden camels and horses. Moreover, those men were
+Fung, for we picked up some articles that could have belonged to no
+other people, such as a head-dress that had been lost or thrown away,
+and an arrow that had fallen from a quiver.
+
+However, we saw nothing of them, and, travelling fast, to our great
+relief by midday reached the river Ebur, which we crossed without
+difficulty, for it was now low. That night we camped in the forest-lands
+beyond, having all the afternoon marched up the rising ground at the
+foot of which ran the river.
+
+Toward dawn Higgs, whose turn it was to watch the camels, came and woke
+me.
+
+"Sorry to disturb you, old fellow," he said, "but there is a most
+curious sky effect behind us which I thought you might like to see."
+
+I rose and looked. In the clear, starlight night I could just discern
+the mighty outline of the mountains of Mur. Above them the firmament was
+suffused with a strange red glow. I formed my own conclusion at once,
+but only said:
+
+"Let us go to tell Orme," and led the way to where he had lain down
+under a tree.
+
+He was not sleeping; indeed, I do not think he had closed his eyes all
+night, the night of Maqueda's marriage. On the contrary, he was standing
+on a little knoll staring at the distant mountains and the glow above
+them.
+
+"Mur is on fire," he said solemnly. "Oh, my God, Mur is on fire!" and
+turning he walked away.
+
+Just then Roderick joined us.
+
+"Fung got into Mur," he said, "and now cut throat of all Abati. We well
+out of that, but pig Joshua have very warm wedding feast, because Barung
+hate Joshua who try to catch him not fairly, which he never forget;
+often talk of it."
+
+"Poor Maqueda!" I said to Higgs, "what will happen to her?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered, "but although once, like everybody else,
+I adored that girl, really as a matter of justice she deserves all she
+gets, the false-hearted little wretch. Still it is true," he added,
+relenting, "she gave us very good camels, to say nothing of their
+loads."
+
+But I only repeated, "Poor Maqueda!"
+
+
+
+That day we made but a short journey, since we wished to rest ourselves
+and fill the camels before plunging into the wilderness, and feeling
+sure that we should not be pursued, had no cause to hurry. At night we
+camped in a little hollow by a stream that ran at the foot of a rise. As
+dawn broke we were awakened by the voice of Roderick, who was on watch,
+calling to us in tones of alarm to get up, as we were followed. We
+sprang to our feet, seizing our rifles.
+
+"Where are they?" I asked.
+
+"There, there," he said, pointing toward the rise behind us.
+
+We ran round some intervening bushes and looked, to see upon its crest a
+solitary figure seated on a very tired horse, for it panted and its head
+drooped. This figure, which was entirely hidden in a long cloak with
+a hood, appeared to be watching our camp just as a spy might do. Higgs
+lifted his rifle and fired at it, but Oliver, who was standing by him,
+knocked the barrel up so that the bullet went high, saying:
+
+"Don't be a fool. If it is only one man there's no need to shoot him,
+and if there are more you will bring them on to us."
+
+Then the figure urged the weary horse and advanced slowly, and I noticed
+that it was very small. "A boy," I thought to myself, "who is bringing
+some message."
+
+The rider reached us, and slipping from the horse, stood still.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Oliver, scanning the cloaked form.
+
+"One who brings a token to you, lord," was the answer, spoken in a low
+and muffled voice. "Here it is," and a hand, a very delicate hand, was
+stretched out, holding between the fingers a ring.
+
+I knew it at once; it was Sheba's ring which Maqueda had lent to me in
+proof of her good faith when I journeyed for help to England. This ring,
+it will be remembered, we returned to her with much ceremony at our
+first public audience. Oliver grew pale at the sight of it.
+
+"How did you come by this?" he asked hoarsely. "Is she who alone may
+wear it dead?"
+
+"Yes, yes," answered the voice, a feigned voice as I thought. "The Child
+of Kings whom you knew is dead, and having no more need for this ancient
+symbol of her power, she bequeathed it to you whom she remembered kindly
+at the last."
+
+Oliver covered his face with his hands and turned away.
+
+"But," went on the speaker slowly, "the woman Maqueda whom once it is
+said you loved----"
+
+He dropped his hands and stared.
+
+"----the woman Maqueda whom once it is said you--loved--still lives."
+
+Then the hood slipped back, and in the glow of the rising sun we saw the
+face beneath.
+
+It was that of Maqueda herself!
+
+A silence followed that in its way was almost awful.
+
+"My Lord Oliver," asked Maqueda presently, "do you accept my offering of
+Queen Sheba's ring?"
+
+
+
+NOTE BY MAQUEDA
+
+Once called Walda Nagasta and Takla Warda, that is, Child of Kings and
+Bud of the Rose, once also by birth Ruler of the Abati people, the Sons
+of Solomon and Sheba.
+
+I, Maqueda, write this by the command of Oliver, my lord, who desires
+that I should set out certain things in my own words.
+
+Truly all men are fools, and the greatest of them is Oliver, my lord,
+though perhaps he is almost equalled by the learned man whom the Abati
+called Black Windows, and by the doctor, Son of Adam. Only he who is
+named Roderick, child of Adam, is somewhat less blind, because having
+been brought up among the Fung and other people of the desert, he has
+gathered a little wisdom. This I know because he has told me that he
+alone saw through my plan to save all their lives, but said nothing of
+it because he desired to escape from Mur, where certain death waited on
+him and his companions. Perhaps, however, he lies to please me.
+
+Now, for the truth of the matter, which not being skilled in writing I
+will tell briefly.
+
+I was carried out of the cave city with my lord and the others,
+starving, starving, too weak to kill myself, which otherwise I would
+have done rather than fall into the hands of my accursed uncle, Joshua.
+Yet I was stronger than the rest, because as I have learned, they
+tricked me about those biscuits, pretending to eat when they were not
+eating, for which never will I forgive them. It was Japhet, a gallant
+man on one side, but a coward on the other like the rest of the Abati,
+who betrayed us, driven thereto by emptiness within, which, after all,
+is an ill enemy to fight. He went out and told Joshua where we lay hid,
+and then, of course, they came.
+
+Well, they took away my lord and the others, and me too they bore to
+another place and fed me till my strength returned, and oh! how good was
+that honey which first I ate, for I could touch nothing else. When I was
+strong again came Prince Joshua to me and said, "Now I have you in my
+net; now you are mine."
+
+Then I answered Joshua, "Fool, your net is of air; I will fly through
+it."
+
+"How?" he asked. "By death," I answered, "of which a hundred means lie
+to my hand. You have robbed me of one, but what does that matter when so
+many remain? I will go where you and your love cannot pursue me."
+
+"Very well, Child of Kings," he said, "but how about that tall Gentile
+who has caught your eyes, and his companions? They, too, have recovered,
+and they shall die every one of them after a certain fashion (which, I
+Maqueda, will not set down, since there are some things that ought not
+to be written). If you die, they die; as I told you, they die as a wolf
+dies that is caught by the shepherds; they die as a baboon dies that is
+caught by the husbandman."
+
+Now I looked this way and that, and found that there was no escape. So I
+made a bargain.
+
+"Joshua," I said, "let these men go and I swear upon the name of our
+mother, she of Sheba, that I will marry you. Keep them and kill them,
+and you will have none of me."
+
+Well, in the end, because he desired me and the power that went with me,
+he consented.
+
+Then I played my part. My lord and his companions were brought before
+me, and in presence of all the people I mocked them; I spat in their
+faces, and oh! fools, fools, fools, they believed me! I lifted my veil,
+and showed them my eyes, and they believed also what they seemed to see
+in my eyes, forgetting that I am a woman who can play a part at need.
+Yes, they forgot that there were others to deceive as well, all the
+Abati people, who, if they thought I tricked them, would have torn the
+foreigners limb from limb. That was my bitterest morsel, that I should
+have succeeded in making even my own lord believe that of all the wicked
+women that ever trod this world, I was the most vile. Yet I did so, and
+he cannot deny it, for often we have talked of this thing till he will
+hear of it no more.
+
+Well, they went with all that I could give them, though I knew well that
+my lord cared nothing, for what I could give, nor the doctor, Child of
+Adam, either, who cared only for his son that God had restored to him.
+Only Black Windows cared, not because he loves wealth, but because he
+worships all that is old and ugly, for of such things he fashions up his
+god.
+
+They went, for their going was reported to me, and I, I entered into
+hell because I knew that my lord thought me false, and that he would
+never learn the truth, namely, that what I did I did to save his life,
+until at length he came to his own country, if ever he came there, and
+opened the chests of treasure, if ever he opened them, which perhaps he
+would not care to do. And all that while he would believe me the wife
+of Joshua, and--oh! I cannot write of it. And I, I should be dead; I, I
+could not tell him the truth until he joined me in that land of death,
+if there men and women can talk together any more.
+
+For this and no other was the road that I had planned to walk. When he
+and his companions had gone so far that they could not be followed,
+then I would tell Joshua and the Abati all the truth in such language as
+should never be forgotten for generations, and kill myself before their
+eyes, so that Joshua might lack a wife and the Abati a Child of Kings.
+
+I sat through the Feast of Preparation and smiled and smiled. It passed
+and the next day passed, and came the night of the Feast of Marriage.
+The glass was broken, the ceremony was fulfilled. Joshua rose up to
+pledge me before all the priests, lords, and headmen. He devoured me
+with his hateful eyes, me, who was already his. But I, I handled the
+knife in my robe, wishing, such was the rage in my heart, that I could
+kill him also.
+
+Then God spoke, and the dream that I had dreamed came true. Far away
+there rose a single cry, and after it other cries, and the sounds of
+shouting and of marching feet. Far away tongues of fire leapt into the
+air, and each man asked his neighbour, "What is this?" Then from all the
+thousands of the feasting people rose one giant scream, and that scream
+said, "Fung! Fung! The Fung are on us! Fly, fly, fly!"
+
+"Come," shouted Joshua, seizing me by the arm, but I drew my dagger on
+him and he let go. Then he fled with the other lords, and I remained in
+my high seat beneath the golden canopy alone.
+
+The people fled past me without fighting; they fled into the cave city,
+they fled to the rocks; they hid themselves among the precipices, and
+after them came the Fung, slaying and burning, till all Mur went up in
+flames. And I, I sat and watched, waiting till it was time for me to die
+also.
+
+At last, I know not how long afterwards, appeared before me Barung, a
+red sword in his hand, which he lifted to me in salute.
+
+"Greeting, Child of Kings," he said. "You see Harmac is come to sleep at
+Mur."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "Harmac is come to sleep at Mur, and many of those
+who dwelt there sleep with him. What of it? Say, Barung, will you kill
+me, or shall I kill myself?"
+
+"Neither, Child of Kings," he answered in his high fashion. "Did I not
+make you a promise yonder in the Pass of Mur, when I spoke with you and
+the Western men, and does a Fung Sultan break his word? I have taken
+back the city that was ours, as I swore to do, and purified it with
+fire," and he pointed to the raging flames. "Now I will rebuild it, and
+you shall rule under me."
+
+"Not so," I answered; "but in place of that promise I ask of you three
+things."
+
+"Name them," said Barung.
+
+"They are these: First, that you give me a good horse and five days'
+food, and let me go where I will. Secondly, that if he still lives you
+advance one Japhet, a certain Mountaineer who befriended me and brought
+others to do likewise, to a place of honour under you. Thirdly, that you
+spare the rest of the Abati people."
+
+"You shall go whither you desire, and I think I know where you will go,"
+answered Barung. "Certain spies of mine last night saw four white men
+riding on fine camels towards Egypt, and reported it to me as I led my
+army to the secret pass that Harmac showed me, which you Abati could
+never find. But I said, 'Let them go; it is right that brave men who
+have been the mock of the Abati should be allowed their freedom.' Yes,
+I said this, although one of them was my daughter's husband, or near to
+it. But she will have no more of him who fled to his father rather than
+with her, so it was best that he should go also, since, if I brought him
+back it must be to his death."
+
+"Yes," I answered boldly, "I go after the Western men; I who have done
+with these Abati. I wish to see new lands."
+
+"And find an old love who thinks ill of you just now," he said, stroking
+his beard. "Well, no wonder, for here has been a marriage feast. Say,
+what were you about to do, O Child of Kings? Take the fat Joshua to your
+breast?"
+
+"Nay, Barung, I was about to take _this_ husband to my breast," and I
+showed him the knife that was hidden in my marriage robe.
+
+"No," he said, smiling, "I think the knife was for Joshua first. Still,
+you are a brave woman who could save the life of him you love at
+the cost of your own. Yet, bethink you, Child of Kings, for many a
+generation your mothers have been queens, and under me you may still
+remain a queen. How will one whose blood has ruled so long endure to
+serve a Western man in a strange land?"
+
+"That is what I go to find out, Barung, and if I cannot endure, then I
+shall come back again, though not to rule the Abati, of whom I wash my
+hands for ever. Yet, Barung, my heart tells me I shall endure."
+
+"The Child of Kings has spoken," he said, bowing to me. "My best horse
+awaits her, and five of my bravest guards shall ride with her to keep
+her safe till she sights the camp of the Western men. I say happy is he
+of them who was born to wear the sweet-scented Bud of the Rose upon his
+bosom. For the rest, the man Japhet is in my hands. He yielded himself
+to me who would not fight for his own people because of what they had
+done to his friends, the white men. Lastly, already I have given orders
+that the slaying should cease, since I need the Abati to be my slaves,
+they who are cowards, but cunning in many arts. Only one more man shall
+die," he added sternly, "and that is Joshua, who would have taken me by
+a trick in the mouth of the pass. So plead not for him, for by the head
+of Harmac it is in vain."
+
+Now hearing this I did not plead, fearing lest I should anger Barung,
+and but waste my breath.
+
+
+
+At daybreak I started on the horse, having with me the five Fung
+captains. As we crossed the marketplace I met those that remained alive
+of the Abati, being driven in hordes like beasts, to hear their doom.
+Among them was Prince Joshua, my uncle, whom a man led by a rope about
+his neck, while another man thrust him forward from behind, since Joshua
+knew that he went to his death and the road was one which he did not
+wish to travel. He saw me, and cast himself down upon the ground, crying
+to me to save him. I told him that I could not, though it is the truth,
+I swear it before God, that, notwithstanding all the evil he had worked
+toward me, toward Oliver my lord, and his companions, bringing to his
+end that gallant man who died to protect me, I would still have saved
+him if I could. But I could not, for although I tried once more, Barung
+would not listen. So I answered:
+
+"Plead, O Joshua, with him who has the power in Mur to-day, for I have
+none. You have fashioned your own fate, and must travel the road you
+chose."
+
+"What road do you ride, mounted on a horse of the plains, Maqueda? Oh!
+what need is there for me to ask? You go to see that accursed Gentile
+whom I would I had killed by inches, as I would that I could kill you."
+
+Then calling me by evil names, Joshua sprang at me as though to strike
+me down, but he who held the rope about his neck jerked him backward, so
+that he fell and I saw his face no more.
+
+But oh! it was sad, that journey across the great square, for the
+captive Abati by hundreds--men, women, and children together--with tears
+and lamentations cried to me to preserve them from death or slavery at
+the hands of the Fung. But I answered:
+
+"Your sins against me and the brave foreign men who fought so well
+for you I forgive, but search your hearts, O Abati, and say if you can
+forgive yourselves? If you had listened to me and to those whom I called
+in to help us, you might have beaten back the Fung, and remained free
+for ever. But you were cowards; you would not learn to bear arms like
+men, you would not even watch your mountain walls, and soon or late the
+people who refuse to be ready to fight must fall and become the servants
+of those who are ready."
+
+And now, my Oliver, I have no more to write, save that I am glad to have
+endured so many things, and thereby win the joy that is mine to-day.
+Not yet have I, Maqueda, wished to reign again in Mur, who have found
+another throne.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Sheba's Ring, by H. Rider Haggard
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Sheba's Ring, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+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: Queen Sheba's Ring
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: April 3, 2006 [EBook #2602]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN SHEBA'S RING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers; Emma Dudding; Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+QUEEN SHEBA'S RING
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE COMING OF THE RING
+
+Every one has read the monograph, I believe that is the right word,
+of my dear friend, Professor Higgs--Ptolemy Higgs to give him his full
+name--descriptive of the tableland of Mur in North Central Africa, of
+the ancient underground city in the mountains which surrounded it,
+and of the strange tribe of Abyssinian Jews, or rather their mixed
+descendants, by whom it is, or was, inhabited. I say every one
+advisedly, for although the public which studies such works is usually
+select, that which will take an interest in them, if the character of a
+learned and pugnacious personage is concerned, is very wide indeed. Not
+to mince matters, I may as well explain what I mean at once.
+
+Professor Higgs's rivals and enemies, of whom either the brilliancy
+of his achievements or his somewhat abrupt and pointed methods of
+controversy seem to have made him a great many, have risen up, or rather
+seated themselves, and written him down--well, an individual who strains
+the truth. Indeed, only this morning one of these inquired, in a letter
+to the press, alluding to some adventurous traveller who, I am told,
+lectured to the British Association several years ago, whether Professor
+Higgs did not, in fact, ride across the desert to Mur, not upon a camel,
+as he alleged, but upon a land tortoise of extraordinary size.
+
+The innuendo contained in this epistle has made the Professor, who, as
+I have already hinted, is not by nature of a meek disposition, extremely
+angry. Indeed, notwithstanding all that I could do, he left his London
+house under an hour ago with a whip of hippopotamus hide such as the
+Egyptians call a _koorbash_, purposing to avenge himself upon the person
+of his defamer. In order to prevent a public scandal, however, I have
+taken the liberty of telephoning to that gentleman, who, bold and
+vicious as he may be in print, is physically small and, I should say,
+of a timid character, to get out of the way at once. To judge from the
+abrupt fashion in which our conversation came to an end, I imagine that
+the hint has been taken. At any rate, I hope for the best, and, as
+an extra precaution, have communicated with the lawyers of my justly
+indignant friend.
+
+The reader will now probably understand that I am writing this book, not
+to bring myself or others before the public, or to make money of which I
+have no present need, or for any purpose whatsoever, except to set down
+the bare and actual truth. In fact, so many rumours are flying about
+as to where we have been and what befell us that this has become
+almost necessary. As soon as I laid down that cruel column of gibes and
+insinuations to which I have alluded--yes, this very morning, before
+breakfast, this conviction took hold of me so strongly that I cabled
+to Oliver, Captain Oliver Orme, the hero of my history, if it has
+any particular hero, who is at present engaged upon what must be an
+extremely agreeable journey round the world--asking his consent. Ten
+minutes since the answer arrived from Tokyo. Here it is:
+
+"Do what you like and think necessary, but please alter all names, et
+cetera, as propose returning via America, and fear interviewers. Japan
+jolly place." Then follows some private matter which I need not insert.
+Oliver is always extravagant where cablegrams are concerned.
+
+I suppose that before entering on this narration, for the reader's
+benefit I had better give some short description of myself.
+
+My name is Richard Adams, and I am the son of a Cumberland yeoman who
+married a Welshwoman. Therefore I have Celtic blood in my veins, which
+perhaps accounts for my love of roving and other things. I am now an old
+man, near the end of my course, I suppose; at any rate, I was sixty-five
+last birthday. This is my appearance as I see it in the glass before
+me: tall, spare (I don't weigh more than a hundred and forty pounds--the
+desert has any superfluous flesh that I ever owned, my lot having been,
+like Falstaff, to lard the lean earth, but in a hot climate); my eyes
+are brown, my face is long, and I wear a pointed white beard, which
+matches the white hair above.
+
+Truth compels me to add that my general appearance, as seen in that
+glass which will not lie, reminds me of that of a rather aged goat;
+indeed, to be frank, by the natives among whom I have sojourned, and
+especially among the Khalifa's people when I was a prisoner there, I
+have often been called the White Goat.
+
+Of my very commonplace outward self let this suffice. As for my record,
+I am a doctor of the old school. Think of it! When I was a student at
+Bart.'s the antiseptic treatment was quite a new thing, and administered
+when at all, by help of a kind of engine on wheels, out of which
+disinfectants were dispensed with a pump, much as the advanced gardener
+sprays a greenhouse to-day.
+
+I succeeded above the average as a student, and in my early time as
+a doctor. But in every man's life there happen things which, whatever
+excuses may be found for them, would not look particularly well in cold
+print (nobody's record, as understood by convention and the Pharisee,
+could really stand cold print); also something in my blood made me its
+servant. In short, having no strict ties at home, and desiring to see
+the world, I wandered far and wide for many years, earning my living
+as I went, never, in my experience, a difficult thing to do, for I was
+always a master of my trade.
+
+My fortieth birthday found me practising at Cairo, which I mention only
+because it was here that first I met Ptolemy Higgs, who, even then in
+his youth, was noted for his extraordinary antiquarian and linguistic
+abilities. I remember that in those days the joke about him was that he
+could swear in fifteen languages like a native and in thirty-two with
+common proficiency, and could read hieroglyphics as easily as a bishop
+reads the _Times_.
+
+Well, I doctored him through a bad attack of typhoid, but as he had
+spent every farthing he owned on scarabs or something of the sort, made
+him no charge. This little kindness I am bound to say he never forgot,
+for whatever his failings may be (personally I would not trust him alone
+with any object that was more than a thousand years old), Ptolemy is a
+good and faithful friend.
+
+In Cairo I married a Copt. She was a lady of high descent, the tradition
+in her family being that they were sprung from one of the Ptolemaic
+Pharaohs, which is possible and even probable enough. Also, she was a
+Christian, and well educated in her way. But, of course, she remained an
+Oriental, and for a European to marry an Oriental is, as I have tried to
+explain to others, a very dangerous thing, especially if he continues
+to live in the East, where it cuts him off from social recognition and
+intimacy with his own race. Still, although this step of mine forced me
+to leave Cairo and go to Assouan, then a little-known place, to practise
+chiefly among the natives, God knows we were happy enough together till
+the plague took her, and with it my joy in life.
+
+I pass over all that business, since there are some things too dreadful
+and too sacred to write about. She left me one child, a son, who, to
+fill up my cup of sorrow, when he was twelve years of age, was kidnapped
+by the Mardi's people.
+
+This brings me to the real story. There is nobody else to write
+it; Oliver will not; Higgs cannot (outside of anything learned and
+antiquarian, he is hopeless); so I must. At any rate, if it is not
+interesting, the fault will be mine, not that of the story, which in all
+conscience is strange enough.
+
+
+
+We are now in the middle of June, and it was a year ago last December
+that, on the evening of the day of my arrival in London after an absence
+of half a lifetime, I found myself knocking at the door of Professor
+Higgs's rooms in Guildford Street, W.C. It was opened by his
+housekeeper, Mrs. Reid, a thin and saturnine old woman, who reminded and
+still reminds me of a reanimated mummy. She told me that the Professor
+was in, but had a gentleman to dinner, and suggested sourly that I
+should call again the next morning. With difficulty I persuaded her at
+last to inform her master that an old Egyptian friend had brought him
+something which he certainly would like to see.
+
+Five minutes later I groped my way into Higgs's sitting-room, which Mrs.
+Reid had contented herself with indicating from a lower floor. It is a
+large room, running the whole width of the house, divided into two by
+an arch, where once, in the Georgian days, there had been folding doors.
+The place was in shadow, except for the firelight, which shone upon a
+table laid ready for dinner, and upon an extraordinary collection of
+antiquities, including a couple of mummies with gold faces arranged in
+their coffins against the wall. At the far end of the room, however, an
+electric lamp was alight in the bow-window hanging over another table
+covered with books, and by it I saw my host, whom I had not met for
+twenty years, although until I vanished into the desert we frequently
+corresponded, and with him the friend who had come to dinner.
+
+First, I will describe Higgs, who, I may state, is admitted, even by his
+enemies, to be one of the most learned antiquarians and greatest masters
+of dead languages in Europe, though this no one would guess from his
+appearance at the age of about forty-five. In build short and stout,
+face round and high-coloured, hair and beard of a fiery red, eyes,
+when they can be seen--for generally he wears a pair of large blue
+spectacles--small and of an indefinite hue, but sharp as needles. Dress
+so untidy, peculiar, and worn that it is said the police invariably
+request him to move on, should he loiter in the streets at night. Such
+was, and is, the outward seeming of my dearest friend, Professor Ptolemy
+Higgs, and I only hope that he won't be offended when he sees it set
+down in black and white.
+
+That of his companion who was seated at the table, his chin resting on
+his hand, listening to some erudite discourse with a rather distracted
+air, was extraordinarily different, especially by contrast. A tall
+well-made young man, rather thin, but broad-shouldered, and apparently
+five or six and twenty years of age. Face clean-cut--so much so, indeed,
+that the dark eyes alone relieved it from a suspicion of hardness; hair
+short and straight, like the eyes, brown; expression that of a man of
+thought and ability, and, when he smiled, singularly pleasant. Such was,
+and is, Captain Oliver Orme, who, by the way, I should explain, is only
+a captain of some volunteer engineers, although, in fact, a very able
+soldier, as was proved in the South African War, whence he had then but
+lately returned.
+
+I ought to add also that he gave me the impression of a man not in
+love with fortune, or rather of one with whom fortune was not in love;
+indeed, his young face seemed distinctly sad. Perhaps it was this that
+attracted me to him so much from the first moment that my eyes fell on
+him--me with whom fortune had also been out of love for many years.
+
+While I stood contemplating this pair, Higgs, looking up from the
+papyrus or whatever it might be that he was reading (I gathered later
+that he had spent the afternoon in unrolling a mummy, and was studying
+its spoils), caught sight of me standing in the shadow.
+
+"Who the devil are you?" he exclaimed in a shrill and strident voice,
+for it acquires that quality when he is angry or alarmed, "and what are
+you doing in my room?"
+
+"Steady," said his companion; "your housekeeper told you that some
+friend of yours had come to call."
+
+"Oh, yes, so she did, only I can't remember any friend with a face and
+beard like a goat. Advance, friend, and all's well."
+
+So I stepped into the shining circle of the electric light and halted
+again.
+
+"Who is it? Who is it?" muttered Higgs. "The face is the face of--of--I
+have it--of old Adams, only he's been dead these ten years. The Khalifa
+got him, they said. Antique shade of the long-lost Adams, please be so
+good as to tell me your name, for we waste time over a useless mystery."
+
+"There is no need, Higgs, since it is in your mouth already. Well, I
+should have known you anywhere; but then _your_ hair doesn't go white."
+
+"Not it; too much colouring matter; direct result of a sanguine
+disposition. Well, Adams--for Adams you must be--I am really delighted
+to see you, especially as you never answered some questions in my last
+letter as to where you got those First Dynasty scarabs, of which the
+genuineness, I may tell you, has been disputed by certain envious
+beasts. Adams, my dear old fellow, welcome a thousand times"--and he
+seized my hands and wrung them, adding, as his eye fell upon a ring I
+wore, "Why, what's that? Something quite unusual. But never mind; you
+shall tell me after dinner. Let me introduce you to my friend, Captain
+Orme, a very decent scholar of Arabic, with a quite elementary knowledge
+of Egyptology."
+
+"_Mr._ Orme," interrupted the younger man, bowing to me.
+
+"Oh, well, Mr. or Captain, whichever you like. He means that he is not
+in the regular army, although he has been all through the Boer War, and
+wounded three times, once straight through the lungs. Here's the soup.
+Mrs. Reid, lay another place. I am dreadfully hungry; nothing gives me
+such an appetite as unrolling mummies; it involves so much intellectual
+wear and tear, in addition to the physical labour. Eat, man, eat. We
+will talk afterwards."
+
+So we ate, Higgs largely, for his appetite was always excellent, perhaps
+because he was then practically a teetotaller; Mr. Orme very moderately,
+and I as becomes a person who has lived for months at a time on
+dates--mainly of vegetables, which, with fruits, form my principal
+diet--that is, if these are available, for at a pinch I can exist on
+anything.
+
+When the meal was finished and our glasses had been filled with port,
+Higgs helped himself to water, lit the large meerschaum pipe he always
+smokes, and pushed round the tobacco-jar which had once served as a
+sepulchural urn for the heart of an old Egyptian.
+
+"Now, Adams," he said when we also had filled our pipes, "tell us what
+has brought you back from the Shades. In short, your story, man, your
+story."
+
+I drew the ring he had noticed off my hand, a thick band of rather
+light-coloured gold of a size such as an ordinary woman might wear upon
+her first or second finger, in which was set a splendid slab of
+sapphire engraved with curious and archaic characters. Pointing to these
+characters, I asked Higgs if he could read them.
+
+"Read them? Of course," he answered, producing a magnifying glass.
+"Can't you? No, I remember; you never were good at anything more than
+fifty years old. Hullo! this is early Hebrew. Ah! I've got it," and he
+read:
+
+"'The gift of Solomon the ruler--no, the Great One--of Israel, Beloved
+of Jah, to Maqueda of Sheba-land, Queen, Daughter of Kings, Child of
+Wisdom, Beautiful.'
+
+"That's the writing on your ring, Adams--a really magnificent thing.
+'Queen of Sheba--Bath-Melachim, Daughter of Kings,' with our old friend
+Solomon chucked in. Splendid, quite splendid!"--and he touched the gold
+with his tongue, and tested it with his teeth. "Hum--where did you get
+this intelligent fraud from, Adams?"
+
+"Oh!" I answered, laughing, "the usual thing, of course. I bought it
+from a donkey-boy in Cairo for about thirty shillings."
+
+"Indeed," he replied suspiciously. "I should have thought the stone in
+it was worth more than that, although, of course, it may be nothing
+but glass. The engraving, too, is first-rate. Adams," he added with
+severity, "you are trying to hoax us, but let me tell you what I thought
+you knew by this time--that you can't take in Ptolemy Higgs. This
+ring is a shameless swindle; but who did the Hebrew on it? He's a good
+scholar, anyway."
+
+"Don't know," I answered; "wasn't aware till now that it was Hebrew. To
+tell you the truth, I thought it was old Egyptian. All I do know is
+that it was given, or rather lent, to me by a lady whose title is Walda
+Nagasta, and who is supposed to be a descendant of Solomon and the Queen
+of Sheba."
+
+Higgs took up the ring and looked at it again; then, as though in a fit
+of abstraction, slipped it into his waistcoat pocket.
+
+"I don't want to be rude, therefore I will not contradict you," he
+answered with a kind of groan, "or, indeed, say anything except that
+if any one else had spun me that yarn I should have told him he was
+a common liar. But, of course, as every schoolboy knows, Walda
+Nagasta--that is, Child of Kings in Ethiopic--is much the same as
+Bath-Melachim--that is, Daughter of Kings in Hebrew."
+
+Here Captain Orme burst out laughing, and remarked, "It is easy to see
+why you are not altogether popular in the antiquarian world, Higgs. Your
+methods of controversy are those of a savage with a stone axe."
+
+"If you only open your mouth to show your ignorance, Oliver, you had
+better keep it shut. The men who carried stone axes had advanced far
+beyond the state of savagery. But I suggest that you had better
+give Doctor Adams a chance of telling his story, after which you can
+criticize."
+
+"Perhaps Captain Orme does not wish to be bored with it," I said,
+whereon he answered at once:
+
+"On the contrary, I should like to hear it very much--that is, if you
+are willing to confide in me as well as in Higgs."
+
+I reflected a moment, since, to tell the truth, for sundry reasons, my
+intention had been to trust no one except the Professor, whom I knew to
+be as faithful as he is rough. Yet some instinct prompted me to make
+an exception in favour of this Captain Orme. I liked the man; there was
+something about those brown eyes of his that appealed to me. Also it
+struck me as odd that he should happen to be present on this occasion,
+for I have always held that there is nothing casual or accidental in the
+world; that even the most trivial circumstances are either ordained,
+or the result of the workings of some inexorable law whereof the end
+is known by whatever power may direct our steps, though it be not yet
+declared.
+
+"Certainly I am willing," I answered; "your face and your friendship
+with the Professor are passport enough for me. Only I must ask you
+to give me your word of honour that without my leave you will repeat
+nothing of what I am about to tell you."
+
+"Of course," he answered, whereon Higgs broke in:
+
+"There, that will do; you don't want us both to kiss the Book, do you?
+Who sold you that ring, and where have you been for the last dozen
+years, and whence do you come now?"
+
+"I have been a prisoner of the Khalifa's among other things. I had five
+years of that entertainment of which my back would give some evidence
+if I were to strip. I think I am about the only man who never embraced
+Islam whom they allowed to live, and that was because I am a doctor,
+and, therefore, a useful person. The rest of the time I have spent
+wandering about the North African deserts looking for my son, Roderick.
+You remember the boy, or should, for you are his godfather, and I used
+to send you photographs of him as a little chap."
+
+"Of course, of course," said the Professor in a new tone; "I came across
+a Christmas letter from him the other day. But, my dear Adams, what
+happened? I never heard."
+
+"He went up the river to shoot crocodiles against my orders, when he was
+about twelve years old--not very long after his mother's death, and some
+wandering Mahdi tribesmen kidnapped him and sold him as a slave. I have
+been looking for him ever since, for the poor boy was passed on from
+tribe to tribe, among which his skill as a musician enabled me to follow
+him. The Arabs call him the Singer of Egypt, because of his wonderful
+voice, and it seems that he has learned to play upon their native
+instruments."
+
+"And now where is he?" asked Higgs, as one who feared the answer.
+
+"He is, or was, a favourite slave among a barbarous, half-negroid people
+called the Fung, who dwell in the far interior of North Central Africa.
+After the fall of the Khalifa I followed him there; it took me several
+years. Some Bedouin were making an expedition to trade with these Fung,
+and I disguised myself as one of them.
+
+"On a certain night we camped at the foot of a valley outside a great
+wall which encloses the holy place where their idol is. I rode up to
+this wall and, through the open gateway, heard some one with a beautiful
+tenor voice singing in English. What he sang was a hymn that I had
+taught my son. It begins:
+
+'Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.'
+
+"I knew the voice again. I dismounted and slipped through the gateway,
+and presently came to an open space, where a young man sat singing upon
+a sort of raised bench with lamps on either side of him, and a large
+audience in front. I saw his face and, notwithstanding the turban which
+he wore and his Eastern robe--yes, and the passage of all those years--I
+knew it for that of my son. Some spirit of madness entered into me, and
+I called aloud, 'Roderick, Roderick!' and he started up, staring about
+him wildly. The audience started up also, and one of them caught sight
+of me lurking in the shadow.
+
+"With a howl of rage, for I had desecrated their sanctuary, they sprang
+at me. To save my life, coward that I was, I fled back through the
+gates. Yes, after all those years of seeking, still I fled rather than
+die, and though I was wounded with a spear and stones, managed to reach
+and spring upon my horse. Then, as I was headed off from our camp,
+I galloped away anywhere, still to save my miserable life from those
+savages, so strongly is the instinct of self-preservation implanted
+in us. From a distance I looked back and saw by the light of the fired
+tents that the Fung were attacking the Arabs with whom I had travelled,
+I suppose because they thought them parties to the sacrilege. Afterwards
+I heard that they killed them every one, poor men, but I escaped, who
+unwittingly had brought their fate upon them.
+
+"On and on I galloped up a steep road. I remember hearing lions roaring
+round me in the darkness. I remember one of them springing upon my
+horse and the poor beast's scream. Then I remember no more till I found
+myself--I believe it was a week or so later--lying on the verandah of
+a nice house, and being attended by some good-looking women of an
+Abyssinian cast of countenance."
+
+"Sounds rather like one of the lost tribes of Israel," remarked Higgs
+sarcastically, puffing at his big meerschaum.
+
+"Yes, something of that sort. The details I will give you later. The
+main facts are that these people who picked me up outside their gates
+are called Abati, live in a town called Mur, and allege themselves to
+be descended from a tribe of Abyssinian Jews who were driven out and
+migrated to this place four or five centuries ago. Briefly, they
+look something like Jews, practise a very debased form of the Jewish
+religion, are civilized and clever after a fashion, but in the last
+stage of decadence from interbreeding--about nine thousand men is their
+total fighting force, although three or four generations ago they had
+twenty thousand--and live in hourly terror of extermination by the
+surrounding Fung, who hold them in hereditary hate as the possessors
+of the wonderful mountain fortress that once belonged to their
+forefathers."
+
+"Gibraltar and Spain over again," suggested Orme.
+
+"Yes, with this difference--that the position is reversed, the Abati of
+this Central African Gibraltar are decaying, and the Fung, who answer to
+the Spaniards, are vigorous and increasing."
+
+"Well, what happened?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Nothing particular. I tried to persuade these Abati to organize an
+expedition to rescue my son, but they laughed in my face. By degrees
+I found out that there was only one person among them who was worth
+anything at all, and she happened to be their hereditary ruler who bore
+the high-sounding titles of Walda Nagasta, or Child of Kings, and Takla
+Warda, or Bud of the Rose, a very handsome and spirited young woman,
+whose personal name is Maqueda----"
+
+"One of the names of the first known Queens of Sheba," muttered Higgs;
+"the other was Belchis."
+
+"Under pretence of attending her medically," I went on, "for otherwise
+their wretched etiquette would scarcely have allowed me access to one so
+exalted, I talked things over with her. She told me that the idol of
+the Fung is fashioned like a huge sphinx, or so I gathered from her
+description of the thing, for I have never seen it."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Higgs, jumping up, "a sphinx in North Central Africa!
+Well, after all, why not? Some of the earlier Pharaohs are said to have
+had dealings with that part of the world, or even to have migrated from
+it. I think that the Makreezi repeats the legend. I suppose that it is
+ram-headed."
+
+"She told me also," I continued, "that they have a tradition, or rather
+a belief, which amounts to an article of faith, that if this sphinx
+or god, which, by the way, is lion, not ram-headed, and is called
+Harmac----"
+
+"Harmac!" interrupted Higgs again. "That is one of the names of the
+sphinx--Harmachis, god of dawn."
+
+"If this god," I repeated, "should be destroyed, the nation of the Fung,
+whose forefathers fashioned it as they say, must move away from that
+country across the great river which lies to the south. I have forgotten
+its name at the moment, but I think it must be a branch of the Nile.
+
+"I suggested to her that, in the circumstances, her people had better
+try to destroy the idol. Maqueda laughed and said it was impossible,
+since the thing was the size of a small mountain, adding that the Abati
+had long ago lost all courage and enterprise, and were content to sit in
+their fertile and mountain-ringed land, feeding themselves with tales of
+departed grandeur and struggling for rank and high-sounding titles, till
+the day of doom overtook them.
+
+"I inquired whether she were also content, and she replied, 'Certainly
+not'; but what could she do to regenerate her people, she who was
+nothing but a woman, and the last of an endless line of rulers?
+
+"'Rid me of the Fung,' she added passionately, 'and I will give you
+such a reward as you never dreamed. The old cave-city yonder is full of
+treasure that was buried with its ancient kings long before we came to
+Mur. To us it is useless, since we have none to trade with, but I have
+heard that the peoples of the outside world worship gold.'
+
+"'I do not want gold,' I answered; 'I want to rescue my son who is a
+prisoner yonder.'
+
+"'Then,' said the Child of Kings, 'you must begin by helping us to
+destroy the idol of the Fung. Are there no means by which this can be
+done?'
+
+"'There are means,' I replied, and I tried to explain to her the
+properties of dynamite and of other more powerful explosives.
+
+"'Go to your own land,' she exclaimed eagerly, 'and return with that
+stuff and two or three who can manage it, and I swear to them all the
+wealth of Mur. Thus only can you win my help to save your son.'"
+
+"Well, what was the end?" asked Captain Orme.
+
+"This: They gave me some gold and an escort with camels which were
+literally lowered down a secret path in the mountains so as to avoid the
+Fung, who ring them in and of whom they are terribly afraid. With these
+people I crossed the desert to Assouan in safety, a journey of many
+weeks, where I left them encamped about sixteen days ago, bidding them
+await my return. I arrived in England this morning, and as soon as I
+could ascertain that you still lived, and your address, from a book of
+reference called _Who's Who_, which they gave me in the hotel, I came on
+here."
+
+"Why did you come to me? What do you want me to do?" asked the
+Professor.
+
+"I came to you, Higgs, because I know how deeply you are interested
+in anything antiquarian, and because I wished to give you the first
+opportunity, not only of winning wealth, but also of becoming famous as
+the discoverer of the most wonderful relics of antiquity that are left
+in the world."
+
+"With a very good chance of getting my throat cut thrown in," grumbled
+Higgs.
+
+"As to what I want you to do," I went on, "I want you to find someone
+who understands explosives, and will undertake the business of blowing
+up the Fung idol."
+
+"Well, that's easy enough, anyhow," said the Professor, pointing to
+Captain Orme with the bowl of his pipe, and adding, "he is an engineer
+by education, a soldier and a very fair chemist; also he knows Arabic
+and was brought up in Egypt as a boy--just the man for the job if he
+will go."
+
+I reflected a moment, then, obeying some sort of instinct, looked up and
+asked:
+
+"Will you, Captain Orme, if terms can be arranged?"
+
+"Yesterday," he replied, colouring a little, "I should have answered,
+'Certainly not.' To-day I answer that I am prepared to consider the
+matter--that is, if Higgs will go too, and you can enlighten me on
+certain points. But I warn you that I am only an amateur in the three
+trades that the Professor has mentioned, though, it is true, one with
+some experience."
+
+"Would it be rude to inquire, Captain Orme, why twenty-four hours have
+made such a difference in your views and plans?"
+
+"Not rude, only awkward," he replied, colouring again, this time more
+deeply. "Still, as it is best to be frank, I will tell you. Yesterday
+I believed myself to be the inheritor of a very large fortune from an
+uncle whose fatal illness brought me back from South Africa before I
+meant to come, and as whose heir I have been brought up. To-day I have
+learned for the first time that he married secretly, last year, a woman
+much below him in rank, and has left a child, who, of course, will take
+all his property, as he died intestate. But that is not all. Yesterday I
+believed myself to be engaged to be married; to-day I am undeceived
+upon that point also. The lady," he added with some bitterness, "who
+was willing to marry Anthony Orme's heir is no longer willing to marry
+Oliver Orme, whose total possessions amount to under L10,000. Well,
+small blame to her or to her relations, whichever it may be, especially
+as I understand that she has a better alliance in view. Certainly her
+decision has simplified matters," and he rose and walked to the other
+end of the room.
+
+"Shocking business," whispered Higgs; "been infamously treated," and
+he proceeded to express his opinion of the lady concerned, of her
+relatives, and of the late Anthony Orme, shipowner, in language that,
+if printed, would render this history unfit for family reading. The
+outspokenness of Professor Higgs is well known in the antiquarian world,
+so there is no need for me to enlarge upon it.
+
+"What I do not exactly understand, Adams," he added in a loud voice,
+seeing that Orme had turned again, "and what I think we should both like
+to know, is _your_ exact object in making these proposals."
+
+"I am afraid I have explained myself badly. I thought I had made it
+clear that I have only one object--to attempt the rescue of my son,
+if he still lives, as I believe he does. Higgs, put yourself in my
+position. Imagine yourself with nothing and no one left to care for
+except a single child, and that child stolen away from you by savages.
+Imagine yourself, after years of search, hearing his very voice, seeing
+his very face, adult now, but the same, the thing you had dreamed of and
+desired for years; that for which you would have given a thousand lives
+if you could have had time to think. And then the rush of the howling,
+fantastic mob, the breakdown of courage, of love, of everything that
+is noble under the pressure of primaeval instinct, which has but one
+song--Save your life. Lastly, imagine this coward saved, dwelling within
+a few miles of the son whom he had deserted, and yet utterly unable to
+rescue or even to communicate with him because of the poltroonery of
+those among whom he had refuged."
+
+"Well," grunted Higgs, "I have imagined all that high-faluting lot. What
+of it? If you mean that you are to blame, I don't agree with you.
+You wouldn't have helped your son by getting your own throat cut, and
+perhaps his also."
+
+"I don't know," I answered. "I have brooded over the thing so long that
+it seems to me that I have disgraced myself. Well, there came a chance,
+and I took it. This lady, Walda Nagasta, or Maqueda, who, I think,
+had also brooded over things, made me an offer--I fancy without the
+knowledge or consent of her Council. 'Help me,' she said, 'and I will
+help you. Save my people, and I will try to save your son. I can pay for
+your services and those of any whom you may bring with you.'
+
+"I answered that it was hopeless, as no one would believe the tale,
+whereon she drew from her finger the throne-ring or State signet which
+you have in your pocket, Higgs, saying: 'My mothers have worn this since
+the days of Maqueda, Queen of Sheba. If there are learned men among your
+people they will read her name upon it and know that I speak no lie.
+Take it as a token, and take also enough of our gold to buy the stuffs
+whereof you speak, which hide fires that can throw mountains skyward,
+and the services of skilled and trusty men who are masters of the stuff,
+two or three of them only, for more cannot be transported across the
+desert, and come back to save your son and me.' That's all the story,
+Higgs. Will you take the business on, or shall I try elsewhere? You must
+make up your mind, because I have no time to lose, if I am to get into
+Mur again before the rains."
+
+"Got any of that gold you spoke of about you?" asked the Professor.
+
+I drew a skin bag from the pocket of my coat, and poured some out upon
+the table, which he examined carefully.
+
+"Ring money," he said presently, "might be Anglo-Saxon, might be
+anything; date absolutely uncertain, but from its appearance I should
+say slightly alloyed with silver; yes, there is a bit which has
+oxydized--undoubtedly old, that."
+
+Then he produced the signet from his pocket, and examined the ring and
+the stone very carefully through a powerful glass.
+
+"Seems all right," he said, "and although I have been greened in my
+time, I don't make many mistakes nowadays. What do you say, Adams? Must
+have it back? A sacred trust! Only lent to you! All right, take it by
+all means. _I_ don't want the thing. Well, it is a risky job, and if any
+one else had proposed it to me, I'd have told him to go to--Mur. But,
+Adams, my boy, you saved my life once, and never sent in a bill, because
+I was hard up, and I haven't forgotten that. Also things are pretty hot
+for me here just now over a certain controversy of which I suppose
+you haven't heard in Central Africa. I think I'll go. What do you say,
+Oliver?"
+
+"Oh!" said Captain Orme, waking up from a reverie, "if you are
+satisfied, I am. It doesn't matter to me where I go."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE ADVICE OF SERGEANT QUICK
+
+At this moment a fearful hubbub arose without. The front door slammed,
+a cab drove off furiously, a policeman's whistle blew, heavy feet
+were heard trampling; then came an invocation of "In the King's name,"
+answered by "Yes, and the Queen's, and the rest of the Royal Family's,
+and if you want it, take it, you chuckle-headed, flat-footed,
+pot-bellied Peelers."
+
+Then followed tumult indescribable as of heavy men and things rolling
+down the stairs, with cries of fear and indignation.
+
+"What the dickens is that?" asked Higgs.
+
+"The voice sounded like that of Samuel--I mean Sergeant Quick," answered
+Captain Orme with evident alarm; "what can he be after? Oh, I know,
+it is something to do with that infernal mummy you unwrapped this
+afternoon, and asked him to bring round after dinner."
+
+Just then the door burst open, and a tall, soldier-like form stalked in,
+carrying in his arms a corpse wrapped in a sheet, which he laid upon the
+table among the wine glasses.
+
+"I'm sorry, Captain," he said, addressing Orme, "but I've lost the head
+of the departed. I think it is at the bottom of the stairs with the
+police. Had nothing else to defend myself with, sir, against their
+unwarranted attacks, so brought the body to the present and charged,
+thinking it very stiff and strong, but regret to say neck snapped, and
+that deceased's head is now under arrest."
+
+As Sergeant Quick finished speaking, the door opened again, and through
+it appeared two very flurried and dishevelled policemen, one of whom
+held, as far as possible from his person, the grizzly head of a mummy by
+the long hair which still adhered to the skull.
+
+"What do you mean by breaking into my rooms like this? Where's your
+warrant?" asked the indignant Higgs in his high voice.
+
+"There!" answered the first policeman, pointing to the sheet-wrapped
+form on the table.
+
+"And here!" added the second, holding up the awful head. "As in duty
+bound, we ask explanation from that man of the secret conveyance of a
+corpse through the open streets, whereon he assaults us with the same,
+for which assault, pending investigation of the corpse, I arrest him.
+Now, Guv'nor" (addressing Sergeant Quick), "will you come along with us
+quietly, or must we take you?"
+
+The Sergeant, who seemed to be inarticulate with wrath, made a dash for
+the shrouded object on the table, with the intention, apparently, of
+once more using it as a weapon of offence, and the policemen drew their
+batons.
+
+"Stop," said Orme, thrusting himself between the combatants, "are you
+all mad? Do you know that this woman died about four thousand years
+ago?"
+
+"Oh, Lord!" said the policeman who held the head, addressing his
+companion, "it must be one of them mummies what they dig up in the
+British Museum. Seems pretty ancient and spicy, don't it?" and he
+sniffed at the head, then set it down upon the table.
+
+Explanations followed, and after the wounded dignity of the two officers
+of the Force had been soothed with sundry glasses of port wine and a
+written list of the names of all concerned, including that of the mummy,
+they departed.
+
+"You take my advice, bobbies," I heard the indignant Sergeant declaim
+outside the door, "and don't you believe things is always what they
+seem. A party ain't necessarily drunk because he rolls about and falls
+down in the street; he may be mad, or 'ungry, or epileptic, and a body
+ain't always a body jest because it's dead and cold and stiff. Why, men,
+as you've seen, it may be a mummy, which is quite a different thing. If
+I was to put on that blue coat of yours, would that make me a policeman?
+Good heavens! I should hope not, for the sake of the Army to which I
+still belong, being in the Reserve. What you bobbies need is to study
+human nature and cultivate observation, which will learn you the
+difference between a new-laid corpse and a mummy, and many other
+things. Now you lay my words to heart, and you'll both of you rise to
+superintendents, instead of running in daily 'drunks' until you retire
+on a pension. Good-night."
+
+Peace having been restored, and the headless mummy removed into the
+Professor's bedroom, since Captain Orme declared that he could not talk
+business in the presence of a body, however ancient, we resumed our
+discussion. First of all, at Higgs's suggestion I drew up a brief
+memorandum of agreement which set out the objects of the expedition,
+and provided for the equal division amongst us of any profit that might
+accrue; in the event of the death of one or more of us, the survivors or
+survivor to take their or his share.
+
+To this arrangement personally I objected, who desired neither treasure
+nor antiquities, but only the rescue of my son. The others pointed out,
+however, that, like most people, I might in future want something
+to live on, or that if I did not, in the event of his escape, my boy
+certainly would; so in the end I gave way.
+
+Then Captain Orme very sensibly asked for a definition of our respective
+duties, and it was settled that I was to be guide to the expedition;
+Higgs, antiquarian, interpreter, and, on account of his vast knowledge,
+general referee; and Captain Orme, engineer and military commander,
+with the proviso that, in the event of a difference of opinion, the
+dissentient was to loyally accept the decision of the majority.
+
+This curious document having been copied out fair, I signed and passed
+it to the Professor, who hesitated a little, but, after refreshing
+himself with a further minute examination of Sheba's ring, signed also,
+remarking that he was an infernal fool for his pains, and pushed the
+paper across the table to Orme.
+
+"Stop a minute," said the Captain; "I forgot something. I should like my
+old servant, Sergeant Quick, to accompany us. He's a very handy man at
+a pinch, especially if, as I understand, we are expected to deal with
+explosives with which he has had a lot to do in the Engineers and
+elsewhere. If you agree I will call him, and ask if he will go. I expect
+he's somewhere round."
+
+I nodded, judging from the episode of the mummy and the policeman that
+the Sergeant was likely to be a useful man. As I was sitting next to it,
+I opened the door for the Captain, whereon the erect shape of Sergeant
+Quick, who had clearly been leaning against it, literally fell into the
+room, reminding me much of an overset wooden soldier.
+
+"Hullo!" said Orme as, without the slightest change of countenance, his
+retainer recovered himself and stood to attention. "What the deuce are
+you doing there?"
+
+"Sentry go, Captain. Thought the police might change their minds and
+come back. Any orders, Captain?"
+
+"Yes. I am going to North Central Africa. When can you be ready to
+start?"
+
+"The Brindisi mail leaves to-morrow night, Captain, if you travel by
+Egypt, but if you go by Tunis, 7.15 a.m. Saturday is the time from
+Charing Cross. Only, as I understand that high explosives and arms have
+to be provided, these might take awhile to lay in and pack so as to
+deceive customs."
+
+"You understand!" said Orme. "Pray, how do you understand?"
+
+"Doors in these old houses are apt to get away from their frames,
+Captain, and the gentleman there"--and he pointed to the Professor--"has
+a voice that carries like a dog-whistle. Oh, no offence, sir. A clear
+voice is an excellent thing--that is, if the doors fit"--and although
+Sergeant Quick's wooden face did not move, I saw his humorous grey eyes
+twinkle beneath the bushy eyebrows.
+
+We burst out laughing, including Higgs.
+
+"So you are willing to go?" said Orme. "But I hope you clearly
+understand that this is a risky business, and that you may not come
+back?"
+
+"Spion Kop was a bit risky, Captain, and so was that business in the
+donga, where every one was hit except you and me and the sailor man, but
+we came back, for all that. Begging your pardon, Captain, there ain't no
+such thing as risk. Man comes here when he must, and dies when he must,
+and what he does between don't make a ha'porth of difference."
+
+"Hear, hear," I said; "we are much of the same way of thinking."
+
+"There have been several who held those views, sir, since old Solomon
+gave the lady that"--and he pointed to Sheba's ring, which was lying
+on the table. "But excuse me, Captain; how about local allowances? Not
+having been a marrying man myself, I've none dependent upon me, but, as
+you know, I've sisters that have, and a soldier's pension goes with
+him. Don't think me greedy, Captain," he added hastily, "but, as you
+gentlemen understand, black and white at the beginning saves bother at
+the end"--and he pointed to the agreement.
+
+"Quite right. What do you want, Sergeant?" asked Orme.
+
+"Nothing beyond my pay, if we get nothing, Captain, but if we get
+something, would five per cent. be too much?"
+
+"It might be ten," I suggested. "Sergeant Quick has a life to lose like
+the rest of us."
+
+"Thank you kindly, sir," he answered; "but that, in my opinion, would be
+too much. Five per cent. was what I suggested."
+
+So it was written down that Sergeant Samuel Quick was to receive five
+per cent. of the total profits, if any, provided that he behaved himself
+and obeyed orders. Then he also signed the agreement, and was furnished
+with a glass of whisky and water to drink to its good health.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," he said, declining the chair which Higgs offered
+to him, apparently because, from long custom, he preferred his
+wooden-soldier attitude against the wall, "as a humble five-per-cent.
+private in this very adventurous company I'll ask permission to say a
+word."
+
+Permission was given accordingly, and the Sergeant proceeded to inquire
+what weight of rock it was wished to remove.
+
+I told him that I did not know, as I had never seen the Fung idol, but
+I understood that its size was enormous, probably as large as St. Paul's
+Cathedral.
+
+"Which, if solid, would take some stirring," remarked the Sergeant.
+"Dynamite might do it, but it is too bulky to be carried across the
+desert on camels in that quantity. Captain, how about them picrates? You
+remember those new Boer shells that blew a lot of us to kingdom come,
+and poisoned the rest?"
+
+"Yes," answered Orme; "I remember; but now they have stronger
+stuffs--azo-imides, I think they call them--terrific new compounds of
+nitrogen. We will inquire to-morrow, Sergeant."
+
+"Yes, Captain," he answered; "but the point is, who'll pay? You can't
+buy hell-fire in bulk for nothing. I calculate that, allowing for
+the purchase of the explosives and, say, fifty military rifles with
+ammunition and all other necessaries, not including camels, the outfit
+of this expedition can't come to less than L1,500."
+
+"I think I have that amount in gold," I answered, "of which the lady of
+the Abati gave me as much as I could carry in comfort."
+
+"If not," said Orme, "although I am a poor man now, I could find L500
+or so in a pinch. So don't let us bother about the money. The question
+is--Are we all agreed that we will undertake this expedition and see it
+through to the end, whatever that may be?"
+
+We answered that we were.
+
+"Then has anybody anything more to say?"
+
+"Yes," I replied; "I forgot to tell you that if we should ever get to
+Mur, none of you must make love to the Walda Nagasta. She is a kind of
+holy person, who can only marry into her own family, and to do so might
+mean that our throats would be cut."
+
+"Do you hear that, Oliver?" said the Professor. "I suppose that the
+Doctor's warning is meant for you, as the rest of us are rather past
+that kind of thing."
+
+"Indeed," replied the Captain, colouring again after his fashion. "Well,
+to tell you the truth, I feel a bit past it myself, and, so far as I
+am concerned, I don't think we need take the fascinations of this black
+lady into account."
+
+"Don't brag, Captain. Please don't brag," said Sergeant Quick in a
+hollow whisper. "Woman is just the one thing about which you can never
+be sure. To-day she's poison, and to-morrow honey--God and the climate
+alone know why. Please don't brag, or we may live to see you crawling
+after this one on your knees, with the gent in the specs behind, and
+Samuel Quick, who hates the whole tribe of them, bringing up the rear.
+Tempt Providence, if you like, Captain, but don't tempt woman, lest she
+should turn round and tempt you, as she has done before to-day."
+
+"Will you be so good as to stop talking nonsense and call a cab," said
+Captain Orme coldly. But Higgs began to laugh in his rude fashion, and
+I, remembering the appearance of "Bud of the Rose" when she lifted
+her veil of ceremony, and the soft earnestness of her voice, fell into
+reflection. "Black lady" indeed! What, I wondered, would this young
+gentleman think if ever he should live to set his eyes upon her sweet
+and comely face?
+
+It seemed to me that Sergeant Quick was not so foolish as his master
+chose to imagine. Captain Orme undoubtedly was in every way qualified to
+be a partner in our venture; still, I could have wished either that
+he had been an older man, or that the lady to whom he was recently
+affianced had not chosen this occasion to break her engagement. In
+dealing with difficult and dangerous combinations, my experience has
+been that it is always well to eliminate the possibility of a love
+affair, especially in the East.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING
+
+Of all our tremendous journey across the desert until we had passed the
+forest and reached the plains which surrounded the mountains of Mur,
+there are, I think, but few incidents with which the reader need be
+troubled. The first of these was at Assouan, where a letter and various
+telegrams overtook Captain Orme, which, as by this time we had become
+intimate, he showed to me. They informed him that the clandestine infant
+whom his uncle left behind him had suddenly sickened and died of some
+childish ailment, so that he was once again heir to the large property
+which he thought he had lost, since the widow only took a life interest
+in some of the personalty. I congratulated him and said I supposed this
+meant that we should not have the pleasure of his company to Mur.
+
+"Why not?" he asked. "I said I was going and I mean to go; indeed, I
+signed a document to that effect."
+
+"I daresay," I answered, "but circumstances alter cases. If I might say
+so, an adventure that perhaps was good enough for a young and well-born
+man of spirit and enterprise without any particular resources, is no
+longer good enough for one who has the ball at his feet. Think what a
+ball it is to a man of your birth, intelligence, record, and now,
+great fortune come to you in youth. Why, with these advantages there
+is absolutely nothing that you cannot do in England. You can go into
+Parliament and rule the country; if you like you can become a peer.
+You can marry any one who isn't of the blood royal; in short, with
+uncommonly little effort of your own, your career is made for you. Don't
+throw away a silver spoon like that in order, perhaps, to die of thirst
+in the desert or be killed in a fight among unknown tribes."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," he answered. "I never set heart much on spoons,
+silver or other. When I lost this one I didn't cry, and now that I have
+found it again I shan't sing. Anyway, I am going on with you, and you
+can't prevent me under the agreement. Only as I have got such a lot to
+leave, I suppose I had better make a will first and post it home, which
+is a bore."
+
+Just then the Professor came in, followed by an Arab thief of a dealer,
+with whom he was trying to bargain for some object of antiquity. When
+the dealer had been ejected and the position explained to him, Higgs,
+who whatever may be his failings in small matters, is unselfish enough
+in big ones, said that he agreed with me and thought that under the
+circumstances, in his own interest, Orme ought to leave us and return
+home.
+
+"You may save your breath, old fellow," answered the Captain, "for this
+reason if for no other," and he threw him a letter across the table,
+which letter I saw afterwards. To be brief, it was from the young
+lady to whom he had been engaged to be married, and who on his loss of
+fortune had jilted him. Now she seemed to have changed her mind
+again, and, although she did not mention the matter, it is perhaps not
+uncharitable to suppose that the news of the death of the inconvenient
+child had something to do with her decision.
+
+"Have you answered this?" asked Higgs.
+
+"No," answered Orme, setting his mouth. "I have not answered, and I
+am not going to answer it, either in writing or in person. I intend to
+start to-morrow for Mur and to travel as far on that road as it pleases
+fate to allow, and now I am going to look at the rock sculptures by the
+cataract."
+
+"Well, that's flat," said Higgs after he had departed, "and for my part
+I am glad of it, for somehow I think he will be a useful man among those
+Fung. Also, if he went I expect that the Sergeant would go too, and
+where should we be without Quick, I should like to know?"
+
+Afterwards I conversed with the said Quick about this same matter,
+repeating to him my opinions, to which the Sergeant listened with the
+deference which he was always kind enough to show to me.
+
+"Begging your pardon, sir," he said, when I had finished, "but I think
+you are both right and wrong. Everything has two ends, hasn't it? You
+say that it would be wicked for the Captain to get himself killed, there
+being now so much money for him to live for, seeing that life is common
+as dirt while money is precious, rare and hard to come by. It ain't
+the kings we admire, it's their crowns; it ain't the millionaires,
+it's their millions; but, after all, the millionaires don't take their
+millions with them, for Providence, that, like Nature, hates waste,
+knows that if they did they'd melt, so one man dead gives another bread,
+as the saying goes, or p'raps I should say gingerbread in such cases.
+
+"Still, on the whole, sir, I admit you are right as to the sinfulness of
+wasting luck. But now comes the other end. I know this young lady what
+the Captain was engaged to, which he never would have been if he had
+taken my advice, since of all the fish-blooded little serpents that ever
+I set eyes on she's the serpentest, though pretty, I allow. Solomon said
+in his haste that an honest woman he had not found, but if he had met
+the Honourable Miss--well, never mind her name--he'd have said it at
+his leisure, and gone on saying it. Now, no one should never take back
+a servant what has given notice and then says he's sorry, for if he does
+the sorrow will be on the other side before it's all done; and much less
+should he take back a _fiancee_ (Quick said a 'finance'), on the whole,
+he'd better drown himself--I tried it once, and I know. So that's the
+tail of the business.
+
+"But," he went on, "it has a couple of fins as well, like that eel beast
+I caught in the Nile. One of them is that the Captain promised and vowed
+to go through with this expedition, and if a man's got to die, he'd
+better die honest without breaking his word. And the other is what
+I said to you in London when I signed on, that he won't die a minute
+before his time, and nothing won't happen to him, but what's bound
+to happen, and therefore it ain't a ha'porth of use bothering about
+anything, and that's where the East's well ahead of the West.
+
+"And now, sir, I'll go and look after the camels and those half-bred
+Jew boys what you call Abati, but I call rotten sneaks, for if they get
+their thieving fingers into those canisters of picric salts, thinking
+they're jam, as I found them trying to do yesterday, something may
+happen in Egypt that'll make the Pharaohs turn in their graves and the
+Ten Plagues look silly."
+
+So, having finished his oration, Quick went, and in due course we
+started for Mur.
+
+The second incident that is perhaps worth recording was an adventure
+that happened to us when we had completed about two of our four months'
+journey.
+
+After weeks of weary desert travel--if I remember right, it was exactly
+a fortnight after the dog Pharaoh, of which I shall soon have plenty to
+say, had come into Orme's possession--we reached an oasis called Zeu,
+where I had halted upon my road down to Egypt. In this oasis, which,
+although not large in extent, possesses springs of beautiful water and
+groves of date-trees, we were, as it chanced, very welcome, since when
+I was there before, I had been fortunate enough to cure its sheik of
+an attack of ophthalmia and to doctor several of his people for various
+ailments with good results. So, although I was burning to get forward, I
+agreed with the others that it would be wise to accede to the request
+of the leader of our caravan, a clever and resourceful, but to my mind
+untrustworthy Abati of the name of Shadrach, and camp in Zeu for a week
+or so to rest and feed our camels, which had wasted almost to nothing on
+the scant herbage of the desert.
+
+This Shadrach, I may add here, whom his companions, for some reason
+unknown to me at that time, called the Cat, was remarkable for a triple
+line of scars upon his face, which, he informed me, had been set there
+by the claws of a lion. Now the great enemies of this people of Zeu were
+lions, which at certain seasons of the year, I suppose when food grew
+scarce, descended from the slopes of a range of hills that stretched
+east and west at a distance of about fifty miles north of the oasis,
+and, crossing the intervening desert, killed many of the Zeu sheep,
+camels, and other cattle, and often enough any of the tribe whom they
+could catch. As these poor Zeus practically possessed no firearms, they
+were at the mercy of the lions, which grew correspondingly bold. Indeed,
+their only resource was to kraal their animals within stone walls at
+night and take refuge in their huts, which they seldom left between
+sunset and dawn, except to replenish the fires that they lit to scare
+any beast of prey which might be prowling through the town.
+
+Though the lion season was now in full swing, as it happened, for the
+first five days of our stay at Zeu we saw none of these great cats,
+although in the darkness we heard them roaring in the distance. On the
+sixth night, however, we were awakened by a sound of wailing, which came
+from the village about a quarter of a mile away, and when we went out
+at dawn to see what was the matter, were met by a melancholy procession
+advancing from its walls. At the head of it marched the grey-haired old
+chief, followed by a number of screaming women, who in their excitement,
+or perhaps as a sign of mourning, had omitted to make their toilette,
+and by four men, who carried something horrid on a wickerwork door.
+
+Soon we learned what had happened. It seemed that hungry lions, two or
+three of them, had broken through the palm-leaf roof of the hut of one
+of the sheik's wives, she whose remains were stretched upon the door,
+and, in addition to killing her, had actually carried off his son.
+Now he came to implore us white men who had guns to revenge him on the
+lions, which otherwise, having once tasted human flesh, would destroy
+many more of his people.
+
+Through an interpreter who knew Arabic, for not even Higgs could
+understand the peculiar Zeu dialect, he explained in excited and
+incoherent words that the beasts lay up among the sand-hills not very
+far away, where some thick reeds grew around a little spring of water.
+Would we not come out and kill them and earn the blessing of the Zeus?
+
+Now I said nothing, for the simple reason that, having such big matters
+on hand, although I was always fond of sport, I did not wish any of us
+to be led off after these lions. There is a time to hunt and a time
+to cease from hunting, and it seemed to me, except for the purposes of
+food, that this journey of ours was the latter. However, as I expected,
+Oliver Orme literally leaped at the idea. So did Higgs, who of late
+had been practising with a rifle and began to fancy himself a shot.
+He exclaimed loudly that nothing would give him greater pleasure,
+especially as he was sure that lions were in fact cowardly and overrated
+beasts.
+
+From that moment I foreboded disaster in my heart. Still, I said I would
+come too, partly because I had not shot a lion for many a day and had
+a score to settle with those beasts which, it may be remembered, nearly
+killed me on the Mountain of Mur, and partly because, knowing the desert
+and also the Zeu people much better than either the Professor or Orme, I
+thought that I might possibly be of service.
+
+So we fetched our rifles and cartridges, to which by an afterthought we
+added two large water-bottles, and ate a hearty breakfast. As we were
+preparing to start, Shadrach, the leader of the Abati camel-drivers,
+that man with the scarred face who was nicknamed the Cat, came up to me
+and asked me whither we were going. I told him, whereon he said:
+
+"What have you to do with these savages and their troubles, lords? If
+a few of them are killed it is no matter, but as you should know, O
+Doctor, if you wish to hunt lions there are plenty in that land whither
+you travel, seeing that the lion is the fetish of the Fung and therefore
+never killed. But the desert about Zeu is dangerous and harm may come to
+you."
+
+"Then accompany us," broke in the Professor, between whom and Shadrach
+there was no love lost, "for, of course, with you we should be quite
+safe."
+
+"Not so," he replied, "I and my people rest; only madmen would go to
+hunt worthless wild beasts when they might rest. Have we not enough of
+the desert and its dangers as it is? If you knew all that I do of lions
+you would leave them alone."
+
+"Of the desert we have plenty also, but of shooting very little,"
+remarked the Captain, who talked Arabic well. "Lie in your beds; we go
+to kill the beasts that harass the poor people who have treated us so
+kindly."
+
+"So be it," said Shadrach with a smile that struck me as malicious. "A
+lion made this"--pointing to the dreadful threefold scar upon his face.
+"May the God of Israel protect you from lions. Remember, lords, that,
+the camels being fresh again, we march the day after to-morrow, should
+the weather hold, for if the wind blows on yonder sand-hills, no man may
+live among them;" and, putting up his hand, he studied the sky carefully
+from beneath its shadow, then, with a grunt, turned and vanished behind
+a hut.
+
+All this while Sergeant Quick was engaged at a little distance in
+washing up the tin breakfast things, to all appearance quite unconscious
+of what was going on. Orme called him, whereupon he advanced and
+stood to attention. I remember thinking how curious he looked in those
+surroundings--his tall, bony frame clothed in semi-military garments,
+his wooden face perfectly shaved, his iron-grey hair neatly parted and
+plastered down upon his head with pomade or some equivalent after the
+old private soldier fashion, and his sharp ferret-like grey eyes taking
+in everything.
+
+"Are you coming with us, Sergeant?" asked Orme.
+
+"Not unless ordered so to do, Captain. I like a bit of hunting well
+enough, but, with all three officers away, some one should mount guard
+over the stores and transport, so I think the dog Pharaoh and I had best
+stop behind."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Sergeant, only tie Pharaoh up, or he'll follow
+me. Well, what do you want to say? Out with it."
+
+"Only this, Captain. Although I have served in three campaigns among
+these here Arabians (to Quick, all African natives north of the Equator
+were Arabians, and all south of it, niggers), I can't say I talk their
+lingo well. Still, I made out that the fellow they call Cat don't like
+this trip of yours, and, begging your pardon, Captain, whatever else Cat
+may be, he ain't no fool."
+
+"Can't help it, Sergeant. For one thing, it would never do to give in to
+his fancies now."
+
+"That's true, Captain. When once it's hoist, right or wrong, keep the
+flag flying, and no doubt you'll come back safe and sound if you're
+meant to."
+
+Then, having relieved his mind, the Sergeant ran his eye over our
+equipment to see that nothing had been forgotten, rapidly assured
+himself that the rifles were in working order, reported all well,
+and returned to his dishes. Little did any of us guess under what
+circumstances we should next meet with him.
+
+After leaving the town and marching for a mile or so along the oasis,
+accompanied by a mob of the Zeus armed with spears and bows, we were
+led by the bereaved chief, who also acted as tracker, out into the
+surrounding sands. The desert here, although I remembered it well
+enough, was different from any that we had yet encountered upon this
+journey, being composed of huge and abrupt sand-hills, some of which
+were quite three hundred feet high, separated from each other by deep,
+wind-cut valleys.
+
+For a distance, while they were within reach of the moist air of the
+oasis, these sand-mountains produced vegetation of various sorts.
+Presently, however, we passed out into the wilderness proper, and for
+a while climbed up and down the steep, shifting slopes, till from the
+crest of one of them the chief pointed out what in South Africa is
+called a pan, or _vlei_, covered with green reeds, and explained by
+signs that in these lay the lions. Descending a steep declivity, we
+posted ourselves, I at the top, and Higgs and Orme a little way down
+either side of this _vlei_. This done, we dispatched the Zeus to beat
+it out towards us, for although the reeds grew thick along the course
+of the underground water, it was but a narrow place, and not more than a
+quarter of a mile in length.
+
+Scarcely had the beaters entered the tall reeds, evidently with
+trepidation, for a good many of them held back from the adventure,
+when a sound of loud wailing informed us that something had happened. A
+minute or two later we saw two of them bearing away what appeared to be
+the mangled remains of the chief's son who had been carried off on the
+previous night.
+
+Just then, too, we saw something else, for half-way down the marsh
+a great male lion broke cover, and began to steal off toward the
+sand-hills. It was about two hundred yards from Higgs, who chanced to
+be nearest to it, and, therefore, as any big-game hunter will know, for
+practical purposes, far out of shot. But the Professor, who was quite
+unaccustomed to this, or, indeed, any kind of sport, and, like all
+beginners, wildly anxious for blood, lifted his rifle and fired, as he
+might have done at a rabbit. By some marvellous accident the aim was
+good, and the bullet from the express, striking the lion fair behind the
+shoulder, passed through its heart, and knocked it over dead as a stone.
+
+"By Jingo! Did you see that?" screamed Higgs in his delight. Then,
+without even stopping to reload the empty barrel, he set off at the top
+of his speed toward the prostrate beast, followed by myself and by Orme,
+as fast as our astonishment would allow.
+
+Running along the edge of the marsh, Higgs had covered about a hundred
+yards of the distance, when suddenly, charging straight at him out of
+the tall reeds, appeared a second lion, or rather lioness. Higgs wheeled
+round, and wildly fired the left barrel of his rifle without touching
+the infuriated brute. Next instant, to our horror, we saw him upon
+his back, with the lioness standing over him, lashing her tail, and
+growling.
+
+We shouted as we ran, and so did the Zeus, although they made no attempt
+at rescue, with the result that the lioness, instead of tearing Higgs
+to pieces, turned her head confusedly first to one side and then to
+the other. By now I, who had a long start of Orme, was quite close,
+say within thirty yards, though fire I dared not as yet, fearing lest,
+should I do so, I might kill my friend. At this moment the lioness,
+recovering her nerves, squatted down on the prostrate Higgs, and though
+he hit at her with his fists, dropped her muzzle, evidently with the
+intention of biting him through the head.
+
+Now I felt that if I hesitated any more, all would be finished. The
+lioness was much longer than Higgs--a short, stout man--and her hind
+quarters projected beyond his feet. At these I aimed rapidly, and,
+pressing the trigger, next second heard the bullet clap upon the great
+beast's hide. Up she sprang with a roar, one hind leg dangling, and
+after a moment's hesitation, fled toward the sand-hill.
+
+Now Orme, who was behind me, fired also, knocking up the dust beneath
+the lioness's belly, but although he had more cartridges in his rifle,
+which was a repeater, before either he or I could get another chance,
+it vanished behind a mound. Leaving it to go where it would, we ran on
+towards Higgs, expecting to find him either dead or badly mauled,
+but, to our amazement and delight, up jumped the Professor, his blue
+spectacles still on his nose, and, loading his rifle as he went, charged
+away after the wounded lioness.
+
+"Come back," shouted the Captain as he followed.
+
+"Not for Joe!" yelled Higgs in his high voice. "If you fellows think
+that I'm going to let a great cat sit on my stomach for nothing, you are
+jolly well mistaken."
+
+At the top of the first rise the long-legged Orme caught him, but
+persuade him to return was more than he, or I when I arrived, could do.
+Beyond a scratch on his nose, which had stung him and covered him
+with blood, we found that he was quite uninjured, except in temper and
+dignity. But in vain did we beg him to be content with his luck and the
+honours he had won.
+
+"Why?" he answered, "Adams wounded the beast, and I'd rather kill two
+lions than one; also I have a score to square. But if you fellows are
+afraid, you go home."
+
+Well, I confess I felt inclined to accept the invitation, but Orme, who
+was nettled, replied:
+
+"Come, come; that settles the question, doesn't it? You must be shaken
+by your fall, or you would not talk like that, Higgs. Look, here runs
+the spoor--see the blood? Well, let's go steady and keep our wind.
+We may come on her anywhere, but don't you try any more long distance
+shots. You won't kill another lion at two hundred and fifty yards."
+
+"All right," said Higgs, "don't be offended. I didn't mean anything,
+except that I am going to teach that beast the difference between a
+white man and a Zeu."
+
+Then we began our march, following the blood tracks up and down the
+steep sand-slopes. When we had been at it for about half-an-hour our
+spirits were cheered by catching sight of the lioness on a ridge five
+hundred yards away. Just then, too, some of the Zeus overtook us and
+joined the hunt, though without zeal.
+
+Meanwhile, as the day grew, the heat increased until it was so intense
+that the hot air danced above the sand slopes like billions of midges,
+and this although the sun was not visible, being hidden by a sort of
+mist. A strange silence, unusual even in the desert, pervaded the earth
+and sky; we could hear the grains of sand trickling from the ridges.
+The Zeus, who accompanied us, grew uneasy, and pointed upward with their
+spears, then behind toward the oasis of which we had long lost sight.
+Finally, when we were not looking, they disappeared.
+
+Now I would have followed them, guessing that they had some good reason
+for this sudden departure. But Higgs refused to come, and Orme, in whom
+his foolish taunt seemed still to rankle, only shrugged his shoulders
+and said nothing.
+
+"Let the black curs go," exclaimed the Professor as he polished his blue
+spectacles and mopped his face. "They are a white-livered lot of sneaks.
+Look! There she is, creeping off to the left. If we run round that
+sand-hill we shall meet her."
+
+So we ran round the sand-hill, but we did not meet her, although after
+long hunting we struck the blood spoor afresh, and followed it for
+several miles, first in this direction, and then in that, until Orme and
+I wondered at Higgs's obstinacy and endurance. At length, when even he
+was beginning to despair, we put up the lioness in a hollow, and fired
+several shots at her as she hobbled over the opposing slope, one of
+which hit her, for she rolled over, then picked herself up again,
+roaring. As a matter of fact, it came from the Captain's rifle, but
+Higgs, who, like many an inexperienced person was a jealous sportsman,
+declared that it was his and we did not think it worth while to
+contradict him.
+
+On we toiled, and, just beyond the ridge, walked straight into the
+lioness, sitting up like a great dog, so injured that she could do
+nothing but snarl hideously and paw at the air.
+
+"Now it is my turn, old lady," ejaculated Higgs, and straightway
+missed her clean from a distance of five yards. A second shot was more
+successful, and she rolled over, dead.
+
+"Come on," said the exultant Professor, "and we'll skin her. She sat on
+me, and I mean to sit on her for many a day."
+
+So we began the job, although I, who had large experience of this
+desert, and did not like the appearance of the weather, wished to leave
+the beast where it lay and get back to the oasis. It proved long, for
+I was the only one of us who had any practical knowledge of flaying
+animals, and in that heat extremely unpleasant.
+
+At length it was done, and, having doubled the hide over a rifle for two
+of us to carry in turns, we refreshed ourselves from the water-bottles
+(I even caught the Professor washing the blood off his face and hands
+with some of the precious fluid). Then we started for the oasis, only to
+discover, though we were all sure that we knew the way, that not one
+of us had a slightest idea of its real direction. In the hurry of our
+departure we had forgotten to bring a compass, and the sun, that would
+have been our guide in ordinary circumstances, and to which we always
+trusted in the open desert, was hidden by the curious haze that has been
+described.
+
+So, sensibly enough, we determined to return to the sand crest where we
+had killed the lioness, and then trace our own footprints backward. This
+seemed simple enough, for there, within half-a-mile, rose the identical
+ridge.
+
+We reached it, grumbling, for the lion-skin was heavy, only to discover
+that it was a totally different ridge. Now, after reflection and
+argument, we saw our exact mistake, and made for what was obviously the
+real ridge--with the same result.
+
+We were lost in the desert!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE DEATH WIND
+
+"The fact is," said Higgs presently, speaking with the air of an oracle,
+"the fact is that all these accursed sand-hills are as like each other
+as mummy beads on the same necklace, and therefore it is very difficult
+to know them apart. Give me that water-bottle, Adams; I am as dry as a
+lime-kiln."
+
+"No," I said shortly; "you may be drier before the end."
+
+"What do you mean? Oh! I see; but that's nonsense; those Zeus will hunt
+us up, or, at the worst, we have only to wait till the sun gets out."
+
+As he spoke, suddenly the air became filled with a curious singing sound
+impossible to describe, caused as I knew, who had often heard it before,
+by millions and millions of particles of sand being rubbed together. We
+turned to see whence it came, and perceived, far away, rushing towards
+us with extraordinary swiftness, a huge and dense cloud preceded by
+isolated columns and funnels of similar clouds.
+
+"A sand-storm," said Higgs, his florid face paling a little. "Bad luck
+for us! That's what comes of getting out of bed the wrong side first
+this morning. No, it's your fault, Adams; you helped me to salt last
+night, in spite of my remonstrances" (the Professor has sundry little
+superstitions of this sort, particularly absurd in so learned a man).
+"Well, what shall we do? Get under the lee of the hill until it blows
+over?"
+
+"Don't suppose it will blow over. Can't see anything to do except say
+our prayers," remarked Orme with sweet resignation. Oliver is, I think,
+the coolest hand in an emergency of any one I ever met, except, perhaps,
+Sergeant Quick, a man, of course, nearly old enough to be his father.
+"The game seems to be pretty well up," he added. "Well, you have killed
+two lions, Higgs, and that is something."
+
+"Oh, hang it! You can die if you like, Oliver. The world won't miss you;
+but think of its loss if anything happened to _me_. I don't intend to be
+wiped out by a beastly sand-storm. I intend to live to write a book on
+Mur," and Higgs shook his fist at the advancing clouds with an air that
+was really noble. It reminded me of Ajax defying the lightning.
+
+Meanwhile I had been reflecting.
+
+"Listen," I said. "Our only chance is to stop where we are, for if we
+move we shall certainly be buried alive. Look; there is something
+solid to lie on," and I pointed to a ridge of rock, a kind of core of
+congealed sand, from which the surface had been swept by gales. "Down
+with you, quick," I went on, "and let's draw that lion-skin over our
+heads. It may help to keep the dust from choking us. Hurry, men; it's
+coming!"
+
+Coming, it was indeed, with a mighty, wailing roar. Scarcely had we got
+ourselves into position, our backs to the blast and our mouths and
+noses buried after the fashion of camels in a similar predicament, the
+lion-skin covering our heads and bodies to the middle, with the paws
+tucked securely beneath us to prevent it from being blown away, when the
+storm leaped upon us furiously, bringing darkness in its train. There
+we lay for hour after hour, unable to see, unable to talk because of the
+roaring noise about us, and only from time to time lifting ourselves
+a little upon our hands and knees to disturb the weight of sand that
+accumulated on our bodies, lest it should encase us in a living tomb.
+
+Dreadful were the miseries we suffered--the misery of the heat beneath
+the stinking pelt of the lion, the misery of the dust-laden air that
+choked us almost to suffocation, the misery of thirst, for we could not
+get at our scanty supply of water to drink. But worst of all perhaps,
+was the pain caused by the continual friction of the sharp sand driven
+along at hurricane speed, which, incredible as it may seem, finally wore
+holes in our thin clothing and filed our skins to rawness.
+
+"No wonder the Egyptian monuments get such a beautiful shine on them," I
+heard poor Higgs muttering in my ear again and again, for he was growing
+light-headed; "no wonder, no wonder! My shin-bones will be very useful
+to polish Quick's tall riding-boots. Oh! curse the lions. Why did you
+help me to salt, you old ass; why did you help me to salt? It's pickling
+me behind."
+
+Then he became quite incoherent, and only groaned from time to time.
+
+Perhaps, however, this suffering did us a service, since otherwise
+exhaustion, thirst, and dust might have overwhelmed our senses, and
+caused us to fall into a sleep from which we never should have awakened.
+Yet at the time we were not grateful to it, for at last the agony became
+almost unbearable. Indeed, Orme told me afterwards that the last thing
+he could remember was a quaint fancy that he had made a colossal fortune
+by selling the secret of a new torture to the Chinese--that of hot sand
+driven on to the victim by a continuous blast of hot air.
+
+After a while we lost count of time, nor was it until later that we
+learned that the storm endured for full twenty hours, during the latter
+part of which, notwithstanding our manifold sufferings, we must have
+become more or less insensible. At any rate, at one moment I remembered
+the awful roar and the stinging of the sand whips, followed by a kind
+of vision of the face of my son--that beloved, long-lost son whom I had
+sought for so many years, and for whose sake I endured all these things.
+Then, without any interval, as it were, I felt my limbs being scorched
+as though by hot irons or through a burning-glass, and with a fearful
+effort staggered up to find that the storm had passed, and that the
+furious sun was blistering my excoriated skin. Rubbing the caked dirt
+from my eyes, I looked down to see two mounds like those of graves, out
+of which projected legs that had been white. Just then one pair of legs,
+the longer pair, stirred, the sand heaved up convulsively, and, uttering
+wandering words in a choky voice, there arose the figure of Oliver Orme.
+
+For a moment we stood and stared at each other, and strange spectacles
+we were.
+
+"Is he dead?" muttered Orme, pointing to the still buried Higgs.
+
+"Fear so," I answered, "but we'll look;" and painfully we began to
+disinter him.
+
+When we came to it beneath the lion-skin, the Professor's face was black
+and hideous to see, but, to our relief, we perceived that he was not
+dead, for he moved his hand and moaned. Orme looked at me.
+
+"Water would save him," I said.
+
+Then came the anxious moment. One of our water-bottles was emptied
+before the storm began, but the other, a large, patent flask covered
+with felt, and having a screw vulcanite top, should still contain a good
+quantity, perhaps three quarts--that is, if the fluid had not evaporated
+in the dreadful heat. If this had happened, it meant that Higgs
+would die, and unless help came, that soon we should follow him. Orme
+unscrewed the flask, for my hands refused that office, and used his
+teeth to draw the cork, which, providentially enough the thoughtful
+Quick had set in the neck beneath the screw. Some of the water, which,
+although it was quite hot, had _not_ evaporated, thank God! flew against
+his parched lips, and I saw him bite them till the blood came in the
+fierceness of the temptation to assuage his raging thirst. But he
+resisted it like the man he is, and, without drinking a drop, handed me
+the bottle, saying simply:
+
+"You are the oldest; take care of this, Adams."
+
+Now it was my turn to be tempted, but I, too, overcame, and, sitting
+down, laid Higgs's head upon my knee; then, drop by drop, let a little
+of the water trickle between his swollen lips.
+
+The effect was magical, for in less than a minute the Professor sat up,
+grasped at the flask with both hands, and strove to tear it away.
+
+"You cruel brute! You cruel selfish brute!" he moaned as I wrenched it
+from him.
+
+"Look here, Higgs," I answered thickly; "Orme and I want water badly
+enough, and we have had none. But you might take it all if it would save
+you, only it wouldn't. We are lost in the desert, and must be sparing.
+If you drank everything now, in a few hours you would be thirsty again
+and die."
+
+He thought awhile, then looked up and said:
+
+"Beg pardon--I understand. I'm the selfish brute. But there's a good lot
+of water there; let's each have a drink; we can't move unless we do."
+
+So we drank, measuring out the water in a little india-rubber cup which
+we had with us. It held about as much as a port wine glass, and each of
+us drank, or rather slowly sipped, three cupfuls; we who felt as though
+we could have swallowed a gallon apiece, and asked for more. Small as
+was the allowance, it worked wonders in us; we were men again.
+
+We stood up and looked about us, but the great storm had changed
+everything. Where there had been sand-hills a hundred feet high,
+now were plains and valleys; where there had been valleys appeared
+sand-hills. Only the high ridge upon which we had lain was as before,
+because it stood above the others and had a core of rock. We tried to
+discover the direction of the oasis by the position of the sun, only to
+be baffled, since our two watches had run down, and we did not know the
+time of day or where the sun ought to be in the heavens. Also, in
+that howling wilderness there was nothing to show us the points of the
+compass.
+
+Higgs, whose obstinacy remained unimpaired, whatever may have happened
+to the rest of his vital forces, had one view of the matter, and Orme
+another diametrically opposed to it. They even argued as to whether
+the oasis lay to our right or to our left, for their poor heads were
+so confused that they were scarcely capable of accurate thought or
+observation. Meanwhile I sat down upon the sand and considered. Through
+the haze I could see the points of what I thought must be the hills
+whence the Zeus declared that the lions came, although of course, for
+aught I knew, they might be other hills.
+
+"Listen," I said; "if lions live upon those hills, there must be water
+there. Let us try to reach them; perhaps we shall see the oasis as we
+go."
+
+Then began our dreadful march. The lion-skin that had saved our lives,
+and was now baked hard as a board, we left behind, but the rifles we
+took. All day long we dragged ourselves up and down steep sand-slopes,
+pausing now again to drink a sip of water, and hoping always that from
+the top of the next slope we should see a rescue party headed by Quick,
+or perhaps the oasis itself. Indeed, once we did see it, green and
+shining, not more than three miles away, but when we got to the head of
+the hill beyond which it should lie we found that the vision was only
+a mirage, and our hearts nearly broke with disappointment. Oh! to men
+dying of thirst, that mirage was indeed a cruel mockery.
+
+At length night approached, and the mountains were yet a long way off.
+We could march no more, and sank down exhausted, lying on our faces,
+because our backs were so cut by the driving sand and blistered by
+the sun that we could not sit. By now almost all our water was gone.
+Suddenly Higgs nudged us and pointed upwards. Following the line of his
+hand, we saw, not thirty yards away and showing clear against the sky,
+a file of antelopes trekking along the sand-ridge, doubtless on a night
+journey from one pasturage to another.
+
+"You fellows shoot," he muttered; "I might miss and frighten them away,"
+for in his distress poor Higgs was growing modest.
+
+Slowly Orme and I drew ourselves to our knees, cocking our rifles. By
+this time all the buck save one had passed; there were but six of them,
+and this one marched along about twenty yards behind the others. Orme
+pulled the trigger, but his rifle would not go off because, as he
+discovered afterwards, some sand had worked into the mechanism of the
+lock.
+
+Meanwhile I had also covered the buck, but the sunset dazzled my
+weakened eyes, and my arms were feeble; also my terrible anxiety for
+success, since I knew that on this shot hung our lives, unnerved me. But
+it must be now or never; in three more paces the beast would be down the
+dip.
+
+I fired, and knowing that I had missed, turned sick and faint. The
+antelope bounded forward a few yards right to the edge of the dip; then,
+never having heard such a sound before, and being overcome by some fatal
+curiosity, stopped and turned around, staring at the direction whence it
+had come.
+
+Despairingly I fired again, almost without taking aim, and this time the
+bullet went in beneath the throat, and, raking the animal, dropped it
+dead as a stone. We scrambled to it, and presently were engaged in an
+awful meal of which we never afterwards liked to think. Happily for us
+that antelope must have drunk water not long before.
+
+Our hunger and thirst assuaged after this horrible fashion, we slept
+awhile by the carcase, then arose extraordinarily refreshed, and, having
+cut off some hunks of meat to carry with us, started on again. By the
+position of the stars, we now knew that the oasis must lie somewhere to
+the east of us; but as between us and it there appeared to be nothing
+but these eternal sand-hills stretching away for many miles, and as in
+front of us toward the range the character of the desert seemed to be
+changing, we thought it safer, if the word safety can be used in such
+a connection, to continue to head for that range. All the remainder of
+this night we marched, and, as we had no fuel wherewith to cook it, at
+dawn ate some of the raw meat, which we washed down with the last drops
+of our water.
+
+Now we were out of the sand-hills, and had entered on a great pebbly
+plain that lay between us and the foot of the mountains. These looked
+quiet close, but in fact were still far off. Feebly and ever more feebly
+we staggered on, meeting no one and finding no water, though here and
+there we came across little bushes, of which we chewed the stringy and
+aromatic leaves that contained some moisture, but drew up our mouths and
+throats like alum.
+
+Higgs, who was the softest of us, gave out the first, though to the
+last he struggled forward with surprising pluck, even after he had been
+obliged to throw away his rifle, because he could no longer carry it,
+though this we did not notice at the time. When he could not support
+himself upon his feet, Orme took him by one arm, and I by the other,
+and helped him on, much as I have seen two elephants do by a wounded
+companion of the herd.
+
+Half-an-hour or so later my strength failed me also. Although advanced
+in years, I am tough and accustomed to the desert and hardships; who
+would not be who had been a slave to the Khalifa? But now I could do no
+more, and halting, begged the others to go on and leave me. Orme's only
+answer was to proffer me his left arm. I took it, for life is sweet
+to us all, especially when one has something to live for--a desire
+to fulfil as I had, though to tell the truth, even at the time I felt
+ashamed of myself.
+
+Thus, then, we proceeded awhile, resembling a sober man attempting to
+lead two drunken friends out of reach of that stern policeman, Death.
+Orme's strength must be wonderful; or was it his great spirit and his
+tender pity for our helplessness which enabled him to endure beneath
+this double burden.
+
+Suddenly he fell down as though he had been shot, and lay there
+senseless. The Professor, however, retained some portion of his mind,
+although it wandered. He became light-headed, and rambled on about our
+madness in having undertaken such a journey, "just to pot a couple of
+beastly lions," and although I did not answer them, I agreed heartily
+with his remarks. Then he seemed to imagine that I was a clergyman, and
+kneeling on the sand, he made a lengthy confession of his sins which,
+so far as I gathered, though I did not pay much attention to them, for
+I was thinking of my own, appeared chiefly to consist of the unlawful
+acquisition of certain objects of antiquity, or of having overmatched
+others in the purchase of such objects.
+
+To pacify him, for I feared lest he should go raving mad, I pronounced
+some religious absolution, whereon poor Higgs rolled over and lay still
+by Orme. Yes; he, the friend whom I had always loved, for his very
+failings were endearing, was dead or at the point of death, like the
+gallant young man at his side, and I myself was dying. Tremors shook
+my limbs; horrible waves of blackness seemed to well up from my vitals,
+through my breast to my brain, and thence to evaporate in queer, jagged
+lines and patches, which I realized, but could not actually see. Gay
+memories of my far-off childhood arose in me, particularly those of a
+Christmas party where I had met a little girl dressed like an elf,
+a little girl with blue eyes whom I had loved dearly for quite a
+fortnight, to be beaten down, stamped out, swallowed by that vision
+of the imminent shadow which awaits all mankind, the black womb of a
+re-birth, if re-birth there be.
+
+What could I do? I thought of lighting a fire; at any rate it would
+serve to scare the lions and other wild beasts which else might prey
+upon us before we were quite dead. It would be dreadful to lie helpless
+but sentient, and feel their rending fangs. But I had no strength to
+collect the material. To do so at best must have meant a long walk, for
+even here it was not plentiful. I had a few cartridges left--three, to
+be accurate--in my repeating rifle; the rest I had thrown away to be rid
+of their weight. I determined to fire them, since, in my state I thought
+they could no longer serve either to win food or for the purposes of
+defence, although, as it happened, in this I was wrong. It was possible
+that, even in that endless desert, some one might hear the shots, and if
+not--well, good-night.
+
+So I sat up and fired the first cartridge, wondering in a childish
+fashion where the bullet would fall. Then I went to sleep for awhile.
+The howling of a hyena woke me up, and, on glancing around, I saw the
+beast's flaming eyes quite close to me. I aimed and shot at it, and
+heard a yell of pain. That hyena, I reflected, would want no more food
+at present.
+
+The silence of the desert overwhelmed me; it was so terrible that I
+almost wished the hyena back for company. Holding the rifle above my
+head, I fired the third cartridge. Then I took the hand of Higgs in my
+own, for, after all, it was a link--the last link with humanity and the
+world--and lay down in the company of death that seemed to fall upon me
+in black and smothering veils.
+
+
+
+I woke up and became aware that some one was pouring water down my
+throat. Heaven! I thought to myself, for at that time heaven and water
+were synonymous in my mind. I drank a good deal of it, not all I wanted
+by any means, but as much as the pourer would allow, then raised myself
+upon my hands and looked. The starlight was extraordinarily clear in
+that pure desert atmosphere, and by it I saw the face of Sergeant
+Quick bending over me. Also, I saw Orme sitting up, staring about him
+stupidly, while a great yellow dog, with a head like a mastiff, licked
+his hand. I knew the dog at once; it was that which Orme had bought
+from some wandering natives, and named Pharaoh because he ruled over all
+other dogs. Moreover, I knew the two camels that stood near by. So I was
+still on earth--unless, indeed we had all moved on a step.
+
+"How did you find us, Sergeant?" I asked feebly.
+
+"Didn't find you, Doctor," answered Quick, "dog Pharaoh found you. In a
+business like this a dog is more useful than man, for he can smell
+what one can't see. Now, if you feel better, Doctor, please look at Mr.
+Higgs, for I fear he's gone."
+
+I looked, and, although I did not say so, was of the same opinion. His
+jaw had fallen, and he lay limp and senseless; his eyes I could not see,
+because of the black spectacles.
+
+"Water," I said, and Quick poured some into his mouth, where it
+vanished.
+
+Still he did not stir, so I opened his garments and felt his heart.
+At first I could detect nothing; then there was the slightest possible
+flutter.
+
+"There's hope," I said in answer to the questioning looks. "You don't
+happen to have any brandy, do you?" I added.
+
+"Never travelled without it yet, Doctor," replied Quick indignantly,
+producing a metal flask.
+
+"Give him some," I said, and the Sergeant obeyed with liberality and
+almost instantaneous effect, for Higgs sat up gasping and coughing.
+
+"Brandy; filthy stuff; teetotaller! Cursed trick! Never forgive you.
+Water, water," he spluttered in a thick, low voice.
+
+We gave it to him, and he drank copiously, until we would let him have
+no more indeed. Then, by degrees, his senses came back to him. He thrust
+up his black spectacles which he had worn all this while, and stared at
+the Sergeant with his sharp eyes.
+
+"I understand," he said. "So we are not dead, after all, which perhaps
+is a pity after getting through the beastly preliminaries. What has
+happened?"
+
+"Don't quite know," answered Orme; "ask Quick."
+
+But the Sergeant was already engaged in lighting a little fire and
+setting a camp-kettle to boil, into which he poured a tin of beef
+extract that he had brought with other eatables from our stores on the
+chance that he might find us. In fifteen minutes we were drinking soup,
+for I forbade anything more solid as yet, and, oh! what a blessed meal
+was that. When it was finished, Quick fetched some blankets from the
+camels, which he threw over us.
+
+"Lie down and sleep, gentlemen," he said; "Pharaoh and I will watch."
+
+The last thing I remember was seeing the Sergeant, in his own fashion an
+extremely religious man, and not ashamed of it, kneeling upon the
+sand and apparently saying his prayers. As he explained afterwards,
+of course, as a fatalist, he knew well that whatever must happen would
+happen, but still he considered it right and proper to return thanks to
+the Power which had arranged that on this occasion the happenings should
+be good, and not ill, a sentiment with which every one of us agreed.
+Opposite to him, with one of his faithful eyes fixed on Orme, sat
+Pharaoh in grave contemplation. Doubtless, being an Eastern dog, he
+understood the meaning of public prayer; or perhaps he thought that he
+should receive some share of gratitude and thanks.
+
+When we awoke the sun was already high, and to show us that we had
+dreamed no dream, there was Quick frying tinned bacon over the fire,
+while Pharaoh sat still and watched him--or the bacon.
+
+"Look," said Orme to me, pointing to the mountains, "they are still
+miles away. It was madness to think that we could reach them."
+
+I nodded, then turned to stare at Higgs, who was just waking up, for,
+indeed, he was a sight to see. His fiery red hair was full of sand, his
+nether garments were gone, apparently at some stage in our march he had
+dispensed with the remains of them because they chafed his sore limbs,
+and his fair skin, not excluding that of his face, was a mass of
+blisters, raised by the sun. In fact he was so disfigured that his worst
+enemy would not have known him. He yawned, stretched himself, always a
+good sign in man or beast, and asked for a bath.
+
+"I am afraid you will have to wash yourself in sand here, sir, like them
+filthy Arabians," said Quick, saluting. "No water to spare for baths in
+this dry country. But I've got a tube of hazeline, also a hair-brush and
+a looking-glass," he added, producing these articles.
+
+"Quite so, Sergeant," said Higgs, as he took them; "it's sacrilege to
+think of using water to wash. I intend never to waste it in that way
+again." Then he looked at himself in the glass, and let it fall upon the
+sand, ejaculating, "Oh! good Lord, is that me?"
+
+"Please be careful, sir," said the Sergeant sternly; "you told me the
+other day that it's unlucky to break a looking-glass; also I have no
+other."
+
+"Take it away," said the Professor; "I don't want it any more, and,
+Doctor, come and oil my face, there's a good fellow; yes, and the rest
+of me also, if there is enough hazeline."
+
+So we treated each other with the ointment, which at first made us smart
+fearfully, and then, very gingerly sat down to breakfast.
+
+"Now, Sergeant," said Orme, as he finished his fifth pannikin of tea,
+"tell us your story."
+
+"There isn't much of a story, Captain. Those Zeu fellows came back
+without you, and, not knowing the lingo, I could make nothing of their
+tale. Well, I soon made Shadrach and Co. understand that, death-wind or
+no death-wind--that's what they call it--they must come with me to look
+for you, and at last we started, although they said that I was mad,
+as you were dead already. Indeed, it wasn't until I asked that fellow
+Shadrach if he wanted to be dead too"--and the Sergeant tapped his
+revolver grimly--"that he would let any one go.
+
+"As it proved, he was right, for we couldn't find you, and after awhile
+the camels refused to face the storm any longer; also one of the Abati
+drivers was lost, and hasn't been heard of since. It was all the rest
+of us could do to get back to the oasis alive, nor would Shadrach go out
+again even after the storm had blown itself away. It was no use arguing
+with the pig, so, as I did not want his blood upon my hands, I took two
+camels and started with the dog Pharaoh for company.
+
+"Now this was my thought, although I could not explain it to the Abati
+crowd, that if you lived at all, you would almost certainly head for
+the hills as I knew you had no compass, and you would not be able to
+see anything else. So I rode along the plain which stretches between the
+desert and the mountains, keeping on the edge of the sand-hills. I rode
+all day, but when night came I halted, since I could see no more. There
+I sat in that great place, thinking, and after an hour or two I observed
+Pharaoh prick his ears and look toward the west. So I also started
+toward the west, and presently I thought that I saw one faint streak
+of light which seemed to go upward, and therefore couldn't come from a
+falling star, but might have come from a rifle fired toward the sky.
+
+"I listened, but no sound reached me, only presently, some seconds
+afterwards, the dog again pricked his ears as though _he_ heard
+something. That settled me, and I mounted and rode forward through the
+night toward the place where I thought I had seen the flash. For two
+hours I rode, firing my revolver from time to time; then as no answer
+came, gave it up as a bad job, and stopped. But Pharaoh there wouldn't
+stop. He began to whine and sniff and run forward, and at last bolted
+into the darkness, out of which presently I heard him barking some
+hundreds of yards away, to call me, I suppose. So I followed and found
+you three gentlemen, dead, as I thought at first. That's all the story,
+Captain."
+
+"One with a good end, anyway, Sergeant. We owe our lives to you."
+
+"Beg your pardon, Captain," answered Quick modestly; "not to me at all,
+but to Providence first that arranged everything, before we were born
+perhaps, and next to Pharaoh. He's a wise dog, Pharaoh, though fierce
+with some, and you did a good deal when you bought him for a bottle of
+whisky and a sixpenny pocket-knife."
+
+
+
+It was dawn on the following morning before we sighted the oasis,
+whither we could travel but slowly, since, owing to the lack of camels,
+two of us must walk. Of these two, as may be guessed, the Sergeant was
+always one and his master the other, for of all the men I ever knew I
+think that in such matters Orme is the most unselfish. Nothing would
+induce him to mount one of the camels, even for half-an-hour, so that
+when I walked, the brute went riderless. On the other hand, once he was
+on, notwithstanding the agonies he suffered from his soreness, nothing
+would induce Higgs to get off.
+
+"Here I am and here I stop," he said several times, in English, French,
+and sundry Oriental languages. "I've tramped it enough to last me the
+rest of my life."
+
+Both of us were dozing upon our saddles when suddenly I heard the
+Sergeant calling to the camels to halt and asked what was the matter.
+
+"Looks like Arabians, Doctor," he said, pointing to a cloud of dust
+advancing toward us.
+
+"Well, if so," I answered, "our best chance is to show no fear and go
+on. I don't think they will harm us."
+
+So, having made ready such weapons as we had, we advanced, Orme and the
+Sergeant walking between the two camels, until presently we encountered
+the other caravan, and, to our astonishment, saw none other than
+Shadrach riding at the head of it, mounted on my dromedary, which his
+own mistress, the Lady of the Abati, had given to me. We came face to
+face, and halted, staring at each other.
+
+"By the beard of Aaron! is it you, lords?" he asked. "We thought you
+were dead."
+
+"By the hair of Moses! so I gather," I answered angrily, "seeing that
+you are going off with all our belongings," and I pointed to the baggage
+camels laden with goods.
+
+Then followed explanations and voluble apologies, which Higgs for one
+accepted with a very bad grace. Indeed, as he can talk Arabic and its
+dialects perfectly, he made use of that tongue to pour upon the heads of
+Shadrach and his companions a stream of Eastern invective that must have
+astonished them, ably seconded as it was by Sergeant Quick in English.
+
+Orme listened for some time, then said:
+
+"That'll do, old fellow; if you go on, you will get up a row, and,
+Sergeant, be good enough to hold your tongue. We have met them, so there
+is no harm done. Now, friend Shadrach, turn back with us to the oasis.
+We are going to rest there for some days."
+
+Shadrach looked sulky, and said something about our turning and going on
+with _them_, whereon I produced the ancient ring, Sheba's ring, which I
+had brought as a token from Mur. This I held before his eyes, saying:
+
+"Disobey, and there will be an account to settle when you come into the
+presence of her who sent you forth, for even if we four should die"--and
+I looked at him meaningly--"think not that you will be able to hide this
+matter; there are too many witnesses."
+
+Then, without more words, he saluted the sacred ring, and we all went
+back to Zeu.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+PHARAOH MAKES TROUBLE
+
+Another six weeks or so had gone by, and at length the character of
+the country began to change. At last we were passing out of the endless
+desert over which we had travelled for so many hundreds of miles; at
+least a thousand, according to our observations and reckonings, which I
+checked by those that I had taken upon my eastward journey. Our march,
+after the great adventure at the oasis, was singularly devoid of
+startling events. Indeed, it had been awful in its monotony, and yet,
+oddly enough, not without a certain charm--at any rate for Higgs and
+Orme, to whom the experience was new.
+
+Day by day to travel on across an endless sea of sand so remote, so
+unvisited that for whole weeks no man, not even a wandering Bedouin of
+the desert, crossed our path. Day by day to see the great red sun rise
+out of the eastern sands, and, its journey finished, sink into the
+western sands. Night by night to watch the moon, the same moon on which
+were fixed the million eyes of cities, turning those sands to a silver
+sea, or, in that pure air, to observe the constellations by which we
+steered our path making their majestic march through space. And yet to
+know that this vast region, now so utterly lonesome and desolate, had
+once been familiar to the feet of long-forgotten men who had trod the
+sands we walked, and dug the wells at which we drank.
+
+Armies had marched across these deserts, also, and perished there. For
+once we came to a place where a recent fearful gale had almost denuded
+the underlying rock, and there found the skeletons of thousands upon
+thousands of soldiers, with those of their beasts of burden, and among
+them heads of arrows, sword-blades, fragments of armour and of painted
+wooden shields.
+
+Here a whole host had died; perhaps Alexander sent it forth, or perhaps
+some far earlier monarch whose name has ceased to echo on the earth.
+At least they had died, for there we saw the memorial of that buried
+enterprise. There lay the kings, the captains, the soldiers, and the
+concubines, for I found the female bones heaped apart, some with the
+long hair still upon the skulls, showing where the poor, affrighted
+women had hived together in the last catastrophe of slaughter or of
+famine, thirst, and driven sand. Oh, if only those bones could speak,
+what a tale was theirs to tell!
+
+There had been cities in this desert, too, where once were oases, now
+overwhelmed, except perhaps for a sand-choked spring. Twice we came
+upon the foundations of such places, old walls of clay or stone, stark
+skeletons of ancient homes that the shifting sands had disinterred,
+which once had been the theatre of human hopes and fears, where once men
+had been born, loved, and died, where once maidens had been fair, and
+good and evil wrestled, and little children played. Some Job may have
+dwelt here and written his immortal plaint, or some king of Sodom, and
+suffered the uttermost calamity. The world is very old; all we Westerns
+learned from the contemplation of these wrecks of men and of their works
+was just that the world is very old.
+
+
+
+One evening against the clear sky there appeared the dim outline of
+towering cliffs, shaped like a horseshoe. They were the Mountains of Mur
+many miles away, but still the Mountains of Mur, sighted at last. Next
+morning we began to descend through wooded land toward a wide river that
+is, I believe, a tributary of the Nile, though upon this point I have
+no certain information. Three days later we reached the banks of this
+river, following some old road, and faring sumptuously all the way,
+since here there was much game and grass in plenty for the camels that,
+after their long abstinence, ate until we thought that they would burst.
+Evidently we had not arrived an hour too soon, for now the Mountains of
+Mur were hid by clouds, and we could see that it was raining upon the
+plains which lay between us and them. The wet season was setting in,
+and, had we been a single week later, it might have been impossible for
+us to cross the river, which would then have been in flood. As it was,
+we passed it without difficulty by the ancient ford, the water never
+rising above the knees of our camels.
+
+Upon its further bank we took counsel, for now we had entered the
+territory of the Fung, and were face to face with the real dangers of
+our journey. Fifty miles or so away rose the fortress of Mur, but, as
+I explained to my companions, the question was how to pass those fifty
+miles in safety. Shadrach was called to our conference, and at my
+request set out the facts.
+
+Yonder, he said, rose the impregnable mountain home of the Abati, but
+all the vast plain included in the loop of the river which he called
+Ebur, was the home of the savage Fung race, whose warriors could be
+counted by the ten thousand, and whose principal city, Harmac, was
+built opposite to the stone effigy of their idol, that was also called
+Harmac----
+
+"Harmac--that is Harmachis, god of dawn. Your Fung had something to
+do with the old Egyptians, or both of them came from a common stock,"
+interrupted Higgs triumphantly.
+
+"I daresay, old fellow," answered Orme; "I think you told us that before
+in London; but we will go into the archaeology afterwards if we survive
+to do so. Let Shadrach get on with his tale."
+
+This city, which had quite fifty thousand inhabitants, continued
+Shadrach, commanded the mouth of the pass or cleft by which we must
+approach Mur, having probably been first built there for that very
+purpose.
+
+Orme asked if there was no other way into the stronghold, which, he
+understood, the embassy had left by being let down a precipice. Shadrach
+answered that this was true, but that although the camels and their
+loads had been let down that precipitous place, owing to the formation
+of its overhanging rocks, it would be perfectly impossible to haul them
+up it with any tackle that the Abati possessed.
+
+He asked again if there was not a way round, if that circle of mountains
+had no back door. Shadrach replied that there was such a back door
+facing to the north some eight days' journey away. Only at this season
+of the year it could not be reached, since beyond the Mountains of Mur
+in that direction was a great lake, out of which flowed the river Ebur
+in two arms that enclosed the whole plain of Fung. By now this lake
+would be full, swollen with rains that fell on the hills of Northern
+Africa, and the space between it and the Mur range nothing but an
+impassable swamp.
+
+Being still unsatisfied, Orme inquired whether, if we abandoned the
+camels, we could not then climb the precipice down which the embassy
+had descended. To this the answer, which I corroborated, was that if
+our approach were known and help given to us from above, it might be
+possible, provided that we threw away the loads.
+
+"Seeing what these loads are, and the purpose for which we have brought
+them so far, that is out of the question," said Orme. "Therefore, tell
+us at once, Shadrach, how we are to win through the Fung to Mur."
+
+"In one way only, O son of Orme, should it be the will of God that we do
+so at all; by keeping ourselves hidden during the daytime and marching
+at night. According to their custom at this season, to-morrow, after
+sunset, the Fung hold their great spring feast in the city of Harmac,
+and at dawn go up to make sacrifice to their idol. But after sunset
+they eat and drink and are merry, and then it is their habit to withdraw
+their guards, that they may take part in the festival. For this reason
+I have timed our march that we should arrive on the night of this feast,
+which I know by the age of the moon, when, in the darkness, with God's
+help, perchance we may slip past Harmac, and at the first light find
+ourselves in the mouth of the road that runs up to Mur. Moreover, I will
+give warning to my people, the Abati, that we are coming, so that they
+may be at hand to help us if there is need."
+
+"How?" asked Orme.
+
+"By firing the reeds"--and he pointed to the dense masses of dead
+vegetation about--"as I arranged that I would do before we left Mur many
+months ago. The Fung, if they see it, will think only that it is the
+work of some wandering fisherman."
+
+Orme shrugged his shoulders, saying:
+
+"Well, friend Shadrach, you know the place and these people, and I do
+not, so we must do what you tell us. But I say at once that if, as I
+understand, yonder Fung will kill us if they can, to me your plan seems
+very dangerous."
+
+"It is dangerous," he answered, adding with a sneer, "but I thought that
+you men of England were not cowards."
+
+"Cowards! you son of a dog!" broke in Higgs in his high voice. "How
+dare you talk to us like that? You see this man here"--and he pointed to
+Sergeant Quick, who, tall and upright, stood watching this scene grimly,
+and understanding most of what passed--"well, he is the lowest among
+us--a servant only" (here the Sergeant saluted), "but I tell you that
+there is more courage in his little finger than in your whole body, or
+in that of all the Abati people, so far as I can make out."
+
+Here the Sergeant saluted again, murmuring beneath his breath, "I
+hope so, sir. Being a Christian, I hope so, but till it comes to the
+sticking-point, one can never be sure."
+
+"You speak big words, O Higgs," answered Shadrach insolently, for, as I
+think I have said, he hated the Professor, who smelt the rogue in him,
+and scourged him continually with his sharp tongue, "but if the Fung get
+hold of you, then we shall learn the truth."
+
+"Shall I punch his head, sir?" queried Quick in a meditative voice.
+
+"Be quiet, please," interrupted Orme. "We have troubles enough before
+us, without making more. It will be time to settle our quarrels when we
+have got through the Fung."
+
+Then he turned to Shadrach and said:
+
+"Friend, this is no time for angry words. You are the guide of this
+party; lead us as you will, remembering only that if it comes to war, I,
+by the wish of my companions, am Captain. Also, there is another thing
+which you should not forget--namely, that in the end you must make
+answer to your own ruler, she who, I understand from the doctor here, is
+called Walda Nagasta, the Child of Kings. Now, no more words; we march
+as you wish and where you wish. On your head be it!"
+
+The Abati heard and bowed sullenly. Then, with a look of hate at Higgs,
+he turned and went about his business.
+
+"Much better to have let me punch his head," soliloquized Quick. "It
+would have done him a world of good, and perhaps saved many troubles,
+for, to tell the truth, I don't trust that quarter-bred Hebrew."
+
+Then he departed to see to the camels and the guns while the rest of us
+went to our tents to get such sleep as the mosquitoes would allow. In
+my own case it was not much, since the fear of evil to come weighed upon
+me. Although I knew the enormous difficulty of entering the mountain
+stronghold of Mur by any other way, such as that by which I had quitted
+it, burdened as we were with our long train of camels laden with rifles,
+ammunition, and explosives, I dreaded the results of an attempt to pass
+through the Fung savages.
+
+Moreover, it occurred to me that Shadrach had insisted upon this
+route from a kind of jealous obstinacy, and to be in opposition to us
+Englishmen, whom he hated in his heart, or perhaps for some dark and
+secret reason. Still, the fact remained that we were in his power, since
+owing to the circumstances in which I had entered and left the place, it
+was impossible for me to act as guide to the party. If I attempted to do
+so, no doubt he and the Abati with him would desert, leaving the camels
+and their loads upon our hands. Why should they not, seeing that
+they would be quite safe in concluding that we should never have an
+opportunity of laying our side of the case before their ruler?
+
+Just as the sun was setting, Quick came to call me, saying that the
+camels were being loaded up.
+
+"I don't much like the look of things, Doctor," he said as he helped me
+to pack my few belongings, "for the fact is I can't trust that Shadrach
+man. His pals call him 'Cat,' a good name for him, I think. Also, he is
+showing his claws just now, the truth being that he hates the lot of us,
+and would like to get back into Purr or Mur, or whatever the name of the
+place is, having lost us on the road. You should have seen the way he
+looked at the Professor just now. Oh! I wish the Captain had let me
+punch his head. I'm sure it would have cleared the air a lot."
+
+As it chanced, Shadrach was destined to get his head "punched" after
+all, but by another hand. It happened thus. The reeds were fired, as
+Shadrach had declared it was necessary to do, in order that the Abati
+watchmen on the distant mountains might see and report the signal,
+although in the light of subsequent events I am by no means certain that
+this warning was not meant for other eyes as well. Then, as arranged, we
+started out, leaving them burning in a great sheet of flame behind
+us, and all that night marched by the shine of the stars along some
+broken-down and undoubtedly ancient road.
+
+At the first sign of dawn we left this road and camped amid the
+overgrown ruins of a deserted town that had been built almost beneath
+the precipitous cliffs of Mur, fortunately without having met any one or
+being challenged. I took the first watch, while the others turned in to
+sleep after we had all breakfasted off cold meats, for here we dared not
+light a fire. As the sun grew high, dispelling the mists, I saw that we
+were entering upon a thickly-populated country which was no stranger to
+civilization of a sort. Below us, not more than fifteen or sixteen miles
+away, and clearly visible through my field-glasses, lay the great town
+of Harmac, which, during my previous visit to this land, I had never
+seen, as I passed it in the night.
+
+It was a city of the West Central African type, with open market-places
+and wide streets, containing thousands of white, flat-roofed houses, the
+most important of which were surrounded by gardens. Round it ran a high
+and thick wall, built, apparently, of sun-burnt brick, and in front of
+the gateways, of which I could see two, stood square towers whence these
+might be protected. All about this city the flat and fertile land was
+under cultivation, for the season being that of early spring, already
+the maize and other crops showed green upon the ground.
+
+Beyond this belt of plough-lands, with the aid of the field-glasses, I
+could make out great herds of grazing cattle and horses, mixed with wild
+game, a fact that assured me of the truth of what I had heard during
+my brief visit to Mur, that the Fung had few or no firearms, since
+otherwise the buck and quagga would have kept at a distance. Far off,
+too, and even on the horizon, I saw what appeared to be other towns and
+villages. Evidently this was a very numerous people, and one which could
+not justly be described as savage. No wonder that the little Abati tribe
+feared them so intensely, notwithstanding the mighty precipices by which
+they were protected from their hate.
+
+About eleven o'clock Orme came on watch, and I turned in, having nothing
+to report. Soon I was fast asleep, notwithstanding the anxieties that,
+had I been less weary, might well have kept me wakeful. For these were
+many. On the coming night we must slip through the Fung, and before
+midday on the morrow we should either have entered Mur, or failed to
+have entered Mur, which meant--death, or, what was worse, captivity
+among barbarians, and subsequent execution, preceded probably by torture
+of one sort or another.
+
+Of course, however, we might come thither without accident, travelling
+with good guides on a dark night, for, after all, the place was big, and
+the road lonely and little used, so that unless we met a watch, which,
+we were told, would not be there, our little caravan had a good chance
+to pass unobserved. Shadrach seemed to think that we should do so, but
+the worst of it was that, like Quick, I did not trust Shadrach. Even
+Maqueda, the Lady of the Abati, she whom they called Child of Kings, had
+her doubts about him, or so it had seemed to me.
+
+At any rate, she had told me before I left Mur that she chose him for
+this mission because he was bold and cunning, one of the very few of her
+people also who, in his youth, had crossed the desert and, therefore,
+knew the road. "Yet, Physician," she added meaningly, "watch him, for
+is he not named 'Cat'? Yes, watch him, for did I not hold his wife and
+children hostages, and were I not sure that he desires to win the great
+reward in land which I have promised to him, I would not trust you to
+this man's keeping."
+
+Well, after many experiences in his company, my opinion coincided with
+Maqueda's, and so did that of Quick, no mean judge of men.
+
+"Look at him, Doctor," he said when he came to tell me that I could turn
+in, for whether it were his watch or not, the Sergeant never seemed to
+be off duty. "Look, at him," and he pointed to Shadrach, who was seated
+under the shade of a tree, talking earnestly in whispers with two of his
+subordinates with a very curious and unpleasing smile upon his face. "If
+God Almighty ever made a scamp, he's squatting yonder. My belief is that
+he wanted to be rid of us all at Zeu, so that he might steal our goods,
+and I hope he won't play the same trick again to-night. Even the dog
+can't abide him."
+
+Before I could answer, I had proof of this last statement, for the great
+yellow hound, Pharaoh, that had found us in the desert, hearing our
+voices, emerged from some corner where it was hidden, and advanced
+toward us, wagging its tail. As it passed Shadrach, it stopped and
+growled, the hair rising on its back, whereon he hurled a stone at it
+and hit its leg. Next instant Pharaoh, a beast of enormous power, was on
+the top of him, and really, I thought, about to tear out his throat.
+
+Well, we got him off before any harm was done, but Shadrach's face,
+lined with its livid scars, was a thing to remember. Between rage and
+fear, it looked like that of a devil.
+
+To return. After this business I went to sleep, wondering if it were my
+last rest upon the earth, and whether, having endured so much for his
+sake, it would or would not be my fortune to see the face of my son
+again, if, indeed, he still lived, yonder not a score of miles away--or
+anywhere.
+
+Toward evening I was awakened by a fearful hubbub, in which I
+distinguished the shrill voice of Higgs ejaculating language which I
+will not repeat, the baying of Pharaoh, and the smothered groans and
+curses of an Abati. Running from the little tent, I saw a curious
+sight, that of the Professor with Shadrach's head under his left arm,
+in chancery, as we used to call it at school, while with his right he
+punched the said Shadrach's nose and countenance generally with all his
+strength, which, I may add, is considerable. Close by, holding Pharaoh
+by the collar, which we had manufactured for him out of the skin of a
+camel that had died, stood Sergeant Quick, a look of grim amusement
+on his wooden face, while around, gesticulating after their Eastern
+fashion, and uttering guttural sounds of wrath, were several of the
+Abati drivers. Orme was absent, being, in fact, asleep at the time.
+
+"What are you doing, Higgs?" I shouted.
+
+"Can't--you--see," he spluttered, accompanying each word with a blow on
+the unfortunate Shadrach's prominent nose. "I am punching this fellow's
+beastly head. Ah! you'd bite, would you? Then take that, and that
+and--that. Lord, how hard his teeth are. Well, I think he has had
+enough," and suddenly he released the Abati, who, a gory and most
+unpleasant spectacle, fell to the ground and lay there panting. His
+companions, seeing their chief's melancholy plight, advanced upon the
+Professor in a threatening fashion; indeed, one of them drew a knife.
+
+"Put up that thing, sonny," said the Sergeant, "or by heaven, I'll loose
+the dog upon you. Got your revolver handy, Doctor?"
+
+Evidently, if the man did not understand Quick's words, their purport
+was clear to him, for he sheathed his knife and fell back with the
+others. Shadrach, too, rose from the ground and went with them. At a
+distance of a few yards, however, he turned, and, glaring at Higgs out
+of his swollen eyes, said:
+
+"Be sure, accursed Gentile, that I will remember and repay."
+
+At this moment, too, Orme arrived upon the scene, yawning.
+
+"What the deuce is the matter?" he asked.
+
+"I'd give five bob for a pint of iced stone ginger," replied Higgs
+inconsequently. Then he drank off a pannikin of warmish, muddy-coloured
+water which Quick gave to him, and handed it back, saying:
+
+"Thanks, Sergeant; that's better than nothing, and cold drink is always
+dangerous if you are hot. What's the matter? Oh! not much. Shadrach
+tried to poison Pharaoh; that's all. I was watching him out of the
+corner of my eye, and saw him go to the strychnine tin, roll a bit of
+meat in it which he had first wetted, and throw it to the poor beast.
+I got hold of it in time, and chucked it over that wall, where you will
+find it if you care to look. I asked Shadrach why he had done such a
+thing. He answered, 'To keep the dog quiet while we are passing through
+the Fung,' adding that anyhow it was a savage beast and best out of the
+way, as it had tried to bite him that morning. Then I lost my temper and
+went for the blackguard, and although I gave up boxing twenty years ago,
+very soon had the best of it, for, as you may have observed, no Oriental
+can fight with his fists. That's all. Give me another cup of water,
+Sergeant."
+
+"I hope it may be," answered Orme, shrugging his shoulders. "To tell the
+truth, old fellow, it would have been wiser to defer blacking Shadrach's
+eyes till we were safe in Mur. But it's no use talking now, and I
+daresay I should have done the same myself if I had seen him try to
+poison Pharaoh," and he patted the head of the great dog, of which we
+were all exceedingly fond, although in reality it only cared for Orme,
+merely tolerating the rest of us.
+
+"Doctor," he added, "perhaps you would try to patch up our guide's nose
+and soothe his feelings. You know him better than we do. Give him a
+rifle. No, don't do that, or he might shoot some one in the back--by
+accident done on purpose. Promise him a rifle when we get into Mur; I
+know he wants one badly, because I caught him trying to steal a carbine
+from the case. Promise him anything so long as you can square it up."
+
+So I went, taking a bottle of arnica and some court plaster with me, to
+find Shadrach surrounded by sympathizers and weeping with rage over
+the insult, which, he said, had been offered to his ancient and
+distinguished race in his own unworthy person. I did my best for him
+physically and mentally, pointing out, as I dabbed the arnica on
+his sadly disfigured countenance, that he had brought the trouble on
+himself, seeing that he had really no business to poison Pharaoh because
+he had tried to bite him. He answered that his reason for wishing to
+kill the dog was quite different, and repeated at great length what he
+had told the Professor--namely, that it might betray us while we were
+passing through the Fung. Also he went on so venomously about revenge
+that I thought it time to put a stop to the thing.
+
+"See here, Shadrach," I said, "unless you unsay those words and make
+peace at once, you shall be bound and tried. Perhaps we shall have a
+better chance of passing safely through the Fung if we leave you dead
+behind us than if you accompany us as a living enemy."
+
+On hearing this, he changed his note altogether, saying that he saw
+he had been wrong. Moreover, so soon as his injuries were dressed, he
+sought out Higgs, whose hand he kissed with many apologies, vowing that
+he had forgotten everything and that his heart toward him was like that
+of a twin brother.
+
+"Very good, friend," answered Higgs, who never bore malice, "only don't
+try to poison Pharaoh again, and, for my part, I'll promise not to
+remember this matter when we get to Mur."
+
+"Quite a converted character, ain't he, Doctor?" sarcastically remarked
+Quick, who had been watching this edifying scene. "Nasty Eastern temper
+all gone; no Hebrew talk of eye for eye or tooth for tooth, but kisses
+the fist that smote him in the best Christian spirit. All the same, I
+wouldn't trust the swine further than I could kick him, especially in
+the dark, which," he added meaningly, "is what it will be to-night."
+
+I made no answer to the Sergeant, for although I agreed with him, there
+was nothing to be done, and talking about a bad business would only make
+it worse.
+
+By now the afternoon drew towards night--a very stormy night, to judge
+from the gathering clouds and rising wind. We were to start a little
+after sundown, that is, within an hour, and, having made ready my own
+baggage and assisted Higgs with his, we went to look for Orme and Quick,
+whom we found very busy in one of the rooms of an unroofed house. To all
+appearance they were engaged, Quick in sorting pound tins of tobacco
+or baking-powder, and Orme in testing an electric battery and carefully
+examining coils of insulated wire.
+
+"What's your game?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Better than yours, old boy, when Satan taught your idle hands to punch
+Shadrach's head. But perhaps you had better put that pipe out. These
+azo-imide compounds are said to burn rather more safely than coal.
+Still, one never knows; the climate or the journey may have changed
+their constitution."
+
+Higgs retreated hurriedly, to a distance of fifty yards indeed, whence
+he returned, having knocked out his pipe and even left his matches on a
+stone.
+
+"Don't waste time in asking questions," said Orme as the Professor
+approached with caution. "I'll explain. We are going on a queer journey
+to-night--four white men with about a dozen half-bred mongrel scamps of
+doubtful loyalty, so you see Quick and I thought it as well to have some
+of this stuff handy. Probably it will never be wanted, and if wanted we
+shall have no time to use it; still, who knows? There, that will do. Ten
+canisters; enough to blow up half the Fung if they will kindly sit on
+them. You take five, Quick, a battery and three hundred yards of wire,
+and I'll take five, a battery, and three hundred yards of wire. Your
+detonators are all fixed, aren't they? Well, so are mine," and without
+more words he proceeded to stow away his share of the apparatus in the
+poacher pockets of his coat and elsewhere, while Quick did likewise with
+what remained. Then the case that they had opened was fastened up again
+and removed to be laden on a camel.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HOW WE ESCAPED FROM HARMAC
+
+As finally arranged this was the order of our march: First went an Abati
+guide who was said to be conversant with every inch of the way. Then
+came Orme and Sergeant Quick, conducting the camels that were loaded
+with the explosives. I followed in order to keep an eye upon these
+precious beasts and those in charge of them. Next marched some more
+camels, carrying our baggage, provisions, and sundries, and finally in
+the rear were the Professor and Shadrach with two Abati.
+
+Shadrach, I should explain, had selected this situation for the reason,
+as he said, that if he went first, after what had passed, any mistake or
+untoward occurrence might be set down to his malice, whereas, if he were
+behind, he could not be thus slandered. On hearing this, Higgs, who is
+a generous soul, insisted upon showing his confidence in the virtue of
+Shadrach by accompanying him as a rearguard. So violently did he insist,
+and so flattered did Shadrach seem to be by this mark of faith, that
+Orme, who, I should say, if I have not already done so, was in sole
+command of the party now that hostilities were in the air, consented to
+the plan, if with evident reluctance.
+
+As I know, his own view was that it would be best for us four Englishmen
+to remain together, although, if we did so, whatever position we chose,
+it would be impossible for us in that darkness to keep touch with the
+line of camels and their loads, which were almost as important to us as
+our lives. At least, having made up our minds to deliver them in Mur, we
+thought that they were important, perhaps because it is the fashion
+of the Anglo-Saxon race to put even a self-created idea of duty before
+personal safety or convenience.
+
+Rightly or wrongly, so things were settled, for in such troublous
+conditions one can only do what seems best at the moment. Criticism
+subsequent to the event is always easy, as many an unlucky commander has
+found out when the issue went awry, but in emergency one must decide on
+something.
+
+The sun set, the darkness fell, and it began to rain and blow. We
+started quite unobserved, so far as we could tell, and, travelling
+downward from the overgrown, ruined town, gained the old road, and in
+complete silence, for the feet of camels make no noise, passed along it
+toward the lights of Harmac, which now and again, when the storm-clouds
+lifted, we saw glimmering in front of us and somewhat to our left.
+
+In all my long wanderings I cannot remember a more exciting or a more
+disagreeable journey. The blackness, relieved only from time to time by
+distant lightnings, was that of the plagues of Egypt; the driving rain
+worked through the openings of our camel-hair cloaks and the waterproofs
+we wore underneath them, and wet us through. The cold, damp wind chilled
+us to the bone, enervated as we were with the heat of the desert.
+But these discomforts, and they were serious enough, we forgot in the
+tremendous issue of the enterprise. Should we win through to Mur? Or, as
+a crown to our many labours and sufferings, should we perish presently
+on the road? That was the question; as I can assure the reader, one that
+we found very urgent and interesting.
+
+Three hours had gone by. Now we were opposite to the lights of Harmac,
+also to other lights that shone up a valley in the mountain to our
+right. As yet everything was well; for this we knew by the words
+whispered up and down the line.
+
+Then of a sudden, in front of us a light flashed, although as yet it
+was a long way off. Next came another whispered message of "Halt!" So we
+halted, and presently one of the front guides crept back, informing us
+that a body of Fung cavalry had appeared upon the road ahead. We took
+counsel. Shadrach arrived from the rear, and said that if we waited
+awhile they might go away, as he thought that their presence must be
+accidental and connected with the great festival. He implored us to be
+quite silent. Accordingly, not knowing what to do, we waited.
+
+Now I think I have forgotten to say that the dog Pharaoh, to prevent
+accidents, occupied a big basket; this basket, in which he often rode
+when tired, being fixed upon one side of Orme's camel. Here he lay
+peaceably enough until, in an unlucky moment, Shadrach left me to go
+forward to talk to the Captain, whereon, smelling his enemy, Pharaoh
+burst out into furious baying. After that everything was confusion.
+Shadrach darted back toward the rear. The light ahead began to move
+quickly, advancing toward us. The front camels left the road, as I
+presume, following their leader according to the custom of these beasts
+when marching in line.
+
+Presently, I know not how, Orme, Quick, and myself found ourselves
+together in the darkness; at the time we thought Higgs was with us also,
+but in this we were mistaken. We heard shoutings and strange voices
+speaking a language that we could not understand. By the sudden glare of
+a flash of lightning, for the thunderstorm was now travelling over
+us, we saw several things. One of these was the Professor's
+riding-dromedary, which could not be mistaken because of its pure white
+colour and queer method of holding its head to one side, passing within
+ten yards, between us and the road, having a man upon its back who
+evidently was not the Professor. Then it was that we discovered his
+absence and feared the worst.
+
+"A Fung has got his camel," I said.
+
+"No," answered Quick; "Shadrach has got it. I saw his ugly mug against
+the light."
+
+Another vision was that of what appeared to be our baggage camels moving
+swiftly away from us, but off the road which was occupied by a body of
+horsemen in white robes. Orme issued a brief order to the effect that we
+were to follow the camels with which the Professor might be. We started
+to obey, but before we had covered twenty yards of the cornfield or
+whatever it was in which we were standing, heard voices ahead that were
+not those of Abati. Evidently the flash which showed the Fung to us had
+done them a like service, and they were now advancing to kill or capture
+us.
+
+There was only one thing to do--turn and fly--and this we did, heading
+whither we knew not, but managing to keep touch of each other.
+
+About a quarter of an hour later, just as we were entering a grove of
+palms or other trees which hid everything in front of us, the lightning
+blazed again, though much more faintly, for by this time the storm had
+passed over the Mountains of Mur, leaving heavy rain behind it. By the
+flash I, who was riding last and, as it chanced, looking back over my
+shoulder, saw that the Fung horsemen were not fifty yards behind, and
+hunting for us everywhere, their line being extended over a long front.
+I was, however, sure that they had not yet caught sight of us in the
+dense shadow of the trees.
+
+"Get on," I said to the others; "they will be here presently," and heard
+Quick add:
+
+"Give your camel his head, Captain; he can see in the dark, and perhaps
+will take us back to the road."
+
+Orme acted on this suggestion, which, as the blackness round us was
+pitchy, seemed a good one. At any rate it answered, for off we went at a
+fair pace, the three camels marching in line, first over soft ground
+and afterwards on a road. Presently I thought that the rain had stopped,
+since for a few seconds none fell on us, but concluded from the echo of
+the camels' feet and its recommencement that we had passed under some
+archway. On we went, and at length even through the gloom and rain I saw
+objects that looked like houses, though if so there were no lights in
+them, perhaps because the night drew toward morning. A dreadful idea
+struck me: we might be in Harmac! I passed it up for what it was worth.
+
+"Very likely," whispered Orme back. "Perhaps these camels were bred
+here, and are looking for their stables. Well, there is only one thing
+to do--go on."
+
+So we went on for a long while, only interfered with by the occasional
+attentions of some barking dog. Luckily of these Pharaoh, in his basket,
+took no heed, probably because it was his habit if another dog barked at
+him to pretend complete indifference until it came so near that he
+could spring and fight, or kill it. At length we appeared to pass under
+another archway, after which, a hundred and fifty yards or so further
+on, the camels came to a sudden stop. Quick dismounted, and presently I
+heard him say:
+
+"Doors. Can feel the brasswork on them. Tower above, I think, and wall
+on either side. Seem to be in a trap. Best stop here till light comes.
+Nothing else to be done."
+
+Accordingly, we stopped, and, having tied the camels to each other to
+prevent their straying, took shelter from the rain under the tower or
+whatever it might be. To pass away the time and keep life in us, for we
+were almost frozen with the wet and cold, we ate some tinned food and
+biscuits that we carried in our saddle-bags, and drank a dram of brandy
+from Quick's flask. This warmed us a little, though I do not think that
+a bottleful would have raised our spirits. Higgs, whom we all loved, was
+gone, dead, probably, by that time; the Abati had lost or deserted
+us, and we three white men appeared to have wandered into a savage
+stronghold, where, as soon as we were seen, we should be trapped like
+birds in a net, and butchered at our captor's will. Certainly the
+position was not cheerful.
+
+Overwhelmed with physical and mental misery, I began to doze; Orme grew
+silent, and the Sergeant, having remarked that there was no need to
+bother, since what must be must be, consoled himself in a corner by
+humming over and over again the verse of the hymn which begins:
+
+     "There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe,
+     Where trials never come nor tears of sorrow flow."
+
+Fortunately for us, shortly before dawn the "tears of sorrow" as
+represented by the rain ceased to flow. The sky cleared, showing the
+stars; suddenly the vault of heaven was suffused with a wonderful and
+pearly light, although on the earth the mist remained so thick that we
+could see nothing. Then above this sea of mist rose the great ball of
+the sun, but still we could see nothing that was more than a few yards
+away from us.
+
+"There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe"
+
+droned Quick beneath his breath for about the fiftieth time, since,
+apparently, he knew no other hymn which he considered suitable to our
+circumstances, then ejaculated suddenly:
+
+"Hullo! here's a stair. With your leave I'll go up it, Captain," and he
+did.
+
+A minute later we heard his voice calling us softly:
+
+"Come here, gentlemen," he said, "and see something worth looking at."
+
+So we scrambled up the steps, and, as I rather expected, found ourselves
+upon the top of one of two towers set above an archway, which towers
+were part of a great protective work outside the southern gates of a
+city that could be none other than Harmac. Soaring above the mist rose
+the mighty cliffs of Mur that, almost exactly opposite to us, were
+pierced by a deep valley.
+
+Into this valley the sunlight poured, revealing a wondrous and
+awe-inspiring object of which the base was surrounded by billowy
+vapours, a huge, couchant animal fashioned of black stone, with a head
+carved to the likeness of that of a lion, and crowned with the _uraeus_,
+the asp-crested symbol of majesty in old Egypt. How big the creature
+might be it was impossible to say at that distance, for we were quite a
+mile away from it; but it was evident that no other monolithic
+monument that we had ever seen or heard of could approach its colossal
+dimensions.
+
+Compared to this tremendous effigy indeed, the boasted Sphinx of Gizeh
+seemed but a toy. It was no less than a small mountain of rock shaped by
+the genius and patient labour of some departed race of men to the form
+of a lion-headed monster. Its majesty and awfulness set thus above the
+rolling mists in the red light of the morning, reflected on it from the
+towering precipices beyond, were literally indescribable; even in our
+miserable state, they oppressed and overcame us, so that for awhile we
+were silent. Then we spoke, each after his own manner:
+
+"The idol of the Fung!" said I. "No wonder that savages should take it
+for a god."
+
+"The greatest monolith in all the world," muttered Orme, "and Higgs is
+dead. Oh! if only he had lived to see it, he would have gone happy. I
+wish it had been I who was taken; I wish it had been I!" and he wrung
+his hands, for it is the nature of Oliver Orme always to think of others
+before himself.
+
+"That's what we have come to blow up," soliloquized Quick. "Well,
+those 'azure stinging-bees,' or whatever they call the stuff (he meant
+azo-imides) are pretty active, but it will take a lot of stirring if
+ever we get there. Seems a pity, too, for the old pussy is handsome in
+his way."
+
+"Come down," said Orme. "We must find out where we are; perhaps we can
+escape in the mist."
+
+"One moment," I answered. "Do you see that?" and I pointed to a
+needle-like rock that pierced the fog about a mile to the south of the
+idol valley, and say two miles from where we were. "That's the White
+Rock; it isn't white really, but the vultures roost on it and make it
+look so. I have never seen it before, for I passed it in the night, but
+I know that it marks the beginning of the cleft which runs up to Mur;
+you remember, Shadrach told us so. Well, if we can get to that White
+Rock we have a chance of life."
+
+Orme studied it hurriedly and repeated, "Come down; we may be seen up
+here."
+
+We descended and began our investigations in feverish haste. This was
+the sum of them: In the arch under the tower were set two great doors
+covered with plates of copper or bronze beaten into curious shapes to
+represent animals and men, and apparently very ancient. These huge doors
+had grilles in them through which their defenders could peep out or
+shoot arrows. What seemed more important to us, however, was that they
+lacked locks, being secured only by thick bronze bolts and bars such as
+we could undo.
+
+"Let's clear out before the mist lifts," said Orme. "With luck we may
+get to the pass."
+
+We assented, and I ran to the camels that lay resting just outside the
+arch. Before I reached them, however, Quick called me back.
+
+"Look through there, Doctor," he said, pointing to one of the
+peep-holes.
+
+I did so, and in the dense mist saw a body of horsemen advancing toward
+the door.
+
+They must have seen us on the top of the wall. "Fools that we were to go
+there!" exclaimed Orme.
+
+Next instant he started back, not a second too soon, for through the
+hole where his face had been, flashed a spear which struck the ground
+beyond the archway. Also we heard other spears rattle upon the bronze
+plates of the doors.
+
+"No luck!" said Orme; "that's all up, they mean to break in. Now I think
+we had better play a bold game. Got your rifles, Sergeant and Doctor?
+Yes? Then choose your loopholes, aim, and empty the magazines into
+them. Don't waste a shot. For heaven's sake don't waste a shot.
+Now--one--two--three, fire!"
+
+Fire we did into the dense mass of men who had dismounted and were
+running up to the doors to burst them open. At that distance we could
+scarcely miss and the magazines of the repeating rifles held five shots
+apiece. As the smoke cleared away I counted quite half-a-dozen Fung
+down, while some others were staggering off, wounded. Also several of
+the men and horses beyond were struck by the bullets which had passed
+through the bodies of the fallen.
+
+The effect of this murderous discharge was instantaneous and remarkable.
+Brave though the Fung might be, they were quite unaccustomed to magazine
+rifles. Living as they did perfectly isolated and surrounded by a great
+river, even if they had heard of such things and occasionally seen an
+old gaspipe musket that reached them in the course of trade, of modern
+guns and their terrible power they knew nothing. Small blame to them,
+therefore, if their courage evaporated in face of a form of sudden
+death which to them must have been almost magical. At any rate they fled
+incontinently, leaving their dead and wounded on the ground.
+
+Now again we thought of flight, which perhaps would have proved our
+wisest course, but hesitated because we could not believe that the Fung
+had left the road clear, or done more than retreat a little to wait
+for us. While we lost time thus the mist thinned a great deal, so much
+indeed that we could see our exact position. In front of us, towards the
+city side, lay a wide open space, whereof the walls ended against
+those of Harmac itself, to which they formed a kind of vestibule or
+antechamber set there to protect this gateway of the town through which
+we had ridden in the darkness, not knowing whither we went.
+
+"Those inner doors are open," said Orme, nodding his head toward the
+great portals upon the farther side of the square. "Let's go see if we
+can shut them. Otherwise we shan't hold this place long."
+
+So we ran across to the further doors that were similar to those through
+which we had just fired, only larger, and as we met nobody to interfere
+with our efforts, found that the united strength of the three of us was
+just, only just, sufficient to turn first one and then the other of
+them upon its hinges and work the various bolts and bars into their
+respective places. Two men could never have done the job, but being
+three and fairly desperate we managed it. Then we retreated to our
+archway and, as nothing happened, took the opportunity to eat and drink
+a few mouthfuls, Quick remarking sagely that we might as well die upon
+full as upon empty stomachs.
+
+When we had crossed the square the fog was thinning rapidly, but as the
+sun rose, sucking the vapours from the rain-soaked earth, it thickened
+again for awhile.
+
+"Sergeant," said Orme presently, "these black men are bound to attack
+us soon. Now is the time to lay a mine while they can't see what we are
+after."
+
+"I was just thinking the same thing, Captain; the sooner the better,"
+replied Quick. "Perhaps the Doctor will keep a watch here over the
+camels, and if he sees any one stick up his head above the wall, he
+might bid him good-morning. We know he is a nice shot, is the Doctor,"
+and he tapped my rifle.
+
+I nodded and the two of them set out laden with wires and the packages
+that looked like tobacco tins, heading for a stone erection in the
+centre of the square which resembled an altar, but was, I believe, a
+rostrum whence the native auctioneers sold slaves and other merchandise.
+What they did there exactly, I am sure I do not know; indeed, I was too
+much occupied in keeping a watch upon the walls whereof I could
+clearly see the crest above the mist, to pay much attention to their
+proceedings.
+
+Presently my vigilance was rewarded, for over the great gateway
+opposite, at a distance of about a hundred and fifty paces from me,
+appeared some kind of a chieftain clad in white robes and wearing a very
+fine turban or coloured head-dress, who paraded up and down, waving a
+spear defiantly and uttering loud shouts.
+
+This man I covered very carefully, lying down to do so. As Quick had
+said, I am a good rifle shot, having practised that art for many years;
+still, one may always miss, which, although I bore no personal grudge
+against the poor fellow in the fine head-dress, on this occasion I did
+not wish to do. The sudden and mysterious death of that savage would, I
+felt sure, produce a great effect among his people.
+
+At length he stopped exactly over the door and began to execute a kind
+of war-dance, turning his head from time to time to yell out something
+to others on the farther side of the wall. This was my opportunity. I
+covered him with as much care as though I were shooting at a target,
+with one bull's eye to win. Aiming a little low in case the rifle should
+throw high, very gently I pressed the trigger. The cartridge exploded,
+the bullet went on its way, and the man on the wall stopped dancing and
+shouting and stood quite still. Clearly he had heard the shot or felt
+the wind of the ball, but was untouched.
+
+I worked the lever jerking out the empty case, preparatory to firing
+again, but on looking up saw that there was no need, for the Fung
+captain was spinning round on his heels like a top. Three or four times
+he whirled thus with incredible rapidity, then suddenly threw his arms
+wide, and dived headlong from the wall like a bather from a plank, but
+backward, and was soon no more. Only from the farther side of those
+gates arose a wail of wrath and consternation.
+
+After this no other Fung appeared upon the wall, so I turned my
+attention to the spy-hole in the doors behind me, and seeing some
+horsemen moving about at a distance of four or five hundred yards on a
+rocky ridge where the mist did not lie, I opened fire on them and at the
+second shot was fortunate enough to knock a man out of the saddle. One
+of those with him, who must have been a brave fellow, instantly jumped
+down, threw him, dead or living, over the horse, leaped up behind him,
+and galloped away accompanied by the others, pursued by some probably
+ineffective bullets that I sent after them.
+
+Now the road to the Pass of Mur seemed to be clear, and I regretted that
+Orme and Quick were not with me to attempt escape. Indeed, I meditated
+fetching or calling them, when suddenly I saw them returning, burying
+a wire or wires in the sand as they came, and at the same time heard
+a noise of thunderous blows of which I could not mistake the meaning.
+Evidently the Fung were breaking down the farther bronze doors with some
+kind of battering-ram. I ran out to meet them and told my news.
+
+"Well done," said Orme in a quiet voice. "Now, Sergeant, just join up
+those wires to the battery, and be careful to screw them in tight. You
+have tested it, haven't you? Doctor, be good enough to unbar the gates.
+No, you can't do that alone; I'll help you presently. Look to the camels
+and tighten the girths. These Fung will have the doors down in a minute,
+and then there will be no time to lose."
+
+"What are you going to do?" I asked as I obeyed.
+
+"Show them some fireworks, I hope. Bring the camels into the archway
+so that they can't foul the wire with their feet. So--stand still, you
+grumbling brutes! Now for these bolts. Heavens! how stiff they are. I
+wonder why the Fung don't grease them. One door will do--never mind the
+other."
+
+Labouring furiously we got it undone and ajar. So far as we could see
+there was no one in sight beyond. Scared by our bullets or for other
+reasons of their own, the guard there appeared to have moved away.
+
+"Shall we take the risk and ride for it?" I suggested.
+
+"No," answered Orme. "If we do, even supposing there are no Fung waiting
+beyond the rise, those inside the town will soon catch us on their swift
+horses. We must scare them before we bolt, and then those that are left
+of them may let us alone. Now listen to me. When I give the word, you
+two take the camels outside and make them kneel about fifty yards
+away, not nearer, for I don't know the effective range of these new
+explosives; it may be greater than I think. I shall wait until the Fung
+are well over the mine and then fire it, after which I hope to join you.
+If I don't, ride as hard as you can go to that White Rock, and if you
+reach Mur give my compliments to the Child of Kings, or whatever she is
+called, and say that although I have been prevented from waiting upon
+her, Sergeant Quick understands as much about picrates as I do. Also
+get Shadrach tried and hanged if he is guilty of Higgs's death. Poor old
+Higgs! how he would have enjoyed this."
+
+"Beg your pardon, Captain," said Quick, "but I'll stay with you. The
+doctor can see to the baggage animals."
+
+"Will you be good enough to obey orders and fall to the rear when you
+are told, Sergeant? Now, no words. It is necessary for the purposes of
+this expedition that one of us two should try to keep a whole skin."
+
+"Then, sir," pleaded Quick, "mayn't I take charge of the battery?"
+
+"No," he answered sternly. "Ah! the doors are down at last," and he
+pointed to a horde of Fung, mounted and on foot, who poured through the
+gateway where they had stood, shouting after their fashion, and went on:
+"Now then, pick out the captains and pepper away. I want to keep them
+back a bit, so that they come on in a crowd, not scattered."
+
+We took up our repeating rifles and did as Orme told us, and so dense
+was the mass of humanity opposite that if we missed one man, we hit
+another, killing or wounding a number of them. The result of the loss of
+several of their leaders, to say nothing of meaner folk, was just
+what Orme had foreseen. The Fung soldiers, instead of rushing on
+independently, spread to right and left, until the whole farther side of
+the square filled up with thousands of them, a veritable sea of men, at
+which we pelted bullets as boys hurl stones at a wave.
+
+At length the pressure of those behind thrust onward those in front,
+and the whole fierce, tumultuous mob began to flow forward across the
+square, a multitude bent on the destruction of three white men, armed
+with these new and terrible weapons. It was a very strange and thrilling
+sight; never have I seen its like.
+
+"Now," said Orme, "stop firing and do as I bid you. Kneel the camels
+fifty yards outside the wall, not less, and wait till you know the end.
+If we shouldn't meet again, well, good-bye and good luck."
+
+So we went, Quick literally weeping with shame and rage.
+
+"Good Lord!" he exclaimed, "good Lord! to think that, after four
+campaigns, Samuel Quick, Sergeant of Engineers, with five medals, should
+live to be sent off with the baggage like a pot-bellied bandmaster,
+leaving his captain to fight about three thousand niggers single-handed.
+Doctor, if he don't come out, you do the best you can for yourself, for
+I'm going back to stop with him, that's all. There, that's fifty paces;
+down you go, you ugly beasts," and he bumped his camel viciously on the
+head with the butt of his rifle.
+
+From where we had halted we could only see through the archway into the
+space beyond. By now the square looked like a great Sunday meeting in
+Hyde Park, being filled up with men of whom the first rows were already
+past the altar-like rostrum in its centre.
+
+"Why don't he loose off them stinging-bees?" muttered Quick. "Oh! I see
+his little game. Look," and he pointed to the figure of Orme, who had
+crept behind the unopened half of the door on our side of it and was
+looking intently round its edge, holding the battery in his right hand.
+"He wants to let them get nearer so as to make a bigger bag. He----"
+
+I heard no more of Quick's remarks, for suddenly something like an
+earthquake took place, and the whole sky seemed to turn to one great
+flame. I saw a length of the wall of the square rush outward and upward.
+I saw the shut half of the bronze-plated door skipping and hopping
+playfully toward us, and in front of it the figure of a man. Then it
+began to rain all sorts of things.
+
+For instance, stones, none of which hit us, luckily, and other more
+unpleasant objects. It is a strange experience to be knocked backward
+by a dead fist separated from its parent body, yet on this occasion this
+actually happened to me, and, what is more, the fist had a spear in it.
+The camels tried to rise and bolt, but they are phlegmatic brutes, and,
+as ours were tired as well, we succeeded in quieting them.
+
+Whilst we were thus occupied somewhat automatically, for the shock had
+dazed us, the figure that had been propelled before the dancing door
+arrived, reeling in a drunken fashion, and through the dust and falling
+_debris_ we knew it for that of Oliver Orme. His face was blackened, his
+clothes were torn half off him, and blood from a scalp wound ran down
+his brown hair. But in his right hand he still held the little electric
+battery, and I knew at once that he had no limbs broken.
+
+"Very successful mine," he said thickly. "Boer melinite shells aren't
+in it with this new compound. Come on before the enemy recover from the
+shock," and he flung himself upon his camel.
+
+In another minute we had started at a trot toward the White Rock, whilst
+from the city of Harmac behind us rose a wail of fear and misery. We
+gained the top of the rise on which I had shot the horseman, and, as
+I expected, found that the Fung had posted a strong guard in the dip
+beyond, out of reach of our bullets, in order to cut us off, should
+we attempt to escape. Now, terrified by what had happened, to them
+a supernatural catastrophe, they were escaping themselves, for we
+perceived them galloping off to the left and right as fast as their
+horses would carry them.
+
+So for awhile we went on unmolested, though not very quickly, because of
+Orme's condition. When we had covered about half the distance between us
+and the White Rock, I looked round and became aware that we were being
+pursued by a body of cavalry about a hundred strong, which I supposed
+had emerged from some other gate of the city.
+
+"Flog the animals," I shouted to Quick, "or they will catch us after
+all."
+
+He did so, and we advanced at a shambling gallop, the horsemen gaining
+on us every moment. Now I thought that all was over, especially when of
+a sudden from behind the White Rock emerged a second squad of horsemen.
+
+"Cut off!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Suppose so, sir," answered Quick, "but these seem a different crowd."
+
+I scanned them and saw that he was right. They were a very different
+crowd, for in front of them floated the Abati banner, which I could not
+mistake, having studied it when I was a guest of the tribe: a
+curious, triangular, green flag covered with golden Hebrew characters,
+surrounding the figure of Solomon seated on a throne. Moreover,
+immediately behind the banner in the midst of a bodyguard rode a
+delicately shaped woman clothed in pure white. It was the Child of Kings
+herself!
+
+Two more minutes and we were among them. I halted my camel and looked
+round to see that the Fung cavalry were retreating. After the events
+of that morning clearly they had no stomach left for a fight with a
+superior force.
+
+The lady in white rode up to us.
+
+"Greetings, friend," she exclaimed to me, for she knew me again at once.
+"Now, who is captain among you?"
+
+I pointed to the shattered Orme, who sat swaying on his camel with eyes
+half closed.
+
+"Noble sir," she said, addressing him, "if you can, tell me what has
+happened. I am Maqueda of the Abati, she who is named Child of Kings.
+Look at the symbol on my brow, and you will see that I speak truth,"
+and, throwing back her veil, she revealed the coronet of gold that
+showed her rank.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+BARUNG
+
+At the sound of this soft voice (the extreme softness of Maqueda's voice
+was always one of her greatest charms), Orme opened his eyes and stared
+at her.
+
+"Very queer dream," I heard him mutter. "Must be something in the
+Mohammedan business after all. Extremely beautiful woman, and that gold
+thing looks well on her dark hair."
+
+"What does the lord your companion say?" asked Maqueda of me.
+
+Having first explained that he was suffering from shock, I translated
+word for word, whereon Maqueda blushed to her lovely violet eyes and let
+fall her veil in a great hurry. In the confusion which ensued, I heard
+Quick saying to his master:
+
+"No, no, sir; this one ain't no houri. She's a flesh and blood queen,
+and the pleasantest to look at I ever clapped eyes on, though a
+benighted African Jew. Wake up, Captain, wake up; you are out of that
+hell-fire now. It's got the Fung, not you."
+
+The word Fung seemed to rouse Orme.
+
+"Yes," he said; "I understand. The vapour of the stuff poisoned me, but
+it is passing now. Adams, ask that lady how many men she's got with her.
+What does she say? About five hundred? Well, then, let her attack Harmac
+at once. The outer and inner gates are down; the Fung think they have
+raised the devil and will run. She can inflict a defeat on them from
+which they will not recover for years, only it must be done at once,
+before they get their nerve again, for, after all, they are more
+frightened than hurt."
+
+Maqueda listened to this advice intently.
+
+"It is to my liking; it is very good," she said in her quaint archaic
+Arabic when I had finished translating. "But I must consult my Council.
+Where is my uncle, the prince Joshua?"
+
+"Here, Lady," answered a voice from the press behind, out of which
+presently emerged, mounted on a white horse, a stout man, well advanced
+in middle age, with a swarthy complexion and remarkably round, prominent
+eyes. He was clad in the usual Eastern robes, richly worked, over which
+he wore a shirt of chain-mail, and on his head a helmet, with mail
+flaps, an attire that gave the general effect of an obese Crusader of
+the early Norman period without his cross.
+
+"Is that Joshua?" said Orme, who was wandering a little again.
+"Rummy-looking cock, isn't he? Sergeant, tell Joshua that the walls of
+Jericho are down, so there'll be no need to blow his own trumpet. I'm
+sure from the look of him that he's a perfect devil with a trumpet."
+
+"What does your companion say?" asked Maqueda again.
+
+I translated the middle part of Orme's remarks, but neither the
+commencement nor the end, but even these amused her very much, for she
+burst out laughing, and said, pointing to Harmac, over which still hung
+a cloud of dust:
+
+"Yes, yes, Joshua, my uncle, the walls of Jericho are down, and the
+question is, will you not take your opportunity? So in an hour or two we
+shall be dead, or if God goes with us, perhaps free from the menace of
+the Fung for years."
+
+The prince Joshua stared at her with his great, prominent eyes, then
+answered in a thick, gobbling voice:
+
+"Are you mad, Child of Kings? Of us Abati here there are but five
+hundred men, and of the Fung yonder tens of thousands. If we attacked,
+they would eat us up. Can five hundred men stand against tens of
+thousands?"
+
+"It seems that three stood against them this morning, and worked some
+damage, my uncle, but it is true those three are of a different race
+from the Abati," she added with bitter sarcasm. Then she turned to those
+behind her and cried: "Who of my captains and Council will accompany me,
+if I who am but a woman dare to advance on Harmac?"
+
+Now here and there a voice cried, "I will," or some gorgeously dressed
+person stepped forward in a hesitating way, and that was all.
+
+"You see, men of the West!" said Maqueda after a little pause,
+addressing us three. "I thank you for the great deeds that you have
+done and for your counsel. But I cannot take it because my people are
+not--warlike," and she covered her face with her hands.
+
+Now there arose a great tumult among her followers, who all began to
+talk at once. Joshua in particular drew a large sword and waved it,
+shouting out a recital of the desperate actions of his youth and the
+names of Fung chieftains whom he alleged he had killed in single combat.
+
+"Told you that fat cur was a first-class trumpeter," said Orme
+languidly, while the Sergeant ejaculated in tones of deep disgust:
+
+"Good Lord! what a set. Why, Doctor, they ain't fit to savage a referee
+in a London football ground. Pharaoh there in his basket (where he was
+barking loudly) would make the whole lot run, and if he was out--oh
+my! Now, then, you porpoise"--this he addressed to Joshua, who was
+flourishing his sword unpleasantly near--"put your pasteboard up, won't
+you, or I'll knock your fat head off," whereon the Prince, who, if
+he did not understand Quick's words, at any rate caught their meaning
+wonderfully well, did as he was told, and fell back.
+
+Just then, indeed, there was a general movement up the pass, in the
+wide mouth of which all this scene took place, for suddenly three Fung
+chieftains appeared galloping toward us, one of whom was veiled with
+a napkin in which were cut eyeholes. So universal was this retreat,
+in fact, that we three on our camels, and the Child of Kings on her
+beautiful mare, found ourselves left alone.
+
+"An embassy," said Maqueda, scanning the advancing horsemen, who carried
+with them a white flag tied to the blade of a spear. "Physician, will
+you and your friends come with me and speak to these messengers?" And
+without even waiting for an answer, she rode forward fifty yards or so
+on to the plain, and there reined up and halted till we could bring
+our camels round and join her. As we did so, the three Fung,
+splendid-looking, black-faced fellows, arrived at a furious gallop,
+their lances pointed at us.
+
+"Stand still, friends," said Maqueda; "they mean no harm."
+
+As the words passed her lips, the Fung pulled the horses to their
+haunches, Arab-fashion, lifted spears and saluted. Then their
+leader--not the veiled man, but another--spoke in a dialect that I, who
+had spent so many years among the savages of the desert, understood well
+enough, especially as the base of it was Arabic.
+
+"O, Walda Nagasta, Daughter of Solomon," he said, "we are the tongues of
+our Sultan Barung, Son of Barung for a hundred generations, and we speak
+his words to the brave white men who are your guests. Thus says Barung.
+Like the Fat One whom I have already captured, you white men are heroes.
+Three of you alone, you held the gate against my army. With the weapons
+of the white man you killed us from afar, here one and there one. Then,
+at last, with a great magic of thunder and lightning and earthquake, you
+sent us by scores into the bosom of our god, and shook down our walls
+about our ears and out of that hell you escaped yourselves.
+
+"Now, O white men, this is the offer of Barung to you: Leave the curs
+of the Abati, the baboons who gibber and deck themselves out, the
+rock-rabbits who seek safety in the cliffs, and come to him. He will
+give you not only life, but all your heart's desire--lands and wives
+and horses; great shall you be in his councils and happy shall you live.
+Moreover, for your sakes he will try to spare your brother, the Fat One,
+whose eyes look out of black windows, who blows fire from his mouth, and
+reviles his enemies as never man did before. Yes, although the priests
+have doomed him to sacrifice at the next feast of Harmac, he will try to
+spare him, which, perhaps, he can do by making him, like the Singer of
+Egypt, also a priest of Harmac, and thus dedicate forever to the god
+with whom, indeed, he says he had been familiar for thousands of years.
+This is our message, O white men."
+
+Now, when I had translated the substance of this oration to Orme and
+Quick, for, as I saw by the quiver that passed through her at the
+Fung insults upon her tribe, Maqueda understood it, their tongues
+not differing greatly, Orme who, for the time at any rate, was almost
+himself again, said:
+
+"Tell these fellows to say to their Sultan that he is a good old boy,
+and that we thank him very much; also that we are sorry to have been
+obliged to kill so many of them in a way that he must have thought
+unsportsmanlike, but we had to do it, as we are sure he will understand,
+in order to save our skins. Tell him also that, speaking personally,
+having sampled the Abati yonder and on our journey, I should like to
+accept his invitation. But although, as yet, we have found no men among
+them, only, as he says, baboons, rock-rabbits, and boasters without
+a fight in them, we have"--and here he bowed his bleeding head to
+Maqueda--"found a woman with a great heart. Of her salt we have eaten,
+or are about to eat; to serve her we have come from far upon her camels,
+and, unless she should be pleased to accompany us, we cannot desert
+her."
+
+All of this I rendered faithfully, while every one, and especially
+Maqueda, listened with much attention. When they had considered our
+words, the spokesman of the messengers replied to the effect that the
+motives of our decision were of a nature that commanded their entire
+respect and sympathy, especially as their people quite concurred in our
+estimate of the character of the Abati ruler, Child of Kings. This
+being so, they would amend their proposition, knowing the mind of their
+Sultan, and having, indeed, plenipotentiary powers.
+
+"Lady of Mur," he went on, addressing Maqueda directly, "fair daughter
+of the great god Harmac and a mortal queen, what we have offered to
+the white lords, your guests, we offer to you also. Barung, our Sultan,
+shall make you his head wife; or, if that does not please you, you shall
+wed whom you will"--and, perhaps by accident, the envoy's roving eyes
+rested for a moment upon Oliver Orme.
+
+"Leave, then, your rock-rabbits, who dare not quit their cliffs when but
+three messengers wait without with sticks," and he glanced at the spear
+in his hand, "and come to dwell among men. Listen, high Lady; we know
+your case. You do your best in a hopeless task. Had it not been for you
+and your courage, Mur would have been ours three years ago, and it was
+ours before your tribe wandered thither. But while you can find but a
+hundred brave warriors to help you, you think the place impregnable,
+and you have perhaps that number, though we know they are not here; they
+guard the gates above. Yes, with a few of your Mountaineers whose hearts
+are as those of their forefathers were, so far as you have defied all
+the power of the Fung, and when you saw that the end drew near, using
+your woman's wit, you sent for the white men to come with their magic,
+promising to pay them with the gold which you have in such plenty in the
+tombs of our old kings and in the rocks of the mountains."
+
+"Who told you that, O Tongue of Barung?" asked Maqueda in a low
+voice, speaking for the first time. "The man of the West whom you took
+prisoner--he whom you call Fat One?"
+
+"No, no, O Walda Nagasta, the lord Black Windows has told us nothing as
+yet, except sundry things about the history of our god, with whom, as we
+said, he seems to be familiar, and to whom, therefore, we vowed him at
+once. But there are others who tell us things, for in times of truce
+our peoples trade together a little, and cowards are often spies. For
+instance, we knew that these white men were coming last night, though it
+is true that we did not know of their fire magic, for, had we done so,
+we should not have let the camels slip through, since there may be more
+of it on them----"
+
+"For your comfort, learn that there is--much more," I interrupted.
+
+"Ah!" replied the Tongue, shaking his head sadly, "and yet we suffered
+Cat, whom you call Shadrach, to make off with that of your fat brother;
+yes, and even gave it to him after his own beast had been lamed by
+accident. Well, it is our bad luck, and without doubt Harmac is angry
+with us to-day. But your answer, O Walda Nagasta, your answer, O Rose of
+Mur?"
+
+"What can it be, O Voices of Barung the Sultan?" replied Maqueda. "You
+know that by my blood and by my oath of office I am sworn to protect Mur
+to the last."
+
+"And so you shall," pleaded the Tongue, "for when we have cleaned it of
+baboons and rock-rabbits, which, if you were among us, we soon should
+do, and thus fulfilled our oath to regain our ancient secret City of the
+Rocks, we will set you there once more as its Lady, under Barung, and
+give you a multitude of subjects of whom you may be proud."
+
+"It may not be, O Tongue, for they would be worshippers of Harmac, and
+between Jehovah, whom I serve, and Harmac there is war," she answered
+with spirit.
+
+"Yes, sweet-smelling Bud of the Rose, there is war, and let it be
+admitted that the first battle has gone against Harmac, thanks to the
+magic of the white men. Yet yonder he sits in his glory as the spirits,
+his servants, fashioned him in the beginning," and he pointed with his
+spear toward the valley of the idol. "You know our prophecy--that until
+Harmac rises from his seat and flies away, for where he goes, the Fung
+must follow--till then, I say, we shall hold the plains and the city of
+his name--that is, for ever."
+
+"For ever is a long word, O Mouth of Barung." Then she paused a little,
+and added slowly, "Did not certain of the gates of Harmac fly far
+this morning? Now what if your god should follow his gates and those
+worshippers who went with them, and be seen no more? Or what if the
+earth should open and swallow him, so that he goes down to hell, whither
+you cannot follow? Or what if the mountains should fall together and
+bury him from your sight eternally. Or what if the lightnings should
+leap out and shatter him to dust?"
+
+At these ominous words the envoys shivered, and it seemed to me that
+their faces for a moment turned grey.
+
+"Then, O Child of Kings," answered the spokesman solemnly, "the Fung
+will acknowledge that your god is greater than our god, and that our
+glory is departed."
+
+Thus he spoke and was silent, turning his eyes toward the third
+messenger, he who wore a cloth or napkin upon his head that was pierced
+with eyeholes and hung down to the breast. With a quick motion, the man
+dragged off this veil and threw it to the ground, revealing a very noble
+countenance, not black like that of his followers, but copper-coloured.
+He was about fifty years of age, with deep-set flashing eyes, hooked
+nose, and a flowing, grizzled beard. The collar of gold about his neck
+showed that his rank was high, but when we noticed a second ornament
+of gold, also upon his brow, we knew that it must be supreme. For this
+ornament was nothing less than the symbol of royalty, once worn by the
+ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, the double snakes of the _uraeus_ bending
+forward as though to strike, which, as we had seen, rose also from the
+brow of the lion-headed sphinx of Harmac.
+
+As he uncovered, his two companions leapt to the ground and prostrated
+themselves before him, crying, "Barung! Barung!" while all three of us
+Englishmen saluted, involuntarily, I think, and even the Child of Kings
+bowed.
+
+The Sultan acknowledged our greetings by raising his spear. Then he
+spoke in a grave measured voice:
+
+"O Walda Nagasta, and you, white men, sons of great fathers, I have
+listened to the talk between you and my servants; I confirm their words
+and I add to them. I am sorry that my generals tried to kill you last
+night. I was making prayer to my god, or it should not have happened. I
+have been well repaid for that deed, since an army should not make war
+upon four men, even though by their secret power four men can defeat an
+army. I beseech you, and you also, Rose of Mur, to accept my proffered
+friendship, since otherwise, ere long, you will soon be dead, and your
+wisdom will perish with you for I am weary of this little war against a
+handful whom we despise.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta, you have breathed threats against the Majesty of
+Harmac, but he is too strong for you, nor may the might that can turn a
+few bricks to dust and shatter the bones of men prevail against him who
+is shaped from the heart of a mountain and holds the spirit of eternity.
+So at least I think: but even if it is decreed otherwise, what will that
+avail you? If it should please the god to leave us because of your arts,
+the Fung will still remain to avenge him ere they follow. Then I swear
+to you by my majesty and by the bones of my ancestors who sit in the
+caves of Mur, that I will spare but one of the Abati Jews, yourself, O
+Child of Kings, because of your great heart, and the three white men,
+your guests, should they survive the battle, because of their courage
+and their wisdom. As for their brother, Black Windows, whom I have
+captured, he must be sacrificed, since I have sworn it, unless you
+yield, when I will plead for his life to the god, with what result I
+cannot tell. Yield, then, and I will not even slay the Abati; they
+shall live on and serve the Fung as slaves and minister to the glory of
+Harmac."
+
+"It may not be, it may not be!" Maqueda answered, striking the pommel of
+her saddle with her small hand. "Shall Jehovah whom Solomon, my father,
+worshipped, Jehovah of all the generations, do homage to an idol shaped
+by the hands He made? My people are worn out; they have forgot their
+faith and gone astray, as did Israel in the desert. I know it. It may
+even happen that the time has come for them to perish, who are no longer
+warriors, as of old. Well, if so, let them die free, and not as slaves.
+At least I, in whom their best blood runs, do not seek your mercy,
+O Barung. I'll be no plaything in your house, who, at the worst, can
+always die, having done my duty to my God and those who bred me. Thus I
+answer you as the Child of many Kings. Yet as a woman," she added in a
+gentler voice, "I thank you for your courtesy. When I am slain, Barung,
+if I am fated to be slain, think kindly of me, as one who did her best
+against mighty odds," and her voice broke.
+
+"That I shall always do," he answered gravely. "Is it ended?"
+
+"Not quite," she answered. "These Western lords, I give them to you; I
+absolve them from their promise. Why should they perish in a lost cause?
+If they take their wisdom to you to use against me, you have vowed them
+their lives, and, perhaps, that of their brother, your captive. There is
+a slave of yours also--you spoke of him, or your servant did--Singer of
+Egypt is his name. One of them knew him as a child; perchance you will
+not refuse him to that man."
+
+She paused, but Barung made no answer.
+
+"Go, my friends," she went on, turning toward us. "I thank you for your
+long journey on my behalf and the blow you have struck for me, and in
+payment I will send you a gift of gold; the Sultan will see it safe
+into your hands. I thank you. I wish I could have known more of you, but
+mayhap we shall meet again in war. Farewell."
+
+She ceased, and I could see that she was watching us intently through
+her thin veil. The Sultan also watched us, stroking his long beard, a
+look of speculation in his eyes, for evidently this play interested him
+and he wondered how it would end.
+
+"This won't do," said Orme, when he understood the thing. "Higgs would
+never forgive us if we ate dirt just on the off-chance of saving him
+from sacrifice. He's too straight-minded on big things. But, of course,
+Doctor," he added jerkily, "you have interests of your own and must
+decide for yourself. I think I can speak for the Sergeant."
+
+"I have decided," I answered. "I hope that my son would never forgive me
+either; but if it is otherwise, why, so it must be. Also Barung has made
+no promises about him."
+
+"Tell him, then," said Orme. "My head aches infernally, and I want to go
+to bed, above ground or under it."
+
+So I told him, although, to speak the truth, I felt like a man with a
+knife in his heart, for it was bitter to come so near to the desire of
+years, to the love of life, and then to lose all hope just because of
+duty to the head woman of a pack of effete curs to whom one had chanced
+to make a promise in order to gain this very end. If we could have
+surrendered with honour, at least I should have seen my son, whom now I
+might never see again.
+
+One thing, however, I added on the spur of the moment--namely, a request
+that the Sultan would tell the Professor every word that had passed, in
+order that whatever happened to him he might know the exact situation.
+
+"My Harmac," said Barung when he had heard, "how disappointed should I
+have been with you if you had answered otherwise when a woman showed you
+the way. I have heard of you English before--Arabs and traders brought
+me tales of you. For instance, there was one who died defending a city
+against a worshipper of the Prophet who called himself a prophet, down
+yonder at Khartoum on the Nile--a great death, they told me, a great
+death, which your people avenged afterwards.
+
+"Well I did not quite believe the story, and I wished to judge of it by
+you. I have judged, white lords, I have judged, and I am sure that your
+fat brother, Black Windows, will be proud of you even in the lion's
+jaws. Fear not; he shall hear every word. The Singer of Egypt, who, it
+appears, can talk his tongue, shall tell the tale to him, and make a
+song of it to be sung over your honourable graves. And now farewell; may
+it be my lot to cross swords with one of you before all is done. That
+shall not be yet, for you need rest, especially yonder tall son of a god
+who is wounded," and he pointed to Orme. "Child of Kings with a heart of
+kings, permit me to kiss your hand and to lead you back to your people,
+that I would were more worthy of you. Ah! yes, I would that _we_ were
+your people."
+
+Maqueda stretched out her hand, and, taking it, the Sultan barely
+touched her fingers with his lips. Then, still holding them, he rode
+with her toward the pass.
+
+As we approached its mouth, where the Abati were crowded together,
+watching our conference, I heard them murmur, "The Sultan, the Sultan
+himself!" and saw the prince Joshua mutter some eager words to the
+officers about him.
+
+"Look out, Doctor," said Quick into my ear. "Unless I'm mistook, that
+porpoise is going to play some game."
+
+Hardly were the words out of his mouth when, uttering the most valiant
+shouts and with swords drawn, Joshua and a body of his companions
+galloped up and surrounded our little group.
+
+"Now yield, Barung," bellowed Joshua; "yield or die!"
+
+The Sultan stared at him in astonishment, then answered:
+
+"If I had any weapon (he had thrown down his lance when he took Maqueda
+by the hand), certainly one of us should die, O Hog in man's clothes."
+
+Then he turned to Maqueda and added, "Child of Kings, I knew these
+people of yours to be cowardly and treacherous, but is it thus that you
+suffer them to deal with envoys under a flag of peace?"
+
+"Not so, not so," she cried. "My uncle Joshua, you disgrace me; you
+make our people a shame, a hissing, and a reproach. Stand back; let the
+Sultan of the Fung go free."
+
+But they would not; the prize was too great to be readily disgorged.
+
+We looked at each other. "Not at all the game," said Orme. "If they
+collar him, we shall be tarred with their extremely dirty brush. Shove
+your camel in front, Sergeant, and if that beggar Joshua tries any
+tricks, put a bullet through him."
+
+Quick did not need to be told twice. Banging his dromedary's ribs with
+the butt end of his rifle, he drove it straight on to Joshua, shouting:
+
+"Out of the light, porpoise!" with the result that the Prince's horse
+took fright, and reared up so high that its rider slid off over its tail
+to find himself seated on the ground, a sorry spectacle in his gorgeous
+robes and armour.
+
+Taking advantage of the confusion which ensued, we surrounded the Sultan
+and escorted him out of the throng back to his two companions, who,
+seeing that there was something amiss, were galloping toward us.
+
+"I am your debtor," said Barung, "but, O White Men, make me more so.
+Return, I pray you, to that hog in armour, and say that Barung, Sultan
+of the Fung, understands from his conduct that he desires to challenge
+him to single combat, and that, seeing he is fully armed, the Sultan,
+although he wears no mail, awaits him here and now."
+
+So I went at once with the message. But Joshua was far too clever to be
+drawn into any such dangerous adventure.
+
+Nothing, he said, would have given him greater joy than to hack the head
+from the shoulders of this dog of a Gentile sheik. But, unhappily, owing
+to the conduct of one of us foreigners, he had been thrown from his
+horse, and hurt his back, so that he could scarcely stand, much less
+fight a duel.
+
+So I returned with my answer, whereat Barung smiled and said nothing.
+Only, taking from his neck a gold chain which he wore, he proffered it
+to Quick, who, as he said, had induced the prince Joshua to show his
+horsemanship if not his courage. Then he bowed to us, one by one, and
+before the Abati could make up their mind whether to follow him or not,
+galloped off swiftly with his companions toward Harmac.
+
+Such was our introduction to Barung, Sultan of the Fung, a barbarian
+with many good points, among them courage, generosity, and appreciation
+of those qualities even in a foe, characteristics that may have been
+intensified by the blood of his mother, who, I am told, was an Arab
+of high lineage captured by the Fung in war and given as a wife to the
+father of Barung.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE SHADOW OF FATE
+
+Our ride from the plains up the pass that led to the high tableland of
+Mur was long and, in its way, wonderful enough. I doubt whether in the
+whole world there exists another home of men more marvellously defended
+by nature. Apparently the road by which we climbed was cut in the first
+instance, not by human hands, but by the action of primaeval floods,
+pouring, perhaps, from the huge lake which doubtless once covered the
+whole area within the circle of the mountains, although to-day it is
+but a moderate-sized sheet of water, about twenty miles long by ten in
+breadth. However this may be, the old inhabitants had worked on it, the
+marks of their tools may still be seen upon the rock.
+
+For the first mile or two the road is broad and the ascent so gentle
+that my horse was able to gallop up it on that dreadful night when,
+after seeing my son's face, accident, or rather Providence, enabled me
+to escape the Fung. But from the spot where the lions pulled the poor
+beast down, its character changes. In places it is so narrow that
+travellers must advance in single file between walls of rock hundreds
+of feet high, where the sky above looks like a blue ribbon, and even at
+midday the path below is plunged in gloom. At other spots the slope is
+so precipitous that beasts of burden can scarcely keep their foothold;
+indeed, we were soon obliged to transfer ourselves from the camels to
+horses accustomed to the rocks. At others, again, it follows the brink
+of a yawning precipice, an ugly place to ride or turn rectangular
+corners, which half-a-dozen men could hold against an army, and twice it
+passes through tunnels, though whether these are natural I do not know.
+
+Besides all these obstacles to an invader there were strong gates at
+intervals, with towers near by where guards were stationed night and
+day, and fosses or dry moats in front of them which could only be
+crossed by means of drawbridges. So the reader will easily understand
+how it came about that, whatever the cowardice of the Abati, though they
+strove for generations, the Fung had as yet never been able to recapture
+the ancient stronghold, which, or so it is said, in the beginning these
+Abati won from them by means of an Oriental trick.
+
+Here I should add that, although there are two other roads to the
+plains--that by which, in order to outflank the Fung, the camels were
+let down when I started on my embassy to Egypt, and that to the north
+where the great swamps lie--these are both of them equally, if not more,
+impassable, at any rate to an enemy attacking from below.
+
+A strange cavalcade we must have seemed as we crawled up this terrific
+approach. First went a body of the Abati notables on horseback, forming
+a long line of colour and glittering steel, who chattered as they rode,
+for they seemed to have no idea of discipline. Next came a company of
+horsemen armed with spears, or rather two companies in the centre of
+which rode the Child of Kings, some of her courtiers and chief officers,
+and ourselves, perhaps, as Quick suggested, because infantry in the
+event of surprise would find it less easy to run away than those who
+were mounted upon horses. Last of all rode more cavalry, the duty
+of whose rear files it was to turn from time to time, and, after
+inspection, to shout out that we were not pursued.
+
+It cannot be said that we who occupied the centre of the advance were a
+cheerful band. Orme, although so far he had borne up, was evidently very
+ill from the shock of the explosion, so much so that men had to be set
+on each side of him to see that he did not fall from the saddle. Also
+he was deeply depressed by the fact that honour had forced us to abandon
+Higgs to what seemed a certain and probably a cruel death; and if he
+felt thus, what was my own case, who left not only my friend, but also
+my son, in the hands of savage heathens?
+
+Maqueda's face was not visible because of the thin spangled veil that
+she wore, but there was something about her attitude suggestive of shame
+and of despair. The droop of the head and even her back showed this, as
+I, who rode a little behind and on side of her, could see. I think, too,
+that she was anxious about Orme, for she turned toward him several times
+as though studying his condition. Also I am sure that she was indignant
+with Joshua and others of her officers, for when they spoke to her
+she would not answer or take the slightest notice of them beyond
+straightening herself in the saddle. As for the Prince himself, his
+temper seemed to be much ruffled, although apparently he had overcome
+the hurt to his back which prevented him from accepting the Sultan's
+challenge, for at a difficult spot in the road he dismounted and ran
+along actively enough. At any rate, when his subordinates addressed him
+he only answered them with muttered oaths, and his attitude towards us
+Englishmen, especially Quick, was not amiable. Indeed, if looks could
+have killed us I am sure that we should all have been dead before ever
+we reached the Gate of Mur.
+
+This so-called gate was the upper mouth of the pass whence first we
+saw, lying beneath us, the vast, mountain-ringed plain beyond. It was
+a beautiful sight in the sunshine. Almost at our feet, half-hidden
+in palms and other trees, lay the flat-roofed town itself, a place of
+considerable extent, as every house of any consequence seemed to be
+set in a garden, since here there was no need for cramping walls and
+defensive works. Beyond it to the northward, farther than the eye could
+reach, stretching down a gentle slope to the far-off shores of the
+great lake of glistening water, were cultivated fields, and amongst them
+villas and, here and there, hamlets.
+
+Whatever might be the faults of the Abati, evidently they were skilled
+husbandsmen, such as their reputed forefathers, the old inhabitants of
+Judaea, must have been before them, for of that strain presumably some
+trace was still present in their veins. However far he may have drifted
+from such pursuits, originally the Jew was a tiller of the soil, and
+here, where many of his other characteristics had evaporated under
+pressure of circumstances--notably the fierce courage that Titus
+knew--this taste remained to him, if only by tradition.
+
+Indeed, having no other outlet for their energies and none with whom to
+trade, the interests of the Abati were centred in the land. For and
+by the land they lived and died, and, since the amount available was
+limited by the mountain wall, he who had most land was great amongst
+them, he who had little land was small, he who had no land was
+practically a slave. Their law was in its essentials a law of the
+land; their ambitions, their crimes, everything to do with them, were
+concerned with the land, upon the produce of which they existed and grew
+rich, some of them, by means of a system of barter. They had no coinage,
+their money being measures of corn or other produce, horses, camels,
+acres of their equivalent of soil, and so forth.
+
+And yet, oddly enough, their country is the richest in gold and other
+metals that I have ever heard of even in Africa--so rich that, according
+to Higgs, the old Egyptians drew bullion from it to the value of
+millions of pounds every year. This, indeed, I can well believe, for I
+have seen the ancient mines which were worked, for the most part as
+open quarries, still showing plenty of visible gold on the face of the
+slopes. Yet to these alleged Jews this gold was of no account. Imagine
+it; as Quick said, such a topsy-turvy state of things was enough to make
+a mere Christian feel cold down the back and go to bed thinking that the
+world must be coming to an end.
+
+To return, the prince Joshua, who appeared to be generalissimo of the
+army, in what was evidently a set phrase, exhorted the guards at the
+last gates to be brave and, if need were, deal with the heathen as some
+one or other dealt with Og, King of Bashan, and other unlucky persons
+of a different faith. In reply he received their earnest congratulations
+upon his escape from the frightful dangers of our journey.
+
+These formalities concluded, casting off the iron discipline of war,
+we descended a joyous mob, or rather the Abati did, to partake of the
+delights of peace. Really, conquerors returning from some desperate
+adventure could not have been more warmly greeted. As we entered the
+suburbs of the town, women, some of them very handsome, ran out and
+embraced their lords or lovers, holding up babies for them to kiss, and
+a little farther on children appeared, throwing roses and pomegranate
+flowers before their triumphant feet. And all this because these gallant
+men had ridden to the bottom of a pass and back again!
+
+"Heavens! Doctor," exclaimed the sardonic Quick, after taking note of
+these demonstrations, "Heavens! what a hero I feel myself to be. And
+to think that when I got back from the war with them Boers, after being
+left for dead on Spion Kop with a bullet through my lung and mentioned
+in a dispatch--yes, I, Sergeant Quick, mentioned in a dispatch by the
+biggest ass of a general as ever I clapped eyes on, for a job that
+I won't detail, no one in my native village ever took no note of
+me, although I had written to the parish clerk, who happens to be my
+brother-in-law, and told him the train I was coming by. I tell you,
+Doctor, no one so much as stood me a pint of beer, let alone wine," and
+he pointed to a lady who was proffering that beverage to some one whom
+she admired.
+
+"And as for chucking their arms round my neck and kissing me," and
+he indicated another episode, "all my old mother said--she was alive
+then--was that she 'hoped I'd done fooling about furrin' parts as I
+called soldiering, and come home to live respectable, better late than
+never.' Well, Doctor, circumstances alter cases, or blood and climate
+do, which is the same thing, and I didn't miss what I never expected,
+why should I when others like the Captain there, who had done so much
+more, fared worse? But, Lord! these Abati are a sickening lot, and I
+wish we were clear of them. Old Barung's the boy for me."
+
+Passing down the main street of this charming town of Mur, accompanied
+by these joyous demonstrators, we came at last to its central square, a
+large, open space where, in the moist and genial climate, for the high
+surrounding mountains attracted plentiful showers of rain, trees and
+flowers grew luxuriantly. At the head of this square stood a long,
+low building with white-washed walls and gilded domes, backed by the
+towering cliff, but at a little distance from it, and surrounded by
+double walls with a moat of water between them, dug for purposes of
+defence.
+
+This was the palace, which on my previous visit I had only entered once
+or twice when I was received by the Child of Kings in formal audience.
+Round the rest of this square, each placed in its own garden, were the
+houses of the great nobles and officials, and at its western end, among
+other public buildings, a synagogue or temple which looked like a model
+of that built by Solomon in Jerusalem, from the description of which it
+had indeed been copied, though, of course, upon a small scale.
+
+At the gate of the palace we halted, and Joshua, riding up, asked
+Maqueda sulkily whether he should conduct "the Gentiles," for that was
+his polite description of us, to the lodging for pilgrims in the western
+town.
+
+"No, my uncle," answered Maqueda; "these foreign lords will be housed in
+the guest-wing of the palace."
+
+"In the guest-wing of the palace? It is not usual," gobbled Joshua,
+swelling himself out like a great turkey cock. "Remember, O niece, that
+you are still unmarried. I do not yet dwell in the palace to protect
+you."
+
+"So I found out in the plain yonder," she replied; "still, I managed
+to protect myself. Now, I pray you, no words. I think it necessary that
+these my guests should be where their goods already are, in the safest
+place in Mur. You, my uncle, as you told us, are badly hurt, by which
+accident you were prevented from accepting the challenge of the Sultan
+of the Fung. Go, then, and rest; I will send the court physician to
+you at once. Good-night, my uncle; when you are recovered we will meet
+again, for we have much that we must discuss. Nay, nay, you are most
+kind, but I will not detain you another minute. Seek your bed, my uncle,
+and forget not to thank God for your escape from many perils."
+
+At this polite mockery Joshua turned perfectly pale with rage, like the
+turkey cock when his wattles fade from scarlet into white. Before he
+could make any answer, however, Maqueda had vanished under the archway,
+so his only resource was to curse us, and especially Quick, who had
+caused him to fall from his horse. Unfortunately the Sergeant understood
+quite enough Arabic to be aware of the tenor of his remarks, which he
+resented and returned:
+
+"Shut it, Porpoise," he said, "and keep your eyes where Nature put 'em,
+or they'll fall out."
+
+"What says the Gentile?" spluttered Joshua, whereon Orme, waking up from
+one of his fits of lethargy, replied in Arabic:
+
+"He says that he prays you, O Prince of princes, to close your noble
+mouth and to keep your high-bred eyes within their sockets lest you
+should lose them"; at which words those who were listening broke into
+a fit of laughter, for one redeeming characteristic among the Abati was
+that they had a sense of humour.
+
+After this I do not quite know what happened for Orme showed signs of
+fainting, and I had to attend to him. When I looked round again the
+gates were shut and we were being conducted toward the guest-wing of the
+palace by a number of gaily dressed attendants.
+
+They took us to our rooms--cool, lofty chambers ornamented with glazed
+tiles of quaint colour and beautiful design, and furnished somewhat
+scantily with articles made of rich-hued woods. This guest-wing of the
+palace, where these rooms were situated, formed, we noted, a separate
+house, having its own gateway, but, so far as we could see, no passage
+or other connection joining it to the main building. In front of it was
+a small garden, and at its back a courtyard with buildings, in which we
+were informed our camels had been stabled. At the time we noted no more,
+for night was falling, and, even if it had not been, we were too worn
+out to make researches.
+
+Moreover, Orme was now desperately ill--so ill that he could scarcely
+walk leaning even on our shoulders. Still, he would not be satisfied
+till he was sure that our stores were safe, and, before he could be
+persuaded to lie down, insisted upon being supported to a vault with
+copper-bound doors, which the officers opened, revealing the packages
+that had been taken from the camels.
+
+"Count them, Sergeant," he said, and Quick obeyed by the light of a lamp
+that the officer held at the open door. "All correct, sir," he said, "so
+far as I can make out."
+
+"Very good, Sergeant. Lock the door and take the keys."
+
+Again he obeyed, and, when the officer demurred to their surrender,
+turned on him so fiercely that the man thought better of it and departed
+with a shrug of his shoulders, as I supposed to make report to his
+superiors.
+
+Then at length we got Orme to bed, and, as he complained of intolerable
+pains in his head and would take nothing but some milk and water, having
+first ascertained that he had no serious physical injuries that I could
+discover, I administered to him a strong sleeping-draught from my little
+travelling medicine case. To our great relief this took effect upon him
+in about twenty minutes, causing him to sink into a stupor from which he
+did not awake for many hours.
+
+Quick and I washed ourselves, ate some food that was brought to us, and
+then took turns to watch Orme throughout the night. When I was at my
+post about six o'clock on the following morning he woke up and asked for
+drink, which I gave to him. After swallowing it he began to wander in
+his mind, and, on taking his temperature, I found that he had over five
+degrees of fever. The end of it was that he went off to sleep again,
+only waking up from time to time and asking for more drink.
+
+Twice during the night and early morning Maqueda sent to inquire as to
+his condition, and, apparently not satisfied with the replies, about ten
+in the forenoon arrived herself, accompanied by two waiting-ladies and a
+long-bearded old gentleman who, I understood, was the court physician.
+
+"May I see him?" she asked anxiously.
+
+I answered yes, if she and those with her were quite quiet. Then I led
+them into the darkened room where Quick stood like a statue at the head
+of the bed, only acknowledging her presence with a silent salute. She
+gazed at Oliver's flushed face and the forehead blackened where the
+gases from the explosion had struck him, and as she gazed I saw her
+beautiful violet eyes fill with tears. Then abruptly she turned and
+left the sick-chamber. Outside its doors she waved back her attendants
+imperiously and asked me in a whisper:
+
+"Will he live?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered, for I thought it best that she should learn
+the truth. "If he is only suffering from shock, fatigue, and fever, I
+think so, but if the explosion or the blow on his head where it cut has
+fractured the skull, then----"
+
+"Save him," she muttered. "I will give you all I--nay, pardon me; what
+need is there to tempt you, his friend, with reward? Only save him, save
+him."
+
+"I will do what I can, Lady, but the issue is in other hands than mine,"
+I answered, and just then her attendants came up and put an end to the
+conversation.
+
+To this day the memory of that old rabbi, the court physician, affects
+me like a nightmare, for of all the medical fools that ever I met he
+was by far the most pre-eminent. All about the place he followed me
+suggesting remedies that would have been absurd even in the Middle Ages.
+The least harmful of them, I remember, was that poor Orme's head should
+be plastered with a compound of butter and the bones of a still-born
+child, and that he should be given some filthy compound to drink which
+had been specially blessed by the priests. Others there were also that
+would certainly have killed him in half-an-hour.
+
+Well, I got rid of him at last for the time, and returned to my vigil.
+It was melancholy work, since no skill that I had could tell me whether
+my patient would live or die. Nowadays the young men might know, or
+say that they did, but it must be remembered that, as a doctor, I am
+entirely superannuated. How could it be otherwise, seeing that I have
+passed the best of my life in the desert without any opportunity of
+keeping up with the times.
+
+Three days went by in this fashion, and very anxious days they were. For
+my part, although I said nothing of it to any one, I believed that there
+was some injury to the patient's skull and that he would die, or at best
+be paralyzed. Quick, however, had a different opinion. He said that he
+had seen two men in this state before from the concussion caused by
+the bursting of large shells near to them, and that they both recovered
+although one of them became an idiot.
+
+But it was Maqueda who first gave me any definite hope. On the third
+evening she came and sat by Orme for awhile, her attendants standing
+at a little distance. When she left him there was a new look upon her
+face--a very joyful look--which caused me to ask her what had happened.
+
+"Oh! he will live," she answered.
+
+I inquired what made her think so.
+
+"This," she replied, blushing. "Suddenly he looked up and in my own
+tongue asked me of what colour were my eyes. I answered that it depended
+upon the light in which they might be seen.
+
+"'Not at all,' he said. 'They are always _vi-o-let_, whether the curtain
+is drawn or no.' Now, physician Adams, tell me what is this colour
+_vi-o-let_?"
+
+"That of a little wild flower which grows in the West in the spring, O
+Maqueda--a very beautiful and sweet-scented flower which is dark blue
+like your eyes."
+
+"Indeed, Physician," she said. "Well, I do not know this flower, but
+what of that? Your friend will live and be sane. A dying man does not
+trouble about the colour of a lady's eyes, and one who is mad does not
+give that colour right."
+
+"Are you glad, O Child of Kings?" I asked.
+
+"Of course," she answered, "seeing that I am told that this captain
+alone can handle the firestuffs which you have brought with you, and,
+therefore, that it is necessary to me that he should not die."
+
+"I understand," I replied. "Let us pray that we may keep him alive. But
+there are many kinds of firestuffs, O Maqueda, and of one of them
+which chances to give out violet flames I am not sure that my friend is
+master. Yet in this country it may be the most dangerous of all."
+
+Now when she heard these words the Child of Kings looked me up and down
+angrily. Then suddenly she laughed a little in a kind of silent way that
+is peculiar to her, and, without saying anything, beckoned to her ladies
+and left the place.
+
+"Very variegated thing, woman, sir," remarked Quick, who was watching.
+(I think he meant to say "variable.") "This one, for instance, comes up
+that passage like a tired horse--shuffle, shuffle, shuffle--for I could
+hear the heels of her slippers on the floor. But now she goes out like
+a buck seeking its mate--head in air and hoof lifted. How do you explain
+it, Doctor?"
+
+"You had better ask the lady herself, Quick. Did the Captain take that
+soup she brought him?"
+
+"Every drop, sir, and tried to kiss her hand afterward, being still
+dazed, poor man, poor man! I saw him do it, knowing no better. He'll be
+sorry enough when he comes to himself."
+
+"No doubt, Sergeant. But meanwhile let us be glad that both their
+spirits seem to have improved, and if she brings any more soup when I
+am not there, I should let him have it. It is always well to humour
+invalids and women."
+
+"Yes, Doctor; but," he added, with a sudden fall of face, "invalids
+recover sometimes, and then how about the women."
+
+"Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof," I answered; "you had better
+go out for exercise; it is my watch." But to myself I thought that Fate
+was already throwing its ominous shadow before, and that it lay deep in
+Maqueda's violet eyes.
+
+Well, to cut a long story short, this was the turning-point of Orme's
+illness, and from that day he recovered rapidly, for, as it proved,
+there was no secret injury to the skull, and he was suffering from
+nothing except shock and fever. During his convalescence the Child of
+Kings came to see him several times, or to be accurate, if my memory
+serves me right, every afternoon. Of course, her visits were those of
+ceremony--that is to say, she was always accompanied by several of
+her ladies, that thorn in my flesh, the old doctor, and one or two
+secretaries and officers-in-waiting.
+
+But as Oliver was now moved by day into a huge reception room, and these
+people of the court were expected to stop at one end of it while she
+conversed with him at the other, to all intents and purposes, save for
+the presence of myself and Quick, her calls were of a private nature.
+Nor were we always present, since, now that my patient was out of danger
+the Sergeant and I went out riding a good deal--investigating Mur and
+its surroundings.
+
+It may be asked what they talked about on these occasions. I can only
+answer that, so far as I heard, the general subject was the politics
+of Mur and its perpetual war with the Fung. Still, there must have been
+other topics which I did not hear, since incidently I discovered that
+Orme was acquainted with many of Maqueda's private affairs whereof he
+could only have learned from her lips.
+
+Thus when I ventured to remark that perhaps it was not altogether
+wise for a young man in his position to become so intimate with the
+hereditary ruler of an exclusive tribe like the Abati, he replied
+cheerfully that this did not in the least matter, as, of course,
+according to their ancient laws, she could only marry with one of her
+own family, a fact which made all complications impossible. I inquired
+which of her cousins, of whom I knew she had several, was the happy man.
+He replied:
+
+"None of them. As a matter of fact, I believe that she is officially
+affianced to that fat uncle of hers, the fellow who blows his own
+trumpet so much, but I needn't add that this is only a form to which she
+submits in order to keep the others off."
+
+"Ah!" I said. "I wonder if Prince Joshua thinks it only a form?"
+
+"Don't know what he thinks, and don't care," he replied, yawning; "I
+only know that things stand as I say, and that the porpoise-man has as
+much chance of becoming the husband of Maqueda as you have of marrying
+the Empress of China. And now, to drop this matrimonial conversation and
+come to something more important, have you heard anything about Higgs
+and your son?"
+
+"You are more in the way of learning state secrets than I am, Orme," I
+answered sarcastically, being rather irritated at the course of events
+and his foolishness. "What have you heard?"
+
+"This, old fellow. I can't say how she knows it, but Maqueda says that
+they are both in good health and well treated. Only our friend Barung
+sticks to his word and proposes to sacrifice poor old Higgs on this day
+fortnight. Now, of course, that must be prevented somehow, and prevented
+it shall be if it costs me my life. Don't you suppose that I have been
+thinking about myself all the time, for it isn't so, only the trouble is
+that I can't find any plan of rescue which will hold water."
+
+"Then what's to be done, Orme? I haven't spoken much of the matter
+before for fear of upsetting you when you were still weak, but now that
+you are all right again we must come to some decision."
+
+"I know, I know," he answered earnestly; "and I tell you this, that
+rather than let Higgs die alone there, I will give myself up to Barung,
+and, if I can't save him, suffer with him, or for him if I can. Listen:
+there is to be a great council held by the Child of Kings on the day
+after to-morrow which we must attend, for it has only been postponed
+until I was well enough. At this council that rogue Shadrach is to be
+put upon his trial, and will, I believe, be condemned to death. Also we
+are formally to return Sheba's ring which Maqueda lent to you to be used
+in proof of her story. Well, we may learn something then, or at any rate
+must make up our minds to definite action. And now I am to have my first
+ride, am I not? Come on, Pharaoh," he added to the dog, which had stuck
+at his bedside all through his illness so closely that it was difficult
+to entice him away even to eat; "we are going for a ride, Pharaoh; do
+you hear that, you faithful beast?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE SWEARING OF THE OATH
+
+Two or three days after this conversation, I forget exactly which it
+was, Maqueda held her council in the great hall of the palace. When we
+entered the place in charge of a guard, as though we were prisoners, we
+found some hundreds of Abati gathered there who were seated in orderly
+rows upon benches. At the farther end, in an apse-shaped space, sat the
+Child of Kings herself on a gilded or perhaps a golden chair of which
+the arms terminated in lions' heads. She was dressed in a robe of
+glittering silver, and wore a ceremonial veil embroidered with stars,
+also of silver, and above it, set upon her dark hair, a little circlet
+of gold, in which shone a single gem that looked like a ruby. Thus
+attired, although her stature is small, her appearance was very
+dignified and beautiful, especially as the gossamer veil added mystery
+to her face.
+
+Behind the throne stood soldiers armed with spears and swords, and at
+its sides and in front of it were gathered her court to the number of a
+hundred or more, including her waiting-ladies, who in two companies were
+arranged to the right and left. Each member of this court was gorgeously
+dressed according to his profession.
+
+There were the generals and captains with Prince Joshua at the head of
+them in their Norman-like chain armour. There were judges in black robes
+and priests in gorgeous garments; there were territorial lords, of
+whose attire I remember only that they wore high boots, and men who were
+called Market-masters, whose business it was to regulate the rate of
+exchange of products, and with them the representatives of other trades.
+
+In short, here was collected all the aristocracy of the little
+population of the town and territory of Mur, every one of whom, as we
+found afterwards, possessed some high-sounding title answering to
+those of our dukes and lords and Right Honourables, and knights, to say
+nothing of the Princes of the Blood, of whom Joshua was the first.
+
+Really, although it looked so fine and gay, the spectacle was, in a
+sense, piteous, being evidently but a poor mockery and survival of the
+pageantry of a people that had once been great. The vast hall in which
+they were assembled showed this, since, although the occasion was one
+that excited public interest, it was after all but a quarter filled by
+those who had a right to be present.
+
+With much dignity and to the sound of music we were marched up the broad
+nave, if I may describe it thus, for the building, with its apse and
+supporting cedar columns, bore some resemblance to a cathedral, till
+we reached the open space in front of the throne, where our guards
+prostrated themselves in their Eastern fashion, and we saluted its
+occupant in our own. Then, chairs having been given to us, after a pause
+a trumpet blew, and from a side chamber was produced our late guide,
+Shadrach, heavily manacled and looking extremely frightened.
+
+The trial that followed I need not describe at length. It took a long
+while, and the three of us were called upon to give evidence as to the
+quarrel between our companion, the Professor, and the prisoner about the
+dog Pharaoh and other matters. The testimony, however, that proclaimed
+the guilt of Shadrach was that of his companion guides, who, it
+appeared, had been threatened with floggings unless they told the truth.
+
+These men swore, one after the other, that the abandonment of Higgs had
+been a preconceived plan. Several of them added that Shadrach was in
+traitorous communication with the Fung, whom he had warned of our advent
+by firing the reeds, and had even contrived to arrange that we were to
+be taken while he and the other Abati, with the camels laden with our
+rifles and goods which they hoped to steal, passed through in safety.
+
+In defence Shadrach boldly denied the whole story, and especially that
+he had pushed the Gentile, Higgs, off his dromedary, as was alleged,
+and mounted it himself because his own beast had broken down or been
+injured.
+
+However, his lies availed him little, since, after consultation with the
+Child of Kings, presently one of the black-robed judges condemned him
+to suffer death in a very cruel fashion which was reserved for traitors.
+Further, his possessions were to be forfeited to the State, and his wife
+and children and household to become public slaves, which meant that the
+males would be condemned to serve as soldiers, and the females allotted
+to certain officials in the order of their rank.
+
+Several of those who had conspired with him to betray us to the Fung
+were also deprived of their possessions and condemned to the army, which
+was their form of penal servitude.
+
+Thus amidst a mighty wailing of those concerned and of their friends
+and relatives ended this remarkable trial, of which I give some account
+because it throws light upon the social conditions of Abati. What hope
+is there for a people when its criminals are sent, not to jail, but to
+serve as soldiers, and their womenfolk however innocent, are doomed
+to become the slaves of the judges or whoever these may appoint. Be it
+added, however, that in this instance Shadrach and his friends deserved
+all they got, since, even allowing for a certain amount of false
+evidence, undoubtedly, for the purposes of robbery and private hate,
+they did betray those whom their ruler had sent them to guide and
+protect.
+
+When this trial was finished and Shadrach had been removed, howling for
+mercy and attempting to kiss our feet like the cur he was, the audience
+who had collected to hear it and to see us, the Gentile strangers,
+dispersed, and the members of the Privy Council, if I may call it so,
+were summoned by name to attend to their duties. When all had gathered,
+we three were requested to advance and take seats which had been placed
+for us among the councillors.
+
+Then came a pause, and, as I had been instructed that I should do, I
+advanced and laid Sheba's ring upon a cushion held by one of the court
+officers, who carried it to Maqueda.
+
+"Child of Kings," I said, "take back this ancient token which you lent
+to me to be a proof of your good faith and mine. Know that by means of
+it I persuaded our brother who is captive, a man learned in all that
+has to do with the past, to undertake this mission, and through him the
+Captain Orme who stands before you, and his servant, the soldier."
+
+She took it and, after examination, showed it to several of the priests,
+by whom it was identified.
+
+"Though I parted from it with fear and doubt, the holy ring has served
+its purpose well," she said, "and I thank you, Physician, for returning
+it to my people and to me in safety."
+
+Then she replaced it on the finger from which it had been withdrawn when
+she gave it to me many months before.
+
+There, then, that matter ended.
+
+Now an officer cried:
+
+"Walda Nagasta speaks!" whereon every one repeated, "Walda Nagasta
+speaks," and was silent.
+
+Then Maqueda began to address us in her soft and pleasant voice.
+
+"Strangers from the Western country called England," she said, "be
+pleased to hear me. You know our case with the Fung--that they surround
+us and would destroy us. You know that in our extremity I took advantage
+of the wandering hither of one of you a year ago to beg him to go to his
+own land and there obtain firestuffs and those who understand them, with
+which to destroy the great and ancient idol of the Fung. For that people
+declare that if this idol is destroyed they will leave the land they
+dwell in for another, such being their ancient prophecy."
+
+"Pardon, O Child of Kings," interrupted Orme, "but you will remember
+that only the other day Barung, Sultan of the Fung, said that in this
+event his nation would still live on to avenge their god, Harmac. Also
+he said that of all the Abati he would leave you alive alone."
+
+Now at these ill-omened words a shiver and a murmur went through the
+Council. But Maqueda only shrugged her shoulders, causing the silver
+trimmings on her dress to tinkle.
+
+"I have told you the ancient prophecy," she answered, "and for the rest
+words are not deeds. If the foul fiend, Harmac, goes I think that
+the Fung will follow him. Otherwise, why do they make sacrifice to
+Earthquake as the evil god they have to fear? And when some five
+centuries ago, such an earthquake shook down part of the secret city in
+the bowels of the mountains that I will show to you afterwards, why did
+they fly from Mur and take up their abode in the plain, as they said, to
+protect the god?"
+
+"I do not know," answered Oliver. "If our brother were here, he whom
+the Fung have captured, he might know, being learned in the ways of
+idol-worshipping, savage peoples."
+
+"Alas! O Son of Orme," she said, "thanks to that traitor whom but now we
+have condemned, he is not here and, perhaps, could tell us nothing if
+he were. At least, the saying runs as I have spoken it, and for many
+generations, because of it, we Abati have desired to destroy the idol of
+the Fung to which so many of us have been offered in sacrifice through
+the jaws of their sacred lions. Now I ask," and she leaned forward,
+looking at Oliver, "will you do this for me?"
+
+"Speak of the reward, my niece," broke in Joshua in his thick voice
+when he saw that we hesitated what to answer, "I have heard that these
+Western Gentiles are a very greedy people, who live and die for the gold
+which we despise."
+
+"Ask him, Captain," exclaimed Quick, "if they despise land also, since
+yesterday afternoon I saw one of them try to cut the throat of another
+over a piece not bigger than a large dog-kennel."
+
+"Yes," I added, for I confess that Joshua's remarks nettled me, "and ask
+him whether the Jews did not despoil the Egyptians of their ornaments
+of gold in the old days, and whether Solomon, whom he claims as a
+forefather, did not trade in gold to Ophir, and lastly whether he knows
+that most of his kindred in other lands make a very god of gold."
+
+So Orme, as our spokesman, put these questions with great gusto to
+Joshua, whom he disliked intensely, whereat some of the Council, those
+who were not of the party of the Prince, smiled or even laughed, and the
+silvery ornaments upon Maqueda's dress began to shake again as though
+she also were laughing behind her veil. Still, she did not seem to think
+it wise to allow Joshua to answer--if he could--but did so herself,
+saying:
+
+"The truth is, O my friends, that here we set small store by gold
+because, being shut in and unable to trade, it is of no use to us save
+as an ornament. Were it otherwise, doubtless we should value it as much
+as the rest of the world, Jew or Gentile, and shall do so when we are
+freed from our foes who hem us in. Therefore, my uncle is wrong to claim
+as a virtue that which is only a necessity, especially when, as your
+servant says," and she pointed to the Sergeant, "our people make land
+their gold and will spend their lives in gaining more of it, even when
+they have enough."
+
+"Then do the Gentiles seek no reward for their services?" sneered
+Joshua.
+
+"By no means, Prince," answered Oliver, "we are soldiers of fortune,
+since otherwise why should we have come here to fight your quarrel"
+(laying an unpleasant emphasis on the "your") "against a chief who,
+if half savage, to us seems to have some merits, those of honour and
+courage, for instance? If we risk our lives and do our work, we are not
+too proud to take whatever we can earn. Why should we be, seeing that
+some of us need wealth, and that our brother, who is as good as dead
+yonder, owing to the treachery of those who were sent to guard him,
+has relatives in England who are poor and should be compensated for his
+loss?"
+
+"Why, indeed?" ejaculated Maqueda. "Listen, now, my friends. In my
+own name and in that of the Abati people I promised to you as many
+camel-loads of this gold as you can carry away from Mur, and before the
+day is done I will show it to you if you dare follow me to where it lies
+hid."
+
+"First the work, then the pay," said Oliver. "Now tell us, Child of
+Kings, what is that work?"
+
+"This, O Son of Orme. You must swear--if this is not against your
+consciences as Christians--that for the space of one year from to-day
+you will serve me and fight for me and be subject to my laws, striving
+all the while to destroy the idol Harmac by your Western skill and
+weapons, after which you shall be free to go whither you will with your
+reward."
+
+"And if we swear, Lady," asked Oliver after reflection, "tell us what
+rank shall we hold in your service?"
+
+"You shall be my chief captain for this enterprise, O Son of Orme,
+and those with you shall serve under you in such positions as you may
+please."
+
+At these words a murmur of dissatisfaction arose from the mail-clad
+generals in the Council.
+
+"Are we then, to obey this stranger, O Child of Kings?" queried Joshua
+as their spokesman.
+
+"Aye, my uncle, so far as this great enterprise is concerned, as I have
+said. Can you handle the firestuffs of which they alone have the secret?
+Could any three of you have held the gate of Harmac against the armies
+of the Fung and sent it flying skyward?"
+
+She paused and waited in the midst of a sullen silence.
+
+"You do not answer because you cannot," continued Maqueda. "Then for
+this purpose be content to serve awhile under the command of those who
+have the skill and power which you lack."
+
+Still there was no answer.
+
+"Lady," said Orme in this ominous quiet, "you are so good as to make me
+a general among your soldiers, but will they obey me? And who are your
+soldiers? Does every man of the Abati bear arms?"
+
+"Alas! no," she replied, fixing upon this latter question perhaps
+because she could not answer the first. "Alas! no. In the old days it
+was otherwise, when my great ancestresses ruled, and then we did not
+fear the Fung. But now the people will not serve as soldiers. They say
+it takes them from their trades and the games they love; they say they
+cannot give the time in youth; they say that it degrades a man to obey
+the orders of those set over him; they say that war is barbarous and
+should be abolished, and all the while the brave Fung wait without to
+massacre our men and make our women slaves. Only the very poor and the
+desperate, and those who have offended against the laws will serve in my
+army, except it be as officers. Oh! and therefore are the Abati doomed,"
+and, throwing back her veil, suddenly, she burst into tears before us
+all.
+
+I do not know that I ever remember seeing a sight more pathetic in its
+way than that of this beautiful and high-spirited young woman weeping
+in the presence of her Council over the utter degeneracy of the race
+she was called upon to rule. Being old and accustomed to these Eastern
+expressions of emotion, I remained silent, however; but Oliver was so
+deeply affected that I feared lest he should do something foolish. He
+went red, he went white, and was rising from his seat to go to her, had
+I not caught him by the arm and pulled him back. As for Quick, he turned
+his eyes to the ceiling, as though engaged in prayer, and I heard him
+muttering:
+
+"The Lord help the poor thing, the Lord help her; the one pearl in the
+snout of all these gilded swine! Well, I understand I am a bit of a
+general now, and if I don't make 'em sit up for her sake my name ain't
+Samuel Quick."
+
+Meanwhile there was much consternation and indignant murmuring
+amongst the Court, which felt that reflections had been thrown upon it
+collectively and individually. At such a crisis, as usual, Prince Joshua
+took the lead. Rising from his seat, he knelt, not without difficulty,
+before the throne, and said:
+
+"O Child of Kings, why do you distress us with such words? Have you not
+the God of Solomon to protect you?"
+
+"God protects those who protect themselves," sobbed Maqueda.
+
+"And have you not many brave officers?"
+
+"What are officers without an army?"
+
+"And have you not me, your uncle, your affianced, your lover?" and he
+laid his hand where he conceived his heart to be, and stared up at her
+with his rolling, fish-like eyes. "Had it not been for the interference
+of these Gentiles, in whom you seem to put such trust," he went on,
+"should I not have taken Barung captive the other day, and left the Fung
+without a head?"
+
+"And the Abati without such shreds of honour as still belong to them, my
+uncle."
+
+"Let us be wed, O Bud of the Rose, O Flower of Mur, and soon I will free
+you from the Fung. We are helpless because we are separate, but together
+we shall triumph. Say, O Maqueda, when shall we be wed?"
+
+"When the idol Harmac is utterly destroyed, and the Fung have departed
+for ever, my uncle," she answered impatiently. "But is this a time to
+talk of marriage? I declare the Council closed. Let the priests bring
+the rolls that these strangers from the West may take the oath, and then
+pardon me if I leave you."
+
+Now from behind the throne there appeared a gorgeous gentleman arrayed
+in a head-dress that reminded me faintly of a bishop's mitre, and
+wearing over his robes a breastplate of precious stones roughly
+polished, which was half hidden by a very long white beard.
+
+This person, who it seemed was the high priest, carried in his hand
+a double roll of parchment written over with characters which we
+afterwards discovered were bastard Hebrew, very ancient and only
+decipherable by three or four of the Abati, if indeed any of them could
+really read it. At least it was said to be the roll of the law brought
+by their forefathers centuries ago from Abyssinia, together with Sheba's
+ring and a few other relics, among them the cradle (a palpable forgery),
+in which the child of Solomon and Maqueda, or Belchis, the first known
+Queen of Sheba, was traditionally reported to have been rocked. This
+roll of the law, which for generations had been used at all important
+ceremonies among the Abati, such as the swearing-in of their queens and
+chief officers, was now tendered to us to hold and kiss while we took
+the oath of obedience and allegiance in the names of Jehovah and of
+Solomon (a strange mixture, it struck us), solemnly vowing to perform
+those things which I have already set out.
+
+"This seems a pretty wide promise," said Oliver, after it had been read
+to us and translated by me to Quick. "Do you think that we ought to take
+it on?"
+
+I answered "Yes," that was from my point of view, since otherwise I saw
+no chance of achieving the object that had caused me to enter upon this
+adventure. Then, being especially requested to do so, the Sergeant,
+after reflecting awhile, gave his considered opinion.
+
+"Sir," he said to Orme, "we are three white men here consorting with a
+mob of quarter-bred African Jews and one real lady. It seems to me that
+we had best swear anything they want us to, trusting to the lady to see
+us through the mess, since otherwise we shall be mere filibusters in the
+country without official rank, and liable therefore to be shot on sight
+by the enemy, or any mutineers who get the upper hand here. Also, we
+have the Professor and the Doctor's son to think of. Therefore I say:
+Swear to anything in reason, reserving allegiance to the Crown of Great
+Britain, and trust to luck. You see, Captain, we are in their power
+anyway, and this oath may help, but can't hurt us, while to refuse it
+must give offence to all these skunks, and perhaps to the lady also,
+which is of more consequence."
+
+"I think you are probably right, Sergeant," said Orme. "Anyway, in for a
+penny, in for a pound."
+
+Then he turned to Maqueda, who had been watching this conference in an
+unknown tongue with some anxiety, or so it seemed to me, and added in
+Arabic: "O Child of Kings, we will take your oath, although it is wide,
+trusting to your honour to protect us from any pitfalls which it may
+cover, for we would ask you to remember that we are strangers in your
+land who do not understand its laws and customs. Only we stipulate
+that we retain our allegiance to our own ruler far away, remaining the
+subjects of that monarch with all rights thereto appertaining. Also,
+we stipulate that before we enter on our duties, or at any rate during
+those duties, we shall be at full liberty to attempt the rescue of our
+friend and companion, now a prisoner in the hands of the Fung, and of
+the son of one of us who is believed to be a slave to them, and that
+we shall have all the assistance which you can give us in this matter.
+Moreover, we demand that if we should be tried for any offence under
+this oath, you to whom we swear allegiance shall be our judge alone,
+none others intermeddling in the trial. If you accept these terms
+we will swear the oath; otherwise we swear nothing, but will act as
+occasion may arise."
+
+Now we were requested to stand back while the Child of Kings consulted
+with her advisers, which she did for a considerable time, since
+evidently the questions raised involved differences of opinion. In the
+end, however, she and those who supported her seemed to overrule the
+objectors, and we were called up and told that our terms had been
+accepted and engrossed upon the form of the oath, and that everything
+there included would be faithfully observed by the Ruler and Council of
+the Abati.
+
+So we signed and swore, kissing the book, or rather the roll, in the
+civilized fashion. Afterwards, very tired, for all this business had
+been anxious, we were conducted back to our own quarters to lunch, or
+rather to dine, for the Abati ate their heaviest meal at midday, taking
+a siesta after it according to the common Eastern custom.
+
+About four o'clock of that afternoon I was awakened from my nap by the
+growls of Pharaoh, and looked up to see a man crouching against the
+door, evidently in fear of the dog's fangs. He proved to be a messenger
+from Maqueda, sent to ask us if we cared to accompany her to a place
+that we had never seen. Of course we answered "Yes," and were at once
+led by the messenger to a disused and dusty hall at the back of the
+palace, where presently Maqueda and three of her ladies joined us, and
+with them a number of men who carried lighted lamps, gourds of oil, and
+bundles of torches.
+
+"Doubtless, friends," said Maqueda, who was unveiled and appeared to
+have quite recovered from our outburst of the morning, "you have seen
+many wonderful places in this Africa and other lands, but now I am about
+to show you one that, I think, is stranger than them all."
+
+Following her, we came to a door at the end of the hall which the men
+unbolted and shut again behind us, and thence passed into a long passage
+cut in the rock, that sloped continuously downwards and at length led
+through another doorway to the vastest cave that we had ever heard of or
+seen. So vast was it, indeed, that the feeble light of our lamps did not
+suffice to reach the roof, and only dimly showed to right and left the
+outlines of what appeared to be shattered buildings of rock.
+
+"Behold the cave city of Mur," said Maqueda, waving the lamp she
+held. "Here it was that the ancients whom we believe to have been the
+forefathers of the Fung, had their secret stronghold. These walls were
+those of their granaries, temples, and places of ceremonial, but, as I
+have told you, centuries ago an earthquake shattered them, leaving them
+as they are now. Also, it broke down much of the cave itself, causing
+the roof to fall, so that there are many parts where it is not safe to
+enter. Come now and see what is left."
+
+We followed her into the depth of the wonderful place, our lanterns and
+torches making little stars of light in that great blackness. We saw the
+ruins of granaries still filled with the dust of what I suppose had once
+been corn, and came at length to a huge, roofless building of which
+the area was strewn with shattered columns, and among them overgrown
+statues, covered so thick by dust that we could only discover that most
+of them seemed to be shaped like sphinxes.
+
+"If only Higgs were here," said Oliver with a sigh, and passed on to
+Maqueda, who was calling him to look at something else.
+
+Leaving the temple in which it was unsafe to walk, she led us to where
+a strong spring, the water supply of the place, bubbled up into a rock
+basin, and overflowing thence through prepared openings, ran away we
+knew not whither.
+
+"Look, this fountain is very ancient," said Maqueda, pointing to the
+lip of the basin that was worn away to the depth of several inches where
+those who drew water had for many generations rested their hands upon
+the hard rock.
+
+"How did they light so vast a cavern?" asked Oliver.
+
+"We do not know," she answered, "since lamps would scarcely have served
+them. It is a secret of the past which none of the Abati have cared to
+recover, and another is how the air is always kept fresh so deep in
+the bowels of the mountain. We cannot even say whether this place is
+natural, as I think, or hollowed out by men."
+
+"Both, I expect," I answered. "But tell me, Lady, do the Abati make any
+use of this great cave?"
+
+"Some corn is still stored here in pits in case of siege," she replied,
+adding sadly, "but it is not enough to be of real service, since almost
+all of it comes from the estates of the Child of Kings. In vain have
+I prayed the people to contribute, if only a hundredth part of their
+harvest, but they will not. Each says that he would give if his
+neighbour gave, and so none give. And yet a day may come when a store
+of corn alone would stand between them and death by hunger--if the Fung
+held the valley, for instance," and she turned impatiently and walked
+forward to show us the stables where the ancients kept their horses and
+the marks of their chariot wheels in the stone floor.
+
+"Nice people, the Abati, sir," said Quick to me. "If it weren't for
+the women and children, and, above all, for this little lady, whom I am
+beginning to worship like my master, as in duty bound, I'd like to see
+them do a bit of hungering."
+
+"There is one more place to show you," said Maqueda, when we had
+inspected the stables and argued as to what possible causes could have
+induced the ancients to keep horses underground, "which perhaps you will
+think worth a visit, since it holds the treasures that are, or shall be,
+yours. Come!"
+
+We started forward again along various passages, the last of which
+suddenly widened into a broad and steep incline of rock, which we
+followed for quite fifty paces till it ended in what seemed to be a
+blank wall. Here Maqueda bade her ladies and attendants halt, which
+indeed they seemed very anxious to do, though at the moment we did not
+know why. Then she went to one end of the wall where it joined that of
+the passage, and, showing us some loose stones, asked me to pull them
+out, which I did, not without difficulty. When an aperture had been made
+large enough for a man to creep through, she turned to her people and
+said:
+
+"You, I know, believe this place to be haunted, nor would the bravest of
+you enter it save by express command. But I and these strangers have no
+such fears. Therefore give us a gourd of oil and some torches and bide
+where you are till we return, setting a lamp in the hole in the wall to
+guide us in case our own should become extinguished. No, do not reason
+but obey. There is no danger, for though hot, the air within is pure, as
+I know who have breathed it more than once."
+
+Then she gave her hand to Oliver, and with his assistance crept through
+the hole. We followed, to find ourselves in another cavern, where, as
+she had said, the temperature was much hotter than that without.
+
+"What is this place?" asked Orme in a low voice, for its aspect seemed
+to awe him.
+
+"The tomb of the old kings of Mur," she replied. "Presently you shall
+see," and once more she took his hand, for the slope was sharp and
+slippery.
+
+On we went, always descending, for perhaps four hundred yards, our
+footfalls echoing loudly in the intense silence, and our lamps, round
+which the bats circled in hundreds, making four stars of light in
+the utter blackness, till at length the passage widened out into what
+appeared to be a vast circular arena, with a lofty dome-like roof of
+rock. Maqueda turned to the right, and, halting before some objects that
+glimmered whitely, held up her light, saying, "Look!"
+
+This was what we saw: A great stone chair and, piled upon its seat
+and upon its base, human bones. Amongst these was a skull, and on it,
+grotesquely tilted, a crown of gold, while other ornaments--sceptres,
+rings, necklaces, weapons and armour--were mingled with the bones. Nor
+was this all, for in a wide circle round the chair were other skeletons,
+fifty or more of them, and amongst them the ornaments that their owners
+had worn.
+
+Also, in front of each stood a tray of some metal, which we afterwards
+discovered to be silver or copper, and heaped upon it every kind of
+valuable, such as golden cups and vases, toilet utensils, necklaces,
+pectorals, bracelets, leglets, earrings and beads that seemed to be cut
+from precious stones, piles of ring money, and a hundred other things
+such as have been prized by mankind since the beginning of civilization.
+
+"You understand," said Maqueda, as we stared, open-mouthed at this awful
+and marvellous sight, "he in the chair was the king. Those about him
+were his officers, guards, and women. When he was buried they brought
+his household here, bearing his wealth, sat them down about him, and
+killed them. Blow away the dust, and you will see that the rock beneath
+is still stained with their blood; also, there are the sword-marks on
+their skulls, and neckbones."
+
+Quick, who was of an inquiring mind, stepped forward and verified these
+statements.
+
+"Golly!" he said, throwing down the skull of a man over whom the tired
+executioners had evidently bungled badly, "I'm glad I didn't serve the
+old kings of Mur. But the same game goes on in a small way to-day in
+Africa, for when I was campaigning on the West Coast I came across
+it not a fortnight old, only there they had buried the poor beggars
+living."
+
+"Perhaps," said Maqueda, when the Sergeant's remarks had been translated
+to her. "Yet I do not think the custom is one that my people would
+love," and she laughed a little, then added, "forward, friends, there
+are many more of these kings and oil does not burn for ever."
+
+So we moved on, and at a distance of some twenty paces found another
+chair with scattered bones on and about the seat, lying where each
+had fallen as the dead man decayed. Round it were the skeletons of the
+unfortunates who had been doomed to accompany him upon his last journey,
+every one of them behind his tray of golden objects, or of simple
+treasure. In front of this king's chair also were the bones of a dog
+with a jewelled collar.
+
+Again we proceeded to a third mortuary, if it may so be called, and here
+Maqueda pointed out the skeleton of a man, in front of which stood a
+tray piled up with what evidently had been the medicine bottles of the
+period and among them a number of rude surgical instruments.
+
+"Say, O Physician Adams," she remarked with a smile, "would you have
+wished to be court doctor to the kings of Mur, if indeed that was then
+their city's name?"
+
+"No, Lady," I answered; "but I do wish to examine his instruments if
+I have your leave," and while she hurried forward I stooped down and
+filled my pockets. Here I may remark, that upon subsequent inspection
+I found among these instruments, manufactured I know not what number of
+thousands of years ago--for on that point controversy rages among the
+learned--many that with modifications are still in use to-day.
+
+Of that strange and dreadful sepulchre there is little more to tell.
+From monarch to monarch we marched on till at length we grew weary of
+staring at bones and gold. Even Quick grew weary, who had passed his
+early youth in assisting his father, the parish sexton, and therefore,
+like myself, regarded these relics with professional interest, though of
+a different degree. At any rate, he remarked that this family vault was
+uncommonly hot, and perhaps, if it pleased her Majesty, as he called
+Maqueda, we might take the rest of the deceased gentlemen as read, like
+a recruit's attestation questions.
+
+But just then we came to No. 25, according to my counting, and were
+obliged to stop to wonder, for clearly this king had been the greatest
+of them all, since round him lay about two or three times the average
+number of dead, and an enormous quantity of wealth, some of it in the
+form of little statues of men and women, or perhaps of gods. Yet, oddly
+enough, he was hunchback with a huge skull, almost a monstrosity indeed.
+Perhaps his mind partook of the abnormal qualities of his body, since no
+less than eleven little children had been sacrificed at his obsequies,
+two of whom, judging from their crooked bones, must have been his own.
+
+One wonders what chanced in Mur and the surrounding territories which
+then acknowledged its sway when King Hunchback ruled. Alas! history
+writes no record.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+QUICK LIGHTS A MATCH
+
+"Here we begin to turn, for this cave is a great circle," said Maqueda
+over her shoulder.
+
+But Oliver, whom she addressed, had left her side and was engaged
+in taking observations behind the hunchback's funeral chair with an
+instrument which he had produced from his pocket.
+
+She followed him and asked curiously what this thing might be, and why
+he made use of it here.
+
+"We call it a compass," he answered, "and it tells me that beyond us
+lies the east, where the sun rises; also it shows at what height we
+stand above the sea, that great water which you have never seen, O Child
+of Kings. Say now, if we could walk through this rock, what should we
+find out yonder?"
+
+"The lion-headed idol of the Fung, I have been told," she answered.
+"That which you saw before you blew up the gate of the city Harmac. But
+how far off it may be I do not know, for I cannot see through stone.
+Friend Adams, help me to refill the lamps, for they burn low, and all
+these dead would be ill company in the dark. So at least my people
+think, since there is not one of them that dares to enter this place.
+When first we found it only a few years ago and saw the company it held,
+they fled, and left me to search it alone. Look, yonder are my footsteps
+in the dust."
+
+So I refilled the shallow hand-lamps, and while I did so Orme took
+some hasty observations of which he jotted down the results in his
+pocket-book.
+
+"What have you learned?" she asked, when at last he rejoined us somewhat
+unwillingly, for she had been calling to him to come.
+
+"Not so much as I should have done if you could have given me more
+time," he replied, adding in explanation, "Lady, I was brought up as
+an engineer, that is, one who executes works, and to do so takes
+measurements and makes calculations. For instance, those dead men who
+hollowed or dressed these caves must have been engineers and no mean
+ones."
+
+"We have such among us now," she said. "They raise dams and make drains
+and houses, though not so good as those which were built of old. But
+again I ask--what have you learned, O wise Engineer?"
+
+"Only that here we stand not so very far above the city Harmac, of which
+I chanced to take the level, and that behind yonder chair there was,
+I think, once a passage which has been built up. But be pleased to say
+nothing of the matter, Lady, and to ask me no more questions at present,
+as I cannot answer them with certainty."
+
+"I see that you are discreet as well as wise," she replied with some
+sarcasm. "Well, since I may not be trusted with your counsel, keep it to
+yourself."
+
+Oliver bowed and obeyed this curt instruction.
+
+Then we began our return journey, passing many more groups of skeletons
+which now we scarcely troubled to look at, perhaps because the heavy air
+filled with dust that once had been the flesh of men, was telling on
+our energies. Only I noticed, or rather the observant Quick called my
+attention to the fact, that as we went the kings in their chairs
+were surrounded by fewer and fewer attendants and women, and that the
+offerings placed at their feet were of an ever-lessening value. Indeed,
+after we had passed another five or six of them, their murdered retinues
+dwindled to a few female skeletons, doubtless those of favourite wives
+who had been singled out for this particular honour.
+
+At length there were none at all, the poor monarchs, who now were
+crowded close together, being left to explore the shades alone, adorned
+merely with their own jewellery and regalia. Ultimately even these were
+replaced by funeral gold-foil ornaments, and the trays of treasure by
+earthenware jars which appeared to have contained nothing but food and
+wine, and added to these a few spears and other weapons. The last of
+the occupied chairs, for there were empty ones beyond, contained bones
+which, from their slenderness and the small size of the bracelets among
+them, I saw at once had belonged to a woman who had been sent to the
+grave without companions or any offerings at all.
+
+"Doubtless," said Maqueda, when I pointed this out to her, "at that time
+the ancients had grown weak and poor, since after so many kings they
+permitted a woman to rule over them and had no wealth to waste upon her
+burial. That may have been after the earthquake, when only a few people
+were left in Mur before the Abati took possession of it."
+
+"Where, then, are those of your own house buried?" asked Oliver, staring
+at the empty chairs.
+
+"Oh! not in this place," she answered; "I have told you it was
+discovered but a few years ago. We rest in tombs outside, and for my
+part I will sleep in the simple earth, so that I may live on in grass
+and flowers, if in no other way. But enough of death and doom. Soon,
+who can tell how soon? we shall be as these are," and she shuddered.
+"Meanwhile, we breathe, so let us make the best of breath. You have seen
+your fee, say, does it content you?"
+
+"What fee?" he asked. "Death, the reward of Life? How can I tell until I
+have passed its gate?"
+
+Here this philosophical discussion was interrupted by the sudden decease
+of Quick's lamp.
+
+"Thought there was something wrong with the blooming thing," said the
+Sergeant, "but couldn't turn it up, as it hasn't got a screw, without
+which these old-fashioned colza oils never were no good. Hullo! Doctor,
+there goes yours," and as he spoke, go it did.
+
+"The wicks!" exclaimed Maqueda, "we forgot to bring new wicks, and
+without them of what use is oil? Come, be swift; we are still far from
+the mouth of this cave, where none except the high priests will dare to
+seek us," and, taking Oliver by the hand, she began to run, leaving us
+two to follow as best we could.
+
+"Steady, Doctor," said Quick, "steady. In the presence of disaster
+comrades should always stick together, as it says in the Red-book
+presented by the crown to warrant officers, but paid for out of their
+deferred allowance. Take my arm, Doctor. Ah! I thought so, the more
+haste the less speed. Look there," and he pointed to the flying shapes
+ahead, now a long way off, and with only one lamp between them.
+
+Next instant Maqueda turned round holding up this remaining lamp and
+called to us. I saw the faint light gleam upon her beautiful face and
+glitter down the silver ornaments of her dress. Very wild and strange
+she looked in that huge vault, seen thus for a single moment, then seen
+no more, for presently where the flame had been was but a red spark, and
+then nothing at all.
+
+"Stop still till we come back to you," cried Oliver, "and shout at
+intervals."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Quick, and instantly let off a fearful yell,
+which echoed backward and forward across the vault till I was quite
+bewildered.
+
+"All right, coming," answered Oliver, and his voice sounded so far to
+the left that Quick thought it wise to yell again.
+
+To cut a long story short, we next heard him on our right and then
+behind us.
+
+"Can't trust sounds here, sir, echoes are too uncertain," said the
+Sergeant; "but come on, I think I've placed them now," and calling
+to _them_ not to move, we headed in what we were sure was the right
+direction.
+
+The end of that adventure was that presently I tripped up over a
+skeleton and found myself lying half stunned amidst trays of treasure,
+affectionately clasping a skull under the impression that it was Quick's
+boot.
+
+He hauled me up again somehow, and, as we did not know what to do, we
+sat down amidst the dead and listened. By now the others were apparently
+so far off that the sound of Oliver's calling only reached us in faint,
+mysterious notes that came from we knew not whence.
+
+"As, like idiots, we started in such a hurry that we forgot to bring any
+matches with us, there is nothing to be done, except wait," I said. "No
+doubt in due course those Abati will get over their fear of ghosts and
+come to look for us."
+
+"Wish I could do the same, sir. I didn't mind those deaders in the
+light, but the dark's a different matter. Can't you hear them rattling
+their shanks and talking all round us?"
+
+"Certainly I do hear something," I answered, "but I think it must be the
+echo of our own voices."
+
+"Well, let us hold our jaw, sir, and perhaps they will hold theirs, for
+this kind of conversation ain't nice."
+
+So we were silent, but the strange murmuring still went on, coming
+apparently from the wall of the cave behind us, and it occurred to me
+that I had once heard something like it before, though at the time I
+could not think where. Afterwards I remembered that it was when, as
+a boy, I had been taken to see the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul's
+Cathedral in London.
+
+Half-an-hour or so went by in this fashion, and still there were no
+signs of the Abati or of our missing pair. Quick began to fumble among
+his clothes. I asked him what he was doing.
+
+"Can't help thinking I've got a wax match somewhere, Doctor. I remember
+feeling it in one of the pockets of this coat on the day before we left
+London, and thinking afterwards it wasn't safe to have had it packed in
+a box marked 'Hold.' Now if only I could find that match, we have got
+plenty of torches, for I've stuck to my bundle all through, although I
+never thought of them when the lamps were going out."
+
+Having small belief in the Sergeant's match, I made no answer, and the
+search went on till presently I heard him ejaculate:
+
+"By Jingo, here it is, in the lining. Yes, and the head feels all right.
+Now, Doctor, hold two of the torches toward me; make ready, present,
+fire!" and he struck the match and applied it to the heads of the
+resinous torches.
+
+Instantly these blazed up, giving an intense light in that awful
+darkness. By this light, for one moment only, we saw a strange, and not
+unattractive spectacle. I think I forgot to say that in the centre of
+this vault stood a kind of altar, which until that moment, indeed, I
+had not seen. This altar, which, doubtless, had been used for ceremonial
+purposes at the funerals of the ancient Kings, consisted of a plain
+block of basalt stone, whereon was cut the symbol of a human eye, the
+stone being approached by steps and supported upon carved and crouching
+sphinxes.
+
+On the lowest of these steps, near enough to enable us to see them quite
+clearly, were seated Oliver Orme and Maqueda, Child of Kings. They were
+seated very close together; indeed, if I must tell the truth, Oliver's
+arm was about Maqueda's waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, and
+apparently he was engaged in kissing her upon the lips.
+
+"Right about face," hissed the Sergeant, in a tone of command, "and mark
+time!"
+
+So we right-abouted for a decent period, then, coughing loudly--because
+of the irritant smoke of the torches--advanced to cross the cavern,
+and by accident stumbled upon our lost companions. I confess that I had
+nothing to say, but Quick rose to the occasion nobly.
+
+"Glad to see you, Captain," he said to Oliver. "Was getting very anxious
+about you, sir, until by good luck I found a match in the lining of my
+coat. If the Professor had been here he'd have had plenty, which is an
+argument in favour of continuous smoking, even when ladies are present.
+Ah! no wonder her Majesty is faint in this hot place, poor young thing.
+It's lucky you didn't leave hold of her, sir. Do you think you could
+manage to support her, sir, as we ought to be moving. Can't offer to do
+so myself, as I have lamed my foot with the tooth of a dead king, also
+my arms are full of torches. But if you prefer the Doctor--what do you
+say, sir? That you _can_ manage? There is such an echo in this vault
+that it is difficult to hear--very well, let us go on, for these torches
+won't last for ever, and you wouldn't like us to have to spend a whole
+night here with the lady in such a delicate condition, would you,
+especially as those nasty-tempered Abati might say that you had done
+it on purpose? Take her Majesty's arm, Doctor, and let us trek. I'll go
+ahead with the torches."
+
+To all this artless harangue Oliver answered not a single word, but
+glared at us suspiciously over the shape of Maqueda, who apparently had
+fainted. Only when I ventured to offer her some professional assistance
+she recovered, and said that she could get on quite well alone, which
+meant upon Orme's arm.
+
+Well, the end of it was that she got on, and so did we, for the torches
+lasted until we reached the narrow, sloping passage, and, rounding the
+corner, saw the lantern burning in the hole in the wall, after which, of
+course, things were easy.
+
+
+
+"Doctor," said Oliver to me in a voice of studied nonchalance that
+night, as we were preparing to turn in, "did you notice anything in the
+Vault of Kings this afternoon?"
+
+"Oh, yes," I answered, "lots! Of course, myself, I am not given to
+archaeology, like poor Higgs, but the sight struck me as absolutely
+unique. If I were inclined to moralize, for instance, what a contrast
+between those dead rulers and their young and beautiful successor, full
+of life and love"--here he looked at me sharply--"love of her people,
+such as I have no doubt in their day----"
+
+"Oh, shut it, Adams! I don't want a philosophical lecture with
+historical comparisons. Did you notice anything except bones and gold
+when that unutterable ass, Quick, suddenly turned on the lights--I mean
+struck the match which unfortunately he had with him."
+
+Now I gave it up and faced the situation.
+
+"Well, if you want the truth," I said, "not _very_ much myself, for
+my sight isn't as good as it used to be. But the Sergeant, who has
+extraordinarily sharp eyes, thought that he saw you kissing Maqueda,
+a supposition that your relative attitudes seemed to confirm, which
+explains, moreover, some of the curious sounds we heard before he lit
+the torches. That's why he asked me to turn my back. But, of course, we
+may have been mistaken. Do I understand you to say that the Sergeant was
+mistaken?"
+
+Oliver consigned the Sergeant's eyes to an ultimate fate worse than
+that which befell those of Peeping Tom; then, in a burst of candour, for
+subterfuge never was his forte, owned up:
+
+"You made no mistake," he said, "we love each other, and it came out
+suddenly in the dark. I suppose that the unusual surroundings acted on
+our nerves."
+
+"From a moral point of view I am glad that you love each other," I
+remarked, "since embraces that are merely nervous cannot be commended.
+But from every other, in our circumstances the resulting situation
+strikes me as a little short of awful, although Quick, a most observant
+man, warned me to expect it from the first."
+
+"Curse Quick," said Oliver again, with the utmost energy. "I'll give him
+a month's notice this very night."
+
+"Don't," I said, "for then you'll oblige him to take service with
+Barung, where he would be most dangerous. Look here, Orme, to drop
+chaff, this is a pretty mess."
+
+"Why? What's wrong about it, Doctor?" he asked indignantly. "Of course,
+she's a Jew of some diluted sort or other, and I'm a Christian; but
+those things adapt themselves. Of course, too, she's my superior, but
+after all hers is a strictly local rank, and in Europe we should be
+on much the same footing. As for her being an Eastern, what does that
+matter? Surely it is not an objection which should have weight with
+_you_. And for the rest, did you ever see her equal?"
+
+"Never, never, _never_!" I answered with enthusiasm. "The young lady
+to whom any gentleman has just engaged himself is always absolutely
+unequalled, and, let me admit at once that this is perhaps the most
+original and charming that I have ever met in all Central Africa. Only,
+whatever may be the case with you, I don't know whether this fact will
+console me and Quick when our throats are being cut. Look here, Orme," I
+added, "didn't I tell you long ago that the one thing you must _not_ do
+was to make love to the Child of Kings?"
+
+"Did you? Really, I forget; you told me such a lot of things, Doctor,"
+he answered coolly enough, only unfortunately the colour that rose in
+his cheeks betrayed his lips.
+
+At this moment, Quick, who had entered the room unobserved, gave a dry
+cough, and remarked:
+
+"Don't blame the Captain, Doctor, because he don't remember. There's
+nothing like shock from an explosion for upsetting the memory. I've
+seen that often in the Boer war, when, after a big shell had gone off
+somewhere near them, the very bravest soldiers would clean forget that
+it was their duty to stand still and not run like rabbits; indeed, it
+happened to me myself."
+
+I laughed, and Oliver said something which I could not hear, but Quick
+went on imperturbably:
+
+"Still, truth is truth, and if the Captain has forgotten, the more
+reason that we should remind him. That evening at the Professor's house
+in London you did warn him, sir, and he answered that you needn't bother
+your head about the fascinations of a nigger woman----"
+
+"Nigger woman," broke out Oliver; "I never used such words; I never
+even thought them, and you are an impertinent fellow to put them into my
+mouth. Nigger woman! Good heavens! It's desecration."
+
+"Very sorry, Captain, now I come to think of it, I believe you said
+black woman, speaking in your haste. Yes and I begged you not to brag,
+seeing that if you did we might live to see you crawling after her, with
+myself, Samuel Quick bringing up the rear. Well, there it is we are, and
+the worst of it is that I can't blame you, being as anticipated in the
+prophecy--for that's what it was though I didn't know it myself at
+the time--exactly in the same state myself, though, of course, at a
+distance, bringing up the rear respectfully, as said."
+
+"You don't mean that you are in love with the Child of Kings?" said
+Oliver, staring at the Sergeant's grim and battered figure.
+
+"Begging your pardon, Captain, that is exactly what I do mean. If a cat
+may look at a queen, why mayn't a man love her? Howsoever, my kind of
+love ain't likely to interfere with yours. My kind means sentry-go and
+perhaps a knife in my gizzard; yours--well, we saw what yours means
+this afternoon, though what it will all lead to we didn't see. Still,
+Captain, speaking as one who hasn't been keen on the sex heretofore,
+I say--sail in, since it's worth it, even if you've got to sink
+afterwards, for this lady, although she is half a Jew, and I never
+could abide Jews, is the sweetest and the loveliest and the best and the
+bravest little woman that ever walked God's earth."
+
+At this point Oliver seized his hand and shook it warmly, and I may
+mention that I think some report of Quick's summary of her character
+must have reached Maqueda's ears. At any rate, thenceforward until the
+end she always treated the old fellow with what the French call the
+"most distinguished consideration."
+
+But, as I was not in love, no one shook my hand, so, leaving the other
+two to discuss the virtues and graces of the Child of Kings, I went off
+to bed filled with the gloomiest forbodings. What a fool I had been not
+to insist that whatever expert accompanied Higgs should be a married
+man. And yet, now when I came to think of it, that might not have
+bettered matters, and perhaps would only have added to the transaction
+a degree of moral turpitude which at present was lacking, since even
+married men are sometimes weak.
+
+The truth was that Maqueda's attractions were extraordinarily great. To
+her remarkable beauty she added a wonderful charm of manner and force
+of mind. Also her situation must touch the heart and pity of any man,
+so helpless was she in the midst of all her hollow grandeur, so lonely
+amongst a nation of curs whom she strove in vain to save, and should
+she escape destruction with them, doomed to so sad and repulsive a fate,
+namely to become the wife of a fat poltroon who was her own uncle. Well,
+we know to what emotion pity is akin, and the catastrophe had occurred a
+little sooner than I had expected, that was all.
+
+Doubtless to her, in comparison with the men to whom she was accustomed
+and allowed by etiquette to take as her associates, this brave and
+handsome young Englishman, who had come into her care sick and shattered
+after the doing of a great deed, must have seemed a veritable fairy
+prince. And she had helped to nurse him, and he had shown himself
+grateful for her kindness and condescension, and--the rest followed, as
+surely as the day follows the night.
+
+But how would it end? Sooner or later the secret must come out, for
+already the Abati nobles, if I may call them so for want of a better
+name, and especially Joshua, were bitterly jealous of the favour their
+lady showed to the foreigner, and watched them both. Then what--what
+would happen? Under the Abati law it was death for any one outside of
+the permitted degree of relationship to tamper with the affections of
+the Child of Kings. Nor was this wonderful, since that person held her
+seat in virtue of her supposed direct descent from Solomon and the first
+Maqueda, Queen of Sheba, and therefore the introduction of any alien
+blood could not be tolerated.
+
+Moreover, Orme, having sworn an oath of allegiance, had become subject
+to those laws. Lastly, I could not in the least hope from the character
+of the pair concerned that this was but a passing flirtation.
+
+Oh! without a doubt these two had signed their own death-warrant yonder
+in the Cave of Death, and incidentally ours also. This must be the end
+of our adventure and my long search for the son whom I had lost.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE RESCUE FAILS
+
+Our breakfast on the following morning was a somewhat gloomy meal. By
+common consent no allusion was made to the events of the previous day,
+or to our conversation at bedtime.
+
+Indeed, there was no talk at all to speak of, since, not knowing
+what else to do, I thought I could best show my attitude of mind by
+preserving a severe silence, while Quick seemed to be absorbed
+in philosophical reflections, and Orme looked rather excited and
+dishevelled, as though he had been writing poetry, as I daresay was
+the case. In the midst of this dreary meal a messenger arrived, who
+announced that the Walda Nagasta would be pleased to see us all within
+half-an-hour.
+
+Fearing lest Orme should say something foolish, I answered briefly that
+we would wait upon her, and the man went, leaving us wondering what had
+happened to cause her to desire our presence.
+
+At the appointed time we were shown into the small audience room, and,
+as we passed its door, I ventured to whisper to Oliver:
+
+"For your own sake and hers, as well as that of the rest of us, I
+implore you to be careful. Your face is watched as well as your words."
+
+"All right, old fellow," he answered, colouring a little. "You may trust
+me."
+
+"I wish I could," I muttered.
+
+Then we were shown in ceremoniously, and made our bows to Maqueda, who
+was seated, surrounded by some of the judges and officers, among them,
+Prince Joshua, and talking to two rough-looking men clad in ordinary
+brown robes. She greeted us, and after the exchange of the usual
+compliments, said:
+
+"Friends, I have summoned you for this reason. This morning when the
+traitor Shadrach was being led out to execution at the hands of these
+men, the officers of the law, he begged for a delay. When asked why, as
+his petition for reprieve had been refused, he said that if his life
+was spared he could show how your companion, he whom they call Black
+Windows, may be rescued from the Fung."
+
+"How?" asked Orme and I in one breath.
+
+"I do not know," she answered, "but wisely they spared the man. Let him
+be brought in."
+
+A door opened, and Shadrach entered, his hands bound behind his back and
+shackles on his feet. He was a very fearful and much chastened Shadrach,
+for his eyes rolled and his teeth chattered with terror, as, having
+prostrated himself to the Walda Nagasta, he wriggled round and tried to
+kiss Orme's boot. The guards pulled him to his feet again, and Maqueda
+said:
+
+"What have you to tell us, traitor, before you die?"
+
+"The thing is secret, O Bud of the Rose. Must I speak before so many?"
+
+"Nay," she answered, and ordered most of those present to leave the
+room, including the executioners and soldiers.
+
+"The man is desperate, and there will be none left to guard him," said
+Joshua nervously.
+
+"I'll do that, your Highness," answered Quick in his bad Arabic, and
+stepping up behind Shadrach he added in English, "Now then, Pussy, you
+behave, or it will be the worse for you."
+
+When all had gone again Shadrach was commanded to speak and say how he
+could save the Englishman whom he had betrayed into the hands of the
+Fung.
+
+"Thus, Child of Kings," he answered, "Black Windows, as we know, is
+imprisoned in the body of the great idol."
+
+"How do you know it, man?"
+
+"O Lady, I do know it, and also the Sultan said so, did he not? Well,
+I can show a secret road to that idol whence he may be reached and
+rescued. In my boyhood I, who am called Cat, because I can climb so
+well, found that road, and when the Fung took me afterward and threw
+me to the lions, where I got these scars upon my face, by it I escaped.
+Spare me, and I will show it to you."
+
+"It is not enough to show the road," said Maqueda. "Dog, you must save
+the foreign lord whom you betrayed. If you do not save him you die. Do
+you understand?"
+
+"That is a hard saying, Lady," answered the man. "Am I God that I should
+promise to save this stranger who perchance is already dead? Yet I
+will do my best, knowing that if I fail you will kill me, and that if
+I succeed I shall be spared. At any rate, I will show you the road to
+where he is or was imprisoned, although I warn you that it is a rough
+one."
+
+"Where you can travel we can follow," said Maqueda. "Tell us now what we
+must do."
+
+So he told her, and when he had done the Prince Joshua intervened,
+saying that it was not fitting that the Child of Kings in her own sacred
+person should undertake such a dangerous journey. She listened to his
+remonstrances and thanked him for his care of her.
+
+"Still I am going," she said, "not for the sake of the stranger who is
+called Black Windows, but because, if there is a secret way out of Mur
+I think it well that I should know that way. Yet I agree with you,
+my uncle, that on such a journey I ought not to be unprotected, and
+therefore I pray that you will be ready to start with us at noon, since
+I am sure that then we shall all be safe."
+
+Now Joshua began to make excuses, but she would not listen to them.
+
+"No, no," she said, "you are too honest. The honour of the Abati is
+involved in this manner, since, alas! it was an Abati that betrayed
+Black Windows, and an Abati--namely, yourself--must save him. You have
+often told me, my uncle, how clever you are at climbing rocks, and now
+you shall make proof of your skill and courage before these foreigners.
+It is a command, speak no more," and she rose, to show that the audience
+was finished.
+
+
+
+That same afternoon Shadrach, by mountain paths that were known to him,
+led a little company of people to the crest of the western precipice of
+Mur. Fifteen hundred feet or more beneath us lay the great plains upon
+which, some miles away, could be seen the city of Harmac. But the idol
+in the valley we could not see, because here the precipice bent over and
+hid it from our sight.
+
+"What now, fellow," said Maqueda, who was clad in the rough sheepskin
+of a peasant woman, which somehow looked charming upon her. "Here is the
+cliff, there lies the plain; I see no road between the two, and my wise
+uncle, the prince, tells me that he never heard of one."
+
+"Lady," answered the man, "now I take command, and you must follow me.
+But first let us see that nobody and nothing are lacking."
+
+Then he went round the company and numbered them. In all we were
+sixteen; Maqueda and Joshua, we three Englishmen, armed with repeating
+rifles and revolvers, our guide Shadrach, and some picked Mountaineers
+chosen for their skill and courage. For even in Mur there were brave men
+left, especially among the shepherds and huntsmen, whose homes were on
+the cliffs. These sturdy guides were laden with ropes, lamps, and long,
+slender ladders that could be strapped together.
+
+When everything had been checked and all the ladders and straps tested,
+Shadrach went to a clump of bushes which grew feebly on the wind-swept
+crest of the precipice. In the midst of these he found and removed a
+large flat stone, revealing what evidently had been the head of a stair,
+although now its steps were much worn and crumbled by the water that in
+the wet season followed this natural drain to the depths below.
+
+"This is that road the ancients made for purposes of their own,"
+explained Shadrach, "which, as I have said, I chanced to discover when
+I was a boy. But let none follow it who are afraid, for it is steep and
+rough."
+
+Now Joshua, who was already weary with his long ride and walk up to the
+crest of the precipice, implored Maqueda almost passionately to abandon
+the idea of entering this horrid hole, while Oliver backed up his
+entreaties with few words but many appealing glances, for on this point,
+though for different reasons, the prince and he were at one.
+
+But she would not listen.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "with you, the experienced mountaineer, why should
+I be afraid? If the Doctor here, who is old enough to be the father of
+either of us" (so far as Joshua was concerned this remark lacked truth),
+"is willing to go, surely I can go also? Moreover, if I remained behind,
+you would wish to stay to guard me, and never should I forgive myself
+if I deprived you of such a great adventure. Also, like you, I love
+climbing. Come, let us waste no more time."
+
+So we were roped up. First went Shadrach, with Quick next to him, a
+position which the Sergeant insisted upon occupying as his custodian,
+and several of the Mountaineers, carrying ladders, lamps, oil, food and
+other things. Then in a second gang came two more of these men, Oliver,
+Maqueda, myself, and next to me, Joshua. The remaining mountaineers
+brought up the rear, carrying spare stores, ladders, and so forth. When
+all was ready the lamps were lit, and we started upon a very strange
+journey.
+
+For the first two hundred feet or so the stairs, though worn and almost
+perpendicular, for the place was like the shaft of a mine, were not
+difficult to descend, to any of us except Joshua, whom I heard puffing
+and groaning behind me. Then came a gallery running eastward at a steep
+slope for perhaps fifty paces, and at the end of it a second shaft of
+about the same depth as the first, but with the stairs much more worn,
+apparently by the washing of water, of which a good deal trickled out of
+the sides of the shaft. Another difficulty was that the air rushing up
+from below made it hard to keep the lamps alight.
+
+Toward the bottom of this section there was scarcely any stair left, and
+the climbing became very dangerous. Here, indeed, Joshua slipped, and
+with a wail of terror slid down the shaft and landed with his legs
+across my back in such a fashion that had I not happened to have
+good hand and foot hold at the time, he would have propelled me on to
+Maqueda, and we must have all rolled down headlong, probably to our
+deaths.
+
+As it was, this fat and terrified fellow cast his arms about my neck, to
+which he clung, nearly choking me, until, just when I was about to faint
+beneath his weight and pressure, the Mountaineers in the third party
+arrived and dragged him off. When they had got him in charge, for I
+refused to move another step while he was immediately behind me, we
+descended by a ladder which the first party had set up, to the second
+level, where began another long, eastward sloping passage that ended at
+the mouth of a third pit.
+
+Here arose the great question as to what was to be done with the Prince
+Joshua, who vowed that he could go no farther, and demanded loudly to be
+taken back to the top of the cliff, although Shadrach assured him that
+thenceforward the road was much easier. At length we were obliged to
+refer the matter to Maqueda, who settled it in very few words.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "you tell us that you cannot come on, and it
+is certain that we cannot spare the time and men to send you back.
+Therefore, it seems that you must stop where you are until we return,
+and if we should not return, make the best of your own way up the shaft.
+Farewell, my uncle, this place is safe and comfortable, and if you are
+wise you will rest awhile."
+
+"Heartless woman!" gobbled Joshua, who was shaking like a jelly with
+fear and rage. "Would you leave your affianced lord and lover alone in
+this haunted hole while you scramble down rocks like a wild cat with
+strangers? If I must stay, do you stay with me?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Maqueda with decision. "Shall it be said that
+the Child of Kings is afraid to go where her guests can travel?"
+
+Well, the end of it was that Joshua came on in the centre of the third
+body of Mountaineers, who were practically obliged to carry him.
+
+Shadrach was right, since for some reason or other the stairs
+thenceforward remained more perfect. Only they seemed almost endless,
+and before we reached our goal I calculated that we must have descended
+quite twelve hundred feet into the bowels of the rock. At length, when I
+was almost tired out and Maqueda was so breathless that she was obliged
+to lean on Oliver, dragging me behind her like a dog on a string, of a
+sudden we saw a glimmer of daylight that crept into the tunnel through a
+small hole. By the mouth of yet another pit or shaft, we found Shadrach
+and the others waiting for us. Saluting, he said that we must unrope,
+leave our lamps behind, and follow him. Oliver asked him whither this
+last shaft led.
+
+"To a still lower level, lord," he answered, "but one which you will
+scarcely care to explore, since it ends in the great pit where the Fung
+keep their sacred lions."
+
+"Indeed," said Oliver, much interested for reasons of his own, and he
+glanced at Quick, who nodded his head and whistled.
+
+Then we all followed Shadrach to find ourselves presently upon a plateau
+about the size of a racquet court which, either by nature or by the hand
+of man, had been recessed into the face of that gigantic cliff. Going
+to the edge of this plateau, whereon grew many tree-ferns and some thick
+green bushes that would have made us invisible from below even had there
+been any one to see us, we saw that the sheer precipice ran down beneath
+for several hundred feet. Of these yawning depths, however, we did not
+at the moment make out much, partly because they were plunged in shadow
+and partly for another reason.
+
+Rising out of the gulf below was what we took at first to be a rounded
+hill of black rock, oblong in shape, from which projected a gigantic
+shaft of stone ending in a kind of fretted bush that alone was of the
+size of a cottage. The point of this bush-like rock was exactly opposite
+the little plateau on to which we had emerged and distant from it not
+more than thirty, or at most, forty feet.
+
+"What is that?" asked Maqueda, of Shadrach, pointing in front of her, as
+she handed back to one of the Mountaineers a cup from which she had been
+drinking water.
+
+"That, O Walda Nagasta," he answered, "is nothing else than the back
+of the mighty idol of the Fung, which is shaped like a lion. The great
+shaft of rock with the bush at the end of it is the tail of the lion.
+Doubtless this platform on which we stand is a place whence the old
+priests, when they owned Mur as well as the land of the Fung, used to
+hide themselves to watch whatever it was they wanted to see. Look," and
+he pointed to certain grooves in the face of the rock, "I think that
+here there was once a bridge which could be let down at will on to the
+tail of the lion-god, though long ago it has rotted away. Yet ere now I
+have travelled this road without it."
+
+We stared at him astonished, and in the silence that followed I heard
+Maqueda whisper to Oliver:
+
+"Perhaps that is how he whom we call Cat escaped from the Fung; or
+perhaps that is how he communicates with them as a spy."
+
+"Or perhaps he is a liar, my Lady," interrupted Quick, who had also
+overheard their talk, a solution which, I confess, commended itself to
+me.
+
+"Why have you brought us here?" asked Maqueda presently.
+
+"Did I not tell you in Mur, Lady--to rescue Black Windows? Listen, now,
+it is the custom of the Fung to allow those who are imprisoned within
+the idol to walk unguarded upon its back at dawn and sunset. At least,
+this is their custom with Black Windows--ask me not how I know it; this
+is truth, I swear it on my life, which is at stake. Now this is my plan.
+We have with us a ladder which will reach from where we stand to the
+tail of the idol. Should the foreign lord appear upon the back of the
+god, which, if he still lives, as I believe he does, he is almost sure
+to do at sundown, as a man who dwells in the dark all day will love the
+light and air when he can get them, then some of us must cross and bring
+him back with us. Perhaps it had best be you, my lord Orme, since if
+I went alone, or even with these men, after what is past Black Windows
+might not altogether trust me."
+
+"Fool," broke in Maqueda, "how can a man do such a thing?"
+
+"O Lady, it is not so difficult as it looks. A few steps across the
+gulf, and then a hundred feet or so along the tail of the lion which
+is flat on the top and so broad that one may run down it if careful to
+follow the curves, that is on a still day--nothing more. But, of course,
+if the Lord Orme is afraid, which I did not think who have heard so much
+of his courage----" and the rogue shrugged his shoulders and paused.
+
+"Afraid, fellow," said Oliver, "well, I am not ashamed to be afraid of
+such a journey. Yet if there is need I will make it, though not before
+I see my brother alone yonder on the rock, since all this may be but
+a trick of yours to deliver me to the Fung, among whom I know that you
+have friends."
+
+"It is madness; you shall not go," said Maqueda. "You will fall and be
+dashed to pieces. I say that you shall not go."
+
+"Why should he not go, my niece?" interrupted Joshua. "Shadrach is
+right; we have heard much of the courage of this Gentile. Now let us see
+him do something."
+
+She turned on the Prince like a tiger.
+
+"Very good, my uncle, then you shall go with him. Surely one of the
+ancient blood of the Abati will not shirk from what a 'Gentile' dares."
+
+On hearing this Joshua relapsed into silence, and I have no clear memory
+of what he did or said in connection with the rest of that thrilling
+scene.
+
+Now followed a pause in the midst of which Oliver sat down and began to
+take off his boots.
+
+"Why do you undress yourself, friend?" asked Maqueda nervously.
+
+"Because, Lady," he answered, "if I have to walk yonder road it is safer
+to do so in my stockings. Have no fear," he added gently, "from boyhood
+I have been accustomed to such feats, and when I served in my country's
+army it was my pleasure to give instruction in them, although it is true
+that this one surpasses all that ever I attempted."
+
+"Still I do fear," she said.
+
+Meanwhile Quick had sat down and begun to take off _his_ boots.
+
+"What are you doing, Sergeant?" I asked.
+
+"Getting ready to accompany the Captain upon forlorn hope, Doctor."
+
+"Nonsense," I said, "you are too old for the game, Sergeant. If any one
+goes, I should, seeing that I believe my son is over there, but I can't
+try it, as I know my head would give out, and I should fall in a second,
+which would only upset everybody."
+
+"Of course," broke in Oliver, who had overheard us, "I'm in command
+here, and my orders are that neither of you shall come. Remember,
+Sergeant, that if anything happens to me it is your business to take
+over the stores and use them if necessary, which you alone can do. Now
+go and see to the preparations, and find out the plan of campaign, for I
+want to rest and keep quiet. I daresay the whole thing is humbug, and we
+shall see nothing of the Professor; still, one may as well be prepared."
+
+So Quick and I went to superintend the lashing of two of the light
+ladders together and the securing of some planks which we had brought
+with us upon the top of the rungs, so as to make these ladders easy to
+walk on. I asked who would be of the party besides Shadrach and Orme,
+and was told no one, as all were afraid. Ultimately, however, a man
+named Japhet, one of the Mountaineers, volunteered upon being promised
+a grant of land from the Child of Kings herself, which grant she
+proclaimed before them all was to be given to his relatives in the event
+of his death.
+
+At length everything was ready, and there came another spell of silence,
+for the nerves of all of us were so strained that we did not seem able
+to talk. It was broken by a sound of sudden and terrible roaring that
+arose from the gulf beneath.
+
+"It is the hour of the feeding of the sacred lions which the Fung keep
+in the pit about the base of the idol," explained Shadrach. Then he
+added, "Unless he should be rescued, I believe that Black Windows
+will be given to the lions to-night, which is that of full moon and a
+festival of Harmac, though maybe he will be kept till the next full moon
+when all the Fung come up to worship."
+
+This information did not tend to raise anyone's spirits, although Quick,
+who always tried to be cheerful, remarked that it was probably false.
+
+The shadows began to gather in the Valley of Harmac, whereby we knew
+that the sun was setting behind the mountains. Indeed, had it not been
+for a clear and curious glow reflected from the eastern sky, the gulf
+would have plunged us in gloom. Presently, far away upon a rise of rock
+which we knew must be the sphinx head of the huge idol, a little figure
+appeared outlined against the sky, and there began to sing. The moment
+that I heard the distant voice I went near to fainting, and indeed
+should have fallen had not Quick caught me.
+
+"What is it, Adams?" asked Oliver, looking up from where he and Maqueda
+sat whispering to each other while the fat Joshua glowered at them in
+the background. "Has Higgs appeared?"
+
+"No," I answered, "but, thank God, my son still lives. That is his
+voice. Oh! if you can, save him, too."
+
+Now there was much suppressed excitement, and some one thrust a pair
+of field-glasses into my hand, but either they were wrongly set or the
+state of my nerves would not allow me to see through them. So Quick took
+them and reported.
+
+"Tall, slim figure wearing a white robe, but at the distance in this
+light can't make out the face. One might hail him, perhaps, only it
+would give us away. Ah! the hymn is done and he's gone; seemed to jump
+into a hole in the rock, which shows that he's all right, anyway, or
+he couldn't jump. So cheer up, Doctor, for you have much to be thankful
+for."
+
+"Yes," I repeated after him, "much to be thankful for, but still I would
+that I had more after all these years to search. To think that I should
+be so close to him and he know nothing of it."
+
+After the ceasing of the song and the departure of my son, there
+appeared upon the back of the idol three Fung warriors, fine fellows
+clad in long robes and armed with spears, and behind them a trumpeter
+who carried a horn or hollowed elephant's tusk. These men marched up and
+down the length of the platform from the rise of the neck to the root of
+the tail, apparently to make an inspection. Having found nothing, for,
+of course, they could not see us hidden behind the bushes on our little
+plateau, of which no doubt they did not even know the existence, and
+much less that it was connected with the mountain plain of Mur, the
+trumpeter blew a shrill blast upon his horn, and before the echoes of it
+had died away, vanished with his companions.
+
+"Sunset tour of inspection. Seen the same kind of thing as at Gib.,"
+said the Sergeant. "Oh! by Jingo! Pussy isn't lying after all--there
+he is," and he pointed to a figure that rose suddenly out of the black
+stone of the idol's back just as the guards had done.
+
+It was Higgs, Higgs without a doubt; Higgs wearing his battered
+sun-helmet and his dark spectacles; Higgs smoking his big meerschaum
+pipe, and engaged in making notes in a pocket-book as calmly as though
+he sat before a new object in the British Museum.
+
+I gasped with astonishment, for somehow I had never expected that we
+should really see him, but Orme, rising very quietly from his seat
+beside Maqueda, only said:
+
+"Yes, that's the old fellow right enough. Well, now for it. You,
+Shadrach, run out your ladder and cross first that I may be sure you
+play no trick."
+
+"Nay," broke in Maqueda, "this dog shall not go, for never would he
+return from his friends the Fung. Man," she said, addressing Japhet, the
+Mountaineer to whom she had promised land, "go you over first and hold
+the end of the ladder while this lord crosses. If he returns safe your
+reward is doubled."
+
+Japhet saluted, the ladder was run out and its end set upon the
+roughnesses in the rock that represented the hair of the sphinx's tail.
+The Mountaineer paused a moment with hands and face uplifted; evidently
+he was praying. Then bidding his companions hold the hither end of the
+ladder, and having first tested it with his foot and found that it hung
+firm, calmly he walked across, being a brave fellow, and presently was
+seen seated on the opposing mass of rock.
+
+Now came Oliver's turn. He nodded to Maqueda, who went white as a sheet,
+muttering some words to her that did not reach me. Then he turned and
+shook my hand.
+
+"If you can, save my son also," I whispered.
+
+"I'll do my best if I can get hold of him," he answered. "Sergeant, if
+anything happens to me you know your duty."
+
+"I'll try and follow your example, Captain, under all circumstances,
+though that will be hard," replied Quick in a rather shaky voice.
+
+Oliver stepped out on the ladder. I reckoned that twelve or fourteen
+short paces would take him across, and the first half of these he
+accomplished with quiet certainty. When he was in the exact middle of
+the passage, however, the end of one of the uprights of the ladder at
+the farther side slipped a little, notwithstanding the efforts of Japhet
+to keep it straight, with the result that the plank bound on the rungs
+lost its level, sinking an inch or so to the right, and nearly causing
+Oliver to fall from it into the gulf. He wavered like a wind-shaken
+reed, attempted to step forward, hesitated, stopped, and slowly sank on
+to his hands and knees.
+
+"_Ah_!" panted Maqueda.
+
+"The Gentile has lost his head," began Joshua in a voice full of the
+triumph that he could not hide. "He--will----"
+
+Joshua got no further, for Quick, turning, threatened him savagely with
+his fist, saying in English:
+
+"Stow your jaw if you don't want to follow him, you swine," whereon
+Joshua, who understood the gesture, if not the words, relapsed into
+silence.
+
+Now the Mountaineer on the farther side spoke, saying:
+
+"Have no fear, the ladder is safe."
+
+For a moment Oliver remained in his crouching posture on the board,
+which was all that separated him from an awful death in the gulf
+beneath. Next, while we watched, agonized, he rose to his feet again,
+and with perfect calmness walked across to its other end.
+
+"Well done our side!" said Quick, addressing Joshua, "why don't your
+Royal Highness cheer? No, you leave that knife alone, or presently
+there'll be a hog the less in this world," and stooping down he relieved
+the Prince of the weapon which he was fingering with his round eyes
+fixed upon the Sergeant.
+
+Maqueda, who had noted all, now interfered.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "brave men are risking their lives yonder while we
+sit in safety. Be silent and cease from quarrelling, I pray you."
+
+Next moment we had forgotten all about Joshua, being utterly absorbed in
+watching the drama in progress upon the farther side of the gulf. After
+a slight pause to recover his nerve or breath, Orme rose, and preceded
+by Japhet, climbed up the bush-like rock till he reached the shaft
+of the sphinx's tail. Here he turned and waved his hand to us,
+then following the Mountaineer, walked, apparently with the utmost
+confidence, along the curves of the tail to where it sprang from the
+body of the idol. At this spot there was a little difficulty in climbing
+over the smooth slope of rock on to the broad terrace-like back. Soon,
+however, they surmounted it, and vanishing for a few seconds into
+the hollow of the loins, which, of course, was a good many feet deep,
+re-appeared moving toward the shoulders. Between these we could see
+Higgs standing with his back toward us, utterly unconscious of all that
+was passing behind him.
+
+Passing Japhet, Oliver walked up to the Professor and touched him on
+the arm. Higgs turned, stared at the pair for a moment, and then, in
+his astonishment, or so we guessed, sat down plump upon the rock. They
+pulled him to his feet, Orme pointing to the cliff behind, and evidently
+explaining the situation and what must be done. Then followed a short
+and animated talk. Through the glasses we could even see Higgs shaking
+his head. He told them something, they came to a determination, for
+now he turned, stepped forward a pace or two, and vanished, as I learnt
+afterwards, to fetch my son, without whom he would not try to escape.
+
+A while went by; it seemed an age, but really was under a minute. We
+heard the sound of shouts. Higgs's white helmet reappeared, and then his
+body, with two Fung guards clinging on to him. He yelled out in English
+and the words reached us faintly:
+
+"Save yourself! I'll hold these devils. Run, you infernal fool, run!"
+
+Oliver hesitated, although the Mountaineer was pulling at him, till the
+heads of more Fung appeared. Then, with a gesture of despair, he turned
+and fled. First ran Oliver, then Japhet, whom he had outpaced, and after
+them came a number of priests or guards, waving knives, while in the
+background Higgs rolled on the rock with his captors.
+
+The rest was very short. Orme slid down the rump of the idol on to the
+tail, followed by the Mountaineer, and after them in single file came
+three Fung, who apparently thought no more of the perilous nature of
+their foothold than do the sheiks of the Egyptian pyramids when they
+swarm about those monuments like lizards. Nor, for the matter of that,
+did Oliver or Japhet, who doubled down the tail as though it were a race
+track. Oliver swung himself on to the ladder, and in a second was
+half across it, we holding its other end, when suddenly he heard his
+companion cry out. A Fung had got hold of Japhet by the leg and he lay
+face downward on the board.
+
+Oliver halted and slowly turned round, drawing his revolver as he did
+so. Then he aimed and fired, and the Fung, leaving go of Japhet's leg,
+threw up his arms and plunged headlong into the gulf beneath. The next
+thing I remember is that they were both among us, and somebody shouted,
+"Pull in the ladder."
+
+"No," said Quick, "wait a bit."
+
+Vaguely I wondered why, till I perceived that three of those courageous
+Fung were following across it, resting their hands upon each other's
+shoulders, while their companions cheered them.
+
+"Now, pull, brothers, pull!" shouted the Sergeant, and pull we did. Poor
+Fung! they deserved a better fate.
+
+"Always inflict loss upon the enemy when you get a chance," remarked the
+Sergeant, as he opened fire with his repeating rifle upon other Fung
+who by now were clustering upon the back of the idol. This position,
+however, they soon abandoned as untenable, except one or two of them who
+remained there, dead or wounded.
+
+A silence followed, in the midst of which I heard Quick saying to Joshua
+in his very worst Arabic:
+
+"Now does your Royal Highness think that we Gentiles are cowards,
+although it is true those Fung are as good men as we any day?"
+
+Joshua declined argument, and I turned to watch Oliver, who had covered
+his face with his hands, and seemed to be weeping.
+
+"What is it, O friend, what is it?" I heard Maqueda say in her gentle
+voice--a voice full of tears, tears of gratitude I think. "You have done
+a great deed; you have returned safe; all is well."
+
+"Nay," he answered, forgetting her titles in his distress, "all is ill.
+I have failed, and to-night they throw my brother to the lions. He told
+me so."
+
+Maqueda, finding no answer, stretched out her hand to the Mountaineer,
+his companion in adventure, who kissed it.
+
+"Japhet," she said, "I am proud of you; your reward is fourfold, and
+henceforth you are a captain of my Mountaineers."
+
+"Tell us what happened," I said to Oliver.
+
+"This," he answered: "I remembered about your son, and so did Higgs. In
+fact, he spoke of him first--they seem to have become friends. He said
+he would not escape without him, and could fetch him in a moment, as
+he was only just below. Well, he went to do so, and must have found the
+guard instead, who, I suppose, had heard us talking. You know as much
+about the rest as I do. To-night, when the full moon is two hours high,
+there is to be a ceremony of sacrifice, and poor Higgs will be let down
+into the den of lions. He was writing his will in a note-book when we
+saw him, as Barung had promised to send it to us."
+
+"Doctor," said the Sergeant, in a confidential voice, when he had
+digested this information, "would you translate for me a bit, as I want
+to have a talk with Cat there, and my Arabic don't run to it?"
+
+I nodded, and we went to that corner of the plateau where Shadrach stood
+apart, watching and listening.
+
+"Now, Cat," said the Sergeant (I give his remarks in his own language,
+leaving out my rendering) "just listen to me, and understand that if
+you tell lies or play games either you or I don't reach the top of this
+cliff again alive. Do you catch on?"
+
+Shadrach replied that he caught on.
+
+"Very well. You've told us that once you were a prisoner among the
+Fung and thrown to these holy lions, but got out. Now just explain what
+happened."
+
+"This, O Quick. After ceremonies that do not matter, I was let down in
+the food-basket into the feeding-den, and thrown out of the basket like
+any other meat. Then the gates were lifted up by the chains, and the
+lions came in to devour me according to their custom."
+
+"And what happened next, Shadrach?"
+
+"What happened? Why, of course I hid myself in the shadow as much as
+possible, right against the walls of the precipice, until a satan of
+a she-lion snuffled me out and gave a stroke at me. Look, here are the
+marks of her claws," and he pointed to the scars upon his face. "Those
+claws stung like scorpions; they made me mad. The terror which I had
+lost when I saw their yellow eyes came back to me. I rushed at the
+precipice as a cat that is hunted by a dog rushes at a wall. I clung
+to its smooth side with my nails, with my toes, with my teeth. A lion
+leaped up and tore the flesh of my leg, here, here," and he showed the
+marks, which we could scarcely see in that dim light. "He ran back for
+another spring. Above me I saw a tiny ledge, big enough for a hawk to
+sit on--no more. I jumped, I caught it, drawing up my legs so that the
+lion missed me. I made the effort a man makes once in his life. Somehow
+I dragged myself to that ledge; I rested one thigh upon it and pressed
+against the rock to steady myself. Then the rock gave, and I tumbled
+backward into the bottom of a tunnel. Afterwards I escaped to the top
+of the cliff in the dark, O God of Israel! in the dark, smelling my way,
+climbing like a baboon, risking death a thousand times. It took me two
+whole days and nights, and the last of those nights I knew not what I
+did. Yet I found my way, and that is why my people name me Cat."
+
+"I understand," said Quick in a new and more respectful voice, "and
+however big a rascal you may be, you've got pluck. Now, say, remembering
+what I told you," and he tapped the handle of his revolver, "is that
+feeding-den where it used to be?"
+
+"I believe so, O Quick; why should it be changed? The victims are let
+down from the belly of the god, just there between his thighs where are
+doors. The feeding-place lies in a hollow of the cliff; this platform on
+which we stand is over it. None saw my escape, therefore none searched
+for the means of it, since they thought that the lions had devoured
+me, as they have devoured thousands. No one enters there, only when the
+beasts have fed full they draw back to their sleeping-dens, and those
+who watch above let down the bars. Listen," and as he spoke we heard a
+crash and a rattle far below. "They fall now, the lions having eaten.
+When Black Windows and perhaps others are thrown to them, by and by,
+they will be drawn up again."
+
+"Is that hole in the rock still there, Shadrach?"
+
+"Without doubt, though I have not been down to look."
+
+"Then, my boy, you are going now," remarked Quick grimly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DEN OF LIONS
+
+We returned to the others and told them everything that we had learned
+from Shadrach.
+
+"What's your plan, Sergeant?" asked Oliver when he had heard. "Tell me,
+for I have none; my head is muddled."
+
+"This, Captain, for what it is worth; that I should go down through the
+hole that Cat here speaks of, and get into the den. Then when they let
+down the Professor, if they do, and pull up the gates, that I should
+keep back the lions with my rifle while he bolts to the ladder which is
+ready for him, and I follow if I can."
+
+"Capital," said Orme, "but you can't go alone. I'll come too."
+
+"And I also," I said.
+
+"What schemes do you make?" asked Maqueda eagerly, for, of course, she
+could not understand our talk.
+
+We explained.
+
+"What, my friend," she said to Oliver reproachfully, "would you risk
+your life again to-night? Surely it is tempting the goodness of God."
+
+"It would be tempting the goodness of God much more if I left my friend
+to be eaten by lions, Lady," he answered.
+
+Then followed much discussions. In the end it was agreed that we should
+descend to the level of the den, if this were possible; that Oliver and
+Quick should go down into the den with Japhet, who instantly volunteered
+to accompany them, and that I, with some of the Mountaineers, should
+stop in the mouth of the hole as a reserve to cover their retreat from
+the lions. I pleaded to be allowed to take a more active part, but of
+this they would not hear, saying with some truth, that I was by far the
+best shot of the three, and could do much more to help them from above,
+if, as was hoped, the moon should shine brightly.
+
+But I knew they really meant that I was too old to be of service in such
+an adventure as this. Also they desired to keep me out of risk.
+
+Then came the question as to who should descend the last tunnel to the
+place of operations. Oliver wished Maqueda to return to the top of the
+cliff and wait there, but she said at once that she could not think of
+attempting the ascent without our aid; also that she was determined to
+see the end of the matter. Even Joshua would not go; I think, that being
+an unpopular character among them, he distrusted the Mountaineers, whose
+duty it would have been to escort him.
+
+It was suggested that he should remain where he was until we returned,
+if we did return, but this idea commended itself to him still less than
+the other. Indeed he pointed out with much truth what we had overlooked,
+namely, that now the Fung knew of the passage and were quite capable
+of playing our own game, that is, of throwing a bridge across from the
+sphinx's tail and attempting the storm of Mur.
+
+"And then what should I do if they found me here alone?" he added
+pathetically.
+
+Maqueda answered that she was sure she did not know, but that meanwhile
+it might be wise to block the mouth of the tunnel by which we had
+reached the plateau in such a fashion that it could not easily be
+forced.
+
+"Yes," answered Oliver, "and if we ever get out of this, to blow the
+shaft in and make sure that it cannot be used."
+
+"That shaft might be useful, Captain," said Quick doubtfully.
+
+"There is a better way, Sergeant, if we want to mine under the sphinx;
+I mean through the Tomb of Kings. I took the levels roughly, and the end
+of it can't be far off. Anyhow, this shaft is of no more use to us now
+that the Fung have found it out."
+
+Then we set to work to fill in the mouth of the passage with such loose
+stones as we could find. It was a difficult business, but in the end the
+Mountaineers made a very fair job of it under our direction, piling the
+rocks in such a fashion that they could scarcely be cleared away in any
+short time without the aid of explosives.
+
+While this work was going on, Japhet, Shadrach, and the Sergeant in
+charge of him, undertook to explore the last shaft which led down to the
+level of the den. To our relief, just as we had finished building up
+the hole, they returned with the news that now after they had removed a
+fallen stone or two it was quite practicable with the aid of ropes and
+ladders.
+
+So, in the same order as before, we commenced its passage, and in about
+half-an-hour, for it was under three hundred feet in depth, arrived
+safely at the foot. Here we found a bat-haunted place like a room that
+evidently had been hollowed out by man. As Shadrach had said, at its
+eastern extremity was a large, oblong boulder, so balanced that if even
+one person pushed on either of its ends it swung around, leaving on
+each side a passage large enough to allow a man to walk through in a
+crouching attitude.
+
+Very silently we propped open this primaeval door and looked out. Now the
+full moon was up, and her brilliant light had begun to flood the gulf.
+By it we saw a dense shadow, that reached from the ground to three
+hundred feet or so above us. This we knew to be that thrown by the
+flanks of the gigantic sphinx which projected beyond the mountain of
+stone whereon it rested, those flanks whence, according to Shadrach,
+Higgs would be lowered in a food-basket. In this shadow and on either
+side of it, covering a space of quite a hundred yards square, lay the
+feeding-den, whence arose a sickly and horrible odour such as is common
+to any place frequented by cats, mingled with the more pungent smell of
+decaying flesh.
+
+This darksome den was surrounded on three sides by precipices, and on
+the fourth, that toward the east, enclosed by a wall or barrier of rock
+pierced with several gates made of bars of metal, or so we judged by the
+light that flowed through them.
+
+From beyond this eastern wall came dreadful sounds of roars, snarls, and
+whimperings. Evidently there the sacred lions had their home.
+
+Only one more thing need be mentioned. On the rock floor almost
+immediately beneath us lay remains which, from their torn clothes and
+hair, we knew must be human. As somebody explained, I think it was
+Shadrach, they were those of the man whom Orme had shot upon the tail of
+the sphinx, and of his companions who had been tilted off the ladder.
+
+For awhile we gazed at this horrible hole in silence. Then Oliver took
+out his watch, which was a repeater, and struck it.
+
+"Higgs told me," he said, "that he was to be thrown to the lions two
+hours after moonrise, which is within fifteen minutes or so. Sergeant, I
+think we had better be getting ready."
+
+"Yes, Captain," answered Quick; "but everything is quite ready,
+including those brutes, to judge by the noise they make, excepting
+perhaps Samuel Quick, who never felt less ready for anything in his
+life. Now then, Pussy, run out that ladder. Here's your rifle, Captain,
+and six reload clips of cartridges, five hollow-nosed bullets in each.
+You'll never want more than that, and it's no use carrying extra weight.
+In your right-hand pocket, Captain, don't forget. I've the same in mine.
+Doctor, here's a pile for you; laid upon that stone. If you lie there,
+you'll have a good light and rest for your elbow, and at this range
+ought to make very pretty shooting, even in the moonlight. Best keep
+your pistol on the safe, Captain; at least, I'm doing so, as we might
+get a fall, and these new-fangled weapons are very hair-triggered.
+Here's Japhet ready, too, so give us your marching orders, sir, and we
+will go to business; the Doctor will translate to Japhet."
+
+"We descend the ladder," said Orme, "and advance about fifty paces into
+the shadow, where we can see without being seen; where also, according
+to Shadrach, the food-basket is let down. There we shall stand and await
+the arrival of this basket. If it contains the Professor, he whom the
+Fung and the Abati know as Black Windows, Japhet, you are to seize him
+and lead, or if necessary carry, him to the ladder, up which some of the
+mountaineers must be ready to help him. Your duty, Sergeant, and mine,
+also that of the Doctor firing from above, will be to keep off the lions
+as best we can, should any lions appear, retreating as we fire. If the
+brutes get one of us he must be left, since it is foolish that both
+lives should be sacrificed needlessly. For the rest, you, Sergeant,
+and you, Japhet, must be guided by circumstances and act upon your own
+discretion. Do not wait for special orders from me which I may not be
+able to give. Now, come on. If we do not return, Adams, you will see the
+Child of Kings safely up the shafts and conduct her to Mur. Good-bye,
+Lady."
+
+"Good-bye," answered Maqueda in a brave voice; I could not see her
+face in the darkness. "Presently, I am sure, you will return with your
+brother."
+
+Just then Joshua broke in:
+
+"I will not be outdone in courage by these Gentiles," he said. "Lacking
+their terrible weapons, I cannot advance into the den, but I will
+descend and guard the foot of the ladder."
+
+"Very well, sir," answered Orme in an astonished voice, "glad to have
+your company, I am sure. Only remember that you must be quick in going
+up it again, since hungry lions are active, and let all take notice that
+we are not responsible for anything that may happen to you."
+
+"Surely you had better stop where you are, my uncle," remarked Maqueda.
+
+"To be mocked by you for ever after, my niece. No, I go to face the
+lions," and very slowly he crept through the hole and began to descend
+the ladder. Indeed, when Quick followed after an interval he found
+him only half-way down, and had to hurry his movements by accidentally
+treading on his fingers.
+
+A minute or two later, peeping over the edge, I saw that they were all
+in the den, that is, except Joshua, who had reascended the ladder to the
+height of about six feet, and stood on it face outward, holding to the
+rock on either side with his hands as though he had been crucified.
+Fearing lest he should be seen there, even in the shadow, I suggested to
+Maqueda that she should order him either to go down, or to return, which
+she did vigorously, but without effect. So in the end we left him alone.
+
+Meanwhile the three had vanished into the shadow of the sphinx, and we
+could see nothing of them. The great round moon rose higher and higher,
+flooding the rest of the charnel-house with light, and, save for an
+occasional roar or whimper from the lions beyond the wall, the silence
+was intense. Now I could make out the metal gates in this wall, and even
+dark and stealthy forms which passed and repassed beyond their bars.
+Then I made out something else also, the figures of men gathering on the
+top of the wall, though whence they came I knew not. By degrees their
+number increased till there were hundreds of them, for the wall was
+broad as a roadway.
+
+Evidently these were spectators, come to witness the ceremony of
+sacrifice.
+
+"Prince," I whispered to Joshua, "you must get down off the ladder or
+you will betray us all. Nay, it is too late to come up here again, for
+already the moonlight strikes just above your head. Go down, or we will
+cast the ladder loose and let you fall."
+
+So he went down and hid himself among some ferns and bushes where we
+saw no more of him for a while, and, to tell the truth, forgot his
+existence.
+
+Far, far above us, from the back of the idol I suppose, came a faint
+sound of solemn chanting. It sank, and we heard shouts. Then suddenly
+it swelled again. Now Maqueda, who knelt near me, touched my arm and
+pointed to the shadow which gradually was becoming infiltrated with the
+moonlight flowing into it from either side. I looked, and high in
+the air, perhaps two hundred feet from the ground, saw something dark
+descending slowly. Doubtless it was the basket containing Higgs, and
+whether by coincidence or no, at this moment the lions on the farther
+side of the wall burst into peal upon peal of terrific roaring. Perhaps
+their sentries watching at the gate saw or smelt the familiar basket,
+and communicated the intelligence to their fellows.
+
+Slowly, slowly it descended, till it was within a few feet of the
+ground, when it began to sway backward and forward like a pendulum, at
+each swing covering a wider arc. Presently, when it hung over the edge
+of the shadow that was nearest to us, it was let down with a run and
+overset, and out of it, looking very small in those vast surroundings
+and that mysterious light, rolled the figure of a man. Although at
+that distance we could see little of him, accident assured us of his
+identity, for as he rolled the hat he wore fell from him, and I knew
+it at once for Higgs's sun-helmet. He rose from the ground, limped very
+slowly and painfully after the helmet, picked it up, and proceeded to
+use it to dust his knees. At this moment there was a clanking sound.
+
+"Oh! they lift the gates!" murmured Maqueda.
+
+Then followed more sounds, this time of wild beasts raging for their
+prey, and of other human beasts shrieking with excitement on the wall
+above. The Professor turned and saw. For a moment he seemed about to
+run, then changed his mind, clapped the helmet on his head, folded his
+arms and stood still, reminding me in some curious way, perhaps, because
+of the shortness of his thick figure, of a picture I had seen of the
+great Napoleon contemplating a disaster.
+
+To describe what followed is extremely difficult, for we watched not
+one but several simultaneous scenes. For instance, there were the lions,
+which did not behave as might have been expected. I thought that they
+would rush through the doors and bound upon the victim, but whether it
+was because they had already been fed that afternoon or because they
+thought that a single human being was not worth the trouble, they acted
+differently.
+
+Through the open gates they came, in two indolent yellow lines, male
+lions, female lions, half-grown lions, cub lions that cuffed each other
+in play, in all perhaps fifty or sixty of them. Of these only two or
+three looked towards the Professor, for none of them ran or galloped,
+while the rest spread over the den, some of them vanishing into the
+shadow at the edge of the surrounding cliff where the moonlight could
+not reach.
+
+Here one of them, at any rate, must have travelled fast enough, for it
+seemed only a few seconds later that we heard a terrific yell beneath
+us, and craning over the rock I saw the Prince Joshua running up the
+ladder more swiftly than ever did any London lamplighter when I was a
+boy.
+
+But quickly as he came, the long, thin, sinuous thing beneath came
+quicker. It reared itself on its hind legs, it stretched up a great
+paw--I can see the gleaming claws in it now--and struck or hooked at
+poor Joshua. The paw caught him in the small of the back, and seemed
+to pin him against the ladder. Then it was drawn slowly downward,
+and heaven! how Joshua howled. Up came the other paw to repeat the
+operation, when, stretching myself outward and downward, with an Abati
+holding me by the ankles, I managed to shoot the beast through the
+head so that it fell all of a heap, taking with it a large portion of
+Joshua's nether garments.
+
+A few seconds later he was among us, and tumbled groaning into a corner,
+where he lay in charge of some of the mountaineers, for I had no time to
+attend to him just then.
+
+When the smoke cleared at length, I saw that Japhet had reached Higgs,
+and was gesticulating to him to run, while two lions, a male and a
+female, stood at a little distance, regarding the pair in an interested
+fashion. Higgs, after some brief words of explanation, pointed to his
+knee. Evidently he was lamed and could not run. Japhet, rising to the
+occasion, pointed to his back, and bent down. Higgs flung himself upon
+it, and was hitched up like a sack of flour. The pair began to advance
+toward the ladder, Japhet carrying Higgs as one schoolboy carries
+another.
+
+The lion sat down like a great dog, watching this strange proceeding
+with mild interest, but the lioness, filled with feminine curiosity,
+followed sniffing at Higgs, who looked over his shoulder. Taking off his
+battered helmet, he threw it at the beast, hitting her on the head.
+She growled, then seized the helmet, playing with it for a moment as
+a kitten does with a ball of wool, and next instant, finding it
+unsatisfying, uttered a short and savage roar, ran forward, and crouched
+to spring, lashing her tail. I could not fire, because a bullet that
+would hit her must first pass through Japhet and Higgs.
+
+But, just when I thought that the end had come, a rifle went off in the
+shadow and she rolled over, kicking and biting the rock. Thereon the
+indolent male lion seemed to awake, and sprang, not at the men, but at
+the wounded lioness, and a hellish fight ensued, of which the details
+and end were lost in a mist of dust and flying hair.
+
+The crowd upon the wall, becoming alive to the real situation, began to
+scream in indignant excitement which quickly communicated itself to
+the less savage beasts. These set up a terrible roaring, and ran about,
+keeping for the most part to the shadows, while Japhet and his burden
+made slow but steady progress toward the ladder.
+
+Then from the gloom beneath the hind-quarters of the sphinx rose a
+sound of rapid firing, and presently Orme and Quick emerged into the
+moonlight, followed by a number of angry lions that advanced in short
+rushes. Evidently the pair had kept their heads, and were acting on a
+plan.
+
+One of them emptied his rifle at the pursuing beasts, while the other
+ran back a few paces, thrusting in a fresh clip of cartridges as he
+went. Then he began to fire, and his companion in turn retreated behind
+him. In this way they knocked over a number of lions, for the range was
+too short for them to miss often, and the expanding bullets did their
+work very well, paralyzing even when they did not kill. I also opened
+fire over their heads, and, although in that uncertain light the
+majority of my shots did no damage, the others disposed of several
+animals which I saw were becoming dangerous.
+
+So things went on until all four, that is, Japhet with Higgs upon
+his back, and Orme and Quick, were within twenty paces of the ladder,
+although separated from each other by perhaps half the length of a
+cricket pitch. We thought that they were safe, and shouted in our joy,
+while the hundreds of spectators on the wall who fortunately dared not
+descend into the den because of the lions, which are undiscriminating
+beasts, yelled with rage at the imminent rescue of the sacrifice.
+
+Then of a sudden the position changed. From every quarter fresh lions
+seemed to arrive, ringing the men round and clearly bent on slaughter,
+although the shouting and the sound of firearms, which they had never
+heard before, frightened them and made them cautious.
+
+A half-grown cub rushed in and knocked over Japhet and Higgs. I fired
+and hit it in the flank. It bit savagely at its wound, then sprang on to
+the prostrate pair, and stood over them growling, but in such pain that
+it forgot to kill them. The ring of beasts closed in--we could see their
+yellow eyes glowing in the gloom. Orme and Quick might have got through
+by the help of their rifles, but they could not leave the others. The
+dreadful climax seemed at hand.
+
+"Follow me," said Maqueda, who all this while had watched panting at my
+side, and rose to run to the ladder. I thrust her back.
+
+"Nay," I shouted. "Follow me, Abati! Shall a woman lead you?"
+
+Of how I descended that ladder I have no recollection, nor do I in the
+least know how the Mountaineers came after me, but I think that the most
+of them rolled and scrambled down the thirty feet of rock. At least, to
+their honour be it said, they did come, yelling like demons and waving
+long knives in their hands.
+
+The effect of our sudden arrival from above was extraordinary. Scared
+by the rush and the noise, the lions gave way, then bolted in every
+direction, the wounded cub, which could not, or would not move, being
+stabbed to death where it stood over Higgs and Japhet.
+
+Five minutes more and all of us were safe in the mouth of the tunnel.
+
+
+
+That was how we rescued Higgs from the den of the sacred lions which
+guarded the idol of the Fung.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF HIGGS
+
+A more weary and dishevelled set of people than that which about the
+hour of dawn finally emerged from the mouth of the ancient shaft on to
+the cliffs of Mur it has seldom been my lot to behold. Yet with a single
+exception the party was a happy one, for we had come triumphant through
+great dangers, and actually effected our object--the rescue of
+Higgs, which, under the circumstances most people would have thought
+impossible. Yes, there he was in the flesh before us, having injured his
+knee and lost his hat, but otherwise quite sound save for a few trifling
+scratches inflicted by the cub, and still wearing what the natives
+called his "black windows."
+
+Even the Prince Joshua was happy, though wrapped in a piece of coarse
+sacking because the lion had taken most of his posterior clothing, and
+terribly sore from the deep cuts left by the claws.
+
+Had he not dared the dangers of the den, and thus proved himself a hero
+whose fame would last for generations? Had I not assured him that his
+honourable wounds, though painful (as a matter of fact, after they had
+set, they kept him stiff as a mummy for some days, so that unless he
+stood upon his feet, he had to be carried, or lie rigid on his face)
+would probably not prove fatal? And had he not actually survived to
+reach the upper air again, which was more than he ever expected to do?
+No wonder that he was happy.
+
+I alone could not share in the general joy, since, although my friend
+was restored to me, my son still remained a prisoner among the Fung. Yet
+even in this matter things might have been worse, since I learned
+that he was well treated, and in no danger. But of that I will write
+presently.
+
+Never shall I forget the scene after the arrival of Higgs in our hole,
+when the swinging boulder had been closed and made secure and the lamps
+lighted. There he sat on the floor, his red hair glowing like a torch,
+his clothes torn and bloody, his beard ragged and stretching in a
+Newgate frill to his ears. Indeed, his whole appearance, accentuated by
+the blue spectacles with wire gauze side-pieces, was more disreputable
+than words can tell; moreover, he smelt horribly of lion. He put his
+hand into his pocket, and produced his big pipe, which had remained
+unbroken in its case.
+
+"Some tobacco, please," he said. (Those were his first words to us!) "I
+have finished mine, saved up the last to smoke just before they put me
+into that stinking basket."
+
+I gave him some, and as he lit his pipe the light of the match fell upon
+the face of Maqueda, who was staring at him with amused astonishment.
+
+"What an uncommonly pretty woman," he said. "What's she doing down here,
+and who is she?"
+
+I told him, whereon he rose, or rather tried to, felt for his hat,
+which, of course, had gone, with the idea of taking it off, and
+instantly addressed her in his beautiful and fluent Arabic, saying how
+glad he was to have this unexpected honour, and so forth.
+
+She congratulated him on his escape, whereon his face grew serious.
+
+"Yes, a nasty business," he said, "as yet I can hardly remember whether
+my name is Daniel, or Ptolemy Higgs." Then he turned to us and added,
+"Look here, you fellows, if I don't thank you it isn't because I am not
+grateful, but because I can't. The truth is, I'm a bit dazed. Your son
+is all right, Adams; he's a good fellow, and we grew great friends.
+Safe? Oh! yes, he's safe as a church! Old Barung, he's the Sultan, and
+another good fellow, although he did throw me to the lions--because the
+priests made him--is very fond of him, and is going to marry him to his
+daughter."
+
+At this moment the men announced that everything was ready for our
+ascent, and when I had attended to Joshua with a heart made thankful by
+Higgs's news, we began that toilsome business, and, as I have already
+said, at length accomplished it safely. But even then our labours were
+not ended, since it was necessary to fill up the mouth of the shaft so
+as to make it impossible that it should be used by the Fung, who now
+knew of its existence.
+
+Nor was this a business that could be delayed, for as we passed the
+plateau whence Oliver and Japhet had crossed to the sphinx, we heard the
+voices of men on the farther side of the rough wall that we had built
+there. Evidently the priests, or idol guards, infuriated by the rescue
+of their victim, had already managed to bridge the gulf and were
+contemplating assault, a knowledge which caused us to hurry our
+movements considerably. If they had got through before we passed them,
+our fate would have been terrible, since at the best we must have slowly
+starved in the pit below.
+
+Indeed, as soon as we reached the top and had blocked it temporarily,
+Quick, weary as he was, was sent off on horseback, accompanied by
+Maqueda, Shadrach, now under the terms of his contract once more a free
+man, and two Mountaineers, to gallop to the palace of Mur, and fetch a
+supply of explosives. The rest of us, for Higgs declined to leave, and
+we had no means of carrying Joshua, remained watching the place, or
+rather the Abati watched while we slept with our rifles in our hands.
+Before noon Quick returned, accompanied by many men with litters and all
+things needful.
+
+Then we pulled out the stones, and Oliver, Japhet, and some others
+descended to the first level and arranged blasting charges. Awhile after
+he reappeared with his companions, looking somewhat pale and anxious,
+and shouted to us to get back. Following our retreat to a certain
+distance, unwinding a wire as he came, presently he stopped and pressed
+the button of a battery which he held in his hand. There was a muffled
+explosion and a tremor of the soil like to that of an earthquake, while
+from the mouth of the shaft stones leapt into the air.
+
+It was over, and all that could be noted was a sinkage in the ground
+where the ancient pit had been.
+
+"I am sorry for them," said Oliver presently, "but it had to be done."
+
+"Sorry for whom?" I asked.
+
+"For those Fung priests or soldiers. The levels below are full of them,
+dead or alive. They were pouring up at our heels. Well, no one will
+travel that road again."
+
+
+
+Later, in the guest house at Mur, Higgs told us his story. After his
+betrayal by Shadrach, which, it appeared, was meant to include us all,
+for the Professor overheard the hurried talk between him and a Fung
+captain, he was seized and imprisoned in the body of the great sphinx,
+where many chambers and dungeons had been hollowed out by the primaeval
+race that fashioned it. Here Barung the Sultan visited him and informed
+him of his meeting with the rest of us, to whom apparently he had taken
+a great liking, and also that we had refused to purchase a chance of his
+release at the price of being false to our trust.
+
+"You know," said Higgs, "that when first I heard this I was very angry
+with you, and thought you a set of beasts. But on considering things
+I saw the other side of it, and that you were right, although I never
+could come to fancy the idea of being sacrificed to a sphinx by being
+chucked like a piece of horse-flesh to a lot of holy lions. However,
+Barung, an excellent fellow in his way, assured me that there was no
+road out of the matter without giving grave offence to the priests, who
+are very powerful among the Fung, and bringing a fearful curse on the
+nation.
+
+"Meanwhile, he made me as comfortable as he could. For instance, I
+was allowed to walk upon the back of the idol, to associate with the
+priests, a suspicious and most exclusive set, and to study their entire
+religious system, from which I have no doubt that of Egypt was derived.
+Indeed, I have made a great discovery which, if ever we get out of this,
+will carry my name down to all generations. The forefathers of
+these Fung were undoubtedly also the forefathers of the pre-dynastic
+Egyptians, as is shown by the similarity of their customs and spiritual
+theories. Further, intercourse was kept up between the Fung, who then
+had their headquarters here in Mur, and the Egyptians in the time of
+the ancient empire, till the Twentieth Dynasty, indeed, if not later.
+My friends, in the dungeons in which I was confined there is an
+inscription, or, rather, a _graffite_, made by a prisoner extradited to
+Mur by Rameses II., after twenty years' residence in Egypt, which was
+written by him on the night before he was thrown to the sacred lions,
+that even in those days were an established institution. And I have got
+a copy of that inscription in my pocket-book. I tell you," he added in
+a scream of triumph, "I've got a certified copy of that inscription,
+thanks to Shadrach, on whose dirty head be blessings!"
+
+I congratulated him heartily upon this triumph, and before he proceeded
+to give us further archaeological details, asked him for some information
+about my boy.
+
+"Oh," said Higgs, "he is a very nice young man and extremely good
+looking. Indeed, I am quite proud to have such a godson. He was much
+interested to hear that you were hunting for him after so many years,
+quite touched indeed. He still talks English, though with a Fung accent,
+and, of course, would like to escape. Meanwhile, he is having a very
+good time, being chief singer to the god, for his voice is really
+beautiful, an office which carries with it all sorts of privileges. I
+told you, didn't I, that he is to be married to Barung's only legitimate
+daughter on the night of the next full moon but one. The ceremony is
+to take place in Harmac City, and will be the greatest of its sort for
+generations, a feast of the entire people in short. I should very much
+like to be present at it, but being an intelligent young man he has
+promised to keep notes of everything, which I hope may become available
+in due course."
+
+"And is he attached to this savage lady?" I asked dismayed.
+
+"Attached? Oh, dear no, I think he said he had never seen her, and only
+knew that she was rather plain and reported to possess a haughty temper.
+He is a philosophical young man, however, as might be expected from one
+who has undergone so many vicissitudes, and, therefore, takes things
+as they come, thanking heaven that they are no worse. You see, as
+the husband of the Sultan's daughter, unless the pair quarrel very
+violently, he will be safe from the lions, and he could never quite say
+as much before. But we didn't go into these domestic matters very deeply
+as there were so many more important things to interest us both. He
+wanted to know all about you and our plans, and naturally I wanted to
+know all about the Fung and the ritual and traditions connected with the
+worship of Harmac, so that we were never dull for a single moment.
+In fact, I wish that we could have had longer together, for we became
+excellent friends. But whatever happens, I think that I have collected
+the cream of his information," and he tapped a fat note-book in his
+hands, adding:
+
+"What an awful thing it would have been if a lion had eaten this. For
+myself it did not matter; there may be many better Egyptologists, but I
+doubt if any one of them will again have such opportunities of original
+research. However, I took every possible precaution to save my notes
+by leaving a copy of the most important of them written with native
+ink upon sheepskin in charge of your son. Indeed, I meant to leave the
+originals also, but fortunately forgot in the excitement of my very
+hurried departure."
+
+I agreed with him that his chances had been unique and that he was a
+most lucky archaeologist, and presently he went on puffing at his pipe.
+
+"Of course, when Oliver turned up in that unexpected fashion on the back
+of the idol, remembering your wishes and natural desire to recover
+your son, I did my best to rescue him also. But he wasn't in the room
+beneath, where I thought I should find him. The priests were there
+instead, and they had heard us talking above, and you know the rest.
+Well, as it happens, it didn't matter, though that descent into the
+den of lions--there were two or three hundred feet of it, and the rope
+seemed worn uncommonly thin with use--was a trying business to the
+nerves."
+
+"What did you think about all the time?" asked Oliver curiously.
+
+"Think about? I didn't think much, was in too great a fright. I just
+wondered whether St. Paul had the same sensations when he was let down
+in a basket; wondered what the early Christian martyrs felt like in
+the arena; wondered whether Barung, with whom my parting was quite
+affectionate, would come in the morning and look for me as Darius did
+for Daniel and how much he would find if he did; hoped that my specs
+would give one of those brutes appendicitis, and so forth. My word! it
+was sickening, especially that kind of school-treat swing and bump at
+the end. I never could bear swinging. Still, it was all for the best, as
+I shouldn't have gone a yard along that sphinx's tail without tumbling
+off, tight-rope walking not being in my line; and I'll tell you what,
+you are just the best three fellows in the whole world. Don't you think
+I forget that because I haven't said much. And now let's have your yarn,
+for I want to hear how things stand, which I never expected to do this
+side of Judgment-day."
+
+So we told him all, while he listened open-mouthed. When we came to the
+description of the Tomb of the Kings his excitement could scarcely be
+restrained.
+
+"You haven't touched them," he almost screamed; "don't say you have been
+vandals enough to touch them, for every article must be catalogued _in
+situ_ and drawings must be made. If possible, specimen groups with their
+surrounding offerings should be moved so that they can be set up again
+in museums. Why, there's six months' work before me, at least. And to
+think that if it hadn't been for you, by now I should be in process of
+digestion by a lion, a stinking, mangy, sacred lion!"
+
+Next morning I was awakened by Higgs limping into my room in some weird
+sleeping-suit that he had contrived with the help of Quick.
+
+"I say, old fellow," he said, "tell me some more about that girl, Walda
+Nagasta. What a sweet face she's got, and what pluck! Of course, such
+things ain't in my line, never looked at a woman these twenty years
+past, hard enough to remember her next morning, but, by Jingo! the eyes
+of that one made me feel quite queer here," and he hit the sleeping-suit
+somewhere in the middle, "though perhaps it was only because she was
+such a contrast to the lions."
+
+"Ptolemy," I answered in a solemn voice, "let me tell you that she is
+more dangerous to meddle with than any lion, and what's more, if you
+don't want to further complicate matters with a flaming row, you had
+better keep to your old habits and leave her eyes alone. I mean that
+Oliver is in love with her."
+
+"Of course he is. I never expected anything else, but what's that got to
+do with it? Why shouldn't I be in love with her too? Though I admit,"
+he added sadly, contemplating his rotund form, "the chances are in his
+favour, especially as he's got the start."
+
+"They are, Ptolemy, for she's in love with him," and I told him what we
+had seen in the Tomb of Kings.
+
+First he roared with laughter, then on second thoughts grew exceedingly
+indignant.
+
+"I call it scandalous of Oliver, compromising us all in this way--the
+lucky dog! These selfish, amorous adventures will let us in for no end
+of trouble. It is even probably, Adams, that you and I may come to a
+miserable end, solely because of this young man's erotic tendencies.
+Just fancy neglecting business in order to run after a pretty,
+round-faced Jewess, that is if she _is_ a Jewess, which I doubt, as the
+blood must have got considerably mixed by now, and the first Queen of
+Sheba, if she ever existed, was an Ethiopian. As a friend almost old
+enough to be his father, I shall speak to him very seriously."
+
+"All right," I called after him as he hobbled off to take his bath,
+"only if you are wise, you won't speak to Maqueda, for she might
+misinterpret your motives if you go on staring at her as you did
+yesterday."
+
+
+
+That morning I was summoned to see the Prince Joshua and dress his
+wounds, which, although not of a serious nature, were very painful. The
+moment that I entered the man's presence I noticed a change in his face.
+Like the rest of us I had always set this fellow down as a mere poltroon
+and windbag, a blower of his own trumpet, as Oliver had called him. Now
+I got an insight into his real nature which showed me that although
+he might be these things and worse, he was also a very determined and
+dangerous person, animated by ambitions which he meant to satisfy at all
+hazards.
+
+When I had done what I could for him and told him that in my opinion he
+had no ill results to fear from his hurts, since the thick clothes he
+was wearing at the time had probably cleaned the lion's paws of any
+poison that might have been on them, he said,
+
+"Physician, I desire private words with you."
+
+I bowed, and he went on:
+
+"The Child of Kings, hereditary ruler of this land, somewhat against the
+advice of her Council, has thought fit to employ you and your Gentile
+companions in order that by your skill and certain arts of which you are
+masters you may damage its ancient enemies, the Fung, and in reward has
+promised to pay you well should you succeed in your endeavours. Now, I
+wish you to understand that though you think yourselves great men, and
+may for aught I know be great in your own country, here you are but
+servants like any other mercenaries whom it may please us to hire."
+
+His tone was so offensive that, though it might have been wiser to keep
+silent, I could not help interrupting him.
+
+"You use hard words, Prince," I said; "let me then explain what is the
+real pay for which we work and undergo some risks. Mine is the hope of
+recovering a son who is the slave of your enemies. That of the Captain
+Orme is the quest of adventure and war, since being a rich man in his
+own country he needs no further wealth. That of him whom you call Black
+Windows, but whose name is Higgs, is the pure love of learning. In
+England and throughout the West he is noted for his knowledge of dead
+peoples, their languages, and customs, and it is to study these that he
+has undertaken so terrible a journey. As for Quick, he is Orme's man,
+who has known him from childhood, an old soldier who has served with him
+in war and comes hither to be with the master whom he loves."
+
+"Ah!" said Joshua, "a servant, a person of no degree, who yet dares to
+threaten me, the premier prince of the Abati, to my face."
+
+"In the presence of death all men are equal, Prince. You acted in a
+fashion that might have brought his lord, who was daring a desperate
+deed, to a hideous doom."
+
+"And what do I care about his lord's desperate deeds, Physician? I see
+that you set store by such things, and think those who accomplish them
+great and wonderful. Well, we do not. There is no savage among the
+barbarous Fung would not do all that your Orme does, and more, just
+because he is a savage. We who are civilized, we who are cultivated,
+we who are wise, know better. Our lives were given us to enjoy, not to
+throw away or to lose at the sword's point, and, therefore, no doubt,
+you would call us cowards."
+
+"Yet, Prince, those who bear that title of coward which you hold one of
+honour, are apt to perish 'at the sword's point.' The Fung wait without
+your gates, O Prince."
+
+"And therefore, O Gentile, we hire you to fight the Fung. Still, I
+bear no grudge against your servant, Quick, who is himself but a
+white-skinned Fung, for he acted according to his nature, and I forgive
+him; only in the future let him beware! And now--for a greater matter.
+The Child of Kings is beautiful, she is young and high spirited; a new
+face from another land may perchance touch her fancy. But," he added
+meaningly, "let the owner of that face remember who she is and what
+he is; let him remember that for any outside the circle of the ancient
+blood to lift his eyes to the daughter of Solomon is to earn death,
+death slow and cruel for himself and all who aid and abet him. Let him
+remember, lastly, that this high-born lady to whom he, an unknown and
+vagrant Gentile, dares to talk as equal to equal, has from childhood
+been my affianced, who will shortly be my wife, although it may please
+her to seem to flout me after the fashion of maidens, and that we Abati
+are jealous of the honour of our women. Do you understand?"
+
+"Yes, Prince," I answered, for by now my temper was roused. "But I would
+have you understand something also--that we are men of a high race whose
+arm stretches over half the world, and that we differ from the little
+tribe of the Abati, whose fame is not known to us, in this--that we are
+jealous of our own honour, and do not need to hire strangers to fight
+the foes we fear to face. Next time I come to attend to your wounds,
+O Prince, I trust that they will be in front, and not behind. One word
+more, if you will be advised by me you will not threaten that Captain
+whom you call a Gentile and a mercenary, lest you should learn that it
+is not always well to be a coward, of blood however ancient."
+
+Then, in a towering rage, I left him, feeling that I had made a thorough
+fool of myself. But the truth was that I could not sit still and hear
+men such as my companions, to say nothing of myself, spoken of thus by
+a bloated cur, who called himself a prince and boasted of his own
+poltroonery. He glowered at me as I went, and the men of his party who
+hung about the end of the great room and in his courts, glowered at
+me also. Clearly he was a very dangerous cur, and I almost wished that
+instead of threatening to slap his face down in the tunnel, Quick had
+broken his neck and made an end of him.
+
+So did the others when I told them the story, although I think it opened
+their eyes, and especially those of Oliver, to the grave and growing
+dangers of the situation. Afterward he informed me that he had spoken of
+the matter with Maqueda, and that she was much frightened for our sakes,
+and somewhat for her own. Joshua, she said, was a man capable of any
+crime, who had at his back the great majority of the Abati; a jealous,
+mean and intolerant race who made up in cunning for what they lacked in
+courage.
+
+Yet, as I saw well, the peril of their situation did nothing to separate
+this pair or to lessen their love. Indeed, rather did it seem to bind
+them closer together, and to make them more completely one. In short,
+the tragedy took its appointed course, whilst we stood by and watched it
+helplessly.
+
+On the afternoon of my angry interview with Joshua we were summoned to
+a meeting of the Council, whither we went, not without some trepidation,
+expecting trouble. Trouble there was, but of a different sort to that
+which we feared. Scarcely had we entered the great room where the Child
+of Kings was seated in her chair of state surrounded by all the pomp and
+ceremony of her mimic court, when the big doors at the end of it were
+opened, and through them marched three gray-bearded men in white robes
+whom we saw at once were heralds or ambassadors from the Fung. These
+men bowed to the veiled Maqueda and, turning toward where we stood in a
+little group apart, bowed to us also.
+
+But of Joshua, who was there supported by two servants, for he could not
+yet stand alone, and the other notables and priests of the Abati, they
+took not the slightest heed.
+
+"Speak," said Maqueda.
+
+"Lady," answered the spokesman of the embassy, "we are sent by our
+Sultan, Barung, son of Barung, Ruler of the Fung nation. These are the
+words of Barung: O Walda Nagasta! 'By the hands and the wit of the white
+lords whom you have called to your aid, you have of late done much evil
+to the god Harmac and to me his servant. You have destroyed one of the
+gates of my city, and with it many of my people. You have rescued a
+prisoner out of my hands, robbing Harmac of his sacrifice and thereby
+bringing his wrath upon us. You have slain sundry of the sacred beasts
+that are the mouth of sacrifice, you have killed certain of the priests
+and guards of Harmac in a hole of the rocks. Moreover my spies tell me
+that you plan further ills against the god and against me. Now I send
+to tell you that for these and other offences I will make an end of the
+people of the Abati, whom hitherto I have spared. In a little while I
+marry my daughter to the white man, that priest of Harmac who is called
+Singer of Egypt, and who is said to be the son of the physician in
+your service, but after I have celebrated this feast and my people have
+finished the hoeing of their crops, I take up the sword in earnest, nor
+will I lay it down again until the Abati are no more.
+
+"'Learn that last night after the holy beasts had been slain and
+the sacrifice snatched away, the god Harmac spoke to his priests in
+prophecy. And this was his prophecy; that before the gathering in of the
+harvest his _head_ should sleep above the plain of Mur. We know not the
+interpretation of the saying, but this I know, that before the gathering
+of the harvest I, or those who rule after me, will lie down to sleep
+within my city of Mur.'
+
+"'Now, choose--surrender forthwith and, save for the dog, Joshua, who
+the other day tried to entrap me against the custom of peoples, and ten
+others whom I shall name, I will spare the lives of all of you, though
+Joshua and these ten I will hang, since they are not worthy to die by
+the sword. Or resist, and by Harmac himself I swear that every man among
+the Abati shall die save the white lords whom I honour because they are
+brave, and that servant of yours who stood with them last night in the
+den of lions, and that every woman shall be made a slave, save you, O
+Walda Nagasta, because of your great heart. Your answer, O Lady of the
+Abati!'"
+
+Now Maqueda looked around the faces of her Council, and saw fear written
+upon them all. Indeed, as we noted, many of them shook in their terror.
+
+"My answer will be short, ambassadors of Barung," she replied, "still, I
+am but one woman, and it is fitting that those who represent the people
+should speak for the people. My uncle, Joshua, you are the first of my
+Council, what have you to say? Are you willing to give up your life with
+ten others whose names I do not know, that there may be peace between us
+and the Fung?"
+
+"What?" answered Joshua, with a splutter of rage, "do I live to hear a
+Walda Nagasta suggest that the first prince of the land, her uncle and
+affianced husband, should be surrendered to our hereditary foes to be
+hanged like a worn-out hound, and do you, O unknown ten, who doubtless
+stand in this chamber, live to hear it also?"
+
+"My uncle, you do not. I asked if such was your wish, that is all."
+
+"Then I answer that it is not my wish, nor the wish of the ten, nor the
+wish of the Abati. Nay, we will fight the Fung and destroy them, and
+of their beast-headed idol Harmac we will make blocks to build our
+synagogues and stones to pave our roads. Do you hear, savages of Fung?"
+and assisted by his two servants he hobbled towards them, grinning in
+their faces.
+
+The envoys looked him up and down with their quiet eyes. "We hear and we
+are very glad to hear," their spokesman answered, "since we Fung love
+to settle our quarrels with the sword and not by treaty. But to you,
+Joshua, we say: Make haste to die before we enter Mur, since the rope is
+not the only means of death whereof we know."
+
+Very solemnly the three ambassadors saluted, first the Child of Kings
+and next ourselves, then turned to go.
+
+"Kill them!" shouted Joshua, "they have threatened and insulted me, the
+Prince!"
+
+But no one lifted a hand against the men, who passed safely out of the
+palace to the square, where an escort waited with their horses.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HOW PHARAOH MET SHADRACH
+
+When the ambassadors had gone, at first there was silence, a very heavy
+silence, since even the frivolous Abati felt that the hour was big with
+fate. Of a sudden, however, the members of the Council began to chatter
+like so many monkeys, each talking without listening to what his
+neighbour said, till at length a gorgeously dressed person, I understood
+that he was a priest, stepped forward, and shouted down the others.
+
+Then he spoke in an excited and venomous fashion. He pointed out that we
+Gentiles had brought all this trouble upon Mur, since before we came the
+Abati, although threatened, had lived in peace and glory--he actually
+used the word glory!--for generations. But now we had stung the Fung, as
+a hornet stings a bull, and made them mad, so that they wished to toss
+the Abati. He proposed, therefore, that we should at once be ejected
+from Mur.
+
+At this point I saw Joshua whisper into the ear of a man, who called
+out:--
+
+"No, no, for then they would go to their friend, Barung, a savage like
+themselves, and having learned our secrets, would doubtless use them
+against us. I say that they must be killed instantly," and he drew a
+sword, and waved it.
+
+Quick walked up to the fellow and clapped a pistol to his head.
+
+"Drop that sword," he said, "or _you_'ll never hear the end of the
+story," and he obeyed, whereupon Quick came back.
+
+Now Maqueda began to speak, quietly enough, although I could see that
+she was quaking with passion.
+
+"These men are our guests," she said, "come hither to serve us. Do you
+desire to murder our guests? Moreover, of what use would that be? One
+thing alone can save us, the destruction of the god of the Fung,
+since, according to the ancient saying of that people, when the idol is
+destroyed the Fung will leave their city of Harmac. Moreover, as to this
+new prophecy of the priests of the idol, that before the gathering in
+of the harvest his head shall sleep above the plain of Mur, how can
+that happen if it is destroyed, unless indeed it means that Harmac shall
+sleep in the heavens. Therefore what have you to fear from threats built
+upon that which cannot happen?
+
+"But can _you_ destroy this false god Harmac, or dare _you_ fight the
+Fung? You know that it is not so, for had it been so what need was there
+for me to send for these Westerns? And if you murder them, will Barung
+thereby be appeased? Nay, I tell you that being a brave and honourable
+man, although our enemy, he will become ten times more wroth with you
+than he was before, and exact a vengeance even more terrible. I tell you
+also, that then you must find another Walda Nagasta to rule over you,
+since I, Maqueda, will do so no more."
+
+"That is impossible," said some one, "you are the last woman of the true
+blood."
+
+"Then you can choose one of blood that is not true, or elect a king,
+as the Jews elected Saul, for if my guests are butchered I shall die of
+very shame."
+
+These words of hers seemed to cow the Council, one of whom asked what
+would she have them do?
+
+"Do?" she replied, throwing back her veil, "why, be men, raise an army
+of every male who can carry a sword; help the foreigners, and they will
+lead you to victory. People of the Abati, would you be slaughtered,
+would you see your women slaves, and your ancient name blotted out from
+the list of peoples?"
+
+Now some of them cried, "No."
+
+"Then save yourselves. You are still many, the strangers here have skill
+in war, they can lead if you will follow. Be brave a while, and I swear
+to you that by harvest the Abati shall sit in the city of Harmac and not
+the Fung in Mur. I have spoken, now do what you will," and rising from
+her chair of state Maqueda left the chamber, motioning to us to do
+likewise.
+
+
+
+The end of all this business was that a peace was made between us and
+the Council of the Abati. After their pompous, pedantic fashion they
+swore solemnly on the roll of the Law that they would aid us in every
+way to overcome the Fung, and even obey such military orders as we
+might give them, subject to the confirmation of these orders by a small
+council of their generals. In short, being very frightened, for a time
+they forgot their hatred of us foreigners.
+
+So a scheme of operations was agreed upon, and some law passed by the
+Council, the only governing body among the Abati, for they possessed no
+representative institutions, under which law a kind of conscription was
+established for a while. Let me say at once that it met with the most
+intense opposition. The Abati were agriculturalists who loathed military
+service. From their childhood they had heard of the imminence of
+invasion, but no actual invasion had ever yet taken place. The Fung were
+always without, and they were always within, an inland isle, the wall of
+rock that they thought impassable being their sea which protected them
+from danger.
+
+They had no experience of slaughter and rapine, their imaginations were
+not sufficiently strong to enable them to understand what these things
+meant; they were lost in the pettiness of daily life and its pressing
+local interests. Their homes in flames, they themselves massacred, their
+women and children dragged off to be the slaves of the victors, a poor
+remnant left to die of starvation among the wasted fields or to become
+wild men of the rocks! All these things they looked upon as a mere tale,
+a romance such as their local poets repeated in the evenings of a
+wet season, dim and far-off events which might have happened to the
+Canaanites and Jebusites and Amalekites in the ancient days whereof the
+book of their Law told them, but which could never happen to _them_, the
+comfortable Abati. In that book the Israelites always conquered in the
+end, although the Philistines, alias Fung, sat at their gates. For it
+will be remembered that it includes no account of the final fall of
+Jerusalem and awful destruction of its citizens, of which they had
+little if any knowledge.
+
+So it came about that our recruiting parties, perhaps press gangs would
+be a better term, were not well received. I know it, for this branch of
+the business was handed over to me, of course as adviser to the Abati
+captains, and on several occasions, when riding round the villages on
+the shores of their beautiful lake, we were met by showers of stones,
+and were even the object of active attacks which had to be put down with
+bloodshed. Still, an army of five or six thousand men was got together
+somehow, and formed into camps, whence desertions were incessant, once
+or twice accompanied by the murder of officers.
+
+"It's 'opeless, downright 'opeless, Doctor," said Quick to me, dropping
+his h's, as he sometimes did in the excitement of the moment. "What can
+one do with a crowd of pigs, everyone of them bent on bolting to his own
+sty, or anywhere except toward the enemy? The sooner the Fung get them
+the better for all concerned, say I, and if it wasn't for our Lady
+yonder" (Quick always called Maqueda after "our Lady," after it had been
+impressed upon him that "her Majesty" was an incorrect title), "my advice
+to the Captain and you gentlemen would be: Get out of this infernal hole
+as quick as your legs can carry you, and let's do a bit of hunting on
+the way home, leaving the Abati to settle their own affairs."
+
+"You forget, Sergeant, that I have a reason for staying in this part of
+the world, and so perhaps have the others. For instance, the Professor
+is very fond of those old skeletons down in the cave," and I paused.
+
+"Yes, Doctor, and the Captain is very fond of something much better than
+a skeleton, and so are we all. Well, we've got to see it through, but
+somehow I don't think that every one of us will have that luck, though
+it's true that when a man has lived fairly straight according to his
+lights a few years more or less don't matter much one way or the other.
+After all, except you gentlemen, who is there that will miss Samuel
+Quick?"
+
+Then without waiting for an answer, drawing himself up straight as a
+ramrod he marched off to assist some popinjays of Abati officers, whom
+he hated and who hated him, to instil the elements of drill into a newly
+raised company, leaving me to wonder what fears or premonitions filled
+his honest soul.
+
+But this was not Quick's principal work, since for at least six hours
+of every day he was engaged in helping Oliver in our great enterprise of
+driving a tunnel from the end of the Tomb of Kings deep into the solid
+rock that formed the base of the mighty idol of the Fung. The task
+was stupendous, and would indeed have been impossible had not Orme's
+conjecture that some passage had once run from the extremity of the cave
+toward the idol proved to be perfectly accurate. Such a passage indeed
+was found walled up at the back of the chair containing the bones of the
+hunchbacked king. It descended very sharply for a distance of several
+hundred yards, after which for another hundred yards or more its walls
+and roof were so riven and shaky that, for fear of accidents, we found
+it necessary to timber them as we went.
+
+At last we came to a place where they had fallen in altogether, shaken
+down, I presume, by the great earthquake which had destroyed so much
+of the ancient cave-city. At this spot, if Oliver's instruments and
+calculations could be trusted, we were within about two hundred feet
+of the floor of the den of lions, to which it seemed probable that the
+passage once led, and of course the question arose as to what should be
+done.
+
+A Council was held to discuss this problem, at which Maqueda and a few
+of the Abati notables were present. To these Oliver explained that even
+if that were possible it would be useless to clear out the old passage
+and at the end find ourselves once more in the den of lions.
+
+"What, then, is your plan?" asked Maqueda.
+
+"Lady," he answered, "I, your servant, am instructed to attempt to
+destroy the idol Harmac, by means of the explosives which we have
+brought with us from England. First, I would ask you if you still cling
+to that design?"
+
+"Why should it be abandoned?" inquired Maqueda. "What have you against
+it?"
+
+"Two things, Lady. As an act of war the deed seems useless, since
+supposing that the sphinx is shattered and a certain number of priests
+and guards are destroyed, how will that advance your cause? Secondly,
+such destruction will be very difficult, if it can be done at all. The
+stuff we have with us, it is true, is of fearful strength, yet who can
+be sure that there is enough of it to move this mountain of hard rock,
+of which I cannot calculate the weight, not having the measurements or
+any knowledge of the size of the cavities within its bulk. Lastly, if
+the attempt is to be made, a tunnel must be hollowed of not less than
+three hundred feet in length, first downward and then upward into the
+very base of the idol, and if this is to be done within six weeks, that
+is, by the night of the marriage of the daughter of Barung, the work
+will be very hard, if indeed it can be completed at all, although
+hundreds of men labour day and night."
+
+Now Maqueda thought a while, then looked up and said:
+
+"Friend, you are brave and skilful, tell us all your mind. If you sat in
+my place, what would you do?"
+
+"Lady, I would lead out every able-bodied man and attack the city of the
+Fung, say, on the night of the great festival when they are off their
+guard. I would blow in the gates of the city of Harmac, and storm it and
+drive away the Fung, and afterwards take possession of the idol, and if
+it is thought necessary, destroy it piecemeal from within."
+
+Now Maqueda consulted with her councillors, who appeared to be much
+disturbed at this suggestion, and finally called us back and gave us her
+decision.
+
+"These lords of the Council," she said, speaking with a ring of contempt
+in her voice, "declare that your plan is mad, and that they will never
+sanction it because the Abati could not be persuaded to undertake so
+dangerous an enterprise as an attack upon the city of Harmac, which
+would end, they think, in all of them being killed. They point out, O
+Orme, that the prophecy is that the Fung will leave the plain of Harmac
+when their god is destroyed and not before, and that therefore it must
+be destroyed. They say, further, O Orme, that for a year you and your
+companions are the sworn servants of the Abati, and that it is your
+business to receive orders, not to give them, also that the condition
+upon which you earn your pay is that you destroy the idol of the Fung.
+This is the decision of the Council, spoken by the mouth of the prince
+Joshua, who command further that you shall at once set about the
+business to execute which you and your companions are present here in
+Mur."
+
+"Is that _your_ command also, O Child of Kings?" answered Oliver,
+colouring.
+
+"Since I also think that the Abati can never be forced to attack the
+city of the Fung, it is, O Orme, though the words in which it is couched
+are not my words."
+
+"Very well, O Child of Kings, I will do my best. Only blame us not if
+the end of this matter is other than these advisers of yours expect.
+Prophecies are two-edged swords to play with, and I do not believe that
+a race of fighting men like the Fung will fly and leave you triumphant
+just because a stone image is shattered, if that can be done in the time
+and with the means which we possess. Meanwhile, I ask that you should
+give me two hundred and fifty picked men of the Mountaineers, not of
+the townspeople, under the captaincy of Japhet, who must choose them, to
+assist us in our work."
+
+"It shall be done," she answered, and we made our bows and went. As we
+passed through the Council we heard Joshua say in a loud voice meant for
+us to hear:
+
+"Thanks be to God, these hired Gentiles have been taught their place at
+last."
+
+Oliver turned on him so fiercely that he recoiled, thinking that he was
+about to strike him.
+
+"Be careful, Prince Joshua," he said, "that before this business is
+finished you are not taught yours, which I think may be lowly," and he
+looked meaningly at the ground.
+
+So the labour began, and it was heavy indeed as well as dangerous.
+Fortunately, in addition to the picrate compounds that Quick called
+"azure stinging bees," we had brought with us a few cases of dynamite,
+of which we now made use for blasting purposes. A hole was drilled in
+the face of the tunnel, and the charge inserted. Then all retreated back
+into the Tomb of Kings till the cartridge had exploded, and the smoke
+cleared off, which took a long while, when our people advanced with iron
+bars and baskets, and cleared away the debris, after which the process
+must be repeated.
+
+Oh! the heat of that narrow hole deep in the bowels of the rock, and
+the reek of the stagnant air which sometimes was so bad that the lights
+would scarcely burn. Indeed, after a hundred feet had been completed,
+we thought that it would be impossible to proceed, since two men died
+of asphyxiation and the others, although they were good fellows enough,
+refused to return into the tunnel. At length, however, Orme and Japhet
+persuaded some of the best of them to do so, and shortly after this the
+atmosphere improved very much, I suppose because we cut some cranny or
+shaft which communicated with the open air.
+
+There were other dangers also, notably of the collapse of the whole
+roof where the rock was rotten, as we found it to be in places. Then
+it proved very hard to deal with the water, for once or twice we
+struck small springs impregnated with copper or some other mineral that
+blistered the feet and skin, since every drop of this acid water had to
+be carried out in wooden pails. That difficulty we overcame at last by
+sinking a narrow well down to the level of the ancient tunnel of which I
+have spoken as having been shaken in by the earthquake.
+
+Thus we, or rather Oliver and Quick with the Mountaineers, toiled on.
+Higgs did his best, but after a while proved quite unable to bear the
+heat, which became too much for so stout a man. The end of it was that
+he devoted himself to the superintendence of the removal of the rubbish
+into the Tomb of Kings, the care of the stores and so forth. At least
+that was supposed to be his business, but really he employed most of his
+time in drawing and cataloguing the objects of antiquity and the groups
+of bones that were buried there, and in exploring the remains of the
+underground city. In truth, this task of destruction was most repellent
+to the poor Professor.
+
+"To think," he said to us, "to think that I, who all my life have
+preached the iniquity of not conserving every relic of the past, should
+now be employed in attempting to obliterate the most wonderful object
+ever fashioned by the ancients! It is enough to make a Vandal weep, and
+I pray heaven that you may not succeed in your infamous design. What
+does it matter if the Abati are wiped out, as lots of better people have
+been before them? What does it matter if we accompany them to oblivion
+so long as that noble sphinx is preserved to be the wonder of future
+generations? Well, thank goodness, at any rate I have seen it, which is
+more, probably, than any of you will ever do. There, another brute is
+dumping his rubbish over the skull of No. 14!"
+
+Thus we laboured continually, each at his different task, for the work
+in the mine never stopped, Oliver being in charge during the day and
+Quick at night for a whole week, since on each Sunday they changed with
+their gangs, Quick taking the day shift and Oliver the night, or _vice
+versa_. Sometimes Maqueda came down the cave to inspect progress,
+always, I noticed, at those hours when Oliver happened to be off duty.
+Then on this pretext or on that they would wander away together to visit
+I know not what in the recesses of the underground city, or elsewhere.
+In vain did I warn them that their every step was dogged, and that
+their every word and action were noted by spies who crept after them
+continually, since twice I caught one of these gentry in the act. They
+were infatuated, and would not listen.
+
+At this time Oliver only left the underground city twice or thrice a
+week to breathe the fresh air for an hour or two. In truth, he had no
+leisure. For this same reason he fitted himself up a bed in what had
+been a priest's chamber, or a sanctuary in the old temple, and slept
+there, generally with no other guard but the great dog, Pharaoh, his
+constant companion even in the recesses of the mine.
+
+It was curious to see how this faithful beast accustomed itself to the
+darkness, and made its other senses, especially that of smell, serve
+the purpose of eyes as do the blind. By degrees, too, it learned all
+the details of the operations; thus, when the cartridge was in place for
+firing, it would rise and begin to walk out of the tunnel even before
+the men in charge.
+
+One night the tragedy that I feared very nearly happened, and indeed
+must have happened had it not been for this same hound, Pharaoh. About
+six o'clock in the evening Oliver came off duty after an eight-hour
+shift in the tunnel, leaving Higgs in command for a little while until
+it was time for Quick to take charge. I had been at work outside all day
+in connection with the new conscript army, a regiment of which was
+in revolt, because the men, most of whom were what we should call
+small-holders, declared that they wanted to go home to weed their crops.
+Indeed, it had proved necessary for the Child of Kings herself to be
+summoned to plead with them and condemn some of the ringleaders to
+punishment.
+
+When at length this business was over we left together, and the poor
+lady, exasperated almost to madness, sharply refusing the escort of any
+of her people, requested me to accompany her to the mine.
+
+At the mouth of the tunnel she met Oliver, as probably she had arranged
+to do, and after he had reported progress to her, wandered away with him
+as usual, each of them carrying a lamp, into some recess of the buried
+city. I followed them at a distance, not from curiosity, or because I
+wished to see more of the wonders of that city whereof I was heartily
+sick, but because I suspected that they were being spied upon.
+
+The pair vanished round a corner that I knew ended in a _cul-de-sac_, so
+extinguishing my lamp, I sat down on a fallen column and waited till I
+should see their light reappear, when I proposed to effect my retreat.
+Whilst I sat thus, thinking on many things and, to tell the truth, very
+depressed in mind, I heard a sound as of some one moving and instantly
+struck a match. The light of it fell full upon the face of a man whom
+I recognized at once as a body-servant of the prince Joshua, though
+whether he was passing me toward the pair or returning from their
+direction I could not be sure.
+
+"What are you doing here?" I asked.
+
+"What is that to you, Physician?" he answered.
+
+Then the match burnt out, and before I could light another he had
+vanished, like a snake into a stone wall.
+
+My first impulse was to warn Maqueda and Oliver that they were being
+watched, but reflecting that the business was awkward, and that the spy
+would doubtless have given over his task for this day, I left it alone,
+and went down to the Tomb of the Kings to help Higgs. Just afterwards
+Quick came on duty, long before his time, the fact being that he had no
+confidence in the Professor as a director of mining operations. When he
+appeared Higgs and I retreated from that close and filthy tunnel,
+and, by way of recreation, put in an hour or so at the cataloguing and
+archaeological research in which his soul delighted.
+
+"If only we could get all this lot out of Mur," he said, with a sweep of
+his hand, "we should be the most famous men in Europe for at least three
+days, and rich into the bargain."
+
+"Ptolemy," I answered, "we shall be fortunate if we get ourselves alive
+out of Mur, let alone these bones and ancient treasures," and I told him
+what I had seen that evening.
+
+His fat and kindly face grew anxious.
+
+"Ah!" he said. "Well, I don't blame him; should probably do the same
+myself if I got the chance, and so would you--if you were twenty years
+younger. No, I don't blame him, or her either, for the fact is that
+although their race, education, and circumstances are so different, they
+are one of Nature's pairs, and while they are alive nothing will keep
+them apart. You might as well expect a magnet and a bit of iron to
+remain separate on a sheet of notepaper. Moreover, they give themselves
+away, as people in that state always do. The pursuit of archaeology has
+its dangers, but it is a jolly sight safer than that of woman, though it
+did land me in a den of lions. What's going to happen, old fellow?"
+
+"Can't say, but I think it very probable that Oliver will be murdered,
+and that we shall follow the same road, or, if we are lucky, be only
+bundled out of Mur. Well, it's time for dinner; if I get a chance I will
+give them a hint."
+
+So we made our way to the old temple in the great cave, where we kept
+our stores and Oliver had his headquarters. Here we found him waiting
+for us and our meal ready, for food was always brought to us by the
+palace servants. When we had eaten and these men had cleared away, we
+lit our pipes and fed the dog Pharaoh upon the scraps that had been
+reserved for him. Then I told Oliver about the spy whom I had caught
+tracking him and Maqueda.
+
+"Well, what of it?" he said, colouring in his tell-tale fashion; "she
+only took me to see what she believed to be an ancient inscription on a
+column in that northern aisle."
+
+"Then she'd have done better to take me, my boy," said Higgs. "What was
+the character like?"
+
+"Don't know," he answered guiltily. "She could not find it again."
+
+An awkward silence followed, which I broke.
+
+"Oliver," I said, "I don't think you ought to go on sleeping here alone.
+You have too many enemies in this place."
+
+"Rubbish," he answered, "though it's true Pharaoh seemed uneasy last
+night, and that once I woke up and thought I heard footsteps in the
+court outside. I set them down to ghosts, in which I have almost come to
+believe in this haunted place, and went to sleep again."
+
+"Ghosts be blowed!" said Higgs vulgarly, "if there were such things I
+have slept with too many mummies not to see them. That confounded Joshua
+is the wizard who raises your ghosts. Look here, old boy," he added,
+"let me camp with you to-night, since Quick must be in the tunnel, and
+Adams has to sleep outside in case he is wanted on the army business."
+
+"Not a bit of it," he answered; "you know you are too asthmatical to get
+a wink in this atmosphere. I won't hear of such a thing."
+
+"Then come and sleep with us in the guest-house."
+
+"Can't be done; the Sergeant has got a very nasty job down there about
+one o'clock, and I promised to be handy in case he calls me up," and he
+pointed to the portable field telephone that fortunately we had brought
+with us from England, which was fixed closed by, adding, "if only that
+silly thing had another few hundred yards of wire, I'd come; but, you
+see, it hasn't and I must be in touch with the work."
+
+At this moment the bell tinkled, and Orme made a jump for the receiver
+through which for the next five minutes he was engaged in giving rapid
+and to us quite unintelligible directions.
+
+"There you are," he said, when he had replaced the mouthpiece on its
+hook, "if I hadn't been here they would probably have had the roof
+of the tunnel down and killed some people. No, no; I can't leave that
+receiver unless I go back to the mine, which I am too tired to do.
+However, don't you fret. With a pistol, a telephone, and Pharaoh I'm
+safe enough. And now, good night; you fellows had better be getting home
+as I must be up early to-morrow and want to sleep while I can."
+
+
+
+On the following morning about five o'clock Higgs and I were awakened by
+some one knocking at our door. I rose and opened it, whereon in walked
+Quick, a grim and grimy figure, for, as his soaked clothes and soiled
+face told us, he had but just left his work in the mine.
+
+"Captain wants to see you as soon as possible, gentlemen," he said.
+
+"What's the matter, Sergeant?" asked Higgs, as we got into our garments.
+
+"You'll see for yourself presently, Professor," was the laconic reply,
+nor could we get anything more out of him.
+
+Five minutes later we were advancing at a run through the dense darkness
+of the underground city, each of us carrying a lamp. I reached the ruins
+of the old temple first, for Quick seemed very tired and lagged behind,
+and in that atmosphere Higgs was scant of breath and could not travel
+fast. At the doorway of the place where he slept stood the tall form
+of Oliver holding a lamp aloft. Evidently he was waiting for us. By his
+side sat the big yellow dog, Pharaoh, that, when he smelt us, gambolled
+forward, wagging his tail in greeting.
+
+"Come here," said Orme, in a low and solemn voice, "I have something to
+show you," and he led the way into the priest's chamber, or sanctuary,
+whatever it may have been, where he slept upon a rough, native-made
+bedstead. At the doorway he halted, lowered the lamp he held, and
+pointed to something dark on the floor to the right of his bedstead,
+saying, "Look!"
+
+There lay a dead man, and by his side a great knife that evidently had
+fallen from his hand. At the first glance we recognised the face which,
+by the way, was singularly peaceful, as though it were that of one
+plunged in deep sleep. This seemed odd, since the throat below was
+literally torn out.
+
+"Shadrach!" we said, with one voice.
+
+Shadrach it was; Shadrach, our former guide, who had betrayed us;
+Shadrach who, to save his own life, had shown us how to rescue Higgs,
+and for that service been pardoned, as I think I mentioned. Shadrach and
+no other!
+
+"Pussy seems to have been on the prowl and to have met a dog," remarked
+Quick.
+
+"Do you understand what has happened?" asked Oliver, in a dry, hard
+voice. "Perhaps I had better explain before anything is moved. Shadrach
+must have crept in here last night--I don't know at what time, for I
+slept through it all--for purposes of his own. But he forgot his old
+enemy Pharaoh, and Pharaoh killed him. See his throat? When Pharaoh
+bites he doesn't growl, and, of course, Shadrach could say nothing, or,
+as he had dropped his knife, for the matter of that, do anything either.
+When I was woke up about an hour ago by the telephone bell the dog was
+fast asleep, for he is accustomed to that bell, with his head resting
+upon the body of Shadrach. Now why did Shadrach come into my room at
+night with a drawn knife in his hand?"
+
+"Doesn't seem a difficult question to answer," replied Higgs, in the
+high voice which was common to him when excited. "He came here to murder
+you, and Pharaoh was too quick for him, that's all. That dog was the
+cheapest purchase you ever made, friend Oliver."
+
+"Yes," answered Orme, "he came here to murder me--you were right about
+the risk, after all--but what I wonder is, who sent him?"
+
+"And so you may go on wondering for the rest of your life, Captain,"
+exclaimed Quick. "Still, I think we might guess if we tried."
+
+Then news of what had happened was sent to the palace, and within little
+over an hour Maqueda arrived, accompanied by Joshua and several other
+members of her Council. When she saw and understood everything she was
+horrified, and sternly asked Joshua what he knew of this business. Of
+course, he proved to be completely innocent, and had not the slightest
+idea of who had set the murderer on to work this deed of darkness.
+Nor had anybody else, the general suggestion being that Shadrach had
+attempted it out of revenge, and met with the due reward of his crime.
+
+Only that day poor Pharaoh was poisoned. Well, he had done his work, and
+his memory is blessed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT
+
+From this time forward all of us, and especially Oliver, were guarded
+night and day by picked men who it was believed could not be corrupted.
+As a consequence, the Tsar of Russia scarcely leads a life more irksome
+than ours became at Mur. Of privacy there was none left to us, since
+sentries and detectives lurked at every corner, while tasters were
+obliged to eat of each dish and drink from each cup before it touched
+our lips, lest our fate should be that of Pharaoh, whose loss we mourned
+as much as though the poor dog had been some beloved human being.
+
+Most of all was it irksome, I think, to Oliver and Maqueda, whose
+opportunities of meeting were much curtailed by the exigencies of this
+rigid espionage. Who can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two
+soldiers armed to the teeth have been instructed never to let him out
+of their sight? Particularly is this so if the adored happens to be the
+ruler of those soldiers to whom the person guarded has no right to
+be making himself agreeable. For when off duty even the most faithful
+guardians are apt to talk. Of course, the result was that the pair took
+risks which did not escape observation. Indeed, their intimate relations
+became a matter of gossip throughout the land.
+
+Still, annoying as they might be, these precautions succeeded, for none
+of us were poisoned or got our throats cut, although we were constantly
+the victims of mysterious accidents. Thus, a heavy rock rolled down upon
+us when we sat together one evening upon the hill-side, and a flight
+of arrows passed between us while we were riding along the edge of
+a thicket, by one of which Higgs's horse was killed. Only when the
+mountain and the thicket were searched no one could be found. Moreover,
+a great plot against us was discovered in which some of the lords
+and priests were implicated, but such was the state of feeling in the
+country that, beyond warning them privately that their machinations were
+known, Maqueda did not dare to take proceedings against these men.
+
+A little later on things mended so far as we were concerned, for the
+following reason: One day two shepherds arrived at the palace with some
+of their companions, saying that they had news to communicate. On being
+questioned, these peasants averred that while they were herding their
+goats upon the western cliffs many miles away, suddenly on the top of
+the hills appeared a body of fifteen Fung, who bound and blindfolded
+them, telling them in mocking language to take a message to the Council
+and to the white men.
+
+This was the message: That they had better make haste to destroy the
+god Harmac, since otherwise his head would move to Mur according to the
+prophecy, and that when it did so, the Fung would follow as they knew
+how to do. Then they set the two men on a rock where they could be
+seen, and on the following morning were in fact found by some of their
+fellows, those who accompanied them to the Court and corroborated this
+story.
+
+Of course the matter was duly investigated, but as I know, for I went
+with the search party, when we got to the place no trace of the Fung
+could be found, except one of their spears, of which the handle had been
+driven into the earth and the blade pointed toward Mur, evidently
+in threat or defiance. No other token of them remained, for, as it
+happened, a heavy rain had fallen and obliterated their footprints,
+which in any case must have been faint on this rocky ground.
+
+Notwithstanding the most diligent search by skilled men, their mode of
+approach and retreat remained a mystery, as, indeed, it does to this
+day. The only places where it was supposed to be possible to scale
+the precipice of Mur were watched continually, so that they could have
+climbed up by none of these. The inference was, therefore, that the Fung
+had discovered some unknown path, and, if fifteen men could climb that
+path, why not fifteen thousand!
+
+Only, where was this path? In vain were great rewards in land and
+honours offered to him who should discover it, for although such
+discoveries were continually reported, on investigation these were
+found to be inventions or mares' nests. Nothing but a bird could have
+travelled by such roads.
+
+Then at last we saw the Abati thoroughly frightened, for, with
+additions, the story soon passed from mouth to mouth till the whole
+people talked of nothing else. It was as though we English learned that
+a huge foreign army had suddenly landed on our shores and, having cut
+the wires and seized the railways, was marching upon London. The effect
+of such tidings upon a nation that always believed invasion to be
+impossible may easily be imagined, only I hope that we should take them
+better than did the Abati.
+
+Their swagger, their self-confidence, their talk about the "rocky walls
+of Mur," evaporated in an hour. Now it was only of the disciplined and
+terrible regiments of the Fung, among whom every man was trained to war,
+and of what would happen to them, the civilized and domesticated Abati,
+a peace-loving people who rightly enough, as they declared, had refused
+all martial burdens, should these regiments suddenly appear in their
+midst. They cried out that they were betrayed--they clamoured for the
+blood of certain of the Councillors. That carpet knight, Joshua, lost
+popularity for a while, while Maqueda, who was known always to have been
+in favour of conscription and perfect readiness to repel attack, gained
+what he had lost.
+
+Leaving their farms, they crowded together into the towns and villages,
+where they made what in South Africa are called laagers. Religion, which
+practically had been dead among them, for they retained but few traces
+of the Jewish faith if, indeed, they had ever really practised it,
+became the craze of the hour. Priests were at a premium; sheep and
+cattle were sacrificed; it was even said that, after the fashion of
+their foes the Fung, some human beings shared the same fate. At any
+rate the Almighty was importuned hourly to destroy the hated Fung and
+to protect His people--the Abati--from the results of their own base
+selfishness and cowardly neglect.
+
+Well, the world has seen such exhibitions before to-day, and will
+doubtless see more of them in the instance of greater peoples who allow
+luxury and pleasure-seeking to sap their strength and manhood.
+
+The upshot of it all was that the Abati became obsessed with the
+saying of the Fung scouts to the shepherds, which, after all, was but
+a repetition of that of their envoys delivered to the Council a little
+while before: that they should hasten to destroy the idol Harmac, lest
+he should move himself to Mur. How an idol of such proportions, or even
+its head, could move at all they did not stop to inquire. It was obvious
+to them, however, that if he was destroyed there would be nothing to
+move and, further, that we Gentiles were the only persons who could
+possibly effect such destruction. So we also became popular for a little
+while. Everybody was pleasant and flattered us--everybody, even Joshua,
+bowed when we approached, and took a most lively interest in the
+progress of our work, which many deputations and prominent individuals
+urged us to expedite.
+
+Better still, the untoward accidents such as those I have mentioned,
+ceased. Our dogs, for we had obtained some others, were no longer
+poisoned; rocks that appeared fixed did not fall; no arrows whistled
+among us when we went out riding. We even found it safe occasionally to
+dispense with our guards, since it was every one's interest to keep us
+alive--for the present. Still, I for one was not deceived for a single
+moment, and in season and out of season warned the others that the wind
+would soon blow again from a less favourable quarter.
+
+We worked, we worked, we worked! Heaven alone knows how we did work.
+Think of the task, which, after all, was only one of several. A tunnel
+must be bored, for I forget how far, through virgin rock, with the
+help of inadequate tools and unskilled labour, and this tunnel must be
+finished by a certain date. A hundred unexpected difficulties arose, and
+one by one were conquered. Great dangers must be run, and were avoided,
+while the responsibility of this tremendous engineering feat lay upon
+the shoulders of a single individual, Oliver Orme, who, although he had
+been educated as an engineer, had no great practical experience of such
+enterprises.
+
+Truly the occasion makes the man, for Orme rose to it in a way that
+I can only call heroic. When he was not actually in the tunnel he was
+labouring at his calculations, of which many must be made, or taking
+levels with such instruments as he had. For if there proved to be the
+slightest error all this toil would be in vain, and result only in the
+blowing of a useless hole through a mass of rock. Then there was a
+great question as to the effect which would be produced by the amount of
+explosive at his disposal, since terrible as might be the force of the
+stuff, unless it were scientifically placed and distributed it would
+assuredly fail to accomplish the desired end.
+
+At last, after superhuman efforts, the mine was finished. Our stock of
+concentrated explosive, about four full camel loads of it, was set in
+as many separate chambers, each of them just large enough to receive the
+charge, hollowed in the primaeval rock from which the idol had been hewn.
+
+These chambers were about twenty feet from each other, although if there
+had been time to prolong the tunnel, the distance should have been
+at least forty in order to give the stuff a wider range of action.
+According to Oliver's mathematical reckoning, they were cut in the exact
+centre of the base of the idol, and about thirty feet below the actual
+body of the crouching sphinx. As a matter of fact this reckoning was
+wrong in several particulars, the charges having been set farther
+toward the east or head of the sphinx and higher up in the base than
+he supposed. When it is remembered that he had found no opportunity
+of measuring the monument which practically we had only seen once from
+behind under conditions not favourable to accuracy in such respects, or
+of knowing its actual length and depth, these trifling errors were not
+remarkable.
+
+What was remarkable is that his general plan of operations, founded upon
+a mere hypothetical estimate, should have proved as accurate as it did.
+
+At length all was prepared, and the deadly cast-iron flasks had been
+packed in sand, together with dynamite cartridges, the necessary
+detonators, electric wires, and so forth, an anxious and indeed awful
+task executed entirely in that stifling atmosphere by the hands of Orme
+and Quick. Then began another labour, that of the filling in of the
+tunnels. This, it seems, was necessary, or so I understood, lest the
+expanding gases, following the line of least resistance, should blow
+back, as it were, through the vent-hole. What made that task the more
+difficult was the need of cutting a little channel in the rock to
+contain the wires, and thereby lessen the risk of the fracture of these
+wires in the course of the building-up process. Of course, if by any
+accident this should happen, the circuit would be severed, and no
+explosion would follow when the electric battery was set to work.
+
+The arrangement was that the mine should be fired on the night of
+that full moon on which we had been told, and spies confirmed the
+information, the feast of the marriage of Barung's daughter to my son
+would be celebrated in the city of Harmac. This date was fixed because
+the Sultan had announced that so soon as that festivity, which coincided
+with the conclusion of the harvest, was ended, he meant to deliver his
+attack on Mur.
+
+Also, we were anxious that it should be adhered to for another reason,
+since we knew that on this day but a small number of priests and guards
+would be left in charge of the idol, and my son could not be among them.
+Now, whatever may have been the views of the Abati, we as Christians who
+bore them no malice did not at all desire to destroy an enormous number
+of innocent Fung, as might have happened if we had fired our mine when
+the people were gathered to sacrifice to their god.
+
+
+The fatal day arrived at last. All was completed, save for the blocking
+of the passage, which still went on, or, rather, was being reinforced by
+the piling up of loose rocks against its mouth, at which a hundred or so
+men laboured incessantly. The firing wires had been led into that little
+chamber in the old temple where the dog Pharaoh tore out the throat of
+Shadrach, and no inch of them was left unguarded for fear of accident or
+treachery.
+
+The electric batteries--two of them, in case one should fail--had been
+tested but not connected with the wires. There they stood upon the
+floor, looking innocent enough, and we four sat round them like wizards
+round their magic pot, who await the working of some spell. We were not
+cheerful; who could be under so intense a strain? Orme, indeed, who
+had grown pale and thin with continuous labour of mind and body, seemed
+quite worn out. He could not eat nor smoke, and with difficulty I
+persuaded him to drink some of the native wine. He would not even go to
+look at the completion of the work or to test the wires.
+
+"You can see to it," he said; "I have done all I can. Now things must
+take their chance."
+
+After our midday meal he lay down and slept quite soundly for several
+hours. About four o'clock those who were labouring at the piling up of
+debris over the mouth of the tunnel completed their task, and, in charge
+of Quick, were marched out of the underground city.
+
+Then Higgs and I took lamps and went along the length of the wires,
+which lay in a little trench covered over with dust, removing the dust
+and inspecting them at intervals. Discovering nothing amiss, we returned
+to the old temple, and at its doorway met the mountaineer, Japhet, who
+throughout all these proceedings had been our prop and stay. Indeed,
+without his help and that of his authority over the Abati the mine could
+never have been completed, at any rate within the time.
+
+The light of the lamp showed that his face was very anxious.
+
+"What is the matter?" I asked.
+
+"O Physician," he answered, "I have words for the ear of the Captain
+Orme. Be pleased to lead me to him."
+
+We explained that he slept and could not be disturbed, but Japhet only
+answered as before, adding:
+
+"Come you with me, my words are for your ears as well as his."
+
+So we went into the little room and awoke Oliver, who sprang up in a
+great fright, thinking that something untoward had happened at the mine.
+
+"What's wrong?" he asked of Japhet. "Have the Fung cut the wires?"
+
+"Nay, O Orme, a worse thing; I have discovered that the Prince Joshua
+has laid a plot to steal away 'Her-whose-name-is-high.'"
+
+"What do you mean? Set out all the story, Japhet," said Oliver.
+
+"It is short, lord. I have some friends, one of whom--he is of my own
+blood, but ask me not his name--is in the service of the Prince. We
+drank a cup of wine together, which I needed, and I suppose it loosed
+his tongue. At any rate, he told me, and I believed him. This is the
+story. For his own sake and that of the people the Prince desires that
+you should destroy the idol of Fung, and therefore he has kept his
+hands off you of late. Yet should you succeed, he does not know what may
+happen. He fears lest the Abati in their gratitude should set you up as
+great men."
+
+"Then he is an ass!" interrupted Quick; "for the Abati have no
+gratitude."
+
+"He fears," went on Japhet, "other things also. For instance, that the
+Child of Kings may express that gratitude by a mark of her signal favour
+toward one of you," and he stared at Orme, who turned his head aside.
+"Now, the Prince is affianced to this great lady, whom he desires to wed
+for two reasons: First, because this marriage will make him the chief
+man amongst the Abati, and, secondly, because of late he has come to
+think that he loves her whom he is afraid that he may lose. So he has
+set a snare."
+
+"What snare?" asked one of us, for Japhet paused.
+
+"I don't know," answered Japhet, "and I do not think that my friend knew
+either, or, if he did, he would not tell me. But I understand the plot
+is that the Child of Kings is to be carried off to the Prince Joshua's
+castle at the other end of the lake, six hours' ride away, and there be
+forced to marry him at once."
+
+"Indeed," said Orme, "and when is all this to happen?"
+
+"I don't know, lord. I know nothing except what my friend told me, which
+I thought it right to communicate to you instantly. I asked him the
+time, however, and he said that he believed the date was fixed for one
+night after next Sabbath."
+
+"Next Sabbath is five days hence, so that this matter does not seem to
+be very pressing," remarked Oliver with a sigh of relief. "Are you sure
+that you can trust your friend, Japhet?"
+
+"No, lord, I am not sure, especially as I have always known him to be a
+liar. Still, I thought that I ought to tell you."
+
+"Very kind of you, Japhet, but I wish that you had let me have my sleep
+out first. Now go down the line and see that all is right, then return
+and report."
+
+Japhet saluted in his native fashion and went.
+
+"What do you think of this story?" asked Oliver, as soon as he was out
+of hearing.
+
+"All bosh," answered Higgs; "the place is full of talk and rumours, and
+this is one of them."
+
+He paused and looked at me.
+
+"Oh!" I said, "I agree with Higgs. If Japhet's friend had really
+anything to tell he would have told it in more detail. I daresay there
+are a good many things Joshua would like to do, but I expect he will
+stop there, at any rate, for the present. If you take my advice you will
+say nothing of the matter, especially to Maqueda."
+
+"Then we are all agreed. But what are you thinking of, Sergeant?"
+asked Oliver, addressing Quick, who stood in a corner of the room, lost
+apparently in contemplation of the floor.
+
+"I, Captain," he replied, coming to attention. "Well, begging their
+pardon, I was thinking that I don't hold with these gentlemen, except in
+so far that I should say nothing of this job to our Lady, who has plenty
+to bother her just now, and won't need to be frightened as well. Still,
+there may be something in it, for though that Japhet is stupid, he's
+honest, and honest men sometimes get hold of the right end of the stick.
+At least, he believes there is something, and that's what weighs with
+me."
+
+"Well, if that's your opinion, what's best to be done Sergeant? I agree
+that the Child of Kings should not be told, and I shan't leave this
+place till after ten o'clock to-night at the earliest, if we stick to
+our plans, as we had better do, for all that stuff in the tunnel wants
+a little time to settle, and for other reasons. What are you drawing
+there?" and he pointed to the floor, in the dust of which Quick was
+tracing something with his finger.
+
+"A plan of our Lady's private rooms, Captain. She told you she was going
+to rest at sundown, didn't she, or earlier, for she was up most of last
+night, and wanted to get a few hours' sleep before--something happens.
+Well, her bed-chamber is there, isn't it? and another before it, in
+which her maids sleep, and nothing behind except a high wall and a ditch
+which cannot be climbed."
+
+"That's quite true," interrupted Higgs. "I got leave to make a plan
+of the palace, only there is a passage six feet wide and twenty long
+leading from the guard chamber to the ladies' anteroom."
+
+"Just so, Professor, and that passage has a turn in it, if I remember
+right, so that two well-armed men could hold it against quite a lot.
+Supposing now that you and I, Professor, should go and take a nap in
+that guard-room, which will be empty, for the watch is set at the palace
+gate. We shan't be wanted here, since if the Captain can't touch off
+that mine, no one can, with the Doctor to help him just in case anything
+goes wrong, and Japhet guarding the line. I daresay there's nothing
+in this yarn, but who knows? There might be, and then we should blame
+ourselves. What do you say, Professor?"
+
+"I? Oh, I'll do anything you wish, though I should rather have liked to
+climb the cliff and watch what happens."
+
+"You'd see nothing, Higgs," interrupted Oliver, "except perhaps the
+reflection of a flash in the sky; so, if you don't mind, I wish you
+would go with the Sergeant. Somehow, although I am quite certain that
+we ought not to alarm Maqueda, I am not easy about her, and if you two
+fellows were there, I should know she was all right, and it would be a
+weight off my mind."
+
+"That settles it," said Higgs; "we'll be off presently. Look here, give
+us that portable telephone, which is of no use anywhere else now. The
+wire will reach to the palace, and if the machine works all right we can
+talk to you and tell each other how things are going on."
+
+Ten minutes later they had made their preparations. Quick stepped up to
+Oliver and stood at attention, saying:
+
+"Ready to march. Any more orders, Captain?"
+
+"I think not, Sergeant," he answered, lifting his eyes from the little
+batteries that he was watching as though they were live things. "You
+know the arrangements. At ten o'clock--that is about two hours hence--I
+touch this switch. Whatever happens it must not be done before, for fear
+lest the Doctor's son should not have left the idol, to say nothing of
+all the other poor beggars. The spies say that the marriage feast will
+not be celebrated until at least three hours after moonrise."
+
+"And that's what I heard when I was a prisoner," interrupted Higgs.
+
+"I daresay," answered Orme; "but it is always well to allow a margin
+in case the procession should be delayed, or something. So until ten
+o'clock I've got to stop where I am, and you may be sure, Doctor, that
+under no circumstances shall I fire the mine before that hour, as indeed
+you will be here to see. After that I can't say what will happen, but
+if we don't appear, you two had better come to look for us--in case
+of accidents, you know. Do your best at your end according to
+circumstances; the Doctor and I will do our best at ours. I think that
+is all, Sergeant. Report yourselves by the telephone if the wire is long
+enough and it will work, which I daresay it won't, and, anyway, look out
+for us about half-past ten. Good-bye!"
+
+"Good-bye, Captain," answered Quick, then stretched out his hand,
+shook that of Orme, and without another word took his lamp and left the
+chamber.
+
+An impulse prompted me to follow him, leaving Orme and Higgs discussing
+something before they parted. When he had walked about fifty yards in
+the awful silence of that vast underground town, of which the ruined
+tenements yawned on either side of us, the Sergeant stopped and said
+suddenly:
+
+"You don't believe in presentiments, do you, Doctor?"
+
+"Not a bit," I answered.
+
+"Glad of it, Doctor. Still, I have got a bad one now, and it is that I
+shan't see the Captain or you any more."
+
+"Then that's a poor look-out for us, Quick."
+
+"No, Doctor, for me. I think you are both all right, and the Professor,
+too. It's my name they are calling up aloft, or so it seems to me. Well,
+I don't care much, for, though no saint, I have tried to do my duty,
+and if it is done, it's done. If it's written, it's got to come to pass,
+hasn't it? For everything is written down for us long before we begin,
+or so I've always thought. Still, I'll grieve to part from the Captain,
+seeing that I nursed him as a child, and I'd have liked to know him well
+out of this hole, and safely married to that sweet lady first, though I
+don't doubt that it will be so."
+
+"Nonsense, Sergeant," I said sharply; "you are not yourself; all this
+work and anxiety has got on your nerves."
+
+"As it well might, Doctor, not but I daresay that's true. Anyhow, if the
+other is the true thing, and you should all see old England again with
+some of the stuff in that dead-house, I've got three nieces living down
+at home whom you might remember. Don't say nothing of what I told you to
+the Captain till this night's game is played, seeing that it might upset
+him, and he'll need to keep cool up to ten o'clock, and afterwards too,
+perhaps. Only if we shouldn't meet again, say that Samuel Quick sent him
+his duty and God's blessing. And the same on yourself, Doctor, and your
+son, too. And now here comes the Professor, so good-bye."
+
+
+
+A minute later they had left me, and I stood watching them until the two
+stars of light from their lanterns vanished into the blackness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HARMAC COMES TO MUR
+
+Slowly and in very bad spirits I retraced my steps to the old temple,
+following the line of the telephone wire which Higgs and Quick had
+unreeled as they went. In the Sergeant's prognostications of evil I
+had no particular belief, as they seemed to me to be born of the
+circumstances which surrounded us, and in different ways affected all
+our minds, even that of the buoyant Higgs.
+
+To take my own case, for instance. Here I was about to assist in an act
+which for aught I knew might involve the destruction of my only son. It
+was true we believed that this was the night of his marriage at the town
+of Harmac, some miles away, and that the tale of our spies supported
+this information. But how could we be sure that the date, or the place
+of the ceremony, had not been changed at the last moment? Supposing,
+for instance, that it was held, not in the town, as arranged, but in the
+courts of the idol, and that the fearful activities of the fiery agent
+which we were about to wake to life should sweep the celebrants into
+nothingness.
+
+The thought made me turn cold, and yet the deed must be done; Roderick
+must take his chance. And if all were well, and he escaped that danger,
+were there not worse behind? Think of him, a Christian man, the husband
+of a savage woman who worshipped a stone image with a lion's head, bound
+to her and her tribe, a state prisoner, trebly guarded, whom, so far
+as I could see, there would be no hope of rescuing. It was awful. Then
+there were other complications. If the plan succeeded and the idol was
+destroyed, my own belief was that the Fung must thereby be exasperated.
+Evidently they knew some road into this stronghold. It would be used.
+They would pour their thousands up it, a general massacre would follow,
+of which, justly, we should be the first victims.
+
+I reached the chamber where Oliver sat brooding alone, for Japhet was
+patrolling the line.
+
+"I am not happy about Maqueda, Doctor," he said to me. "I am afraid
+there is something in that story. She wanted to be with us; indeed, she
+begged to be allowed to come almost with tears. But I wouldn't have it,
+since accidents may always happen; the vibration might shake in the roof
+or something; in fact, I don't think you should be here. Why don't you
+go away and leave me?"
+
+I answered that nothing would induce me to do so, for such a job should
+not be left to one man.
+
+"No, you're right," he said; "I might faint or lose my head or anything.
+I wish now that we had arranged to send the spark from the palace,
+which perhaps we might have done by joining the telephone wire on to
+the others. But, to tell you the truth, I'm afraid of the batteries.
+The cells are new but very weak, for time and the climate have affected
+them, and I thought it possible the extra difference might make the
+difference and that they would fail to work. That's why I fixed this as
+the firing point. Hullo, there's the bell. What have they got to say?"
+
+I snatched the receiver, and presently heard the cheerful voice of
+Higgs announcing that they had arrived safely in the little anteroom to
+Maqueda's private apartments.
+
+"The palace seems very empty," he added; "we only met one sentry, for I
+think that everybody else, except Maqueda and a few of her ladies,
+have cleared out, being afraid lest rocks should fall on them when the
+explosion occurs."
+
+"Did the man say so?" I asked of Higgs.
+
+"Yes, something of that sort; also he wanted to forbid us to come here,
+saying that it was against the Prince Joshua's orders that we Gentiles
+should approach the private apartments of the Child of Kings. Well, we
+soon settled that, and he bolted. Where to? Oh! I don't know; to report,
+he said."
+
+"How's Quick?" I asked.
+
+"Much the same as usual. In fact, he is saying his prayers in the
+corner, looking like a melancholy brigand with rifles, revolvers, and
+knives stuck all over him. I wish he wouldn't say his prayers," added
+Higgs, and his voice reached me in an indignant squeak; "it makes me
+feel uncomfortable, as though I ought to join him. But not having been
+brought up a Dissenter or a Moslem, I can't pray in public as he does.
+Hullo! Wait a minute, will you?"
+
+Then followed a longish pause, and after it Higgs's voice again.
+
+"It's all right," it said. "Only one of Maqueda's ladies who had heard
+us and come to see who we were. When she learns I expect she will join
+us here, as the girl says she's nervous and can't sleep."
+
+Higgs proved right in his anticipations, for in about ten minutes we
+were rung up again, this time by Maqueda herself, whereon I handed the
+receiver to Oliver and retired to the other end of the room.
+
+Nor, to tell the truth, was I sorry for the interruption, since it
+cheered up Oliver and helped to pass the time.
+
+The next thing worth telling that happened was that, an hour or more
+later, Japhet arrived, looking very frightened. We asked him our usual
+question: if anything was wrong with the wires. With a groan he answered
+"No," the wires seemed all right, but he had met a ghost.
+
+"What ghost, you donkey?" I said.
+
+"The ghost of one of the dead kings, O Physician, yonder in the burial
+cave. It was he with the bent bones who sits in the farthest chair. Only
+he had put some flesh on his bones, and I tell you he looked fearful, a
+very fierce man, or rather ghost."
+
+"Indeed, and did he say anything to you, Japhet?"
+
+"Oh! yes, plenty, O Physician, only I could not understand it all,
+because his language was somewhat different to mine, and he spat out
+his words as a green log spits out sparks. I think that he asked me,
+however, how my miserable people dared to destroy his god, Harmac. I
+answered that I was only a servant and did not know, adding that he
+should put his questions to you."
+
+"And what did he say to that, Japhet?"
+
+"I think he said that Harmac would come to Mur and settle his account
+with the Abati, and that the foreign men would be wise to fly fast and
+far. That's all I understood; ask me no more, who would not return into
+that cave to be made a prince."
+
+"He's got hold of what Barung's envoys told us," said Oliver,
+indifferently, "and no wonder, this place is enough to make anybody see
+ghosts. I'll repeat it to Maqueda; it will amuse her."
+
+"I wouldn't if I were you," I answered, "for it isn't exactly a cheerful
+yarn, and perhaps she's afraid of ghosts too. Also," and I pointed
+to the watch that lay on the table beside the batteries, "it is five
+minutes to ten."
+
+Oh! that last five minutes! It seemed as many centuries. Like stone
+statues we sat, each of us lost in his own thoughts, though for my part
+the power of clear thinking appeared to have left me. Visions of a sort
+flowed over my mind without sinking into it, as water flows over marble.
+All I could do was fix my eyes on the face of that watch, of which in
+the flickering lamp-light the second-hand seemed to my excited fancy to
+grow enormous and jump from one side of the room to the other.
+
+Orme began to count aloud. "One, two, three, four, five--_now_!" and
+almost simultaneously he touched the knob first of one battery and next
+of the other. Before his finger pressed the left-hand knob I felt the
+solid rock beneath us surge--no other word conveys its movement. Then
+the great stone cross-piece, weighing several tons, that was set as
+a transom above the tall door of our room, dislodged itself, and fell
+quite gently into the doorway, which it completely blocked.
+
+Other rocks fell also at a distance, making a great noise, and somehow
+I found myself on the ground, my stool had slid away from me. Next
+followed a muffled, awful roar, and with it came a blast of wind blowing
+where wind never blew before since the beginning of the world, that with
+a terrible wailing howled itself to silence in the thousand recesses of
+the cave city. As it passed our lamps went out. Lastly, quite a minute
+later I should think, there was a thud, as though something of enormous
+weight had fallen on the surface of the earth far above us.
+
+Then all was as it had been; all was darkness and utter quietude.
+
+"Well, that's over," said Oliver, in a strained voice which sounded very
+small and far away through that thick darkness; "all over for good or
+ill. I needn't have been anxious; the first battery was strong enough,
+for I felt the mine spring as I touched the second. I wonder," he went
+on, as though speaking to himself, "what amount of damage nearly a ton
+and a half of that awful azo-imide compound has done to the old sphinx.
+According to my calculations it ought to have been enough to break the
+thing up, if we could have spread the charge more. But, as it is, I
+am by no means certain. It may only have driven a hole in its bulk,
+especially if there were hollows through which the gases could run.
+Well, with luck, we may know more about it later. Strike a match, Adams,
+and light those lamps. Why, what's that? Listen!"
+
+As he spoke, from somewhere came a series of tiny noises, that,
+though they were so faint and small, suggested rifles fired at a great
+distance. Crack, crack, crack! went the infinitesimal noises.
+
+I groped about, and finding the receiver of the field telephone, set
+it to my ear. In an instant all grew plain to me. Guns were being fired
+near the other end of the wire, and the transmitter was sending us the
+sound of them. Very faintly but with distinctness I could hear Higgs's
+high voice saying, "Look out, Sergeant, there's another rush coming!"
+and Quick answering, "Shoot low, Professor; for the Lord's sake shoot
+low. You are empty, sir. Load up, load up! Here's a clip of cartridges.
+Don't fire too fast. Ah! that devil got me, but I've got him; he'll
+never throw another spear."
+
+"They are being attacked!" I exclaimed. "Quick is wounded. Now Maqueda
+is talking to you. She says, 'Oliver, come! Joshua's men assail me.
+Oliver, come!'"
+
+Then followed a great sound of shouting answered by more shots, and just
+as Orme snatched the receiver from my hand the wire went dead. In vain
+he called down it in an agonized voice. As well might he have addressed
+the planet Saturn.
+
+"The wire's cut," he exclaimed, dashing down the receiver and seizing
+the lantern which Japhet had just succeeded in re-lighting; "come
+on, there's murder being done," and he sprang to the doorway, only to
+stagger back again from the great stone with which it was blocked.
+
+"Good God!" he screamed, "we're shut in. How can we get out? How can
+we get out?" and he began to run round and round the room, and even to
+spring at the walls like a frightened cat. Thrice he sprang, striving to
+climb to the coping, for the place had no roof, each time falling back,
+since it was too high for him to grasp. I caught him round the middle,
+and held him by main force, although he struck at me.
+
+"Be quiet," I said; "do you want to kill yourself? You will be no good
+dead or maimed. Let me think."
+
+Meanwhile Japhet was acting on his own account, for he, too, had heard
+the tiny, ominous sounds given out by the telephone and guessed their
+purport. First he ran to the massive transom that blocked the doorway
+and pushed. It was useless; not even an elephant could have stirred it.
+Then he stepped back, examining it carefully.
+
+"I think it can be climbed, Physician," he said. "Help me now," and he
+motioned to me to take one end of the heavy table on which the batteries
+stood. We dragged it to the doorway, and, seeing his purpose, Oliver
+jumped on to it with him. Then at Japhet's direction, while I supported
+the table to prevent its oversetting, Orme rested his forehead
+against the stone, making what schoolboy's call "a back," up which the
+mountaineer climbed actively until he stood upon his shoulders, and
+by stretching himself was able to grasp the end of the fallen transom.
+Next, while I held up the lamp to give him light, he gripped the
+roughnesses of the hewn stone with his toes, and in a few moments was
+upon the coping of the wall, twenty feet or more above the floor line.
+
+The rest was comparatively easy, for taking off his linen robe, Japhet
+knotted it once or twice, and let it down to us. By the help of this
+improvised rope, with Orme supporting me beneath, I, too, was dragged
+up to the coping of the wall. Then both of us pulled up Oliver, who,
+without a word, swung himself over the wall, hanging to Japhet's arms,
+and loosing his hold, dropped to the ground on the farther side. Next
+came my turn. It was a long fall, and had not Oliver caught me I think
+that I should have hurt myself. As it was, the breath was shaken out
+of me. Lastly, Japhet swung himself down, landing lightly as a cat. The
+lamps he had already dropped to us, and in another minute they were all
+lighted, and we were speeding down the great cavern.
+
+"Be careful," I cried; "there may be fallen rocks about."
+
+As it happened I was right, for at that moment Oliver struck his legs
+against one of them and fell, cutting himself a good deal. In a moment
+he was up again, but after this our progress grew slow, for hundreds of
+tons of stone had been shaken from the roof and blocked the path. Also,
+whole buildings of the ancient and underground city had been thrown
+down, although these were mostly blown inward by the rush of air. At
+length we came to the end of the cave, and halted dismayed, for here,
+where the blast of the explosion had been brought to a full stop, the
+place seemed to be crowded with rocks which it had rolled before it.
+
+"My God! I believe we are shut in," exclaimed Oliver in despair.
+
+But Japhet, lantern in hand, was already leaping from block to block,
+and presently, from the top of the debris, called to us to come to him.
+
+"I think there is a road left, though a bad one, lords," he said, and
+pointed to a jagged, well-like hole blown out, as I believe, by the
+recoil of the blast. With difficulty and danger, for many of the piled
+up stones were loose, we climbed down this place, and at its bottom
+squeezed ourselves through a narrow aperture on to the floor of the
+cave, praying that the huge door which led to the passage beyond might
+not be jammed, since if it were, as we knew well, our small strength
+would not avail to move it. Happily, this fear at least proved
+groundless, since it opened outward, and the force of the compressed air
+had torn it from its massive stone hinges and thrown it shattered to the
+ground.
+
+We scrambled over it, and advanced down the passage, our revolvers
+in our hands. We reached the audience hall, which was empty and in
+darkness. We turned to the left, crossing various chambers, and in the
+last of them, through which one of the gates of the palace could be
+approached, met with the first signs of the tragedy, for there were
+bloodstains on the floor.
+
+Orme pointed to them as he hurried on, and suddenly a man leapt out of
+the darkness as a buck leaps from a bush, and ran past us, holding his
+hands to his side, where evidently he had some grievous hurt. Now we
+entered the corridor leading to the private apartments of the Child of
+Kings, and found ourselves walking on the bodies of dead and dying men.
+One of the former I observed, as one does notice little things at such
+a moment, held in his hand the broken wire of the field telephone. I
+presume that he had snatched and severed it in his death pang at the
+moment when communication ceased between us and the palace.
+
+We rushed into the little antechamber, in which lights were burning, and
+there saw a sight that I for one never shall forget.
+
+In the foreground lay more dead men, all of them wearing the livery of
+Prince Joshua. Beyond was Sergeant Quick, seated on a chair. He seemed
+to be literally hacked to pieces. An arrow that no one had attempted to
+remove was fast in his shoulder; his head, which Maqueda was sponging
+with wet cloths--well, I will not describe his wounds.
+
+Leaning against the wall near by stood Higgs, also bleeding, and
+apparently quite exhausted. Behind, besides Maqueda herself, were two or
+three of her ladies, wringing their hands and weeping. In face of this
+terrible spectacle we came to a sudden halt. No word was spoken of by
+any one, for the power of speech had left us.
+
+The dying Quick opened his eyes, lifted his hand, upon which there was
+a ghastly sword-cut, to his forehead, as though to shade them from the
+light--ah! how well I recall that pathetic motion--and from beneath this
+screen stared at us a while. Then he rose from the chair, touched his
+throat to show that he could not speak, as I suppose, saluted Orme,
+turned and pointed to Maqueda, and with a triumphant smile sank down
+and--died.
+
+Such was the noble end of Sergeant Quick.
+
+To describe what followed is not easy, for the scene was confused. Also
+shock and sorrow have blurred its recollection in my mind. I remember
+Maqueda and Orme falling into each other's arms before everybody.
+I remember her drawing herself up in that imperial way of hers, and
+saying, as she pointed to the body of Quick:
+
+"There lies one who has shown us how to die. This countryman of yours
+was a hero, O Oliver, and you should hold his memory in honour, since he
+saved me from worse than death."
+
+"What's the story?" asked Orme of Higgs.
+
+"A simple one enough," he answered. "We got here all right, as we told
+you over the wire. Then Maqueda talked to you for a long while until
+you rang off, saying you wanted to speak to Japhet. After that, at ten
+o'clock precisely, we heard the thud of the explosion. Next, as we were
+preparing to go out to see what had happened, Joshua arrived alone,
+announced that the idol Harmac had been destroyed, and demanded that
+the Child of Kings, 'for State reasons,' should accompany him to his own
+castle. She declined and, as he insisted, I took it upon myself to kick
+him out of the place. He retired, and we saw no more of him, but a few
+minutes later there came a shower of arrows down the passage, and after
+them a rush of men, who called, 'Death to the Gentiles. Rescue the
+Rose.'
+
+"So we began to shoot and knocked over a lot of them, but Quick got
+that arrow through his shoulder. Three times they came on like that, and
+three times we drove them back. At last our cartridges ran low, and we
+only had our revolvers left, which we emptied into them. They hung a
+moment, but moved forward again, and all seemed up.
+
+"Then Quick went mad. He snatched the sword of a dead Abati and ran at
+them roaring like a bull. They hacked and cut at him, but the end of
+it was that he drove them right out of the passage, while I followed,
+firing past him.
+
+"Well, those who were left of the blackguards bolted, and when they had
+gone the Sergeant tumbled down. The women and I carried him back here,
+but he never said another word, and at last you turned up. Now he's
+gone, God rest him, for if ever there was a hero in this world he was
+christened Samuel Quick!" and, turning aside, the Professor pushed up
+the blue spectacles he always wore on to his forehead, and wiped his
+eyes with the back of his hand.
+
+With grief more bitter than I can describe we lifted up the body of the
+gallant Quick and, bearing it into Maqueda's private apartment, placed
+it on her own bed, for she insisted that the man who had died to protect
+her should be laid nowhere else. It was strange to see the grim old
+soldier, whose face, now that I had washed his wounds, looked calm and
+even beautiful, laid out to sleep his last sleep upon the couch of the
+Child of Kings. That bed, I remember, was a rich and splendid thing,
+made of some black wood inlaid with scrolls of gold, and having hung
+about it curtains of white net embroidered with golden stars, such as
+Maqueda wore upon her official veil.
+
+There upon the scented pillows and silken coverlet we set our burden
+down, the work-worn hands clasped upon the breast in an attitude of
+prayer, and one by one bid our farewell to this faithful and upright
+man, whose face, as it chanced, we were never to see again, except in
+the glass of memory. Well, he had died as he had lived and would have
+wished to die--doing his duty and in war. And so we left him. Peace be
+to his honoured spirit!
+
+In the blood-stained ante-room, while I dressed and stitched up the
+Professor's wounds, a sword-cut on the head, an arrow-graze along the
+face, and a spear-prick in the thigh, none of them happily at all deep
+or dangerous, we held a brief council.
+
+"Friends," said Maqueda, who was leaning on her lover's arm, "it is
+not safe that we should stop here. My uncle's plot has failed for the
+moment, but it was only a small and secret thing. I think that soon he
+will return again with a thousand at his back, and then----"
+
+"What is in your mind?" asked Oliver. "To fly from Mur?"
+
+"How can we fly," she answered, "when the pass is guarded by Joshua's
+men, and the Fung wait for us without? The Abati hate you, my friends,
+and now that you have done your work I think that they will kill you if
+they can, whom they bore with only till it was done. Alas! alas! that I
+should have brought you to this false and ungrateful country," and she
+began to weep, while we stared at each other, helpless.
+
+Then Japhet, who all this while had been crouched on the floor, rocking
+himself too and fro and mourning in his Eastern fashion for Quick,
+whom he had loved, rose, and, coming to the Child of Kings, prostrated
+himself before her.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta," he said, "hear the words of your servant. Only three
+miles away, near to the mouth of the pass, are encamped five hundred
+men of my own people, the Mountaineers, who hate Prince Joshua and his
+following. Fly to them, O Walda Nagasta, for they will cleave to you and
+listen to me whom you have made a chief among them. Afterwards you can
+act as may seem wisest."
+
+Maqueda looked at Oliver questioningly.
+
+"I think that is good advice," he said. "At any rate, we can't be worse
+off among the Mountaineers than we are in this undefended place. Tell
+your women to bring cloaks that we can throw over our heads, and let us
+go."
+
+Five minutes later, a forlorn group filled with fears, we had stolen
+over the dead and dying in the passage, and made our way to the side
+gate of the palace that we found open, and over the bridge that spanned
+the moat beyond, which was down. Doubtless Joshua's ruffians had used
+it in their approach and retreat. Disguised in the long cloaks with
+monk-like hoods that the Abati wore at night or when the weather was
+cold and wet, we hurried across the great square. Here, since we could
+not escape them, we mingled with the crowd that was gathered at its
+farther end, all of them--men, women and children--chattering like
+monkeys in the tree-tops, and pointing to the cliff at the back of the
+palace, beneath which, it will be remembered, lay the underground city.
+
+A band of soldiers rode by, thrusting their way through the people, and
+in order to avoid them we thought it wise to take refuge in the shadow
+of a walk of green-leaved trees which grew close at hand, for we feared
+lest they might recognize Oliver by his height. Here we turned and
+looked up at the cliff, to discover what it was at which every one was
+staring. At that moment the full moon, which had been obscured by a
+cloud, broke out, and we saw a spectacle that under the circumstances
+was nothing less than terrifying.
+
+The cliff behind the palace rose to a height of about a hundred and
+fifty feet, and, as it chanced, just there a portion of it jutted out
+in an oblong shape, which the Abati called the Lion Rock, although
+personally, heretofore, I had never been able to see in it any great
+resemblance to a lion. Now, however, it was different, for on the very
+extremity of this rock, staring down at Mur, sat the head and neck of
+the huge lion-faced idol of the Fung. Indeed, in that light, with the
+promontory stretching away behind it, it looked as though it were
+the idol itself, moved from the valley upon the farther side of the
+precipice to the top of the cliff above.
+
+"Oh! oh! oh!" groaned Japhet, "the prophecy is fulfilled--the head of
+Harmac has come to sleep at Mur."
+
+"You mean that we have sent him there," whispered Higgs. "Don't be
+frightened, man; can't you understand that the power of our medicine has
+blown the head off the sphinx high into the air, and landed it where it
+sits now?"
+
+"Yes," I put in, "and what we felt in the cave was the shock of its
+fall."
+
+"I don't care what brought him," replied Japhet, who seemed quite
+unstrung by all that he had gone through. "All I know is that the
+prophecy is fulfilled, and Harmac has come to Mur, and where Harmac goes
+the Fung follow."
+
+"So much the better," said the irreverent Higgs. "I may be able to
+sketch and measure him now."
+
+But I saw that Maqueda was trembling, for she, too, thought this
+occurrence a very bad omen, and even Oliver remained silent, perhaps
+because he feared its effect upon the Abati.
+
+Nor was this wonderful since, from the talk around us, clearly that
+effect was great. Evidently the people were terrified, like Japhet. We
+could hear them foreboding ill, and cursing us Gentiles as wizards,
+who had not destroyed the idol of the Fung as we promised, but had only
+caused him to fly to Mur.
+
+Here I may mention that as a matter of fact they were right. As we
+discovered afterwards, the whole force of the explosion, instead of
+shattering the vast bulk of the stone image, had rushed up through the
+hollow chambers in its interior until it struck against the solid head.
+Lifting this as though it were a toy, the expanding gas had hurled that
+mighty mass an unknown distance into the air, to light upon the crest of
+the cliffs of Mur, where probably it will remain forever.
+
+"Well," I said, when we had stared a little while at this extraordinary
+phenomenon, "thank God it did not travel farther, and fall upon the
+palace."
+
+"Oh! had it done so," whispered Maqueda in a tearful voice, "I think you
+might have thanked God indeed, for then at least I should be free
+from all my troubles. Come, friends, let us be going before we are
+discovered."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+I FIND MY SON
+
+Our road toward the pass ran through the camping ground of the newly
+created Abati army, and what we saw on our journey thither told us
+more vividly than any words or reports could do, how utter was the
+demoralization of that people. Where should have been sentries were
+no sentries; where should have been soldiers were groups of officers
+talking with women; where should have been officers were camp followers
+drinking.
+
+Through this confusion and excitement we made our way unobserved, or,
+at any rate, unquestioned, till at length we came to the regiment of the
+Mountaineers, who, for the most part, were goatherds, poor people who
+lived upon the slopes of the precipices that enclosed the land of Mur.
+These folk, having little to do with their more prosperous brethren of
+the plain, were hardy and primitive of nature, and therefore retained
+some of the primeval virtues of mankind, such as courage and loyalty.
+
+It was for the first of these reasons, and, indeed, for the second also,
+that they had been posted by Joshua at the mouth of the pass, which he
+knew well they alone could be trusted to defend in the event of serious
+attack. Moreover, it was desirable, from his point of view, to keep them
+out of the way while he developed his plans against the person of the
+Child of Kings, for whom these simple-minded men had a hereditary and
+almost a superstitious reverence.
+
+As soon as we were within the lines of these Mountaineers we found the
+difference between them and the rest of the Abati. The other regiments
+we had passed unchallenged, but here we were instantly stopped by a
+picket. Japhet whispered something into the ear of its officer that
+caused him to stare hard at us. Then this officer saluted the veiled
+figure of the Child of Kings and led us to where the commander of the
+band and his subordinates were seated near a fire sitting together. At
+some sign or word that did not reach us the commander, an old fellow
+with a long grey beard, rose and said:
+
+"Your pardon, but be pleased to show your faces."
+
+Maqueda threw back her hood and turned so that the light of the moon
+fell full upon her, whereon the old man dropped to his knee, saying:
+
+"Your commands, O Walda Nagasta."
+
+"Summon your regiment and I will give them," she answered, and seated
+herself on a bench by the fire, we three and Japhet standing behind her.
+
+The commander issued orders to his captains, and presently the
+Mountaineers formed up on three sides of a square above us, to the
+number of a little over five hundred men. When all were gathered Maqueda
+mounted the bench upon which she had been sitting, threw back her hood
+so that every one could see her face in the light of the fire, and
+addressed them:
+
+"Men of the mountain-side, this night just after the idol of the Fung
+had been destroyed, the Prince Joshua, my uncle, came to me demanding
+my surrender to him, whether to kill me or to imprison me in his castle
+beyond the end of the lake, for reasons of State as he said, or for
+other vile purposes, I do not know."
+
+At these words a murmur rose from the audience.
+
+"Wait," said Maqueda, holding up her hand, "there is worse to come.
+I told my uncle, Prince Joshua, that he was a traitor and had best be
+gone. He went, threatening me and, when I do not know, withdrew the
+guards that should be stationed at my palace gates. Now, some rumour of
+my danger had reached the foreigners in my service, and two of them,
+he who is called Black Windows, whom we rescued from the Fung, and the
+soldier named Quick, came to watch over me, while the Lord Orme and the
+Doctor Adams stayed in the cave to send out that spark of fire which
+should destroy the idol. Nor did they come back without need, for
+presently arrived a band of Prince Joshua's men to take me.
+
+"Then Black Windows and the soldier his companion fought a good fight,
+they two holding the narrow passage against many, and slaying a number
+of them with their terrible weapons. The end of it was, men of the
+mountains, that the warrior Quick, charging down the passage, drove
+away those servants of Joshua who remained alive. But in so doing he was
+wounded to the death. Yes, that brave man lies dead, having given his
+life to save the Child of Kings from the hands of her own people. Black
+Windows also was wounded--see the bandages about his head. Then came the
+Lord Orme and the Doctor Adams, and with them your brother Japhet, who
+had barely escaped with their lives from the cave city, and knowing that
+I was no longer safe in the palace, where even my sleeping-room has been
+drenched with blood, with them I have fled to you for succour. Will you
+not protect me, O men of the mountain-side?"
+
+"Yes, yes," they answered with a great shout. "Command we obey. What
+shall we do, O Child of Kings?"
+
+Now Maqueda called the officers of the regiment apart and consulted with
+them, asking their opinions, one by one. Some of them were in favour of
+finding out where Joshua might be, and attacking him at once. "Crush the
+snake's head and its tail will soon cease wriggling!" these said, and I
+confess this was a view that in many ways commended itself to us.
+
+But Maqueda would have none of it.
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, "shall I begin a civil war among my people when
+for aught I know the enemy is at our gates?" adding aside to us, "also,
+how can these few hundred men, brave though they be, hope to stand
+against the thousands under the command of Joshua?"
+
+"What, then, would you do?" asked Orme.
+
+"Return to the palace with these Mountaineers, O Oliver, and by help of
+that garrison, hold it against all enemies."
+
+"Very well," he replied. "To those who are quite lost one road is as
+good as another; they must trust to the stars to guide them."
+
+"Quite so," echoed Higgs; "and the sooner we go the better, for my leg
+hurts, and I want a sleep."
+
+So Maqueda gave her commands to the officers, by whom they were conveyed
+to the regiment, which received them with a shout, and instantly began
+to strike its camp.
+
+Then it was, coming hot-foot after so much sorrow, loss and doubt, that
+there followed the happiest event of all my life. Utterly tired out and
+very despondent, I was seated on an arrow-chest awaiting the order to
+march, idly watching Oliver and Maqueda talking with great earnestness
+at a little distance, and in the intervals trying to prevent poor Higgs
+at my side from falling asleep. While I was thus engaged, suddenly I
+heard a disturbance, and by the bright moonlight caught sight of a man
+being led into the camp in charge of a guard of Abati soldiers, whom
+from their dress I knew to belong to a company that just then was
+employed in watching the lower gates of the pass.
+
+I took no particular heed of the incident, thinking only that they might
+have captured some spy, till a murmur of astonishment, and the general
+stir, warned me that something unusual had occurred. So I rose from my
+box and strolled towards the man, who now was hidden from me by a group
+of Mountaineers. As I advanced this group opened, the men who composed
+it bowing to me with a kind of wondering respect that impressed me, I
+did not know why.
+
+Then for the first time I saw the prisoner. He was a tall, athletic
+young man, dressed in festal robes with a heavy gold chain about his
+neck, and I wondered vaguely what such a person should be doing here
+in this time of national commotion. He turned his head so that the
+moonlight showed his dark eyes, his somewhat oval-shaped face ending in
+a peaked black beard, and his finely cut features. In an instant I knew
+him.
+
+_It was my son Roderick!_
+
+Next moment, for the first time for very many years, he was in my arms.
+
+The first thing that I remember saying to him was a typically
+Anglo-Saxon remark, for however much we live in the East or elsewhere,
+we never really shake off our native conventions, and habits of speech.
+It was, "How are you, my boy, and how on earth did you come here?"
+to which he answered, slowly, it is true, and speaking with a foreign
+accent:
+
+"All right, thank you, father. I ran upon my legs."
+
+By this time Higgs hobbled up, and was greeting my son warmly, for, of
+course, they were old friends.
+
+"Thought you were to be married to-night, Roderick?" he said.
+
+"Yes, yes," he answered, "I am half married according to Fung custom,
+which counts not to my soul. Look, this is the dress of marriage," and
+he pointed to his fine embroidered robe and rich ornaments.
+
+"Then, where's your wife?" asked Higgs.
+
+"I do not know and I do not care," he answered, "for I did not like
+that wife. Also it is all nothing as I am not quite married to her.
+Fung marriage between big people takes two days to finish, and if not
+finished does not matter. So she marry some one else if she like, and I
+too."
+
+"What happened then?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, this, father. When we had eaten the marriage feast, but before we
+past before priest, suddenly we hear a thunder and see a pillar of fire
+shoot up into sky, and sitting on top of it head of Harmac, which vanish
+into heaven and stop there. Then everybody jump up and say:
+
+"'Magic of white man! Magic of white man! White man kill the god who
+sit there from beginning of world, now day of Fung finished according to
+prophecy. Run away, people of Fung, run away!'
+
+"Barung the Sultan tear his clothes too, and say--'Run away, Fung,'
+and my half-wife, she tear _her_ clothes and say nothing, but run like
+antelope. So they all run toward east, where great river is, and leave
+me alone. Then I get up and run too--toward west, for I know from Black
+Windows," and he pointed to Higgs, "when we shut up together in belly of
+god before he let down to lions, what all this game mean, and therefore
+not frightened. Well, I run, meeting no one in night, till I come to
+pass, run up it, and find guards, to whom I tell story, so they not kill
+me, but let me through, and at last I come here, quite safe, without
+Fung wife, thank God, and that end of tale."
+
+"I am afraid you are wrong there, my boy," I said, "out of the
+frying-pan into the fire, that's all."
+
+"Out of frying-pan into fire," he repeated. "Not understand; father must
+remember I only little fellow when Khalifa's people take me, and
+since then speak no English till I meet Black Windows. Only he give me
+Bible-book that he have in pocket when he go down to be eat by lions."
+(Here Higgs blushed, for no one ever suspected him, a severe critic of
+all religions, of carrying a Bible in his pocket, and muttered something
+about "ancient customs of the Hebrews.")
+
+"Well," went on Roderick, "read that book ever since, and, as you see,
+all my English come back."
+
+"The question is," said Higgs, evidently in haste to talk of something
+else, "will the Fung come back?"
+
+"Oh! Black Windows, don't know, can't say. Think not. Their prophecy was
+that Harmac move to Mur, but when they see his head jump into sky and
+stop there, they run every man toward the sunrise, and I think go on
+running."
+
+"But Harmac has come to Mur, Roderick," I said; "at least his head has
+fallen on to the cliff that overlooks the city."
+
+"Oh! my father," he answered, "then that make great difference. When
+Fung find out that head of Harmac has come here, no doubt they come
+after him, for head his most holy bit, especially as they want hang all
+the Abati whom they not like."
+
+"Well, let's hope that they don't find out anything about it," I
+replied, to change the subject. Then taking Roderick by the hand I led
+him to where Maqueda stood a yard or two apart, listening to our talk,
+but, of course, understanding very little of it, and introduced him to
+her, explaining in a few words the wonderful thing that had happened.
+She welcomed him very kindly, and congratulated me upon my son's escape.
+Meanwhile, Roderick had been staring at her with evident admiration. Now
+he turned to us and said in his quaint broken English:
+
+"Walda Nagasta most lovely woman! No wonder King Solomon love her
+mother. If Barung's daughter, my wife, had been like her, think I run
+through great river into rising sun with Fung."
+
+Oliver instantly translated this remark, which made us all laugh,
+including Maqueda herself, and very grateful we were to find the
+opportunity for a little innocent merriment upon that tragic night.
+
+By this time the regiment was ready to start, and had formed up into
+companies. Before the march actually began, however, the officer of the
+Abati patrol, in whose charge Roderick had been brought to us,
+demanded his surrender that he might deliver his prisoner to the
+Commander-in-Chief, Prince Joshua. Of course, this was refused, whereon
+the man asked roughly:
+
+"By whose order?"
+
+As it happened, Maqueda, of whose presence he was not aware, heard him,
+and acting on some impulse, came forward, and unveiled.
+
+"By mine," she said. "Know that the Child of Kings rules the Abati, not
+the Prince Joshua, and that prisoners taken by her soldiers are hers,
+not his. Be gone back to your post!"
+
+The captain stared, saluted, and went with his companions, not to the
+pass, indeed, as he had been ordered, but to Joshua. To him he reported
+the arrival of the Gentile's son, and the news he brought that the
+nation of the Fung, dismayed by the destruction of their god, were in
+full flight from the plains of Harmac, purposing to cross the great
+river and to return no more.
+
+This glad tidings spread like wildfire; so fast, indeed, that almost
+before we had begun our march, we heard the shouts of exultation with
+which it was received by the terrified mob gathered in the great square.
+The cloud of terror was suddenly lifted from them. They went mad
+in their delight; they lit bonfires, they drank, they feasted, they
+embraced each other and boasted of their bravery that had caused the
+mighty nation of the Fung to flee away for ever.
+
+Meanwhile, our advance had begun, nor in the midst of the general
+jubilation was any particular notice taken of us till we were in the
+middle of the square of Mur and within half a mile of the palace,
+when we saw by the moonlight that a large body of troops, two or three
+thousand of them, were drawn up in front of us, apparently to bar our
+way. Still we went on till a number of officers rode up, and addressing
+the commander of the regiment of Mountaineers, demanded to know why he
+had left his post, and whither he went.
+
+"I go whither I am ordered," he answered, "for there is one here greater
+than I."
+
+"If you mean the Gentile Orme and his fellows, the command of the Prince
+Joshua is that you hand them over to us that they may make report to him
+of their doings this night."
+
+"And the command of the Child of Kings is," replied the captain of the
+Mountaineers, "that I take them with her back to the palace."
+
+"It has no weight," said the spokesman insolently, "not being endorsed
+by the Council. Surrender the Gentiles, hand over to us the person of
+the Child of Kings of whom you have taken possession, and return to your
+post till the pleasure of the Prince Joshua be known."
+
+Then the wrath of Maqueda blazed up.
+
+"Seize those men!" she said, and it was done instantly. "Now, cut the
+head from him who dared to demand the surrender of my person and of
+my officers, and give it to his companions to take back to the Prince
+Joshua as my answer to his message."
+
+The man heard, and being a coward like all the Abati, flung himself upon
+his face before Maqueda, trying to kiss her robe and pleading for mercy.
+
+"Dog!" she answered, "you were one of those who this very night dared
+to attack my chamber. Oh! lie not, I knew your voice and heard your
+fellow-traitors call you by your name. Away with him!"
+
+We tried to interfere, but she would not listen, even to Orme.
+
+"Would you plead for your brother's murderer?" she asked, alluding to
+Quick. "I have spoken!"
+
+So they dragged him off behind us, and presently we saw a melancholy
+procession returning whence they came, carrying something on a shield.
+It reached the opposing ranks, whence there arose a murmur of wrath and
+fear.
+
+"March on!" said Maqueda, "and gain the palace."
+
+So the regiment formed into a square, and, setting Maqueda and ourselves
+in the centre of it, advanced again.
+
+Then the fight began. Great numbers of the Abati surrounded us and, as
+they did not dare to make a direct attack, commenced shooting arrows,
+which killed and wounded a number of men. But the Highlanders also were
+archers, and carried stronger bows. The square was halted, the first
+ranks kneeling and the second standing behind them. Then, at a given
+word, the stiff bows which these hardy people used against the lion and
+the buffalo upon their hills were drawn to the ear and loosed again and
+again with terrible effect.
+
+On that open place it was almost impossible to miss the mobs of the
+Abati who, having no experience of war, were fighting without order. Nor
+could the light mail they wore withstand the rush of the heavy barbed
+arrows which pierced them through and through. In two minutes they began
+to give, in three they were flying back to their main body, those who
+were left of them, a huddled rout of men and horses. So the French
+must have fled before the terrible longbows of the English at Crecy
+and Poitiers, for, in fact, we were taking part in just such a mediaeval
+battle.
+
+Oliver, who was watching intently, went to Japhet and whispered
+something in his ear. He nodded and ran to seek the commander of the
+regiment. Presently the result of that whisper became apparent, for
+the sides of the hollow square wheeled outward and the rear moved up to
+strengthen the centre.
+
+Now the Mountaineers were ranged in a double or triple line, behind
+which were only about a dozen soldiers, who marched round Maqueda,
+holding their shields aloft in order to protect her from stray arrows.
+With these, too, came our four selves, a number of camp-followers and
+others, carrying on their shields those of the regiment who were too
+badly wounded to walk.
+
+Leaving the dead where they lay, we began to advance, pouring in volleys
+of arrows as we went. Twice the Abati tried to charge us, and twice
+those dreadful arrows drove them back. Then at the word of command, the
+Highlanders slung their bows upon their backs, drew their short swords,
+and in their turn charged.
+
+Five minutes afterwards everything was over. Joshua's soldiers threw
+down their arms, and ran or galloped to right and left, save a number
+of them who fled through the gates of the palace, which they had opened,
+and across the drawbridge into the courtyards within. After them, or,
+rather, mixed up with them, followed the Mountaineers, killing all whom
+they could find, for they were out of hand and would not listen to the
+commands of Maqueda and their officers, that they should show mercy.
+
+So, just as the dawn broke this strange moonlit battle ended, a small
+affair, it is true, for there were only five hundred men engaged upon
+our side and three or four thousand on the other, yet one that cost
+a great number of lives and was the beginning of all the ruin that
+followed.
+
+Well, we were safe for a while, since it was certain, after the lesson
+which he had just learned, that Joshua would not attempt to storm the
+double walls and fosse of the palace without long preparation. Yet even
+now a new trouble awaited us, for by some means, we never discovered
+how, that wing of the palace in which Maqueda's private rooms were
+situated suddenly burst into flames.
+
+Personally, I believe that the fire arose through the fact that a lamp
+had been left burning near the bed of the Child of Kings upon which
+was laid the body of Sergeant Quick. Perhaps a wounded man hidden there
+overturned the lamp; perhaps the draught blowing through the open doors
+brought the gold-spangled curtains into contact with the wick.
+
+At any rate, the wood-panelled chambers took fire, and had it not
+happened that the set of the wind was favourable, the whole palace
+might have been consumed. As it was, we succeeded in confining the
+conflagration to this particular part of it, which within two hours had
+burnt out, leaving nothing standing but the stark, stone walls.
+
+Such was the funeral pyre of Sergeant Quick, a noble one, I thought to
+myself, as I watched it burn.
+
+When the fire was so well under control, for we had pulled down the
+connecting passage where Higgs and Quick fought their great fight, that
+there was no longer any danger of its spreading, and the watches had
+been set, at length we got some rest.
+
+Maqueda and two or three of her ladies, one of them, I remember, her
+old nurse who had brought her up, for her mother died at her birth, took
+possession of some empty rooms, of which there were many in the palace,
+while we lay, or rather fell, down in the guest-chambers, where we had
+always slept, and never opened our eyes again until the evening.
+
+I remember that I woke thinking that I was the victim of some wonderful
+dream of mingled joy and tragedy. Oliver and Higgs were sleeping like
+logs, but my son Roderick, still dressed in his bridal robes, had risen
+and sat by my bed staring at me, a puzzled look upon his handsome face.
+
+"So you are here," I said, taking his hand. "I thought I dreamed."
+
+"No, Father," he answered in his odd English, "no dream; all true.
+This is a strange world, Father. Look at me! For how many
+years--twelve--fourteen, slave of savage peoples for whom I sing, priest
+of Fung idol, always near death but never die. Then Sultan Barung
+take fancy to me, say I come of white blood and must be his daughter's
+husband. Then your brother Higgs made prisoner with me and tell me that
+you hunt me all these years. Then Higgs thrown to lions and you save
+him. Then yesterday I married to Sultan's daughter, whom I never see
+before but twice at fast of idol. Then Harmac's head fly off to heaven,
+and all Fung people run away, and I run too, and find you. Then battle,
+and many killed, and arrow scratch my neck but not hurt me," and he
+pointed to a graze just over his jugular vein, "and now we together. Oh!
+Father, very strange world! I think there God somewhere who look after
+us!"
+
+"I think so, too, my boy," I answered, "and I hope that He will continue
+to do so, for I tell you we are in a worse place than ever you were
+among the Fung."
+
+"Oh, don't mind that, Father," he answered gaily, for Roderick is a
+cheerful soul. "As Fung say, there no house without door, although
+plenty people made blind and can't see it. But we not blind, or we dead
+long ago. Find door by and by, but here come man to talk to you."
+
+The man proved to be Japhet, who had been sent by the Child of Kings to
+summon us, as she had news to tell. So I woke the others, and after I
+had dressed the Professor's flesh wounds, which were stiff and sore,
+we joined her where she sat in the gateway tower of the inner wall. She
+greeted us rather sadly, asked Oliver how he had slept and Higgs if his
+cuts hurt him. Then she turned to my son, and congratulated him upon his
+wonderful escape and upon having found a father if he had lost a wife.
+
+"Truly," she added, "you are a fortunate man to be so well loved, O
+son of Adams. To how many sons are given fathers who for fourteen long
+years, abandoning all else, would search for them in peril of their
+lives, enduring slavery and blows and starvation and the desert's heat
+and cold for the sake of a long-lost face? Such faithfulness is that of
+my forefather David for his brother Jonathan, and such love it is that
+passes the love of women. See that you pay it back to him, and to his
+memory until the last hour of your life, child of Adams."
+
+"I will, indeed, I will, O Walda Nagasta," answered Roderick, and
+throwing his arms about my neck he embraced me before them all. It is
+not too much to say that this kiss of filial devotion more than repaid
+me for all I had undergone for his beloved sake. For now I knew that I
+had not toiled and suffered for one of no worth, as is so often the lot
+of true hearts in this bitter world.
+
+Just then some of Maqueda's ladies brought food, and at her bidding we
+breakfasted.
+
+"Be sparing," she said with a melancholy little laugh, "for I know not
+how long our store will last. Listen! I have received a last offer from
+my uncle Joshua. An arrow brought it--not a man; I think that no man
+would come lest his fate should be that of the traitor of yesterday,"
+and she produced a slip of parchment that had been tied to the shaft of
+an arrow and, unfolding it, read as follows--
+
+"O Walda Nagasta, deliver up to death the Gentiles who have bewitched
+you and led you to shed the blood of so many of your people, and with
+them the officers of the Mountaineers, and the rest shall be spared. You
+also I will forgive and make my wife. Resist, and all who cling to you
+shall be put to the sword, and to yourself I promise nothing.
+
+"Written by order of the Council,
+
+"Joshua, Prince of the Abati."
+
+
+"What answer shall I send?" she asked, looking at us curiously.
+
+"Upon my word," replied Orme, shrugging his shoulders, "if it were not
+for those faithful officers I am not sure but that you would be wise
+to accept the terms. We are cooped up here, but a few surrounded by
+thousands, who, if they dare not assault, still can starve us out, as
+this place is not victualled for a siege."
+
+"You forget one of those terms, O Oliver!" she said slowly, pointing
+with her finger to the passage in the letter which stated that Joshua
+would make her his wife, "Now do you still counsel surrender?"
+
+"How can I?" he answered, flushing, and was silent.
+
+"Well, it does not matter what you counsel," she went on with a smile,
+"seeing that I have already sent my answer, also by arrow. See, here is
+a copy of it," and she read--
+
+"To my rebellious People of the Abati:
+
+"Surrender to me Joshua, my uncle, and the members of the Council who
+have lifted sword against me, to be dealt with according to the ancient
+law, and the rest of you shall go unharmed. Refuse, and I swear to you
+that before the night of the new moon has passed there shall be such woe
+in Mur as fell upon the city of David when the barbarian standards were
+set upon her walls. Such is the counsel that has come to me, the Child
+of Solomon, in the watches of the night, and I tell you that it is true.
+Do what you will, people of the Abati, or what you must, since your fate
+and ours are written. But be sure that in me and the Western lords lies
+your only hope.
+
+"Walda Nagasta."
+
+
+"What do you mean, O Maqueda," I asked, "about the counsel that came to
+you in the watches of the night?"
+
+"What I say, O Adams," she answered calmly. "After we parted at dawn I
+slept heavily, and in my sleep a dark and royal woman stood before
+me whom I knew to be my great ancestress, the beloved of Solomon. She
+looked on me sadly, yet as I thought with love. Then she drew back, as
+it were, a curtain of thick cloud that hid the future and revealed to me
+the young moon riding the sky and beneath it Mur, a blackened ruin, her
+streets filled with dead. Yes, and she showed to me other things, though
+I may not tell them, which also shall come to pass, then held her hands
+over me as if in blessing, and was gone."
+
+"Old Hebrew prophet business! Very interesting," I heard Higgs mutter
+below his breath, while in my own heart I set the dream down to
+excitement and want of food. In fact, only two of us were impressed, my
+son very much, and Oliver a little, perhaps because everything Maqueda
+said was gospel to him.
+
+"Doubtless all will come to pass as you say, Walda Nagasta," said
+Roderick with conviction. "The day of the Abati is finished."
+
+"Why do you say that, Son?" I asked.
+
+"Because, Father, among the Fung people from a child I have two offices,
+that of Singer to the God and that of Reader of Dreams. Oh! do not
+laugh. I can tell you many that have come true as I read them; thus the
+dream of Barung which I read to mean that the head of Harmac would come
+to Mur, and see, there it sit," and turning, he pointed through the
+doorway of the tower to the grim lion-head of the idol crouched upon the
+top of the precipice, watching Mur as a beast of prey watches the victim
+upon which it is about to spring. "I know when dreams true and when
+dreams false; it my gift, like my voice. I know that this dream true,
+that all," and as he ceased speaking I saw his eyes catch Maqueda's, and
+a very curious glance pass between them.
+
+As for Orme, he only said:
+
+"You Easterns are strange people, and if you believe a thing, Maqueda,
+there may be something in it. But you understand that this message of
+yours means war to the last, a very unequal war," and he looked at the
+hordes of the Abati gathering on the great square.
+
+"Yes," she answered quietly, "I understand, but however sore our
+straits, and however strange may seem the things that happen, have no
+fear of the end of that war, O my friends."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE BURNING OF THE PALACE
+
+Orme was right. Maqueda's defiance did mean war, "an unequal war." This
+was our position. We were shut up in a long range of buildings, of which
+one end had been burned, that on account of their moat and double wall,
+if defended with any vigour, could only be stormed by an enemy of great
+courage and determination, prepared to face a heavy sacrifice of
+life. This was a circumstance in our favour, since the Abati were not
+courageous, and very much disliked the idea of being killed, or even
+injured.
+
+But here our advantage ended. Deducting those whom we had lost on
+the previous night, the garrison only amounted to something over four
+hundred men, of whom about fifty were wounded, some of them dangerously.
+Moreover, ammunition was short, for they had shot away most of their
+arrows in the battle of the square, and we had no means of obtaining
+more. But, worst of all, the palace was not provisioned for a siege,
+and the mountaineers had with them only three days' rations of sun-dried
+beef or goat's flesh, and a hard kind of biscuit made of Indian corn
+mixed with barley meal. Thus, as we saw from the beginning, unless we
+could manage to secure more food our case must soon grow hopeless.
+
+There remained yet another danger. Although the palace itself was
+stone-built, its gilded domes and ornamental turrets were of timber, and
+therefore liable to be fired, as indeed had already happened. The roof
+also was of ancient cedar beams, thinly covered with concrete, while the
+interior containing an enormous quantity of panels, or rather boarding,
+cut from some resinous wood.
+
+The Abati, on the other hand, were amply supplied with every kind of
+store and weapon, and could bring a great force to blockade us, though
+that force was composed of a timid and undisciplined rabble.
+
+Well, we made the best preparations that we could, although of these I
+did not see much, since all that day my time was occupied in attending
+to the wounded with the help of my son and a few rough orderlies, whose
+experience in doctoring had for the most part been confined to cattle.
+A pitiful business it proved without the aid of anaesthetics or a proper
+supply of bandages and other appliances. Although my medicine chest had
+been furnished upon a liberal scale, it proved totally inadequate to the
+casualties of battle. Still I did my best and saved some lives, though
+many cases developed gangrene and slipped through my fingers.
+
+Meanwhile Higgs, who worked nobly, notwithstanding his flesh wounds,
+which pained him considerably, and Orme were also doing their best
+with the assistance of Japhet and the other officers of the highland
+regiment. The palace was thoroughly examined, and all weak places in its
+defences were made good. The available force was divided into watches
+and stationed to the best advantage. A number of men were set to work to
+manufacture arrow shafts from cedar beams, of which there were plenty
+in the wooden stables and outhouses that lay at the back of the main
+building, and to point and wing the same from a supply of iron barbs and
+feathers which fortunately was discovered in one of the guard-houses. A
+few horses that remained in a shed were killed and salted down for food,
+and so forth.
+
+Also every possible preparation was made to repel attempts to storm,
+paving stones being piled up to throw upon the heads of assailants and
+fires lighted on the walls to heat pitch and oil and water for the same
+purpose.
+
+But, to our disappointment, no direct assault was delivered, such
+desperate methods not commending themselves to the Abati. Their plan of
+attack was to take cover wherever they could, especially among the trees
+of the garden beyond the gates, and thence shoot arrows at any one who
+appeared upon the walls, or even fire them in volleys at the clouds, as
+the Normans did at Hastings, so that they might fall upon the heads
+of persons in the courtyards. Although these cautious tactics cost us
+several men, they had the advantage of furnishing us with a supply of
+ammunition which we sorely needed. All the spent arrows were carefully
+collected and made use of against the enemy, at whom we shot whenever
+opportunity offered. We did them but little damage, however, since they
+were extremely careful not to expose themselves.
+
+In this fashion three dreary days went past, unrelieved by any incident
+except a feint, for it was scarcely more, which the Abati made upon
+the second night, apparently with the object of forcing the great gates
+under cover of a rainstorm. The advance was discovered at once, and
+repelled by two or three volleys of arrows and some rifle shots. Of
+these rifles, indeed, whereof we possessed about a score, the Abati were
+terribly afraid. Picking out some of the most intelligent soldiers we
+taught them how to handle our spare guns, and though, of course, their
+shooting was extremely erratic, the result of it, backed up by our
+own more accurate marksmanship, was to force the enemy to take cover.
+Indeed, after one or two experiences of the effect of bullets, not a man
+would show himself in the open within five hundred yards until night had
+fallen.
+
+On the third afternoon we held a council to determine what must be done,
+since for the last twenty-four hours it had been obvious that things
+could not continue as they were. To begin with, we had only sufficient
+food left to keep our force from starvation for two more days. Also
+the spirits of our soldiers, brave men enough when actual fighting
+was concerned, were beginning to flag in this atmosphere of inaction.
+Gathered into groups, they talked of their wives and children, and of
+what would happen to them at the hands of Joshua; also of their cattle
+and crops, saying that doubtless these were being ravaged and their
+houses burned. In vain did Maqueda promise them five-fold their loss
+when the war was ended, for evidently in their hearts they thought it
+could only end one way. Moreover, as they pointed out, she could not
+give them back their children if these were killed.
+
+At this melancholy council every possible plan was discussed, to find
+that these resolved themselves into two alternatives--to surrender,
+or to take the bull by the horns, sally out of the palace at night and
+attack Joshua. On the face of it, this latter scheme had the appearance
+of suicide, but, in fact, it was not so desperate as it seemed. The
+Abati being such cowards it was quite probable that they would run in
+their thousands before the onset of a few hundred determined men, and
+that, if once victory declared itself for the Child of Kings, the bulk
+of her subjects would return to their allegiance. So we settled on it in
+preference to surrender, which we knew meant death to ourselves, and for
+Maqueda a choice between that last grim solution of her troubles and a
+forced marriage.
+
+But there were others to be convinced, namely, the Mountaineers. Japhet,
+who had been present at the council, was sent to summon all of them
+except those actually on guard, and when they were assembled in the
+large inner court Maqueda went out and addressed them.
+
+I do not remember the exact words of her speech, and I made no note of
+them, but it was extremely beautiful and touching. She pointed out her
+plight, and that we could halt no longer between two opinions, who must
+either fight or yield. For herself she said she did not care, since,
+although she was young and their ruler, she set no store upon her life,
+and would give it up gladly rather than be driven into a marriage
+which she considered shameful, and forced to pass beneath the yoke of
+traitors.
+
+But for us foreigners she did care. We had come to her country at her
+invitation, we had served her nobly, one of us had given his life to
+protect her person, and now, in violation of her safeguard and that of
+the Council, we were threatened with a dreadful death. Were they, her
+subjects, so lacking in honour and hospitality that they would suffer
+such a thing with no blow struck to save us?
+
+Now the majority of them shouted "No," but some were silent, and one old
+captain advanced, saluted, and spoke.
+
+"Child of Kings," he said, "let us search out the truth of this matter.
+Is it not because of your love of the foreign soldier, Orme, that all
+this trouble has arisen? Is not that love unlawful according to our law,
+and are you not solemnly affianced to the Prince Joshua?"
+
+Maqueda considered awhile before she replied, and said slowly:
+
+"Friend, my heart is my own, therefore upon this point answer your
+question for yourself. As regards my uncle Joshua, if there existed any
+abiding contract between us it was broken when a few nights ago he sent
+his servants armed to attack and drag me off I know not whither. Would
+you have me marry a traitor and a coward? I have spoken."
+
+"No," again shouted the majority of the soldiers.
+
+Then in the silence that followed the old captain replied, with a
+canniness that was almost Scotch:
+
+"On the point raised by you, O Child of Kings, I give no opinion, since
+you, being but a woman, if a high-born one, would not listen to me if I
+did, but will doubtless follow that heart of yours of which you speak to
+whatever end is appointed. Settle the matter with your betrothed Joshua
+as you will. But we also have a matter to settle with Joshua, who is a
+toad with a long tongue that if he seems slow yet never misses his fly.
+We took up your cause, and have killed a great number of his people, as
+he has killed some of ours. This he will not forget. Therefore it seems
+to me that it will be wise that we should make what we can of the nest
+that we have built, since it is better to die in battle than on the
+gallows. For this reason, then, since we can stay here no longer, for
+my part I am willing to go out and fight for you this night, although
+Joshua's people being so many and ours so few, I shall think myself
+fortunate if I live to see another sun."
+
+This hard and reasoned speech seemed to appeal to the dissentients, with
+the result that they withdrew their opposition, and it was agreed that
+we should attempt to break our way through the besieging army about one
+hour before the dawn, when they would be heavily asleep and most liable
+to panic.
+
+Yet, as it chanced, that sortie was destined never to take place, which
+perhaps was fortunate for us, since I am convinced that it would have
+ended in failure. It is true that we might have forced our way through
+Joshua's army, but afterwards those of us who remained alive would have
+been surrounded, starved out, and, when our strength and ammunition were
+exhausted taken prisoners or cut down.
+
+However that may be, events shaped a different course for us, perhaps
+because the Abati got wind of our intention and had no stomach for
+a pitched battle with desperate men. As it happened, this night from
+sunset on to moonrise was one of a darkness so remarkable that it was
+impossible to see anything even a foot away, also a wind blowing from
+the east made sounds very inaudible. Only a few of our men were on
+guard, since it was necessary that they should be rested till it was
+time for them to prepare for their great effort. Also, we had little
+fear of any direct attack.
+
+About eight o'clock, however, my son Roderick, one of the watch
+stationed in the gateway towers, who was gifted with very quick ears,
+reported that he thought he heard people moving on the farther side of
+the massive wooden doors beyond the moat. Accordingly some of us went to
+listen, but could distinguish nothing, and concluded therefore that he
+was mistaken. So we retired to our posts and waited patiently for the
+moon to rise. But as it chanced no moon rose, or rather we could not
+see her, because the sky was completely covered by thick banks of
+thunder-clouds presaging the break-up of a period of great heat. These,
+as the wind had now died down, remained quite stationary upon the face
+of the sky, blotting out all light.
+
+Perhaps another hour had passed when, chancing to look behind me, I saw
+what I thought was a meteor falling from the crest of the cliff against
+which the palace was built, that cliff whither the head of the idol
+Harmac had been carried by the force of the explosion.
+
+"Look at that shooting star," I said to Oliver, who was at my side.
+
+"It is not a shooting star, it is fire," he replied in a startled voice,
+and, as he spoke, other streaks of light, scores of them, began to rain
+down from the brow of the cliff and land upon the wooden buildings to
+the rear of the palace that were dry as tinder with the drought, and,
+what was worse, upon the gilded timber domes of the roof.
+
+"Don't you understand the game?" he went on. "They have tied firebrands
+to arrows and spears to burn us out. Sound the alarm. Sound the alarm!"
+
+It was done, and presently the great range of buildings began to hum
+like a hive of bees. The soldiers still half asleep, rushed hither
+and thither shouting. The officers also, developing the characteristic
+excitement of the Abati race in this hour of panic, yelled and screamed
+at them, beating them with their fists and swords till some kind of
+control was established.
+
+Then attempts were made to extinguish the flames, which by this time
+had got hold in half-a-dozen places. From the beginning the effort was
+absolutely hopeless. It is true that there was plenty of water in the
+moat, which was fed by a perennial stream that flowed down the face of
+the precipice behind; but pumping engines of any sort were quite unknown
+to the Abati, who, if a building took fire, just let it burn, contenting
+themselves with safeguarding those in its neighbourhood. Moreover,
+even in the palace, such articles as pails, jugs, or other vessels were
+comparatively few and far between.
+
+Those that we could find, however, were filled with water and passed
+by lines of men to the places in most danger--that is, practically
+everywhere--while other men tried to cut off the advance of the flames
+by pulling down portions of the building.
+
+But as fast as one fire was extinguished others broke out, for the rain
+of burning darts and of lighted pots or lamps filled with oil descended
+continuously from the cliff above. A strange and terrible sight it was
+to see them flashing down through the darkness, like the fiery darts
+that shall destroy the wicked in the day of Armageddon.
+
+Still, we toiled on despairingly. On the roof we four white men, and
+some soldiers under the command of Japhet, were pouring water on to
+several of the gilded domes, which now were well alight. Close by,
+wrapped in a dark cloak, and attended by some of her ladies, stood
+Maqueda. She was quite calm, although sundry burning arrows and spears,
+falling with great force from the cliff above, struck the flat roofs
+close to where she stood.
+
+Her ladies, however, were not calm. They wept and wrung their hands,
+while one of them went into violent hysterics in her very natural
+terror. Maqueda turned and bade them descend to the courtyard of the
+gateway, where she said she would join them presently. They rushed off,
+rejoicing to escape the sight of those burning arrows, one of which had
+just pierced a man and set his clothes and hair on fire, causing him to
+leap from the roof in his madness.
+
+At Oliver's request I ran to the Child of Kings to lead her to some
+safer place, if it could be found. But she would not stir.
+
+"Let me be, O Adams," she said. "If I am to die, I will die here. But
+I do not think that is fated," and with her foot she kicked aside a
+burning spear that had struck the cement roof, and, rebounding, fallen
+quite close to her. "If my people will not fight," she went on, with
+bitter sarcasm, "at least they understand the other arts of war, for
+this trick of theirs is clever. They are cruel also. Listen to them
+mocking us in the square. They ask whether we will roast alive or come
+out and have our throats cut. Oh!" she went on, clenching her hands,
+"oh! that I should have been born the head of such an accursed race. Let
+Sheol take them all, for in the day of their tribulation no finger will
+I lift to save them."
+
+She was silent for a moment, and down below, near the gateway, I heard
+some brute screaming, "Pretty pigeons! Pretty pigeons, are your feathers
+singeing? Come then into our pie, pretty pigeons, pretty pigeons!"
+followed by shouts of ribald laughter.
+
+But it chanced it was this hound himself who went into the "pie."
+Presently, when the flames were brighter, I saw him, in the midst of a
+crowd of his admirers, singing his foul song, another verse of it about
+Maqueda, which I will not repeat, and by good fortune managed to put a
+bullet through his head. It was not a bad shot considering the light and
+circumstances, and the only one I fired that night. I trust also that it
+will be the last I shall ever fire at any human being.
+
+Just as I was about to leave Maqueda and return with her message to
+Orme, to the effect that she would not move, the final catastrophe
+occurred. Amongst the stables was a large shed filled with dry fodder
+for the palace horses and camels. Suddenly this burst into a mass of
+flame that spread in all directions. Then came the last, hideous panic.
+From every part of the palace, the Mountaineers, men and officers
+together, rushed down to the gateway. In a minute, with the single
+exception of Japhet, we four and Maqueda were left alone upon the
+roof, where we stood overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. We heard
+the drawbridge fall; we heard the great doors burst upon beneath the
+pressure of a mob of men; we heard a coarse voice--I thought it was that
+of Joshua--yell:
+
+"Kill whom you will, my children, but death to him who harms the Child
+of Kings. She is my spoil!"
+
+Then followed terrible sights and sounds. The cunning Abati had
+stretched ropes outside the doors; it was the noise they made at this
+work which had reached Roderick's ears earlier during the darkness. The
+terrified soldiers, flying from the fire, stumbled and fell over these
+ropes, nor could they rise again because of those who pressed behind.
+What happened to them all I am sure I do not know, but doubtless many
+were crushed to death and many more killed by Joshua's men. I trust,
+however, that some of them escaped, since, compared to the rest of the
+Abati, they were as lions are to cats, although, like all their race,
+they lacked the stamina to fight an uphill game.
+
+It was at the commencement of this terrific scene that I shot the
+foul-mouthed singer.
+
+"You shouldn't have done that, old fellow," screamed Higgs in his high
+voice, striving to make himself heard above the tumult, "as it will show
+those swine where we are."
+
+"I don't think they will look for us here, anyway," I answered.
+
+Then we watched awhile in silence.
+
+"Come," said Orme at length, taking Maqueda by the hand.
+
+"Where are you going, O Oliver?" she asked, hanging back. "Sooner will I
+burn than yield to Joshua."
+
+"I am going to the cave city," he answered; "we have nowhere else to
+go, and little time to lose. Four men with rifles can hold that place
+against a thousand. Come."
+
+"I obey," she answered, bowing her head.
+
+We went down the stairway that led from the roof on which the
+inhabitants of the palace were accustomed to spend much of their day,
+and even to sleep in hot weather, as is common in the East. Another
+minute and we should have been too late. The fire from one of the domes
+had spread to the upper story, and was already appearing in little
+tongues of flame mingled with jets of black smoke through cracks in the
+crumbling partition wall.
+
+As a matter of fact this wall fell in just as my son Roderick, the last
+of us, was passing down the stairs. With the curiosity of youth he had
+lingered for a few moments to watch the sad scene below, a delay which
+nearly cost him his life.
+
+On the ground floor we found ourselves out of immediate danger, since
+the fire was attacking this part of the palace from above and burning
+downward. We had even time to go to our respective sleeping-places and
+collect such of our possessions and valuables as we were able to carry.
+Fortunately, among other things, these included all our note-books,
+which to-day are of priceless value. Laden with these articles, we met
+again in the audience hall, which, although it was very hot, seemed as
+it had always been, a huge, empty place, whereof the roof, painted with
+stars, was supported upon thick cedar columns, each of them hewn from a
+single tree.
+
+Passing down that splendid apartment, which an hour later had ceased to
+exist, lamps in hand, for these we had found time to fetch and light,
+we reached the mouth of the passage that led to the underground city
+without meeting a single human being.
+
+Had the Abati been a different race they could perfectly well have
+dashed in and made us prisoners, for the drawbridge was still intact.
+But their cowardice was our salvation, for they feared lest they should
+be trapped by the fire. So I think at least, but justice compels me to
+add that, on the spur of the moment, they may have found it impossible
+to clear the gateways of the mass of fallen or dead soldiers over which
+it would have been difficult to climb.
+
+Such, at any rate, was the explanation that we heard afterwards.
+
+We reached the mouth of the vast cave in perfect safety, and clambered
+through the little orifice which was left between the rocks rolled
+thither by the force of the explosion, or shaken down from the roof.
+This hole, for it was nothing more, we proceeded to stop with a few
+stones in such a fashion that it could not be forced without much toil
+and considerable noise, only leaving one little tortuous channel through
+which, if necessary, a man could creep.
+
+The labour of rock-carrying, in which even Maqueda shared, occupied our
+minds for awhile, and induced a kind of fictitious cheerfulness. But
+when it was done, and the chilly silence of that enormous cave, so
+striking in comparison with the roar of the flames and the hideous human
+tumult which we had left without, fell upon us like sudden cold and
+blinding night upon a wanderer in windy, sunlit mountains, all our
+excitement perished. In a flash, we understood our terrible position,
+we who had but escaped from the red fire to perish slowly in the black
+darkness.
+
+Still we strove to keep our spirits as best we could. Leaving Higgs to
+watch the blocked passage, a somewhat superfluous task, since the fire
+without was our best watchman, the rest of us threaded our way up the
+cave, following the telephone wire which poor Quick had laid on the
+night of the blowing-up of the god Harmac, till we came to what had been
+our headquarters during the digging of the mine. Into the room which
+was Oliver's, whence we had escaped with so much difficulty after
+that event, we could not enter because of the transom that blocked the
+doorway. Still, there were plenty of others at hand in the old temple,
+although they were foul with the refuse of the bats that wheeled about
+us in thousands, for these creatures evidently had some unknown access
+to the open air. One of these rooms had served as our store-chamber, and
+after a few rough preparations we assigned it to Maqueda.
+
+"Friends," she said, as she surveyed its darksome entrance, "it looks
+like the door of a tomb. Well, in the tomb there is rest, and rest I
+must have. Leave me to sleep, who, were it not for you, O Oliver, would
+pray that I might never wake again.
+
+"Man," she added passionately, before us all, for now in face of the
+last peril every false shame and wish to conceal the truth had left her;
+"man, why were you born to bring woe upon my head and joy to my heart?
+Well, well, the joy outweighs the woe, and even if the angel who led you
+hither is named Azrael, still I shall bless him who has revealed to me
+my soul. Yet for you I weep, and if only your life could be spared to
+fulfil itself in happiness in the land that bore you, oh! for you I
+would gladly die."
+
+Now Oliver, who seemed deeply moved, stepped to her and began to whisper
+into her ear, evidently making some proposal of which I think I can
+guess the nature. She listened to him, smiling sadly, and made a motion
+with her hand as though to thrust him away.
+
+"Not so," she said, "it is nobly offered, but did I accept, through
+whatever universes I may wander, those who came after me would know me
+by my trail of blood, the blood of him who loved me. Perhaps, too, by
+that crime I should be separated from you for ever. Moreover, I tell
+you that though all seems black as this thick darkness, I believe that
+things will yet end well for you and me--in this world or another."
+
+Then she was gone, leaving Orme staring after her like a man in a
+trance.
+
+"I daresay they will," remarked Higgs _sotto voce_ to me, "and that's
+first-rate so far as they are concerned. But what I should jolly well
+like to know is how they are going to end for _us_ who haven't got a
+charming lady to see us across the Styx."
+
+"You needn't puzzle your brain over that," I answered gloomily, "for
+I think there will soon be a few more skeletons in this beastly cave,
+that's all. Don't you see that those Abati will believe we are burned in
+the palace?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+STARVATION
+
+I was right. The Abati did think that we had been burned. It never
+occurred to them that we might have escaped to the underground city.
+So at least I judged from the fact that they made no attempt to seek
+us there until they learned the truth in the fashion that I am about to
+describe. If anything, this safety from our enemies added to the trials
+of those hideous days and nights. Had there been assaults to repel and
+the excitement of striving against overwhelming odds, at any rate we
+should have found occupation for our minds and remaining energies.
+
+But there were none. By turns we listened at the mouth of the passage
+for the echo of footsteps that never came. Nothing came to break a
+silence so intense that at last our ears, craving for sound, magnified
+the soft flitter of the bats into a noise as of eagle's wings, till
+at last we spoke in whispers, because the full voice of man seemed to
+affront the solemn quietude, seemed intolerable to our nerves.
+
+Yet for the first day or two we found occupation of a sort. Of course
+our first need was to secure a supply of food, of which we had only a
+little originally laid up for our use in the chambers of the old temple,
+tinned meats that we had brought from London and so forth, now nearly
+all consumed. We remembered that Maqueda had told us of corn from
+her estates which was stored annually in pits to provide against the
+possibility of a siege of Mur, and asked her where it was.
+
+She led us to a place where round stone covers with rings attached to
+them were let into the floor of the cave, not unlike those which stop
+the coal-shoots in a town pavement, only larger. With great difficulty
+we prised one of these up; to me it did not seem to have been moved
+since the ancient kings ruled in Mur and, after leaving it open for a
+long while for the air within to purify, lowered Roderick by a rope we
+had to report its contents. Next moment we heard him saying: "Want to
+come up, please. This place is not pleasant."
+
+We pulled him out and asked what he had found.
+
+"Nothing good to eat," he answered, "only plenty of dead bones and one
+rat that ran up my leg."
+
+We tried the next two pits with the same result--they were full of human
+bones. Then we cross-examined Maqueda, who, after reflection, informed
+us that she now remembered that about five generations before a great
+plague had fallen on Mur, which reduced its population by one-half. She
+had heard, also, that those stricken with the plague were driven into
+the underground city in order that they might not infect the others,
+and supposed that the bones we saw were their remains. This information
+caused us to close up those pits again in a great hurry, though really
+it did not matter whether we caught the plague or no.
+
+Still, as she was sure that corn was buried somewhere, we went to
+another group of pits in a distant chamber, and opened the first one.
+This time our search was rewarded, to the extent that we found at the
+bottom of it some mouldering dust that years ago had been grain. The
+other pits, two of which had been sealed up within three years as the
+date upon the wax showed, were quite empty.
+
+Then Maqueda understood what had happened.
+
+"Surely the Abati are a people of rogues," she said. "See now, the
+officers appointed to store away my corn which I gave them have stolen
+it! Oh! may they live to lack bread even more bitterly than we do
+to-day."
+
+We went back to our sleeping-place in silence. Well might we be silent,
+for of food we had only enough left for a single scanty meal. Water
+there was in plenty, but no food. When we had recovered a little from
+our horrible disappointment we consulted together.
+
+"If we could get through the mine tunnel," said Oliver, "we might
+escape into the den of lions, which were probably all destroyed by the
+explosion, and so out into the open country."
+
+"The Fung would take us there," suggested Higgs.
+
+"No, no," broke in Roderick, "Fung all gone, or if they do, anything
+better than this black hole, yes, even my wife."
+
+"Let us look," I said, and we started.
+
+When we reached the passage that led from the city to the Tomb of Kings,
+it was to find that the wall at the end of it had been blown bodily back
+into the parent cave, leaving an opening through which we could walk
+side by side. Of course the contents of the tomb itself were scattered.
+In all directions lay bones, objects of gold and other metals, or
+overturned thrones. The roof and walls alone remained as they had been.
+
+"What vandalism!" exclaimed Higgs, indignant even in his misery. "Why
+wouldn't you let me move the things when I wanted to, Orme?"
+
+"Because they would have thought that we were stealing them, old fellow.
+Also those Mountaineers were superstitious, and I did not want them to
+desert. But what does it matter, anyway? If you had, they would have
+been burned in the palace."
+
+By this time we had reached that end of the vast tomb where the
+hunchbacked king used to sit, and saw at once that our quest was vain.
+The tunnel which we had dug beyond was utterly choked with masses of
+fallen rock that we could never hope to move, even with the aid of
+explosives, of which we had none left.
+
+So we returned, our last hope gone.
+
+Also another trouble stared us in the face; our supply of the crude
+mineral oil which the Abati used for lighting purposes was beginning to
+run low. Measurement of what remained of the store laid up for our use
+while the mine was being made, revealed the fact that there was only
+enough left to supply four lamps for about three days and nights: one
+for Maqueda, one for ourselves, one for the watchman near the tunnel
+mouth, and one for general purposes.
+
+This general-purpose lamp, as a matter of fact, was mostly made use of
+by Higgs. Truly, he furnished a striking instance of the ruling passion
+strong in death. All through those days of starvation and utter misery,
+until he grew too weak and the oil gave out, he trudged backward and
+forward between the old temple and the Tomb of Kings carrying a large
+basket on his arm. Going out with this basket empty, he would bring
+it back filled with gold cups and other precious objects that he had
+collected from among the bones and scattered rubbish in the Tomb. These
+objects he laboriously catalogued in his pocket-book at night, and
+afterwards packed away in empty cases that had contained our supplies of
+explosive and other goods, carefully nailing them down when filled.
+
+"What on earth are you doing that for, Higgs?" I asked petulantly, as he
+finished off another case, I think it was his twentieth.
+
+"I don't know, Doctor," he answered in a thin voice, for like the rest
+of us he was growing feeble on a water-diet. "I suppose it amuses me
+to think how jolly it would be to open all these boxes in my rooms in
+London after a first-rate dinner of fried sole and steak cut thick," and
+he smacked his poor, hungry lips. "Yes, yes," he went on, "to take them
+out one by one and show them to ---- and ----," and he mentioned by name
+officials of sundry great museums with whom he was at war, "and see them
+tear their hair with rage and jealousy, while they wondered in their
+hearts if they could not manage to seize the lot for the Crown as
+treasure-trove, or do me out of them somehow," and he laughed a little
+in his old, pleasant fashion.
+
+"Of course I never shall," he added sadly, "but perhaps one day some
+other fellow will find them here and get them to Europe, and if he is
+a decent chap, publish my notes and descriptions, of which I have put
+a duplicate in each box, and so make my name immortal. Well, I'm off
+again. There are four more cases to fill before the oil gives out, and
+I must get that great gold head into one of them, though it is an awful
+job to carry it far at a time. Doctor, what disease is it that makes
+your legs suddenly give way beneath you, so that you find yourself
+sitting in a heap on the floor without knowing how you came there? You
+don't know? Well, no more do I, but I've got it bad. I tell you I'm
+downright sore behind from continual and unexpected contact with the
+rock."
+
+Poor old Higgs! I did not like to tell him that his disease was
+starvation.
+
+Well, he went on with his fetching and carrying and cataloguing and
+packing. I remember that the last load he brought in was the golden head
+he had spoken of, the wonderful likeness of some prehistoric king which
+has since excited so much interest throughout the world. The thing being
+too heavy for him to carry in his weakened state, for it is much over
+life-size, he was obliged to roll it before him, which accounts for the
+present somewhat damaged condition of the nose and semi-Egyptian diadem.
+
+Never shall I forget the sight of the Professor as he appeared out of
+the darkness, shuffling along upon his knees where his garments were
+worn into holes, and by the feeble light of the lamp that he moved from
+time to time, painfully pushing the great yellow object forward, only a
+foot or two at each push.
+
+"Here it is at last," he gasped triumphantly, whilst we watched him with
+indifferent eyes. "Japhet, help me to wrap it up in the mat and lift
+it into the box. No, no, you donkey--face upward--so. Never mind the
+corners, I'll fill them with ring-money and other trifles," and out of
+his wide pockets he emptied a golden shower, amongst which he sifted
+handfuls of dust from the floor and anything else he could find to serve
+as packing, finally covering all with a goat's-hair blanket which he
+took from his bed.
+
+Then very slowly he found the lid of the box and nailed it down, resting
+between every few strokes of the hammer whilst we watched him in our
+intent, but idle, fashion, wondering at the strange form of his madness.
+
+At length the last nail was driven, and seated on the box he put his
+hand into an inner pocket to find his note-book, then incontinently
+fainted. I struggled to my feet and sprinkled water over his face till
+he revived and rolled on to the floor, where presently he sank into
+sleep or torpor. As he did so the first lamp gave out.
+
+"Light it, Japhet," said Maqueda, "it is dark in this place."
+
+"O Child of Kings," answered the man, "I would obey if I could, but
+there is no more oil."
+
+Half-an-hour later the second lamp went out. By the light that remained
+we made such arrangements as we could, knowing that soon darkness would
+be on us. They were few and simple: the fetching of a jar or two
+of water, the placing of arms and ammunition to our hands, and the
+spreading out of some blankets on which to lie down side by side upon
+what I for one believed would be our bed of death.
+
+While we were thus engaged, Japhet crawled into our circle from the
+outer gloom. Suddenly I saw his haggard face appear, looking like that
+of a spirit rising from the grave.
+
+"My lamp is burned out," he moaned; "it began to fail whilst I was
+on watch at the tunnel mouth, and before I was half-way here it died
+altogether. Had it not been for the wire of the 'thing-that-speaks'
+which guided me, I could never have reached you. I should have been lost
+in the darkness of the city and perished alone among the ghosts."
+
+"Well, you are here now," said Oliver. "Have you anything to report?"
+
+"Nothing, lord, or at least very little. I moved some of the small rocks
+that we piled up, and crept down the hole till I came to a place where
+the blessed light of day fell upon me, only one little ray of it, but
+still the light of day. I think that something has fallen upon the
+tunnel and broken it, perhaps one of the outer walls of the palace.
+At least I looked through a crack and saw everywhere ruins--ruins that
+still smoke. From among them I heard the voices of men shouting to each
+other.
+
+"One of them called to his companion that it was strange, if the
+Gentiles and the Child of Kings had perished in the fire, that they had
+not found their bones which would be known by the guns they carried. His
+friend answered that it was strange indeed, but being magicians, perhaps
+they had hidden away somewhere. For his part he hoped so, as then sooner
+or later they would be found and put to death slowly, as they deserved,
+who had led astray the Child of Kings and brought so many of the
+heaven-descended Abati to their death. Then fearing lest they should
+find and kill me, for they drew near as I could tell by their voices, I
+crept back again, and that is all my story."
+
+We said nothing; there seemed to be nothing to say, but sat in our sad
+circle and watched the dying lamp. When it began to flicker, leaping up
+and down like a thing alive, a sudden panic seized poor Japhet.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta," he cried, throwing himself at her feet, "you have
+called me a brave man, but I am only brave where the sun and the stars
+shine. Here in the dark amongst so many angry spirits, and with hunger
+gnawing at my bowels, I am a great coward; Joshua himself is not such a
+coward as I. Let us go out into the light while there is yet time. Let
+us give ourselves up to the Prince. Perhaps he will be merciful and
+spare our lives, or at least he will spare yours, and if we die, it will
+be with the sun shining on us."
+
+But Maqueda only shook her head, whereon he turned to Orme and went on:
+
+"Lord, would you have the blood of the Child of Kings upon your hands?
+Is it thus that you repay her for her love? Lead her forth. No harm will
+come to her who otherwise must perish here in misery."
+
+"You hear what the man says, Maqueda?" said Orme heavily. "There is some
+truth in it. It really does not matter to us whether we die in the power
+of the Abati or here of starvation; in fact, I think that we should
+prefer the former end, and doubtless no hand will be laid on you. Will
+you go?"
+
+"Nay," she answered passionately. "A hand would be laid on me, the hand
+of Joshua, and rather than that he should touch me I will die a hundred
+deaths. Let fate take its course, for as I have told you, I believe that
+then it will open to us some gate we cannot see. And if I believe in
+vain, why there is another gate which we can pass together, O Oliver,
+and beyond that gate lies peace. Bid the man be silent, or drive him
+away. Let him trouble me no more."
+
+
+
+The lamp flame sank low. It flickered, once, twice, thrice, each time
+showing the pale, drawn faces of us six seated about it, like wizards
+making an incantation, like corpses in a tomb.
+
+Then it went out.
+
+How long were we in that place after this? At least three whole days and
+nights, I believe, if not more, but of course we soon lost all count of
+time. At first we suffered agonies from famine, which we strove in vain
+to assuage with great draughts of water. No doubt these kept us alive,
+but even Higgs, who it may be remembered was a teetotaller, afterwards
+confessed to me that he has loathed the sight and taste of water ever
+since. Indeed he now drinks beer and wine like other people. It was
+torture; we could have eaten anything. In fact the Professor did manage
+to catch and eat a bat that got entangled in his red hair. He offered me
+a bite of it, I remember, and was most grateful when I declined.
+
+The worst of it was also that we had a little food, a few hard ship's
+biscuits, which we had saved up for a purpose, namely, to feed Maqueda.
+This was how we managed it. At certain intervals I would announce that
+it was time to eat, and hand Maqueda her biscuit. Then we would all
+pretend to eat also, saying how much we felt refreshed by the food and
+how we longed for more, smacking our lips and biting on a piece of wood
+so that she could not help hearing us.
+
+This piteous farce went on for forty-eight hours or more until at
+last the wretched Japhet, who was quite demoralized and in no mood for
+acting, betrayed us, exactly how I cannot remember. After this Maqueda
+would touch nothing more, which did not greatly matter as there was only
+one biscuit left. I offered it to her, whereon she thanked me and all
+of us for our courtesy toward a woman, took the biscuit, and gave it to
+Japhet, who ate it like a wolf.
+
+It was some time after this incident that we discovered Japhet to be
+missing; at least we could no longer touch him, nor did he answer when
+we called. Therefore, we concluded that he had crept away to die and,
+I am sorry to say, thought little more about it for, after all, what he
+suffered, or had suffered, we suffered also.
+
+I recall that before we were overtaken by the last sleep, a strange
+fit came upon us. Our pangs passed away, much as the pain does when
+mortification follows a wound, and with them that horrible craving for
+nutriment. We grew cheerful and talked a great deal. Thus Roderick gave
+me the entire history of the Fung people and of his life among them and
+other savage tribes. Further, he explained every secret detail of their
+idol worship to Higgs, who was enormously interested, and tried to
+make some notes by the aid of our few remaining matches. When even that
+subject was exhausted, he sang to us in his beautiful voice--English
+hymns and Arab songs. Oliver and Maqueda also chatted together quite
+gaily, for I heard them laughing, and gathered that he was engaged in
+trying to teach her English.
+
+The last thing that I recollect is the scene as it was revealed by the
+momentary light of one of the last matches. Maqueda sat by Oliver. His
+arm was about her waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, her long
+hair flowed loose, her large and tender eyes stared from her white, wan
+face up toward his face, which was almost that of a mummy.
+
+Then on the other side stood my son, supporting himself against the wall
+of the room, and beyond him Higgs, a shadow of his former self, feebly
+waving a pencil in the air and trying, apparently, to write a note upon
+his Panama straw hat, which he held in his left hand, as I suppose,
+imagining it to be his pocket-book. The incongruity of that sun-hat in
+a place where no sun had ever come made me laugh, and as the match went
+out I regretted that I had forgotten to look at his face to ascertain
+whether he was still wearing his smoked spectacles.
+
+"What is the use of a straw hat and smoked spectacles in kingdom-come?"
+I kept repeating to myself, while Roderick, whose arm I knew was about
+me, seemed to answer:
+
+"The Fung wizards say that the sphinx Harmac once wore a hat, but, my
+father, I do not know if he had spectacles."
+
+Then a sensation as of being whirled round and round in some vast
+machine, down the sloping sides of which I sank at last into a vortex of
+utter blackness, whereof I knew the name was death.
+
+Dimly, very dimly, I became aware that I was being carried. I heard
+voices in my ears, but what they said I could not understand. Then a
+feeling of light struck upon my eyeballs which gave me great pain. Agony
+ran all through me as it does through the limbs of one who is being
+brought back from death by drowning. After this something warm was
+poured down my throat, and I went to sleep.
+
+When I awoke again it was to find myself in a large room that I did not
+know. I was lying on a bed, and by the light of sunrise which streamed
+through the window-places I saw the three others, my son Roderick, Orme
+and Higgs lying on the other beds, but they were still asleep.
+
+Abati servants entered the room bringing food, a kind of rough soup with
+pieces of meat in it of which they gave me a portion in a wooden bowl
+that I devoured greedily. Also they shook my companions until they awoke
+and almost automatically ate up the contents of similar bowls, after
+which they went to sleep again, as I did, thanking heaven that we were
+all still alive.
+
+Every few hours I had a vision of these men entering with the bowls
+of soup or porridge, until at last life and reason came back to me in
+earnest, and I saw Higgs sitting up on the bed opposite and staring at
+me.
+
+"I say, old fellow," he said, "are we alive, or is this Hades?"
+
+"Can't be Hades," I answered, "because there are Abati here."
+
+"Quite right," he replied. "If the Abati go anywhere, it's to hell,
+where they haven't whitewashed walls and four-post beds. Oliver, wake
+up. We are out of that cave, anyway."
+
+Orme raised himself on his hand and stared at us.
+
+"Where's Maqueda?" he asked, a question to which of course, we could
+give no answer, till presently Roderick woke also and said:
+
+"I remember something. They carried us all out of the cave; Japhet was
+with them. They took the Child of Kings one way and us another, that is
+all I know."
+
+Shortly afterwards the Abati servants arrived, bearing food more solid
+than the soup, and with them came one of their doctors, not that old
+idiot of a court physician, who examined us, and announced that
+we should all recover, a fact which we knew already. We asked many
+questions of him and the servants, but could get no answer, for
+evidently they were sworn to silence. However, we persuaded them to
+bring us water to wash in. It came, and with it a polished piece of
+metal, such as the Abati use for a looking-glass, in which we saw our
+faces, the terrible, wasted faces of those who have gone within a hair's
+breadth of death by starvation in the dark.
+
+Yet although our gaolers would say nothing, something in their aspect
+told us that we were in sore peril of our lives. They looked at us
+hungrily, as a terrier looks at rats in a wire cage of which the door
+will presently be opened. Moreover, Roderick, who, as I think I have
+said, has very quick ears, overheard one of the attendants whisper to
+another:
+
+"When does our service on these hounds of Gentiles come to an end?" to
+which his fellow answered, "The Council has not yet decided, but I think
+to-morrow or the next day, if they are strong enough. It will be a great
+show."
+
+Also that evening, about sunset, we heard a mob shouting outside the
+barrack in which we were imprisoned, for that was its real use, "Give us
+the Gentiles! Give us the Gentiles! We are tired of waiting," until at
+length some soldiers drove them away.
+
+Well, we talked the thing over, only to conclude that there was nothing
+to be done. We had no friend in the place except Maqueda, and she,
+it appeared, was a prisoner like ourselves, and therefore could not
+communicate with us. Nor could we see the slightest possibility of
+escape.
+
+"Out of the frying-pan into the fire," remarked Higgs gloomily. "I wish
+now that they had let us die in the cave. It would have been better than
+being baited to death by a mob of Abati."
+
+"Yes," answered Oliver with a sigh, for he was thinking of Maqueda, "but
+that's why they saved us, the vindictive beasts, to kill us for what
+they are pleased to call high treason."
+
+"High treason!" exclaimed Higgs. "I hope to goodness their punishment
+for the offence is not that of mediaeval England; hanging is bad
+enough--but the rest----!"
+
+"I don't think the Abati study European history," I broke in; "but it
+is no use disguising from you that they have methods of their own. Look
+here, friends," I added, "I have kept something about me in case
+the worst should come to the worst," and I produced a little bottle
+containing a particularly swift and deadly poison done up into tabloids,
+and gave one to each of them. "My advice is," I added, "that if you see
+we are going to be exposed to torture or to any dreadful form of death,
+you should take one of these, as I mean to do, and cheat the Abati of
+their vengeance."
+
+"That is all very fine," said the Professor as he pocketed his tabloid,
+"but I never could swallow a pill without water at the best of times,
+and I don't believe those beasts will give one any. Well, I suppose I
+must suck it, that's all. Oh! if only the luck would turn, if only the
+luck would turn!"
+
+Three more days went by without any sign of Higgs's aspiration being
+fulfilled. On the contrary, except in one respect, the luck remained
+steadily against us. The exception was that we got plenty to eat and
+consequently regained our normal state of health and strength more
+rapidly than might have been expected. With us it was literally a case
+of "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
+
+Only somehow I don't think that any of us really believed that we should
+die, though whether this was because we had all, except poor Quick,
+survived so much, or from a sneaking faith in Maqueda's optimistic
+dreams, I cannot say. At any rate we ate our food with appetite, took
+exercise in an inner yard of the prison, and strove to grow as strong as
+we could, feeling that soon we might need all our powers. Oliver was the
+most miserable among us, not for his own sake, but because, poor fellow,
+he was haunted with fears as to Maqueda and her fate, although of these
+he said little or nothing to us. On the other hand, my son Roderick was
+by far the most cheerful. He had lived for so many years upon the brink
+of death that this familiar gulf seemed to have no terrors for him.
+
+"All come right somehow, my father," he said airily. "Who can know what
+happen? Perhaps Child of King drag us out of mud-hole, for after all
+she was very strong cow, or what you call it, heifer, and I think toss
+Joshua if he drive her into corner. Or perhaps other thing occur."
+
+"What other thing, Roderick?" I asked.
+
+"Oh! don't know, can't say, but I think Fung thing. Believe we not done
+with Fung yet, believe they not run far. Believe they take thought for
+morrow and come back again. Only," he added sadly, "hope my wife not
+come back, for that old girl too full of lofty temper for me. Still,
+cheer up, not dead yet by long day's march, and meanwhile food good
+and this very jolly rest after beastly underground city. Now I tell
+Professor some more stories about Fung religion, den of lions, and so
+forth."
+
+On the morning after this conversation a crisis came. Just as we had
+finished breakfast the doors of our chamber were thrown open and in
+marched a number of soldiers wearing Joshua's badge. They were headed by
+an officer of his household, who commanded us to rise and follow him.
+
+"Where to?" asked Orme.
+
+"To take your trial before the Child of Kings and her Council, Gentile,
+upon the charge of having murdered certain of her subjects," answered
+the officer sternly.
+
+"That's all right," said Higgs with a sigh of relief. "If Maqueda is
+chairman of the Bench we are pretty certain of an acquittal, for Orme's
+sake if not for our own."
+
+"Don't you be too sure of that," I whispered into his ear. "The
+circumstances are peculiar, and women have been known to change their
+minds."
+
+"Adams," he replied, glaring at me through his smoked spectacles, "If
+you talk like that we shall quarrel. Maqueda change her mind indeed!
+Why, it is an insult to suggest such a thing, and if you take my advice
+you won't let Oliver hear you. Don't you remember, man, that she's in
+love with him?"
+
+"Oh, yes," I answered, "but I remember also that Prince Joshua is in
+love with her, and that she is his prisoner."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE TRIAL AND AFTER
+
+They set us in a line, four ragged-looking fellows, all of us with
+beards of various degrees of growth, that is, all the other three, for
+mine had been an established fact for years, and everything having been
+taken away from us, we possessed neither razor nor scissors.
+
+In the courtyard of our barrack we were met by a company of soldiers,
+who encircled us about with a triple line of men, as we thought to
+prevent any attempt of escape. So soon as we passed the gates I found,
+however, that this was done for a different reason, namely, to protect
+us from the fury of the populace. All the way from the barrack to the
+courthouse, whither we were being taken now that the palace was burned,
+the people were gathered in hundreds, literally howling for our blood.
+It was a strange, and, in a way, a dreadful sight to see even the
+brightly dressed women and children shaking their fists and spitting at
+us with faces distorted by hate.
+
+"Why they love you so little, father, when you do so much for them?"
+asked Roderick, shrugging his shoulders and dodging a stone that nearly
+hit him on the head.
+
+"For two reasons," I answered. "Because their Lady loves one of us too
+much, and because through us many of their people have lost their lives.
+Also they hate strangers, and are by nature cruel, like most cowards,
+and now that they have no more fear of the Fung, they think it will be
+safe to kill us."
+
+"Ah!" said Roderick; "yet Harmac has come to Mur," and he pointed to the
+great head of the idol seated on the cliff, "and I think where Harmac
+goes, Fung follow, and if so they make them pay plenty for my life, for
+I great man among Fung; Fung myself husband of Sultan's daughter. These
+fools, like children, because they see no Fung, think there are no Fung.
+Well, in one year, or perhaps one month, they learn."
+
+"I daresay, my boy," I answered, "but I am afraid that won't help us."
+
+By now we were approaching the court-house where the Abati priests and
+learned men tried civil and some criminal cases. Through a mob of nobles
+and soldiers who mocked us as we went, we were hustled into the large
+hall of judgment that was already full to overflowing.
+
+Up the centre of it we marched to a clear space reserved for the parties
+to a cause, or prisoners and their advocates, beyond which, against the
+wall, were seats for the judges. These were five members of the Council,
+one of whom was Joshua, while in the centre as President of the Court,
+and wearing her veil and beautiful robes of ceremony, sat Maqueda
+herself.
+
+"Thank God, she's safe!" muttered Oliver with a gasp of relief.
+
+"Yes," answered Higgs, "but what's she doing there? She ought to be in
+the dock, too, not on the Bench."
+
+We reached the open space, and were thrust by soldiers armed with swords
+to where we must stand, and although each of us bowed to her, I observed
+that Maqueda took not the slightest notice of our salutations. She only
+turned her head and said something to Joshua on her right, which caused
+him to laugh.
+
+Then with startling suddenness the case began. A kind of public
+prosecutor stood forward and droned out the charge against us. It was
+that we, who were in the employ of the Abati, had traitorously taken
+advantage of our position as mercenary captains to stir up a civil
+war, in which many people had lost their lives, and some been actually
+murdered by ourselves and our companion who was dead. Moreover, that
+we had caused their palace to be burned and, greatest crime of all, had
+seized the sacred person of the Walda Nagasta, Rose of Mur, and dragged
+her away into the recesses of the underground city, whence she was only
+rescued by the chance of an accomplice of ours, one Japhet, betraying
+our hiding-place.
+
+This was the charge which, it will be noted, contained no allusion
+whatever to the love entanglement between Maqueda and Oliver. When it
+was finished the prosecutor asked us what we pleaded, whereon Oliver
+answered as our spokesman that it was true there had been fighting and
+men killed, also that we had been driven into the cave, but as to all
+the rest the Child of Kings knew the truth, and must speak for us as she
+wished.
+
+Now the audience began to shout, "They plead guilty! Give them to
+death!" and so forth, while the judges rising from their seats, gathered
+round Maqueda and consulted her.
+
+"By heaven! I believe she is going to give us away!" exclaimed Higgs,
+whereon Oliver turned on him fiercely and bade him hold his tongue,
+adding:
+
+"If you were anywhere else you should answer for that slander!"
+
+At length the consultation was finished; the judges resumed their seats,
+and Maqueda held up her hand. Thereon an intense silence fell upon the
+place. Then she began to speak in a cold, constrained voice:
+
+"Gentiles," she said, addressing us, "you have pleaded guilty to the
+stirring up of civil war in Mur, and to the slaying of numbers of its
+people, facts of which there is no need for evidence, since many widows
+and fatherless children can testify to them to-day. Moreover, you did,
+as alleged by my officer, commit the crime of bearing off my person into
+the cave and keeping me there by force to be a hostage for your safety."
+
+We heard and gasped, Higgs ejaculating, "Good gracious, what a lie!" But
+none of the rest of us said anything.
+
+"For these offences," went on Maqueda, "you are all of you justly worthy
+of a cruel death." Then she paused and added, "Yet, as I have the power
+to do, I remit the sentence. I decree that this day you and all the
+goods that remain to you which have been found in the cave city, and
+elsewhere, together with camels for yourselves and your baggage, shall
+be driven from Mur, and that if any one of you returns hither, he shall
+without further trial be handed over to the executioners. This I do
+because at the beginning of your service a certain bargain was made with
+you, and although you have sinned so deeply I will not suffer that
+the glorious honour of the Abati people shall be tarnished even by the
+breath of suspicion. Get you gone, Wanderers, and let us see your faces
+no more for ever!"
+
+Now the mob gathered in the hall shouted in exultation, though I heard
+some crying out, "No, kill them! Kill them!"
+
+When the tumult had died down Maqueda spoke again saying:
+
+"O noble and generous Abati, you approve of this deed of mercy; you who
+would not be held merciless in far lands, O Abati, where, although you
+may not have heard of them, there are, I believe, other peoples who
+think themselves as great as you. You would not have it whispered, I
+say, that we who are the best of the world, we, the children of Solomon,
+have dealt harshly even with stray dogs that have wandered to our gates?
+Moreover, we called these dogs to hunt a certain beast for us, the
+lion-headed beast called Fung, and, to be just to them, they hunted
+well. Therefore spare them the noose, though they may have deserved it,
+and let them run hence with their bone, say you, the bone which they
+think that they have earned. What does a bone more or less matter to the
+rich Abati, if only their holy ground is not defiled with the blood of
+Gentile dogs?"
+
+"Nothing at all! Nothing at all!" they shouted. "Tie it to their tails
+and let them go!"
+
+"It shall be done, O my people! And now that we have finished with these
+dogs, I have another word to say to you. You may have thought or heard
+that I was too fond of them, and especially of one of them," and she
+glanced toward Oliver. "Well, there are certain dogs who will not work
+unless you pat them on the head. Therefore I patted this one on the
+head, since, after all, he is a clever dog who knows things that we do
+not know; for instance, how to destroy the idol of the Fung. O great
+Abati, can any of you really have believed that I, of the ancient race
+of Solomon and Sheba, I, the Child of Kings, purposed to give my noble
+hand to a vagrant Gentile come hither for hire? Can you really have
+believed that I, the solemnly betrothed to yonder Prince of Princes,
+Joshua, my uncle, would for a moment even in my heart have preferred to
+him such a man as that?" And once again she looked at Oliver, who made
+a wild motion, as though he were about to speak. But before he could so
+much as open his lips Maqueda went on:
+
+"Well, if you believed, not guessing all the while I was working for the
+safety of my people, soon shall you be undeceived, since to-morrow night
+I invite you to the great ceremony of my nuptials, when, according to
+the ancient custom, I break the glass with him whom on the following
+night I take to be my husband," and rising, she bowed thrice to the
+audience, then stretched out her hand to Joshua.
+
+He, too, rose, puffing himself out like a great turkey-cock, and, taking
+her hand, kissed it, gobbling some words which we did not catch.
+
+Wild cheering followed, and in the momentary silence which followed
+Oliver spoke.
+
+"Lady," he said, in a cold and bitter voice, "we 'Gentiles' have heard
+your words. We thank you for your kind acknowledgment of our services,
+namely, the destruction of the idol of the Fung at the cost of some
+risk and labour to ourselves. We thank you also for your generosity in
+allowing us, as the reward of that service, to depart from Mur, with
+insult and hard words, and such goods as remain to us, instead of
+consigning us to death by torture, as you and your Council have the
+power to do. It is indeed a proof of your generosity, and of that of the
+Abati people which we shall always remember and repeat in our own land,
+should we live to reach it. Also, we trust that it will come to the
+ears of the savage Fung, so that at length they may understand that
+true nobility and greatness lie not in brutal deeds of arms, but in the
+hearts of men. But now, Walda Nagasta, I have a last request to make of
+you, namely, that I may see your face once more to be sure that it is
+you who have spoken to us, and not another beneath your veil, and that
+if this be so, I may carry away with me a faithful picture of one so
+true to her country and noble to her guests as you have shown yourself
+this day."
+
+She listened, then very slowly lifted her veil, revealing such a
+countenance as I had never seen before. It was Maqueda without a doubt,
+but Maqueda changed. Her face was pale, which was only to be expected
+after all she had gone through; her eyes glowed in it like coals, her
+lips were set. But it was her expression, at once defiant and agonized,
+which impressed me so much that I never shall forget it. I confess I
+could not read it in the least, but it left upon my mind the belief that
+she was a false woman, and yet ashamed of her own falsity. There was the
+greatest triumph of her art, that in those terrible circumstances she
+should still have succeeded in conveying to me, and to the hundreds of
+others who watched, this conviction of her own turpitude.
+
+For a moment her eyes met those of Orme, but although he searched
+them with pleading and despair in his glance, I could trace in hers no
+relenting sign, but only challenge not unmixed with mockery. Then with
+a short, hard laugh she let fall her veil again and turned to talk with
+Joshua. Oliver stood silent a little while, long enough for Higgs to
+whisper to me:
+
+"I say, isn't this downright awful? I'd rather be back in the den of
+lions than live to see it."
+
+As he spoke I saw Oliver put his hand to where his revolver usually
+hung, but, of course, it had been taken from him. Next he began to
+search in his pocket, and finding that tabloid of poison which I had
+given him, lifted it toward his mouth. But just as it touched his lips,
+my son, who was next to him, saw also. With a quick motion he struck it
+from his fingers, and ground it to powder on the floor beneath his heel.
+
+Oliver raised his arm as though to hit him, then without a sound fell
+senseless. Evidently Maqueda noted all this also, for I saw a kind of
+quiver go through her, and her hands gripped the arms of her chair till
+the knuckles showed white beneath the skin. But she only said:
+
+"This Gentile has fainted because he is disappointed with his reward.
+Take him hence and let his companion, the Doctor Adams, attend to him.
+When he is recovered, conduct them all from Mur as I have decreed. See
+that they go unharmed, taking with them plenty of food lest it be said
+that we only spared their lives here in order that they might starve
+without our gates."
+
+Then waving her hand to show that the matter was done with, she rose
+and, followed by the judges and officers, left the court by some door
+behind them.
+
+While she spoke a strong body of guards had surrounded us, some of whom
+came forward and lifted the senseless Oliver on to a stretcher. They
+carried him down the court, the rest of us following.
+
+"Look," jeered the Abati as he passed, "look at the Gentile pig who
+thought to wear the Bud of the Rose upon his bosom. He has got the thorn
+now, not the rose. Is the swine dead, think you?"
+
+Thus they mocked him and us.
+
+We reached our prison in safety, and there I set to work to revive
+Oliver, a task in which I succeeded at length. When he had come to
+himself again he drank a cup of water, and said quite quietly:
+
+"You fellows have seen all, so there is no need for talk and
+explanations. One thing I beg of you, if you are any friends of mine,
+and it is that you will not reproach or even speak of Maqueda to me.
+Doubtless she had reasons for what she did; moreover, her bringing up
+has not been the same as ours, and her code is different. Do not let us
+judge her. I have been a great fool, that is all, and now I am paying
+for my folly, or, rather, I have paid. Come, let us have some dinner,
+for we don't know when we shall get another meal."
+
+We listened to this speech in silence, only I saw Roderick turn aside to
+hide a smile and wondered why he smiled.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating, or pretending to eat, when an officer
+entered the room and informed us roughly that it was time for us to
+be going. As he did so some attendants who had followed him threw us
+bundles of clothes, and with them four very beautiful camel-hair cloaks
+to protect us from the cold. With some of these garments we replaced our
+rags, for they were little more, tying them and the rest of the outfit
+up into bundles.
+
+Then, clothed as Abati of the upper class, we were taken to the gates
+of the barrack, where we found a long train of riding camels waiting for
+us. The moment that I saw these beasts I knew that they were the best
+in the whole land, and of very great value. Indeed, that to which Oliver
+was conducted was Maqueda's own favourite dromedary, which upon state
+occasions she sometimes rode instead of a horse. He recognized it at
+once, poor fellow, and coloured to the eyes at this unexpected mark of
+kindness, the only one she had vouchsafed to him.
+
+"Come, Gentiles," said the officer, "and take count of your goods, that
+you may not say that we have stolen anything from you. Here are your
+firearms and all the ammunition that is left. These will be given to you
+at the foot of the pass, but not before, lest you should do more murder
+on the road. On those camels are fastened the boxes in which you brought
+up the magic fire. We found them in your quarters in the cave city,
+ready packed, but what they contain we neither know nor care. Full or
+empty, take them, they are yours. Those," and he pointed to two other
+beasts, "are laden with your pay, which the Child of Kings sends to you,
+requesting that you will not count it till you reach Egypt or your own
+land, since she wishes no quarrelling with you as to the amount. The
+rest carry food for you to eat; also, there are two spare beasts. Now,
+mount and begone."
+
+So we climbed into the embroidered saddles of the kneeling dromedaries,
+and a few minutes later were riding through Mur toward the pass,
+accompanied by our guard and hooting mobs that once or twice became
+threatening, but were driven off by the soldiers.
+
+"I say, Doctor," said Higgs to me excitedly, "do you know that we
+have got all the best of the treasure of the Tomb of Kings in those
+five-and-twenty crates? I have thought since that I was crazy when I
+packed them, picking out the most valuable and rare articles with such
+care, and filling in the cracks with ring money and small curiosities,
+but now I see it was the inspiration of genius. My subliminal self knew
+what was going to happen, and was on the job, that's all. Oh, if only
+we can get it safe away, I shall not have played Daniel and been nearly
+starved to death for nothing. Why, I'd go through it all again for that
+golden head alone. Shove on, shove on, before they change their minds;
+it seems too good to be true."
+
+Just then a rotten egg thrown by some sweet Abati youth landed full on
+the bridge of his nose, and dispersing itself into his mouth and over
+his smoked spectacles, cut short the Professor's eloquence, or rather
+changed its tenor. So absurd was the sight that in spite of myself I
+burst out laughing, and with that laugh felt my heart grow lighter, as
+though our clouds of trouble were lifting at length.
+
+At the mouth of the pass we found Joshua himself waiting for us, clad
+in all his finery and chain armour, and looking more like a porpoise on
+horseback than he had ever done.
+
+"Farewell, Gentiles," he said, bowing to us in mockery, "we wish you a
+quick journey to Sheol, or wherever such swine as you may go. Listen,
+you Orme. I have a message for you from the Walda Nagasta. It is that
+she is sorry she could not ask you to stop for her nuptial feast, which
+she would have done had she not been sure that, if you stayed, the
+people would have cut your throat, and she did not wish the holy soil of
+Mur to be defiled with your dog's blood. Also she bids me say that she
+hopes that your stay here will have taught you a lesson, and that in
+future you will not believe that every woman who makes use of you for
+her own ends is therefore a victim of your charms. To-morrow night and
+the night after, I pray you think of our happiness and drink a cup of
+wine to the Walda Nagasta and her husband. Come, will you not wish me
+joy, O Gentile?"
+
+Orme turned white as a sheet and gazed at him steadily. Then a strange
+look came into his grey eyes, almost a look of inspiration.
+
+"Prince Joshua," he said in a very quiet voice, "who knows what may
+happen before the sun rises thrice on Mur? All things that begin well do
+not end well, as I have learned, and as you also may live to learn. At
+least, soon or late, your day of reckoning must come, and you, too, may
+be betrayed as I have been. Rather should you ask me to forgive your
+soul the insults that in your hour of triumph you have not been ashamed
+to heap upon one who is powerless to avenge them," and he urged his
+camel past him.
+
+As we followed I saw Joshua's face turn as pale as Oliver's had done,
+and his great round eyes protrude themselves like those of a fish.
+
+"What does he mean?" said the prince to his companions. "Pray God he is
+not a prophet of evil. Even now I have a mind--no, let him go. To break
+my marriage vow might bring bad luck upon me. Let him go!" and he glared
+after Oliver with fear and hatred written on his coarse features.
+
+That was the last we ever saw of Joshua, uncle of Maqueda, and first
+prince among the Abati.
+
+
+
+Down the pass we went and through the various gates of the
+fortifications, which were thrown open as we came and closed behind us.
+We did not linger on that journey. Why should we when our guards were
+anxious to be rid of us and we of them? Indeed, so soon as the last gate
+was behind us, either from fear of the Fung or because they were in a
+hurry to return to share in the festivities of the approaching marriage,
+suddenly the Abati wheeled round, bade us farewell with a parting curse,
+and left us to our own devices.
+
+So, having roped the camels into a long line, we went on alone, truly
+thankful to be rid of them, and praying, every one of us, that never
+in this world or the next might we see the face or hear the voice of
+another Abati.
+
+We emerged on to the plain at the spot where months before we had held
+our conference with Barung, Sultan of the Fung, and where poor Quick had
+forced his camel on to Joshua's horse and dismounted that hero. Here we
+paused awhile to arrange our little caravan and arm ourselves with
+the rifles, revolvers, and cartridges which until now we had not been
+allowed to touch.
+
+There were but four of us to manage the long train of camels, so we were
+obliged to separate. Higgs and I went ahead, since I was best acquainted
+with the desert and the road, Oliver took the central station, and
+Roderick brought up the rear, because he was very keen of sight and
+hearing and from his long familiarity with them, knew how to drive
+camels that showed signs of obstinacy or a wish to turn.
+
+On our right lay the great city of Harmac. We noted that it seemed to be
+quite deserted. There, rebuilt now, frowned the gateway through which we
+had escaped from the Fung after we had blown so many of them to pieces,
+but beneath it none passed in or out. The town was empty, and although
+they were dead ripe the rich crops had not yet been reaped. Apparently
+the Fung people had now left the land.
+
+Now we were opposite to the valley of Harmac, and saw that the huge
+sphinx still sat there as it had done for unknown thousands of years.
+Only its head was gone, for that had "moved to Mur," and in its neck
+and shoulders appeared great clefts, caused by the terrific force of the
+explosion. Moreover, no sound came from the enclosures where the sacred
+lions used to be. Doubtless every one of them was dead.
+
+"Don't you think," suggested Higgs, whose archaeological zeal was
+rekindling fast, "that we might spare half-an-hour to go up the valley
+and have a look at Harmac from the outside? Of course, both Roderick and
+I are thoroughly acquainted with his inside, and the den of lions, and
+so forth, but I would give a great deal just to study the rest of him
+and take a few measurements. You know one must camp somewhere, and if we
+can't find the camera, at dawn one might make a sketch."
+
+"Are you mad?" I asked by way of answer, and Higgs collapsed, but to
+this hour he has never forgiven me.
+
+We looked our last upon Harmac, the god whose glory we had destroyed,
+and went on swiftly till darkness overtook us almost opposite to that
+ruined village where Shadrach had tried to poison the hound Pharaoh,
+which afterwards tore out his throat. Here we unloaded the camels, no
+light task, and camped, for near this spot there was water and a patch
+of maize on which the beasts could feed.
+
+Before the light quite faded Roderick rode forward for a little way to
+reconnoitre, and presently returned announcing shortly that he had seen
+no one. So we ate of the food with which the Abati had provided us, not
+without fear lest it should be poisoned, and then held a council of war.
+
+The question was whether we should take the old road toward Egypt, or
+now that the swamps were dry, strike up northward by the other route of
+which Shadrach had told us. According to the map this should be shorter,
+and Higgs advocated it strongly, as I discovered afterwards because he
+thought there might be more archaeological remains in that direction.
+
+I, on the other hand, was in favour of following the road we knew,
+which, although long and very wearisome, was comparatively safe, as in
+that vast desert there were few people to attack us, while Oliver, our
+captain, listened to all we had to say, and reserved his opinion.
+
+Presently, however, the question was settled for us by Roderick, who
+remarked that if we travelled to the north we should probably fall in
+with the Fung. I asked what he meant, and he replied that when he made
+his reconnaissance an hour or so before, although it was true that he
+had seen no one, not a thousand yards from where we sat he had come
+across the track of a great army. This army, from various indications,
+he felt sure was that of Barung, which had passed there within twelve
+hours.
+
+"Perhaps my wife with them, so I no want to go that way, father," he
+added with sincere simplicity.
+
+"Where could they be travelling?" I asked.
+
+"Don't know," he answered, "but think they go round to attack Mur from
+other side, or perhaps to find new land to north."
+
+"We will stick to the old road," said Oliver briefly. "Like Roderick I
+have had enough of all the inhabitants of this country. Now let us rest
+awhile; we need it."
+
+About two o'clock we were up again and before it was dawn on the
+following morning we had loaded our camels and were on the road. By the
+first faint light we saw that what Roderick had told us was true. We
+were crossing the track of an army of many thousand men who had passed
+there recently with laden camels and horses. Moreover, those men were
+Fung, for we picked up some articles that could have belonged to no
+other people, such as a head-dress that had been lost or thrown away,
+and an arrow that had fallen from a quiver.
+
+However, we saw nothing of them, and, travelling fast, to our great
+relief by midday reached the river Ebur, which we crossed without
+difficulty, for it was now low. That night we camped in the forest-lands
+beyond, having all the afternoon marched up the rising ground at the
+foot of which ran the river.
+
+Toward dawn Higgs, whose turn it was to watch the camels, came and woke
+me.
+
+"Sorry to disturb you, old fellow," he said, "but there is a most
+curious sky effect behind us which I thought you might like to see."
+
+I rose and looked. In the clear, starlight night I could just discern
+the mighty outline of the mountains of Mur. Above them the firmament was
+suffused with a strange red glow. I formed my own conclusion at once,
+but only said:
+
+"Let us go to tell Orme," and led the way to where he had lain down
+under a tree.
+
+He was not sleeping; indeed, I do not think he had closed his eyes all
+night, the night of Maqueda's marriage. On the contrary, he was standing
+on a little knoll staring at the distant mountains and the glow above
+them.
+
+"Mur is on fire," he said solemnly. "Oh, my God, Mur is on fire!" and
+turning he walked away.
+
+Just then Roderick joined us.
+
+"Fung got into Mur," he said, "and now cut throat of all Abati. We well
+out of that, but pig Joshua have very warm wedding feast, because Barung
+hate Joshua who try to catch him not fairly, which he never forget;
+often talk of it."
+
+"Poor Maqueda!" I said to Higgs, "what will happen to her?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered, "but although once, like everybody else,
+I adored that girl, really as a matter of justice she deserves all she
+gets, the false-hearted little wretch. Still it is true," he added,
+relenting, "she gave us very good camels, to say nothing of their
+loads."
+
+But I only repeated, "Poor Maqueda!"
+
+
+
+That day we made but a short journey, since we wished to rest ourselves
+and fill the camels before plunging into the wilderness, and feeling
+sure that we should not be pursued, had no cause to hurry. At night we
+camped in a little hollow by a stream that ran at the foot of a rise. As
+dawn broke we were awakened by the voice of Roderick, who was on watch,
+calling to us in tones of alarm to get up, as we were followed. We
+sprang to our feet, seizing our rifles.
+
+"Where are they?" I asked.
+
+"There, there," he said, pointing toward the rise behind us.
+
+We ran round some intervening bushes and looked, to see upon its crest a
+solitary figure seated on a very tired horse, for it panted and its head
+drooped. This figure, which was entirely hidden in a long cloak with
+a hood, appeared to be watching our camp just as a spy might do. Higgs
+lifted his rifle and fired at it, but Oliver, who was standing by him,
+knocked the barrel up so that the bullet went high, saying:
+
+"Don't be a fool. If it is only one man there's no need to shoot him,
+and if there are more you will bring them on to us."
+
+Then the figure urged the weary horse and advanced slowly, and I noticed
+that it was very small. "A boy," I thought to myself, "who is bringing
+some message."
+
+The rider reached us, and slipping from the horse, stood still.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Oliver, scanning the cloaked form.
+
+"One who brings a token to you, lord," was the answer, spoken in a low
+and muffled voice. "Here it is," and a hand, a very delicate hand, was
+stretched out, holding between the fingers a ring.
+
+I knew it at once; it was Sheba's ring which Maqueda had lent to me in
+proof of her good faith when I journeyed for help to England. This ring,
+it will be remembered, we returned to her with much ceremony at our
+first public audience. Oliver grew pale at the sight of it.
+
+"How did you come by this?" he asked hoarsely. "Is she who alone may
+wear it dead?"
+
+"Yes, yes," answered the voice, a feigned voice as I thought. "The Child
+of Kings whom you knew is dead, and having no more need for this ancient
+symbol of her power, she bequeathed it to you whom she remembered kindly
+at the last."
+
+Oliver covered his face with his hands and turned away.
+
+"But," went on the speaker slowly, "the woman Maqueda whom once it is
+said you loved----"
+
+He dropped his hands and stared.
+
+"----the woman Maqueda whom once it is said you--loved--still lives."
+
+Then the hood slipped back, and in the glow of the rising sun we saw the
+face beneath.
+
+It was that of Maqueda herself!
+
+A silence followed that in its way was almost awful.
+
+"My Lord Oliver," asked Maqueda presently, "do you accept my offering of
+Queen Sheba's ring?"
+
+
+
+NOTE BY MAQUEDA
+
+Once called Walda Nagasta and Takla Warda, that is, Child of Kings and
+Bud of the Rose, once also by birth Ruler of the Abati people, the Sons
+of Solomon and Sheba.
+
+I, Maqueda, write this by the command of Oliver, my lord, who desires
+that I should set out certain things in my own words.
+
+Truly all men are fools, and the greatest of them is Oliver, my lord,
+though perhaps he is almost equalled by the learned man whom the Abati
+called Black Windows, and by the doctor, Son of Adam. Only he who is
+named Roderick, child of Adam, is somewhat less blind, because having
+been brought up among the Fung and other people of the desert, he has
+gathered a little wisdom. This I know because he has told me that he
+alone saw through my plan to save all their lives, but said nothing of
+it because he desired to escape from Mur, where certain death waited on
+him and his companions. Perhaps, however, he lies to please me.
+
+Now, for the truth of the matter, which not being skilled in writing I
+will tell briefly.
+
+I was carried out of the cave city with my lord and the others,
+starving, starving, too weak to kill myself, which otherwise I would
+have done rather than fall into the hands of my accursed uncle, Joshua.
+Yet I was stronger than the rest, because as I have learned, they
+tricked me about those biscuits, pretending to eat when they were not
+eating, for which never will I forgive them. It was Japhet, a gallant
+man on one side, but a coward on the other like the rest of the Abati,
+who betrayed us, driven thereto by emptiness within, which, after all,
+is an ill enemy to fight. He went out and told Joshua where we lay hid,
+and then, of course, they came.
+
+Well, they took away my lord and the others, and me too they bore to
+another place and fed me till my strength returned, and oh! how good was
+that honey which first I ate, for I could touch nothing else. When I was
+strong again came Prince Joshua to me and said, "Now I have you in my
+net; now you are mine."
+
+Then I answered Joshua, "Fool, your net is of air; I will fly through
+it."
+
+"How?" he asked. "By death," I answered, "of which a hundred means lie
+to my hand. You have robbed me of one, but what does that matter when so
+many remain? I will go where you and your love cannot pursue me."
+
+"Very well, Child of Kings," he said, "but how about that tall Gentile
+who has caught your eyes, and his companions? They, too, have recovered,
+and they shall die every one of them after a certain fashion (which, I
+Maqueda, will not set down, since there are some things that ought not
+to be written). If you die, they die; as I told you, they die as a wolf
+dies that is caught by the shepherds; they die as a baboon dies that is
+caught by the husbandman."
+
+Now I looked this way and that, and found that there was no escape. So I
+made a bargain.
+
+"Joshua," I said, "let these men go and I swear upon the name of our
+mother, she of Sheba, that I will marry you. Keep them and kill them,
+and you will have none of me."
+
+Well, in the end, because he desired me and the power that went with me,
+he consented.
+
+Then I played my part. My lord and his companions were brought before
+me, and in presence of all the people I mocked them; I spat in their
+faces, and oh! fools, fools, fools, they believed me! I lifted my veil,
+and showed them my eyes, and they believed also what they seemed to see
+in my eyes, forgetting that I am a woman who can play a part at need.
+Yes, they forgot that there were others to deceive as well, all the
+Abati people, who, if they thought I tricked them, would have torn the
+foreigners limb from limb. That was my bitterest morsel, that I should
+have succeeded in making even my own lord believe that of all the wicked
+women that ever trod this world, I was the most vile. Yet I did so, and
+he cannot deny it, for often we have talked of this thing till he will
+hear of it no more.
+
+Well, they went with all that I could give them, though I knew well that
+my lord cared nothing, for what I could give, nor the doctor, Child of
+Adam, either, who cared only for his son that God had restored to him.
+Only Black Windows cared, not because he loves wealth, but because he
+worships all that is old and ugly, for of such things he fashions up his
+god.
+
+They went, for their going was reported to me, and I, I entered into
+hell because I knew that my lord thought me false, and that he would
+never learn the truth, namely, that what I did I did to save his life,
+until at length he came to his own country, if ever he came there, and
+opened the chests of treasure, if ever he opened them, which perhaps he
+would not care to do. And all that while he would believe me the wife
+of Joshua, and--oh! I cannot write of it. And I, I should be dead; I, I
+could not tell him the truth until he joined me in that land of death,
+if there men and women can talk together any more.
+
+For this and no other was the road that I had planned to walk. When he
+and his companions had gone so far that they could not be followed,
+then I would tell Joshua and the Abati all the truth in such language as
+should never be forgotten for generations, and kill myself before their
+eyes, so that Joshua might lack a wife and the Abati a Child of Kings.
+
+I sat through the Feast of Preparation and smiled and smiled. It passed
+and the next day passed, and came the night of the Feast of Marriage.
+The glass was broken, the ceremony was fulfilled. Joshua rose up to
+pledge me before all the priests, lords, and headmen. He devoured me
+with his hateful eyes, me, who was already his. But I, I handled the
+knife in my robe, wishing, such was the rage in my heart, that I could
+kill him also.
+
+Then God spoke, and the dream that I had dreamed came true. Far away
+there rose a single cry, and after it other cries, and the sounds of
+shouting and of marching feet. Far away tongues of fire leapt into the
+air, and each man asked his neighbour, "What is this?" Then from all the
+thousands of the feasting people rose one giant scream, and that scream
+said, "Fung! Fung! The Fung are on us! Fly, fly, fly!"
+
+"Come," shouted Joshua, seizing me by the arm, but I drew my dagger on
+him and he let go. Then he fled with the other lords, and I remained in
+my high seat beneath the golden canopy alone.
+
+The people fled past me without fighting; they fled into the cave city,
+they fled to the rocks; they hid themselves among the precipices, and
+after them came the Fung, slaying and burning, till all Mur went up in
+flames. And I, I sat and watched, waiting till it was time for me to die
+also.
+
+At last, I know not how long afterwards, appeared before me Barung, a
+red sword in his hand, which he lifted to me in salute.
+
+"Greeting, Child of Kings," he said. "You see Harmac is come to sleep at
+Mur."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "Harmac is come to sleep at Mur, and many of those
+who dwelt there sleep with him. What of it? Say, Barung, will you kill
+me, or shall I kill myself?"
+
+"Neither, Child of Kings," he answered in his high fashion. "Did I not
+make you a promise yonder in the Pass of Mur, when I spoke with you and
+the Western men, and does a Fung Sultan break his word? I have taken
+back the city that was ours, as I swore to do, and purified it with
+fire," and he pointed to the raging flames. "Now I will rebuild it, and
+you shall rule under me."
+
+"Not so," I answered; "but in place of that promise I ask of you three
+things."
+
+"Name them," said Barung.
+
+"They are these: First, that you give me a good horse and five days'
+food, and let me go where I will. Secondly, that if he still lives you
+advance one Japhet, a certain Mountaineer who befriended me and brought
+others to do likewise, to a place of honour under you. Thirdly, that you
+spare the rest of the Abati people."
+
+"You shall go whither you desire, and I think I know where you will go,"
+answered Barung. "Certain spies of mine last night saw four white men
+riding on fine camels towards Egypt, and reported it to me as I led my
+army to the secret pass that Harmac showed me, which you Abati could
+never find. But I said, 'Let them go; it is right that brave men who
+have been the mock of the Abati should be allowed their freedom.' Yes,
+I said this, although one of them was my daughter's husband, or near to
+it. But she will have no more of him who fled to his father rather than
+with her, so it was best that he should go also, since, if I brought him
+back it must be to his death."
+
+"Yes," I answered boldly, "I go after the Western men; I who have done
+with these Abati. I wish to see new lands."
+
+"And find an old love who thinks ill of you just now," he said, stroking
+his beard. "Well, no wonder, for here has been a marriage feast. Say,
+what were you about to do, O Child of Kings? Take the fat Joshua to your
+breast?"
+
+"Nay, Barung, I was about to take _this_ husband to my breast," and I
+showed him the knife that was hidden in my marriage robe.
+
+"No," he said, smiling, "I think the knife was for Joshua first. Still,
+you are a brave woman who could save the life of him you love at
+the cost of your own. Yet, bethink you, Child of Kings, for many a
+generation your mothers have been queens, and under me you may still
+remain a queen. How will one whose blood has ruled so long endure to
+serve a Western man in a strange land?"
+
+"That is what I go to find out, Barung, and if I cannot endure, then I
+shall come back again, though not to rule the Abati, of whom I wash my
+hands for ever. Yet, Barung, my heart tells me I shall endure."
+
+"The Child of Kings has spoken," he said, bowing to me. "My best horse
+awaits her, and five of my bravest guards shall ride with her to keep
+her safe till she sights the camp of the Western men. I say happy is he
+of them who was born to wear the sweet-scented Bud of the Rose upon his
+bosom. For the rest, the man Japhet is in my hands. He yielded himself
+to me who would not fight for his own people because of what they had
+done to his friends, the white men. Lastly, already I have given orders
+that the slaying should cease, since I need the Abati to be my slaves,
+they who are cowards, but cunning in many arts. Only one more man shall
+die," he added sternly, "and that is Joshua, who would have taken me by
+a trick in the mouth of the pass. So plead not for him, for by the head
+of Harmac it is in vain."
+
+Now hearing this I did not plead, fearing lest I should anger Barung,
+and but waste my breath.
+
+
+
+At daybreak I started on the horse, having with me the five Fung
+captains. As we crossed the marketplace I met those that remained alive
+of the Abati, being driven in hordes like beasts, to hear their doom.
+Among them was Prince Joshua, my uncle, whom a man led by a rope about
+his neck, while another man thrust him forward from behind, since Joshua
+knew that he went to his death and the road was one which he did not
+wish to travel. He saw me, and cast himself down upon the ground, crying
+to me to save him. I told him that I could not, though it is the truth,
+I swear it before God, that, notwithstanding all the evil he had worked
+toward me, toward Oliver my lord, and his companions, bringing to his
+end that gallant man who died to protect me, I would still have saved
+him if I could. But I could not, for although I tried once more, Barung
+would not listen. So I answered:
+
+"Plead, O Joshua, with him who has the power in Mur to-day, for I have
+none. You have fashioned your own fate, and must travel the road you
+chose."
+
+"What road do you ride, mounted on a horse of the plains, Maqueda? Oh!
+what need is there for me to ask? You go to see that accursed Gentile
+whom I would I had killed by inches, as I would that I could kill you."
+
+Then calling me by evil names, Joshua sprang at me as though to strike
+me down, but he who held the rope about his neck jerked him backward, so
+that he fell and I saw his face no more.
+
+But oh! it was sad, that journey across the great square, for the
+captive Abati by hundreds--men, women, and children together--with tears
+and lamentations cried to me to preserve them from death or slavery at
+the hands of the Fung. But I answered:
+
+"Your sins against me and the brave foreign men who fought so well
+for you I forgive, but search your hearts, O Abati, and say if you can
+forgive yourselves? If you had listened to me and to those whom I called
+in to help us, you might have beaten back the Fung, and remained free
+for ever. But you were cowards; you would not learn to bear arms like
+men, you would not even watch your mountain walls, and soon or late the
+people who refuse to be ready to fight must fall and become the servants
+of those who are ready."
+
+And now, my Oliver, I have no more to write, save that I am glad to have
+endured so many things, and thereby win the joy that is mine to-day.
+Not yet have I, Maqueda, wished to reign again in Mur, who have found
+another throne.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Queen Sheba's Ring, by H. Rider Haggard
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diff --git a/old/sheba10.txt b/old/sheba10.txt
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+Project Gutenberg Etext Queen Sheba's Ring, by H. Rider Haggard
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+Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz
+Emma Dudding, emma_302@hotmail.com
+and Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com
+
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+
+
+PREPARER'S NOTE
+
+  This text was orignally prepared from a 1909 edition, published by
+  Eveleight Nash & Grayson Ltd., 148 Strand, London, and printed in
+  Britain by The Northumberland Press Ltd., Newcastle-upon-tyne.
+
+
+
+
+
+QUEEN SHEBA'S RING
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE COMING OF THE RING
+
+Every one has read the monograph, I believe that is the right word, of
+my dear friend, Professor Higgs--Ptolemy Higgs to give him his full
+name--descriptive of the tableland of Mur in North Central Africa, of
+the ancient underground city in the mountains which surrounded it, and
+of the strange tribe of Abyssinian Jews, or rather their mixed
+descendants, by whom it is, or was, inhabited. I say every one
+advisedly, for although the public which studies such works is usually
+select, that which will take an interest in them, if the character of
+a learned and pugnacious personage is concerned, is very wide indeed.
+Not to mince matters, I may as well explain what I mean at once.
+
+Professor Higgs's rivals and enemies, of whom either the brilliancy of
+his achievements or his somewhat abrupt and pointed methods of
+controversy seem to have made him a great many, have risen up, or
+rather seated themselves, and written him down--well, an individual
+who strains the truth. Indeed, only this morning one of these
+inquired, in a letter to the press, alluding to some adventurous
+traveller who, I am told, lectured to the British Association several
+years ago, whether Professor Higgs did not, in fact, ride across the
+desert to Mur, not upon a camel, as he alleged, but upon a land
+tortoise of extraordinary size.
+
+The innuendo contained in this epistle has made the Professor, who, as
+I have already hinted, is not by nature of a meek disposition,
+extremely angry. Indeed, notwithstanding all that I could do, he left
+his London house under an hour ago with a whip of hippopotamus hide
+such as the Egyptians call a /koorbash/, purposing to avenge himself
+upon the person of his defamer. In order to prevent a public scandal,
+however, I have taken the liberty of telephoning to that gentleman,
+who, bold and vicious as he may be in print, is physically small and,
+I should say, of a timid character, to get out of the way at once. To
+judge from the abrupt fashion in which our conversation came to an
+end, I imagine that the hint has been taken. At any rate, I hope for
+the best, and, as an extra precaution, have communicated with the
+lawyers of my justly indignant friend.
+
+The reader will now probably understand that I am writing this book,
+not to bring myself or others before the public, or to make money of
+which I have no present need, or for any purpose whatsoever, except to
+set down the bare and actual truth. In fact, so many rumours are
+flying about as to where we have been and what befell us that this has
+become almost necessary. As soon as I laid down that cruel column of
+gibes and insinuations to which I have alluded--yes, this very
+morning, before breakfast, this conviction took hold of me so strongly
+that I cabled to Oliver, Captain Oliver Orme, the hero of my history,
+if it has any particular hero, who is at present engaged upon what
+must be an extremely agreeable journey round the world--asking his
+consent. Ten minutes since the answer arrived from Tokyo. Here it is:
+
+"Do what you like and think necessary, but please alter all names, et
+cetera, as propose returning via America, and fear interviewers. Japan
+jolly place." Then follows some private matter which I need not
+insert. Oliver is always extravagant where cablegrams are concerned.
+
+I suppose that before entering on this narration, for the reader's
+benefit I had better give some short description of myself.
+
+My name is Richard Adams, and I am the son of a Cumberland yeoman who
+married a Welshwoman. Therefore I have Celtic blood in my veins, which
+perhaps accounts for my love of roving and other things. I am now an
+old man, near the end of my course, I suppose; at any rate, I was
+sixty-five last birthday. This is my appearance as I see it in the
+glass before me: tall, spare (I don't weigh more than a hundred and
+forty pounds--the desert has any superfluous flesh that I ever owned,
+my lot having been, like Falstaff, to lard the lean earth, but in a
+hot climate); my eyes are brown, my face is long, and I wear a pointed
+white beard, which matches the white hair above.
+
+Truth compels me to add that my general appearance, as seen in that
+glass which will not lie, reminds me of that of a rather aged goat;
+indeed, to be frank, by the natives among whom I have sojourned, and
+especially among the Khalifa's people when I was a prisoner there, I
+have often been called the White Goat.
+
+Of my very commonplace outward self let this suffice. As for my
+record, I am a doctor of the old school. Think of it! When I was a
+student at Bart.'s the antiseptic treatment was quite a new thing, and
+administered when at all, by help of a kind of engine on wheels, out
+of which disinfectants were dispensed with a pump, much as the
+advanced gardener sprays a greenhouse to-day.
+
+I succeeded above the average as a student, and in my early time as a
+doctor. But in every man's life there happen things which, whatever
+excuses may be found for them, would not look particularly well in
+cold print (nobody's record, as understood by convention and the
+Pharisee, could really stand cold print); also something in my blood
+made me its servant. In short, having no strict ties at home, and
+desiring to see the world, I wandered far and wide for many years,
+earning my living as I went, never, in my experience, a difficult
+thing to do, for I was always a master of my trade.
+
+My fortieth birthday found me practising at Cairo, which I mention
+only because it was here that first I met Ptolemy Higgs, who, even
+then in his youth, was noted for his extraordinary antiquarian and
+linguistic abilities. I remember that in those days the joke about him
+was that he could swear in fifteen languages like a native and in
+thirty-two with common proficiency, and could read hieroglyphics as
+easily as a bishop reads the /Times/.
+
+Well, I doctored him through a bad attack of typhoid, but as he had
+spent every farthing he owned on scarabs or something of the sort,
+made him no charge. This little kindness I am bound to say he never
+forgot, for whatever his failings may be (personally I would not trust
+him alone with any object that was more than a thousand years old),
+Ptolemy is a good and faithful friend.
+
+In Cairo I married a Copt. She was a lady of high descent, the
+tradition in her family being that they were sprung from one of the
+Ptolemaic Pharaohs, which is possible and even probable enough. Also,
+she was a Christian, and well educated in her way. But, of course, she
+remained an Oriental, and for a European to marry an Oriental is, as I
+have tried to explain to others, a very dangerous thing, especially if
+he continues to live in the East, where it cuts him off from social
+recognition and intimacy with his own race. Still, although this step
+of mine forced me to leave Cairo and go to Assouan, then a little-
+known place, to practise chiefly among the natives, God knows we were
+happy enough together till the plague took her, and with it my joy in
+life.
+
+I pass over all that business, since there are some things too
+dreadful and too sacred to write about. She left me one child, a son,
+who, to fill up my cup of sorrow, when he was twelve years of age, was
+kidnapped by the Mardi's people.
+
+This brings me to the real story. There is nobody else to write it;
+Oliver will not; Higgs cannot (outside of anything learned and
+antiquarian, he is hopeless); so I must. At any rate, if it is not
+interesting, the fault will be mine, not that of the story, which in
+all conscience is strange enough.
+
+
+
+We are now in the middle of June, and it was a year ago last December
+that, on the evening of the day of my arrival in London after an
+absence of half a lifetime, I found myself knocking at the door of
+Professor Higgs's rooms in Guildford Street, W.C. It was opened by his
+housekeeper, Mrs. Reid, a thin and saturnine old woman, who reminded
+and still reminds me of a reanimated mummy. She told me that the
+Professor was in, but had a gentleman to dinner, and suggested sourly
+that I should call again the next morning. With difficulty I persuaded
+her at last to inform her master that an old Egyptian friend had
+brought him something which he certainly would like to see.
+
+Five minutes later I groped my way into Higgs's sitting-room, which
+Mrs. Reid had contented herself with indicating from a lower floor. It
+is a large room, running the whole width of the house, divided into
+two by an arch, where once, in the Georgian days, there had been
+folding doors. The place was in shadow, except for the firelight,
+which shone upon a table laid ready for dinner, and upon an
+extraordinary collection of antiquities, including a couple of mummies
+with gold faces arranged in their coffins against the wall. At the far
+end of the room, however, an electric lamp was alight in the bow-
+window hanging over another table covered with books, and by it I saw
+my host, whom I had not met for twenty years, although until I
+vanished into the desert we frequently corresponded, and with him the
+friend who had come to dinner.
+
+First, I will describe Higgs, who, I may state, is admitted, even by
+his enemies, to be one of the most learned antiquarians and greatest
+masters of dead languages in Europe, though this no one would guess
+from his appearance at the age of about forty-five. In build short and
+stout, face round and high-coloured, hair and beard of a fiery red,
+eyes, when they can be seen--for generally he wears a pair of large
+blue spectacles--small and of an indefinite hue, but sharp as needles.
+Dress so untidy, peculiar, and worn that it is said the police
+invariably request him to move on, should he loiter in the streets at
+night. Such was, and is, the outward seeming of my dearest friend,
+Professor Ptolemy Higgs, and I only hope that he won't be offended
+when he sees it set down in black and white.
+
+That of his companion who was seated at the table, his chin resting on
+his hand, listening to some erudite discourse with a rather distracted
+air, was extraordinarily different, especially by contrast. A tall
+well-made young man, rather thin, but broad-shouldered, and apparently
+five or six and twenty years of age. Face clean-cut--so much so,
+indeed, that the dark eyes alone relieved it from a suspicion of
+hardness; hair short and straight, like the eyes, brown; expression
+that of a man of thought and ability, and, when he smiled, singularly
+pleasant. Such was, and is, Captain Oliver Orme, who, by the way, I
+should explain, is only a captain of some volunteer engineers,
+although, in fact, a very able soldier, as was proved in the South
+African War, whence he had then but lately returned.
+
+I ought to add also that he gave me the impression of a man not in
+love with fortune, or rather of one with whom fortune was not in love;
+indeed, his young face seemed distinctly sad. Perhaps it was this that
+attracted me to him so much from the first moment that my eyes fell on
+him--me with whom fortune had also been out of love for many years.
+
+While I stood contemplating this pair, Higgs, looking up from the
+papyrus or whatever it might be that he was reading (I gathered later
+that he had spent the afternoon in unrolling a mummy, and was studying
+its spoils), caught sight of me standing in the shadow.
+
+"Who the devil are you?" he exclaimed in a shrill and strident voice,
+for it acquires that quality when he is angry or alarmed, "and what
+are you doing in my room?"
+
+"Steady," said his companion; "your housekeeper told you that some
+friend of yours had come to call."
+
+"Oh, yes, so she did, only I can't remember any friend with a face and
+beard like a goat. Advance, friend, and all's well."
+
+So I stepped into the shining circle of the electric light and halted
+again.
+
+"Who is it? Who is it?" muttered Higgs. "The face is the face of--of--
+I have it--of old Adams, only he's been dead these ten years. The
+Khalifa got him, they said. Antique shade of the long-lost Adams,
+please be so good as to tell me your name, for we waste time over a
+useless mystery."
+
+"There is no need, Higgs, since it is in your mouth already. Well, I
+should have known you anywhere; but then /your/ hair doesn't go
+white."
+
+"Not it; too much colouring matter; direct result of a sanguine
+disposition. Well, Adams--for Adams you must be--I am really delighted
+to see you, especially as you never answered some questions in my last
+letter as to where you got those First Dynasty scarabs, of which the
+genuineness, I may tell you, has been disputed by certain envious
+beasts. Adams, my dear old fellow, welcome a thousand times"--and he
+seized my hands and wrung them, adding, as his eye fell upon a ring I
+wore, "Why, what's that? Something quite unusual. But never mind; you
+shall tell me after dinner. Let me introduce you to my friend, Captain
+Orme, a very decent scholar of Arabic, with a quite elementary
+knowledge of Egyptology."
+
+"/Mr./ Orme," interrupted the younger man, bowing to me.
+
+"Oh, well, Mr. or Captain, whichever you like. He means that he is not
+in the regular army, although he has been all through the Boer War,
+and wounded three times, once straight through the lungs. Here's the
+soup. Mrs. Reid, lay another place. I am dreadfully hungry; nothing
+gives me such an appetite as unrolling mummies; it involves so much
+intellectual wear and tear, in addition to the physical labour. Eat,
+man, eat. We will talk afterwards."
+
+So we ate, Higgs largely, for his appetite was always excellent,
+perhaps because he was then practically a teetotaller; Mr. Orme very
+moderately, and I as becomes a person who has lived for months at a
+time on dates--mainly of vegetables, which, with fruits, form my
+principal diet--that is, if these are available, for at a pinch I can
+exist on anything.
+
+When the meal was finished and our glasses had been filled with port,
+Higgs helped himself to water, lit the large meerschaum pipe he always
+smokes, and pushed round the tobacco-jar which had once served as a
+sepulchural urn for the heart of an old Egyptian.
+
+"Now, Adams," he said when we also had filled our pipes, "tell us what
+has brought you back from the Shades. In short, your story, man, your
+story."
+
+I drew the ring he had noticed off my hand, a thick band of rather
+light-coloured gold of a size such as an ordinary woman might wear
+upon her first or second finger, in which was set a splendid slab of
+sapphire engraved with curious and archaic characters. Pointing to
+these characters, I asked Higgs if he could read them.
+
+"Read them? Of course," he answered, producing a magnifying glass.
+"Can't you? No, I remember; you never were good at anything more than
+fifty years old. Hullo! this is early Hebrew. Ah! I've got it," and he
+read:
+
+"'The gift of Solomon the ruler--no, the Great One--of Israel, Beloved
+of Jah, to Maqueda of Sheba-land, Queen, Daughter of Kings, Child of
+Wisdom, Beautiful.'
+
+"That's the writing on your ring, Adams--a really magnificent thing.
+'Queen of Sheba--Bath-Melachim, Daughter of Kings,' with our old
+friend Solomon chucked in. Splendid, quite splendid!"--and he touched
+the gold with his tongue, and tested it with his teeth. "Hum--where
+did you get this intelligent fraud from, Adams?"
+
+"Oh!" I answered, laughing, "the usual thing, of course. I bought it
+from a donkey-boy in Cairo for about thirty shillings."
+
+"Indeed," he replied suspiciously. "I should have thought the stone in
+it was worth more than that, although, of course, it may be nothing
+but glass. The engraving, too, is first-rate. Adams," he added with
+severity, "you are trying to hoax us, but let me tell you what I
+thought you knew by this time--that you can't take in Ptolemy Higgs.
+This ring is a shameless swindle; but who did the Hebrew on it? He's a
+good scholar, anyway."
+
+"Don't know," I answered; "wasn't aware till now that it was Hebrew.
+To tell you the truth, I thought it was old Egyptian. All I do know is
+that it was given, or rather lent, to me by a lady whose title is
+Walda Nagasta, and who is supposed to be a descendant of Solomon and
+the Queen of Sheba."
+
+Higgs took up the ring and looked at it again; then, as though in a
+fit of abstraction, slipped it into his waistcoat pocket.
+
+"I don't want to be rude, therefore I will not contradict you," he
+answered with a kind of groan, "or, indeed, say anything except that
+if any one else had spun me that yarn I should have told him he was a
+common liar. But, of course, as every schoolboy knows, Walda Nagasta--
+that is, Child of Kings in Ethiopic--is much the same as Bath-Melachim
+--that is, Daughter of Kings in Hebrew."
+
+Here Captain Orme burst out laughing, and remarked, "It is easy to see
+why you are not altogether popular in the antiquarian world, Higgs.
+Your methods of controversy are those of a savage with a stone axe."
+
+"If you only open your mouth to show your ignorance, Oliver, you had
+better keep it shut. The men who carried stone axes had advanced far
+beyond the state of savagery. But I suggest that you had better give
+Doctor Adams a chance of telling his story, after which you can
+criticize."
+
+"Perhaps Captain Orme does not wish to be bored with it," I said,
+whereon he answered at once:
+
+"On the contrary, I should like to hear it very much--that is, if you
+are willing to confide in me as well as in Higgs."
+
+I reflected a moment, since, to tell the truth, for sundry reasons, my
+intention had been to trust no one except the Professor, whom I knew
+to be as faithful as he is rough. Yet some instinct prompted me to
+make an exception in favour of this Captain Orme. I liked the man;
+there was something about those brown eyes of his that appealed to me.
+Also it struck me as odd that he should happen to be present on this
+occasion, for I have always held that there is nothing casual or
+accidental in the world; that even the most trivial circumstances are
+either ordained, or the result of the workings of some inexorable law
+whereof the end is known by whatever power may direct our steps,
+though it be not yet declared.
+
+"Certainly I am willing," I answered; "your face and your friendship
+with the Professor are passport enough for me. Only I must ask you to
+give me your word of honour that without my leave you will repeat
+nothing of what I am about to tell you."
+
+"Of course," he answered, whereon Higgs broke in:
+
+"There, that will do; you don't want us both to kiss the Book, do you?
+Who sold you that ring, and where have you been for the last dozen
+years, and whence do you come now?"
+
+"I have been a prisoner of the Khalifa's among other things. I had
+five years of that entertainment of which my back would give some
+evidence if I were to strip. I think I am about the only man who never
+embraced Islam whom they allowed to live, and that was because I am a
+doctor, and, therefore, a useful person. The rest of the time I have
+spent wandering about the North African deserts looking for my son,
+Roderick. You remember the boy, or should, for you are his godfather,
+and I used to send you photographs of him as a little chap."
+
+"Of course, of course," said the Professor in a new tone; "I came
+across a Christmas letter from him the other day. But, my dear Adams,
+what happened? I never heard."
+
+"He went up the river to shoot crocodiles against my orders, when he
+was about twelve years old--not very long after his mother's death,
+and some wandering Mahdi tribesmen kidnapped him and sold him as a
+slave. I have been looking for him ever since, for the poor boy was
+passed on from tribe to tribe, among which his skill as a musician
+enabled me to follow him. The Arabs call him the Singer of Egypt,
+because of his wonderful voice, and it seems that he has learned to
+play upon their native instruments."
+
+"And now where is he?" asked Higgs, as one who feared the answer.
+
+"He is, or was, a favourite slave among a barbarous, half-negroid
+people called the Fung, who dwell in the far interior of North Central
+Africa. After the fall of the Khalifa I followed him there; it took me
+several years. Some Bedouin were making an expedition to trade with
+these Fung, and I disguised myself as one of them.
+
+"On a certain night we camped at the foot of a valley outside a great
+wall which encloses the holy place where their idol is. I rode up to
+this wall and, through the open gateway, heard some one with a
+beautiful tenor voice singing in English. What he sang was a hymn that
+I had taught my son. It begins:
+
+ 'Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.'
+
+"I knew the voice again. I dismounted and slipped through the gateway,
+and presently came to an open space, where a young man sat singing
+upon a sort of raised bench with lamps on either side of him, and a
+large audience in front. I saw his face and, notwithstanding the
+turban which he wore and his Eastern robe--yes, and the passage of all
+those years--I knew it for that of my son. Some spirit of madness
+entered into me, and I called aloud, 'Roderick, Roderick!' and he
+started up, staring about him wildly. The audience started up also,
+and one of them caught sight of me lurking in the shadow.
+
+"With a howl of rage, for I had desecrated their sanctuary, they
+sprang at me. To save my life, coward that I was, I fled back through
+the gates. Yes, after all those years of seeking, still I fled rather
+than die, and though I was wounded with a spear and stones, managed to
+reach and spring upon my horse. Then, as I was headed off from our
+camp, I galloped away anywhere, still to save my miserable life from
+those savages, so strongly is the instinct of self-preservation
+implanted in us. From a distance I looked back and saw by the light of
+the fired tents that the Fung were attacking the Arabs with whom I had
+travelled, I suppose because they thought them parties to the
+sacrilege. Afterwards I heard that they killed them every one, poor
+men, but I escaped, who unwittingly had brought their fate upon them.
+
+"On and on I galloped up a steep road. I remember hearing lions
+roaring round me in the darkness. I remember one of them springing
+upon my horse and the poor beast's scream. Then I remember no more
+till I found myself--I believe it was a week or so later--lying on the
+verandah of a nice house, and being attended by some good-looking
+women of an Abyssinian cast of countenance."
+
+"Sounds rather like one of the lost tribes of Israel," remarked Higgs
+sarcastically, puffing at his big meerschaum.
+
+"Yes, something of that sort. The details I will give you later. The
+main facts are that these people who picked me up outside their gates
+are called Abati, live in a town called Mur, and allege themselves to
+be descended from a tribe of Abyssinian Jews who were driven out and
+migrated to this place four or five centuries ago. Briefly, they look
+something like Jews, practise a very debased form of the Jewish
+religion, are civilized and clever after a fashion, but in the last
+stage of decadence from interbreeding--about nine thousand men is
+their total fighting force, although three or four generations ago
+they had twenty thousand--and live in hourly terror of extermination
+by the surrounding Fung, who hold them in hereditary hate as the
+possessors of the wonderful mountain fortress that once belonged to
+their forefathers."
+
+"Gibraltar and Spain over again," suggested Orme.
+
+"Yes, with this difference--that the position is reversed, the Abati
+of this Central African Gibraltar are decaying, and the Fung, who
+answer to the Spaniards, are vigorous and increasing."
+
+"Well, what happened?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Nothing particular. I tried to persuade these Abati to organize an
+expedition to rescue my son, but they laughed in my face. By degrees I
+found out that there was only one person among them who was worth
+anything at all, and she happened to be their hereditary ruler who
+bore the high-sounding titles of Walda Nagasta, or Child of Kings, and
+Takla Warda, or Bud of the Rose, a very handsome and spirited young
+woman, whose personal name is Maqueda----"
+
+"One of the names of the first known Queens of Sheba," muttered Higgs;
+"the other was Belchis."
+
+"Under pretence of attending her medically," I went on, "for otherwise
+their wretched etiquette would scarcely have allowed me access to one
+so exalted, I talked things over with her. She told me that the idol
+of the Fung is fashioned like a huge sphinx, or so I gathered from her
+description of the thing, for I have never seen it."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Higgs, jumping up, "a sphinx in North Central
+Africa! Well, after all, why not? Some of the earlier Pharaohs are
+said to have had dealings with that part of the world, or even to have
+migrated from it. I think that the Makreezi repeats the legend. I
+suppose that it is ram-headed."
+
+"She told me also," I continued, "that they have a tradition, or
+rather a belief, which amounts to an article of faith, that if this
+sphinx or god, which, by the way, is lion, not ram-headed, and is
+called Harmac----"
+
+"Harmac!" interrupted Higgs again. "That is one of the names of the
+sphinx--Harmachis, god of dawn."
+
+"If this god," I repeated, "should be destroyed, the nation of the
+Fung, whose forefathers fashioned it as they say, must move away from
+that country across the great river which lies to the south. I have
+forgotten its name at the moment, but I think it must be a branch of
+the Nile.
+
+"I suggested to her that, in the circumstances, her people had better
+try to destroy the idol. Maqueda laughed and said it was impossible,
+since the thing was the size of a small mountain, adding that the
+Abati had long ago lost all courage and enterprise, and were content
+to sit in their fertile and mountain-ringed land, feeding themselves
+with tales of departed grandeur and struggling for rank and high-
+sounding titles, till the day of doom overtook them.
+
+"I inquired whether she were also content, and she replied, 'Certainly
+not'; but what could she do to regenerate her people, she who was
+nothing but a woman, and the last of an endless line of rulers?
+
+"'Rid me of the Fung,' she added passionately, 'and I will give you
+such a reward as you never dreamed. The old cave-city yonder is full
+of treasure that was buried with its ancient kings long before we came
+to Mur. To us it is useless, since we have none to trade with, but I
+have heard that the peoples of the outside world worship gold.'
+
+"'I do not want gold,' I answered; 'I want to rescue my son who is a
+prisoner yonder.'
+
+"'Then,' said the Child of Kings, 'you must begin by helping us to
+destroy the idol of the Fung. Are there no means by which this can be
+done?'
+
+"'There are means,' I replied, and I tried to explain to her the
+properties of dynamite and of other more powerful explosives.
+
+"'Go to your own land,' she exclaimed eagerly, 'and return with that
+stuff and two or three who can manage it, and I swear to them all the
+wealth of Mur. Thus only can you win my help to save your son.'"
+
+"Well, what was the end?" asked Captain Orme.
+
+"This: They gave me some gold and an escort with camels which were
+literally lowered down a secret path in the mountains so as to avoid
+the Fung, who ring them in and of whom they are terribly afraid. With
+these people I crossed the desert to Assouan in safety, a journey of
+many weeks, where I left them encamped about sixteen days ago, bidding
+them await my return. I arrived in England this morning, and as soon
+as I could ascertain that you still lived, and your address, from a
+book of reference called /Who's Who/, which they gave me in the hotel,
+I came on here."
+
+"Why did you come to me? What do you want me to do?" asked the
+Professor.
+
+"I came to you, Higgs, because I know how deeply you are interested in
+anything antiquarian, and because I wished to give you the first
+opportunity, not only of winning wealth, but also of becoming famous
+as the discoverer of the most wonderful relics of antiquity that are
+left in the world."
+
+"With a very good chance of getting my throat cut thrown in," grumbled
+Higgs.
+
+"As to what I want you to do," I went on, "I want you to find someone
+who understands explosives, and will undertake the business of blowing
+up the Fung idol."
+
+"Well, that's easy enough, anyhow," said the Professor, pointing to
+Captain Orme with the bowl of his pipe, and adding, "he is an engineer
+by education, a soldier and a very fair chemist; also he knows Arabic
+and was brought up in Egypt as a boy--just the man for the job if he
+will go."
+
+I reflected a moment, then, obeying some sort of instinct, looked up
+and asked:
+
+"Will you, Captain Orme, if terms can be arranged?"
+
+"Yesterday," he replied, colouring a little, "I should have answered,
+'Certainly not.' To-day I answer that I am prepared to consider the
+matter--that is, if Higgs will go too, and you can enlighten me on
+certain points. But I warn you that I am only an amateur in the three
+trades that the Professor has mentioned, though, it is true, one with
+some experience."
+
+"Would it be rude to inquire, Captain Orme, why twenty-four hours have
+made such a difference in your views and plans?"
+
+"Not rude, only awkward," he replied, colouring again, this time more
+deeply. "Still, as it is best to be frank, I will tell you. Yesterday
+I believed myself to be the inheritor of a very large fortune from an
+uncle whose fatal illness brought me back from South Africa before I
+meant to come, and as whose heir I have been brought up. To-day I have
+learned for the first time that he married secretly, last year, a
+woman much below him in rank, and has left a child, who, of course,
+will take all his property, as he died intestate. But that is not all.
+Yesterday I believed myself to be engaged to be married; to-day I am
+undeceived upon that point also. The lady," he added with some
+bitterness, "who was willing to marry Anthony Orme's heir is no longer
+willing to marry Oliver Orme, whose total possessions amount to under
+�10,000. Well, small blame to her or to her relations, whichever it
+may be, especially as I understand that she has a better alliance in
+view. Certainly her decision has simplified matters," and he rose and
+walked to the other end of the room.
+
+"Shocking business," whispered Higgs; "been infamously treated," and
+he proceeded to express his opinion of the lady concerned, of her
+relatives, and of the late Anthony Orme, shipowner, in language that,
+if printed, would render this history unfit for family reading. The
+outspokenness of Professor Higgs is well known in the antiquarian
+world, so there is no need for me to enlarge upon it.
+
+"What I do not exactly understand, Adams," he added in a loud voice,
+seeing that Orme had turned again, "and what I think we should both
+like to know, is /your/ exact object in making these proposals."
+
+"I am afraid I have explained myself badly. I thought I had made it
+clear that I have only one object--to attempt the rescue of my son, if
+he still lives, as I believe he does. Higgs, put yourself in my
+position. Imagine yourself with nothing and no one left to care for
+except a single child, and that child stolen away from you by savages.
+Imagine yourself, after years of search, hearing his very voice,
+seeing his very face, adult now, but the same, the thing you had
+dreamed of and desired for years; that for which you would have given
+a thousand lives if you could have had time to think. And then the
+rush of the howling, fantastic mob, the breakdown of courage, of love,
+of everything that is noble under the pressure of prim�val instinct,
+which has but one song--Save your life. Lastly, imagine this coward
+saved, dwelling within a few miles of the son whom he had deserted,
+and yet utterly unable to rescue or even to communicate with him
+because of the poltroonery of those among whom he had refuged."
+
+"Well," grunted Higgs, "I have imagined all that high-faluting lot.
+What of it? If you mean that you are to blame, I don't agree with you.
+You wouldn't have helped your son by getting your own throat cut, and
+perhaps his also."
+
+"I don't know," I answered. "I have brooded over the thing so long
+that it seems to me that I have disgraced myself. Well, there came a
+chance, and I took it. This lady, Walda Nagasta, or Maqueda, who, I
+think, had also brooded over things, made me an offer--I fancy without
+the knowledge or consent of her Council. 'Help me,' she said, 'and I
+will help you. Save my people, and I will try to save your son. I can
+pay for your services and those of any whom you may bring with you.'
+
+"I answered that it was hopeless, as no one would believe the tale,
+whereon she drew from her finger the throne-ring or State signet which
+you have in your pocket, Higgs, saying: 'My mothers have worn this
+since the days of Maqueda, Queen of Sheba. If there are learned men
+among your people they will read her name upon it and know that I
+speak no lie. Take it as a token, and take also enough of our gold to
+buy the stuffs whereof you speak, which hide fires that can throw
+mountains skyward, and the services of skilled and trusty men who are
+masters of the stuff, two or three of them only, for more cannot be
+transported across the desert, and come back to save your son and me.'
+That's all the story, Higgs. Will you take the business on, or shall I
+try elsewhere? You must make up your mind, because I have no time to
+lose, if I am to get into Mur again before the rains."
+
+"Got any of that gold you spoke of about you?" asked the Professor.
+
+I drew a skin bag from the pocket of my coat, and poured some out upon
+the table, which he examined carefully.
+
+"Ring money," he said presently, "might be Anglo-Saxon, might be
+anything; date absolutely uncertain, but from its appearance I should
+say slightly alloyed with silver; yes, there is a bit which has
+oxydized--undoubtedly old, that."
+
+Then he produced the signet from his pocket, and examined the ring and
+the stone very carefully through a powerful glass.
+
+"Seems all right," he said, "and although I have been greened in my
+time, I don't make many mistakes nowadays. What do you say, Adams?
+Must have it back? A sacred trust! Only lent to you! All right, take
+it by all means. /I/ don't want the thing. Well, it is a risky job,
+and if any one else had proposed it to me, I'd have told him to go to
+--Mur. But, Adams, my boy, you saved my life once, and never sent in a
+bill, because I was hard up, and I haven't forgotten that. Also things
+are pretty hot for me here just now over a certain controversy of
+which I suppose you haven't heard in Central Africa. I think I'll go.
+What do you say, Oliver?"
+
+"Oh!" said Captain Orme, waking up from a reverie, "if you are
+satisfied, I am. It doesn't matter to me where I go."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE ADVICE OF SERGEANT QUICK
+
+At this moment a fearful hubbub arose without. The front door slammed,
+a cab drove off furiously, a policeman's whistle blew, heavy feet were
+heard trampling; then came an invocation of "In the King's name,"
+answered by "Yes, and the Queen's, and the rest of the Royal Family's,
+and if you want it, take it, you chuckle-headed, flat-footed, pot-
+bellied Peelers."
+
+Then followed tumult indescribable as of heavy men and things rolling
+down the stairs, with cries of fear and indignation.
+
+"What the dickens is that?" asked Higgs.
+
+"The voice sounded like that of Samuel--I mean Sergeant Quick,"
+answered Captain Orme with evident alarm; "what can he be after? Oh, I
+know, it is something to do with that infernal mummy you unwrapped
+this afternoon, and asked him to bring round after dinner."
+
+Just then the door burst open, and a tall, soldier-like form stalked
+in, carrying in his arms a corpse wrapped in a sheet, which he laid
+upon the table among the wine glasses.
+
+"I'm sorry, Captain," he said, addressing Orme, "but I've lost the
+head of the departed. I think it is at the bottom of the stairs with
+the police. Had nothing else to defend myself with, sir, against their
+unwarranted attacks, so brought the body to the present and charged,
+thinking it very stiff and strong, but regret to say neck snapped, and
+that deceased's head is now under arrest."
+
+As Sergeant Quick finished speaking, the door opened again, and
+through it appeared two very flurried and dishevelled policemen, one
+of whom held, as far as possible from his person, the grizzly head of
+a mummy by the long hair which still adhered to the skull.
+
+"What do you mean by breaking into my rooms like this? Where's your
+warrant?" asked the indignant Higgs in his high voice.
+
+"There!" answered the first policeman, pointing to the sheet-wrapped
+form on the table.
+
+"And here!" added the second, holding up the awful head. "As in duty
+bound, we ask explanation from that man of the secret conveyance of a
+corpse through the open streets, whereon he assaults us with the same,
+for which assault, pending investigation of the corpse, I arrest him.
+Now, Guv'nor" (addressing Sergeant Quick), "will you come along with
+us quietly, or must we take you?"
+
+The Sergeant, who seemed to be inarticulate with wrath, made a dash
+for the shrouded object on the table, with the intention, apparently,
+of once more using it as a weapon of offence, and the policemen drew
+their batons.
+
+"Stop," said Orme, thrusting himself between the combatants, "are you
+all mad? Do you know that this woman died about four thousand years
+ago?"
+
+"Oh, Lord!" said the policeman who held the head, addressing his
+companion, "it must be one of them mummies what they dig up in the
+British Museum. Seems pretty ancient and spicy, don't it?" and he
+sniffed at the head, then set it down upon the table.
+
+Explanations followed, and after the wounded dignity of the two
+officers of the Force had been soothed with sundry glasses of port
+wine and a written list of the names of all concerned, including that
+of the mummy, they departed.
+
+"You take my advice, bobbies," I heard the indignant Sergeant declaim
+outside the door, "and don't you believe things is always what they
+seem. A party ain't necessarily drunk because he rolls about and falls
+down in the street; he may be mad, or 'ungry, or epileptic, and a body
+ain't always a body jest because it's dead and cold and stiff. Why,
+men, as you've seen, it may be a mummy, which is quite a different
+thing. If I was to put on that blue coat of yours, would that make me
+a policeman? Good heavens! I should hope not, for the sake of the Army
+to which I still belong, being in the Reserve. What you bobbies need
+is to study human nature and cultivate observation, which will learn
+you the difference between a new-laid corpse and a mummy, and many
+other things. Now you lay my words to heart, and you'll both of you
+rise to superintendents, instead of running in daily 'drunks' until
+you retire on a pension. Good-night."
+
+Peace having been restored, and the headless mummy removed into the
+Professor's bedroom, since Captain Orme declared that he could not
+talk business in the presence of a body, however ancient, we resumed
+our discussion. First of all, at Higgs's suggestion I drew up a brief
+memorandum of agreement which set out the objects of the expedition,
+and provided for the equal division amongst us of any profit that
+might accrue; in the event of the death of one or more of us, the
+survivors or survivor to take their or his share.
+
+To this arrangement personally I objected, who desired neither
+treasure nor antiquities, but only the rescue of my son. The others
+pointed out, however, that, like most people, I might in future want
+something to live on, or that if I did not, in the event of his
+escape, my boy certainly would; so in the end I gave way.
+
+Then Captain Orme very sensibly asked for a definition of our
+respective duties, and it was settled that I was to be guide to the
+expedition; Higgs, antiquarian, interpreter, and, on account of his
+vast knowledge, general referee; and Captain Orme, engineer and
+military commander, with the proviso that, in the event of a
+difference of opinion, the dissentient was to loyally accept the
+decision of the majority.
+
+This curious document having been copied out fair, I signed and passed
+it to the Professor, who hesitated a little, but, after refreshing
+himself with a further minute examination of Sheba's ring, signed
+also, remarking that he was an infernal fool for his pains, and pushed
+the paper across the table to Orme.
+
+"Stop a minute," said the Captain; "I forgot something. I should like
+my old servant, Sergeant Quick, to accompany us. He's a very handy man
+at a pinch, especially if, as I understand, we are expected to deal
+with explosives with which he has had a lot to do in the Engineers and
+elsewhere. If you agree I will call him, and ask if he will go. I
+expect he's somewhere round."
+
+I nodded, judging from the episode of the mummy and the policeman that
+the Sergeant was likely to be a useful man. As I was sitting next to
+it, I opened the door for the Captain, whereon the erect shape of
+Sergeant Quick, who had clearly been leaning against it, literally
+fell into the room, reminding me much of an overset wooden soldier.
+
+"Hullo!" said Orme as, without the slightest change of countenance,
+his retainer recovered himself and stood to attention. "What the deuce
+are you doing there?"
+
+"Sentry go, Captain. Thought the police might change their minds and
+come back. Any orders, Captain?"
+
+"Yes. I am going to North Central Africa. When can you be ready to
+start?"
+
+"The Brindisi mail leaves to-morrow night, Captain, if you travel by
+Egypt, but if you go by Tunis, 7.15 a.m. Saturday is the time from
+Charing Cross. Only, as I understand that high explosives and arms
+have to be provided, these might take awhile to lay in and pack so as
+to deceive customs."
+
+"You understand!" said Orme. "Pray, how do you understand?"
+
+"Doors in these old houses are apt to get away from their frames,
+Captain, and the gentleman there"--and he pointed to the Professor--
+"has a voice that carries like a dog-whistle. Oh, no offence, sir. A
+clear voice is an excellent thing--that is, if the doors fit"--and
+although Sergeant Quick's wooden face did not move, I saw his humorous
+grey eyes twinkle beneath the bushy eyebrows.
+
+We burst out laughing, including Higgs.
+
+"So you are willing to go?" said Orme. "But I hope you clearly
+understand that this is a risky business, and that you may not come
+back?"
+
+"Spion Kop was a bit risky, Captain, and so was that business in the
+donga, where every one was hit except you and me and the sailor man,
+but we came back, for all that. Begging your pardon, Captain, there
+ain't no such thing as risk. Man comes here when he must, and dies
+when he must, and what he does between don't make a ha'porth of
+difference."
+
+"Hear, hear," I said; "we are much of the same way of thinking."
+
+"There have been several who held those views, sir, since old Solomon
+gave the lady that"--and he pointed to Sheba's ring, which was lying
+on the table. "But excuse me, Captain; how about local allowances? Not
+having been a marrying man myself, I've none dependent upon me, but,
+as you know, I've sisters that have, and a soldier's pension goes with
+him. Don't think me greedy, Captain," he added hastily, "but, as you
+gentlemen understand, black and white at the beginning saves bother at
+the end"--and he pointed to the agreement.
+
+"Quite right. What do you want, Sergeant?" asked Orme.
+
+"Nothing beyond my pay, if we get nothing, Captain, but if we get
+something, would five per cent. be too much?"
+
+"It might be ten," I suggested. "Sergeant Quick has a life to lose
+like the rest of us."
+
+"Thank you kindly, sir," he answered; "but that, in my opinion, would
+be too much. Five per cent. was what I suggested."
+
+So it was written down that Sergeant Samuel Quick was to receive five
+per cent. of the total profits, if any, provided that he behaved
+himself and obeyed orders. Then he also signed the agreement, and was
+furnished with a glass of whisky and water to drink to its good
+health.
+
+"Now, gentlemen," he said, declining the chair which Higgs offered to
+him, apparently because, from long custom, he preferred his wooden-
+soldier attitude against the wall, "as a humble five-per-cent. private
+in this very adventurous company I'll ask permission to say a word."
+
+Permission was given accordingly, and the Sergeant proceeded to
+inquire what weight of rock it was wished to remove.
+
+I told him that I did not know, as I had never seen the Fung idol, but
+I understood that its size was enormous, probably as large as St.
+Paul's Cathedral.
+
+"Which, if solid, would take some stirring," remarked the Sergeant.
+"Dynamite might do it, but it is too bulky to be carried across the
+desert on camels in that quantity. Captain, how about them picrates?
+You remember those new Boer shells that blew a lot of us to kingdom
+come, and poisoned the rest?"
+
+"Yes," answered Orme; "I remember; but now they have stronger stuffs--
+azo-imides, I think they call them--terrific new compounds of
+nitrogen. We will inquire to-morrow, Sergeant."
+
+"Yes, Captain," he answered; "but the point is, who'll pay? You can't
+buy hell-fire in bulk for nothing. I calculate that, allowing for the
+purchase of the explosives and, say, fifty military rifles with
+ammunition and all other necessaries, not including camels, the outfit
+of this expedition can't come to less than �1,500."
+
+"I think I have that amount in gold," I answered, "of which the lady
+of the Abati gave me as much as I could carry in comfort."
+
+"If not," said Orme, "although I am a poor man now, I could find �500
+or so in a pinch. So don't let us bother about the money. The question
+is--Are we all agreed that we will undertake this expedition and see
+it through to the end, whatever that may be?"
+
+We answered that we were.
+
+"Then has anybody anything more to say?"
+
+"Yes," I replied; "I forgot to tell you that if we should ever get to
+Mur, none of you must make love to the Walda Nagasta. She is a kind of
+holy person, who can only marry into her own family, and to do so
+might mean that our throats would be cut."
+
+"Do you hear that, Oliver?" said the Professor. "I suppose that the
+Doctor's warning is meant for you, as the rest of us are rather past
+that kind of thing."
+
+"Indeed," replied the Captain, colouring again after his fashion.
+"Well, to tell you the truth, I feel a bit past it myself, and, so far
+as I am concerned, I don't think we need take the fascinations of this
+black lady into account."
+
+"Don't brag, Captain. Please don't brag," said Sergeant Quick in a
+hollow whisper. "Woman is just the one thing about which you can never
+be sure. To-day she's poison, and to-morrow honey--God and the climate
+alone know why. Please don't brag, or we may live to see you crawling
+after this one on your knees, with the gent in the specs behind, and
+Samuel Quick, who hates the whole tribe of them, bringing up the rear.
+Tempt Providence, if you like, Captain, but don't tempt woman, lest
+she should turn round and tempt you, as she has done before to-day."
+
+"Will you be so good as to stop talking nonsense and call a cab," said
+Captain Orme coldly. But Higgs began to laugh in his rude fashion, and
+I, remembering the appearance of "Bud of the Rose" when she lifted her
+veil of ceremony, and the soft earnestness of her voice, fell into
+reflection. "Black lady" indeed! What, I wondered, would this young
+gentleman think if ever he should live to set his eyes upon her sweet
+and comely face?
+
+It seemed to me that Sergeant Quick was not so foolish as his master
+chose to imagine. Captain Orme undoubtedly was in every way qualified
+to be a partner in our venture; still, I could have wished either that
+he had been an older man, or that the lady to whom he was recently
+affianced had not chosen this occasion to break her engagement. In
+dealing with difficult and dangerous combinations, my experience has
+been that it is always well to eliminate the possibility of a love
+affair, especially in the East.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE PROFESSOR GOES OUT SHOOTING
+
+Of all our tremendous journey across the desert until we had passed
+the forest and reached the plains which surrounded the mountains of
+Mur, there are, I think, but few incidents with which the reader need
+be troubled. The first of these was at Assouan, where a letter and
+various telegrams overtook Captain Orme, which, as by this time we had
+become intimate, he showed to me. They informed him that the
+clandestine infant whom his uncle left behind him had suddenly
+sickened and died of some childish ailment, so that he was once again
+heir to the large property which he thought he had lost, since the
+widow only took a life interest in some of the personalty. I
+congratulated him and said I supposed this meant that we should not
+have the pleasure of his company to Mur.
+
+"Why not?" he asked. "I said I was going and I mean to go; indeed, I
+signed a document to that effect."
+
+"I daresay," I answered, "but circumstances alter cases. If I might
+say so, an adventure that perhaps was good enough for a young and
+well-born man of spirit and enterprise without any particular
+resources, is no longer good enough for one who has the ball at his
+feet. Think what a ball it is to a man of your birth, intelligence,
+record, and now, great fortune come to you in youth. Why, with these
+advantages there is absolutely nothing that you cannot do in England.
+You can go into Parliament and rule the country; if you like you can
+become a peer. You can marry any one who isn't of the blood royal; in
+short, with uncommonly little effort of your own, your career is made
+for you. Don't throw away a silver spoon like that in order, perhaps,
+to die of thirst in the desert or be killed in a fight among unknown
+tribes."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," he answered. "I never set heart much on spoons,
+silver or other. When I lost this one I didn't cry, and now that I
+have found it again I shan't sing. Anyway, I am going on with you, and
+you can't prevent me under the agreement. Only as I have got such a
+lot to leave, I suppose I had better make a will first and post it
+home, which is a bore."
+
+Just then the Professor came in, followed by an Arab thief of a
+dealer, with whom he was trying to bargain for some object of
+antiquity. When the dealer had been ejected and the position explained
+to him, Higgs, who whatever may be his failings in small matters, is
+unselfish enough in big ones, said that he agreed with me and thought
+that under the circumstances, in his own interest, Orme ought to leave
+us and return home.
+
+"You may save your breath, old fellow," answered the Captain, "for
+this reason if for no other," and he threw him a letter across the
+table, which letter I saw afterwards. To be brief, it was from the
+young lady to whom he had been engaged to be married, and who on his
+loss of fortune had jilted him. Now she seemed to have changed her
+mind again, and, although she did not mention the matter, it is
+perhaps not uncharitable to suppose that the news of the death of the
+inconvenient child had something to do with her decision.
+
+"Have you answered this?" asked Higgs.
+
+"No," answered Orme, setting his mouth. "I have not answered, and I am
+not going to answer it, either in writing or in person. I intend to
+start to-morrow for Mur and to travel as far on that road as it
+pleases fate to allow, and now I am going to look at the rock
+sculptures by the cataract."
+
+"Well, that's flat," said Higgs after he had departed, "and for my
+part I am glad of it, for somehow I think he will be a useful man
+among those Fung. Also, if he went I expect that the Sergeant would go
+too, and where should we be without Quick, I should like to know?"
+
+Afterwards I conversed with the said Quick about this same matter,
+repeating to him my opinions, to which the Sergeant listened with the
+deference which he was always kind enough to show to me.
+
+"Begging your pardon, sir," he said, when I had finished, "but I think
+you are both right and wrong. Everything has two ends, hasn't it? You
+say that it would be wicked for the Captain to get himself killed,
+there being now so much money for him to live for, seeing that life is
+common as dirt while money is precious, rare and hard to come by. It
+ain't the kings we admire, it's their crowns; it ain't the
+millionaires, it's their millions; but, after all, the millionaires
+don't take their millions with them, for Providence, that, like
+Nature, hates waste, knows that if they did they'd melt, so one man
+dead gives another bread, as the saying goes, or p'raps I should say
+gingerbread in such cases.
+
+"Still, on the whole, sir, I admit you are right as to the sinfulness
+of wasting luck. But now comes the other end. I know this young lady
+what the Captain was engaged to, which he never would have been if he
+had taken my advice, since of all the fish-blooded little serpents
+that ever I set eyes on she's the serpentest, though pretty, I allow.
+Solomon said in his haste that an honest woman he had not found, but
+if he had met the Honourable Miss--well, never mind her name--he'd
+have said it at his leisure, and gone on saying it. Now, no one should
+never take back a servant what has given notice and then says he's
+sorry, for if he does the sorrow will be on the other side before it's
+all done; and much less should he take back a /fianc�e/ (Quick said a
+'finance'), on the whole, he'd better drown himself--I tried it once,
+and I know. So that's the tail of the business.
+
+"But," he went on, "it has a couple of fins as well, like that eel
+beast I caught in the Nile. One of them is that the Captain promised
+and vowed to go through with this expedition, and if a man's got to
+die, he'd better die honest without breaking his word. And the other
+is what I said to you in London when I signed on, that he won't die a
+minute before his time, and nothing won't happen to him, but what's
+bound to happen, and therefore it ain't a ha'porth of use bothering
+about anything, and that's where the East's well ahead of the West.
+
+"And now, sir, I'll go and look after the camels and those half-bred
+Jew boys what you call Abati, but I call rotten sneaks, for if they
+get their thieving fingers into those canisters of picric salts,
+thinking they're jam, as I found them trying to do yesterday,
+something may happen in Egypt that'll make the Pharaohs turn in their
+graves and the Ten Plagues look silly."
+
+So, having finished his oration, Quick went, and in due course we
+started for Mur.
+
+The second incident that is perhaps worth recording was an adventure
+that happened to us when we had completed about two of our four
+months' journey.
+
+After weeks of weary desert travel--if I remember right, it was
+exactly a fortnight after the dog Pharaoh, of which I shall soon have
+plenty to say, had come into Orme's possession--we reached an oasis
+called Zeu, where I had halted upon my road down to Egypt. In this
+oasis, which, although not large in extent, possesses springs of
+beautiful water and groves of date-trees, we were, as it chanced, very
+welcome, since when I was there before, I had been fortunate enough to
+cure its sheik of an attack of ophthalmia and to doctor several of his
+people for various ailments with good results. So, although I was
+burning to get forward, I agreed with the others that it would be wise
+to accede to the request of the leader of our caravan, a clever and
+resourceful, but to my mind untrustworthy Abati of the name of
+Shadrach, and camp in Zeu for a week or so to rest and feed our
+camels, which had wasted almost to nothing on the scant herbage of the
+desert.
+
+This Shadrach, I may add here, whom his companions, for some reason
+unknown to me at that time, called the Cat, was remarkable for a
+triple line of scars upon his face, which, he informed me, had been
+set there by the claws of a lion. Now the great enemies of this people
+of Zeu were lions, which at certain seasons of the year, I suppose
+when food grew scarce, descended from the slopes of a range of hills
+that stretched east and west at a distance of about fifty miles north
+of the oasis, and, crossing the intervening desert, killed many of the
+Zeu sheep, camels, and other cattle, and often enough any of the tribe
+whom they could catch. As these poor Zeus practically possessed no
+firearms, they were at the mercy of the lions, which grew
+correspondingly bold. Indeed, their only resource was to kraal their
+animals within stone walls at night and take refuge in their huts,
+which they seldom left between sunset and dawn, except to replenish
+the fires that they lit to scare any beast of prey which might be
+prowling through the town.
+
+Though the lion season was now in full swing, as it happened, for the
+first five days of our stay at Zeu we saw none of these great cats,
+although in the darkness we heard them roaring in the distance. On the
+sixth night, however, we were awakened by a sound of wailing, which
+came from the village about a quarter of a mile away, and when we went
+out at dawn to see what was the matter, were met by a melancholy
+procession advancing from its walls. At the head of it marched the
+grey-haired old chief, followed by a number of screaming women, who in
+their excitement, or perhaps as a sign of mourning, had omitted to
+make their toilette, and by four men, who carried something horrid on
+a wickerwork door.
+
+Soon we learned what had happened. It seemed that hungry lions, two or
+three of them, had broken through the palm-leaf roof of the hut of one
+of the sheik's wives, she whose remains were stretched upon the door,
+and, in addition to killing her, had actually carried off his son. Now
+he came to implore us white men who had guns to revenge him on the
+lions, which otherwise, having once tasted human flesh, would destroy
+many more of his people.
+
+Through an interpreter who knew Arabic, for not even Higgs could
+understand the peculiar Zeu dialect, he explained in excited and
+incoherent words that the beasts lay up among the sand-hills not very
+far away, where some thick reeds grew around a little spring of water.
+Would we not come out and kill them and earn the blessing of the Zeus?
+
+Now I said nothing, for the simple reason that, having such big
+matters on hand, although I was always fond of sport, I did not wish
+any of us to be led off after these lions. There is a time to hunt and
+a time to cease from hunting, and it seemed to me, except for the
+purposes of food, that this journey of ours was the latter. However,
+as I expected, Oliver Orme literally leaped at the idea. So did Higgs,
+who of late had been practising with a rifle and began to fancy
+himself a shot. He exclaimed loudly that nothing would give him
+greater pleasure, especially as he was sure that lions were in fact
+cowardly and overrated beasts.
+
+From that moment I foreboded disaster in my heart. Still, I said I
+would come too, partly because I had not shot a lion for many a day
+and had a score to settle with those beasts which, it may be
+remembered, nearly killed me on the Mountain of Mur, and partly
+because, knowing the desert and also the Zeu people much better than
+either the Professor or Orme, I thought that I might possibly be of
+service.
+
+So we fetched our rifles and cartridges, to which by an afterthought
+we added two large water-bottles, and ate a hearty breakfast. As we
+were preparing to start, Shadrach, the leader of the Abati camel-
+drivers, that man with the scarred face who was nicknamed the Cat,
+came up to me and asked me whither we were going. I told him, whereon
+he said:
+
+"What have you to do with these savages and their troubles, lords? If
+a few of them are killed it is no matter, but as you should know, O
+Doctor, if you wish to hunt lions there are plenty in that land
+whither you travel, seeing that the lion is the fetish of the Fung and
+therefore never killed. But the desert about Zeu is dangerous and harm
+may come to you."
+
+"Then accompany us," broke in the Professor, between whom and Shadrach
+there was no love lost, 'for, of course, with you we should be quite
+safe."
+
+"Not so," he replied, "I and my people rest; only madmen would go to
+hunt worthless wild beasts when they might rest. Have we not enough of
+the desert and its dangers as it is? If you knew all that I do of
+lions you would leave them alone."
+
+"Of the desert we have plenty also, but of shooting very little,"
+remarked the Captain, who talked Arabic well. "Lie in your beds; we go
+to kill the beasts that harass the poor people who have treated us so
+kindly."
+
+"So be it," said Shadrach with a smile that struck me as malicious. "A
+lion made this"--pointing to the dreadful threefold scar upon his
+face. "May the God of Israel protect you from lions. Remember, lords,
+that, the camels being fresh again, we march the day after to-morrow,
+should the weather hold, for if the wind blows on yonder sand-hills,
+no man may live among them;" and, putting up his hand, he studied the
+sky carefully from beneath its shadow, then, with a grunt, turned and
+vanished behind a hut.
+
+All this while Sergeant Quick was engaged at a little distance in
+washing up the tin breakfast things, to all appearance quite
+unconscious of what was going on. Orme called him, whereupon he
+advanced and stood to attention. I remember thinking how curious he
+looked in those surroundings--his tall, bony frame clothed in semi-
+military garments, his wooden face perfectly shaved, his iron-grey
+hair neatly parted and plastered down upon his head with pomade or
+some equivalent after the old private soldier fashion, and his sharp
+ferret-like grey eyes taking in everything.
+
+"Are you coming with us, Sergeant?" asked Orme.
+
+"Not unless ordered so to do, Captain. I like a bit of hunting well
+enough, but, with all three officers away, some one should mount guard
+over the stores and transport, so I think the dog Pharaoh and I had
+best stop behind."
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Sergeant, only tie Pharaoh up, or he'll follow
+me. Well, what do you want to say? Out with it."
+
+"Only this, Captain. Although I have served in three campaigns among
+these here Arabians (to Quick, all African natives north of the
+Equator were Arabians, and all south of it, niggers), I can't say I
+talk their lingo well. Still, I made out that the fellow they call Cat
+don't like this trip of yours, and, begging your pardon, Captain,
+whatever else Cat may be, he ain't no fool."
+
+"Can't help it, Sergeant. For one thing, it would never do to give in
+to his fancies now."
+
+"That's true, Captain. When once it's hoist, right or wrong, keep the
+flag flying, and no doubt you'll come back safe and sound if you're
+meant to."
+
+Then, having relieved his mind, the Sergeant ran his eye over our
+equipment to see that nothing had been forgotten, rapidly assured
+himself that the rifles were in working order, reported all well, and
+returned to his dishes. Little did any of us guess under what
+circumstances we should next meet with him.
+
+After leaving the town and marching for a mile or so along the oasis,
+accompanied by a mob of the Zeus armed with spears and bows, we were
+led by the bereaved chief, who also acted as tracker, out into the
+surrounding sands. The desert here, although I remembered it well
+enough, was different from any that we had yet encountered upon this
+journey, being composed of huge and abrupt sand-hills, some of which
+were quite three hundred feet high, separated from each other by deep,
+wind-cut valleys.
+
+For a distance, while they were within reach of the moist air of the
+oasis, these sand-mountains produced vegetation of various sorts.
+Presently, however, we passed out into the wilderness proper, and for
+a while climbed up and down the steep, shifting slopes, till from the
+crest of one of them the chief pointed out what in South Africa is
+called a pan, or /vlei/, covered with green reeds, and explained by
+signs that in these lay the lions. Descending a steep declivity, we
+posted ourselves, I at the top, and Higgs and Orme a little way down
+either side of this /vlei/. This done, we dispatched the Zeus to beat
+it out towards us, for although the reeds grew thick along the course
+of the underground water, it was but a narrow place, and not more than
+a quarter of a mile in length.
+
+Scarcely had the beaters entered the tall reeds, evidently with
+trepidation, for a good many of them held back from the adventure,
+when a sound of loud wailing informed us that something had happened.
+A minute or two later we saw two of them bearing away what appeared to
+be the mangled remains of the chief's son who had been carried off on
+the previous night.
+
+Just then, too, we saw something else, for half-way down the marsh a
+great male lion broke cover, and began to steal off toward the sand-
+hills. It was about two hundred yards from Higgs, who chanced to be
+nearest to it, and, therefore, as any big-game hunter will know, for
+practical purposes, far out of shot. But the Professor, who was quite
+unaccustomed to this, or, indeed, any kind of sport, and, like all
+beginners, wildly anxious for blood, lifted his rifle and fired, as he
+might have done at a rabbit. By some marvellous accident the aim was
+good, and the bullet from the express, striking the lion fair behind
+the shoulder, passed through its heart, and knocked it over dead as a
+stone.
+
+"By Jingo! Did you see that?" screamed Higgs in his delight. Then,
+without even stopping to reload the empty barrel, he set off at the
+top of his speed toward the prostrate beast, followed by myself and by
+Orme, as fast as our astonishment would allow.
+
+Running along the edge of the marsh, Higgs had covered about a hundred
+yards of the distance, when suddenly, charging straight at him out of
+the tall reeds, appeared a second lion, or rather lioness. Higgs
+wheeled round, and wildly fired the left barrel of his rifle without
+touching the infuriated brute. Next instant, to our horror, we saw him
+upon his back, with the lioness standing over him, lashing her tail,
+and growling.
+
+We shouted as we ran, and so did the Zeus, although they made no
+attempt at rescue, with the result that the lioness, instead of
+tearing Higgs to pieces, turned her head confusedly first to one side
+and then to the other. By now I, who had a long start of Orme, was
+quite close, say within thirty yards, though fire I dared not as yet,
+fearing lest, should I do so, I might kill my friend. At this moment
+the lioness, recovering her nerves, squatted down on the prostrate
+Higgs, and though he hit at her with his fists, dropped her muzzle,
+evidently with the intention of biting him through the head.
+
+Now I felt that if I hesitated any more, all would be finished. The
+lioness was much longer than Higgs--a short, stout man--and her hind
+quarters projected beyond his feet. At these I aimed rapidly, and,
+pressing the trigger, next second heard the bullet clap upon the great
+beast's hide. Up she sprang with a roar, one hind leg dangling, and
+after a moment's hesitation, fled toward the sand-hill.
+
+Now Orme, who was behind me, fired also, knocking up the dust beneath
+the lioness's belly, but although he had more cartridges in his rifle,
+which was a repeater, before either he or I could get another chance,
+it vanished behind a mound. Leaving it to go where it would, we ran on
+towards Higgs, expecting to find him either dead or badly mauled, but,
+to our amazement and delight, up jumped the Professor, his blue
+spectacles still on his nose, and, loading his rifle as he went,
+charged away after the wounded lioness.
+
+"Come back," shouted the Captain as he followed.
+
+"Not for Joe!" yelled Higgs in his high voice. "If you fellows think
+that I'm going to let a great cat sit on my stomach for nothing, you
+are jolly well mistaken."
+
+At the top of the first rise the long-legged Orme caught him, but
+persuade him to return was more than he, or I when I arrived, could
+do. Beyond a scratch on his nose, which had stung him and covered him
+with blood, we found that he was quite uninjured, except in temper and
+dignity. But in vain did we beg him to be content with his luck and
+the honours he had won.
+
+"Why?" he answered, "Adams wounded the beast, and I'd rather kill two
+lions than one; also I have a score to square. But if you fellows are
+afraid, you go home."
+
+Well, I confess I felt inclined to accept the invitation, but Orme,
+who was nettled, replied:
+
+"Come, come; that settles the question, doesn't it? You must be shaken
+by your fall, or you would not talk like that, Higgs. Look, here runs
+the spoor--see the blood? Well, let's go steady and keep our wind. We
+may come on her anywhere, but don't you try any more long distance
+shots. You won't kill another lion at two hundred and fifty yards."
+
+"All right," said Higgs, "don't be offended. I didn't mean anything,
+except that I am going to teach that beast the difference between a
+white man and a Zeu."
+
+Then we began our march, following the blood tracks up and down the
+steep sand-slopes. When we had been at it for about half-an-hour our
+spirits were cheered by catching sight of the lioness on a ridge five
+hundred yards away. Just then, too, some of the Zeus overtook us and
+joined the hunt, though without zeal.
+
+Meanwhile, as the day grew, the heat increased until it was so intense
+that the hot air danced above the sand slopes like billions of midges,
+and this although the sun was not visible, being hidden by a sort of
+mist. A strange silence, unusual even in the desert, pervaded the
+earth and sky; we could hear the grains of sand trickling from the
+ridges. The Zeus, who accompanied us, grew uneasy, and pointed upward
+with their spears, then behind toward the oasis of which we had long
+lost sight. Finally, when we were not looking, they disappeared.
+
+Now I would have followed them, guessing that they had some good
+reason for this sudden departure. But Higgs refused to come, and Orme,
+in whom his foolish taunt seemed still to rankle, only shrugged his
+shoulders and said nothing.
+
+"Let the black curs go," exclaimed the Professor as he polished his
+blue spectacles and mopped his face. "They are a white-livered lot of
+sneaks. Look! There she is, creeping off to the left. If we run round
+that sand-hill we shall meet her."
+
+So we ran round the sand-hill, but we did not meet her, although after
+long hunting we struck the blood spoor afresh, and followed it for
+several miles, first in this direction, and then in that, until Orme
+and I wondered at Higgs's obstinacy and endurance. At length, when
+even he was beginning to despair, we put up the lioness in a hollow,
+and fired several shots at her as she hobbled over the opposing slope,
+one of which hit her, for she rolled over, then picked herself up
+again, roaring. As a matter of fact, it came from the Captain's rifle,
+but Higgs, who, like many an inexperienced person was a jealous
+sportsman, declared that it was his and we did not think it worth
+while to contradict him.
+
+On we toiled, and, just beyond the ridge, walked straight into the
+lioness, sitting up like a great dog, so injured that she could do
+nothing but snarl hideously and paw at the air.
+
+"Now it is my turn, old lady," ejaculated Higgs, and straightway
+missed her clean from a distance of five yards. A second shot was more
+successful, and she rolled over, dead.
+
+"Come on," said the exultant Professor, "and we'll skin her. She sat
+on me, and I mean to sit on her for many a day."
+
+So we began the job, although I, who had large experience of this
+desert, and did not like the appearance of the weather, wished to
+leave the beast where it lay and get back to the oasis. It proved
+long, for I was the only one of us who had any practical knowledge of
+flaying animals, and in that heat extremely unpleasant.
+
+At length it was done, and, having doubled the hide over a rifle for
+two of us to carry in turns, we refreshed ourselves from the water-
+bottles (I even caught the Professor washing the blood off his face
+and hands with some of the precious fluid). Then we started for the
+oasis, only to discover, though we were all sure that we knew the way,
+that not one of us had a slightest idea of its real direction. In the
+hurry of our departure we had forgotten to bring a compass, and the
+sun, that would have been our guide in ordinary circumstances, and to
+which we always trusted in the open desert, was hidden by the curious
+haze that has been described.
+
+So, sensibly enough, we determined to return to the sand crest where
+we had killed the lioness, and then trace our own footprints backward.
+This seemed simple enough, for there, within half-a-mile, rose the
+identical ridge.
+
+We reached it, grumbling, for the lion-skin was heavy, only to
+discover that it was a totally different ridge. Now, after reflection
+and argument, we saw our exact mistake, and made for what was
+obviously the real ridge--with the same result.
+
+We were lost in the desert!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE DEATH WIND
+
+"The fact is," said Higgs presently, speaking with the air of an
+oracle, "the fact is that all these accursed sand-hills are as like
+each other as mummy beads on the same necklace, and therefore it is
+very difficult to know them apart. Give me that water-bottle, Adams; I
+am as dry as a lime-kiln."
+
+"No," I said shortly; "you may be drier before the end."
+
+"What do you mean? Oh! I see; but that's nonsense; those Zeus will
+hunt us up, or, at the worst, we have only to wait till the sun gets
+out."
+
+As he spoke, suddenly the air became filled with a curious singing
+sound impossible to describe, caused as I knew, who had often heard it
+before, by millions and millions of particles of sand being rubbed
+together. We turned to see whence it came, and perceived, far away,
+rushing towards us with extraordinary swiftness, a huge and dense
+cloud preceded by isolated columns and funnels of similar clouds.
+
+"A sand-storm," said Higgs, his florid face paling a little. "Bad luck
+for us! That's what comes of getting out of bed the wrong side first
+this morning. No, it's your fault, Adams; you helped me to salt last
+night, in spite of my remonstrances" (the Professor has sundry little
+superstitions of this sort, particularly absurd in so learned a man).
+"Well, what shall we do? Get under the lee of the hill until it blows
+over?"
+
+"Don't suppose it will blow over. Can't see anything to do except say
+our prayers," remarked Orme with sweet resignation. Oliver is, I
+think, the coolest hand in an emergency of any one I ever met, except,
+perhaps, Sergeant Quick, a man, of course, nearly old enough to be his
+father. "The game seems to be pretty well up," he added. "Well, you
+have killed two lions, Higgs, and that is something."
+
+"Oh, hang it! You can die if you like, Oliver. The world won't miss
+you; but think of its loss if anything happened to /me/. I don't
+intend to be wiped out by a beastly sand-storm. I intend to live to
+write a book on Mur," and Higgs shook his fist at the advancing clouds
+with an air that was really noble. It reminded me of Ajax defying the
+lightning.
+
+Meanwhile I had been reflecting.
+
+"Listen," I said. "Our only chance is to stop where we are, for if we
+move we shall certainly be buried alive. Look; there is something
+solid to lie on," and I pointed to a ridge of rock, a kind of core of
+congealed sand, from which the surface had been swept by gales. "Down
+with you, quick," I went on, "and let's draw that lion-skin over our
+heads. It may help to keep the dust from choking us. Hurry, men; it's
+coming!"
+
+Coming, it was indeed, with a mighty, wailing roar. Scarcely had we
+got ourselves into position, our backs to the blast and our mouths and
+noses buried after the fashion of camels in a similar predicament, the
+lion-skin covering our heads and bodies to the middle, with the paws
+tucked securely beneath us to prevent it from being blown away, when
+the storm leaped upon us furiously, bringing darkness in its train.
+There we lay for hour after hour, unable to see, unable to talk
+because of the roaring noise about us, and only from time to time
+lifting ourselves a little upon our hands and knees to disturb the
+weight of sand that accumulated on our bodies, lest it should encase
+us in a living tomb.
+
+Dreadful were the miseries we suffered--the misery of the heat beneath
+the stinking pelt of the lion, the misery of the dust-laden air that
+choked us almost to suffocation, the misery of thirst, for we could
+not get at our scanty supply of water to drink. But worst of all
+perhaps, was the pain caused by the continual friction of the sharp
+sand driven along at hurricane speed, which, incredible as it may
+seem, finally wore holes in our thin clothing and filed our skins to
+rawness.
+
+"No wonder the Egyptian monuments get such a beautiful shine on them,"
+I heard poor Higgs muttering in my ear again and again, for he was
+growing light-headed; "no wonder, no wonder! My shin-bones will be
+very useful to polish Quick's tall riding-boots. Oh! curse the lions.
+Why did you help me to salt, you old ass; why did you help me to salt?
+It's pickling me behind."
+
+Then he became quite incoherent, and only groaned from time to time.
+
+Perhaps, however, this suffering did us a service, since otherwise
+exhaustion, thirst, and dust might have overwhelmed our senses, and
+caused us to fall into a sleep from which we never should have
+awakened. Yet at the time we were not grateful to it, for at last the
+agony became almost unbearable. Indeed, Orme told me afterwards that
+the last thing he could remember was a quaint fancy that he had made a
+colossal fortune by selling the secret of a new torture to the Chinese
+--that of hot sand driven on to the victim by a continuous blast of
+hot air.
+
+After a while we lost count of time, nor was it until later that we
+learned that the storm endured for full twenty hours, during the
+latter part of which, notwithstanding our manifold sufferings, we must
+have become more or less insensible. At any rate, at one moment I
+remembered the awful roar and the stinging of the sand whips, followed
+by a kind of vision of the face of my son--that beloved, long-lost son
+whom I had sought for so many years, and for whose sake I endured all
+these things. Then, without any interval, as it were, I felt my limbs
+being scorched as though by hot irons or through a burning-glass, and
+with a fearful effort staggered up to find that the storm had passed,
+and that the furious sun was blistering my excoriated skin. Rubbing
+the caked dirt from my eyes, I looked down to see two mounds like
+those of graves, out of which projected legs that had been white. Just
+then one pair of legs, the longer pair, stirred, the sand heaved up
+convulsively, and, uttering wandering words in a choky voice, there
+arose the figure of Oliver Orme.
+
+For a moment we stood and stared at each other, and strange spectacles
+we were.
+
+"Is he dead?" muttered Orme, pointing to the still buried Higgs.
+
+"Fear so," I answered, "but we'll look;" and painfully we began to
+disinter him.
+
+When we came to it beneath the lion-skin, the Professor's face was
+black and hideous to see, but, to our relief, we perceived that he was
+not dead, for he moved his hand and moaned. Orme looked at me.
+
+"Water would save him," I said.
+
+Then came the anxious moment. One of our water-bottles was emptied
+before the storm began, but the other, a large, patent flask covered
+with felt, and having a screw vulcanite top, should still contain a
+good quantity, perhaps three quarts--that is, if the fluid had not
+evaporated in the dreadful heat. If this had happened, it meant that
+Higgs would die, and unless help came, that soon we should follow him.
+Orme unscrewed the flask, for my hands refused that office, and used
+his teeth to draw the cork, which, providentially enough the
+thoughtful Quick had set in the neck beneath the screw. Some of the
+water, which, although it was quite hot, had /not/ evaporated, thank
+God! flew against his parched lips, and I saw him bite them till the
+blood came in the fierceness of the temptation to assuage his raging
+thirst. But he resisted it like the man he is, and, without drinking a
+drop, handed me the bottle, saying simply:
+
+"You are the oldest; take care of this, Adams."
+
+Now it was my turn to be tempted, but I, too, overcame, and, sitting
+down, laid Higgs's head upon my knee; then, drop by drop, let a little
+of the water trickle between his swollen lips.
+
+The effect was magical, for in less than a minute the Professor sat
+up, grasped at the flask with both hands, and strove to tear it away.
+
+"You cruel brute! You cruel selfish brute!" he moaned as I wrenched it
+from him.
+
+"Look here, Higgs," I answered thickly; "Orme and I want water badly
+enough, and we have had none. But you might take it all if it would
+save you, only it wouldn't. We are lost in the desert, and must be
+sparing. If you drank everything now, in a few hours you would be
+thirsty again and die."
+
+He thought awhile, then looked up and said:
+
+"Beg pardon--I understand. I'm the selfish brute. But there's a good
+lot of water there; let's each have a drink; we can't move unless we
+do."
+
+So we drank, measuring out the water in a little india-rubber cup
+which we had with us. It held about as much as a port wine glass, and
+each of us drank, or rather slowly sipped, three cupfuls; we who felt
+as though we could have swallowed a gallon apiece, and asked for more.
+Small as was the allowance, it worked wonders in us; we were men
+again.
+
+We stood up and looked about us, but the great storm had changed
+everything. Where there had been sand-hills a hundred feet high, now
+were plains and valleys; where there had been valleys appeared sand-
+hills. Only the high ridge upon which we had lain was as before,
+because it stood above the others and had a core of rock. We tried to
+discover the direction of the oasis by the position of the sun, only
+to be baffled, since our two watches had run down, and we did not know
+the time of day or where the sun ought to be in the heavens. Also, in
+that howling wilderness there was nothing to show us the points of the
+compass.
+
+Higgs, whose obstinacy remained unimpaired, whatever may have happened
+to the rest of his vital forces, had one view of the matter, and Orme
+another diametrically opposed to it. They even argued as to whether
+the oasis lay to our right or to our left, for their poor heads were
+so confused that they were scarcely capable of accurate thought or
+observation. Meanwhile I sat down upon the sand and considered.
+Through the haze I could see the points of what I thought must be the
+hills whence the Zeus declared that the lions came, although of
+course, for aught I knew, they might be other hills.
+
+"Listen," I said; "if lions live upon those hills, there must be water
+there. Let us try to reach them; perhaps we shall see the oasis as we
+go."
+
+Then began our dreadful march. The lion-skin that had saved our lives,
+and was now baked hard as a board, we left behind, but the rifles we
+took. All day long we dragged ourselves up and down steep sand-slopes,
+pausing now again to drink a sip of water, and hoping always that from
+the top of the next slope we should see a rescue party headed by
+Quick, or perhaps the oasis itself. Indeed, once we did see it, green
+and shining, not more than three miles away, but when we got to the
+head of the hill beyond which it should lie we found that the vision
+was only a mirage, and our hearts nearly broke with disappointment.
+Oh! to men dying of thirst, that mirage was indeed a cruel mockery.
+
+At length night approached, and the mountains were yet a long way off.
+We could march no more, and sank down exhausted, lying on our faces,
+because our backs were so cut by the driving sand and blistered by the
+sun that we could not sit. By now almost all our water was gone.
+Suddenly Higgs nudged us and pointed upwards. Following the line of
+his hand, we saw, not thirty yards away and showing clear against the
+sky, a file of antelopes trekking along the sand-ridge, doubtless on a
+night journey from one pasturage to another.
+
+"You fellows shoot," he muttered; "I might miss and frighten them
+away," for in his distress poor Higgs was growing modest.
+
+Slowly Orme and I drew ourselves to our knees, cocking our rifles. By
+this time all the buck save one had passed; there were but six of
+them, and this one marched along about twenty yards behind the others.
+Orme pulled the trigger, but his rifle would not go off because, as he
+discovered afterwards, some sand had worked into the mechanism of the
+lock.
+
+Meanwhile I had also covered the buck, but the sunset dazzled my
+weakened eyes, and my arms were feeble; also my terrible anxiety for
+success, since I knew that on this shot hung our lives, unnerved me.
+But it must be now or never; in three more paces the beast would be
+down the dip.
+
+I fired, and knowing that I had missed, turned sick and faint. The
+antelope bounded forward a few yards right to the edge of the dip;
+then, never having heard such a sound before, and being overcome by
+some fatal curiosity, stopped and turned around, staring at the
+direction whence it had come.
+
+Despairingly I fired again, almost without taking aim, and this time
+the bullet went in beneath the throat, and, raking the animal, dropped
+it dead as a stone. We scrambled to it, and presently were engaged in
+an awful meal of which we never afterwards liked to think. Happily for
+us that antelope must have drunk water not long before.
+
+Our hunger and thirst assuaged after this horrible fashion, we slept
+awhile by the carcase, then arose extraordinarily refreshed, and,
+having cut off some hunks of meat to carry with us, started on again.
+By the position of the stars, we now knew that the oasis must lie
+somewhere to the east of us; but as between us and it there appeared
+to be nothing but these eternal sand-hills stretching away for many
+miles, and as in front of us toward the range the character of the
+desert seemed to be changing, we thought it safer, if the word safety
+can be used in such a connection, to continue to head for that range.
+All the remainder of this night we marched, and, as we had no fuel
+wherewith to cook it, at dawn ate some of the raw meat, which we
+washed down with the last drops of our water.
+
+Now we were out of the sand-hills, and had entered on a great pebbly
+plain that lay between us and the foot of the mountains. These looked
+quiet close, but in fact were still far off. Feebly and ever more
+feebly we staggered on, meeting no one and finding no water, though
+here and there we came across little bushes, of which we chewed the
+stringy and aromatic leaves that contained some moisture, but drew up
+our mouths and throats like alum.
+
+Higgs, who was the softest of us, gave out the first, though to the
+last he struggled forward with surprising pluck, even after he had
+been obliged to throw away his rifle, because he could no longer carry
+it, though this we did not notice at the time. When he could not
+support himself upon his feet, Orme took him by one arm, and I by the
+other, and helped him on, much as I have seen two elephants do by a
+wounded companion of the herd.
+
+Half-an-hour or so later my strength failed me also. Although advanced
+in years, I am tough and accustomed to the desert and hardships; who
+would not be who had been a slave to the Khalifa? But now I could do
+no more, and halting, begged the others to go on and leave me. Orme's
+only answer was to proffer me his left arm. I took it, for life is
+sweet to us all, especially when one has something to live for--a
+desire to fulfil as I had, though to tell the truth, even at the time
+I felt ashamed of myself.
+
+Thus, then, we proceeded awhile, resembling a sober man attempting to
+lead two drunken friends out of reach of that stern policeman, Death.
+Orme's strength must be wonderful; or was it his great spirit and his
+tender pity for our helplessness which enabled him to endure beneath
+this double burden.
+
+Suddenly he fell down as though he had been shot, and lay there
+senseless. The Professor, however, retained some portion of his mind,
+although it wandered. He became light-headed, and rambled on about our
+madness in having undertaken such a journey, "just to pot a couple of
+beastly lions," and although I did not answer them, I agreed heartily
+with his remarks. Then he seemed to imagine that I was a clergyman,
+and kneeling on the sand, he made a lengthy confession of his sins
+which, so far as I gathered, though I did not pay much attention to
+them, for I was thinking of my own, appeared chiefly to consist of the
+unlawful acquisition of certain objects of antiquity, or of having
+overmatched others in the purchase  of such objects.
+
+To pacify him, for I feared lest he should go raving mad, I pronounced
+some religious absolution, whereon poor Higgs rolled over and lay
+still by Orme. Yes; he, the friend whom I had always loved, for his
+very failings were endearing, was dead or at the point of death, like
+the gallant young man at his side, and I myself was dying. Tremors
+shook my limbs; horrible waves of blackness seemed to well up from my
+vitals, through my breast to my brain, and thence to evaporate in
+queer, jagged lines and patches, which I realized, but could not
+actually see. Gay memories of my far-off childhood arose in me,
+particularly those of a Christmas party where I had met a little girl
+dressed like an elf, a little girl with blue eyes whom I had loved
+dearly for quite a fortnight, to be beaten down, stamped out,
+swallowed by that vision of the imminent shadow which awaits all
+mankind, the black womb of a re-birth, if re-birth there be.
+
+What could I do? I thought of lighting a fire; at any rate it would
+serve to scare the lions and other wild beasts which else might prey
+upon us before we were quite dead. It would be dreadful to lie
+helpless but sentient, and feel their rending fangs. But I had no
+strength to collect the material. To do so at best must have meant a
+long walk, for even here it was not plentiful. I had a few cartridges
+left--three, to be accurate--in my repeating rifle; the rest I had
+thrown away to be rid of their weight. I determined to fire them,
+since, in my state I thought they could no longer serve either to win
+food or for the purposes of defence, although, as it happened, in this
+I was wrong. It was possible that, even in that endless desert, some
+one might hear the shots, and if not--well, good-night.
+
+So I sat up and fired the first cartridge, wondering in a childish
+fashion where the bullet would fall. Then I went to sleep for awhile.
+The howling of a hyena woke me up, and, on glancing around, I saw the
+beast's flaming eyes quite close to me. I aimed and shot at it, and
+heard a yell of pain. That hyena, I reflected, would want no more food
+at present.
+
+The silence of the desert overwhelmed me; it was so terrible that I
+almost wished the hyena back for company. Holding the rifle above my
+head, I fired the third cartridge. Then I took the hand of Higgs in my
+own, for, after all, it was a link--the last link with humanity and
+the world--and lay down in the company of death that seemed to fall
+upon me in black and smothering veils.
+
+
+
+I woke up and became aware that some one was pouring water down my
+throat. Heaven! I thought to myself, for at that time heaven and water
+were synonymous in my mind. I drank a good deal of it, not all I
+wanted by any means, but as much as the pourer would allow, then
+raised myself upon my hands and looked. The starlight was
+extraordinarily clear in that pure desert atmosphere, and by it I saw
+the face of Sergeant Quick bending over me. Also, I saw Orme sitting
+up, staring about him stupidly, while a great yellow dog, with a head
+like a mastiff, licked his hand. I knew the dog at once; it was that
+which Orme had bought from some wandering natives, and named Pharaoh
+because he ruled over all other dogs. Moreover, I knew the two camels
+that stood near by. So I was still on earth--unless, indeed we had all
+moved on a step.
+
+"How did you find us, Sergeant?" I asked feebly.
+
+"Didn't find you, Doctor," answered Quick, "dog Pharaoh found you. In
+a business like this a dog is more useful than man, for he can smell
+what one can't see. Now, if you feel better, Doctor, please look at
+Mr. Higgs, for I fear he's gone."
+
+I looked, and, although I did not say so, was of the same opinion. His
+jaw had fallen, and he lay limp and senseless; his eyes I could not
+see, because of the black spectacles.
+
+"Water," I said, and Quick poured some into his mouth, where it
+vanished.
+
+Still he did not stir, so I opened his garments and felt his heart. At
+first I could detect nothing; then there was the slightest possible
+flutter.
+
+"There's hope," I said in answer to the questioning looks. "You don't
+happen to have any brandy, do you?" I added.
+
+"Never travelled without it yet, Doctor," replied Quick indignantly,
+producing a metal flask.
+
+"Give him some," I said, and the Sergeant obeyed with liberality and
+almost instantaneous effect, for Higgs sat up gasping and coughing.
+
+"Brandy; filthy stuff; teetotaller! Cursed trick! Never forgive you.
+Water, water," he spluttered in a thick, low voice.
+
+We gave it to him, and he drank copiously, until we would let him have
+no more indeed. Then, by degrees, his senses came back to him. He
+thrust up his black spectacles which he had worn all this while, and
+stared at the Sergeant with his sharp eyes.
+
+"I understand," he said. "So we are not dead, after all, which perhaps
+is a pity after getting through the beastly preliminaries. What has
+happened?"
+
+"Don't quite know," answered Orme; "ask Quick."
+
+But the Sergeant was already engaged in lighting a little fire and
+setting a camp-kettle to boil, into which he poured a tin of beef
+extract that he had brought with other eatables from our stores on the
+chance that he might find us. In fifteen minutes we were drinking
+soup, for I forbade anything more solid as yet, and, oh! what a
+blessed meal was that. When it was finished, Quick fetched some
+blankets from the camels, which he threw over us.
+
+"Lie down and sleep, gentlemen," he said; "Pharaoh and I will watch."
+
+The last thing I remember was seeing the Sergeant, in his own fashion
+an extremely religious man, and not ashamed of it, kneeling upon the
+sand and apparently saying his prayers. As he explained afterwards, of
+course, as a fatalist, he knew well that whatever must happen would
+happen, but still he considered it right and proper to return thanks
+to the Power which had arranged that on this occasion the happenings
+should be good, and not ill, a sentiment with which every one of us
+agreed. Opposite to him, with one of his faithful eyes fixed on Orme,
+sat Pharaoh in grave contemplation. Doubtless, being an Eastern dog,
+he understood the meaning of public prayer; or perhaps he thought that
+he should receive some share of gratitude and thanks.
+
+When we awoke the sun was already high, and to show us that we had
+dreamed no dream, there was Quick frying tinned bacon over the fire,
+while Pharaoh sat still and watched him--or the bacon.
+
+"Look," said Orme to me, pointing to the mountains, "they are still
+miles away. It was madness to think that we could reach them."
+
+I nodded, then turned to stare at Higgs, who was just waking up, for,
+indeed, he was a sight to see. His fiery red hair was full of sand,
+his nether garments were gone, apparently at some stage in our march
+he had dispensed with the remains of them because they chafed his sore
+limbs, and his fair skin, not excluding that of his face, was a mass
+of blisters, raised by the sun. In fact he was so disfigured that his
+worst enemy would not have known him. He yawned, stretched himself,
+always a good sign in man or beast, and asked for a bath.
+
+"I am afraid you will have to wash yourself in sand here, sir, like
+them filthy Arabians," said Quick, saluting. "No water to spare for
+baths in this dry country. But I've got a tube of hazeline, also a
+hair-brush and a looking-glass," he added, producing these articles.
+
+"Quite so, Sergeant," said Higgs, as he took them; "it's sacrilege to
+think of using water to wash. I intend never to waste it in that way
+again." Then he looked at himself in the glass, and let it fall upon
+the sand, ejaculating, "Oh! good Lord, is that me?"
+
+"Please be careful, sir," said the Sergeant sternly; "you told me the
+other day that it's unlucky to break a looking-glass; also I have no
+other."
+
+"Take it away," said the Professor; "I don't want it any more, and,
+Doctor, come and oil my face, there's a good fellow; yes, and the rest
+of me also, if there is enough hazeline."
+
+So we treated each other with the ointment, which at first made us
+smart fearfully, and then, very gingerly sat down to breakfast.
+
+"Now, Sergeant," said Orme, as he finished his fifth pannikin of tea,
+"tell us your story."
+
+"There isn't much of a story, Captain. Those Zeu fellows came back
+without you, and, not knowing the lingo, I could make nothing of their
+tale. Well, I soon made Shadrach and Co. understand that, death-wind
+or no death-wind--that's what they call it--they must come with me to
+look for you, and at last we started, although they said that I was
+mad, as you were dead already. Indeed, it wasn't until I asked that
+fellow Shadrach if he wanted to be dead too"--and the Sergeant tapped
+his revolver grimly--"that he would let any one go.
+
+"As it proved, he was right, for we couldn't find you, and after
+awhile the camels refused to face the storm any longer; also one of
+the Abati drivers was lost, and hasn't been heard of since. It was all
+the rest of us could do to get back to the oasis alive, nor would
+Shadrach go out again even after the storm had blown itself away. It
+was no use arguing with the pig, so, as I did not want his blood upon
+my hands, I took two camels and started with the dog Pharaoh for
+company.
+
+"Now this was my thought, although I could not explain it to the Abati
+crowd, that if you lived at all, you would almost certainly head for
+the hills as I knew you had no compass, and you would not be able to
+see anything else. So I rode along the plain which stretches between
+the desert and the mountains, keeping on the edge of the sand-hills. I
+rode all day, but when night came I halted, since I could see no more.
+There I sat in that great place, thinking, and after an hour or two I
+observed Pharaoh prick his ears and look toward the west. So I also
+started toward the west, and presently I thought that I saw one faint
+streak of light which seemed to go upward, and therefore couldn't come
+from a falling star, but might have come from a rifle fired toward the
+sky.
+
+"I listened, but no sound reached me, only presently, some seconds
+afterwards, the dog again pricked his ears as though /he/ heard
+something. That settled me, and I mounted and rode forward through the
+night toward the place where I thought I had seen the flash. For two
+hours I rode, firing my revolver from time to time; then as no answer
+came, gave it up as a bad job, and stopped. But Pharaoh there wouldn't
+stop. He began to whine and sniff and run forward, and at last bolted
+into the darkness, out of which presently I heard him barking some
+hundreds of yards away, to call me, I suppose. So I followed and found
+you three gentlemen, dead, as I thought at first. That's all the
+story, Captain."
+
+"One with a good end, anyway, Sergeant. We owe our lives to you."
+
+"Beg your pardon, Captain," answered Quick modestly; "not to me at
+all, but to Providence first that arranged everything, before we were
+born perhaps, and next to Pharaoh. He's a wise dog, Pharaoh, though
+fierce with some, and you did a good deal when you bought him for a
+bottle of whisky and a sixpenny pocket-knife."
+
+
+
+It was dawn on the following morning before we sighted the oasis,
+whither we could travel but slowly, since, owing to the lack of
+camels, two of us must walk. Of these two, as may be guessed, the
+Sergeant was always one and his master the other, for of all the men I
+ever knew I think that in such matters Orme is the most unselfish.
+Nothing would induce him to mount one of the camels, even for half-an-
+hour, so that when I walked, the brute went riderless. On the other
+hand, once he was on, notwithstanding the agonies he suffered from his
+soreness, nothing would induce Higgs to get off.
+
+"Here I am and here I stop," he said several times, in English,
+French, and sundry Oriental languages. "I've tramped it enough to last
+me the rest of my life."
+
+Both of us were dozing upon our saddles when suddenly I heard the
+Sergeant calling to the camels to halt and asked what was the matter.
+
+"Looks like Arabians, Doctor," he said, pointing to a cloud of dust
+advancing toward us.
+
+"Well, if so," I answered, "our best chance is to show no fear and go
+on. I don't think they will harm us."
+
+So, having made ready such weapons as we had, we advanced, Orme and
+the Sergeant walking between the two camels, until presently we
+encountered the other caravan, and, to our astonishment, saw none
+other than Shadrach riding at the head of it, mounted on my dromedary,
+which his own mistress, the Lady of the Abati, had given to me. We
+came face to face, and halted, staring at each other.
+
+"By the beard of Aaron! is it you, lords?" he asked. "We thought you
+were dead."
+
+"By the hair of Moses! so I gather," I answered angrily, "seeing that
+you are going off with all our belongings," and I pointed to the
+baggage camels laden with goods.
+
+Then followed explanations and voluble apologies, which Higgs for one
+accepted with a very bad grace. Indeed, as he can talk Arabic and its
+dialects perfectly, he made use of that tongue to pour upon the heads
+of Shadrach and his companions a stream of Eastern invective that must
+have astonished them, ably seconded as it was by Sergeant Quick in
+English.
+
+Orme listened for some time, then said:
+
+"That'll do, old fellow; if you go on, you will get up a row, and,
+Sergeant, be good enough to hold your tongue. We have met them, so
+there is no harm done. Now, friend Shadrach, turn back with us to the
+oasis. We are going to rest there for some days."
+
+Shadrach looked sulky, and said something about our turning and going
+on with /them/, whereon I produced the ancient ring, Sheba's ring,
+which I had brought as a token from Mur. This I held before his eyes,
+saying:
+
+"Disobey, and there will be an account to settle when you come into
+the presence of her who sent you forth, for even if we four should
+die"--and I looked at him meaningly--"think not that you will be able
+to hide this matter; there are too many witnesses."
+
+Then, without more words, he saluted the sacred ring, and we all went
+back to Zeu.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+PHARAOH MAKES TROUBLE
+
+Another six weeks or so had gone by, and at length the character of
+the country began to change. At last we were passing out of the
+endless desert over which we had travelled for so many hundreds of
+miles; at least a thousand, according to our observations and
+reckonings, which I checked by those that I had taken upon my eastward
+journey. Our march, after the great adventure at the oasis, was
+singularly devoid of startling events. Indeed, it had been awful in
+its monotony, and yet, oddly enough, not without a certain charm--at
+any rate for Higgs and Orme, to whom the experience was new.
+
+Day by day to travel on across an endless sea of sand so remote, so
+unvisited that for whole weeks no man, not even a wandering Bedouin of
+the desert, crossed our path. Day by day to see the great red sun rise
+out of the eastern sands, and, its journey finished, sink into the
+western sands. Night by night to watch the moon, the same moon on
+which were fixed the million eyes of cities, turning those sands to a
+silver sea, or, in that pure air, to observe the constellations by
+which we steered our path making their majestic march through space.
+And yet to know that this vast region, now so utterly lonesome and
+desolate, had once been familiar to the feet of long-forgotten men who
+had trod the sands we walked, and dug the wells at which we drank.
+
+Armies had marched across these deserts, also, and perished there. For
+once we came to a place where a recent fearful gale had almost denuded
+the underlying rock, and there found the skeletons of thousands upon
+thousands of soldiers, with those of their beasts of burden, and among
+them heads of arrows, sword-blades, fragments of armour and of painted
+wooden shields.
+
+Here a whole host had died; perhaps Alexander sent it forth, or
+perhaps some far earlier monarch whose name has ceased to echo on the
+earth. At least they had died, for there we saw the memorial of that
+buried enterprise. There lay the kings, the captains, the soldiers,
+and the concubines, for I found the female bones heaped apart, some
+with the long hair still upon the skulls, showing where the poor,
+affrighted women had hived together in the last catastrophe of
+slaughter or of famine, thirst, and driven sand. Oh, if only those
+bones could speak, what a tale was theirs to tell!
+
+There had been cities in this desert, too, where once were oases, now
+overwhelmed, except perhaps for a sand-choked spring. Twice we came
+upon the foundations of such places, old walls of clay or stone, stark
+skeletons of ancient homes that the shifting sands had disinterred,
+which once had been the theatre of human hopes and fears, where once
+men had been born, loved, and died, where once maidens had been fair,
+and good and evil wrestled, and little children played. Some Job may
+have dwelt here and written his immortal plaint, or some king of
+Sodom, and suffered the uttermost calamity. The world is very old; all
+we Westerns learned from the contemplation of these wrecks of men and
+of their works was just that the world is very old.
+
+
+
+One evening against the clear sky there appeared the dim outline of
+towering cliffs, shaped like a horseshoe. They were the Mountains of
+Mur many miles away, but still the Mountains of Mur, sighted at last.
+Next morning we began to descend through wooded land toward a wide
+river that is, I believe, a tributary of the Nile, though upon this
+point I have no certain information. Three days later we reached the
+banks of this river, following some old road, and faring sumptuously
+all the way, since here there was much game and grass in plenty for
+the camels that, after their long abstinence, ate until we thought
+that they would burst. Evidently we had not arrived an hour too soon,
+for now the Mountains of Mur were hid by clouds, and we could see that
+it was raining upon the plains which lay between us and them. The wet
+season was setting in, and, had we been a single week later, it might
+have been impossible for us to cross the river, which would then have
+been in flood. As it was, we passed it without difficulty by the
+ancient ford, the water never rising above the knees of our camels.
+
+Upon its further bank we took counsel, for now we had entered the
+territory of the Fung, and were face to face with the real dangers of
+our journey. Fifty miles or so away rose the fortress of Mur, but, as
+I explained to my companions, the question was how to pass those fifty
+miles in safety. Shadrach was called to our conference, and at my
+request set out the facts.
+
+Yonder, he said, rose the impregnable mountain home of the Abati, but
+all the vast plain included in the loop of the river which he called
+Ebur, was the home of the savage Fung race, whose warriors could be
+counted by the ten thousand, and whose principal city, Harmac, was
+built opposite to the stone effigy of their idol, that was also called
+Harmac----
+
+"Harmac--that is Harmachis, god of dawn. Your Fung had something to do
+with the old Egyptians, or both of them came from a common stock,"
+interrupted Higgs triumphantly.
+
+"I daresay, old fellow," answered Orme; "I think you told us that
+before in London; but we will go into the arch�ology afterwards if we
+survive to do so. Let Shadrach get on with his tale."
+
+This city, which had quite fifty thousand inhabitants, continued
+Shadrach, commanded the mouth of the pass or cleft by which we must
+approach Mur, having probably been first built there for that very
+purpose.
+
+Orme asked if there was no other way into the stronghold, which, he
+understood, the embassy had left by being let down a precipice.
+Shadrach answered that this was true, but that although the camels and
+their loads had been let down that precipitous place, owing to the
+formation of its overhanging rocks, it would be perfectly impossible
+to haul them up it with any tackle that the Abati possessed.
+
+He asked again if there was not a way round, if that circle of
+mountains had no back door. Shadrach replied that there was such a
+back door facing to the north some eight days' journey away. Only at
+this season of the year it could not be reached, since beyond the
+Mountains of Mur in that direction was a great lake, out of which
+flowed the river Ebur in two arms that enclosed the whole plain of
+Fung. By now this lake would be full, swollen with rains that fell on
+the hills of Northern Africa, and the space between it and the Mur
+range nothing but an impassable swamp.
+
+Being still unsatisfied, Orme inquired whether, if we abandoned the
+camels, we could not then climb the precipice down which the embassy
+had descended. To this the answer, which I corroborated, was that if
+our approach were known and help given to us from above, it might be
+possible, provided that we threw away the loads.
+
+"Seeing what these loads are, and the purpose for which we have
+brought them so far, that is out of the question," said Orme.
+"Therefore, tell us at once, Shadrach, how we are to win through the
+Fung to Mur."
+
+"In one way only, O son of Orme, should it be the will of God that we
+do so at all; by keeping ourselves hidden during the daytime and
+marching at night. According to their custom at this season,
+to-morrow, after sunset, the Fung hold their great spring feast in the
+city of Harmac, and at dawn go up to make sacrifice to their idol. But
+after sunset they eat and drink and are merry, and then it is their
+habit to withdraw their guards, that they may take part in the
+festival. For this reason I have timed our march that we should arrive
+on the night of this feast, which I know by the age of the moon, when,
+in the darkness, with God's help, perchance we may slip past Harmac,
+and at the first light find ourselves in the mouth of the road that
+runs up to Mur. Moreover, I will give warning to my people, the Abati,
+that we are coming, so that they may be at hand to help us if there is
+need."
+
+"How?" asked Orme.
+
+"By firing the reeds"--and he pointed to the dense masses of dead
+vegetation about--"as I arranged that I would do before we left Mur
+many months ago. The Fung, if they see it, will think only that it is
+the work of some wandering fisherman."
+
+Orme shrugged his shoulders, saying:
+
+"Well, friend Shadrach, you know the place and these people, and I do
+not, so we must do what you tell us. But I say at once that if, as I
+understand, yonder Fung will kill us if they can, to me your plan
+seems very dangerous."
+
+"It is dangerous," he answered, adding with a sneer, "but I thought
+that you men of England were not cowards."
+
+"Cowards! you son of a dog!" broke in Higgs in his high voice. "How
+dare you talk to us like that? You see this man here"--and he pointed
+to Sergeant Quick, who, tall and upright, stood watching this scene
+grimly, and understanding most of what passed--"well, he is the lowest
+among us--a servant only" (here the Sergeant saluted), "but I tell you
+that there is more courage in his little finger than in your whole
+body, or in that of all the Abati people, so far as I can make out."
+
+Here the Sergeant saluted again, murmuring beneath his breath, "I hope
+so, sir. Being a Christian, I hope so, but till it comes to the
+sticking-point, one can never be sure."
+
+"You speak big words, O Higgs," answered Shadrach insolently, for, as
+I think I have said, he hated the Professor, who smelt the rogue in
+him, and scourged him continually with his sharp tongue, "but if the
+Fung get hold of you, then we shall learn the truth."
+
+"Shall I punch his head, sir?" queried Quick in a meditative voice.
+
+"Be quiet, please," interrupted Orme. "We have troubles enough before
+us, without making more. It will be time to settle our quarrels when
+we have got through the Fung."
+
+Then he turned to Shadrach and said:
+
+"Friend, this is no time for angry words. You are the guide of this
+party; lead us as you will, remembering only that if it comes to war,
+I, by the wish of my companions, am Captain. Also, there is another
+thing which you should not forget--namely, that in the end you must
+make answer to your own ruler, she who, I understand from the doctor
+here, is called Walda Nagasta, the Child of Kings. Now, no more words;
+we march as you wish and where you wish. On your head be it!"
+
+The Abati heard and bowed sullenly. Then, with a look of hate at
+Higgs, he turned and went about his business.
+
+"Much better to have let me punch his head," soliloquized Quick. "It
+would have done him a world of good, and perhaps saved many troubles,
+for, to tell the truth, I don't trust that quarter-bred Hebrew."
+
+Then he departed to see to the camels and the guns while the rest of
+us went to our tents to get such sleep as the mosquitoes would allow.
+In my own case it was not much, since the fear of evil to come weighed
+upon me. Although I knew the enormous difficulty of entering the
+mountain stronghold of Mur by any other way, such as that by which I
+had quitted it, burdened as we were with our long train of camels
+laden with rifles, ammunition, and explosives, I dreaded the results
+of an attempt to pass through the Fung savages.
+
+Moreover, it occurred to me that Shadrach had insisted upon this route
+from a kind of jealous obstinacy, and to be in opposition to us
+Englishmen, whom he hated in his heart, or perhaps for some dark and
+secret reason. Still, the fact remained that we were in his power,
+since owing to the circumstances in which I had entered and left the
+place, it was impossible for me to act as guide to the party. If I
+attempted to do so, no doubt he and the Abati with him would desert,
+leaving the camels and their loads upon our hands. Why should they
+not, seeing that they would be quite safe in concluding that we should
+never have an opportunity of laying our side of the case before their
+ruler?
+
+Just as the sun was setting, Quick came to call me, saying that the
+camels were being loaded up.
+
+"I don't much like the look of things, Doctor," he said as he helped
+me to pack my few belongings, "for the fact is I can't trust that
+Shadrach man. His pals call him 'Cat,' a good name for him, I think.
+Also, he is showing his claws just now, the truth being that he hates
+the lot of us, and would like to get back into Purr or Mur, or
+whatever the name of the place is, having lost us on the road. You
+should have seen the way he looked at the Professor just now. Oh! I
+wish the Captain had let me punch his head. I'm sure it would have
+cleared the air a lot."
+
+As it chanced, Shadrach was destined to get his head "punched" after
+all, but by another hand. It happened thus. The reeds were fired, as
+Shadrach had declared it was necessary to do, in order that the Abati
+watchmen on the distant mountains might see and report the signal,
+although in the light of subsequent events I am by no means certain
+that this warning was not meant for other eyes as well. Then, as
+arranged, we started out, leaving them burning in a great sheet of
+flame behind us, and all that night marched by the shine of the stars
+along some broken-down and undoubtedly ancient road.
+
+At the first sign of dawn we left this road and camped amid the
+overgrown ruins of a deserted town that had been built almost beneath
+the precipitous cliffs of Mur, fortunately without having met any one
+or being challenged. I took the first watch, while the others turned
+in to sleep after we had all breakfasted off cold meats, for here we
+dared not light a fire. As the sun grew high, dispelling the mists, I
+saw that we were entering upon a thickly-populated country which was
+no stranger to civilization of a sort. Below us, not more than fifteen
+or sixteen miles away, and clearly visible through my field-glasses,
+lay the great town of Harmac, which, during my previous visit to this
+land, I had never seen, as I passed it in the night.
+
+It was a city of the West Central African type, with open market-
+places and wide streets, containing thousands of white, flat-roofed
+houses, the most important of which were surrounded by gardens. Round
+it ran a high and thick wall, built, apparently, of sun-burnt brick,
+and in front of the gateways, of which I could see two, stood square
+towers whence these might be protected. All about this city the flat
+and fertile land was under cultivation, for the season being that of
+early spring, already the maize and other crops showed green upon the
+ground.
+
+Beyond this belt of plough-lands, with the aid of the field-glasses, I
+could make out great herds of grazing cattle and horses, mixed with
+wild game, a fact that assured me of the truth of what I had heard
+during my brief visit to Mur, that the Fung had few or no firearms,
+since otherwise the buck and quagga would have kept at a distance. Far
+off, too, and even on the horizon, I saw what appeared to be other
+towns and villages. Evidently this was a very numerous people, and one
+which could not justly be described as savage. No wonder that the
+little Abati tribe feared them so intensely, notwithstanding the
+mighty precipices by which they were protected from their hate.
+
+About eleven o'clock Orme came on watch, and I turned in, having
+nothing to report. Soon I was fast asleep, notwithstanding the
+anxieties that, had I been less weary, might well have kept me
+wakeful. For these were many. On the coming night we must slip through
+the Fung, and before midday on the morrow we should either have
+entered Mur, or failed to have entered Mur, which meant--death, or,
+what was worse, captivity among barbarians, and subsequent execution,
+preceded probably by torture of one sort or another.
+
+Of course, however, we might come thither without accident, travelling
+with good guides on a dark night, for, after all, the place was big,
+and the road lonely and little used, so that unless we met a watch,
+which, we were told, would not be there, our little caravan had a good
+chance to pass unobserved. Shadrach seemed to think that we should do
+so, but the worst of it was that, like Quick, I did not trust
+Shadrach. Even Maqueda, the Lady of the Abati, she whom they called
+Child of Kings, had her doubts about him, or so it had seemed to me.
+
+At any rate, she had told me before I left Mur that she chose him for
+this mission because he was bold and cunning, one of the very few of
+her people also who, in his youth, had crossed the desert and,
+therefore, knew the road. "Yet, Physician," she added meaningly,
+"watch him, for is he not named 'Cat'? Yes, watch him, for did I not
+hold his wife and children hostages, and were I not sure that he
+desires to win the great reward in land which I have promised to him,
+I would not trust you to this man's keeping."
+
+Well, after many experiences in his company, my opinion coincided with
+Maqueda's, and so did that of Quick, no mean judge of men.
+
+"Look at him, Doctor," he said when he came to tell me that I could
+turn in, for whether it were his watch or not, the Sergeant never
+seemed to be off duty. "Look, at him," and he pointed to Shadrach, who
+was seated under the shade of a tree, talking earnestly in whispers
+with two of his subordinates with a very curious and unpleasing smile
+upon his face. "If God Almighty ever made a scamp, he's squatting
+yonder. My belief is that he wanted to be rid of us all at Zeu, so
+that he might steal our goods, and I hope he won't play the same trick
+again to-night. Even the dog can't abide him."
+
+Before I could answer, I had proof of this last statement, for the
+great yellow hound, Pharaoh, that had found us in the desert, hearing
+our voices, emerged from some corner where it was hidden, and advanced
+toward us, wagging its tail. As it passed Shadrach, it stopped and
+growled, the hair rising on its back, whereon he hurled a stone at it
+and hit its leg. Next instant Pharaoh, a beast of enormous power, was
+on the top of him, and really, I thought, about to tear out his
+throat.
+
+Well, we got him off before any harm was done, but Shadrach's face,
+lined with its livid scars, was a thing to remember. Between rage and
+fear, it looked like that of a devil.
+
+To return. After this business I went to sleep, wondering if it were
+my last rest upon the earth, and whether, having endured so much for
+his sake, it would or would not be my fortune to see the face of my
+son again, if, indeed, he still lived, yonder not a score of miles
+away--or anywhere.
+
+Toward evening I was awakened by a fearful hubbub, in which I
+distinguished the shrill voice of Higgs ejaculating language which I
+will not repeat, the baying of Pharaoh, and the smothered groans and
+curses of an Abati. Running from the little tent, I saw a curious
+sight, that of the Professor with Shadrach's head under his left arm,
+in chancery, as we used to call it at school, while with his right he
+punched the said Shadrach's nose and countenance generally with all
+his strength, which, I may add, is considerable. Close by, holding
+Pharaoh by the collar, which we had manufactured for him out of the
+skin of a camel that had died, stood Sergeant Quick, a look of grim
+amusement on his wooden face, while around, gesticulating after their
+Eastern fashion, and uttering guttural sounds of wrath, were several
+of the Abati drivers. Orme was absent, being, in fact, asleep at the
+time.
+
+"What are you doing, Higgs?" I shouted.
+
+"Can't--you--see," he spluttered, accompanying each word with a blow
+on the unfortunate Shadrach's prominent nose. "I am punching this
+fellow's beastly head. Ah! you'd bite, would you? Then take that, and
+that and--that. Lord, how hard his teeth are. Well, I think he has had
+enough," and suddenly he released the Abati, who, a gory and most
+unpleasant spectacle, fell to the ground and lay there panting. His
+companions, seeing their chief's melancholy plight, advanced upon the
+Professor in a threatening fashion; indeed, one of them drew a knife.
+
+"Put up that thing, sonny," said the Sergeant, "or by heaven, I'll
+loose the dog upon you. Got your revolver handy, Doctor?"
+
+Evidently, if the man did not understand Quick's words, their purport
+was clear to him, for he sheathed his knife and fell back with the
+others. Shadrach, too, rose from the ground and went with them. At a
+distance of a few yards, however, he turned, and, glaring at Higgs out
+of his swollen eyes, said:
+
+"Be sure, accursed Gentile, that I will remember and repay."
+
+At this moment, too, Orme arrived upon the scene, yawning.
+
+"What the deuce is the matter?" he asked.
+
+"I'd give five bob for a pint of iced stone ginger," replied Higgs
+inconsequently. Then he drank off a pannikin of warmish, muddy-
+coloured water which Quick gave to him, and handed it back, saying:
+
+"Thanks, Sergeant; that's better than nothing, and cold drink is
+always dangerous if you are hot. What's the matter? Oh! not much.
+Shadrach tried to poison Pharaoh; that's all. I was watching him out
+of the corner of my eye, and saw him go to the strychnine tin, roll a
+bit of meat in it which he had first wetted, and throw it to the poor
+beast. I got hold of it in time, and chucked it over that wall, where
+you will find it if you care to look. I asked Shadrach why he had done
+such a thing. He answered, 'To keep the dog quiet while we are passing
+through the Fung,' adding that anyhow it was a savage beast and best
+out of the way, as it had tried to bite him that morning. Then I lost
+my temper and went for the blackguard, and although I gave up boxing
+twenty years ago, very soon had the best of it, for, as you may have
+observed, no Oriental can fight with his fists. That's all. Give me
+another cup of water, Sergeant."
+
+"I hope it may be," answered Orme, shrugging his shoulders. "To tell
+the truth, old fellow, it would have been wiser to defer blacking
+Shadrach's eyes till we were safe in Mur. But it's no use talking now,
+and I daresay I should have done the same myself if I had seen him try
+to poison Pharaoh," and he patted the head of the great dog, of which
+we were all exceedingly fond, although in reality it only cared for
+Orme, merely tolerating the rest of us.
+
+"Doctor," he added, "perhaps you would try to patch up our guide's
+nose and soothe his feelings. You know him better than we do. Give him
+a rifle. No, don't do that, or he might shoot some one in the back--by
+accident done on purpose. Promise him a rifle when we get into Mur; I
+know he wants one badly, because I caught him trying to steal a
+carbine from the case. Promise him anything so long as you can square
+it up."
+
+So I went, taking a bottle of arnica and some court plaster with me,
+to find Shadrach surrounded by sympathizers and weeping with rage over
+the insult, which, he said, had been offered to his ancient and
+distinguished race in his own unworthy person. I did my best for him
+physically and mentally, pointing out, as I dabbed the arnica on his
+sadly disfigured countenance, that he had brought the trouble on
+himself, seeing that he had really no business to poison Pharaoh
+because he had tried to bite him. He answered that his reason for
+wishing to kill the dog was quite different, and repeated at great
+length what he had told the Professor--namely, that it might betray us
+while we were passing through the Fung. Also he went on so venomously
+about revenge that I thought it time to put a stop to the thing.
+
+"See here, Shadrach," I said, "unless you unsay those words and make
+peace at once, you shall be bound and tried. Perhaps we shall have a
+better chance of passing safely through the Fung if we leave you dead
+behind us than if you accompany us as a living enemy."
+
+On hearing this, he changed his note altogether, saying that he saw he
+had been wrong. Moreover, so soon as his injuries were dressed, he
+sought out Higgs, whose hand he kissed with many apologies, vowing
+that he had forgotten everything and that his heart toward him was
+like that of a twin brother.
+
+"Very good, friend," answered Higgs, who never bore malice, "only
+don't try to poison Pharaoh again, and, for my part, I'll promise not
+to remember this matter when we get to Mur."
+
+"Quite a converted character, ain't he, Doctor?" sarcastically
+remarked Quick, who had been watching this edifying scene. "Nasty
+Eastern temper all gone; no Hebrew talk of eye for eye or tooth for
+tooth, but kisses the fist that smote him in the best Christian
+spirit. All the same, I wouldn't trust the swine further than I could
+kick him, especially in the dark, which," he added meaningly, "is what
+it will be to-night."
+
+I made no answer to the Sergeant, for although I agreed with him,
+there was nothing to be done, and talking about a bad business would
+only make it worse.
+
+By now the afternoon drew towards night--a very stormy night, to judge
+from the gathering clouds and rising wind. We were to start a little
+after sundown, that is, within an hour, and, having made ready my own
+baggage and assisted Higgs with his, we went to look for Orme and
+Quick, whom we found very busy in one of the rooms of an unroofed
+house. To all appearance they were engaged, Quick in sorting pound
+tins of tobacco or baking-powder, and Orme in testing an electric
+battery and carefully examining coils of insulated wire.
+
+"What's your game?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Better than yours, old boy, when Satan taught your idle hands to
+punch Shadrach's head. But perhaps you had better put that pipe out.
+These azo-imide compounds are said to burn rather more safely than
+coal. Still, one never knows; the climate or the journey may have
+changed their constitution."
+
+Higgs retreated hurriedly, to a distance of fifty yards indeed, whence
+he returned, having knocked out his pipe and even left his matches on
+a stone.
+
+"Don't waste time in asking questions," said Orme as the Professor
+approached with caution. "I'll explain. We are going on a queer
+journey to-night--four white men with about a dozen half-bred mongrel
+scamps of doubtful loyalty, so you see Quick and I thought it as well
+to have some of this stuff handy. Probably it will never be wanted,
+and if wanted we shall have no time to use it; still, who knows?
+There, that will do. Ten canisters; enough to blow up half the Fung if
+they will kindly sit on them. You take five, Quick, a battery and
+three hundred yards of wire, and I'll take five, a battery, and three
+hundred yards of wire. Your detonators are all fixed, aren't they?
+Well, so are mine," and without more words he proceeded to stow away
+his share of the apparatus in the poacher pockets of his coat and
+elsewhere, while Quick did likewise with what remained. Then the case
+that they had opened was fastened up again and removed to be laden on
+a camel.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HOW WE ESCAPED FROM HARMAC
+
+As finally arranged this was the order of our march: First went an
+Abati guide who was said to be conversant with every inch of the way.
+Then came Orme and Sergeant Quick, conducting the camels that were
+loaded with the explosives. I followed in order to keep an eye upon
+these precious beasts and those in charge of them. Next marched some
+more camels, carrying our baggage, provisions, and sundries, and
+finally in the rear were the Professor and Shadrach with two Abati.
+
+Shadrach, I should explain, had selected this situation for the
+reason, as he said, that if he went first, after what had passed, any
+mistake or untoward occurrence might be set down to his malice,
+whereas, if he were behind, he could not be thus slandered. On hearing
+this, Higgs, who is a generous soul, insisted upon showing his
+confidence in the virtue of Shadrach by accompanying him as a
+rearguard. So violently did he insist, and so flattered did Shadrach
+seem to be by this mark of faith, that Orme, who, I should say, if I
+have not already done so, was in sole command of the party now that
+hostilities were in the air, consented to the plan, if with evident
+reluctance.
+
+As I know, his own view was that it would be best for us four
+Englishmen to remain together, although, if we did so, whatever
+position we chose, it would be impossible for us in that darkness to
+keep touch with the line of camels and their loads, which were almost
+as important to us as our lives. At least, having made up our minds to
+deliver them in Mur, we thought that they were important, perhaps
+because it is the fashion of the Anglo-Saxon race to put even a self-
+created idea of duty before personal safety or convenience.
+
+Rightly or wrongly, so things were settled, for in such troublous
+conditions one can only do what seems best at the moment. Criticism
+subsequent to the event is always easy, as many an unlucky commander
+has found out when the issue went awry, but in emergency one must
+decide on something.
+
+The sun set, the darkness fell, and it began to rain and blow. We
+started quite unobserved, so far as we could tell, and, travelling
+downward from the overgrown, ruined town, gained the old road, and in
+complete silence, for the feet of camels make no noise, passed along
+it toward the lights of Harmac, which now and again, when the storm-
+clouds lifted, we saw glimmering in front of us and somewhat to our
+left.
+
+In all my long wanderings I cannot remember a more exciting or a more
+disagreeable journey. The blackness, relieved only from time to time
+by distant lightnings, was that of the plagues of Egypt; the driving
+rain worked through the openings of our camel-hair cloaks and the
+waterproofs we wore underneath them, and wet us through. The cold,
+damp wind chilled us to the bone, enervated as we were with the heat
+of the desert. But these discomforts, and they were serious enough, we
+forgot in the tremendous issue of the enterprise. Should we win
+through to Mur? Or, as a crown to our many labours and sufferings,
+should we perish presently on the road? That was the question; as I
+can assure the reader, one that we found very urgent and interesting.
+
+Three hours had gone by. Now we were opposite to the lights of Harmac,
+also to other lights that shone up a valley in the mountain to our
+right. As yet everything was well; for this we knew by the words
+whispered up and down the line.
+
+Then of a sudden, in front of us a light flashed, although as yet it
+was a long way off. Next came another whispered message of "Halt!" So
+we halted, and presently one of the front guides crept back, informing
+us that a body of Fung cavalry had appeared upon the road ahead. We
+took counsel. Shadrach arrived from the rear, and said that if we
+waited awhile they might go away, as he thought that their presence
+must be accidental and connected with the great festival. He implored
+us to be quite silent. Accordingly, not knowing what to do, we waited.
+
+Now I think I have forgotten to say that the dog Pharaoh, to prevent
+accidents, occupied a big basket; this basket, in which he often rode
+when tired, being fixed upon one side of Orme's camel. Here he lay
+peaceably enough until, in an unlucky moment, Shadrach left me to go
+forward to talk to the Captain, whereon, smelling his enemy, Pharaoh
+burst out into furious baying. After that everything was confusion.
+Shadrach darted back toward the rear. The light ahead began to move
+quickly, advancing toward us. The front camels left the road, as I
+presume, following their leader according to the custom of these
+beasts when marching in line.
+
+Presently, I know not how, Orme, Quick, and myself found ourselves
+together in the darkness; at the time we thought Higgs was with us
+also, but in this we were mistaken. We heard shoutings and strange
+voices speaking a language that we could not understand. By the sudden
+glare of a flash of lightning, for the thunderstorm was now travelling
+over us, we saw several things. One of these was the Professor's
+riding-dromedary, which could not be mistaken because of its pure
+white colour and queer method of holding its head to one side, passing
+within ten yards, between us and the road, having a man upon its back
+who evidently was not the Professor. Then it was that we discovered
+his absence and feared the worst.
+
+"A Fung has got his camel," I said.
+
+"No," answered Quick; "Shadrach has got it. I saw his ugly mug against
+the light."
+
+Another vision was that of what appeared to be our baggage camels
+moving swiftly away from us, but off the road which was occupied by a
+body of horsemen in white robes. Orme issued a brief order to the
+effect that we were to follow the camels with which the Professor
+might be. We started to obey, but before we had covered twenty yards
+of the cornfield or whatever it was in which we were standing, heard
+voices ahead that were not those of Abati. Evidently the flash which
+showed the Fung to us had done them a like service, and they were now
+advancing to kill or capture us.
+
+There was only one thing to do--turn and fly--and this we did, heading
+whither we knew not, but managing to keep touch of each other.
+
+About a quarter of an hour later, just as we were entering a grove of
+palms or other trees which hid everything in front of us, the
+lightning blazed again, though much more faintly, for by this time the
+storm had passed over the Mountains of Mur, leaving heavy rain behind
+it. By the flash I, who was riding last and, as it chanced, looking
+back over my shoulder, saw that the Fung horsemen were not fifty yards
+behind, and hunting for us everywhere, their line being extended over
+a long front. I was, however, sure that they had not yet caught sight
+of us in the dense shadow of the trees.
+
+"Get on," I said to the others; "they will be here presently," and
+heard Quick add:
+
+"Give your camel his head, Captain; he can see in the dark, and
+perhaps will take us back to the road."
+
+Orme acted on this suggestion, which, as the blackness round us was
+pitchy, seemed a good one. At any rate it answered, for off we went at
+a fair pace, the three camels marching in line, first over soft ground
+and afterwards on a road. Presently I thought that the rain had
+stopped, since for a few seconds none fell on us, but concluded from
+the echo of the camels' feet and its recommencement that we had passed
+under some archway. On we went, and at length even through the gloom
+and rain I saw objects that looked like houses, though if so there
+were no lights in them, perhaps because the night drew toward morning.
+A dreadful idea struck me: we might be in Harmac! I passed it up for
+what it was worth.
+
+"Very likely," whispered Orme back. "Perhaps these camels were bred
+here, and are looking for their stables. Well, there is only one thing
+to do--go on."
+
+So we went on for a long while, only interfered with by the occasional
+attentions of some barking dog. Luckily of these Pharaoh, in his
+basket, took no heed, probably because it was his habit if another dog
+barked at him to pretend complete indifference until it came so near
+that he could spring and fight, or kill it. At length we appeared to
+pass under another archway, after which, a hundred and fifty yards or
+so further on, the camels came to a sudden stop. Quick dismounted, and
+presently I heard him say:
+
+"Doors. Can feel the brasswork on them. Tower above, I think, and wall
+on either side. Seem to be in a trap. Best stop here till light comes.
+Nothing else to be done."
+
+Accordingly, we stopped, and, having tied the camels to each other to
+prevent their straying, took shelter from the rain under the tower or
+whatever it might be. To pass away the time and keep life in us, for
+we were almost frozen with the wet and cold, we ate some tinned food
+and biscuits that we carried in our saddle-bags, and drank a dram of
+brandy from Quick's flask. This warmed us a little, though I do not
+think that a bottleful would have raised our spirits. Higgs, whom we
+all loved, was gone, dead, probably, by that time; the Abati had lost
+or deserted us, and we three white men appeared to have wandered into
+a savage stronghold, where, as soon as we were seen, we should be
+trapped like birds in a net, and butchered at our captor's will.
+Certainly the position was not cheerful.
+
+Overwhelmed with physical and mental misery, I began to doze; Orme
+grew silent, and the Sergeant, having remarked that there was no need
+to bother, since what must be must be, consoled himself in a corner by
+humming over and over again the verse of the hymn which begins:
+
+ "There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe,
+  Where trials never come nor tears of sorrow flow."
+
+Fortunately for us, shortly before dawn the "tears of sorrow" as
+represented by the rain ceased to flow. The sky cleared, showing the
+stars; suddenly the vault of heaven was suffused with a wonderful and
+pearly light, although on the earth the mist remained so thick that we
+could see nothing. Then above this sea of mist rose the great ball of
+the sun, but still we could see nothing that was more than a few yards
+away from us.
+
+ "There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe"
+
+droned Quick beneath his breath for about the fiftieth time, since,
+apparently, he knew no other hymn which he considered suitable to our
+circumstances, then ejaculated suddenly:
+
+"Hullo! here's a stair. With your leave I'll go up it, Captain," and
+he did.
+
+A minute later we heard his voice calling us softly:
+
+"Come here, gentlemen," he said, "and see something worth looking at."
+
+So we scrambled up the steps, and, as I rather expected, found
+ourselves upon the top of one of two towers set above an archway,
+which towers were part of a great protective work outside the southern
+gates of a city that could be none other than Harmac. Soaring above
+the mist rose the mighty cliffs of Mur that, almost exactly opposite
+to us, were pierced by a deep valley.
+
+Into this valley the sunlight poured, revealing a wondrous and awe-
+inspiring object of which the base was surrounded by billowy vapours,
+a huge, couchant animal fashioned of black stone, with a head carved
+to the likeness of that of a lion, and crowned with the /uraeus/, the
+asp-crested symbol of majesty in old Egypt. How big the creature might
+be it was impossible to say at that distance, for we were quite a mile
+away from it; but it was evident that no other monolithic monument
+that we had ever seen or heard of could approach its colossal
+dimensions.
+
+Compared to this tremendous effigy indeed, the boasted Sphinx of Gizeh
+seemed but a toy. It was no less than a small mountain of rock shaped
+by the genius and patient labour of some departed race of men to the
+form of a lion-headed monster. Its majesty and awfulness set thus
+above the rolling mists in the red light of the morning, reflected on
+it from the towering precipices beyond, were literally indescribable;
+even in our miserable state, they oppressed and overcame us, so that
+for awhile we were silent. Then we spoke, each after his own manner:
+
+"The idol of the Fung!" said I. "No wonder that savages should take it
+for a god."
+
+"The greatest monolith in all the world," muttered Orme, "and Higgs is
+dead. Oh! if only he had lived to see it, he would have gone happy. I
+wish it had been I who was taken; I wish it had been I!" and he wrung
+his hands, for it is the nature of Oliver Orme always to think of
+others before himself.
+
+"That's what we have come to blow up," soliloquized Quick. "Well,
+those 'azure stinging-bees,' or whatever they call the stuff (he meant
+azo-imides) are pretty active, but it will take a lot of stirring if
+ever we get there. Seems a pity, too, for the old pussy is handsome in
+his way."
+
+"Come down," said Orme. "We must find out where we are; perhaps we can
+escape in the mist."
+
+"One moment," I answered. "Do you see that?" and I pointed to a
+needle-like rock that pierced the fog about a mile to the south of the
+idol valley, and say two miles from where we were. "That's the White
+Rock; it isn't white really, but the vultures roost on it and make it
+look so. I have never seen it before, for I passed it in the night,
+but I know that it marks the beginning of the cleft which runs up to
+Mur; you remember, Shadrach told us so. Well, if we can get to that
+White Rock we have a chance of life."
+
+Orme studied it hurriedly and repeated, "Come down; we may be seen up
+here."
+
+We descended and began our investigations in feverish haste. This was
+the sum of them: In the arch under the tower were set two great doors
+covered with plates of copper or bronze beaten into curious shapes to
+represent animals and men, and apparently very ancient. These huge
+doors had grilles in them through which their defenders could peep out
+or shoot arrows. What seemed more important to us, however, was that
+they lacked locks, being secured only by thick bronze bolts and bars
+such as we could undo.
+
+"Let's clear out before the mist lifts," said Orme. "With luck we may
+get to the pass."
+
+We assented, and I ran to the camels that lay resting just outside the
+arch. Before I reached them, however, Quick called me back.
+
+"Look through there, Doctor," he said, pointing to one of the peep-
+holes.
+
+I did so, and in the dense mist saw a body of horsemen advancing
+toward the door.
+
+They must have seen us on the top of the wall. "Fools that we were to
+go there!" exclaimed Orme.
+
+Next instant he started back, not a second too soon, for through the
+hole where his face had been, flashed a spear which struck the ground
+beyond the archway. Also we heard other spears rattle upon the bronze
+plates of the doors.
+
+"No luck!" said Orme; "that's all up, they mean to break in. Now I
+think we had better play a bold game. Got your rifles, Sergeant and
+Doctor? Yes? Then choose your loopholes, aim, and empty the magazines
+into them. Don't waste a shot. For heaven's sake don't waste a shot.
+Now--one--two--three, fire!"
+
+Fire we did into the dense mass of men who had dismounted and were
+running up to the doors to burst them open. At that distance we could
+scarcely miss and the magazines of the repeating rifles held five
+shots apiece. As the smoke cleared away I counted quite half-a-dozen
+Fung down, while some others were staggering off, wounded. Also
+several of the men and horses beyond were struck by the bullets which
+had passed through the bodies of the fallen.
+
+The effect of this murderous discharge was instantaneous and
+remarkable. Brave though the Fung might be, they were quite
+unaccustomed to magazine rifles. Living as they did perfectly isolated
+and surrounded by a great river, even if they had heard of such things
+and occasionally seen an old gaspipe musket that reached them in the
+course of trade, of modern guns and their terrible power they knew
+nothing. Small blame to them, therefore, if their courage evaporated
+in face of a form of sudden death which to them must have been almost
+magical. At any rate they fled incontinently, leaving their dead and
+wounded on the ground.
+
+Now again we thought of flight, which perhaps would have proved our
+wisest course, but hesitated because we could not believe that the
+Fung had left the road clear, or done more than retreat a little to
+wait for us. While we lost time thus the mist thinned a great deal, so
+much indeed that we could see our exact position. In front of us,
+towards the city side, lay a wide open space, whereof the walls ended
+against those of Harmac itself, to which they formed a kind of
+vestibule or antechamber set there to protect this gateway of the town
+through which we had ridden in the darkness, not knowing whither we
+went.
+
+"Those inner doors are open," said Orme, nodding his head toward the
+great portals upon the farther side of the square. "Let's go see if we
+can shut them. Otherwise we shan't hold this place long."
+
+So we ran across to the further doors that were similar to those
+through which we had just fired, only larger, and as we met nobody to
+interfere with our efforts, found that the united strength of the
+three of us was just, only just, sufficient to turn first one and then
+the other of them upon its hinges and work the various bolts and bars
+into their respective places. Two men could never have done the job,
+but being three and fairly desperate we managed it. Then we retreated
+to our archway and, as nothing happened, took the opportunity to eat
+and drink a few mouthfuls, Quick remarking sagely that we might as
+well die upon full as upon empty stomachs.
+
+When we had crossed the square the fog was thinning rapidly, but as
+the sun rose, sucking the vapours from the rain-soaked earth, it
+thickened again for awhile.
+
+"Sergeant," said Orme presently, "these black men are bound to attack
+us soon. Now is the time to lay a mine while they can't see what we
+are after."
+
+"I was just thinking the same thing, Captain; the sooner the better,"
+replied Quick. "Perhaps the Doctor will keep a watch here over the
+camels, and if he sees any one stick up his head above the wall, he
+might bid him good-morning. We know he is a nice shot, is the Doctor,"
+and he tapped my rifle.
+
+I nodded and the two of them set out laden with wires and the packages
+that looked like tobacco tins, heading for a stone erection in the
+centre of the square which resembled an altar, but was, I believe, a
+rostrum whence the native auctioneers sold slaves and other
+merchandise. What they did there exactly, I am sure I do not know;
+indeed, I was too much occupied in keeping a watch upon the walls
+whereof I could clearly see the crest above the mist, to pay much
+attention to their proceedings.
+
+Presently my vigilance was rewarded, for over the great gateway
+opposite, at a distance of about a hundred and fifty paces from me,
+appeared some kind of a chieftain clad in white robes and wearing a
+very fine turban or coloured head-dress, who paraded up and down,
+waving a spear defiantly and uttering loud shouts.
+
+This man I covered very carefully, lying down to do so. As Quick had
+said, I am a good rifle shot, having practised that art for many
+years; still, one may always miss, which, although I bore no personal
+grudge against the poor fellow in the fine head-dress, on this
+occasion I did not wish to do. The sudden and mysterious death of that
+savage would, I felt sure, produce a great effect among his people.
+
+At length he stopped exactly over the door and began to execute a kind
+of war-dance, turning his head from time to time to yell out something
+to others on the farther side of the wall. This was my opportunity. I
+covered him with as much care as though I were shooting at a target,
+with one bull's eye to win. Aiming a little low in case the rifle
+should throw high, very gently I pressed the trigger. The cartridge
+exploded, the bullet went on its way, and the man on the wall stopped
+dancing and shouting and stood quite still. Clearly he had heard the
+shot or felt the wind of the ball, but was untouched.
+
+I worked the lever jerking out the empty case, preparatory to firing
+again, but on looking up saw that there was no need, for the Fung
+captain was spinning round on his heels like a top. Three or four
+times he whirled thus with incredible rapidity, then suddenly threw
+his arms wide, and dived headlong from the wall like a bather from a
+plank, but backward, and was soon no more. Only from the farther side
+of those gates arose a wail of wrath and consternation.
+
+After this no other Fung appeared upon the wall, so I turned my
+attention to the spy-hole in the doors behind me, and seeing some
+horsemen moving about at a distance of four or five hundred yards on a
+rocky ridge where the mist did not lie, I opened fire on them and at
+the second shot was fortunate enough to knock a man out of the saddle.
+One of those with him, who must have been a brave fellow, instantly
+jumped down, threw him, dead or living, over the horse, leaped up
+behind him, and galloped away accompanied by the others, pursued by
+some probably ineffective bullets that I sent after them.
+
+Now the road to the Pass of Mur seemed to be clear, and I regretted
+that Orme and Quick were not with me to attempt escape. Indeed, I
+meditated fetching or calling them, when suddenly I saw them
+returning, burying a wire or wires in the sand as they came, and at
+the same time heard a noise of thunderous blows of which I could not
+mistake the meaning. Evidently the Fung were breaking down the farther
+bronze doors with some kind of battering-ram. I ran out to meet them
+and told my news.
+
+"Well done," said Orme in a quiet voice. "Now, Sergeant, just join up
+those wires to the battery, and be careful to screw them in tight. You
+have tested it, haven't you? Doctor, be good enough to unbar the
+gates. No, you can't do that alone; I'll help you presently. Look to
+the camels and tighten the girths. These Fung will have the doors down
+in a minute, and then there will be no time to lose."
+
+"What are you going to do?" I asked as I obeyed.
+
+"Show them some fireworks, I hope. Bring the camels into the archway
+so that they can't foul the wire with their feet. So--stand still, you
+grumbling brutes! Now for these bolts. Heavens! how stiff they are. I
+wonder why the Fung don't grease them. One door will do--never mind
+the other."
+
+Labouring furiously we got it undone and ajar. So far as we could see
+there was no one in sight beyond. Scared by our bullets or for other
+reasons of their own, the guard there appeared to have moved away.
+
+"Shall we take the risk and ride for it?" I suggested.
+
+"No," answered Orme. "If we do, even supposing there are no Fung
+waiting beyond the rise, those inside the town will soon catch us on
+their swift horses. We must scare them before we bolt, and then those
+that are left of them may let us alone. Now listen to me. When I give
+the word, you two take the camels outside and make them kneel about
+fifty yards away, not nearer, for I don't know the effective range of
+these new explosives; it may be greater than I think. I shall wait
+until the Fung are well over the mine and then fire it, after which I
+hope to join you. If I don't, ride as hard as you can go to that White
+Rock, and if you reach Mur give my compliments to the Child of Kings,
+or whatever she is called, and say that although I have been prevented
+from waiting upon her, Sergeant Quick understands as much about
+picrates as I do. Also get Shadrach tried and hanged if he is guilty
+of Higgs's death. Poor old Higgs! how he would have enjoyed this."
+
+"Beg your pardon, Captain," said Quick, "but I'll stay with you. The
+doctor can see to the baggage animals."
+
+"Will you be good enough to obey orders and fall to the rear when you
+are told, Sergeant? Now, no words. It is necessary for the purposes of
+this expedition that one of us two should try to keep a whole skin."
+
+"Then, sir," pleaded Quick, "mayn't I take charge of the battery?"
+
+"No," he answered sternly. "Ah! the doors are down at last," and he
+pointed to a horde of Fung, mounted and on foot, who poured through
+the gateway where they had stood, shouting after their fashion, and
+went on: "Now then, pick out the captains and pepper away. I want to
+keep them back a bit, so that they come on in a crowd, not scattered."
+
+We took up our repeating rifles and did as Orme told us, and so dense
+was the mass of humanity opposite that if we missed one man, we hit
+another, killing or wounding a number of them. The result of the loss
+of several of their leaders, to say nothing of meaner folk, was just
+what Orme had foreseen. The Fung soldiers, instead of rushing on
+independently, spread to right and left, until the whole farther side
+of the square filled up with thousands of them, a veritable sea of
+men, at which we pelted bullets as boys hurl stones at a wave.
+
+At length the pressure of those behind thrust onward those in front,
+and the whole fierce, tumultuous mob began to flow forward across the
+square, a multitude bent on the destruction of three white men, armed
+with these new and terrible weapons. It was a very strange and
+thrilling sight; never have I seen its like.
+
+"Now," said Orme, "stop firing and do as I bid you. Kneel the camels
+fifty yards outside the wall, not less, and wait till you know the
+end. If we shouldn't meet again, well, good-bye and good luck."
+
+So we went, Quick literally weeping with shame and rage.
+
+"Good Lord!" he exclaimed, "good Lord! to think that, after four
+campaigns, Samuel Quick, Sergeant of Engineers, with five medals,
+should live to be sent off with the baggage like a pot-bellied
+bandmaster, leaving his captain to fight about three thousand niggers
+single-handed. Doctor, if he don't come out, you do the best you can
+for yourself, for I'm going back to stop with him, that's all. There,
+that's fifty paces; down you go, you ugly beasts," and he bumped his
+camel viciously on the head with the butt of his rifle.
+
+From where we had halted we could only see through the archway into
+the space beyond. By now the square looked like a great Sunday meeting
+in Hyde Park, being filled up with men of whom the first rows were
+already past the altar-like rostrum in its centre.
+
+"Why don't he loose off them stinging-bees?" muttered Quick. "Oh! I
+see his little game. Look," and he pointed to the figure of Orme, who
+had crept behind the unopened half of the door on our side of it and
+was looking intently round its edge, holding the battery in his right
+hand. "He wants to let them get nearer so as to make a bigger bag.
+He----"
+
+I heard no more of Quick's remarks, for suddenly something like an
+earthquake took place, and the whole sky seemed to turn to one great
+flame. I saw a length of the wall of the square rush outward and
+upward. I saw the shut half of the bronze-plated door skipping and
+hopping playfully toward us, and in front of it the figure of a man.
+Then it began to rain all sorts of things.
+
+For instance, stones, none of which hit us, luckily, and other more
+unpleasant objects. It is a strange experience to be knocked backward
+by a dead fist separated from its parent body, yet on this occasion
+this actually happened to me, and, what is more, the fist had a spear
+in it. The camels tried to rise and bolt, but they are phlegmatic
+brutes, and, as ours were tired as well, we succeeded in quieting
+them.
+
+Whilst we were thus occupied somewhat automatically, for the shock had
+dazed us, the figure that had been propelled before the dancing door
+arrived, reeling in a drunken fashion, and through the dust and
+falling /d�bris/ we knew it for that of Oliver Orme. His face was
+blackened, his clothes were torn half off him, and blood from a scalp
+wound ran down his brown hair. But in his right hand he still held the
+little electric battery, and I knew at once that he had no limbs
+broken.
+
+"Very successful mine," he said thickly. "Boer melinite shells aren't
+in it with this new compound. Come on before the enemy recover from
+the shock," and he flung himself upon his camel.
+
+In another minute we had started at a trot toward the White Rock,
+whilst from the city of Harmac behind us rose a wail of fear and
+misery. We gained the top of the rise on which I had shot the
+horseman, and, as I expected, found that the Fung had posted a strong
+guard in the dip beyond, out of reach of our bullets, in order to cut
+us off, should we attempt to escape. Now, terrified by what had
+happened, to them a supernatural catastrophe, they were escaping
+themselves, for we perceived them galloping off to the left and right
+as fast as their horses would carry them.
+
+So for awhile we went on unmolested, though not very quickly, because
+of Orme's condition. When we had covered about half the distance
+between us and the White Rock, I looked round and became aware that we
+were being pursued by a body of cavalry about a hundred strong, which
+I supposed had emerged from some other gate of the city.
+
+"Flog the animals," I shouted to Quick, "or they will catch us after
+all."
+
+He did so, and we advanced at a shambling gallop, the horsemen gaining
+on us every moment. Now I thought that all was over, especially when
+of a sudden from behind the White Rock emerged a second squad of
+horsemen.
+
+"Cut off!" I exclaimed.
+
+"Suppose so, sir," answered Quick, "but these seem a different crowd."
+
+I scanned them and saw that he was right. They were a very different
+crowd, for in front of them floated the Abati banner, which I could
+not mistake, having studied it when I was a guest of the tribe: a
+curious, triangular, green flag covered with golden Hebrew characters,
+surrounding the figure of Solomon seated on a throne. Moreover,
+immediately behind the banner in the midst of a bodyguard rode a
+delicately shaped woman clothed in pure white. It was the Child of
+Kings herself!
+
+Two more minutes and we were among them. I halted my camel and looked
+round to see that the Fung cavalry were retreating. After the events
+of that morning clearly they had no stomach left for a fight with a
+superior force.
+
+The lady in white rode up to us.
+
+"Greetings, friend," she exclaimed to me, for she knew me again at
+once. "Now, who is captain among you?"
+
+I pointed to the shattered Orme, who sat swaying on his camel with
+eyes half closed.
+
+"Noble sir," she said, addressing him, "if you can, tell me what has
+happened. I am Maqueda of the Abati, she who is named Child of Kings.
+Look at the symbol on my brow, and you will see that I speak truth,"
+and, throwing back her veil, she revealed the coronet of gold that
+showed her rank.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+BARUNG
+
+At the sound of this soft voice (the extreme softness of Maqueda's
+voice was always one of her greatest charms), Orme opened his eyes and
+stared at her.
+
+"Very queer dream," I heard him mutter. "Must be something in the
+Mohammedan business after all. Extremely beautiful woman, and that
+gold thing looks well on her dark hair."
+
+"What does the lord your companion say?" asked Maqueda of me.
+
+Having first explained that he was suffering from shock, I translated
+word for word, whereon Maqueda blushed to her lovely violet eyes and
+let fall her veil in a great hurry. In the confusion which ensued, I
+heard Quick saying to his master:
+
+"No, no, sir; this one ain't no houri. She's a flesh and blood queen,
+and the pleasantest to look at I ever clapped eyes on, though a
+benighted African Jew. Wake up, Captain, wake up; you are out of that
+hell-fire now. It's got the Fung, not you."
+
+The word Fung seemed to rouse Orme.
+
+"Yes," he said; "I understand. The vapour of the stuff poisoned me,
+but it is passing now. Adams, ask that lady how many men she's got
+with her. What does she say? About five hundred? Well, then, let her
+attack Harmac at once. The outer and inner gates are down; the Fung
+think they have raised the devil and will run. She can inflict a
+defeat on them from which they will not recover for years, only it
+must be done at once, before they get their nerve again, for, after
+all, they are more frightened than hurt."
+
+Maqueda listened to this advice intently.
+
+"It is to my liking; it is very good," she said in her quaint archaic
+Arabic when I had finished translating. "But I must consult my
+Council. Where is my uncle, the prince Joshua?"
+
+"Here, Lady," answered a voice from the press behind, out of which
+presently emerged, mounted on a white horse, a stout man, well
+advanced in middle age, with a swarthy complexion and remarkably
+round, prominent eyes. He was clad in the usual Eastern robes, richly
+worked, over which he wore a shirt of chain-mail, and on his head a
+helmet, with mail flaps, an attire that gave the general effect of an
+obese Crusader of the early Norman period without his cross.
+
+"Is that Joshua?" said Orme, who was wandering a little again. "Rummy-
+looking cock, isn't he? Sergeant, tell Joshua that the walls of
+Jericho are down, so there'll be no need to blow his own trumpet. I'm
+sure from the look of him that he's a perfect devil with a trumpet."
+
+"What does your companion say?" asked Maqueda again.
+
+I translated the middle part of Orme's remarks, but neither the
+commencement nor the end, but even these amused her very much, for she
+burst out laughing, and said, pointing to Harmac, over which still
+hung a cloud of dust:
+
+"Yes, yes, Joshua, my uncle, the walls of Jericho are down, and the
+question is, will you not take your opportunity? So in an hour or two
+we shall be dead, or if God goes with us, perhaps free from the menace
+of the Fung for years."
+
+The prince Joshua stared at her with his great, prominent eyes, then
+answered in a thick, gobbling voice:
+
+"Are you mad, Child of Kings? Of us Abati here there are but five
+hundred men, and of the Fung yonder tens of thousands. If we attacked,
+they would eat us up. Can five hundred men stand against tens of
+thousands?"
+
+"It seems that three stood against them this morning, and worked some
+damage, my uncle, but it is true those three are of a different race
+from the Abati," she added with bitter sarcasm. Then she turned to
+those behind her and cried: "Who of my captains and Council will
+accompany me, if I who am but a woman dare to advance on Harmac?"
+
+Now here and there a voice cried, "I will," or some gorgeously dressed
+person stepped forward in a hesitating way, and that was all.
+
+"You see, men of the West!" said Maqueda after a little pause,
+addressing us three. "I thank you for the great deeds that you have
+done and for your counsel. But I cannot take it because my people are
+not--warlike," and she covered her face with her hands.
+
+Now there arose a great tumult among her followers, who all began to
+talk at once. Joshua in particular drew a large sword and waved it,
+shouting out a recital of the desperate actions of his youth and the
+names of Fung chieftains whom he alleged he had killed in single
+combat.
+
+"Told you that fat cur was a first-class trumpeter," said Orme
+languidly, while the Sergeant ejaculated in tones of deep disgust:
+
+"Good Lord! what a set. Why, Doctor, they ain't fit to savage a
+referee in a London football ground. Pharaoh there in his basket
+(where he was barking loudly) would make the whole lot run, and if he
+was out--oh my! Now, then, you porpoise"--this he addressed to Joshua,
+who was flourishing his sword unpleasantly near--"put your pasteboard
+up, won't you, or I'll knock your fat head off," whereon the Prince,
+who, if he did not understand Quick's words, at any rate caught their
+meaning wonderfully well, did as he was told, and fell back.
+
+Just then, indeed, there was a general movement up the pass, in the
+wide mouth of which all this scene took place, for suddenly three Fung
+chieftains appeared galloping toward us, one of whom was veiled with a
+napkin in which were cut eyeholes. So universal was this retreat, in
+fact, that we three on our camels, and the Child of Kings on her
+beautiful mare, found ourselves left alone.
+
+"An embassy," said Maqueda, scanning the advancing horsemen, who
+carried with them a white flag tied to the blade of a spear.
+"Physician, will you and your friends come with me and speak to these
+messengers?" And without even waiting for an answer, she rode forward
+fifty yards or so on to the plain, and there reined up and halted till
+we could bring our camels round and join her. As we did so, the three
+Fung, splendid-looking, black-faced fellows, arrived at a furious
+gallop, their lances pointed at us.
+
+"Stand still, friends," said Maqueda; "they mean no harm."
+
+As the words passed her lips, the Fung pulled the horses to their
+haunches, Arab-fashion, lifted spears and saluted. Then their leader--
+not the veiled man, but another--spoke in a dialect that I, who had
+spent so many years among the savages of the desert, understood well
+enough, especially as the base of it was Arabic.
+
+"O, Walda Nagasta, Daughter of Solomon," he said, "we are the tongues
+of our Sultan Barung, Son of Barung for a hundred generations, and we
+speak his words to the brave white men who are your guests. Thus says
+Barung. Like the Fat One whom I have already captured, you white men
+are heroes. Three of you alone, you held the gate against my army.
+With the weapons of the white man you killed us from afar, here one
+and there one. Then, at last, with a great magic of thunder and
+lightning and earthquake, you sent us by scores into the bosom of our
+god, and shook down our walls about our ears and out of that hell you
+escaped yourselves.
+
+"Now, O white men, this is the offer of Barung to you: Leave the curs
+of the Abati, the baboons who gibber and deck themselves out, the
+rock-rabbits who seek safety in the cliffs, and come to him. He will
+give you not only life, but all your heart's desire--lands and wives
+and horses; great shall you be in his councils and happy shall you
+live. Moreover, for your sakes he will try to spare your brother, the
+Fat One, whose eyes look out of black windows, who blows fire from his
+mouth, and reviles his enemies as never man did before. Yes, although
+the priests have doomed him to sacrifice at the next feast of Harmac,
+he will try to spare him, which, perhaps, he can do by making him,
+like the Singer of Egypt, also a priest of Harmac, and thus dedicate
+forever to the god with whom, indeed, he says he had been familiar for
+thousands of years. This is our message, O white men."
+
+Now, when I had translated the substance of this oration to Orme and
+Quick, for, as I saw by the quiver that passed through her at the Fung
+insults upon her tribe, Maqueda understood it, their tongues not
+differing greatly, Orme who, for the time at any rate, was almost
+himself again, said:
+
+"Tell these fellows to say to their Sultan that he is a good old boy,
+and that we thank him very much; also that we are sorry to have been
+obliged to kill so many of them in a way that he must have thought
+unsportsmanlike, but we had to do it, as we are sure he will
+understand, in order to save our skins. Tell him also that, speaking
+personally, having sampled the Abati yonder and on our journey, I
+should like to accept his invitation. But although, as yet, we have
+found no men among them, only, as he says, baboons, rock-rabbits, and
+boasters without a fight in them, we have"--and here he bowed his
+bleeding head to Maqueda--"found a woman with a great heart. Of her
+salt we have eaten, or are about to eat; to serve her we have come
+from far upon her camels, and, unless she should be pleased to
+accompany us, we cannot desert her."
+
+All of this I rendered faithfully, while every one, and especially
+Maqueda, listened with much attention. When they had considered our
+words, the spokesman of the messengers replied to the effect that the
+motives of our decision were of a nature that commanded their entire
+respect and sympathy, especially as their people quite concurred in
+our estimate of the character of the Abati ruler, Child of Kings. This
+being so, they would amend their proposition, knowing the mind of
+their Sultan, and having, indeed, plenipotentiary powers.
+
+"Lady of Mur," he went on, addressing Maqueda directly, "fair daughter
+of the great god Harmac and a mortal queen, what we have offered to
+the white lords, your guests, we offer to you also. Barung, our
+Sultan, shall make you his head wife; or, if that does not please you,
+you shall wed whom you will"--and, perhaps by accident, the envoy's
+roving eyes rested for a moment upon Oliver Orme.
+
+"Leave, then, your rock-rabbits, who dare not quit their cliffs when
+but three messengers wait without with sticks," and he glanced at the
+spear in his hand, "and come to dwell among men. Listen, high Lady; we
+know your case. You do your best in a hopeless task. Had it not been
+for you and your courage, Mur would have been ours three years ago,
+and it was ours before your tribe wandered thither. But while you can
+find but a hundred brave warriors to help you, you think the place
+impregnable, and you have perhaps that number, though we know they are
+not here; they guard the gates above. Yes, with a few of your
+Mountaineers whose hearts are as those of their forefathers were, so
+far as you have defied all the power of the Fung, and when you saw
+that the end drew near, using your woman's wit, you sent for the white
+men to come with their magic, promising to pay them with the gold
+which you have in such plenty in the tombs of our old kings and in the
+rocks of the mountains."
+
+"Who told you that, O Tongue of Barung?" asked Maqueda in a low voice,
+speaking for the first time. "The man of the West whom you took
+prisoner--he whom you call Fat One?"
+
+"No, no, O Walda Nagasta, the lord Black Windows has told us nothing
+as yet, except sundry things about the history of our god, with whom,
+as we said, he seems to be familiar, and to whom, therefore, we vowed
+him at once. But there are others who tell us things, for in times of
+truce our peoples trade together a little, and cowards are often
+spies. For instance, we knew that these white men were coming last
+night, though it is true that we did not know of their fire magic,
+for, had we done so, we should not have let the camels slip through,
+since there may be more of it on them----"
+
+"For your comfort, learn that there is--much more," I interrupted.
+
+"Ah!" replied the Tongue, shaking his head sadly, "and yet we suffered
+Cat, whom you call Shadrach, to make off with that of your fat
+brother; yes, and even gave it to him after his own beast had been
+lamed by accident. Well, it is our bad luck, and without doubt Harmac
+is angry with us to-day. But your answer, O Walda Nagasta, your
+answer, O Rose of Mur?"
+
+"What can it be, O Voices of Barung the Sultan?" replied Maqueda. "You
+know that by my blood and by my oath of office I am sworn to protect
+Mur to the last."
+
+"And so you shall," pleaded the Tongue, "for when we have cleaned it
+of baboons and rock-rabbits, which, if you were among us, we soon
+should do, and thus fulfilled our oath to regain our ancient secret
+City of the Rocks, we will set you there once more as its Lady, under
+Barung, and give you a multitude of subjects of whom you may be
+proud."
+
+"It may not be, O Tongue, for they would be worshippers of Harmac, and
+between Jehovah, whom I serve, and Harmac there is war," she answered
+with spirit.
+
+"Yes, sweet-smelling Bud of the Rose, there is war, and let it be
+admitted that the first battle has gone against Harmac, thanks to the
+magic of the white men. Yet yonder he sits in his glory as the
+spirits, his servants, fashioned him in the beginning," and he pointed
+with his spear toward the valley of the idol. "You know our prophecy--
+that until Harmac rises from his seat and flies away, for where he
+goes, the Fung must follow--till then, I say, we shall hold the plains
+and the city of his name--that is, for ever."
+
+"For ever is a long word, O Mouth of Barung." Then she paused a
+little, and added slowly, "Did not certain of the gates of Harmac fly
+far this morning? Now what if your god should follow his gates and
+those worshippers who went with them, and be seen no more? Or what if
+the earth should open and swallow him, so that he goes down to hell,
+whither you cannot follow? Or what if the mountains should fall
+together and bury him from your sight eternally. Or what if the
+lightnings should leap out and shatter him to dust?"
+
+At these ominous words the envoys shivered, and it seemed to me that
+their faces for a moment turned grey.
+
+"Then, O Child of Kings," answered the spokesman solemnly, "the Fung
+will acknowledge that your god is greater than our god, and that our
+glory is departed."
+
+Thus he spoke and was silent, turning his eyes toward the third
+messenger, he who wore a cloth or napkin upon his head that was
+pierced with eyeholes and hung down to the breast. With a quick
+motion, the man dragged off this veil and threw it to the ground,
+revealing a very noble countenance, not black like that of his
+followers, but copper-coloured. He was about fifty years of age, with
+deep-set flashing eyes, hooked nose, and a flowing, grizzled beard.
+The collar of gold about his neck showed that his rank was high, but
+when we noticed a second ornament of gold, also upon his brow, we knew
+that it must be supreme. For this ornament was nothing less than the
+symbol of royalty, once worn by the ancient Pharaohs of Egypt, the
+double snakes of the /uraeus/ bending forward as though to strike,
+which, as we had seen, rose also from the brow of the lion-headed
+sphinx of Harmac.
+
+As he uncovered, his two companions leapt to the ground and prostrated
+themselves before him, crying, "Barung! Barung!" while all three of us
+Englishmen saluted, involuntarily, I think, and even the Child of
+Kings bowed.
+
+The Sultan acknowledged our greetings by raising his spear. Then he
+spoke in a grave measured voice:
+
+"O Walda Nagasta, and you, white men, sons of great fathers, I have
+listened to the talk between you and my servants; I confirm their
+words and I add to them. I am sorry that my generals tried to kill you
+last night. I was making prayer to my god, or it should not have
+happened. I have been well repaid for that deed, since an army should
+not make war upon four men, even though by their secret power four men
+can defeat an army. I beseech you, and you also, Rose of Mur, to
+accept my proffered friendship, since otherwise, ere long, you will
+soon be dead, and your wisdom will perish with you for I am weary of
+this little war against a handful whom we despise.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta, you have breathed threats against the Majesty of
+Harmac, but he is too strong for you, nor may the might that can turn
+a few bricks to dust and shatter the bones of men prevail against him
+who is shaped from the heart of a mountain and holds the spirit of
+eternity. So at least I think: but even if it is decreed otherwise,
+what will that avail you? If it should please the god to leave us
+because of your arts, the Fung will still remain to avenge him ere
+they follow. Then I swear to you by my majesty and by the bones of my
+ancestors who sit in the caves of Mur, that I will spare but one of
+the Abati Jews, yourself, O Child of Kings, because of your great
+heart, and the three white men, your guests, should they survive the
+battle, because of their courage and their wisdom. As for their
+brother, Black Windows, whom I have captured, he must be sacrificed,
+since I have sworn it, unless you yield, when I will plead for his
+life to the god, with what result I cannot tell. Yield, then, and I
+will not even slay the Abati; they shall live on and serve the Fung as
+slaves and minister to the glory of Harmac."
+
+"It may not be, it may not be!" Maqueda answered, striking the pommel
+of her saddle with her small hand. "Shall Jehovah whom Solomon, my
+father, worshipped, Jehovah of all the generations, do homage to an
+idol shaped by the hands He made? My people are worn out; they have
+forgot their faith and gone astray, as did Israel in the desert. I
+know it. It may even happen that the time has come for them to perish,
+who are no longer warriors, as of old. Well, if so, let them die free,
+and not as slaves. At least I, in whom their best blood runs, do not
+seek your mercy, O Barung. I'll be no plaything in your house, who, at
+the worst, can always die, having done my duty to my God and those who
+bred me. Thus I answer you as the Child of many Kings. Yet as a
+woman," she added in a gentler voice, "I thank you for your courtesy.
+When I am slain, Barung, if I am fated to be slain, think kindly of
+me, as one who did her best against mighty odds," and her voice broke.
+
+"That I shall always do," he answered gravely. "Is it ended?"
+
+"Not quite," she answered. "These Western lords, I give them to you; I
+absolve them from their promise. Why should they perish in a lost
+cause? If they take their wisdom to you to use against me, you have
+vowed them their lives, and, perhaps, that of their brother, your
+captive. There is a slave of yours also--you spoke of him, or your
+servant did--Singer of Egypt is his name. One of them knew him as a
+child; perchance you will not refuse him to that man."
+
+She paused, but Barung made no answer.
+
+"Go, my friends," she went on, turning toward us. "I thank you for
+your long journey on my behalf and the blow you have struck for me,
+and in payment I will send you a gift of gold; the Sultan will see it
+safe into your hands. I thank you. I wish I could have known more of
+you, but mayhap we shall meet again in war. Farewell."
+
+She ceased, and I could see that she was watching us intently through
+her thin veil. The Sultan also watched us, stroking his long beard, a
+look of speculation in his eyes, for evidently this play interested
+him and he wondered how it would end.
+
+"This won't do," said Orme, when he understood the thing. "Higgs would
+never forgive us if we ate dirt just on the off-chance of saving him
+from sacrifice. He's too straight-minded on big things. But, of
+course, Doctor," he added jerkily, "you have interests of your own and
+must decide for yourself. I think I can speak for the Sergeant."
+
+"I have decided," I answered. "I hope that my son would never forgive
+me either; but if it is otherwise, why, so it must be. Also Barung has
+made no promises about him."
+
+"Tell him, then," said Orme. "My head aches infernally, and I want to
+go to bed, above ground or under it."
+
+So I told him, although, to speak the truth, I felt like a man with a
+knife in his heart, for it was bitter to come so near to the desire of
+years, to the love of life, and then to lose all hope just because of
+duty to the head woman of a pack of effete curs to whom one had
+chanced to make a promise in order to gain this very end. If we could
+have surrendered with honour, at least I should have seen my son, whom
+now I might never see again.
+
+One thing, however, I added on the spur of the moment--namely, a
+request that the Sultan would tell the Professor every word that had
+passed, in order that whatever happened to him he might know the exact
+situation.
+
+"My Harmac," said Barung when he had heard, "how disappointed should I
+have been with you if you had answered otherwise when a woman showed
+you the way. I have heard of you English before--Arabs and traders
+brought me tales of you. For instance, there was one who died
+defending a city against a worshipper of the Prophet who called
+himself a prophet, down yonder at Khartoum on the Nile--a great death,
+they told me, a great death, which your people avenged afterwards.
+
+"Well I did not quite believe the story, and I wished to judge of it
+by you. I have judged, white lords, I have judged, and I am sure that
+your fat brother, Black Windows, will be proud of you even in the
+lion's jaws. Fear not; he shall hear every word. The Singer of Egypt,
+who, it appears, can talk his tongue, shall tell the tale to him, and
+make a song of it to be sung over your honourable graves. And now
+farewell; may it be my lot to cross swords with one of you before all
+is done. That shall not be yet, for you need rest, especially yonder
+tall son of a god who is wounded," and he pointed to Orme. "Child of
+Kings with a heart of kings, permit me to kiss your hand and to lead
+you back to your people, that I would were more worthy of you. Ah!
+yes, I would that /we/ were your people."
+
+Maqueda stretched out her hand, and, taking it, the Sultan barely
+touched her fingers with his lips. Then, still holding them, he rode
+with her toward the pass.
+
+As we approached its mouth, where the Abati were crowded together,
+watching our conference, I heard them murmur, "The Sultan, the Sultan
+himself!" and saw the prince Joshua mutter some eager words to the
+officers about him.
+
+"Look out, Doctor," said Quick into my ear. "Unless I'm mistook, that
+porpoise is going to play some game."
+
+Hardly were the words out of his mouth when, uttering the most valiant
+shouts and with swords drawn, Joshua and a body of his companions
+galloped up and surrounded our little group.
+
+"Now yield, Barung," bellowed Joshua; "yield or die!"
+
+The Sultan stared at him in astonishment, then answered:
+
+"If I had any weapon (he had thrown down his lance when he took
+Maqueda by the hand), certainly one of us should die, O Hog in man's
+clothes."
+
+Then he turned to Maqueda and added, "Child of Kings, I knew these
+people of yours to be cowardly and treacherous, but is it thus that
+you suffer them to deal with envoys under a flag of peace?"
+
+"Not so, not so," she cried. "My uncle Joshua, you disgrace me; you
+make our people a shame, a hissing, and a reproach. Stand back; let
+the Sultan of the Fung go free."
+
+But they would not; the prize was too great to be readily disgorged.
+
+We looked at each other. "Not at all the game," said Orme. "If they
+collar him, we shall be tarred with their extremely dirty brush. Shove
+your camel in front, Sergeant, and if that beggar Joshua tries any
+tricks, put a bullet through him."
+
+Quick did not need to be told twice. Banging his dromedary's ribs with
+the butt end of his rifle, he drove it straight on to Joshua,
+shouting:
+
+"Out of the light, porpoise!" with the result that the Prince's horse
+took fright, and reared up so high that its rider slid off over its
+tail to find himself seated on the ground, a sorry spectacle in his
+gorgeous robes and armour.
+
+Taking advantage of the confusion which ensued, we surrounded the
+Sultan and escorted him out of the throng back to his two companions,
+who, seeing that there was something amiss, were galloping toward us.
+
+"I am your debtor," said Barung, "but, O White Men, make me more so.
+Return, I pray you, to that hog in armour, and say that Barung, Sultan
+of the Fung, understands from his conduct that he desires to challenge
+him to single combat, and that, seeing he is fully armed, the Sultan,
+although he wears no mail, awaits him here and now."
+
+So I went at once with the message. But Joshua was far too clever to
+be drawn into any such dangerous adventure.
+
+Nothing, he said, would have given him greater joy than to hack the
+head from the shoulders of this dog of a Gentile sheik. But,
+unhappily, owing to the conduct of one of us foreigners, he had been
+thrown from his horse, and hurt his back, so that he could scarcely
+stand, much less fight a duel.
+
+So I returned with my answer, whereat Barung smiled and said nothing.
+Only, taking from his neck a gold chain which he wore, he proffered it
+to Quick, who, as he said, had induced the prince Joshua to show his
+horsemanship if not his courage. Then he bowed to us, one by one, and
+before the Abati could make up their mind whether to follow him or
+not, galloped off swiftly with his companions toward Harmac.
+
+Such was our introduction to Barung, Sultan of the Fung, a barbarian
+with many good points, among them courage, generosity, and
+appreciation of those qualities even in a foe, characteristics that
+may have been intensified by the blood of his mother, who, I am told,
+was an Arab of high lineage captured by the Fung in war and given as a
+wife to the father of Barung.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE SHADOW OF FATE
+
+Our ride from the plains up the pass that led to the high tableland of
+Mur was long and, in its way, wonderful enough. I doubt whether in the
+whole world there exists another home of men more marvellously
+defended by nature. Apparently the road by which we climbed was cut in
+the first instance, not by human hands, but by the action of prim�val
+floods, pouring, perhaps, from the huge lake which doubtless once
+covered the whole area within the circle of the mountains, although
+to-day it is but a moderate-sized sheet of water, about twenty miles
+long by ten in breadth. However this may be, the old inhabitants had
+worked on it, the marks of their tools may still be seen upon the
+rock.
+
+For the first mile or two the road is broad and the ascent so gentle
+that my horse was able to gallop up it on that dreadful night when,
+after seeing my son's face, accident, or rather Providence, enabled me
+to escape the Fung. But from the spot where the lions pulled the poor
+beast down, its character changes. In places it is so narrow that
+travellers must advance in single file between walls of rock hundreds
+of feet high, where the sky above looks like a blue ribbon, and even
+at midday the path below is plunged in gloom. At other spots the slope
+is so precipitous that beasts of burden can scarcely keep their
+foothold; indeed, we were soon obliged to transfer ourselves from the
+camels to horses accustomed to the rocks. At others, again, it
+follows the brink of a yawning precipice, an ugly place to ride or
+turn rectangular corners, which half-a-dozen men could hold against an
+army, and twice it passes through tunnels, though whether these are
+natural I do not know.
+
+Besides all these obstacles to an invader there were strong gates at
+intervals, with towers near by where guards were stationed night and
+day, and fosses or dry moats in front of them which could only be
+crossed by means of drawbridges. So the reader will easily understand
+how it came about that, whatever the cowardice of the Abati, though
+they strove for generations, the Fung had as yet never been able to
+recapture the ancient stronghold, which, or so it is said, in the
+beginning these Abati won from them by means of an Oriental trick.
+
+Here I should add that, although there are two other roads to the
+plains--that by which, in order to outflank the Fung, the camels were
+let down when I started on my embassy to Egypt, and that to the north
+where the great swamps lie--these are both of them equally, if not
+more, impassable, at any rate to an enemy attacking from below.
+
+A strange cavalcade we must have seemed as we crawled up this terrific
+approach. First went a body of the Abati notables on horseback,
+forming a long line of colour and glittering steel, who chattered as
+they rode, for they seemed to have no idea of discipline. Next came a
+company of horsemen armed with spears, or rather two companies in the
+centre of which rode the Child of Kings, some of her courtiers and
+chief officers, and ourselves, perhaps, as Quick suggested, because
+infantry in the event of surprise would find it less easy to run away
+than those who were mounted upon horses. Last of all rode more
+cavalry, the duty of whose rear files it was to turn from time to
+time, and, after inspection, to shout out that we were not pursued.
+
+It cannot be said that we who occupied the centre of the advance were
+a cheerful band. Orme, although so far he had borne up, was evidently
+very ill from the shock of the explosion, so much so that men had to
+be set on each side of him to see that he did not fall from the
+saddle. Also he was deeply depressed by the fact that honour had
+forced us to abandon Higgs to what seemed a certain and probably a
+cruel death; and if he felt thus, what was my own case, who left not
+only my friend, but also my son, in the hands of savage heathens?
+
+Maqueda's face was not visible because of the thin spangled veil that
+she wore, but there was something about her attitude suggestive of
+shame and of despair. The droop of the head and even her back showed
+this, as I, who rode a little behind and on side of her, could see. I
+think, too, that she was anxious about Orme, for she turned toward him
+several times as though studying his condition. Also I am sure that
+she was indignant with Joshua and others of her officers, for when
+they spoke to her she would not answer or take the slightest notice of
+them beyond straightening herself in the saddle. As for the Prince
+himself, his temper seemed to be much ruffled, although apparently he
+had overcome the hurt to his back which prevented him from accepting
+the Sultan's challenge, for at a difficult spot in the road he
+dismounted and ran along actively enough. At any rate, when his
+subordinates addressed him he only answered them with muttered oaths,
+and his attitude towards us Englishmen, especially Quick, was not
+amiable. Indeed, if looks could have killed us I am sure that we
+should all have been dead before ever we reached the Gate of Mur.
+
+This so-called gate was the upper mouth of the pass whence first we
+saw, lying beneath us, the vast, mountain-ringed plain beyond. It was
+a beautiful sight in the sunshine. Almost at our feet, half-hidden in
+palms and other trees, lay the flat-roofed town itself, a place of
+considerable extent, as every house of any consequence seemed to be
+set in a garden, since here there was no need for cramping walls and
+defensive works. Beyond it to the northward, farther than the eye
+could reach, stretching down a gentle slope to the far-off shores of
+the great lake of glistening water, were cultivated fields, and
+amongst them villas and, here and there, hamlets.
+
+Whatever might be the faults of the Abati, evidently they were skilled
+husbandsmen, such as their reputed forefathers, the old inhabitants of
+Jud�a, must have been before them, for of that strain presumably some
+trace was still present in their veins. However far he may have
+drifted from such pursuits, originally the Jew was a tiller of the
+soil, and here, where many of his other characteristics had evaporated
+under pressure of circumstances--notably the fierce courage that Titus
+knew--this taste remained to him, if only by tradition.
+
+Indeed, having no other outlet for their energies and none with whom
+to trade, the interests of the Abati were centred in the land. For and
+by the land they lived and died, and, since the amount available was
+limited by the mountain wall, he who had most land was great amongst
+them, he who had little land was small, he who had no land was
+practically a slave. Their law was in its essentials a law of the
+land; their ambitions, their crimes, everything to do with them, were
+concerned with the land, upon the produce of which they existed and
+grew rich, some of them, by means of a system of barter. They had no
+coinage, their money being measures of corn or other produce, horses,
+camels, acres of their equivalent of soil, and so forth.
+
+And yet, oddly enough, their country is the richest in gold and other
+metals that I have ever heard of even in Africa--so rich that,
+according to Higgs, the old Egyptians drew bullion from it to the
+value of millions of pounds every year. This, indeed, I can well
+believe, for I have seen the ancient mines which were worked, for the
+most part as open quarries, still showing plenty of visible gold on
+the face of the slopes. Yet to these alleged Jews this gold was of no
+account. Imagine it; as Quick said, such a topsy-turvy state of things
+was enough to make a mere Christian feel cold down the back and go to
+bed thinking that the world must be coming to an end.
+
+To return, the prince Joshua, who appeared to be generalissimo of the
+army, in what was evidently a set phrase, exhorted the guards at the
+last gates to be brave and, if need were, deal with the heathen as
+some one or other dealt with Og, King of Bashan, and other unlucky
+persons of a different faith. In reply he received their earnest
+congratulations upon his escape from the frightful dangers of our
+journey.
+
+These formalities concluded, casting off the iron discipline of war,
+we descended a joyous mob, or rather the Abati did, to partake of the
+delights of peace. Really, conquerors returning from some desperate
+adventure could not have been more warmly greeted. As we entered the
+suburbs of the town, women, some of them very handsome, ran out and
+embraced their lords or lovers, holding up babies for them to kiss,
+and a little farther on children appeared, throwing roses and
+pomegranate flowers before their triumphant feet. And all this because
+these gallant men had ridden to the bottom of a pass and back again!
+
+"Heavens! Doctor," exclaimed the sardonic Quick, after taking note of
+these demonstrations, "Heavens! what a hero I feel myself to be. And
+to think that when I got back from the war with them Boers, after
+being left for dead on Spion Kop with a bullet through my lung and
+mentioned in a dispatch--yes, I, Sergeant Quick, mentioned in a
+dispatch by the biggest ass of a general as ever I clapped eyes on,
+for a job that I won't detail, no one in my native village ever took
+no note of me, although I had written to the parish clerk, who happens
+to be my brother-in-law, and told him the train I was coming by. I
+tell you, Doctor, no one so much as stood me a pint of beer, let alone
+wine," and he pointed to a lady who was proffering that beverage to
+some one whom she admired.
+
+"And as for chucking their arms round my neck and kissing me," and he
+indicated another episode, "all my old mother said--she was alive then
+--was that she 'hoped I'd done fooling about furrin' parts as I called
+soldiering, and come home to live respectable, better late than
+never.' Well, Doctor, circumstances alter cases, or blood and climate
+do, which is the same thing, and I didn't miss what I never expected,
+why should I when others like the Captain there, who had done so much
+more, fared worse? But, Lord! these Abati are a sickening lot, and I
+wish we were clear of them. Old Barung's the boy for me."
+
+Passing down the main street of this charming town of Mur, accompanied
+by these joyous demonstrators, we came at last to its central square,
+a large, open space where, in the moist and genial climate, for the
+high surrounding mountains attracted plentiful showers of rain, trees
+and flowers grew luxuriantly. At the head of this square stood a long,
+low building with white-washed walls and gilded domes, backed by the
+towering cliff, but at a little distance from it, and surrounded by
+double walls with a moat of water between them, dug for purposes of
+defence.
+
+This was the palace, which on my previous visit I had only entered
+once or twice when I was received by the Child of Kings in formal
+audience. Round the rest of this square, each placed in its own
+garden, were the houses of the great nobles and officials, and at its
+western end, among other public buildings, a synagogue or temple which
+looked like a model of that built by Solomon in Jerusalem, from the
+description of which it had indeed been copied, though, of course,
+upon a small scale.
+
+At the gate of the palace we halted, and Joshua, riding up, asked
+Maqueda sulkily whether he should conduct "the Gentiles," for that was
+his polite description of us, to the lodging for pilgrims in the
+western town.
+
+"No, my uncle," answered Maqueda; "these foreign lords will be housed
+in the guest-wing of the palace."
+
+"In the guest-wing of the palace? It is not usual," gobbled Joshua,
+swelling himself out like a great turkey cock. "Remember, O niece,
+that you are still unmarried. I do not yet dwell in the palace to
+protect you."
+
+"So I found out in the plain yonder," she replied; "still, I managed
+to protect myself. Now, I pray you, no words. I think it necessary
+that these my guests should be where their goods already are, in the
+safest place in Mur. You, my uncle, as you told us, are badly hurt, by
+which accident you were prevented from accepting the challenge of the
+Sultan of the Fung. Go, then, and rest; I will send the court
+physician to you at once. Good-night, my uncle; when you are recovered
+we will meet again, for we have much that we must discuss. Nay, nay,
+you are most kind, but I will not detain you another minute. Seek your
+bed, my uncle, and forget not to thank God for your escape from many
+perils."
+
+At this polite mockery Joshua turned perfectly pale with rage, like
+the turkey cock when his wattles fade from scarlet into white. Before
+he could make any answer, however, Maqueda had vanished under the
+archway, so his only resource was to curse us, and especially Quick,
+who had caused him to fall from his horse. Unfortunately the Sergeant
+understood quite enough Arabic to be aware of the tenor of his
+remarks, which he resented and returned:
+
+"Shut it, Porpoise," he said, "and keep your eyes where Nature put
+'em, or they'll fall out."
+
+"What says the Gentile?" spluttered Joshua, whereon Orme, waking up
+from one of his fits of lethargy, replied in Arabic:
+
+"He says that he prays you, O Prince of princes, to close your noble
+mouth and to keep your high-bred eyes within their sockets lest you
+should lose them"; at which words those who were listening broke into
+a fit of laughter, for one redeeming characteristic among the Abati
+was that they had a sense of humour.
+
+After this I do not quite know what happened for Orme showed signs of
+fainting, and I had to attend to him. When I looked round again the
+gates were shut and we were being conducted toward the guest-wing of
+the palace by a number of gaily dressed attendants.
+
+They took us to our rooms--cool, lofty chambers ornamented with glazed
+tiles of quaint colour and beautiful design, and furnished somewhat
+scantily with articles made of rich-hued woods. This guest-wing of the
+palace, where these rooms were situated, formed, we noted, a separate
+house, having its own gateway, but, so far as we could see, no passage
+or other connection joining it to the main building. In front of it
+was a small garden, and at its back a courtyard with buildings, in
+which we were informed our camels had been stabled. At the time we
+noted no more, for night was falling, and, even if it had not been, we
+were too worn out to make researches.
+
+Moreover, Orme was now desperately ill--so ill that he could scarcely
+walk leaning even on our shoulders. Still, he would not be satisfied
+till he was sure that our stores were safe, and, before he could be
+persuaded to lie down, insisted upon being supported to a vault with
+copper-bound doors, which the officers opened, revealing the packages
+that had been taken from the camels.
+
+"Count them, Sergeant," he said, and Quick obeyed by the light of a
+lamp that the officer held at the open door. "All correct, sir," he
+said, "so far as I can make out."
+
+"Very good, Sergeant. Lock the door and take the keys."
+
+Again he obeyed, and, when the officer demurred to their surrender,
+turned on him so fiercely that the man thought better of it and
+departed with a shrug of his shoulders, as I supposed to make report
+to his superiors.
+
+Then at length we got Orme to bed, and, as he complained of
+intolerable pains in his head and would take nothing but some milk and
+water, having first ascertained that he had no serious physical
+injuries that I could discover, I administered to him a strong
+sleeping-draught from my little travelling medicine case. To our great
+relief this took effect upon him in about twenty minutes, causing him
+to sink into a stupor from which he did not awake for many hours.
+
+Quick and I washed ourselves, ate some food that was brought to us,
+and then took turns to watch Orme throughout the night. When I was at
+my post about six o'clock on the following morning he woke up and
+asked for drink, which I gave to him. After swallowing it he began to
+wander in his mind, and, on taking his temperature, I found that he
+had over five degrees of fever. The end of it was that he went off to
+sleep again, only waking up from time to time and asking for more
+drink.
+
+Twice during the night and early morning Maqueda sent to inquire as to
+his condition, and, apparently not satisfied with the replies, about
+ten in the forenoon arrived herself, accompanied by two waiting-ladies
+and a long-bearded old gentleman who, I understood, was the court
+physician.
+
+"May I see him?" she asked anxiously.
+
+I answered yes, if she and those with her were quite quiet. Then I led
+them into the darkened room where Quick stood like a statue at the
+head of the bed, only acknowledging her presence with a silent salute.
+She gazed at Oliver's flushed face and the forehead blackened where
+the gases from the explosion had struck him, and as she gazed I saw
+her beautiful violet eyes fill with tears. Then abruptly she turned
+and left the sick-chamber. Outside its doors she waved back her
+attendants imperiously and asked me in a whisper:
+
+"Will he live?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered, for I thought it best that she should
+learn the truth. "If he is only suffering from shock, fatigue, and
+fever, I think so, but if the explosion or the blow on his head where
+it cut has fractured the skull, then----"
+
+"Save him," she muttered. "I will give you all I--nay, pardon me; what
+need is there to tempt you, his friend, with reward? Only save him,
+save him."
+
+"I will do what I can, Lady, but the issue is in other hands than
+mine," I answered, and just then her attendants came up and put an end
+to the conversation.
+
+To this day the memory of that old rabbi, the court physician, affects
+me like a nightmare, for of all the medical fools that ever I met he
+was by far the most pre-eminent. All about the place he followed me
+suggesting remedies that would have been absurd even in the Middle
+Ages. The least harmful of them, I remember, was that poor Orme's head
+should be plastered with a compound of butter and the bones of a
+still-born child, and that he should be given some filthy compound to
+drink which had been specially blessed by the priests. Others there
+were also that would certainly have killed him in half-an-hour.
+
+Well, I got rid of him at last for the time, and returned to my vigil.
+It was melancholy work, since no skill that I had could tell me
+whether my patient would live or die. Nowadays the young men might
+know, or say that they did, but it must be remembered that, as a
+doctor, I am entirely superannuated. How could it be otherwise, seeing
+that I have passed the best of my life in the desert without any
+opportunity of keeping up with the times.
+
+Three days went by in this fashion, and very anxious days they were.
+For my part, although I said nothing of it to any one, I believed that
+there was some injury to the patient's skull and that he would die, or
+at best be paralyzed. Quick, however, had a different opinion. He said
+that he had seen two men in this state before from the concussion
+caused by the bursting of large shells near to them, and that they
+both recovered although one of them became an idiot.
+
+But it was Maqueda who first gave me any definite hope. On the third
+evening she came and sat by Orme for awhile, her attendants standing
+at a little distance. When she left him there was a new look upon her
+face--a very joyful look--which caused me to ask her what had
+happened.
+
+"Oh! he will live," she answered.
+
+I inquired what made her think so.
+
+"This," she replied, blushing. "Suddenly he looked up and in my own
+tongue asked me of what colour were my eyes. I answered that it
+depended upon the light in which they might be seen.
+
+"'Not at all,' he said. 'They are always /vi-o-let/, whether the
+curtain is drawn or no.' Now, physician Adams, tell me what is this
+colour /vi-o-let/?"
+
+"That of a little wild flower which grows in the West in the spring, O
+Maqueda--a very beautiful and sweet-scented flower which is dark blue
+like your eyes."
+
+"Indeed, Physician," she said. "Well, I do not know this flower, but
+what of that? Your friend will live and be sane. A dying man does not
+trouble about the colour of a lady's eyes, and one who is mad does not
+give that colour right."
+
+"Are you glad, O Child of Kings?" I asked.
+
+"Of course," she answered, "seeing that I am told that this captain
+alone can handle the firestuffs which you have brought with you, and,
+therefore, that it is necessary to me that he should not die."
+
+"I understand," I replied. "Let us pray that we may keep him alive.
+But there are many kinds of firestuffs, O Maqueda, and of one of them
+which chances to give out violet flames I am not sure that my friend
+is master. Yet in this country it may be the most dangerous of all."
+
+Now when she heard these words the Child of Kings looked me up and
+down angrily. Then suddenly she laughed a little in a kind of silent
+way that is peculiar to her, and, without saying anything, beckoned to
+her ladies and left the place.
+
+"Very variegated thing, woman, sir," remarked Quick, who was watching.
+(I think he meant to say "variable.") "This one, for instance, comes
+up that passage like a tired horse--shuffle, shuffle, shuffle--for I
+could hear the heels of her slippers on the floor. But now she goes
+out like a buck seeking its mate--head in air and hoof lifted. How do
+you explain it, Doctor?"
+
+"You had better ask the lady herself, Quick. Did the Captain take that
+soup she brought him?"
+
+"Every drop, sir, and tried to kiss her hand afterward, being still
+dazed, poor man, poor man! I saw him do it, knowing no better. He'll
+be sorry enough when he comes to himself."
+
+"No doubt, Sergeant. But meanwhile let us be glad that both their
+spirits seem to have improved, and if she brings any more soup when I
+am not there, I should let him have it. It is always well to humour
+invalids and women."
+
+"Yes, Doctor; but," he added, with a sudden fall of face, "invalids
+recover sometimes, and then how about the women."
+
+"Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof," I answered; "you had
+better go out for exercise; it is my watch." But to myself I thought
+that Fate was already throwing its ominous shadow before, and that it
+lay deep in Maqueda's violet eyes.
+
+Well, to cut a long story short, this was the turning-point of Orme's
+illness, and from that day he recovered rapidly, for, as it proved,
+there was no secret injury to the skull, and he was suffering from
+nothing except shock and fever. During his convalescence the Child of
+Kings came to see him several times, or to be accurate, if my memory
+serves me right, every afternoon. Of course, her visits were those of
+ceremony--that is to say, she was always accompanied by several of her
+ladies, that thorn in my flesh, the old doctor, and one or two
+secretaries and officers-in-waiting.
+
+But as Oliver was now moved by day into a huge reception room, and
+these people of the court were expected to stop at one end of it while
+she conversed with him at the other, to all intents and purposes, save
+for the presence of myself and Quick, her calls were of a private
+nature. Nor were we always present, since, now that my patient was out
+of danger the Sergeant and I went out riding a good deal--
+investigating Mur and its surroundings.
+
+It may be asked what they talked about on these occasions. I can only
+answer that, so far as I heard, the general subject was the politics
+of Mur and its perpetual war with the Fung. Still, there must have
+been other topics which I did not hear, since incidently I discovered
+that Orme was acquainted with many of Maqueda's private affairs
+whereof he could only have learned from her lips.
+
+Thus when I ventured to remark that perhaps it was not altogether wise
+for a young man in his position to become so intimate with the
+hereditary ruler of an exclusive tribe like the Abati, he replied
+cheerfully that this did not in the least matter, as, of course,
+according to their ancient laws, she could only marry with one of her
+own family, a fact which made all complications impossible. I inquired
+which of her cousins, of whom I knew she had several, was the happy
+man. He replied:
+
+"None of them. As a matter of fact, I believe that she is officially
+affianced to that fat uncle of hers, the fellow who blows his own
+trumpet so much, but I needn't add that this is only a form to which
+she submits in order to keep the others off."
+
+"Ah!" I said. "I wonder if Prince Joshua thinks it only a form?"
+
+"Don't know what he thinks, and don't care," he replied, yawning; "I
+only know that things stand as I say, and that the porpoise-man has as
+much chance of becoming the husband of Maqueda as you have of marrying
+the Empress of China. And now, to drop this matrimonial conversation
+and come to something more important, have you heard anything about
+Higgs and your son?"
+
+"You are more in the way of learning state secrets than I am, Orme," I
+answered sarcastically, being rather irritated at the course of events
+and his foolishness. "What have you heard?"
+
+"This, old fellow. I can't say how she knows it, but Maqueda says that
+they are both in good health and well treated. Only our friend Barung
+sticks to his word and proposes to sacrifice poor old Higgs on this
+day fortnight. Now, of course, that must be prevented somehow, and
+prevented it shall be if it costs me my life. Don't you suppose that I
+have been thinking about myself all the time, for it isn't so, only
+the trouble is that I can't find any plan of rescue which will hold
+water."
+
+"Then what's to be done, Orme? I haven't spoken much of the matter
+before for fear of upsetting you when you were still weak, but now
+that you are all right again we must come to some decision."
+
+"I know, I know," he answered earnestly; "and I tell you this, that
+rather than let Higgs die alone there, I will give myself up to
+Barung, and, if I can't save him, suffer with him, or for him if I
+can. Listen: there is to be a great council held by the Child of Kings
+on the day after to-morrow which we must attend, for it has only been
+postponed until I was well enough. At this council that rogue Shadrach
+is to be put upon his trial, and will, I believe, be condemned to
+death. Also we are formally to return Sheba's ring which Maqueda lent
+to you to be used in proof of her story. Well, we may learn something
+then, or at any rate must make up our minds to definite action. And
+now I am to have my first ride, am I not? Come on, Pharaoh," he added
+to the dog, which had stuck at his bedside all through his illness so
+closely that it was difficult to entice him away even to eat; "we are
+going for a ride, Pharaoh; do you hear that, you faithful beast?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE SWEARING OF THE OATH
+
+Two or three days after this conversation, I forget exactly which it
+was, Maqueda held her council in the great hall of the palace. When we
+entered the place in charge of a guard, as though we were prisoners,
+we found some hundreds of Abati gathered there who were seated in
+orderly rows upon benches. At the farther end, in an apse-shaped
+space, sat the Child of Kings herself on a gilded or perhaps a golden
+chair of which the arms terminated in lions' heads. She was dressed in
+a robe of glittering silver, and wore a ceremonial veil embroidered
+with stars, also of silver, and above it, set upon her dark hair, a
+little circlet of gold, in which shone a single gem that looked like a
+ruby. Thus attired, although her stature is small, her appearance was
+very dignified and beautiful, especially as the gossamer veil added
+mystery to her face.
+
+Behind the throne stood soldiers armed with spears and swords, and at
+its sides and in front of it were gathered her court to the number of
+a hundred or more, including her waiting-ladies, who in two companies
+were arranged to the right and left. Each member of this court was
+gorgeously dressed according to his profession.
+
+There were the generals and captains with Prince Joshua at the head of
+them in their Norman-like chain armour. There were judges in black
+robes and priests in gorgeous garments; there were territorial lords,
+of whose attire I remember only that they wore high boots, and men who
+were called Market-masters, whose business it was to regulate the rate
+of exchange of products, and with them the representatives of other
+trades.
+
+In short, here was collected all the aristocracy of the little
+population of the town and territory of Mur, every one of whom, as we
+found afterwards, possessed some high-sounding title answering to
+those of our dukes and lords and Right Honourables, and knights, to
+say nothing of the Princes of the Blood, of whom Joshua was the first.
+
+Really, although it looked so fine and gay, the spectacle was, in a
+sense, piteous, being evidently but a poor mockery and survival of the
+pageantry of a people that had once been great. The vast hall in which
+they were assembled showed this, since, although the occasion was one
+that excited public interest, it was after all but a quarter filled by
+those who had a right to be present.
+
+With much dignity and to the sound of music we were marched up the
+broad nave, if I may describe it thus, for the building, with its apse
+and supporting cedar columns, bore some resemblance to a cathedral,
+till we reached the open space in front of the throne, where our
+guards prostrated themselves in their Eastern fashion, and we saluted
+its occupant in our own. Then, chairs having been given to us, after a
+pause a trumpet blew, and from a side chamber was produced our late
+guide, Shadrach, heavily manacled and looking extremely frightened.
+
+The trial that followed I need not describe at length. It took a long
+while, and the three of us were called upon to give evidence as to the
+quarrel between our companion, the Professor, and the prisoner about
+the dog Pharaoh and other matters. The testimony, however, that
+proclaimed the guilt of Shadrach was that of his companion guides,
+who, it appeared, had been threatened with floggings unless they told
+the truth.
+
+These men swore, one after the other, that the abandonment of Higgs
+had been a preconceived plan. Several of them added that Shadrach was
+in traitorous communication with the Fung, whom he had warned of our
+advent by firing the reeds, and had even contrived to arrange that we
+were to be taken while he and the other Abati, with the camels laden
+with our rifles and goods which they hoped to steal, passed through in
+safety.
+
+In defence Shadrach boldly denied the whole story, and especially that
+he had pushed the Gentile, Higgs, off his dromedary, as was alleged,
+and mounted it himself because his own beast had broken down or been
+injured.
+
+However, his lies availed him little, since, after consultation with
+the Child of Kings, presently one of the black-robed judges condemned
+him to suffer death in a very cruel fashion which was reserved for
+traitors. Further, his possessions were to be forfeited to the State,
+and his wife and children and household to become public slaves, which
+meant that the males would be condemned to serve as soldiers, and the
+females allotted to certain officials in the order of their rank.
+
+Several of those who had conspired with him to betray us to the Fung
+were also deprived of their possessions and condemned to the army,
+which was their form of penal servitude.
+
+Thus amidst a mighty wailing of those concerned and of their friends
+and relatives ended this remarkable trial, of which I give some
+account because it throws light upon the social conditions of Abati.
+What hope is there for a people when its criminals are sent, not to
+jail, but to serve as soldiers, and their womenfolk however innocent,
+are doomed to become the slaves of the judges or whoever these may
+appoint. Be it added, however, that in this instance Shadrach and his
+friends deserved all they got, since, even allowing for a certain
+amount of false evidence, undoubtedly, for the purposes of robbery and
+private hate, they did betray those whom their ruler had sent them to
+guide and protect.
+
+When this trial was finished and Shadrach had been removed, howling
+for mercy and attempting to kiss our feet like the cur he was, the
+audience who had collected to hear it and to see us, the Gentile
+strangers, dispersed, and the members of the Privy Council, if I may
+call it so, were summoned by name to attend to their duties. When all
+had gathered, we three were requested to advance and take seats which
+had been placed for us among the councillors.
+
+Then came a pause, and, as I had been instructed that I should do, I
+advanced and laid Sheba's ring upon a cushion held by one of the court
+officers, who carried it to Maqueda.
+
+"Child of Kings," I said, "take back this ancient token which you lent
+to me to be a proof of your good faith and mine. Know that by means of
+it I persuaded our brother who is captive, a man learned in all that
+has to do with the past, to undertake this mission, and through him
+the Captain Orme who stands before you, and his servant, the soldier."
+
+She took it and, after examination, showed it to several of the
+priests, by whom it was identified.
+
+"Though I parted from it with fear and doubt, the holy ring has served
+its purpose well," she said, "and I thank you, Physician, for
+returning it to my people and to me in safety."
+
+Then she replaced it on the finger from which it had been withdrawn
+when she gave it to me many months before.
+
+There, then, that matter ended.
+
+Now an officer cried:
+
+"Walda Nagasta speaks!" whereon every one repeated, "Walda Nagasta
+speaks," and was silent.
+
+Then Maqueda began to address us in her soft and pleasant voice.
+
+"Strangers from the Western country called England," she said, "be
+pleased to hear me. You know our case with the Fung--that they
+surround us and would destroy us. You know that in our extremity I
+took advantage of the wandering hither of one of you a year ago to beg
+him to go to his own land and there obtain firestuffs and those who
+understand them, with which to destroy the great and ancient idol of
+the Fung. For that people declare that if this idol is destroyed they
+will leave the land they dwell in for another, such being their
+ancient prophecy."
+
+"Pardon, O Child of Kings," interrupted Orme, "but you will remember
+that only the other day Barung, Sultan of the Fung, said that in this
+event his nation would still live on to avenge their god, Harmac. Also
+he said that of all the Abati he would leave you alive alone."
+
+Now at these ill-omened words a shiver and a murmur went through the
+Council. But Maqueda only shrugged her shoulders, causing the silver
+trimmings on her dress to tinkle.
+
+"I have told you the ancient prophecy," she answered, "and for the
+rest words are not deeds. If the foul fiend, Harmac, goes I think that
+the Fung will follow him. Otherwise, why do they make sacrifice to
+Earthquake as the evil god they have to fear? And when some five
+centuries ago, such an earthquake shook down part of the secret city
+in the bowels of the mountains that I will show to you afterwards, why
+did they fly from Mur and take up their abode in the plain, as they
+said, to protect the god?"
+
+"I do not know," answered Oliver. "If our brother were here, he whom
+the Fung have captured, he might know, being learned in the ways of
+idol-worshipping, savage peoples."
+
+"Alas! O Son of Orme," she said, "thanks to that traitor whom but now
+we have condemned, he is not here and, perhaps, could tell us nothing
+if he were. At least, the saying runs as I have spoken it, and for
+many generations, because of it, we Abati have desired to destroy the
+idol of the Fung to which so many of us have been offered in sacrifice
+through the jaws of their sacred lions. Now I ask," and she leaned
+forward, looking at Oliver, "will you do this for me?"
+
+"Speak of the reward, my niece," broke in Joshua in his thick voice
+when he saw that we hesitated what to answer, "I have heard that these
+Western Gentiles are a very greedy people, who live and die for the
+gold which we despise."
+
+"Ask him, Captain," exclaimed Quick, "if they despise land also, since
+yesterday afternoon I saw one of them try to cut the throat of another
+over a piece not bigger than a large dog-kennel."
+
+"Yes," I added, for I confess that Joshua's remarks nettled me, "and
+ask him whether the Jews did not despoil the Egyptians of their
+ornaments of gold in the old days, and whether Solomon, whom he claims
+as a forefather, did not trade in gold to Ophir, and lastly whether he
+knows that most of his kindred in other lands make a very god of
+gold."
+
+So Orme, as our spokesman, put these questions with great gusto to
+Joshua, whom he disliked intensely, whereat some of the Council, those
+who were not of the party of the Prince, smiled or even laughed, and
+the silvery ornaments upon Maqueda's dress began to shake again as
+though she also were laughing behind her veil. Still, she did not seem
+to think it wise to allow Joshua to answer--if he could--but did so
+herself, saying:
+
+"The truth is, O my friends, that here we set small store by gold
+because, being shut in and unable to trade, it is of no use to us save
+as an ornament. Were it otherwise, doubtless we should value it as
+much as the rest of the world, Jew or Gentile, and shall do so when we
+are freed from our foes who hem us in. Therefore, my uncle is wrong to
+claim as a virtue that which is only a necessity, especially when, as
+your servant says," and she pointed to the Sergeant, "our people make
+land their gold and will spend their lives in gaining more of it, even
+when they have enough."
+
+"Then do the Gentiles seek no reward for their services?" sneered
+Joshua.
+
+"By no means, Prince," answered Oliver, "we are soldiers of fortune,
+since otherwise why should we have come here to fight your quarrel
+(laying an unpleasant emphasis on the "your") "against a chief who, if
+half savage, to us seems to have some merits, those of honour and
+courage, for instance? If we risk our lives and do our work, we are
+not too proud to take whatever we can earn. Why should we be, seeing
+that some of us need wealth, and that our brother, who is as good as
+dead yonder, owing to the treachery of those who were sent to guard
+him, has relatives in England who are poor and should be compensated
+for his loss?"
+
+"Why, indeed?" ejaculated Maqueda. "Listen, now, my friends. In my own
+name and in that of the Abati people I promised to you as many camel-
+loads of this gold as you can carry away from Mur, and before the day
+is done I will show it to you if you dare follow me to where it lies
+hid."
+
+"First the work, then the pay," said Oliver. "Now tell us, Child of
+Kings, what is that work?"
+
+"This, O Son of Orme. You must swear--if this is not against your
+consciences as Christians--that for the space of one year from to-day
+you will serve me and fight for me and be subject to my laws, striving
+all the while to destroy the idol Harmac by your Western skill and
+weapons, after which you shall be free to go whither you will with
+your reward."
+
+"And if we swear, Lady," asked Oliver after reflection, "tell us what
+rank shall we hold in your service?"
+
+"You shall be my chief captain for this enterprise, O Son of Orme, and
+those with you shall serve under you in such positions as you may
+please."
+
+At these words a murmur of dissatisfaction arose from the mail-clad
+generals in the Council.
+
+"Are we then, to obey this stranger, O Child of Kings?" queried Joshua
+as their spokesman.
+
+"Aye, my uncle, so far as this great enterprise is concerned, as I
+have said. Can you handle the firestuffs of which they alone have the
+secret? Could any three of you have held the gate of Harmac against
+the armies of the Fung and sent it flying skyward?"
+
+She paused and waited in the midst of a sullen silence.
+
+"You do not answer because you cannot," continued Maqueda. "Then for
+this purpose be content to serve awhile under the command of those who
+have the skill and power which you lack."
+
+Still there was no answer.
+
+"Lady," said Orme in this ominous quiet, "you are so good as to make
+me a general among your soldiers, but will they obey me? And who are
+your soldiers? Does every man of the Abati bear arms?"
+
+"Alas! no," she replied, fixing upon this latter question perhaps
+because she could not answer the first. "Alas! no. In the old days it
+was otherwise, when my great ancestresses ruled, and then we did not
+fear the Fung. But now the people will not serve as soldiers. They say
+it takes them from their trades and the games they love; they say they
+cannot give the time in youth; they say that it degrades a man to obey
+the orders of those set over him; they say that war is barbarous and
+should be abolished, and all the while the brave Fung wait without to
+massacre our men and make our women slaves. Only the very poor and the
+desperate, and those who have offended against the laws will serve in
+my army, except it be as officers. Oh! and therefore are the Abati
+doomed," and, throwing back her veil, suddenly, she burst into tears
+before us all.
+
+I do not know that I ever remember seeing a sight more pathetic in its
+way than that of this beautiful and high-spirited young woman weeping
+in the presence of her Council over the utter degeneracy of the race
+she was called upon to rule. Being old and accustomed to these Eastern
+expressions of emotion, I remained silent, however; but Oliver was so
+deeply affected that I feared lest he should do something foolish. He
+went red, he went white, and was rising from his seat to go to her,
+had I not caught him by the arm and pulled him back. As for Quick, he
+turned his eyes to the ceiling, as though engaged in prayer, and I
+heard him muttering:
+
+"The Lord help the poor thing, the Lord help her; the one pearl in the
+snout of all these gilded swine! Well, I understand I am a bit of a
+general now, and if I don't make 'em sit up for her sake my name ain't
+Samuel Quick."
+
+Meanwhile there was much consternation and indignant murmuring amongst
+the Court, which felt that reflections had been thrown upon it
+collectively and individually. At such a crisis, as usual, Prince
+Joshua took the lead. Rising from his seat, he knelt, not without
+difficulty, before the throne, and said:
+
+"O Child of Kings, why do you distress us with such words? Have you
+not the God of Solomon to protect you?"
+
+"God protects those who protect themselves," sobbed Maqueda.
+
+"And have you not many brave officers?"
+
+"What are officers without an army?"
+
+"And have you not me, your uncle, your affianced, your lover?" and he
+laid his hand where he conceived his heart to be, and stared up at her
+with his rolling, fish-like eyes. "Had it not been for the
+interference of these Gentiles, in whom you seem to put such trust,"
+he went on, "should I not have taken Barung captive the other day, and
+left the Fung without a head?"
+
+"And the Abati without such shreds of honour as still belong to them,
+my uncle."
+
+"Let us be wed, O Bud of the Rose, O Flower of Mur, and soon I will
+free you from the Fung. We are helpless because we are separate, but
+together we shall triumph. Say, O Maqueda, when shall we be wed?"
+
+"When the idol Harmac is utterly destroyed, and the Fung have departed
+for ever, my uncle," she answered impatiently. "But is this a time to
+talk of marriage? I declare the Council closed. Let the priests bring
+the rolls that these strangers from the West may take the oath, and
+then pardon me if I leave you."
+
+Now from behind the throne there appeared a gorgeous gentleman arrayed
+in a head-dress that reminded me faintly of a bishop's mitre, and
+wearing over his robes a breastplate of precious stones roughly
+polished, which was half hidden by a very long white beard.
+
+This person, who it seemed was the high priest, carried in his hand a
+double roll of parchment written over with characters which we
+afterwards discovered were bastard Hebrew, very ancient and only
+decipherable by three or four of the Abati, if indeed any of them
+could really read it. At least it was said to be the roll of the law
+brought by their forefathers centuries ago from Abyssinia, together
+with Sheba's ring and a few other relics, among them the cradle (a
+palpable forgery), in which the child of Solomon and Maqueda, or
+Belchis, the first known Queen of Sheba, was traditionally reported to
+have been rocked. This roll of the law, which for generations had been
+used at all important ceremonies among the Abati, such as the
+swearing-in of their queens and chief officers, was now tendered to us
+to hold and kiss while we took the oath of obedience and allegiance in
+the names of Jehovah and of Solomon (a strange mixture, it struck us),
+solemnly vowing to perform those things which I have already set out.
+
+"This seems a pretty wide promise," said Oliver, after it had been
+read to us and translated by me to Quick. "Do you think that we ought
+to take it on?"
+
+I answered "Yes," that was from my point of view, since otherwise I
+saw no chance of achieving the object that had caused me to enter upon
+this adventure. Then, being especially requested to do so, the
+Sergeant, after reflecting awhile, gave his considered opinion.
+
+"Sir," he said to Orme, "we are three white men here consorting with a
+mob of quarter-bred African Jews and one real lady. It seems to me
+that we had best swear anything they want us to, trusting to the lady
+to see us through the mess, since otherwise we shall be mere
+filibusters in the country without official rank, and liable therefore
+to be shot on sight by the enemy, or any mutineers who get the upper
+hand here. Also, we have the Professor and the Doctor's son to think
+of. Therefore I say: Swear to anything in reason, reserving allegiance
+to the Crown of Great Britain, and trust to luck. You see, Captain, we
+are in their power anyway, and this oath may help, but can't hurt us,
+while to refuse it must give offence to all these skunks, and perhaps
+to the lady also, which is of more consequence."
+
+"I think you are probably right, Sergeant," said Orme. "Anyway, in for
+a penny, in for a pound."
+
+Then he turned to Maqueda, who had been watching this conference in an
+unknown tongue with some anxiety, or so it seemed to me, and added in
+Arabic: "O Child of Kings, we will take your oath, although it is
+wide, trusting to your honour to protect us from any pitfalls which it
+may cover, for we would ask you to remember that we are strangers in
+your land who do not understand its laws and customs. Only we
+stipulate that we retain our allegiance to our own ruler far away,
+remaining the subjects of that monarch with all rights thereto
+appertaining. Also, we stipulate that before we enter on our duties,
+or at any rate during those duties, we shall be at full liberty to
+attempt the rescue of our friend and companion, now a prisoner in the
+hands of the Fung, and of the son of one of us who is believed to be a
+slave to them, and that we shall have all the assistance which you can
+give us in this matter. Moreover, we demand that if we should be tried
+for any offence under this oath, you to whom we swear allegiance shall
+be our judge alone, none others intermeddling in the trial. If you
+accept these terms we will swear the oath; otherwise we swear nothing,
+but will act as occasion may arise."
+
+Now we were requested to stand back while the Child of Kings consulted
+with her advisers, which she did for a considerable time, since
+evidently the questions raised involved differences of opinion. In the
+end, however, she and those who supported her seemed to overrule the
+objectors, and we were called up and told that our terms had been
+accepted and engrossed upon the form of the oath, and that everything
+there included would be faithfully observed by the Ruler and Council
+of the Abati.
+
+So we signed and swore, kissing the book, or rather the roll, in the
+civilized fashion. Afterwards, very tired, for all this business had
+been anxious, we were conducted back to our own quarters to lunch, or
+rather to dine, for the Abati ate their heaviest meal at midday,
+taking a siesta after it according to the common Eastern custom.
+
+About four o'clock of that afternoon I was awakened from my nap by the
+growls of Pharaoh, and looked up to see a man crouching against the
+door, evidently in fear of the dog's fangs. He proved to be a
+messenger from Maqueda, sent to ask us if we cared to accompany her to
+a place that we had never seen. Of course we answered "Yes," and were
+at once led by the messenger to a disused and dusty hall at the back
+of the palace, where presently Maqueda and three of her ladies joined
+us, and with them a number of men who carried lighted lamps, gourds of
+oil, and bundles of torches.
+
+"Doubtless, friends," said Maqueda, who was unveiled and appeared to
+have quite recovered from our outburst of the morning, "you have seen
+many wonderful places in this Africa and other lands, but now I am
+about to show you one that, I think, is stranger than them all."
+
+Following her, we came to a door at the end of the hall which the men
+unbolted and shut again behind us, and thence passed into a long
+passage cut in the rock, that sloped continuously downwards and at
+length led through another doorway to the vastest cave that we had
+ever heard of or seen. So vast was it, indeed, that the feeble light
+of our lamps did not suffice to reach the roof, and only dimly showed
+to right and left the outlines of what appeared to be shattered
+buildings of rock.
+
+"Behold the cave city of Mur," said Maqueda, waving the lamp she held.
+"Here it was that the ancients whom we believe to have been the
+forefathers of the Fung, had their secret stronghold. These walls were
+those of their granaries, temples, and places of ceremonial, but, as I
+have told you, centuries ago an earthquake shattered them, leaving
+them as they are now. Also, it broke down much of the cave itself,
+causing the roof to fall, so that there are many parts where it is not
+safe to enter. Come now and see what is left."
+
+We followed her into the depth of the wonderful place, our lanterns
+and torches making little stars of light in that great blackness. We
+saw the ruins of granaries still filled with the dust of what I
+suppose had once been corn, and came at length to a huge, roofless
+building of which the area was strewn with shattered columns, and
+among them overgrown statues, covered so thick by dust that we could
+only discover that most of them seemed to be shaped like sphinxes.
+
+"If only Higgs were here," said Oliver with a sigh, and passed on to
+Maqueda, who was calling him to look at something else.
+
+Leaving the temple in which it was unsafe to walk, she led us to where
+a strong spring, the water supply of the place, bubbled up into a rock
+basin, and overflowing thence through prepared openings, ran away we
+knew not whither.
+
+"Look, this fountain is very ancient," said Maqueda, pointing to the
+lip of the basin that was worn away to the depth of several inches
+where those who drew water had for many generations rested their hands
+upon the hard rock.
+
+"How did they light so vast a cavern?" asked Oliver.
+
+"We do not know," she answered, "since lamps would scarcely have
+served them. It is a secret of the past which none of the Abati have
+cared to recover, and another is how the air is always kept fresh so
+deep in the bowels of the mountain. We cannot even say whether this
+place is natural, as I think, or hollowed out by men."
+
+"Both, I expect," I answered. "But tell me, Lady, do the Abati make
+any use of this great cave?"
+
+"Some corn is still stored here in pits in case of siege," she
+replied, adding sadly, "but it is not enough to be of real service,
+since almost all of it comes from the estates of the Child of Kings.
+In vain have I prayed the people to contribute, if only a hundredth
+part of their harvest, but they will not. Each says that he would give
+if his neighbour gave, and so none give. And yet a day may come when a
+store of corn alone would stand between them and death by hunger--if
+the Fung held the valley, for instance," and she turned impatiently
+and walked forward to show us the stables where the ancients kept
+their horses and the marks of their chariot wheels in the stone floor.
+
+"Nice people, the Abati, sir," said Quick to me. "If it weren't for
+the women and children, and, above all, for this little lady, whom I
+am beginning to worship like my master, as in duty bound, I'd like to
+see them do a bit of hungering."
+
+"There is one more place to show you," said Maqueda, when we had
+inspected the stables and argued as to what possible causes could have
+induced the ancients to keep horses underground, "which perhaps you
+will think worth a visit, since it holds the treasures that are, or
+shall be, yours. Come!"
+
+We started forward again along various passages, the last of which
+suddenly widened into a broad and steep incline of rock, which we
+followed for quite fifty paces till it ended in what seemed to be a
+blank wall. Here Maqueda bade her ladies and attendants halt, which
+indeed they seemed very anxious to do, though at the moment we did not
+know why. Then she went to one end of the wall where it joined that of
+the passage, and, showing us some loose stones, asked me to pull them
+out, which I did, not without difficulty. When an aperture had been
+made large enough for a man to creep through, she turned to her people
+and said:
+
+"You, I know, believe this place to be haunted, nor would the bravest
+of you enter it save by express command. But I and these strangers
+have no such fears. Therefore give us a gourd of oil and some torches
+and bide where you are till we return, setting a lamp in the hole in
+the wall to guide us in case our own should become extinguished. No,
+do not reason but obey. There is no danger, for though hot, the air
+within is pure, as I know who have breathed it more than once."
+
+Then she gave her hand to Oliver, and with his assistance crept
+through the hole. We followed, to find ourselves in another cavern,
+where, as she had said, the temperature was much hotter than that
+without.
+
+"What is this place?" asked Orme in a low voice, for its aspect seemed
+to awe him.
+
+"The tomb of the old kings of Mur," she replied. "Presently you shall
+see," and once more she took his hand, for the slope was sharp and
+slippery.
+
+On we went, always descending, for perhaps four hundred yards, our
+footfalls echoing loudly in the intense silence, and our lamps, round
+which the bats circled in hundreds, making four stars of light in the
+utter blackness, till at length the passage widened out into what
+appeared to be a vast circular arena, with a lofty dome-like roof of
+rock. Maqueda turned to the right, and, halting before some objects
+that glimmered whitely, held up her light, saying, "Look!"
+
+This was what we saw: A great stone chair and, piled upon its seat and
+upon its base, human bones. Amongst these was a skull, and on it,
+grotesquely tilted, a crown of gold, while other ornaments--sceptres,
+rings, necklaces, weapons and armour--were mingled with the bones. Nor
+was this all, for in a wide circle round the chair were other
+skeletons, fifty or more of them, and amongst them the ornaments that
+their owners had worn.
+
+Also, in front of each stood a tray of some metal, which we afterwards
+discovered to be silver or copper, and heaped upon it every kind of
+valuable, such as golden cups and vases, toilet utensils, necklaces,
+pectorals, bracelets, leglets, earrings and beads that seemed to be
+cut from precious stones, piles of ring money, and a hundred other
+things such as have been prized by mankind since the beginning of
+civilization.
+
+"You understand," said Maqueda, as we stared, open-mouthed at this
+awful and marvellous sight, "he in the chair was the king. Those about
+him were his officers, guards, and women. When he was buried they
+brought his household here, bearing his wealth, sat them down about
+him, and killed them. Blow away the dust, and you will see that the
+rock beneath is still stained with their blood; also, there are the
+sword-marks on their skulls, and neckbones."
+
+Quick, who was of an inquiring mind, stepped forward and verified
+these statements.
+
+"Golly!" he said, throwing down the skull of a man over whom the tired
+executioners had evidently bungled badly, "I'm glad I didn't serve the
+old kings of Mur. But the same game goes on in a small way to-day in
+Africa, for when I was campaigning on the West Coast I came across it
+not a fortnight old, only there they had buried the poor beggars
+living."
+
+"Perhaps," said Maqueda, when the Sergeant's remarks had been
+translated to her. "Yet I do not think the custom is one that my
+people would love," and she laughed a little, then added, "forward,
+friends, there are many more of these kings and oil does not burn for
+ever."
+
+So we moved on, and at a distance of some twenty paces found another
+chair with scattered bones on and about the seat, lying where each had
+fallen as the dead man decayed. Round it were the skeletons of the
+unfortunates who had been doomed to accompany him upon his last
+journey, every one of them behind his tray of golden objects, or of
+simple treasure. In front of this king's chair also were the bones of
+a dog with a jewelled collar.
+
+Again we proceeded to a third mortuary, if it may so be called, and
+here Maqueda pointed out the skeleton of a man, in front of which
+stood a tray piled up with what evidently had been the medicine
+bottles of the period and among them a number of rude surgical
+instruments.
+
+"Say, O Physician Adams," she remarked with a smile, "would you have
+wished to be court doctor to the kings of Mur, if indeed that was then
+their city's name?"
+
+"No, Lady," I answered; "but I do wish to examine his instruments if I
+have your leave," and while she hurried forward I stooped down and
+filled my pockets. Here I may remark, that upon subsequent inspection
+I found among these instruments, manufactured I know not what number
+of thousands of years ago--for on that point controversy rages among
+the learned--many that with modifications are still in use to-day.
+
+Of that strange and dreadful sepulchre there is little more to tell.
+From monarch to monarch we marched on till at length we grew weary of
+staring at bones and gold. Even Quick grew weary, who had passed his
+early youth in assisting his father, the parish sexton, and therefore,
+like myself, regarded these relics with professional interest, though
+of a different degree. At any rate, he remarked that this family vault
+was uncommonly hot, and perhaps, if it pleased her Majesty, as he
+called Maqueda, we might take the rest of the deceased gentlemen as
+read, like a recruit's attestation questions.
+
+But just then we came to No. 25, according to my counting, and were
+obliged to stop to wonder, for clearly this king had been the greatest
+of them all, since round him lay about two or three times the average
+number of dead, and an enormous quantity of wealth, some of it in the
+form of little statues of men and women, or perhaps of gods. Yet,
+oddly enough, he was hunchback with a huge skull, almost a monstrosity
+indeed. Perhaps his mind partook of the abnormal qualities of his
+body, since no less than eleven little children had been sacrificed at
+his obsequies, two of whom, judging from their crooked bones, must
+have been his own.
+
+One wonders what chanced in Mur and the surrounding territories which
+then acknowledged its sway when King Hunchback ruled. Alas! history
+writes no record.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+QUICK LIGHTS A MATCH
+
+"Here we begin to turn, for this cave is a great circle," said Maqueda
+over her shoulder.
+
+But Oliver, whom she addressed, had left her side and was engaged in
+taking observations behind the hunchback's funeral chair with an
+instrument which he had produced from his pocket.
+
+She followed him and asked curiously what this thing might be, and why
+he made use of it here.
+
+"We call it a compass," he answered, "and it tells me that beyond us
+lies the east, where the sun rises; also it shows at what height we
+stand above the sea, that great water which you have never seen, O
+Child of Kings. Say now, if we could walk through this rock, what
+should we find out yonder?"
+
+"The lion-headed idol of the Fung, I have been told," she answered.
+"That which you saw before you blew up the gate of the city Harmac.
+But how far off it may be I do not know, for I cannot see through
+stone. Friend Adams, help me to refill the lamps, for they burn low,
+and all these dead would be ill company in the dark. So at least my
+people think, since there is not one of them that dares to enter this
+place. When first we found it only a few years ago and saw the company
+it held, they fled, and left me to search it alone. Look, yonder are
+my footsteps in the dust."
+
+So I refilled the shallow hand-lamps, and while I did so Orme took
+some hasty observations of which he jotted down the results in his
+pocket-book.
+
+"What have you learned?" she asked, when at last he rejoined us
+somewhat unwillingly, for she had been calling to him to come.
+
+"Not so much as I should have done if you could have given me more
+time," he replied, adding in explanation, "Lady, I was brought up as
+an engineer, that is, one who executes works, and to do so takes
+measurements and makes calculations. For instance, those dead men who
+hollowed or dressed these caves must have been engineers and no mean
+ones."
+
+"We have such among us now," she said. "They raise dams and make
+drains and houses, though not so good as those which were built of
+old. But again I ask--what have you learned, O wise Engineer?"
+
+"Only that here we stand not so very far above the city Harmac, of
+which I chanced to take the level, and that behind yonder chair there
+was, I think, once a passage which has been built up. But be pleased
+to say nothing of the matter, Lady, and to ask me no more questions at
+present, as I cannot answer them with certainty."
+
+"I see that you are discreet as well as wise," she replied with some
+sarcasm. "Well, since I may not be trusted with your counsel, keep it
+to yourself."
+
+Oliver bowed and obeyed this curt instruction.
+
+Then we began our return journey, passing many more groups of
+skeletons which now we scarcely troubled to look at, perhaps because
+the heavy air filled with dust that once had been the flesh of men,
+was telling on our energies. Only I noticed, or rather the observant
+Quick called my attention to the fact, that as we went the kings in
+their chairs were surrounded by fewer and fewer attendants and women,
+and that the offerings placed at their feet were of an ever-lessening
+value. Indeed, after we had passed another five or six of them, their
+murdered retinues dwindled to a few female skeletons, doubtless those
+of favourite wives who had been singled out for this particular
+honour.
+
+At length there were none at all, the poor monarchs, who now were
+crowded close together, being left to explore the shades alone,
+adorned merely with their own jewellery and regalia. Ultimately even
+these were replaced by funeral gold-foil ornaments, and the trays of
+treasure by earthenware jars which appeared to have contained nothing
+but food and wine, and added to these a few spears and other weapons.
+The last of the occupied chairs, for there were empty ones beyond,
+contained bones which, from their slenderness and the small size of
+the bracelets among them, I saw at once had belonged to a woman who
+had been sent to the grave without companions or any offerings at all.
+
+"Doubtless," said Maqueda, when I pointed this out to her, "at that
+time the ancients had grown weak and poor, since after so many kings
+they permitted a woman to rule over them and had no wealth to waste
+upon her burial. That may have been after the earthquake, when only a
+few people were left in Mur before the Abati took possession of it."
+
+"Where, then, are those of your own house buried?" asked Oliver,
+staring at the empty chairs.
+
+"Oh! not in this place," she answered; "I have told you it was
+discovered but a few years ago. We rest in tombs outside, and for my
+part I will sleep in the simple earth, so that I may live on in grass
+and flowers, if in no other way. But enough of death and doom. Soon,
+who can tell how soon? we shall be as these are," and she shuddered.
+"Meanwhile, we breathe, so let us make the best of breath. You have
+seen your fee, say, does it content you?"
+
+"What fee?" he asked. "Death, the reward of Life? How can I tell until
+I have passed its gate?"
+
+Here this philosophical discussion was interrupted by the sudden
+decease of Quick's lamp.
+
+"Thought there was something wrong with the blooming thing," said the
+Sergeant, "but couldn't turn it up, as it hasn't got a screw, without
+which these old-fashioned colza oils never were no good. Hullo!
+Doctor, there goes yours," and as he spoke, go it did.
+
+"The wicks!" exclaimed Maqueda, "we forgot to bring new wicks, and
+without them of what use is oil? Come, be swift; we are still far from
+the mouth of this cave, where none except the high priests will dare
+to seek us," and, taking Oliver by the hand, she began to run, leaving
+us two to follow as best we could.
+
+"Steady, Doctor," said Quick, "steady. In the presence of disaster
+comrades should always stick together, as it says in the Red-book
+presented by the crown to warrant officers, but paid for out of their
+deferred allowance. Take my arm, Doctor. Ah! I thought so, the more
+haste the less speed. Look there," and he pointed to the flying shapes
+ahead, now a long way off, and with only one lamp between them.
+
+Next instant Maqueda turned round holding up this remaining lamp and
+called to us. I saw the faint light gleam upon her beautiful face and
+glitter down the silver ornaments of her dress. Very wild and strange
+she looked in that huge vault, seen thus for a single moment, then
+seen no more, for presently where the flame had been was but a red
+spark, and then nothing at all.
+
+"Stop still till we come back to you," cried Oliver, "and shout at
+intervals."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Quick, and instantly let off a fearful yell, which
+echoed backward and forward across the vault till I was quite
+bewildered.
+
+"All right, coming," answered Oliver, and his voice sounded so far to
+the left that Quick thought it wise to yell again.
+
+To cut a long story short, we next heard him on our right and then
+behind us.
+
+"Can't trust sounds here, sir, echoes are too uncertain," said the
+Sergeant; "but come on, I think I've placed them now," and calling to
+/them/ not to move, we headed in what we were sure was the right
+direction.
+
+The end of that adventure was that presently I tripped up over a
+skeleton and found myself lying half stunned amidst trays of treasure,
+affectionately clasping a skull under the impression that it was
+Quick's boot.
+
+He hauled me up again somehow, and, as we did not know what to do, we
+sat down amidst the dead and listened. By now the others were
+apparently so far off that the sound of Oliver's calling only reached
+us in faint, mysterious notes that came from we knew not whence.
+
+"As, like idiots, we started in such a hurry that we forgot to bring
+any matches with us, there is nothing to be done, except wait," I
+said. "No doubt in due course those Abati will get over their fear of
+ghosts and come to look for us."
+
+"Wish I could do the same, sir. I didn't mind those deaders in the
+light, but the dark's a different matter. Can't you hear them rattling
+their shanks and talking all round us?"
+
+"Certainly I do hear something," I answered, "but I think it must be
+the echo of our own voices."
+
+"Well, let us hold our jaw, sir, and perhaps they will hold theirs,
+for this kind of conversation ain't nice."
+
+So we were silent, but the strange murmuring still went on, coming
+apparently from the wall of the cave behind us, and it occurred to me
+that I had once heard something like it before, though at the time I
+could not think where. Afterwards I remembered that it was when, as a
+boy, I had been taken to see the Whispering Gallery in St. Paul's
+Cathedral in London.
+
+Half-an-hour or so went by in this fashion, and still there were no
+signs of the Abati or of our missing pair. Quick began to fumble among
+his clothes. I asked him what he was doing.
+
+"Can't help thinking I've got a wax match somewhere, Doctor. I
+remember feeling it in one of the pockets of this coat on the day
+before we left London, and thinking afterwards it wasn't safe to have
+had it packed in a box marked 'Hold.' Now if only I could find that
+match, we have got plenty of torches, for I've stuck to my bundle all
+through, although I never thought of them when the lamps were going
+out."
+
+Having small belief in the Sergeant's match, I made no answer, and the
+search went on till presently I heard him ejaculate:
+
+"By Jingo, here it is, in the lining. Yes, and the head feels all
+right. Now, Doctor, hold two of the torches toward me; make ready,
+present, fire!" and he struck the match and applied it to the heads of
+the resinous torches.
+
+Instantly these blazed up, giving an intense light in that awful
+darkness. By this light, for one moment only, we saw a strange, and
+not unattractive spectacle. I think I forgot to say that in the centre
+of this vault stood a kind of altar, which until that moment, indeed,
+I had not seen. This altar, which, doubtless, had been used for
+ceremonial purposes at the funerals of the ancient Kings, consisted of
+a plain block of basalt stone, whereon was cut the symbol of a human
+eye, the stone being approached by steps and supported upon carved and
+crouching sphinxes.
+
+On the lowest of these steps, near enough to enable us to see them
+quite clearly, were seated Oliver Orme and Maqueda, Child of Kings.
+They were seated very close together; indeed, if I must tell the
+truth, Oliver's arm was about Maqueda's waist, her head rested upon
+his shoulder, and apparently he was engaged in kissing her upon the
+lips.
+
+"Right about face," hissed the Sergeant, in a tone of command, "and
+mark time!"
+
+So we right-abouted for a decent period, then, coughing loudly--
+because of the irritant smoke of the torches--advanced to cross the
+cavern, and by accident stumbled upon our lost companions. I confess
+that I had nothing to say, but Quick rose to the occasion nobly.
+
+"Glad to see you, Captain," he said to Oliver. "Was getting very
+anxious about you, sir, until by good luck I found a match in the
+lining of my coat. If the Professor had been here he'd have had
+plenty, which is an argument in favour of continuous smoking, even
+when ladies are present. Ah! no wonder her Majesty is faint in this
+hot place, poor young thing. It's lucky you didn't leave hold of her,
+sir. Do you think you could manage to support her, sir, as we ought to
+be moving. Can't offer to do so myself, as I have lamed my foot with
+the tooth of a dead king, also my arms are full of torches. But if you
+prefer the Doctor--what do you say, sir? That you /can/ manage? There
+is such an echo in this vault that it is difficult to hear--very well,
+let us go on, for these torches won't last for ever, and you wouldn't
+like us to have to spend a whole night here with the lady in such a
+delicate condition, would you, especially as those nasty-tempered
+Abati might say that you had done it on purpose? Take her Majesty's
+arm, Doctor, and let us trek. I'll go ahead with the torches."
+
+To all this artless harangue Oliver answered not a single word, but
+glared at us suspiciously over the shape of Maqueda, who apparently
+had fainted. Only when I ventured to offer her some professional
+assistance she recovered, and said that she could get on quite well
+alone, which meant upon Orme's arm.
+
+Well, the end of it was that she got on, and so did we, for the
+torches lasted until we reached the narrow, sloping passage, and,
+rounding the corner, saw the lantern burning in the hole in the wall,
+after which, of course, things were easy.
+
+
+
+"Doctor," said Oliver to me in a voice of studied nonchalance that
+night, as we were preparing to turn in, "did you notice anything in
+the Vault of Kings this afternoon?"
+
+"Oh, yes," I answered, "lots! Of course, myself, I am not given to
+arch�ology, like poor Higgs, but the sight struck me as absolutely
+unique. If I were inclined to moralize, for instance, what a contrast
+between those dead rulers and their young and beautiful successor,
+full of life and love"--here he looked at me sharply--"love of her
+people, such as I have no doubt in their day----"
+
+"Oh, shut it, Adams! I don't want a philosophical lecture with
+historical comparisons. Did you notice anything except bones and gold
+when that unutterable ass, Quick, suddenly turned on the lights--I
+mean struck the match which unfortunately he had with him."
+
+Now I gave it up and faced the situation.
+
+"Well, if you want the truth," I said, "not /very/ much myself, for my
+sight isn't as good as it used to be. But the Sergeant, who has
+extraordinarily sharp eyes, thought that he saw you kissing Maqueda, a
+supposition that your relative attitudes seemed to confirm, which
+explains, moreover, some of the curious sounds we heard before he lit
+the torches. That's why he asked me to turn my back. But, of course,
+we may have been mistaken. Do I understand you to say that the
+Sergeant was mistaken?"
+
+Oliver consigned the Sergeant's eyes to an ultimate fate worse than
+that which befell those of Peeping Tom; then, in a burst of candour,
+for subterfuge never was his forte, owned up:
+
+"You made no mistake," he said, "we love each other, and it came out
+suddenly in the dark. I suppose that the unusual surroundings acted on
+our nerves."
+
+"From a moral point of view I am glad that you love each other," I
+remarked, "since embraces that are merely nervous cannot be commended.
+But from every other, in our circumstances the resulting situation
+strikes me as a little short of awful, although Quick, a most
+observant man, warned me to expect it from the first."
+
+"Curse Quick," said Oliver again, with the utmost energy. "I'll give
+him a month's notice this very night."
+
+"Don't," I said, "for then you'll oblige him to take service with
+Barung, where he would be most dangerous. Look here, Orme, to drop
+chaff, this is a pretty mess."
+
+"Why? What's wrong about it, Doctor?" he asked indignantly. "Of
+course, she's a Jew of some diluted sort or other, and I'm a
+Christian; but those things adapt themselves. Of course, too, she's my
+superior, but after all hers is a strictly local rank, and in Europe
+we should be on much the same footing. As for her being an Eastern,
+what does that matter? Surely it is not an objection which should have
+weight with /you/. And for the rest, did you ever see her equal?"
+
+"Never, never, /never/!" I answered with enthusiasm. "The young lady
+to whom any gentleman has just engaged himself is always absolutely
+unequalled, and, let me admit at once that this is perhaps the most
+original and charming that I have ever met in all Central Africa.
+Only, whatever may be the case with you, I don't know whether this
+fact will console me and Quick when our throats are being cut. Look
+here, Orme," I added, "didn't I tell you long ago that the one thing
+you must /not/ do was to make love to the Child of Kings?"
+
+"Did you? Really, I forget; you told me such a lot of things, Doctor,"
+he answered coolly enough, only unfortunately the colour that rose in
+his cheeks betrayed his lips.
+
+At this moment, Quick, who had entered the room unobserved, gave a dry
+cough, and remarked:
+
+"Don't blame the Captain, Doctor, because he don't remember. There's
+nothing like shock from an explosion for upsetting the memory. I've
+seen that often in the Boer war, when, after a big shell had gone off
+somewhere near them, the very bravest soldiers would clean forget that
+it was their duty to stand still and not run like rabbits; indeed, it
+happened to me myself."
+
+I laughed, and Oliver said something which I could not hear, but Quick
+went on imperturbably:
+
+"Still, truth is truth, and if the Captain has forgotten, the more
+reason that we should remind him. That evening at the Professor's
+house in London you did warn him, sir, and he answered that you
+needn't bother your head about the fascinations of a nigger woman----"
+
+"Nigger woman," broke out Oliver; "I never used such words; I never
+even thought them, and you are an impertinent fellow to put them into
+my mouth. Nigger woman! Good heavens! It's desecration."
+
+"Very sorry, Captain, now I come to think of it, I believe you said
+black woman, speaking in your haste. Yes and I begged you not to brag,
+seeing that if you did we might live to see you crawling after her,
+with myself, Samuel Quick bringing up the rear. Well, there it is we
+are, and the worst of it is that I can't blame you, being as
+anticipated in the prophecy--for that's what it was though I didn't
+know it myself at the time--exactly in the same state myself, though,
+of course, at a distance, bringing up the rear respectfully, as said."
+
+"You don't mean that you are in love with the Child of Kings?" said
+Oliver, staring at the Sergeant's grim and battered figure.
+
+"Begging your pardon, Captain, that is exactly what I do mean. If a
+cat may look at a queen, why mayn't a man love her? Howsoever, my kind
+of love ain't likely to interfere with yours. My kind means sentry-go
+and perhaps a knife in my gizzard; yours--well, we saw what yours
+means this afternoon, though what it will all lead to we didn't see.
+Still, Captain, speaking as one who hasn't been keen on the sex
+heretofore, I say--sail in, since it's worth it, even if you've got to
+sink afterwards, for this lady, although she is half a Jew, and I
+never could abide Jews, is the sweetest and the loveliest and the best
+and the bravest little woman that ever walked God's earth."
+
+At this point Oliver seized his hand and shook it warmly, and I may
+mention that I think some report of Quick's summary of her character
+must have reached Maqueda's ears. At any rate, thenceforward until the
+end she always treated the old fellow with what the French call the
+"most distinguished consideration."
+
+But, as I was not in love, no one shook my hand, so, leaving the other
+two to discuss the virtues and graces of the Child of Kings, I went
+off to bed filled with the gloomiest forbodings. What a fool I had
+been not to insist that whatever expert accompanied Higgs should be a
+married man. And yet, now when I came to think of it, that might not
+have bettered matters, and perhaps would only have added to the
+transaction a degree of moral turpitude which at present was lacking,
+since even married men are sometimes weak.
+
+The truth was that Maqueda's attractions were extraordinarily great.
+To her remarkable beauty she added a wonderful charm of manner and
+force of mind. Also her situation must touch the heart and pity of any
+man, so helpless was she in the midst of all her hollow grandeur, so
+lonely amongst a nation of curs whom she strove in vain to save, and
+should she escape destruction with them, doomed to so sad and
+repulsive a fate, namely to become the wife of a fat poltroon who was
+her own uncle. Well, we know to what emotion pity is akin, and the
+catastrophe had occurred a little sooner than I had expected, that was
+all.
+
+Doubtless to her, in comparison with the men to whom she was
+accustomed and allowed by etiquette to take as her associates, this
+brave and handsome young Englishman, who had come into her care sick
+and shattered after the doing of a great deed, must have seemed a
+veritable fairy prince. And she had helped to nurse him, and he had
+shown himself grateful for her kindness and condescension, and--the
+rest followed, as surely as the day follows the night.
+
+But how would it end? Sooner or later the secret must come out, for
+already the Abati nobles, if I may call them so for want of a better
+name, and especially Joshua, were bitterly jealous of the favour their
+lady showed to the foreigner, and watched them both. Then what--what
+would happen? Under the Abati law it was death for any one outside of
+the permitted degree of relationship to tamper with the affections of
+the Child of Kings. Nor was this wonderful, since that person held her
+seat in virtue of her supposed direct descent from Solomon and the
+first Maqueda, Queen of Sheba, and therefore the introduction of any
+alien blood could not be tolerated.
+
+Moreover, Orme, having sworn an oath of allegiance, had become subject
+to those laws. Lastly, I could not in the least hope from the
+character of the pair concerned that this was but a passing
+flirtation.
+
+Oh! without a doubt these two had signed their own death-warrant
+yonder in the Cave of Death, and incidentally ours also. This must be
+the end of our adventure and my long search for the son whom I had
+lost.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE RESCUE FAILS
+
+Our breakfast on the following morning was a somewhat gloomy meal. By
+common consent no allusion was made to the events of the previous day,
+or to our conversation at bedtime.
+
+Indeed, there was no talk at all to speak of, since, not knowing what
+else to do, I thought I could best show my attitude of mind by
+preserving a severe silence, while Quick seemed to be absorbed in
+philosophical reflections, and Orme looked rather excited and
+dishevelled, as though he had been writing poetry, as I daresay was
+the case. In the midst of this dreary meal a messenger arrived, who
+announced that the Walda Nagasta would be pleased to see us all within
+half-an-hour.
+
+Fearing lest Orme should say something foolish, I answered briefly
+that we would wait upon her, and the man went, leaving us wondering
+what had happened to cause her to desire our presence.
+
+At the appointed time we were shown into the small audience room, and,
+as we passed its door, I ventured to whisper to Oliver:
+
+"For your own sake and hers, as well as that of the rest of us, I
+implore you to be careful. Your face is watched as well as your
+words."
+
+"All right, old fellow," he answered, colouring a little. "You may
+trust me."
+
+"I wish I could," I muttered.
+
+Then we were shown in ceremoniously, and made our bows to Maqueda, who
+was seated, surrounded by some of the judges and officers, among them,
+Prince Joshua, and talking to two rough-looking men clad in ordinary
+brown robes. She greeted us, and after the exchange of the usual
+compliments, said:
+
+"Friends, I have summoned you for this reason. This morning when the
+traitor Shadrach was being led out to execution at the hands of these
+men, the officers of the law, he begged for a delay. When asked why,
+as his petition for reprieve had been refused, he said that if his
+life was spared he could show how your companion, he whom they call
+Black Windows, may be rescued from the Fung."
+
+"How?" asked Orme and I in one breath.
+
+"I do not know," she answered, "but wisely they spared the man. Let
+him be brought in."
+
+A door opened, and Shadrach entered, his hands bound behind his back
+and shackles on his feet. He was a very fearful and much chastened
+Shadrach, for his eyes rolled and his teeth chattered with terror, as,
+having prostrated himself to the Walda Nagasta, he wriggled round and
+tried to kiss Orme's boot. The guards pulled him to his feet again,
+and Maqueda said:
+
+"What have you to tell us, traitor, before you die?"
+
+"The thing is secret, O Bud of the Rose. Must I speak before so many?"
+
+"Nay," she answered, and ordered most of those present to leave the
+room, including the executioners and soldiers.
+
+"The man is desperate, and there will be none left to guard him," said
+Joshua nervously.
+
+"I'll do that, your Highness," answered Quick in his bad Arabic, and
+stepping up behind Shadrach he added in English, "Now then, Pussy, you
+behave, or it will be the worse for you."
+
+When all had gone again Shadrach was commanded to speak and say how he
+could save the Englishman whom he had betrayed into the hands of the
+Fung.
+
+"Thus, Child of Kings," he answered, "Black Windows, as we know, is
+imprisoned in the body of the great idol."
+
+"How do you know it, man?"
+
+"O Lady, I do know it, and also the Sultan said so, did he not? Well,
+I can show a secret road to that idol whence he may be reached and
+rescued. In my boyhood I, who am called Cat, because I can climb so
+well, found that road, and when the Fung took me afterward and threw
+me to the lions, where I got these scars upon my face, by it I
+escaped. Spare me, and I will show it to you."
+
+"It is not enough to show the road," said Maqueda. "Dog, you must save
+the foreign lord whom you betrayed. If you do not save him you die. Do
+you understand?"
+
+"That is a hard saying, Lady," answered the man. "Am I God that I
+should promise to save this stranger who perchance is already dead?
+Yet I will do my best, knowing that if I fail you will kill me, and
+that if I succeed I shall be spared. At any rate, I will show you the
+road to where he is or was imprisoned, although I warn you that it is
+a rough one."
+
+"Where you can travel we can follow," said Maqueda. "Tell us now what
+we must do."
+
+So he told her, and when he had done the Prince Joshua intervened,
+saying that it was not fitting that the Child of Kings in her own
+sacred person should undertake such a dangerous journey. She listened
+to his remonstrances and thanked him for his care of her.
+
+"Still I am going," she said, "not for the sake of the stranger who is
+called Black Windows, but because, if there is a secret way out of Mur
+I think it well that I should know that way. Yet I agree with you, my
+uncle, that on such a journey I ought not to be unprotected, and
+therefore I pray that you will be ready to start with us at noon,
+since I am sure that then we shall all be safe."
+
+Now Joshua began to make excuses, but she would not listen to them.
+
+"No, no," she said, "you are too honest. The honour of the Abati is
+involved in this manner, since, alas! it was an Abati that betrayed
+Black Windows, and an Abati--namely, yourself--must save him. You have
+often told me, my uncle, how clever you are at climbing rocks, and now
+you shall make proof of your skill and courage before these
+foreigners. It is a command, speak no more," and she rose, to show
+that the audience was finished.
+
+
+
+That same afternoon Shadrach, by mountain paths that were known to
+him, led a little company of people to the crest of the western
+precipice of Mur. Fifteen hundred feet or more beneath us lay the
+great plains upon which, some miles away, could be seen the city of
+Harmac. But the idol in the valley we could not see, because here the
+precipice bent over and hid it from our sight.
+
+"What now, fellow," said Maqueda, who was clad in the rough sheepskin
+of a peasant woman, which somehow looked charming upon her. "Here is
+the cliff, there lies the plain; I see no road between the two, and my
+wise uncle, the prince, tells me that he never heard of one."
+
+"Lady," answered the man, "now I take command, and you must follow me.
+But first let us see that nobody and nothing are lacking."
+
+Then he went round the company and numbered them. In all we were
+sixteen; Maqueda and Joshua, we three Englishmen, armed with repeating
+rifles and revolvers, our guide Shadrach, and some picked Mountaineers
+chosen for their skill and courage. For even in Mur there were brave
+men left, especially among the shepherds and huntsmen, whose homes
+were on the cliffs. These sturdy guides were laden with ropes, lamps,
+and long, slender ladders that could be strapped together.
+
+When everything had been checked and all the ladders and straps
+tested, Shadrach went to a clump of bushes which grew feebly on the
+wind-swept crest of the precipice. In the midst of these he found and
+removed a large flat stone, revealing what evidently had been the head
+of a stair, although now its steps were much worn and crumbled by the
+water that in the wet season followed this natural drain to the depths
+below.
+
+"This is that road the ancients made for purposes of their own,"
+explained Shadrach, "which, as I have said, I chanced to discover when
+I was a boy. But let none follow it who are afraid, for it is steep
+and rough."
+
+Now Joshua, who was already weary with his long ride and walk up to
+the crest of the precipice, implored Maqueda almost passionately to
+abandon the idea of entering this horrid hole, while Oliver backed up
+his entreaties with few words but many appealing glances, for on this
+point, though for different reasons, the prince and he were at one.
+
+But she would not listen.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "with you, the experienced mountaineer, why
+should I be afraid? If the Doctor here, who is old enough to be the
+father of either of us" (so far as Joshua was concerned this remark
+lacked truth), "is willing to go, surely I can go also? Moreover, if I
+remained behind, you would wish to stay to guard me, and never should
+I forgive myself if I deprived you of such a great adventure. Also,
+like you, I love climbing. Come, let us waste no more time."
+
+So we were roped up. First went Shadrach, with Quick next to him, a
+position which the Sergeant insisted upon occupying as his custodian,
+and several of the Mountaineers, carrying ladders, lamps, oil, food
+and other things. Then in a second gang came two more of these men,
+Oliver, Maqueda, myself, and next to me, Joshua. The remaining
+mountaineers brought up the rear, carrying spare stores, ladders, and
+so forth. When all was ready the lamps were lit, and we started upon a
+very strange journey.
+
+For the first two hundred feet or so the stairs, though worn and
+almost perpendicular, for the place was like the shaft of a mine, were
+not difficult to descend, to any of us except Joshua, whom I heard
+puffing and groaning behind me. Then came a gallery running eastward
+at a steep slope for perhaps fifty paces, and at the end of it a
+second shaft of about the same depth as the first, but with the stairs
+much more worn, apparently by the washing of water, of which a good
+deal trickled out of the sides of the shaft. Another difficulty was
+that the air rushing up from below made it hard to keep the lamps
+alight.
+
+Toward the bottom of this section there was scarcely any stair left,
+and the climbing became very dangerous. Here, indeed, Joshua slipped,
+and with a wail of terror slid down the shaft and landed with his legs
+across my back in such a fashion that had I not happened to have good
+hand and foot hold at the time, he would have propelled me on to
+Maqueda, and we must have all rolled down headlong, probably to our
+deaths.
+
+As it was, this fat and terrified fellow cast his arms about my neck,
+to which he clung, nearly choking me, until, just when I was about to
+faint beneath his weight and pressure, the Mountaineers in the third
+party arrived and dragged him off. When they had got him in charge,
+for I refused to move another step while he was immediately behind me,
+we descended by a ladder which the first party had set up, to the
+second level, where began another long, eastward sloping passage that
+ended at the mouth of a third pit.
+
+Here arose the great question as to what was to be done with the
+Prince Joshua, who vowed that he could go no farther, and demanded
+loudly to be taken back to the top of the cliff, although Shadrach
+assured him that thenceforward the road was much easier. At length we
+were obliged to refer the matter to Maqueda, who settled it in very
+few words.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "you tell us that you cannot come on, and it is
+certain that we cannot spare the time and men to send you back.
+Therefore, it seems that you must stop where you are until we return,
+and if we should not return, make the best of your own way up the
+shaft. Farewell, my uncle, this place is safe and comfortable, and if
+you are wise you will rest awhile."
+
+"Heartless woman!" gobbled Joshua, who was shaking like a jelly with
+fear and rage. "Would you leave your affianced lord and lover alone in
+this haunted hole while you scramble down rocks like a wild cat with
+strangers? If I must stay, do you stay with me?"
+
+"Certainly not," replied Maqueda with decision. "Shall it be said that
+the Child of Kings is afraid to go where her guests can travel?"
+
+Well, the end of it was that Joshua came on in the centre of the third
+body of Mountaineers, who were practically obliged to carry him.
+
+Shadrach was right, since for some reason or other the stairs
+thenceforward remained more perfect. Only they seemed almost endless,
+and before we reached our goal I calculated that we must have
+descended quite twelve hundred feet into the bowels of the rock. At
+length, when I was almost tired out and Maqueda was so breathless that
+she was obliged to lean on Oliver, dragging me behind her like a dog
+on a string, of a sudden we saw a glimmer of daylight that crept into
+the tunnel through a small hole. By the mouth of yet another pit or
+shaft, we found Shadrach and the others waiting for us. Saluting, he
+said that we must unrope, leave our lamps behind, and follow him.
+Oliver asked him whither this last shaft led.
+
+"To a still lower level, lord," he answered, "but one which you will
+scarcely care to explore, since it ends in the great pit where the
+Fung keep their sacred lions."
+
+"Indeed," said Oliver, much interested for reasons of his own, and he
+glanced at Quick, who nodded his head and whistled.
+
+Then we all followed Shadrach to find ourselves presently upon a
+plateau about the size of a racquet court which, either by nature or
+by the hand of man, had been recessed into the face of that gigantic
+cliff. Going to the edge of this plateau, whereon grew many tree-ferns
+and some thick green bushes that would have made us invisible from
+below even had there been any one to see us, we saw that the sheer
+precipice ran down beneath for several hundred feet. Of these yawning
+depths, however, we did not at the moment make out much, partly
+because they were plunged in shadow and partly for another reason.
+
+Rising out of the gulf below was what we took at first to be a rounded
+hill of black rock, oblong in shape, from which projected a gigantic
+shaft of stone ending in a kind of fretted bush that alone was of the
+size of a cottage. The point of this bush-like rock was exactly
+opposite the little plateau on to which we had emerged and distant
+from it not more than thirty, or at most, forty feet.
+
+"What is that?" asked Maqueda, of Shadrach, pointing in front of her,
+as she handed back to one of the Mountaineers a cup from which she had
+been drinking water.
+
+"That, O Walda Nagasta," he answered, "is nothing else than the back
+of the mighty idol of the Fung, which is shaped like a lion. The great
+shaft of rock with the bush at the end of it is the tail of the lion.
+Doubtless this platform on which we stand is a place whence the old
+priests, when they owned Mur as well as the land of the Fung, used to
+hide themselves to watch whatever it was they wanted to see. Look,"
+and he pointed to certain grooves in the face of the rock, "I think
+that here there was once a bridge which could be let down at will on
+to the tail of the lion-god, though long ago it has rotted away. Yet
+ere now I have travelled this road without it."
+
+We stared at him astonished, and in the silence that followed I heard
+Maqueda whisper to Oliver:
+
+"Perhaps that is how he whom we call Cat escaped from the Fung; or
+perhaps that is how he communicates with them as a spy."
+
+"Or perhaps he is a liar, my Lady," interrupted Quick, who had also
+overheard their talk, a solution which, I confess, commended itself to
+me.
+
+"Why have you brought us here?" asked Maqueda presently.
+
+"Did I not tell you in Mur, Lady--to rescue Black Windows? Listen,
+now, it is the custom of the Fung to allow those who are imprisoned
+within the idol to walk unguarded upon its back at dawn and sunset. At
+least, this is their custom with Black Windows--ask me not how I know
+it; this is truth, I swear it on my life, which is at stake. Now this
+is my plan. We have with us a ladder which will reach from where we
+stand to the tail of the idol. Should the foreign lord appear upon the
+back of the god, which, if he still lives, as I believe he does, he is
+almost sure to do at sundown, as a man who dwells in the dark all day
+will love the light and air when he can get them, then some of us must
+cross and bring him back with us. Perhaps it had best be you, my lord
+Orme, since if I went alone, or even with these men, after what is
+past Black Windows might not altogether trust me."
+
+"Fool," broke in Maqueda, "how can a man do such a thing?"
+
+"O Lady, it is not so difficult as it looks. A few steps across the
+gulf, and then a hundred feet or so along the tail of the lion which
+is flat on the top and so broad that one may run down it if careful to
+follow the curves, that is on a still day--nothing more. But, of
+course, if the Lord Orme is afraid, which I did not think who have
+heard so much of his courage----" and the rogue shrugged his shoulders
+and paused.
+
+"Afraid, fellow," said Oliver, "well, I am not ashamed to be afraid of
+such a journey. Yet if there is need I will make it, though not before
+I see my brother alone yonder on the rock, since all this may be but a
+trick of yours to deliver me to the Fung, among whom I know that you
+have friends."
+
+"It is madness; you shall not go," said Maqueda. "You will fall and be
+dashed to pieces. I say that you shall not go."
+
+"Why should he not go, my niece?" interrupted Joshua. "Shadrach is
+right; we have heard much of the courage of this Gentile. Now let us
+see him do something."
+
+She turned on the Prince like a tiger.
+
+"Very good, my uncle, then you shall go with him. Surely one of the
+ancient blood of the Abati will not shirk from what a 'Gentile'
+dares."
+
+On hearing this Joshua relapsed into silence, and I have no clear
+memory of what he did or said in connection with the rest of that
+thrilling scene.
+
+Now followed a pause in the midst of which Oliver sat down and began
+to take off his boots.
+
+"Why do you undress yourself, friend?" asked Maqueda nervously.
+
+"Because, Lady," he answered, "if I have to walk yonder road it is
+safer to do so in my stockings. Have no fear," he added gently, "from
+boyhood I have been accustomed to such feats, and when I served in my
+country's army it was my pleasure to give instruction in them,
+although it is true that this one surpasses all that ever I
+attempted."
+
+"Still I do fear," she said.
+
+Meanwhile Quick had sat down and begun to take off /his/ boots.
+
+"What are you doing, Sergeant?" I asked.
+
+"Getting ready to accompany the Captain upon forlorn hope, Doctor."
+
+"Nonsense," I said, "you are too old for the game, Sergeant. If any
+one goes, I should, seeing that I believe my son is over there, but I
+can't try it, as I know my head would give out, and I should fall in a
+second, which would only upset everybody."
+
+"Of course," broke in Oliver, who had overheard us, "I'm in command
+here, and my orders are that neither of you shall come. Remember,
+Sergeant, that if anything happens to me it is your business to take
+over the stores and use them if necessary, which you alone can do. Now
+go and see to the preparations, and find out the plan of campaign, for
+I want to rest and keep quiet. I daresay the whole thing is humbug,
+and we shall see nothing of the Professor; still, one may as well be
+prepared."
+
+So Quick and I went to superintend the lashing of two of the light
+ladders together and the securing of some planks which we had brought
+with us upon the top of the rungs, so as to make these ladders easy to
+walk on. I asked who would be of the party besides Shadrach and Orme,
+and was told no one, as all were afraid. Ultimately, however, a man
+named Japhet, one of the Mountaineers, volunteered upon being promised
+a grant of land from the Child of Kings herself, which grant she
+proclaimed before them all was to be given to his relatives in the
+event of his death.
+
+At length everything was ready, and there came another spell of
+silence, for the nerves of all of us were so strained that we did not
+seem able to talk. It was broken by a sound of sudden and terrible
+roaring that arose from the gulf beneath.
+
+"It is the hour of the feeding of the sacred lions which the Fung keep
+in the pit about the base of the idol," explained Shadrach. Then he
+added, "Unless he should be rescued, I believe that Black Windows will
+be given to the lions to-night, which is that of full moon and a
+festival of Harmac, though maybe he will be kept till the next full
+moon when all the Fung come up to worship."
+
+This information did not tend to raise anyone's spirits, although
+Quick, who always tried to be cheerful, remarked that it was probably
+false.
+
+The shadows began to gather in the Valley of Harmac, whereby we knew
+that the sun was setting behind the mountains. Indeed, had it not been
+for a clear and curious glow reflected from the eastern sky, the gulf
+would have plunged us in gloom. Presently, far away upon a rise of
+rock which we knew must be the sphinx head of the huge idol, a little
+figure appeared outlined against the sky, and there began to sing. The
+moment that I heard the distant voice I went near to fainting, and
+indeed should have fallen had not Quick caught me.
+
+"What is it, Adams?" asked Oliver, looking up from where he and
+Maqueda sat whispering to each other while the fat Joshua glowered at
+them in the background. "Has Higgs appeared?"
+
+"No," I answered, "but, thank God, my son still lives. That is his
+voice. Oh! if you can, save him, too."
+
+Now there was much suppressed excitement, and some one thrust a pair
+of field-glasses into my hand, but either they were wrongly set or the
+state of my nerves would not allow me to see through them. So Quick
+took them and reported.
+
+"Tall, slim figure wearing a white robe, but at the distance in this
+light can't make out the face. One might hail him, perhaps, only it
+would give us away. Ah! the hymn is done and he's gone; seemed to jump
+into a hole in the rock, which shows that he's all right, anyway, or
+he couldn't jump. So cheer up, Doctor, for you have much to be
+thankful for."
+
+"Yes," I repeated after him, "much to be thankful for, but still I
+would that I had more after all these years to search. To think that I
+should be so close to him and he know nothing of it."
+
+After the ceasing of the song and the departure of my son, there
+appeared upon the back of the idol three Fung warriors, fine fellows
+clad in long robes and armed with spears, and behind them a trumpeter
+who carried a horn or hollowed elephant's tusk. These men marched up
+and down the length of the platform from the rise of the neck to the
+root of the tail, apparently to make an inspection. Having found
+nothing, for, of course, they could not see us hidden behind the
+bushes on our little plateau, of which no doubt they did not even know
+the existence, and much less that it was connected with the mountain
+plain of Mur, the trumpeter blew a shrill blast upon his horn, and
+before the echoes of it had died away, vanished with his companions.
+
+"Sunset tour of inspection. Seen the same kind of thing as at Gib.,"
+said the Sergeant. "Oh! by Jingo! Pussy isn't lying after all--there
+he is," and he pointed to a figure that rose suddenly out of the black
+stone of the idol's back just as the guards had done.
+
+It was Higgs, Higgs without a doubt; Higgs wearing his battered sun-
+helmet and his dark spectacles; Higgs smoking his big meerschaum pipe,
+and engaged in making notes in a pocket-book as calmly as though he
+sat before a new object in the British Museum.
+
+I gasped with astonishment, for somehow I had never expected that we
+should really see him, but Orme, rising very quietly from his seat
+beside Maqueda, only said:
+
+"Yes, that's the old fellow right enough. Well, now for it. You,
+Shadrach, run out your ladder and cross first that I may be sure you
+play no trick."
+
+"Nay," broke in Maqueda, "this dog shall not go, for never would he
+return from his friends the Fung. Man," she said, addressing Japhet,
+the Mountaineer to whom she had promised land, "go you over first and
+hold the end of the ladder while this lord crosses. If he returns safe
+your reward is doubled."
+
+Japhet saluted, the ladder was run out and its end set upon the
+roughnesses in the rock that represented the hair of the sphinx's
+tail. The Mountaineer paused a moment with hands and face uplifted;
+evidently he was praying. Then bidding his companions hold the hither
+end of the ladder, and having first tested it with his foot and found
+that it hung firm, calmly he walked across, being a brave fellow, and
+presently was seen seated on the opposing mass of rock.
+
+Now came Oliver's turn. He nodded to Maqueda, who went white as a
+sheet, muttering some words to her that did not reach me. Then he
+turned and shook my hand.
+
+"If you can, save my son also," I whispered.
+
+"I'll do my best if I can get hold of him," he answered. "Sergeant, if
+anything happens to me you know your duty."
+
+"I'll try and follow your example, Captain, under all circumstances,
+though that will be hard," replied Quick in a rather shaky voice.
+
+Oliver stepped out on the ladder. I reckoned that twelve or fourteen
+short paces would take him across, and the first half of these he
+accomplished with quiet certainty. When he was in the exact middle of
+the passage, however, the end of one of the uprights of the ladder at
+the farther side slipped a little, notwithstanding the efforts of
+Japhet to keep it straight, with the result that the plank bound on
+the rungs lost its level, sinking an inch or so to the right, and
+nearly causing Oliver to fall from it into the gulf. He wavered like a
+wind-shaken reed, attempted to step forward, hesitated, stopped, and
+slowly sank on to his hands and knees.
+
+"/Ah/!" panted Maqueda.
+
+"The Gentile has lost his head," began Joshua in a voice full of the
+triumph that he could not hide. "He--will----"
+
+Joshua got no further, for Quick, turning, threatened him savagely
+with his fist, saying in English:
+
+"Stow your jaw if you don't want to follow him, you swine," whereon
+Joshua, who understood the gesture, if not the words, relapsed into
+silence.
+
+Now the Mountaineer on the farther side spoke, saying:
+
+"Have no fear, the ladder is safe."
+
+For a moment Oliver remained in his crouching posture on the board,
+which was all that separated him from an awful death in the gulf
+beneath. Next, while we watched, agonized, he rose to his feet again,
+and with perfect calmness walked across to its other end.
+
+"Well done our side!" said Quick, addressing Joshua, "why don't your
+Royal Highness cheer? No, you leave that knife alone, or presently
+there'll be a hog the less in this world," and stooping down he
+relieved the Prince of the weapon which he was fingering with his
+round eyes fixed upon the Sergeant.
+
+Maqueda, who had noted all, now interfered.
+
+"My uncle," she said, "brave men are risking their lives yonder while
+we sit in safety. Be silent and cease from quarrelling, I pray you."
+
+Next moment we had forgotten all about Joshua, being utterly absorbed
+in watching the drama in progress upon the farther side of the gulf.
+After a slight pause to recover his nerve or breath, Orme rose, and
+preceded by Japhet, climbed up the bush-like rock till he reached the
+shaft of the sphinx's tail. Here he turned and waved his hand to us,
+then following the Mountaineer, walked, apparently with the utmost
+confidence, along the curves of the tail to where it sprang from the
+body of the idol. At this spot there was a little difficulty in
+climbing over the smooth slope of rock on to the broad terrace-like
+back. Soon, however, they surmounted it, and vanishing for a few
+seconds into the hollow of the loins, which, of course, was a good
+many feet deep, re-appeared moving toward the shoulders. Between these
+we could see Higgs standing with his back toward us, utterly
+unconscious of all that was passing behind him.
+
+Passing Japhet, Oliver walked up to the Professor and touched him on
+the arm. Higgs turned, stared at the pair for a moment, and then, in
+his astonishment, or so we guessed, sat down plump upon the rock. They
+pulled him to his feet, Orme pointing to the cliff behind, and
+evidently explaining the situation and what must be done. Then
+followed a short and animated talk. Through the glasses we could even
+see Higgs shaking his head. He told them something, they came to a
+determination, for now he turned, stepped forward a pace or two, and
+vanished, as I learnt afterwards, to fetch my son, without whom he
+would not try to escape.
+
+A while went by; it seemed an age, but really was under a minute. We
+heard the sound of shouts. Higgs's white helmet reappeared, and then
+his body, with two Fung guards clinging on to him. He yelled out in
+English and the words reached us faintly:
+
+"Save yourself! I'll hold these devils. Run, you infernal fool, run!"
+
+Oliver hesitated, although the Mountaineer was pulling at him, till
+the heads of more Fung appeared. Then, with a gesture of despair, he
+turned and fled. First ran Oliver, then Japhet, whom he had outpaced,
+and after them came a number of priests or guards, waving knives,
+while in the background Higgs rolled on the rock with his captors.
+
+The rest was very short. Orme slid down the rump of the idol on to the
+tail, followed by the Mountaineer, and after them in single file came
+three Fung, who apparently thought no more of the perilous nature of
+their foothold than do the sheiks of the Egyptian pyramids when they
+swarm about those monuments like lizards. Nor, for the matter of that,
+did Oliver or Japhet, who doubled down the tail as though it were a
+race track. Oliver swung himself on to the ladder, and in a second was
+half across it, we holding its other end, when suddenly he heard his
+companion cry out. A Fung had got hold of Japhet by the leg and he lay
+face downward on the board.
+
+Oliver halted and slowly turned round, drawing his revolver as he did
+so. Then he aimed and fired, and the Fung, leaving go of Japhet's leg,
+threw up his arms and plunged headlong into the gulf beneath. The next
+thing I remember is that they were both among us, and somebody
+shouted, "Pull in the ladder."
+
+"No," said Quick, "wait a bit."
+
+Vaguely I wondered why, till I perceived that three of those
+courageous Fung were following across it, resting their hands upon
+each other's shoulders, while their companions cheered them.
+
+"Now, pull, brothers, pull!" shouted the Sergeant, and pull we did.
+Poor Fung! they deserved a better fate.
+
+"Always inflict loss upon the enemy when you get a chance," remarked
+the Sergeant, as he opened fire with his repeating rifle upon other
+Fung who by now were clustering upon the back of the idol. This
+position, however, they soon abandoned as untenable, except one or two
+of them who remained there, dead or wounded.
+
+A silence followed, in the midst of which I heard Quick saying to
+Joshua in his very worst Arabic:
+
+"Now does your Royal Highness think that we Gentiles are cowards,
+although it is true those Fung are as good men as we any day?"
+
+Joshua declined argument, and I turned to watch Oliver, who had
+covered his face with his hands, and seemed to be weeping.
+
+"What is it, O friend, what is it?" I heard Maqueda say in her gentle
+voice--a voice full of tears, tears of gratitude I think. "You have
+done a great deed; you have returned safe; all is well."
+
+"Nay," he answered, forgetting her titles in his distress, "all is
+ill. I have failed, and to-night they throw my brother to the lions.
+He told me so."
+
+Maqueda, finding no answer, stretched out her hand to the Mountaineer,
+his companion in adventure, who kissed it.
+
+"Japhet," she said, "I am proud of you; your reward is fourfold, and
+henceforth you are a captain of my Mountaineers."
+
+"Tell us what happened," I said to Oliver.
+
+"This," he answered: "I remembered about your son, and so did Higgs.
+In fact, he spoke of him first--they seem to have become friends. He
+said he would not escape without him, and could fetch him in a moment,
+as he was only just below. Well, he went to do so, and must have found
+the guard instead, who, I suppose, had heard us talking. You know as
+much about the rest as I do. To-night, when the full moon is two hours
+high, there is to be a ceremony of sacrifice, and poor Higgs will be
+let down into the den of lions. He was writing his will in a note-book
+when we saw him, as Barung had promised to send it to us."
+
+"Doctor," said the Sergeant, in a confidential voice, when he had
+digested this information, "would you translate for me a bit, as I
+want to have a talk with Cat there, and my Arabic don't run to it?"
+
+I nodded, and we went to that corner of the plateau where Shadrach
+stood apart, watching and listening.
+
+"Now, Cat," said the Sergeant (I give his remarks in his own language,
+leaving out my rendering) "just listen to me, and understand that if
+you tell lies or play games either you or I don't reach the top of
+this cliff again alive. Do you catch on?"
+
+Shadrach replied that he caught on.
+
+"Very well. You've told us that once you were a prisoner among the
+Fung and thrown to these holy lions, but got out. Now just explain
+what happened."
+
+"This, O Quick. After ceremonies that do not matter, I was let down in
+the food-basket into the feeding-den, and thrown out of the basket
+like any other meat. Then the gates were lifted up by the chains, and
+the lions came in to devour me according to their custom."
+
+"And what happened next, Shadrach?"
+
+"What happened? Why, of course I hid myself in the shadow as much as
+possible, right against the walls of the precipice, until a satan of a
+she-lion snuffled me out and gave a stroke at me. Look, here are the
+marks of her claws," and he pointed to the scars upon his face. "Those
+claws stung like scorpions; they made me mad. The terror which I had
+lost when I saw their yellow eyes came back to me. I rushed at the
+precipice as a cat that is hunted by a dog rushes at a wall. I clung
+to its smooth side with my nails, with my toes, with my teeth. A lion
+leaped up and tore the flesh of my leg, here, here," and he showed the
+marks, which we could scarcely see in that dim light. "He ran back for
+another spring. Above me I saw a tiny ledge, big enough for a hawk to
+sit on--no more. I jumped, I caught it, drawing up my legs so that the
+lion missed me. I made the effort a man makes once in his life.
+Somehow I dragged myself to that ledge; I rested one thigh upon it and
+pressed against the rock to steady myself. Then the rock gave, and I
+tumbled backward into the bottom of a tunnel. Afterwards I escaped to
+the top of the cliff in the dark, O God of Israel! in the dark,
+smelling my way, climbing like a baboon, risking death a thousand
+times. It took me two whole days and nights, and the last of those
+nights I knew not what I did. Yet I found my way, and that is why my
+people name me Cat."
+
+"I understand," said Quick in a new and more respectful voice, "and
+however big a rascal you may be, you've got pluck. Now, say,
+remembering what I told you," and he tapped the handle of his
+revolver, "is that feeding-den where it used to be?"
+
+"I believe so, O Quick; why should it be changed? The victims are let
+down from the belly of the god, just there between his thighs where
+are doors. The feeding-place lies in a hollow of the cliff; this
+platform on which we stand is over it. None saw my escape, therefore
+none searched for the means of it, since they thought that the lions
+had devoured me, as they have devoured thousands. No one enters there,
+only when the beasts have fed full they draw back to their sleeping-
+dens, and those who watch above let down the bars. Listen," and as he
+spoke we heard a crash and a rattle far below. "They fall now, the
+lions having eaten. When Black Windows and perhaps others are thrown
+to them, by and by, they will be drawn up again."
+
+"Is that hole in the rock still there, Shadrach?"
+
+"Without doubt, though I have not been down to look."
+
+"Then, my boy, you are going now," remarked Quick grimly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE DEN OF LIONS
+
+We returned to the others and told them everything that we had learned
+from Shadrach.
+
+"What's your plan, Sergeant?" asked Oliver when he had heard. "Tell
+me, for I have none; my head is muddled."
+
+"This, Captain, for what it is worth; that I should go down through
+the hole that Cat here speaks of, and get into the den. Then when they
+let down the Professor, if they do, and pull up the gates, that I
+should keep back the lions with my rifle while he bolts to the ladder
+which is ready for him, and I follow if I can."
+
+"Capital," said Orme, "but you can't go alone. I'll come too."
+
+"And I also," I said.
+
+"What schemes do you make?" asked Maqueda eagerly, for, of course, she
+could not understand our talk.
+
+We explained.
+
+"What, my friend," she said to Oliver reproachfully, "would you risk
+your life again to-night? Surely it is tempting the goodness of God."
+
+"It would be tempting the goodness of God much more if I left my
+friend to be eaten by lions, Lady," he answered.
+
+Then followed much discussions. In the end it was agreed that we
+should descend to the level of the den, if this were possible; that
+Oliver and Quick should go down into the den with Japhet, who
+instantly volunteered to accompany them, and that I, with some of the
+Mountaineers, should stop in the mouth of the hole as a reserve to
+cover their retreat from the lions. I pleaded to be allowed to take a
+more active part, but of this they would not hear, saying with some
+truth, that I was by far the best shot of the three, and could do much
+more to help them from above, if, as was hoped, the moon should shine
+brightly.
+
+But I knew they really meant that I was too old to be of service in
+such an adventure as this. Also they desired to keep me out of risk.
+
+Then came the question as to who should descend the last tunnel to the
+place of operations. Oliver wished Maqueda to return to the top of the
+cliff and wait there, but she said at once that she could not think of
+attempting the ascent without our aid; also that she was determined to
+see the end of the matter. Even Joshua would not go; I think, that
+being an unpopular character among them, he distrusted the
+Mountaineers, whose duty it would have been to escort him.
+
+It was suggested that he should remain where he was until we returned,
+if we did return, but this idea commended itself to him still less
+than the other. Indeed he pointed out with much truth what we had
+overlooked, namely, that now the Fung knew of the passage and were
+quite capable of playing our own game, that is, of throwing a bridge
+across from the sphinx's tail and attempting the storm of Mur.
+
+"And then what should I do if they found me here alone?" he added
+pathetically.
+
+Maqueda answered that she was sure she did not know, but that
+meanwhile it might be wise to block the mouth of the tunnel by which
+we had reached the plateau in such a fashion that it could not easily
+be forced.
+
+"Yes," answered Oliver, "and if we ever get out of this, to blow the
+shaft in and make sure that it cannot be used."
+
+"That shaft might be useful, Captain," said Quick doubtfully.
+
+"There is a better way, Sergeant, if we want to mine under the sphinx;
+I mean through the Tomb of Kings. I took the levels roughly, and the
+end of it can't be far off. Anyhow, this shaft is of no more use to us
+now that the Fung have found it out."
+
+Then we set to work to fill in the mouth of the passage with such
+loose stones as we could find. It was a difficult business, but in the
+end the Mountaineers made a very fair job of it under our direction,
+piling the rocks in such a fashion that they could scarcely be cleared
+away in any short time without the aid of explosives.
+
+While this work was going on, Japhet, Shadrach, and the Sergeant in
+charge of him, undertook to explore the last shaft which led down to
+the level of the den. To our relief, just as we had finished building
+up the hole, they returned with the news that now after they had
+removed a fallen stone or two it was quite practicable with the aid of
+ropes and ladders.
+
+So, in the same order as before, we commenced its passage, and in
+about half-an-hour, for it was under three hundred feet in depth,
+arrived safely at the foot. Here we found a bat-haunted place like a
+room that evidently had been hollowed out by man. As Shadrach had
+said, at its eastern extremity was a large, oblong boulder, so
+balanced that if even one person pushed on either of its ends it swung
+around, leaving on each side a passage large enough to allow a man to
+walk through in a crouching attitude.
+
+Very silently we propped open this prim�val door and looked out. Now
+the full moon was up, and her brilliant light had begun to flood the
+gulf. By it we saw a dense shadow, that reached from the ground to
+three hundred feet or so above us. This we knew to be that thrown by
+the flanks of the gigantic sphinx which projected beyond the mountain
+of stone whereon it rested, those flanks whence, according to
+Shadrach, Higgs would be lowered in a food-basket. In this shadow and
+on either side of it, covering a space of quite a hundred yards
+square, lay the feeding-den, whence arose a sickly and horrible odour
+such as is common to any place frequented by cats, mingled with the
+more pungent smell of decaying flesh.
+
+This darksome den was surrounded on three sides by precipices, and on
+the fourth, that toward the east, enclosed by a wall or barrier of
+rock pierced with several gates made of bars of metal, or so we judged
+by the light that flowed through them.
+
+From beyond this eastern wall came dreadful sounds of roars, snarls,
+and whimperings. Evidently there the sacred lions had their home.
+
+Only one more thing need be mentioned. On the rock floor almost
+immediately beneath us lay remains which, from their torn clothes and
+hair, we knew must be human. As somebody explained, I think it was
+Shadrach, they were those of the man whom Orme had shot upon the tail
+of the sphinx, and of his companions who had been tilted off the
+ladder.
+
+For awhile we gazed at this horrible hole in silence. Then Oliver took
+out his watch, which was a repeater, and struck it.
+
+"Higgs told me," he said, "that he was to be thrown to the lions two
+hours after moonrise, which is within fifteen minutes or so. Sergeant,
+I think we had better be getting ready."
+
+"Yes, Captain," answered Quick; "but everything is quite ready,
+including those brutes, to judge by the noise they make, excepting
+perhaps Samuel Quick, who never felt less ready for anything in his
+life. Now then, Pussy, run out that ladder. Here's your rifle,
+Captain, and six reload clips of cartridges, five hollow-nosed bullets
+in each. You'll never want more than that, and it's no use carrying
+extra weight. In your right-hand pocket, Captain, don't forget. I've
+the same in mine. Doctor, here's a pile for you; laid upon that stone.
+If you lie there, you'll have a good light and rest for your elbow,
+and at this range ought to make very pretty shooting, even in the
+moonlight. Best keep your pistol on the safe, Captain; at least, I'm
+doing so, as we might get a fall, and these new-fangled weapons are
+very hair-triggered. Here's Japhet ready, too, so give us your
+marching orders, sir, and we will go to business; the Doctor will
+translate to Japhet."
+
+"We descend the ladder," said Orme, "and advance about fifty paces
+into the shadow, where we can see without being seen; where also,
+according to Shadrach, the food-basket is let down. There we shall
+stand and await the arrival of this basket. If it contains the
+Professor, he whom the Fung and the Abati know as Black Windows,
+Japhet, you are to seize him and lead, or if necessary carry, him to
+the ladder, up which some of the mountaineers must be ready to help
+him. Your duty, Sergeant, and mine, also that of the Doctor firing
+from above, will be to keep off the lions as best we can, should any
+lions appear, retreating as we fire. If the brutes get one of us he
+must be left, since it is foolish that both lives should be sacrificed
+needlessly. For the rest, you, Sergeant, and you, Japhet, must be
+guided by circumstances and act upon your own discretion. Do not wait
+for special orders from me which I may not be able to give. Now, come
+on. If we do not return, Adams, you will see the Child of Kings safely
+up the shafts and conduct her to Mur. Good-bye, Lady."
+
+"Good-bye," answered Maqueda in a brave voice; I could not see her
+face in the darkness. "Presently, I am sure, you will return with your
+brother."
+
+Just then Joshua broke in:
+
+"I will not be outdone in courage by these Gentiles," he said.
+"Lacking their terrible weapons, I cannot advance into the den, but I
+will descend and guard the foot of the ladder."
+
+"Very well, sir," answered Orme in an astonished voice, "glad to have
+your company, I am sure. Only remember that you must be quick in going
+up it again, since hungry lions are active, and let all take notice
+that we are not responsible for anything that may happen to you."
+
+"Surely you had better stop where you are, my uncle," remarked
+Maqueda.
+
+"To be mocked by you for ever after, my niece. No, I go to face the
+lions," and very slowly he crept through the hole and began to descend
+the ladder. Indeed, when Quick followed after an interval he found him
+only half-way down, and had to hurry his movements by accidentally
+treading on his fingers.
+
+A minute or two later, peeping over the edge, I saw that they were all
+in the den, that is, except Joshua, who had reascended the ladder to
+the height of about six feet, and stood on it face outward, holding to
+the rock on either side with his hands as though he had been
+crucified. Fearing lest he should be seen there, even in the shadow, I
+suggested to Maqueda that she should order him either to go down, or
+to return, which she did vigorously, but without effect. So in the end
+we left him alone.
+
+Meanwhile the three had vanished into the shadow of the sphinx, and we
+could see nothing of them. The great round moon rose higher and
+higher, flooding the rest of the charnel-house with light, and, save
+for an occasional roar or whimper from the lions beyond the wall, the
+silence was intense. Now I could make out the metal gates in this
+wall, and even dark and stealthy forms which passed and repassed
+beyond their bars. Then I made out something else also, the figures of
+men gathering on the top of the wall, though whence they came I knew
+not. By degrees their number increased till there were hundreds of
+them, for the wall was broad as a roadway.
+
+Evidently these were spectators, come to witness the ceremony of
+sacrifice.
+
+"Prince," I whispered to Joshua, "you must get down off the ladder or
+you will betray us all. Nay, it is too late to come up here again, for
+already the moonlight strikes just above your head. Go down, or we
+will cast the ladder loose and let you fall."
+
+So he went down and hid himself among some ferns and bushes where we
+saw no more of him for a while, and, to tell the truth, forgot his
+existence.
+
+Far, far above us, from the back of the idol I suppose, came a faint
+sound of solemn chanting. It sank, and we heard shouts. Then suddenly
+it swelled again. Now Maqueda, who knelt near me, touched my arm and
+pointed to the shadow which gradually was becoming infiltrated with
+the moonlight flowing into it from either side. I looked, and high in
+the air, perhaps two hundred feet from the ground, saw something dark
+descending slowly. Doubtless it was the basket containing Higgs, and
+whether by coincidence or no, at this moment the lions on the farther
+side of the wall burst into peal upon peal of terrific roaring.
+Perhaps their sentries watching at the gate saw or smelt the familiar
+basket, and communicated the intelligence to their fellows.
+
+Slowly, slowly it descended, till it was within a few feet of the
+ground, when it began to sway backward and forward like a pendulum, at
+each swing covering a wider arc. Presently, when it hung over the edge
+of the shadow that was nearest to us, it was let down with a run and
+overset, and out of it, looking very small in those vast surroundings
+and that mysterious light, rolled the figure of a man. Although at
+that distance we could see little of him, accident assured us of his
+identity, for as he rolled the hat he wore fell from him, and I knew
+it at once for Higgs's sun-helmet. He rose from the ground, limped
+very slowly and painfully after the helmet, picked it up, and
+proceeded to use it to dust his knees. At this moment there was a
+clanking sound.
+
+"Oh! they lift the gates!" murmured Maqueda.
+
+Then followed more sounds, this time of wild beasts raging for their
+prey, and of other human beasts shrieking with excitement on the wall
+above. The Professor turned and saw. For a moment he seemed about to
+run, then changed his mind, clapped the helmet on his head, folded his
+arms and stood still, reminding me in some curious way, perhaps,
+because of the shortness of his thick figure, of a picture I had seen
+of the great Napoleon contemplating a disaster.
+
+To describe what followed is extremely difficult, for we watched not
+one but several simultaneous scenes. For instance, there were the
+lions, which did not behave as might have been expected. I thought
+that they would rush through the doors and bound upon the victim, but
+whether it was because they had already been fed that afternoon or
+because they thought that a single human being was not worth the
+trouble, they acted differently.
+
+Through the open gates they came, in two indolent yellow lines, male
+lions, female lions, half-grown lions, cub lions that cuffed each
+other in play, in all perhaps fifty or sixty of them. Of these only
+two or three looked towards the Professor, for none of them ran or
+galloped, while the rest spread over the den, some of them vanishing
+into the shadow at the edge of the surrounding cliff where the
+moonlight could not reach.
+
+Here one of them, at any rate, must have travelled fast enough, for it
+seemed only a few seconds later that we heard a terrific yell beneath
+us, and craning over the rock I saw the Prince Joshua running up the
+ladder more swiftly than ever did any London lamplighter when I was a
+boy.
+
+But quickly as he came, the long, thin, sinuous thing beneath came
+quicker. It reared itself on its hind legs, it stretched up a great
+paw--I can see the gleaming claws in it now--and struck or hooked at
+poor Joshua. The paw caught him in the small of the back, and seemed
+to pin him against the ladder. Then it was drawn slowly downward, and
+heaven! how Joshua howled. Up came the other paw to repeat the
+operation, when, stretching myself outward and downward, with an Abati
+holding me by the ankles, I managed to shoot the beast through the
+head so that it fell all of a heap, taking with it a large portion of
+Joshua's nether garments.
+
+A few seconds later he was among us, and tumbled groaning into a
+corner, where he lay in charge of some of the mountaineers, for I had
+no time to attend to him just then.
+
+When the smoke cleared at length, I saw that Japhet had reached Higgs,
+and was gesticulating to him to run, while two lions, a male and a
+female, stood at a little distance, regarding the pair in an
+interested fashion. Higgs, after some brief words of explanation,
+pointed to his knee. Evidently he was lamed and could not run. Japhet,
+rising to the occasion, pointed to his back, and bent down. Higgs
+flung himself upon it, and was hitched up like a sack of flour. The
+pair began to advance toward the ladder, Japhet carrying Higgs as one
+schoolboy carries another.
+
+The lion sat down like a great dog, watching this strange proceeding
+with mild interest, but the lioness, filled with feminine curiosity,
+followed sniffing at Higgs, who looked over his shoulder. Taking off
+his battered helmet, he threw it at the beast, hitting her on the
+head. She growled, then seized the helmet, playing with it for a
+moment as a kitten does with a ball of wool, and next instant, finding
+it unsatisfying, uttered a short and savage roar, ran forward, and
+crouched to spring, lashing her tail. I could not fire, because a
+bullet that would hit her must first pass through Japhet and Higgs.
+
+But, just when I thought that the end had come, a rifle went off in
+the shadow and she rolled over, kicking and biting the rock. Thereon
+the indolent male lion seemed to awake, and sprang, not at the men,
+but at the wounded lioness, and a hellish fight ensued, of which the
+details and end were lost in a mist of dust and flying hair.
+
+The crowd upon the wall, becoming alive to the real situation, began
+to scream in indignant excitement which quickly communicated itself to
+the less savage beasts. These set up a terrible roaring, and ran
+about, keeping for the most part to the shadows, while Japhet and his
+burden made slow but steady progress toward the ladder.
+
+Then from the gloom beneath the hind-quarters of the sphinx rose a
+sound of rapid firing, and presently Orme and Quick emerged into the
+moonlight, followed by a number of angry lions that advanced in short
+rushes. Evidently the pair had kept their heads, and were acting on a
+plan.
+
+One of them emptied his rifle at the pursuing beasts, while the other
+ran back a few paces, thrusting in a fresh clip of cartridges as he
+went. Then he began to fire, and his companion in turn retreated
+behind him. In this way they knocked over a number of lions, for the
+range was too short for them to miss often, and the expanding bullets
+did their work very well, paralyzing even when they did not kill. I
+also opened fire over their heads, and, although in that uncertain
+light the majority of my shots did no damage, the others disposed of
+several animals which I saw were becoming dangerous.
+
+So things went on until all four, that is, Japhet with Higgs upon his
+back, and Orme and Quick, were within twenty paces of the ladder,
+although separated from each other by perhaps half the length of a
+cricket pitch. We thought that they were safe, and shouted in our joy,
+while the hundreds of spectators on the wall who fortunately dared not
+descend into the den because of the lions, which are undiscriminating
+beasts, yelled with rage at the imminent rescue of the sacrifice.
+
+Then of a sudden the position changed. From every quarter fresh lions
+seemed to arrive, ringing the men round and clearly bent on slaughter,
+although the shouting and the sound of firearms, which they had never
+heard before, frightened them and made them cautious.
+
+A half-grown cub rushed in and knocked over Japhet and Higgs. I fired
+and hit it in the flank. It bit savagely at its wound, then sprang on
+to the prostrate pair, and stood over them growling, but in such pain
+that it forgot to kill them. The ring of beasts closed in--we could
+see their yellow eyes glowing in the gloom. Orme and Quick might have
+got through by the help of their rifles, but they could not leave the
+others. The dreadful climax seemed at hand.
+
+"Follow me," said Maqueda, who all this while had watched panting at
+my side, and rose to run to the ladder. I thrust her back.
+
+"Nay," I shouted. "Follow me, Abati! Shall a woman lead you?"
+
+Of how I descended that ladder I have no recollection, nor do I in the
+least know how the Mountaineers came after me, but I think that the
+most of them rolled and scrambled down the thirty feet of rock. At
+least, to their honour be it said, they did come, yelling like demons
+and waving long knives in their hands.
+
+The effect of our sudden arrival from above was extraordinary. Scared
+by the rush and the noise, the lions gave way, then bolted in every
+direction, the wounded cub, which could not, or would not move, being
+stabbed to death where it stood over Higgs and Japhet.
+
+Five minutes more and all of us were safe in the mouth of the tunnel.
+
+
+
+That was how we rescued Higgs from the den of the sacred lions which
+guarded the idol of the Fung.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF HIGGS
+
+A more weary and dishevelled set of people than that which about the
+hour of dawn finally emerged from the mouth of the ancient shaft on to
+the cliffs of Mur it has seldom been my lot to behold. Yet with a
+single exception the party was a happy one, for we had come triumphant
+through great dangers, and actually effected our object--the rescue of
+Higgs, which, under the circumstances most people would have thought
+impossible. Yes, there he was in the flesh before us, having injured
+his knee and lost his hat, but otherwise quite sound save for a few
+trifling scratches inflicted by the cub, and still wearing what the
+natives called his "black windows."
+
+Even the Prince Joshua was happy, though wrapped in a piece of coarse
+sacking because the lion had taken most of his posterior clothing, and
+terribly sore from the deep cuts left by the claws.
+
+Had he not dared the dangers of the den, and thus proved himself a
+hero whose fame would last for generations? Had I not assured him that
+his honourable wounds, though painful (as a matter of fact, after they
+had set, they kept him stiff as a mummy for some days, so that unless
+he stood upon his feet, he had to be carried, or lie rigid on his
+face) would probably not prove fatal? And had he not actually survived
+to reach the upper air again, which was more than he ever expected to
+do? No wonder that he was happy.
+
+I alone could not share in the general joy, since, although my friend
+was restored to me, my son still remained a prisoner among the Fung.
+Yet even in this matter things might have been worse, since I learned
+that he was well treated, and in no danger. But of that I will write
+presently.
+
+Never shall I forget the scene after the arrival of Higgs in our hole,
+when the swinging boulder had been closed and made secure and the
+lamps lighted. There he sat on the floor, his red hair glowing like a
+torch, his clothes torn and bloody, his beard ragged and stretching in
+a Newgate frill to his ears. Indeed, his whole appearance, accentuated
+by the blue spectacles with wire gauze side-pieces, was more
+disreputable than words can tell; moreover, he smelt horribly of lion.
+He put his hand into his pocket, and produced his big pipe, which had
+remained unbroken in its case.
+
+"Some tobacco, please," he said. (Those were his first words to us!)
+"I have finished mine, saved up the last to smoke just before they put
+me into that stinking basket."
+
+I gave him some, and as he lit his pipe the light of the match fell
+upon the face of Maqueda, who was staring at him with amused
+astonishment.
+
+"What an uncommonly pretty woman," he said. "What's she doing down
+here, and who is she?"
+
+I told him, whereon he rose, or rather tried to, felt for his hat,
+which, of course, had gone, with the idea of taking it off, and
+instantly addressed her in his beautiful and fluent Arabic, saying how
+glad he was to have this unexpected honour, and so forth.
+
+She congratulated him on his escape, whereon his face grew serious.
+
+"Yes, a nasty business," he said, "as yet I can hardly remember
+whether my name is Daniel, or Ptolemy Higgs." Then he turned to us and
+added, "Look here, you fellows, if I don't thank you it isn't because
+I am not grateful, but because I can't. The truth is, I'm a bit dazed.
+Your son is all right, Adams; he's a good fellow, and we grew great
+friends. Safe? Oh! yes, he's safe as a church! Old Barung, he's the
+Sultan, and another good fellow, although he did throw me to the lions
+--because the priests made him--is very fond of him, and is going to
+marry him to his daughter."
+
+At this moment the men announced that everything was ready for our
+ascent, and when I had attended to Joshua with a heart made thankful
+by Higgs's news, we began that toilsome business, and, as I have
+already said, at length accomplished it safely. But even then our
+labours were not ended, since it was necessary to fill up the mouth of
+the shaft so as to make it impossible that it should be used by the
+Fung, who now knew of its existence.
+
+Nor was this a business that could be delayed, for as we passed the
+plateau whence Oliver and Japhet had crossed to the sphinx, we heard
+the voices of men on the farther side of the rough wall that we had
+built there. Evidently the priests, or idol guards, infuriated by the
+rescue of their victim, had already managed to bridge the gulf and
+were contemplating assault, a knowledge which caused us to hurry our
+movements considerably. If they had got through before we passed them,
+our fate would have been terrible, since at the best we must have
+slowly starved in the pit below.
+
+Indeed, as soon as we reached the top and had blocked it temporarily,
+Quick, weary as he was, was sent off on horseback, accompanied by
+Maqueda, Shadrach, now under the terms of his contract once more a
+free man, and two Mountaineers, to gallop to the palace of Mur, and
+fetch a supply of explosives. The rest of us, for Higgs declined to
+leave, and we had no means of carrying Joshua, remained watching the
+place, or rather the Abati watched while we slept with our rifles in
+our hands. Before noon Quick returned, accompanied by many men with
+litters and all things needful.
+
+Then we pulled out the stones, and Oliver, Japhet, and some others
+descended to the first level and arranged blasting charges. Awhile
+after he reappeared with his companions, looking somewhat pale and
+anxious, and shouted to us to get back. Following our retreat to a
+certain distance, unwinding a wire as he came, presently he stopped
+and pressed the button of a battery which he held in his hand. There
+was a muffled explosion and a tremor of the soil like to that of an
+earthquake, while from the mouth of the shaft stones leapt into the
+air.
+
+It was over, and all that could be noted was a sinkage in the ground
+where the ancient pit had been.
+
+"I am sorry for them," said Oliver presently, "but it had to be done."
+
+"Sorry for whom?" I asked.
+
+"For those Fung priests or soldiers. The levels below are full of
+them, dead or alive. They were pouring up at our heels. Well, no one
+will travel that road again."
+
+
+
+Later, in the guest house at Mur, Higgs told us his story. After his
+betrayal by Shadrach, which, it appeared, was meant to include us all,
+for the Professor overheard the hurried talk between him and a Fung
+captain, he was seized and imprisoned in the body of the great sphinx,
+where many chambers and dungeons had been hollowed out by the prim�val
+race that fashioned it. Here Barung the Sultan visited him and
+informed him of his meeting with the rest of us, to whom apparently he
+had taken a great liking, and also that we had refused to purchase a
+chance of his release at the price of being false to our trust.
+
+"You know," said Higgs, "that when first I heard this I was very angry
+with you, and thought you a set of beasts. But on considering things I
+saw the other side of it, and that you were right, although I never
+could come to fancy the idea of being sacrificed to a sphinx by being
+chucked like a piece of horse-flesh to a lot of holy lions. However,
+Barung, an excellent fellow in his way, assured me that there was no
+road out of the matter without giving grave offence to the priests,
+who are very powerful among the Fung, and bringing a fearful curse on
+the nation.
+
+"Meanwhile, he made me as comfortable as he could. For instance, I was
+allowed to walk upon the back of the idol, to associate with the
+priests, a suspicious and most exclusive set, and to study their
+entire religious system, from which I have no doubt that of Egypt was
+derived. Indeed, I have made a great discovery which, if ever we get
+out of this, will carry my name down to all generations. The
+forefathers of these Fung were undoubtedly also the forefathers of the
+pre-dynastic Egyptians, as is shown by the similarity of their customs
+and spiritual theories. Further, intercourse was kept up between the
+Fung, who then had their headquarters here in Mur, and the Egyptians
+in the time of the ancient empire, till the Twentieth Dynasty, indeed,
+if not later. My friends, in the dungeons in which I was confined
+there is an inscription, or, rather, a /graffite/, made by a prisoner
+extradited to Mur by Rameses II., after twenty years' residence in
+Egypt, which was written by him on the night before he was thrown to
+the sacred lions, that even in those days were an established
+institution. And I have got a copy of that inscription in my pocket-
+book. I tell you," he added in a scream of triumph, "I've got a
+certified copy of that inscription, thanks to Shadrach, on whose dirty
+head be blessings!"
+
+I congratulated him heartily upon this triumph, and before he
+proceeded to give us further arch�ological details, asked him for some
+information about my boy.
+
+"Oh," said Higgs, "he is a very nice young man and extremely good
+looking. Indeed, I am quite proud to have such a godson. He was much
+interested to hear that you were hunting for him after so many years,
+quite touched indeed. He still talks English, though with a Fung
+accent, and, of course, would like to escape. Meanwhile, he is having
+a very good time, being chief singer to the god, for his voice is
+really beautiful, an office which carries with it all sorts of
+privileges. I told you, didn't I, that he is to be married to Barung's
+only legitimate daughter on the night of the next full moon but one.
+The ceremony is to take place in Harmac City, and will be the greatest
+of its sort for generations, a feast of the entire people in short. I
+should very much like to be present at it, but being an intelligent
+young man he has promised to keep notes of everything, which I hope
+may become available in due course."
+
+"And is he attached to this savage lady?" I asked dismayed.
+
+"Attached? Oh, dear no, I think he said he had never seen her, and
+only knew that she was rather plain and reported to possess a haughty
+temper. He is a philosophical young man, however, as might be expected
+from one who has undergone so many vicissitudes, and, therefore, takes
+things as they come, thanking heaven that they are no worse. You see,
+as the husband of the Sultan's daughter, unless the pair quarrel very
+violently, he will be safe from the lions, and he could never quite
+say as much before. But we didn't go into these domestic matters very
+deeply as there were so many more important things to interest us
+both. He wanted to know all about you and our plans, and naturally I
+wanted to know all about the Fung and the ritual and traditions
+connected with the worship of Harmac, so that we were never dull for a
+single moment. In fact, I wish that we could have had longer together,
+for we became excellent friends. But whatever happens, I think that I
+have collected the cream of his information," and he tapped a fat
+note-book in his hands, adding:
+
+"What an awful thing it would have been if a lion had eaten this. For
+myself it did not matter; there may be many better Egyptologists, but
+I doubt if any one of them will again have such opportunities of
+original research. However, I took every possible precaution to save
+my notes by leaving a copy of the most important of them written with
+native ink upon sheepskin in charge of your son. Indeed, I meant to
+leave the originals also, but fortunately forgot in the excitement of
+my very hurried departure."
+
+I agreed with him that his chances had been unique and that he was a
+most lucky arch�ologist, and presently he went on puffing at his pipe.
+
+"Of course, when Oliver turned up in that unexpected fashion on the
+back of the idol, remembering your wishes and natural desire to
+recover your son, I did my best to rescue him also. But he wasn't in
+the room beneath, where I thought I should find him. The priests were
+there instead, and they had heard us talking above, and you know the
+rest. Well, as it happens, it didn't matter, though that descent into
+the den of lions--there were two or three hundred feet of it, and the
+rope seemed worn uncommonly thin with use--was a trying business to
+the nerves."
+
+"What did you think about all the time?" asked Oliver curiously.
+
+"Think about? I didn't think much, was in too great a fright. I just
+wondered whether St. Paul had the same sensations when he was let down
+in a basket; wondered what the early Christian martyrs felt like in
+the arena; wondered whether Barung, with whom my parting was quite
+affectionate, would come in the morning and look for me as Darius did
+for Daniel and how much he would find if he did; hoped that my specs
+would give one of those brutes appendicitis, and so forth. My word! it
+was sickening, especially that kind of school-treat swing and bump at
+the end. I never could bear swinging. Still, it was all for the best,
+as I shouldn't have gone a yard along that sphinx's tail without
+tumbling off, tight-rope walking not being in my line; and I'll tell
+you what, you are just the best three fellows in the whole world.
+Don't you think I forget that because I haven't said much. And now
+let's have your yarn, for I want to hear how things stand, which I
+never expected to do this side of Judgment-day."
+
+So we told him all, while he listened open-mouthed. When we came to
+the description of the Tomb of the Kings his excitement could scarcely
+be restrained.
+
+"You haven't touched them," he almost screamed; "don't say you have
+been vandals enough to touch them, for every article must be
+catalogued /in situ/ and drawings must be made. If possible, specimen
+groups with their surrounding offerings should be moved so that they
+can be set up again in museums. Why, there's six months' work before
+me, at least. And to think that if it hadn't been for you, by now I
+should be in process of digestion by a lion, a stinking, mangy, sacred
+lion!"
+
+Next morning I was awakened by Higgs limping into my room in some
+weird sleeping-suit that he had contrived with the help of Quick.
+
+"I say, old fellow," he said, "tell me some more about that girl,
+Walda Nagasta. What a sweet face she's got, and what pluck! Of course,
+such things ain't in my line, never looked at a woman these twenty
+years past, hard enough to remember her next morning, but, by Jingo!
+the eyes of that one made me feel quite queer here," and he hit the
+sleeping-suit somewhere in the middle, "though perhaps it was only
+because she was such a contrast to the lions."
+
+"Ptolemy," I answered in a solemn voice, "let me tell you that she is
+more dangerous to meddle with than any lion, and what's more, if you
+don't want to further complicate matters with a flaming row, you had
+better keep to your old habits and leave her eyes alone. I mean that
+Oliver is in love with her."
+
+"Of course he is. I never expected anything else, but what's that got
+to do with it? Why shouldn't I be in love with her too? Though I
+admit," he added sadly, contemplating his rotund form, "the chances
+are in his favour, especially as he's got the start."
+
+"They are, Ptolemy, for she's in love with him," and I told him what
+we had seen in the Tomb of Kings.
+
+First he roared with laughter, then on second thoughts grew
+exceedingly indignant.
+
+"I call it scandalous of Oliver, compromising us all in this way--the
+lucky dog! These selfish, amorous adventures will let us in for no end
+of trouble. It is even probably, Adams, that you and I may come to a
+miserable end, solely because of this young man's erotic tendencies.
+Just fancy neglecting business in order to run after a pretty, round-
+faced Jewess, that is if she /is/ a Jewess, which I doubt, as the
+blood must have got considerably mixed by now, and the first Queen of
+Sheba, if she ever existed, was an Ethiopian. As a friend almost old
+enough to be his father, I shall speak to him very seriously."
+
+"All right," I called after him as he hobbled off to take his bath,
+"only if you are wise, you won't speak to Maqueda, for she might
+misinterpret your motives if you go on staring at her as you did
+yesterday."
+
+
+
+That morning I was summoned to see the Prince Joshua and dress his
+wounds, which, although not of a serious nature, were very painful.
+The moment that I entered the man's presence I noticed a change in his
+face. Like the rest of us I had always set this fellow down as a mere
+poltroon and windbag, a blower of his own trumpet, as Oliver had
+called him. Now I got an insight into his real nature which showed me
+that although he might be these things and worse, he was also a very
+determined and dangerous person, animated by ambitions which he meant
+to satisfy at all hazards.
+
+When I had done what I could for him and told him that in my opinion
+he had no ill results to fear from his hurts, since the thick clothes
+he was wearing at the time had probably cleaned the lion's paws of any
+poison that might have been on them, he said,
+
+"Physician, I desire private words with you."
+
+I bowed, and he went on:
+
+"The Child of Kings, hereditary ruler of this land, somewhat against
+the advice of her Council, has thought fit to employ you and your
+Gentile companions in order that by your skill and certain arts of
+which you are masters you may damage its ancient enemies, the Fung,
+and in reward has promised to pay you well should you succeed in your
+endeavours. Now, I wish you to understand that though you think
+yourselves great men, and may for aught I know be great in your own
+country, here you are but servants like any other mercenaries whom it
+may please us to hire."
+
+His tone was so offensive that, though it might have been wiser to
+keep silent, I could not help interrupting him.
+
+"You use hard words, Prince," I said; "let me then explain what is the
+real pay for which we work and undergo some risks. Mine is the hope of
+recovering a son who is the slave of your enemies. That of the Captain
+Orme is the quest of adventure and war, since being a rich man in his
+own country he needs no further wealth. That of him whom you call
+Black Windows, but whose name is Higgs, is the pure love of learning.
+In England and throughout the West he is noted for his knowledge of
+dead peoples, their languages, and customs, and it is to study these
+that he has undertaken so terrible a journey. As for Quick, he is
+Orme's man, who has known him from childhood, an old soldier who has
+served with him in war and comes hither to be with the master whom he
+loves."
+
+"Ah!" said Joshua, "a servant, a person of no degree, who yet dares to
+threaten me, the premier prince of the Abati, to my face."
+
+"In the presence of death all men are equal, Prince. You acted in a
+fashion that might have brought his lord, who was daring a desperate
+deed, to a hideous doom."
+
+"And what do I care about his lord's desperate deeds, Physician? I see
+that you set store by such things, and think those who accomplish them
+great and wonderful. Well, we do not. There is no savage among the
+barbarous Fung would not do all that your Orme does, and more, just
+because he is a savage. We who are civilized, we who are cultivated,
+we who are wise, know better. Our lives were given us to enjoy, not to
+throw away or to lose at the sword's point, and, therefore, no doubt,
+you would call us cowards."
+
+"Yet, Prince, those who bear that title of coward which you hold one
+of honour, are apt to perish 'at the sword's point.' The Fung wait
+without your gates, O Prince."
+
+"And therefore, O Gentile, we hire you to fight the Fung. Still, I
+bear no grudge against your servant, Quick, who is himself but a
+white-skinned Fung, for he acted according to his nature, and I
+forgive him; only in the future let him beware! And now--for a greater
+matter. The Child of Kings is beautiful, she is young and high
+spirited; a new face from another land may perchance touch her fancy.
+But," he added meaningly, "let the owner of that face remember who she
+is and what he is; let him remember that for any outside the circle of
+the ancient blood to lift his eyes to the daughter of Solomon is to
+earn death, death slow and cruel for himself and all who aid and abet
+him. Let him remember, lastly, that this high-born lady to whom he, an
+unknown and vagrant Gentile, dares to talk as equal to equal, has from
+childhood been my affianced, who will shortly be my wife, although it
+may please her to seem to flout me after the fashion of maidens, and
+that we Abati are jealous of the honour of our women. Do you
+understand?"
+
+"Yes, Prince," I answered, for by now my temper was roused. "But I
+would have you understand something also--that we are men of a high
+race whose arm stretches over half the world, and that we differ from
+the little tribe of the Abati, whose fame is not known to us, in this
+--that we are jealous of our own honour, and do not need to hire
+strangers to fight the foes we fear to face. Next time I come to
+attend to your wounds, O Prince, I trust that they will be in front,
+and not behind. One word more, if you will be advised by me you will
+not threaten that Captain whom you call a Gentile and a mercenary,
+lest you should learn that it is not always well to be a coward, of
+blood however ancient."
+
+Then, in a towering rage, I left him, feeling that I had made a
+thorough fool of myself. But the truth was that I could not sit still
+and hear men such as my companions, to say nothing of myself, spoken
+of thus by a bloated cur, who called himself a prince and boasted of
+his own poltroonery. He glowered at me as I went, and the men of his
+party who hung about the end of the great room and in his courts,
+glowered at me also. Clearly he was a very dangerous cur, and I almost
+wished that instead of threatening to slap his face down in the
+tunnel, Quick had broken his neck and made an end of him.
+
+So did the others when I told them the story, although I think it
+opened their eyes, and especially those of Oliver, to the grave and
+growing dangers of the situation. Afterward he informed me that he had
+spoken of the matter with Maqueda, and that she was much frightened
+for our sakes, and somewhat for her own. Joshua, she said, was a man
+capable of any crime, who had at his back the great majority of the
+Abati; a jealous, mean and intolerant race who made up in cunning for
+what they lacked in courage.
+
+Yet, as I saw well, the peril of their situation did nothing to
+separate this pair or to lessen their love. Indeed, rather did it seem
+to bind them closer together, and to make them more completely one. In
+short, the tragedy took its appointed course, whilst we stood by and
+watched it helplessly.
+
+On the afternoon of my angry interview with Joshua we were summoned to
+a meeting of the Council, whither we went, not without some
+trepidation, expecting trouble. Trouble there was, but of a different
+sort to that which we feared. Scarcely had we entered the great room
+where the Child of Kings was seated in her chair of state surrounded
+by all the pomp and ceremony of her mimic court, when the big doors at
+the end of it were opened, and through them marched three gray-bearded
+men in white robes whom we saw at once were heralds or ambassadors
+from the Fung. These men bowed to the veiled Maqueda and, turning
+toward where we stood in a little group apart, bowed to us also.
+
+But of Joshua, who was there supported by two servants, for he could
+not yet stand alone, and the other notables and priests of the Abati,
+they took not the slightest heed.
+
+"Speak," said Maqueda.
+
+"Lady," answered the spokesman of the embassy, "we are sent by our
+Sultan, Barung, son of Barung, Ruler of the Fung nation. These are the
+words of Barung: O Walda Nagasta! 'By the hands and the wit of the
+white lords whom you have called to your aid, you have of late done
+much evil to the god Harmac and to me his servant. You have destroyed
+one of the gates of my city, and with it many of my people. You have
+rescued a prisoner out of my hands, robbing Harmac of his sacrifice
+and thereby bringing his wrath upon us. You have slain sundry of the
+sacred beasts that are the mouth of sacrifice, you have killed certain
+of the priests and guards of Harmac in a hole of the rocks. Moreover
+my spies tell me that you plan further ills against the god and
+against me. Now I send to tell you that for these and other offences I
+will make an end of the people of the Abati, whom hitherto I have
+spared. In a little while I marry my daughter to the white man, that
+priest of Harmac who is called Singer of Egypt, and who is said to be
+the son of the physician in your service, but after I have celebrated
+this feast and my people have finished the hoeing of their crops, I
+take up the sword in earnest, nor will I lay it down again until the
+Abati are no more.
+
+"'Learn that last night after the holy beasts had been slain and the
+sacrifice snatched away, the god Harmac spoke to his priests in
+prophecy. And this was his prophecy; that before the gathering in of
+the harvest his /head/ should sleep above the plain of Mur. We know
+not the interpretation of the saying, but this I know, that before the
+gathering of the harvest I, or those who rule after me, will lie down
+to sleep within my city of Mur.'
+
+"'Now, choose--surrender forthwith and, save for the dog, Joshua, who
+the other day tried to entrap me against the custom of peoples, and
+ten others whom I shall name, I will spare the lives of all of you,
+though Joshua and these ten I will hang, since they are not worthy to
+die by the sword. Or resist, and by Harmac himself I swear that every
+man among the Abati shall die save the white lords whom I honour
+because they are brave, and that servant of yours who stood with them
+last night in the den of lions, and that every woman shall be made a
+slave, save you, O Walda Nagasta, because of your great heart. Your
+answer, O Lady of the Abati!'"
+
+Now Maqueda looked around the faces of her Council, and saw fear
+written upon them all. Indeed, as we noted, many of them shook in
+their terror.
+
+"My answer will be short, ambassadors of Barung," she replied, "still,
+I am but one woman, and it is fitting that those who represent the
+people should speak for the people. My uncle, Joshua, you are the
+first of my Council, what have you to say? Are you willing to give up
+your life with ten others whose names I do not know, that there may be
+peace between us and the Fung?"
+
+"What?" answered Joshua, with a splutter of rage, "do I live to hear a
+Walda Nagasta suggest that the first prince of the land, her uncle and
+affianced husband, should be surrendered to our hereditary foes to be
+hanged like a worn-out hound, and do you, O unknown ten, who doubtless
+stand in this chamber, live to hear it also?"
+
+"My uncle, you do not. I asked if such was your wish, that is all."
+
+"Then I answer that it is not my wish, nor the wish of the ten, nor
+the wish of the Abati. Nay, we will fight the Fung and destroy them,
+and of their beast-headed idol Harmac we will make blocks to build our
+synagogues and stones to pave our roads. Do you hear, savages of
+Fung?" and assisted by his two servants he hobbled towards them,
+grinning in their faces.
+
+The envoys looked him up and down with their quiet eyes. "We hear and
+we are very glad to hear," their spokesman answered, "since we Fung
+love to settle our quarrels with the sword and not by treaty. But to
+you, Joshua, we say: Make haste to die before we enter Mur, since the
+rope is not the only means of death whereof we know."
+
+Very solemnly the three ambassadors saluted, first the Child of Kings
+and next ourselves, then turned to go.
+
+"Kill them!" shouted Joshua, "they have threatened and insulted me,
+the Prince!"
+
+But no one lifted a hand against the men, who passed safely out of the
+palace to the square, where an escort waited with their horses.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HOW PHARAOH MET SHADRACH
+
+When the ambassadors had gone, at first there was silence, a very
+heavy silence, since even the frivolous Abati felt that the hour was
+big with fate. Of a sudden, however, the members of the Council began
+to chatter like so many monkeys, each talking without listening to
+what his neighbour said, till at length a gorgeously dressed person, I
+understood that he was a priest, stepped forward, and shouted down the
+others.
+
+Then he spoke in an excited and venomous fashion. He pointed out that
+we Gentiles had brought all this trouble upon Mur, since before we
+came the Abati, although threatened, had lived in peace and glory--he
+actually used the word glory!--for generations. But now we had stung
+the Fung, as a hornet stings a bull, and made them mad, so that they
+wished to toss the Abati. He proposed, therefore, that we should at
+once be ejected from Mur.
+
+At this point I saw Joshua whisper into the ear of a man, who called
+out:--
+
+"No, no, for then they would go to their friend, Barung, a savage like
+themselves, and having learned our secrets, would doubtless use them
+against us. I say that they must be killed instantly," and he drew a
+sword, and waved it.
+
+Quick walked up to the fellow and clapped a pistol to his head.
+
+"Drop that sword," he said, "or /you/'ll never hear the end of the
+story," and he obeyed, whereupon Quick came back.
+
+Now Maqueda began to speak, quietly enough, although I could see that
+she was quaking with passion.
+
+"These men are our guests," she said, "come hither to serve us. Do you
+desire to murder our guests? Moreover, of what use would that be? One
+thing alone can save us, the destruction of the god of the Fung,
+since, according to the ancient saying of that people, when the idol
+is destroyed the Fung will leave their city of Harmac. Moreover, as to
+this new prophecy of the priests of the idol, that before the
+gathering in of the harvest his head shall sleep above the plain of
+Mur, how can that happen if it is destroyed, unless indeed it means
+that Harmac shall sleep in the heavens. Therefore what have you to
+fear from threats built upon that which cannot happen?
+
+"But can /you/ destroy this false god Harmac, or dare /you/ fight the
+Fung? You know that it is not so, for had it been so what need was
+there for me to send for these Westerns? And if you murder them, will
+Barung thereby be appeased? Nay, I tell you that being a brave and
+honourable man, although our enemy, he will become ten times more
+wroth with you than he was before, and exact a vengeance even more
+terrible. I tell you also, that then you must find another Walda
+Nagasta to rule over you, since I, Maqueda, will do so no more."
+
+"That is impossible," said some one, "you are the last woman of the
+true blood."
+
+"Then you can choose one of blood that is not true, or elect a king,
+as the Jews elected Saul, for if my guests are butchered I shall die
+of very shame."
+
+These words of hers seemed to cow the Council, one of whom asked what
+would she have them do?
+
+"Do?" she replied, throwing back her veil, "why, be men, raise an army
+of every male who can carry a sword; help the foreigners, and they
+will lead you to victory. People of the Abati, would you be
+slaughtered, would you see your women slaves, and your ancient name
+blotted out from the list of peoples?"
+
+Now some of them cried, "No."
+
+"Then save yourselves. You are still many, the strangers here have
+skill in war, they can lead if you will follow. Be brave a while, and
+I swear to you that by harvest the Abati shall sit in the city of
+Harmac and not the Fung in Mur. I have spoken, now do what you will,"
+and rising from her chair of state Maqueda left the chamber, motioning
+to us to do likewise.
+
+
+
+The end of all this business was that a peace was made between us and
+the Council of the Abati. After their pompous, pedantic fashion they
+swore solemnly on the roll of the Law that they would aid us in every
+way to overcome the Fung, and even obey such military orders as we
+might give them, subject to the confirmation of these orders by a
+small council of their generals. In short, being very frightened, for
+a time they forgot their hatred of us foreigners.
+
+So a scheme of operations was agreed upon, and some law passed by the
+Council, the only governing body among the Abati, for they possessed
+no representative institutions, under which law a kind of conscription
+was established for a while. Let me say at once that it met with the
+most intense opposition. The Abati were agriculturalists who loathed
+military service. From their childhood they had heard of the imminence
+of invasion, but no actual invasion had ever yet taken place. The Fung
+were always without, and they were always within, an inland isle, the
+wall of rock that they thought impassable being their sea which
+protected them from danger.
+
+They had no experience of slaughter and rapine, their imaginations
+were not sufficiently strong to enable them to understand what these
+things meant; they were lost in the pettiness of daily life and its
+pressing local interests. Their homes in flames, they themselves
+massacred, their women and children dragged off to be the slaves of
+the victors, a poor remnant left to die of starvation among the wasted
+fields or to become wild men of the rocks! All these things they
+looked upon as a mere tale, a romance such as their local poets
+repeated in the evenings of a wet season, dim and far-off events which
+might have happened to the Canaanites and Jebusites and Amalekites in
+the ancient days whereof the book of their Law told them, but which
+could never happen to /them/, the comfortable Abati. In that book the
+Israelites always conquered in the end, although the Philistines,
+alias Fung, sat at their gates. For it will be remembered that it
+includes no account of the final fall of Jerusalem and awful
+destruction of its citizens, of which they had little if any
+knowledge.
+
+So it came about that our recruiting parties, perhaps press gangs
+would be a better term, were not well received. I know it, for this
+branch of the business was handed over to me, of course as adviser to
+the Abati captains, and on several occasions, when riding round the
+villages on the shores of their beautiful lake, we were met by showers
+of stones, and were even the object of active attacks which had to be
+put down with bloodshed. Still, an army of five or six thousand men
+was got together somehow, and formed into camps, whence desertions
+were incessant, once or twice accompanied by the murder of officers.
+
+"It's 'opeless, downright 'opeless, Doctor," said Quick to me,
+dropping his h's, as he sometimes did in the excitement of the moment.
+"What can one do with a crowd of pigs, everyone of them bent on
+bolting to his own sty, or anywhere except toward the enemy? The
+sooner the Fung get them the better for all concerned, say I, and if
+it wasn't for our Lady yonder" (Quick always called Maqueda after "our
+Lady," after it had been impressed upon him that "her Majesty" was an
+incorrect title), my advice to the Captain and you gentlemen would be:
+Get out of this infernal hole as quick as your legs can carry you, and
+let's do a bit of hunting on the way home, leaving the Abati to settle
+their own affairs."
+
+"You forget, Sergeant, that I have a reason for staying in this part
+of the world, and so perhaps have the others. For instance, the
+Professor is very fond of those old skeletons down in the cave," and I
+paused.
+
+"Yes, Doctor, and the Captain is very fond of something much better
+than a skeleton, and so are we all. Well, we've got to see it through,
+but somehow I don't think that every one of us will have that luck,
+though it's true that when a man has lived fairly straight according
+to his lights a few years more or less don't matter much one way or
+the other. After all, except you gentlemen, who is there that will
+miss Samuel Quick?"
+
+Then without waiting for an answer, drawing himself up straight as a
+ramrod he marched off to assist some popinjays of Abati officers, whom
+he hated and who hated him, to instil the elements of drill into a
+newly raised company, leaving me to wonder what fears or premonitions
+filled his honest soul.
+
+But this was not Quick's principal work, since for at least six hours
+of every day he was engaged in helping Oliver in our great enterprise
+of driving a tunnel from the end of the Tomb of Kings deep into the
+solid rock that formed the base of the mighty idol of the Fung. The
+task was stupendous, and would indeed have been impossible had not
+Orme's conjecture that some passage had once run from the extremity of
+the cave toward the idol proved to be perfectly accurate. Such a
+passage indeed was found walled up at the back of the chair containing
+the bones of the hunchbacked king. It descended very sharply for a
+distance of several hundred yards, after which for another hundred
+yards or more its walls and roof were so riven and shaky that, for
+fear of accidents, we found it necessary to timber them as we went.
+
+At last we came to a place where they had fallen in altogether, shaken
+down, I presume, by the great earthquake which had destroyed so much
+of the ancient cave-city. At this spot, if Oliver's instruments and
+calculations could be trusted, we were within about two hundred feet
+of the floor of the den of lions, to which it seemed probable that the
+passage once led, and of course the question arose as to what should
+be done.
+
+A Council was held to discuss this problem, at which Maqueda and a few
+of the Abati notables were present. To these Oliver explained that
+even if that were possible it would be useless to clear out the old
+passage and at the end find ourselves once more in the den of lions.
+
+"What, then, is your plan?" asked Maqueda.
+
+"Lady," he answered, "I, your servant, am instructed to attempt to
+destroy the idol Harmac, by means of the explosives which we have
+brought with us from England. First, I would ask you if you still
+cling to that design?"
+
+"Why should it be abandoned?" inquired Maqueda. "What have you against
+it?"
+
+"Two things, Lady. As an act of war the deed seems useless, since
+supposing that the sphinx is shattered and a certain number of priests
+and guards are destroyed, how will that advance your cause? Secondly,
+such destruction will be very difficult, if it can be done at all. The
+stuff we have with us, it is true, is of fearful strength, yet who can
+be sure that there is enough of it to move this mountain of hard rock,
+of which I cannot calculate the weight, not having the measurements or
+any knowledge of the size of the cavities within its bulk. Lastly, if
+the attempt is to be made, a tunnel must be hollowed of not less than
+three hundred feet in length, first downward and then upward into the
+very base of the idol, and if this is to be done within six weeks,
+that is, by the night of the marriage of the daughter of Barung, the
+work will be very hard, if indeed it can be completed at all, although
+hundreds of men labour day and night."
+
+Now Maqueda thought a while, then looked up and said:
+
+"Friend, you are brave and skilful, tell us all your mind. If you sat
+in my place, what would you do?"
+
+"Lady, I would lead out every able-bodied man and attack the city of
+the Fung, say, on the night of the great festival when they are off
+their guard. I would blow in the gates of the city of Harmac, and
+storm it and drive away the Fung, and afterwards take possession of
+the idol, and if it is thought necessary, destroy it piecemeal from
+within."
+
+Now Maqueda consulted with her councillors, who appeared to be much
+disturbed at this suggestion, and finally called us back and gave us
+her decision.
+
+"These lords of the Council," she said, speaking with a ring of
+contempt in her voice, "declare that your plan is mad, and that they
+will never sanction it because the Abati could not be persuaded to
+undertake so dangerous an enterprise as an attack upon the city of
+Harmac, which would end, they think, in all of them being killed. They
+point out, O Orme, that the prophecy is that the Fung will leave the
+plain of Harmac when their god is destroyed and not before, and that
+therefore it must be destroyed. They say, further, O Orme, that for a
+year you and your companions are the sworn servants of the Abati, and
+that it is your business to receive orders, not to give them, also
+that the condition upon which you earn your pay is that you destroy
+the idol of the Fung. This is the decision of the Council, spoken by
+the mouth of the prince Joshua, who command further that you shall at
+once set about the business to execute which you and your companions
+are present here in Mur."
+
+"Is that /your/ command also, O Child of Kings?" answered Oliver,
+colouring.
+
+"Since I also think that the Abati can never be forced to attack the
+city of the Fung, it is, O Orme, though the words in which it is
+couched are not my words."
+
+"Very well, O Child of Kings, I will do my best. Only blame us not if
+the end of this matter is other than these advisers of yours expect.
+Prophecies are two-edged swords to play with, and I do not believe
+that a race of fighting men like the Fung will fly and leave you
+triumphant just because a stone image is shattered, if that can be
+done in the time and with the means which we possess. Meanwhile, I ask
+that you should give me two hundred and fifty picked men of the
+Mountaineers, not of the townspeople, under the captaincy of Japhet,
+who must choose them, to assist us in our work."
+
+"It shall be done," she answered, and we made our bows and went. As we
+passed through the Council we heard Joshua say in a loud voice meant
+for us to hear:
+
+"Thanks be to God, these hired Gentiles have been taught their place
+at last."
+
+Oliver turned on him so fiercely that he recoiled, thinking that he
+was about to strike him.
+
+"Be careful, Prince Joshua," he said, "that before this business is
+finished you are not taught yours, which I think may be lowly," and he
+looked meaningly at the ground.
+
+So the labour began, and it was heavy indeed as well as dangerous.
+Fortunately, in addition to the picrate compounds that Quick called
+"azure stinging bees," we had brought with us a few cases of dynamite,
+of which we now made use for blasting purposes. A hole was drilled in
+the face of the tunnel, and the charge inserted. Then all retreated
+back into the Tomb of Kings till the cartridge had exploded, and the
+smoke cleared off, which took a long while, when our people advanced
+with iron bars and baskets, and cleared away the d�bris, after which
+the process must be repeated.
+
+Oh! the heat of that narrow hole deep in the bowels of the rock, and
+the reek of the stagnant air which sometimes was so bad that the
+lights would scarcely burn. Indeed, after a hundred feet had been
+completed, we thought that it would be impossible to proceed, since
+two men died of asphyxiation and the others, although they were good
+fellows enough, refused to return into the tunnel. At length, however,
+Orme and Japhet persuaded some of the best of them to do so, and
+shortly after this the atmosphere improved very much, I suppose
+because we cut some cranny or shaft which communicated with the open
+air.
+
+There were other dangers also, notably of the collapse of the whole
+roof where the rock was rotten, as we found it to be in places. Then
+it proved very hard to deal with the water, for once or twice we
+struck small springs impregnated with copper or some other mineral
+that blistered the feet and skin, since every drop of this acid water
+had to be carried out in wooden pails. That difficulty we overcame at
+last by sinking a narrow well down to the level of the ancient tunnel
+of which I have spoken as having been shaken in by the earthquake.
+
+Thus we, or rather Oliver and Quick with the Mountaineers, toiled on.
+Higgs did his best, but after a while proved quite unable to bear the
+heat, which became too much for so stout a man. The end of it was that
+he devoted himself to the superintendence of the removal of the
+rubbish into the Tomb of Kings, the care of the stores and so forth.
+At least that was supposed to be his business, but really he employed
+most of his time in drawing and cataloguing the objects of antiquity
+and the groups of bones that were buried there, and in exploring the
+remains of the underground city. In truth, this task of destruction
+was most repellent to the poor Professor.
+
+"To think," he said to us, "to think that I, who all my life have
+preached the iniquity of not conserving every relic of the past,
+should now be employed in attempting to obliterate the most wonderful
+object ever fashioned by the ancients! It is enough to make a Vandal
+weep, and I pray heaven that you may not succeed in your infamous
+design. What does it matter if the Abati are wiped out, as lots of
+better people have been before them? What does it matter if we
+accompany them to oblivion so long as that noble sphinx is preserved
+to be the wonder of future generations? Well, thank goodness, at any
+rate I have seen it, which is more, probably, than any of you will
+ever do. There, another brute is dumping his rubbish over the skull of
+No. 14!"
+
+Thus we laboured continually, each at his different task, for the work
+in the mine never stopped, Oliver being in charge during the day and
+Quick at night for a whole week, since on each Sunday they changed
+with their gangs, Quick taking the day shift and Oliver the night, or
+/vice versa/. Sometimes Maqueda came down the cave to inspect
+progress, always, I noticed, at those hours when Oliver happened to be
+off duty. Then on this pretext or on that they would wander away
+together to visit I know not what in the recesses of the underground
+city, or elsewhere. In vain did I warn them that their every step was
+dogged, and that their every word and action were noted by spies who
+crept after them continually, since twice I caught one of these gentry
+in the act. They were infatuated, and would not listen.
+
+At this time Oliver only left the underground city twice or thrice a
+week to breathe the fresh air for an hour or two. In truth, he had no
+leisure. For this same reason he fitted himself up a bed in what had
+been a priest's chamber, or a sanctuary in the old temple, and slept
+there, generally with no other guard but the great dog, Pharaoh, his
+constant companion even in the recesses of the mine.
+
+It was curious to see how this faithful beast accustomed itself to the
+darkness, and made its other senses, especially that of smell, serve
+the purpose of eyes as do the blind. By degrees, too, it learned all
+the details of the operations; thus, when the cartridge was in place
+for firing, it would rise and begin to walk out of the tunnel even
+before the men in charge.
+
+One night the tragedy that I feared very nearly happened, and indeed
+must have happened had it not been for this same hound, Pharaoh. About
+six o'clock in the evening Oliver came off duty after an eight-hour
+shift in the tunnel, leaving Higgs in command for a little while until
+it was time for Quick to take charge. I had been at work outside all
+day in connection with the new conscript army, a regiment of which was
+in revolt, because the men, most of whom were what we should call
+small-holders, declared that they wanted to go home to weed their
+crops. Indeed, it had proved necessary for the Child of Kings herself
+to be summoned to plead with them and condemn some of the ringleaders
+to punishment.
+
+When at length this business was over we left together, and the poor
+lady, exasperated almost to madness, sharply refusing the escort of
+any of her people, requested me to accompany her to the mine.
+
+At the mouth of the tunnel she met Oliver, as probably she had
+arranged to do, and after he had reported progress to her, wandered
+away with him as usual, each of them carrying a lamp, into some recess
+of the buried city. I followed them at a distance, not from curiosity,
+or because I wished to see more of the wonders of that city whereof I
+was heartily sick, but because I suspected that they were being spied
+upon.
+
+The pair vanished round a corner that I knew ended in a /cul-de-sac/,
+so extinguishing my lamp, I sat down on a fallen column and waited
+till I should see their light reappear, when I proposed to effect my
+retreat. Whilst I sat thus, thinking on many things and, to tell the
+truth, very depressed in mind, I heard a sound as of some one moving
+and instantly struck a match. The light of it fell full upon the face
+of a man whom I recognized at once as a body-servant of the prince
+Joshua, though whether he was passing me toward the pair or returning
+from their direction I could not be sure.
+
+"What are you doing here?" I asked.
+
+"What is that to you, Physician?" he answered.
+
+Then the match burnt out, and before I could light another he had
+vanished, like a snake into a stone wall.
+
+My first impulse was to warn Maqueda and Oliver that they were being
+watched, but reflecting that the business was awkward, and that the
+spy would doubtless have given over his task for this day, I left it
+alone, and went down to the Tomb of the Kings to help Higgs. Just
+afterwards Quick came on duty, long before his time, the fact being
+that he had no confidence in the Professor as a director of mining
+operations. When he appeared Higgs and I retreated from that close and
+filthy tunnel, and, by way of recreation, put in an hour or so at the
+cataloguing and arch�ological research in which his soul delighted.
+
+"If only we could get all this lot out of Mur," he said, with a sweep
+of his hand, "we should be the most famous men in Europe for at least
+three days, and rich into the bargain."
+
+"Ptolemy," I answered, "we shall be fortunate if we get ourselves
+alive out of Mur, let alone these bones and ancient treasures," and I
+told him what I had seen that evening.
+
+His fat and kindly face grew anxious.
+
+"Ah!" he said. "Well, I don't blame him; should probably do the same
+myself if I got the chance, and so would you--if you were twenty years
+younger. No, I don't blame him, or her either, for the fact is that
+although their race, education, and circumstances are so different,
+they are one of Nature's pairs, and while they are alive nothing will
+keep them apart. You might as well expect a magnet and a bit of iron
+to remain separate on a sheet of notepaper. Moreover, they give
+themselves away, as people in that state always do. The pursuit of
+arch�ology has its dangers, but it is a jolly sight safer than that of
+woman, though it did land me in a den of lions. What's going to
+happen, old fellow?"
+
+"Can't say, but I think it very probable that Oliver will be murdered,
+and that we shall follow the same road, or, if we are lucky, be only
+bundled out of Mur. Well, it's time for dinner; if I get a chance I
+will give them a hint."
+
+So we made our way to the old temple in the great cave, where we kept
+our stores and Oliver had his headquarters. Here we found him waiting
+for us and our meal ready, for food was always brought to us by the
+palace servants. When we had eaten and these men had cleared away, we
+lit our pipes and fed the dog Pharaoh upon the scraps that had been
+reserved for him. Then I told Oliver about the spy whom I had caught
+tracking him and Maqueda.
+
+"Well, what of it?" he said, colouring in his tell-tale fashion; "she
+only took me to see what she believed to be an ancient inscription on
+a column in that northern aisle."
+
+"Then she'd have done better to take me, my boy," said Higgs. "What
+was the character like?"
+
+"Don't know," he answered guiltily. "She could not find it again."
+
+An awkward silence followed, which I broke.
+
+"Oliver," I said, "I don't think you ought to go on sleeping here
+alone. You have too many enemies in this place."
+
+"Rubbish," he answered, "though it's true Pharaoh seemed uneasy last
+night, and that once I woke up and thought I heard footsteps in the
+court outside. I set them down to ghosts, in which I have almost come
+to believe in this haunted place, and went to sleep again."
+
+"Ghosts be blowed!" said Higgs vulgarly, "if there were such things I
+have slept with too many mummies not to see them. That confounded
+Joshua is the wizard who raises your ghosts. Look here, old boy," he
+added, "let me camp with you to-night, since Quick must be in the
+tunnel, and Adams has to sleep outside in case he is wanted on the
+army business."
+
+"Not a bit of it," he answered; "you know you are too asthmatical to
+get a wink in this atmosphere. I won't hear of such a thing."
+
+"Then come and sleep with us in the guest-house."
+
+"Can't be done; the Sergeant has got a very nasty job down there about
+one o'clock, and I promised to be handy in case he calls me up," and
+he pointed to the portable field telephone that fortunately we had
+brought with us from England, which was fixed closed by, adding, "if
+only that silly thing had another few hundred yards of wire, I'd come;
+but, you see, it hasn't and I must be in touch with the work."
+
+At this moment the bell tinkled, and Orme made a jump for the receiver
+through which for the next five minutes he was engaged in giving rapid
+and to us quite unintelligible directions.
+
+"There you are," he said, when he had replaced the mouthpiece on its
+hook, "if I hadn't been here they would probably have had the roof of
+the tunnel down and killed some people. No, no; I can't leave that
+receiver unless I go back to the mine, which I am too tired to do.
+However, don't you fret. With a pistol, a telephone, and Pharaoh I'm
+safe enough. And now, good night; you fellows had better be getting
+home as I must be up early to-morrow and want to sleep while I can."
+
+
+
+On the following morning about five o'clock Higgs and I were awakened
+by some one knocking at our door. I rose and opened it, whereon in
+walked Quick, a grim and grimy figure, for, as his soaked clothes and
+soiled face told us, he had but just left his work in the mine.
+
+"Captain wants to see you as soon as possible, gentlemen," he said.
+
+"What's the matter, Sergeant?" asked Higgs, as we got into our
+garments.
+
+"You'll see for yourself presently, Professor," was the laconic reply,
+nor could we get anything more out of him.
+
+Five minutes later we were advancing at a run through the dense
+darkness of the underground city, each of us carrying a lamp. I
+reached the ruins of the old temple first, for Quick seemed very tired
+and lagged behind, and in that atmosphere Higgs was scant of breath
+and could not travel fast. At the doorway of the place where he slept
+stood the tall form of Oliver holding a lamp aloft. Evidently he was
+waiting for us. By his side sat the big yellow dog, Pharaoh, that,
+when he smelt us, gambolled forward, wagging his tail in greeting.
+
+"Come here," said Orme, in a low and solemn voice, "I have something
+to show you," and he led the way into the priest's chamber, or
+sanctuary, whatever it may have been, where he slept upon a rough,
+native-made bedstead. At the doorway he halted, lowered the lamp he
+held, and pointed to something dark on the floor to the right of his
+bedstead, saying, "Look!"
+
+There lay a dead man, and by his side a great knife that evidently had
+fallen from his hand. At the first glance we recognised the face
+which, by the way, was singularly peaceful, as though it were that of
+one plunged in deep sleep. This seemed odd, since the throat below was
+literally torn out.
+
+"Shadrach!" we said, with one voice.
+
+Shadrach it was; Shadrach, our former guide, who had betrayed us;
+Shadrach who, to save his own life, had shown us how to rescue Higgs,
+and for that service been pardoned, as I think I mentioned. Shadrach
+and no other!
+
+"Pussy seems to have been on the prowl and to have met a dog,"
+remarked Quick.
+
+"Do you understand what has happened?" asked Oliver, in a dry, hard
+voice. "Perhaps I had better explain before anything is moved.
+Shadrach must have crept in here last night--I don't know at what
+time, for I slept through it all--for purposes of his own. But he
+forgot his old enemy Pharaoh, and Pharaoh killed him. See his throat?
+When Pharaoh bites he doesn't growl, and, of course, Shadrach could
+say nothing, or, as he had dropped his knife, for the matter of that,
+do anything either. When I was woke up about an hour ago by the
+telephone bell the dog was fast asleep, for he is accustomed to that
+bell, with his head resting upon the body of Shadrach. Now why did
+Shadrach come into my room at night with a drawn knife in his hand?"
+
+"Doesn't seem a difficult question to answer," replied Higgs, in the
+high voice which was common to him when excited. "He came here to
+murder you, and Pharaoh was too quick for him, that's all. That dog
+was the cheapest purchase you ever made, friend Oliver."
+
+"Yes," answered Orme, "he came here to murder me--you were right about
+the risk, after all--but what I wonder is, who sent him?"
+
+"And so you may go on wondering for the rest of your life, Captain,"
+exclaimed Quick. "Still, I think we might guess if we tried."
+
+Then news of what had happened was sent to the palace, and within
+little over an hour Maqueda arrived, accompanied by Joshua and several
+other members of her Council. When she saw and understood everything
+she was horrified, and sternly asked Joshua what he knew of this
+business. Of course, he proved to be completely innocent, and had not
+the slightest idea of who had set the murderer on to work this deed of
+darkness. Nor had anybody else, the general suggestion being that
+Shadrach had attempted it out of revenge, and met with the due reward
+of his crime.
+
+Only that day poor Pharaoh was poisoned. Well, he had done his work,
+and his memory is blessed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+SERGEANT QUICK HAS A PRESENTIMENT
+
+From this time forward all of us, and especially Oliver, were guarded
+night and day by picked men who it was believed could not be
+corrupted. As a consequence, the Tsar of Russia scarcely leads a life
+more irksome than ours became at Mur. Of privacy there was none left
+to us, since sentries and detectives lurked at every corner, while
+tasters were obliged to eat of each dish and drink from each cup
+before it touched our lips, lest our fate should be that of Pharaoh,
+whose loss we mourned as much as though the poor dog had been some
+beloved human being.
+
+Most of all was it irksome, I think, to Oliver and Maqueda, whose
+opportunities of meeting were much curtailed by the exigencies of this
+rigid espionage. Who can murmur sweet nothings to his adored when two
+soldiers armed to the teeth have been instructed never to let him out
+of their sight? Particularly is this so if the adored happens to be
+the ruler of those soldiers to whom the person guarded has no right to
+be making himself agreeable. For when off duty even the most faithful
+guardians are apt to talk. Of course, the result was that the pair
+took risks which did not escape observation. Indeed, their intimate
+relations became a matter of gossip throughout the land.
+
+Still, annoying as they might be, these precautions succeeded, for
+none of us were poisoned or got our throats cut, although we were
+constantly the victims of mysterious accidents. Thus, a heavy rock
+rolled down upon us when we sat together one evening upon the hill-
+side, and a flight of arrows passed between us while we were riding
+along the edge of a thicket, by one of which Higgs's horse was killed.
+Only when the mountain and the thicket were searched no one could be
+found. Moreover, a great plot against us was discovered in which some
+of the lords and priests were implicated, but such was the state of
+feeling in the country that, beyond warning them privately that their
+machinations were known, Maqueda did not dare to take proceedings
+against these men.
+
+A little later on things mended so far as we were concerned, for the
+following reason: One day two shepherds arrived at the palace with
+some of their companions, saying that they had news to communicate. On
+being questioned, these peasants averred that while they were herding
+their goats upon the western cliffs many miles away, suddenly on the
+top of the hills appeared a body of fifteen Fung, who bound and
+blindfolded them, telling them in mocking language to take a message
+to the Council and to the white men.
+
+This was the message: That they had better make haste to destroy the
+god Harmac, since otherwise his head would move to Mur according to
+the prophecy, and that when it did so, the Fung would follow as they
+knew how to do. Then they set the two men on a rock where they could
+be seen, and on the following morning were in fact found by some of
+their fellows, those who accompanied them to the Court and
+corroborated this story.
+
+Of course the matter was duly investigated, but as I know, for I went
+with the search party, when we got to the place no trace of the Fung
+could be found, except one of their spears, of which the handle had
+been driven into the earth and the blade pointed toward Mur, evidently
+in threat or defiance. No other token of them remained, for, as it
+happened, a heavy rain had fallen and obliterated their footprints,
+which in any case must have been faint on this rocky ground.
+
+Notwithstanding the most diligent search by skilled men, their mode of
+approach and retreat remained a mystery, as, indeed, it does to this
+day. The only places where it was supposed to be possible to scale the
+precipice of Mur were watched continually, so that they could have
+climbed up by none of these. The inference was, therefore, that the
+Fung had discovered some unknown path, and, if fifteen men could climb
+that path, why not fifteen thousand!
+
+Only, where was this path? In vain were great rewards in land and
+honours offered to him who should discover it, for although such
+discoveries were continually reported, on investigation these were
+found to be inventions or mares' nests. Nothing but a bird could have
+travelled by such roads.
+
+Then at last we saw the Abati thoroughly frightened, for, with
+additions, the story soon passed from mouth to mouth till the whole
+people talked of nothing else. It was as though we English learned
+that a huge foreign army had suddenly landed on our shores and, having
+cut the wires and seized the railways, was marching upon London. The
+effect of such tidings upon a nation that always believed invasion to
+be impossible may easily be imagined, only I hope that we should take
+them better than did the Abati.
+
+Their swagger, their self-confidence, their talk about the "rocky
+walls of Mur," evaporated in an hour. Now it was only of the
+disciplined and terrible regiments of the Fung, among whom every man
+was trained to war, and of what would happen to them, the civilized
+and domesticated Abati, a peace-loving people who rightly enough, as
+they declared, had refused all martial burdens, should these regiments
+suddenly appear in their midst. They cried out that they were
+betrayed--they clamoured for the blood of certain of the Councillors.
+That carpet knight, Joshua, lost popularity for a while, while
+Maqueda, who was known always to have been in favour of conscription
+and perfect readiness to repel attack, gained what he had lost.
+
+Leaving their farms, they crowded together into the towns and
+villages, where they made what in South Africa are called laagers.
+Religion, which practically had been dead among them, for they
+retained but few traces of the Jewish faith if, indeed, they had ever
+really practised it, became the craze of the hour. Priests were at a
+premium; sheep and cattle were sacrificed; it was even said that,
+after the fashion of their foes the Fung, some human beings shared the
+same fate. At any rate the Almighty was importuned hourly to destroy
+the hated Fung and to protect His people--the Abati--from the results
+of their own base selfishness and cowardly neglect.
+
+Well, the world has seen such exhibitions before to-day, and will
+doubtless see more of them in the instance of greater peoples who
+allow luxury and pleasure-seeking to sap their strength and manhood.
+
+The upshot of it all was that the Abati became obsessed with the
+saying of the Fung scouts to the shepherds, which, after all, was but
+a repetition of that of their envoys delivered to the Council a little
+while before: that they should hasten to destroy the idol Harmac, lest
+he should move himself to Mur. How an idol of such proportions, or
+even its head, could move at all they did not stop to inquire. It was
+obvious to them, however, that if he was destroyed there would be
+nothing to move and, further, that we Gentiles were the only persons
+who could possibly effect such destruction. So we also became popular
+for a little while. Everybody was pleasant and flattered us--
+everybody, even Joshua, bowed when we approached, and took a most
+lively interest in the progress of our work, which many deputations
+and prominent individuals urged us to expedite.
+
+Better still, the untoward accidents such as those I have mentioned,
+ceased. Our dogs, for we had obtained some others, were no longer
+poisoned; rocks that appeared fixed did not fall; no arrows whistled
+among us when we went out riding. We even found it safe occasionally
+to dispense with our guards, since it was every one's interest to keep
+us alive--for the present. Still, I for one was not deceived for a
+single moment, and in season and out of season warned the others that
+the wind would soon blow again from a less favourable quarter.
+
+We worked, we worked, we worked! Heaven alone knows how we did work.
+Think of the task, which, after all, was only one of several. A tunnel
+must be bored, for I forget how far, through virgin rock, with the
+help of inadequate tools and unskilled labour, and this tunnel must be
+finished by a certain date. A hundred unexpected difficulties arose,
+and one by one were conquered. Great dangers must be run, and were
+avoided, while the responsibility of this tremendous engineering feat
+lay upon the shoulders of a single individual, Oliver Orme, who,
+although he had been educated as an engineer, had no great practical
+experience of such enterprises.
+
+Truly the occasion makes the man, for Orme rose to it in a way that I
+can only call heroic. When he was not actually in the tunnel he was
+labouring at his calculations, of which many must be made, or taking
+levels with such instruments as he had. For if there proved to be the
+slightest error all this toil would be in vain, and result only in the
+blowing of a useless hole through a mass of rock. Then there was a
+great question as to the effect which would be produced by the amount
+of explosive at his disposal, since terrible as might be the force of
+the stuff, unless it were scientifically placed and distributed it
+would assuredly fail to accomplish the desired end.
+
+At last, after superhuman efforts, the mine was finished. Our stock of
+concentrated explosive, about four full camel loads of it, was set in
+as many separate chambers, each of them just large enough to receive
+the charge, hollowed in the prim�val rock from which the idol had been
+hewn.
+
+These chambers were about twenty feet from each other, although if
+there had been time to prolong the tunnel, the distance should have
+been at least forty in order to give the stuff a wider range of
+action. According to Oliver's mathematical reckoning, they were cut in
+the exact centre of the base of the idol, and about thirty feet below
+the actual body of the crouching sphinx. As a matter of fact this
+reckoning was wrong in several particulars, the charges having been
+set farther toward the east or head of the sphinx and higher up in the
+base than he supposed. When it is remembered that he had found no
+opportunity of measuring the monument which practically we had only
+seen once from behind under conditions not favourable to accuracy in
+such respects, or of knowing its actual length and depth, these
+trifling errors were not remarkable.
+
+What was remarkable is that his general plan of operations, founded
+upon a mere hypothetical estimate, should have proved as accurate as
+it did.
+
+At length all was prepared, and the deadly cast-iron flasks had been
+packed in sand, together with dynamite cartridges, the necessary
+detonators, electric wires, and so forth, an anxious and indeed awful
+task executed entirely in that stifling atmosphere by the hands of
+Orme and Quick. Then began another labour, that of the filling in of
+the tunnels. This, it seems, was necessary, or so I understood, lest
+the expanding gases, following the line of least resistance, should
+blow back, as it were, through the vent-hole. What made that task the
+more difficult was the need of cutting a little channel in the rock to
+contain the wires, and thereby lessen the risk of the fracture of
+these wires in the course of the building-up process. Of course, if by
+any accident this should happen, the circuit would be severed, and no
+explosion would follow when the electric battery was set to work.
+
+The arrangement was that the mine should be fired on the night of that
+full moon on which we had been told, and spies confirmed the
+information, the feast of the marriage of Barung's daughter to my son
+would be celebrated in the city of Harmac. This date was fixed because
+the Sultan had announced that so soon as that festivity, which
+coincided with the conclusion of the harvest, was ended, he meant to
+deliver his attack on Mur.
+
+Also, we were anxious that it should be adhered to for another reason,
+since we knew that on this day but a small number of priests and
+guards would be left in charge of the idol, and my son could not be
+among them. Now, whatever may have been the views of the Abati, we as
+Christians who bore them no malice did not at all desire to destroy an
+enormous number of innocent Fung, as might have happened if we had
+fired our mine when the people were gathered to sacrifice to their
+god.
+
+
+
+
+The fatal day arrived at last. All was completed, save for the
+blocking of the passage, which still went on, or, rather, was being
+reinforced by the piling up of loose rocks against its mouth, at which
+a hundred or so men laboured incessantly. The firing wires had been
+led into that little chamber in the old temple where the dog Pharaoh
+tore out the throat of Shadrach, and no inch of them was left
+unguarded for fear of accident or treachery.
+
+The electric batteries--two of them, in case one should fail--had been
+tested but not connected with the wires. There they stood upon the
+floor, looking innocent enough, and we four sat round them like
+wizards round their magic pot, who await the working of some spell. We
+were not cheerful; who could be under so intense a strain? Orme,
+indeed, who had grown pale and thin with continuous labour of mind and
+body, seemed quite worn out. He could not eat nor smoke, and with
+difficulty I persuaded him to drink some of the native wine. He would
+not even go to look at the completion of the work or to test the
+wires.
+
+"You can see to it," he said; "I have done all I can. Now things must
+take their chance."
+
+After our midday meal he lay down and slept quite soundly for several
+hours. About four o'clock those who were labouring at the piling up of
+d�bris over the mouth of the tunnel completed their task, and, in
+charge of Quick, were marched out of the underground city.
+
+Then Higgs and I took lamps and went along the length of the wires,
+which lay in a little trench covered over with dust, removing the dust
+and inspecting them at intervals. Discovering nothing amiss, we
+returned to the old temple, and at its doorway met the mountaineer,
+Japhet, who throughout all these proceedings had been our prop and
+stay. Indeed, without his help and that of his authority over the
+Abati the mine could never have been completed, at any rate within the
+time.
+
+The light of the lamp showed that his face was very anxious.
+
+"What is the matter?" I asked.
+
+"O Physician," he answered, "I have words for the ear of the Captain
+Orme. Be pleased to lead me to him."
+
+We explained that he slept and could not be disturbed, but Japhet only
+answered as before, adding:
+
+"Come you with me, my words are for your ears as well as his."
+
+So we went into the little room and awoke Oliver, who sprang up in a
+great fright, thinking that something untoward had happened at the
+mine.
+
+"What's wrong?" he asked of Japhet. "Have the Fung cut the wires?"
+
+"Nay, O Orme, a worse thing; I have discovered that the Prince Joshua
+has laid a plot to steal away 'Her-whose-name-is-high.'"
+
+"What do you mean? Set out all the story, Japhet," said Oliver.
+
+"It is short, lord. I have some friends, one of whom--he is of my own
+blood, but ask me not his name--is in the service of the Prince. We
+drank a cup of wine together, which I needed, and I suppose it loosed
+his tongue. At any rate, he told me, and I believed him. This is the
+story. For his own sake and that of the people the Prince desires that
+you should destroy the idol of Fung, and therefore he has kept his
+hands off you of late. Yet should you succeed, he does not know what
+may happen. He fears lest the Abati in their gratitude should set you
+up as great men."
+
+"Then he is an ass!" interrupted Quick; "for the Abati have no
+gratitude."
+
+"He fears," went on Japhet, "other things also. For instance, that the
+Child of Kings may express that gratitude by a mark of her signal
+favour toward one of you," and he stared at Orme, who turned his head
+aside. "Now, the Prince is affianced to this great lady, whom he
+desires to wed for two reasons: First, because this marriage will make
+him the chief man amongst the Abati, and, secondly, because of late he
+has come to think that he loves her whom he is afraid that he may
+lose. So he has set a snare."
+
+"What snare?" asked one of us, for Japhet paused.
+
+"I don't know," answered Japhet, "and I do not think that my friend
+knew either, or, if he did, he would not tell me. But I understand the
+plot is that the Child of Kings is to be carried off to the Prince
+Joshua's castle at the other end of the lake, six hours' ride away,
+and there be forced to marry him at once."
+
+"Indeed," said Orme, "and when is all this to happen?"
+
+"I don't know, lord. I know nothing except what my friend told me,
+which I thought it right to communicate to you instantly. I asked him
+the time, however, and he said that he believed the date was fixed for
+one night after next Sabbath."
+
+"Next Sabbath is five days hence, so that this matter does not seem to
+be very pressing," remarked Oliver with a sigh of relief. "Are you
+sure that you can trust your friend, Japhet?"
+
+"No, lord, I am not sure, especially as I have always known him to be
+a liar. Still, I thought that I ought to tell you."
+
+"Very kind of you, Japhet, but I wish that you had let me have my
+sleep out first. Now go down the line and see that all is right, then
+return and report."
+
+Japhet saluted in his native fashion and went.
+
+"What do you think of this story?" asked Oliver, as soon as he was out
+of hearing.
+
+"All bosh," answered Higgs; "the place is full of talk and rumours,
+and this is one of them."
+
+He paused and looked at me.
+
+"Oh!" I said, "I agree with Higgs. If Japhet's friend had really
+anything to tell he would have told it in more detail. I daresay there
+are a good many things Joshua would like to do, but I expect he will
+stop there, at any rate, for the present. If you take my advice you
+will say nothing of the matter, especially to Maqueda."
+
+"Then we are all agreed. But what are you thinking of, Sergeant?"
+asked Oliver, addressing Quick, who stood in a corner of the room,
+lost apparently in contemplation of the floor.
+
+"I, Captain," he replied, coming to attention. "Well, begging their
+pardon, I was thinking that I don't hold with these gentlemen, except
+in so far that I should say nothing of this job to our Lady, who has
+plenty to bother her just now, and won't need to be frightened as
+well. Still, there may be something in it, for though that Japhet is
+stupid, he's honest, and honest men sometimes get hold of the right
+end of the stick. At least, he believes there is something, and that's
+what weighs with me."
+
+"Well, if that's your opinion, what's best to be done Sergeant? I
+agree that the Child of Kings should not be told, and I shan't leave
+this place till after ten o'clock to-night at the earliest, if we
+stick to our plans, as we had better do, for all that stuff in the
+tunnel wants a little time to settle, and for other reasons. What are
+you drawing there?" and he pointed to the floor, in the dust of which
+Quick was tracing something with his finger.
+
+"A plan of our Lady's private rooms, Captain. She told you she was
+going to rest at sundown, didn't she, or earlier, for she was up most
+of last night, and wanted to get a few hours' sleep before--something
+happens. Well, her bed-chamber is there, isn't it? and another before
+it, in which her maids sleep, and nothing behind except a high wall
+and a ditch which cannot be climbed."
+
+"That's quite true," interrupted Higgs. "I got leave to make a plan of
+the palace, only there is a passage six feet wide and twenty long
+leading from the guard chamber to the ladies' anteroom."
+
+"Just so, Professor, and that passage has a turn in it, if I remember
+right, so that two well-armed men could hold it against quite a lot.
+Supposing now that you and I, Professor, should go and take a nap in
+that guard-room, which will be empty, for the watch is set at the
+palace gate. We shan't be wanted here, since if the Captain can't
+touch off that mine, no one can, with the Doctor to help him just in
+case anything goes wrong, and Japhet guarding the line. I daresay
+there's nothing in this yarn, but who knows? There might be, and then
+we should blame ourselves. What do you say, Professor?"
+
+"I? Oh, I'll do anything you wish, though I should rather have liked
+to climb the cliff and watch what happens."
+
+"You'd see nothing, Higgs," interrupted Oliver, "except perhaps the
+reflection of a flash in the sky; so, if you don't mind, I wish you
+would go with the Sergeant. Somehow, although I am quite certain that
+we ought not to alarm Maqueda, I am not easy about her, and if you two
+fellows were there, I should know she was all right, and it would be a
+weight off my mind."
+
+"That settles it," said Higgs; "we'll be off presently. Look here,
+give us that portable telephone, which is of no use anywhere else now.
+The wire will reach to the palace, and if the machine works all right
+we can talk to you and tell each other how things are going on."
+
+Ten minutes later they had made their preparations. Quick stepped up
+to Oliver and stood at attention, saying:
+
+"Ready to march. Any more orders, Captain?"
+
+"I think not, Sergeant," he answered, lifting his eyes from the little
+batteries that he was watching as though they were live things. "You
+know the arrangements. At ten o'clock--that is about two hours hence--
+I touch this switch. Whatever happens it must not be done before, for
+fear lest the Doctor's son should not have left the idol, to say
+nothing of all the other poor beggars. The spies say that the marriage
+feast will not be celebrated until at least three hours after
+moonrise."
+
+"And that's what I heard when I was a prisoner," interrupted Higgs.
+
+"I daresay," answered Orme; "but it is always well to allow a margin
+in case the procession should be delayed, or something. So until ten
+o'clock I've got to stop where I am, and you may be sure, Doctor, that
+under no circumstances shall I fire the mine before that hour, as
+indeed you will be here to see. After that I can't say what will
+happen, but if we don't appear, you two had better come to look for us
+--in case of accidents, you know. Do your best at your end according
+to circumstances; the Doctor and I will do our best at ours. I think
+that is all, Sergeant. Report yourselves by the telephone if the wire
+is long enough and it will work, which I daresay it won't, and,
+anyway, look out for us about half-past ten. Good-bye!"
+
+"Good-bye, Captain," answered Quick, then stretched out his hand,
+shook that of Orme, and without another word took his lamp and left
+the chamber.
+
+An impulse prompted me to follow him, leaving Orme and Higgs
+discussing something before they parted. When he had walked about
+fifty yards in the awful silence of that vast underground town, of
+which the ruined tenements yawned on either side of us, the Sergeant
+stopped and said suddenly:
+
+"You don't believe in presentiments, do you, Doctor?"
+
+"Not a bit," I answered.
+
+"Glad of it, Doctor. Still, I have got a bad one now, and it is that I
+shan't see the Captain or you any more."
+
+"Then that's a poor look-out for us, Quick."
+
+"No, Doctor, for me. I think you are both all right, and the
+Professor, too. It's my name they are calling up aloft, or so it seems
+to me. Well, I don't care much, for, though no saint, I have tried to
+do my duty, and if it is done, it's done. If it's written, it's got to
+come to pass, hasn't it? For everything is written down for us long
+before we begin, or so I've always thought. Still, I'll grieve to part
+from the Captain, seeing that I nursed him as a child, and I'd have
+liked to know him well out of this hole, and safely married to that
+sweet lady first, though I don't doubt that it will be so."
+
+"Nonsense, Sergeant," I said sharply; "you are not yourself; all this
+work and anxiety has got on your nerves."
+
+"As it well might, Doctor, not but I daresay that's true. Anyhow, if
+the other is the true thing, and you should all see old England again
+with some of the stuff in that dead-house, I've got three nieces
+living down at home whom you might remember. Don't say nothing of what
+I told you to the Captain till this night's game is played, seeing
+that it might upset him, and he'll need to keep cool up to ten
+o'clock, and afterwards too, perhaps. Only if we shouldn't meet again,
+say that Samuel Quick sent him his duty and God's blessing. And the
+same on yourself, Doctor, and your son, too. And now here comes the
+Professor, so good-bye."
+
+
+
+A minute later they had left me, and I stood watching them until the
+two stars of light from their lanterns vanished into the blackness.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HARMAC COMES TO MUR
+
+Slowly and in very bad spirits I retraced my steps to the old temple,
+following the line of the telephone wire which Higgs and Quick had
+unreeled as they went. In the Sergeant's prognostications of evil I
+had no particular belief, as they seemed to me to be born of the
+circumstances which surrounded us, and in different ways affected all
+our minds, even that of the buoyant Higgs.
+
+To take my own case, for instance. Here I was about to assist in an
+act which for aught I knew might involve the destruction of my only
+son. It was true we believed that this was the night of his marriage
+at the town of Harmac, some miles away, and that the tale of our spies
+supported this information. But how could we be sure that the date, or
+the place of the ceremony, had not been changed at the last moment?
+Supposing, for instance, that it was held, not in the town, as
+arranged, but in the courts of the idol, and that the fearful
+activities of the fiery agent which we were about to wake to life
+should sweep the celebrants into nothingness.
+
+The thought made me turn cold, and yet the deed must be done; Roderick
+must take his chance. And if all were well, and he escaped that
+danger, were there not worse behind? Think of him, a Christian man,
+the husband of a savage woman who worshipped a stone image with a
+lion's head, bound to her and her tribe, a state prisoner, trebly
+guarded, whom, so far as I could see, there would be no hope of
+rescuing. It was awful. Then there were other complications. If the
+plan succeeded and the idol was destroyed, my own belief was that the
+Fung must thereby be exasperated. Evidently they knew some road into
+this stronghold. It would be used. They would pour their thousands up
+it, a general massacre would follow, of which, justly, we should be
+the first victims.
+
+I reached the chamber where Oliver sat brooding alone, for Japhet was
+patrolling the line.
+
+"I am not happy about Maqueda, Doctor," he said to me. "I am afraid
+there is something in that story. She wanted to be with us; indeed,
+she begged to be allowed to come almost with tears. But I wouldn't
+have it, since accidents may always happen; the vibration might shake
+in the roof or something; in fact, I don't think you should be here.
+Why don't you go away and leave me?"
+
+I answered that nothing would induce me to do so, for such a job
+should not be left to one man.
+
+"No, you're right," he said; "I might faint or lose my head or
+anything. I wish now that we had arranged to send the spark from the
+palace, which perhaps we might have done by joining the telephone wire
+on to the others. But, to tell you the truth, I'm afraid of the
+batteries. The cells are new but very weak, for time and the climate
+have affected them, and I thought it possible the extra difference
+might make the difference and that they would fail to work. That's why
+I fixed this as the firing point. Hullo, there's the bell. What have
+they got to say?"
+
+I snatched the receiver, and presently heard the cheerful voice of
+Higgs announcing that they had arrived safely in the little anteroom
+to Maqueda's private apartments.
+
+"The palace seems very empty," he added; "we only met one sentry, for
+I think that everybody else, except Maqueda and a few of her ladies,
+have cleared out, being afraid lest rocks should fall on them when the
+explosion occurs."
+
+"Did the man say so?" I asked of Higgs.
+
+"Yes, something of that sort; also he wanted to forbid us to come
+here, saying that it was against the Prince Joshua's orders that we
+Gentiles should approach the private apartments of the Child of Kings.
+Well, we soon settled that, and he bolted. Where to? Oh! I don't know;
+to report, he said."
+
+"How's Quick?" I asked.
+
+"Much the same as usual. In fact, he is saying his prayers in the
+corner, looking like a melancholy brigand with rifles, revolvers, and
+knives stuck all over him. I wish he wouldn't say his prayers," added
+Higgs, and his voice reached me in an indignant squeak; "it makes me
+feel uncomfortable, as though I ought to join him. But not having been
+brought up a Dissenter or a Moslem, I can't pray in public as he does.
+Hullo! Wait a minute, will you?"
+
+Then followed a longish pause, and after it Higgs's voice again.
+
+"It's all right," it said. "Only one of Maqueda's ladies who had heard
+us and come to see who we were. When she learns I expect she will join
+us here, as the girl says she's nervous and can't sleep."
+
+Higgs proved right in his anticipations, for in about ten minutes we
+were rung up again, this time by Maqueda herself, whereon I handed the
+receiver to Oliver and retired to the other end of the room.
+
+Nor, to tell the truth, was I sorry for the interruption, since it
+cheered up Oliver and helped to pass the time.
+
+The next thing worth telling that happened was that, an hour or more
+later, Japhet arrived, looking very frightened. We asked him our usual
+question: if anything was wrong with the wires. With a groan he
+answered "No," the wires seemed all right, but he had met a ghost.
+
+"What ghost, you donkey?" I said.
+
+"The ghost of one of the dead kings, O Physician, yonder in the burial
+cave. It was he with the bent bones who sits in the farthest chair.
+Only he had put some flesh on his bones, and I tell you he looked
+fearful, a very fierce man, or rather ghost."
+
+"Indeed, and did he say anything to you, Japhet?"
+
+"Oh! yes, plenty, O Physician, only I could not understand it all,
+because his language was somewhat different to mine, and he spat out
+his words as a green log spits out sparks. I think that he asked me,
+however, how my miserable people dared to destroy his god, Harmac. I
+answered that I was only a servant and did not know, adding that he
+should put his questions to you."
+
+"And what did he say to that, Japhet?"
+
+"I think he said that Harmac would come to Mur and settle his account
+with the Abati, and that the foreign men would be wise to fly fast and
+far. That's all I understood; ask me no more, who would not return
+into that cave to be made a prince."
+
+"He's got hold of what Barung's envoys told us," said Oliver,
+indifferently, "and no wonder, this place is enough to make anybody
+see ghosts. I'll repeat it to Maqueda; it will amuse her."
+
+"I wouldn't if I were you," I answered, "for it isn't exactly a
+cheerful yarn, and perhaps she's afraid of ghosts too. Also," and I
+pointed to the watch that lay on the table beside the batteries, "it
+is five minutes to ten."
+
+Oh! that last five minutes! It seemed as many centuries. Like stone
+statues we sat, each of us lost in his own thoughts, though for my
+part the power of clear thinking appeared to have left me. Visions of
+a sort flowed over my mind without sinking into it, as water flows
+over marble. All I could do was fix my eyes on the face of that watch,
+of which in the flickering lamp-light the second-hand seemed to my
+excited fancy to grow enormous and jump from one side of the room to
+the other.
+
+Orme began to count aloud. "One, two, three, four, five--/now/!" and
+almost simultaneously he touched the knob first of one battery and
+next of the other. Before his finger pressed the left-hand knob I felt
+the solid rock beneath us surge--no other word conveys its movement.
+Then the great stone cross-piece, weighing several tons, that was set
+as a transom above the tall door of our room, dislodged itself, and
+fell quite gently into the doorway, which it completely blocked.
+
+Other rocks fell also at a distance, making a great noise, and somehow
+I found myself on the ground, my stool had slid away from me. Next
+followed a muffled, awful roar, and with it came a blast of wind
+blowing where wind never blew before since the beginning of the world,
+that with a terrible wailing howled itself to silence in the thousand
+recesses of the cave city. As it passed our lamps went out. Lastly,
+quite a minute later I should think, there was a thud, as though
+something of enormous weight had fallen on the surface of the earth
+far above us.
+
+Then all was as it had been; all was darkness and utter quietude.
+
+"Well, that's over," said Oliver, in a strained voice which sounded
+very small and far away through that thick darkness; "all over for
+good or ill. I needn't have been anxious; the first battery was strong
+enough, for I felt the mine spring as I touched the second. I wonder,"
+he went on, as though speaking to himself, "what amount of damage
+nearly a ton and a half of that awful azo-imide compound has done to
+the old sphinx. According to my calculations it ought to have been
+enough to break the thing up, if we could have spread the charge more.
+But, as it is, I am by no means certain. It may only have driven a
+hole in its bulk, especially if there were hollows through which the
+gases could run. Well, with luck, we may know more about it later.
+Strike a match, Adams, and light those lamps. Why, what's that?
+Listen!"
+
+As he spoke, from somewhere came a series of tiny noises, that, though
+they were so faint and small, suggested rifles fired at a great
+distance. Crack, crack, crack! went the infinitesimal noises.
+
+I groped about, and finding the receiver of the field telephone, set
+it to my ear. In an instant all grew plain to me. Guns were being
+fired near the other end of the wire, and the transmitter was sending
+us the sound of them. Very faintly but with distinctness I could hear
+Higgs's high voice saying, "Look out, Sergeant, there's another rush
+coming!" and Quick answering, "Shoot low, Professor; for the Lord's
+sake shoot low. You are empty, sir. Load up, load up! Here's a clip of
+cartridges. Don't fire too fast. Ah! that devil got me, but I've got
+him; he'll never throw another spear."
+
+"They are being attacked!" I exclaimed. "Quick is wounded. Now Maqueda
+is talking to you. She says, 'Oliver, come! Joshua's men assail me.
+Oliver, come!'"
+
+Then followed a great sound of shouting answered by more shots, and
+just as Orme snatched the receiver from my hand the wire went dead. In
+vain he called down it in an agonized voice. As well might he have
+addressed the planet Saturn.
+
+"The wire's cut," he exclaimed, dashing down the receiver and seizing
+the lantern which Japhet had just succeeded in re-lighting; "come on,
+there's murder being done," and he sprang to the doorway, only to
+stagger back again from the great stone with which it was blocked.
+
+"Good God!" he screamed, "we're shut in. How can we get out? How can
+we get out?" and he began to run round and round the room, and even to
+spring at the walls like a frightened cat. Thrice he sprang, striving
+to climb to the coping, for the place had no roof, each time falling
+back, since it was too high for him to grasp. I caught him round the
+middle, and held him by main force, although he struck at me.
+
+"Be quiet," I said; "do you want to kill yourself? You will be no good
+dead or maimed. Let me think."
+
+Meanwhile Japhet was acting on his own account, for he, too, had heard
+the tiny, ominous sounds given out by the telephone and guessed their
+purport. First he ran to the massive transom that blocked the doorway
+and pushed. It was useless; not even an elephant could have stirred
+it. Then he stepped back, examining it carefully.
+
+"I think it can be climbed, Physician," he said. "Help me now," and he
+motioned to me to take one end of the heavy table on which the
+batteries stood. We dragged it to the doorway, and, seeing his
+purpose, Oliver jumped on to it with him. Then at Japhet's direction,
+while I supported the table to prevent its oversetting, Orme rested
+his forehead against the stone, making what schoolboy's call "a back,"
+up which the mountaineer climbed actively until he stood upon his
+shoulders, and by stretching himself was able to grasp the end of the
+fallen transom. Next, while I held up the lamp to give him light, he
+gripped the roughnesses of the hewn stone with his toes, and in a few
+moments was upon the coping of the wall, twenty feet or more above the
+floor line.
+
+The rest was comparatively easy, for taking off his linen robe, Japhet
+knotted it once or twice, and let it down to us. By the help of this
+improvised rope, with Orme supporting me beneath, I, too, was dragged
+up to the coping of the wall. Then both of us pulled up Oliver, who,
+without a word, swung himself over the wall, hanging to Japhet's arms,
+and loosing his hold, dropped to the ground on the farther side. Next
+came my turn. It was a long fall, and had not Oliver caught me I think
+that I should have hurt myself. As it was, the breath was shaken out
+of me. Lastly, Japhet swung himself down, landing lightly as a cat.
+The lamps he had already dropped to us, and in another minute they
+were all lighted, and we were speeding down the great cavern.
+
+"Be careful," I cried; "there may be fallen rocks about."
+
+As it happened I was right, for at that moment Oliver struck his legs
+against one of them and fell, cutting himself a good deal. In a moment
+he was up again, but after this our progress grew slow, for hundreds
+of tons of stone had been shaken from the roof and blocked the path.
+Also, whole buildings of the ancient and underground city had been
+thrown down, although these were mostly blown inward by the rush of
+air. At length we came to the end of the cave, and halted dismayed,
+for here, where the blast of the explosion had been brought to a full
+stop, the place seemed to be crowded with rocks which it had rolled
+before it.
+
+"My God! I believe we are shut in," exclaimed Oliver in despair.
+
+But Japhet, lantern in hand, was already leaping from block to block,
+and presently, from the top of the d�bris, called to us to come to
+him.
+
+"I think there is a road left, though a bad one, lords," he said, and
+pointed to a jagged, well-like hole blown out, as I believe, by the
+recoil of the blast. With difficulty and danger, for many of the piled
+up stones were loose, we climbed down this place, and at its bottom
+squeezed ourselves through a narrow aperture on to the floor of the
+cave, praying that the huge door which led to the passage beyond might
+not be jammed, since if it were, as we knew well, our small strength
+would not avail to move it. Happily, this fear at least proved
+groundless, since it opened outward, and the force of the compressed
+air had torn it from its massive stone hinges and thrown it shattered
+to the ground.
+
+We scrambled over it, and advanced down the passage, our revolvers in
+our hands. We reached the audience hall, which was empty and in
+darkness. We turned to the left, crossing various chambers, and in the
+last of them, through which one of the gates of the palace could be
+approached, met with the first signs of the tragedy, for there were
+bloodstains on the floor.
+
+Orme pointed to them as he hurried on, and suddenly a man leapt out of
+the darkness as a buck leaps from a bush, and ran past us, holding his
+hands to his side, where evidently he had some grievous hurt. Now we
+entered the corridor leading to the private apartments of the Child of
+Kings, and found ourselves walking on the bodies of dead and dying
+men. One of the former I observed, as one does notice little things at
+such a moment, held in his hand the broken wire of the field
+telephone. I presume that he had snatched and severed it in his death
+pang at the moment when communication ceased between us and the
+palace.
+
+We rushed into the little antechamber, in which lights were burning,
+and there saw a sight that I for one never shall forget.
+
+In the foreground lay more dead men, all of them wearing the livery of
+Prince Joshua. Beyond was Sergeant Quick, seated on a chair. He seemed
+to be literally hacked to pieces. An arrow that no one had attempted
+to remove was fast in his shoulder; his head, which Maqueda was
+sponging with wet cloths--well, I will not describe his wounds.
+
+Leaning against the wall near by stood Higgs, also bleeding, and
+apparently quite exhausted. Behind, besides Maqueda herself, were two
+or three of her ladies, wringing their hands and weeping. In face of
+this terrible spectacle we came to a sudden halt. No word was spoken
+of by any one, for the power of speech had left us.
+
+The dying Quick opened his eyes, lifted his hand, upon which there was
+a ghastly sword-cut, to his forehead, as though to shade them from the
+light--ah! how well I recall that pathetic motion--and from beneath
+this screen stared at us a while. Then he rose from the chair, touched
+his throat to show that he could not speak, as I suppose, saluted
+Orme, turned and pointed to Maqueda, and with a triumphant smile sank
+down and--died.
+
+Such was the noble end of Sergeant Quick.
+
+To describe what followed is not easy, for the scene was confused.
+Also shock and sorrow have blurred its recollection in my mind. I
+remember Maqueda and Orme falling into each other's arms before
+everybody. I remember her drawing herself up in that imperial way of
+hers, and saying, as she pointed to the body of Quick:
+
+"There lies one who has shown us how to die. This countryman of yours
+was a hero, O Oliver, and you should hold his memory in honour, since
+he saved me from worse than death."
+
+"What's the story?" asked Orme of Higgs.
+
+"A simple one enough," he answered. "We got here all right, as we told
+you over the wire. Then Maqueda talked to you for a long while until
+you rang off, saying you wanted to speak to Japhet. After that, at ten
+o'clock precisely, we heard the thud of the explosion. Next, as we
+were preparing to go out to see what had happened, Joshua arrived
+alone, announced that the idol Harmac had been destroyed, and demanded
+that the Child of Kings, 'for State reasons,' should accompany him to
+his own castle. She declined and, as he insisted, I took it upon
+myself to kick him out of the place. He retired, and we saw no more of
+him, but a few minutes later there came a shower of arrows down the
+passage, and after them a rush of men, who called, 'Death to the
+Gentiles. Rescue the Rose.'
+
+"So we began to shoot and knocked over a lot of them, but Quick got
+that arrow through his shoulder. Three times they came on like that,
+and three times we drove them back. At last our cartridges ran low,
+and we only had our revolvers left, which we emptied into them. They
+hung a moment, but moved forward again, and all seemed up.
+
+"Then Quick went mad. He snatched the sword of a dead Abati and ran at
+them roaring like a bull. They hacked and cut at him, but the end of
+it was that he drove them right out of the passage, while I followed,
+firing past him.
+
+"Well, those who were left of the blackguards bolted, and when they
+had gone the Sergeant tumbled down. The women and I carried him back
+here, but he never said another word, and at last you turned up. Now
+he's gone, God rest him, for if ever there was a hero in this world he
+was christened Samuel Quick!" and, turning aside, the Professor pushed
+up the blue spectacles he always wore on to his forehead, and wiped
+his eyes with the back of his hand.
+
+With grief more bitter than I can describe we lifted up the body of
+the gallant Quick and, bearing it into Maqueda's private apartment,
+placed it on her own bed, for she insisted that the man who had died
+to protect her should be laid nowhere else. It was strange to see the
+grim old soldier, whose face, now that I had washed his wounds, looked
+calm and even beautiful, laid out to sleep his last sleep upon the
+couch of the Child of Kings. That bed, I remember, was a rich and
+splendid thing, made of some black wood inlaid with scrolls of gold,
+and having hung about it curtains of white net embroidered with golden
+stars, such as Maqueda wore upon her official veil.
+
+There upon the scented pillows and silken coverlet we set our burden
+down, the work-worn hands clasped upon the breast in an attitude of
+prayer, and one by one bid our farewell to this faithful and upright
+man, whose face, as it chanced, we were never to see again, except in
+the glass of memory. Well, he had died as he had lived and would have
+wished to die--doing his duty and in war. And so we left him. Peace be
+to his honoured spirit!
+
+In the blood-stained ante-room, while I dressed and stitched up the
+Professor's wounds, a sword-cut on the head, an arrow-graze along the
+face, and a spear-prick in the thigh, none of them happily at all deep
+or dangerous, we held a brief council.
+
+"Friends," said Maqueda, who was leaning on her lover's arm, "it is
+not safe that we should stop here. My uncle's plot has failed for the
+moment, but it was only a small and secret thing. I think that soon he
+will return again with a thousand at his back, and then----"
+
+"What is in your mind?" asked Oliver. "To fly from Mur?"
+
+"How can we fly," she answered, "when the pass is guarded by Joshua's
+men, and the Fung wait for us without? The Abati hate you, my friends,
+and now that you have done your work I think that they will kill you
+if they can, whom they bore with only till it was done. Alas! alas!
+that I should have brought you to this false and ungrateful country,"
+and she began to weep, while we stared at each other, helpless.
+
+Then Japhet, who all this while had been crouched on the floor,
+rocking himself too and fro and mourning in his Eastern fashion for
+Quick, whom he had loved, rose, and, coming to the Child of Kings,
+prostrated himself before her.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta," he said, "hear the words of your servant. Only
+three miles away, near to the mouth of the pass, are encamped five
+hundred men of my own people, the Mountaineers, who hate Prince Joshua
+and his following. Fly to them, O Walda Nagasta, for they will cleave
+to you and listen to me whom you have made a chief among them.
+Afterwards you can act as may seem wisest."
+
+Maqueda looked at Oliver questioningly.
+
+"I think that is good advice," he said. "At any rate, we can't be
+worse off among the Mountaineers than we are in this undefended place.
+Tell your women to bring cloaks that we can throw over our heads, and
+let us go."
+
+Five minutes later, a forlorn group filled with fears, we had stolen
+over the dead and dying in the passage, and made our way to the side
+gate of the palace that we found open, and over the bridge that
+spanned the moat beyond, which was down. Doubtless Joshua's ruffians
+had used it in their approach and retreat. Disguised in the long
+cloaks with monk-like hoods that the Abati wore at night or when the
+weather was cold and wet, we hurried across the great square. Here,
+since we could not escape them, we mingled with the crowd that was
+gathered at its farther end, all of them--men, women and children--
+chattering like monkeys in the tree-tops, and pointing to the cliff at
+the back of the palace, beneath which, it will be remembered, lay the
+underground city.
+
+A band of soldiers rode by, thrusting their way through the people,
+and in order to avoid them we thought it wise to take refuge in the
+shadow of a walk of green-leaved trees which grew close at hand, for
+we feared lest they might recognize Oliver by his height. Here we
+turned and looked up at the cliff, to discover what it was at which
+every one was staring. At that moment the full moon, which had been
+obscured by a cloud, broke out, and we saw a spectacle that under the
+circumstances was nothing less than terrifying.
+
+The cliff behind the palace rose to a height of about a hundred and
+fifty feet, and, as it chanced, just there a portion of it jutted out
+in an oblong shape, which the Abati called the Lion Rock, although
+personally, heretofore, I had never been able to see in it any great
+resemblance to a lion. Now, however, it was different, for on the very
+extremity of this rock, staring down at Mur, sat the head and neck of
+the huge lion-faced idol of the Fung. Indeed, in that light, with the
+promontory stretching away behind it, it looked as though it were the
+idol itself, moved from the valley upon the farther side of the
+precipice to the top of the cliff above.
+
+"Oh! oh! oh!" groaned Japhet, "the prophecy is fulfilled--the head of
+Harmac has come to sleep at Mur."
+
+"You mean that we have sent him there," whispered Higgs. "Don't be
+frightened, man; can't you understand that the power of our medicine
+has blown the head off the sphinx high into the air, and landed it
+where it sits now?"
+
+"Yes," I put in, "and what we felt in the cave was the shock of its
+fall."
+
+"I don't care what brought him," replied Japhet, who seemed quite
+unstrung by all that he had gone through. "All I know is that the
+prophecy is fulfilled, and Harmac has come to Mur, and where Harmac
+goes the Fung follow."
+
+"So much the better," said the irreverent Higgs. "I may be able to
+sketch and measure him now."
+
+But I saw that Maqueda was trembling, for she, too, thought this
+occurrence a very bad omen, and even Oliver remained silent, perhaps
+because he feared its effect upon the Abati.
+
+Nor was this wonderful since, from the talk around us, clearly that
+effect was great. Evidently the people were terrified, like Japhet. We
+could hear them foreboding ill, and cursing us Gentiles as wizards,
+who had not destroyed the idol of the Fung as we promised, but had
+only caused him to fly to Mur.
+
+Here I may mention that as a matter of fact they were right. As we
+discovered afterwards, the whole force of the explosion, instead of
+shattering the vast bulk of the stone image, had rushed up through the
+hollow chambers in its interior until it struck against the solid
+head. Lifting this as though it were a toy, the expanding gas had
+hurled that mighty mass an unknown distance into the air, to light
+upon the crest of the cliffs of Mur, where probably it will remain
+forever.
+
+"Well," I said, when we had stared a little while at this
+extraordinary phenomenon, "thank God it did not travel farther, and
+fall upon the palace."
+
+"Oh! had it done so," whispered Maqueda in a tearful voice, "I think
+you might have thanked God indeed, for then at least I should be free
+from all my troubles. Come, friends, let us be going before we are
+discovered."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+I FIND MY SON
+
+Our road toward the pass ran through the camping ground of the newly
+created Abati army, and what we saw on our journey thither told us
+more vividly than any words or reports could do, how utter was the
+demoralization of that people. Where should have been sentries were no
+sentries; where should have been soldiers were groups of officers
+talking with women; where should have been officers were camp
+followers drinking.
+
+Through this confusion and excitement we made our way unobserved, or,
+at any rate, unquestioned, till at length we came to the regiment of
+the Mountaineers, who, for the most part, were goatherds, poor people
+who lived upon the slopes of the precipices that enclosed the land of
+Mur. These folk, having little to do with their more prosperous
+brethren of the plain, were hardy and primitive of nature, and
+therefore retained some of the primeval virtues of mankind, such as
+courage and loyalty.
+
+It was for the first of these reasons, and, indeed, for the second
+also, that they had been posted by Joshua at the mouth of the pass,
+which he knew well they alone could be trusted to defend in the event
+of serious attack. Moreover, it was desirable, from his point of view,
+to keep them out of the way while he developed his plans against the
+person of the Child of Kings, for whom these simple-minded men had a
+hereditary and almost a superstitious reverence.
+
+As soon as we were within the lines of these Mountaineers we found the
+difference between them and the rest of the Abati. The other regiments
+we had passed unchallenged, but here we were instantly stopped by a
+picket. Japhet whispered something into the ear of its officer that
+caused him to stare hard at us. Then this officer saluted the veiled
+figure of the Child of Kings and led us to where the commander of the
+band and his subordinates were seated near a fire sitting together. At
+some sign or word that did not reach us the commander, an old fellow
+with a long grey beard, rose and said:
+
+"Your pardon, but be pleased to show your faces."
+
+Maqueda threw back her hood and turned so that the light of the moon
+fell full upon her, whereon the old man dropped to his knee, saying:
+
+"Your commands, O Walda Nagasta."
+
+"Summon your regiment and I will give them," she answered, and seated
+herself on a bench by the fire, we three and Japhet standing behind
+her.
+
+The commander issued orders to his captains, and presently the
+Mountaineers formed up on three sides of a square above us, to the
+number of a little over five hundred men. When all were gathered
+Maqueda mounted the bench upon which she had been sitting, threw back
+her hood so that every one could see her face in the light of the
+fire, and addressed them:
+
+"Men of the mountain-side, this night just after the idol of the Fung
+had been destroyed, the Prince Joshua, my uncle, came to me demanding
+my surrender to him, whether to kill me or to imprison me in his
+castle beyond the end of the lake, for reasons of State as he said, or
+for other vile purposes, I do not know."
+
+At these words a murmur rose from the audience.
+
+"Wait," said Maqueda, holding up her hand, "there is worse to come. I
+told my uncle, Prince Joshua, that he was a traitor and had best be
+gone. He went, threatening me and, when I do not know, withdrew the
+guards that should be stationed at my palace gates. Now, some rumour
+of my danger had reached the foreigners in my service, and two of
+them, he who is called Black Windows, whom we rescued from the Fung,
+and the soldier named Quick, came to watch over me, while the Lord
+Orme and the Doctor Adams stayed in the cave to send out that spark of
+fire which should destroy the idol. Nor did they come back without
+need, for presently arrived a band of Prince Joshua's men to take me.
+
+"Then Black Windows and the soldier his companion fought a good fight,
+they two holding the narrow passage against many, and slaying a number
+of them with their terrible weapons. The end of it was, men of the
+mountains, that the warrior Quick, charging down the passage, drove
+away those servants of Joshua who remained alive. But in so doing he
+was wounded to the death. Yes, that brave man lies dead, having given
+his life to save the Child of Kings from the hands of her own people.
+Black Windows also was wounded--see the bandages about his head. Then
+came the Lord Orme and the Doctor Adams, and with them your brother
+Japhet, who had barely escaped with their lives from the cave city,
+and knowing that I was no longer safe in the palace, where even my
+sleeping-room has been drenched with blood, with them I have fled to
+you for succour. Will you not protect me, O men of the mountain-side?"
+
+"Yes, yes," they answered with a great shout. "Command we obey. What
+shall we do, O Child of Kings?"
+
+Now Maqueda called the officers of the regiment apart and consulted
+with them, asking their opinions, one by one. Some of them were in
+favour of finding out where Joshua might be, and attacking him at
+once. "Crush the snake's head and its tail will soon cease wriggling!"
+these said, and I confess this was a view that in many ways commended
+itself to us.
+
+But Maqueda would have none of it.
+
+"What!" she exclaimed, "shall I begin a civil war among my people when
+for aught I know the enemy is at our gates?" adding aside to us,
+"also, how can these few hundred men, brave though they be, hope to
+stand against the thousands under the command of Joshua?"
+
+"What, then, would you do?" asked Orme.
+
+"Return to the palace with these Mountaineers, O Oliver, and by help
+of that garrison, hold it against all enemies."
+
+"Very well," he replied. "To those who are quite lost one road is as
+good as another; they must trust to the stars to guide them."
+
+"Quite so," echoed Higgs; "and the sooner we go the better, for my leg
+hurts, and I want a sleep."
+
+So Maqueda gave her commands to the officers, by whom they were
+conveyed to the regiment, which received them with a shout, and
+instantly began to strike its camp.
+
+Then it was, coming hot-foot after so much sorrow, loss and doubt,
+that there followed the happiest event of all my life. Utterly tired
+out and very despondent, I was seated on an arrow-chest awaiting the
+order to march, idly watching Oliver and Maqueda talking with great
+earnestness at a little distance, and in the intervals trying to
+prevent poor Higgs at my side from falling asleep. While I was thus
+engaged, suddenly I heard a disturbance, and by the bright moonlight
+caught sight of a man being led into the camp in charge of a guard of
+Abati soldiers, whom from their dress I knew to belong to a company
+that just then was employed in watching the lower gates of the pass.
+
+I took no particular heed of the incident, thinking only that they
+might have captured some spy, till a murmur of astonishment, and the
+general stir, warned me that something unusual had occurred. So I rose
+from my box and strolled towards the man, who now was hidden from me
+by a group of Mountaineers. As I advanced this group opened, the men
+who composed it bowing to me with a kind of wondering respect that
+impressed me, I did not know why.
+
+Then for the first time I saw the prisoner. He was a tall, athletic
+young man, dressed in festal robes with a heavy gold chain about his
+neck, and I wondered vaguely what such a person should be doing here
+in this time of national commotion. He turned his head so that the
+moonlight showed his dark eyes, his somewhat oval-shaped face ending
+in a peaked black beard, and his finely cut features. In an instant I
+knew him.
+
+/It was my son Roderick!/
+
+Next moment, for the first time for very many years, he was in my
+arms.
+
+The first thing that I remember saying to him was a typically Anglo-
+Saxon remark, for however much we live in the East or elsewhere, we
+never really shake off our native conventions, and habits of speech.
+It was, "How are you, my boy, and how on earth did you come here?" to
+which he answered, slowly, it is true, and speaking with a foreign
+accent:
+
+"All right, thank you, father. I ran upon my legs."
+
+By this time Higgs hobbled up, and was greeting my son warmly, for, of
+course, they were old friends.
+
+"Thought you were to be married to-night, Roderick?" he said.
+
+"Yes, yes," he answered, "I am half married according to Fung custom,
+which counts not to my soul. Look, this is the dress of marriage," and
+he pointed to his fine embroidered robe and rich ornaments.
+
+"Then, where's your wife?" asked Higgs.
+
+"I do not know and I do not care," he answered, "for I did not like
+that wife. Also it is all nothing as I am not quite married to her.
+Fung marriage between big people takes two days to finish, and if not
+finished does not matter. So she marry some one else if she like, and
+I too."
+
+"What happened then?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, this, father. When we had eaten the marriage feast, but before we
+past before priest, suddenly we hear a thunder and see a pillar of
+fire shoot up into sky, and sitting on top of it head of Harmac, which
+vanish into heaven and stop there. Then everybody jump up and say:
+
+"'Magic of white man! Magic of white man! White man kill the god who
+sit there from beginning of world, now day of Fung finished according
+to prophecy. Run away, people of Fung, run away!'
+
+"Barung the Sultan tear his clothes too, and say--'Run away, Fung,'
+and my half-wife, she tear /her/ clothes and say nothing, but run like
+antelope. So they all run toward east, where great river is, and leave
+me alone. Then I get up and run too--toward west, for I know from
+Black Windows," and he pointed to Higgs, "when we shut up together in
+belly of god before he let down to lions, what all this game mean, and
+therefore not frightened. Well, I run, meeting no one in night, till I
+come to pass, run up it, and find guards, to whom I tell story, so
+they not kill me, but let me through, and at last I come here, quite
+safe, without Fung wife, thank God, and that end of tale."
+
+"I am afraid you are wrong there, my boy," I said, "out of the frying-
+pan into the fire, that's all."
+
+"Out of frying-pan into fire," he repeated. "Not understand; father
+must remember I only little fellow when Khalifa's people take me, and
+since then speak no English till I meet Black Windows. Only he give me
+Bible-book that he have in pocket when he go down to be eat by lions."
+(Here Higgs blushed, for no one ever suspected him, a severe critic of
+all religions, of carrying a Bible in his pocket, and muttered
+something about "ancient customs of the Hebrews.")
+
+"Well," went on Roderick, "read that book ever since, and, as you see,
+all my English come back."
+
+"The question is," said Higgs, evidently in haste to talk of something
+else, "will the Fung come back?"
+
+"Oh! Black Windows, don't know, can't say. Think not. Their prophecy
+was that Harmac move to Mur, but when they see his head jump into sky
+and stop there, they run every man toward the sunrise, and I think go
+on running."
+
+"But Harmac has come to Mur, Roderick," I said; "at least his head has
+fallen on to the cliff that overlooks the city."
+
+"Oh! my father," he answered, "then that make great difference. When
+Fung find out that head of Harmac has come here, no doubt they come
+after him, for head his most holy bit, especially as they want hang
+all the Abati whom they not like."
+
+"Well, let's hope that they don't find out anything about it," I
+replied, to change the subject. Then taking Roderick by the hand I led
+him to where Maqueda stood a yard or two apart, listening to our talk,
+but, of course, understanding very little of it, and introduced him to
+her, explaining in a few words the wonderful thing that had happened.
+She welcomed him very kindly, and congratulated me upon my son's
+escape. Meanwhile, Roderick had been staring at her with evident
+admiration. Now he turned to us and said in his quaint broken English:
+
+"Walda Nagasta most lovely woman! No wonder King Solomon love her
+mother. If Barung's daughter, my wife, had been like her, think I run
+through great river into rising sun with Fung."
+
+Oliver instantly translated this remark, which made us all laugh,
+including Maqueda herself, and very grateful we were to find the
+opportunity for a little innocent merriment upon that tragic night.
+
+By this time the regiment was ready to start, and had formed up into
+companies. Before the march actually began, however, the officer of
+the Abati patrol, in whose charge Roderick had been brought to us,
+demanded his surrender that he might deliver his prisoner to the
+Commander-in-Chief, Prince Joshua. Of course, this was refused,
+whereon the man asked roughly:
+
+"By whose order?"
+
+As it happened, Maqueda, of whose presence he was not aware, heard
+him, and acting on some impulse, came forward, and unveiled.
+
+"By mine," she said. "Know that the Child of Kings rules the Abati,
+not the Prince Joshua, and that prisoners taken by her soldiers are
+hers, not his. Be gone back to your post!"
+
+The captain stared, saluted, and went with his companions, not to the
+pass, indeed, as he had been ordered, but to Joshua. To him he
+reported the arrival of the Gentile's son, and the news he brought
+that the nation of the Fung, dismayed by the destruction of their god,
+were in full flight from the plains of Harmac, purposing to cross the
+great river and to return no more.
+
+This glad tidings spread like wildfire; so fast, indeed, that almost
+before we had begun our march, we heard the shouts of exultation with
+which it was received by the terrified mob gathered in the great
+square. The cloud of terror was suddenly lifted from them. They went
+mad in their delight; they lit bonfires, they drank, they feasted,
+they embraced each other and boasted of their bravery that had caused
+the mighty nation of the Fung to flee away for ever.
+
+Meanwhile, our advance had begun, nor in the midst of the general
+jubilation was any particular notice taken of us till we were in the
+middle of the square of Mur and within half a mile of the palace, when
+we saw by the moonlight that a large body of troops, two or three
+thousand of them, were drawn up in front of us, apparently to bar our
+way. Still we went on till a number of officers rode up, and
+addressing the commander of the regiment of Mountaineers, demanded to
+know why he had left his post, and whither he went.
+
+"I go whither I am ordered," he answered, "for there is one here
+greater than I."
+
+"If you mean the Gentile Orme and his fellows, the command of the
+Prince Joshua is that you hand them over to us that they may make
+report to him of their doings this night."
+
+"And the command of the Child of Kings is," replied the captain of the
+Mountaineers, "that I take them with her back to the palace."
+
+"It has no weight," said the spokesman insolently, "not being endorsed
+by the Council. Surrender the Gentiles, hand over to us the person of
+the Child of Kings of whom you have taken possession, and return to
+your post till the pleasure of the Prince Joshua be known."
+
+Then the wrath of Maqueda blazed up.
+
+"Seize those men!" she said, and it was done instantly. "Now, cut the
+head from him who dared to demand the surrender of my person and of my
+officers, and give it to his companions to take back to the Prince
+Joshua as my answer to his message."
+
+The man heard, and being a coward like all the Abati, flung himself
+upon his face before Maqueda, trying to kiss her robe and pleading for
+mercy.
+
+"Dog!" she answered, "you were one of those who this very night dared
+to attack my chamber. Oh! lie not, I knew your voice and heard your
+fellow-traitors call you by your name. Away with him!"
+
+We tried to interfere, but she would not listen, even to Orme.
+
+"Would you plead for your brother's murderer?" she asked, alluding to
+Quick. "I have spoken!"
+
+So they dragged him off behind us, and presently we saw a melancholy
+procession returning whence they came, carrying something on a shield.
+It reached the opposing ranks, whence there arose a murmur of wrath
+and fear.
+
+"March on!" said Maqueda, "and gain the palace."
+
+So the regiment formed into a square, and, setting Maqueda and
+ourselves in the centre of it, advanced again.
+
+Then the fight began. Great numbers of the Abati surrounded us and, as
+they did not dare to make a direct attack, commenced shooting arrows,
+which killed and wounded a number of men. But the Highlanders also
+were archers, and carried stronger bows. The square was halted, the
+first ranks kneeling and the second standing behind them. Then, at a
+given word, the stiff bows which these hardy people used against the
+lion and the buffalo upon their hills were drawn to the ear and loosed
+again and again with terrible effect.
+
+On that open place it was almost impossible to miss the mobs of the
+Abati who, having no experience of war, were fighting without order.
+Nor could the light mail they wore withstand the rush of the heavy
+barbed arrows which pierced them through and through. In two minutes
+they began to give, in three they were flying back to their main body,
+those who were left of them, a huddled rout of men and horses. So the
+French must have fled before the terrible longbows of the English at
+Cr�cy and Poitiers, for, in fact, we were taking part in just such a
+medi�val battle.
+
+Oliver, who was watching intently, went to Japhet and whispered
+something in his ear. He nodded and ran to seek the commander of the
+regiment. Presently the result of that whisper became apparent, for
+the sides of the hollow square wheeled outward and the rear moved up
+to strengthen the centre.
+
+Now the Mountaineers were ranged in a double or triple line, behind
+which were only about a dozen soldiers, who marched round Maqueda,
+holding their shields aloft in order to protect her from stray arrows.
+With these, too, came our four selves, a number of camp-followers and
+others, carrying on their shields those of the regiment who were too
+badly wounded to walk.
+
+Leaving the dead where they lay, we began to advance, pouring in
+volleys of arrows as we went. Twice the Abati tried to charge us, and
+twice those dreadful arrows drove them back. Then at the word of
+command, the Highlanders slung their bows upon their backs, drew their
+short swords, and in their turn charged.
+
+Five minutes afterwards everything was over. Joshua's soldiers threw
+down their arms, and ran or galloped to right and left, save a number
+of them who fled through the gates of the palace, which they had
+opened, and across the drawbridge into the courtyards within. After
+them, or, rather, mixed up with them, followed the Mountaineers,
+killing all whom they could find, for they were out of hand and would
+not listen to the commands of Maqueda and their officers, that they
+should show mercy.
+
+So, just as the dawn broke this strange moonlit battle ended, a small
+affair, it is true, for there were only five hundred men engaged upon
+our side and three or four thousand on the other, yet one that cost a
+great number of lives and was the beginning of all the ruin that
+followed.
+
+Well, we were safe for a while, since it was certain, after the lesson
+which he had just learned, that Joshua would not attempt to storm the
+double walls and fosse of the palace without long preparation. Yet
+even now a new trouble awaited us, for by some means, we never
+discovered how, that wing of the palace in which Maqueda's private
+rooms were situated suddenly burst into flames.
+
+Personally, I believe that the fire arose through the fact that a lamp
+had been left burning near the bed of the Child of Kings upon which
+was laid the body of Sergeant Quick. Perhaps a wounded man hidden
+there overturned the lamp; perhaps the draught blowing through the
+open doors brought the gold-spangled curtains into contact with the
+wick.
+
+At any rate, the wood-panelled chambers took fire, and had it not
+happened that the set of the wind was favourable, the whole palace
+might have been consumed. As it was, we succeeded in confining the
+conflagration to this particular part of it, which within two hours
+had burnt out, leaving nothing standing but the stark, stone walls.
+
+Such was the funeral pyre of Sergeant Quick, a noble one, I thought to
+myself, as I watched it burn.
+
+When the fire was so well under control, for we had pulled down the
+connecting passage where Higgs and Quick fought their great fight,
+that there was no longer any danger of its spreading, and the watches
+had been set, at length we got some rest.
+
+Maqueda and two or three of her ladies, one of them, I remember, her
+old nurse who had brought her up, for her mother died at her birth,
+took possession of some empty rooms, of which there were many in the
+palace, while we lay, or rather fell, down in the guest-chambers,
+where we had always slept, and never opened our eyes again until the
+evening.
+
+I remember that I woke thinking that I was the victim of some
+wonderful dream of mingled joy and tragedy. Oliver and Higgs were
+sleeping like logs, but my son Roderick, still dressed in his bridal
+robes, had risen and sat by my bed staring at me, a puzzled look upon
+his handsome face.
+
+"So you are here," I said, taking his hand. "I thought I dreamed."
+
+"No, Father," he answered in his odd English, "no dream; all true.
+This is a strange world, Father. Look at me! For how many years--
+twelve--fourteen, slave of savage peoples for whom I sing, priest of
+Fung idol, always near death but never die. Then Sultan Barung take
+fancy to me, say I come of white blood and must be his daughter's
+husband. Then your brother Higgs made prisoner with me and tell me
+that you hunt me all these years. Then Higgs thrown to lions and you
+save him. Then yesterday I married to Sultan's daughter, whom I never
+see before but twice at fast of idol. Then Harmac's head fly off to
+heaven, and all Fung people run away, and I run too, and find you.
+Then battle, and many killed, and arrow scratch my neck but not hurt
+me," and he pointed to a graze just over his jugular vein, "and now we
+together. Oh! Father, very strange world! I think there God somewhere
+who look after us!"
+
+"I think so, too, my boy," I answered, "and I hope that He will
+continue to do so, for I tell you we are in a worse place than ever
+you were among the Fung."
+
+"Oh, don't mind that, Father," he answered gaily, for Roderick is a
+cheerful soul. "As Fung say, there no house without door, although
+plenty people made blind and can't see it. But we not blind, or we
+dead long ago. Find door by and by, but here come man to talk to you."
+
+The man proved to be Japhet, who had been sent by the Child of Kings
+to summon us, as she had news to tell. So I woke the others, and after
+I had dressed the Professor's flesh wounds, which were stiff and sore,
+we joined her where she sat in the gateway tower of the inner wall.
+She greeted us rather sadly, asked Oliver how he had slept and Higgs
+if his cuts hurt him. Then she turned to my son, and congratulated him
+upon his wonderful escape and upon having found a father if he had
+lost a wife.
+
+"Truly," she added, "you are a fortunate man to be so well loved, O
+son of Adams. To how many sons are given fathers who for fourteen long
+years, abandoning all else, would search for them in peril of their
+lives, enduring slavery and blows and starvation and the desert's heat
+and cold for the sake of a long-lost face? Such faithfulness is that
+of my forefather David for his brother Jonathan, and such love it is
+that passes the love of women. See that you pay it back to him, and
+to his memory until the last hour of your life, child of Adams."
+
+"I will, indeed, I will, O Walda Nagasta," answered Roderick, and
+throwing his arms about my neck he embraced me before them all. It is
+not too much to say that this kiss of filial devotion more than repaid
+me for all I had undergone for his beloved sake. For now I knew that I
+had not toiled and suffered for one of no worth, as is so often the
+lot of true hearts in this bitter world.
+
+Just then some of Maqueda's ladies brought food, and at her bidding we
+breakfasted.
+
+"Be sparing," she said with a melancholy little laugh, "for I know not
+how long our store will last. Listen! I have received a last offer
+from my uncle Joshua. An arrow brought it--not a man; I think that no
+man would come lest his fate should be that of the traitor of
+yesterday," and she produced a slip of parchment that had been tied to
+the shaft of an arrow and, unfolding it, read as follows--
+
+ "O Walda Nagasta, deliver up to death the Gentiles who have
+  bewitched you and led you to shed the blood of so many of your
+  people, and with them the officers of the Mountaineers, and the
+  rest shall be spared. You also I will forgive and make my wife.
+  Resist, and all who cling to you shall be put to the sword, and to
+  yourself I promise nothing.
+
+ "Written by order of the Council,
+
+"Joshua, Prince of the Abati."
+
+
+"What answer shall I send?" she asked, looking at us curiously.
+
+"Upon my word," replied Orme, shrugging his shoulders, "if it were not
+for those faithful officers I am not sure but that you would be wise
+to accept the terms. We are cooped up here, but a few surrounded by
+thousands, who, if they dare not assault, still can starve us out, as
+this place is not victualled for a siege."
+
+"You forget one of those terms, O Oliver!" she said slowly, pointing
+with her finger to the passage in the letter which stated that Joshua
+would make her his wife, "Now do you still counsel surrender?"
+
+"How can I?" he answered, flushing, and was silent.
+
+"Well, it does not matter what you counsel," she went on with a smile,
+"seeing that I have already sent my answer, also by arrow. See, here
+is a copy of it," and she read--
+
+ "To my rebellious People of the Abati:
+
+ "Surrender to me Joshua, my uncle, and the members of the Council
+  who have lifted sword against me, to be dealt with according to
+  the ancient law, and the rest of you shall go unharmed. Refuse,
+  and I swear to you that before the night of the new moon has
+  passed there shall be such woe in Mur as fell upon the city of
+  David when the barbarian standards were set upon her walls. Such
+  is the counsel that has come to me, the Child of Solomon, in the
+  watches of the night, and I tell you that it is true. Do what you
+  will, people of the Abati, or what you must, since your fate and
+  ours are written. But be sure that in me and the Western lords
+  lies your only hope.
+
+"Walda Nagasta."
+
+
+"What do you mean, O Maqueda," I asked, "about the counsel that came
+to you in the watches of the night?"
+
+"What I say, O Adams," she answered calmly. "After we parted at dawn I
+slept heavily, and in my sleep a dark and royal woman stood before me
+whom I knew to be my great ancestress, the beloved of Solomon. She
+looked on me sadly, yet as I thought with love. Then she drew back, as
+it were, a curtain of thick cloud that hid the future and revealed to
+me the young moon riding the sky and beneath it Mur, a blackened ruin,
+her streets filled with dead. Yes, and she showed to me other things,
+though I may not tell them, which also shall come to pass, then held
+her hands over me as if in blessing, and was gone."
+
+"Old Hebrew prophet business! Very interesting," I heard Higgs mutter
+below his breath, while in my own heart I set the dream down to
+excitement and want of food. In fact, only two of us were impressed,
+my son very much, and Oliver a little, perhaps because everything
+Maqueda said was gospel to him.
+
+"Doubtless all will come to pass as you say, Walda Nagasta," said
+Roderick with conviction. "The day of the Abati is finished."
+
+"Why do you say that, Son?" I asked.
+
+"Because, Father, among the Fung people from a child I have two
+offices, that of Singer to the God and that of Reader of Dreams. Oh!
+do not laugh. I can tell you many that have come true as I read them;
+thus the dream of Barung which I read to mean that the head of Harmac
+would come to Mur, and see, there it sit," and turning, he pointed
+through the doorway of the tower to the grim lion-head of the idol
+crouched upon the top of the precipice, watching Mur as a beast of
+prey watches the victim upon which it is about to spring. "I know when
+dreams true and when dreams false; it my gift, like my voice. I know
+that this dream true, that all," and as he ceased speaking I saw his
+eyes catch Maqueda's, and a very curious glance pass between them.
+
+As for Orme, he only said:
+
+"You Easterns are strange people, and if you believe a thing, Maqueda,
+there may be something in it. But you understand that this message of
+yours means war to the last, a very unequal war," and he looked at the
+hordes of the Abati gathering on the great square.
+
+"Yes," she answered quietly, "I understand, but however sore our
+straits, and however strange may seem the things that happen, have no
+fear of the end of that war, O my friends."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+THE BURNING OF THE PALACE
+
+Orme was right. Maqueda's defiance did mean war, "an unequal war."
+This was our position. We were shut up in a long range of buildings,
+of which one end had been burned, that on account of their moat and
+double wall, if defended with any vigour, could only be stormed by an
+enemy of great courage and determination, prepared to face a heavy
+sacrifice of life. This was a circumstance in our favour, since the
+Abati were not courageous, and very much disliked the idea of being
+killed, or even injured.
+
+But here our advantage ended. Deducting those whom we had lost on the
+previous night, the garrison only amounted to something over four
+hundred men, of whom about fifty were wounded, some of them
+dangerously. Moreover, ammunition was short, for they had shot away
+most of their arrows in the battle of the square, and we had no means
+of obtaining more. But, worst of all, the palace was not provisioned
+for a siege, and the mountaineers had with them only three days'
+rations of sun-dried beef or goat's flesh, and a hard kind of biscuit
+made of Indian corn mixed with barley meal. Thus, as we saw from the
+beginning, unless we could manage to secure more food our case must
+soon grow hopeless.
+
+There remained yet another danger. Although the palace itself was
+stone-built, its gilded domes and ornamental turrets were of timber,
+and therefore liable to be fired, as indeed had already happened. The
+roof also was of ancient cedar beams, thinly covered with concrete,
+while the interior containing an enormous quantity of panels, or
+rather boarding, cut from some resinous wood.
+
+The Abati, on the other hand, were amply supplied with every kind of
+store and weapon, and could bring a great force to blockade us, though
+that force was composed of a timid and undisciplined rabble.
+
+Well, we made the best preparations that we could, although of these I
+did not see much, since all that day my time was occupied in attending
+to the wounded with the help of my son and a few rough orderlies,
+whose experience in doctoring had for the most part been confined to
+cattle. A pitiful business it proved without the aid of an�sthetics or
+a proper supply of bandages and other appliances. Although my medicine
+chest had been furnished upon a liberal scale, it proved totally
+inadequate to the casualties of battle. Still I did my best and saved
+some lives, though many cases developed gangrene and slipped through
+my fingers.
+
+Meanwhile Higgs, who worked nobly, notwithstanding his flesh wounds,
+which pained him considerably, and Orme were also doing their best
+with the assistance of Japhet and the other officers of the highland
+regiment. The palace was thoroughly examined, and all weak places in
+its defences were made good. The available force was divided into
+watches and stationed to the best advantage. A number of men were set
+to work to manufacture arrow shafts from cedar beams, of which there
+were plenty in the wooden stables and outhouses that lay at the back
+of the main building, and to point and wing the same from a supply of
+iron barbs and feathers which fortunately was discovered in one of the
+guard-houses. A few horses that remained in a shed were killed and
+salted down for food, and so forth.
+
+Also every possible preparation was made to repel attempts to storm,
+paving stones being piled up to throw upon the heads of assailants and
+fires lighted on the walls to heat pitch and oil and water for the
+same purpose.
+
+But, to our disappointment, no direct assault was delivered, such
+desperate methods not commending themselves to the Abati. Their plan
+of attack was to take cover wherever they could, especially among the
+trees of the garden beyond the gates, and thence shoot arrows at any
+one who appeared upon the walls, or even fire them in volleys at the
+clouds, as the Normans did at Hastings, so that they might fall upon
+the heads of persons in the courtyards. Although these cautious
+tactics cost us several men, they had the advantage of furnishing us
+with a supply of ammunition which we sorely needed. All the spent
+arrows were carefully collected and made use of against the enemy, at
+whom we shot whenever opportunity offered. We did them but little
+damage, however, since they were extremely careful not to expose
+themselves.
+
+In this fashion three dreary days went past, unrelieved by any
+incident except a feint, for it was scarcely more, which the Abati
+made upon the second night, apparently with the object of forcing the
+great gates under cover of a rainstorm. The advance was discovered at
+once, and repelled by two or three volleys of arrows and some rifle
+shots. Of these rifles, indeed, whereof we possessed about a score,
+the Abati were terribly afraid. Picking out some of the most
+intelligent soldiers we taught them how to handle our spare guns, and
+though, of course, their shooting was extremely erratic, the result of
+it, backed up by our own more accurate marksmanship, was to force the
+enemy to take cover. Indeed, after one or two experiences of the
+effect of bullets, not a man would show himself in the open within
+five hundred yards until night had fallen.
+
+On the third afternoon we held a council to determine what must be
+done, since for the last twenty-four hours it had been obvious that
+things could not continue as they were. To begin with, we had only
+sufficient food left to keep our force from starvation for two more
+days. Also the spirits of our soldiers, brave men enough when actual
+fighting was concerned, were beginning to flag in this atmosphere of
+inaction. Gathered into groups, they talked of their wives and
+children, and of what would happen to them at the hands of Joshua;
+also of their cattle and crops, saying that doubtless these were being
+ravaged and their houses burned. In vain did Maqueda promise them
+five-fold their loss when the war was ended, for evidently in their
+hearts they thought it could only end one way. Moreover, as they
+pointed out, she could not give them back their children if these were
+killed.
+
+At this melancholy council every possible plan was discussed, to find
+that these resolved themselves into two alternatives--to surrender, or
+to take the bull by the horns, sally out of the palace at night and
+attack Joshua. On the face of it, this latter scheme had the
+appearance of suicide, but, in fact, it was not so desperate as it
+seemed. The Abati being such cowards it was quite probable that they
+would run in their thousands before the onset of a few hundred
+determined men, and that, if once victory declared itself for the
+Child of Kings, the bulk of her subjects would return to their
+allegiance. So we settled on it in preference to surrender, which we
+knew meant death to ourselves, and for Maqueda a choice between that
+last grim solution of her troubles and a forced marriage.
+
+But there were others to be convinced, namely, the Mountaineers.
+Japhet, who had been present at the council, was sent to summon all of
+them except those actually on guard, and when they were assembled in
+the large inner court Maqueda went out and addressed them.
+
+I do not remember the exact words of her speech, and I made no note of
+them, but it was extremely beautiful and touching. She pointed out her
+plight, and that we could halt no longer between two opinions, who
+must either fight or yield. For herself she said she did not care,
+since, although she was young and their ruler, she set no store upon
+her life, and would give it up gladly rather than be driven into a
+marriage which she considered shameful, and forced to pass beneath the
+yoke of traitors.
+
+But for us foreigners she did care. We had come to her country at her
+invitation, we had served her nobly, one of us had given his life to
+protect her person, and now, in violation of her safeguard and that of
+the Council, we were threatened with a dreadful death. Were they, her
+subjects, so lacking in honour and hospitality that they would suffer
+such a thing with no blow struck to save us?
+
+Now the majority of them shouted "No," but some were silent, and one
+old captain advanced, saluted, and spoke.
+
+"Child of Kings," he said, "let us search out the truth of this
+matter. Is it not because of your love of the foreign soldier, Orme,
+that all this trouble has arisen? Is not that love unlawful according
+to our law, and are you not solemnly affianced to the Prince Joshua?"
+
+Maqueda considered awhile before she replied, and said slowly:
+
+"Friend, my heart is my own, therefore upon this point answer your
+question for yourself. As regards my uncle Joshua, if there existed
+any abiding contract between us it was broken when a few nights ago he
+sent his servants armed to attack and drag me off I know not whither.
+Would you have me marry a traitor and a coward? I have spoken."
+
+"No," again shouted the majority of the soldiers.
+
+Then in the silence that followed the old captain replied, with a
+canniness that was almost Scotch:
+
+"On the point raised by you, O Child of Kings, I give no opinion,
+since you, being but a woman, if a high-born one, would not listen to
+me if I did, but will doubtless follow that heart of yours of which
+you speak to whatever end is appointed. Settle the matter with your
+betrothed Joshua as you will. But we also have a matter to settle with
+Joshua, who is a toad with a long tongue that if he seems slow yet
+never misses his fly. We took up your cause, and have killed a great
+number of his people, as he has killed some of ours. This he will not
+forget. Therefore it seems to me that it will be wise that we should
+make what we can of the nest that we have built, since it is better to
+die in battle than on the gallows. For this reason, then, since we can
+stay here no longer, for my part I am willing to go out and fight for
+you this night, although Joshua's people being so many and ours so
+few, I shall think myself fortunate if I live to see another sun."
+
+This hard and reasoned speech seemed to appeal to the dissentients,
+with the result that they withdrew their opposition, and it was agreed
+that we should attempt to break our way through the besieging army
+about one hour before the dawn, when they would be heavily asleep and
+most liable to panic.
+
+Yet, as it chanced, that sortie was destined never to take place,
+which perhaps was fortunate for us, since I am convinced that it would
+have ended in failure. It is true that we might have forced our way
+through Joshua's army, but afterwards those of us who remained alive
+would have been surrounded, starved out, and, when our strength and
+ammunition were exhausted taken prisoners or cut down.
+
+However that may be, events shaped a different course for us, perhaps
+because the Abati got wind of our intention and had no stomach for a
+pitched battle with desperate men. As it happened, this night from
+sunset on to moonrise was one of a darkness so remarkable that it was
+impossible to see anything even a foot away, also a wind blowing from
+the east made sounds very inaudible. Only a few of our men were on
+guard, since it was necessary that they should be rested till it was
+time for them to prepare for their great effort. Also, we had little
+fear of any direct attack.
+
+About eight o'clock, however, my son Roderick, one of the watch
+stationed in the gateway towers, who was gifted with very quick ears,
+reported that he thought he heard people moving on the farther side of
+the massive wooden doors beyond the moat. Accordingly some of us went
+to listen, but could distinguish nothing, and concluded therefore that
+he was mistaken. So we retired to our posts and waited patiently for
+the moon to rise. But as it chanced no moon rose, or rather we could
+not see her, because the sky was completely covered by thick banks of
+thunder-clouds presaging the break-up of a period of great heat.
+These, as the wind had now died down, remained quite stationary upon
+the face of the sky, blotting out all light.
+
+Perhaps another hour had passed when, chancing to look behind me, I
+saw what I thought was a meteor falling from the crest of the cliff
+against which the palace was built, that cliff whither the head of the
+idol Harmac had been carried by the force of the explosion.
+
+"Look at that shooting star," I said to Oliver, who was at my side.
+
+"It is not a shooting star, it is fire," he replied in a startled
+voice, and, as he spoke, other streaks of light, scores of them, began
+to rain down from the brow of the cliff and land upon the wooden
+buildings to the rear of the palace that were dry as tinder with the
+drought, and, what was worse, upon the gilded timber domes of the
+roof.
+
+"Don't you understand the game?" he went on. "They have tied
+firebrands to arrows and spears to burn us out. Sound the alarm. Sound
+the alarm!"
+
+It was done, and presently the great range of buildings began to hum
+like a hive of bees. The soldiers still half asleep, rushed hither and
+thither shouting. The officers also, developing the characteristic
+excitement of the Abati race in this hour of panic, yelled and
+screamed at them, beating them with their fists and swords till some
+kind of control was established.
+
+Then attempts were made to extinguish the flames, which by this time
+had got hold in half-a-dozen places. From the beginning the effort was
+absolutely hopeless. It is true that there was plenty of water in the
+moat, which was fed by a perennial stream that flowed down the face of
+the precipice behind; but pumping engines of any sort were quite
+unknown to the Abati, who, if a building took fire, just let it burn,
+contenting themselves with safeguarding those in its neighbourhood.
+Moreover, even in the palace, such articles as pails, jugs, or other
+vessels were comparatively few and far between.
+
+Those that we could find, however, were filled with water and passed
+by lines of men to the places in most danger--that is, practically
+everywhere--while other men tried to cut off the advance of the flames
+by pulling down portions of the building.
+
+But as fast as one fire was extinguished others broke out, for the
+rain of burning darts and of lighted pots or lamps filled with oil
+descended continuously from the cliff above. A strange and terrible
+sight it was to see them flashing down through the darkness, like the
+fiery darts that shall destroy the wicked in the day of Armageddon.
+
+Still, we toiled on despairingly. On the roof we four white men, and
+some soldiers under the command of Japhet, were pouring water on to
+several of the gilded domes, which now were well alight. Close by,
+wrapped in a dark cloak, and attended by some of her ladies, stood
+Maqueda. She was quite calm, although sundry burning arrows and
+spears, falling with great force from the cliff above, struck the flat
+roofs close to where she stood.
+
+Her ladies, however, were not calm. They wept and wrung their hands,
+while one of them went into violent hysterics in her very natural
+terror. Maqueda turned and bade them descend to the courtyard of the
+gateway, where she said she would join them presently. They rushed
+off, rejoicing to escape the sight of those burning arrows, one of
+which had just pierced a man and set his clothes and hair on fire,
+causing him to leap from the roof in his madness.
+
+At Oliver's request I ran to the Child of Kings to lead her to some
+safer place, if it could be found. But she would not stir.
+
+"Let me be, O Adams," she said. "If I am to die, I will die here. But
+I do not think that is fated," and with her foot she kicked aside a
+burning spear that had struck the cement roof, and, rebounding, fallen
+quite close to her. "If my people will not fight," she went on, with
+bitter sarcasm, "at least they understand the other arts of war, for
+this trick of theirs is clever. They are cruel also. Listen to them
+mocking us in the square. They ask whether we will roast alive or come
+out and have our throats cut. Oh!" she went on, clenching her hands,
+"oh! that I should have been born the head of such an accursed race.
+Let Sheol take them all, for in the day of their tribulation no finger
+will I lift to save them."
+
+She was silent for a moment, and down below, near the gateway, I heard
+some brute screaming, "Pretty pigeons! Pretty pigeons, are your
+feathers singeing? Come then into our pie, pretty pigeons, pretty
+pigeons!" followed by shouts of ribald laughter.
+
+But it chanced it was this hound himself who went into the "pie."
+Presently, when the flames were brighter, I saw him, in the midst of a
+crowd of his admirers, singing his foul song, another verse of it
+about Maqueda, which I will not repeat, and by good fortune managed to
+put a bullet through his head. It was not a bad shot considering the
+light and circumstances, and the only one I fired that night. I trust
+also that it will be the last I shall ever fire at any human being.
+
+Just as I was about to leave Maqueda and return with her message to
+Orme, to the effect that she would not move, the final catastrophe
+occurred. Amongst the stables was a large shed filled with dry fodder
+for the palace horses and camels. Suddenly this burst into a mass of
+flame that spread in all directions. Then came the last, hideous
+panic. From every part of the palace, the Mountaineers, men and
+officers together, rushed down to the gateway. In a minute, with the
+single exception of Japhet, we four and Maqueda were left alone upon
+the roof, where we stood overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. We heard
+the drawbridge fall; we heard the great doors burst upon beneath the
+pressure of a mob of men; we heard a coarse voice--I thought it was
+that of Joshua--yell:
+
+"Kill whom you will, my children, but death to him who harms the Child
+of Kings. She is my spoil!"
+
+Then followed terrible sights and sounds. The cunning Abati had
+stretched ropes outside the doors; it was the noise they made at this
+work which had reached Roderick's ears earlier during the darkness.
+The terrified soldiers, flying from the fire, stumbled and fell over
+these ropes, nor could they rise again because of those who pressed
+behind. What happened to them all I am sure I do not know, but
+doubtless many were crushed to death and many more killed by Joshua's
+men. I trust, however, that some of them escaped, since, compared to
+the rest of the Abati, they were as lions are to cats, although, like
+all their race, they lacked the stamina to fight an uphill game.
+
+It was at the commencement of this terrific scene that I shot the
+foul-mouthed singer.
+
+"You shouldn't have done that, old fellow," screamed Higgs in his high
+voice, striving to make himself heard above the tumult, "as it will
+show those swine where we are."
+
+"I don't think they will look for us here, anyway," I answered.
+
+Then we watched awhile in silence.
+
+"Come," said Orme at length, taking Maqueda by the hand.
+
+"Where are you going, O Oliver?" she asked, hanging back. "Sooner will
+I burn than yield to Joshua."
+
+"I am going to the cave city," he answered; "we have nowhere else to
+go, and little time to lose. Four men with rifles can hold that place
+against a thousand. Come."
+
+"I obey," she answered, bowing her head.
+
+We went down the stairway that led from the roof on which the
+inhabitants of the palace were accustomed to spend much of their day,
+and even to sleep in hot weather, as is common in the East. Another
+minute and we should have been too late. The fire from one of the
+domes had spread to the upper story, and was already appearing in
+little tongues of flame mingled with jets of black smoke through
+cracks in the crumbling partition wall.
+
+As a matter of fact this wall fell in just as my son Roderick, the
+last of us, was passing down the stairs. With the curiosity of youth
+he had lingered for a few moments to watch the sad scene below, a
+delay which nearly cost him his life.
+
+On the ground floor we found ourselves out of immediate danger, since
+the fire was attacking this part of the palace from above and burning
+downward. We had even time to go to our respective sleeping-places and
+collect such of our possessions and valuables as we were able to
+carry. Fortunately, among other things, these included all our note-
+books, which to-day are of priceless value. Laden with these articles,
+we met again in the audience hall, which, although it was very hot,
+seemed as it had always been, a huge, empty place, whereof the roof,
+painted with stars, was supported upon thick cedar columns, each of
+them hewn from a single tree.
+
+Passing down that splendid apartment, which an hour later had ceased
+to exist, lamps in hand, for these we had found time to fetch and
+light, we reached the mouth of the passage that led to the underground
+city without meeting a single human being.
+
+Had the Abati been a different race they could perfectly well have
+dashed in and made us prisoners, for the drawbridge was still intact.
+But their cowardice was our salvation, for they feared lest they
+should be trapped by the fire. So I think at least, but justice
+compels me to add that, on the spur of the moment, they may have found
+it impossible to clear the gateways of the mass of fallen or dead
+soldiers over which it would have been difficult to climb.
+
+Such, at any rate, was the explanation that we heard afterwards.
+
+We reached the mouth of the vast cave in perfect safety, and clambered
+through the little orifice which was left between the rocks rolled
+thither by the force of the explosion, or shaken down from the roof.
+This hole, for it was nothing more, we proceeded to stop with a few
+stones in such a fashion that it could not be forced without much toil
+and considerable noise, only leaving one little tortuous channel
+through which, if necessary, a man could creep.
+
+The labour of rock-carrying, in which even Maqueda shared, occupied
+our minds for awhile, and induced a kind of fictitious cheerfulness.
+But when it was done, and the chilly silence of that enormous cave, so
+striking in comparison with the roar of the flames and the hideous
+human tumult which we had left without, fell upon us like sudden cold
+and blinding night upon a wanderer in windy, sunlit mountains, all our
+excitement perished. In a flash, we understood our terrible position,
+we who had but escaped from the red fire to perish slowly in the black
+darkness.
+
+Still we strove to keep our spirits as best we could. Leaving Higgs to
+watch the blocked passage, a somewhat superfluous task, since the fire
+without was our best watchman, the rest of us threaded our way up the
+cave, following the telephone wire which poor Quick had laid on the
+night of the blowing-up of the god Harmac, till we came to what had
+been our headquarters during the digging of the mine. Into the room
+which was Oliver's, whence we had escaped with so much difficulty
+after that event, we could not enter because of the transom that
+blocked the doorway. Still, there were plenty of others at hand in the
+old temple, although they were foul with the refuse of the bats that
+wheeled about us in thousands, for these creatures evidently had some
+unknown access to the open air. One of these rooms had served as our
+store-chamber, and after a few rough preparations we assigned it to
+Maqueda.
+
+"Friends," she said, as she surveyed its darksome entrance, "it looks
+like the door of a tomb. Well, in the tomb there is rest, and rest I
+must have. Leave me to sleep, who, were it not for you, O Oliver,
+would pray that I might never wake again.
+
+"Man," she added passionately, before us all, for now in face of the
+last peril every false shame and wish to conceal the truth had left
+her; "man, why were you born to bring woe upon my head and joy to my
+heart? Well, well, the joy outweighs the woe, and even if the angel
+who led you hither is named Azrael, still I shall bless him who has
+revealed to me my soul. Yet for you I weep, and if only your life
+could be spared to fulfil itself in happiness in the land that bore
+you, oh! for you I would gladly die."
+
+Now Oliver, who seemed deeply moved, stepped to her and began to
+whisper into her ear, evidently making some proposal of which I think
+I can guess the nature. She listened to him, smiling sadly, and made a
+motion with her hand as though to thrust him away.
+
+"Not so," she said, "it is nobly offered, but did I accept, through
+whatever universes I may wander, those who came after me would know me
+by my trail of blood, the blood of him who loved me. Perhaps, too, by
+that crime I should be separated from you for ever. Moreover, I tell
+you that though all seems black as this thick darkness, I believe that
+things will yet end well for you and me--in this world or another."
+
+Then she was gone, leaving Orme staring after her like a man in a
+trance.
+
+"I daresay they will," remarked Higgs /sotto voce/ to me, "and that's
+first-rate so far as they are concerned. But what I should jolly well
+like to know is how they are going to end for /us/ who haven't got a
+charming lady to see us across the Styx."
+
+"You needn't puzzle your brain over that," I answered gloomily, "for I
+think there will soon be a few more skeletons in this beastly cave,
+that's all. Don't you see that those Abati will believe we are burned
+in the palace?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+STARVATION
+
+I was right. The Abati did think that we had been burned. It never
+occurred to them that we might have escaped to the underground city.
+So at least I judged from the fact that they made no attempt to seek
+us there until they learned the truth in the fashion that I am about
+to describe. If anything, this safety from our enemies added to the
+trials of those hideous days and nights. Had there been assaults to
+repel and the excitement of striving against overwhelming odds, at any
+rate we should have found occupation for our minds and remaining
+energies.
+
+But there were none. By turns we listened at the mouth of the passage
+for the echo of footsteps that never came. Nothing came to break a
+silence so intense that at last our ears, craving for sound, magnified
+the soft flitter of the bats into a noise as of eagle's wings, till at
+last we spoke in whispers, because the full voice of man seemed to
+affront the solemn quietude, seemed intolerable to our nerves.
+
+Yet for the first day or two we found occupation of a sort. Of course
+our first need was to secure a supply of food, of which we had only a
+little originally laid up for our use in the chambers of the old
+temple, tinned meats that we had brought from London and so forth, now
+nearly all consumed. We remembered that Maqueda had told us of corn
+from her estates which was stored annually in pits to provide against
+the possibility of a siege of Mur, and asked her where it was.
+
+She led us to a place where round stone covers with rings attached to
+them were let into the floor of the cave, not unlike those which stop
+the coal-shoots in a town pavement, only larger. With great difficulty
+we prised one of these up; to me it did not seem to have been moved
+since the ancient kings ruled in Mur and, after leaving it open for a
+long while for the air within to purify, lowered Roderick by a rope we
+had to report its contents. Next moment we heard him saying: "Want to
+come up, please. This place is not pleasant."
+
+We pulled him out and asked what he had found.
+
+"Nothing good to eat," he answered, "only plenty of dead bones and one
+rat that ran up my leg."
+
+We tried the next two pits with the same result--they were full of
+human bones. Then we cross-examined Maqueda, who, after reflection,
+informed us that she now remembered that about five generations before
+a great plague had fallen on Mur, which reduced its population by one-
+half. She had heard, also, that those stricken with the plague were
+driven into the underground city in order that they might not infect
+the others, and supposed that the bones we saw were their remains.
+This information caused us to close up those pits again in a great
+hurry, though really it did not matter whether we caught the plague or
+no.
+
+Still, as she was sure that corn was buried somewhere, we went to
+another group of pits in a distant chamber, and opened the first one.
+This time our search was rewarded, to the extent that we found at the
+bottom of it some mouldering dust that years ago had been grain. The
+other pits, two of which had been sealed up within three years as the
+date upon the wax showed, were quite empty.
+
+Then Maqueda understood what had happened.
+
+"Surely the Abati are a people of rogues," she said. "See now, the
+officers appointed to store away my corn which I gave them have stolen
+it! Oh! may they live to lack bread even more bitterly than we do to-
+day."
+
+We went back to our sleeping-place in silence. Well might we be
+silent, for of food we had only enough left for a single scanty meal.
+Water there was in plenty, but no food. When we had recovered a little
+from our horrible disappointment we consulted together.
+
+"If we could get through the mine tunnel," said Oliver, "we might
+escape into the den of lions, which were probably all destroyed by the
+explosion, and so out into the open country."
+
+"The Fung would take us there," suggested Higgs.
+
+"No, no," broke in Roderick, "Fung all gone, or if they do, anything
+better than this black hole, yes, even my wife."
+
+"Let us look," I said, and we started.
+
+When we reached the passage that led from the city to the Tomb of
+Kings, it was to find that the wall at the end of it had been blown
+bodily back into the parent cave, leaving an opening through which we
+could walk side by side. Of course the contents of the tomb itself
+were scattered. In all directions lay bones, objects of gold and other
+metals, or overturned thrones. The roof and walls alone remained as
+they had been.
+
+"What vandalism!" exclaimed Higgs, indignant even in his misery. "Why
+wouldn't you let me move the things when I wanted to, Orme?"
+
+"Because they would have thought that we were stealing them, old
+fellow. Also those Mountaineers were superstitious, and I did not want
+them to desert. But what does it matter, anyway? If you had, they
+would have been burned in the palace."
+
+By this time we had reached that end of the vast tomb where the
+hunchbacked king used to sit, and saw at once that our quest was vain.
+The tunnel which we had dug beyond was utterly choked with masses of
+fallen rock that we could never hope to move, even with the aid of
+explosives, of which we had none left.
+
+So we returned, our last hope gone.
+
+Also another trouble stared us in the face; our supply of the crude
+mineral oil which the Abati used for lighting purposes was beginning
+to run low. Measurement of what remained of the store laid up for our
+use while the mine was being made, revealed the fact that there was
+only enough left to supply four lamps for about three days and nights:
+one for Maqueda, one for ourselves, one for the watchman near the
+tunnel mouth, and one for general purposes.
+
+This general-purpose lamp, as a matter of fact, was mostly made use of
+by Higgs. Truly, he furnished a striking instance of the ruling
+passion strong in death. All through those days of starvation and
+utter misery, until he grew too weak and the oil gave out, he trudged
+backward and forward between the old temple and the Tomb of Kings
+carrying a large basket on his arm. Going out with this basket empty,
+he would bring it back filled with gold cups and other precious
+objects that he had collected from among the bones and scattered
+rubbish in the Tomb. These objects he laboriously catalogued in his
+pocket-book at night, and afterwards packed away in empty cases that
+had contained our supplies of explosive and other goods, carefully
+nailing them down when filled.
+
+"What on earth are you doing that for, Higgs?" I asked petulantly, as
+he finished off another case, I think it was his twentieth.
+
+"I don't know, Doctor," he answered in a thin voice, for like the rest
+of us he was growing feeble on a water-diet. "I suppose it amuses me
+to think how jolly it would be to open all these boxes in my rooms in
+London after a first-rate dinner of fried sole and steak cut thick,"
+and he smacked his poor, hungry lips. "Yes, yes," he went on, "to take
+them out one by one and show them to ---- and ----," and he mentioned
+by name officials of sundry great museums with whom he was at war,
+"and see them tear their hair with rage and jealousy, while they
+wondered in their hearts if they could not manage to seize the lot for
+the Crown as treasure-trove, or do me out of them somehow," and he
+laughed a little in his old, pleasant fashion.
+
+"Of course I never shall," he added sadly, "but perhaps one day some
+other fellow will find them here and get them to Europe, and if he is
+a decent chap, publish my notes and descriptions, of which I have put
+a duplicate in each box, and so make my name immortal. Well, I'm off
+again. There are four more cases to fill before the oil gives out, and
+I must get that great gold head into one of them, though it is an
+awful job to carry it far at a time. Doctor, what disease is it that
+makes your legs suddenly give way beneath you, so that you find
+yourself sitting in a heap on the floor without knowing how you came
+there? You don't know? Well, no more do I, but I've got it bad. I tell
+you I'm downright sore behind from continual and unexpected contact
+with the rock."
+
+Poor old Higgs! I did not like to tell him that his disease was
+starvation.
+
+Well, he went on with his fetching and carrying and cataloguing and
+packing. I remember that the last load he brought in was the golden
+head he had spoken of, the wonderful likeness of some prehistoric king
+which has since excited so much interest throughout the world. The
+thing being too heavy for him to carry in his weakened state, for it
+is much over life-size, he was obliged to roll it before him, which
+accounts for the present somewhat damaged condition of the nose and
+semi-Egyptian diadem.
+
+Never shall I forget the sight of the Professor as he appeared out of
+the darkness, shuffling along upon his knees where his garments were
+worn into holes, and by the feeble light of the lamp that he moved
+from time to time, painfully pushing the great yellow object forward,
+only a foot or two at each push.
+
+"Here it is at last," he gasped triumphantly, whilst we watched him
+with indifferent eyes. "Japhet, help me to wrap it up in the mat and
+lift it into the box. No, no, you donkey--face upward--so. Never mind
+the corners, I'll fill them with ring-money and other trifles," and
+out of his wide pockets he emptied a golden shower, amongst which he
+sifted handfuls of dust from the floor and anything else he could find
+to serve as packing, finally covering all with a goat's-hair blanket
+which he took from his bed.
+
+Then very slowly he found the lid of the box and nailed it down,
+resting between every few strokes of the hammer whilst we watched him
+in our intent, but idle, fashion, wondering at the strange form of his
+madness.
+
+At length the last nail was driven, and seated on the box he put his
+hand into an inner pocket to find his note-book, then incontinently
+fainted. I struggled to my feet and sprinkled water over his face till
+he revived and rolled on to the floor, where presently he sank into
+sleep or torpor. As he did so the first lamp gave out.
+
+"Light it, Japhet," said Maqueda, "it is dark in this place."
+
+"O Child of Kings," answered the man, "I would obey if I could, but
+there is no more oil."
+
+Half-an-hour later the second lamp went out. By the light that
+remained we made such arrangements as we could, knowing that soon
+darkness would be on us. They were few and simple: the fetching of a
+jar or two of water, the placing of arms and ammunition to our hands,
+and the spreading out of some blankets on which to lie down side by
+side upon what I for one believed would be our bed of death.
+
+While we were thus engaged, Japhet crawled into our circle from the
+outer gloom. Suddenly I saw his haggard face appear, looking like that
+of a spirit rising from the grave.
+
+"My lamp is burned out," he moaned; "it began to fail whilst I was on
+watch at the tunnel mouth, and before I was half-way here it died
+altogether. Had it not been for the wire of the 'thing-that-speaks'
+which guided me, I could never have reached you. I should have been
+lost in the darkness of the city and perished alone among the ghosts."
+
+"Well, you are here now," said Oliver. "Have you anything to report?"
+
+"Nothing, lord, or at least very little. I moved some of the small
+rocks that we piled up, and crept down the hole till I came to a place
+where the blessed light of day fell upon me, only one little ray of
+it, but still the light of day. I think that something has fallen upon
+the tunnel and broken it, perhaps one of the outer walls of the
+palace. At least I looked through a crack and saw everywhere ruins--
+ruins that still smoke. From among them I heard the voices of men
+shouting to each other.
+
+"One of them called to his companion that it was strange, if the
+Gentiles and the Child of Kings had perished in the fire, that they
+had not found their bones which would be known by the guns they
+carried. His friend answered that it was strange indeed, but being
+magicians, perhaps they had hidden away somewhere. For his part he
+hoped so, as then sooner or later they would be found and put to death
+slowly, as they deserved, who had led astray the Child of Kings and
+brought so many of the heaven-descended Abati to their death. Then
+fearing lest they should find and kill me, for they drew near as I
+could tell by their voices, I crept back again, and that is all my
+story."
+
+We said nothing; there seemed to be nothing to say, but sat in our sad
+circle and watched the dying lamp. When it began to flicker, leaping
+up and down like a thing alive, a sudden panic seized poor Japhet.
+
+"O Walda Nagasta," he cried, throwing himself at her feet, "you have
+called me a brave man, but I am only brave where the sun and the stars
+shine. Here in the dark amongst so many angry spirits, and with hunger
+gnawing at my bowels, I am a great coward; Joshua himself is not such
+a coward as I. Let us go out into the light while there is yet time.
+Let us give ourselves up to the Prince. Perhaps he will be merciful
+and spare our lives, or at least he will spare yours, and if we die,
+it will be with the sun shining on us."
+
+But Maqueda only shook her head, whereon he turned to Orme and went
+on:
+
+"Lord, would you have the blood of the Child of Kings upon your hands?
+Is it thus that you repay her for her love? Lead her forth. No harm
+will come to her who otherwise must perish here in misery."
+
+"You hear what the man says, Maqueda?" said Orme heavily. "There is
+some truth in it. It really does not matter to us whether we die in
+the power of the Abati or here of starvation; in fact, I think that we
+should prefer the former end, and doubtless no hand will be laid on
+you. Will you go?"
+
+"Nay," she answered passionately. "A hand would be laid on me, the
+hand of Joshua, and rather than that he should touch me I will die a
+hundred deaths. Let fate take its course, for as I have told you, I
+believe that then it will open to us some gate we cannot see. And if I
+believe in vain, why there is another gate which we can pass together,
+O Oliver, and beyond that gate lies peace. Bid the man be silent, or
+drive him away. Let him trouble me no more."
+
+
+
+The lamp flame sank low. It flickered, once, twice, thrice, each time
+showing the pale, drawn faces of us six seated about it, like wizards
+making an incantation, like corpses in a tomb.
+
+Then it went out.
+
+How long were we in that place after this? At least three whole days
+and nights, I believe, if not more, but of course we soon lost all
+count of time. At first we suffered agonies from famine, which we
+strove in vain to assuage with great draughts of water. No doubt these
+kept us alive, but even Higgs, who it may be remembered was a
+teetotaller, afterwards confessed to me that he has loathed the sight
+and taste of water ever since. Indeed he now drinks beer and wine like
+other people. It was torture; we could have eaten anything. In fact
+the Professor did manage to catch and eat a bat that got entangled in
+his red hair. He offered me a bite of it, I remember, and was most
+grateful when I declined.
+
+The worst of it was also that we had a little food, a few hard ship's
+biscuits, which we had saved up for a purpose, namely, to feed
+Maqueda. This was how we managed it. At certain intervals I would
+announce that it was time to eat, and hand Maqueda her biscuit. Then
+we would all pretend to eat also, saying how much we felt refreshed by
+the food and how we longed for more, smacking our lips and biting on a
+piece of wood so that she could not help hearing us.
+
+This piteous farce went on for forty-eight hours or more until at last
+the wretched Japhet, who was quite demoralized and in no mood for
+acting, betrayed us, exactly how I cannot remember. After this Maqueda
+would touch nothing more, which did not greatly matter as there was
+only one biscuit left. I offered it to her, whereon she thanked me and
+all of us for our courtesy toward a woman, took the biscuit, and gave
+it to Japhet, who ate it like a wolf.
+
+It was some time after this incident that we discovered Japhet to be
+missing; at least we could no longer touch him, nor did he answer when
+we called. Therefore, we concluded that he had crept away to die and,
+I am sorry to say, thought little more about it for, after all, what
+he suffered, or had suffered, we suffered also.
+
+I recall that before we were overtaken by the last sleep, a strange
+fit came upon us. Our pangs passed away, much as the pain does when
+mortification follows a wound, and with them that horrible craving for
+nutriment. We grew cheerful and talked a great deal. Thus Roderick
+gave me the entire history of the Fung people and of his life among
+them and other savage tribes. Further, he explained every secret
+detail of their idol worship to Higgs, who was enormously interested,
+and tried to make some notes by the aid of our few remaining matches.
+When even that subject was exhausted, he sang to us in his beautiful
+voice--English hymns and Arab songs. Oliver and Maqueda also chatted
+together quite gaily, for I heard them laughing, and gathered that he
+was engaged in trying to teach her English.
+
+The last thing that I recollect is the scene as it was revealed by the
+momentary light of one of the last matches. Maqueda sat by Oliver. His
+arm was about her waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, her long
+hair flowed loose, her large and tender eyes stared from her white,
+wan face up toward his face, which was almost that of a mummy.
+
+Then on the other side stood my son, supporting himself against the
+wall of the room, and beyond him Higgs, a shadow of his former self,
+feebly waving a pencil in the air and trying, apparently, to write a
+note upon his Panama straw hat, which he held in his left hand, as I
+suppose, imagining it to be his pocket-book. The incongruity of that
+sun-hat in a place where no sun had ever come made me laugh, and as
+the match went out I regretted that I had forgotten to look at his
+face to ascertain whether he was still wearing his smoked spectacles.
+
+"What is the use of a straw hat and smoked spectacles in kingdom-
+come?" I kept repeating to myself, while Roderick, whose arm I knew
+was about me, seemed to answer:
+
+"The Fung wizards say that the sphinx Harmac once wore a hat, but, my
+father, I do not know if he had spectacles."
+
+Then a sensation as of being whirled round and round in some vast
+machine, down the sloping sides of which I sank at last into a vortex
+of utter blackness, whereof I knew the name was death.
+
+Dimly, very dimly, I became aware that I was being carried. I heard
+voices in my ears, but what they said I could not understand. Then a
+feeling of light struck upon my eyeballs which gave me great pain.
+Agony ran all through me as it does through the limbs of one who is
+being brought back from death by drowning. After this something warm
+was poured down my throat, and I went to sleep.
+
+When I awoke again it was to find myself in a large room that I did
+not know. I was lying on a bed, and by the light of sunrise which
+streamed through the window-places I saw the three others, my son
+Roderick, Orme and Higgs lying on the other beds, but they were still
+asleep.
+
+Abati servants entered the room bringing food, a kind of rough soup
+with pieces of meat in it of which they gave me a portion in a wooden
+bowl that I devoured greedily. Also they shook my companions until
+they awoke and almost automatically ate up the contents of similar
+bowls, after which they went to sleep again, as I did, thanking heaven
+that we were all still alive.
+
+Every few hours I had a vision of these men entering with the bowls of
+soup or porridge, until at last life and reason came back to me in
+earnest, and I saw Higgs sitting up on the bed opposite and staring at
+me.
+
+"I say, old fellow," he said, "are we alive, or is this Hades?"
+
+"Can't be Hades," I answered, "because there are Abati here."
+
+"Quite right," he replied. "If the Abati go anywhere, it's to hell,
+where they haven't whitewashed walls and four-post beds. Oliver, wake
+up. We are out of that cave, anyway."
+
+Orme raised himself on his hand and stared at us.
+
+"Where's Maqueda?" he asked, a question to which of course, we could
+give no answer, till presently Roderick woke also and said:
+
+"I remember something. They carried us all out of the cave; Japhet was
+with them. They took the Child of Kings one way and us another, that
+is all I know."
+
+Shortly afterwards the Abati servants arrived, bearing food more solid
+than the soup, and with them came one of their doctors, not that old
+idiot of a court physician, who examined us, and announced that we
+should all recover, a fact which we knew already. We asked many
+questions of him and the servants, but could get no answer, for
+evidently they were sworn to silence. However, we persuaded them to
+bring us water to wash in. It came, and with it a polished piece of
+metal, such as the Abati use for a looking-glass, in which we saw our
+faces, the terrible, wasted faces of those who have gone within a
+hair's breadth of death by starvation in the dark.
+
+Yet although our gaolers would say nothing, something in their aspect
+told us that we were in sore peril of our lives. They looked at us
+hungrily, as a terrier looks at rats in a wire cage of which the door
+will presently be opened. Moreover, Roderick, who, as I think I have
+said, has very quick ears, overheard one of the attendants whisper to
+another:
+
+"When does our service on these hounds of Gentiles come to an end?" to
+which his fellow answered, "The Council has not yet decided, but I
+think to-morrow or the next day, if they are strong enough. It will be
+a great show."
+
+Also that evening, about sunset, we heard a mob shouting outside the
+barrack in which we were imprisoned, for that was its real use, "Give
+us the Gentiles! Give us the Gentiles! We are tired of waiting," until
+at length some soldiers drove them away.
+
+Well, we talked the thing over, only to conclude that there was
+nothing to be done. We had no friend in the place except Maqueda, and
+she, it appeared, was a prisoner like ourselves, and therefore could
+not communicate with us. Nor could we see the slightest possibility of
+escape.
+
+"Out of the frying-pan into the fire," remarked Higgs gloomily. "I
+wish now that they had let us die in the cave. It would have been
+better than being baited to death by a mob of Abati."
+
+"Yes," answered Oliver with a sigh, for he was thinking of Maqueda,
+"but that's why they saved us, the vindictive beasts, to kill us for
+what they are pleased to call high treason."
+
+"High treason!" exclaimed Higgs. "I hope to goodness their punishment
+for the offence is not that of medi�val England; hanging is bad enough
+--but the rest----!"
+
+"I don't think the Abati study European history," I broke in; "but it
+is no use disguising from you that they have methods of their own.
+Look here, friends," I added, "I have kept something about me in case
+the worst should come to the worst," and I produced a little bottle
+containing a particularly swift and deadly poison done up into
+tabloids, and gave one to each of them. "My advice is," I added, "that
+if you see we are going to be exposed to torture or to any dreadful
+form of death, you should take one of these, as I mean to do, and
+cheat the Abati of their vengeance."
+
+"That is all very fine," said the Professor as he pocketed his
+tabloid, "but I never could swallow a pill without water at the best
+of times, and I don't believe those beasts will give one any. Well, I
+suppose I must suck it, that's all. Oh! if only the luck would turn,
+if only the luck would turn!"
+
+Three more days went by without any sign of Higgs's aspiration being
+fulfilled. On the contrary, except in one respect, the luck remained
+steadily against us. The exception was that we got plenty to eat and
+consequently regained our normal state of health and strength more
+rapidly than might have been expected. With us it was literally a case
+of "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
+
+Only somehow I don't think that any of us really believed that we
+should die, though whether this was because we had all, except poor
+Quick, survived so much, or from a sneaking faith in Maqueda's
+optimistic dreams, I cannot say. At any rate we ate our food with
+appetite, took exercise in an inner yard of the prison, and strove to
+grow as strong as we could, feeling that soon we might need all our
+powers. Oliver was the most miserable among us, not for his own sake,
+but because, poor fellow, he was haunted with fears as to Maqueda and
+her fate, although of these he said little or nothing to us. On the
+other hand, my son Roderick was by far the most cheerful. He had lived
+for so many years upon the brink of death that this familiar gulf
+seemed to have no terrors for him.
+
+"All come right somehow, my father," he said airily. "Who can know
+what happen? Perhaps Child of King drag us out of mud-hole, for after
+all she was very strong cow, or what you call it, heifer, and I think
+toss Joshua if he drive her into corner. Or perhaps other thing
+occur."
+
+"What other thing, Roderick?" I asked.
+
+"Oh! don't know, can't say, but I think Fung thing. Believe we not
+done with Fung yet, believe they not run far. Believe they take
+thought for morrow and come back again. Only," he added sadly, "hope
+my wife not come back, for that old girl too full of lofty temper for
+me. Still, cheer up, not dead yet by long day's march, and meanwhile
+food good and this very jolly rest after beastly underground city. Now
+I tell Professor some more stories about Fung religion, den of lions,
+and so forth."
+
+On the morning after this conversation a crisis came. Just as we had
+finished breakfast the doors of our chamber were thrown open and in
+marched a number of soldiers wearing Joshua's badge. They were headed
+by an officer of his household, who commanded us to rise and follow
+him.
+
+"Where to?" asked Orme.
+
+"To take your trial before the Child of Kings and her Council,
+Gentile, upon the charge of having murdered certain of her subjects,"
+answered the officer sternly.
+
+"That's all right," said Higgs with a sigh of relief. "If Maqueda is
+chairman of the Bench we are pretty certain of an acquittal, for
+Orme's sake if not for our own."
+
+"Don't you be too sure of that," I whispered into his ear. "The
+circumstances are peculiar, and women have been known to change their
+minds."
+
+"Adams," he replied, glaring at me through his smoked spectacles, "If
+you talk like that we shall quarrel. Maqueda change her mind indeed!
+Why, it is an insult to suggest such a thing, and if you take my
+advice you won't let Oliver hear you. Don't you remember, man, that
+she's in love with him?"
+
+"Oh, yes," I answered, "but I remember also that Prince Joshua is in
+love with her, and that she is his prisoner."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+THE TRIAL AND AFTER
+
+They set us in a line, four ragged-looking fellows, all of us with
+beards of various degrees of growth, that is, all the other three, for
+mine had been an established fact for years, and everything having
+been taken away from us, we possessed neither razor nor scissors.
+
+In the courtyard of our barrack we were met by a company of soldiers,
+who encircled us about with a triple line of men, as we thought to
+prevent any attempt of escape. So soon as we passed the gates I found,
+however, that this was done for a different reason, namely, to protect
+us from the fury of the populace. All the way from the barrack to the
+courthouse, whither we were being taken now that the palace was
+burned, the people were gathered in hundreds, literally howling for
+our blood. It was a strange, and, in a way, a dreadful sight to see
+even the brightly dressed women and children shaking their fists and
+spitting at us with faces distorted by hate.
+
+"Why they love you so little, father, when you do so much for them?"
+asked Roderick, shrugging his shoulders and dodging a stone that
+nearly hit him on the head.
+
+"For two reasons," I answered. "Because their Lady loves one of us too
+much, and because through us many of their people have lost their
+lives. Also they hate strangers, and are by nature cruel, like most
+cowards, and now that they have no more fear of the Fung, they think
+it will be safe to kill us."
+
+"Ah!" said Roderick; "yet Harmac has come to Mur," and he pointed to
+the great head of the idol seated on the cliff, "and I think where
+Harmac goes, Fung follow, and if so they make them pay plenty for my
+life, for I great man among Fung; Fung myself husband of Sultan's
+daughter. These fools, like children, because they see no Fung, think
+there are no Fung. Well, in one year, or perhaps one month, they
+learn."
+
+"I daresay, my boy," I answered, "but I am afraid that won't help us."
+
+By now we were approaching the court-house where the Abati priests and
+learned men tried civil and some criminal cases. Through a mob of
+nobles and soldiers who mocked us as we went, we were hustled into the
+large hall of judgment that was already full to overflowing.
+
+Up the centre of it we marched to a clear space reserved for the
+parties to a cause, or prisoners and their advocates, beyond which,
+against the wall, were seats for the judges. These were five members
+of the Council, one of whom was Joshua, while in the centre as
+President of the Court, and wearing her veil and beautiful robes of
+ceremony, sat Maqueda herself.
+
+"Thank God, she's safe!" muttered Oliver with a gasp of relief.
+
+"Yes," answered Higgs, "but what's she doing there? She ought to be in
+the dock, too, not on the Bench."
+
+We reached the open space, and were thrust by soldiers armed with
+swords to where we must stand, and although each of us bowed to her, I
+observed that Maqueda took not the slightest notice of our
+salutations. She only turned her head and said something to Joshua on
+her right, which caused him to laugh.
+
+Then with startling suddenness the case began. A kind of public
+prosecutor stood forward and droned out the charge against us. It was
+that we, who were in the employ of the Abati, had traitorously taken
+advantage of our position as mercenary captains to stir up a civil
+war, in which many people had lost their lives, and some been actually
+murdered by ourselves and our companion who was dead. Moreover, that
+we had caused their palace to be burned and, greatest crime of all,
+had seized the sacred person of the Walda Nagasta, Rose of Mur, and
+dragged her away into the recesses of the underground city, whence she
+was only rescued by the chance of an accomplice of ours, one Japhet,
+betraying our hiding-place.
+
+This was the charge which, it will be noted, contained no allusion
+whatever to the love entanglement between Maqueda and Oliver. When it
+was finished the prosecutor asked us what we pleaded, whereon Oliver
+answered as our spokesman that it was true there had been fighting and
+men killed, also that we had been driven into the cave, but as to all
+the rest the Child of Kings knew the truth, and must speak for us as
+she wished.
+
+Now the audience began to shout, "They plead guilty! Give them to
+death!" and so forth, while the judges rising from their seats,
+gathered round Maqueda and consulted her.
+
+"By heaven! I believe she is going to give us away!" exclaimed Higgs,
+whereon Oliver turned on him fiercely and bade him hold his tongue,
+adding:
+
+"If you were anywhere else you should answer for that slander!"
+
+At length the consultation was finished; the judges resumed their
+seats, and Maqueda held up her hand. Thereon an intense silence fell
+upon the place. Then she began to speak in a cold, constrained voice:
+
+"Gentiles," she said, addressing us, "you have pleaded guilty to the
+stirring up of civil war in Mur, and to the slaying of numbers of its
+people, facts of which there is no need for evidence, since many
+widows and fatherless children can testify to them to-day. Moreover,
+you did, as alleged by my officer, commit the crime of bearing off my
+person into the cave and keeping me there by force to be a hostage for
+your safety."
+
+We heard and gasped, Higgs ejaculating, "Good gracious, what a lie!"
+But none of the rest of us said anything.
+
+"For these offences," went on Maqueda, "you are all of you justly
+worthy of a cruel death." Then she paused and added, "Yet, as I have
+the power to do, I remit the sentence. I decree that this day you and
+all the goods that remain to you which have been found in the cave
+city, and elsewhere, together with camels for yourselves and your
+baggage, shall be driven from Mur, and that if any one of you returns
+hither, he shall without further trial be handed over to the
+executioners. This I do because at the beginning of your service a
+certain bargain was made with you, and although you have sinned so
+deeply I will not suffer that the glorious honour of the Abati people
+shall be tarnished even by the breath of suspicion. Get you gone,
+Wanderers, and let us see your faces no more for ever!"
+
+Now the mob gathered in the hall shouted in exultation, though I heard
+some crying out, "No, kill them! Kill them!"
+
+When the tumult had died down Maqueda spoke again saying:
+
+"O noble and generous Abati, you approve of this deed of mercy; you
+who would not be held merciless in far lands, O Abati, where, although
+you may not have heard of them, there are, I believe, other peoples
+who think themselves as great as you. You would not have it whispered,
+I say, that we who are the best of the world, we, the children of
+Solomon, have dealt harshly even with stray dogs that have wandered to
+our gates? Moreover, we called these dogs to hunt a certain beast for
+us, the lion-headed beast called Fung, and, to be just to them, they
+hunted well. Therefore spare them the noose, though they may have
+deserved it, and let them run hence with their bone, say you, the bone
+which they think that they have earned. What does a bone more or less
+matter to the rich Abati, if only their holy ground is not defiled
+with the blood of Gentile dogs?"
+
+"Nothing at all! Nothing at all!" they shouted. "Tie it to their tails
+and let them go!"
+
+"It shall be done, O my people! And now that we have finished with
+these dogs, I have another word to say to you. You may have thought or
+heard that I was too fond of them, and especially of one of them," and
+she glanced toward Oliver. "Well, there are certain dogs who will not
+work unless you pat them on the head. Therefore I patted this one on
+the head, since, after all, he is a clever dog who knows things that
+we do not know; for instance, how to destroy the idol of the Fung. O
+great Abati, can any of you really have believed that I, of the
+ancient race of Solomon and Sheba, I, the Child of Kings, purposed to
+give my noble hand to a vagrant Gentile come hither for hire? Can you
+really have believed that I, the solemnly betrothed to yonder Prince
+of Princes, Joshua, my uncle, would for a moment even in my heart have
+preferred to him such a man as that?" And once again she looked at
+Oliver, who made a wild motion, as though he were about to speak. But
+before he could so much as open his lips Maqueda went on:
+
+"Well, if you believed, not guessing all the while I was working for
+the safety of my people, soon shall you be undeceived, since to-morrow
+night I invite you to the great ceremony of my nuptials, when,
+according to the ancient custom, I break the glass with him whom on
+the following night I take to be my husband," and rising, she bowed
+thrice to the audience, then stretched out her hand to Joshua.
+
+He, too, rose, puffing himself out like a great turkey-cock, and,
+taking her hand, kissed it, gobbling some words which we did not
+catch.
+
+Wild cheering followed, and in the momentary silence which followed
+Oliver spoke.
+
+"Lady," he said, in a cold and bitter voice, "we 'Gentiles' have heard
+your words. We thank you for your kind acknowledgment of our services,
+namely, the destruction of the idol of the Fung at the cost of some
+risk and labour to ourselves. We thank you also for your generosity in
+allowing us, as the reward of that service, to depart from Mur, with
+insult and hard words, and such goods as remain to us, instead of
+consigning us to death by torture, as you and your Council have the
+power to do. It is indeed a proof of your generosity, and of that of
+the Abati people which we shall always remember and repeat in our own
+land, should we live to reach it. Also, we trust that it will come to
+the ears of the savage Fung, so that at length they may understand
+that true nobility and greatness lie not in brutal deeds of arms, but
+in the hearts of men. But now, Walda Nagasta, I have a last request to
+make of you, namely, that I may see your face once more to be sure
+that it is you who have spoken to us, and not another beneath your
+veil, and that if this be so, I may carry away with me a faithful
+picture of one so true to her country and noble to her guests as you
+have shown yourself this day."
+
+She listened, then very slowly lifted her veil, revealing such a
+countenance as I had never seen before. It was Maqueda without a
+doubt, but Maqueda changed. Her face was pale, which was only to be
+expected after all she had gone through; her eyes glowed in it like
+coals, her lips were set. But it was her expression, at once defiant
+and agonized, which impressed me so much that I never shall forget it.
+I confess I could not read it in the least, but it left upon my mind
+the belief that she was a false woman, and yet ashamed of her own
+falsity. There was the greatest triumph of her art, that in those
+terrible circumstances she should still have succeeded in conveying to
+me, and to the hundreds of others who watched, this conviction of her
+own turpitude.
+
+For a moment her eyes met those of Orme, but although he searched them
+with pleading and despair in his glance, I could trace in hers no
+relenting sign, but only challenge not unmixed with mockery. Then with
+a short, hard laugh she let fall her veil again and turned to talk
+with Joshua. Oliver stood silent a little while, long enough for Higgs
+to whisper to me:
+
+"I say, isn't this downright awful? I'd rather be back in the den of
+lions than live to see it."
+
+As he spoke I saw Oliver put his hand to where his revolver usually
+hung, but, of course, it had been taken from him. Next he began to
+search in his pocket, and finding that tabloid of poison which I had
+given him, lifted it toward his mouth. But just as it touched his
+lips, my son, who was next to him, saw also. With a quick motion he
+struck it from his fingers, and ground it to powder on the floor
+beneath his heel.
+
+Oliver raised his arm as though to hit him, then without a sound fell
+senseless. Evidently Maqueda noted all this also, for I saw a kind of
+quiver go through her, and her hands gripped the arms of her chair
+till the knuckles showed white beneath the skin. But she only said:
+
+"This Gentile has fainted because he is disappointed with his reward.
+Take him hence and let his companion, the Doctor Adams, attend to him.
+When he is recovered, conduct them all from Mur as I have decreed. See
+that they go unharmed, taking with them plenty of food lest it be said
+that we only spared their lives here in order that they might starve
+without our gates."
+
+Then waving her hand to show that the matter was done with, she rose
+and, followed by the judges and officers, left the court by some door
+behind them.
+
+While she spoke a strong body of guards had surrounded us, some of
+whom came forward and lifted the senseless Oliver on to a stretcher.
+They carried him down the court, the rest of us following.
+
+"Look," jeered the Abati as he passed, "look at the Gentile pig who
+thought to wear the Bud of the Rose upon his bosom. He has got the
+thorn now, not the rose. Is the swine dead, think you?"
+
+Thus they mocked him and us.
+
+We reached our prison in safety, and there I set to work to revive
+Oliver, a task in which I succeeded at length. When he had come to
+himself again he drank a cup of water, and said quite quietly:
+
+"You fellows have seen all, so there is no need for talk and
+explanations. One thing I beg of you, if you are any friends of mine,
+and it is that you will not reproach or even speak of Maqueda to me.
+Doubtless she had reasons for what she did; moreover, her bringing up
+has not been the same as ours, and her code is different. Do not let
+us judge her. I have been a great fool, that is all, and now I am
+paying for my folly, or, rather, I have paid. Come, let us have some
+dinner, for we don't know when we shall get another meal."
+
+We listened to this speech in silence, only I saw Roderick turn aside
+to hide a smile and wondered why he smiled.
+
+Scarcely had we finished eating, or pretending to eat, when an officer
+entered the room and informed us roughly that it was time for us to be
+going. As he did so some attendants who had followed him threw us
+bundles of clothes, and with them four very beautiful camel-hair
+cloaks to protect us from the cold. With some of these garments we
+replaced our rags, for they were little more, tying them and the rest
+of the outfit up into bundles.
+
+Then, clothed as Abati of the upper class, we were taken to the gates
+of the barrack, where we found a long train of riding camels waiting
+for us. The moment that I saw these beasts I knew that they were the
+best in the whole land, and of very great value. Indeed, that to which
+Oliver was conducted was Maqueda's own favourite dromedary, which upon
+state occasions she sometimes rode instead of a horse. He recognized
+it at once, poor fellow, and coloured to the eyes at this unexpected
+mark of kindness, the only one she had vouchsafed to him.
+
+"Come, Gentiles," said the officer, "and take count of your goods,
+that you may not say that we have stolen anything from you. Here are
+your firearms and all the ammunition that is left. These will be given
+to you at the foot of the pass, but not before, lest you should do
+more murder on the road. On those camels are fastened the boxes in
+which you brought up the magic fire. We found them in your quarters in
+the cave city, ready packed, but what they contain we neither know nor
+care. Full or empty, take them, they are yours. Those," and he pointed
+to two other beasts, "are laden with your pay, which the Child of
+Kings sends to you, requesting that you will not count it till you
+reach Egypt or your own land, since she wishes no quarrelling with you
+as to the amount. The rest carry food for you to eat; also, there are
+two spare beasts. Now, mount and begone."
+
+So we climbed into the embroidered saddles of the kneeling
+dromedaries, and a few minutes later were riding through Mur toward
+the pass, accompanied by our guard and hooting mobs that once or twice
+became threatening, but were driven off by the soldiers.
+
+"I say, Doctor," said Higgs to me excitedly, "do you know that we have
+got all the best of the treasure of the Tomb of Kings in those five-
+and-twenty crates? I have thought since that I was crazy when I packed
+them, picking out the most valuable and rare articles with such care,
+and filling in the cracks with ring money and small curiosities, but
+now I see it was the inspiration of genius. My subliminal self knew
+what was going to happen, and was on the job, that's all. Oh, if only
+we can get it safe away, I shall not have played Daniel and been
+nearly starved to death for nothing. Why, I'd go through it all again
+for that golden head alone. Shove on, shove on, before they change
+their minds; it seems too good to be true."
+
+Just then a rotten egg thrown by some sweet Abati youth landed full on
+the bridge of his nose, and dispersing itself into his mouth and over
+his smoked spectacles, cut short the Professor's eloquence, or rather
+changed its tenor. So absurd was the sight that in spite of myself I
+burst out laughing, and with that laugh felt my heart grow lighter, as
+though our clouds of trouble were lifting at length.
+
+At the mouth of the pass we found Joshua himself waiting for us, clad
+in all his finery and chain armour, and looking more like a porpoise
+on horseback than he had ever done.
+
+"Farewell, Gentiles," he said, bowing to us in mockery, "we wish you a
+quick journey to Sheol, or wherever such swine as you may go. Listen,
+you Orme. I have a message for you from the Walda Nagasta. It is that
+she is sorry she could not ask you to stop for her nuptial feast,
+which she would have done had she not been sure that, if you stayed,
+the people would have cut your throat, and she did not wish the holy
+soil of Mur to be defiled with your dog's blood. Also she bids me say
+that she hopes that your stay here will have taught you a lesson, and
+that in future you will not believe that every woman who makes use of
+you for her own ends is therefore a victim of your charms. To-morrow
+night and the night after, I pray you think of our happiness and drink
+a cup of wine to the Walda Nagasta and her husband. Come, will you not
+wish me joy, O Gentile?"
+
+Orme turned white as a sheet and gazed at him steadily. Then a strange
+look came into his grey eyes, almost a look of inspiration.
+
+"Prince Joshua," he said in a very quiet voice, "who knows what may
+happen before the sun rises thrice on Mur? All things that begin well
+do not end well, as I have learned, and as you also may live to learn.
+At least, soon or late, your day of reckoning must come, and you, too,
+may be betrayed as I have been. Rather should you ask me to forgive
+your soul the insults that in your hour of triumph you have not been
+ashamed to heap upon one who is powerless to avenge them," and he
+urged his camel past him.
+
+As we followed I saw Joshua's face turn as pale as Oliver's had done,
+and his great round eyes protrude themselves like those of a fish.
+
+"What does he mean?" said the prince to his companions. "Pray God he
+is not a prophet of evil. Even now I have a mind--no, let him go. To
+break my marriage vow might bring bad luck upon me. Let him go!" and
+he glared after Oliver with fear and hared written on his coarse
+features.
+
+That was the last we ever saw of Joshua, uncle of Maqueda, and first
+prince among the Abati.
+
+
+
+Down the pass we went and through the various gates of the
+fortifications, which were thrown open as we came and closed behind
+us. We did not linger on that journey. Why should we when our guards
+were anxious to be rid of us and we of them? Indeed, so soon as the
+last gate was behind us, either from fear of the Fung or because they
+were in a hurry to return to share in the festivities of the
+approaching marriage, suddenly the Abati wheeled round, bade us
+farewell with a parting curse, and left us to our own devices.
+
+So, having roped the camels into a long line, we went on alone, truly
+thankful to be rid of them, and praying, every one of us, that never
+in this world or the next might we see the face or hear the voice of
+another Abati.
+
+We emerged on to the plain at the spot where months before we had held
+our conference with Barung, Sultan of the Fung, and where poor Quick
+had forced his camel on to Joshua's horse and dismounted that hero.
+Here we paused awhile to arrange our little caravan and arm ourselves
+with the rifles, revolvers, and cartridges which until now we had not
+been allowed to touch.
+
+There were but four of us to manage the long train of camels, so we
+were obliged to separate. Higgs and I went ahead, since I was best
+acquainted with the desert and the road, Oliver took the central
+station, and Roderick brought up the rear, because he was very keen of
+sight and hearing and from his long familiarity with them, knew how to
+drive camels that showed signs of obstinacy or a wish to turn.
+
+On our right lay the great city of Harmac. We noted that it seemed to
+be quite deserted. There, rebuilt now, frowned the gateway through
+which we had escaped from the Fung after we had blown so many of them
+to pieces, but beneath it none passed in or out. The town was empty,
+and although they were dead ripe the rich crops had not yet been
+reaped. Apparently the Fung people had now left the land.
+
+Now we were opposite to the valley of Harmac, and saw that the huge
+sphinx still sat there as it had done for unknown thousands of years.
+Only its head was gone, for that had "moved to Mur," and in its neck
+and shoulders appeared great clefts, caused by the terrific force of
+the explosion. Moreover, no sound came from the enclosures where the
+sacred lions used to be. Doubtless every one of them was dead.
+
+"Don't you think," suggested Higgs, whose arch�ological zeal was
+rekindling fast, "that we might spare half-an-hour to go up the valley
+and have a look at Harmac from the outside? Of course, both Roderick
+and I are thoroughly acquainted with his inside, and the den of lions,
+and so forth, but I would give a great deal just to study the rest of
+him and take a few measurements. You know one must camp somewhere, and
+if we can't find the camera, at dawn one might make a sketch."
+
+"Are you mad?" I asked by way of answer, and Higgs collapsed, but to
+this hour he has never forgiven me.
+
+We looked our last upon Harmac, the god whose glory we had destroyed,
+and went on swiftly till darkness overtook us almost opposite to that
+ruined village where Shadrach had tried to poison the hound Pharaoh,
+which afterwards tore out his throat. Here we unloaded the camels, no
+light task, and camped, for near this spot there was water and a patch
+of maize on which the beasts could feed.
+
+Before the light quite faded Roderick rode forward for a little way to
+reconnoitre, and presently returned announcing shortly that he had
+seen no one. So we ate of the food with which the Abati had provided
+us, not without fear lest it should be poisoned, and then held a
+council of war.
+
+The question was whether we should take the old road toward Egypt, or
+now that the swamps were dry, strike up northward by the other route
+of which Shadrach had told us. According to the map this should be
+shorter, and Higgs advocated it strongly, as I discovered afterwards
+because he thought there might be more arch�ological remains in that
+direction.
+
+I, on the other hand, was in favour of following the road we knew,
+which, although long and very wearisome, was comparatively safe, as in
+that vast desert there were few people to attack us, while Oliver, our
+captain, listened to all we had to say, and reserved his opinion.
+
+Presently, however, the question was settled for us by Roderick, who
+remarked that if we travelled to the north we should probably fall in
+with the Fung. I asked what he meant, and he replied that when he made
+his reconnaissance an hour or so before, although it was true that he
+had seen no one, not a thousand yards from where we sat he had come
+across the track of a great army. This army, from various indications,
+he felt sure was that of Barung, which had passed there within twelve
+hours.
+
+"Perhaps my wife with them, so I no want to go that way, father," he
+added with sincere simplicity.
+
+"Where could they be travelling?" I asked.
+
+"Don't know," he answered, "but think they go round to attack Mur from
+other side, or perhaps to find new land to north."
+
+"We will stick to the old road," said Oliver briefly. "Like Roderick I
+have had enough of all the inhabitants of this country. Now let us
+rest awhile; we need it."
+
+About two o'clock we were up again and before it was dawn on the
+following morning we had loaded our camels and were on the road. By
+the first faint light we saw that what Roderick had told us was true.
+We were crossing the track of an army of many thousand men who had
+passed there recently with laden camels and horses. Moreover, those
+men were Fung, for we picked up some articles that could have belonged
+to no other people, such as a head-dress that had been lost or thrown
+away, and an arrow that had fallen from a quiver.
+
+However, we saw nothing of them, and, travelling fast, to our great
+relief by midday reached the river Ebur, which we crossed without
+difficulty, for it was now low. That night we camped in the forest-
+lands beyond, having all the afternoon marched up the rising ground at
+the foot of which ran the river.
+
+Toward dawn Higgs, whose turn it was to watch the camels, came and
+woke me.
+
+"Sorry to disturb you, old fellow," he said, "but there is a most
+curious sky effect behind us which I thought you might like to see."
+
+I rose and looked. In the clear, starlight night I could just discern
+the mighty outline of the mountains of Mur. Above them the firmament
+was suffused with a strange red glow. I formed my own conclusion at
+once, but only said:
+
+"Let us go to tell Orme," and led the way to where he had lain down
+under a tree.
+
+He was not sleeping; indeed, I do not think he had closed his eyes all
+night, the night of Maqueda's marriage. On the contrary, he was
+standing on a little knoll staring at the distant mountains and the
+glow above them.
+
+"Mur is on fire," he said solemnly. "Oh, my God, Mur is on fire!" and
+turning he walked away.
+
+Just then Roderick joined us.
+
+"Fung got into Mur," he said, "and now cut throat of all Abati. We
+well out of that, but pig Joshua have very warm wedding feast, because
+Barung hate Joshua who try to catch him not fairly, which he never
+forget; often talk of it."
+
+"Poor Maqueda!" I said to Higgs, "what will happen to her?"
+
+"I don't know," he answered, "but although once, like everybody else,
+I adored that girl, really as a matter of justice she deserves all she
+gets, the false-hearted little wretch. Still it is true," he added,
+relenting, "she gave us very good camels, to say nothing of their
+loads."
+
+But I only repeated, "Poor Maqueda!"
+
+
+
+That day we made but a short journey, since we wished to rest
+ourselves and fill the camels before plunging into the wilderness, and
+feeling sure that we should not be pursued, had no cause to hurry. At
+night we camped in a little hollow by a stream that ran at the foot of
+a rise. As dawn broke we were awakened by the voice of Roderick, who
+was on watch, calling to us in tones of alarm to get up, as we were
+followed. We sprang to our feet, seizing our rifles.
+
+"Where are they?" I asked.
+
+"There, there," he said, pointing toward the rise behind us.
+
+We ran round some intervening bushes and looked, to see upon its crest
+a solitary figure seated on a very tired horse, for it panted and its
+head drooped. This figure, which was entirely hidden in a long cloak
+with a hood, appeared to be watching our camp just as a spy might do.
+Higgs lifted his rifle and fired at it, but Oliver, who was standing
+by him, knocked the barrel up so that the bullet went high, saying:
+
+"Don't be a fool. If it is only one man there's no need to shoot him,
+and if there are more you will bring them on to us."
+
+Then the figure urged the weary horse and advanced slowly, and I
+noticed that it was very small. "A boy," I thought to myself, "who is
+bringing some message."
+
+The rider reached us, and slipping from the horse, stood still.
+
+"Who are you?" asked Oliver, scanning the cloaked form.
+
+"One who brings a token to you, lord," was the answer, spoken in a low
+and muffled voice. "Here it is," and a hand, a very delicate hand, was
+stretched out, holding between the fingers a ring.
+
+I knew it at once; it was Sheba's ring which Maqueda had lent to me in
+proof of her good faith when I journeyed for help to England. This
+ring, it will be remembered, we returned to her with much ceremony at
+our first public audience. Oliver grew pale at the sight of it.
+
+"How did you come by this?" he asked hoarsely. "Is she who alone may
+wear it dead?"
+
+"Yes, yes," answered the voice, a feigned voice as I thought. "The
+Child of Kings whom you knew is dead, and having no more need for this
+ancient symbol of her power, she bequeathed it to you whom she
+remembered kindly at the last."
+
+Oliver covered his face with his hands and turned away.
+
+"But," went on the speaker slowly, "the woman Maqueda whom once it is
+said you loved----"
+
+He dropped his hands and stared.
+
+"----the woman Maqueda whom once it is said you--loved--still lives."
+
+Then the hood slipped back, and in the glow of the rising sun we saw
+the face beneath.
+
+It was that of Maqueda herself!
+
+A silence followed that in its way was almost awful.
+
+"My Lord Oliver," asked Maqueda presently, "do you accept my offering
+of Queen Sheba's ring?"
+
+
+
+NOTE BY MAQUEDA
+
+  Once called Walda Nagasta and Takla Warda, that is, Child of Kings
+  and Bud of the Rose, once also by birth Ruler of the Abati people,
+  the Sons of Solomon and Sheba.
+
+I, Maqueda, write this by the command of Oliver, my lord, who desires
+that I should set out certain things in my own words.
+
+Truly all men are fools, and the greatest of them is Oliver, my lord,
+though perhaps he is almost equalled by the learned man whom the Abati
+called Black Windows, and by the doctor, Son of Adam. Only he who is
+named Roderick, child of Adam, is somewhat less blind, because having
+been brought up among the Fung and other people of the desert, he has
+gathered a little wisdom. This I know because he has told me that he
+alone saw through my plan to save all their lives, but said nothing of
+it because he desired to escape from Mur, where certain death waited
+on him and his companions. Perhaps, however, he lies to please me.
+
+Now, for the truth of the matter, which not being skilled in writing I
+will tell briefly.
+
+I was carried out of the cave city with my lord and the others,
+starving, starving, too weak to kill myself, which otherwise I would
+have done rather than fall into the hands of my accursed uncle,
+Joshua. Yet I was stronger than the rest, because as I have learned,
+they tricked me about those biscuits, pretending to eat when they were
+not eating, for which never will I forgive them. It was Japhet, a
+gallant man on one side, but a coward on the other like the rest of
+the Abati, who betrayed us, driven thereto by emptiness within, which,
+after all, is an ill enemy to fight. He went out and told Joshua where
+we lay hid, and then, of course, they came.
+
+Well, they took away my lord and the others, and me too they bore to
+another place and fed me till my strength returned, and oh! how good
+was that honey which first I ate, for I could touch nothing else. When
+I was strong again came Prince Joshua to me and said, "Now I have you
+in my net; now you are mine."
+
+Then I answered Joshua, "Fool, your net is of air; I will fly through
+it."
+
+"How?" he asked. "By death," I answered, "of which a hundred means lie
+to my hand. You have robbed me of one, but what does that matter when
+so many remain? I will go where you and your love cannot pursue me."
+
+"Very well, Child of Kings," he said, "but how about that tall Gentile
+who has caught your eyes, and his companions? They, too, have
+recovered, and they shall die every one of them after a certain
+fashion (which, I Maqueda, will not set down, since there are some
+things that ought not to be written). If you die, they die; as I told
+you, they die as a wolf dies that is caught by the shepherds; they die
+as a baboon dies that is caught by the husbandman."
+
+Now I looked this way and that, and found that there was no escape. So
+I made a bargain.
+
+"Joshua," I said, "let these men go and I swear upon the name of our
+mother, she of Sheba, that I will marry you. Keep them and kill them,
+and you will have none of me."
+
+Well, in the end, because he desired me and the power that went with
+me, he consented.
+
+Then I played my part. My lord and his companions were brought before
+me, and in presence of all the people I mocked them; I spat in their
+faces, and oh! fools, fools, fools, they believed me! I lifted my
+veil, and showed them my eyes, and they believed also what they seemed
+to see in my eyes, forgetting that I am a woman who can play a part at
+need. Yes, they forgot that there were others to deceive as well, all
+the Abati people, who, if they thought I tricked them, would have torn
+the foreigners limb from limb. That was my bitterest morsel, that I
+should have succeeded in making even my own lord believe that of all
+the wicked women that ever trod this world, I was the most vile. Yet I
+did so, and he cannot deny it, for often we have talked of this thing
+till he will hear of it no more.
+
+Well, they went with all that I could give them, though I knew well
+that my lord cared nothing, for what I could give, nor the doctor,
+Child of Adam, either, who cared only for his son that God had
+restored to him. Only Black Windows cared, not because he loves
+wealth, but because he worships all that is old and ugly, for of such
+things he fashions up his god.
+
+They went, for their going was reported to me, and I, I entered into
+hell because I knew that my lord thought me false, and that he would
+never learn the truth, namely, that what I did I did to save his life,
+until at length he came to his own country, if ever he came there, and
+opened the chests of treasure, if ever he opened them, which perhaps
+he would not care to do. And all that while he would believe me the
+wife of Joshua, and--oh! I cannot write of it. And I, I should be
+dead; I, I could not tell him the truth until he joined me in that
+land of death, if there men and women can talk together any more.
+
+For this and no other was the road that I had planned to walk. When he
+and his companions had gone so far that they could not be followed,
+then I would tell Joshua and the Abati all the truth in such language
+as should never be forgotten for generations, and kill myself before
+their eyes, so that Joshua might lack a wife and the Abati a Child of
+Kings.
+
+I sat through the Feast of Preparation and smiled and smiled. It
+passed and the next day passed, and came the night of the Feast of
+Marriage. The glass was broken, the ceremony was fulfilled. Joshua
+rose up to pledge me before all the priests, lords, and headmen. He
+devoured me with his hateful eyes, me, who was already his. But I, I
+handled the knife in my robe, wishing, such was the rage in my heart,
+that I could kill him also.
+
+Then God spoke, and the dream that I had dreamed came true. Far away
+there rose a single cry, and after it other cries, and the sounds of
+shouting and of marching feet. Far away tongues of fire leapt into the
+air, and each man asked his neighbour, "What is this?" Then from all
+the thousands of the feasting people rose one giant scream, and that
+scream said, "Fung! Fung! The Fung are on us! Fly, fly, fly!"
+
+"Come," shouted Joshua, seizing me by the arm, but I drew my dagger on
+him and he let go. Then he fled with the other lords, and I remained
+in my high seat beneath the golden canopy alone.
+
+The people fled past me without fighting; they fled into the cave
+city, they fled to the rocks; they hid themselves among the
+precipices, and after them came the Fung, slaying and burning, till
+all Mur went up in flames. And I, I sat and watched, waiting till it
+was time for me to die also.
+
+At last, I know not how long afterwards, appeared before me Barung, a
+red sword in his hand, which he lifted to me in salute.
+
+"Greeting, Child of Kings," he said. "You see Harmac is come to sleep
+at Mur."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "Harmac is come to sleep at Mur, and many of those
+who dwelt there sleep with him. What of it? Say, Barung, will you kill
+me, or shall I kill myself?"
+
+"Neither, Child of Kings," he answered in his high fashion. "Did I not
+make you a promise yonder in the Pass of Mur, when I spoke with you
+and the Western men, and does a Fung Sultan break his word? I have
+taken back the city that was ours, as I swore to do, and purified it
+with fire," and he pointed to the raging flames. "Now I will rebuild
+it, and you shall rule under me."
+
+"Not so," I answered; "but in place of that promise I ask of you three
+things."
+
+"Name them," said Barung.
+
+"They are these: First, that you give me a good horse and five days'
+food, and let me go where I will. Secondly, that if he still lives you
+advance one Japhet, a certain Mountaineer who befriended me and
+brought others to do likewise, to a place of honour under you.
+Thirdly, that you spare the rest of the Abati people."
+
+"You shall go whither you desire, and I think I know where you will
+go," answered Barung. "Certain spies of mine last night saw four white
+men riding on fine camels towards Egypt, and reported it to me as I
+led my army to the secret pass that Harmac showed me, which you Abati
+could never find. But I said, 'Let them go; it is right that brave men
+who have been the mock of the Abati should be allowed their freedom.'
+Yes, I said this, although one of them was my daughter's husband, or
+near to it. But she will have no more of him who fled to his father
+rather than with her, so it was best that he should go also, since, if
+I brought him back it must be to his death."
+
+"Yes," I answered boldly, "I go after the Western men; I who have done
+with these Abati. I wish to see new lands."
+
+"And find an old love who thinks ill of you just now," he said,
+stroking his beard. "Well, no wonder, for here has been a marriage
+feast. Say, what were you about to do, O Child of Kings? Take the fat
+Joshua to your breast?"
+
+"Nay, Barung, I was about to take /this/ husband to my breast," and I
+showed him the knife that was hidden in my marriage robe.
+
+"No," he said, smiling, "I think the knife was for Joshua first.
+Still, you are a brave woman who could save the life of him you love
+at the cost of your own. Yet, bethink you, Child of Kings, for many a
+generation your mothers have been queens, and under me you may still
+remain a queen. How will one whose blood has ruled so long endure to
+serve a Western man in a strange land?"
+
+"That is what I go to find out, Barung, and if I cannot endure, then I
+shall come back again, though not to rule the Abati, of whom I wash my
+hands for ever. Yet, Barung, my heart tells me I shall endure."
+
+"The Child of Kings has spoken," he said, bowing to me. "My best horse
+awaits her, and five of my bravest guards shall ride with her to keep
+her safe till she sights the camp of the Western men. I say happy is
+he of them who was born to wear the sweet-scented Bud of the Rose upon
+his bosom. For the rest, the man Japhet is in my hands. He yielded
+himself to me who would not fight for his own people because of what
+they had done to his friends, the white men. Lastly, already I have
+given orders that the slaying should cease, since I need the Abati to
+be my slaves, they who are cowards, but cunning in many arts. Only one
+more man shall die," he added sternly, "and that is Joshua, who would
+have taken me by a trick in the mouth of the pass. So plead not for
+him, for by the head of Harmac it is in vain."
+
+Now hearing this I did not plead, fearing lest I should anger Barung,
+and but waste my breath.
+
+
+
+At daybreak I started on the horse, having with me the five Fung
+captains. As we crossed the marketplace I met those that remained
+alive of the Abati, being driven in hordes like beasts, to hear their
+doom. Among them was Prince Joshua, my uncle, whom a man led by a rope
+about his neck, while another man thrust him forward from behind,
+since Joshua knew that he went to his death and the road was one which
+he did not wish to travel. He saw me, and cast himself down upon the
+ground, crying to me to save him. I told him that I could not, though
+it is the truth, I swear it before God, that, notwithstanding all the
+evil he had worked toward me, toward Oliver my lord, and his
+companions, bringing to his end that gallant man who died to protect
+me, I would still have saved him if I could. But I could not, for
+although I tried once more, Barung would not listen. So I answered:
+
+"Plead, O Joshua, with him who has the power in Mur to-day, for I have
+none. You have fashioned your own fate, and must travel the road you
+chose."
+
+"What road do you ride, mounted on a horse of the plains, Maqueda? Oh!
+what need is there for me to ask? You go to see that accursed Gentile
+whom I would I had killed by inches, as I would that I could kill
+you."
+
+Then calling me by evil names, Joshua sprang at me as though to strike
+me down, but he who held the rope about his neck jerked him backward,
+so that he fell and I saw his face no more.
+
+But oh! it was sad, that journey across the great square, for the
+captive Abati by hundreds--men, women, and children together--with
+tears and lamentations cried to me to preserve them from death or
+slavery at the hands of the Fung. But I answered:
+
+"Your sins against me and the brave foreign men who fought so well for
+you I forgive, but search your hearts, O Abati, and say if you can
+forgive yourselves? If you had listened to me and to those whom I
+called in to help us, you might have beaten back the Fung, and
+remained free for ever. But you were cowards; you would not learn to
+bear arms like men, you would not even watch your mountain walls, and
+soon or late the people who refuse to be ready to fight must fall and
+become the servants of those who are ready."
+
+And now, my Oliver, I have no more to write, save that I am glad to
+have endured so many things, and thereby win the joy that is mine
+to-day. Not yet have I, Maqueda, wished to reign again in Mur, who
+have found another throne.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext Queen Sheba's Ring, by H. Rider Haggard
+
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