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diff --git a/2602-h/2602-h.htm b/2602-h/2602-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..486acb6 --- /dev/null +++ b/2602-h/2602-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14175 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<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. 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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’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—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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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—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: +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +I suppose that before entering on this narration, for the reader’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’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. +</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’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.‘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’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. +</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’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’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’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—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. +</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—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—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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Steady,” said his companion; “your housekeeper told you that +some friend of yours had come to call.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +So I stepped into the shining circle of the electric light and halted again. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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’t go +white.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Mr.</i> Orme,” interrupted the younger man, bowing to me. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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—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. +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” I answered, laughing, “the usual thing, of course. I +bought it from a donkey-boy in Cairo for about thirty shillings.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps Captain Orme does not wish to be bored with it,” I said, +whereon he answered at once: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course,” he answered, whereon Higgs broke in: +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And now where is he?” asked Higgs, as one who feared the answer. +</p> + +<p> +“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> +“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> +‘Abide with me, fast falls the eventide.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sounds rather like one of the lost tribes of Israel,” remarked +Higgs sarcastically, puffing at his big meerschaum. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gibraltar and Spain over again,” suggested Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what happened?” asked the Professor. +</p> + +<p> +“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——” +</p> + +<p> +“One of the names of the first known Queens of Sheba,” muttered +Higgs; “the other was Belchis.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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——” +</p> + +<p> +“Harmac!” interrupted Higgs again. “That is one of the names +of the sphinx—Harmachis, god of dawn.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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> +“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? +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I do not want gold,’ I answered; ‘I want to rescue my +son who is a prisoner yonder.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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?’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘There are means,’ I replied, and I tried to explain to her +the properties of dynamite and of other more powerful explosives. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what was the end?” asked Captain Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“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’s Who</i>, which +they gave me in the hotel, I came on here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why did you come to me? What do you want me to do?” asked the +Professor. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“With a very good chance of getting my throat cut thrown in,” +grumbled Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +I reflected a moment, then, obeying some sort of instinct, looked up and asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Will you, Captain Orme, if terms can be arranged?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would it be rude to inquire, Captain Orme, why twenty-four hours have +made such a difference in your views and plans?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>your</i> exact object in making these proposals.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Got any of that gold you spoke of about you?” 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> +“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.” +</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> +“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>I</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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” said Captain Orme, waking up from a reverie, “if you +are satisfied, I am. It doesn’t matter to me where I go.” +</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’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.” +</p> + +<p> +Then followed tumult indescribable as of heavy men and things rolling down the +stairs, with cries of fear and indignation. +</p> + +<p> +“What the dickens is that?” asked Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“What do you mean by breaking into my rooms like this? Where’s your +warrant?” asked the indignant Higgs in his high voice. +</p> + +<p> +“There!” answered the first policeman, pointing to the +sheet-wrapped form on the table. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</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> +“Stop,” said Orme, thrusting himself between the combatants, +“are you all mad? Do you know that this woman died about four thousand +years ago?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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’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> +“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.” +</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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Sentry go, Captain. Thought the police might change their minds and come +back. Any orders, Captain?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. I am going to North Central Africa. When can you be ready to +start?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You understand!” said Orme. “Pray, how do you +understand?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +We burst out laughing, including Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hear, hear,” I said; “we are much of the same way of +thinking.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Quite right. What do you want, Sergeant?” asked Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing beyond my pay, if we get nothing, Captain, but if we get +something, would five per cent. be too much?” +</p> + +<p> +“It might be ten,” I suggested. “Sergeant Quick has a life to +lose like the rest of us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you kindly, sir,” he answered; “but that, in my +opinion, would be too much. Five per cent. was what I suggested.” +</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> +“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.” +</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’s +Cathedral. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +We answered that we were. +</p> + +<p> +“Then has anybody anything more to say?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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? +</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> +“Why not?” he asked. “I said I was going and I mean to go; +indeed, I signed a document to that effect.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you answered this?” asked Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>fiancée</i> (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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’ +journey. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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’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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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—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> +“Are you coming with us, Sergeant?” asked Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you are right, Sergeant, only tie Pharaoh up, or he’ll +follow me. Well, what do you want to say? Out with it.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t help it, Sergeant. For one thing, it would never do to give +in to his fancies now.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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> +“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. +</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—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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Come back,” shouted the Captain as he followed. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Well, I confess I felt inclined to accept the invitation, but Orme, who was +nettled, replied: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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’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. +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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—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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I said shortly; “you may be drier before the end.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>me</i>. 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. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile I had been reflecting. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</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—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> +“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.” +</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—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—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> +“Is he dead?” muttered Orme, pointing to the still buried Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“Fear so,” I answered, “but we’ll look;” and +painfully we began to disinter him. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Water would save him,” 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—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> +“You are the oldest; take care of this, Adams.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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> +“You cruel brute! You cruel selfish brute!” he moaned as I wrenched +it from him. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +He thought awhile, then looked up and said: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“You fellows shoot,” he muttered; “I might miss and frighten +them away,” 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’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. +</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’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, “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. +</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—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. +</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’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—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. +</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—unless, indeed we had all moved on a step. +</p> + +<p> +“How did you find us, Sergeant?” I asked feebly. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Water,” 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> +“There’s hope,” I said in answer to the questioning looks. +“You don’t happen to have any brandy, do you?” I added. +</p> + +<p> +“Never travelled without it yet, Doctor,” replied Quick +indignantly, producing a metal flask. +</p> + +<p> +“Give him some,” I said, and the Sergeant obeyed with liberality +and almost instantaneous effect, for Higgs sat up gasping and coughing. +</p> + +<p> +“Brandy; filthy stuff; teetotaller! Cursed trick! Never forgive you. +Water, water,” 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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t quite know,” answered Orme; “ask Quick.” +</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> +“Lie down and sleep, gentlemen,” he said; “Pharaoh and I will +watch.” +</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—or the bacon. +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” said Orme to me, pointing to the mountains, “they are +still miles away. It was madness to think that we could reach them.” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Now, Sergeant,” said Orme, as he finished his fifth pannikin of +tea, “tell us your story.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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’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.” +</p> + +<p> +“One with a good end, anyway, Sergeant. We owe our lives to you.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“Looks like Arabians, Doctor,” he said, pointing to a cloud of dust +advancing toward us. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, if so,” I answered, “our best chance is to show no +fear and go on. I don’t think they will harm us.” +</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> +“By the beard of Aaron! is it you, lords?” he asked. “We +thought you were dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</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’s ring, which I +had brought as a token from Mur. This I held before his eyes, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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—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—— +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’ 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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How?” asked Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Orme shrugged his shoulders, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is dangerous,” he answered, adding with a sneer, “but I +thought that you men of England were not cowards.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I punch his head, sir?” queried Quick in a meditative voice. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned to Shadrach and said: +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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’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. +</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. +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Well, after many experiences in his company, my opinion coincided with +Maqueda’s, and so did that of Quick, no mean judge of men. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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—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’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. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing, Higgs?” I shouted. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Put up that thing, sonny,” said the Sergeant, “or by heaven, +I’ll loose the dog upon you. Got your revolver handy, Doctor?” +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p> +“Be sure, accursed Gentile, that I will remember and repay.” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment, too, Orme arrived upon the scene, yawning. +</p> + +<p> +“What the deuce is the matter?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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—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> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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—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> +“What’s your game?” asked the Professor. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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. +</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 “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. +</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’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’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> +“A Fung has got his camel,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” answered Quick; “Shadrach has got it. I saw his ugly +mug against the light.” +</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—turn and fly—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> +“Get on,” I said to the others; “they will be here +presently,” and heard Quick add: +</p> + +<p> +“Give your camel his head, Captain; he can see in the dark, and perhaps +will take us back to the road.” +</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’ 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> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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’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. +</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"> +“There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe,<br /> +Where trials never come nor tears of sorrow flow.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“There is a blessed home beyond this land of woe” +</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> +“Hullo! here’s a stair. With your leave I’ll go up it, +Captain,” and he did. +</p> + +<p> +A minute later we heard his voice calling us softly: +</p> + +<p> +“Come here, gentlemen,” he said, “and see something worth +looking at.” +</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> +“The idol of the Fung!” said I. “No wonder that savages +should take it for a god.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come down,” said Orme. “We must find out where we are; +perhaps we can escape in the mist.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Orme studied it hurriedly and repeated, “Come down; we may be seen up +here.” +</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> +“Let’s clear out before the mist lifts,” said Orme. +“With luck we may get to the pass.” +</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> +“Look through there, Doctor,” 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. “Fools that we were to go +there!” 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> +“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!” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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’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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What are you going to do?” I asked as I obeyed. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Shall we take the risk and ride for it?” I suggested. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Beg your pardon, Captain,” said Quick, “but I’ll stay +with you. The doctor can see to the baggage animals.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, sir,” pleaded Quick, “mayn’t I take charge of +the battery?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +So we went, Quick literally weeping with shame and rage. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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——” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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> +“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. +</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’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> +“Flog the animals,” I shouted to Quick, “or they will catch +us after all.” +</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> +“Cut off!” I exclaimed. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose so, sir,” answered Quick, “but these seem a +different crowd.” +</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> +“Greetings, friend,” she exclaimed to me, for she knew me again at +once. “Now, who is captain among you?” +</p> + +<p> +I pointed to the shattered Orme, who sat swaying on his camel with eyes half +closed. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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’s voice +was always one of her greatest charms), Orme opened his eyes and stared at her. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What does the lord your companion say?” 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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +The word Fung seemed to rouse Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Maqueda listened to this advice intently. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What does your companion say?” asked Maqueda again. +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +The prince Joshua stared at her with his great, prominent eyes, then answered +in a thick, gobbling voice: +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +Now here and there a voice cried, “I will,” or some gorgeously +dressed person stepped forward in a hesitating way, and that was all. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“Told you that fat cur was a first-class trumpeter,” said Orme +languidly, while the Sergeant ejaculated in tones of deep disgust: +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Stand still, friends,” said Maqueda; “they mean no +harm.” +</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—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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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——” +</p> + +<p> +“For your comfort, learn that there is—much more,” I +interrupted. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +At these ominous words the envoys shivered, and it seemed to me that their +faces for a moment turned grey. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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, “Barung! Barung!” 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> +“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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“That I shall always do,” he answered gravely. “Is it +ended?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +She paused, but Barung made no answer. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell him, then,” said Orme. “My head aches infernally, and I +want to go to bed, above ground or under it.” +</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—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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>we</i> were your people.” +</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, “The Sultan, the Sultan himself!” +and saw the prince Joshua mutter some eager words to the officers about him. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out, Doctor,” said Quick into my ear. “Unless I’m +mistook, that porpoise is going to play some game.” +</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> +“Now yield, Barung,” bellowed Joshua; “yield or die!” +</p> + +<p> +The Sultan stared at him in astonishment, then answered: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +But they would not; the prize was too great to be readily disgorged. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</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’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—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. +</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’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. +</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—notably +the fierce courage that Titus knew—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—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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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 “the Gentiles,” for that was his +polite description of us, to the lodging for pilgrims in the western town. +</p> + +<p> +“No, my uncle,” answered Maqueda; “these foreign lords will +be housed in the guest-wing of the palace.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Shut it, Porpoise,” he said, “and keep your eyes where +Nature put ’em, or they’ll fall out.” +</p> + +<p> +“What says the Gentile?” spluttered Joshua, whereon Orme, waking up +from one of his fits of lethargy, replied in Arabic: +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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—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—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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good, Sergeant. Lock the door and take the keys.” +</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’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> +“May I see him?” 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’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> +“Will he live?” +</p> + +<p> +“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——” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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’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’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—a very +joyful look—which caused me to ask her what had happened. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! he will live,” she answered. +</p> + +<p> +I inquired what made her think so. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Not at all,’ he said. ‘They are always +<i>vi-o-let</i>, whether the curtain is drawn or no.’ Now, physician +Adams, tell me what is this colour <i>vi-o-let</i>?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you glad, O Child of Kings?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“You had better ask the lady herself, Quick. Did the Captain take that +soup she brought him?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Doctor; but,” he added, with a sudden fall of face, +“invalids recover sometimes, and then how about the women.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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—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’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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” I said. “I wonder if Prince Joshua thinks it only a +form?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</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’ +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’s ring upon a cushion held by one of the court officers, +who carried it to Maqueda. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +She took it and, after examination, showed it to several of the priests, by +whom it was identified. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Walda Nagasta speaks!” whereon every one repeated, “Walda +Nagasta speaks,” and was silent. +</p> + +<p> +Then Maqueda began to address us in her soft and pleasant voice. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then do the Gentiles seek no reward for their services?” sneered +Joshua. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“First the work, then the pay,” said Oliver. “Now tell us, +Child of Kings, what is that work?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if we swear, Lady,” asked Oliver after reflection, “tell +us what rank shall we hold in your service?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +At these words a murmur of dissatisfaction arose from the mail-clad generals in +the Council. +</p> + +<p> +“Are we then, to obey this stranger, O Child of Kings?” queried +Joshua as their spokesman. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +She paused and waited in the midst of a sullen silence. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Still there was no answer. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“O Child of Kings, why do you distress us with such words? Have you not +the God of Solomon to protect you?” +</p> + +<p> +“God protects those who protect themselves,” sobbed Maqueda. +</p> + +<p> +“And have you not many brave officers?” +</p> + +<p> +“What are officers without an army?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“And the Abati without such shreds of honour as still belong to them, my +uncle.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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’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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think you are probably right, Sergeant,” said Orme. +“Anyway, in for a penny, in for a pound.” +</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: “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.” +</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’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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“If only Higgs were here,” 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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“How did they light so vast a cavern?” asked Oliver. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Both, I expect,” I answered. “But tell me, Lady, do the +Abati make any use of this great cave?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“What is this place?” asked Orme in a low voice, for its aspect +seemed to awe him. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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, +“Look!” +</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—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. +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Quick, who was of an inquiring mind, stepped forward and verified these +statements. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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’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> +“Here we begin to turn, for this cave is a great circle,” 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’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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“What have you learned?” she asked, when at last he rejoined us +somewhat unwillingly, for she had been calling to him to come. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where, then, are those of your own house buried?” asked Oliver, +staring at the empty chairs. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“What fee?” he asked. “Death, the reward of Life? How can I +tell until I have passed its gate?” +</p> + +<p> +Here this philosophical discussion was interrupted by the sudden decease of +Quick’s lamp. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“Stop still till we come back to you,” cried Oliver, “and +shout at intervals.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir,” said Quick, and instantly let off a fearful yell, which +echoed backward and forward across the vault till I was quite bewildered. +</p> + +<p> +“All right, coming,” 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> +“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 <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’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’s calling only reached us in faint, mysterious notes +that came from we knew not whence. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly I do hear something,” I answered, “but I think it +must be the echo of our own voices.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, let us hold our jaw, sir, and perhaps they will hold theirs, for +this kind of conversation ain’t nice.” +</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’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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Having small belief in the Sergeant’s match, I made no answer, and the +search went on till presently I heard him ejaculate: +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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’s arm was +about Maqueda’s waist, her head rested upon his shoulder, and apparently +he was engaged in kissing her upon the lips. +</p> + +<p> +“Right about face,” hissed the Sergeant, in a tone of command, +“and mark time!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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 +<i>can</i> 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.” +</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’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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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——” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I gave it up and faced the situation. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, if you want the truth,” I said, “not <i>very</i> 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?” +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Curse Quick,” said Oliver again, with the utmost energy. +“I’ll give him a month’s notice this very night.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 +<i>you</i>. And for the rest, did you ever see her equal?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never, never, <i>never</i>!” 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 +<i>not</i> do was to make love to the Child of Kings?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment, Quick, who had entered the room unobserved, gave a dry cough, +and remarked: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +I laughed, and Oliver said something which I could not hear, but Quick went on +imperturbably: +</p> + +<p> +“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——” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</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’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—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—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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right, old fellow,” he answered, colouring a little. +“You may trust me.” +</p> + +<p> +“I wish I could,” 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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How?” asked Orme and I in one breath. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not know,” she answered, “but wisely they spared the +man. Let him be brought in.” +</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’s +boot. The guards pulled him to his feet again, and Maqueda said: +</p> + +<p> +“What have you to tell us, traitor, before you die?” +</p> + +<p> +“The thing is secret, O Bud of the Rose. Must I speak before so +many?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay,” she answered, and ordered most of those present to leave the +room, including the executioners and soldiers. +</p> + +<p> +“The man is desperate, and there will be none left to guard him,” +said Joshua nervously. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Thus, Child of Kings,” he answered, “Black Windows, as we +know, is imprisoned in the body of the great idol.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know it, man?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where you can travel we can follow,” said Maqueda. “Tell us +now what we must do.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Joshua began to make excuses, but she would not listen to them. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lady,” answered the man, “now I take command, and you must +follow me. But first let us see that nobody and nothing are lacking.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly not,” replied Maqueda with decision. “Shall it be +said that the Child of Kings is afraid to go where her guests can travel?” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” 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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +We stared at him astonished, and in the silence that followed I heard Maqueda +whisper to Oliver: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Why have you brought us here?” asked Maqueda presently. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fool,” broke in Maqueda, “how can a man do such a +thing?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is madness; you shall not go,” said Maqueda. “You will +fall and be dashed to pieces. I say that you shall not go.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +She turned on the Prince like a tiger. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Why do you undress yourself, friend?” asked Maqueda nervously. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Still I do fear,” she said. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Quick had sat down and begun to take off <i>his</i> boots. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing, Sergeant?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Getting ready to accompany the Captain upon forlorn hope, Doctor.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +This information did not tend to raise anyone’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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I answered, “but, thank God, my son still lives. That +is his voice. Oh! if you can, save him, too.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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’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> +“If you can, save my son also,” I whispered. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll do my best if I can get hold of him,” he answered. +“Sergeant, if anything happens to me you know your duty.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll try and follow your example, Captain, under all +circumstances, though that will be hard,” 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> +“<i>Ah</i>!” panted Maqueda. +</p> + +<p> +“The Gentile has lost his head,” began Joshua in a voice full of +the triumph that he could not hide. “He—will——” +</p> + +<p> +Joshua got no further, for Quick, turning, threatened him savagely with his +fist, saying in English: +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Mountaineer on the farther side spoke, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Have no fear, the ladder is safe.” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +Maqueda, who had noted all, now interfered. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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’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> +“Save yourself! I’ll hold these devils. Run, you infernal fool, +run!” +</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’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.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” said Quick, “wait a bit.” +</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’s +shoulders, while their companions cheered them. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, pull, brothers, pull!” shouted the Sergeant, and pull we did. +Poor Fung! they deserved a better fate. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +A silence followed, in the midst of which I heard Quick saying to Joshua in his +very worst Arabic: +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Maqueda, finding no answer, stretched out her hand to the Mountaineer, his +companion in adventure, who kissed it. +</p> + +<p> +“Japhet,” she said, “I am proud of you; your reward is +fourfold, and henceforth you are a captain of my Mountaineers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell us what happened,” I said to Oliver. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +I nodded, and we went to that corner of the plateau where Shadrach stood apart, +watching and listening. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +Shadrach replied that he caught on. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what happened next, Shadrach?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that hole in the rock still there, Shadrach?” +</p> + +<p> +“Without doubt, though I have not been down to look.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then, my boy, you are going now,” 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> +“What’s your plan, Sergeant?” asked Oliver when he had heard. +“Tell me, for I have none; my head is muddled.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Capital,” said Orme, “but you can’t go alone. +I’ll come too.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I also,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“What schemes do you make?” asked Maqueda eagerly, for, of course, +she could not understand our talk. +</p> + +<p> +We explained. +</p> + +<p> +“What, my friend,” she said to Oliver reproachfully, “would +you risk your life again to-night? Surely it is tempting the goodness of +God.” +</p> + +<p> +“It would be tempting the goodness of God much more if I left my friend +to be eaten by lions, Lady,” 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’s tail and +attempting the storm of Mur. +</p> + +<p> +“And then what should I do if they found me here alone?” 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> +“Yes,” answered Oliver, “and if we ever get out of this, to +blow the shaft in and make sure that it cannot be used.” +</p> + +<p> +“That shaft might be useful, Captain,” said Quick doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then Joshua broke in: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely you had better stop where you are, my uncle,” remarked +Maqueda. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</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’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> +“Oh! they lift the gates!” 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—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. +</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—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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay,” I shouted. “Follow me, Abati! Shall a woman lead +you?” +</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—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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“What an uncommonly pretty woman,” he said. “What’s she +doing down here, and who is she?” +</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> +“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.” +</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’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> +“I am sorry for them,” said Oliver presently, “but it had to +be done.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sorry for whom?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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’ 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!” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And is he attached to this savage lady?” I asked dismayed. +</p> + +<p> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What did you think about all the time?” asked Oliver curiously. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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 <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’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!” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are, Ptolemy, for she’s in love with him,” 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> +“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 <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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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’s paws of any poison that might +have been on them, he said, +</p> + +<p> +“Physician, I desire private words with you.” +</p> + +<p> +I bowed, and he went on: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Speak,” said Maqueda. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“‘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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘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!’” +</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> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“My uncle, you do not. I asked if such was your wish, that is all.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +Very solemnly the three ambassadors saluted, first the Child of Kings and next +ourselves, then turned to go. +</p> + +<p> +“Kill them!” shouted Joshua, “they have threatened and +insulted me, the Prince!” +</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—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. +</p> + +<p> +At this point I saw Joshua whisper into the ear of a man, who called out:— +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +Quick walked up to the fellow and clapped a pistol to his head. +</p> + +<p> +“Drop that sword,” he said, “or <i>you</i>’ll never +hear the end of the story,” 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> +“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? +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is impossible,” said some one, “you are the last woman +of the true blood.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +These words of hers seemed to cow the Council, one of whom asked what would she +have them do? +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +Now some of them cried, “No.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</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’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. +</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’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> +“What, then, is your plan?” asked Maqueda. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why should it be abandoned?” inquired Maqueda. “What have +you against it?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Maqueda thought a while, then looked up and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Friend, you are brave and skilful, tell us all your mind. If you sat in +my place, what would you do?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is that <i>your</i> command also, O Child of Kings?” answered +Oliver, colouring. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks be to God, these hired Gentiles have been taught their place at +last.” +</p> + +<p> +Oliver turned on him so fiercely that he recoiled, thinking that he was about +to strike him. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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 “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. +</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> +“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!” +</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’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’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> +“What are you doing here?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“What is that to you, Physician?” 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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +His fat and kindly face grew anxious. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then she’d have done better to take me, my boy,” said Higgs. +“What was the character like?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know,” he answered guiltily. “She could not find +it again.” +</p> + +<p> +An awkward silence followed, which I broke. +</p> + +<p> +“Oliver,” I said, “I don’t think you ought to go on +sleeping here alone. You have too many enemies in this place.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then come and sleep with us in the guest-house.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain wants to see you as soon as possible, gentlemen,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter, Sergeant?” asked Higgs, as we got into +our garments. +</p> + +<p> +“You’ll see for yourself presently, Professor,” 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> +“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!” +</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> +“Shadrach!” 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> +“Pussy seems to have been on the prowl and to have met a dog,” +remarked Quick. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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’ 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 “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. +</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—the Abati—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—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’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. +</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’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’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—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. +</p> + +<p> +“You can see to it,” he said; “I have done all I can. Now +things must take their chance.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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> +“What is the matter?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“O Physician,” he answered, “I have words for the ear of the +Captain Orme. Be pleased to lead me to him.” +</p> + +<p> +We explained that he slept and could not be disturbed, but Japhet only answered +as before, adding: +</p> + +<p> +“Come you with me, my words are for your ears as well as his.” +</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> +“What’s wrong?” he asked of Japhet. “Have the Fung cut +the wires?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.’” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean? Set out all the story, Japhet,” said Oliver. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he is an ass!” interrupted Quick; “for the Abati have +no gratitude.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What snare?” asked one of us, for Japhet paused. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Orme, “and when is all this to happen?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Japhet saluted in his native fashion and went. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you think of this story?” asked Oliver, as soon as he was +out of hearing. +</p> + +<p> +“All bosh,” answered Higgs; “the place is full of talk and +rumours, and this is one of them.” +</p> + +<p> +He paused and looked at me. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I? Oh, I’ll do anything you wish, though I should rather have +liked to climb the cliff and watch what happens.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes later they had made their preparations. Quick stepped up to Oliver +and stood at attention, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Ready to march. Any more orders, Captain?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And that’s what I heard when I was a prisoner,” interrupted +Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“You don’t believe in presentiments, do you, Doctor?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not a bit,” I answered. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then that’s a poor look-out for us, Quick.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense, Sergeant,” I said sharply; “you are not yourself; +all this work and anxiety has got on your nerves.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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’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> +“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?” +</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> +“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?” +</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’s private apartments. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did the man say so?” I asked of Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How’s Quick?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +Then followed a longish pause, and after it Higgs’s voice again. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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 “No,” +the wires seemed all right, but he had met a ghost. +</p> + +<p> +“What ghost, you donkey?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, and did he say anything to you, Japhet?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what did he say to that, Japhet?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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. “One, two, three, four, +five—<i>now</i>!” 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. +</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> +“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!” +</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’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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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!’” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Be quiet,” I said; “do you want to kill yourself? You will +be no good dead or maimed. Let me think.” +</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> +“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. +</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’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> +“Be careful,” I cried; “there may be fallen rocks +about.” +</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> +“My God! I believe we are shut in,” 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> +“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. +</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—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—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. +</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’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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the story?” asked Orme of Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“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.’ +</p> + +<p> +“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> +“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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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—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’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> +“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——” +</p> + +<p> +“What is in your mind?” asked Oliver. “To fly from Mur?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Maqueda looked at Oliver questioningly. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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. +</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> +“Oh! oh! oh!” groaned Japhet, “the prophecy is +fulfilled—the head of Harmac has come to sleep at Mur.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I put in, “and what we felt in the cave was the shock +of its fall.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“So much the better,” said the irreverent Higgs. “I may be +able to sketch and measure him now.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“Your pardon, but be pleased to show your faces.” +</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> +“Your commands, O Walda Nagasta.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +At these words a murmur rose from the audience. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” they answered with a great shout. “Command and we +obey. What shall we do, O Child of Kings?” +</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. “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. +</p> + +<p> +But Maqueda would have none of it. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“What, then, would you do?” asked Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“Return to the palace with these Mountaineers, O Oliver, and by help of +that garrison, hold it against all enemies.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so,” echoed Higgs; “and the sooner we go the better, +for my leg hurts, and I want a sleep.” +</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, “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: +</p> + +<p> +“All right, thank you, father. I ran upon my legs.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time Higgs hobbled up, and was greeting my son warmly, for, of course, +they were old friends. +</p> + +<p> +“Thought you were to be married to-night, Roderick?” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, where’s your wife?” asked Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What happened then?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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> +“‘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!’ +</p> + +<p> +“Barung the Sultan tear his clothes too, and say—‘Run away, +Fung,’ 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—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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am afraid you are wrong there, my boy,” I said, “out of +the frying-pan into the fire, that’s all.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.”) +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” went on Roderick, “read that book ever since, and, as +you see, all my English come back.” +</p> + +<p> +“The question is,” said Higgs, evidently in haste to talk of +something else, “will the Fung come back?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But Harmac has come to Mur, Roderick,” I said; “at least his +head has fallen on to the cliff that overlooks the city.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“By whose order?” +</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> +“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!” +</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’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> +“I go whither I am ordered,” he answered, “for there is one +here greater than I.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the wrath of Maqueda blazed up. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +We tried to interfere, but she would not listen, even to Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you plead for your brother’s murderer?” she asked, +alluding to Quick. “I have spoken!” +</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> +“March on!” said Maqueda, “and gain the palace.” +</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’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’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> +“So you are here,” I said, taking his hand. “I thought I +dreamed.” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +Just then some of Maqueda’s ladies brought food, and at her bidding we +breakfasted. +</p> + +<p> +“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— +</p> + +<p> +“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> +“Written by order of the Council, +</p> + +<p> +“Joshua, Prince of the Abati.” +</p> + +<p> +“What answer shall I send?” she asked, looking at us curiously. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“How can I?” he answered, flushing, and was silent. +</p> + +<p> +“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— +</p> + +<p> +“To my rebellious People of the Abati: +</p> + +<p> +“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> +“Walda Nagasta.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean, O Maqueda,” I asked, “about the counsel +that came to you in the watches of the night?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless all will come to pass as you say, Walda Nagasta,” said +Roderick with conviction. “The day of the Abati is finished.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why do you say that, Son?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +As for Orme, he only said: +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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. +</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’ 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. +</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—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 “No,” but some were silent, and +one old captain advanced, saluted, and spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +Maqueda considered awhile before she replied, and said slowly: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” 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> +“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.” +</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’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’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> +“Look at that shooting star,” I said to Oliver, who was at my side. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</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—that is, practically +everywhere—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’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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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—I thought it was that +of Joshua—yell: +</p> + +<p> +“Kill whom you will, my children, but death to him who harms the Child of +Kings. She is my spoil!” +</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’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. +</p> + +<p> +It was at the commencement of this terrific scene that I shot the foul-mouthed +singer. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think they will look for us here, anyway,” I +answered. +</p> + +<p> +Then we watched awhile in silence. +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” said Orme at length, taking Maqueda by the hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are you going, O Oliver?” she asked, hanging back. +“Sooner will I burn than yield to Joshua.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I obey,” 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’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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she was gone, leaving Orme staring after her like a man in a trance. +</p> + +<p> +“I daresay they will,” remarked Higgs <i>sotto voce</i> 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 <i>us</i> who +haven’t got a charming lady to see us across the Styx.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</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’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: “Want to come up, please. This place is not pleasant.” +</p> + +<p> +We pulled him out and asked what he had found. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing good to eat,” he answered, “only plenty of dead +bones and one rat that ran up my leg.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“The Fung would take us there,” suggested Higgs. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” broke in Roderick, “Fung all gone, or if they do, +anything better than this black hole, yes, even my wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let us look,” 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> +“What vandalism!” exclaimed Higgs, indignant even in his misery. +“Why wouldn’t you let me move the things when I wanted to, +Orme?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“What on earth are you doing that for, Higgs?” I asked petulantly, +as he finished off another case, I think it was his twentieth. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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. +</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> +“Light it, Japhet,” said Maqueda, “it is dark in this +place.” +</p> + +<p> +“O Child of Kings,” answered the man, “I would obey if I +could, but there is no more oil.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you are here now,” said Oliver. “Have you anything to +report?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +But Maqueda only shook her head, whereon he turned to Orme and went on: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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—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> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“The Fung wizards say that the sphinx Harmac once wore a hat, but, my +father, I do not know if he had spectacles.” +</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> +“I say, old fellow,” he said, “are we alive, or is this +Hades?” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t be Hades,” I answered, “because there are Abati +here.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Orme raised himself on his hand and stared at us. +</p> + +<p> +“Where’s Maqueda?” he asked, a question to which of course, +we could give no answer, till presently Roderick woke also and said: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’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> +“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.” +</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, “Give us the +Gentiles! Give us the Gentiles! We are tired of waiting,” 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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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——!” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What other thing, Roderick?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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’s badge. They were headed by an officer of his +household, who commanded us to rise and follow him. +</p> + +<p> +“Where to?” asked Orme. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes,” I answered, “but I remember also that Prince +Joshua is in love with her, and that she is his prisoner.” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I daresay, my boy,” I answered, “but I am afraid that +won’t help us.” +</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> +“Thank God, she’s safe!” muttered Oliver with a gasp of +relief. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” answered Higgs, “but what’s she doing there? She +ought to be in the dock, too, not on the Bench.” +</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, “They plead guilty! Give them to +death!” and so forth, while the judges rising from their seats, gathered +round Maqueda and consulted her. +</p> + +<p> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“If you were anywhere else you should answer for that slander!” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +We heard and gasped, Higgs ejaculating, “Good gracious, what a +lie!” But none of the rest of us said anything. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +Now the mob gathered in the hall shouted in exultation, though I heard some +crying out, “No, kill them! Kill them!” +</p> + +<p> +When the tumult had died down Maqueda spoke again saying: +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing at all! Nothing at all!” they shouted. “Tie it to +their tails and let them go!” +</p> + +<p> +“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: +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“I say, isn’t this downright awful? I’d rather be back in the +den of lions than live to see it.” +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“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?” +</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> +“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.” +</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’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> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</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’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> +“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?” +</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> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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’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 “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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you mad?” 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> +“Perhaps my wife with them, so I no want to go that way, father,” +he added with sincere simplicity. +</p> + +<p> +“Where could they be travelling?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know,” he answered, “but think they go round to +attack Mur from other side, or perhaps to find new land to north.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</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> +“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.” +</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> +“Let us go to tell Orme,” 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’s marriage. On the contrary, he was standing on a +little knoll staring at the distant mountains and the glow above them. +</p> + +<p> +“Mur is on fire,” he said solemnly. “Oh, my God, Mur is on +fire!” and turning he walked away. +</p> + +<p> +Just then Roderick joined us. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Poor Maqueda!” I said to Higgs, “what will happen to +her?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +But I only repeated, “Poor Maqueda!” +</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> +“Where are they?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“There, there,” 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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +The rider reached us, and slipping from the horse, stood still. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” asked Oliver, scanning the cloaked form. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“How did you come by this?” he asked hoarsely. “Is she who +alone may wear it dead?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Oliver covered his face with his hands and turned away. +</p> + +<p> +“But,” went on the speaker slowly, “the woman Maqueda whom +once it is said you loved——” +</p> + +<p> +He dropped his hands and stared. +</p> + +<p> +“——the woman Maqueda whom once it is said +you—loved—still lives.” +</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> +“My Lord Oliver,” asked Maqueda presently, “do you accept my +offering of Queen Sheba’s ring?” +</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, “Now I have you in my net; now you are +mine.” +</p> + +<p> +Then I answered Joshua, “Fool, your net is of air; I will fly through +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Now I looked this way and that, and found that there was no escape. So I made a +bargain. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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—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, “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!” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</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> +“Greeting, Child of Kings,” he said. “You see Harmac is come +to sleep at Mur.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not so,” I answered; “but in place of that promise I ask of +you three things.” +</p> + +<p> +“Name them,” said Barung. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” I answered boldly, “I go after the Western men; I who +have done with these Abati. I wish to see new lands.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, Barung, I was about to take <i>this</i> husband to my +breast,” and I showed him the knife that was hidden in my marriage robe. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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—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: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</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--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK QUEEN SHEBA’S RING ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. 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