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diff --git a/old/5228.txt b/old/5228.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f7c20c8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/5228.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12480 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ayesha, by H. Rider Haggard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ayesha + The Further History of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed + +Author: H. Rider Haggard + +Release Date: April 22, 2006 [EBook #5228] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AYESHA *** + + + + +Produced by David Moynihan; Dagny; John Bickers + + + + + +AYESHA + +THE RETURN OF SHE + +By H. Rider Haggard + + + "Here ends this history so far as it concerns science and the + outside world. What its end will be as regards Leo and myself is + more than I can guess. But we feel that it is not reached. . . . + Often I sit alone at night, staring with the eyes of my mind into + the blackness of unborn time, and wondering in what shape and form + the great drama will be finally developed, and where the scene of + its next act will be laid. And when, ultimately, that _final_ + development occurs, as I have no doubt it must and will occur, in + obedience to a fate that never swerves and a purpose which cannot + be altered, what will be the part played therein by that beautiful + Egyptian Amenar-tas, the Princess of the royal house of the + Pharaohs, for the love of whom the priest Kallikrates broke his + vows to Isis, and, pursued by the vengeance of the outraged + goddess, fled down the coast of Lybia to meet his doom at Kor?"-- + _She_, Silver Library Edition, p. 277. + + +DEDICATION + +My dear Lang, + +The appointed years--alas! how many of them--are gone by, leaving Ayesha +lovely and loving and ourselves alive. As it was promised in the Caves +of Kor _She_ has returned again. + +To you therefore who accepted the first, I offer this further history of +one of the various incarnations of that Immortal. + +My hope is that after you have read her record, notwithstanding her +subtleties and sins and the shortcomings of her chronicler (no easy +office!) you may continue to wear your chain of "loyalty to our lady +Ayesha." Such, I confess, is still the fate of your old friend + +H. RIDER HAGGARD. + +DITCHINGHAM, 1905. + + + + +AUTHOR'S NOTE + +Not with a view of conciliating those readers who on principle object to +sequels, but as a matter of fact, the Author wishes to say that he does +not so regard this book. + +Rather does he venture to ask that it should be considered as the +conclusion of an imaginative tragedy (if he may so call it) whereof one +half has been already published. + +This conclusion it was always his desire to write should he be destined +to live through those many years which, in obedience to his original +design, must be allowed to lapse between the events of the first and +second parts of the romance. + +In response to many enquiries he may add that the name Ayesha, which +since the days of the prophet Mahomet, who had a wife so called, and +perhaps before them, has been common in the East, should be pronounced +_Assha_. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +Verily and indeed it is the unexpected that happens! Probably if there +was one person upon the earth from whom the Editor of this, and of a +certain previous history, did not expect to hear again, that person was +Ludwig Horace Holly. This, too, for a good reason; he believed him to +have taken his departure from the earth. + +When Mr. Holly last wrote, many, many years ago, it was to transmit the +manuscript of _She_, and to announce that he and his ward, Leo Vincey, +the beloved of the divine Ayesha, were about to travel to Central Asia +in the hope, I suppose, that there she would fulfil her promise and +appear to them again. + +Often I have wondered, idly enough, what happened to them there; whether +they were dead, or perhaps droning their lives away as monks in some +Thibetan Lamasery, or studying magic and practising asceticism under +the tuition of the Eastern Masters trusting that thus they would build a +bridge by which they might pass to the side of their adored Immortal. + +Now at length, when I had not thought of them for months, without a +single warning sign, out of the blue as it were, comes the answer to +these wonderings! + +To think--only to think--that I, the Editor aforesaid, from its +appearance suspecting something quite familiar and without interest, +pushed aside that dingy, unregistered, brown-paper parcel directed in an +unknown hand, and for two whole days let it lie forgotten. Indeed there +it might be lying now, had not another person been moved to curiosity, +and opening it, found within a bundle of manuscript badly burned upon +the back, and with this two letters addressed to myself. + +Although so great a time had passed since I saw it, and it was shaky +now because of the author's age or sickness, I knew the writing at +once--nobody ever made an "H" with that peculiar twirl under it except +Mr. Holly. I tore open the sealed envelope, and sure enough the first +thing my eye fell upon was the signature, _L. H. Holly_. It is long +since I read anything so eagerly as I did that letter. Here it is:-- + +"My dear sir,--I have ascertained that you still live, and strange to +say I still live also--for a little while. + +"As soon as I came into touch with civilization again I found a copy of +your book _She_, or rather of my book, and read it--first of all in a +Hindostani translation. My host--he was a minister of some religious +body, a man of worthy but prosaic mind--expressed surprise that a 'wild +romance' should absorb me so much. I answered that those who have wide +experience of the hard facts of life often find interest in romance. Had +he known what were the hard facts to which I alluded, I wonder what that +excellent person would have said? + +"I see that you carried out your part of the business well and +faithfully. Every instruction has been obeyed, nothing has been added or +taken away. Therefore, to you, to whom some twenty years ago I entrusted +the beginning of the history, I wish to entrust its end also. You were +the first to learn of _She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed_, who from century to +century sat alone, clothed with unchanging loveliness in the sepulchres +of Kor, waiting till her lost love was born again, and Destiny brought +him back to her. + +"It is right, therefore, that you should be the first to learn also of +Ayesha, Hesea and Spirit of the Mountain, the priestess of that Oracle +which since the time of Alexander the Great has reigned between the +flaming pillars in the Sanctuary, the last holder of the sceptre of Hes +or Isis upon the earth. It is right also that to you first among men +I should reveal the mystic consummation of the wondrous tragedy which +began at Kor, or perchance far earlier in Egypt and elsewhere. + +"I am very ill; I have struggled back to this old house of mine to die, +and my end is at hand. I have asked the doctor here, after all is over, +to send you the Record, that is unless I change my mind and burn it +first. You will also receive, if you receive anything at all, a case +containing several rough sketches which may be of use to you, and a +_sistrum_, the instrument that has been always used in the worship of +the Nature goddesses of the old Egyptians, Isis and Hathor, which you +will see is as beautiful as it is ancient. I give it to you for two +reasons; as a token of my gratitude and regard, and as the only piece of +evidence that is left to me of the literal truth of what I have written +in the accompanying manuscript, where you will find it often mentioned. +Perhaps also you will value it as a souvenir of, I suppose, the +strangest and loveliest being who ever was, or rather, is. It was her +sceptre, the rod of her power, with which I saw her salute the Shadows +in the Sanctuary, and her gift to me. + +"It has virtues also; some part of Ayesha's might yet haunts the symbol +to which even spirits bowed, but if you should discover them, beware how +they are used. + +"I have neither the strength nor the will to write more. The Record must +speak for itself. Do with it what you like, and believe it or not as you +like. I care nothing who know that it is true. + +"Who and what was Ayesha, nay, what _is_ Ayesha? An incarnate essence, +a materialised spirit of Nature the unforeseeing, the lovely, the cruel +and the immortal; ensouled alone, redeemable only by Humanity and its +piteous sacrifice? Say you! I have done with speculations who depart to +solve these mysteries. + +"_I_ wish you happiness and good fortune. Farewell to you and to all. + +"L. Horace Holly." + + +I laid the letter down, and, filled with sensations that it is useless +to attempt to analyse or describe, opened the second envelope, of which +I also print the contents, omitting only certain irrelevant portions, +and the name of the writer as, it will be noted, he requests me to do. + +This epistle, that was dated from a remote place upon the shores of +Cumberland, ran as follows:-- + +"Dear sir,--As the doctor who attended Mr. Holly in his last illness I +am obliged, in obedience to a promise that I made to him, to become an +intermediary in a some what strange business, although in truth it is +one of which I know very little, however much it may have interested me. +Still I do so only on the strict understanding that no mention is to +be made of my name in connexion with the matter, or of the locality in +which I practise. + +"About ten days ago I was called in to see Mr. Holly at an old house +upon the Cliff that for many years remained untenanted except by the +caretakers, which house was his property, and had been in his family for +generations. The housekeeper who summoned me told me that her master had +but just returned from abroad, somewhere in Asia, she said, and that +he was very ill with his heart--dying, she believed; both of which +suppositions proved to be accurate. + +"I found the patient sitting up in bed (to ease his heart), and a +strange-looking old man he was. He had dark eyes, small but full of fire +and intelligence, a magnificent and snowy-white beard that covered a +chest of extraordinary breadth, and hair also white, which encroached +upon his forehead and face so much that it met the whiskers upon his +cheeks. His arms were remarkable for their length and strength, though +one of them seemed to have been much torn by some animal. He told me +that a dog had done this, but if so it must have been a dog of unusual +power. He was a very ugly man, and yet, forgive the bull, beautiful. I +cannot describe what I mean better than by saying that his face was +not like the face of any ordinary mortal whom I have met in my +limited experience. Were I an artist who wished to portray a wise and +benevolent, but rather grotesque spirit, I should take that countenance +as a model. + +"Mr. Holly was somewhat vexed at my being called in, which had been done +without his knowledge. Soon we became friendly enough, however, and he +expressed gratitude for the relief that I was able to give him, though +I could not hope to do more. At different times he talked a good deal +of the various countries in which he had travelled, apparently for very +many years, upon some strange quest that he never clearly denned to +me. Twice also he became light-headed, and spoke, for the most part in +languages that I identified as Greek and Arabic; occasionally in English +also, when he appeared to be addressing himself to a being who was the +object of his veneration, I might almost say of his worship. What +he said then, however, I prefer not to repeat, for I heard it in my +professional capacity. + +"One day he pointed to a rough box made of some foreign wood (the same +that I have now duly despatched to you by train), and, giving me your +name and address, said that without fail it was to be forwarded to you +after his death. Also he asked me to do up a manuscript, which, like the +box, was to be sent to you. + +"He saw me looking at the last sheets, which had been burned away, and +said (I repeat his exact words)-- + +"'Yes, yes, that can't be helped now, it must go as it is. You see I +made up my mind to destroy it after all, and it was already on the fire +when the command came--the clear, unmistakable command--and I snatched +it off again.' + +"What Mr. Holly meant by this 'command' I do not know, for he would +speak no more of the matter. + +"I pass on to the last scene. One night about eleven o'clock, knowing +that my patient's end was near, I went up to see him, proposing to +inject some strychnine to keep the heart going a little longer. Before +I reached the house I met the caretaker coming to seek me in a great +fright, and asked her if her master was dead. She answered No; but he +was _gone_--had got out of bed and, just as he was, barefooted, left +the house, and was last seen by her grandson among the very Scotch firs +where we were talking. The lad, who was terrified out of his wits, for +he thought that he beheld a ghost, had told her so. + +"The moonlight was very brilliant that night, especially as fresh snow +had fallen, which reflected its rays. I was on foot, and began to search +among the firs, till presently just outside of them I found the track of +naked feet in the snow. Of course I followed, calling to the housekeeper +to go and wake her husband, for no one else lives near by. The spoor +proved very easy to trace across the clean sheet of snow. It ran up the +slope of a hill behind the house. + +"Now, on the crest of this hill is an ancient monument of upright +monoliths set there by some primeval people, known locally as the +Devil's Ring--a sort of miniature Stonehenge in fact. I had seen it +several times, and happened to have been present not long ago at a +meeting of an archaeological society when its origin and purpose were +discussed. I remember that one learned but somewhat eccentric gentleman +read a short paper upon a rude, hooded bust and head that are cut within +the chamber of a tall, flat-topped cromlech, or dolmen, which stands +alone in the centre of the ring. + +"He said that it was a representation of the Egyptian goddess, Isis, and +that this place had once been sacred to some form of her worship, or at +any rate to that of a Nature goddess with like attributes, a suggestion +which the other learned gentlemen treated as absurd. They declared that +Isis had never travelled into Britain, though for my part I do not see +why the Phoenicians, or even the Romans, who adopted her cult, more +or less, should not have brought it here. But I know nothing of such +matters and will not discuss them. + +"I remembered also that Mr. Holly was acquainted with this place, for +he had mentioned it to me on the previous day, asking if the stones were +still uninjured as they used to be when he was young. He added also, and +the remark struck me, that yonder was where he would wish to die. When I +answered that I feared he would never take so long a walk again, I noted +that he smiled a little. + +"Well, this conversation gave me a clue, and without troubling more +about the footprints I went on as fast as I could to the Ring, half a +mile or so away. Presently I reached it, and there--yes, there--standing +by the cromlech, bareheaded, and clothed in his night-things only, +stood Mr. Holly in the snow, the strangest figure, I think, that ever I +beheld. + +"Indeed never shall I forget that wild scene. The circle of rough, +single stones pointing upwards to the star-strewn sky, intensely lonely +and intensely solemn: the tall trilithon towering above them in the +centre, its shadow, thrown by the bright moon behind it, lying long +and black upon the dazzling sheet of snow, and, standing clear of this +shadow so that I could distinguish his every motion, and even the rapt +look upon his dying face, the white-draped figure of Mr. Holly. He +appeared to be uttering some invocation--in Arabic, I think--for long +before I reached him I could catch the tones of his full, sonorous +voice, and see his waving, outstretched arms. In his right hand he held +the looped sceptre which, by his express wish I send to you with the +drawings. I could see the flash of the jewels strung upon the wires, and +in the great stillness, hear the tinkling of its golden bells. + +"Presently, too, I seemed to become aware of another presence, and now +you will understand why I desire and must ask that my identity should +be suppressed. Naturally enough I do not wish to be mixed up with a +superstitious tale which is, on the face of it, impossible and absurd. +Yet under all the circumstances I think it right to tell you that I saw, +or thought I saw, something gather in the shadow of the central dolmen, +or emerge from its rude chamber--I know not which for certain--something +bright and glorious which gradually took the form of a woman upon whose +forehead burned a star-like fire. + +"At any rate the vision or reflection, or whatever it was, startled me +so much that I came to a halt under the lee of one of the monoliths, and +found myself unable even to call to the distraught man whom I pursued. + +"Whilst I stood thus it became clear to me that Mr. Holly also saw +something. At least he turned towards the Radiance in the shadow, +uttered one cry; a wild, glad cry, and stepped forward; then seemed to +fall _through it_ on to his face. + +"When I reached the spot the light had vanished, and all I found was Mr. +Holly, his arms still outstretched, and the sceptre gripped tightly in +his hand, lying quite dead in the shadow of the trilithon." + + +The rest of the doctor's letter need not be quoted as it deals only with +certain very improbable explanations of the origin of this figure of +light, the details of the removal of Holly's body, and of how he managed +to satisfy the coroner that no inquest was necessary. + +The box of which he speaks arrived safely. Of the drawings in it I need +say nothing, and of the _sistrum_ or sceptre only a few words. It was +fashioned of crystal to the well-known shape of the _Crux-ansata_, or +the emblem of life of the Egyptians; the rod, the cross and the loop +combined in one. From side to side of this loop ran golden wires, and on +these were strung gems of three colours, glittering diamonds, sea-blue +sapphires, and blood-red rubies, while to the fourth wire, that at the +top, hung four little golden bells. + +When I took hold of it first my arm shook slightly with excitement, and +those bells began to sound; a sweet, faint music like to that of chimes +heard far away at night in the silence of the sea. I thought too, but +perhaps this was fancy, that a thrill passed from the hallowed and +beautiful thing into my body. + +On the mystery itself, as it is recorded in the manuscript, I make no +comment. Of it and its inner significations every reader must form his +or her own judgment. One thing alone is clear to me--on the hypothesis +that Mr. Holly tells the truth as to what he and Leo Vincey saw +and experienced, which I at least believe--that though sundry +interpretations of this mystery were advanced by Ayesha and others, none +of them are quite satisfactory. + +Indeed, like Mr. Holly, I incline to the theory that She, if I may still +call her by that name although it is seldom given to her in these pages, +put forward some of them, such as the vague Isis-myth, and the wondrous +picture-story of the Mountain-fire, as mere veils to hide the truth +which it was her purpose to reveal at last in that song she never sang. + +The Editor. + + + + + +AYESHA + +The Further History of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE DOUBLE SIGN + +Hard on twenty years have gone by since that night of Leo's vision--the +most awful years, perhaps, which were ever endured by men--twenty years +of search and hardship ending in soul-shaking wonder and amazement. + +My death is very near to me, and of this I am glad, for I desire to +pursue the quest in other realms, as it has been promised to me that I +shall do. I desire to learn the beginning and the end of the spiritual +drama of which it has been my strange lot to read some pages upon earth. + +I, Ludwig Horace Holly, have been very ill; they carried me, more dead +than alive, down those mountains whose lowest slopes I can see from my +window, for I write this on the northern frontiers of India. Indeed any +other man had long since perished, but Destiny kept my breath in me, +perhaps that a record might remain. I must bide here a month or two +till I am strong enough to travel homewards, for I have a fancy to die +in the place where I was born. So while I have strength I will put the +story down, or at least those parts of it that are most essential, for +much can, or at any rate must, be omitted. I shrink from attempting too +long a book, though my notes and memory would furnish me with sufficient +material for volumes. + +I will begin with the Vision. + +After Leo Vincey and I came back from Africa in 1885, desiring solitude, +which indeed we needed sorely to recover from the fearful shock we had +experienced, and to give us time and opportunity to think, we went to an +old house upon the shores of Cumberland that has belonged to my family +for many generations. This house, unless somebody has taken it believing +me to be dead, is still my property and thither I travel to die. + +Those whose eyes read the words I write, if any should ever read them, +may ask--What shock? + +Well, I am Horace Holly, and my companion, my beloved friend, my son in +the spirit whom I reared from infancy was--nay, is--Leo Vincey. + +We are those men who, following an ancient clue, travelled to the Caves +of Kor in Central Africa, and there discovered her whom we sought, +the immortal _She-who-must-be-obeyed_. In Leo she found her love, that +re-born Kallikrates, the Grecian priest of Isis whom some two thousand +years before she had slain in her jealous rage, thus executing on him +the judgment of the angry goddess. In her also I found the divinity whom +I was doomed to worship from afar, not with the flesh, for that is all +lost and gone from me, but, what is sorer still, because its burden +is undying, with the will and soul which animate a man throughout the +countless eons of his being. The flesh dies, or at least it changes, and +its passions pass, but that other passion of the spirit--that longing +for oneness--is undying as itself. + +What crime have I committed that this sore punishment should be laid +upon me? Yet, in truth, is it a punishment? May it not prove to be +but that black and terrible Gate which leads to the joyous palace of +Rewards? She swore that I should ever be her friend and his and dwell +with them eternally, and I believe her. + +For how many winters did we wander among the icy hills and deserts! +Still, at length, the Messenger came and led us to the Mountain, and on +the Mountain we found the Shrine, and in the Shrine the Spirit. May not +these things be an allegory prepared for our instruction? I will take +comfort. I will hope that it is so. Nay, I am sure that it is so. + +It will be remembered that in Kor we found the immortal woman. There +before the flashing rays and vapours of the Pillar of Life she declared +her mystic love, and then in our very sight was swept to a doom so +horrible that even now, after all which has been and gone, I shiver at +its recollection. Yet what were Ayesha's last words? "_Forget me +not . . . have pity on my shame. I die not. I shall come again and shall +once more be beautiful. I swear it--it is true._" + +Well, I cannot set out that history afresh. Moreover it is written; the +man whom I trusted in the matter did not fail me, and the book he made +of it seems to be known throughout the world, for I have found it here +in English, yes, and read it first translated into Hindostani. To it +then I refer the curious. + +In that house upon the desolate sea-shore of Cumberland, we dwelt a +year, mourning the lost, seeking an avenue by which it might be found +again and discovering none. Here our strength came back to us, and Leo's +hair, that had been whitened in the horror of the Caves, grew again from +grey to golden. His beauty returned to him also, so that his face was as +it had been, only purified and saddened. + +Well I remember that night--and the hour of illumination. We were +heart-broken, we were in despair. We sought signs and could find none. +The dead remained dead to us and no answer came to all our crying. + +It was a sullen August evening, and after we had dined we walked upon +the shore, listening to the slow surge of the waves and watching the +lightning flicker from the bosom of a distant cloud. In silence we +walked, till at last Leo groaned--it was more of a sob than a groan--and +clasped my arm. + +"I can bear it no longer, Horace," he said--for so he called me now--"I +am in torment. The desire to see Ayesha once more saps my brain. Without +hope I shall go quite mad. And I am strong, I may live another fifty +years." + +"What then can you do?" I asked. + +"I can take a short road to knowledge--or to peace," he answered +solemnly, "I can die, and die I will--yes, tonight." + +I turned upon him angrily, for his words filled me with fear. + +"Leo, you are a coward!" I said. "Cannot you bear your part of pain +as--others do?" + +"You mean as you do, Horace," he answered with a dreary laugh, "for on +you also the curse lies--with less cause. Well, you are stronger than I +am, and more tough; perhaps because you have lived longer. No, I cannot +bear it. I will die." + +"It is a crime," I said, "the greatest insult you can offer to the +Power that made you, to cast back its gift of life as a thing outworn, +contemptible and despised. A crime, I say, which will bring with it +worse punishment than any you can dream; perhaps even the punishment of +everlasting separation." + +"Does a man stretched in some torture-den commit a crime if he snatches +a knife and kills himself, Horace? Perhaps; but surely that sin should +find forgiveness--if torn flesh and quivering nerves may plead for +mercy. I am such a man, and I will use that knife and take my chance. +She is dead, and in death at least I shall be nearer her." + +"Why so, Leo? For aught you know Ayesha may be living." + +"No; for then she would have given me some sign. My mind is made up, so +talk no more, or, if talk we must, let it be of other things." + +Then I pleaded with him, though with little hope, for I saw that what I +had feared for long was come to pass. Leo was mad: shock and sorrow +had destroyed his reason. Were it not so, he, in his own way a very +religious man, one who held, as I knew, strict opinions on such matters, +would never have purposed to commit the wickedness of suicide. + +"Leo," I said, "are you so heartless that you would leave me here alone? +Do you pay me thus for all my love and care, and wish to drive me to my +death? Do so if you will, and my blood be on your head." + +"Your blood! Why your blood, Horace?" + +"Because that road is broad and two can travel it. We have lived long +years together and together endured much; I am sure that we shall not be +long parted." + +Then the tables were turned and he grew afraid for me. But I only +answered, "If you die I tell you that I shall die also. It will +certainly kill me." + +So Leo gave way. "Well," he exclaimed suddenly, "I promise you it shall +not be to-night. Let us give life another chance." + +"Good," I answered; but I went to my bed full of fear. For I was certain +that this desire of death, having once taken hold of him, would grow +and grow, until at length it became too strong, and then--then I should +wither and die who could not live on alone. In my despair I threw out my +soul towards that of her who was departed. + +"Ayesha!" I cried, "if you have any power, if in any way it is +permitted, show that you still live, and save your lover from this sin +and me from a broken heart. Have pity on his sorrow and breathe hope +into his spirit, for without hope Leo cannot live, and without him I +shall not live." + +Then, worn out, I slept. + +I was aroused by the voice of Leo speaking to me in low, excited tones +through the darkness. + +"Horace," he said, "Horace, my friend, my father, listen!" + +In an instant I was wide awake, every nerve and fibre of me, for the +tones of his voice told me that something had happened which bore upon +our destinies. + +"Let me light a candle first," I said. + +"Never mind the candle, Horace; I would rather speak in the dark. I went +to sleep, and I dreamed the most vivid dream that ever came to me. I +seemed to stand under the vault of heaven, it was black, black, not a +star shone in it, and a great loneliness possessed me. Then suddenly +high up in the vault, miles and miles away, I saw a little light and +thought that a planet had appeared to keep me company. The light began +to descend slowly, like a floating flake of fire. Down it sank, and down +and down, till it was but just above me, and I perceived that it was +shaped like a tongue or fan of flame. At the height of my head from the +ground it stopped and stood steady, and by its ghostly radiance I saw +that beneath was the shape of a woman and that the flame burned upon her +forehead. The radiance gathered strength and now I saw the woman. + +"Horace, it was Ayesha herself, her eyes, her lovely face, her cloudy +hair, and she looked at me sadly, reproachfully, I thought, as one might +who says, 'Why did you doubt?' + +"I tried to speak to her but my lips were dumb. I tried to advance and +to embrace her, my arms would not move. There was a barrier between us. +She lifted her hand and beckoned as though bidding me to follow her. + +"Then she glided away, and, Horace, my spirit seemed to loose itself +from the body and to be given the power to follow. We passed swiftly +eastward, over lands and seas, and--I knew the road. At one point +she paused and I looked downwards. Beneath, shining in the moonlight, +appeared the ruined palaces of Kor, and there not far away was the gulf +we trod together. + +"Onward above the marshes, and now we stood upon the Ethiopian's Head, +and gathered round, watching us earnestly, were the faces of the Arabs, +our companions who drowned in the sea beneath. Job was among them also, +and he smiled at me sadly and shook his head, as though he wished to +accompany us and could not. + +"Across the sea again, across the sandy deserts, across more sea, and +the shores of India lay beneath us. Then northward, ever northward, +above the plains, till we reached a place of mountains capped with +eternal snow. We passed them and stayed for an instant above a building +set upon the brow of a plateau. It was a monastery, for old monks droned +prayers upon its terrace. I shall know it again, for it is built in the +shape of a half-moon and in front of it sits the gigantic, ruined statue +of a god who gazes everlastingly across the desert. I knew, how I cannot +say, that now we were far past the furthest borders of Thibet and that +in front of us lay untrodden lands. More mountains stretched beyond that +desert, a sea of snowy peaks, hundreds and hundreds of them. + +"Near to the monastery, jutting out into the plain like some rocky +headland, rose a solitary hill, higher than all behind. We stood upon +its snowy crest and waited, till presently, above the mountains and the +desert at our feet shot a sudden beam of light that beat upon us like +some signal flashed across the sea. On we went, floating down the +beam--on over the desert and the mountains, across a great flat land +beyond, in which were many villages and a city on a mound, till we lit +upon a towering peak. Then I saw that this peak was loop-shaped like the +symbol of Life of the Egyptians--the _crux-ansata_--and supported by +a lava stem hundreds of feet in height. Also I saw that the fire which +shone through it rose from the crater of a volcano beyond. Upon the very +crest of this loop we rested a while, till the Shadow of Ayesha pointed +downward with its hand, smiled and vanished. Then I awoke. + +"Horace, I tell you that the sign has come to us." + +His voice died away in the darkness, but I sat still, brooding over what +I had heard. Leo groped his way to me and, seizing my arm, shook it. + +"Are you asleep?" he asked angrily. "Speak, man, speak!" + +"No," I answered, "never was I more awake. Give me time." + +Then I rose, and going to the open window, drew up the blind and stood +there staring at the sky, which grew pearl-hued with the first faint +tinge of dawn. Leo came also and leant upon the window-sill, and I could +feel that his body was trembling as though with cold. Clearly he was +much moved. + +"You talk of a sign," I said to him, "but in your sign I see nothing but +a wild dream." + +"It was no dream," he broke in fiercely; "it was a vision." + +"A vision then if you will, but there are visions true and false, and +how can we know that this is true? Listen, Leo. What is there in all +that wonderful tale which could not have been fashioned in your own +brain, distraught as it is almost to madness with your sorrow and your +longings? You dreamed that you were alone in the vast universe. Well, is +not every living creature thus alone? You dreamed that the shadowy shape +of Ayesha came to you. Has it ever left your side? You dreamed that she +led you over sea and land, past places haunted by your memory, above the +mysterious mountains of the Unknown to an undiscovered peak. Does she +not thus lead you through life to that peak which lies beyond the Gates +of Death? You dreamed----" + +"Oh! no more of it," he exclaimed. "What I saw, I saw, and that I shall +follow. Think as you will, Horace, and do what you will. To-morrow I +start for India, with you if you choose to come; if not, without you." + +"You speak roughly, Leo," I said. "You forget that _I_ have had no sign, +and that the nightmare of a man so near to insanity that but a few hours +ago he was determined upon suicide, will be a poor staff to lean on when +we are perishing in the snows of Central Asia. A mixed vision, this of +yours, Leo, with its mountain peak shaped like a _crux-ansata_ and the +rest. Do you suggest that Ayesha is re-incarnated in Central Asia--as a +female Grand Lama or something of that sort?" + +"I never thought of it, but why not?" asked Leo quietly. "Do you +remember a certain scene in the Caves of Kor yonder, when the living +looked upon the dead, and dead and living were the same? And do you +remember what Ayesha swore, that she would come again--yes, to this +world; and how could that be except by re-birth, or, what is the same +thing, by the transmigration of the spirit?" + +I did not answer this argument. I was struggling with myself. + +"No sign has come to me," I said, "and yet I have had a part in the +play, humble enough, I admit, and I believe that I have still a part." + +"No," he said, "no sign has come to you. I wish that it had. Oh! how I +wish you could be convinced as I am, Horace!" + +Then we were silent for a long while, silent, with our eyes fixed upon +the sky. + +It was a stormy dawn. Clouds in fantastic masses hung upon the ocean. +One of them was like a great mountain, and we watched it idly. It +changed its shape, the crest of it grew hollow like a crater. From this +crater sprang a projecting cloud, a rough pillar with a knob or lump +resting on its top. Suddenly the rays of the risen sun struck upon this +mountain and the column and they turned white like snow. Then as though +melted by those fiery arrows, the centre of the excrescence above the +pillar thinned out and vanished, leaving an enormous loop of inky cloud. + +"Look," said Leo in a low, frightened voice, "that is the shape of the +mountain which I saw in my vision. There upon it is the black loop, and +there through it shines the fire. _It would seem that the sign is for +both of us, Horace._" + +I looked and looked again till presently the vast loop vanished into the +blue of heaven. Then I turned and said--"I will come with you to Central +Asia, Leo." + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LAMASERY + +Sixteen years had passed since that night vigil in the old Cumberland +house, and, behold! we two, Leo and I, were still travelling, still +searching for that mountain peak shaped like the Symbol of Life which +never, never could be found. + +Our adventures would fill volumes, but of what use is it to record them. +Many of a similar nature are already written of in books; those that we +endured were more prolonged, that is all. Five years we spent in Thibet, +for the most part as guests of various monasteries, where we studied the +law and traditions of the Lamas. Here we were once sentenced to death in +punishment for having visited a forbidden city, but escaped through the +kindness of a Chinese official. + +Leaving Thibet, we wandered east and west and north, thousands and +thousands of miles, sojourning amongst many tribes in Chinese territory +and elsewhere, learning many tongues, enduring much hardship. Thus we +would hear a legend of a place, say nine hundred miles away, and spend +two years in reaching it, to find when we came there, nothing. + +And so the time went on. Yet never once did we think of giving up the +quest and returning, since, before we started, we had sworn an oath that +we would achieve or die. Indeed we ought to have died a score of times, +yet always were preserved, most mysteriously preserved. + +Now we were in country where, so far as I could learn, no European had +ever set a foot. In a part of the vast land called Turkestan there is a +great lake named Balhkash, of which we visited the shores. Two hundred +miles or so to the westward is a range of mighty mountains marked on the +maps as Arkarty-Tau, on which we spent a year, and five hundred or so miles to +the eastward are other mountains called Cherga, whither we journeyed at +last, having explored the triple ranges of the Tau. + +Here it was that at last our true adventures began. On one of the spurs +of these awful Cherga mountains--it is unmarked on any map--we well-nigh +perished of starvation. The winter was coming on and we could find no +game. The last traveller we had met, hundreds of miles south, told us +that on that range was a monastery inhabited by Lamas of surpassing +holiness. He said that they dwelt in this wild land, over which no power +claimed dominion and where no tribes lived, to acquire "merit," with no +other company than that of their own pious contemplations. We did not +believe in its existence, still we were searching for that monastery, +driven onward by the blind fatalism which was our only guide through +all these endless wanderings. As we were starving and could find no +"argals," that is fuel with which to make a fire, we walked all night by +the light of the moon, driving between us a single yak--for now we had +no attendant, the last having died a year before. + +He was a noble beast, that yak, and had the best constitution of any +animal I ever knew, though now, like his masters, he was near his end. +Not that he was over-laden, for a few rifle cartridges, about a hundred +and fifty, the remnant of a store which we had fortunately been able to +buy from a caravan two years before, some money in gold and silver, a +little tea and a bundle of skin rugs and sheepskin garments were his +burden. On, on we trudged across a plateau of snow, having the great +mountains on our right, till at length the yak gave a sigh and stopped. +So we stopped also, because we must, and wrapping ourselves in the skin +rugs, sat down in the snow to wait for daylight. + +"We shall have to kill him and eat his flesh raw," I said, patting the +poor yak that lay patiently at our side. + +"Perhaps we may find game in the morning," answered Leo, still hopeful. + +"And perhaps we may not, in which case we must die." + +"Very good," he replied, "then let us die. It is the last resource of +failure. We shall have done our best." + +"Certainly, Leo, we shall have done our best, if sixteen years of +tramping over mountains and through eternal snows in pursuit of a dream +of the night can be called best." + +"You know what I believe," he answered stubbornly, and there was silence +between us, for here arguments did not avail. Also even then I could not +think that all our toils and sufferings would be in vain. + +The dawn came, and by its light we looked at one another anxiously, +each of us desiring to see what strength was left to his companion. Wild +creatures we should have seemed to the eyes of any civilized person. +Leo was now over forty years of age, and certainly his maturity had +fulfilled the promise of his youth, for a more magnificent man I never +knew. Very tall, although he seemed spare to the eye, his girth matched +his height, and those many years of desert life had turned his muscles +to steel. His hair had grown long, like my own, for it was a protection +from sun and cold, and hung upon his neck, a curling, golden mane, as +his great beard hung upon his breast, spreading outwards almost to +the massive shoulders. The face, too--what could be seen of it--was +beautiful though burnt brown with weather; refined and full of thought, +sombre almost, and in it, clear as crystal, steady as stars, shone his +large grey eyes. + +And I--I was what I have always been--ugly and hirsute, iron-grey now +also, but in spite of my sixty odd years, still wonderfully strong, for +my strength seemed to increase with time, and my health was perfect. In +fact, during all this period of rough travels, although now and again +we had met with accidents which laid us up for awhile, neither of us +had known a day of sickness. Hardship seemed to have turned our +constitutions to iron and made them impervious to every human ailment. +Or was this because we alone amongst living men had once inhaled the +breath of the Essence of Life? + +Our fears relieved--for notwithstanding our foodless night, as yet +neither of us showed any signs of exhaustion--we turned to contemplate +the landscape. At our feet beyond a little belt of fertile soil, began +a great desert of the sort with which we were familiar--sandy, +salt-encrusted, treeless, waterless, and here and there streaked with +the first snows of winter. Beyond it, eighty or a hundred miles away--in +that lucent atmosphere it was impossible to say how far exactly--rose +more mountains, a veritable sea of them, of which the white peaks soared +upwards by scores. + +As the golden rays of the rising sun touched their snows to splendour, +I saw Leo's eyes become troubled. Swiftly he turned and looked along the +edge of the desert. + +"See there!" he said, pointing to something dim and enormous. Presently +the light reached it also. It was a mighty mountain not more than ten +miles away, that stood out by itself among the sands. Then he turned +once more, and with his back to the desert stared at the slope of the +hills, along the base of which we had been travelling. As yet they were +in gloom, for the sun was behind them, but presently light began to flow +over their crests like a flood. Down it crept, lower, and yet lower, +till it reached a little plateau not three hundred yards above us. +There, on the edge of the plateau, looking out solemnly across the +waste, sat a great ruined idol, a colossal Buddha, while to the rear of +the idol, built of yellow stone, appeared the low crescent-shaped mass +of a monastery. + +"At last!" cried Leo, "oh, Heaven! at last!" and, flinging himself down, +he buried his face in the snow as though to hide it there, lest I should +read something written on it which he did not desire that even I should +see. + +I let him lie a space, understanding what was passing in his heart, +and indeed in mine also. Then going to the yak that, poor brute, had +no share in these joyous emotions but only lowed and looked round with +hungry eyes, I piled the sheepskin rugs on to its back. This done, I +laid my hand on Leo's shoulder, saying, in the most matter-of-fact voice +I could command--"Come. If that place is not deserted, we may find food +and shelter there, and it is beginning to storm again." + +He rose without a word, brushed the snow from his beard and garments and +came to help me to lift the yak to its feet, for the worn-out beast was +too stiff and weak to rise of itself. Glancing at him covertly, I saw +on Leo's face a very strange and happy look; a great peace appeared to +possess him. + +We plunged upwards through the snow slope, dragging the yak with us, to +the terrace whereon the monastery was built. Nobody seemed to be about +there, nor could I discern any footprints. Was the place but a ruin? We +had found many such; indeed this ancient land is full of buildings that +had once served as the homes of men, learned and pious enough after +their own fashion, who lived and died hundreds, or even thousands, of +years ago, long before our Western civilization came into being. + +My heart, also my stomach, which was starving, sank at the thought, +but while I gazed doubtfully, a little coil of blue smoke sprang from +a chimney, and never, I think, did I see a more joyful sight. In the +centre of the edifice was a large building, evidently the temple, but +nearer to us I saw a small door, almost above which the smoke appeared. +To this door I went and knocked, calling aloud--"Open! open, holy +Lamas. Strangers seek your charity." After awhile there was a sound of +shuffling feet and the door creaked upon its hinges, revealing an old, +old man, clad in tattered, yellow garments. + +"Who is it? Who is it?" he exclaimed, blinking at me through a pair of +horn spectacles. "Who comes to disturb our solitude, the solitude of the +holy Lamas of the Mountains?" + +"Travellers, Sacred One, who have had enough of solitude," I answered in +his own dialect, with which I was well acquainted. "Travellers who are +starving and who ask your charity, which," I added, "by the Rule you +cannot refuse." + +He stared at us through his horn spectacles, and, able to make nothing +of our faces, let his glance fall to our garments which were as ragged +as his own, and of much the same pattern. Indeed, they were those of +Thibetan monks, including a kind of quilted petticoat and an outer +vestment not unlike an Eastern burnous. We had adopted them because we +had no others. Also they protected us from the rigours of the climate +and from remark, had there been any to remark upon them. + +"Are you Lamas?" he asked doubtfully, "and if so, of what monastery?" + +"Lamas sure enough," I answered, "who belong to a monastery called the +World, where, alas! one grows hungry." + +The reply seemed to please him, for he chuckled a little, then shook his +head, saying--"It is against our custom to admit strangers unless they +be of our own faith, which I am sure you are not." + +"And much more is it against your Rule, holy Khubilghan," for so these +abbots are entitled, "to suffer strangers to starve"; and I quoted a +well-known passage from the sayings of Buddha which fitted the point +precisely. + +"I perceive that you are instructed in the Books," he exclaimed with +wonder on his yellow, wrinkled face, "and to such we cannot refuse +shelter. Come in, brethren of the monastery called the World. But stay, +there is the yak, who also has claims upon our charity," and, turning, +he struck upon a gong or bell which hung within the door. + +At the sound another man appeared, more wrinkled and to all appearance +older than the first, who stared at us open-mouthed. + +"Brother," said the abbot, "shut that great mouth of yours lest an evil +spirit should fly down it; take this poor yak and give it fodder with +the other cattle." + +So we unstrapped our belongings from the back of the beast, and the old +fellow whose grandiloquent title was "Master of the Herds," led it away. + +When it had gone, not too willingly--for our faithful friend disliked +parting from us and distrusted this new guide--the abbot, who was +named Kou-en, led us into the living room or rather the kitchen of the +monastery, for it served both purposes. Here we found the rest of the +monks, about twelve in all, gathered round the fire of which we had seen +the smoke, and engaged, one of them in preparing the morning meal, and +the rest in warming themselves. + +They were all old men; the youngest could not have been less than +sixty-five. To these we were solemnly introduced as "Brethren of the +Monastery called the World, where folk grow hungry," for the abbot +Kou-en could not make up his mind to part from this little joke. + +They stared at us, they rubbed their thin hands, they bowed and wished +us well and evidently were delighted at our arrival. This was not +strange, however, seeing that ours were the first new faces which they +had seen for four long years. + +Nor did they stop at words, for while they made water hot for us to wash +in, two of them went to prepare a room--and others drew off our rough +hide boots and thick outer garments and brought us slippers for our +feet. Then they led us to the guest chamber, which they informed us was +a "propitious place," for once it had been slept in by a noted saint. +Here a fire was lit, and, wonder of wonders! clean garments, including +linen, all of them ancient and faded, but of good quality, were brought +for us to put on. + +So we washed--yes, actually washed all over--and having arrayed +ourselves in the robes, which were somewhat small for Leo, struck the +bell that hung in the room and were conducted by a monk who answered it, +back to the kitchen, where the meal was now served. It consisted of a +kind of porridge, to which was added new milk brought in by the "Master +of the Herds," dried fish from a lake, and buttered tea, the last two +luxuries produced in our special honour. Never had food tasted more +delicious to us, and, I may add, never did we eat more. Indeed, at last +I was obliged to request Leo to stop, for I saw the monks staring at him +and heard the old abbot chuckling to himself. + +"Oho! The Monastery of the World, where folk grow _hungry_," to which +another monk, who was called the "Master of the Provisions," replied +uneasily, that if we went on like this, their store of food would +scarcely last the winter. So we finished at length, feeling, as some +book of maxims which I can remember in my youth said all polite people +should do--that we could eat more, and much impressed our hosts by +chanting a long Buddhist grace. + +"Their feet are in the Path! Their feet are in the Path!" they said, +astonished. + +"Yes," replied Leo, "they have been in it for sixteen years of our +present incarnation. But we are only beginners, for you, holy Ones, know +how star-high, how ocean-wide and how desert-long is that path. Indeed +it is to be instructed as to the right way of walking therein that we +have been miraculously directed by a dream to seek you out, as the most +pious, the most saintly and the most learned of all the Lamas in these +parts." + +"Yes, certainly we are that," answered the abbot Kou-en, "seeing that +there is no other monastery within five months' journey," and again he +chuckled, "though, alas!" he added with a pathetic little sigh, "our +numbers grow few." + +After this we asked leave to retire to our chamber in order to rest, and +there, upon very good imitations of beds, we slept solidly for four and +twenty hours, rising at last perfectly refreshed and well. + +Such was our introduction to the Monastery of the Mountains--for it had +no other name--where we were destined to spend the next six months of +our lives. Within a few days--for they were not long in giving us their +complete confidence--those good-hearted and simple old monks told us all +their history. + +It seemed that of old time there was a Lamasery here, in which dwelt +several hundred brethren. This, indeed, was obviously true, for the +place was enormous, although for the most part ruined, and, as the +weather-worn statue of Buddha showed, very ancient. The story ran, +according to the old abbot, that two centuries or so before, the monks +had been killed out by some fierce tribe who lived beyond the desert and +across the distant mountains, which tribe were heretics and worshippers +of fire. Only a few of them escaped to bring the sad news to other +communities, and for five generations no attempt was made to re-occupy +the place. + +At length it was revealed to him, our friend Kou-en, when a young man, +that he was a re-incarnation of one of the old monks of this monastery, +who also was named Kou-en, and that it was his duty during his present +life to return thither, as by so doing he would win much merit and +receive many wonderful revelations. So he gathered a band of zealots +and, with the blessing and consent of his superiors, they started out, +and after many hardships and losses found and took possession of the +place, repairing it sufficiently for their needs. + +This happened about fifty years before, and here they had dwelt ever +since, only communicating occasionally with the outside world. At first +their numbers were recruited from time to time by new brethren, but +at length these ceased to come, with the result that the community was +dying out. + +"And what then?" I asked. + +"And then," the abbot answered, "nothing. _We_ have acquired much merit; +we have been blest with many revelations, and, after the repose we have +earned in Devachan, our lots in future existences will be easier. What +more can we ask or desire, removed as we are from all the temptations of +the world?" + +For the rest, in the intervals of their endless prayers, and still more +endless contemplations, they were husbandmen, cultivating the soil, +which was fertile at the foot of the mountain, and tending their herd of +yaks. Thus they wore away their blameless lives until at last they died +of old age, and, as they believed--and who shall say that they were +wrong--the eternal round repeated itself elsewhere. + +Immediately after, indeed on the very day of our arrival at the +monastery the winter began in earnest with bitter cold and snowstorms +so heavy and frequent that all the desert was covered deep. Very soon it +became obvious to us that here we must stay until the spring, since +to attempt to move in any direction would be to perish. With some +misgivings we explained this to the abbot Kou-en, offering to remove to +one of the empty rooms in the ruined part of the building, supporting +ourselves with fish that we could catch by cutting a hole in the ice of +the lake above the monastery, and if we were able to find any, on game, +which we might trap or shoot in the scrub-like forest of stunted pines +and junipers that grew around its border. But he would listen to no such +thing. We had been sent to be their guests, he said, and their guests +we should remain for so long as might be convenient to us. Would we lay +upon them the burden of the sin of inhospitality? Besides, he remarked +with his chuckle--"We who dwell alone like to hear about that other +great monastery called the World, where the monks are not so favoured as +we who are set in this blessed situation, and where folk even go hungry +in body, and," he added, "in soul." + +Indeed, as we soon found out, the dear old man's object was to keep our +feet in the Path until we reached the goal of Truth, or, in other words, +became excellent Lamas like himself and his flock. + +So we walked in the Path, as we had done in many another Lamasery, +and assisted at the long prayers in the ruined temple and studied the +_Kandjur_, or "Translation of the Words" of Buddha, which is their bible +and a very long one, and generally showed that our "minds were open." +Also we expounded to them the doctrines of our own faith, and greatly +delighted were they to find so many points of similarity between it and +theirs. Indeed, I am not certain but that if we could have stopped there +long enough, say ten years, we might have persuaded some of them to +accept a new revelation of which we were the prophets. Further, in spare +hours we told them many tales of "the Monastery called the World," and +it was really delightful, and in a sense piteous, to see the joy with +which they listened to these stories of wondrous countries and new races +of men; they who knew only of Russia and China and some semi-savage +tribes, inhabitants of the mountains and the deserts. + +"It is right for us to learn all this," they declared, "for, who knows, +perhaps in future incarnations we may become inhabitants of these +places." + +But though the time passed thus in comfort and indeed, compared to many +of our experiences, in luxury, oh! our hearts were hungry, for in them +burned the consuming fire of our quest. We felt that we were on the +threshold--yes, we knew it, we knew it, and yet our wretched physical +limitations made it impossible for us to advance by a single step. On +the desert beneath fell the snow, moreover great winds arose suddenly +that drove those snows like dust, piling them in heaps as high as trees, +beneath which any unfortunate traveller would be buried. Here we must +wait, there was nothing else to be done. + +One alleviation we found, and only one. In a ruined room of the +monastery was a library of many volumes, placed there, doubtless, by the +monks who were massacred in times bygone. These had been more or less +cared for and re-arranged by their successors, who gave us liberty to +examine them as often as we pleased. Truly it was a strange collection, +and I should imagine of priceless value, for among them were to be found +Buddhistic, Sivaistic and Shamanistic writings that we had never before +seen or heard of, together with the lives of a multitude of Bodhisatvas, +or distinguished saints, written in various tongues, some of which we +did not understand. + +What proved more interesting to us, however, was a diary in many tomes +that for generations had been kept by the Khubilghans or abbots of the +old Lamasery, in which every event of importance was recorded in great +detail. Turning over the pages of one of the last volumes of this +diary, written apparently about two hundred and fifty years earlier, and +shortly before the destruction of the monastery, we came upon an +entry of which the following--for I can only quote from memory--is the +substance-- + +"In the summer of this year, after a very great sandstorm, a brother +(the name was given, but I forget it) found in the desert a man of the +people who dwell beyond the Far Mountains, of whom rumours have reached +this Lamasery from time to time. He was living, but beside him were the +bodies of two of his companions who had been overwhelmed by sand and +thirst. He was very fierce looking. He refused to say how he came into +the desert, telling us only that he had followed the road known to the +ancients before communication between his people and the outer world +ceased. We gathered, however, that his brethren with whom he fled had +committed some crime for which they had been condemned to die, and that +he had accompanied them in their flight. He told us that there was a +fine country beyond the mountains, fertile, but plagued with droughts +and earthquakes, which latter, indeed, we often feel here. + +"The people of that country were, he said, warlike and very numerous but +followed agriculture. They had always lived there, though ruled by Khans +who were descendants of the Greek king called Alexander, who conquered +much country to the south-west of us. This may be true, as our records +tell us that about two thousand years ago an army sent by that invader +penetrated to these parts, though of his being with them nothing is +said. + +"The stranger-man told us also that his people worship a priestess +called Hes or the Hesea, who is said to reign from generation to +generation. She lives in a great mountain, apart, and is feared and +adored by all, but is not the queen of the country, in the government +of which she seldom interferes. To her, however, sacrifices are offered, +and he who incurs her vengeance dies, so that even the chiefs of that +land are afraid of her. Still their subjects often fight, for they hate +each other. + +"We answered that he lied when he said that this woman was immortal--for +that was what we supposed he meant--since nothing is immortal; also we +laughed at his tale of her power. This made the man very angry. Indeed +he declared that our Buddha was not so strong as this priestess, and +that she would show it by being avenged upon us. + +"After this we gave him food and turned him out of the Lamasery, and he +went, saying that when he returned we should learn who spoke the truth. +We do not know what became of him, and he refused to reveal to us the +road to his country, which lies beyond the desert and the Far Mountains. +We think that perhaps he was an evil spirit sent to frighten us, in +which he did not succeed." + + +Such is a _precis_ of this strange entry, the discovery of which, vague +as it was, thrilled us with hope and excitement. Nothing more appeared +about the man or his country, but within a little over a year from that +date the diary of the abbot came to a sudden end without any indication +that unusual events had occured or were expected. + +Indeed, the last item written in the parchment book mentioned the +preparation of certain new lands to be used for the sowing of grain in +future seasons, which suggested that the brethren neither feared nor +expected disturbance. We wondered whether the man from beyond the +mountains was as good as his word and had brought down the vengeance of +that priestess called the Hesea upon the community which sheltered him. +Also we wondered--ah! how we wondered--who and what this Hesea might be. + +On the day following this discovery we prayed the abbot, Kou-en, to +accompany us to the library, and having read him the passage, asked +if he knew anything of the matter. He swayed his wise old head, which +always reminded me of that of a tortoise, and answered--"A little. +Very little, and that mostly about the army of the Greek king who is +mentioned in the writing." + +We inquired what he could possibly know of this matter, whereon Kou-en +replied calmly--"In those days when the faith of the Holy One was still +young, I dwelt as a humble brother in this very monastery, which was +one of the first built, and I saw the army pass, that is all. That," +he added meditatively, "was in my fiftieth incarnation of this present +Round--no, I am thinking of another army--in my seventy-third."[*] + + [*] As students of their lives and literature will be aware, + it is common for Buddhist priests to state positively that + they remember events which occurred during their previous + incarnations.--ed. + +Here Leo began a great laugh, but I managed to kick him beneath the +table and he turned it into a sneeze. This was fortunate, as such ribald +merriment would have hurt the old man's feelings terribly. After all, +also, as Leo himself had once said, surely we were not the people to +mock at the theory of re-incarnation, which, by the way, is the first +article of faith among nearly one quarter of the human race, and this +not the most foolish quarter. + +"How can that be--I ask for instruction, learned One--seeing that memory +perishes with death?" + +"Ah!" he answered, "Brother Holly, it may seem to do so, but oftentimes +it comes back again, especially to those who are far advanced upon the +Path. For instance, until you read this passage I had forgotten all +about that army, but now I see it passing, passing, and myself with +other monks standing by the statue of the big Buddha in front yonder, +and watching it go by. It was not a very large army, for most of the +soldiers had died, or been killed, and it was being pursued by the wild +people who lived south of us in those days, so that it was in a great +hurry to put the desert between it and them. The general of the army was +a swarthy man--I wish that I could remember his name, but I cannot. + +"Well," he went on, "that general came up to the Lamasery and demanded a +sleeping place for his wife and children, also provisions and medicines, +and guides across the desert. The abbot of that day told him it was +against our law to admit a woman under our roof, to which he answered +that if we did not, we should have no roof left, for he would burn the +place and kill every one of us with the sword. Now, as you know, to be +killed by violence means that we must pass sundry incarnations in the +forms of animals, a horrible thing, so we chose the lesser evil and +gave way, and afterwards obtained absolution for our sins from the Great +Lama. Myself I did not see this queen, but I saw the priestess of their +worship--alas! alas!" and Kou-en beat his breast. + +"Why alas?" I asked, as unconcernedly as I could, for this story +interested me strangely. + +"Why? Oh! because I may have forgotten the army, but I have never +forgotten that priestess, and she has been a great hindrance to me +through many ages, delaying me upon my journey to the Other Side, to the +Shore of Salvation. I, as a humble Lama, was engaged in preparing her +apartment when she entered and threw aside her veil; yes, and perceiving +a young man, spoke to me, asking many questions, and even if I was not +glad to look again upon a woman." + +"What--what was she like?" said Leo, anxiously. + +"What was she like? Oh! She was all loveliness in one shape; she was +like the dawn upon the snows; she was like the evening star above the +mountains; she was like the first flower of the spring. Brother, ask me +not what she was like, nay, I will say no more. Oh! my sin, my sin. I am +slipping backward and you draw my black shame out into the light of day. +Nay, I will confess it that you may know how vile a thing I am--I whom +perhaps you have thought holy--like yourselves. That woman, if woman +she were, lit a fire in my heart which will not burn out, oh! and more, +more," and Kou-en rocked himself to and fro upon his stool while tears +of contrition trickled from beneath his horn spectacles, "_she made me +worship her!_ For first she asked me of my faith and listened eagerly as +I expounded it, hoping that the light would come into her heart; then, +after I had finished she said--"'So your Path is Renunciation and your +Nirvana a most excellent Nothingness which some would think it scarce +worth while to strive so hard to reach. Now _I_ will show you a more +joyous way and a goddess more worthy of your worship.' + +"'What way, and what goddess?' I asked of her. + +"'The way of Love and Life!" she answered, 'that makes all the world +to be, that made _you_, O seeker of Nirvana, and the goddess called +Nature!' + +"Again I asked where is that goddess, and behold! she drew herself up, +looking most royal, and touching her ivory breast, she said, 'I am She. +Now kneel you down and do me homage!' + +"My brethren, I knelt, yes, I kissed her foot, and then I fled away +shamed and broken-hearted, and as I went she laughed, and cried: +'Remember me when you reach Devachan, O servant of the Budda-saint, for +though I change, I do not die, and even there I shall be with you who +once gave me worship!' + +"And it is so, my brethren, it is so; for though I obtained absolution +for my sin and have suffered much for it through this, my next +incarnation, yet I cannot be rid of her, and for me the Utter Peace is +far, far away," and Kou-en placed his withered hands before his face and +sobbed outright. + +A ridiculous sight, truly, to see a holy Khublighan well on the wrong +side of eighty, weeping like a child over a dream of a beautiful woman +which he imagined he had once dreamt in his last life more than two +thousand years ago. So the reader will say. But I, Holly, for reasons +of my own, felt deep sympathy with that poor old man, and Leo was also +sympathetic. We patted him on the back; we assured him that he was +the victim of some evil hallucination which could never be brought up +against him in this or any future existence, since, if sin there were, +it must have been forgiven long ago, and so forth. When his calm was +somewhat restored we tried also to extract further information from him, +but with poor results, so far as the priestess was concerned. + +He said that he did not know to what religion she belonged, and did not +care, but thought that it must be an evil one. She went away the next +morning with the army, and he never saw or heard of her any more, though +it came into his mind that he was obliged to be locked in his cell for +eight days to prevent himself from following her. Yes, he had heard one +thing, for the abbot of that day had told the brethren. This priestess +was the real general of the army, not the king or the queen, the latter +of whom hated her. It was by her will that they pushed on northwards +across the desert to some country beyond the mountains, where she +desired to establish herself and her worship. + +We asked if there really was any country beyond the mountains, and +Kou-en answered wearily that he believed so. Either in this or in a +previous life he had heard that people lived there who worshipped fire. +Certainly also it was true that about thirty years ago a brother who had +climbed the great peak yonder to spend some days in solitary meditation, +returned and reported that he had seen a marvellous thing, namely, a +shaft of fire burning in the heavens beyond those same mountains, though +whether this were a vision, or what, he could not say. He recalled, +however, that about that time they had felt a great earthquake. + +Then the memory of that fancied transgression again began to afflict +Kou-en's innocent old heart, and he crept away lamenting and was seen no +more for a week. Nor would he ever speak again to us of this matter. + +But we spoke of it much with hope and wonder, and made up our minds that +we would at once ascend this mountain. + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE BEACON LIGHT + +A week later came our opportunity of making this ascent of the mountain, +for now in mid-winter it ceased storming, and hard frost set in, which +made it possible to walk upon the surface of the snow. Learning from +the monks that at this season _ovis poli_ and other kinds of big-horned +sheep and game descended from the hills to take refuge in certain +valleys, where they scraped away the snow to find food, we announced +that we were going out to hunt. The excuse we gave was that we were +suffering from confinement and needed exercise, having by the teaching +of our religion no scruples about killing game. + +Our hosts replied that the adventure was dangerous, as the weather might +change at any moment. They told us, however, that on the slopes of this +very mountain which we desired to climb, there was a large natural cave +where, if need be, we could take shelter, and to this cave one of them, +somewhat younger and more active than the rest, offered to guide us. So, +having manufactured a rougri tent from skins, and laden our old yak, now +in the best of condition, with food and garments, on one still morning +we started as soon as it was light. Under the guidance of the monk, who, +notwithstanding his years, walked very well, we reached the northern +slope of the peak before mid-day. Here, as he had said, we found a great +cave of which the opening was protected by an over-hanging ledge of +rock. Evidently this cave was the favourite place of shelter for game at +certain seasons of the year, since in it were heaped vast accumulations +of their droppings, which removed any fear of a lack of fuel. + +The rest of that short day we spent in setting up our tent in the cave, +in front of which we lit a large fire, and in a survey of the slopes of +the mountain, for we told the monk that we were searching for the tracks +of wild sheep. Indeed, as it happened, on our way back to the cave we +came across a small herd of ewes feeding upon the mosses in a sheltered +spot where in summer a streamlet ran. Of these we were so fortunate as +to kill two, for no sportsman had ever come here, and they were tame +enough, poor things. As meat would keep for ever in that temperature, +we had now sufficient food to last us for a fortnight, and dragging the +animals down the snow slopes to the cave, we skinned them by the dying +light. + +That evening we supped upon fresh mutton, a great luxury, which the +monk enjoyed as much as we did, since, whatever might be his views as to +taking life, he liked mutton. Then we turned into the tent and huddled +ourselves together for warmth, as the temperature must have been some +degrees below zero. The old monk rested well enough, but neither Leo nor +I slept over much, for wonder as to what we might see from the top of +that mountain banished sleep. + +Next morning at the dawn, the weather being still favourable, our +companion returned to the monastery, whither we said we would follow him +in a day or two. + +Now at last we were alone, and without wasting an instant began our +ascent of the peak. It was many thousand feet high and in certain places +steep enough, but the deep, frozen snow made climbing easy, so that by +midday we reached the top. Hence the view was magnificent. Beneath +us stretched the desert, and beyond it a broad belt of fantastically +shaped, snow-clad mountains, hundreds and hundreds of them; in front, to +the right, to the left, as far as the eye could reach. + +"They are just as I saw them in my dream so many years ago," muttered +Leo; "the same, the very same." + +"And where was the fiery light?" I asked. + +"Yonder, I think;" and he pointed north by east. + +"Well, it is not there now," I answered, "and this place is cold." + +So, since it was dangerous to linger, lest the darkness should overtake +us on our return journey, we descended the peak again, reaching the cave +about sunset. The next four days we spent in the same way. Every morning +we crawled up those wearisome banks of snow, and every afternoon we +slid and tobogganed down them again, till I grew heartily tired of the +exercise. + +On the fourth night, instead of coming to sleep in the tent Leo sat +himself down at the entrance to the cave. I asked him why he did this, +but he answered impatiently, because he wished it, so I left him alone. +I could see, indeed, that he was in a strange and irritable mood, for +the failure of our search oppressed him. Moreover, we knew, both of us, +that it could not be much prolonged, since the weather might break at +any moment, when ascents of the mountain would become impossible. + +In the middle of the night I was awakened by Leo shaking me and +saying--"Come here, Horace, I have something to show you." + +Reluctantly enough I crept from between the rugs and out of the tent. To +dress there was no need, for we slept in all our garments. He led me +to the mouth of the cave and pointed northward. I looked. The night was +very dark; but far, far away appeared a faint patch of light upon the +sky, such as might be caused by the reflection of a distant fire. + +"What do you make of it?" he asked anxiously. + +"Nothing in particular," I answered, "it may be anything. The moon--no, +there is none, dawn--no, it is too northerly, and it does not break for +three hours. Something burning, a house, or a funeral pyre, but how can +there be such things here? I give it up." + +"I think it is a reflection, and that if we were on the peak we should +see the light which throws it," said Leo slowly. + +"Yes, but we are not, and cannot get there in the dark." + +"Then, Horace, we must spend a night there." + +"It will be our last in this incarnation," I answered with a laugh, +"that is if it comes on to snow." + +"We must risk it, or I will risk it. Look, the light has faded;" and +there at least he was right, for undoubtedly it had. The night was as +black as pitch. + +"Let's talk it over to-morrow," I said, and went back to the tent, for I +was sleepy and incredulous, but Leo sat on by the mouth of the cave. + +At dawn I awoke and found breakfast already cooked. + +"I must start early," Leo explained. + +"Are you mad?" I asked. "How can we camp on that place?" + +"I don't know, but I am going. I must go, Horace." + +"Which means that we both must go. But how about the yak?" + +"Where we can climb, it can follow," he answered. + +So we strapped the tent and other baggage, including a good supply of +cooked meat, upon the beast's back, and started. The tramp was long +since we were obliged to make some detours to avoid slopes of frozen +snow in which, on our previous ascents, we had cut footholds with an +axe, for up these the laden animal could not clamber. Reaching the +summit at length, we dug a hole, and there pitched the tent, piling the +excavated snow about its sides. By this time it began to grow dark, and +having descended into the tent, yak and all, we ate our food and waited. + +Oh! what cold was that. The frost was fearful, and at this height a wind +blew whose icy breath passed through all our wrappings, and seemed to +burn our flesh beneath as though with hot irons. It was fortunate that +we had brought the yak, for without the warmth from its shaggy body I +believe that we should have perished, even in our tent. For some hours +we watched, as indeed we must, since to sleep might mean to die, yet saw +nothing save the lonely stars, and heard nothing in that awful silence, +for here even the wind made no noise as it slid across the snows. +Accustomed as I was to such exposure, my faculties began to grow numb +and my eyes to shut, when suddenly Leo said--"Look, below the red star!" + +I looked, and there high in the sky was the same curious glow which we +had seen upon the previous night. There was more than this indeed, for +beneath it, almost on a line with us and just above the crests of the +intervening peaks, appeared a faint sheet of fire and revealed against +it, something black. Whilst we watched, the fire widened, spread upwards +and grew in power and intensity. Now against its flaming background the +black object became clearly visible, and lo! it was the top of a soaring +pillar surmounted by a loop. Yes, we could see its every outline. It was +the _crux ansata_, the Symbol of Life itself. + +The symbol vanished, the fire sank. Again it blazed up more fiercely +than before and the loop appeared afresh, then once more disappeared. +A third time the fire shone, and with such intensity, that no lightning +could surpass its brilliance. All around the heavens were lit up, and, +through the black needle-shaped eye of the symbol, as from the flare of +a beacon, or the search-light of a ship, one fierce ray shot across the +sea of mountain tops and the spaces of the desert, straight as an arrow +to the lofty peak on which we lay. Yes, it lit upon the snow, staining +it red, and upon the wild, white faces of us who watched, though to the +right and left of us spread thick darkness. My compass lay before me on +the snow, and I could even see its needle; and beyond us the shape of +a white fox that had crept near, scenting food. Then it was gone as +swiftly as it came. Gone too were the symbol and the veil of flame +behind it, only the glow lingered a little on the distant sky. + +For awhile there was silence between us, then Leo said--"Do you +remember, Horace, when we lay upon the Rocking Stone where _her_ +cloak fell upon me--" as he said the words the breath caught in his +throat--"how the ray of light was sent to us in farewell, and to show us +a path of escape from the Place of Death? Now I think that it has been +sent again in greeting to point out the path to the Place of Life where +Ayesha dwells, whom we have lost awhile." + +"It may be so," I answered shortly, for the matter was beyond speech +or argument, beyond wonder even. But I knew then, as I know now that +we were players in some mighty, predestined drama; that our parts were +written and we must speak them, as our path was prepared and we must +tread it to the end unknown. Fear and doubt were left behind, hope was +sunk in certainty; the fore-shadowing visions of the night had found an +actual fulfilment and the pitiful seed of the promise of her who died, +growing unseen through all the cruel, empty years, had come to harvest. + +No, we feared no more, not even when with the dawn rose the roaring +wind, through which we struggled down the mountain slopes, as it would +seem in peril of our lives at every step; not even as hour by hour we +fought our way onwards through the whirling snow-storm, that made us +deaf and blind. For we knew that those lives were charmed. We could not +see or hear, yet we were led. Clinging to the yak, we struggled downward +and homewards, till at length out of the turmoil and the gloom its +instinct brought us unharmed to the door of the monastery, where the old +abbot embraced us in his joy, and the monks put up prayers of thanks. +For they were sure that we must be dead. Through such a storm, they +said, no man had ever lived before. + +It was still mid-winter, and oh! the awful weariness of those months of +waiting. In our hands was the key, yonder amongst those mountains lay +the door, but not yet might we set that key within its lock. For between +us and these stretched the great desert, where the snow rolled like +billows, and until that snow melted we dared not attempt its passage. So +we sat in the monastery, and schooled our hearts to patience. + +Still even to these frozen wilds of Central Asia spring comes at last. +One evening the air felt warm, and that night there were only a few +degrees of frost. The next the clouds banked up, and in the morning +not snow was falling from them, but rain, and we found the old monks +preparing their instruments of husbandry, as they said that the season +of sowing was at hand. For three days it rained, while the snows melted +before our eyes. On the fourth torrents of water were rushing down the +mountain and the desert was once more brown and bare, though not for +long, for within another week it was carpeted with flowers. Then we knew +that the time had come to start. + +"But whither go you? Whither go you?" asked the old abbot in dismay. +"Are you not happy here? Do you not make great strides along the Path, +as may be known by your pious conversation? Is not everything that we +have your own? Oh! why would you leave us?" + +"We are wanderers," we answered, "and when we see mountains in front of +us we must cross them." + +Kou-en looked at us shrewdly, then asked--"What do you seek beyond the +mountains? And, my brethren, what merit is gathered by hiding the truth +from an old man, for such concealments are separated from falsehoods but +by the length of a single barleycorn. Tell me, that at least my prayers +may accompany you." + +"Holy abbot," I said, "awhile ago yonder in the library you made a +certain confession to us." + +"Oh! remind me not of it," he said, holding up his hands. "Why do you +wish to torment me?" + +"Far be the thought from us, most kind friend and virtuous man," I +answered. "But, as it chances, your story is very much our own, and we +think that we have experience of this same priestess." + +"Speak on," he said, much interested. + +So I told him the outlines of our tale; for an hour or more I told it +while he sat opposite to us swaying his head like a tortoise and saying +nothing. At length it was done. + +"Now," I added, "let the lamp of your wisdom shine upon our darkness. Do +you not find this story wondrous, or do you perchance think that we are +liars?" + +"Brethren of the great monastery called the World," Kou-en answered +with his customary chuckle, "why should I think you liars who, from the +moment my eyes fell upon you, knew you to be true men? Moreover, why +should I hold this tale so very wondrous? You have but stumbled upon +the fringe of a truth with which we have been acquainted for many, many +ages. + +"Because in a vision she showed you this monastery, and led you to a +spot beyond the mountains where she vanished, you hope that this woman +whom you saw die is re-incarnated yonder. Why not? In this there is +nothing impossible to those who are instructed in the truth, though the +lengthening of her last life was strange and contrary to experience. +Doubtless you will find her there as you expect, and doubtless her +_khama_, or identity, is the same as that which in some earlier life of +hers once brought me to sin. + +"Only be not mistaken, she is no immortal; nothing is immortal. She is +but a being held back by her own pride, her own greatness if you will, +upon the path towards Nirvana. That pride will be humbled, as already it +has been humbled; that brow of majesty shall be sprinkled with the dust +of change and death, that sinful spirit must be purified by sorrows and +by separations. Brother Leo, if you win her, it will be but to lose, and +then the ladder must be reclimbed. Brother Holly, for you as for me loss +is our only gain, since thereby we are spared much woe. Oh! bide here +and pray with me. Why dash yourselves against a rock? Why labour to pour +water into a broken jar whence it must sink into the sands of profitless +experience, and there be wasted, whilst you remain athirst?" + +"Water makes the sand fertile," I answered. "Where water falls, life +comes, and sorrow is the seed of joy." + +"Love is the law of life," broke in Leo; "without love there is no +life. I seek love that I may live. I believe that all these things are +ordained to an end which we do not know. Fate draws me on--I fulfil my +fate----" + +"And do but delay your freedom. Yet I will not argue with you, brother, +who must follow your own road. See now, what has this woman, this +priestess of a false faith if she be so still, brought you in the past? +Once in another life, or so I understand your story, you were sworn to +a certain nature-goddess, who was named Isis, were you not, and to her +alone? Then a woman tempted you, and you fled with her afar. And there +what found you? The betrayed and avenging goddess who slew you, or if +not the goddess, one who had drunk of her wisdom and was the minister +of her vengeance. Having that wisdom this minister--woman or evil +spirit--refused to die because she had learned to love you, but waited +knowing that in your next life she would find you again, as indeed she +would have done more swiftly in Devachan had she died without living on +alone in so much misery. And she found you, and she died, or seemed to +die, and now she is re-born, as she must be, and doubtless you will +meet once more, and again there must come misery. Oh! my friends, go not +across the mountains; bide here with me and lament your sins." + +"Nay," answered Leo, "we are sworn to a tryst, and we do not break our +word." + +"Then, brethren, go keep your tryst, and when you have reaped its +harvest think upon my sayings, for I am sure that the wine you crush +from the vintage of your desire will run red like blood, and that in its +drinking you shall find neither forgetfulness nor peace. Made blind by +a passion of which well I know the sting and power, you seek to add a +fair-faced evil to your lives, thinking that from this unity there shall +be born all knowledge and great joy. + +"Rather should you desire to live alone in holiness until at length your +separate lives are merged and lost in the Good Unspeakable, the eternal +bliss that lies in the last Nothingness. Ah! you do not believe me now; +you shake your heads and smile; yet a day will dawn, it may be after +many incarnations, when you shall bow them in the dust and weep, saying +to me, 'Brother Kou-en, yours were the words of wisdom, ours the deeds +of foolishness;'" and with a deep sigh the old man turned and left us. + +"A cheerful faith, truly," said Leo, looking after him, "to dwell +through aeons in monotonous misery in order that consciousness may be +swallowed up at last in some void and formless abstraction called the +'Utter Peace.' I would rather take my share of a bad world and keep my +hope of a better. Also I do not think that he knows anything of Ayesha +and her destiny." + +"So would I," I answered, "though perhaps he is right after all. Who can +tell? Moreover, what is the use of reasoning? Leo, we have no choice; +we follow our fate. To what that fate may lead us we shall learn in due +season." + +Then we went to rest, for it was late, though I found little sleep that +night. The warnings of the ancient abbot, good and learned man as he +was, full also of ripe experience and of the foresighted wisdom that +is given to such as he, oppressed me deeply. He promised us sorrow and +bloodshed beyond the mountains, ending in death and rebirths full of +misery. Well, it might be so, but no approaching sufferings could stay +our feet. And even if they could, they should not, since to see her face +again I was ready to brave them all. And if this was my case what must +be that of Leo! + +A strange theory that of Kou-en's, that Ayesha was the goddess in +old Egypt to whom Kallikrates was priest, or at the least her +representative. That the royal Amenartas, with whom he fled, seduced him +from the goddess to whom he was sworn. That this goddess incarnate +in Ayesha--or using the woman Ayesha and her passions as her +instruments--was avenged upon them both at Kor, and that there in an +after age the bolt she shot fell back upon her own head. + +Well, I had often thought as much myself. Only I was sure that _She_ +herself could be no actual divinity, though she might be a manifestation +of one, a priestess, a messenger, charged to work its will, to avenge or +to reward, and yet herself a human soul, with hopes and passions to be +satisfied, and a destiny to fulfil. In truth, writing now, when all is +past and done with, I find much to confirm me in, and little to turn me +from that theory, since life and powers of a quality which are more than +human do not alone suffice to make a soul divine. On the other hand, +however, it must be borne in mind that on one occasion at any rate, +Ayesha did undoubtedly suggest that in the beginning she was "a daughter +of Heaven," and that there were others, notably the old Shaman Simbri, +who seemed to take it for granted that her origin was supernatural. But +of all these things I hope to speak in their season. + +Meanwhile what lay beyond the mountains? Should we find her there who +held the sceptre and upon earth wielded the power of the outraged Isis, +and with her, that other woman who wrought the wrong? And if so, would +the dread, inhuman struggle reach its climax around the person of the +sinful priest? In a few months, a few days even, we might begin to know. + +Thrilled by this thought at length I fell asleep. + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE AVALANCHE + +On the morning of the second day from that night the sunrise found us +already on our path across the desert. There, nearly a mile behind us, +we could see the ruined statue of Buddha seated in front of the ancient +monastery, and in that clear atmosphere could even distinguish the bent +form of our friend, the old abbot, Kou-en, leaning against it until we +were quite lost to sight. All the monks had wept when we parted from +them, and Kou-en even more bitterly than the rest, for he had learned to +love us. + +"I am grieved," he said, "much grieved, which indeed I should not be, +for such emotion partakes of sin. Yet I find comfort, for I know well +that although I must soon leave this present life, yet we shall meet +again in many future incarnations, and after you have put away these +follies, together tread the path to perfect peace. Now take with you my +blessings and my prayers and begone, forgetting not that should you live +to return"--and he shook his head, doubtfully--"here you will be ever +welcome." + +So we embraced him and went sorrowfully. + +It will be remembered that when the mysterious light fell upon us on the +peak I had my compass with me and was able roughly to take its bearings. +For lack of any better guide we now followed these bearings, travelling +almost due north-east, for in that direction had shone the fire. All +day in the most beautiful weather we marched across the flower-strewn +desert, seeing nothing except bunches of game and one or two herds of +wild asses which had come down from the mountains to feed upon the new +grass. As evening approached we shot an antelope and made our camp--for +we had brought the yak and a tent with us--among some tamarisk scrub, of +which the dry stems furnished us with fuel. Nor did we lack for water, +since by scraping in the sand soaked with melted snow, we found plenty +of fair quality. So that night we supped in luxury upon tea and antelope +meat, which indeed we were glad to have, as it spared our little store +of dried provisions. + +The next morning we ascertained our position as well as we could, and +estimated that we had crossed about a quarter of the desert, a guess +which proved very accurate, for on the evening of the fourth day of our +journey we reached the bottom slopes of the opposing mountains, without +having experienced either accident or fatigue. As Leo said, things were +"going like clockwork," but I reminded him that a good start often meant +a bad finish. Nor was I wrong, for now came our hardships. To begin +with, the mountains proved to be exceeding high; it took us two days +to climb their lower slopes. Also the heat of the sun had softened the +snow, which made walking through it laborious, whilst, accustomed +though we were to such conditions through long years of travelling, its +continual glitter affected our eyes. + +The morning of the seventh day found us in the mouth of a defile which +wound away into the heart of the mountains. As it seemed the only +possible path, we followed it, and were much cheered to discover that +here must once have run a road. Not that we could see any road, indeed, +for everything was buried in snow. But that one lay beneath our feet we +were certain, since, although we marched along the edge of precipices, +our path, however steep, was always flat; moreover, the rock upon one +side of it had often been scarped by the hand of man. Of this there +could be no doubt, for as the snow did not cling here, we saw the tool +marks upon its bare surface. + +Also we came to several places where galleries had been built out from +the mountain side, by means of beams let into it, as is still a common +practice in Thibet. These beams of course had long since rotted away, +leaving a gulf between us and the continuation of the path. When we met +with such gaps we were forced to go back and make a detour round or over +some mountain; but although much delayed thereby, as it happened, we +always managed to regain the road, if not without difficulty and danger. + +What tried us more--for here our skill and experience as mountaineers +could not help us--was the cold at night, obliged as we were to camp +in the severe frost at a great altitude, and to endure through the long +hours of darkness penetrating and icy winds, which soughed ceaselessly +down the pass. + +At length on the tenth day we reached the end of the defile, and as +night was falling, camped there in the most bitter cold. Those were +miserable hours, for now we had no fuel with which to boil water, and +must satisfy our thirst by eating frozen snow, while our eyes smarted +so sorely that we could not sleep, and notwithstanding all our wraps and +the warmth that we gathered from the yak in the little tent, the cold +caused our teeth to chatter like castanets. + +The dawn came, and, after it, the sunrise. We crept from the tent, and +leaving it standing awhile, dragged our stiffened limbs a hundred yards +or so to a spot where the defile took a turn, in order that we might +thaw in the rays of the sun, which at that hour could not reach us where +we had camped. + +Leo was round it first, and I heard him utter an exclamation. In a few +seconds I reached his side, and lo! before us lay our Promised Land. + +Far beneath us, ten thousand feet at least--for it must be remembered +that we viewed it from the top of a mountain--it stretched away and away +till its distances met the horizon. In character it was quite flat, an +alluvial plain that probably, in some primeval age, had been the bottom +of one of the vast lakes of which a number exist in Central Asia, most +of them now in process of desiccation. One object only relieved this +dreary flatness, a single, snow-clad, and gigantic mountain, of which +even at that distance--for it was very far from us--we could clearly see +the outline. Indeed we could see more, for from its rounded crest rose a +great plume of smoke, showing that it was an active volcano, and on the +hither lip of the crater an enormous pillar of rock, whereof the top was +formed to the shape of a loop. + +Yes, there it stood before us, that symbol of our vision which we had +sought these many years, and at the sight of it our hearts beat fast and +our breath came quickly. We noted at once that although we had not seen +it during our passage of the mountains, since the peaks ahead and the +rocky sides of the defile hid it from view, so great was its height that +it overtopped the tallest of them. This made it clear to us how it came +to be possible that the ray of light passing through the loop could fall +upon the highest snows of that towering pinnacle which we had climbed +upon the further side of the desert. + +Also now we were certain of the cause of that ray, for the smoke behind +the loop explained this mystery. Doubtless, at times when the volcano +was awake, that smoke must be replaced by flame, emitting light of +fearful intensity, and this light it was that reached us, concentrated +and directed by the loop. + +For the rest we thought that about thirty miles away we could make out a +white-roofed town set upon a mound, situated among trees upon the banks +of a wide river, which flowed across the plain. Also it was evident that +this country had a large population who cultivated the soil, for by +the aid of a pair of field glasses, one of our few remaining and most +cherished possessions, we could see the green of springing crops pierced +by irrigation canals and the lines of trees that marked the limits of +the fields. + +Yes, there before us stretched the Promised Land, and there rose the +mystic Mount, so that all we had to do was to march down the snow slopes +and enter it where we would. + +Thus we thought in our folly, little guessing what lay before us, what +terrors and weary suffering we must endure before we stood at length +beneath the shadow of the Symbol of Life. + +Our fatigues forgotten, we returned to the tent, hastily swallowed some +of our dried food, which we washed down with lumps of snow that gave us +toothache and chilled us inside, but which thirst compelled us to eat, +dragged the poor yak to its feet, loaded it up, and started. + +All this while, so great was our haste and so occupied were each of +us with our own thoughts that, if my memory serves me, we scarcely +interchanged a word. Down the snow slopes we marched swiftly and without +hesitation, for here the road was marked for us by means of pillars of +rock set opposite to one another at intervals. These pillars we observed +with satisfaction, for they told us that we were still upon a highway +which led to the Promised Land. + +Yet, as we could not help noting, it was one which seemed to have gone +out of use, since with the exception of a few wild-sheep tracks and the +spoor of some bears and mountain foxes, not a single sign of beast or +man could we discover. This, however, was to be explained, we reflected, +by the fact that doubtless the road was only used in the summer season. +Or perhaps the inhabitants of the country were now stay-at-home people +who never travelled it at all. + +Those slopes were longer than we thought; indeed, when darkness closed +in we had not reached the foot of them. So we were obliged to spend +another night in the snow, pitching our tent in the shelter of +an over-hanging rock. As we had descended many thousand feet, the +temperature proved, fortunately, a little milder; indeed, I do not +think that there were more than eighteen or twenty degrees of frost that +night. Also here and there the heat of the sun had melted the snow in +secluded places, so that we were able to find water to drink, while the +yak could fill its poor old stomach with dead-looking mountain mosses, +which it seemed to think better than nothing. + +Again, the still dawn came, throwing its red garment over the lonesome, +endless mountains, and we dragged ourselves to our numbed feet, ate some +of our remaining food, and started onwards. Now we could no longer see +the country beneath, for it and even the towering volcano were hidden +from us by an intervening ridge that seemed to be pierced by a single +narrow gulley, towards which we headed. Indeed, as the pillars showed +us, thither ran the buried road. By mid-day it appeared quite close to +us, and we tramped on in feverish haste. As it chanced, however, there +was no need to hurry, for an hour later we learned the truth. + +Between us and the mouth of the gulley rose, or rather sank, a sheer +precipice that was apparently three or four hundred feet in depth, and +at its foot we could hear the sound of water. + +Right to the edge of this precipice ran the path, for one of the stone +pillars stood upon its extreme brink, and yet how could a road descend +such a place as that? We stared aghast; then a possible solution +occurred to us. + +"Don't you see," said Leo, with a hollow laugh, "the gulf has opened +since this track was used: volcanic action probably." + +"Perhaps, or perhaps there was a wooden bridge or stairway which has +rotted. It does not matter. We must find another path, that is all," I +answered as cheerfully as I could. + +"Yes, and soon," he said, "if we do not wish to stop here for ever." + +So we turned to the right and marched along the edge of the precipice +till, a mile or so away, we came to a small glacier, of which the +surface was sprinkled with large stones frozen into its substance. This +glacier hung down the face of the cliff like a petrified waterfall, but +whether or no it reached the foot we could not discover. At any rate, +to think of attempting its descent seemed out of the question. From this +point onwards we could see that the precipice increased in depth and far +as the eye could reach was absolutely sheer. + +So we went back again and searched to the left of our road. Here the +mountains receded, so that above us rose a mighty, dazzling slope of +snow and below us lay that same pitiless, unclimbable gulf. As the light +began to fade we perceived, half a mile or more in front a bare-topped +hillock of rock, which stood on the verge of the precipice, and hurried +to it, thinking that from its crest we might be able to discover a way +of descent. + +When at length we had struggled to the top, it was about a hundred and +fifty feet high; what we did discover was that, here also, as beyond the +glacier, the gulf was infinitely deeper than at the spot where the road +ended, so deep indeed that we could not see its bottom, although from it +came the sound of roaring water. Moreover, it was quite half a mile in +width. + +Whilst we stared round us the sinking sun vanished behind a mountain +and, the sky being heavy, the light went out like that of a candle. Now +the ascent of this hillock had proved so steep, especially at one place, +where we were obliged to climb a sort of rock ladder, that we scarcely +cared to attempt to struggle down it again in that gloom. Therefore, +remembering that there was little to choose between the top of this +knoll and the snow plain at its foot in the matter of temperature or +other conveniences, and being quite exhausted, we determined to spend +the night upon it, thereby, as we were to learn, saving our lives. + +Unloading the yak, we pitched our tent under the lee of the topmost knob +of rock and ate a couple of handfuls of dried fish and corn-cake. This +was the last of the food that we had brought with us from the Lamasery, +and we reflected with dismay that unless we could shoot something, our +commissariat was now represented by the carcass of our old friend the +yak. Then we wrapped ourselves up in our thick rugs and fur garments and +forgot our miseries in sleep. + +It cannot have been long before daylight when we were awakened by a +sudden and terrific sound like the boom of a great cannon, followed by +thousands of other sounds, which might be compared to the fusillade of +musketry. + +"Great Heaven! What is that?" I said. + +We crawled from the tent, but as yet could see nothing, whilst the yak +began to low in a terrified manner. But if we could not see we could +hear and feel. The booming and cracking had ceased, and was followed by +a soft, grinding noise, the most sickening sound, I think, to which +I ever listened. This was accompanied by a strange, steady, unnatural +wind, which seemed to press upon us as water presses. Then the dawn +broke and we saw. + +The mountain-side was moving down upon us in a vast avalanche of snow. + +Oh! what a sight was that. On from the crest of the precipitous slopes +above, two miles and more away, it came, a living thing, rolling, +sliding, gliding; piling itself in long, leaping waves, hollowing itself +into cavernous valleys, like a tempest-driven sea, whilst above its +surface hung a powdery cloud of frozen spray. + +As we watched, clinging to each other terrified, the first of these +waves struck our hill, causing the mighty mass of solid rock to quiver +like a yacht beneath the impact of an ocean roller, or an aspen in +a sudden rush of wind. It struck and slowly separated, then with a +majestic motion flowed like water over the edge of the precipice on +either side, and fell with a thudding sound into the unmeasured depths +beneath. And this was but a little thing, a mere forerunner, for after +it, with a slow, serpentine movement, rolled the body of the avalanche. + +It came in combers, it came in level floods. It piled itself against our +hill, yes, to within fifty feet of the head of it, till we thought that +even that rooted rock must be torn from its foundations and hurled like +a pebble to the deeps beneath. And the turmoil of it all! The screaming +of the blast caused by the compression of the air, the dull, continuous +thudding of the fall of millions of tons of snow as they rushed through +space and ended their journey in the gulf. + +Nor was this the worst of it, for as the deep snows above thinned, great +boulders that had been buried beneath them, perhaps for centuries, were +loosened from their resting-places and began to thunder down the hill. +At first they moved slowly, throwing up the hard snow around them as the +prow of a ship throws foam. Then gathering momentum, they sprang into +the air with leaps such as those of shells ricocheting upon water, till +in the end, singing and hurtling, many of them rushed past and even over +us to vanish far beyond. Some indeed struck our little mountain with the +force of shot fired from the great guns of a battle-ship, and shattered +there, or if they fell upon its side, tore away tons of rock and passed +with them into the chasm like a meteor surrounded by its satellites. +Indeed, no bombardment devised and directed by man could have been half +so terrible or, had there been anything to destroy, half so destructive. + +The scene was appalling in its unchained and resistless might evolved +suddenly from the completest calm. There in the lap of the quiet +mountains, looked down upon by the peaceful, tender sky, the powers +hidden in the breast of Nature were suddenly set free, and, companioned +by whirlwinds and all the terrifying majesty of sound, loosed upon the +heads of us two human atoms. + +At the first rush of snow we had leapt back behind our protecting peak +and, lying at full length upon the ground, gripped it and clung there, +fearing lest the wind should whirl us to the abyss. Long ago our tent +had gone like a dead leaf in an autumn gale, and at times it seemed as +if we must follow. + +The boulders hurtled over and past us; one of them, fell full upon the +little peak, shattering its crest and bursting into fragments, which +fled away, each singing its own wild song. We were not touched, but +when we looked behind us it was to see the yak, which had risen in its +terror, lying dead and headless. Then in our fear we lay still, waiting +for the end, and wondering dimly whether we should be buried in the +surging snow or swept away with the hill, or crushed by the flying +rocks, or lifted and lost in the hurricane. + +How long did it last? We never knew. It may have been ten minutes or +two hours, for in such a scene time loses its proportion. Only we became +aware that the wind had fallen, while the noise of grinding snow and +hurtling boulders ceased. Very cautiously we gained our feet and looked. + +In front of us was sheer mountain side, for a depth of over two miles, +the width of about a thousand yards, which had been covered with many +feet of snow, was now bare rock. Piled up against the face of our hill, +almost to its summit, lay a tongue of snow, pressed to the consistency +of ice and spotted with boulders that had lodged there. The peak itself +was torn and shattered, so that it revealed great gleaming surfaces +and pits, in which glittered mica, or some other mineral. The vast gulf +behind was half filled with the avalanche and its debris. But for +the rest, it seemed as though nothing had happened, for the sun shone +sweetly overhead and the solemn snows reflected its rays from the sides +of a hundred hills. And we had endured it all and were still alive; yes, +and unhurt. + +But what a position was ours! We dared not attempt to descend the mount, +lest we should sink into the loose snow and be buried there. Moreover, +all along the breadth of the path of the avalanche boulders from time to +time still thundered down the rocky slope, and with them came patches of +snow that had been left behind by the big slide, small in themselves, +it is true, but each of them large enough to kill a hundred men. It +was obvious, therefore, that until these conditions changed, or death +released us, we must abide where we were upon the crest of the hillock. + +So there we sat, foodless and frightened, wondering what our old friend +Kou-en would say if he could see us now. By degrees hunger mastered all +our other sensations and we began to turn longing eyes upon the headless +body of the yak. + +"Let's skin him," said Leo, "it will be something to do, and we shall +want his hide to-night." + +So with affection, and even reverence, we performed this office for the +dead companion of our journeyings, rejoicing the while that it was not +we who had brought him to his end. Indeed, long residence among peoples +who believed fully that the souls of men could pass into, or were risen +from, the bodies of animals, had made us a little superstitious on this +matter. It would be scarcely pleasant, we reflected, in some future +incarnation, to find our faithful friend clad in human form and to hear +him bitterly reproach us for his murder. + +Being dead, however, these arguments did not apply to eating him, as we +were sure he would himself acknowledge. So we cut off little bits of +his flesh and, rolling them in snow till they looked as though they were +nicely floured, hunger compelling us, swallowed them at a gulp. It was a +disgusting meal and we felt like cannibals: but what could we do? + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE GLACIER + +Even that day came to an end at last, and after a few more lumps of +yak, our tent being gone, we drew his hide over us and rested as best +we could, knowing that at least we had no more avalanches to fear. That +night it froze sharply, so that had it not been for the yak's hide and +the other rugs and garments, which fortunately we were wearing when the +snow-slide began, it would, I think, have gone hard with us. As it was, +we suffered a great deal. + +"Horace," said Leo at the dawn, "I am going to leave this. If we have +to die, I would rather do so moving; but I don't believe that we shall +die." + +"Very well," I said, "let us start. If the snow won't bear us now, it +never will." + +So we tied up our rugs and the yak's hide in two bundles and, having cut +off some more of the frozen meat, began our descent. Now, although the +mount was under two hundred feet high, its base, fortunately for us--for +otherwise it must have been swept away by the mighty pressure of the +avalanche--was broad, so that there was a long expanse of piled-up snow +between us and the level ground. + +Since, owing to the overhanging conformation of the place, it was quite +impossible for us to descend in front where pressure had made the snow +hard as stone, we were obliged to risk a march over the looser material +upon its flank. As there was nothing to be gained by waiting, off +we went, Leo leading and step by step trying the snow. To our joy we +discovered that the sharp night frost had so hardened its surface that +it would support us. About half way down, however, where the pressure +had been less, it became much softer, so that we were forced to lie +upon our faces, which enabled us to distribute our weight over a larger +surface, and thus slither gently down the hill. + +All went well until we were within twenty paces of the bottom, where +we must cross a soft mound formed of the powdery dust thrown off by the +avalanche in its rush. Leo slipped over safely, but I, following a yard +or two to his right, of a sudden felt the hard crust yield beneath +me. An ill-judged but quite natural flounder and wriggle, such as a +newly-landed flat-fish gives upon the sand, completed the mischief, and +with one piercing but swiftly stifled yell, I vanished. + +Any one who has ever sunk in deep water will know that the sensation +is not pleasant, but I can assure him that to go through the same +experience in soft snow is infinitely worse; mud alone could surpass its +terrors. Down I went, and down, till at length I seemed to reach a rock +which alone saved me from disappearing for ever. Now I felt the snow +closing above me and with it came darkness and a sense of suffocation. +So soft was the drift, however, that before I was overcome I contrived +with my arms to thrust away the powdery dust from about my head, thus +forming a little hollow into which air filtered slowly. Getting my hands +upon the stone, I strove to rise, but could not, the weight upon me was +too great. + +Then I abandoned hope and prepared to die. The process proved not +altogether unpleasant. I did not see visions from my past life as +drowning men are supposed to do, but--and this shows how strong was her +empire over me--my mind flew back to Ayesha. I seemed to behold her and +a man at her side, standing over me in some dark, rocky gulf. She was +wrapped in a long travelling cloak, and her lovely eyes were wild with +fear. I rose to salute her, and make report, but she cried in a fierce, +concentrated voice--"What evil thing has happened here? Thou livest; +then where is my lord Leo? Speak, man, and say where thou hast hid my +lord--or die." + +The vision was extraordinarily real and vivid, I remember, and, +considered in connection with a certain subsequent event, in all ways +most remarkable, but it passed as swiftly as it came. + +Then my senses left me. + +I saw a light again. I heard a voice, that of Leo. "Horace," he cried, +"Horace, hold fast to the stock of the rifle." Something was thrust +against my outstretched hand. I gripped it despairingly, and there came +a strain. It was useless, I did not move. Then, bethinking me, I drew +up my legs and by chance or the mercy of Heaven, I know not, got my +feet against a ridge of the rock on which I was lying. Again I felt the +strain, and thrust with all my might. Of a sudden the snow gave, and out +of that hole I shot like a fox from its earth. + +I struck something. It was Leo straining at the gun, and I knocked him +backwards. Then down the steep slope we rolled, landing at length upon +the very edge of the precipice. I sat up, drawing in the air with great +gasps, and oh! how sweet it was. My eyes fell upon my hand, and I saw +that the veins stood out on the back of it, black as ink and large as +cords. Clearly I must have been near my end. + +"How long was I in there?" I gasped to Leo, who sat at my side, wiping +off the sweat that ran from his face in streams. + +"Don't know. Nearly twenty minutes, I should think." + +"Twenty minutes! It seemed like twenty centuries. How did you get me +out? You could not stand upon the drift dust." + +"No; I lay upon the yak skin where the snow was harder and tunnelled +towards you through the powdery stuff with my hands, for I knew where +you had sunk and it was not far off. At last I saw your finger tips; +they were so blue that for a few seconds I took them for rock, but +thrust the butt of the rifle against them. Luckily you still had life +enough to catch hold of it, and you know the rest. Were we not both very +strong, it could never have been done." + +"Thank you, old fellow," I said simply. + +"Why should you thank me?" he asked with one of his quick smiles. "Do +you suppose that I wished to continue this journey alone? Come, if you +have got your breath, let us be getting on. You have been sleeping in a +cold bed and want exercise. Look, my rifle is broken and yours is +lost in the snow. Well, it will save us the trouble of carrying the +cartridges," and he laughed drearily. + +Then we began our march, heading for the spot where the road ended four +miles or so away, for to go forward seemed useless. In due course we +reached it safely. Once a mass of snow as large as a church swept down +just in front of us, and once a great boulder loosened from the mountain +rushed at us suddenly like an attacking lion, or the stones thrown +by Polyphemus at the ship of Odysseus, and, leaping over our heads, +vanished with an angry scream into the depths beneath. But we took +little heed of these things: our nerves were deadened, and no danger +seemed to affect them. + +There was the end of the road, and there were our own footprints and the +impress of the yak's hoofs in the snow. The sight of them affected me, +for it seemed strange that we should have lived to look upon them +again. We stared over the edge of the precipice. Yes, it was sheer and +absolutely unclimbable. + +"Come to the glacier," said Leo. + +So we went on to it, and scrambling a little way down its root, made an +examination. Here, so far as we could judge, the cliff was about four +hundred feet deep. But whether or no the tongue of ice reached to the +foot of it we were unable to tell, since about two thirds of the way +down it arched inwards, like the end of a bent bow, and the conformation +of the overhanging rocks on either side was such that we could not see +where it terminated. We climbed back again and sat down, and despair +took hold of us, bitter, black despair. + +"What are we to do?" I asked. "In front of us death. Behind us death, +for how can we recross those mountains without food or guns to shoot +it with? Here death, for we must sit and starve. We have striven and +failed. Leo, our end is at hand. Only a miracle can save us." + +"A miracle," he answered. "Well, what was it that led us to the top of +the mount so that we were able to escape the avalanche? And what was it +which put that rock in your way as you sank into the bed of dust, and +gave me wit and strength to dig you out of your grave of snow? And what +is it that has preserved us through seventeen years of dangers such as +few men have known and lived? Some directing Power. Some Destiny that +will accomplish itself in us. Why should the Power cease to guide? Why +should the Destiny be baulked at last?" + +He paused, then added fiercely, "I tell you, Horace, that even if we had +guns, food, and yaks, I would not turn back upon our spoor, since to do +so would prove me a coward and unworthy of her. I will go on." + +"How?" I asked. + +"By that road," and he pointed to the glacier. + +"It is a road to death!" + +"Well, if so, Horace, it would seem that in this land men find life in +death, or so they believe. If we die now, we shall die travelling our +path, and in the country where we perish we may be born again. At least +I am determined, so you must choose." + +"I have chosen long ago. Leo, we began this journey together and we will +end it together. Perhaps Ayesha knows and will help us," and I laughed +drearily. "If not--come, we are wasting time." + +Then we took counsel, and the end of it was that we cut a skin rug and +the yak's tough hide into strips and knotted these together into two +serviceable ropes, which we fastened about our middles, leaving one end +loose, for we thought that they might help us in our descent. + +Next we bound fragments of another skin rug about our legs and knees +to protect them from the chafing of the ice and rocks, and for the same +reason put on our thick leather gloves. This done, we took the remainder +of our gear and heavy robes and, having placed stones in them, threw +them over the brink of the precipice, trusting to find them again, +should we ever reach its foot. Now our preparations were complete, +and it was time for us to start upon perhaps one of the most desperate +journeys ever undertaken by men of their own will. + +Yet we stayed a little, looking at each other in piteous fashion, for +we could not speak. Only we embraced, and I confess, I think I wept +a little. It all seemed so sad and hopeless, these longings endured +through many years, these perpetual, weary travellings, and now--the +end. I could not bear to think of that splendid man, my ward, my most +dear friend, the companion of my life, who stood before me so full of +beauty and of vigour, but who must within a few short minutes be turned +into a heap of quivering, mangled flesh. For myself it did not matter. +I was old, it was time that I should die. I had lived innocently, if it +were innocent to follow this lovely image, this Siren of the caves, who +lured us on to doom. + +No, I don't think that I thought of myself then, but I thought a great +deal of Leo, and when I saw his determined face and flashing eyes as he +nerved himself to the last endeavour, I was proud of him. So in broken +accents I blessed him and wished him well through all the aeons, praying +that I might be his companion to the end of time. In few words and short +he thanked me and gave me back my blessing. Then he muttered--"Come." + +So side by side we began the terrible descent. At first it was easy +enough, although a slip would have hurled us to eternity. But we were +strong and skilful, accustomed to such places moreover, and made none. +About a quarter of the way down we paused, standing upon a great boulder +that was embedded in the ice, and, turning round cautiously, leaned our +backs against the glacier and looked about us. Truly it was a horrible +place, almost sheer, nor did we learn much, for beneath us, a hundred +and twenty feet or more, the projecting bend cut off our view of what +lay below. + +So, feeling that our nerves would not bear a prolonged contemplation of +that dizzy gulf, once more we set our faces to the ice and proceeded on +the downward climb. Now matters were more difficult, for the stones were +fewer and once or twice we must slide to reach them, not knowing if we +should ever stop again. But the ropes which we threw over the angles +of the rocks, or salient points of ice, letting ourselves down by their +help and drawing them after us when we reached the next foothold, saved +us from disaster. + +Thus at length we came to the bend, which was more than half way down +the precipice, being, so far as I could judge, about two hundred and +fifty feet from its lip, and say one hundred and fifty from the darksome +bottom of the narrow gulf. Here were no stones, but only some rough ice, +on which we sat to rest. + +"We must look," said Leo presently. + +But the question was, how to do this. Indeed, there was only one way, +to hang over the bend and discover what lay below. We read each other's +thought without the need of words, and I made a motion as though I would +start. + +"No," said Leo, "I am younger and stronger than you. Come, help me," and +he began to fasten the end of his rope to a strong, projecting point of +ice. "Now," he said, "hold my ankles." + +It seemed an insanity, but there was nothing else to be done, so, fixing +my heels in a niche, I grasped them and slowly he slid forward till his +body vanished to the middle. What he saw does not matter, for I saw it +all afterwards, but what happened was that suddenly all his great weight +came upon my arms with such a jerk that his ankles were torn from my +grip. + +Or, who knows! perhaps in my terror I loosed them, obeying the natural +impulse which prompts a man to save his own life. If so, may I be +forgiven, but had I held on, I must have been jerked into the abyss. +Then the rope ran out and remained taut. + +"Leo!" I screamed, "Leo!" and I heard a muffled voice saying, as I +thought, "Come." What it really said was--"Don't come." But indeed--and +may it go to my credit--I did not pause to think, but face outwards, +just as I was sitting, began to slide and scramble down the ice. + +In two seconds I had reached the curve, in three I was over it. Beneath +was what I can only describe as a great icicle broken off short, and +separated from the cliff by about four yards of space. This icicle was +not more than fifteen feet in length and sloped outwards, so that my +descent was not sheer. Moreover, at the end of it the trickling of +water, or some such accident, had worn away the ice, leaving a little +ledge as broad, perhaps, as a man's hand. There were roughnesses on the +surface below the curve, upon which my clothing caught, also I gripped +them desperately with my fingers. Thus it came about that I slid down +quite gently and, my heels landing upon the little ledge, remained +almost upright, with outstretched arms--like a person crucified to a +cross of ice. + +Then I saw everything, and the sight curdled the blood within my veins. +Hanging to the rope, four or five feet below the broken point, was Leo, +out of reach of it, and out of reach of the cliff; as he hung turning +slowly round and round, much as--for in a dreadful, inconsequent fashion +the absurd similarity struck me even then--a joint turns before the +fire. Below yawned the black gulf, and at the bottom of it, far, far +beneath, appeared a faint, white sheet of snow. That is what I saw. + +Think of it! Think of it! I crucified upon the ice, my heels resting +upon a little ledge; my fingers grasping excrescences on which a bird +could scarcely have found a foothold; round and below me dizzy space. +To climb back whence I came was impossible, to stir even was impossible, +since one slip and I must be gone. + +And below me, hung like a spider to its cord, Leo turning slowly round +and round! + +I could see that rope of green hide stretch beneath his weight and the +double knots in it slip and tighten, and I remember wondering which +would give first, the hide or the knots, or whether it would hold till +he dropped from the noose limb by limb. + +Oh! I have been in many a perilous place, I who sprang from the Swaying +Stone to the point of the Trembling Spur, and missed my aim, but never, +never in such a one as this. Agony took hold of me; a cold sweat burst +from every pore. I could feel it running down my face like tears; my +hair bristled upon my head. And below, in utter silence, Leo turned +round and round, and each time he turned his up-cast eyes met mine with +a look that was horrible to see. + +The silence was the worst of it, the silence and the helplessness. If +he had cried out, if he had struggled, it would have been better. But +to know that he was alive there, with every nerve and perception at its +utmost stretch. Oh! my God! Oh! my God! + +My limbs began to ache, and yet I dared not stir a muscle. They +ached horribly, or so I thought, and beneath this torture, mental and +physical, my mind gave. + +I remembered things: remembered how, as a child, I had climbed a tree +and reached a place whence I could move neither up nor down, and what I +suffered then. Remembered how once in Egypt a foolhardy friend of mine +had ascended the Second Pyramid alone, and become thus crucified upon +its shining cap, where he remained for a whole half hour with four +hundred feet of space beneath him. I could see him now stretching his +stockinged foot downwards in a vain attempt to reach the next crack, and +drawing it back again; could see his tortured face, a white blot upon +the red granite. + +Then that face vanished and blackness gathered round me, and in +the blackness visions: of the living, resistless avalanche, of the +snow-grave into which I had sunk--oh! years and years ago; of Ayesha +demanding Leo's life at my hands. Blackness and silence, through which I +could only hear the cracking of my muscles. + +Suddenly in the blackness a flash, and in the silence a sound. The flash +was the flash of a knife which Leo had drawn. He was hacking at the cord +with it fiercely, fiercely, to make an end. And the sound was that of +the noise he made, a ghastly noise, half shout of defiance and half yell +of terror, as at the third stroke it parted. + +I saw it part. The tough hide was half cut through, and its severed +portion curled upwards and downwards like the upper and lower lips of an +angry dog, whilst that which was unsevered stretched out slowly, slowly, +till it grew quite thin. Then it snapped, so that the rope flew upwards +and struck me across the face like the lash of a whip. + +Another instant and I heard a crackling, thudding sound. Leo had struck +the ground below. Leo was dead, a mangled mass of flesh and bone as I +had pictured him. I could not bear it. My nerve and human dignity came +back. I would not wait until, my strength exhausted, I slid from my +perch as a wounded bird falls from a tree. No, I would follow him at +once, of my own act. + +I let my arms fall against my sides, and rejoiced in the relief from +pain that the movement gave me. Then balanced upon my heels, I stood +upright, took my last look at the sky, muttered my last prayer. For an +instant I remained thus poised. + +Shouting, "I come," I raised my hands above my head and dived as a +bather dives, dived into the black gulf beneath. + + + +CHAPTER VI + +IN THE GATE + +Oh! that rush through space! Folk falling thus are supposed to lose +consciousness, but I can assert that this is not true. Never were my +wits and perceptions more lively than while I travelled from that broken +glacier to the ground, and never did a short journey seem to take a +longer time. I saw the white floor, like some living thing, leaping up +through empty air to meet me, then--_finis!_ + +Crash! Why, what was this? I still lived. I was in water, for I could +feel its chill, and going down, down, till I thought I should never rise +again. But rise I did, though my lungs were nigh to bursting first. As I +floated up towards the top I remembered the crash, which told me that +I had passed through ice. Therefore I should meet ice at the surface +again. Oh! to think that after surviving so much I must be drowned like +a kitten and beneath a sheet of ice. My hands touched it. There it was +above me shining white like glass. Heaven be praised! My head broke +through; in this low and sheltered gorge it was but a film no thicker +than a penny formed by the light frost of the previous night. So I rose +from the deep and stared about me, treading water with my feet. + +Then I saw the gladdest sight that ever my eyes beheld, for on the +right, not ten yards away, the water running from his hair and beard, +was Leo. Leo alive, for he broke the thin ice with his arms as he +struggled towards the shore from the deep river.[*] He saw me also, and +his grey eyes seemed to start out of his head. + + [*] Usually, as we learned afterwards, the river at this + spot was quite shallow; only a foot or two in depth. It was + the avalanche that by damming it with fallen heaps of snow + had raised its level very many feet. Therefore, to this + avalanche, which had threatened to destroy us, we in reality + owed our lives, for had the stream stood only at its normal + height we must have been dashed to pieces upon the stones. + --L. H. H. + +"Still living, both of us, and the precipice passed!" he shouted in a +ringing, exultant voice. "I told you we were led." + +"Aye, but whither?" I answered as I too fought my way through the film +of ice. + +Then it was I became aware that we were no longer alone, for on the +bank of the river, some thirty yards from us, stood two figures, a man +leaning upon a long staff and a woman. He was a very old man, for his +eyes were horny, his snow-white hair and beard hung upon the bent breast +and shoulders, and his sardonic, wrinkled features were yellow as wax. +They might have been those of a death mask cut in marble. There, clad in +an ample, monkish robe, and leaning upon the staff, he stood still as +a statue and watched us. I noted it all, every detail, although at the +time I did not know that I was doing so, as we broke our way through the +ice towards them and afterwards the picture came back to me. Also I saw +that the woman, who was very tall, pointed to us. + +Nearer the bank, or rather to the rock edge of the river, its surface +was free of ice, for here the stream ran very swiftly. Seeing this, we +drew close together and swam on side by side to help each other if need +were. There was much need, for in the fringe of the torrent the strength +that had served me so long seemed to desert me, and I became helpless; +numbed, too, with the biting coldness of the water. Indeed, had not Leo +grasped my clothes I think that I should have been swept away by the +current to perish. Thus aided I fought on a while, till he said--"I am +going under. Hold to the rope end." + +So I gripped the strip of yak's hide that was still fast about him, and, +his hand thus freed, Leo made a last splendid effort to keep us both, +cumbered as we were with the thick, soaked garments that dragged us down +like lead, from being sucked beneath the surface. Moreover, he succeeded +where any other swimmer of less strength must have failed. Still, I +believe that we should have drowned, since here the water ran like a +mill-race, had not the man upon the shore, seeing our plight and urged +thereto by the woman, run with surprising swiftness in one so aged, to a +point of rock that jutted some yards into the stream, past which we were +being swept, and seating himself, stretched out his long stick towards +us. + +With a desperate endeavour, Leo grasped it as we went by, rolling over +and over each other, and held on. Round we swung into the eddy, found +our feet, were knocked down again, rubbed and pounded on the rocks. But +still gripping that staff of salvation, to his end of which the old +man clung like a limpet to a stone, while the woman clung to him, we +recovered ourselves, and, sheltered somewhat by the rock, floundered +towards the shore. Lying on his face--for we were still in great +danger--the man extended his arm. We could not reach it; and worse, +suddenly the staff was torn from him; we were being swept away. + +Then it was that the woman did a noble thing, for springing into the +water--yes, up to her armpits--and holding fast to the old man by +her left hand, with the right she seized Leo's hair and dragged him +shorewards. Now he found his feet for a moment, and throwing one arm +about her slender form, steadied himself thus, while with the other he +supported me. Next followed a long confused struggle, but the end of it +was that three of us, the old man, Leo and I, rolled in a heap upon the +bank and lay there gasping. + +Presently I looked up. The woman stood over us, water streaming from her +garments, staring like one in a dream at Leo's face, smothered as it was +with blood running from a deep cut in his head. Even then I noticed how +stately and beautiful she was. Now she seemed to awake and, glancing +at the robes that clung to her splendid shape, said something to her +companion, then turned and ran towards the cliff. + +As we lay before him, utterly exhausted, the old man, who had risen, +contemplated us solemnly with his dim eyes. He spoke, but we did not +understand. Again he tried another language and without success. A third +time and our ears were opened, for the tongue he used was Greek; yes, +there in Central Asia he addressed us in Greek, not very pure, it is +true, but still Greek. + +"Are you wizards," he said, "that you have lived to reach this land?" + +"Nay," I answered in the same tongue, though in broken words--since of +Greek I had thought little for many a year--"for then we should have +come otherwise," and I pointed to our hurts and the precipice behind us. + +"They know the ancient speech; it is as we were told from the Mountain," +he muttered to himself. Then he asked--"Strangers, what seek you?" + +Now I grew cunning and did not answer, fearing lest, should he learn +the truth, he would thrust us back into the river. But Leo had no such +caution, or rather all reason had left him; he was light-headed. + +"We seek," he stuttered out--his Greek, which had always been feeble, +now was simply barbarous and mixed with various Thibetan dialects--"we +seek the land of the Fire Mountain that is crowned with the Sign of +Life." + +The man stared at us. "So you know," he said, then broke off and added, +"and _whom_ do you seek?" + +"Her," answered Leo wildly, "the Queen." I think that he meant to say +the priestess, or the goddess, but could only think of the Greek for +Queen, or rather something resembling it. Or perhaps it was because the +woman who had gone looked like a queen. + +"Oh!" said the man, "you seek a queen--then you _are_ those for whom we +were bidden to watch. Nay, how can I be sure?" + +"Is this a time to put questions?" I gasped angrily. "Answer me one +rather: who are you?" + +"I? Strangers, my title is Guardian of the Gate, and the lady who was +with me is the Khania of Kaloon." + +At this point Leo began to faint. + +"That man is sick," said the Guardian, "and now that you have got your +breath again, you must have shelter, both of you, and at once. Come, +help me." + +So, supporting Leo on either side, we dragged ourselves away from that +accursed cliff and Styx-like river up a narrow, winding gorge. Presently +it opened out, and there, stretching across the glade, we saw the Gate. +Of this all I observed then, for my memory of the details of this scene +and of the conversation that passed is very weak and blurred, was +that it seemed to be a mighty wall of rock in which a pathway had been +hollowed where doubtless once passed the road. On one side of this +passage was a stair, which we began to ascend with great difficulty, for +Leo was now almost senseless and scarcely moved his legs. Indeed at the +head of the first flight he sank down in a heap, nor did our strength +suffice to lift him. + +While I wondered feebly what was to be done, I heard footsteps, and +looking up, saw the woman who had saved him descending the stair, +and after her two robed men with a Tartar cast of countenance, very +impassive; small eyes and yellowish skin. Even the sight of us did +not appear to move them to astonishment. She spoke some words to them, +whereon they lifted Leo's heavy frame, apparently with ease, and carried +him up the steps. + +We followed, and reached a room that seemed to be hewn from the rock +above the gateway, where the woman called Khania left us. From it we +passed through other rooms, one of them a kind of kitchen, in which +a fire burned, till we came to a large chamber, evidently a sleeping +place, for in it were wooden bedsteads, mattresses and rugs. Here Leo +was laid down, and with the assistance of one of his servants, the old +Guardian undressed him, at the same time motioning me to take off my own +garments. This I did gladly enough for the first time during many days, +though with great pain and difficulty, to find that I was a mass of +wounds and bruises. + +Presently our host blew upon a whistle, and the other servant appeared +bringing hot water in a jar, with which we were washed over. Then the +Guardian dressed our hurts with some soothing ointment, and wrapped us +round with blankets. After this broth was brought, into which he mixed +medicine, and giving me a portion to drink where I lay upon one of the +beds, he took Leo's head upon his knee and poured the rest of it down +his throat. Instantly a wonderful warmth ran through me, and my aching +brain began to swim. Then I remembered no more. + +After this we were very, very ill. What may be the exact medical +definition of our sickness I do not know, but in effect it was such as +follows loss of blood, extreme exhaustion of body, paralysing shock +to the nerves and extensive cuts and contusions. These taken together +produced a long period of semi-unconsciousness, followed by another +period of fever and delirium. All that I can recall of those weeks while +we remained the guests of the Guardian of the Gate, may be summed up in +one word--dreams, that is until at last I recovered my senses. + +The dreams themselves are forgotten, which is perhaps as well, since +they were very confused, and for the most part awful; a hotch-potch of +nightmares, reflected without doubt from vivid memories of our recent +and fearsome sufferings. At times I would wake up from them a little, +I suppose when food was administered to me, and receive impressions +of whatever was passing in the place. Thus I can recollect that +yellow-faced old Guardian standing over me like a ghost in the +moonlight, stroking his long beard, his eyes fixed upon my face, as +though he would search out the secrets of my soul. + +"They are the men," he muttered to himself, "without doubt they are the +men," then walked to the window and looked up long and earnestly, like +one who studies the stars. + +After this I remember a disturbance in the room, and dominating it, as +it were, the rich sound of a woman's voice and the rustle of a woman's +silks sweeping the stone floor. I opened my eyes and saw that it was she +who had helped to rescue us, who _had_ rescued us in fact, a tall and +noble-looking lady with a beauteous, weary face and liquid eyes which +seemed to burn. From the heavy cloak she wore I thought that she must +have just returned from a journey. + +She stood above me and looked at me, then turned away with a gesture +of indifference, if not of disgust, speaking to the Guardian in a low +voice. By way of answer he bowed, pointing to the other bed where Leo +lay, asleep, and thither she passed with slow, imperious movements. I +saw her bend down and lift the corner of a wrapping which covered his +wounded head, and heard her utter some smothered words before she turned +round to the Guardian as though to question him further. + +But he had gone, and being alone, for she thought me senseless, she drew +a rough stool to the side of the bed, and seating herself studied Leo, +who lay thereon, with an earnestness that was almost terrible, for +her soul seemed to be concentrated in her eyes, and to find expression +through them. Long she gazed thus, then rose and began to walk swiftly +up and down the chamber, pressing her hands now to her bosom and now +to her brow, a certain passionate perplexity stamped upon her face, as +though she struggled to remember something and could not. + +"Where and when?" she whispered. "Oh! where and when?" + +Of the end of that scene I know nothing, for although I fought hard +against it, oblivion mastered me. After this I became aware that the +regal-looking woman called Khania, was always in the room, and that she +seemed to be nursing Leo with great care and tenderness. Sometimes even +she nursed me when Leo did not need attention, and she had nothing else +to do, or so her manner seemed to suggest. It was as though I excited +her curiosity, and she wished me to recover that it might be satisfied. + +Again I awoke, how long afterwards I cannot say. It was night, and +the room was lighted by the moon only, now shining in a clear sky. Its +steady rays entering at the window-place fell on Leo's bed, and by them +I saw that the dark, imperial woman was watching at his side. Some sense +of her presence must have communicated itself to him, for he began to +mutter in his sleep, now in English, now in Arabic. She became intensely +interested; as her every movement showed. Then rising suddenly she +glided across the room on tiptoe to look at me. Seeing her coming I +feigned to be asleep, and so well that she was deceived. + +For I was also interested. Who was this lady whom the Guardian had +called the Khania of Kaloon? Could it be she whom we sought? Why not? +And yet if I saw Ayesha, surely I should know her, surely there would be +no room for doubt. + +Back she went again to the bed, kneeling down beside Leo, and in the +intense silence which followed--for he had ceased his mutterings--I +thought that I could hear the beating of her heart. Now she began to +speak, very low and in that same bastard Greek tongue, mixed here and +there with Mongolian words such as are common to the dialects of Central +Asia. I could not hear or understand all she said, but some sentences I +did understand, and they frightened me not a little. + +"Man of my dreams," she murmured, "whence come you? Who are you? Why did +the Hesea bid me to meet you?" Then some sentences I could not catch. +"You sleep; in sleep the eyes are opened. Answer, I bid you; say what +is the bond between you and me? Why have I dreamt of you? Why do I know +you? Why----?" and the sweet, rich voice died slowly from a whisper into +silence, as though she were ashamed to utter what was on her tongue. + +As she bent over him a lock of her hair broke loose from its jewelled +fillet and fell across his face. At its touch Leo seemed to wake, for +he lifted his gaunt, white hand and touched the hair, then said in +English--"Where am I? Oh! I remember;" and their eyes met as he strove +to lift himself and could not. Then he spoke again in his broken, +stumbling Greek, "You are the lady who saved me from the water. Say, are +you also that queen whom I have sought so long and endured so much to +find?" + +"I know not," she answered in a voice as sweet as honey, a low, +trembling voice; "but true it is I am a queen--if a Khania be a queen." + +"Say, then, Queen, do you remember me?" + +"We have met in dreams," she answered, "I think that we have met in a +past that is far away. Yes; I knew it when first I saw you there by the +river. Stranger with the well remembered face, tell me, I pray you, how +you are named?" + +"Leo Vincey." + +She shook her head, whispering--"I know not the name, yet you I know." + +"You know me! How do you know me?" he said heavily, and seemed to sink +again into slumber or swoon. + +She watched him for a while very intently. Then as though some force +that she could not resist drew her, I saw her bend down her head over +his sleeping face. Yes; and I saw her kiss him swiftly on the lips, then +spring back crimson to the hair, as though overwhelmed with shame at +this victory of her mad passion. + +Now it was that she discovered me. + +Bewildered, fascinated, amazed, I had raised myself upon my bed, not +knowing it; I suppose that I might see and hear the better. It was +wrong, doubtless, but no common curiosity over-mastered me, who had my +share in all this story. More, it was foolish, but illness and wonder +had killed my reason. + +Yes, she saw me watching them, and such fury seemed to take hold of her +that I thought my hour had come. + +"Man, have you dared----?" she said in an intense whisper, and snatching +at her girdle. Now in her hand shone a knife, and I knew that it was +destined for my heart. Then in this sore danger my wit came back to me +and as she advanced I stretched out my shaking hand, saying--"Oh! of +your pity, give me to drink. The fever burns me, it burns," and I looked +round like one bewildered who sees not, repeating, "Give me drink, you +who are called Guardian," and I fell back exhausted. + +She stopped like a hawk in its stoop, and swiftly sheathed the dagger. +Then taking a bowl of milk that stood on a table near her, she held +it to my lips, searching my face the while with her flaming eyes, for +indeed passion, rage, and fear had lit them till they seemed to flame. +I drank the milk in great gulps, though never in my life did I find it +more hard to swallow. + +"You tremble," she said; "have dreams haunted you?" + +"Aye, friend," I answered, "dreams of that fearsome precipice and of the +last leap." + +"Aught else?" she asked. + +"Nay; is it not enough? Oh! what a journey to have taken to befriend a +queen." + +"To befriend a queen," she repeated puzzled. "What means the man? You +swear you have had no other dreams?" + +"Aye, I swear by the Symbol of Life and the Mount of the Wavering Flame, +and by yourself, O Queen from the ancient days." + +Then I sighed and pretended to swoon, for I could think of nothing else +to do. As I closed my eyes I saw her face that had been red as dawn turn +pale as eve, for my words and all which might lie behind them, had gone +home. Moreover, she was in doubt, for I could hear her fingering the +handle of the dagger. Then she spoke aloud, words for my ears if they +still were open. + +"I am glad," she said, "that he dreamed no other dreams, since had he +done so and babbled of them it would have been ill-omened, and I do not +wish that one who has travelled far to visit us should be hurled to +the death-dogs for burial; one, moreover, who although old and hideous, +still has the air of a wise and silent man." + +Now while I shivered at these unpleasant hints--though what the +"death-dogs" in which people were buried might be, I could not +conceive--to my intense joy I heard the foot of the Guardian on the +stairs, heard him too enter the room and saw him bow before the lady. + +"How go these sick men, niece?"[*] he said in his cold voice. + + [*] I found later that the Khania, Atene, was not Simbri's + niece but his great-niece, on the mother's side.--L. H. H. + +"They swoon, both of them," she answered. + +"Indeed, is it so? I thought otherwise. I thought they woke." + +"What have you heard, Shaman (i.e. wizard)?" she asked angrily. + +"I? Oh! I heard the grating of a dagger in its sheath and the distant +baying of the death-hounds." + +"And what have you seen, Shaman?" she asked again, "looking through the +Gate you guard?" + +"Strange sight, Khania, my niece. But--men awake from swoons." + +"Aye," she answered, "so while this one sleeps, bear him to another +chamber, for he needs change, and the lord yonder needs more space and +untainted air." + +The Guardian, whom she called "Shaman" or Magician, held a lamp in his +hand, and by its light it was easy to see his face, which I watched +out of the corner of my eye. I thought that it wore a very strange +expression, one moreover that alarmed me somewhat. From the beginning +I had misdoubted me of this old man, whose cast of countenance was +vindictive as it was able; now I was afraid of him. + +"To which chamber, Khania?" he said with meaning. + +"I think," she answered slowly, "to one that is healthful, where he +will recover. The man has wisdom," she added as though in explanation, +"moreover, having the word from the Mountain, to harm him would be +dangerous. But why do you ask?" + +He shrugged his shoulders. + +"I tell you I heard the death-hounds bay, that is all. Yes, with you I +think that he has wisdom, and the bee which seeks honey should suck the +flower--before it fades! Also, as you say, there are commands with which +it is ill to trifle, even if we cannot guess their meaning." + +Then going to the door he blew upon his whistle, and instantly I heard +the feet of his servants upon the stairs. He gave them an order, and +gently enough they lifted the mattress on which I lay and followed him +down sundry passages and past some stairs into another chamber shaped +like that we had left, but not so large, where they placed me upon a +bed. + +The Guardian watched me awhile to see that I did not wake. Next he +stretched out his hand and felt my heart and pulse; an examination +the results of which seemed to _puzzle_ him, for he uttered a little +exclamation and shook his head. After this he left the room, and I heard +him bolt the door behind him. Then, being still very weak, I fell asleep +in earnest. + +When I awoke it was broad daylight. My mind was clear and I felt better +than I had done for many a day, signs by which I knew that the fever had +left me and that I was on the high road to recovery. Now I remembered +all the events of the previous night and was able to weigh them +carefully. This, to be sure, I did for many reasons, among them that I +knew I had been and still was, in great danger. + +I had seen and heard too much, and this woman called Khania guessed that +I had seen and heard. Indeed, had it not been for my hints about the +Symbol of Life and the Mount of Flame, after I had disarmed her first +rage by my artifice, I felt sure that she would have ordered the old +Guardian or Shaman to do me to death in this way or the other; sure also +that he would not have hesitated to obey her. I had been spared partly +because, for some unknown reason, she was afraid to kill me, and partly +that she might learn how much I knew, although the "death-hounds had +bayed," whatever that might mean. Well, up to the present I was safe, +and for the rest I must take my chance. Moreover it was necessary to +be cautious, and, if need were, to feign ignorance. So, dismissing the +matter of my own fate from my mind, I fell to considering the scene +which I had witnessed and what might be its purport. + +Was our quest at an end? Was this woman Ayesha? Leo had so dreamed, but +he was still delirious, therefore here was little on which to lean. +What seemed more to the point was that she herself evidently appeared to +think that there existed some tie between her and this sick man. Why +had she embraced him? I was sure that she could be no wanton, nor indeed +would any woman indulge for its own sake in such folly with a stranger +who hung between life and death. What she had done was done because +irresistible impulse, born of knowledge, or at least of memories, drove +her on, though mayhap the knowledge was imperfect and the memories were +undefined. Who save Ayesha could have known anything of Leo in the past? +None who lived upon the earth to-day. + +And yet, why not, if what Kou-en the abbot and tens of millions of his +fellow-worshippers believed were true? If the souls of human beings were +in fact strictly limited in number, and became the tenants of an endless +succession of physical bodies which they change from time to time as we +change our worn-out garments, why should not others have known him? For +instance that daughter of the Pharaohs who "caused him through love to +break the vows that he had vowed" knew a certain Kallikrates, a priest +of "Isis whom the gods cherish and the demons obey;" even Amenartas, the +mistress of magic. + +Oh! now a light seemed to break upon me, a wonderful light. What if +Amenartas and this Khania, this woman with royalty stamped on every +feature, should be the same? Would not that "magic of my own people +that I have" of which she wrote upon the Sherd, enable her to pierce the +darkness of the Past and recognize the priest whom she had bewitched to +love her, snatching him out of the very hand of the goddess? What if it +were not Ayesha, but Amenartas re-incarnate who ruled this hidden land +and once more sought to make the man she loved break through his vows? +If so, knowing the evil that must come, I shook even at its shadow. The +truth must be learned, but how? + +Whilst I wondered the door opened, and the sardonic, +inscrutable-old-faced man, whom this Khania had called Magician, and who +called the Khania, niece, entered and stood before me. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE FIRST ORDEAL + +The shaman advanced to my side and asked me courteously how I fared. + +I answered, "Better. Far better, oh, my host--but how are you named?" + +"Simbri," he answered, "and, as I told you by the water, my title is +Hereditary Guardian of the Gate. By profession I am the royal Physician +in this land." + +"Did you say physician or magician?" I asked carelessly, as though I had +not caught the word. He gave me a curious look. + +"I _said_ physician, and it is well for you and your companion that I +have some skill in my art. Otherwise I think, perhaps, you would not +have been alive to-day, O my guest--but how are _you_ named?" + +"Holly," I said. + +"O my guest, Holly." + +"Had it not been for the foresight that brought you and the lady Khania +to the edge of yonder darksome river, certainly we should _not_ have +been alive, venerable Simbri, a foresight that seems to me to savour +of magic in such a lonely place. That is why I thought you might have +described yourself as a magician, though it is true that you may have +been but fishing in those waters." + +"Certainly I was fishing, stranger Holly--for men, and I caught two." + +"Fishing by chance, host Simbri?" + +"Nay, by design, guest Holly. My trade of physician includes the study +of future events, for I am the chief of the Shamans or Seers of this +land, and, having been warned of your coming quite recently, I awaited +your arrival." + +"Indeed, that is strange, most courteous also. So here physician and +magician mean the same." + +"You say it," he answered with a grave bow; "but tell me, if you will, +how did you find your way to a land whither visitors do not wander?" + +"Oh!" I answered, "perhaps we are but travellers, or perhaps we also +have studied--medicine." + +"I think that you must have studied it deeply, since otherwise you would +not have lived to cross those mountains in search of--now, what did you +seek? Your companion, I think, spoke of a queen--yonder, on the banks of +the torrent." + +"Did he? Did he, indeed? Well, that is strange since he seems to have +found one, for surely that royal-looking lady, named Khania, who sprang +into the stream and saved us, must be a queen." + +"A queen she is, and a great one, for in our land Khania means queen, +though how, friend Holly, a man who has lain senseless can have learned +this, I do not know. Nor do I know how you come to speak our language." + +"That is simple, for the tongue you talk is very ancient, and as it +chances in my own country it has been my lot to study and to teach +it. It is Greek, but although it is still spoken in the world, how it +reached these mountains I cannot say." + +"I will tell you," he answered. "Many generations ago a great conqueror +born of the nation that spoke this tongue fought his way through the +country to the south of us. He was driven back, but a general of his of +another race advanced and crossed the mountains, and overcame the +people of this land, bringing with him his master's language and his own +worship. Here he established his dynasty, and here it remains, for being +ringed in with deserts and with pathless mountain snows, we hold no +converse with the outer world." + +"Yes, I know something of that story; the conqueror was named Alexander, +was he not?" I asked. + +"He was so named, and the name of the general was Rassen, a native of +a country called Egypt, or so our records tell us. His descendants hold +the throne to this day, and the Khania is of his blood." + +"Was the goddess whom he worshipped called Isis?" + +"Nay," he answered, "she was called Hes." + +"Which," I interrupted, "is but another title for Isis. Tell me, is her +worship continued here? I ask because it is now dead in Egypt, which was +its home." + +"There is a temple on the Mountain yonder," he replied indifferently, +"and in it are priests and priestesses who practise some ancient cult. +But the real god of this people now, as long before the day of Rassen +their conqueror, is the fire that dwells in this same Mountain, which +from time to time breaks out and slays them." + +"And does a goddess dwell in the fire?" I asked. + +Again he searched my face with his cold eyes, then answered--"Stranger +Holly, I know nothing of any goddess. That Mountain is sacred, and to +seek to learn its secrets is to die. Why do you ask such questions?" + +"Only because I am curious in the matter of old religions, and seeing +the symbol of Life upon yonder peak, came hither to study yours, of +which indeed a tradition still remains among the learned." + +"Then abandon that study, friend Holly, for the road to it runs through +the paws of the death-hounds, and the spears of savages. Nor indeed is +there anything to learn." + +"And what, Physician, are the death-hounds?" + +"Certain dogs to which, according to our ancient custom, all offenders +against the law or the will of the Khan, are cast to be torn to pieces." + +"The will of the Khan! Has this Khania of yours a husband then?" + +"Aye," he answered, "her cousin, who was the ruler of half the land. Now +they and the land are one. But you have talked enough; I am here to say +that your food is ready," and he turned to leave the room. + +"One more question, friend Simbri. How came I to this chamber, and where +is my companion?" + +"You were borne hither in your sleep, and see, the change has bettered +you. Do you remember nothing?" + +"Nothing, nothing at all," I answered earnestly. "But what of my +friend?" + +"He also is better. The Khania Atene nurses him." + +"Atene?" I said. "That is an old Egyptian name. It means the Disk of the +Sun, and a woman who bore it thousands of years ago was famous for her +beauty." + +"Well, and is not my niece Atene beautiful?" + +"How can I tell, O uncle of the Khania," I answered wearily, "who have +scarcely seen her?" + +Then he departed, and presently his yellow-faced, silent servants +brought me my food. + +Later in the morning the door opened again, and through it, unattended, +came the Khania Atene, who shut and bolted it behind her. This action +did not reassure me, still, rising in my bed, I saluted her as best I +could, although at heart I was afraid. She seemed to read my doubts for +she said--"Lie down, and have no fear. At present you will come by no +harm from me. Now, tell me what is the man called Leo to you? Your son? +Nay, it cannot be, since--forgive me--light is not born of darkness." + +"I have always thought that it was so born, Khania. Yet you are right; +he is but my adopted son, and a man whom I love." + +"Say, what seek you here?" she asked. + +"We seek, Khania, whatsoever Fate shall bring us on yonder Mountain, +that which is crowned with flame." + +Her face paled at the words, but she answered in a steady voice--"Then +there you will find nothing but doom, if indeed you do not find it +before you reach its slopes, which are guarded by savage men. Yonder is +the College of Hes, and to violate its Sanctuary is death to any man, +death in the ever-burning fire." + +"And who rules this college, Khania--a priestess?" + +"Yes, a priestess, whose face I have never seen, for she is so old that +she veils herself from curious eyes." + +"Ah! she veils herself, does she?" I answered, as the blood went +thrilling through my veins, I who remembered another who also was +_so_ old that she veiled herself from curious eyes. "Well, veiled or +unveiled, we would visit her, trusting to find that we are welcome." + +"That you shall not do," she said, "for it is unlawful, and I will not +have your blood upon my hands." + +"Which is the stronger," I asked of her, "you, Khania, or this priestess +of the Mountain?" + +"I am the stronger, Holly, for so you are named, are you not? Look you, +at my need I can summon sixty thousand men in war, while she has naught +but her priests and the fierce, untrained tribes." + +"The sword is not the only power in the world," I answered. "Tell me, +now, does this priestess ever visit the country of Kaloon?" + +"Never, never, for by the ancient pact, made after the last great +struggle long centuries ago between the College and the people of the +Plain, it was decreed and sworn to that should she set her foot across +the river, this means war to the end between us, and rule for the victor +over both. Likewise, save when unguarded they bear their dead to burial, +or for some such high purpose, no Khan or Khania of Kaloon ascends the +Mountain." + +"Which then is the true master--the Khan of Kaloon or the head of the +College of Hes?" I asked again. + +"In matters spiritual, the priestess of Hes, who is our Oracle and the +voice of Heaven. In matters temporal, the Khan of Kaloon." + +"The Khan. Ah! you are married, lady, are you not?" + +"Aye," she answered, her face flushing. "And I will tell you what you +soon must learn, if you have not learned it already, I am the wife of a +madman, and he is--hateful to me." + +"I _have_ learned the last already, Khania." + +She looked at me with her piercing eyes. + +"What! Did my uncle, the Shaman, he who is called Guardian, tell you? +Nay, you saw, as I knew you saw, and it would have been best to slay you +for, oh! what must you think of me?" + +I made no answer, for in truth I did not know what to think, also +I feared lest further rash admissions should be followed by swift +vengeance. + +"You must believe," she went on, "that I, who have ever hated men, that +I--I swear that it is true--whose lips are purer than those mountain +snows, I, the Khania of Kaloon, whom they name Heart-of-Ice, am but a +shameless thing." And, covering her face with her hand, she moaned in +the bitterness of her distress. + +"Nay," I said, "there may be reasons, explanations, if it pleases you to +give them." + +"Wanderer, there are such reasons; and since you know so much, you shall +learn them also. Like that husband of mine, I have become mad. When +first I saw the face of your companion, as I dragged him from the river, +madness entered me, and I--I----" + +"Loved him," I suggested. "Well, such things have happened before to +people who were not mad." + +"Oh!" she went on, "it was more than love; I was possessed, and that +night I knew not what I did. A Power drove me on; a Destiny compelled +me, and to the end I am his, and his alone. Yes, I am his, and I swear +that he shall be mine;" and with this wild declaration dangerous enough +under the conditions, she turned and fled the room. + +She was gone, and after the struggle, for such it was, I sank back +exhausted. How came it that this sudden passion had mastered her? Who +and what was this Khania, I wondered again, and--this was more to the +point, who and what would Leo believe her to be? If only I could be with +him before he said words or did deeds impossible to recall. + +Three days went by, during which time I saw no more of the Khania, who, +or so I was informed by Simbri, the Shaman, had returned to her city to +make ready for us, her guests. I begged him to allow me to rejoin Leo, +but he answered politely, though with much firmness, that my foster-son +did better without me. Now, I grew suspicious, fearing lest some harm +had come to Leo, though how to discover the truth I knew not. In my +anxiety I tried to convey a note to him, written upon a leaf of a +water-gained pocket-book, but the yellow-faced servant refused to touch +it, and Simbri said drily that he would have naught to do with writings +which he could not read. At length, on the third night I made up my mind +that whatever the risk, with leave or without it, I would try to find +him. + +By this time I could walk well, and indeed was almost strong again. So +about midnight, when the moon was up, for I had no other light, I crept +from my bed, threw on my garments, and taking a knife, which was the +only weapon I possessed, opened the door of my room and started. + +Now, when I was carried from the rock-chamber where Leo and I had +been together, I took note of the way. First, reckoning from my +sleeping-place, there was a passage thirty paces long, for I had counted +the footfalls of my bearers. Then came a turn to the left, and ten more +paces of passage, and lastly near certain steps running to some place +unknown, another sharp turn to the right which led to our old chamber. + +Down the long passage I walked stealthily, and although it was pitch +dark, found the turn to the left, and followed it till I came to the +second sharp turn to the right, that of the gallery from which rose +the stairs. I crept round it only to retreat hastily enough, as well +I might, for at the door of Leo's room, which she was in the act of +locking on the outside, as I could see by the light of the lamp that she +held in her hand, stood the Khania herself. + +My first thought was to fly back to my own chamber, but I abandoned +it, feeling sure that I should be seen. Therefore I determined, if she +discovered me, to face the matter out and say that I was trying to find +Leo, and to learn how he fared. So I crouched against the wall, and +waited with a beating heart. I heard her sweep down the passage, +and--yes--begin to mount the stair. + +Now, what should I do? To try to reach Leo was useless, for she had +locked the door with the key she held. Go back to bed? No, I would +follow her, and if we met would make the same excuse. Thus I might get +some tidings, or perhaps--a dagger thrust. + +So round the corner and up the steps I went, noiselessly as a snake. +They were many and winding, like those of a church tower, but at length +I came to the head of them, where was a little landing, and opening from +it a door. It was a very ancient door; the light streamed through cracks +where its panels had rotted, and from the room beyond came the sound of +voices, those of the Shaman Simbri and the Khania. + +"Have you learned aught, my niece?" I heard him say, and also heard her +answer---"A little. A very little." + +Then in my thirst for knowledge I grew bold, and stealing to the door, +looked through one of the cracks in its wood. Opposite to me, in the +full flood of light thrown by a hanging lamp, her hand resting on a +table at which Simbri was seated, stood the Khania. Truly she was a +beauteous sight, for she wore robes of royal purple, and on her brow a +little coronet of gold, beneath which her curling hair streamed down +her shapely neck and bosom. Seeing her I guessed at once that she had +arrayed herself thus for some secret end, enhancing her loveliness by +every art and grace that is known to woman. Simbri was looking at her +earnestly, with fear and doubt written on even his cold, impassive +features. + +"What passed between you, then?" he asked, peering at her. + +"I questioned him closely as to the reason of his coming to this +land, and wrung from him the answer that it was to seek some beauteous +woman--he would say no more. I asked him if she were more beauteous than +_I_ am, and he replied with courtesy--nothing else, I think--that it +would be hard to say, but that she had been different. Then I said that +though it behooved me not to speak of such a matter, there was no lady +in Kaloon whom men held to be so fair as I; moreover, that I was its +ruler, and that I and no other had saved him from the water. Aye, and I +added that my heart told me I was the woman whom he sought." + +"Have done, niece," said Simbri impatiently, "I would not hear of the +arts you used--well enough, doubtless. What then?" + +"Then he said that it might be so, since he thought that this woman +was born again, and studied me a while, asking me if I had ever 'passed +through fire.' To this I replied that the only fires I had passed were +those of the spirit, and that I dwelt in them now. He said, 'Show me +your hair,' and I placed a lock of it in his hand. Presently he let +it fall, and from that satchel which he wears about his neck drew out +another tress of hair--oh! Simbri, my uncle, the loveliest hair that +ever eyes beheld, for it was soft as silk, and reached from my coronet +to the ground. Moreover, no raven's wing in the sunshine ever shone as +did that fragrant tress. + +"'Yours is beautiful,' he said, 'but see, they are not the same.' + +"'Mayhap,' I answered, 'since no woman ever wore such locks.' + +"'You are right,' he replied, 'for she whom I seek was more than a +woman.' + +"And then--and then--though I tried him in many ways he would say no +more, so, feeling hate against this Unknown rising in my heart, and +fearing lest I should utter words that were best unsaid, I left him. Now +I bid you, search the books which are open to your wisdom and tell me of +this woman whom he seeks, who she is, and where she dwells. Oh! search +them swiftly, that I may find her and--kill her if I can." + +"Aye, if you can," answered the Shaman, "and if she lives to kill. But +say, where shall we begin our quest? Now, this letter from the Mountain +that the head-priest Oros sent to your court a while ago?"--and he +selected a parchment from a pile which lay upon the table and looked at +her. + +"Read," she said, "I would hear it again." + +So he read: "From the Hesea of the House of Fire, to Atene, Khania of +Kaloon. + +"My sister--Warning has reached me that two strangers of a western +race journey to your land, seeking my Oracle, of which they would ask a +question. On the first day of the next moon, I command that you and with +you Simbri, your great-uncle, the wise Shaman, Guardian of the Gate, +shall be watching the river in the gulf at the foot of the ancient road, +for by that steep path the strangers travel. Aid them in all things and +bring them safely to the Mountain, knowing that in this matter I shall +hold him and you to account. Myself I will not meet them, since to do so +would be to break the pact between our powers, which says that the Hesea +of the Sanctuary visits not the territory of Kaloon, save in war. Also +their coming is otherwise appointed." + +"It would seem," said Simbri, laying down the parchment, "that these are +no chance wanderers, since Hes awaits them." + +"Aye, they are no chance wanderers, since my heart awaited one of them +also. Yet the Hesea cannot be that woman, for reasons which are known to +you." + +"There are many women on the Mountain," suggested the Shaman in a dry +voice, "if indeed any woman has to do with this matter." + +"I at least have to do with it, and he shall not go to the Mountain." + +"Hes is powerful, my niece, and beneath these smooth words of hers lies +a dreadful threat. I say that she is mighty from of old and has servants +in the earth and air who warned her of the coming of these men, and +will warn her of what befalls them. I know it, who hate her, and to your +royal house of Rassen it has been known for many a generation. Therefore +thwart her not lest ill befall us all, for she is a spirit and terrible. +She says that it is appointed that they shall go----" + +"And _I_ say it is appointed that he shall not go. Let the other go if +he desires." + +"Atene, be plain, what will you with the man called Leo--that he should +become your lover?" asked the Shaman. + +She stared him straight in the eyes, and answered boldly--"Nay, I will +that he should become my husband." + +"First he must will it too, who seems to have no mind that way. Also, +how can a woman have two husbands?" + +She laid her hand upon his shoulder and said--"I have no husband. You +know it well, Simbri. _I_ charge you by the close bond of blood between +us, brew me another draught----" + +"That we may be bound yet closer in a bond of murder! Nay, Atene, I will +not; already your sin lies heavy on my head. You are very fair; take the +man in your own net, if you may, or let him be, which is better far." + +"I cannot let him be. Would that I were able. I must love him as I must +hate the other whom he loves, yet some power hardens his heart against +me. Oh! great Shaman, you that peep and mutter, you who can read the +future and the past, tell me what you have learned from your stars and +divinations." + +"Already I have sought through many a secret, toilsome hour and learned +this, Atene," he answered. "You are right, the fate of yonder man is +intertwined with yours, but between you and him there rises a mighty +wall that my vision cannot pierce nor my familiars climb. Yet I am +taught that in death you and he--aye, and I also, shall be very near +together." + +"Then come death," she exclaimed with sullen pride, "for thence at least +I'll pluck out my desire." + +"Be not so sure," he answered, "for I think that the Power follows +us even down this dark gulf of death. I think also that I feel the +sleepless eyes of Hes watching our secret souls." + +"Then blind them with the dust of illusions--as you can. To-morrow, +also, saying nothing of their sex, send a messenger to the Mountain and +tell the Hesea that two old strangers have arrived--mark you, _old_--but +that they are very sick, that their limbs were broken in the river, and +that when they have healed again, I will send them to ask the question +of her Oracle--that is, some three moons hence. Perchance she may +believe you, and be content to wait; or if she does not, at least no +more words. I must sleep or my brain will burst. Give me that medicine +which brings dreamless rest, for never did I need it more, who also feel +eyes upon me," and she glanced towards the door. + +Then I left, and not too soon, for as I crept down the darksome passage, +I heard it open behind me. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE DEATH-HOUNDS + +It may have been ten o'clock on the following morning, or a little past +it, when the Shaman Simbri came into my room and asked me how I had +slept. + +"Like a log," I answered, "like a log. A drugged man could not have +rested more soundly." + +"Indeed, friend Holly, and yet you look fatigued." + +"My dreams troubled me somewhat," I answered. "I suffer from such +things. But surely by your face, friend Simbri, you cannot have slept at +all, for never yet have I seen you with so weary an air." + +"I am weary," he said, with a sigh. "Last night I spent up on my +business--watching at the Gates." + +"What gates?" I asked. "Those by which we entered this kingdom, for, if +so, I would rather watch than travel them." + +"The Gates of the Past and of the Future. Yes, those two which you +entered, if you will; for did you not travel out of a wondrous Past +towards a Future that you cannot _guess?_" + +"But both of which interest you," I suggested. + +"Perhaps," he answered, then added, "I come to tell you that within an +hour you are to start for the city, whither the Khania has but now gone +on to make ready for you." + +"Yes; only you told me that she had gone some days ago. Well, I am sound +again and prepared to march, but say, how is my foster-son?" + +"He mends, he mends. But you shall see him for yourself. It is the +Khania's will. Here come the slaves bearing your robes, and with them I +leave you." + +So with their assistance I dressed myself, first in good, clean +under-linen, then in wide woollen trousers and vest, and lastly in a +fur-lined camel-hair robe dyed black that was very comfortable to wear, +and in appearance not unlike a long overcoat. A flat cap of the same +material and a pair of boots made of untanned hide completed my attire. + +Scarcely was I ready when the yellow-faced servants, with many bows, +took me by the hand and led me down the passages and stairs of the +Gate-house to its door. Here, to my great joy, I found Leo, looking +pale and troubled, but otherwise as well as I could expect after his +sickness. He was attired like myself, save that his garments were of a +finer quality, and the overcoat was white, with a hood to it, added, I +suppose, to protect the wound in his head from cold and the sun. This +white dress I thought became him very well, also about it there was +nothing grotesque or even remarkable. He sprang to me and seized my +hand, asking how I fared and where I had been hidden away, a greeting +of which, as I could see, the warmth was not lost upon Simbri, who stood +by. + +I answered, well enough now that we were together again, and for the +rest I would tell him later. + +Then they brought us palanquins, carried, each of them, by two ponies, +one of which was harnessed ahead and the other behind between long +shaft-like poles. In these we seated ourselves, and at a sign from +Simbri slaves took the leading ponies by the bridle and we started, +leaving behind us that grim old Gate-house through which we were the +first strangers to pass for many a generation. + +For a mile or more our road ran down a winding, rocky gorge, till +suddenly it took a turn, and the country of Kaloon lay stretched before +us. At our feet was a river, probably the same with which we had made +acquaintance in the gulf, where, fed by the mountain snows, it had its +source. Here it flowed rapidly, but on the vast, alluvial lands +beneath became a broad and gentle stream that wound its way through the +limitless plains till it was lost in the blue of the distance. + +To the north, however, this smooth, monotonous expanse was broken by +that Mountain which had guided us from afar, the House of Fire. It was +a great distance from us, more than a hundred miles, I should say, yet +even so a most majestic sight in that clear air. Many leagues from the +base of its peak the ground began to rise in brown and rugged hillocks, +from which sprang the holy Mountain itself, a white and dazzling point +that soared full twenty thousand feet into the heavens. + +Yes, and there upon the nether lip of its crater stood the gigantic +pillar, surmounted by a yet more gigantic loop of virgin rock, whereof +the blackness stood out grimly against the blue of the sky beyond and +the blinding snow beneath. + +We gazed at it with awe, as well we might, this beacon of our hopes that +for aught we knew might also prove their monument, feeling even then +that yonder our fate would declare itself. I noted further that all +those with us did it reverence by bowing their heads as they caught +sight of the peak, and by laying the first finger of the right hand +across the first finger of the left, a gesture, as we afterwards +discovered, designed to avert its evil influence. Yes, even Simbri +bowed, a yielding to inherited superstition of which I should scarcely +have suspected him. + +"Have you ever journeyed to that Mountain?" asked Leo of him. + +Simbri shook his head and answered evasively. + +"The people of the Plain do not set foot upon the Mountain. Among its +slopes beyond the river which washes them, live hordes of brave and most +savage men, with whom we are oftentimes at war; for when they are hungry +they raid our cattle and our crops. Moreover, there, when the Mountain +labours, run red streams of molten rock, and now and again hot ashes +fall that slay the traveller." + +"Do the ashes ever fall in your country?" asked Leo. + +"They have been known to do so when the Spirit of the Mountain is angry, +and that is why we fear her." + +"Who is this Spirit?" said Leo eagerly. + +"I do not know, lord," he answered with impatience. "Can men see a +spirit?" + +"_You_ look as though you might, and had, not so long ago," replied Leo, +fixing his gaze on the old man's waxen face and uneasy eyes. For now +their horny calm was gone from the eyes of Simbri, which seemed as +though they had beheld some sight that haunted him. + +"You do me too much honour, lord," he replied; "my skill and vision do +not reach so far. But see, here is the landing-stage, where boats await +us, for the rest of our journey is by water." + +These boats proved to be roomy and comfortable, having flat bows and +sterns, since, although sometimes a sail was hoisted, they were designed +for towing, not to be rowed with oars. Leo and I entered the largest of +them, and to our joy were left alone except for the steersman. + +Behind us was another boat, in which were attendants and slaves, and +some men who looked like soldiers, for they carried bows and swords. Now +the ponies were taken from the palanquins, that were packed away, and +ropes of green hide, fastened to iron rings in the prows of the +boats, were fixed to the towing tackle with which the animals had been +reharnessed. Then we started, the ponies, two arranged tandem fashion +to each punt, trotting along a well-made towing path that was furnished +with wooden bridges wherever canals or tributary streams entered the +main river. + +"Thank Heaven," said Leo, "we are together again at last! Do you +remember, Horace, that when we entered the land of Kor it was thus, in a +boat? The tale repeats itself." + +"I can quite believe it," I answered. "I can believe anything. Leo, +I say that we are but gnats meshed in a web, and yonder Khania is +the spider and Simbri the Shaman guards the net. But tell me all you +remember of what has happened to you, and be quick, for I do not know +how long they may leave us alone." + +"Well," he said, "of course I remember our arrival at that Gate after +the lady and the old man had pulled us out of the river, and, Horace, +talking of spiders reminds me of hanging at the end of that string +of yak's hide. Not that I need much reminding, for I am not likely to +forget it. Do you know I cut the rope because I felt that I was going +mad, and wished to die sane. What happened to you? Did you slip?" + +"No; I jumped after you. It seemed best to end together, so that we +might begin again together." + +"Brave old Horace!" he said affectionately, the tears starting to his +grey eyes. + +"Well, never mind all that," I broke in; "you see you were right when +you said that we should get through, and we have. Now for your tale." + +"It is interesting, but not very long," he answered, colouring. "I went +to sleep, and when I woke it was to find a beautiful woman leaning over +me, and Horace--at first I thought that it was--you know who, and that +she kissed me; but perhaps it was all a dream." + +"It was no dream," I answered. "I saw it." + +"I am sorry to hear it--very sorry. At any rate there was the beautiful +woman--the Khania--for I saw her plenty of times afterwards, and talked +to her in my best modern Greek--by the way, Ayesha knew the old Greek; +that's curious." + +"She knew several of the ancient tongues, and so did other people. Go +on." + +"Well, she nursed me very kindly, but, so far as I know, until last +night there was nothing more affectionate, and I had sense enough to +refuse to talk about our somewhat eventful past. I pretended not to +understand, said that we were explorers, etc., and kept asking her where +you were, for I forgot to say I found that you had gone. I think that +she grew rather angry with me, for she wanted to know something, and, as +you can guess, I wanted to know a good deal. But I could get nothing out +of her except that she was the Khania--a person in authority. There was +no doubt about that, for when one of those slaves or servants came in +and interrupted her while she was trying to draw the facts out of me, +she called to some of her people to throw him out of the window, and he +only saved himself by going down the stairs very quickly. + +"Well, I could make nothing of her, and she could make little of me, +though why she should be so tenderly interested in a stranger, I don't +know--unless, unless--oh! who is she, Horace?" + +"If you will go on I will tell you what I think presently. One tale at a +time." + +"Very good. I got quite well and strong, comparatively speaking, till +the climax last night, which upset me again. After that old prophet, +Simbri, had brought me my supper, just as I was thinking of going to +sleep, the Khania came in alone, dressed like a queen. I can tell you +she looked really royal, like a princess in a fairy book, with a crown +on, and her chestnut black hair flowing round her. + +"Well, Horace, then she began to make love to me in a refined sort of +way, or so I thought, looked at me and sighed, saying that we had known +each other in the past--very well indeed I gathered--and implying that +she wished to continue our friendship. I fenced with her as best I +could; but a man feels fairly helpless lying on his back with a very +handsome and very imperial-looking lady standing over him and paying him +compliments. + +"The end of it was that, driven to it by her questions and to stop that +sort of thing, I told her that I was looking for my wife, whom I +had lost, for, after all, Ayesha is my wife, Horace. She smiled and +suggested that I need _not_ look far; in short, that the lost wife was +already found--in herself, who had come to save me from death in the +river. Indeed, she spoke with such conviction that I grew sure that she +was not merely amusing herself, and felt very much inclined to believe +her, for, after all, Ayesha may be changed now. + +"Then while I was at my wits' end I remembered the lock of hair--all +that remains to us of _her_," and Leo touched his breast. "I drew it +out and compared it with the Khania's, and at the sight of it she became +quite different, jealous, I suppose, for it is longer than hers, and not +in the least like. + +"Horace, I tell you that the touch of that lock of hair--for she did +touch it--appeared to act upon her nature like nitric acid upon sham +gold. It turned it black; all the bad in her came out. In her anger her +voice sounded coarse; yes, she grew almost vulgar, and, as you know, +when Ayesha was in a rage she might be wicked as we understand it, and +was certainly terrible, but she was never either coarse or vulgar, any +more than lightning is. + +"Well, from that moment I was sure that whoever this Khania may be, she +had nothing to do with Ayesha; they are so different that they never +could have been the same--like the hair. So I lay quiet and let her +talk, and coax, and threaten on, until at length she drew herself up and +marched from the room, and I heard her lock the door behind her. That's +all I have to tell you, and quite enough too, for I don't think that the +Khania has done with me, and, to say the truth, I am afraid of her." + +"Yes," I said, "quite enough. Now sit still, and don't start or talk +loud, for that steersman is probably a spy, and I can feel old Simbri's +eyes fixed upon our backs. Don't interrupt either, for our time alone +may be short." + +Then I set to work and told him everything I knew, while he listened in +blank astonishment. + +"Great Heavens! what a tale," he exclaimed as I finished. "Now, who is +this Hesea who sent the letter from the Mountain? And who, who is the +Khania?" + +"Who does your instinct tell you that she is, Leo?" + +"Amenartas?" he whispered doubtfully. "The woman who wrote the _Sherd_, +whom Ayesha said was the Egyptian princess--my wife two thousand years +ago? Amenartas re-born?" + +I nodded. "I think so. Why not? As I have told you again and again, I +have always been certain of one thing, that if we were allowed to see +the next act of the piece, we should find Amenartas, or rather the +spirit of Amenartas, playing a leading part in it; you will remember I +wrote as much in that record. + +"If the old Buddhist monk Kou-en could remember _his_ past, as thousands +of them swear that they do, and be sure of his identity continued from +that past, why should not this woman, with so much at stake, helped as +she is by the wizardry of the Shaman, her uncle, faintly remember hers? + +"At any rate, Leo, why should she not still be sufficiently under its +influence to cause her, without any fault or seeking of her own, to fall +madly in love at first sight with a man whom, after all, she has always +loved?" + +"The argument seems sound enough, Horace, and if so I am sorry for the +Khania, who hasn't much choice in the matter--been forced into it, so to +speak." + +"Yes, but meanwhile your foot is in a trap again. Guard yourself, +Leo, guard yourself. I believe that this is a trial sent to you, and +doubtless there will be more to follow. But I believe also that it would +be better for you to die than to make any mistake." + +"I know it well," he answered; "and you need not be afraid. Whatever +this Khania may have been to me in the past--if she was anything at +all--that story is done with. I seek Ayesha, and Ayesha alone, and Venus +herself shall not tempt me from her." + +Then we began to speak with hope and fear of that mysterious Hesea who +had sent the letter from the Mountain, commanding the Shaman Simbri to +meet us: the priestess or spirit whom he declared was "mighty from of +old" and had "servants in the earth and air." + +Presently the prow of our barge bumped against the bank of the river, +and looking round I saw that Simbri had left the boat in which he sat +and was preparing to enter ours. This he did, and, placing himself +gravely on a seat in front of us, explained that nightfall was coming +on, and he wished to give us his company and protection through the +dark. + +"And to see that we do not give him the slip in it," muttered Leo. + +Then the drivers whipped up their ponies, and we went on again. + +"Look behind you," said Simbri presently, "and you will see the city +where you will sleep to-night." + +We turned ourselves, and there, about ten miles away, perceived a +flat-roofed town of considerable, though not of very great size. Its +position was good, for it was set upon a large island that stood a +hundred feet or more above the level of the plain, the river dividing +into two branches at the foot of it, and, as we discovered afterwards, +uniting again beyond. + +The vast mound upon which this city was built had the appearance of +being artificial, but very possibly the soil whereof it was formed +had been washed up in past ages during times of flood, so that from +a mudbank in the centre of the broad river it grew by degrees to its +present proportions. With the exception of a columned and towered +edifice that crowned the city and seemed to be encircled by gardens, we +could see no great buildings in the place. + +"How is the city named?" asked Leo of Simbri. + +"Kaloon," he answered, "as was all this land even when my fore-fathers, +the conquerors, marched across the mountains and took it more than two +thousand years ago. They kept the ancient title, but the territory +of the Mountain they called Hes, because they said that the loop upon +yonder peak was the symbol of a goddess of this name whom their general +worshipped." + +"Priestesses still live there, do they not?" said Leo, trying in his +turn to extract the truth. + +"Yes, and priests also. The College of them was established by the +conquerors, who subdued all the land. Or rather, it took the place of +another College of those who fashioned the Sanctuary and the Temple, +whose god was the fire in the Mountain, as it is that of the people of +Kaloon to-day." + +"Then who is worshipped there now?" + +"The goddess Hes, it is said; but we know little of the matter, for +between us and the Mountain folk there has been enmity for ages. They +kill us and we kill them, for they are jealous of their shrine, which +none may visit save by permission, to consult the Oracle and to make +prayer or offering in times of calamity, when a Khan dies, or the waters +of the river sink and the crops fail, or when ashes fall and earthquakes +shake the land, or great sickness comes. Otherwise, unless they attack +us, we leave them alone, for though every man is trained to arms, and +can fight if need be, we are a peaceful folk, who cultivate the soil +from generation to generation, and thus grow rich. Look round you. Is it +not a scene of peace?" + +We stood up in the boat and gazed about us at the pastoral prospect. +Everywhere appeared herds of cattle feeding upon meadow lands, or troops +of mules and horses, or square fields sown with corn and outlined by +trees. Village folk, also, clad in long, grey gowns, were labouring on +the land, or, their day's toil finished, driving their beasts homewards +along roads built upon the banks of the irrigation dykes, towards the +hamlets that were placed on rising knolls amidst tall poplar groves. + +In its sharp contrast with the arid deserts and fearful mountains +amongst which we had wandered for so many years, this country struck us +as most charming, and indeed, seen by the red light of the sinking sun +on that spring day, even as beautiful with the same kind of beauty +which is to be found in Holland. One could understand too that these +landowners and peasant-farmers would by choice be men of peace, and what +a temptation their wealth must offer to the hungry, half-savage tribes +of the mountains. + +Also it was easy to guess when the survivors of Alexander's legions +under their Egyptian general burst through the iron band of snow-clad +hills and saw this sweet country, with its homes, its herds, and its +ripening grass, that they must have cried with one voice, "We will march +and fight and toil no more. Here we will sit us down to live and die." +Thus doubtless they did, taking them wives from among the women of the +people of the land which they had conquered--perhaps after a single +battle. + +Now as the light faded the wreaths of smoke which hung over the distant +Fire-mountain began to glow luridly. Redder and more angry did they +become while the darkness gathered, till at length they seemed to be +charged with pulsing sheets of flame propelled from the womb of the +volcano, which threw piercing beams of light through the eye of the +giant loop that crowned its brow. Far, far fled those beams, making +a bright path across the land, and striking the white crests of the +bordering wall of mountains. High in the air ran that path, over the +dim roofs of the city of Kaloon, over the river, yes, straight above +us, over the mountains, and doubtless--though there we could not follow +them--across the desert to that high eminence on its farther side +where we had lain bathed in their radiance. It was a wondrous and most +impressive sight, one too that filled our companions with fear, for the +steersmen in our boats and the drivers on the towing-path groaned aloud +and began to utter prayers. "What do they say?" asked Leo of Simbri. + +"They say, lord, that the Spirit of the Mountain is angry, and passes +down yonder flying light that is called the Road of Hes to work some +evil to our land. Therefore they pray her not to destroy them." + +"Then does that light not always shine thus?" he asked again. + +"Nay, but seldom. Once about three months ago, and now to-night, but +before that not for years. Let us pray that it portends no misfortune to +Kaloon and its inhabitants." + +For some minutes this fearsome illumination continued, then it ceased +as suddenly as it had begun, and there remained of it only the dull glow +above the crest of the peak. + +Presently the moon rose, a white, shining ball, and by its rays we +perceived that we drew near to the city. But there was still something +left for us to see before we reached its shelter. While we sat quietly +in the boat--for the silence was broken only by the lapping of the still +waters against its sides and the occasional splash of the slackened +tow-line upon their surface--we heard a distant sound as of a hunt in +full cry. + +Nearer and nearer it came, its volume swelling every moment, till it +was quite close at last. Now echoing from the trodden earth of the +towing-path--not that on which our ponies travelled, but the other on +the west bank of the river--was heard the beat of the hoofs of a horse +galloping furiously. Presently it appeared, a fine, white animal, on the +back of which sat a man. It passed us like a flash, but as he went by +the man lifted himself and turned his head, so that we saw his face in +the moonlight; saw also the agony of fear that was written on it and in +his eyes. + +He had come out of the darkness. He was gone into the darkness, but +after him swelled that awful music. Look! a dog appeared, a huge, red +dog, that dropped its foaming muzzle to the ground as it galloped, then +lifted it and uttered a deep-throated, bell-like bay. Others followed, +and yet others: in all there must have been a hundred of them, every one +baying as it took the scent. + +"_The death-hounds!_" I muttered, clasping Leo by the arm. + +"Yes," he answered, "they are running that poor devil. Here comes the +huntsman." + +As he spoke there appeared a second figure, splendidly mounted, a cloak +streaming from his shoulders, and in his hand a long whip, which he +waved. He was big but loosely jointed, and as he passed he turned his +face also, and we saw that it was that of a madman. There could be +no doubt of it; insanity blazed in those hollow eyes and rang in that +savage, screeching laugh. + +"The Khan! The Khan!" said Simbri, bowing, and I could see that he was +afraid. + +Now he too was gone, and after him came his guards. I counted eight of +them, all carrying whips, with which they flogged their horses. + +"What does this mean, friend Simbri?" I asked, as the sounds grew faint +in the distance. + +"It means, friend Holly," he answered, "that the Khan does justice in +his own fashion--hunting to death one that has angered him." + +"What then is his crime? And who is that poor man?" + +"He is a great lord of this land, one of the royal kinsmen, and the +crime for which he has been condemned is that he told the Khania he +loved her, and offered to make war upon her husband and kill him, if she +would promise herself to him in marriage. But she hated the man, as she +hates all men, and brought the matter before the Khan. That is all the +story." + +"Happy is that prince who has so virtuous a wife!" I could not help +saying unctuously, but with meaning, and the old wretch of a Shaman +turned his head at my words and began to stroke his white beard. + +It was but a little while afterwards that once more we heard the baying +of the death-hounds. Yes, they were heading straight for us, this time +across country. Again the white horse and its rider appeared, utterly +exhausted, both of them, for the poor beast could scarcely struggle on +to the towing-path. As it gained it a great red hound with a black ear +gripped its flank, and at the touch of the fangs it screamed aloud in +terror as only a horse can. The rider sprang from its back, and, to our +horror, ran to the river's edge, thinking evidently to take refuge in +our boat. But before ever he reached the water the devilish brutes were +upon him. + +What followed I will not describe, but never shall I forget the scene of +those two heaps of worrying wolves, and of the maniac Khan, who yelled +in his fiendish joy, and cheered on his death-hounds to finish their red +work. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE COURT OF KALOON + +Horrified, sick at heart, we continued our journey. No wonder that the +Khania hated such a mad despot. And this woman was in love with Leo, +and this lunatic Khan, her husband, was a victim to jealousy, which he +avenged after the very unpleasant fashion that we had witnessed. Truly +an agreeable prospect for all of us! Yet, I could not help reflecting, +as an object lesson that horrid scene had its advantages. + +Now we reached the place where the river forked at the end of the +island, and disembarked upon a quay. Here a guard of men commanded by +some Household officer, was waiting to receive us. They led us through +a gate in the high wall, for the town was fortified, up a narrow, +stone-paved street which ran between houses apparently of the usual +Central Asian type, and, so far as I could judge by moonlight, with no +pretensions to architectural beauty, and not large in size. + +Clearly our arrival was expected and excited interest, for people were +gathered in knots about the street to watch us pass; also at the windows +of the houses and even on their flat roofs. At the top of the long +street was a sort of market place, crossing which, accompanied by a +curious crowd who made remarks about us that we could not understand, we +reached a gate in an inner wall. Here we were challenged, but at a +word from Simbri it opened, and we passed through to find ourselves in +gardens. Following a road or drive, we came to a large, rambling house +or palace, surmounted by high towers and very solidly built of stone in +a heavy, bastard Egyptian style. + +Beyond its doorway we found ourselves in a courtyard surrounded by a +kind of verandah from which short passages led to different rooms. Down +one of these passages we were conducted by the officer to an apartment, +or rather a suite, consisting of a sitting and two bed-chambers, +which were panelled, richly furnished in rather barbaric fashion, and +well-lighted with primitive oil lamps. + +Here Simbri left us, saying that the officer would wait in the outer +room to conduct us to the dining-hall as soon as we were ready. Then +we entered the bed-chambers, where we found servants, or slaves, +quiet-mannered, obsequious men. These valets changed our foot-gear, +and taking off our heavy travelling robes, replaced them with others +fashioned like civilized frock-coats, but made of some white material +and trimmed with a beautiful ermine fur. + +Having dressed us in these they bowed to show that our toilette was +finished, and led us to the large outer room where the officer awaited +us. He conducted us through several other rooms, all of them spacious +and apparently unoccupied, to a great hall lit with many lamps and +warmed--for the nights were still cold--with large peat fires. The roof +of this hall was flat and supported by thick, stone columns with carved +capitals, and its walls were hung with worked tapestries, that gave it +an air of considerable comfort. + +At the head of the hall on a dais stood a long, narrow table, spread +with a cloth and set with platters and cups of silver. Here we waited +till butlers with wands appeared through some curtains which they drew. +Then came a man beating a silver gong, and after him a dozen or more +courtiers, all dressed in white robes like ourselves, followed by +perhaps as many ladies, some of them young and good-looking, and for +the most part of a fair type, with well-cut features, though others were +rather yellow-skinned. They bowed to us and we to them. + +Then there was a pause while we studied one another, till a trumpet blew +and heralded by footmen in a kind of yellow livery, two figures were +seen advancing down the passage beyond the curtains, preceded by the +Shaman Simbri and followed by other officers. They were the Khan and the +Khania of Kaloon. + +No one looking at this Khan as he entered his dining-hall clad in festal +white attire would have imagined him to be the same raving human +brute whom we had just seen urging on his devilish hounds to tear a +fellow-creature and a helpless horse to fragments and devour them. Now +he seemed a heavy, loutish man, very strongly built and not ill-looking, +but with shifty eyes, evidently a person of dulled intellect, whom one +would have thought incapable of keen emotions of any kind. The Khania +need not be described. She was as she had been in the chambers of the +Gate, only more weary looking; indeed her eyes had a haunted air and +it was easy to see that the events of the previous night had left +their mark upon her mind. At the sight of us she flushed a little, then +beckoned to us to advance, and said to her husband--"My lord, these are +the strangers of whom I have told you." + +His dull eyes fell upon me first, and my appearance seemed to amuse him +vaguely, at any rate he laughed rudely, saying in barbarous Greek mixed +with words from the local patois--"What a curious old animal! I have +never seen you before, have I?" + +"No, great Khan," I answered, "but I have seen you out hunting this +night. Did you have good sport?" + +Instantly he became wide awake, and answered, rubbing his +hands--"Excellent. He gave us a fine run, but my little dogs caught him +at last, and then----" and he snapped his powerful jaws together. + +"Cease your brutal talk," broke in his wife fiercely, and he slunk away +from her and in so doing stumbled against Leo, who was waiting to be +presented to him. + +The sight of this great, golden-bearded man seemed to astonish him, for +he stared at him, then asked--"Are you the Khania's other friend +whom she went to see in the mountains of the Gate? Then I could not +understand why she took so much trouble, but now I do. Well, be careful, +or I shall have to hunt you also." + +Now Leo grew angry and was about to reply, but I laid my hand upon his +arm and said in English--"Don't answer; the man is mad." + +"Bad, you mean," grumbled Leo; "and if he tries to set his cursed dogs +on me, I will break his neck." + +Then the Khania motioned to Leo to take a seat beside her, placing me +upon her other hand, between herself and her uncle, the Guardian, while +the Khan shuffled to a chair a little way down the table, where he +called two of the prettiest ladies to keep him company. + +Such was our introduction to the court of Kaloon. As for the meal that +followed, it was very plentiful, but coarse, consisting for the most +part of fish, mutton, and sweetmeats, all of them presented upon huge +silver platters. Also much strong drink was served, a kind of spirit +distilled from grain, of which nearly all present drank more than was +good for them. After a few words to me about our journey, the Khania +turned to Leo and talked to him for the rest of the evening, while I +devoted myself to the old Shaman Simbri. + +Put briefly, the substance of what I learned from him then and +afterwards was as follows--Trade was unknown to the people of Kaloon, +for the reason that all communication with the south had been cut off +for ages, the bridges that once existed over the chasm having been +allowed to rot away. Their land, which was very large and densely +inhabited, was ringed round with unclimbable mountains, except to the +north, where stood the great Fire-peak. The slopes of this Peak and an +unvisited expanse of country behind that ran up to the confines of +a desert, were the home of ferocious mountain tribes, untamable +Highlanders, who killed every stranger they caught. Consequently, +although the precious and other metals were mined to a certain extent +and manufactured into articles of use and ornament, money did not exist +among the peoples either of the Plain or of the Mountain, all business +being transacted on the principle of barter, and even the revenue +collected in kind. + +Amongst the tens of thousands of the aborigines of Kaloon dwelt a +mere handful of a ruling class, who were said to be--and probably +were--descended from the conquerors that appeared in the time of +Alexander. Their blood, however, was now much mixed with that of the +first inhabitants, who, to judge from their appearance and the yellow +hue of their descendants must have belonged to some branch of the great +Tartar race. The government, if so it could be called, was, on the +whole, of a mild though of a very despotic nature, and vested in an +hereditary Khan or Khania, according as a man or a woman might be in the +most direct descent. + +Of religions there were two, that of the people, who worshipped the +Spirit of the Fire Mountain, and that of the rulers, who believed in +magic, ghosts and divinations. Even this shadow of a religion, if so +it can be called, was dying out, like its followers, for generation by +generation, the white lords grew less in number or became absorbed in +the bulk of the people. + +Still their rule was tolerated. I asked Simbri why, seeing that they +were so few. He shrugged his shoulders and answered, because it suited +the country of which the natives had no ambition. Moreover, the present +Khania, our hostess, was the last of the direct line of rulers, her +husband and cousin having less of the blood royal in his veins, and as +such the people were attached to her. + +Also, as is commonly the case with bold and beautiful women, she was +popular among them, especially as she was just and very liberal to +the poor. These were many, as the country was over-populated, which +accounted for its wonderful state of cultivation. Lastly they trusted to +her skill and courage to defend them from the continual attacks of the +Mountain tribes who raided their crops and herds. Their one grievance +against her was that she had no child to whom the khanship could +descend, which meant that after her death, as had happened after that of +her father, there would be struggles for the succession. + +"Indeed," added Simbri, with meaning, and glancing at Leo, out of the +corners of his eyes, "the folk say openly that it would be a good thing +if the Khan, who oppresses them and whom they hate, should die, so that +the Khania might take another husband while she is still young. Although +he is mad, he knows this, and that is why he is so jealous of any lord +who looks at her, as, friend Holly, you saw to-night. For should such an +one gain her favour, Rassen thinks that it would mean his death." + +"Also he may be attached to his wife," I suggested, speaking in a +whisper. + +"Perhaps so," answered Simbri; "but if so, she loves not him, nor any of +these men," and he glanced round the hall. + +Certainly they did not look lovable, for by this time most of them were +half drunk, while even the women seemed to have taken as much as was +good for them. The Khan himself presented a sorry spectacle, for he was +leaning back in his chair, shouting something about his hunting, in a +thick voice. The arm of one of his pretty companions was round his neck, +while the other gave him to drink from a gold cup; some of the contents +of which had been spilt down his white robe. + +Just then Atene looked round and saw him and an expression of hatred and +contempt gathered on her beautiful face. + +"See," I heard her say to Leo, "see the companion of my days, and learn +what it is to be Khania of Kaloon." + +"Then why do you not cleanse your court?" he asked. + +"Because, lord, if I did so there would be no court left. Swine will to +their mire and these men and women, who live in idleness upon the toil +of the humble folk, will to their liquor and vile luxury. Well, the end +is near, for it is killing them, and their children are but few; weakly +also, for the ancient blood grows thin and stale. But you are weary and +would rest. To-morrow we will ride together," and calling to an officer, +she bade him conduct us to our rooms. + +So we rose, and, accompanied by Simbri, bowed to her and went, she +standing and gazing after us, a royal and pathetic figure in the midst +of all that dissolute revelry. The Khan rose also, and in his cunning +fashion understood something of the meaning of it all. + +"You think us gay," he shouted; "and why should we not be who do not +know how long we have to live? But you yellow-haired fellow, you must +not let Atene look at you like that. I tell you she is my wife, and if +you do, I shall certainly have to hunt you." + +At this drunken sally the courtiers roared with laughter, but taking Leo +by the arm Simbri hurried him from the hall. + +"Friend," said Leo, when we were outside, "it seems to me that this Khan +of yours threatens my life." + +"Have no fear, lord," answered the Guardian; "so long as the Khania does +not threaten it you are safe. She is the real ruler of this land, and I +stand next to her." + +"Then I pray you," said Leo, "keep me out of the way of that drunken +man, for, look you, if I am attacked _I_ defend myself." + +"And who can blame you?" Simbri replied with one of his slow, mysterious +smiles. + +Then we parted, and having placed both our beds in one chamber, slept +soundly enough, for we were very tired, till we were awakened in the +morning by the baying of those horrible death-hounds, being fed, I +suppose, in a place nearby. + +Now in this city of Kaloon it was our weary destiny to dwell for three +long months, one of the most hateful times, perhaps, that we ever passed +in all our lives. Indeed, compared to it our endless wanderings amid the +Central Asia snows and deserts were but pleasure pilgrimages, and our +stay at the monastery beyond the mountains a sojourn in Paradise. To set +out its record in full would be both tedious and useless, so I will only +tell briefly of our principal adventures. + +On the morrow of our arrival the Khania Atene sent us two beautiful +white horses of pure and ancient blood, and at noon we mounted them and +went out to ride with her accompanied by a guard of soldiers. First she +led us to the kennels where the death-hounds were kept, great flagged +courts surrounded by iron bars, in which were narrow, locked gates. +Never had I seen brutes so large and fierce; the mastiffs of Thibet were +but as lap-dogs compared to them. They were red and black, smooth-coated +and with a blood-hound head, and the moment they saw us they came +ravening and leaping at the bars as an angry wave leaps against a rock. + +These hounds were in the charge of men of certain families, who had +tended them for generations. They obeyed their keepers and the Khan +readily enough, but no stranger might venture near them. Also these +brutes were the executioners of the land, for to them all murderers and +other criminals were thrown, and with them, as we had seen, the Khan +hunted any who had incurred his displeasure. Moreover, they were used +for a more innocent purpose, the chasing of certain great bucks which +were preserved in woods and swamps of reeds. Thus it came about that +they were a terror to the country, since no man knew but what in the +end he might be devoured by them. "Going to the dogs" is a term full +of meaning in any land, but in Kaloon it had a significance that was +terrible. + +After we had looked at the hounds, not without a prophetic shudder, +we rode round the walls of the town, which were laid out as a kind of +boulevard, where the inhabitants walked and took their pleasure in the +evenings. On these, however, there was not much to see except the river +beneath and the plain beyond, moreover, though they were thick and +high there were places in them that must be passed carefully, for, like +everything else with which the effete ruling class had to do, they had +been allowed to fall into disrepair. + +The town itself was an uninteresting place also, for the most part +peopled by hangers-on of the Court. So we were not sorry when we crossed +the river by a high-pitched bridge, where in days to come I was destined +to behold one of the strangest sights ever seen by mortal man, and rode +out into the country. Here all was different, for we found ourselves +among the husbandmen, who were the descendants of the original owners of +the land and lived upon its produce. Every available inch of soil seemed +to be cultivated by the aid of a wonderful system of irrigation. Indeed +water was lifted to levels where it would not flow naturally, by means +of wheels turned with mules, or even in some places carried up by the +women, who bore poles on their shoulders to which were balanced buckets. + +Leo asked the Khania what happened if there was a bad season. She +replied grimly that famine happened, in which thousands of people +perished, and that after the famine came pestilence. These famines were +periodical, and were it not for them, she added, the people would long +ago have been driven to kill each other like hungry rats, since having +no outlet and increasing so rapidly, the land, large as it was, could +not hold them all. + +"Will this be a good year?" I asked. + +"It is feared not," she answered, "for the river has not risen well and +but few rains have fallen. Also the light that shone last night on the +Fire-mountain is thought a bad omen, which means, they say, that the +Spirit of the Mountain is angry and that drought will follow. Let us +hope they will not say also that this is because strangers have visited +the land, bringing with them bad luck." + +"If so," said Leo with a laugh, "we shall have to fly to the Mountain to +take refuge there." + +"Do you then wish to take refuge in death?" she asked darkly. "Of this +be sure, my guests, that never while I live shall you be allowed to +cross the river which borders the slopes of yonder peak." + +"Why not, Khania?" + +"Because, my lord Leo--that is your name, is it not?--such is my will, +and while I rule here my will is law. Come, let us turn homewards." + +That night we did not eat in the great hall, but in the room which +adjoined our bed-chambers. We were not left alone, however, for the +Khania and her uncle, the Shaman, who always attended her, joined our +meal. When we greeted them wondering, she said briefly that it was +arranged thus because she refused to expose us to more insults. She +added that a festival had begun which would last for a week, and that +she did not wish us to see how vile were the ways of her people. + +That evening and many others which followed it--we never dined in the +central hall again--passed pleasantly enough, for the Khania made Leo +tell her of England where he was born, and of the lands that he had +visited, their peoples and customs. I spoke also of the history of +Alexander, whose general Rassen, her far-off forefather, conquered the +country of Kaloon, and of the land of Egypt, whence the latter came, and +so it went on till midnight, while Atene listened to us greedily, her +eyes fixed always on Leo's face. + +Many such nights did we spend thus in the palace of the city of Kaloon +where, in fact, we were close prisoners. But oh! the days hung heavy +on our hands. If we went into the courtyard or reception rooms of the +palace, the lords and their followers gathered round us and pestered us +with questions, for, being very idle, they were also very curious. + +Also the women, some of whom were fair enough, began to talk to us on +this pretext or on that, and did their best to make love to Leo; for, +in contrast with their slim, delicate-looking men, they found this +deep-chested, yellow-haired stranger to their taste. Indeed they +troubled him much with gifts of flowers and messages sent by servants or +soldiers, making assignations with him, which of course he did not keep. + +If we went out into the streets, matters were as bad, for then the +people ceased from their business, such as it was, and followed us +about, staring at us till we took refuge again in the palace gardens. + +There remained, therefore, only our rides in the country with the +Khania, but after three or four of them, these came to an end owing to +the jealousy of the Khan, who vowed that if we went out together any +more he would follow with the death-hounds. So we must ride alone, if at +all, in the centre of a large guard of soldiers sent to see that we did +not attempt to escape, and accompanied very often by a mob of peasants, +who with threats and entreaties demanded that we should give back the +rain which they said we had taken from them. For now the great drought +had begun in earnest. + +Thus it came about that at length our only resource was making pretence +to fish in the river, where the water was so clear and low that we could +catch nothing, watching the while the Fire-mountain, that loomed in the +distance mysterious and unreachable, and vainly racking our brains for +plans to escape thither, or at least to communicate with its priestess, +of whom we could learn no more. + +For two great burdens lay upon our souls. The burden of desire to +continue our search and to meet with its reward which we were sure that +we should pluck amid the snows of yonder peak, if we could but come +there; and the burden of approaching catastrophe at the hands of the +Khania Atene. She had made no love to Leo since that night in the +Gateway, and, indeed, even if she had wished to, this would have been +difficult, since I took care that he was never left for one hour alone. +No duenna could have clung to a Spanish princess more closely than I did +to Leo. Yet I could see well that her passion was no whit abated; +that it grew day by day, indeed, as the fire swells in the heart of a +volcano, and that soon it must break loose and spread its ruin round. +The omen of it was to be read in her words, her gestures, and her tragic +eyes. + + + +CHAPTER X + +IN THE SHAMAN'S CHAMBER + +One night Simbri asked us to dine with him in his own apartments in the +highest tower of the palace--had we but known it, for us a fateful place +indeed, for here the last act of the mighty drama was destined to be +fulfilled. So we went, glad enough of any change. When we had eaten Leo +grew very thoughtful, then said suddenly--"Friend Simbri, I wish to ask +a favour of you--that you will beg the Khania to let us go our ways." + +Instantly the Shaman's cunning old face became like a mask of ivory. + +"Surely you had better ask your favours of the lady herself, lord; I do +not think that any in reason will be refused to you," he replied. + +"Let us stop fencing," said Leo, "and consider the facts. It has seemed +to me that the Khania Atene is not happy with her husband." + +"Your eyes are very keen, lord, and who shall say that they have +deceived you?" + +"It has seemed, further," went on Leo, reddening, "that she has been so +good as to look on me with--some undeserved regard." + +"Ah! perhaps you guessed that in the Gate-house yonder, if you have not +forgotten what most men would remember." + +"I remember certain things, Simbri, that have to do with her and you." + +The Shaman only stroked his beard and said: "Proceed!" + +"There is little to add, Simbri, except that _I_ am not minded to bring +scandal on the name of the first lady in your land." + +"Nobly said, lord, nobly said, though here they do not trouble much +about such things. But how if the matter could be managed without +scandal? If, for instance, the Khania chose to take another husband the +whole land would rejoice, for she is the last of her royal race." + +"How can she take another husband when she has one living?" + +"True; indeed that is a question which I have considered, but the answer +to it is that men die. It is the common lot, and the Khan has been +drinking very heavily of late." + +"You mean that men can be murdered," said Leo angrily. "Well, I will +have nothing to do with such a crime. Do you understand me?" + +As the words passed his lips I heard a rustle and turned my head. Behind +us were curtains beyond which the Shaman slept, kept his instruments of +divination and worked out his horoscopes. Now they had been drawn, and +between them, in her royal array, stood the Khania still as a statue. + +"Who was it that spoke of crime?" she asked in a cold voice. "Was it +you, my lord Leo?" + +Rising from his chair, he faced her and said--"Lady, I am glad that you +have heard my words, even if they should vex you." + +"Why should it vex me to learn that there is one honest man in this +court who will have naught to do with murder? Nay, I honour you for +those words. Know also that no such foul thoughts have come near to me. +Yet, Leo Vincey, that which is written--is written." + +"Doubtless, Khania; but what is written?" + +"Tell him, Shaman." + +Now Simbri passed behind the curtain and returned thence with a roll +from which he read: "The heavens have declared by their signs infallible +that before the next new moon, the Khan Rassen will lie dead at the +hands of the stranger lord who came to this country from across the +mountains." + +"Then the heavens have declared a lie," said Leo contemptuously. + +"That is as you will," answered Atene; "but so it must befall, not by my +hand or those of my servants, but by yours. And then?" + +"Why by mine? Why not by Holly's? Yet, if so, then doubtless I shall +suffer the punishment of my crime at the hands of his mourning widow," +he replied exasperated. + +"You are pleased to mock me, Leo Vincey, well knowing what a husband +this man is to me." + +Now I felt that the crisis had come, and so did Leo, for he looked her +in the face and said--"Speak on, lady, say all you wish; perhaps it will +be better for us both." + +"I obey you, lord. Of the beginning of this fate I know nothing, but +I read from the first page that is open to me. It has to do with this +present life of mine. Learn, Leo Vincey, that from my childhood onwards +you have haunted me. Oh! when first I saw you yonder by the river, your +face was not strange to me, for I knew it--I knew it well in dreams. +When I was a little maid and slept one day amidst the flowers by the +river's brim, it came first to me--ask my uncle here if this be not so, +though it is true that your face was younger then. Afterwards again and +again I saw it in my sleep and learned to know that you were mine, for +the magic of my heart taught me this. + +"Then passed the long years while I felt that you were drawing near to +me, slowly, very slowly, but ever drawing nearer, wending onward and +outward through the peoples of the world; across the hills, across the +plains, across the sands, across the snows, on to my side. At length +came the end, for one night not three moons ago, whilst this wise man, +my uncle, and I sat together here studying the lore that he has taught +me and striving to wring its secrets from the past, a vision came to me. + +"Look you, I was lost in a charmed sleep which looses the spirit from +the body and gives it strength to stray afar and to see those things +that have been and that are yet to be. Then I saw you and your companion +clinging to a point of broken ice, over the river of the gulf. I do not +lie; it is written here upon the scroll. Yes, it was you, the man of +my dreams, and no other, and we knew the place and hurried thither and +waited by the water, thinking that perhaps beneath it you lay dead. + +"Then, while we waited, lo! two tiny figures appeared far above upon the +icy tongue that no man may climb, and oh! you know the rest. Spellbound +we stood and saw you slip and hang, saw you sever the thin cord and rush +downwards, yes, and saw that brave man, Holly, leap headlong after you. + +"But mine was the hand that drew you from the torrent, where otherwise +you must have drowned, you the love of the long past and of to-day, aye, +and of all time. Yes, you and no other, Leo Vincey. It was this spirit +that foresaw your danger and this hand which delivered you from death, +and--and would you refuse them now--when I, the Khania of Kaloon, +proffer them to you?" + +So she spoke, and leaned upon the table, looking up into his face with +lips that trembled and with appealing eyes. + +"Lady," said Leo, "you saved me, and again I thank you, though perhaps +it would have been better if you had let me drown. But, forgive me the +question, if all this tale be true, why did you marry another man?" + +Now she shrank back as though a knife had pricked her. + +"Oh! blame me not," she moaned, "it was but policy which bound me to +this madman, whom I ever loathed. They urged me to it; yes, even you, +Simbri, my uncle, and for that deed accursed be your head--urged me, +saying that it was necessary to end the war between Rassen's faction and +my own. That I was the last of the true race, moreover, which must be +carried on; saying also that my dreams and my rememberings were but +sick phantasies. So, alas! alas! I yielded, thinking to make my people +great." + +"And yourself, the greatest of them, if all I hear is true," commented +Leo bluntly, for he was determined to end this thing. "Well, I do not +blame you, Khania, although now you tell me that I must cut a knot +you tied by taking the life of this husband of your own choice, for so +forsooth it is decreed by fate, that fate which _you_ have shaped. Yes, +I must do what you will not do, and kill him. Also your tale of the +decree of the heavens and of that vision which led you to the precipice +to save us is false. Lady, you met me by the river because the 'mighty' +Hesea, the Spirit of the Mountain, so commanded you." + +"How know you that?" Atene said, springing up and facing him, while the +jaw of old Simbri dropped and the eyelids blinked over his glazed eyes. + +"In the same way that I know much else. Lady, it would have been better +if you had spoken all the truth." + +Now Atene's face went ashen and her cheeks sank in. + +"Who told you?" she whispered. "Was it you, Magician?" and she turned +upon her uncle like a snake about to strike. "Oh! if so, be sure that +I shall learn it, and though we are of one blood and have loved each +other, I will pay you back in agony." + +"Atene, Atene," Simbri broke in, holding up his claw-like hands, "you +know well it was not I." + +"Then it was you, you ape-faced wanderer, you messenger of the evil +gods? Oh! why did I not kill you at the first? Well, that fault can be +remedied." + +"Lady," I said blandly, "am I also a magician?" + +"Aye," she answered, "I think that you are, and that you have a mistress +who dwells in fire." + +"Then, Khania," I said, "such servants and such mistresses are ill to +meddle with. Say, what answer has the Hesea sent to your report of our +coming to this land?" + +"Listen," broke in Leo before she could reply. "I go to ask a certain +question of the Oracle on yonder mountain peak. With your will or +without it I tell you that I go, and afterwards you can settle which is +the stronger--the Khania of Kaloon or the Hesea of the House of Fire." + +Atene listened and for a while stood silent, perhaps because she had no +answer. Then she said with a little laugh--"Is that your will? Well, I +think that yonder are none whom you would wish to wed. There is fire +and to spare, but no lovely, shameless spirit haunts it to drive men mad +with evil longings;" and as though at some secret thought, a spasm of +pain crossed her face and caught her breath. Then she went on in the +same cold voice--"Wanderers, this land has its secrets, into which no +foreigner must pry. I say to you yet again that while I live you set no +foot upon that Mountain. Know also, Leo Vincey, I have bared my heart to +you, and I have been told in answer that this long quest of yours is +not for me, as I was sure in my folly, but, as I think, for some demon +wearing the shape of woman, whom you will never find. Now I make no +prayer to you; it is not fitting, but you have learned too much. + +"Therefore, consider well to-night and before next sundown answer. +Having offered, I do not go back, and tomorrow you shall tell me whether +you will take me when the time comes, as come it must, and rule this +land and be great and happy in my love, or whether, you and your +familiar together, you will--die. Choose then between the vengeance of +Atene and her love, since I am not minded to be mocked in my own land as +a wanton who sought a stranger and was--refused." + +Slowly, slowly, in an intense whisper she spoke the words, that fell one +by one from her lips like drops of blood from a death wound, and there +followed silence. Never shall I forget the scene. There the old wizard +watched us through his horny eyes, that blinked like those of some night +bird. There stood the imperial woman in her royal robes, with icy rage +written on her face and vengeance in her glance. There, facing her, was +the great form of Leo, quiet, alert, determined, holding back his doubts +and fears with the iron hand of will. And there to the right was _I_, +noting all things and wondering how long I, "the familiar," who had +earned Atene's hate, would be left alive upon the earth. + +Thus we stood, watching each other, till suddenly I noted that the flame +of the lamp above us flickered and felt a draught strike upon my face. +Then I looked round, and became aware of another presence. For yonder +in the shadow showed the tall form of a man. See! it shambled forward +silently, and I saw that its feet were naked. Now it reached the ring of +the lamplight and burst into a savage laugh. + +It was the Khan. + +Atene, his wife, looked up and saw him, and never did I admire that +passionate woman's boldness more, who admired little else about her save +her beauty, for her face showed neither anger nor fear, but contempt +only. And yet she had some cause to be afraid, as she well knew. + +"What do you here, Rassen?" she asked, "creeping on me with your naked +feet? Get you back to your drink and the ladies of your court." + +But he still laughed on, an hyena laugh. + +"What have you heard?" she said, "that makes you so merry?" + +"What have I heard?" Rassen gurgled out between his screams of hideous +glee. "Oho! I have heard the Khania, the last of the true blood, the +first in the land, the proud princess who will not let her robes be +soiled by those of the 'ladies of the court' and my wife, my wife, +who asked me to marry her--mark that, you strangers--because I was her +cousin and a rival ruler, and the richest lord in all the land, and +thereby she thought she would increase her power--I have heard her offer +herself to a nameless wanderer with a great yellow beard, and I have +heard him, who hates and would escape from her"--here he screamed with +laughter--"refuse her in such a fashion as I would not refuse the lowest +woman in the palace. + +"I have heard also--but that I always knew--that I am mad; for, +strangers, I was made mad by a hate-philtre which that old Rat," and he +pointed to Simbri, "gave me in my drink--yes, at my marriage feast. It +worked well, for truly there is no one whom I hate more than the Khania +Atene. Why, I cannot bear her touch, it makes me sick. I loathe to be +in the same room with her; she taints the air; there is a smell of +sorceries about her. + +"It seems that it takes you thus also, Yellow-beard? Well, if so, ask +the old Rat for a love drink; he can mix it, and then you will think her +sweet and sound and fair, and spend some few months jollily enough. Man, +don't be a fool, the cup that is thrust into your hands looks +goodly. Drink, drink deep. You'll never guess the liquor's bad--till +to-morrow--though it be mixed with a husband's poisoned blood," and +again Rassen screamed in his unholy mirth. + +To all these bitter insults, venomed with the sting of truth, Atene +listened without a word. Then, she turned to us and bowed. + +"My guests," she said, "I pray you pardon me for all I cannot help. You +have strayed to a corrupt and evil land, and there stands its crown +and flower. Khan Rassen, your doom is written, and I do not hasten it, +because once for a little while we were near to each other, though you +have been naught to me for this many a year save a snake that haunts +my house. Were it otherwise, the next cup you drank should still your +madness, and that vile tongue of yours which gives its venom voice. My +uncle, come with me. Your hand, for I grow weak with shame and woe." + +The old Shaman hobbled forward, but when he came face to face with the +Khan he stopped and looked him up and down with his dim eyes. Then he +said--"Rassen, I saw you born, the son of an evil woman, and your father +none knew but I. The flame flared that night upon the Fire-mountain, and +the stars hid their faces, for none of them would own you, no, not even +those of the most evil influence. I saw you wed and rise drunken from +your marriage feast, your arm about a wanton's neck. I have seen you +rule, wasting the land for your cruel pleasure, turning the fertile +fields into great parks for your game, leaving those who tilled them to +starve upon the road or drown themselves in ditches for very misery. +And soon, soon I shall see you die in pain and blood, and then the chain +will fall from the neck of this noble lady whom you revile, and another +more worthy shall take your place and rear up children to fill your +throne, and the land shall have rest again." + +Now I listened to these words--and none who did not hear them can guess +the fearful bitterness with which they were spoken--expecting every +moment that the Khan would draw the short sword at his side and cut the +old man down. But he did not; he cowered before him like a dog before +some savage master, the weight of whose whip he knows. Yes, answering +nothing, he shrank into the corner and cowered there, while Simbri, +taking Atene by the hand, went from the room. At its massive, iron-bound +door he turned and pointing to the crouching figure with his staff, +said--"Khan Rassen, I raised you up, and now I cast you down. Remember +me when you lie dying--in blood and pain." + +Their footsteps died away, and the Khan crept from his corner, looking +about him furtively. + +"Have that Rat and the other gone?" he asked of us, wiping his damp brow +with his sleeve; and I saw that fear had sobered him and that for awhile +the madness had left his eyes. + +I answered that they had gone. + +"You think me a coward," he went on passionately, "and it is true, I am +afraid of him and her--as you, Yellow-beard, will be afraid when your +turn comes. I tell you that they sapped my strength and crazed me with +their drugged drink, making me the thing I am, for who can war against +their wizardries? Look you now. Once I was a prince, the lord of half +this land, noble of form and upright of heart, and I loved her accursed +beauty as all must love it on whom she turns her eyes. And she turned +them on me, she sought _me_ in marriage; it was that old Rat who bore +her message. + +"So I stayed the great war and married the Khania and became the Khan; +but better had it been for me if I had crept into her kitchen as a +scullion, than into her chamber as a husband. For from the first she +hated me, and the more I loved, the more she hated, till at our wedding +feast she doctored me with that poison which made me loathe her, and +thus divorced us; which made me mad also, eating into my brain like +fire." + +"If she hated you so sorely, Khan," I asked, "why did she not mix a +stronger draught and have done with you?" + +"Why? Because of policy, for I ruled half the land. Because it suited +her also that I should live on, a thing to mock at, since while I was +alive no other husband could be forced upon her by the people. For +she is not a woman, she is a witch, who desires to live alone, or so I +thought until to-night"--and he glowered at Leo. + +"She knew also that although I must shrink from her, I still love her in +my heart, and can still be jealous, and therefore that I should protect +her from all men. It was she who set me on that lord whom my dogs tore +awhile ago, because he was powerful and sought her favour and would not +be denied. But now," and again he glowered at Leo, "now I know why she +has always seemed so cold. It is because there lived a man to melt whose +ice she husbanded her fire." + +Then Leo, who all this while had stood silent, stepped forward. + +"Listen, Khan," he said. "Did the ice seem like melting a little while +ago?" + +"No--unless you lied. But that was only because the fire is not yet hot +enough. Wait awhile until it burns up, and melt you must, for who can +match his will against Atene?" + +"And what if the ice desires to flee the fire? Khan, they said that I +should kill you, but I do not seek your blood. You think that I would +rob you of your wife, yet I have no such thought towards her. We desire +to escape this town of yours, but cannot, because its gates are locked, +and we are prisoners, guarded night and day. Hear me, then. You have the +power to set us free and to be rid of us." + +The Khan looked at him cunningly. "And if I set you free, whither would +you go? You could tumble down yonder gorge, but only the birds can climb +its heights." + +"To the Fire-mountain, where we have business." + +Rassen stared at him. + +"Is it I who am mad, or are you, who wish to visit the Fire-mountain? +Yet that is nothing to me, save that I do not believe you. But if so +you might return again and bring others with you. Perchance, having +its lady, you wish this land also by right of conquest. It has foes up +yonder." + +"It is not so," answered Leo earnestly. "As one man to another, I tell +you it is not so. _I_ ask no smile of your wife and no acre of your +soil. Be wise and help us to be gone, and live on undisturbed in such +fashion as may please you." + +The Khan stood still awhile, swinging his long arms vacantly, till +something seemed to come into his mind that moved him to merriment, for +he burst into one of his hideous laughs. + +"I am thinking," he said, "what Atene would say if she woke up to find +her sweet bird flown. She would search for you and be angry with me." + +"It seems that she cannot be angrier than she is," I answered. "Give us +a night's start and let her search never so closely, she shall not find +us." + +"You forget, Wanderer, that she and her old Rat have arts. Those who +knew where to meet you might know where to seek you. And yet, and yet, +it would be rare to see her rage. 'Oh, Yellow-beard, where are you, +Yellow-beard?' he went on, mimicking his wife's voice. 'Come back and +let me melt your ice, Yellow-beard.'" + +Again he laughed; then said suddenly--"When can you be ready?" + +"In half an hour," I answered. + +"Good. Go to your chambers and prepare. I will join you there +presently." + +So we went. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE HUNT AND THE KILL + +We reached our rooms, meeting no one in the passages, and there made +our preparations. First we changed our festal robes for those warmer +garments in which we had travelled to the city of Kaloon. Then we ate +and drank what we could of the victuals which stood in the antechamber, +not knowing when we should find more food, and filled two satchels such +as these people sling about their shoulders, with the remains of the +meat and liquor and a few necessaries. Also we strapped our big hunting +knives about our middles and armed ourselves with short spears that were +made for the stabbing of game. + +"Perhaps he has laid a plot to murder us, and we may as well defend +ourselves while we can," suggested Leo. + +I nodded, for the echoes of the Khan's last laugh still rang in my ears. +It was a very evil laugh. + +"Likely enough," I said. "I do not trust that insane brute. Still, he +wishes to be rid of us." + +"Yes, but as he said, live men may return, whereas the dead do not." + +"Atene thinks otherwise," I commented. + +"And yet she threatened us with death," answered Leo. + +"Because her shame and passion make her mad," I replied, after which we +were silent. + +Presently the door opened, and through it came the Khan, muffled in a +great cloak as though to disguise himself. + +"Come," he said, "if you are ready." Then, catching sight of the spears +we held, he added: "You will not need those things. You do not go +a-hunting." + +"No," I answered, "but who can say--we might be hunted." + +"If you believe that perhaps you had best stay where you are till the +Khania wearies of Yellow-beard and opens the gates for you," he replied, +eyeing me with his cunning glance. + +"I think not," I said, and we started, the Khan leading the way and +motioning us to be silent. + +We passed through the empty rooms on to the verandah, and from the +verandah down into the courtyard, where he whispered to us to keep in +the shadow. For the moon shone very clearly that night, so clearly, I +remember, that I could see the grass which grew between the joints of +the pavement, and the little shadows thrown by each separate blade upon +the worn surface of its stones. Now I wondered how we should pass the +gate, for there a guard was stationed, which had of late been doubled by +order of the Khania. But this gate we left upon our right, taking a path +that led into the great walled garden, where Rassen brought us to a +door hidden behind a clump of shrubs, which he unlocked with a key he +carried. + +Now we were outside the palace wall, and our road ran past the kennels. +As we went by these, the great, sleepless death-hounds, that wandered +to and fro like prowling lions, caught our wind and burst into a sudden +chorus of terrific bays. I shivered at the sound, for it was fearful in +that silence, also I thought that it would arouse the keepers. But the +Khan went to the bars and showed himself, whereon the brutes, which knew +him, ceased their noise. + +"Fear not," he said as he returned, "the huntsmen know that they are +starved to-night, for to-morrow certain criminals will be thrown to +them." + +Now we had reached the palace gates. Here the Khan bade us hide in an +archway and departed. We looked at each other, for the same thought was +in both our minds--that he had gone to fetch the murderers who were to +make an end of us. But in this we did him wrong, for presently we heard +the sound of horses' hoofs upon the stones, and he returned leading the +two white steeds that Atene had given us. + +"I saddled them with my own hands," he whispered. "Who can do more to +speed the parting guest? Now mount, hide your faces in your cloaks as I +do, and follow me." + +So we mounted, and he trotted before us like a running footman, such as +the great lords of Kaloon employed when they went about their business +or their pleasure. Leaving the main street, he led us through a quarter +of the town that had an evil reputation, and down its tortuous by-ways. +Here we met a few revellers, while from time to time night-birds flitted +from the doorways and, throwing aside their veils, looked at us, but +as we made no sign drew back again, thinking that we passed to some +assignation. We reached the deserted docks upon the river's edge +and came to a little quay, alongside of which a broad ferryboat was +fastened. + +"You must put your horses into it and row across," Rassen said, "for +the bridges are guarded, and without discovering myself I cannot bid the +soldiers to let you pass." + +So with some little trouble we urged the horses into the boat, where I +held them by their bridles while Leo took the oars. + +"Now go your ways, accursed wanderers," cried the Khan as he thrust us +from the quay, "and pray the Spirit of the Mountain that the old Rat and +his pupil--your love, Yellow-beard, your love--are not watching you in +their magic glass. For if so we may meet again." + +Then as the stream caught us, sweeping the boat out towards the centre +of the river, he began to laugh that horrible laugh of his, calling +after us--"Ride fast, ride fast for safety, strangers; there is death +behind." + +Leo put out his strength and backed water, so that the punt hung upon +the edge of the stream. + +"I think that we should do well to land again and kill that man, for he +means mischief," he said. + +He spoke in English, but Rassen must have caught the ring of his +voice and guessed its meaning with the cunning of the mad. At least he +shouted--"Too late, fools," and with a last laugh turned, ran so +swiftly up the quay that his cloak flew out upon the air behind him, and +vanished into the shadows at its head. + +"Row on," I said, and Leo bent himself to the oars. + +But the ferry-boat was cumbersome and the current swift, so that we were +swept down a long way before we could cross it. At length we reached +still water near the further shore, and seeing a landing-place, managed +to beach the punt and to drag our horses to the bank. Then leaving the +craft to drift, for we had no time to scuttle her, we looked to our +girths and bridles, and mounted, heading towards the far column of +glowing smoke which showed like a beacon above the summit of the House +of Fire. + +At first our progress was very slow, for here there seemed to be no +path, and we were obliged to pick our way across the fields, and to +search for bridges that spanned such of the water-ditches as were too +wide for us to jump. More than an hour was spent in this work, till we +came to a village wherein none were stirring, and here struck a +road which seemed to run towards the mountain, though, as we learned +afterwards, it took us very many miles out of our true path. Now for the +first time we were able to canter, and pushed on at some speed, though +not too fast, for we wished to spare our horses and feared lest they +might fall in the uncertain light. + +A while before dawn the moon sank behind the Mountain, and the gloom +grew so dense that we were forced to stop, which we did, holding the +horses by their bridles and allowing them to graze a little on some +young corn. Then the sky turned grey, the light faded from the column +of smoke that was our guide, the dawn came, blushing red upon the vast +snows of the distant peak, and shooting its arrows through the loop +above the pillar. We let the horses drink from a channel that watered +the corn, and, mounting them, rode onward slowly. + +Now with the shadows of the night a weight of fear seemed to be lifted +off our hearts and we grew hopeful, aye, almost joyous. That hated city +was behind us. Behind us were the Khania with her surging, doom-driven +passions and her stormy loveliness, the wizardries of her horny-eyed +mentor, so old in years and secret sin, and the madness of that strange +being, half-devil, half-martyr, at once cruel and a coward--the Khan, +her husband, and his polluted court. In front lay the fire, the snow and +the mystery they hid, sought for so many empty years. Now we would solve +it or we would die. So we pressed forward joyfully to meet our fate, +whatever it might be. + +For many hours our road ran deviously through cultivated land, where the +peasants at their labour laid down their tools and gathered into knots +to watch us pass, and quaint, flat-roofed villages, whence the women +snatched up their children and fled at the sight of us. They believed us +to be lords from the court who came to work them some harm in person or +in property, and their terror told _us_ how the country smarted beneath +the rod of the oppressor. By mid-day, although the peak seemed to be +but little nearer, the character of the land had changed. Now it sloped +gently upwards, and therefore could not be irrigated. + +Evidently all this great district was dependent on the fall of +timely rains, which had not come that spring. Therefore, although the +population was still dense and every rod of the land was under the +plough or spade, the crops were failing. It was pitiful to see the +green, uneared corn already turning yellow because of the lack of +moisture, the beasts searching the starved pastures for food and the +poor husbandmen wandering about their fields or striving to hoe the iron +soil. + +Here the people seemed to know us as the two foreigners whose coming had +been noised abroad, and, the fear of famine having made them bold, they +shouted at us as we went by to give them back the rain which we had +stolen, or so we understood their words. Even the women and the children +in the villages prostrated themselves before us, pointing first to the +Mountain and then to the hard, blue sky, and crying to us to send them +rain. Once, indeed, we were threatened by a mob of peasants armed with +spades and reaping-hooks, who seemed inclined to bar our path, so that +we were obliged to put our horses to a gallop and pass through them +with a rush. As we went forward the country grew ever more arid and its +inhabitants more scarce, till we saw no man save a few wandering herds +who drove their cattle from place to place in search of provender. + +By evening we guessed that we had reached that border tract which was +harried by the Mountain tribes, for here strong towers built of stone +were dotted about the heaths, doubtless to serve as watch-houses or +places of refuge. Whether they were garrisoned by soldiers I do not +know, but I doubt it, for we saw none. It seems probable indeed that +these forts were relics of days when the land of Kaloon was guarded from +attack by rulers of a very different character to that of the present +Khan and his immediate predecessors. + +At length even the watch-towers were left behind, and by sundown we +found ourselves upon a vast uninhabited plain, where we could see +no living thing. Now we made up our minds to rest our horses awhile, +proposing to push forward again with the moon, for having the wrath +of the Khania behind us we did not dare to linger. By this evening +doubtless she would have discovered our escape, since before sundown, as +she had decreed, Leo must make his choice and give his answer. Then, +as we were sure, she would strike swiftly. Perhaps her messengers +were already at their work rousing the country to capture us, and her +soldiers following on our path. + +We unsaddled the horses and let them refresh themselves by rolling +on the sandy soil, and graze after a fashion upon the coarse tufts of +withering herbage which grew around. There was no water here; but this +did not so much matter, for both they and we had drunk at a little muddy +pool we found not more than an hour before. We were finishing our meal +of the food that we had brought with us, which, indeed, we needed sorely +after our sleepless night and long day's journey, when my horse, which +was knee-haltered close at hand, lay down to roll again. This it could +not do with ease because of the rope about its fore-leg, and I watched +its efforts idly, till at length, at the fourth attempt, after hanging +for a few seconds upon its back, its legs sticking straight into the +air, it fell over slowly towards me as horses do. + +"Why are its hoofs so red? Has it cut itself?" asked Leo in an +indifferent voice. + +As it chanced I also had just noticed this red tinge, and for the first +time, since it was most distinct about the animal's frogs, which until +it rolled thus I had not seen. So I rose to look at them, thinking that +probably the evening light had deceived us, or that we might have passed +through some ruddy-coloured mud. Sure enough they _were_ red, as though +a dye had soaked into the horn and the substance of the frogs. What was +more, they gave out a pungent, aromatic smell that was unpleasant, such +a smell as might arise from blood mixed with musk and spices. + +"It is very strange," I said. "Let us look at your beast, Leo." + +So we did, and found that its hoofs had been similarly-treated. + +"Perhaps it is a native mixture to preserve the horn," suggested Leo. + +I thought awhile, then a terrible idea struck me. + +"I don't want to frighten you," I said, "but I think that we had better +saddle up and get on." + +"Why?" he asked. + +"Because I believe that villain of a Khan has doctored our horses." + +"What for? To make them go lame?" + +"No, Leo, to make them leave a strong scent upon dry ground." + +He turned pale. "Do you mean--those hounds?" + +I nodded. Then wasting no more time in words, we saddled up in frantic +haste. Just as I fastened the last strap of my saddle I thought that a +faint sound reached my ear. + +"Listen," I said. Again it came, and now there was no doubt about it. It +was the sound of baying dogs. + +"By heaven! the death-hounds," said Leo. + +"Yes," I answered quietly enough, for at this crisis my nerves hardened +and all fear left me, "our friend the Khan is out a-hunting. That is why +he laughed." + +"What shall we do?" asked Leo. "Leave the horses?" + +I looked at the Peak. Its nearest flanks were miles and miles away. + +"Time enough to do that when we are forced. We can never reach that +mountain on foot, and after they had run down the horses, they would +hunt us by spoor or gaze. No, man, ride as you never rode before." + +We sprang to our saddles, but before we gave rein I turned and looked +behind me. It will be remembered that we had ridden up a long slope +which terminated in a ridge, about three miles away, the border of the +great plain whereon we stood. Now the sun had sunk behind that ridge +so that although it was still light the plain had fallen into shadow. +Therefore, while no distant object could be seen upon the plain, +anything crossing the ridge remained visible enough in that clear air, +at least to persons of keen sight. + +This is what we saw. Over the ridge poured a multitude of little +objects, and amongst the last of these galloped a man mounted on a great +horse, who led another horse by the bridle. + +"All the pack are out," said Leo grimly, "and Rassen has brought a +second mount with him. Now I see why he wanted us to leave the spears, +and I think," he shouted as we began to gallop, "that before all is done +the Shaman may prove himself a true prophet." + +Away we sped through the gathering darkness, heading straight for the +Peak. While we went I calculated our chances. Our horses, as good as any +in the land, were still strong and fresh, for although we had ridden +far we had not over-pressed them, and their condition was excellent. But +doubtless the death-hounds were fresh also, for, meaning to run us down +at night when he thought that he might catch us sleeping, Rassen would +have brought them along easily, following us by inquiry among the +peasants and only laying them on our spoor after the last village had +been left behind. + +Also he had two mounts, and for aught we knew--though afterwards this +proved not to be the case, for he wished to work his wickedness alone +and unseen--he might be followed by attendants with relays. Therefore it +would appear that unless we reached some place whither he did not dare +to follow, before him--that is the slopes of the Peak many miles away, +he must run us down. There remained the chance also that the dogs would +tire and refuse to pursue the chase. + +This, however, seemed scarcely probable, for they were extraordinarily +swift and strong, and so savage that when once they had scented blood, +in which doubtless our horses' hoofs were steeped, they would fall dead +from exhaustion sooner than abandon the trail. Indeed, both the Khania +and Simbri had often told us as much. Another chance--they might lose +the scent, but seeing its nature, again this was not probable. Even an +English pack will carry the trail of a red herring breast high without a +fault for hours, and here was something stronger--a cunning compound of +which the tell-tale odour would hold for days. A last chance. If we were +forced to abandon our horses, we, their riders, might possibly escape, +could we find any place to hide in on that great plain. If not, we +should be seen as well as scented, and then----No, the odds were all +against us, but so they had often been before; meanwhile we had three +miles start, and perhaps help would come to us from the Mountain, some +help unforeseen. So we set our teeth and sped away like arrows while the +light lasted. + +Very soon it failed, and whilst the moon was hidden behind the mountains +the night grew dark. + +Now the hounds gained on us, for in the gloom, which to them was +nothing, we did not dare to ride full speed, fearing lest our horses +should stumble and lame themselves, or fall. Then it was for the second +time since we had dwelt in this land of Kaloon that of a sudden the fire +flamed upon the Peak. When we had seen it before, it had appeared to +flash across the heavens in one great lighthouse ray, concentrated +through the loop above the pillar, and there this night also the ray ran +far above us like a lance of fire. But now that we were nearer to its +fount we found ourselves bathed in a soft, mysterious radiance like that +of the phosphorescence on a summer sea, reflected downwards perhaps from +the clouds and massy rock roof of the column loop and diffused by the +snows beneath. + +This unearthly glimmer, faint as it was, helped us much, indeed but for +it we must have been overtaken, for here the ground was very rough, full +of holes also made by burrowing marmots. Thus in our extremity help did +come to us from the Mountain, until at length the moon rose, when as +quickly as they had appeared the volcanic fires vanished, leaving behind +them nothing but the accustomed pillar of dull red smoke. + +It is a commonplace to speak of the music of hounds at chase, but often +I have wondered how that music sounds in the ears of the deer or the fox +fleeing for its life. + +Now, when we filled the place of the quarry, it was my destiny to solve +this problem, and I assert with confidence that the progeny of earth +can produce no more hideous noise. It had come near to us, and in the +desolate silence of the night the hellish harmonies of its volume +seemed terrific, yet I could discern the separate notes of which it was +composed, especially one deep, bell-like bay. + +I remembered that I had heard this bay when we sat in the boat upon the +river and saw that poor noble done to death for the crime of loving the +Khania. As the hunt passed us then I observed that it burst from +the throat of the leading hound, a huge brute, red in colour, with +a coal-black ear, fangs that gleamed like ivory, and a mouth which +resembled a hot oven. I even knew the name of the beast, for afterwards +the Khan, whose peculiar joy it was, had pointed it out to me. He called +it Master, because no dog in the pack dared fight it, and told me that +it could kill an armed man alone. + +Now, as its baying warned us, Master was not half a mile away! + +The coming of the moonlight enabled us to gallop faster, especially as +here the ground was smooth, being covered with a short, dry turf, and +for the next two hours we gained upon the pack. Yes, it was only two +hours, or perhaps less, but it seemed a score of centuries. The slopes +of the Peak were now not more than ten miles ahead, but our horses were +giving out at last. They had borne us nobly, poor beasts, though we were +no light weights, yet their strength had its limits. The sweat ran from +them, their sides panted like bellows, they breathed in gasps, they +stumbled and would scarcely answer to the flogging of our spear-shafts. +Their gallop sank to a jolting canter, and I thought that soon they must +come to a dead stop. + +We crossed the brow of a gentle rise, from which the ground, that was +sprinkled with bush and rocks, sloped downwards to where, some miles +below us, the river ran, bounding the enormous flanks of the Mountain. +When we had travelled a little way down this slope we were obliged to +turn in order to pass between two heaps of rock, which brought us side +on to its brow. And there, crossing it not more than three hundred yards +away, we saw the pack. There were fewer of them now; doubtless many +had fallen out of the hunt, but many still remained. Moreover, not far +behind them rode the Khan, though his second mount was gone, or more +probably he was riding it, having galloped the first to a standstill. + +Our poor horses saw them also, and the sight lent them wings, for all +the while they knew that they were running for their lives. This we +could tell from the way they quivered whenever the baying came near +to them, not as horses tremble with the pleasureable excitement of the +hunt, but in an extremity of terror, as I have often seen them do when +a prowling tiger roars close to their camp. On they went as though they +were fresh from the stable, nor did they fail again until another four +miles or so were covered and the river was but a little way ahead, for +we could hear the rush of its waters. + +Then slowly but surely the pack overtook us. We passed a clump of bush, +but when we had gone a couple of hundred yards or so across the open +plain beyond, feeling that the horses were utterly spent, I shouted +to Leo--"Ride round back to the bush and hide there." So we did, and +scarcely had we reached it and dismounted when the hounds came past. +Yes, they went within fifty yards of us, lolloping along upon our spoor +and running all but mute, for now they were too weary to waste their +breath in vain. "Run for it," I said to Leo as soon as they had gone by, +"for they will be back on the scent presently," and we set off to the +right across the line that the hounds had taken, so as not to cut our +own spoor. + +About a hundred yards away was a rock, which fortunately we were able to +reach before the pack swung round upon the horses' tracks, and therefore +they did not view us. Here we stayed until following the loop, they came +to the patch of bush and passed behind it. Then we ran forward again as +far as we could go. Glancing backwards as we went, I saw our two poor, +foundered beasts plunging away across the plain, happily almost in the +same line along which we had ridden from the rise. They were utterly +done, but freed from our weights and urged on by fear, could still +gallop and keep ahead of the dogs, though we knew that this would not +be for very long. I saw also that the Khan, guessing what we had done +in our despair, was trying to call his hounds off the horses, but as +yet without avail, for they would not leave the quarry which they had +viewed. + +All this came to my sight in a flash, but I remember the picture well. +The mighty, snow-clad Peak surmounted by its column of glowing smoke and +casting its shadow for mile upon mile across the desert flats; the plain +with its isolated rocks and grey bushes; the doomed horses struggling +across it with convulsive bounds; the trailing line of great dogs that +loped after them, and amongst these, looking small and lonely in that +vast place, the figure of the Khan and his horse, of which the black +hide was beflecked with foam. Then above, the blue and tender sky, +where the round moon shone so clearly that in her quiet, level light no +detail, even the smallest, could escape the eye. + +Now youth and even middle age were far behind me, and although a very +strong man for my years, I could not run as I used to do. Also I was +most weary, and my limbs were stiff and chafed with long riding, so +I made but slow progress, and to worsen matters I struck my left foot +against a stone and hurt it much. I implored Leo to go on and leave me, +for we thought that if we could once reach the river our scent would be +lost in the water; at any rate that it would give us a chance of life. +Just then too, I heard the belling bay of the hound Master, and waited +for the next. Yes, it was nearer to us. The Khan had made a cast and +found our line. Presently we must face the end. + +"Go, go!" I said. "I can keep them back for a few minutes and you may +escape. It is your quest, not mine. Ayesha awaits you, not me, and I am +weary of life. I wish to die and have done with it." + +Thus I gasped, not all at once, but in broken words, as I hobbled along +clinging to Leo's arm. But he only answered in a low voice--"Be quiet, +or they will hear you," and on he went, dragging me with him. + +We were quite near the water now, for we could see it gleaming below us, +and oh! how I longed for one deep drink. I remember that this was the +uppermost desire in my mind, to drink and drink. But the hounds were +nearer still to us, so near that we could hear the pattering of their +feet on the dry ground mingled with the thud of the hoofs of the Khan's +galloping horse. We had reached some rocks upon a little rise, just +where the bank began, when Leo said suddenly--"No use, we can't make it. +Stop and let's see the thing through." + +So we wheeled round, resting our backs against the rock. There, about a +hundred yards off, were the death-hounds, but Heaven be praised! _only +three of them_. The rest had followed the flying horses, and doubtless +when they caught them at last, which may have been far distant, had +stopped to gorge themselves upon them. So they were out of the fight. +Only three, and the Khan, a wild figure, who galloped with them; but +those three, the black and red brute, Master, and two others almost as +fierce and big. + +"It might be worse," said Leo. "If you will try to tackle the dogs, I'll +do my best with the Khan," and stooping down he rubbed his palms in the +grit, for they were wet as water, an example which I followed. Then we +gripped the spears in our right hands and the knives in our left, and +waited. + +The dogs had seen us now and came on, growling and baying fearfully. +With a rush they came, and I am not ashamed to own that I felt terribly +afraid, for the brutes seemed the size of lions and more fierce. One, +it was the smallest of them, outstripped the others, and, leaping up the +little rise, sprang straight at my throat. + +Why or how I do not know, but on the impulse of the moment I too sprang +to meet it, so that its whole weight came upon the point of my spear, +which was backed by my weight. The spear entered between its forelegs +and such was the shock that I was knocked backwards. But when I regained +my feet I saw the dog rolling on the ground before me and gnashing at +the spear shaft, which had been twisted from my hand. + +The other two had jumped at Leo, but failed to get hold, though one of +them tore away a large fragment from his tunic. Foolishly enough, he +hurled his spear at it but missed, for the steel passed just under its +belly and buried itself deep in the ground. The pair of them did not +come on again at once. Perhaps the sight of their dying companion made +them pause. At any rate, they stood at a little distance snarling, +where, as our spears were gone, they were safe from us. + +Now the Khan had ridden up and sat upon his horse glowering at us, and +his face was like the face of a devil. I had hoped that he might fear to +attack, but the moment I saw his eyes, I knew that this would not be. He +was quite mad with hate, jealousy, and the long-drawn excitement of the +hunt, and had come to kill or be killed. Sliding from the saddle, he +drew his short sword--for either he had lost his spear or had brought +none--and made a hissing noise to the two dogs, pointing at me with the +sword. I saw them spring and I saw him rush at Leo, and after that who +can tell exactly what happened? + +My knife went home to the hilt in the body of one dog--and it came to +the ground and lay there--for its hindquarters were paralysed, howling, +snarling and biting at me. But the other, the fiend called Master, got +me by the right arm beneath the elbow, and I felt my bones crack in its +mighty jaws, and the agony of it, or so I suppose, caused me to drop the +knife, so that I was weaponless. The brute dragged me from the rock and +began to shake and worry me, although I kicked it in the stomach with +all my strength. I fell to my knees and, as it chanced, my left hand +came upon a stone of about the size of a large orange, which I gripped. +I gained my feet again and pounded at its skull with the stone, but +still it did not leave go, and this was well for me, for its next hold +would have been on my throat. + +We twisted and tumbled to and fro, man and dog together. At one turn +I thought that I saw Leo and the Khan rolling over and over each other +upon the ground; at another, that he, the Khan, was sitting against a +stone looking at me, and it came into my mind that he must have killed +Leo and was watching while the dog worried me to death. + +Then just as things began to grow black, something sprang forward and I +saw the huge hound lifted from the earth. Its jaws opened, my arm came +free and fell against my side. Yes! the brute was whirling round in +the air. Leo held it by its hind legs and with all his great strength +whirled it round and round. + +_Thud!_ + +He had dashed its head against the rock, and it fell and lay still, a +huddled heap of black and red. Oddly enough, I did not faint; I suppose +that the pain and the shock to my nerves kept me awake, for I heard +Leo say in a matter-of-fact voice between his gasps for breath--"Well, +that's over, and I think that I have fulfilled the Shaman's prophecy. +Let's look and make sure." + +Then he led me with him to one of the rocks, and there, resting supinely +against it, sat the Khan, still living but unable to move hand or foot. +The madness had quite left his face and he looked at us with melancholy +eyes, like the eyes of a sick child. + +"You are brave men," he said, slowly, "strong also, to have killed those +hounds and broken my back. So it has come about as was foretold by the +old Rat. After all, I should have hunted Atene, not you, though now she +lives to avenge me, for her own sake, not mine. Yellow-beard, she hunts +you too and with deadlier hounds than these, those of her thwarted +passions. Forgive me and fly to the Mountain, Yellow-beard, whither I go +before you, for there one dwells who is stronger than Atene." + +Then his jaw dropped and he was dead. + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MESSENGER + +"He is gone," I panted, "and the world hasn't lost much." + +"Well, it didn't give him much, did it, poor devil, so don't let's +speak ill of him," answered Leo, who had thrown himself exhausted to the +ground. "Perhaps he was all right before they made him mad. At any rate +he had pluck, for I don't want to tackle such another." + +"How did you manage it?" I asked. + +"Dodged in beneath his sword, closed with him, threw him and smashed +him up over that lump of stone. Sheer strength, that's all. A cruel +business, but it was his life or mine, and there you are. It's lucky I +finished it in time to help you before that oven-mouthed brute tore your +throat out. Did you ever see such a dog? It looks as large as a young +donkey. Are you much hurt, Horace?" + +"Oh, my forearm is chewed to a pulp, but nothing else, I think. Let us +get down to the water; if I can't drink soon I shall faint. Also the +rest of the pack is somewhere about, fifty or more of them." + +"I don't think they will trouble us, they have got the horses, poor +beasts. Wait a minute and I will come." + +Then he rose, found the Khan's sword, a beautiful and ancient weapon, +and with a single cut of its keen edge, killed the second dog that I +had wounded, which was still yowling and snarling at us. After this he +collected the two spears and my knife, saying that they might be useful, +and without trouble caught the Khan's horse, which stood with hanging +head close by, so tired that even this desperate fight had not +frightened it away. + +"Now," he said, "up you go, old fellow. You are not fit to walk any +farther;" and with his help I climbed into the saddle. + +Then slipping the rein over his arm he led the horse, which walked +stiffly, on to the river, that ran within a quarter of a mile of +us, though to me, tortured as I was by pain and half delirious with +exhaustion, the journey seemed long enough. + +Still we came there somehow, and, forgetting my wounds, I tumbled from +the horse, threw myself flat and drank and drank, more, I think, +than ever I did before. Not in all my life have I tasted anything so +delicious as was that long draught of water. When I had satisfied my +thirst, I dipped my head and made shift to jerk my wounded arm into it, +for its coolness seemed to still the pain. Presently Leo rose, the water +running from his face and beard, and said--"What shall we do now? The +river seems to be wide, over a hundred yards, and it is low, but there +may be deep water in the middle. Shall we try to cross, in which case we +might drown, or stop where we are till daylight and take our chance of +the death-hounds?" + +"I can't go another foot," I murmured faintly, "much less try to ford an +unknown river." + +Now, about thirty yards from the shore was an island covered with reeds +and grasses. + +"Perhaps we could reach that," he said. "Come, get on to my back, and we +will try." + +I obeyed with difficulty, and we set out, he feeling his way with the +handle of the spear. The water proved to be quite shallow; indeed, it +never came much above his knees, so that we reached the island without +trouble. Here Leo laid me down on the soft rushes, and, returning to the +mainland, brought over the black horse and the remaining weapons, and +having unsaddled the beast, knee-haltered and turned it loose, whereon +it immediately lay down, for it was too spent to feed. + +Then he set to work to doctor my wounds. Well it proved for me that the +sleeve of my garment was so thick, for even through it the flesh of my +forearm was torn to ribbons, moreover a bone seemed to be broken. Leo +collected a double handful of some soft wet moss and, having washed the +arm, wrapped it round with a handkerchief, over which he laid the moss. +Then with a second handkerchief and some strips of linen torn from our +undergarments he fastened a couple of split reeds to serve as rough +splints to the wounded limb. While he was doing this I suppose that I +slept or swooned. At any rate, I remember no more. + +Sometime during that night Leo had a strange dream, of which he told me +the next morning. I suppose that it must have been a dream as certainly +I saw or was aware of nothing. Well, he dreamed--I use his own words as +nearly as possible--that again he heard those accursed death-hounds in +full cry. Nearer and nearer they came, following our spoor to the edge +of the river--all the pack that had run down the horses. At the water's +brink they halted and were mute. Then suddenly a puff of wind brought +the scent of us upon the island to one of them which lifted up its head +and uttered a single bay. The rest clustered about it, and all at once +they made a dash at the water. + +Leo could see and hear everything. He felt that after all our doom was +now at hand, and yet, held in the grip of nightmare, if nightmare it +were, he was quite unable to stir or even to cry out to wake and warn +me. + +Now followed the marvel of this vision. Giving tongue as they came, half +swimming and half plunging, the hounds drew near to the island where we +slept. Then, suddenly Leo saw that we were no longer alone. In front of +us, on the brink of the water, stood the figure of a woman clad in some +dark garment. He could not describe her face or appearance, for her back +was towards him. + +All he knew was that she stood there, like a guard, holding some object +in her raised hand, and that suddenly the advancing hounds caught sight +of her. In an instant it was as though they were paralysed by fear--for +their bays turned to fearful howlings. One or two of those that were +nearest to the island seemed to lose their footing and be swept away by +the stream. The rest struggled back to the bank, and fled wildly like +whipped curs. + +Then the dark, commanding figure, which in his dream Leo took to be the +guardian Spirit of the Mountain, vanished. That it left no footprints +behind it I can vouch, for in the morning we looked to see. + +When, awakened by the sharp pangs in my arm, I opened my eyes again, the +dawn was breaking. A thin mist hung over the river and the island, and +through it I could see Leo sleeping heavily at my side and the shape of +the black horse, which had risen and was grazing close at hand. I lay +still for a while remembering all that we had undergone and wondering +that I should live to wake, till presently above the murmuring of the +water I heard a sound which terrified me, the sound of voices. I sat up +and peered through the reeds, and there upon the bank, looking enormous +in the mist, I saw two figures mounted upon horses, those of a woman and +a man. + +They were pointing to the ground as though they examined spoor in the +sand. I heard the man say something about the dogs not daring to enter +the territory of the Mountain, a remark which came back to my mind again +after Leo had told me his dream. Then I remembered how we were placed. + +"Wake!" I whispered to Leo. "Wake, we are pursued." + +He sprang to his feet, rubbing his eyes and snatching at a spear. Now +those upon the bank saw him, and a sweet voice spoke through the mist, +saying--"Lay down that weapon, my guest, for we are not come to harm +you." + +It was the voice of the Khania Atene, and the man with her was the old +Shaman Simbri. + +"What shall we do now, Horace?" asked Leo with something like a groan, +for in the whole world there were no two people whom he less wished to +see. + +"Nothing," I answered, "it is for them to play." + +"Come to us," called the Khania across the water. "I swear that we mean +no harm. Are we not alone?" + +"I do not know," answered Leo, "but it seems unlikely. Where we are we +stop until we are ready to march again." + +Atene spoke to Simbri. What she said we could not hear, for she +whispered, but she appeared to be arguing with him and persuading him to +some course of which he strongly disapproved. Then suddenly both of +them put their horses at the water and rode to us through the shallows. +Reaching the island, they dismounted, and we stood staring at each +other. The old man seemed very weary in body and oppressed in mind, but +the Khania was strong and beautiful as ever, nor had passion and fatigue +left any trace upon her inscrutable face. It was she who broke the +silence, saying--"You have ridden fast and far since last we met, my +guests, and left an evil token to mark the path you took. Yonder among +the rocks one lies dead. Say, how came he to his end, who has no wound +upon him?" + +"By these," answered Leo, stretching out his hands. + +"I knew it," she answered, "and I blame you not, for fate decreed that +death for him, and now it is fulfilled. Still, there are those to whom +you must answer for his blood, and I only can protect you from them." + +"Or betray me to them," said Leo. "Khania, what do you seek?" + +"That answer which you should have given me this twelve hours gone. +Remember, before you speak, that I alone can save your life--aye, and +will do it and clothe you with that dead madman's crown and mantle." + +"You shall have your answer on yonder Mountain," said Leo, pointing to +the peak above us, "where I seek mine." + +She paled a little and replied, "To find that it is death, for, as I +have told you, the place is guarded by savage folk who know no pity." + +"So be it. Then Death is the answer that we seek. Come, Horace, let us +go to meet him." + +"I swear to you," she broke in, "that there dwells not the woman of your +dreams. I am that woman, yes, even I, as you are the man of mine." + +"Then, lady, prove it yonder upon the Mountain," Leo answered. + +"There dwells there no woman," Atene went on hurriedly, "nothing dwells +there. It is the home of fire and--a Voice." + +"What voice?" + +"The Voice of the Oracle that speaks from the fire. The Voice of a +Spirit whom no man has ever seen, or shall see." + +"Come, Horace," said Leo, and he moved towards the horse. + +"Men," broke in the old Shaman, "would you rush upon your doom? Listen; +I have visited yonder haunted place, for it was I who according to +custom brought thither the body of the Khan Atene's father for burial, +and I warn you to set no foot within its temples." + +"Which your mistress said that we should never reach," I commented, but +Leo only answered--"We thank you for your warning," and added, "Horace, +watch them while I saddle the horse, lest they do us a mischief." + +So I took the spear in my uninjured hand and stood ready. But they made +no attempt to hurt us, only fell back a little and began to talk in +hurried whispers. It was evident to me that they were much perturbed. +In a few minutes the horse was saddled and Leo assisted me to mount it. +Then he said--"We go to accomplish our fate, whatever it may be, but +before we part, Khania, I thank you for the kindness you have shown us, +and pray you to be wise and forget that we have ever been. Through no +will of mine your husband's blood is on my hands, and that alone must +separate us for ever. We are divided by the doors of death and destiny. +Go back to your people, and pardon me if most unwillingly I have brought +you doubt and trouble. Farewell." + +She listened with bowed head, then replied, very sadly--"I thank you for +your gentle words, but, Leo Vincey, we do not part thus easily. You have +summoned me to the Mountain, and even to the Mountain I shall follow +you. Aye, and there I will meet its Spirit, as I have always known I +must and as the Shaman here has always known I must. Yes, I will match +my strength and magic against hers, as it is decreed that I shall do. To +the victor be that crown for which we have warred for ages." + +Then suddenly Atene sprang to her saddle, and turning her horse's head +rode it back through the water to the shore, followed by old Simbri, who +lifted up his crooked hands as though in woe and fear, muttering as he +went--"You have entered the forbidden river and now, Atene, the day of +decision is upon us all--upon us and her--that predestined day of ruin +and of war." + +"What do they mean?" asked Leo of me. + +"I don't know," I answered; "but I have no doubt we shall find out soon +enough and that it will be something unpleasant. Now for this river." + +Before we had struggled through it I thought more than once that the day +of drowning was upon us also, for in places there were deep rapids which +nearly swept us away. But Leo, who waded, leading the Khan's horse by +the bridle, felt his path and supported himself with the spear shaft, so +that in the end we reached the other bank safely. + +Beyond it lay a breadth of marshy lands, that doubtless were overflowed +when the torrent was in flood. Through these we pushed our way as fast +as we could, for we feared lest the Khania had gone to fetch her escort, +which we thought she might have left behind the rise, and would return +with it presently to hunt us down. At that time we did not know what +we learned afterwards, that with its bordering river the soil of the +Mountain was absolutely sacred and, in practice, inviolable. True, it +had been invaded by the people of Kaloon in several wars, but on each +occasion their army was destroyed or met with terrible disaster. Little +wonder then they had come to believe that the House of Fire was under +the protection of some unconquerable Spirit. + +Leaving the marsh, we reached a bare, rising plain, which led to the +first slope of the Mountain three or four miles away. Here we expected +every moment to be attacked by the savages of whom we had heard so much, +but no living creature did we see. The place was a desert streaked with +veins of rock that once had been molten lava. _I_ do not remember much +else about it; indeed, the pain in my arm was so sharp that I had no +eyes for physical features. At length the rise ended in a bare, broad +donga, quite destitute of vegetation, of which the bottom was buried in +lava and a debris of rocks washed down by the rain or melting snows from +slopes above. This donga was bordered on the farther side by a cliff, +perhaps fifty feet in height, in which we could see no opening. + +Still we descended the place, that was dark and rugged; pervaded, +moreover, by an extraordinary gloom, and as we went perceived that its +lava floor was sprinkled over with a multitude of white objects. Soon we +came to the first of these and found that it was the skeleton of a +human being. Here was a veritable Valley of Dead Bones, thousands upon +thousands of them; a gigantic graveyard. It seemed as though some great +army had perished here. + +Indeed, we found afterwards that this was the case, for on one of those +occasions in the far past when the people of Kaloon had attacked the +Mountain tribes, they were trapped and slaughtered in this gully, +leaving their bones as a warning and a token. Among these sad skeletons +we wandered disconsolately, seeking a path up the opposing cliff, and +finding none, until at length we came to a halt, not knowing which way +to turn. Then it was that we met with our first strange experience on +the Mountain. + +The gulf and its mouldering relics depressed us, so that for awhile +we were silent, and, to tell the truth, somewhat afraid. Yes, even +the horse seemed afraid, for it snorted a little, hung its head and +shivered. Close by us lay a pile of bones, the remains evidently of a +number of wretched creatures that, dead or living, had been hurled down +from the cliff above, and on the top of the pile was a little huddled +heap, which we took for more bones. + +"Unless we can find a way out of this accursed charnel-house before +long, I think that we shall add to its company," I said, staring round +me. + +As the words left my lips it seemed to me that from the corner of my eye +I saw the heap on the top of the bones stir. I looked round. Yes, it +was stirring. It rose, it stood up, a human figure, apparently that of +a woman--but of this I could not be sure--wrapped from head to foot in +white and wearing a hanging veil over its face, or rather a mask with +cut eye-holes. It advanced towards us while we stared at it, till the +horse, catching sight of the thing, shied violently and nearly threw me. +When at a distance of about ten paces it paused and beckoned with its +hand, that was also swathed in white like the arm of a mummy. + +"What the devil are you?" shouted Leo, and his voice echoed drearily +among those naked rocks. But the creature did not answer, it only +continued to beckon. + +Leo walked up to it to assure himself that we were not the victims of +some hallucination. As he came it glided back to its heap of bones and +stood there like a ghost of one dead arisen from amidst these grinning +evidences of death, or rather a swathed corpse, for that is what it +resembled. Leo followed with the intention of touching it to assure +himself of its reality, whereon it lifted its white-wrapped arm and +struck him lightly on the breast. Then as he recoiled it pointed with +its hand, first upwards as though to the Peak or the sky, and next at +the wall of rock which faced us. + +He returned to me saying, "What shall we do?" + +"Follow, I suppose. It may be a messenger from above," and I nodded +toward the mountain crest. + +"From below, more likely," Leo muttered, "for I don't like the look of +this guide." + +Still he motioned with his hand to the creature to proceed. Apparently +it understood, for it turned to the left and began to pick its way +amongst the stones and skeletons swiftly and without noise. We followed +for several hundred yards till it reached a shallow cleft in the rock. +This cleft we had seen already, but as it appeared to end at a depth of +about thirty feet, we passed on. The figure entered here and vanished. + +"It must be a shadow," said Leo doubtfully. + +"Nonsense," I answered, "shadows don't strike one. Go on." + +So he led the horse up the cleft, to find that at the end it turned +sharply to the right and that the form was standing there awaiting us. +Forward it went again and we after it down a little gorge that grew ever +gloomier till it terminated in what might have been a cave, or a gallery +cut in the rock. + +Here our guide came back to us apparently with the intention of taking +the horse by the bridle, but at this nearer sight of it the brute +snorted and reared up, so that it almost fell backwards upon me. As +it found its feet again the figure struck it on the head in the same +passionless, inhuman way that it had struck Leo, whereon the horse +trembled and burst into a sweat as though with fear, making no further +attempt to escape or to disobey. Then it took one side of the bridle +in its swathed hand and, Leo clinging to the other, we plunged into the +tunnel. + +Our position was not pleasant, for we knew not whither we were being led +by this horrible conductor, and suspected that it might be to meet our +deaths in the darkness. Moreover, I guessed that the path was narrow and +bordered by some gulf, for as we went I heard stones fall, apparently to +a considerable depth, while the poor horse lifted its feet gingerly and +snorted in abject fear. At length we saw daylight, and never was I more +glad of its advent, although it showed us that there _was_ a gulf on our +right, and that the path we travelled could not measure more than ten +feet in width. + +Now we were out of the tunnel, that evidently had saved us a wide +detour, and standing for the first time upon the actual slope of the +Mountain, which stretched upwards for a great number of miles till it +reached the snow-line above. Here also we saw evidences of human life, +for the ground was cultivated in patches and herds of mountain sheep and +cattle were visible in the distance. + +Presently we entered a gully, following a rough path that led along the +edge of a raging torrent. It was a desolate place, half a mile wide +or more, having hundreds of fantastic lava boulders strewn about its +slopes. Before we had gone a mile I heard a shrill whistle, and suddenly +from behind these boulders sprang a number of men, quite fifty of them. +All we could note at the time was that they were brawny, savage-looking +fellows, for the most part red haired and bearded, although their +complexions were rather dark, who wore cloaks of white goat skins and +carried spears and shields. I should imagine that they were not unlike +the ancient Picts and Scots as they appeared to the invading Romans. At +us they came uttering their shrill, whistling cries, evidently with the +intention of spearing us on the spot. + +"Now for it," said Leo, drawing his sword, for escape was impossible; +they were all round us. "Good-bye, Horace." + +"Good-bye," I answered rather faintly, understanding what the Khania and +the old Shaman had meant when they said that we should be killed before +we ascended the first slope of the Mountain. + +Meanwhile our ghastly-looking guide had slipped behind a great boulder, +and even then it occurred to me that her part in the tragedy being +played, she, if it were a woman at all, was withdrawing herself while +we met our miserable fate. But here I did her injustice, for she had, I +suppose, come to save us from this very fate which without her presence +we must most certainly have suffered. When the savages were within a few +yards suddenly she appeared on the top of the boulder, looking like a +second Witch of Endor, and stretched out her arm. Not a word did she +speak, only stretched out her draped arm, but the effect was remarkable +and instantaneous. + +At the sight of her down on to their faces went those wild men, every +one of them, as though a lightning stroke had in an instant swept them +out of existence. Then she let her arm fall and beckoned, whereon a +great fellow who, I suppose, was the leader of the band, rose and crept +towards her with bowed head, submissive as a beaten dog. To him she +made signs, pointing to us, pointing to the far-off Peak, crossing and +uncrossing her white-wrapped arms, but so far as I could hear, speaking +no word. It was evident that the chief understood her, however, for +he said something in a guttural language. Then he uttered his shrill +whistle, whereon the band rose and departed thence at full speed, +this way and the other, so that in another minute they had vanished as +quickly as they came. + +Now our guide motioned to us to proceed, and led the way upward as +calmly as though nothing had happened. + +For over _two_ hours we went on thus till our path brought us from the +ravine on to a grassy declivity, across which it wound its way. Here, to +our astonishment, we found a fire burning, and hanging above the fire +an earthenware pot, which was on the boil, although we could see no man +tending it. The figure signalled to me to dismount, pointing to the pot +in token that we were to eat the food which doubtless she had ordered +the wild men to prepare for us, and very glad was _I_ to obey her. +Provision had been made for the horse also, for near the fire lay a +great bundle of green forage. + +While Leo off-saddled the beast and spread the provender for it, taking +with me a spare earthen vessel that lay ready, I went to the edge of the +torrent to drink and steep my wounded arm in its ice-cold stream. This +relieved it greatly, though by now I was sure from various symptoms +that the brute Master's fangs had fortunately only broken or injured the +small bone, a discovery for which I was thankful enough. Having finished +attending to it as well as I was able, I filled the jar with water. + +On my way back a thought struck me, and going to where our mysterious +guide stood still as Lot's wife after she had been turned into a pillar +of salt, I offered it to her, hoping that she would unveil her face and +drink. Then for the first time she showed some sign of being human, +or so I thought, for it seemed to me that she bowed ever so little +in acknowledgment of the courtesy. If so--and I may have been +mistaken--this was all, for the next instant she turned her back on me +to show that it was declined. So she would not, or for aught I +knew, could not drink. Neither would she eat, for when Leo tried her +afterwards with food she refused it in like fashion. + +Meanwhile he had taken the pot off the fire, and as soon as its contents +grew cool enough we fell on them eagerly, for we were starving. After +we had eaten and drunk, Leo re-dressed my arm as best he could and we +rested awhile. Indeed, I think that, being very tired, we began to doze, +for I was awakened by a shadow falling on us and looked up to see our +corpse-like guide standing close by and pointing first to the sun, then +at the horse, as though to show us that we had far to travel. So we +saddled up and went on again somewhat refreshed, for at least we were no +longer ravenous. + +All the rest of that day we journeyed on up the grassy slopes, seeing no +man, although occasionally we heard the wild whistle which told us that +we were being watched by the Mountain savages. By sundown the character +of the country had changed, for the grass was replaced with rocks, +amongst which grew stunted firs. We had left the lower slopes and were +beginning to climb the Mountain itself. + +The sun sank and we went on through the twilight. The twilight died +and we went on through the dark, our path lit only by the stars and the +faint radiance of the glowing pillar of smoke above the Peak, which +was reflected on to us from the mighty mantle of its snows. Forward we +toiled, whilst a few paces ahead of us walked our unwearying guide. If +she had seemed weird and inhuman before, now she appeared a very ghost, +as, clad in her graveyard white, upon which the faint light shimmered, +never speaking, never looking back, she glided on noiselessly between +the black rocks and the twisted, dark-green firs and junipers. + +Soon we lost all count of the road. We turned this way and turned that +way, we passed an open patch and through the shadows of a grove, till at +length as the moon rose we entered a ravine, and following a path +that ran down it, came to a place which is best described as a large +amphitheatre cut by the hand of nature out of the rock of the Mountain. +Evidently it was chosen as a place of defence, for its entrance was +narrow and tortuous, built up at the end also, so that only one person +could pass its gateway at a time. Within an open space and at its +farther side stood low, stone houses built against the rock. In front +of these houses, the moonlight shining full upon them, were gathered +several hundred men and women arranged in a semicircle and in alternate +companies, who appeared to be engaged in the celebration of some rite. + +It was wild enough. In front of them, and in the exact centre of the +semi-circle, stood a gigantic, red-bearded man, who was naked except +for a skin girdle about his loins. He was swinging himself backwards +and forwards, his hands resting upon his hips, and as he swung, shouting +something like "_Ho, haha, ho!_" When he bent towards the audience it +bent towards him, and every time he straightened himself it echoed his +final shout of "_Ho!_" in a volume of sound that made the precipices +ring. Nor was this all, for perched upon his hairy head, with arched +back and waving tail, stood a great white cat. + +Anything stranger, and indeed more fantastic than the general effect of +this scene, lit by the bright moonlight and set in that wild arena, it +was never my lot to witness. The red-haired, half-naked men and women, +the gigantic priest, the mystical white cat, that, gripping his +scalp with its claws, waved its tail and seemed to take a part in the +performance; the unholy chant and its volleying chorus, all helped to +make it extraordinarily impressive. This struck us the more, perhaps, +because at the time we could not in the least guess its significance, +though we imagined that it must be preliminary to some sacrifice or +offering. It was like the fragment of a nightmare preserved by the +awakened senses in all its mad, meaningless reality. + +Now round the open space where these savages were celebrating their +worship, or whatever it might be, ran a rough stone wall about six feet +in height, in which wall was a gateway. Towards this we advanced quite +unseen, for upon our side of the wall grew many stunted pines. Through +these pines our guide led us, till in the thickest of them, some +few yards from the open gateway and a little to the right of it, she +motioned to us to stop. + +Then she went to a low place in the wall and stood there as though she +were considering the scene beyond. It seemed to us, indeed, that she +saw what she had not expected and was thereby perplexed or angered. +Presently she appeared to make up her mind, for again she motioned to +us to remain where we were, enjoining silence upon us by placing her +swathed hand upon the mask that hid her face. Next moment she was gone. +How she went, or whither, I cannot say; all we knew was that she was no +longer there. + +"What shall we do now?" whispered Leo to me. + +"Stay where we are till she comes back again or something happens," I +answered. + +So there being nothing else to be done, we stayed, hoping that the +horse would not betray us by neighing, or that we might not be otherwise +discovered, since we were certain that if so we should be in danger of +death. Very soon, however, we forgot the anxieties of our own position +in the study of the wild scene before us, which now began to develop a +fearful interest. + +It would seem that what has been described was but preliminary to the +drama itself, and that this drama was the trial of certain people for +their lives. This we could guess, for after awhile the incantation +ceased and the crowd in front of the big man with the cat upon his head +opened out, while behind him a column of smoke rose into the air, as +though light had been set to some sunk furnace. + +Into the space that had thus been cleared were now led seven persons, +whose hands were tied behind them. They were of both sexes and included +an old man and a woman with a tall and handsome figure, who appeared +to be quite young, scarcely more than a girl indeed. These seven were +ranged in a line where they stood, clearly in great fear, for the old +man fell upon his knees and one of the women began to sob. Thus they +were left awhile, perhaps to allow the fire behind them to burn up, +which it soon did with great fierceness, throwing a vivid light upon +every detail of the spectacle. + +Now all was ready, and a man brought a wooden tray to the red-bearded +priest, who was seated on a stool, the white cat upon his knees, whither +we had seen it leap from his head a little while before. He took the +tray by its handles and at a word from him the cat jumped on to it and +sat there. Then amidst the most intense silence he rose and uttered some +prayer, apparently to the cat, which sat facing him. This done he turned +the tray round so that the creature's back was now towards him, and, +advancing to the line of prisoners, began to walk up and down in front +of them, which he did several times, at each turn drawing a little +nearer. + +Holding out the tray, he presented it at the face of the prisoner on the +left, whereon the cat rose, arched its back and began to lift its paws +up and down. Presently he moved to the next prisoner and held it before +him awhile, and so on till he came to the fifth, that young woman of +whom I have spoken. Now the cat grew very angry, for in the death-like +stillness we could hear it spitting and growling. At length it seemed +to lift its paws and strike the girl upon the face, whereon she screamed +aloud, a terrible scream. Then all the audience broke out into a shout, +a single word, which we understood, for we had heard one very like it +used by the people of the Plain. It was "Witch! Witch! _Witch!_" + +Executioners who were waiting for the victim to be chosen in this ordeal +by cat, rushed forward and seizing the girl began to drag her towards +the fire. The prisoner who was standing by her and whom we rightly +guessed to be her husband, tried to protect her, but his arms being +bound, poor fellow, he could do nothing. One of the executioners knocked +him down with a stick. For a moment his wife escaped and threw herself +upon him, but the brutes lifted her up again, haling her towards the +fire, whilst all the audience shouted wildly. + +"I can't stand this," said Leo, "it's murder--coldblooded murder," and +he drew his sword. + +"Best leave the beasts alone," I answered doubtfully, though my own +blood was boiling in my veins. + +Whether he heard or not I do not know, for the next thing I saw was Leo +rushing through the gate waving the Khan's sword and shouting at the +top of his voice. Then I struck my heels into the ribs of the horse and +followed after him. In ten seconds we were among them. As we came the +savages fell back this way and that, staring at us amazed, for at first +I think they took us for apparitions. Thus Leo on foot and I galloping +after him, we came to the place. + +The executioners and their victim were near the fire now--a very great +fire of resinous pine logs built in a pit that measured about eight feet +across. Close to it sat the priest upon his stool, watching the scene +with a cruel smile, and rewarding the cat with little gobbets of raw +meat, that he took from a leathern pouch at his side, occupations in +which he was so deeply engaged that he never saw us until we were right +on to him. + +Shouting, "Leave her alone, you blackguards," Leo rushed at the +executioners, and with a single blow of his sword severed the arm of one +of them who gripped the woman by the nape of the neck. + +With a yell of pain and rage the man sprang back and stood waving the +stump towards the people and staring at it wildly. In the confusion that +followed I saw the victim slip from the hands of her astonished would-be +murderers and run into the darkness, where she vanished. Also I saw +the witch-doctor spring up, still holding the tray on which the cat was +sitting, and heard him begin to shout a perfect torrent of furious abuse +at Leo, who in reply waved his sword and cursed him roundly in English +and many other languages. + +Then of a sudden the cat upon the tray, infuriated, I suppose, by the +noise and the interruption of its meal, sprang straight at Leo's face. +He appeared to catch it in mid-air with his left hand and with all his +strength dashed it to the ground, where it lay writhing and screeching. +Then, as though by an afterthought, he stooped, picked the devilish +creature up again and hurled it into the heart of the fire, for he was +mad with rage and knew not what he did. + +At the sight of that awful sacrilege--for such it was to them who +worshipped this beast--a gasp of horror rose from the spectators, +followed by a howl of execration. Then like a wave of the sea they +rushed at us. I saw Leo cut one man down, and next instant I was off the +horse and being dragged towards the furnace. At the edge of it I met Leo +in like plight, but fighting furiously, for his strength was great and +they were half afraid of him. + +"Why couldn't you leave the cat alone?" I shouted at him in idiotic +remonstrance, for my brain had gone, and all I knew was that we were +about to be thrown into the fiery pit. Already I was over it; I felt +the flames singe my hair and saw its red caverns awaiting me, when of a +sudden the brutal hands that held me were unloosed and I fell backwards +to the ground, where I lay staring upwards. + +This was what I saw. Standing in front of the fire, her draped form +quivering as though with rage, was our ghostly-looking guide, who +pointed with her hand at the gigantic, red-headed witch-doctor. But she +was no longer alone, for with her were a score or more of men clad in +white robes and armed with swords; black-eyed, ascetic-looking men, with +clean-shaved heads and faces, for their scalps shone in the firelight. + +At the sight of them terror had seized that multitude which, mad as +goaded bulls but a few seconds before, now fled in every direction like +sheep frightened by a wolf. The leader of the white-robed priests, a man +with a gentle face, which when at rest was clothed in a perpetual smile, +was addressing the medicine-man, and I understood something of his talk. + +"Dog," he said in effect, speaking in a smooth, measured voice that yet +was terrible, "accursed dog, beast-worshipper, what were you about to do +to the guests of the mighty Mother of the Mountain? Is it for this that +you and your idolatries have been spared so long? Answer, if you have +anything to say. Answer quickly, for your time is short." + +With a groan of fear the great fellow flung himself upon his knees, not +to the head-priest who questioned him, but before the quivering shape of +our guide, and to her put up half-articulate prayers for mercy. + +"Cease," said the high-priest, "she is the Minister who judges and the +Sword that strikes. I am the Ears and the Voice. Speak and tell +me--were you about to cast those men, whom you were commanded to receive +hospitably, into yonder fire because they saved the victim of your +devilries and killed the imp you cherished? Nay, I saw it all. Know that +it was but a trap set to catch you, who have been allowed to live too +long." + +But still the wretch writhed before the draped form and howled for +mercy. + +"Messenger," said the high-priest, "with thee the power goes. Declare +thy decree." + +Then our guide lifted her hand slowly and pointed to the fire. At once +the man turned ghastly white, groaned and fell back, as I think, quite +dead, slain by his own terror. + +Now many of the people had fled, but some remained, and to these +the priest called in cold tones, bidding them approach. They obeyed, +creeping towards him. + +"Look," he said, pointing to the man, "look and tremble at the justice +of Hes the Mother. Aye, and be sure that as it is with him, so shall it +be with every one of you who dares to defy her and to practise sorcery +and murder. Lift up that dead dog who was your chief." + +Some of them crept forward and did his bidding. + +"Now, cast him into the bed which he had made ready for his victims." + +Staggering forward to the edge of the flaming pit, they obeyed, and the +great body fell with a crash amongst the burning boughs and vanished +there. + +"Listen, you people," said the priest, "and learn that this man deserved +his dreadful doom. Know you why he purposed to kill that woman whom the +strangers saved? Because his familiar marked her as a witch, you think. +I tell you it was not so. It was because she being fair, he would +have taken her from her husband, as he had taken many another, and she +refused him. But the Eye saw, the Voice spoke, and the Messenger did +judgment. He is caught in his own snare, and so shall you be, every one +of you who dares to think evil in his heart or to do it with his hands. + +"Such is the just decree of the Hesea, spoken by her from her throne +amidst the fires of the Mountain." + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +BENEATH THE SHADOWING WINGS + +One by one the terrified tribesmen crept away. When the last of them +were gone the priest advanced to Leo and saluted him by placing his hand +upon his forehead. + +"Lord," he said, in the same corrupt Grecian dialect which was used by +the courtiers of Kaloon, "I will not ask if you are hurt, since from the +moment that you entered the sacred river and set foot within this land +you and your companion were protected by a power invisible and could not +be harmed by man or spirit, however great may have seemed your danger. +Yet vile hands have been laid upon you, and this is the command of the +Mother whom I serve, that, if you desire it, every one of those men who +touched you shall die before your eyes. Say, is that your will?" + +"Nay," answered Leo; "they were mad and blind, let no blood be shed for +_us_. All we ask of you, friend--but, how are you called?" + +"Name me Oros," he answered. + +"Friend Oros--a good title for one who dwells upon the Mountain--all we +ask is food and shelter, and to be led swiftly into the presence of her +whom you name Mother, that Oracle whose wisdom we have travelled far to +seek." + +He bowed and answered: "The food and shelter are prepared and to-morrow, +when you have rested, I am commanded to conduct you whither you desire +to be. Follow me, I pray you"; and he preceded us past the fiery pit to +a building that stood about fifty yards away against the rock wall of +the amphitheatre. + +It would seem that it was a guest-house, or at least had been made ready +to serve that purpose, as in it lamps were lit and a fire burned, for +here the air was cold. The house was divided into two rooms, the second +of them a sleeping place, to which he led us through the first. + +"Enter," he said, "for you will need to cleanse yourselves, and +you"--here he addressed himself to me--"to be treated for that hurt to +your arm which you had from the jaws of the great hound." + +"How know you that?" I asked. + +"It matters not if I do know and have made ready," Oros answered +gravely. + +This second room was lighted and warmed like the first, moreover, heated +water stood in basins of metal and on the beds were laid clean linen +garments and dark-coloured hooded robes, lined with rich fur. Also upon +a little table were ointments, bandages, and splints, a marvellous thing +to see, for it told me that the very nature of my hurt had been divined. +But I asked no more questions; I was too weary; moreover, I knew that it +would be useless. + +Now the priest Oros helped me to remove my tattered robe, and, undoing +the rough bandages upon my arm, washed it gently with warm water, in +which he mixed some spirit, and examined it with the skill of a trained +doctor. + +"The fangs rent deep," he said, "and the small bone is broken, but you +will take no harm, save for the scars which must remain." Then, having +treated the wounds with ointment, he wrapped the limb with such a +delicate touch that it scarcely pained me, saying that by the morrow +the swelling would have gone down and he would set the bone. This indeed +happened. + +After it was done he helped me to wash and to clothe myself in the clean +garments, and put a sling about my neck to serve as a rest for my arm. +Meanwhile Leo had also dressed himself, so that we left the chamber +together very different men to the foul, blood-stained wanderers who had +entered there. In the outer room we found food prepared for us, of which +we ate with a thankful heart and without speaking. Then, blind with +weariness, we returned to the other chamber and, having removed our +outer garments, flung ourselves upon the beds and were soon plunged in +sleep. + +At some time in the night I awoke suddenly, at what hour I do not know, +as certain people wake, I among them, when their room is entered, even +without the slightest noise. Before I opened my eyes I felt that some +one was with us in the place. Nor was I mistaken. A little lamp still +burned in the chamber, a mere wick floating in oil, and by its light +I saw a dim, ghost-like form standing near the door. Indeed I thought +almost that it was a ghost, till presently I remembered, and knew it for +our corpse-like guide, who appeared to be looking intently at the bed on +which Leo lay, or so I thought, for the head was bent in that direction. + +At first she was quite still, then she moaned aloud, a low and terrible +moan, which seemed to well from the very heart. + +So the thing was not dumb, as I had believed. Evidently it could suffer, +and express its suffering in a human fashion. Look! it was wringing its +padded hands as in an excess of woe. Now it would seem that Leo began to +feel its influence also, for he stirred and spoke in his sleep, so low +at first that I could only distinguish the tongue he used, which was +Arabic. Presently I caught a few words. + +"Ayesha," he said, "_Ayesha!_" + +The figure glided towards him and stopped. He sat up in the bed still +fast asleep, for his eyes were shut. He stretched out his arms, as +though seeking one whom he would embrace, and spoke again in a low and +passionate voice--"Ayesha, through life and death I have sought thee +long. Come to me, my goddess, my desired." + +The figure glided yet nearer, and I could see that it was trembling, and +now its arms were extended also. + +At the bedside she halted, and Leo laid himself down again. Now the +coverings had fallen back, exposing his breast, where lay the leather +satchel he always wore, that which contained the lock of Ayesha's hair. +He was fast asleep, and the figure seemed to fix its eyes upon this +satchel. Presently it did more, for, with surprising deftness those +white-wrapped fingers opened its clasp, yes, and drew out the long +tress of shining hair. Long and earnestly she gazed at it, then gently +replaced the relic, closed the satchel and for a little while seemed to +weep. While she stood thus the dreaming Leo once more stretched out his +arms and spoke, saying, in the same passion-laden voice--"Come to me, my +darling, my beautiful, my beautiful!" + +At those words, with a little muffled scream, like that of a scared +night-bird, the figure turned and flitted through the doorway. + +When I was quite certain that she had gone, I gasped aloud. + +What might this mean, I wondered, in a very agony of bewilderment. This +could certainly be no dream: it was real, for I was wide awake. Indeed, +what did it all mean? Who was the ghastly, mummy-like thing which had +guided us unharmed through such terrible dangers; the Messenger that all +men feared, who could strike down a brawny savage with a motion of its +hand? Why did it creep into the place thus at dead of night, like a +spirit revisiting one beloved? Why did its presence cause me to awake +and Leo to dream? Why did it draw out the tress; indeed, how knew it +that this tress was hidden there? And why--oh! why, at those tender and +passionate words did it flit away at last like some scared bat? + +The priest Oros had called our guide Minister, and Sword, that is, one +who carries out decrees. But what if they were its own decrees? What if +this thing should be she whom we sought, _Ayesha herself?_ Why should I +tremble at the thought, seeing that if so, our quest was ended, we had +achieved? Oh! it must be because about this being there was something +terrible, something un-human and appalling. If Ayesha lived within +those mummy-cloths, then it was a different Ayesha whom we had known +and worshipped. Well could I remember the white-draped form of +_She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed_, and how, long before she revealed her glorious +face to us, we guessed the beauty and the majesty hidden beneath that +veil by which her radiant life and loveliness incarnate could not be +disguised. + +But what of this creature? I would not pursue the thought. I was +mistaken. Doubtless she was what the priest Oros had said--some +half-supernatural being to whom certain powers were given, and, +doubtless, she had come to spy on us in our rest that she might make +report to the giver of those powers. + +Comforting myself thus I fell asleep again, for fatigue overcame even +such doubts and fears. In the morning, when they were naturally less +vivid, I made up my mind that, for various reasons, it would be wisest +to say nothing of what I had seen to Leo. Nor, indeed, did I do so until +some days had gone by. + +When I awoke the full light was pouring into the chamber, and by it I +saw the priest Oros standing at my bedside. I sat up and asked him what +time it was, to which he answered with a smile, but in a low voice, that +it lacked but two hours of mid-day, adding that he had come to set my +arm. Now I saw why he spoke low, for Leo was still fast asleep. + +"Let him rest on," he said, as he undid the wrappings on my arm, "for +he has suffered much, and," he continued significantly, "may still have +more to suffer." + +"What do you mean, friend Oros?" I asked sharply. "I thought you told us +that we were safe upon this Mountain." + +"I told you, friend----" and he looked at me. + +"Holly is my name----" + +"--friend Holly, that your bodies are safe. I said nothing of all the +rest of you. Man is more than flesh and blood. He is mind and spirit as +well, and these can be injured also." + +"Who is there that would injure them?" I asked. + +"Friend," he answered, gravely, "you and your companion have come to a +haunted land, not as mere wanderers, for then you would be dead ere now, +but of set purpose, seeking to lift the veil from mysteries which have +been hid for ages. Well, your aim is known and it may chance that it +will be achieved. But if this veil is lifted, it may chance also that +you will find what shall send your souls shivering to despair and +madness. Say, are you not afraid?" + +"Somewhat," I answered. "Yet my foster-son and I have seen strange +things and lived. We have seen the very Light of Life roll by in +majesty; we have been the guests of an Immortal, and watched Death seem +to conquer her and leave us untouched. Think you then that we will turn +cowards now? Nay, we march on to fulfil our destinies." + +At these words Oros showed neither curiosity nor surprise; it was as +though I told him only what he knew. + +"Good," he replied, smiling, and with a courteous bow of his shaven +head, "within an hour you shall march on--to fulfil your destinies. If +I have warned you, forgive me, for I was bidden so to do, perhaps to +try your mettle. Is it needful that I should repeat this warning to the +lord----" and again he looked at me. + +"Leo Vincey," I said. + +"Leo Vincey, yes, Leo Vincey," he repeated, as though the name were +familiar to him but had slipped his mind. "But you have not answered my +question. Is it needful that I should repeat the warning?" + +"Not in the least; but you can do so if you wish when he awakes." + +"Nay, I think with you, that it would be but waste of words, +for--forgive the comparison;--what the wolf dares"--and he looked at +me--"the tiger does not flee from," and he nodded towards Leo. "There, +see how much better are the wounds upon your arm, which is no longer +swollen. Now I will bandage it, and within some few weeks the bone will +be as sound again as it was before you met the Khan Rassen hunting in +the Plains. By the way, you will see him again soon, and his fair wife +with him." + +"See him again? Do the dead, then, come to life upon this Mountain?" + +"Nay, but certain of them are brought hither for burial. It is the +privilege of the rulers of Kaloon; also, I think, that the Khania has +questions to ask of its Oracle." + +"Who is its Oracle?" I asked with eagerness. + +"The Oracle," he replied darkly, "is a Voice. It was ever so, was it +not?" + +"Yes; I have heard that from Atene, but a voice implies a speaker. Is +this speaker she whom you name Mother?" + +"Perhaps, friend Holly." + +"And is this Mother a spirit?" + +"It is a point that has been much debated. They told you so in the +Plains, did they not? Also the Tribes think it on the Mountain. Indeed, +the thing seems reasonable, seeing that all of us who live are flesh and +spirit. But you will form your own judgment and then we can discuss the +matter. There, your arm is finished. Be careful now not to strike it or +to fall, and look, your companion awakes." + +Something over an hour later we started upon our upward journey. I was +again mounted on the Khan's horse, which having been groomed and fed +was somewhat rested, while to Leo a litter had been offered. This he +declined, however, saying that he had now recovered and would not be +carried like a woman. So he walked by the side of my horse, using his +spear as a staff. We passed the fire-pit--now full of dead, white +ashes, among which were mixed those of the witch-finder and his horrible +cat--preceded by our dumb guide, at the sight of whom, in her pale +wrappings, the people of the tribe who had returned to their village +prostrated themselves, and so remained until she was gone by. + +One of them, however, rose again and, breaking through our escort of +priests, ran to Leo, knelt before him and kissed his hand. It was that +young woman whose life he had saved, a noble-looking girl, with masses +of red hair, and by her was her husband, the marks of his bonds still +showing on his arms. Our guide seemed to see this incident, though how +she did so I do not know. At any rate she turned and made some sign +which the priest interpreted. + +Calling the woman to him he asked her sternly how she dared to touch +the person of this stranger with her vile lips. She answered that it was +because her heart was grateful. Oros said that for this reason she was +forgiven; moreover, that in reward for what they had suffered he was +commanded to lift up her husband to be the ruler of that tribe during +the pleasure of the Mother. He gave notice, moreover, that all should +obey the new chief in his place, according to their customs, and if he +did any evil, make report that he might suffer punishment. Then waving +the pair aside, without listening to their thanks or the acclamations of +the crowd, he passed on. + +As we went down the ravine by which we had approached the village on the +previous night, a sound of chanting struck our ears. Presently the path +turned, and we saw a solemn procession advancing up that dismal, sunless +gorge. At the head of it rode none other than the beautiful Khania, +followed by her great-uncle, the old Shaman, and after these came a +company of shaven priests in their white robes, bearing between them a +bier, upon which, its face uncovered, lay the body of the Khan, draped +in a black garment. Yet he looked better thus than he had ever done, for +now death had touched this insane and dissolute man with something of +the dignity which he lacked in life. + +Thus then we met. At the sight of our guide's white form, the horse +which the Khania rode reared up so violently that I thought it would +have thrown her. But she mastered the animal with her whip and voice, +and called out--"Who is this draped hag of the Mountain that stops the +path of the Khania Atene and her dead lord? My guests, I find you in ill +company, for it seems that you are conducted by an evil spirit to meet +an evil fate. That guide of yours must surely be something hateful and +hideous, for were she a wholesome woman she would not fear to show her +face." + +Now the Shaman plucked his mistress by the sleeve, and the priest +Oros, bowing to her, prayed her to be silent and cease to speak such +ill-omened words into the air, which might carry them she knew not +whither. But some instinctive hate seemed to bubble up in Atene, and +she would not be silent, for she addressed our guide using the direct +"thou," a manner of speech that we found was very usual on the Mountain +though rare upon the Plains. + +"Let the air carry them whither it will," she cried. "Sorceress, strip +off thy rags, fit only for a corpse too vile to view. Show us what thou +art, thou flitting night-owl, who thinkest to frighten me with that +livery of death, which only serves to hide the death within." + +"Cease, I pray lady, cease," said Oros, stirred for once out of his +imperturbable calm. "She is the Minister, none other, and with her goes +the Power." + +"Then it goes not against Atene, Khania of Kaloon," she answered, "or so +I think. Power, forsooth! Let her show her power. If she has any it is +not her own, but that of the Witch of the Mountain, who feigns to be a +spirit, and by her sorceries has drawn away my guests"--and she pointed +to us--"thus bringing my husband to his death." + +"Niece, be silent!" said the old Shaman, whose wrinkled face was white +with terror, whilst Oros held up his hands as though in supplication +to some unseen Strength, saying--"O thou that hearest and seest, be +merciful, I beseech thee, and forgive this woman her madness, lest the +blood of a guest should stain the hands of thy servants, and the ancient +honour of our worship be brought low in the eyes of men." + +Thus he prayed, but although his hands were uplifted, it seemed to me +that his eyes were fixed upon our guide, as ours were. While he spoke, +I saw her hand raised, as she had raised it when she slew or rather +sentenced the witchdoctor. Then she seemed to reflect, and stayed it in +mid air, so that it pointed at the Khania. She did not move, she made +no sound, only she pointed, and, the angry words died upon Atene's lips, +the fury left her eyes, and the colour her face. Yes, she grew white +and silent as the corpse upon the bier behind her. Then, cowed by that +invisible power, she struck her horse so fiercely that it bounded by us +onward towards the village, at which the funeral company were to rest +awhile. + +As the Shaman Simbri followed the Khania, the priest Oros caught his +horse's bridle and said to him--"Magician, we have met before, for +instance, when your lady's father was brought to his funeral. Warn her, +then, you that know something of the truth and of her power to speak +more gently of the ruler of this land. Say to her, from me, that had she +not been the ambassadress of death, and, therefore, inviolate, surely +ere now she would have shared her husband's bier. Farewell, tomorrow we +will speak again," and, loosing the Shaman's bridle, Oros passed on. + +Soon we had left the melancholy procession behind us and, issuing from +the gorge, turned up the Mountain slope towards the edge of the bright +snows that lay not far above. It was as we came out of this darksome +valley, where the overhanging pine trees almost eclipsed the light, that +suddenly we missed our guide. + +"Has she gone back to--to reason with the Khania?" I asked of Oros. + +"Nay!" he answered, with a slight smile, "I think that she has gone +forward to give warning that the Hesea's guests draw near." + +"Indeed," I answered, staring hard at the bare slope of mountain, +up which not a mouse could have passed without being seen. "I +understand--she has gone forward," and the matter dropped. But what +I did _not_ understand was--how she had gone. As the Mountain was +honeycombed with caves and galleries, I suppose, however, that she +entered one of them. + +All the rest of that day we marched upwards, gradually drawing nearer to +the snow-line, as we went gathering what information we could from the +priest Oros. This was the sum of it--From the beginning of the world, +as he expressed it, that is, from thousands and thousands of years ago, +this Mountain had been the home of a peculiar fire-worship, of which the +head heirophant was a woman. About twenty centuries before, however, the +invading general named Rassen, had made himself Khan of Kaloon. Rassen +established a new priestess on the Mountain, a worshipper of the +Egyptian goddess, Hes, or Isis. This priestess had introduced certain +modifications in the ancient doctrines, superseding the cult of fire, +pure and simple, by a new faith, which, while holding to some of the old +ceremonies, revered as its head the Spirit of Life or Nature, of whom +they looked upon their priestess as the earthly representative. + +Of this priestess Oros would only tell us that she was "ever present," +although we gathered that when one priestess died or was "taken to +the fire," as he put it, her child, whether in fact or by adoption, +succeeded her and was known by the same names, those of "Hes" or the +"Hesea" and "Mother." We asked if we should see this Mother, to which he +answered that she manifested herself very rarely. As to her appearance +and attributes he would say nothing, except that the former changed from +time to time and that when she chose to use it she had "all power." + +The priests of her College, he informed us, numbered three hundred, +never more nor less, and there were also three hundred priestesses. +Certain of those who desired it were allowed to marry, and from +among their children were reared up the new generation of priests +and priestesses. Thus they were a people apart from all others, with +distinct racial characteristics. This, indeed, was evident, for our +escort were all exceedingly like to each other, very handsome and +refined in appearance, with dark eyes, clean-cut features and olive-hued +skins; such a people as might well have descended from Easterns of high +blood, with a dash of that of the Egyptians and Greeks thrown in. + +We asked him whether the mighty looped pillar that towered from the +topmost cup of the Mountain was the work of men. He answered, No; the +hand of Nature had fashioned it, and that the light shining through it +came from the fires which burned in the crater of the volcano. The first +priestess, having recognized in this gigantic column the familiar Symbol +of Life of the Egyptian worship, established her altars beneath its +shadow. + +For the rest, the Mountain with its mighty slopes and borderlands was +peopled by a multitude of half-savage folk, who accepted the rule of the +Hesea, bringing her tribute of all things necessary, such as food and +metals. Much of the meat and grain however the priests raised themselves +on sheltered farms, and the metals they worked with their own hands. +This rule, however, was of a moral nature, since for centuries the +College had sought no conquests and the Mother contented herself with +punishing crime in some such fashion as we had seen. For the petty +wars between the Tribes and the people of the Plain they were not +responsible, and those chiefs who carried them on were deposed, unless +they had themselves been attacked. All the Tribes, however, were sworn +to the defence of the Hesea and the College, and, however much they +might quarrel amongst themselves, if need arose, were ready to die for +her to the last man. That war must one day break out again between +the priests of the Mountain and the people of Kaloon was recognized; +therefore they endeavoured to be prepared for that great and final +struggle. + +Such was the gist of his history, which, as we learned afterwards, +proved to be true in every particular. + +Towards sundown we came to a vast cup extending over many thousand +acres, situated beneath the snow-line of the peak and filled with rich +soil washed down, I suppose, from above. So sheltered was the place by +its configuration and the over-hanging mountain that, facing south-west +as it did, notwithstanding its altitude it produced corn and other +temperate crops in abundance. Here the College had its farms, and very +well cultivated these seemed to be. This great cup, which could not +be seen from below, we entered through a kind of natural gateway, that +might be easily defended against a host. + +There were other peculiarities, but it is not necessary to describe them +further than to say that I think the soil benefited by the natural heat +of the volcano, and that when this erupted, as happened occasionally, +the lava streams always passed to the north and south of the cup of +land. Indeed, it was these lava streams that had built up the protecting +cliffs. + +Crossing the garden-like lands, we came to a small town beautifully +built of lava rock. Here dwelt the priests, except those who were on +duty, no man of the Tribes or other stranger being allowed to set foot +within the place. + +Following the main street of this town, we arrived at the face of the +precipice beyond, and found ourselves in front of a vast archway, closed +with massive iron gates fantastically wrought. Here, taking my horse +with them, our escort left us alone with Oros. As we drew near the great +gates swung back upon their hinges. We passed them--with what sensations +I cannot describe--and groped our way down a short corridor which ended +in tall, iron-covered doors. These also rolled open at our approach, and +next instant we staggered back amazed and half-blinded by the intense +blaze of light within. + +Imagine, you who read, the nave of the vastest cathedral with which you +are acquainted. Then double or treble its size, and you will have some +conception of that temple in which we found ourselves. Perhaps in the +beginning it had been a cave, who can say? but now its sheer walls, its +multitudinous columns springing to the arched roof far above us, had all +been worked on and fashioned by the labour of men long dead; doubtless +the old fire-worshippers of thousands of years ago. + +You will wonder how so great a place was lighted, but I think that never +would you guess. Thus--by twisted columns of living flame! I counted +eighteen of them, but there may have been others. They sprang from the +floor at regular intervals along the lines of what in a cathedral would +be the aisles. Right to the roof they sprang, of even height and girth, +so fierce was the force of the natural gas that drove them, and there +were lost, I suppose, through chimneys bored in the thickness of the +rock. Nor did they give off smell or smoke, or in that great, cold +place, any heat which could be noticed, only an intense white light like +that of molten iron, and a sharp hissing noise as of a million angry +snakes. + +The huge temple was utterly deserted, and, save for this sybilant, +pervading sound, utterly silent; an awesome, an overpowering place. + +"Do these candles of yours ever go out?" asked Leo of Oros, placing his +hand before his dazzled eyes. + +"How can they," replied the priest, in his smooth, matter-of-fact voice, +"seeing that they rise from the eternal fire which the builders of this +hall worshipped? Thus they have burned from the beginning, and thus +they will burn for ever, though, if we wish it, we can shut off their +light.[*] Be pleased to follow me: you will see greater things." + + [*] This, as I ascertained afterwards, was done by thrusting + a broad stone of great thickness over the apertures through + which the gas or fire rushed and thus cutting off the air. + These stones were worked to and fro by means of pulleys + connected with iron rods.--L. H. H. + +So in awed silence we followed, and, oh! how small and miserable we +three human beings looked alone in that vast temple illuminated by this +lightning radiance. We reached the end of it at length, only to find +that to right and left ran transepts on a like gigantic scale and lit in +the same amazing fashion. Here Oros bade us halt, and we waited a little +while, till presently, from either transept arose a sound of chanting, +and we perceived two white-robed processions advancing towards us from +their depths. + +On they came, very slowly, and we saw that the procession to the right +was a company of priests, and that to the left a company of priestesses, +a hundred or so of them in all. + +Now the men ranged themselves in front of us, while the women ranged +themselves behind, and at a signal from Oros, all of them still chanting +some wild and thrilling hymn, once more we started forward, this time +along a narrow gallery closed at the end with double wooden doors. As +our procession reached these they opened, and before us lay the crowning +wonder of this marvellous fane, a vast, ellipse-shaped apse. Now we +understood. The plan of the temple was the plan of the looped pillar +which stood upon the brow of the Peak, and as we rightly guessed, its +dimensions were the same. + +At intervals around this ellipse the fiery columns flared, but otherwise +the place was empty. + +No, not quite, for at the head of the apse, almost between two of the +flame columns, stood a plain, square altar of the size of a small room, +in front of which, as we saw when we drew nearer, were hung curtains of +woven silver thread. On this altar was placed a large statue of silver, +that, backed as it was by the black rock, seemed to concentrate and +reflect from its burnished surface the intense light of the two blazing +pillars. + +It was a lovely thing, but to describe it is hard indeed. The figure, +which was winged, represented a draped woman of mature years, and pure +but gracious form, half hidden by the forward-bending wings. Sheltered +by these, yet shown between them, appeared the image of a male child, +clasped to its bearer's breast with her left arm, while the right was +raised toward the sky. A study of Motherhood, evidently, but how shall I +write of all that was conveyed by those graven faces? + +To begin with the child. It was that of a sturdy boy, full of health and +the joy of life. Yet he had been sleeping, and in his sleep some terror +had over-shadowed him with the dark shades of death and evil. There was +fear in the lines of his sweet mouth and on the lips and cheeks, that +seemed to quiver. He had thrown his little arm about his mother's neck, +and, pressing close against her breast, looked up to her for safety, his +right hand and outstretched finger pointing downwards and behind him, as +though to indicate whence the danger came. Yet it was passing, already +half-forgotten, for the upturned eyes expressed confidence renewed, +peace of soul attained. + +And the mother. She did not seem to mock or chide his fears, for +her lovely face was anxious and alert. Yet upon it breathed a very +atmosphere of unchanging tenderness and power invincible; care for the +helpless, strength to shelter it from every harm. The great, calm eyes +told their story, the parted lips were whispering some tale of hope, +sure and immortal; the raised hand revealed whence that hope arose. All +love seemed to be concentrated in the brooding figure, so human, yet so +celestial; all heaven seemed to lie an open path before those quivering +wings. And see, the arching instep, the upward-springing foot, suggested +that thither those wings were bound, bearing their God-given burden far +from the horror of the earth, deep into the bosom of a changeless rest +above. + +The statue was only that of an affrighted child in its mother's +arms; its interpretation made clear even to the dullest by the simple +symbolism of some genius--Humanity saved by the Divine. + +While we gazed at its enchanting beauty, the priests and priestesses, +filing away to right and left, arranged themselves alternately, first a +man and then a woman, within the ring of the columns of fire that burned +around the loop-shaped shrine. So great was its circumference that the +whole hundred of them must stand wide apart one from another, and, to +our sight, resembled little lonely children clad in gleaming garments, +while their chant of worship reached us only like echoes thrown from +a far precipice. In short, the effect of this holy shrine and its +occupants was superb yet overwhelming, at least I know that it filled me +with a feeling akin to fear. + +Oros waited till the last priest had reached his appointed place. Then +he turned and said, in his gentle, reverent tones--"Draw nigh, now, O +Wanderers well-beloved, and give greeting to the Mother," and he pointed +towards the statue. + +"Where is she?" asked Leo, in a whisper, for here we scarcely dared to +speak aloud. "I see no one." + +"The Hesea dwells yonder," he answered, and, taking each of us by the +hand, he led us forward across the great emptiness of the apse to the +altar at its head. + +As we drew near the distant chant of the priests gathered in volume, +assuming a glad, triumphant note, and it seemed to me--though this, +perhaps was fancy--that the light from the twisted columns of flame grew +even brighter. + +At length we were there, and, Oros, loosing our hands, prostrated +himself thrice before the altar. Then he rose again, and, falling behind +us, stood in silence with bent head and folded fingers. We stood silent +also, our hearts filled with mingled hope and fear like a cup with wine. + +Were our labours ended? Had we found her whom we sought, or were we, +perchance, but enmeshed in the web of some marvellous mummery and +about to make acquaintance with the secret of another new and mystical +worship? For years and years we had searched, enduring every hardness of +flesh and spirit that man can suffer, and now we were to learn whether +we had endured in vain. Yes, and Leo would learn if the promise was +to be fulfilled to him, or whether she whom he adored had become but a +departed dream to be sought for only beyond the gate of Death. Little +wonder that he trembled and turned white in the agony of that great +suspense. + +Long, long was the time. Hours, years, ages, aeons, seemed to flow over +us as we stood there before glittering silver curtains that hid the +front of the black altar beneath the mystery of the sphinx-like face +of the glorious image which was its guardian, clothed with that frozen +smile of eternal love and pity. All the past went before us as we +struggled in those dark waters of our doubt. Item by item, event by +event, we rehearsed the story which began in the Caves of Kor, for our +thoughts, so long attuned, were open to each other and flashed from soul +to soul. + +Oh! now we knew, they were open also to _another_ soul. We could see +nothing save the Altar and the Effigy, we could only hear the slow chant +of the priests and priestesses and the snake-like hiss of the rushing +fires. Yet we knew that our hearts were as an open book to One who +watched beneath the Mother's shadowing wings. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE COURT OF DEATH + +Now the curtains were open. Before us appeared a chamber hollowed from +the thickness of the altar, and in its centre a throne, and on the +throne a figure clad in waves of billowy white flowing from the head +over the arms of the throne down to its marble steps. We could see no +more in the comparative darkness of that place, save that beneath the +folds of the drapery the Oracle held in its hand a loop-shaped, jewelled +sceptre. + +Moved by some impulse, we did as Oros had done, prostrating ourselves, +and there remained upon our knees. At length we heard a tinkling as of +little bells, and, looking up, saw that the sistrum-shaped sceptre was +stretched towards us by the draped arm which held it. Then a thin, clear +voice spoke, and I thought that it trembled a little. It spoke in Greek, +but in a much purer Greek than all these people used. + +"I greet you, Wanderers, who have journeyed so far to visit this most +ancient shrine, and although doubtless of some other faith, are not +ashamed to do reverence to that unworthy one who is for this time its +Oracle and the guardian of its mysteries. Rise now and have no fear of +me; for have I not sent my Messenger and servants to conduct you to this +Sanctuary?" + +Slowly we rose, and stood silent, not knowing what to say. + +"I greet you, Wanderers," the voice repeated. "Tell me thou"--and the +sceptre pointed towards Leo--"how art thou named?" + +"I am named Leo Vincey," he answered. + +"Leo Vincey! I like the name, which to me well befits a man so goodly. +And thou, the companion of--Leo Vincey?" + +"I am named Horace Holly." + +"So. Then tell me, Leo Vincey and Horace Holly, what came ye so far to +seek?" + +We looked at each other, and I said--"The tale is long and strange. +O--but by what title must we address thee?" + +"By the name which I bear here, Hes." + +"O Hes," I said, wondering what name she bore elsewhere. + +"Yet I desire to hear that tale," she went on, and to me her voice +sounded eager. "Nay, not all to-night, for I know that you both are +weary; a little of it only. In sooth, Strangers, there is a sameness in +this home of contemplations, and no heart can feed only on the past, if +such a thing there be. Therefore I welcome a new history from the world +without. Tell it me, thou, Leo, as briefly as thou wilt, so that thou +tell the truth, for in the Presence of which I am a Minister, may +nothing else be uttered." + +"Priestess," he said, in his curt fashion, "I obey. Many years ago when +I was young, my friend and foster-father and I, led by records of the +past, travelled to a wild land, and there found a certain divine woman +who had conquered time." + +"Then that woman must have been both aged and hideous." + +"I said, Priestess, that she had conquered time, not suffered it, for +the gift of immortal youth was hers. Also she was not hideous; she was +beauty itself." + +"Therefore stranger, thou didst worship her for her beauty's sake, as a +man does." + +"I did not worship her; I loved her, which is another thing. The priest +Oros here worships thee, whom he calls Mother. I loved that immortal +woman." + +"Then thou shouldst love her still. Yet, not so, since love is very +mortal." + +"I love her still," he answered, "although she died." + +"Why, how is that? Thou saidst she was immortal." + +"Perchance she only seemed to die; perchance she changed. At least I +lost her, and what I lost I seek, and have sought this many a year." + +"Why dost thou seek her in my Mountain, Leo Vincey?" + +"Because a vision led me to ask counsel of its Oracle. I am come hither +to learn tidings of my lost love, since here alone these may be found." + +"And thou, Holly, didst thou also love an immortal woman whose +immortality, it seems, must bow to death?" + +"Priestess," I answered, "I am sworn to this quest, and where my +foster-son goes I follow. He follows beauty that is dead----" + +"And thou dost follow him. Therefore both of you follow beauty as men +have ever done, being blind and mad." + +"Nay," I answered, "if they were blind, beauty would be naught to them +who could not see it, and if they were mad, they would not know it when +it was seen. Knowledge and vision belong to the wise, O Hes." + +"Thou art quick of wit and tongue, Holly, as----" and she checked +herself, then of a sudden, said, "Tell me, did my servant the Khania of +Kaloon entertain both of you hospitably in her city, and speed you on +your journey hither, as I commanded her?" + +"We knew not that she was thy servant," I replied. "Hospitality we +had and to spare, but we were sped from her Court hitherward by the +death-hounds of the Khan, her husband. Tell us, Priestess, what thou +knowest of this journey of ours." + +"A little," she answered carelessly. "More than three moons ago my +spies saw you upon the far mountains, and, creeping very close to you at +night, heard you speak together of the object of your wanderings, then, +returning thence swiftly, made report to me. Thereon I bade the Khania +Atene, and that old magician her great-uncle, who is Guardian of the +Gate, go down to the ancient gates of Kaloon to receive you and bring +you hither with all speed. Yet for men who burned to learn the answer to +a riddle, you have been long in coming." + +"We came as fast as we might, O Hes," said Leo; "and if thy spies could +visit those mountains, where no man was, and find a path down that +hideous precipice, they must have been able also to tell thee the reason +of our delay. Therefore I pray, ask it not of us." + +"Nay, I will ask it of Atene herself, and she shall surely answer me, +for she stands without," replied the Hesea in a cold voice. "Oros, lead +the Khania hither and be swift." + +The priest turned and walking quickly to the wooden doors by which we +had entered the shrine, vanished there. + +"Now," said Leo to me nervously in the silence that followed, and +speaking in English, "now I wish we were somewhere else, for I think +that there will be trouble." + +"I don't think, I am sure," I answered; "but the more the better, +for out of trouble may come the truth, which we need sorely." Then I +stopped, reflecting that the strange woman before us said that her spies +had overheard our talk upon the mountains, where we had spoken nothing +but English. + +As it proved, I was wise, for quite quietly the Hesea repeated after +me--"Thou hast experience, Holly, for out of trouble comes the truth, as +out of wine." + +Then she was silent, and, needless to say, I did not pursue the +conversation. + +The doors swung open, and through them came a procession clad in black, +followed by the Shaman Simbri, who walked in front of a bier, upon which +lay the body of the Khan, carried by eight priests. Behind it was Atene, +draped in a black veil from head to foot, and after her marched another +company of priests. In front of the altar the bier was set down and the +priests fell back, leaving Atene and her uncle standing alone before the +corpse. + +"What seeks my vassal, the Khania of Kaloon?" asked the Hesea in a cold +voice. + +Now Atene advanced and bent the knee, but with little graciousness. + +"Ancient Mother, Mother from of old, I do reverence to thy holy Office, +as my forefathers have done for many a generation," and again she +curtseyed. "Mother, this dead man asks of thee that right of sepulchre +in the fires of the holy Mountain which from the beginning has been +accorded to the royal departed who went before him." + +"It has been accorded as thou sayest," answered the Hesea, "by those +priestesses who filled my place before me, nor shall it be refused to +thy dead lord--or to thee Atene--when thy time comes." + +"I thank thee, O Hes, and I pray that this decree may be written down, +for the snows of age have gathered on thy venerable head and soon thou +must leave us for awhile. Therefore bid thy scribes that it be written +down, so that the Hesea who rules after thee may fulfil it in its +season." + +"Cease," said the Hesea, "cease to pour out thy bitterness at that which +should command thy reverence, oh! thou foolish child, who dost not know +but that to-morrow the fire shall claim the frail youth and beauty which +are thy boast. I bid thee cease, and tell me how did death find this +lord of thine?" + +"Ask those wanderers yonder, that were his guests, for his blood is on +their heads and cries for vengeance at thy hands." + +"I killed him," said Leo, "to save my own life. He tried to hunt us down +with his dogs, and there are the marks of them," and he pointed to my +arm. "The priest Oros knows, for he dressed the hurts." + +"How did this chance?" asked the Hesea of Atene. + +"My lord was mad," she answered boldly, "and such was his cruel sport." + +"So. And was thy lord jealous also? Nay, keep back the falsehood I see +rising to thy lips. Leo Vincey, answer thou me. Yet, I will not ask thee +to lay bare the secrets of a woman who has offered thee her love. Thou, +Holly, speak, and let it be the truth." + +"It is this, O Hes," I answered. "Yonder lady and her uncle the Shaman +Simbri saved us from death in the waters of the river that bounds +the precipices of Kaloon. Afterwards we were ill, and they treated us +kindly, but the Khania became enamoured of my foster-son." + +Here the figure of the Priestess stirred beneath its gauzy wrappings, +and the Voice asked--"And did thy foster-son become enamoured of the +Khania, as being a man he may well have done, for without doubt she is +fair?" + +"He can answer that question for himself, O Hes. All I know is that he +strove to escape from her, and that in the end she gave him a day to +choose between death and marriage with her, when her lord should be +dead. So, helped by the Khan, her husband, who was jealous of him, we +fled towards this Mountain, which we desired to reach. Then the Khan set +his hounds upon us, for he was mad and false-hearted. We killed him and +came on in spite of this lady, his wife, and her uncle, who would have +prevented us, and were met in a Place of Bones by a certain veiled +guide, who led us up the Mountain and twice saved us from death. That is +all the story." + +"Woman, what hast thou to say?" asked the Hesea in a menacing voice. + +"But little," Atene answered, without flinching. "For years I have been +bound to a madman and a brute, and if my fancy wandered towards this man +and his fancy wandered towards me--well, Nature spoke to us, and that is +all. Afterwards it seems that he grew afraid of the vengeance of Rassen, +or this Holly, whom I would that the hounds had torn bone from bone, +grew afraid. So they strove to escape the land, and perchance wandered +to thy Mountain. But I weary of this talk, and ask thy leave to rest +before to-morrow's rite." + +"Thou sayest, Atene," said the Hesea, "that Nature spoke to this man +and to thee, and that his heart is thine; but that, fearing thy lord's +vengeance, he fled from thee, he who seems no coward. Tell me, then, +is that tress he hides in the satchel on his breast thy gage of love to +him?" + +"I know nothing of what he hides in the satchel," answered the Khania +sullenly. + +"And yet, yonder in the Gatehouse when he lay so sick he set the lock +against thine own--ah, dost remember now?" + +"So, O Hes, already he has told thee all our secrets, though they +be such as most men hide within their breasts;" and she looked +contemptuously at Leo. + +"I told her nothing of the matter, Khania," Leo said in an angry voice. + +"Nay, _thou_ toldest me nothing, Wanderer; my watching wisdom told me. +Oh, didst thou think, Atene, that thou couldst hide the truth from the +all-seeing Hesea of the Mountain? If so, spare thy breath, for I know +all, and have known it from the first. I passed thy disobedience by; of +thy false messages I took no heed. For my own purposes I, to whom time +is naught, suffered even that thou shouldst hold these, my guests, thy +prisoners whilst thou didst strive by threats and force to win a love +denied." + +She paused, then went on coldly: "Woman, I tell thee that, to complete +thy sin, thou hast even dared to lie to me here, in my very Sanctuary." + +"If so, what of it?" was the bold answer. "Dost thou love the man +thyself? Nay, it is monstrous. Nature would cry aloud at such a shame. +Oh! tremble not with rage. Hes, I know thy evil powers, but I know also +that I am thy guest, and that in this hallowed place, beneath yonder +symbol of eternal Love, thou may'st shed no blood. More, thou canst not +harm me, Hes, who am thy equal." + +"Atene," replied the measured Voice, "did I desire it, I could destroy +thee where thou art. Yet thou art right, I shall not harm thee, thou +faithless servant. Did not my writ bid thee through yonder searcher +of the stars, thy uncle, to meet these guests of mine and bring them +straight to my shrine? Tell me, for I seek to know, how comes it that +thou didst disobey me?" + +"Have then thy desire," answered Atene in a new and earnest voice, +devoid now of bitterness and falsehood. "I disobeyed because that man is +not thine, but mine, and no other woman's; because I love him and have +loved him from of old. Aye, since first our souls sprang into life I +have loved him, as he has loved me. My own heart tells me so; the magic +of my uncle here tells me so, though how and where and when these things +have been I know not. Therefore I come to thee, Mother of Mysteries, +Guardian of the secrets of the past, to learn the truth. At least _thou_ +canst not lie at thine own altar, and I charge thee, by the dread name +of that Power to which thou also must render thy account, that thou +answer now and here. + +"Who is this man to whom my being yearns? What has he been to me? What +has he to do with thee? Speak, O Oracle and make the secret clear. +Speak, I command, even though afterwards thou dost slay me--if thou +canst." + +"Aye, speak! speak!" said Leo, "for know I am in sore suspense. I also +am bewildered by memories and rent with hopes and fears." + +And I too echoed, "Speak!" + +"Leo Vincey," asked the Hesea, after she had thought awhile, "whom dost +thou believe me to be?" + +"I believe," he answered solemnly, "that thou art that Ayesha at whose +hands I died of old in the Caves of Kor in Africa. I believe thou art +that Ayesha whom not twenty years ago I found and loved in those same +Caves of Kor, and there saw perish miserably, swearing that thou wouldst +return again." + +"See now, how madness can mislead a man," broke in Atene triumphantly. +"'Not twenty years ago,' he said, whereas I know well that more than +eighty summers have gone by since my grandsire in his youth saw this +same priestess sitting on the Mother's throne." + +"And whom dost thou believe me to be, O Holly?" the Priestess asked, +taking no note of the Khania's words. + +"What he believes I believe," I answered. "The dead come back to +life--sometimes. Yet alone thou knowest the truth, and by thee only it +can be revealed." + +"Aye," she said, as though musing, "the dead come back to +life--sometimes--and in strange shape, and, mayhap, I know the truth. +To-morrow when yonder body is borne on high for burial we will speak +of it again. Till then rest you all, and prepare to face that fearful +thing--the Truth." + +While the Hesea still spoke the silvery curtains swung to their place +as mysteriously as they had opened. Then, as though at some signal, the +black-robed priests advanced. Surrounding Atene, they led her from the +Sanctuary, accompanied by her uncle the Shaman, who, as it seemed to me, +either through fatigue or fear, could scarcely stand upon his feet, but +stood blinking his dim eyes as though the light dazed him. When these +were gone, the priests and priestesses, who all this time had been +ranged round the walls, far out of hearing of our talk, gathered +themselves into their separate companies, and still chanting, departed +also, leaving us alone with Oros and the corpse of the Khan, which +remained where it had been set down. + +Now the head-priest Oros beckoned to us to follow him, and we went +also. Nor was I sorry to leave the place, for its death-like +loneliness--enhanced, strangely enough, as it was, by the flood of light +that filled it; a loneliness which was concentrated and expressed in the +awful figure stretched upon the bier, oppressed and overcame us, whose +nerves were broken by all that we had undergone. Thankful enough was I +when, having passed the transepts and down the length of the vast nave, +we came to the iron doors, the rock passage, and the outer gates, which, +as before, opened to let us through, and so at last into the sweet, cold +air of the night at that hour which precedes the dawn. + +Oros led us to a house well-built and furnished, where at his bidding, +like men in a dream, we drank of some liquor which he gave us. I think +that drink was drugged, at least after swallowing it I remembered no +more till I awoke to find myself lying on a bed and feeling wonderfully +strong and well. This I thought strange, for a lamp burning in the room +showed me that it was still dark, and therefore that I could have rested +but a little time. + +I tried to sleep again, but was not able, so fell to thinking till I +grew weary of the task. For here thoughts would not help me; nothing +could help, except the truth, "that fearful thing," as the veiled +Priestess had called it. + +Oh! what if she should prove not the Ayesha whom we desired, but some +"fearful thing"? What were the meaning of the Khania's hints and of +her boldness, that surely had been inspired by the strength of a hidden +knowledge? What if--nay, it could not be--I would rise and dress my arm. +Or I would wake Leo and make him dress it--anything to occupy my mind +until the appointed hour, when we must learn--the best--or the worst. + +I sat up in the bed and saw a figure advancing towards me. It was Oros, +who bore a lamp in his hand. + +"You have slept long, friend Holly," he said, "and now it is time to be +up and doing." + +"Long?" I answered testily. "How can that be, when it is still dark?" + +"Because, friend, the dark is that of a new night. Many hours have gone +by since you lay down upon this bed. Well, you were wise to rest you +while you may, for who knows when you will sleep again! Come, let me +bathe your arm." + +"Tell me," I broke in----"Nay, friend," he interrupted firmly, "I will +tell you nothing, except that soon you must start to be present at +the funeral of the Khan, and, perchance, to learn the answer to your +questions." + +Ten minutes later he led me to the eating-chamber of the house, where I +found Leo already dressed, for Oros had awakened him before he came to +me and bidden him to prepare himself. Oros told us here that the Hesea +had not suffered us to be disturbed until the night came again since we +had much to undergo that day. So presently we started. + +Once more we were led through the flame-lit hall till we came to the +loop-shaped apse. The place was empty now, even the corpse of the Khan +had gone, and no draped Oracle sat in the altar shrine, for its silver +curtains were drawn, and we saw that it was untenanted. + +"The Mother has departed to do honour to the dead, according to the +ancient custom," Oros explained to us. + +Then we passed the altar, and behind the statue found a door in the +rock wall of the apse, and beyond the door a passage, and a hall as of a +house, for out of it opened other doors leading to chambers. These, our +guide told us, were the dwelling-places of the Hesea and her maidens. +He added that they ran to the side of the Mountain and had windows that +opened on to gardens and let in the light and air. In this hall six +priests were waiting, each of whom carried a bundle of torches beneath +his arm and held in his hand a lighted lamp. + +"Our road runs through the dark," said Oros, "though were it day we +might climb the outer snows, but this at night it is dangerous to do." + +Then taking torches, he lit them at a lamp and gave one to each of us. + +Now our climb began. Up endless sloping galleries we went, hewn with +inconceivable labour by the primeval fire-worshippers from the living +rock of the Mountain. It seemed to me that they stretched for miles, and +indeed this was so, since, although the slope was always gentle, it took +us more than an hour to climb them. At length we came to the foot of a +great stair. + +"Rest awhile here, my lord," Oros said, bowing to Leo with the reverence +that he had shown him from the first, "for this stair is steep and long. +Now we stand upon the Mountain's topmost lip, and are about to climb +that tall looped column which soars above." + +So we sat down in the vault-like place and let the sharp draught of air +rushing to and from the passages play upon us, for we were heated with +journeying up those close galleries. As we sat thus I heard a roaring +sound and asked Oros what it might be. He answered that we were very +near to the crater of the volcano, and that what we heard through the +thickness of the rock was the rushing of its everlasting fires. Then the +ascent commenced. + +It was not dangerous though very wearisome, for there were nearly six +hundred of those steps. The climb of the passages had reminded me of +that of the gallery of the Great Pyramid drawn out for whole furlongs; +that of the pillar was like the ascent of a cathedral spire, or rather +of several spires piled one upon another. + +Resting from time to time, we dragged ourselves up the steep steps, each +of them quite a foot in height, till the pillar was climbed and only the +loop remained. Up it we went also, Oros leading us, and glad was I that +the stairway still ran within the substance of the rock, for I could +feel the needle's mighty eye quiver in the rush of the winds which swept +about its sides. + +At length we saw light before us, and in another twenty steps emerged +upon a platform. As Leo, who went in front of me, walked from the +stairway I saw Oros and another priest seize him by the arms, and called +to him to ask what they were doing. + +"Nothing," he cried back, "except that this is a dizzy place and they +feared lest I should fall. Mind how you come, Horace," and he stretched +out his hand to me. + +Now I was clear of the tunnel, and I believe that had it not been for +that hand I should have sunk to the rocky floor, for the sight before me +seemed to paralyse my brain. Nor was this to be wondered at, for I doubt +whether the world can show such another. + +We stood upon the very apex of the loop, a flat space of rock about +eighty yards in length by some thirty in breadth, with the star-strewn +sky above us. To the south, twenty thousand feet or more below, +stretched the dim Plain of Kaloon, and to the east and west the +snow-clad shoulders of the peak and the broad brown slopes beneath. +To the north was a different sight, and one more awesome. There, right +under us as it seemed, for the pillar bent inwards, lay the vast crater +of the volcano, and in the centre of it a wide lake of fire that broke +into bubbles and flowers of sudden flame or spouted, writhed and twisted +like an angry sea. + +From the surface of this lake rose smoke and gases that took fire as +they floated upwards, and, mingling together, formed a gigantic sheet of +living light. Right opposite to us burned this sheet and, the flare of +it passing through the needle-eye of the pillar under us, sped away in +one dazzling beam across the country of Kaloon, across the mountains +beyond, till it was lost on the horizon. + +The wind blew from south to north, being sucked in towards the hot +crater of the volcano, and its fierce breath, that screamed through the +eye of the pillar and against its rugged surface, bent the long crest +of the sheet of flame, as an ocean roller is bent over by the gale, and +tore from it fragments of fire, that floated away to leeward like the +blown-out sails of a burning ship. + +Had it not been for this strong and steady wind indeed, no creature +could have lived upon the pillar, for the vapours would have poisoned +him; but its unceasing blast drove these all away towards the north. For +the same reason, in the thin air of that icy place the heat was not too +great to be endured. + +Appalled by that terrific spectacle, which seemed more appropriate to +the terrors of the Pit than to this earth of ours, and fearful lest the +blast should whirl me like a dead leaf into the glowing gulf beneath, I +fell on to my sound hand and my knees, shouting to Leo to do likewise, +and looked about me. Now I observed lines of priests wrapped in great +capes, kneeling upon the face of the rock and engaged apparently in +prayer, but of Hes the Mother, or of Atene, or of the corpse of the dead +Khan I could see nothing. + +Whilst I wondered where they might be, Oros, upon whose nerves this +dread scene appeared to have no effect, and some of our attendant +priests surrounded us and led us onwards by a path that ran perilously +near to the rounded edge of the rock. A few downward steps and we found +that we were under shelter, for the gale was roaring over us. Twenty +more paces and we came to a recess cut, I suppose, by man in the face +of the loop, in such fashion that a lava roof was left projecting half +across its width. + +This recess, or rock chamber, which was large enough to shelter a great +number of people, we reached safely, to discover that it was already +tenanted. Seated in a chair hewn from the rock was the Hesea, wearing +a broidered, purple mantle above her gauzy wrappings that enveloped +her from head to foot. There, too, standing near to her were the Khania +Atene and her uncle the old Shaman, who looked but ill at ease, and +lastly, stretched upon his funeral couch, the fiery light beating upon +his stark form and face, lay the dead Khan, Rassen. + +We advanced to the throne and bowed to her who sat thereon. The Hesea +lifted her hooded head, which seemed to have been sunk upon her breast +as though she were overcome by thought or care, and addressed Oros the +priest. For in the shelter of those massive walls by comparison there +was silence and folk could hear each other speak. + +"So thou hast brought them safely, my servant," she said, "and I am +glad, for to those that know it not this road is fearful. My guests, +what say you of the burying-pit of the Children of Hes?" + +"Our faith tells us of a hell, lady," answered Leo, "and I think that +yonder cauldron looks like its mouth." + +"Nay," she answered, "there is no hell, save that which from life to +life we fashion for ourselves within the circle of this little star. Leo +Vincey, I tell thee that hell is here, aye, _here_," and she struck her +hand upon her breast, while once more her head drooped forward as though +bowed down beneath some load of secret misery. + +Thus she stayed awhile, then lifted it and spoke again, +saying--"Midnight is past, and much must be done and suffered before the +dawn. Aye, the darkness must be turned to light, or perchance the light +to eternal darkness." + +"Royal woman," she went on, addressing Atene, "as is his right, thou +hast brought thy dead lord hither for burial in this consecrated place, +where the ashes of all who went before him have become fuel for the +holy fires. Oros, my priest, summon thou the Accuser and him who makes +defence, and let the books be opened that I may pass my judgment on the +dead, and call his soul to live again, or pray that from it the breath +of life may be withheld. + +"Priest, I say the Court of Death is open." + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE SECOND ORDEAL + +Oros bowed and left the place, whereon the Hesea signed to us to stand +upon her right and to Atene to stand upon her left. Presently from +either side the hooded priests and priestesses stole into the chamber, +and to the number of fifty or more ranged themselves along its walls. +Then came two figures draped in black and masked, who bore parchment +books in their hands, and placed themselves on either side of the +corpse, while Oros stood at its feet, facing the Hesea. + +Now she lifted the sistrum that she held, and in obedience to the signal +Oros said--"Let the books be opened." + +Thereon the masked Accuser to the right broke the seal of his book and +began to read its pages. It was a tale of the sins of this dead man +entered as fully as though that officer were his own conscience given +life and voice. In cold and horrible detail it told of the evil doings +of his childhood, of his youth, and of his riper years, and thus massed +together the record was black indeed. + +I listened amazed, wondering what spy had been set upon the deeds of +yonder man throughout his days; thinking also with a shudder of how +heavy would be the tale against any one of us, if such a spy should +companion him from the cradle to the grave; remembering too that +full surely this count is kept by scribes even more watchful than the +ministers of Hes. + +At length the long story drew to its close. Lastly it told of the murder +of that noble upon the banks of the river; it told of the plot against +our lives for no just cause; it told of our cruel hunting with the +death-hounds, and of its end. Then the Accuser shut his book and cast it +on the ground, saying--"Such is the record, O Mother. Sum it up as thou +hast been given wisdom." + +Without speaking, the Hesea pointed with her sistrum to the Defender, +who thereon broke the seal of his book and began to read. + +Its tale spoke of all the good that the dead man had done; of every +noble word that he had said, of every kind action; of plans which he had +made for the welfare of his vassals; of temptations to ill that he had +resisted; of the true love that he had borne to the woman who became his +wife; of the prayers which he had made and of the offerings which he had +sent to the temple of Hes. + +Making no mention of her name, it told of how that wife of his had hated +him, of how she and the magician, who had fostered and educated her, and +was her relative and guide, had set other women to lead him astray that +she might be free of him. Of how too they had driven him mad with a +poisonous drink which took away his judgment, unchained all the evil in +his heart, and caused him by its baneful influence to shrink unnaturally +from her whose love he still desired. + +Also it set out that the heaviest of his crimes were inspired by this +wife of his, who sought to befoul his name in the ears of the people +whom she led him to oppress, and how bitter jealousy drove him to cruel +acts, the last and worst of which caused him foully to violate the law +of hospitality, and in attempting to bring about the death of blameless +guests at their hands to find his own. + +Thus the Defender read, and having read, closed the book and threw it +on the ground, saying--"Such is the record, O Mother, sum it up as thou +hast been given wisdom." + +Then the Khania, who all this time had stood cold and impassive, stepped +forward to speak, and with her her uncle, the Shaman Simbri. But before +a word passed Atene's lips the Hesea raised her sceptre and forbade +them, saying--"Thy day of trial is not yet, nor have we aught to do with +thee. When thou liest where he lies and the books of thy deeds are read +aloud to her who sits in judgment, then let thine advocate make answer +for these things." + +"So be it," answered Atene haughtily and fell back. + +Now it was the turn of the high-priest Oros. "Mother," he said, "thou +hast heard. Balance the writings, assess the truth, and according to thy +wisdom, issue thy commands. Shall we hurl him who was Rassen feet first +into the fiery gulf, that he may walk again in the paths of life, or +head first, in token that he is dead indeed?" + +Then while all waited in a hushed expectancy, the great Priestess +delivered her verdict. + +"I hear, I balance, I assess, but judge I do not, who claim no such +power. Let the Spirit who sent him forth, to whom he is returned again, +pass judgment on his spirit. This dead one has sinned deeply, yet has +he been more deeply sinned against. Nor against that man can be reckoned +the account of his deeds of madness. Cast him then to his grave feet +first that his name may be whitened in the ears of those unborn, and +that thence he may return again at the time appointed. It is spoken." + +Now the Accuser lifted the book of his accusations from the ground and, +advancing, hurled it into the gulf in token that it was blotted out. +Then he turned and vanished from the chamber; while the Advocate, taking +up his book, gave it into the keeping of the priest Oros, that it might +be preserved in the archives of the temple for ever. This done, the +priests began a funeral chant and a solemn invocation to the great Lord +of the Under-world that he would receive this spirit and acquit it there +as here it had been acquitted by the Hesea, his minister. + +Ere their dirge ended certain of the priests, advancing with slow steps, +lifted the bier and carried it to the edge of the gulf; then at a sign +from the Mother, hurled it feet foremost into the fiery lake below, +whilst all watched to see how it struck the flame. For this they held to +be an omen, since should the body turn over in its descent it was taken +as a sign that the judgment of mortal men had been refused in the Place +of the Immortals. It did not turn; it rushed downwards straight as a +plummet and plunged into the fire hundreds of feet below, and there +for ever vanished. This indeed was not strange since, as we discovered +afterwards, the feet were weighted. + +In fact this solemn rite was but a formula that, down to the exact +words of judgment and committal, had been practised here from unknown +antiquity over the bodies of the priests and priestesses of the +Mountain, and of certain of the great ones of the Plain. So it was in +ancient Egypt, whence without doubt this ceremony of the trial of the +dead was derived, and so it continued to be in the land of Hes, for no +priestess ever ventured to condemn the soul of one departed. + +The real interest of the custom, apart from its solemnity and awful +surroundings, centred in the accurate knowledge displayed by the masked +Accuser and Advocate of the life-deeds of the deceased. It showed that +although the College of Hes affected to be indifferent to the doings and +politics of the people of the Plain that they once ruled and over which, +whilst secretly awaiting an opportunity of re-conquest, they still +claimed a spiritual authority, the attitude was assumed rather than +real. Moreover it suggested a system of espionage so piercing and +extraordinary that it was difficult to believe it unaided by the +habitual exercise of some gift of clairvoyance. + +The service, if I may call it so, was finished; the dead man had +followed the record of his sins into that lurid sea of fire, and by +now was but a handful of charred dust. But if his book had closed, ours +remained open and at its strangest chapter. We knew it, all of us, and +waited, our nerves thrilled, with expectancy. + +The Hesea sat brooding on her rocky throne. She also knew that the hour +had come. Presently she sighed, then motioned with her sceptre and spoke +a word or two, dismissing the priests and priestesses, who departed +and were seen no more. Two of them remained however, Oros and the head +priestess who was called Papave, a young woman of a noble countenance. + +"Listen, my servants," she said. "Great things are about to happen, +which have to do with the coming of yonder strangers, for whom I have +waited these many years as is well known to you. Nor can I tell the +issue since to me, to whom power is given so freely, foresight of the +future is denied. It well may happen, therefore, that this seat will +soon be empty and this frame but food for the eternal fires. Nay, grieve +not, grieve not, for I do not die and if so, the spirit shall return +again. + +"Hearken, Papave. Thou art of the blood, and to thee alone have I opened +all the doors of wisdom. If I pass now or at any time, take thou the +ancient power, fill thou my place, and in all things do as I have +instructed thee, that from this Mountain light may shine upon the world. +Further I command thee, and thee also, Oros my priest, that if I be +summoned hence you entertain these strangers hospitably until it is +possible to escort them from the land, whether by the road they came or +across the northern hills and deserts. Should the Khania Atene attempt +to detain them against their will, then raise the Tribes upon her in the +name of the Hesea; depose her from her seat, conquer her land and hold +it. Hear and obey." + +"Mother, we hear and we will obey," answered Oros and Papave as with a +single voice. + +She waved her hand to show that this matter was finished; then after +long thought spoke again, addressing herself to the Khania. + +"Atene, last night thou didst ask me a question--why thou dost love this +man," and she pointed to Leo. "To that the answer would be easy, for is +he not one who might well stir passion in the breast of a woman such as +thou art? But thou didst say also that thine own heart and the wisdom of +yonder magician, thy uncle, told thee that since thy soul first sprang +to life thou hadst loved him, and didst adjure me by the Power to whom I +must give my account to draw the curtain from the past and let the truth +be known. + +"Woman, the hour has come, and I obey thy summons--not because thou +dost command but because it is my will. Of the beginning I can tell thee +nothing, who am still human and no goddess. I know not why we three +are wrapped in this coil of fate; I know not the destinies to which we +journey up the ladder of a thousand lives, with grief and pain climbing +the endless stair of circumstance, or, if I know, I may not say. +Therefore I take up the tale where my own memory gives me light." + +The Hesea paused, and we saw her frame shake as though beneath some +fearful inward effort of the will. "Look now behind you," she cried, +throwing her arms wide. + +We turned, and at first saw nothing save the great curtain of fire that +rose from the abyss of the volcano, whereof, as I have told, the crest +was bent over by the wind like the crest of a breaking billow. But +presently, as we watched, in the depths of this red veil, Nature's awful +lamp-flame, a picture began to form as it forms in the seer's magic +crystal. + +Behold! a temple set amid sands and washed by a wide, palm-bordered +river, and across its pyloned court processions of priests, who pass +to and fro with flaunting banners. The court empties; I could see the +shadow of a falcon's wings that fled across its sunlit floor. A man clad +in a priest's white robe, shaven-headed, and barefooted, enters through +the southern pylon gate and walks slowly towards a painted granite +shrine, in which sits the image of a woman crowned with the double +crown of Egypt, surmounted by a lotus bloom, and holding in her hand the +sacred sistrum. Now, as though he heard some sound, he halts and looks +towards us, and by the heaven above me, his face is the face of Leo +Vincey in his youth, the face too of that Kallikrates whose corpse we +had seen in the Caves of Kor! + +"Look, look!" gasped Leo, catching me by the arm; but I only nodded my +head in answer. + +The man walks on again, and kneeling before the goddess in the shrine, +embraces her feet and makes his prayer to her. Now the gates roll open, +and a procession enters, headed by a veiled, noble-looking woman, who +bears offerings, which she sets on the table before the shrine, bending +her knee to the effigy of the goddess. Her oblations made, she turns +to depart, and as she goes brushes her hand against the hand of the +watching priest, who hesitates, then follows her. + +When all her company have passed the gate she lingers alone in the +shadow of the pylon, whispering to the priest and pointing to the river +and the southern land beyond. He is disturbed; he reasons with her, +till, after one swift glance round, she lets drop her veil, bending +towards him and--their lips meet. + +As time flies her face is turned towards us, and lo! it is the face of +Atene, and amid her dusky hair the aura is reflected in jewelled gold, +the symbol of her royal rank. She looks at the shaven priest; she laughs +as though in triumph; she points to the westering sun and to the river, +and is gone. + +Aye, and that laugh of long ago is echoed by Atene at our side, for she +also laughs in triumph and cries aloud to the old Shaman--"True diviners +were my heart and thou! Behold how I won him in the past." + +Then, like ice on fire fell the cold voice of the Hesea. + +"Be silent, woman, and see how thou didst lose him in the past." + +Lo! the scene changes, and on a couch a lovely shape lies sleeping. +She dreams; she is afraid; and over her bends and whispers in her ear a +shadowy form clad with the emblems of the goddess in the shrine, but now +wearing upon her head the vulture cap. The woman wakes from her dream +and looks round, and oh! the face is the face of Ayesha as it was seen +of us when first she loosed her veil in the Caves of Kor. + +A sigh went up from us; we could not speak who thus fearfully once more +beheld her loveliness. + +Again she sleeps, again the awful form bends over her and whispers. It +points, the distance opens. Lo! on a stormy sea a boat, and in the boat +two wrapped in each other's arms, the priest and the royal woman, while +over them like a Vengeance, raw-necked and ragged-pinioned, hovers a +following vulture, such a vulture as the goddess wore for headdress. + +That picture fades from its burning frame, leaving the vast sheet +of fire empty as the noonday sky. Then another forms. First a great, +smooth-walled cave carpeted with sand, a cave that we remembered well. +Then lying on the sand, now no longer shaven, but golden-haired, the +corpse of the priest staring upwards with his glazed eyes, his white +skin streaked with blood, and standing over him two women. One holds +a javelin in her hand and is naked except for her flowing hair, and +beautiful, beautiful beyond imagining. The other, wrapped in a dark +cloak, beats the air with her hands, casting up her eyes as though to +call the curse of Heaven upon her rival's head. And those women are she +into whose sleeping ear the shadow had whispered, and the royal Egyptian +who had kissed her lover beneath the pylon gate. + +Slowly all the figures faded; it was as though the fire ate them up, for +first they became thin and white as ashes; then vanished. The Hesea, who +had been leaning forward, sank backwards in her chair, as if weary with +the toil of her own magic. + +For a while confused pictures flitted rapidly to and fro across the vast +mirror of the flame, such as might be reflected from an intelligence +crowded with the memories of over two thousand years which it was too +exhausted to separate and define. + +Wild scenes, multitudes of people, great caves, and in them faces, +amongst others our own, starting up distorted and enormous, to grow +tiny in an instant and depart; stark imaginations of Forms towering and +divine; of Things monstrous and inhuman; armies marching, illimitable +battle-fields, and corpses rolled in blood, and hovering over them the +spirits of the slain. + +These pictures died as the others had died, and the fire was blank +again. + +Then the Hesea spoke in a voice very faint at first, that by slow +degrees grew stronger. + +"Is thy question answered, O Atene?" + +"I have seen strange sights, Mother, mighty limnings worthy of thy +magic, but how know I that they are more than vapours of thine own brain +cast upon yonder fire to deceive and mock us?"[*] + + [*] Considered in the light of subsequent revelations, + vouchsafed to us by Ayesha herself, I am inclined to believe + that Atene's shrewd surmise was accurate, and that these + fearful pictures, although founded on events that had + happened in the past, were in the main "vapours" cast upon + the crater fire; visions raised in our minds to "deceive and + mock us."--L. H. H. + +"Listen then," said the Hesea, in her weary voice, "to the +interpretation of the writing, and cease to trouble me with thy doubts. +Many an age ago, but shortly after I began to live this last, long life +of mine, Isis, the great goddess of Egypt, had her Holy House at Behbit, +near the Nile. It is a ruin now, and Isis has departed from Egypt, +though still under the Power that fashioned it and her: she rules the +world, for she is Nature's self. Of that shrine a certain man, a Greek, +Kallikrates by name, was chief priest, chosen for her service by the +favour of the goddess, vowed to her eternally and to her alone, by the +dreadful oath that might not be broken without punishment as eternal. + +"In the flame thou sawest that priest, and here at thy side he stands, +re-born, to fulfil his destiny and ours. + +"There lived also a daughter of Pharaoh's house, one Amenartas, who cast +eyes of love upon this Kallikrates, and, wrapping him in her spells--for +then as now she practised witcheries--caused him to break his oaths and +fly with her, as thou sawest written in the flame. Thou, Atene, wast +that Amenartas. + +"Lastly there lived a certain Arabian, named Ayesha, a wise and lovely +woman, who, in the emptiness of her heart, and the sorrow of much +knowledge, had sought refuge in the service of the universal Mother, +thinking there to win the true wisdom which ever fled from her. That +Ayesha, as thou sawest also, the goddess visited in a dream, bidding her +to follow those faithless ones, and work Heaven's vengeance on them, +and promising her in reward victory over death upon the earth and beauty +such as had not been known in woman. + +"She followed far; she awaited them where they wandered. Guided by a +sage named Noot, one who from the beginning had been appointed to her +service and that of another--thou, O Holly, wast that man--she found +the essence in which to bathe is to outlive Generations, Faiths, and +Empires, saying--"'I will slay these guilty ones. I will slay them +presently, as I am commanded.' + +"Yet Ayesha slew not, for now their sin was her sin, since she who had +never loved came to desire this man. She led them to the Place of Life, +purposing there to clothe him and herself with immortality, and let the +woman die. But it was not so fated, for then the goddess smote. The +life was Ayesha's as had been sworn, but in its first hour, blinded with +jealous rage because he shrank from her unveiled glory to the mortal +woman at his side, this Ayesha brought him to his death, and alas! alas! +left herself undying. + +"Thus did the angry goddess work woe upon her faithless ministers, +giving to the priest swift doom, to the priestess Ayesha, long remorse +and misery, and to the royal Amenartas jealousy more bitter than life +or death, and the fate of unending effort to win back that love which, +defying Heaven, she had dared to steal, but to be bereft thereof again. + +"Lo! now the ages pass, and, at the time appointed, to that undying +Ayesha who, whilst awaiting his re-birth, from century to century +mourned his loss, and did bitter penance for her sins, came back the +man, her heart's desire. Then, whilst all went well for her and him, +again the goddess smote and robbed her of her reward. Before her lover's +living eyes, sunk in utter shame and misery, the beautiful became +hideous, the undying seemed to die. + +"Yet, O Kallikrates, I tell thee that she died not. Did not Ayesha swear +to thee yonder in the Caves of Kor that she would come again? for even +in that awful hour this comfort kissed her soul. Thereafter, Leo Vincey, +who art Killikrates, did not her spirit lead thee in thy sleep and stand +with thee upon this very pinnacle which should be thy beacon light to +guide thee back to her? And didst thou not search these many years, not +knowing that she companioned thy every step and strove to guard thee in +every danger, till at length in the permitted hour thou earnest back to +her?" + +She paused, and looked towards Leo, as though awaiting his reply. + +"Of the first part of the tale, except from the writing on the Sherd, I +know nothing, Lady," he said; "of the rest I, or rather we, know that it +is true. Yet I would ask a question, and I pray thee of thy charity let +thy answer be swift and short. Thou sayest that in the permitted hour +I came back to Ayesha. Where then is Ayesha? Art thou Ayesha? And if so +why is thy voice changed? Why art thou less in stature? Oh! in the name +of whatever god thou dost worship, tell me art thou Ayesha?" + +"_I am Ayesha_" she answered solemnly, "that very Ayesha to whom thou +didst pledge thyself eternally." + +"She lies, she lies," broke in Atene. "I tell thee, husband--for such +with her own lips she declares thou art to me--that yonder woman who +says that she parted from thee young and beautiful, less than twenty +years ago, is none other than the aged priestess who for a century at +least has borne rule in these halls of Hes. Let her deny it if she can." + +"Oros," said the Mother, "tell thou the tale of the death of that +priestess of whom the Khania speaks." + +The priest bowed, and in his usual calm voice, as though he were +narrating some event of every day, said mechanically, and in a fashion +that carried no conviction to my mind--"Eighteen years ago, on the +fourth night of the first month of the winter in the year 2333 of the +founding of the worship of Hes on this Mountain, the priestess of whom +the Khania Atene speaks, died of old age in my presence in the hundred +and eighth year of her rule. Three hours later we went to lift her from +the throne on which she died, to prepare her corpse for burial in this +fire, according to the ancient custom. Lo! a miracle, for she lived +again, the same, yet very changed. + +"Thinking this a work of evil magic, the Priests and Priestesses of the +College rejected her, and would have driven her from the throne. Thereon +the Mountain blazed and thundered, the light from the fiery pillars +died, and great terror fell upon the souls of men. Then from the deep +darkness above the altar where stands the statue of the Mother of Men, +the voice of the living goddess spoke, saying--"'Accept ye her whom +I have set to rule over you, that my judgments and my purposes may be +fulfilled.' + +"The Voice ceased, the fiery torches burnt again, and we bowed the knee +to the new Hesea, and named her Mother in the ears of all. That is the +tale to which hundreds can bear witness." + +"Thou hearest, Atene," said the Hesea. "Dost thou still doubt?" + +"Aye," answered the Khania, "for I hold that Oros also lies, or if he +lies not, then he dreams, or perchance that voice he heard was thine +own. Now if thou art this undying woman, this Ayesha, let proof be +made of it to these two men who knew thee in the past. Tear away those +wrappings that guard thy loveliness thus jealously. Let thy shape +divine, thy beauty incomparable, shine out upon our dazzled sight. +Surely thy lover will not forget such charms; surely he will know thee, +and bow the knee, saying, 'This is my Immortal, and no other woman.' + +"Then, and not till then, will I believe that thou art even what thou +declarest thyself to be, an evil spirit, who bought undying life with +murder and used thy demon loveliness to bewitch the souls of men." + +Now the Hesea on the throne seemed to be much troubled, for she rocked +herself to and fro, and wrung her white-draped hands. + +"Kallikrates," she said in a voice that sounded like a moan, "is this +thy will? For if it be, know that I must obey. Yet I pray thee command +it not, for the time is not yet come; the promise unbreakable is not yet +fulfilled. _I am somewhat changed_, Kallikrates, since I kissed thee on +the brow and named thee mine, yonder in the Caves of Kor." + +Leo looked about him desperately, till his eyes fell upon the mocking +face of Atene, who cried--"Bid her unveil, my lord. I swear to thee I'll +not be jealous." + +At that taunt he took fire. + +"Aye," he said, "I bid her unveil, that I may learn the best or worst, +who otherwise must die of this suspense. Howsoever changed, if she be +Ayesha I shall know her, and if she be Ayesha, I shall love her." + +"Bold words, Kallikrates," answered the Hesea; "yet from my very heart I +thank thee for them: those sweet words of trust and faithfulness to thou +knowest not what. Learn now the truth, for I may keep naught back from +thee. When I unveil it is decreed that thou must make thy choice for +the last time on this earth between yonder woman, my rival from the +beginning, and that Ayesha to whom thou art sworn. Thou canst reject me +if thou wilt, and no ill shall come to thee, but many a blessing, as +men reckon them--power and wealth and love. Only then thou must tear my +memory from thy heart, for then I leave thee to follow thy fate alone, +till at the last the purpose of these deeds and sufferings is made +clear. + +"Be warned. No light ordeal lies before thee. Be warned. I can promise +thee naught save such love as woman never gave to man, love that +perchance--I know not--must yet remain unsatisfied upon the earth." + +Then she turned to me and said: + +"Oh! thou, Holly, thou true friend, thou guardian from of old, thou, +next to him most beloved by me, to thy clear and innocent spirit +perchance wisdom may be given that is denied to us, the little children +whom thine arms protect. Counsel thou him, my Holly, with the counsel +that is given thee, and I will obey thy words and his, and, whatever +befalls, will bless thee from my soul. Aye, and should he cast me off, +then in the Land beyond the lands, in the Star appointed, where all +earthly passions fade, together will we dwell eternally in a friendship +glorious, thou and I alone. + +"For _thou_ wilt not reject; thy steel, forged in the furnace of pure +truth and power, shall not lose its temper in these small fires of +temptation and become a rusted chain to bind thee to another woman's +breast--until it canker to her heart and thine." + +"Ayesha, I thank thee for thy words," I answered simply, "and by them +and that promise of thine, I, thy poor friend--for more I never thought +to be--am a thousandfold repaid for many sufferings. This I will add, +that for my part I know that thou art She whom we have lost, since, +whatever the lips that speak them, those thoughts and words are Ayesha's +and hers alone." + +Thus I spoke, not knowing what else to say, for I was filled with a +great joy, a calm and ineffable satisfaction, which broke thus feebly +from my heart. For now I knew that I was dear to Ayesha as I had always +been dear to Leo; the closest of friends, from whom she never would be +parted. What more could I desire? + +We fell back; we spoke together, whilst they watched us silently. What +we said I do not quite remember, but the end of it was that, as the +Hesea had done, Leo bade me judge and choose. Then into my mind there +came a clear command, from my own conscience or otherwhere, who can +say? This was the command, that I should bid her to unveil, and let fate +declare its purposes. + +"Decide," said Leo, "I cannot bear much more. Like that woman, whoever +she may be, whatever happens, I will not blame you, Horace." + +"Good," I answered, "I have decided," and, stepping forward, I said: "We +have taken counsel, Hes, and it is our will, who would learn the truth +and be at rest, that thou shouldst unveil before us, here and now." + +"I hear and obey," the Priestess answered, in a voice like to that of a +dying woman, "only, I beseech you both, be pitiful to me, spare me your +mockeries; add not the coals of your hate and scorn to the fires of a +soul in hell, for whate'er I am, I became it for thy sake, Kallikrates. +Yet, yet I also am athirst for knowledge; for though I know all wisdom, +although I wield much power, one thing remains to me to learn--what is +the worth of the love of man, and if, indeed, it can live beyond the +horrors of the grave?" + +Then, rising slowly, the Hesea walked, or rather tottered to the +unroofed open space in front of the rock chamber, and stood there quite +near to the brink of the flaming gulf beneath. + +"Come hither, Papave, and loose these veils," she cried in a shrill, +thin voice. + +Papave advanced, and with a look of awe upon her handsome face began the +task. She was not a tall woman, yet as she bent over her I noted that +she seemed to tower above her mistress, the Hesea. + +The outer veils fell revealing more within. These fell also, and now +before us stood the mummy-like shape, although it seemed to be of less +stature, of that strange being who had met us in the Place of Bones. So +it would seem that our mysterious guide and the high priestess Hes were +the same. + +Look! Length by length the wrappings sank from her. Would they +never end? How small grew the frame within? She was very short now, +unnaturally short for a full-grown woman, and oh! I grew sick at heart. +The last bandages uncoiled themselves like shavings from a stick; +two wrinkled hands appeared, if hands they could be called. Then the +feet--once I had seen such on the mummy of a princess of Egypt, and even +now by some fantastic play of the mind, I remembered that on her coffin +this princess was named "The Beautiful." + +Everything was gone now, except a shift and a last inner veil about the +head. Hes waved back the priestess Papave, who fell half fainting to +the ground and lay there covering her eyes with her hand. Then uttering +something like a scream she gripped this veil in her thin talons, tore +it away, and with a gesture of uttermost despair, turned and faced us. + +Oh! she was--nay, I will not describe her. I knew her at once, for thus +had I seen her last before the Fire of Life, and, strangely enough, +through the mask of unutterable age, through that cloak of humanity's +last decay, still shone some resemblance to the glorious and superhuman +Ayesha: the shape of the face, the air of defiant pride that for an +instant bore her up--I know not what. + +Yes, there she stood, and the fierce light of the heartless fires beat +upon her, revealing every shame. + +There was a dreadful silence. I saw Leo's lips turn white and his knees +begin to give; but by some effort he recovered himself, and stayed still +and upright like a dead man held by a wire. Also I saw Atene--and this +is to her credit--turn her head away. She had desired to see her rival +humiliated, but that horrible sight shocked her; some sense of their +common womanhood for the moment touched her pity. Only Simbri, who, I +think, knew what to expect, and Oros remained quite unmoved; indeed, in +that ghastly silence the latter spoke, and ever afterwards I loved him +for his words. + +"What of the vile vessel, rotted in the grave of time? What of the flesh +that perishes?" he said. "Look through the ruined lamp to the eternal +light which burns within. Look through its covering carrion to the +inextinguishable soul." + +My heart applauded these noble sentiments. I was of one mind with Oros, +but oh, Heaven! I felt that my brain was going, and I wished that it +would go, so that I might hear and see no more. + +That look which gathered on Ayesha's mummy face? At first there had been +a little hope, but the hope died, and anguish, anguish, _anguish_ took +its place. + +Something must be done, this could not endure. My lips clave together, +no word would come; my feet refused to move. + +I began to contemplate the scenery. How wonderful were that sheet of +flame, and the ripples which ran up and down its height. How awesome its +billowy crest. It would be warm lying in yonder red gulf below with the +dead Rassen, but oh! I wished that I shared his bed and had finished +with these agonies. + +Thank Heaven, Atene was speaking. She had stepped to the side of the +naked-headed Thing, and stood by it in all the pride of her rich beauty +and perfect womanhood. + +"Leo Vincey, or Kallikrates," said Atene, "take which name thou wilt; +thou thinkest ill of me perhaps, but know that at least I scorn to mock +a rival in her mortal shame. She told us a wild tale but now, a tale +true or false, but more false than true, I think, of how I robbed +a goddess of a votary, and of how that goddess--Ayesha's self +perchance--was avenged upon me for the crime of yielding to the man I +loved. Well, let goddesses--if such indeed there be--take their way and +work their will upon the helpless, and I, a mortal, will take mine +until the clutch of doom closes round my throat and chokes out life and +memory, and I too am a goddess--or a clod. + +"Meanwhile, thou man, I shame not to say it before all these witnesses, +I love thee, and it seems that this--this woman or goddess--loves thee +also, and she has told us that now, _now_ thou must choose between us +once and for ever. She has told us too that if I sinned against Isis, +whose minister be it remembered she declares herself, herself she sinned +yet more. For she would have taken thee both from a heavenly mistress +and from an earthly bride, and yet snatch that guerdon of immortality +which is hers to-day. Therefore if I am evil, she is worse, nor does the +flame that burns within the casket whereof Oros spoke shine so very pure +and bright. + +"Choose thou then Leo Vincey, and let there be an end. I vaunt not +myself; thou knowest what I have been and seest what I am. Yet I can +give thee love and happiness and, mayhap, children to follow after thee, +and with them some place and power. What yonder witch can give thee thou +canst guess. Tales of the past, pictures on the flame, wise maxims and +honeyed words, and after thou art dead once more, promises perhaps, of +joy to come when that terrible goddess whom she serves so closely shall +be appeased. I have spoken. Yet I will add a word: + +"O thou for whom, if the Hesea's tale be true, I did once lay down my +royal rank and dare the dangers of an unsailed sea; O thou whom in ages +gone I would have sheltered with my frail body from the sorceries of +this cold, self-seeking witch; O thou whom but a little while ago at my +own life's risk I drew from death in yonder river, choose, choose!" + +To all this speech, so moderate yet so cruel, so well-reasoned and +yet so false, because of its glosses and omissions, the huddled Ayesha +seemed to listen with a fierce intentness. Yet she made no answer, not +a single word, not a sign even; she who had said her say and scorned to +plead her part. + +I looked at Leo's ashen face. He leaned towards Atene, drawn perhaps by +the passion shining in her beauteous eyes, then of a sudden straightened +himself, shook his head and sighed. The colour flamed to his brow, and +his eyes grew almost happy. + +"After all," he said, thinking aloud rather than speaking, "I have to do +not with unknowable pasts or with mystic futures, but with the things +of my own life. Ayesha waited for me through two thousand years; Atene +could marry a man she hated for power's sake, and then could poison him, +as perhaps she would poison me when I wearied her. I know not what oaths +I swore to Amenartas, if such a woman lived. I remember the oaths I +swore to Ayesha. If I shrink from her now, why then my life is a lie and +my belief a fraud; then love will not endure the touch of age and never +can survive the grave. + +"Nay, remembering what Ayesha was I take her as she is, in faith and +hope of what she shall be. At least love is immortal and if it must, why +let it feed on memory alone till death sets free the soul." + +Then stepping to where stood the dreadful, shrivelled form, Leo knelt +down before it and kissed her on the brow. + +Yes, he kissed the trembling horror of that wrinkled head, and I think +it was one of the greatest, bravest acts ever done by man. + +"Thou hast chosen," said Atene in a cold voice, "and I tell thee, Leo +Vincey, that the manner of thy choice makes me mourn my loss the more. +Take now thy--thy bride and let me hence." + +But Ayesha still said no word and made no sign, till presently she sank +upon her bony knees and began to pray aloud. These were the words of +her prayer, as I heard them, though the exact Power to which it was +addressed is not very easy to determine, as I never discovered who or +what it was that she worshipped in her heart--"O Thou minister of the +almighty Will, thou sharp sword in the hand of Doom, thou inevitable Law +that art named Nature; thou who wast crowned as Isis of the Egyptians, +but art the goddess of all climes and ages; thou that leadest the man +to the maid, and layest the infant on his mother's breast, that bringest +our dust to its kindred dust, that givest life to death, and into the +dark of death breathest the light of life again; thou who causest the +abundant earth to bear, whose smile is Spring, whose laugh is the ripple +of the sea, whose noontide rest is drowsy Summer, and whose sleep is +Winter's night, hear thou the supplication of thy chosen child and +minister: + +"Of old thou gavest me thine own strength with deathless days, and +beauty above every daughter of this Star. But I sinned against thee +sore, and for my sin I paid in endless centuries of solitude, in the +vileness that makes me loathsome to my lover's eyes, and for its diadem +of perfect power sets upon my brow this crown of naked mockery. Yet in +thy breath, the swift essence that brought me light, that brought me +gloom, thou didst vow to me that I who cannot die should once more pluck +the lost flower of my immortal loveliness from this foul slime of shame. + +"Therefore, merciful Mother that bore me, to thee I make my prayer. +Oh, let his true love atone my sin; or, if it may not be, then give me +death, the last and most blessed of thy boons!" + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE CHANGE + +She ceased, and there was a long, long silence. Leo and I looked at +each other in dismay. We had hoped against hope that this beautiful +and piteous prayer, addressed apparently to the great, dumb spirit of +Nature, would be answered. That meant a miracle, but what of it? The +prolongation of the life of Ayesha was a miracle, though it is true that +some humble reptiles are said to live as long as she had done. + +The transference of her spirit from the Caves of Kor to this temple was +a miracle, that is, to our western minds, though the dwellers in these +parts of Central Asia would not hold it so. That she should re-appear +with the same hideous body was a miracle. But was it the same body? Was +it not the body of the last Hesea? One very ancient woman is much like +another, and eighteen years of the working of the soul or identity +within might well wear away their trivial differences and give to the +borrowed form some resemblance to that which it had left. + +At least the figures on that mirror of the flame were a miracle. Nay, +why so? A hundred clairvoyants in a hundred cities can produce or see +their like in water and in crystal, the difference being only one +of size. They were but reflections of scenes familiar to the mind of +Ayesha, or perhaps not so much as that. Perhaps they were only phantasms +called up in _our_ minds by her mesmeric force. + +Nay, none of these things were true miracles, since all, however +strange, might be capable of explanation. What right then had we to +expect a marvel now? + +Such thoughts as these rose in our minds as the endless minutes were +born and died and--nothing happened. + +Yes, at last one thing did happen. The light from the sheet of flame +died gradually away as the flame itself sank downwards into the abysses +of the pit. But about this in itself there was nothing wonderful, for +as we had seen with our own eyes from afar this fire varied much, and +indeed it was customary for it to die down at the approach of dawn, +which now drew very near. + +Still that onward-creeping darkness added to the terrors of the scene. +By the last rays of the lurid light we saw Ayesha rise and advance some +few paces to that little tongue of rock at the edge of the pit off +which the body of Rassen had been hurled; saw her standing on it, also, +looking like some black, misshapen imp against the smoky glow which +still rose from the depths beneath. + +Leo would have gone forward to her, for he believed that she was about +to hurl herself to doom, which indeed I thought was her design. But the +priest Oros, and the priestess Papave, obeying, I suppose, some secret +command that reached them I know not how, sprang to him and seizing his +arms, held him back. Then it became quite dark, and through the darkness +we could hear Ayesha chanting a dirge-like hymn in some secret, holy +tongue which was unknown to us. + +A great flake of fire floated through the gloom, rocking to and fro like +some vast bird upon its pinions. We had seen many such that night, torn +by the gale from the crest of the blazing curtain as I have described. +But--but--"Horace," whispered Leo through his chattering teeth, "that +flame is coming up _against the wind!_" + +"Perhaps the wind has changed," I answered, though I knew well that it +had not; that it blew stronger than ever from the south. + +Nearer and nearer sailed the rocking flame, two enormous wings was the +shape of it, with something dark between them. It reached the little +promontory. The wings appeared to fold themselves about the dwarfed +figure that stood thereon--illuminating it for a moment. Then the light +went out of them and they vanished--everything vanished. + +A while passed, it may have been one minute or ten, when suddenly the +priestess Papave, in obedience to some summons which we could not hear, +crept by me. I knew that it was she because her woman's garments touched +me as she went. Another space of silence and of deep darkness, during +which I heard Papave return, breathing in short, sobbing gasps like one +who is very frightened. + +Ah! I thought, Ayesha has cast herself into the pit. The tragedy is +finished! + +Then it was that the wondrous music came. Of course it _may_ have been +only the sound of priests chanting beyond us, but I do not think so, +since its quality was quite different to any that I heard in the temple +before or afterwards: to any indeed that ever I heard upon the earth. + +I cannot describe it, but it was awful to listen to, yet most +entrancing. From the black, smoke-veiled pit where the fire had burned +it welled and echoed--now a single heavenly voice, now a sweet chorus, +and now an air-shaking thunder as of a hundred organs played to time. + +That diverse and majestic harmony seemed to include, to express +every human emotion, and I have often thought since then that in its +all-embracing scope and range, this, the song or paean of her re-birth +was symbolical of the infinite variety of Ayesha's spirit. Yet like that +spirit it had its master notes; power, passion, suffering, mystery and +loveliness. Also there could be no doubt as to the general significance +of the chant by whomsoever it was sung. It was the changeful story of a +mighty soul; it was worship, worship, worship of a queen divine! + +Like slow clouds of incense fading to the bannered roof of some high +choir, the bursts of unearthly melodies grew faint; in the far distance +of the hollow pit they wailed themselves away. + +Look! from the east a single ray of upward-springing light. + +"Behold the dawn," said the quiet voice of Oros. + +That ray pierced the heavens above our heads, a very sword of flame. It +sank downwards, swiftly. Suddenly it fell, not upon us, for as yet +the rocky walls of our chamber warded it away, but on to the little +promontory at its edge. + +Oh! and there--a Glory covered with a single garment--stood a shape +celestial. It seemed to be asleep, since the eyes were shut. Or was it +dead, for at first that face was a face of death? Look, the sunlight +played upon her, shining through the thin veil, the dark eyes opened +like the eyes of a wondering child; the blood of life flowed up the +ivory bosom into the pallid cheeks; the raiment of black and curling +tresses wavered in the wind; the head of the jewelled snake that held +them sparkled beneath her breast. + +Was it an illusion, or was this Ayesha as she had been when she entered +the rolling flame in the caverns of Kor? Our knees gave way beneath us, +and down, our arms about each other's necks, Leo and I sank till we +lay upon the ground. Then a voice sweeter than honey, softer than the +whisper of a twilight breeze among the reeds, spoke near to us, and +these were the words it said--"_Come hither to me, Kallikrates, who +would pay thee back that redeeming kiss of faith and love thou gavest me +but now!_" + +Leo struggled to his feet. Like a drunken man he staggered to where +Ayesha stood, then overcome, sank before her on his knees. + +"Arise," she said, "it is I who should kneel to thee," and she stretched +out her hand to raise him, whispering in his ear the while. + +Still he would not, or could not rise, so very slowly she bent over him +and touched him with her lips upon the brow. Next she beckoned to me. I +came and would have knelt also, but she suffered it not. + +"Nay," she said, in her rich, remembered voice, "thou art no suitor; it +shall not be. Of lovers and worshippers henceforth as before, I can find +a plenty if I will, or even if I will it not. But where shall I find +another friend like to thee, O Holly, whom thus I greet?" and leaning +towards me, with her lips she touched me also on the brow--just touched +me, and no more. + +Fragrant was Ayesha's breath as roses, the odour of roses clung to her +lovely hair; her sweet body gleamed like some white sea-pearl; a faint +but palpable radiance crowned her head; no sculptor ever fashioned such +a marvel as the arm with which she held her veil about her; no stars in +heaven ever shone more purely bright than did her calm, entranced eyes. + +Yet it is true, even with her lips upon me, all I felt for her was a +love divine into which no human passion entered. Once, I acknowledge to +my shame, it was otherwise, but I am an old man now and have done with +such frailties. Moreover, had not Ayesha named me Guardian, Protector, +Friend, and sworn to me that with her and Leo I should ever dwell where +all earthly passions fail. I repeat: what more could I desire? + +Taking Leo by the hand Ayesha returned with him into the shelter of the +rock-hewn chamber and when she entered its shadows, shivered a little as +though with cold. I rejoiced at this I remember, for it seemed to show +me that she still was human, divine as she might appear. Here her priest +and priestess prostrated themselves before her new-born splendour, but +she motioned to them to rise, laying a hand upon the head of each as +though in blessing. "I am cold," she said, "give me my mantle," and +Papave threw the purple-broidered garment upon her shoulders, whence now +it hung royally, like a coronation robe. + +"Nay," she went on, "it is not this long-lost shape of mine, which in +his kiss my lord gave back to me, that shivers in the icy wind, it is my +spirit's self bared to the bitter breath of Destiny. O my love, my +love, offended Powers are not easily appeased, even when they appear to +pardon, and though I shall no more be made a mockery in thy sight, how +long is given us together upon the world I know not; but a little hour +perchance. Well, ere we pass otherwhere, we will make it glorious, +drinking as deeply of the cup of joy as we have drunk of those of +sorrows and of shame. This place is hateful to me, for here I have +suffered more than ever woman did on earth or phantom in the deepest +hell. It is hateful, it is ill-omened. I pray that never again may I +behold it. + +"Say, what is it passes in thy mind, magician?" and of a sudden she +turned fiercely upon the Shaman Simbri who stood near, his arms crossed +upon his breast. + +"Only, thou Beautiful," he answered, "a dim shadow of things to come. I +have what thou dost lack with all thy wisdom, the gift of foresight, and +here I see a dead man lying----" + +"Another word," she broke in with fury born of some dark fear, "and thou +shalt be that man. Fool, put me not in mind that now I have strength +again to rid me of the ancient foes I hate, lest I should use a sword +thou thrustest to my hand," and her eyes that had been so calm and +happy, blazed upon him like fire. + +The old wizard felt their fearsome might and shrank from it till the +wall stayed him. + +"Great One! now as ever I salute thee. Yes, now as at the first +beginning whereof we know alone," he stammered. "I had no more to say; +the face of that dead man was not revealed to me. I saw only that some +crowned Khan of Kaloon to be shall lie here, as he whom the flame has +taken lay an hour ago." + +"Doubtless many a Khan of Kaloon will lie here," she answered coldly. +"Fear not, Shaman, my wrath is past, yet be wise, mine enemy, and +prophesy no more evil to the great. Come, let us hence." + +So, still led by Leo, she passed from that chamber and stood presently +upon the apex of the soaring pillar. The sun was up now, flooding the +Mountain flanks, the plains of Kaloon far beneath and the distant, +misty peaks with a sheen of gold. Ayesha stood considering the mighty +prospect, then addressing Leo, she said--"The world is very fair; I give +it all to thee." + +Now Atene spoke for the first time. + +"Dost thou mean Hes--if thou art still the Hesea and not a demon +arisen from the Pit--that thou offerest my territories to this man as a +love-gift? If so, I tell thee that first thou must conquer them." + +"Ungentle are thy words and mien," answered Ayesha, "yet I forgive them +both, for I also can scorn to mock a rival in my hour of victory. When +thou wast the fairer, thou didst proffer him these very lands, but say, +who is the fairer now? Look at us, all of you, and judge," and she stood +by Atene and smiled. + +The Khania was a lovely woman. Never to my knowledge have I seen one +lovelier, but oh! how coarse and poor she showed beside the wild, +ethereal beauty of Ayesha born again. For that beauty was not altogether +human, far less so indeed than it had been in the Caves of Kor; now it +was the beauty of a spirit. + +The little light that always shone upon Ayesha's brow; the wide-set, +maddening eyes which were filled sometimes with the fire of the stars +and sometimes with the blue darkness of the heavens wherein they float; +the curved lips, so wistful yet so proud; the tresses fine as glossy +silk that still spread and rippled as though with a separate life; the +general air, not so much of majesty as of some secret power hard to +be restrained, which strove in that delicate body and proclaimed its +presence to the most careless; that flame of the soul within whereof +Oros had spoken, shining now through no "vile vessel," but in a vase +of alabaster and of pearl--none of these things and qualities were +altogether human. I felt it and was afraid, and Atene felt it also, for +she answered--"I am but a woman. What thou art, thou knowest best. Still +a taper cannot shine midst yonder fires or a glow-worm against a fallen +star; nor can my mortal flesh compare with the glory thou hast earned +from hell in payment for thy gifts and homage to the lord of ill. Yet as +woman I am thy equal, and as spirit I shall be thy mistress, when robbed +of these borrowed beauties thou, Ayesha, standest naked and ashamed +before the Judge of all whom thou hast deserted and defied; yes, as thou +stoodest but now upon yonder brink above the burning pit where thou yet +shalt wander wailing thy lost love. For this I know, mine enemy, that +_man and spirit cannot mate_," and Atene ceased, choking in her bitter +rage and jealousy. + +Now watching Ayesha, I saw her wince a little beneath these evil-omened +words, saw also a tinge of grey touch the carmine of her lips and her +deep eyes grow dark and troubled. But in a moment her fears had gone and +she was asking in a voice that rang clear as silver bells--"Why ravest +thou, Atene, like some short-lived summer torrent against the barrier +of a seamless cliff? Dost think, poor creature of an hour, to sweep away +the rock of my eternal strength with foam and bursting bubbles? Have +done and listen. I do not seek thy petty rule, who, if I will it, can +take the empire of the world. Yet learn, thou holdest it of my hand. +More--I purpose soon to visit thee in thy city--choose thou if it shall +be in peace or war! Therefore, Khania, purge thy court and amend thy +laws, that when I come I may find contentment in the land which now it +lacks, and confirm thee in thy government. My counsel to thee also is +that thou choose some worthy man to husband, let him be whom thou wilt, +if only he is just and upright and one upon whom thou mayest rest, +needing wise guidance as thou dost, Atene. Come, now, my guests, let +us hence," and she walked past the Khania, stepping fearlessly upon the +very edge of the wind-swept, rounded peak. + +In a second the attempt had been made and failed, so quickly indeed that +it was not until Leo and I compared our impressions afterwards that we +could be sure of what had happened. As Ayesha passed her, the maddened +Khania drew a hidden dagger and struck with all her force at her rival's +back. I saw the knife vanish to the hilt in her body, as I thought, but +this cannot have been so since it fell to the ground, and she who should +have been dead, took no hurt at all. + +Feeling that she had failed, with a movement like the sudden lurch of +a ship, Atene thrust at Ayesha, proposing to hurl her to destruction +in the depths beneath. Lo! her outstretched arms went past her although +Ayesha never seemed to stir. Yes it was Atene who would have fallen, +Atene who already fell, had not Ayesha put out her hand and caught +her by the wrist, bearing all her backward-swaying weight as easily as +though she were but an infant, and without effort drawing her to safety. + +"Foolish woman!" she said in pitying tones. "Wast thou so vexed that +thou wouldst strip thyself of the pleasant shape which heaven has +given thee? Surely this is madness, Atene, for how knowest thou in what +likeness thou mightest be sent to tread the earth again? As no queen +perhaps, but as a peasant's child, deformed, unsightly; for such reward, +it is said, is given to those that achieve self-murder. Or even, as many +think, shaped like a beast--a snake, a cat, a tigress! Why, see," and +she picked the dagger from the ground and cast it into the air, "that +point was poisoned. Had it but pricked thee now!" and she smiled at her +and shook her head. + +But Atene could bear no more of this mockery, more venomed than her own +steel. + +"Thou art not mortal," she wailed. "How can I prevail against thee? To +Heaven I leave thy punishment," and there upon the rocky peak Atene sank +down and wept. + +Leo stood nearest to her, and the sight of this royal woman in her +misery proved too much for him to bear. Stepping to her side he stooped +and lifted her to her feet, muttering some kind words. For a moment she +rested on his arm, then shook herself free of him and took the proffered +hand of her old uncle Simbri. + +"I see," said Ayesha, "that as ever, thou art courteous, my lord Leo, +but it is best that her own servant should take charge of her, for--she +may hide more daggers. Come, the day grows, and surely we need rest." + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE BETROTHAL + +Together we descended the multitudinous steps and passed the endless, +rock-hewn passages till we came to the door of the dwelling of the +high-priestess and were led through it into a hall beyond. Here Ayesha +parted from us saying that she was outworn, as indeed she seemed to be +with an utter weariness, not of the body, but of the spirit. For her +delicate form drooped like a rain-laden lily, her eyes grew dim as those +of a person in a trance, and her voice came in a soft, sweet whisper, +the voice of one speaking in her sleep. + +"Good-bye," she said to us. "Oros will guard you both, and lead you to +me at the appointed time. Rest you well." + +So she went and the priest led us into a beautiful apartment that opened +on to a sheltered garden. So overcome were we also by all that we had +endured and seen, that we could scarcely speak, much less discuss these +marvellous events. + +"My brain swims," said Leo to Oros, "I desire to sleep." + +He bowed and conducted us to a chamber where were beds, and on these we +flung ourselves down and slept, dreamlessly, like little children. + +When we awoke it was afternoon. We rose and bathed, then saying that +we wished to be alone, went together into the garden where even at +this altitude, now, at the end of August, the air was still mild and +pleasant. Behind a rock by a bed of campanulas and other mountain +flowers and ferns, was a bench near to the banks of a little stream, on +which we seated ourselves. + +"What have you to say, Horace?" asked Leo laying his hand upon my arm. + +"Say?" I answered. "That things have come about most marvellously; that +we have dreamed aright and laboured not in vain; that you are the most +fortunate of men and should be the most happy." + +He looked at me somewhat strangely, and answered--"Yes, of course; +she is lovely, is she not--but," and his voice dropped to its lowest +whisper, "I wish, Horace, that Ayesha were a little more human, even as +human as she was in the Caves of Kor. I don't think she is quite flesh +and blood, I felt it when she kissed me--if you can call it a kiss--for +she barely touched my hair. Indeed how can she be who changed thus in an +hour? Flesh and blood are not born of flame, Horace." + +"Are you sure that she was so born?" I asked. "Like the visions on the +fire, may not that hideous shape have been but an illusion of our minds? +May she not be still the same Ayesha whom we knew in Kor, not re-born, +but wafted hither by some mysterious agency?" + +"Perhaps. Horace, we do not know--I think that we shall never know. +But I admit that to me the thing is terrifying. I am drawn to her by +an infinite attraction, her eyes set my blood on fire, the touch of her +hand is as that of a wand of madness laid upon my brain. And yet between +us there is some wall, invisible, still present. Or perhaps it is only +fancy. But, Horace, I think that she is afraid of Atene. Why, in the +old days the Khania would have been dead and forgotten in an hour--you +remember Ustane?" + +"Perhaps she may have grown more gentle, Leo, who, like ourselves, has +learned hard lessons." + +"Yes," he answered, "I hope that is so. At any rate she has grown more +divine--only, Horace, what kind of a husband shall I be for that bright +being, if ever I get so far?" + +"Why should you not get so far?" I asked angrily, for his words jarred +upon my tense nerves. + +"I don't know," he answered, "but on general principles do you think +that such fortune will be allowed to a man? Also, what did Atene mean +when she said that man and spirit cannot mate--and--other things?" + +"She meant that she _hoped_ they could not, I imagine, and, Leo, it is +useless to trouble yourself with forebodings that are more fitted to my +years than yours, and probably are based on nothing. Be a philosopher, +Leo. You have striven by wonderful ways such as are unknown in the +history of the world; you have attained. Take the goods the gods provide +you--the glory, the love and the power--and let the future look to +itself." + +Before he could answer Oros appeared from round the rock, and, bowing +with more than his usual humility to Leo, said that the Hesea desired +our presence at a service in the Sanctuary. Rejoiced at the prospect +of seeing her again before he had hoped to do so, Leo sprang up and we +accompanied him back to our apartment. + +Here priests were waiting, who, somewhat against his will, trimmed his +hair and beard, and would have done the same for me had I not refused +their offices. Then they placed gold-embroidered sandals on our feet and +wrapped Leo in a magnificent, white robe, also richly worked with gold +and purple; a somewhat similar robe but of less ornate design being +given to me. Lastly, a silver sceptre was thrust into his hand and into +mine a plain wand. This sceptre was shaped like a crook, and the sight +of it gave me some clue to the nature of the forthcoming ceremony. + +"The crook of Osiris!" I whispered to Leo. + +"Look here," he answered, "I don't want to impersonate any Egyptian god, +or to be mixed up in their heathen idolatries; in fact, I won't." + +"Better go through with it," I suggested, "probably it is only something +symbolical." + +But Leo, who, notwithstanding the strange circumstances connected with +his life, retained the religious principles in which I had educated him, +very strongly indeed, refused to move an inch until the nature of this +service was made clear to him. Indeed he expressed himself upon the +subject with vigour to Oros. At first the priest seemed puzzled what to +do, then explained that the forthcoming ceremony was one of betrothal. + +On learning this Leo raised no further objections, asking only with some +nervousness whether the Khania would be present. Oros answered "No," as +she had already departed to Kaloon, vowing war and vengeance. + +Then we were led through long passages, till finally we emerged into the +gallery immediately in front of the great wooden doors of the apse. At +our approach these swung open and we entered it, Oros going first, then +Leo, then myself, and following us, the procession of attendant priests. + +As soon as our eyes became accustomed to the dazzling glare of the +flaming pillars, we saw that some great rite was in progress in the +temple, for in front of the divine statue of Motherhood, white-robed +and arranged in serried ranks, stood the company of the priests to +the number of over two hundred, and behind these the company of the +priestesses. Facing this congregation and a little in advance of the two +pillars of fire that flared on either side of the shrine, Ayesha herself +was seated in a raised chair so that she could be seen of all, while to +her right stood a similar chair of which I could guess the purpose. + +She was unveiled and gorgeously apparelled, though save for the white +beneath, her robes were those of a queen rather than of a priestess. +About her radiant brow ran a narrow band of gold, whence rose the head +of a hooded asp cut out of a single, crimson jewel, beneath which in +endless profusion the glorious waving hair flowed down and around, +hiding even the folds of her purple cloak. + +This cloak, opening in front, revealed an undertunic of white silk cut +low upon her bosom and kept in place by a golden girdle, a double-headed +snake, so like to that which She had worn in Kor that it might have been +the same. Her naked arms were bare of ornament, and in her right hand +she held the jewelled sistrum set with its gems and bells. + +No empress could have looked more royal and no woman was ever half so +lovely, for to Ayesha's human beauty was added a spiritual glory, +her heritage alone. Seeing her we could see naught else. The rhythmic +movement of the bodies of the worshippers, the rolling grandeur of their +chant of welcome echoed from the mighty roof, the fearful torches of +living flame; all these things were lost on us. For there re-born, +enthroned, her arms stretched out in gracious welcome, sat that perfect +and immortal woman, the appointed bride of one of us, the friend and +lady of the other, her divine presence breathing power, mystery and +love. + +On we marched between the ranks of hierophants, till Oros and the +priests left us and we stood alone face to face with Ayesha. Now she +lifted her sceptre and the chant ceased. In the midst of the following +silence, she rose from her seat and gliding down its steps, came to +where Leo stood and touched him on the forehead with her sistrum, crying +in a loud, sweet voice--"Behold the Chosen of the Hesea!" whereon all +that audience echoed in a shout of thunder--"Welcome to the Chosen of +the Hesea!" + +Then while the echoes of that glad cry yet rang round the rocky walls, +Ayesha motioned to me to stand at her side, and taking Leo by the hand +drew him towards her, so that now he faced the white-robed company. +Holding him thus she began to speak in clear and silvery tones. + +"Priests and priestesses of Hes, servants with her of the Mother of the +world, hear me. Now for the first time I appear among you as _I_ am, you +who heretofore have looked but on a hooded shape, not knowing its form +or fashion. Learn now the reason that I draw my veil. Ye see this man, +whom ye believed a stranger that with his companion had wandered to +our shrine. I tell you that he is no stranger; that of old, in lives +forgotten, he was my lord who now comes to seek his love again. Say, is +it not so, Kallikrates?" + +"It is so," answered Leo. + +"Priests and priestesses of Hes, as ye know, from the beginning it has +been the right and custom of her who holds my place to choose one to be +her lord. Is it not so?" + +"It is so, O Hes," they answered. + +She paused a while, then with a gesture of infinite sweetness turned to +Leo, bent towards him thrice and slowly sank upon her knee. + +"Say thou," Ayesha said, looking up at him with her wondrous eyes, "say +before these here gathered, and all those witnesses whom thou canst not +see, dost thou again accept me as thy affianced bride?" + +"Aye, Lady," he answered, in a deep but shaken voice, "now and for +ever." + +Then while all watched, in the midst of a great silence, Ayesha rose, +cast down her sistrum sceptre that rang upon the rocky floor, and +stretched out her arms towards him. + +Leo also bent towards her, and would have kissed her upon the lips. But +I who watched, saw his face grow white as it drew near to hers. While +the radiance crept from her brow to his, turning his bright hair to +gold, I saw also that this strong man trembled like a reed and seemed as +though he were about to fall. + +I think that Ayesha noted it too, for ere ever their lips met, she +thrust him from her and again that grey mist of fear gathered on her +face. + +In an instant it passed. She had slipped from him and with her hand held +his hand as though to support him. Thus they stood till his feet grew +firm and his strength returned. + +Oros restored the sceptre to her, and lifting it she said--"O love and +lord, take thou the place prepared for thee, where thou shalt sit for +ever at my side, for with myself I give thee more than thou canst know +or than I will tell thee now. Mount thy throne, O Affianced of Hes, and +receive the worship of thy priests." + +"Nay," he answered with a start as that word fell upon his ears. "Here +and now I say it once and for all. I am but a man who know nothing of +strange gods, their attributes and ceremonials. None shall bow the knee +to me and on earth, Ayesha, I bow mine to thee alone." + +Now at this bold speech some of those who heard it looked astonished and +whispered to each other, while a voice called--"Beware, thou Chosen, of +the anger of the Mother!" + +Again for a moment Ayesha looked afraid, then with a little laugh, swept +the thing aside, saying--"Surely with that I should be content. For me, +O Love, thy adoration for thee the betrothal song, no more." + +So having no choice Leo mounted the throne, where notwithstanding his +splendid presence, enhanced as it was by those glittering robes, he +looked ill enough at ease, as indeed must any man of his faith and +race. Happily however, if some act of semi-idolatrous homage had been +proposed, Ayesha found a means to prevent its celebration, and soon all +such matters were forgotten both by the singers who sang, and us who +listened to the majestic chant that followed. + +Of its words unfortunately we were able to understand but little, both +because of the volume of sound and of the secret, priestly language in +which it was given, though its general purport could not be mistaken. + +The female voices began it, singing very low, and conveying a strange +impression of time and distance. Now followed bursts of gladness +alternating with melancholy chords suggesting sighs and tears and +sorrows long endured, and at the end a joyous, triumphant paean thrown +to and fro between the men and women singers, terminating in one +united chorus repeated again and again, louder and yet louder, till it +culminated in a veritable crash of melody, then of a sudden ceased. + +Ayesha rose and waved her sceptre, whereon all the company bowed thrice, +then turned and breaking into some sweet, low chant that sounded like a +lullaby, marched, rank after rank, across the width of the Sanctuary and +through the carven doors which closed behind the last of them. + +When all had gone, leaving us alone, save for the priest Oros and the +priestess Papave, who remained in attendance on their mistress, Ayesha, +who sat gazing before her with dreaming, empty eyes, seemed to awake, +for she rose and said--"A noble chant, is it not, and an ancient? It was +the wedding song of the feast of Isis and Osiris at Behbit in Egypt, and +there I heard it before ever I saw the darksome Caves of Kor. Often have +I observed, my Holly, that music lingers longer than aught else in this +changeful world, though it is rare that the very words should remain +unvaried. Come, beloved--tell me, by what name shall I call thee? Thou +art Kallikrates and yet----" + +"Call me Leo, Ayesha," he answered, "as I was christened in the only +life of which I have any knowledge. This Kallikrates seems to have been +an unlucky man, and the deeds he did, if in truth he was aught other +than a tool in the hand of destiny, have bred no good to the inheritors +of his body--or his spirit, whichever it may be--or to those women with +whom his life was intertwined. Call me Leo, then, for of Kallikrates I +have had enough since that night when I looked upon the last of him in +Kor." + +"Ah! I remember," she answered, "when thou sawest thyself lying in that +narrow bed, and I sang thee a song, did I not, of the past and of the +future? I can recall two lines of it; the rest I have forgotten-- + + "'Onward, never weary, clad with splendour for a robe! + Till accomplished be our fate, and the night is rushing down.' + +"Yes, my Leo, now indeed we are 'clad with splendour for a robe,' and +now our fate draws near to its accomplishment. Then perchance will come +the down-rushing of the night;" and she sighed, looked up tenderly and +said, "See, I am talking to thee in Arabic. Hast thou forgotten it?" + +"No." + +"Then let it be our tongue, for I love it best of all, who lisped it at +my mother's knee. Now leave me here alone awhile; I would think. Also," +she added thoughtfully, and speaking with a strange and impressive +inflexion of the voice, "there are some to whom I must give audience." + +So we went, all of us, supposing that Ayesha was about to receive a +deputation of the Chiefs of the Mountain Tribes who came to felicitate +her upon her betrothal. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE THIRD ORDEAL + +An hour, two hours passed, while we strove to rest in our sleeping +place, but could not, for some influence disturbed us. + +"Why does not Ayesha come?" asked Leo at length, pausing in his walk up +and down the room. "I want to see her again; I cannot bear to be apart +from her. I feel as though she were drawing me to her." + +"How can I tell you? Ask Oros; he is outside the door." + +So he went and asked him, but Oros only smiled, and answered that the +Hesea had not entered her chamber, so doubtless she must still remain in +the Sanctuary. + +"Then I am going to look for her. Come, Oros, and you too, Horace." + +Oros bowed, but declined, saying that he was bidden to bide at our door, +adding that we, "to whom all the paths were open," could return to the +Sanctuary if we thought well. + +"I do think well," replied Leo sharply. "Will you come, Horace, or shall +I go without you?" + +I hesitated. The Sanctuary was a public place, it is true, but Ayesha +had said that she desired to be alone there for awhile. Without more +words, however, Leo shrugged his shoulders and started. + +"You will never find your way," I said, and followed him. + +We went down the long passages that were dimly lighted with lamps and +came to the gallery. Here we found no lamps; still we groped our way +to the great wooden doors. They were shut, but Leo pushed upon them +impatiently, and one of them swung open a little, so that we could +squeeze ourselves between them. As we passed it closed noiselessly +behind us. + +Now we should have been in the Sanctuary, and in the full blaze of +those awful columns of living fire. But they were out, or we had strayed +elsewhere; at least the darkness was intense. We tried to work our way +back to the doors again, but could not. We were lost. + +More, something oppressed us; we did not dare to speak. We went on a few +paces and stopped, for we became aware that we were not alone. Indeed, +it seemed to me that we stood in the midst of a thronging multitude, +but not of men and women. Beings pressed about us; we could feel their +robes, yet could not touch them; we could feel their breath, but it was +_cold_. The air stirred all round us as they passed to and fro, passed +in endless numbers. It was as though we had entered a cathedral filled +with the vast congregation of all the dead who once had worshipped +there. We grew afraid--my face was damp with fear, the hair stood up +upon my head. We seemed to have wandered into a hall of the Shades. + +At length light appeared far away, and we saw that it emanated from the +two pillars of fire which had burned on either side of the Shrine, that +of a sudden became luminous. So we were in the Sanctuary, and still +near to the doors. Now those pillars were not bright; they were low +and lurid; the rays from them scarcely reached us standing in the dense +shadow. + +But if we could not be seen in them we still could see. Look! Yonder sat +Ayesha on a throne, and oh! she was awful in her death-like majesty. +The blue light of the sunken columns played upon her, and in it she +sat erect, with such a face and mien of pride as no human creature ever +wore. Power seemed to flow from her; yes, it flowed from those wide-set, +glittering eyes like light from jewels. + +She seemed a Queen of Death receiving homage from the dead. More, she +_was_ receiving homage from dead or living--I know not which--for, as I +thought it, a shadowy Shape arose before the throne and bent the knee to +her, then another, and another, and another. + +As each vague Being appeared and bowed its starry head she raised her +sceptre in answering salutation. We could hear the distant tinkle of the +sistrum bells, the only sound in all that place, yes, and see her +lips move, though no whisper reached us from them. Surely spirits were +worshipping her! + +We gripped each other. We shrank back and found the door. It gave to +our push. Now we were in the passages again, and now we had reached our +room. + +At its entrance Oros was standing as we had left him. He greeted us with +his fixed smile, taking no note of the terror written on our faces. We +passed him, and entering the room stared at each other. + +"What is she?" gasped Leo. "An angel?" + +"Yes," I answered, "something of that sort." But to myself I thought +that there are doubtless many kinds of angels. + +"And what were those--those _shadows_--doing?" he asked again. + +"Welcoming her after her transformation, I suppose. But perhaps they +were not shadows--only priests disguised and conducting some secret +ceremonial!" + +Leo shrugged his shoulders but made no other answer. + +At length the door opened, and Oros, entering, said that the Hesea +commanded our presence in her chamber. + +So, still oppressed with fear and wonder--for what we had seen was +perhaps more dreadful than anything that had gone before--we went, to +find Ayesha seated and looking somewhat weary, but otherwise unchanged. +With her was the priestess Papave, who had just unrobed her of the royal +mantle which she wore in the Sanctuary. + +Ayesha beckoned Leo to her, taking his hand and searching his face with +her eyes, not without anxiety as I thought. + +Now I turned, purposing to leave them alone, but she saw, and said to +me, smiling--"Why wouldst thou forsake us, Holly? To go back to the +Sanctuary once more?" and she looked at me with meaning in her glance. +"Hast thou questions to ask of the statue of the Mother yonder that thou +lovest the place so much? They say it speaks, telling of the future to +those who dare to kneel beside it uncompanioned from night till dawn. +Yet I have often done so, but to me it has never spoken, though none +long to learn the future more." + +I made no answer, nor did she seem to expect any, for she went on at +once--"Nay, bide here and let us have done with all sad and solemn +thoughts. We three will sup together as of old, and for awhile forget +our fears and cares, and be happy as children who know not sin and +death, or that change which is death indeed. Oros, await my lord +without. Papave, I will call thee later to disrobe me. Till then let +none disturb us." + +The room that Ayesha inhabited was not very large, as we saw by the +hanging lamps with which it was lighted. It was plainly though richly +furnished, the rock walls being covered with tapestries, and the tables +and chairs inlaid with silver, but the only token that here a woman had +her home was that about it stood several bowls of flowers. One of these, +I remember, was filled with the delicate harebells I had admired, dug up +roots and all, and set in moss. + +"A poor place," said Ayesha, "yet better than that in which I dwelt +those two thousand years awaiting thy coming, Leo, for, see, beyond +it is a garden, wherein I sit," and she sank down upon a couch by the +table, motioning to us to take our places opposite to her. + +The meal was simple; for us, eggs boiled hard and cold venison; for her, +milk, some little cakes of flour, and mountain berries. + +Presently Leo rose and threw off his gorgeous, purple-broidered robe, +which he still wore, and cast upon a chair the crook-headed sceptre +that Oros had again thrust into his hand. Ayesha smiled as he did so, +saying--"It would seem that thou holdest these sacred emblems in but +small respect." + +"Very small," he answered. "Thou heardest my words in the Sanctuary, +Ayesha, so let us make a pact. Thy religion I do not understand, but I +understand my own, and not even for thy sake will I take part in what I +hold to be idolatry." + +Now I thought that she would be angered by this plain speaking, but she +only bowed her head and answered meekly--"Thy will is mine, Leo, though +it will not be easy always to explain thy absence from the ceremonies in +the temple. Yet thou hast a right to thine own faith, which doubtless is +mine also." + +"How can that be?" he asked, looking up. + +"Because all great Faiths are the same, changed a little to suit the +needs of passing times and peoples. What taught that of Egypt, which, +in a fashion, we still follow here? That hidden in a multitude of +manifestations, one Power great and good, rules all the universes: that +the holy shall inherit a life eternal and the vile, eternal death: that +men shall be shaped and judged by their own hearts and deeds, and here +and hereafter drink of the cup which they have brewed: that their real +home is not on earth, but beyond the earth, where all riddles shall be +answered and all sorrows cease. Say, dost thou believe these things, as +I do?" + +"Aye, Ayesha, but Hes or Isis is thy goddess, for hast thou not told +us tales of thy dealings with her in the past, and did we not hear thee +make thy prayer to her? Who, then, is this goddess Hes?" + +"Know, Leo, that she is what I named her--Nature's soul, no divinity, +but the secret spirit of the world; that universal Motherhood, whose +symbol thou hast seen yonder, and in whose mysteries lie hid all earthly +life and knowledge." + +"Does, then, this merciful Motherhood follow her votaries with death +and evil, as thou sayest she has followed thee for thy disobedience, and +me--and another--because of some unnatural vows broken long ago?" Leo +asked quietly. + +Resting her arm upon the table, Ayesha looked at him with sombre eyes +and answered--"In that Faith of thine of which thou speakest are there +perchance two gods, each having many ministers: a god of good and a god +of evil, an Osiris and a Set?" + +He nodded. + +"I thought it. And the god of ill is strong, is he not, and can put +on the shape of good? Tell me, then, Leo, in the world that is to-day, +whereof I know so little, hast thou ever heard of frail souls who for +some earthly bribe have sold themselves to that evil one, or to his +minister, and been paid their price in bitterness and anguish?" + +"All wicked folk do as much in this form or in that," he answered. + +"And if once there lived a woman who was mad with the thirst for beauty, +for life, for wisdom, and for love, might she not--oh! might she not +perchance----" + +"Sell herself to the god called Set, or one of his angels? Ayesha, +dost thou mean"--and Leo rose, speaking in a voice that was full of +fear--"that thou art such a woman?" + +"And if so?" she asked, also rising and drawing slowly near to him. + +"If so," he answered hoarsely, "if so, I think that perhaps we had best +fulfil our fates apart----" + +"Ah!" she said, with a little scream of pain as though a knife had +stabbed her, "wouldst thou away to Atene? I tell thee that thou canst +not leave me. I have power--above all men thou shouldst know it, whom +once I slew. Nay, thou hast no memory, poor creature of a breath, and +I--I remember too well. I will not hold thee dead again--I'll hold +thee living. Look now on my beauty, Leo"--and she bent her swaying +form towards him, compelling him with her glorious, alluring eyes--"and +begone if thou canst. Why, thou drawest nearer to me. Man, that is not +the path of flight. + +"Nay, I will not tempt thee with these common lures. Go, Leo, if thou +wilt. Go, my love, and leave me to my loneliness and my sin. Now--at +once. Atene will shelter thee till spring, when thou canst cross the +mountains and return to thine own world again, and to those things of +common life which are thy joy. See, Leo, I veil myself that thou mayest +not be tempted," and she flung the corner of her cloak about her head, +then asked a sudden question through it--"Didst thou not but now return +to the Sanctuary with Holly after I bade thee leave me there alone? +Methought I saw the two of you standing by its doors." + +"Yes, we came to seek thee," he answered. + +"And found more than ye sought, as often chances to the bold--is it not +so? Well, I willed that ye should come and see, and protected you where +others might have died." + +"What didst thou there upon the throne, and whose were those forms which +we saw bending before thee?" he asked coldly. + +"I have ruled in many shapes and lands, Leo. Perchance they were ancient +companions and servitors of mine come to greet me once again and to hear +my tidings. Or perchance they were but shadows of thy brain, pictures +like those upon the fire, that it pleased me to summon to thy sight, to +try thy strength and constancy. + +"Leo Vincey, know now the truth; that all things are illusions, even +that there exists no future and no past, that what has been and what +shall be already _is_ eternally. Know that I, Ayesha, am but a magic +wraith, foul when thou seest me foul, fair when thou seest me fair; a +spirit-bubble reflecting a thousand lights in the sunshine of thy smile, +grey as dust and gone in the shadow of thy frown. Think of the throned +Queen before whom the shadowy Powers bowed and worship, for that is I. +Think of the hideous, withered Thing thou sawest naked on the rock, and +flee away, for that is I. Or keep me lovely, and adore, knowing all evil +centred in my spirit, for that is I. Now, Leo, thou hast the truth. Put +me from thee for ever and for ever if thou wilt, and be safe; or clasp +me, clasp me to thy heart, and in payment for my lips and love take my +sin upon thy head! Nay, Holly, be thou silent, for now he must judge +alone." + +Leo turned, as I thought, at first, to find the door. But it was not so, +for he did but walk up and down the room awhile. Then he came back to +where Ayesha stood, and spoke quite simply and in a very quiet voice, +such as men of his nature often assume in moments of great emotion. + +"Ayesha," he said, "when I saw thee as thou wast, aged and--thou knowest +how--I clung to thee. Now, when thou hast told me the secret of this +unholy pact of thine, when with my eyes, at least, I have seen thee +reigning a mistress of spirits good or ill, yet I cling to thee. Let thy +sin, great or little--whate'er it is--be my sin also. In truth, I feel +its weight sink to my soul and become a part of me, and although I have +no vision or power of prophecy, I am sure that I shall not escape its +punishment. Well, though I be innocent, let me bear it for thy sake. I +am content." + +Ayesha heard, the cloak slipped from her head, and for a moment she +stood silent like one amazed, then burst into a passion of sudden tears. +Down she went before him, and clinging to his garments, she bowed her +stately shape until her forehead touched the ground. Yes, that proud +being, who was more than mortal, whose nostrils but now had drunk the +incense of the homage of ghosts or spirits, humbled herself at this +man's feet. + +With an exclamation of horror, half-maddened at the piteous sight, Leo +sprang to one side, then stooping, lifted and led her still weeping to +the couch. + +"Thou knowest not what thou hast done," Ayesha said at last. "Let all +thou sawest on the Mountain's crest or in the Sanctuary be but visions +of the night; let that tale of an offended goddess be a parable, a +fable, if thou wilt. This at least is true, that ages since I sinned for +thee and against thee and another; that ages since I bought beauty and +life indefinite wherewith I might win thee and endow thee at a cost +which few would dare; that I have paid interest on the debt, in mockery, +utter loneliness, and daily pain which scarce could be endured, until +the bond fell due at last and must be satisfied. + +"Yes, how I may not tell thee, thou and thou alone stoodst between me +and the full discharge of this most dreadful debt--for know that in +mercy it is given to us to redeem one another." + +Now he would have spoken, but with a motion of her hand she bade him be +silent, and continued--"See now, Leo, three great dangers has thy +body passed of late upon its journey to my side; the Death-hounds, +the Mountains, and the Precipice. Know that these were but types and +ordained foreshadowings of the last threefold trial of thy soul. From +the pursuing passions of Atene which must have undone us both, thou hast +escaped victorious. Thou hast endured the desert loneliness of the +sands and snows starving for a comfort that never came. Even when the +avalanche thundered round thee thy faith stood fast as it stood above +the Pit of flame, while after bitter years of doubt a rushing flood +of horror swallowed up thy hopes. As thou didst descend the glacier's +steep, not knowing what lay beneath that fearful path, so but now and of +thine own choice, for very love of me, thou hast plunged headlong into +an abyss that is deeper far, to share its terrors with my spirit. Dost +thou understand at last?" + +"Something, not all, I think," he answered slowly. + +"Surely thou art wrapped in a double veil of blindness," she cried +impatiently. "Listen again: + +"Hadst thou yielded to Nature's crying and rejected me but yesterday, +in that foul shape I must perchance have lingered for uncounted time, +playing the poor part of priestess of a forgotten faith. This was the +first temptation, the ordeal of thy flesh--nay, not the first--the +second, for Atene and her lurings were the first. But thou wast loyal, +and in the magic of thy conquering love my beauty and my womanhood were +re-born. + +"Hadst thou rejected me to-night, when, as I was bidden to do, I showed +thee that vision in the Sanctuary and confessed to thee my soul's black +crime, then hopeless and helpless, unshielded by my earthly power, I +must have wandered on into the deep and endless night of solitude. +This was the third appointed test, the trial of thy spirit, and by thy +steadfastness, Leo, thou hast loosed the hand of Destiny from about my +throat. Now I am regenerate in thee--through thee may hope again for +some true life beyond, which thou shalt share. And yet, and yet, if thou +shouldst suffer, as well may chance----" + +"Then I suffer, and there's an end," broke in Leo serenely. "Save for +a few things my mind is clear, and there must be justice for us all at +last. If I have broken the bond that bound thee, if I have freed thee +from some threatening, spiritual ill by taking a risk upon my head, +well, I have not lived, and if need be, shall not die in vain. So let us +have done with all these problems, or rather first answer thou me one. +Ayesha, how wast thou changed upon that peak?" + +"In flame I left thee, Leo, and in flame I did return, as in flame, +mayhap, we shall both depart. Or perhaps the change was in the eyes of +all of you who watched, and not in this shape of mine. I have answered. +Seek to learn no more." + +"One thing I do still seek to learn. Ayesha, we were betrothed to-night. +When wilt thou marry me?" + +"Not yet, not yet," she answered hurriedly, her voice quivering as she +spoke. "Leo, thou must put that hope from thy thoughts awhile, and for +some few months, a year perchance, be content to play the part of friend +and lover." + +"Why so?" he asked, with bitter disappointment. "Ayesha, those parts +have been mine for many a day; more, I grow no younger, and, unlike +thee, shall soon be old. Also, life is fleeting, and sometimes I think +that I near its end." + +"Speak no such evil-omened words," she said, springing from the couch +and stamping her sandalled foot upon the ground in anger born of fear. +"Yet thou sayest truth; thou art unfortified against the accidents of +time and chance. Oh! horrible, horrible; thou mightest die again, and +leave me living." + +"Then give me of thy life, Ayesha." + +"That would I gladly, all of it, couldst thou but repay me with the boon +of death to come. + +"Oh! ye poor mortals," she went on, with a sudden burst of passion; "ye +beseech your gods for the gift of many years, being ignorant that ye +would sow a seed within your breasts whence ye must garner ten thousand +miseries. Know ye not that this world is indeed the wide house of hell, +in whose chambers from time to time the spirit tarries a little while, +then, weary and aghast, speeds wailing to the peace that it has won. + +"Think then what it is to live on here eternally and yet be human; to +age in soul and see our beloved die and pass to lands whither we may +not hope to follow; to wait while drop by drop the curse of the long +centuries falls upon our imperishable being, like water slow dripping on +a diamond that it cannot wear, till they be born anew forgetful of us, +and again sink from our helpless arms into the void unknowable. + +"Think what it is to see the sins we sin, the tempting look, the word +idle or unkind--aye, even the selfish thought or struggle, multiplied +ten thousandfold and more eternal than ourselves, spring up upon the +universal bosom of the earth to be the bane of a million destinies, +whilst the everlasting Finger writes its endless count, and a cold +voice of Justice cries in our conscience-haunted solitude, 'Oh! soul +unshriven, behold the ripening harvest thy wanton hand did scatter, and +long in vain for the waters of forgetfulness.' + +"Think what it is to have every earthly wisdom, yet to burn unsatisfied +for the deeper and forbidden draught; to gather up all wealth and power +and let them slip again, like children weary of a painted toy; to sweep +the harp of fame, and, maddened by its jangling music, to stamp it small +beneath our feet; to snatch at pleasure's goblet and find its wine is +sand, and at length, outworn, to cast us down and pray the pitiless gods +with whose stolen garment we have wrapped ourselves, to take it back +again, and suffer us to slink naked to the grave. + +"Such is the life thou askest, Leo. Say, wilt thou have it now?" + +"If it may be shared with thee," he answered. "These woes are born of +loneliness, but then our perfect fellowship would turn them into joy." + +"Aye," she said, "while it was permitted to endure. So be it, Leo. In +the spring, when the snows melt, we will journey together to Libya, and +there thou shalt be bathed in the Fount of Life, that forbidden Essence +of which once thou didst fear to drink. Afterwards I will wed thee." + +"That place is closed for ever, Ayesha." + +"Not to my feet and thine," she answered. "Fear not, my love, were this +mountain heaped thereon, I would blast a path through it with mine eyes +and lay its secret bare. Oh! would that thou wast as I am, for then +before tomorrow's sun we'd watch the rolling pillar thunder by, and thou +shouldst taste its glory. + +"But it may not be. Hunger or cold can starve thee, and waters drown; +swords can slay thee, or sickness sap away thy strength. Had it not been +for the false Atene, who disobeyed my words, as it was foredoomed +that she should do, by this day we were across the mountains, or had +travelled northward through the frozen desert and the rivers. Now we +must await the melting of the snows, for winter is at hand, and in it, +as thou knowest, no man can live upon their heights." + +"Eight months till April before we can start, and how long to cross +the mountains and all the vast distances beyond, and the seas, and the +swamps of Kor? Why, at the best, Ayesha, two years must go by before we +can even find the place;" and he fell to entreating her to let them be +wed at once and journey afterwards. + +But she said, Nay, and nay, and nay, it should not be, till at length, +as though fearing his pleading, or that of her own heart, she rose and +dismissed us. + +"Ah! my Holly," she said to me as we three parted, "I promised thee and +myself some few hours of rest and of the happiness of quiet, and thou +seest how my desire has been fulfilled. Those old Egyptians were wont +to share their feasts with one grizzly skeleton, but here I counted four +to-night that you both could see, and they are named Fear, Suspense, +Foreboding, and Love-denied. Doubtless also, when these are buried +others will come to haunt us, and snatch the poor morsel from our lips. + +"So hath it ever been with me, whose feet misfortune dogs. Yet I hope +on, and now many a barrier lies behind us; and Leo, thou hast been +tried in the appointed, triple fires and yet proved true. Sweet be thy +slumbers, O my love, and sweeter still thy dreams, for know, my soul +shall share them. I vow to thee that to-morrow we'll be happy, aye, +to-morrow without fail." + +"Why will she not marry me at once?" asked Leo, when we were alone in +our chamber. "Because she is afraid," I answered. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +LEO AND THE LEOPARD + +During the weeks that followed these momentous days often and often I +wondered to myself whether a more truly wretched being had ever lived +than the woman, or the spirit, whom we knew as She, Hes, and Ayesha. +Whether in fact also, or in our imagination only, she had arisen from +the ashes of her hideous age into the full bloom of perpetual life and +beauty inconceivable. + +These things at least were certain: Ayesha had achieved the secret of +an existence so enduring that for all human purposes it might be called +unending. Within certain limitations--such as her utter inability to +foresee the future--undoubtedly also, she was endued with powers that +can only be described as supernatural. + +Her rule over the strange community amongst whom she lived was absolute; +indeed, its members regarded her as a goddess, and as such she was +worshipped. After marvellous adventures, the man who was her very life, +I might almost say her soul, whose being was so mysteriously intertwined +with hers, whom she loved also with the intensest human passion of which +woman can be capable, had sought her out in this hidden corner of the +world. + +More, thrice he had proved his unalterable fidelity to her. First, +by his rejection of the royal and beautiful, if undisciplined, Atene. +Secondly, by clinging to Ayesha when she seemed to be repulsive to every +natural sense. Thirdly, after that homage scene in the Sanctuary--though +with her unutterable perfections before his eyes this did not appear to +be so wonderful--by steadfastness in the face of her terrible avowal, +true or false, that she had won her gifts and him through some +dim, unholy pact with the powers of evil, in the unknown fruits +and consequences of which he must be involved as the price of her +possession. + +Yet Ayesha was miserable. Even in her lightest moods it was clear to +me that those skeletons at the feast of which she had spoken were her +continual companions. Indeed, when we were alone she would acknowledge +it in dark hints and veiled allegories or allusions. Crushed though her +rival the Khania Atene might be, also she was still jealous of her. + +Perhaps "afraid" would be a better word, for some instinct seemed to +warn Ayesha that soon or late her hour would come to Atene again, and +that then it would be her own turn to drink of the bitter waters of +despair. + +What troubled her more a thousandfold, however, were her fears for Leo. +As may well be understood, to stand in his intimate relationship to this +half divine and marvellous being, and yet not to be allowed so much as +to touch her lips, did not conduce to his physical or mental well-being, +especially as he knew that the wall of separation must not be climbed +for at least two years. Little wonder that Leo lost appetite, grew thin +and pale, and could not sleep, or that he implored her continually to +rescind her decree and marry him. + +But on this point Ayesha was immovable. Instigated thereto by Leo, and +I may add my own curiosity, when we were alone I questioned her again +as to the reasons of this self-denying ordinance. All she would tell me, +however, was that between them rose the barrier of Leo's mortality, and +that until his physical being had been impregnated with the mysterious +virtue of the Vapour of Life, it was not wise that she should take him +as a husband. + +I asked her why, seeing that though a long-lived one, she was still a +woman, whereon her face assumed a calm but terrifying smile, and she +answered--"Art so sure, my Holly? Tell me, do your women wear such +jewels as that set upon my brow?" and she pointed to the faint but +lambent light which glowed about her forehead. + +More, she began slowly to stroke her abundant hair, then her breast and +body. Wherever her fingers passed the mystic light was born, until in +that darkened room--for the dusk was gathering--she shimmered from head +to foot like the water of a phosphorescent sea, a being glorious yet +fearful to behold. Then she waved her hand, and, save for the gentle +radiance on her brow, became as she had been. + +"Art so sure, my Holly?" Ayesha repeated. "Nay, shrink not; that flame +will not burn thee. Mayhap thou didst but imagine it, as I have noted +thou dost imagine many things; for surely no woman could clothe herself +in light and live, nor has so much as the smell of fire passed upon my +garments." + +Then at length my patience was outworn, and I grew angry. + +"I am sure of nothing, Ayesha," I answered, "except that thou wilt make +us mad with all these tricks and changes. Say, art thou a spirit then?" + +"We are all spirits," she said reflectively, "and I, perhaps, more than +some. Who can be certain?" + +"Not I," I answered. "Yet I implore, woman or spirit, tell me one thing. +Tell me the truth. In the beginning what wast thou to Leo, and what was +he to thee?" + +She looked at me very solemnly and answered--"Does my memory deceive +me, Holly, or is it written in the first book of the Law of the Hebrews, +which once I used to study, that the sons of Heaven came down to the +daughters of men, and found that they were fair?" + +"It is so written," I answered. + +"Then, Holly, might it not have chanced that once a daughter of Heaven +came down to a man of Earth and loved him well? Might it not chance that +for her great sin, she, this high, fallen star, who had befouled her +immortal state for him, was doomed to suffer till at length his love, +made divine by pain and faithful even to a memory, was permitted to +redeem her?" + +Now at length I saw light and sprang up eagerly, but in a cold voice she +added: + +"Nay, Holly, cease to question me, for there are things of which I can +but speak to thee in figures and in parables, not to mock and bewilder +thee, but because I must. Interpret them as thou wilt. Still, Atene +thought me no mortal, since she told us that man and spirit may not +mate; and there are matters in which I let her judgment weigh with me, +as without doubt now, as in other lives, she and that old Shaman, her +uncle, have wisdom, aye, and foresight. So bid my lord press me no more +to wed him, for it gives me pain to say him nay--ah! thou knowest not +how much. + +"Moreover, I will declare myself to thee, old friend; whatever else +I be, at least I am too womanly to listen to the pleadings of my best +beloved and not myself be moved. See, I have set a curb upon desire +and drawn it until my heart bleeds; but if he pursues me with continual +words and looks of burning love, who knoweth but that I shall kindle in +his flame and throw the reins of reason to the winds? + +"Oh, then together we might race adown our passions' steep; together +dare the torrent that rages at its foot, and there perchance be whelmed +or torn asunder. Nay, nay, another space of journeying, but a little +space, and we reach the bridge my wisdom found, and cross it safely, and +beyond for ever ride on at ease through the happy meadows of our love." + +Then she was silent, nor would she speak more upon the matter. Also--and +this was the worst of it--even now I was not sure that she told me the +truth, or, at any rate, all of it, for to Ayesha's mind truth seemed +many coloured as are the rays of light thrown from the different faces +of a cut jewel. We never could be certain which shade of it she was +pleased to present, who, whether by preference or of necessity, as +she herself had said, spoke of such secrets in figures of speech and +parables. + +It is a fact that to this hour I do not know whether Ayesha is spirit +or woman, or, as I suspect, a blend of both. I do not know the limits of +her powers, or if that elaborate story of the beginning of her love for +Leo was true--which personally I doubt--or but a fable, invented by her +mind, and through it, as she had hinted, pictured on the flame for her +own hidden purposes. + +I do not know whether when first we saw her on the Mountain she was +really old and hideous, or did but put on that shape in our eyes in +order to test her lover. I do not know whether, as the priest Oros bore +witness--which he may well have been bidden to do--her spirit passed +into the body of the dead priestess of Hes, or whether when she +seemed to perish there so miserably, her body and her soul were wafted +straightway from the Caves of Kor to this Central Asian peak. + +I do not know why, as she was so powerful, she did not come to seek us, +instead of leaving us to seek her through so many weary years, though I +suggest that some superior force forbade her to do more than companion +us unseen, watching our every act, reading our every thought, until at +length we reached the predestined place and hour. Also, as will appear, +there were other things of which this is not the time to speak, whereby +I am still more tortured and perplexed. + +In short, I know nothing, except that my existence has been intertangled +with one of the great mysteries of the world; that the glorious being +called Ayesha won the secret of life from whatever power holds it in its +keeping; that she alleged--although of this, remember, we have no actual +proof--such life was to be attained by bathing in a certain emanation, +vapour or essence; that she was possessed by a passion not easy to +understand, but terrific in its force and immortal in its nature, +concentrated upon one other being and one alone. That through this +passion also some angry fate smote her again, again, and yet again, +making of her countless days a burden, and leading the power and the +wisdom which knew all but could foreknow nothing, into abysses of +anguish, suspense, and disappointment such as--Heaven be thanked!--we +common men and women are not called upon to plumb. + +For the rest, should human eyes ever fall upon it, each reader must +form his own opinion of this history, its true interpretation and +significance. These and the exact parts played by Atene and myself in +its development I hope to solve shortly, though not here. + +Well, as I have said, the upshot of it all was that Ayesha was devoured +with anxiety about Leo. Except in this matter of marriage, his every +wish was satisfied, and indeed forestalled. Thus he was never again +asked to share in any of the ceremonies of the Sanctuary, though, +indeed, stripped of its rites and spiritual symbols, the religion of +the College of Hes proved pure and harmless enough. It was but a diluted +version of the Osiris and Isis worship of old Egypt, from which it +had been inherited, mixed with the Central Asian belief in the +transmigration or reincarnation of souls and the possibility of drawing +near to the ultimate Godhead by holiness of thought and life. + +In fact, the head priestess and Oracle was only worshipped as a +representative of the Divinity, while the temporal aims of the College +in practice were confined to good works, although it is true that they +still sighed for their lost authority over the country of Kaloon. Thus +they had hospitals, and during the long and severe winters, when +the Tribes of the Mountain slopes were often driven to the verge of +starvation, gave liberally to the destitute from their stores of food. + +Leo liked to be with Ayesha continually, so we spent each evening in her +company, and much of the day also, until she found that this inactivity +told upon him who for years had been accustomed to endure every rigour +of climate in the open air. After this came home to her--although she +was always haunted by terror lest any accident should befall him--Ayesha +insisted upon his going out to kill the wild sheep and the ibex, which +lived in numbers on the mountain ridges, placing him in the charge of +the chiefs and huntsmen of the Tribes, with whom thus he became well +acquainted. In this exercise, however, I accompanied him but rarely, as, +if used too much, my arm still gave me pain. + +Once indeed such an accident did happen. I was seated in the garden +with Ayesha and watching her. Her head rested on her hand, and she was +looking with her wide eyes, across which the swift thoughts passed +like clouds over a windy sky, or dreams through the mind of a +sleeper--looking out vacantly towards the mountain snows. Seen thus her +loveliness was inexpressible, amazing; merely to gaze upon it was an +intoxication. Contemplating it, I understood indeed that, like to that +of the fabled Helen, this gift of hers alone--and it was but one of +many--must have caused infinite sorrows, had she ever been permitted to +display it to the world. It would have driven humanity to madness: the +men with longings and the women with jealousy and hate. + +And yet in what did her surpassing beauty lie? Ayesha's face and form +were perfect, it is true; but so are those of some other women. Not in +these then did it live alone, but rather, I think, especially while what +I may call her human moods were on her, in the soft mystery that dwelt +upon her features and gathered and changed in her splendid eyes. Some +such mystery may be seen, however faintly, on the faces of certain of +the masterpieces of the Greek sculptors, but Ayesha it clothed like +an ever-present atmosphere, suggesting a glory that was not of earth, +making her divine. + +As I gazed at her and wondered thus, of a sudden she became terribly +agitated, and, pointing to a shoulder of the Mountain miles and miles +away, said--"Look!" + +I looked, but saw nothing except a sheet of distant snow. + +"Blind fool, canst thou not see that my lord is in danger of his life?" +she cried. "Nay, I forgot, thou hast no vision. Take it now from me and +look again;" and laying her hand, from which a strange, numbing current +seemed to flow, upon my head, she muttered some swift words. + +Instantly my eyes were opened, and, not upon the distant Mountain, but +in the air before me as it were, I saw Leo rolling over and over at +grips with a great snow-leopard, whilst the chief and huntsmen with him +ran round and round, seeking an opportunity to pierce the savage brute +with their spears and yet leave him unharmed. + +Ayesha, rigid with terror, swayed to and fro at my side, till presently +the end came, for I could see Leo drive his long knife into the bowels +of the leopard, which at once grew limp, separated from him, and after +a struggle or two in the bloodstained snow, lay still. Then he rose, +laughing and pointing to his rent garments, whilst one of the huntsmen +came forward and began to bandage some wounds in his hands and thigh +with strips of linen torn from his under-robe. + +The vision vanished suddenly as it had come, and I felt Ayesha leaning +heavily upon my shoulder like any other frightened woman, and heard her +gasp--"That danger also has passed by, but how many are there to follow? +Oh! tormented heart, how long canst thou endure!" + +Then her wrath flamed up against the chief and his huntsmen, and +she summoned messengers and sent them out at speed with a litter and +ointments, bidding them to bear back the lord Leo and to bring his +companions to her very presence. + +"Thou seest what days are mine, my Holly, aye, and have been these many +years," she said; "but those hounds shall pay me for this agony." + +Nor would she suffer me to reason with her. + +Four hours later Leo returned, limping after the litter in which, +instead of himself, for whom it was sent, lay a mountain sheep and the +skin of the snow-leopard that he had placed there to save the huntsmen +the labour of carrying them. Ayesha was waiting for him in the hall of +her dwelling, and gliding to him--I cannot say she walked--overwhelmed +him with mingled solicitude and reproaches. He listened awhile, then +asked--"How dost thou know anything of this matter? The leopard skin has +not yet been brought to thee." + +"I know because I saw," she answered. "The worst hurt was above thy +knee; hast thou dressed it with the salve I sent?" + +"Not I," he said. "But thou hast not left this Sanctuary; how didst thou +see? By thy magic?" + +"If thou wilt, at least I saw, and Holly also saw thee rolling in the +snow with that fierce brute, while those curs ran round like scared +children." + +"I am weary of this magic," interrupted Leo crossly. "Cannot a man be +left alone for an hour even with a leopard of the mountain? As for those +brave men----" + +At this moment Oros entered and whispered something, bowing low. + +"As for those 'brave men,' I will deal with them," said Ayesha with +bitter emphasis, and covering herself--for she never appeared unveiled +to the people of the Mountain--she swept from the place. + +"Where has she gone, Horace?" asked Leo. "To one of her services in the +Sanctuary?" + +"I don't know," I answered; "but if so, I think it will be that chief's +burial service." + +"Will it?" he exclaimed, and instantly limped after her. + +A minute or two later I thought it wise to follow. In the Sanctuary a +curious scene was in progress. Ayesha was seated in front of the statue. +Before her, very much frightened, knelt a brawny, red-haired chieftain +and five of his followers, who still carried their hunting spears, while +with folded arms and an exceedingly grim look upon his face, Leo, who, +as I learned afterwards, had already interfered and been silenced, stood +upon one side listening to what passed. At a little distance behind were +a dozen or more of the temple guards, men armed with swords and picked +for their strength and stature. + +Ayesha, in her sweetest voice, was questioning the men as to how the +leopard, of which the skin lay before her, had come to attack Leo. The +chief answered that they had tracked the brute to its lair between two +rocks; that one of them had gone in and wounded it, whereon it sprang +upon him and struck him down; that then the lord Leo had engaged it +while the man escaped, and was also struck down, after which, rolling +with it on the ground, he stabbed and slew the animal. That was all. + +"No, not all," said Ayesha; "for you forget, cowards that you are, +that, keeping yourselves in safety, you left my lord to the fury of this +beast. Good. Drive them out on to the Mountain, there to perish also at +the fangs of beasts, and make it known that he who gives them food or +shelter dies." + +Offering no prayer for pity or excuse, the chief and his followers rose, +bowed, and turned to go. + +"Stay a moment, comrades," said Leo, "and, chief, give me your arm; +my scratch grows stiff; I cannot walk fast. We will finish this hunt +together." + +"What doest thou? Art mad?" asked Ayesha. + +"I know not whether I am mad," he answered, "but I know that thou +art wicked and unjust. Look now, than these hunters none braver ever +breathed. That man"--and he pointed to the one whom the leopard had +struck down--"took my place and went in before me because I ordered that +we should attack the creature, and thus was felled. As thou seest all, +thou mightest have seen this also. Then it sprang on me, and the rest of +these, my friends, ran round waiting a chance to strike, which at first +they could not do unless they would have killed me with it, since I +and the brute rolled over and over in the snow. As it was, one of them +seized it with his bare hands: look at the teeth marks on his arm. So if +they are to perish on the Mountain, I, who am the man to blame, perish +with them." + +Now, while the hunters looked at him with fervent gratitude in their +eyes, Ayesha thought a little, then said cleverly enough--"In truth, +my lord Leo, had I known all the tale, well mightest thou have named +me wicked and unjust; but I knew only what I saw, and out of their own +mouths did I condemn them. My servants, my lord here has pleaded for +you, and you are forgiven; more, he who rushed in upon the leopard and +he who seized it with his hands shall be rewarded and advanced. Go; but +I warn you if you suffer my lord to come into more danger, you shall not +escape so easily again." + +So they bowed and went, still blessing Leo with their eyes, since +death by exposure on the Mountain snows was the most terrible form of +punishment known to these people, and one only inflicted by the direct +order of Hes upon murderers or other great criminals. + +When we had left the Sanctuary and were alone again in the hall, the +storm that I had seen gathering upon Leo's face broke in earnest. Ayesha +renewed her inquiries about his wounds, and wished to call Oros, the +physician, to dress them, and as he refused this, offered to do so +herself. He begged that she would leave his wounds alone, and then, his +great beard bristling with wrath, asked her solmenly if he was a child +in arms, a query so absurd that I could not help laughing. + +Then he scolded her--yes, he scolded Ayesha! Wishing to know what she +meant (1) by spying upon him with her magic, an evil gift that he had +always disliked and mistrusted; (2) by condemning brave and excellent +men, his good friends, to a death of fiendish cruelty upon such +evidence, or rather out of temper, on no evidence at all; and (3) by +giving him into charge of them, as though he were a little boy, and +telling them that they would have to answer for it if he were hurt: he +who, in his time, had killed every sort of big game known and passed +through some perils and encounters? + +Thus he beat her with his words, and, wonderful to say, Ayesha, this +being more than woman, submitted to the chastisement meekly. Yet had any +other man dared to address her with roughness even, I doubt not that his +speech and his life would have come to a swift and simultaneous end, +for I knew that now, as of old, she could slay by the mere effort of +her will. But she did not slay; she did not even threaten, only, as any +other loving woman might have done, she began to cry. Yes, great tears +gathered in those lovely eyes of hers and, rolling one by one down her +face, fell--for her head was bent humbly forward--like heavy raindrops +on the marble floor. + +At the sight of this touching evidence of her human, loving heart all +Leo's anger melted. Now it was he who grew penitent and prayed +her pardon humbly. She gave him her hand in token of forgiveness, +saying--"Let others speak to me as they will" (sorry should I have been +to try it!) "but from thee, Leo, I cannot bear harsh words. Oh, thou art +cruel, cruel. In what have I offended? Can I help it if my spirit keeps +its watch upon thee, as indeed, though thou knewest it not, it has done +ever since we parted yonder in the Place of Life? Can I help it if, like +some mother who sees her little child at play upon a mountain's edge, my +soul is torn with agony when I know thee in dangers that I am powerless +to prevent or share? What are the lives of a few half-wild huntsmen that +I should let them weigh for a single breath against thy safety, seeing +that if I slew these, others would be more careful of thee? Whereas if I +slay them not, they or their fellows may even lead thee into perils that +would bring about--thy _death_," and she gasped with horror at the word. + +"Listen, beloved," said Leo. "The life of the humblest of those men is +of as much value to him as mine is to me, and thou hast no more right to +kill him than thou hast to kill me. It is evil that because thou carest +for me thou shouldst suffer thy love to draw thee into cruelty and +crime. If thou art afraid for me, then clothe me with that immortality +of thine, which, although I dread it somewhat, holding it a thing +unholy, and, on this earth, not permitted by my Faith, I should still +rejoice to inherit for thy dear sake, knowing that then we could never +more be parted. Or, if as thou sayest, this as yet thou canst not do, +then let us be wed and take what fortune gives us. All men must die; +but at least before I die I shall have been happy with thee for a +while--yes, if only for a single hour." + +"Would that I dared," Ayesha answered with a little piteous motion of +her hand. "Oh! urge me no more, Leo, lest that at last I should take the +risk and lead thee down a dreadful road. Leo, hast thou never heard of +the love which slays, or of the poison that may lurk in a cup of joy too +perfect?" + +Then, as though she feared herself, Ayesha turned from him and fled. + +Thus this matter ended. In itself it was not a great one, for Leo's +hurts were mere scratches, and the hunters, instead of being killed, +were promoted to be members of his body-guard. Yet it told us many +things. For instance, that whenever she chose to do so, Ayesha had +the power of perceiving all Leo's movements from afar, and even of +communicating her strength of mental vision to others, although to help +him in any predicament she appeared to have no power, which, of course, +accounted for the hideous and ever-present might of her anxiety. + +Think what it would be to any one of us were we mysteriously acquainted +with every open danger, every risk of sickness, every secret peril +through which our best-beloved must pass. To see the rock trembling to +its fall and they loitering beneath it; to see them drink of water and +know it full of foulest poison; to see them embark upon a ship and be +aware that it was doomed to sink, but not to be able to warn them or to +prevent them. Surely no mortal brain could endure such constant terrors, +since hour by hour the arrows of death flit unseen and unheard past the +breasts of each of us, till at length one finds its home there. + +What then must Ayesha have suffered, watching with her spirit's eyes all +the hair-breadth escapes of our journeyings? When, for instance, in the +beginning she saw Leo at my house in Cumberland about to kill himself +in his madness and despair, and by some mighty effort of her superhuman +will, wrung from whatever Power it was that held her in its fearful +thraldom, the strength to hurl her soul across the world and thereby in +his sleep reveal to him the secret of the hiding-place where he would +find her. + +Or to take one more example out of many--when she saw him hanging by +that slender thread of yak's hide from the face of the waterfall of ice +and herself remained unable to save him, or even to look forward for +a single moment and learn whether or no he was about to meet a hideous +death, in which event she must live on alone until in some dim age he +was born again. + +Nor can her sorrows have ended with these more material fears, since +others as piercing must have haunted her. Imagine, for instance, the +agonies of her jealous heart when she knew her lover to be exposed to +the temptations incident to his solitary existence, and more especially +to those of her ancient rival Atene, who, by Ayesha's own account, had +once been his wife. Imagine also her fears lest time and human change +should do their natural work on him, so that by degrees the memory of +her wisdom and her strength, and the image of her loveliness faded from +his thought, and with them his desire for her company; thus leaving her +who had endured so long, forgotten and alone at last. + +Truly, the Power that limited our perceptions did so in purest mercy, +for were it otherwise with us, our race would go mad and perish raving +in its terrors. + +Thus it would seem that Ayesha, great tormented soul, thinking to win +life and love eternal and most glorious, was in truth but another blind +Pandora. From her stolen casket of beauty and super-human power had +leapt into her bosom, there to dwell unceasingly, a hundred torturing +demons, of whose wings mere mortal kind do but feel the far-off, icy +shadowing. + +Yes; and that the parallel might be complete, Hope alone still lingered +in that rifled chest. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +AYESHA'S ALCHEMY + +It was shortly after this incident of the snow-leopard that one of these +demon familiars of Ayesha's, her infinite ambition, made its formidable +appearance. When we had dined with her in the evening, Ayesha's habit +was to discuss plans for our mighty and unending future, that awful +inheritance which she had promised to us. + +Here I must explain, if I have not done so already, that she had +graciously informed me that notwithstanding my refusal in past years +of such a priceless opportunity, I also was to be allowed to bathe my +superannuated self in the vital fires, though in what guise I should +emerge from them, like Herodotus when he treats of the mysteries of old +Egypt, if she knew, she did not think it lawful to reveal. + +Secretly I hoped that my outward man might change for the better, as the +prospect of being fixed for ever in the shape of my present and somewhat +unpleasing personality, did not appeal to me as attractive. In truth, so +far as I was concerned, the matter had an academic rather than an actual +interest, such as we take in a fairy tale, since I did not believe that +I should ever put on this kind of immortality. Nor, I may add, now as +before, was I at all certain that I wished to do so. + +These plans of Ayesha's were far reaching and indeed terrific. +Her acquaintance with the modern world, its political and social +developments, was still strictly limited; for if she had the power to +follow its growth and activities, certainly it was one of which she made +no use. + +In practice her knowledge seemed to be confined to what she had gathered +during the few brief talks which took place between us upon this subject +in past time at Kor. Now her thirst for information proved insatiable, +although it is true that ours was scarcely up to date, seeing that ever +since we lost touch with the civilized peoples, namely, for the last +fifteen years or so, we had been as much buried as she was herself. + +Still we were able to describe to her the condition of the nations and +their affairs as they were at the period when we bade them farewell, +and, more or less incorrectly, to draw maps of the various countries and +their boundaries, over which she pondered long. + +The Chinese were the people in whom she proved to be most interested, +perhaps because she was acquainted with the Mongolian type, and like +ourselves, understood a good many of their dialects. Also she had a +motive for her studies, which one night she revealed to us in the most +matter-of-fact fashion. + +Those who have read the first part of her history, which I left in +England to be published, may remember that when we found her at Kor, +_She_ horrified us by expressing a determination to possess herself of +Great Britain, for the simple reason that we belonged to that country. +Now, however, like her powers, her ideas had grown, for she purposed to +make Leo the absolute monarch of the world. In vain did he assure her +most earnestly that he desired no such empire. She merely laughed at him +and said--"If I arise amidst the Peoples, I must rule the Peoples, for +how can Ayesha take a second place among mortal men? And thou, my Leo, +rulest me, yes, mark the truth, thou art my master! Therefore it is +plain that thou wilt be the master of this earth, aye, and perchance of +others which do not yet appear, for of these also I know something, and, +I think, can reach them if I will, though hitherto I have had no mind +that way. My true life has not yet begun. Its little space within this +world has been filled with thought and care for thee; in waiting till +thou wast born again, and during these last years of separation, until +thou didst return. + +"But now a few more months, and the days of preparation past, endowed +with energy eternal, with all the wisdom of the ages, and with a +strength that can bend the mountains or turn the ocean from its bed, +and we begin to be. Oh! how I sicken for that hour when first, like twin +stars new to the firmament of heaven, we break in our immortal splendour +upon the astonished sight of men. It will please me, I tell thee, +Leo, it will please me, to see Powers, Principalities and Dominions, +marshalled by their kings and governors, bow themselves before our +thrones and humbly crave the liberty to do our will. At least," she +added, "it will please me for a little time, until we seek higher +things." + +So she spoke, while the radiance upon her brow increased and spread +itself, gleaming above her like a golden fan, and her slumbrous eyes +took fire from it till, to my thought, they became glowing mirrors in +which I saw pomp enthroned and suppliant peoples pass. + +"And how," asked Leo, with something like a groan--for this vision of +universal rule viewed from afar did not seem to charm him--"how, Ayesha, +wilt thou bring these things about?" + +"How, my Leo? Why, easily enough. For many nights I have listened to +the wise discourses of our Holly here, at least he thinks them wise who +still has so much to learn, and pored over his crooked maps, comparing +them with those that are written in my memory, who of late have had +no time for the study of such little matters. Also I have weighed and +pondered your reports of the races of this world; their various follies, +their futile struggling for wealth and small supremacies, and I have +determined that it would be wise and kind to weld them to one whole, +setting ourselves at the head of them to direct their destinies, and +cause wars, sickness, and poverty to cease, so that these creatures of +a little day (ephemeridae was the word she used) may live happy from the +cradle to the grave. + +"Now, were it not because of thy strange shrinking from bloodshed, +however politic and needful--for my Leo, as yet thou art no true +philosopher--this were quickly done, since I can command a weapon which +would crush their armouries and whelm their navies in the deep; yes, I, +whom even the lightnings and Nature's elemental powers must obey. But +thou shrinkest from the sight of death, and thou believest that Heaven +would be displeased because I make myself--or am chosen--the instrument +of Heaven. Well, so let it be, for thy will is mine, and therefore we +will tread a gentler path." + +"And how wilt thou persuade the kings of the earth to place their crowns +upon thy head?" I asked, astonished. + +"By causing their peoples to offer them to us," she answered suavely. +"Oh! Holly, Holly, how narrow is thy mind, how strained the quality of +thine imagination! Set its poor gates ajar, I pray, and bethink thee. +When we appear among men, scattering gold to satisfy their want, clad +in terrifying power, in dazzling beauty and in immortality of days, will +they not cry, 'Be ye our monarchs and rule over us!'" + +"Perhaps," I answered dubiously, "but where wilt thou appear?" + +She took a map of the eastern hemisphere which I had drawn and, placing +her finger upon Pekin, said--"There is the place that shall be our home +for some few centuries, say three, or five, or seven, should it take so +long to shape this people to my liking and our purposes. I have +chosen these Chinese because thou tellest me that their numbers are +uncountable, that they are brave, subtle, and patient, and though now +powerless because ill-ruled and untaught, able with their multitudes to +flood the little western nations. Therefore among them we will begin our +reign and for some few ages be at rest while they learn wisdom from us, +and thou, my Holly, makest their armies unconquerable and givest their +land good government, wealth, peace, and a new religion." + +What the new religion was to be I did not ask. It seemed unnecessary, +since I was convinced that in practice it would prove a form of +Ayesha-worship, Indeed, my mind was so occupied with conjectures, some +of them quaint and absurd enough, as to what would happen at the first +appearance of Ayesha in China that I forgot this subsidiary development +of our future rule. + +"And if the 'little western nations' will not wait to be flooded?" +suggested Leo with irritation, for her contemptuous tone angered him, +one of a prominent western nation. "If they combine, for instance, and +attack thee first?" + +"Ah!" she said, with a flash of her eyes. "I have thought of it, and for +my part hope that it will chance, since then thou canst not blame me if +I put out my strength. Oh! then the East, that has slept so long, shall +awake--shall awake, and upon battlefield after battlefield such as +history cannot tell of, thou shalt see my flaming standards sweep on to +victory. One by one thou shalt watch the nations fall and perish, until +at length I build thy throne upon the hecatombs of their countless dead +and crown thee emperor of a world regenerate in blood and fire." + +Leo, whom this new gospel of regeneration seemed to appall, who was, +in fact, a hater of absolute monarchies and somewhat republican in his +views and sympathies, continued the argument, but I took no further +heed. The thing was grotesque in its tremendous and fantastic absurdity; +Ayesha's ambitions were such as no imperial-minded madman could +conceive. + +Yet--here came the rub--I had not the slightest doubt but that she was +well able to put them into practice and carry them to some marvellous +and awful conclusion. Why not? Death could not touch her; she had +triumphed over death. Her beauty--that "cup of madness" in her eyes, as +she named it once to me--and her reckless will would compel the hosts of +men to follow her. Her piercing intelligence would enable her to invent +new weapons with which the most highly-trained army could not possibly +compete. Indeed, it might be as she said, and as I for one believed, +with good reason, it proved, that she held at her command the elemental +forces of Nature, such as those that lie hid in electricity, which would +give all living beings to her for a prey. + +Ayesha was still woman enough to have worldly ambitions, and the most +dread circumstance about her superhuman powers was that they appeared to +be unrestrained by any responsibility to God or man. She was as we might +well imagine a fallen angel to be, if indeed, as she herself once hinted +and as Atene and the old Shaman believed, this were not her true place +in creation. By only two things that I was able to discover could she be +moved--her love for Leo and, in a very small degree, her friendship for +myself. + +Yet her devouring passion for this one man, inexplicable in its +endurance and intensity, would, I felt sure even then, in the future as +in the past, prove to be her heel of Achilles. When Ayesha was dipped in +the waters of Dominion and Deathlessness, this human love left her heart +mortal, that through it she might be rendered harmless as a child, who +otherwise would have devastated the universe. + +I was right. + +Whilst I was still indulging myself in these reflections and hoping +that Ayesha would not take the trouble to read them in my mind, I became +aware that Oros was bowing to the earth before her. + +"Thy business, priest?" she asked sharply; for when she was with Leo +Ayesha did not like to be disturbed. + +"Hes, the spies are returned." + +"Why didst thou send them out?" she asked indifferently. "What need have +I of thy spies?" + +"Hes, thou didst command me." + +"Well, their report?" + +"Hes, it is most grave. The people of Kaloon are desperate because of +the drought which has caused their crops to fail, so that starvation +stares them in the eyes, and this they lay to the charge of the +strangers who came into their land and fled to thee. The Khania Atene +also is mad with rage against thee and our holy College. Labouring night +and day, she has gathered two great armies, one of forty, and one of +twenty thousand men, and the latter of these she sends against the +Mountain under the command of her uncle, Simbri the Shaman. In case it +should be defeated she purposes to remain with the second and greater +army on the plains about Kaloon." + +"Tidings indeed," said Ayesha with a scornful laugh. "Has her hate +made this woman mad that she dares thus to match herself against me? My +Holly, it crossed thy mind but now that it was I who am mad, boasting +of what I have no power to perform. Well, within six days thou shalt +learn--oh! verily thou shalt learn, and, though the issue be so very +small, in such a fashion that thou wilt doubt no more for ever. Stay, +I will look, though the effort of it wearies me, for those spies may be +but victims to their own fears, or to the falsehoods of Atene." + +Then suddenly, as was common with her when thus Ayesha threw her sight +afar, which either from indolence, or because, as she said, it exhausted +her, she did but rarely, her lovely face grew rigid like that of a +person in a trance; the light faded from her brow, and the great pupils +of her eyes contracted themselves and lost their colour. + +In a little while, five minutes perhaps, she sighed like one awakening +from a deep sleep, passed her hand across her forehead and was as she +had been, though somewhat languid, as though strength had left her. + +"It is true enough," she said, "and soon I must be stirring lest many +of my people should be killed. My lord, wouldst thou see war? Nay, +thou shalt bide here in safety whilst I go forward--to visit Atene as I +promised." + +"Where thou goest, I go," said Leo angrily, his face flushing to the +roots of his hair with shame. + +"I pray thee not, I pray thee not," she answered, yet without venturing +to forbid him. "We will talk of it hereafter. Oros, away! Send round the +Fire of Hes to every chief. Three nights hence at the moonrise bid +the Tribes gather--nay, not all, twenty thousand of their best will be +enough, the rest shall stay to guard the Mountain and this Sanctuary. +Let them bring food with them for fifteen days. I join them at the +following dawn. Go." + +He bowed and went, whereon, dismissing the matter from her mind, Ayesha +began to question me again about the Chinese and their customs. + +It was in course of a somewhat similar conversation on the following +night, of which, however, I forget the exact details, that a remark of +Leo's led to another exhibition of Ayesha's marvellous powers. + +Leo--who had been considering her plans for conquest, and again +combating them as best he could, for they were entirely repugnant to his +religious, social and political views--said suddenly that after all they +must break down, since they would involve the expenditure of sums of +money so vast that even Ayesha herself would be unable to provide +them by any known methods of taxation. She looked at him and laughed a +little. + +"Verily, Leo," she said, "to thee, yes; and to Holly here I must seem as +some madcap girl blown to and fro by every wind of fancy, and building +me a palace wherein to dwell out of dew and vapours, or from the +substance of the sunset fires. Thinkest thou then that I would enter on +this war--one woman against all the world"--and as she spoke her shape +grew royal and in her awful eyes there came a look that chilled my +blood--"and make no preparation for its necessities? Why, since last we +spoke upon this matter, foreseeing all, I have considered in my mind, +and now thou shalt learn how, without cost to those we rule--and for +that reason alone shall they love us dearly--I will glut the treasuries +of the Empress of the Earth. + +"Dost remember, Leo, how in Kor I found but a single pleasure during all +those weary ages--that of forcing my mother Nature one by one to yield +me up her choicest secrets; I, who am a student of all things which are +and of the forces that cause them to be born. Now follow me, both of +you, and ye shall look on what mortal eyes have not yet beheld." + +"What are we to see?" I asked doubtfully, having a lively recollection +of Ayesha's powers as a chemist. + +"That thou shalt learn, or shalt not learn if it pleases thee to stay +behind. Come, Leo, my love, my love, and leave this wise philosopher +first to find his riddle and next to guess it." + +Then turning her back to me she smiled on him so sweetly that although +really he was more loth to go than I, Leo would have followed her +through a furnace door, as indeed, had he but known it, he was about to +do. + +So they started, and I accompanied them since with Ayesha it was +useless to indulge in any foolish pride, or to make oneself a victim to +consistency. Also I was anxious to see her new marvel, and did not care +to rely for an account of it upon Leo's descriptive skill, which at its +best was never more than moderate. + +She took us down passages that we had not passed before, to a door which +she signed to Leo to open. He obeyed, and from the cave within issued a +flood of light. As we guessed at once, the place was her laboratory, +for about it stood metal flasks and various strange-shaped instruments. +Moreover, there was a furnace in it, one of the best conceivable, for it +needed neither fuel nor stoking, whose gaseous fires, like those of the +twisted columns in the Sanctuary, sprang from the womb of the volcano +beneath our feet. + +When we entered two priests were at work there: one of them stirring a +cauldron with an iron rod and the other receiving its molten contents +into a mould of clay. They stopped to salute Ayesha, but she bade them +to continue their task, asking them if all went well. + +"Very well, O Hes," they answered; and we passed through that cave and +sundry doors and passages to a little chamber cut in the rock. There +was no lamp or flame of fire in it, and yet the place was filled with a +gentle light which seemed to flow from the opposing wall. + +"What were those priests doing?" I said, more to break the silence than +for any other reason. + +"Why waste breath upon foolish questions?" she replied. "Are no metals +smelted in thy country, O Holly? Now hadst thou sought to know what I am +doing--But that, without seeing, thou wouldst not believe, so, Doubter, +thou shalt see." + +Then she pointed to and bade us don, two strange garments that hung upon +the wall, made of a material which seemed to be half cloth and half wood +and having headpieces not unlike a diver's helmet. + +So under her directions Leo helped me into mine, lacing it up behind, +after which, or so I gathered from the sounds--for no light came through +the helmet--she did the same service for him. + +"I seem very much in the dark," I said presently; for now there was +silence again, and beneath this extinguisher I felt alarmed and wished +to be sure that I was not left alone. + +"Aye Holly," I heard Ayesha's mocking voice make answer, "in the dark, +as thou wast ever, the thick dark of ignorance and unbelief. Well, now, +as ever also, I will give thee light." As she spoke I heard something +roll back; I suppose that it must have been a stone door. + +Then, indeed, there was light, yes, even through the thicknesses of that +prepared garment, such light as seemed to blind me. By it I saw that the +wall opposite to us had opened and that we were all three of us, on the +threshold of another chamber. At the end of it stood something like +a little altar of hard, black stone, and on this altar lay a mass of +substance of the size of a child's head, but fashioned, I suppose from +fantasy, to the oblong shape of a human eye. + +Out of this eye there poured that blistering and intolerable light. It +was shut round by thick, funnel-shaped screens of a material that looked +like fire-brick, yet it pierced them as though they were but muslin. +More, the rays thus directed upwards struck full upon a lump of metal +held in place above them by a massive frame-work. + +And what rays they were! If all the cut diamonds of the world were +brought together and set beneath a mighty burning-glass, the light +flashed from them would not have been a thousandth part so brilliant. +They scorched my eyes and caused the skin of my face and limbs to smart, +yet Ayesha stood there unshielded from them. Aye, she even went down the +length of the room and, throwing back her veil, bent over them, as it +seemed a woman of molten steel in whose body the bones were visible, and +examined the mass that was supported by the hanging cradle. + +"It is ready and somewhat sooner than I thought," she said. Then as +though it were but a feather weight, she lifted the lump in her +bare hands and glided back with it to where we stood, laughing and +saying--"Tell me now, O thou well-read Holly, if thou hast ever heard of +a better alchemist than this poor priestess of a forgotten faith?" And +she thrust the glowing substance up almost to the mask that hid my face. + +Then I turned and ran, or rather waddled, for in that gear I could not +run, out of the chamber until the rock wall beyond stayed me, and there, +with my back towards her, thrust my helmeted head against it, for I felt +as though red-hot bradawls had been plunged into my eyes. So I stood +while she laughed and mocked behind me until at length I heard the door +close and the blessed darkness came like a gift from Heaven. + +Then Ayesha began to loose Leo from his ray-proof armour, if so it can +be called, and he in turn loosed me; and there in that gentle radiance +we stood blinking at each other like owls in the sunlight, while the +tears streamed down our faces. + +"Well, art satisfied, my Holly?" she asked. + +"Satisfied with what?" I answered angrily, for the smarting of my +eyes was unbearable. "Yes, with burnings and bedevilments I am well +satisfied." + +"And I also," grumbled Leo, who was swearing softly but continuously to +himself in the other corner of the place. + +But Ayesha only laughed, oh! she laughed until she seemed the goddess +of all merriment come to earth, laughed till she also wept, then +said--"Why, what ingratitude is this? Thou, my Leo, didst wish to see +the wonders that I work, and thou, O Holly, didst come unbidden after I +bade thee stay behind, and now both of you are rude and angry, aye, and +weeping like a child with a burnt finger. Here take this," and she gave +us some salve that stood upon a shelf, "and rub it on your eyes and the +smart will pass away." + +So we did, and the pain went from them, though, for hours afterwards, +mine remained red as blood. + +"And what are these wonders?" I asked her presently. "If thou meanest +that unbearable flame----" + +"Nay, I mean what is born of the flame, as, in thine ignorance thou dost +call that mighty agent. Look now;" and she pointed to the metallic lump +she had brought with her, which, still gleaming faintly, lay upon the +floor. "Nay, it has no heat. Thinkest thou that I would wish to burn my +tender hands and so make them unsightly? Touch it, Holly." + +But I would not, who thought to myself that Ayesha might be well +accustomed to the hottest fires, and feared her impish mischief. I +looked, however, long and earnestly. + +"Well, what is it, Holly?" + +"Gold," I said, then corrected myself and added, "Copper," for the dull, +red glow might have been that of either metal. + +"Nay, nay," she answered, "it is gold, pure gold." + +"The ore in this place must be rich," said Leo, incredulously, for I +would not speak any more. + +"Yes, my Leo, the iron ore is rich." + +"Iron ore?" and he looked at her. + +"Surely," she answered, "for from what mine do men dig out gold in such +great masses? Iron ore, beloved, that by my alchemy I change to gold, +which soon shall serve us in our need." + +Now Leo stared and I groaned, for I did not believe that it was gold, +and still less that she could make that metal. Then, reading my thought, +with one of those sudden changes of mood that were common to her, Ayesha +grew very angry. + +"By Nature's self!" she cried; "wert thou not my friend, Holly, the fool +whom it pleases me to cherish, I would bind that right hand of thine +in those secret rays till the very bones within it were turned to gold. +Nay, why should I be vexed with thee, who art both blind and deaf? +Yet thou _shalt_ be persuaded," and leaving us, she passed down the +passages, called something to the priests who were labouring in the +workshop, then returned to us. + +Presently they followed her, carrying on a kind of stretcher between +them an ingot of iron ore that seemed to be as much as they could lift. + +"Now," she said, "how wilt thou that I mark this mass which as thou must +admit is only iron? With the sign of Life? Good," and at her bidding the +priests took cold-chisels and hammers and roughly cut upon its surface +the symbol of the looped cross--the _crux ansata_. + +"It is not enough," she said when they had finished. "Holly, lend me +that knife of thine, to-morrow I will return it to thee, and of more +value." + +So I drew my hunting knife, an Indian-made thing, that had a handle of +plated iron, and gave it her. + +"Thou knowest the marks on it," and she pointed to various dents and to +the maker's name upon the blade; for though the hilt was Indian work the +steel was of Sheffield manufacture. + +I nodded. Then she bade the priests put on the ray-proof armour that +we had discarded, and told us to go without the chamber and lie in the +darkness of the passage with our faces against the floor. + +This we did, and remained so until, a few minutes later, she called us +again. We rose and returned into the chamber to find the priests, who +had removed the protecting garments, gasping and rubbing the salve upon +their eyes; to find also that the lump of iron ore and my knife were +gone. Next she commanded them to place the block of gold-coloured metal +upon their stretcher and to bring it with them. They obeyed, and we +noted that, although those priests were both of them strong men they +groaned beneath its weight. + +"How came it," said Leo, "that thou, a woman, couldst carry what these +men find so heavy?" + +"It is one of the properties of that force which thou callest fire," she +answered sweetly, "to make what has been exposed to it, if for a little +while only, as light as thistle-down. Else, how could I, who am so +frail, have borne yonder block of gold?" + +"Quite so! I understand now," answered Leo. + +Well, that was the end of it. The lump of metal was hid away in a kind +of rock pit, with an iron cover, and we returned to Ayesha's apartments. + +"So all wealth is thine, as well as all power," said Leo, presently, for +remembering Ayesha's awful threat I scarcely dared to open my mouth. + +"It seems so," she answered wearily, "since centuries ago I discovered +that great secret, though until ye came I had put it to no use. Holly +here, after his common fashion, believes that this is magic, but I tell +thee again that there is no magic, only knowledge which I have chanced +to win." + +"Of course," said Leo, "looked at in the right way, that is in thy way, +the thing is simple." I think he would have liked to add, "as lying," +but as the phrase would have involved explanations, did not. "Yet, +Ayesha," he went on, "hast thou thought that this discovery of thine +will wreck the world?" + +"Leo," she answered, "is there then nothing that I can do which will +not wreck this world, for which thou hast such tender care, who shouldst +keep all thy care--for me?" + +I smiled, but remembering in time, turned the smile into a frown at +Leo, then fearing lest that also might anger her, made my countenance as +blank as possible. + +"If so," she continued, "well, let the world be wrecked. But what +meanest thou? Oh! my lord, Leo, forgive me if I am so dull that I cannot +always follow thy quick thought--I who have lived these many years +alone, without converse with nobler minds, or even those to which mine +own is equal." + +"It pleases thee to mock me," said Leo, in a vexed voice, "and that is +not too brave." + +Now Ayesha turned on him fiercely, and I looked towards the door. But +he did not shrink, only folded his arms and stared her straight in +the face. She contemplated him a little, then said--"After that great +ordained reason which thou dost not know, I think, Leo, that why I love +thee so madly is that thou alone art not afraid of me. Not like Holly +there, who, ever since I threatened to turn his bones to gold--which, +indeed, I was minded to do," and she laughed--"trembles at my footsteps +and cowers beneath my softest glance. + +"Oh! my lord, how good thou art to me, how patient with my moods and +woman's weaknesses," and she made as though she were about to embrace +him. Then suddenly remembering herself, with a little start that somehow +conveyed more than the most tragic gesture, she pointed to the couch +in token that he should seat himself. When he had done so she drew a +footstool to his feet and sank upon it, looking up into his face with +attentive eyes, like a child who listens for a story. + +"Thy reasons, Leo, give me thy reasons. Doubtless they are good, and, +oh! be sure I'll weigh them well." + +"Here they are in brief," he answered. "The world, as thou knewest in +thy--" and he stopped. + +"Thy earlier wanderings there," she suggested. + +"Yes--thy earlier wanderings there, has set up gold as the standard of +its wealth. On it all civilizations are founded. Make it as common as it +seems thou canst, and these must fall to pieces. Credit will fail and, +like their savage forefathers, men must once more take to barter to +supply their needs as they do in Kaloon to-day." + +"Why not?" she asked. "It would be more simple and bring them closer to +the time when they were good and knew not luxury and greed." + +"And smashed in each other's heads with stone axes," added Leo. + +"Who now pierce each other's hearts with steel, or those leaden missiles +of which thou hast told me. Oh! Leo, when the nations are beggared and +their golden god is down; when the usurer and the fat merchant tremble +and turn white as chalk because their hoards are but useless dross; +when I have made the bankrupt Exchanges of the world my mock, and laugh +across the ruin of its richest markets, why, then, will not true worth +come to its heritage again? + +"What of it if I do discomfort those who think more of pelf than of +courage and of virtue; those who, as that Hebrew prophet wrote, lay +field to field and house to house, until the wretched whom they have +robbed find no place left whereon to dwell? What if I proved your sagest +chapmen fools, and gorge your greedy moneychangers with the gold that +they desire until they loathe its very sight and touch? What if I uphold +the cause of the poor and the oppressed against the ravening lusts of +Mammon? Why, will not this world of yours be happier then?" + +"I do not know," answered Leo. "All that I know is that it would be a +different world, one shaped upon a new plan, governed by untried laws +and seeking other ends. In so strange a place who can say what might or +might not chance?" + +"That we shall learn in its season, Leo. Or, rather, if it be against +thy wish, we will not turn this hidden page. Since thou dost desire it, +that old evil, the love of lucre, shall still hold its mastery upon the +earth. Let the peoples keep their yellow king, I'll not crown another +in his place, as I was minded--such as that living Strength thou sawest +burning eternally but now; that Power whereof I am the mistress, which +can give health to men, or even change the character of metals, and in +truth, if I so desire, obedient to my word, destroy a city or rend this +Mountain from its roots. + +"But see, Holly is wearied with much wondering and needs his rest. Oh, +Holly! thou wast born a critic of things done, not a doer of them. I +know thy tribe for even in my day the colleges of Alexandria echoed with +their wranglings and already the winds blew thick with the dust of their +forgotten bones. Holly, I tell thee that at times those who create and +act are impatient of such petty doubts and cavillings. Yet fear not, old +friend, nor take my anger ill. Already thy heart is gold without alloy, +so what need have I to gild thy bones?" + +I thanked Ayesha for her compliment, and went to my bed wondering which +was real, her kindness or her wrath, or if both were but assumed. Also +I wondered in what way she had fallen foul of the critics of Alexandria. +Perhaps once she had published a poem or a system of philosophy and been +roughly handled by them! It is quite possible, only if Ayesha had ever +written poetry I think that it would have endured, like Sappho's. + +In the morning I discovered that whatever else about her might be false, +Ayesha was a true chemist, the very greatest, I suppose, who ever +lived. For as I dressed myself, those priests whom we had seen in +the laboratory, staggered into the room carrying between them a heavy +burden, that was covered with a cloth, and, directed by Oros, placed it +upon the floor. + +"What is that?" I asked of Oros. + +"A peace-offering sent by the Hesea," he said, "with whom, as I am told, +you dared to quarrel yesterday." + +Then he withdrew the cloth, and there beneath it shone that great lump +of metal which, in the presence of myself and Leo, had been marked with +the Symbol of Life, that still appeared upon its surface. Only now it +was gold, not iron, gold so good and soft that I could write my name +upon it with a nail. My knife lay with it also, and of that too the +handle, though not the blade, had been changed from iron into gold. + +Ayesha asked to see this afterwards and was but ill-pleased with the +result of her experiment. She pointed out to me that lines and blotches +of gold ran for an inch or more down the substance of the steel, which +she feared that they might weaken or distemper, whereas it had been her +purpose that the hilt only should be altered.[*] + + [*] I proved in after days how real were Ayesha's alchemy, + and the knowledge which enabled her to solve the secret that + chemists have hunted for in vain, and, like Nature's self, + to transmute the commonest into the most precious of the + metals. At the first town that I reached on the frontiers of + India, I took this knife to a jeweller, a native, who was as + clever as he proved dishonest, and asked him to test the + handle. He did so with acids and by other means, and told me + that it was of very pure gold, twenty-four carats, I think + he said. Also he pointed out that this gold became gradually + merged into the steel of the blade in a way which was quite + inexplicable to him, and asked me to clear up the matter. Of + course I could not, but at his request I left the knife in + his shop to give him an opportunity of examining it further. + The next day I was taken ill with one of the heart-attacks + to which I have been liable of late, and when I became able + to move about again a while afterwards, I found that this + jeweller had gone, none knew whither. So had my knife.--L. + H. H. + +Often since that time I have marvelled how Ayesha performed this +miracle, and from what substances she gathered or compounded the +lightning-like material, which was her servant in the work; also, +whether or no it had been impregnated with the immortalizing fire of +Life that burned in the caves of Kor.[*] Yet to this hour I have found +no answer to the problem, for it is beyond my guessing. + + [*] Recent discoveries would appear to suggest that this + mysterious "Fire of Life," which, whatever else it may have + been, was evidently a force and no true fire, since it did + not burn, owed its origin to the emanations from radium, or + some kindred substance. Although in the year 1885, Mr. Holly + would have known nothing of the properties of these + marvellous rays or emanations, doubtless Ayesha was familiar + with them and their enormous possibilities, of which our + chemists and scientific men have, at present, but explored + the fringe.--Editor. + +I suppose that, in preparation for her conquest of the inhabitants of +this globe--to which, indeed, it would have sufficed unaided by any +other power--the manufacture of gold from iron went on in the cave +unceasingly. + +However this may be, during the few days that we remained together +Ayesha never so much as spoke of it again. It seemed to have served her +purpose for the while, or in the press of other and more urgent matters +to have been forgotten or thrust from her mind. Still, amongst others, +of which I have said nothing, since it is necessary to select, I record +this strange incident, and our conversations concerning it at length, +for the reason that it made a great impression upon me and furnishes a +striking example of Ayesha's dominion over the hidden forces of Nature +whereof we were soon to experience a more fearful instance. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE PROPHECY OF ATENE + +On the day following this strange experience of the iron that was turned +to gold some great service was held in the Sanctuary, as we understood, +"to consecrate the war." We did not attend it, but that night we ate +together as usual. Ayesha was moody at the meal, that is, she varied +from sullenness to laughter. + +"Know you," she said, "that to-day I was an Oracle, and those fools of +the Mountain sent their medicine-men to ask of the Hesea how the battle +would go and which of them would be slain, and which gain honour. And +I--I could not tell them, but juggled with my words, so that they might +take them as they would. How the battle will go I know well, for I +shall direct it, but the future--ah! that I cannot read better than thou +canst, my Holly, and that is ill indeed. For me the past and all the +present lie bathed in light reflected from that black wall--the future." + +Then she fell to brooding, and looking up at length with an air of +entreaty, said to Leo--"Wilt thou not hear my prayer and bide where thou +art for some few days, or even go a-hunting? Do so, and I will stay with +thee, and send Holly and Oros to command the Tribes in this petty fray." + +"I will not," answered Leo, trembling with indignation, for this plan +of hers that I should be sent out to war, while he bided in safety in a +temple, moved him, a man brave to rashness, who, although he disapproved +of it in theory, loved fighting for its own sake also, to absolute rage. + +"I say, Ayesha, that I will not," he repeated; "moreover, that if thou +leavest me here I will find my way down the mountain alone, and join the +battle." + +"Then come," she answered, "and on thine own head be it. Nay, not on +thine beloved, on mine, on mine." + +After this, by some strange reaction, she became like a merry girl, +laughing more than I have ever seen her do, and telling us many tales of +the far, far past, but none that were sad or tragic. It was very strange +to sit and listen to her while she spoke of people, one or two of them +known as names in history and many others who never have been heard +of, that had trod this earth and with whom she was familiar over two +thousand years ago. Yet she told us anecdotes of their loves and hates, +their strength or weaknesses, all of them touched with some tinge of +humorous satire, or illustrating the comic vanity of human aims and +aspirations. + +At length her talk took a deeper and more personal note. She spoke of +her searchings after truth; of how, aching for wisdom, she had explored +the religions of her day and refused them one by one; of how she had +preached in Jerusalem and been stoned by the Doctors of the Law. Of +how also she had wandered back to Arabia and, being rejected by her own +people as a reformer, had travelled on to Egypt, and at the court of the +Pharaoh of that time met a famous magician, half charlatan and half +seer who, because she was far-seeing, 'clairvoyante' we should call it, +instructed her in his art so well that soon she became his master and +forced him to obey her. + +Then, as though she were unwilling to reveal too much, suddenly Ayesha's +history passed from Egypt to Kor. She spoke to Leo of his arrival there, +a wanderer who was named Kallikrates, hunted by savages and accompanied +by the Egyptian Amenartas, whom she appeared to have known and hated in +her own country, and of how she entertained them. Yes, she even told of +a supper that the three of them had eaten together on the evening before +they started to discover the Place of Life, and of an evil prophecy that +this royal Amenartas had made as to the issue of their journey. + +"Aye," Ayesha said, "it was such a silent night as this and such a +meal as this we ate, and Leo, not so greatly changed, save that he was +beardless then and younger, was at my side. Where thou sittest, Holly, +sat the royal Amenartas, a very fair woman; yes, even more beautiful +than I before I dipped me in the Essence, fore-sighted also, though not +so learned as I had grown. From the first we hated each other, and more +than ever now, when she guessed how I had learned to look upon thee, her +lover, Leo; for her husband thou never wast, who didst flee too fast for +marriage. She knew also that the struggle between us which had begun of +old and afar was for centuries and generations, and that until the end +should declare itself neither of us could harm the other, who both had +sinned to win thee, that wast appointed by fate to be the lodestone +of our souls. Then Amenartas spoke and said--"'Lo! to my sight, +Kallikrates, the wine in thy cup is turned to blood, and that knife in +thy hand, O daughter of Yarab'--for so she named me--'drips red blood. +Aye, and this place is a sepulchre, and thou, O Kallikrates, sleepest +here, nor can she, thy murderess, kiss back the breath of life into +those cold lips of thine.' + +"So indeed it came about as was ordained," added Ayesha reflectively, +"for I slew thee in yonder Place of Life, yes, in my madness I slew thee +because thou wouldst not or couldst not understand the change that had +come over me, and shrankest from my loveliness like a blind bat from +the splendour of flame, hiding thy face in the tresses of her dusky +hair--Why, what is it now, thou Oros? Can I never be rid of thee for an +hour?" + +"O Hes, a writing from the Khania Atene," the priest said with his +deprecating bow. + +"Break the seal and read," she answered carelessly. "Perchance she has +repented of her folly and makes submission." + +So he read-- + +"To the Hesea of the College on the Mountain, known as Ayesha upon +earth, and in the household of the Over-world whence she has been +permitted to wander, as 'Star-that-hath-fallen--'" + + +"A pretty sounding name, forsooth," broke in Ayesha; "ah! but, Atene, +set stars rise again--even from the Under-world. Read on, thou Oros." + + +"Greetings, O Ayesha. Thou who art very old, hast gathered much wisdom +in the passing of the centuries, and with other powers, that of making +thyself seem fair in the eyes of men blinded by thine arts. Yet one +thing thou lackest that I have--vision of those happenings which are not +yet. Know, O Ayesha, that I and my uncle, the great seer, have searched +the heavenly books to learn what is written there of the issue of this +war. + +"This is written:--For me, death, whereat I rejoice. For thee a spear +cast by thine own hand. For the land of Kaloon blood and ruin bred of +thee! + +"Atene, + +"Khania of Kaloon." + + +Ayesha listened in silence, but her lips did not tremble, nor her cheek +pale. To Oros she said proudly--"Say to the messenger of Atene that I +have received her message, and ere long will answer it, face to face +with her in her palace of Kaloon. Go, priest, and disturb me no more." + +When Oros had departed she turned to us and said--"That tale of mine of +long ago was well fitted to this hour, for as Amenartas prophesied of +ill, so does Atene prophesy of ill, and Amenartas and Atene are one. +Well, let the spear fall, if fall it must, and I will not flinch from +it who know that I shall surely triumph at the last. Perhaps the Khania +does but think to frighten me with a cunning lie, but if she has read +aright, then be sure, beloved, that it is still well with us, since none +can escape their destiny, nor can our bond of union which was fashioned +with the universe that bears us, ever be undone." + +She paused awhile then went on with a sudden outburst of poetic thought +and imagery. + +"I tell thee, Leo, that out of the confusions of our lives and deaths +order shall yet be born. Behind the mask of cruelty shine Mercy's +tender eyes; and the wrongs of this rough and twisted world are but +hot, blinding sparks which stream from the all-righting sword of pure, +eternal Justice. The heavy lives we see and know are only links in a +golden chain that shall draw us safe to the haven of our rest; steep +and painful steps are they whereby we climb to the alloted palace of +our joy. Henceforth I fear no more, and fight no more against that which +must befall. For I say we are but winged seeds blown down the gales of +fate and change to the appointed garden where we shall grow, filling its +blest air with the immortal fragrance of our bloom. + +"Leave me now, Leo, and sleep awhile, for we ride at dawn." + +It was midday on the morrow when we moved down the mountain-side with +the army of the Tribes, fierce and savage-looking men. The scouts were +out before us, then came the great body of their cavalry mounted on wiry +horses, while to right and left and behind, the foot soldiers marched in +regiments, each under the command of its own chief. + +Ayesha, veiled now--for she would not show her beauty to these wild +folk--rode in the midst of the horse-men on a white mare of matchless +speed and shape. With her went Leo and myself, Leo on the Khan's black +horse, and I on another not unlike it, though thicker built. About us +were a bodyguard of armed priests and a regiment of chosen soldiers, +among them those hunters that Leo had saved from Ayesha's wrath, and who +were now attached to his person. + +We were merry, all of us, for in the crisp air of late autumn flooded +with sunlight, the fears and forebodings that had haunted us in those +gloomy, firelit caves were forgotten. Moreover, the tramp of thousands +of armed men and the excitement of coming battle thrilled our nerves. + +Not for many a day had I seen Leo look so vigorous and happy. Of late +he had grown somewhat thin and pale, probably from causes that I have +suggested, but now his cheeks were red and his eyes shone bright again. +Ayesha also seemed joyous, for the moods of this strange woman were as +fickle as those of Nature's self, and varied as a landscape varies under +the sunshine or the shadow. Now she was noon and now dark night; now +dawn, now evening, and now thoughts came and went in the blue depths of +her eyes like vapours wafted across the summer sky, and in the press +of them her sweet face changed and shimmered as broken water shimmers +beneath the beaming stars. + +"Too long," she said, with a little thrilling laugh, "have I been shut +in the bowels of sombre mountains, accompanied only by mutes and savages +or by melancholy, chanting priests, and now I am glad to look upon the +world again. How beautiful are the snows above, and the brown slopes +below, and the broad plains beyond that roll away to those bordering +hills! How glorious is the sun, eternal as myself; how sweet the keen +air of heaven. + +"Believe me, Leo, more than twenty centuries have gone by since I was +seated on a steed, and yet thou seest I have not forgot my horsemanship, +though this beast cannot match those Arabs that I rode in the wide +deserts of Arabia. Oh! I remember how at my father's side I galloped +down to war against the marauding Bedouins, and how with my own hand I +speared their chieftain and made him cry for mercy. One day I will tell +thee of that father of mine, for I was his darling, and though we have +been long apart, I hold his memory dear and look forward to our meeting. + +"See, yonder is the mouth of that gorge where lived the cat-worshipping +sorcerer, who would have murdered both of you because thou, Leo, didst +throw his familiar to the fire. It is strange, but several of the tribes +of this Mountain and of the lands behind it make cats their gods or +divine by means of them. I think that the first Rassen, the general +of Alexander, must have brought the practice here from Egypt. Of +this Macedonian Alexander I could tell thee much, for he was almost a +contemporary of mine, and when I last was born the world still rang with +the fame of his great deeds. + +"It was Rassen who on the Mountain supplanted the primeval fire-worship +whereof the flaming pillars which light its Sanctuary remain as +monuments, by that of Hes, or Isis, or rather blended the two in one. +Doubtless among the priests in his army were some of Pasht or Sekket the +Cat-headed, and these brought with them their secret cult, that to-day +has dwindled down to the vulgar divinations of savage sorcerers. Indeed +I remember dimly that it was so, for I was the first Hesea of this +Temple, and journeyed hither with that same general Rassen, a relative +of mine." + +Now both Leo and I looked at her wonderingly, and I could see that she +was watching us through her veil. As usual, however, it was I whom she +reproved, since Leo might think and do what he willed and still escape +her anger. + +"Thou, Holly," she said quickly, "who art ever of a cavilling and +suspicious mind, remembering what I said but now, believest that I lie +to thee." + +I protested that I was only reflecting upon an apparent variation +between two statements. + +"Play not with words," she answered; "in thy heart thou didst write me +down a liar, and I take that ill. Know, foolish man, that when I said +that the Macedonian Alexander lived before me, I meant before this +present life of mine. In the existence that preceded it, though I +outlasted him by thirty years, we were born in the same summer, and +I knew him well, for I was the Oracle whom he consulted most upon his +wars, and to my wisdom he owed his victories. Afterwards we quarrelled, +and I left him and pushed forward with Rassen. From that day the +bright star of Alexander began to wane." At this Leo made a sound that +resembled a whistle. In a very agony of apprehension, beating back the +criticisms and certain recollections of the strange tale of the old +abbot, Kou-en, which would rise within me, I asked quickly--"And dost +thou, Ayesha, remember well all that befell thee in this former life?" + +"Nay, not well," she answered, meditatively, "only the greater facts, +and those I have for the most part recovered by that study of secret +things which thou callest vision or magic. For instance, my Holly, I +recall that thou wast living in that life. Indeed I seem to see an +ugly philosopher clad in a dirty robe and filled both with wine and the +learning of others, who disputed with Alexander till he grew wroth with +him and caused him to be banished, or drowned: I forget which." + +"I suppose that I was not called Diogenes?" I asked tartly, suspecting, +perhaps not without cause, that Ayesha was amusing herself by fooling +me. + +"No," she replied gravely, "I do not think that was thy name. The +Diogenes thou speakest of was a much more famous man, one of real if +crabbed wisdom; moreover, he did not indulge in wine. I am mindful of +very little of that life, however, not of more indeed than are many of +the followers of the prophet Buddha, whose doctrines I have studied and +of whom thou, Holly, hast spoken to me so much. Maybe we did not meet +while it endured. Still I recollect that the Valley of Bones, where +I found thee, my Leo, was the place where a great battle was fought +between the Fire-priests with their vassals, the Tribes of the Mountain +and the army of Rassen aided by the people of Kaloon. For between these +and the Mountain, in old days as now, there was enmity, since in this +present war history does but rewrite itself." + +"So thou thyself wast our guide," said Leo, looking at her sharply. + +"Aye, Leo, who else? though it is not wonderful that thou didst not know +me beneath those deathly wrappings. I was minded to wait and receive +thee in the Sanctuary, yet when I learned that at length both of you had +escaped Atene and drew near, I could restrain myself no more, but came +forth thus hideously disguised. Yes, I was with you even at the river's +bank, and though you saw me not, there sheltered you from harm. + +"Leo, I yearned to look upon thee and to be certain that thy heart had +not changed, although until the alloted time thou mightest not hear my +voice or see my face who wert doomed to undergo that sore trial of thy +faith. Of Holly also I desired to learn whether his wisdom could pierce +through my disguise, and how near he stood to truth. It was for this +reason that I suffered him to see me draw the lock from the satchel on +thy breast and to hear me wail over thee yonder in the Rest-house. +Well he did not guess so ill, but thou, thou knewest me--in thy +sleep--knewest me as I am, and not as I seemed to be, yes," she added +softly, "and didst say certain sweet words which I remember well." + +"Then beneath that shroud was thine own face," asked Leo again, for he +was very curious on this point, "the same lovely face I see to-day?" + +"Mayhap--as thou wilt," she answered coldly; "also it is the spirit that +matters, not the outward seeming, though men in their blindness think +otherwise. Perchance my face is but as thy heart fashions it, or as my +will presents it to the sight and fancy of its beholders. But hark! The +scouts have touched." + +As Ayesha spoke a sound of distant shouting was borne upon the wind, +and presently we saw a fringe of horsemen falling back slowly upon our +foremost line. It was only to report, however, that the skirmishers of +Atene were in full retreat. Indeed, a prisoner whom they brought with +them, on being questioned by the priests, confessed at once that the +Khania had no mind to meet us upon the holy Mountain. She proposed to +give battle on the river's farther bank, having for a defence its waters +which we must ford, a decision that showed good military judgment. + +So it happened that on this day there was no fighting. + +All that afternoon we descended the slopes of the Mountain, more swiftly +by far than we had climbed them after our long flight from the city of +Kaloon. Before sunset we came to our prepared camping ground, a wide and +sloping plain that ended at the crest of the Valley of Dead Bones, where +in past days we had met our mysterious guide. This, however, we did not +reach through the secret mountain tunnel along which she had led us, the +shortest way by miles, as Ayesha told us now, since it was unsuited to +the passage of an army. + +Bending to the left, we circled round a number of unclimbable koppies, +beneath which that tunnel passed, and so at length arrived upon the brow +of the dark ravine where we could sleep safe from attack by night. + +Here a tent was pitched for Ayesha, but as it was the only one, Leo +and I with our guard bivouacked among some rocks at a distance of a +few hundred yards. When she found that this must be so, Ayesha was very +angry and spoke bitter words to the chief who had charge of the food and +baggage, although, he, poor man, knew nothing of tents. + +Also she blamed Oros, who replied meekly that he had thought us captains +accustomed to war and its hardships. But most of all she was angry with +herself, who had forgotten this detail, and until Leo stopped her with a +laugh of vexation, went on to suggest that we should sleep in the tent, +since she had no fear of the rigours of the mountain cold. + +The end of it was that we supped together outside, or rather Leo and I +supped, for as there were guards around us Ayesha did not even lift her +veil. + +That evening Ayesha was disturbed and ill at ease, as though new fears +which she could not overcome assailed her. At length she seemed to +conquer them by some effort of her will and announced that she was +minded to sleep and thus refresh her soul; the only part of her, I +think, which ever needed rest. Her last words to us were--"Sleep you +also, sleep sound, but be not astonished, my Leo, if I send to summon +both of you during the night, since in my slumbers I may find new +counsels and need to speak of them to thee ere we break camp at dawn." + +Thus we parted, but ah! little did we guess how and where the three of +us would meet again. + +We were weary and soon fell fast asleep beside our camp-fire, for, +knowing that the whole army guarded us, we had no fear. I remember +watching the bright stars which shone in the immense vault above me +until they paled in the pure light of the risen moon, now somewhat past +her full, and hearing Leo mutter drowsily from beneath his fur rug that +Ayesha was quite right, and that it was pleasant to be in the open air +again, as he was tired of caves. + +After that I knew no more until I was awakened by the challenge of a +sentry in the distance; then after a pause, a second challenge from +the officer of our own guard. Another pause, and a priest stood bowing +before us, the flickering light from the fire playing upon his shaven +head and face, which I seemed to recognize. + +"I"--and he gave a name that was familiar to me, but which I forget--"am +sent, my lords, by Oros, who commands me to say that the Hesea would +speak with you both and at once." + +Now Leo sat up yawning and asked what was the matter. I told him, +whereon he said he wished that Ayesha could have waited till daylight, +then added--"Well, there is no help for it. Come on, Horace," and he +rose to follow the messenger. + +The priest bowed again and said--"The commands of the Hesea are that my +lords should bring their weapons and their guard." + +"What," grumbled Leo, "to protect us for a walk of a hundred yards +through the heart of an army?" + +"The Hesea," explained the man, "has left her tent; she is in the gorge +yonder, studying the line of advance." + +"How do you know that?" I asked. + +"I do not know it," he replied. "Oros told me so, that is all, and +therefore the Hesea bade my lords bring their guard, for she is alone." + +"Is she mad," ejaculated Leo, "to wander about in such a place at +midnight? Well, it is like her." + +I too thought it was like her, who did nothing that others would have +done, and yet I hesitated. Then I remembered that Ayesha had said she +might send for us; also I was sure that if any trick had been intended +we should not have been warned to bring an escort. So we called the +guard--there were twelve of them--took our spears and swords and +started. + +We were challenged by both the first and second lines of sentries, and I +noticed that as we gave them the password the last picket, who of course +recognized us, looked astonished. Still, if they had doubts they did not +dare to express them. So we went on. + +Now we began to descend the sides of the ravine by a very steep path, +with which the priest, our guide, seemed to be curiously familiar, for +he went down it as though it were the stairway of his own house. + +"A strange place to take us to at night," said Leo doubtfully, when +we were near the bottom and the chief of the bodyguard, that great +red-bearded hunter who had been mixed up in the matter of the +snow-leopard also muttered some words of remonstrance. Whilst I was +trying to catch what he said, of a sudden something white walked into +the patch of moonlight at the foot of the ravine, and we saw that it +was the veiled figure of Ayesha herself. The chief saw her also and said +contentedly--"Hes! Hes!" + +"Look at her," grumbled Leo, "strolling about in that haunted hole as +though it were Hyde Park;" and on he went at a run. + +The figure turned and beckoned to us to follow her as she glided +forward, picking her way through the skeletons which were scattered +about upon the lava bed of the cleft. Thus she went on into the shadow +of the opposing cliff that the moonlight did not reach. Here in the wet +season a stream trickled down a path which it had cut through the rock +in the course of centuries, and the grit that it had brought with it +was spread about the lava floor of the ravine, so that many of the bones +were almost completely buried in the sand. + +These, I noticed, as we stepped into the shadow, were more numerous than +usual just here, for on all sides I saw the white crowns of skulls, or +the projecting ends of ribs and thigh bones. Doubtless, I thought to +myself, that streamway made a road to the plain above, and in some past +battle, the fighting around it was very fierce and the slaughter great. + +Here Ayesha had halted and was engaged in the contemplation of this +boulder-strewn path, as though she meditated making use of it that day. +Now we drew near to her, and the priest who guided us fell back with our +guard, leaving us to go forward alone, since they dared not approach the +Hesea unbidden. Leo was somewhat in advance of me, seven or eight yards +perhaps, and I heard him say--"Why dost thou venture into such places at +night, Ayesha, unless indeed it is not possible for any harm to come to +thee?" + +She made no answer, only turned and opened her arms wide, then let them +fall to her side again. Whilst I wondered what this signal of hers might +mean, from the shadows about us came a strange, rustling sound. + +I looked, and lo! everywhere the skeletons were rising from their sandy +beds. I saw their white skulls, their gleaming arm and leg bones, their +hollow ribs. The long-slain army had come to life again, and look! in +their hands were the ghosts of spears. + +Of course I knew at once that this was but another manifestation of +Ayesha's magic powers, which some whim of hers had drawn us from our +beds to witness. Yet I confess that I felt frightened. Even the boldest +of men, however free from superstition, might be excused should their +nerve fail them if, when standing in a churchyard at midnight, suddenly +on every side they saw the dead arising from their graves. Also our +surroundings were wilder and more eerie than those of any civilized +burying-place. + +"What new devilment of thine is this?" cried Leo in a scared and angry +voice. But Ayesha made no answer. I heard a noise behind me and looked +round. The skeletons were springing upon our body-guard, who for their +part, poor men, paralysed with terror, had thrown down their weapons and +fallen, some of them, to their knees. Now the ghosts began to stab at +them with their phantom spears, and I saw that beneath the blows they +rolled over. The veiled figure above me pointed with her hand at Leo and +said--"Seize him, but I charge you, harm him not." + +I knew the voice; _it was that of Atene!_ + +Then too late I understood the trap into which we had fallen. + +"Treachery!" I began to cry, and before the word was out of my lips, a +particularly able-bodied skeleton silenced me with a violent blow upon +the head. But though I could not speak, my senses still stayed with +me for a little. I saw Leo fighting furiously with a number of men who +strove to pull him down, so furiously, indeed that his frightful efforts +caused the blood to gush out of his mouth from some burst vessel in the +lungs. + +Then sight and hearing failed me, and thinking that this was death, I +fell and remembered no more. + +Why I was not killed outright I do not know, unless in their hurry the +disguised soldiers thought me already dead, or perhaps that my life was +to be spared also. At least, beyond the knock upon the head I received +no injury. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE LOOSING OF THE POWERS + +When I came to myself again, it was daylight. I saw the calm, gentle +face of Oros bending over me as he poured some strong fluid down my +throat that seemed to shoot through all my body, and melt a curtain in +my mind. I saw also that beside him stood Ayesha. + +"Speak, man, speak," she said in a terrible voice. "What hast chanced +here? Thou livest, then where is my lord? Where hast thou hid my lord? +Tell me--or die." + +It was the vision that I saw when my senses left me in the snow of the +avalanche, fulfilled to the last detail! + +"Atene has taken him," I answered. + +"Atene has taken him and thou art left alive?" + +"Do not be wrath with me," I answered, "it is no fault of mine. Little +wonder we were deceived after thou hadst said that thou mightest summon +us ere dawn." + +Then as briefly as I could I told the story. + +She listened, went to where our murdered guards lay with unstained +spears, and looked at them. + +"Well for these that they are dead," she exclaimed. "Now, Holly, thou +seest what is the fruit of mercy. The men whose lives I gave my lord +have failed him at his need." + +Then she passed forward to the spot where Leo was captured. Here lay a +broken sword--Leo's--that had been the Khan Rassen's, and two dead men. +Both of these were clothed in some tight-fitting black garments, having +their heads and faces whitened with chalk and upon their vests a rude +imitation of a human skeleton, also daubed in chalk. + +"A trick fit to frighten fools with," she said contemptuously. "But oh! +that Atene should have dared to play the part of Ayesha, that she should +have dared!" and she clenched her little hand. "See, surprised and +overwhelmed, yet he fought well. Say! was he hurt, Holly? It comes upon +me--no, tell me that I see amiss." + +"Not much, I think," I answered doubtfully, "a little blood was running +from his mouth, no more. Look, there go the stains of it upon that +rock." + +"For every drop I'll take a hundred lives. By myself I swear it," Ayesha +muttered with a groan. Then she cried in a ringing voice, + +"Back and to horse, for I have deeds to do this day. Nay, bide thou +here, Holly; we go a shorter path while the army skirts the gorge. Oros, +give him food and drink and bathe that hurt upon his head. It is but a +bruise, for his hood and hair are thick." + +So while Oros rubbed some stinging lotion on my scalp, I ate and drank +as best I could till my brain ceased to swim, for the blow, though +heavy, had not fractured the bone. When I was ready they brought the +horses to us, and mounting them, slowly we scrambled up the steep bed of +the water-course. + +"See," Ayesha said, pointing to tracks and hoof-prints on the plain at +its head, "there was a chariot awaiting him, and harnessed to it were +four swift horses. Atene's scheme was clever and well laid, and I, grown +oversure and careless, slept through it all!" + +On this plain the army of the Tribes that had broken camp before the +dawn was already gathering fast; indeed, the cavalry, if I may call them +so, were assembled there to the number of about five thousand men, each +of whom had a led horse. Ayesha summoned the chiefs and captains, and +addressed them. "Servants of Hes," she said, "the stranger lord, my +betrothed and guest, has been tricked by a false priest and, falling +into a cunning snare, captured as a hostage. It is necessary that I +follow him fast, before harm comes--to him. We move down to attack the +army of the Khania beyond the river. When its passage is forced I pass +on with the horsemen, for I must sleep in the city of Kaloon to-night. +What sayest thou, Oros? That a second and greater army defends its +walls? Man, I know it, and if there is need, that army I will destroy. +Nay, stare not at me. Already they are as dead. Horsemen, you accompany +me. + +"Captains of the Tribes, you follow, and woe be to that man who hangs +back in the hour of battle, for death and eternal shame shall be his +portion, but wealth and honour to those who bear them bravely. Yes, I +tell you, theirs shall be the fair land of Kaloon. You have your orders +for the passing of yonder river. I, with the horsemen, take the central +ford. Let the wings advance." + +The chiefs answered with a cheer, for they were fierce men whose +ancestors had loved war for generations. Moreover, mad as seemed the +enterprise, they trusted in their Oracle, the Hesea, and, like all hill +peoples, were easily fired by the promise of rich plunder. + +An hour's steady march down the slopes brought the army to the edge +of the marsh lands. These, as it chanced, proved no obstacle to our +progress, for in that season of great drought they were quite dry, and +for the same reason the shrunken river was not so impassable a defence +as I feared that it would be. Still, because of its rocky bottom and +steep, opposing banks, it looked formidable enough, while on the crests +of those banks, in squadrons and companies of horse and foot, were +gathered the regiments of Atene. + +While the wings of footmen deployed to right and left, the cavalry +halted in the marshes and let their horses fill themselves with the long +grass, now a little browned by frost, that grew on this boggy soil, and +afterwards drink some water. + +All this time Ayesha stood silent, for she also had dismounted, that +the mare she rode and her two led horses might graze with the others. +Indeed, she spoke but once, saying--"Thou thinkest this adventure mad, +my Holly? Say, art afraid?" + +"Not with thee for captain," I answered. "Still, that second army----" + +"Shall melt before me like mist before the gale," she replied in a low +and thrilling voice. "Holly, I tell thee thou shalt see things such as +no man upon the earth has ever seen. Remember my words when I _loose the +Powers_ and thou followest the rent veil of Ayesha through the smitten +squadrons of Kaloon. Only--what if Atene should dare to murder him? Oh, +if she should dare!" + +"Be comforted," I replied, wondering what she might mean by this loosing +of the Powers. "I think that she loves him too well." + +"I bless thee for the words, Holly, yet--I know he will refuse her, and +then her hate for me and her jealous rage may overcome her love for him. +Should this be so, what will avail my vengeance? Eat and drink again, +Holly--nay, I touch no food until I sit in the palace of Kaloon--and +look well to girth and bridle, for thou ridest far and on a wild errand. +Mount thee on Leo's horse, which is swift and sure; if it dies the +guards will bring thee others." + +I obeyed her as best I could, and once more bathed my head in a pool, +and with the help of Oros tied a rag soaked in the liniment on the +bruise, after which I felt sound enough. Indeed, the mad excitement of +those minutes of waiting, and some foreshadowing of the terrible wonders +that were about to befall, made me forget my hurts. + +Now, Ayesha was standing staring upwards, so that although I could not +see her veiled face, I guessed that her eyes must be fixed on the sky +above the mountain top. I was certain, also, that she was concentrating +her fearful will upon an unknown object, for her whole frame quivered +like a reed shaken in the wind. + +It was a very strange morning--cold and clear, yet curiously still, +and with a heaviness in the air such as precedes a great fall of snow, +although for much snow the season was yet too early. Once or twice, too, +in that utter calm, I thought that I felt everything shudder; not the +ordinary trembling of earthquake, however, for the shuddering seemed to +be of the atmosphere quite as much as of the land. It was as though all +Nature around us were a living creature which is very much afraid. + +Following Ayesha's earnest gaze, I perceived that thick, smoky clouds +were gathering one by one in the clear sky above the peak, and that they +were edged, each of them, with a fiery rim. Watching these fantastic and +ominous clouds, I ventured to say to her that it looked as though the +weather would change--not a very original remark, but one which the +circumstances suggested. + +"Aye," she answered, "ere night the weather will be wilder even than +my heart. No longer shall they cry for water in Kaloon! Mount, Holly, +mount! The advance begins!" and unaided she sprang to the saddle of the +mare that Oros brought her. + +Then, in the midst of the five thousand horsemen, we moved down upon +the ford. As we reached its brink I noted that the two divisions of +tribesmen were already entering the stream half a mile to the right and +left of us. Of what befell them I can tell nothing from observation, +although I learned later that they forced it after great slaughter on +both sides. + +In front of us was gathered the main body of the Khania's army, massed +by regiments upon the further bank, while hundreds of picked men stood +up to their middles in the water, waiting to spear or hamstring our +horses as we advanced. + +Now, uttering their wild, whistling cry, our leading companies dashed +into the river, leaving us upon the bank, and soon were engaged hotly +with the footmen in midstream. While this fray went on, Oros came to +Ayesha, told her a spy had reported that Leo, bound in a two-wheeled +carriage and accompanied by Atene, Simbri and a guard, had passed +through the enemy's camp at night, galloping furiously towards Kaloon. + +"Spare thy words, I know it," she answered, and he fell back behind her. + +Our squadrons gained the bank, having destroyed most of the men in the +water, but as they set foot upon it the enemy charged them and drove +them back with loss. Thrice they returned to the attack, and thrice were +repulsed in this fashion. At length Ayesha grew impatient. + +"They need a leader, and I will give them one," she said. "Come with me, +my Holly," and, followed by the main body of the horsemen, she rode a +little way into the river, and there waited until the shattered troops +had fallen back upon us. Oros whispered to me--"It is madness, the Hesea +will be slain." + +"Thinkest thou so?" I answered. "More like that we shall be slain," +a saying at which he smiled a little more than usual and shrugged his +shoulders, since for all his soft ways, Oros was a brave man. Also I +believe that he spoke to try me, knowing that his mistress would take no +harm. + +Ayesha held up her hand, in which there was no weapon, and waved it +forwards. A great cheer answered that signal to advance, and in the +midst of it this frail, white-robed woman spoke to her horse, so that it +plunged deep into the water. + +Two minutes later, and spears and arrows were flying about us so thickly +that they seemed to darken the sky. I saw men and horses fall to right +and left, but nothing touched me or the white robes that floated a yard +or two ahead. Five minutes and we were gaining the further bank, and +there the worst fight began. + +It was fierce indeed, yet never an inch did the white robes give back, +and where they went men would follow them or fall. We were up the bank +and the enemy was packed about us, but through them we passed slowly, +like a boat through an adverse sea that buffets but cannot stay it. +Yes, further and further, till at last the lines ahead grew thin as the +living wedge of horsemen forced its path between them--grew thin, broke +and vanished. + +We had passed through the heart of the host, and leaving the tribesmen +who followed to deal with its flying fragments, rode on half a mile or +so and mustered. Many were dead and more were hurt, but the command was +issued that all sore-wounded men should fall out and give their horses +to replace those that had been killed. + +This was done, and presently we moved on, three thousand of us now, not +more, heading for Kaloon. The trot grew to a canter, and the canter to a +gallop, as we rushed forward across that endless plain, till at midday, +or a little after--for this route was far shorter than that taken by Leo +and myself in our devious flight from Rassen and his death-hounds--we +dimly saw the city of Kaloon set upon its hill. + +Now a halt was ordered, for here was a reservoir in which was still +some water, whereof the horses drank, while the men ate of the food they +carried with them; dried meat and barley meal. Here, too, more spies met +us, who said that the great army of Atene was posted guarding the +city bridges, and that to attack it with our little force would mean +destruction. But Ayesha took no heed of their words; indeed, she +scarcely seemed to hear them. Only she ordered that all wearied horses +should be abandoned and fresh ones mounted. + +Forward again for hour after hour, in perfect silence save for the +thunder of our horses' hoofs. No word spoke Ayesha, nor did her wild +escort speak, only from time to time they looked over their shoulders +and pointed with their red spears at the red sky behind. + +I looked also, nor shall I forget its aspect. The dreadful, fire-edged +clouds had grown and gathered so that beneath their shadows the plain +lay almost black. They marched above us like an army in the heavens, +while from time to time vaporous points shot forward, thin like swords, +or massed like charging horse. + +Under them a vast stillness reigned. It was as though the earth lay dead +beneath their pall. + +Kaloon, lit in a lurid light, grew nearer. The pickets of the foe flew +homeward before us, shaking their javelins, and their mocking laughter +reached us in hollow echoes. Now we saw the vast array, posted rank +on rank with silken banners drooping in that stirless air, flanked and +screened by glittering regiments of horse. + +An embassy approached us, and at the signal of Ayesha's uplifted arm +we halted. It was headed by a lord of the court whose face I knew. He +pulled rein and spoke boldly. + +"Listen, Hes, to the words of Atene. Ere now the stranger lord, thy +darling, is prisoner in her palace. Advance, and we destroy thee and thy +little band; but if by any miracle thou shouldst conquer, then he dies. +Get thee gone to thy Mountain fastness and the Khania gives thee peace, +and thy people their lives. What answer to the words of the Khania?" + +Ayesha whispered to Oros, who called aloud--"There is no answer. Go, if +ye love life, for death draws near to you." + +So they went fast as their swift steeds would carry them, but for a +little while Ayesha still sat lost in thought. + +Presently she turned and through her thin veil I saw that her face +was white and terrible and that the eyes in it glowed like those of +a lioness at night. She said to, me--hissing the words between her +clenched teeth--"Holly, prepare thyself to look into the mouth of hell. +I desired to spare them if I could, I swear it, but my heart bids me be +bold, to put off human pity, and use all my secret might if I would see +Leo living. Holly, I tell thee they are about _to murder him!_" + +Then she cried aloud, "Fear nothing, Captains. Ye are but few, yet with +you goes the strength of ten thousand thousand. Now follow the Hesea, +and whate'er ye meet, be not dismayed. Repeat it to the soldiers, that +fearing nothing they follow the Hesea through yonder host and across the +bridge and into the city of Kaloon." + +So the chiefs rode hither and thither, crying out her words, and the +savage tribesmen answered--"Aye, we who followed through the water, will +follow across the plain. Onward, Hes, for darkness swallows us." + +Now some orders were given, and the companies fell into a formation that +resembled a great wedge, Ayesha herself being its very point and apex, +for though Oros and I rode on either side of her, spur as we would, our +horses' heads never passed her saddle bow. In front of that dark mass +she shone a single spot of white--one snowy feather on a black torrent's +breast. + +A screaming bugle note--and, like giant arms, from the shelter of some +groves of poplar trees, curved horns of cavalry shot out to surround +us, while the broad bosom of the opposing army, shimmering with spears, +rolled forward as a wave rolls crowned with sunlit foam, and behind it, +line upon line, uncountable, lay a surging sea of men. + +Our end was near. We were lost, or so it seemed. + +Ayesha tore off her veil and held it on high, flowing from her like +a pennon, and lo! upon her brow blazed that wide and mystic diadem of +light which once only I had seen before. + +Denser and denser grew the rushing clouds above; brighter and brighter +gleamed the unearthly star of light beneath. Louder and louder beat the +sound of the falling hoofs of ten thousand horses. From the Mountain +peak behind us went up sudden sheets of flame; it spouted fire as a +whale spouts foam. + +The scene was dreadful. In front, the towers of Kaloon lurid in a +monstrous sunset. Above, a gloom as of an eclipse. Around the darkling, +sunburnt plain. On it Atene's advancing army, and our rushing wedge of +horsemen destined, it would appear, to inevitable doom. + +Ayesha let fall her rein. She tossed her arms, waving the torn, white +veil as though it were a signal cast to heaven. + +Instantly from the churning jaws of the unholy night above belched a +blaze of answering flame, that also wavered like a rent and shaken veil +in the grasp of a black hand of cloud. + +Then did Ayesha roll the thunder of her might upon the Children of +Kaloon. Then she called, and the Terror came, such as men had never seen +and perchance never more will see. Awful bursts of wind tore past us, +lifting the very stones and soil before them, and with the wind went +hail and level, hissing rain, made visible by the arrows of perpetual +lightnings that leapt downwards from the sky and upwards from the earth. + +It was as she had warned me. It was as though hell had broken loose upon +the world, yet through that hell we rushed on unharmed. For always these +furies passed before us. No arrow flew, no javelin was stained. The +jagged hail was a herald of our coming; the levens that smote and +stabbed were our sword and spear, while ever the hurricane roared and +screamed with a million separate voices which blended to one yell of +sound, hideous and indescribable. + +As for the hosts about us they melted and were gone. + +Now the darkness was dense, like to that of thickest night; yet in the +fierce flares of the lightnings I saw them run this way and that, and +amidst the volleying, elemental voices I heard their shouts of horror +and of agony. I saw horses and riders roll confused upon the ground; +like storm-drifted leaves I saw their footmen piled in high and whirling +heaps, while the brands of heaven struck and struck them till they sank +together and grew still. + +I saw the groves of trees bend, shrivel up and vanish. I saw the high +walls of Kaloon blown in and flee away, while the houses within the +walls took fire, to go out beneath the torrents of the driving rain, +and again take fire. I saw blackness sweep over us with great wings, and +when I looked, lo! those wide wings were flame, floods of pulsing flame +that flew upon the tormented air. + +Blackness, utter blackness; turmoil, doom, dismay! Beneath me the +labouring horse; at my side the steady crest of light which sat on +Ayesha's brow, and through the tumult a clear, exultant voice that +sang--"I promised thee wild weather! Now, Holly, dost thou believe that +I can loose the prisoned Powers of the world?" + +Lo! all was past and gone, and above us shone the quiet evening sky, +and before us lay the empty bridge, and beyond it the flaming city of +Kaloon. But the armies of Atene, where were they? Go, ask of those great +cairns that hide their bones. Go, ask it of her widowed land. + +Yet of our wild company of horsemen not one was lost. After us they +galloped trembling, white-lipped, like men who face to face had fought +and conquered Death, but triumphant--ah, triumphant! + +On the high head of the bridge Ayesha wheeled her horse, and so for +one proud moment stood to welcome them. At the sight of her glorious, +star-crowned countenance, which now her Tribes beheld for the first time +and the last, there went up such a shout as men have seldom heard. + +"_The Goddess!_" that shout thundered. "Worship the Goddess!" + +Then she turned her horse's head again, and they followed on through the +long straight street of the burning city, up to the palace on its crest. + +As the sun set we sped beneath its gateway. Silence in the courtyard, +silence everywhere, save for the distant roar of fire and the scared +howlings of the death-hounds in their kennel. + +Ayesha sprang from her horse, and waving back all save Oros and myself, +swept through the open doors into the halls beyond. + +They were empty, every one--all were fled or dead. Yet she never paused +or doubted, but so swiftly that we scarce could follow her, flitted up +the wide stone stair that led to the topmost tower. Up, still up, until +we reached the chamber where had dwelt Simbri the Shaman, that same +chamber whence he was wont to watch his stars, in which Atene had +threatened us with death. + +Its door was shut and barred; still, at Ayesha's coming, yes, before +the mere breath of her presence, the iron bolts snapped like twigs, the +locks flew back, and inward burst that massive portal. + +Now we were within the lamp-lit chamber, and this is what we saw. Seated +in a chair, pale-faced, bound, yet proud and defiant-looking, was Leo. +Over him, a dagger in his withered hand--yes, about to strike, in the +very act--stood the old Shaman, and on the floor hard by, gazing upward +with wide-set eyes, dead and still majestic in her death, lay Atene, +Khania of Kaloon. + +Ayesha waved her arm and the knife fell from Simbri's hand, clattering +on the marble, while in an instant he who had held it was smitten to +stillness and became like a man turned to stone. + +She stooped, lifted the dagger, and with a swift stroke severed Leo's +bonds; then, as though overcome at last, sank on to a bench in silence. +Leo rose, looking about him bewildered, and said in the strained voice +of one who is weak with much suffering--"But just in time, Ayesha. +Another second, and that murderous dog"--and he pointed to the +Shaman--"well, it was in time. But how went the battle, and how earnest +thou here through that awful hurricane? And, oh, Horace, thank heaven +they did not kill you after all!" + +"The battle went ill for some," Ayesha answered, "and I came not through +the hurricane, but on its wings. Tell me now, what has befallen thee +since we parted?" + +"Trapped, overpowered, bound, brought here, told that I must write to +thee and stop thy advance, or die--refused, of course, and then----" and +he glanced at the dead body on the floor. + +"And then?" repeated Ayesha. + +"Then that fearful tempest, which seemed to drive me mad. Oh! if thou +couldst have heard the wind howling round these battlements, tearing +off their stones as though they were dry leaves; if thou hadst seen the +lightnings falling thick and fast as rain----" + +"They were my messengers. I sent them to save thee," said Ayesha simply. + +Leo stared at her, making no comment, but after a pause, as though he +were thinking the matter over, he went on--"Atene said as much, but I +did not believe her. I thought the end of the world had come, that was +all. Well, she returned just now more mad even than I was, and told me +that her people were destroyed and that she could not fight against the +strength of hell, but that she could send me thither, and took a knife +to kill me. + +"I said, 'Kill on,' for I knew that wherever I went thou wouldst follow, +and I was sick with the loss of blood from some hurt I had in that +struggle, and weary of it all. So I shut my eyes waiting for the stroke, +but instead I felt her lips pressed upon my forehead, and heard her +say--"'Nay, I will not do it. Fare thee well; fulfil thou thine own +destiny, as I fulfil mine. For this cast the dice have fallen against +me; elsewhere it may be otherwise. I go to load them if I may.' + +"I opened my eyes and looked. There Atene stood, a glass in her +hand--see, it lies beside her. + +"'Defeated, yet I win,' she cried, 'for I do but pass before thee to +prepare the path that thou shalt tread, and to make ready thy place in +the Under-world. Till we meet again I pledge thee, for I am destroyed. +Ayesha's horsemen are in my streets, and, clothed in lightnings at their +head, rides Ayesha's avenging self.' + +"So she drank, and fell dead--but now. Look, her breast still quivers. +Afterwards, that old man would have murdered me, for, being roped, I +could not resist him, but the door burst in and thou camest. Spare him, +he is of her blood, and he loved her." + +Then Leo sank back into the chair where we had discovered him bound, and +seemed to fall into a kind of torpor, for of a sudden he grew to look +like an old man. + +"Thou art sick," said Ayesha anxiously. "Oros, thy medicine, the draught +I bade thee bring! Be swift, I say." + +The priest bowed, and from some pocket in his ample robe produced a +phial which he opened and gave to Leo, saying--"Drink, my lord; this +stuff will give thee back thy health, for it is strong." + +"The stronger the better," answered Leo, rousing himself, and with +something like his old, cheerful laugh. "I am thirsty who have touched +nothing since last night, and have fought hard and been carried far, +yes--and lived through that hellish storm." + +Then he took the draught and emptied it. There must have been virtue +in that potion; at least, the change which it produced in him was +wonderful. Within a minute his eyes grew bright again, and the colour +returned into his cheeks. + +"Thy medicines are very good, as I have learned of old," he said to +Ayesha; "but the best of all of them is to see thee safe and victorious +before me, and to know that I, who looked for death, yet live to greet +thee, my beloved. There is food," and he pointed to a board upon which +were meats, "say, may I eat of them, for I starve?" + +"Aye," she answered softly, "eat, and, my Holly, eat thou also." + +So we fell to, yes, we fell to and ate even in the presence of that dead +woman who looked so royal in her death; of the old magician who stood +there powerless, like a man petrified, and of Ayesha, the wondrous being +that could destroy an army with the fearful weapons which were servant +to her will. + +Only Oros ate nothing, but remained where he was, smiling at us +benignantly, nor did Ayesha touch any food. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE YIELDING OF AYESHA + +When I had satisfied myself, Leo was still at his meal, for loss of +blood or the effects of the tremendous nerve tonic which Ayesha ordered +to be administered to him, had made him ravenous. + +I watched his face and became aware of a curious change in it, no +immediate change indeed, but one, I think, that had come upon him +gradually, although I only fully appreciated it now, after our short +separation. In addition to the thinness of which I have spoken, his +handsome countenance had grown more ethereal; his eyes were full of the +shadows of things that were to come. + +His aspect pained me, I knew not why. It was no longer that of the +Leo with whom I was familiar, the deep-chested, mighty-limbed, jovial, +upright traveller, hunter and fighting-man who had chanced to love and +be loved of a spiritual power incarnated in a mould of perfect womanhood +and armed with all the might of Nature's self. These things were still +present indeed, but the man was changed, and I felt sure that this +change came from Ayesha, since the look upon his face had become +exceeding like to that which often hovered upon hers at rest. + +She also was watching him, with speculative, dreamy eyes, till +presently, as some thought swept through her, I saw those eyes blaze up, +and the red blood pour to cheek and brow. Yes, the mighty Ayesha whose +dead, slain for him, lay strewn by the thousand on yonder plain, blushed +and trembled like a maiden at her first lover's kiss. + +Leo rose from the table. "I would that I had been with thee in the +fray," he said. + +"At the drift there was fighting," she answered, "afterwards none. My +ministers of Fire, Earth and Air smote, no more; I waked them from their +sleep and at my command they smote for thee and saved thee." + +"Many lives to take for one man's safety," Leo said solemnly, as though +the thought pained him. + +"Had they been millions and not thousands, I would have spent them every +one. On my head be their deaths, not on thine. Or rather on hers," and +she pointed to the dead Atene. "Yes, on hers who made this war. At least +she should thank me who have sent so royal a host to guard her through +the darkness." + +"Yet it is terrible," said Leo, "to think of thee, beloved, red to the +hair with slaughter." + +"What reck I?" she answered with a splendid pride. "Let their blood +suffice to wash the stain of thy blood from off these cruel hands that +once did murder thee." + +"Who am I that I should blame thee?" Leo went on as though arguing +with himself, "I who but yesterday killed two men--to save myself from +treachery." + +"Speak not of it," she exclaimed in cold rage. "I saw the place and, +Holly, thou knowest how I swore that a hundred lives should pay for +every drop of that dear blood of thine, and I, who lie not, have kept +the oath. Look now on that man who stands yonder struck by my will to +stone, dead yet living, and say again what was he about to do to thee +when I entered here?" + +"To take vengeance on me for the doom of his queen and of her armies," +answered Leo, "and Ayesha, how knowest thou that a Power higher than +thine own will not demand it yet?" + +As he spoke a pale shadow flickered on Leo's face, such a shadow as +might fall from Death's advancing wing, and in the fixed eyes of the +Shaman there shone a stony smile. + +For a moment terror seemed to take Ayesha, then it was gone as quickly +as it came. + +"Nay," she said. "I ordain that it shall not be, and save One who +listeth not, what power reigns in this wide earth that dare defy my +will?" + +So she spoke, and as her words of awful pride--for they were very +awful--rang round that stone-built chamber, a vision came to me--Holly. + +I saw illimitable space peopled with shining suns, and sunk in the +infinite void above them one vast Countenance clad in a calm so terrific +that at its aspect my spirit sank to nothingness. Yes, and I knew that +this was Destiny enthroned above the spheres. Those lips moved and +obedient worlds rushed upon their course. They moved again and these +rolling chariots of the heavens were turned or stayed, appeared or +disappeared. I knew also that against this calm Majesty the being, woman +or spirit, at my side had dared to hurl her passion and her strength. My +soul reeled. I was afraid. + +The dread phantasm passed, and when my mind cleared again Ayesha was +speaking in new, triumphant tones. + +"Nay, nay," she cried. "Past is the night of dread; dawns the day of +victory! Look!" and she pointed through the window-places shattered by +the hurricane, to the flaming town beneath, whence rose one continual +wail of misery, the wail of women mourning their countless slain while +the fire roared through their homes like some unchained and rejoicing +demon. "Look Leo on the smoke of the first sacrifice that I offer to thy +royal state and listen to its music. Perchance thou deemst it naught. +Why then I'll give thee others. Thou lovest war. Good! we will go down +to war and the rebellious cities of the earth shall be the torches of +our march." + +She paused a moment, her delicate nostrils quivering, and her face +alight with the prescience of ungarnered splendours; then like a +swooping swallow flitted to where, by dead Atene, the gold circlet +fallen from the Khania's hair lay upon the floor. + +She stooped, lifted it, and coming to Leo held it high above his head. +Slowly she let her hand fall until the glittering coronet rested for an +instant on his brow. Then she spoke, in her glorious voice that rolled +out rich and low, a very paean of triumph and of power. + +"By this poor, earthly symbol I create thee King of Earth; yea in its +round for thee is gathered all her rule. Be thou its king, and mine!" + +Again the coronet was held aloft, again it sank, and again she said or +rather chanted--"With this unbroken ring, token of eternity, I swear to +thee the boon of endless days. Endure thou while the world endures, and +be its lord, and mine." + +A third time the coronet touched his brow. + +"By this golden round I do endow thee with Wisdom's perfect gold +uncountable, that is the talisman whereat all nature's secret paths +shall open to thy feet. Victorious, victorious, tread thou her wondrous +ways with me, till from her topmost peak at last she wafts us to our +immortal throne whereof the columns twain are Life and Death." + +Then Ayesha cast away the crown and lo! it fell upon the breast of the +lost Atene and rested there. + +"Art content with these gifts of mine, my lord?" she cried. + +Leo looked at her sadly and shook his head. + +"What more wilt thou then? Ask and I swear it shall be thine." + +"Thou swearest; but wilt thou keep the oath?" + +"Aye, by myself I swear; by myself and by the Strength that bred me. +If it be ought that I can grant--then if I refuse it to thee, may such +destruction fall upon me as will satisfy even Atene's watching soul." + +I heard and I think that another heard also, at least once more the +stony smile shone in the eyes of the Shaman. + +"I ask of thee nothing that thou canst not give. Ayesha, I ask of +thee thyself--not at some distant time when I have been bathed in a +mysterious fire, but now, now this night." + +She shrank back from him a little, as though dismayed. + +"Surely," she said slowly, "I am like that foolish philosopher who, +walking abroad to read the destinies of nations in the stars, fell down +a pitfall dug by idle children and broke his bones and perished there. +Never did I guess that with all these glories stretched before thee +like mountain top on glittering mountain top, making a stairway for thy +mortal feet to the very dome of heaven, thou wouldst still clutch at thy +native earth and seek of it--but the common boon of woman's love. + +"Oh! Leo, I thought that thy soul was set upon nobler aims, that thou +wouldst pray me for wider powers, for a more vast dominion; that as +though they were but yonder fallen door of wood and iron, I should break +for thee the bars of Hades, and like the Eurydice of old fable draw thee +living down the steeps of Death, or throne thee midst the fires of the +furthest sun to watch its subject worlds at play. + +"Or I thought that thou wouldst bid me reveal what no woman ever told, +the bitter, naked truth--all my sins and sorrows, all the wandering +fancies of my fickle thought; even what thou knowest not and perchance +ne'er shalt know, _who I am and whence I came_, and how to thy charmed +eyes I seemed to change from foul to fair, and what is the purpose of +my love for thee, and what the meaning of that tale of an angry +goddess--who never was except in dreams. + +"I thought--nay, no matter what I thought, save that thou wert far other +than thou art, my Leo, and in so high a moment that thou wouldst seek to +pass the mystic gates my glory can throw wide and with me tread an air +supernal to the hidden heart of things. Yet thy prayer is but the same +that the whole world whispers beneath the silent moon, in the palace and +the cottage, among the snows and on the burning desert's waste. 'Oh! my +love, thy lips, thy lips. Oh! my love, be mine, now, now, beneath the +moon, beneath the moon!' + +"Leo, I thought better, higher, of thee." + +"Mayhap, Ayesha, thou wouldest have thought worse of me had I been +content with thy suns and constellations and spiritual gifts and +dominations that I neither desire nor understand. + +"If I had said to thee: Be thou my angel, not my wife; divide the ocean +that I may walk its bed; pierce the firmament and show me how grow the +stars; tell me the origins of being and of death and instruct me in +their issues; give up the races of mankind to my sword, and the wealth +of all the earth to fill my treasuries. Teach me also how to drive +the hurricane as thou canst do, and to bend the laws of nature to my +purpose: on earth make me half a god--as thou art. + +"But Ayesha, I am no god; I am a man, and as a man I seek the woman whom +I love. Oh! divest thyself of all these wrappings of thy power--that +power which strews thy path with dead and keeps me apart from thee. If +only for one short night forget the ambition that gnaws unceasingly at +thy soul; I say forget thy greatness and be a woman and--my wife." + +She made no answer, only looked at him and shook her head, causing her +glorious hair to ripple like water beneath a gentle breeze. + +"Thou deniest me," he went on with gathering strength, "and that thou +canst not do, that thou mayest not do, for Ayesha, thou hast sworn, and +I demand the fulfilment of thine oath. + +"Hark thou. I refuse thy gifts; I will have none of thy rule who ask no +Pharaoh's throne and wish to do good to men and not to kill them--that +the world may profit. I will not go with thee to Kor, nor be bathed in +the breath of Life. I will leave thee and cross the mountains, or perish +on them, nor with all thy strength canst thou hold me to thy side, who +indeed needest me not. No longer will I endure this daily torment, +the torment of thy presence and thy sweet words; thy loving looks, thy +promises for next year, next year--next year. So keep thine oath or let +me begone." + +Still Ayesha stood silent, only now her head drooped and her breast +began to heave. Then Leo stepped forward; he seized her in his arms and +kissed her. She broke from his embrace, I know not how, for though she +returned it was close enough, and again stood before him but at a little +distance. + +"Did I not warn Holly," she whispered with a sigh, "to bid thee beware +lest I should catch thy human fire? Man, I say to thee, it begins to +smoulder in my heart, and should it grow to flame----" + +"Why then," he answered laughing, "we will be happy for a little while." + +"Aye, Leo, but how long? Why wert thou sole lord of this loveliness of +mine and not set above their harming, night and day a hundred jealous +daggers would seek thy heart and--find it." + +"How long, Ayesha? A lifetime, a year, a month, a minute--I neither know +nor care, and while thou art true to me I fear no stabs of envy." + +"Is it so? Wilt take the risk? I can promise thee nothing. Thou +mightest--yes, in this way or in that, thou mightest--die." + +"And if I die, what then? Shall we be separated?" + +"Nay, nay, Leo, that is not possible. We never can be severed, of this +I am sure; it is sworn to me. But then through other lives and other +spheres, higher lives and higher spheres mayhap, our fates must force a +painful path to their last goal of union." + +"Why then I take the hazard, Ayesha. Shall the life that I can risk to +slay a leopard or a lion in the sport of an idle hour, be too great a +price to offer for the splendours of thy breast? Thine oath! Ayesha, I +claim thine oath." + +Then it was that in Ayesha there began the most mysterious and thrilling +of her many changes. Yet how to describe it I know not unless it be by +simile. + +Once in Thibet we were imprisoned for months by snows that stretched +down from the mountain slopes into the valleys and oh! how weary did we +grow of those arid, aching fields of purest white. At length rain set +in, and blinding mists in which it was not safe to wander, that made the +dark nights darker yet. + +So it was, until there came a morning when seeing the sun shine, we went +to our door and looked out. Behold a miracle! Gone were the snows that +choked the valley and in the place of them appeared vivid springing +grass, starred everywhere with flowers, and murmuring brooks and birds +that sang and nested in the willows. Gone was the frowning sky and all +the blue firmament seemed one tender smile. Gone were the austerities of +winter with his harsh winds, and in their place spring, companioned by +her zephyrs, glided down the vale singing her song of love and life. + +There in this high chamber, in the presence of the living and the dead, +while the last act of the great tragedy unrolled itself before me, +looking on Ayesha that forgotten scene sprang into my mind. For on her +face just such a change had come. Hitherto, with all her loveliness, +the heart of Ayesha had seemed like that winter mountain wrapped in +its unapproachable snow and before her pure brow and icy self-command, +aspirations sank abashed and desires died. + +She swore she loved and her love fulfilled itself in death and many a +mysterious way. Yet it was hard to believe that this passion of hers was +more than a spoken part, for how can the star seek the moth although the +moth may seek the star? Though the man may worship the goddess, for all +her smiles divine, how can the goddess love the man? + +But now everything was altered! Look! Ayesha grew human; I could see +her heart beat beneath her robes and hear her breath come in soft, sweet +sobs, while o'er her upturned face and in her alluring eyes there spread +itself that look which is born of love alone. Radiant and more radiant +did she seem to grow, sweeter and more sweet, no longer the veiled +Hermit of the Caves, no longer the Oracle of the Sanctuary, no longer +the Valkyrie of the battle-plain, but only the loveliest and most happy +bride that ever gladdened a husband's eyes. + +She spoke, and it was of little things, for thus Ayesha proclaimed the +conquest of herself. + +"Fie!" she said, showing her white robes torn with spears and stained by +the dust and dew of war; "Fie, my lord, what marriage garments are these +in which at last I come to thee, who would have been adorned in regal +gems and raiment befitting to my state and thine?" + +"I seek the woman not her garment," said Leo, his burning eyes fixed +upon her face. + +"Thou seekest the woman. Ah! there it lies. Tell me, Leo, am I woman +or spirit? Say that I am woman, for now the prophecy of this dead Atene +lies heavy on my soul, Atene who said that mortal and immortal may not +mate." + +"Thou must be woman, or thou wouldst not have tormented me as thou hast +done these many weeks." + +"I thank thee for the comfort of thy words. Yet, was it _woman_ whose +breath wrought destruction upon yonder plain? Was it to a _woman_ that +Blast and Lightning bowed and said, 'We are here: Command us, we obey'? +Did that dead thing (and she pointed to the shattered door) break inward +at a _woman's_ will? Or could a _woman_ charm this man to stone? + +"Oh! Leo, would that I were woman! I tell thee that I'd lay all my +grandeur down, a wedding offering at thy feet, could I be sure that for +one short year I should be naught but _woman_ and--thy happy wife. + +"Thou sayest that I did torment thee, but it is I who have known +torment, I who desired to yield and dared not. Aye, I tell thee, Leo, +were I not sure that thy little stream of life is draining dry into the +great ocean of my life, drawn thither as the sea draws its rivers, or +as the sun draws mists, e'en now I would not yield. But I know, for my +wisdom tells it me, ere ever we could reach the shores of Libya, the ill +work would be done, and thou dead of thine own longing, thou dead and I +widowed who never was a wife. + +"Therefore see! like lost Atene I take the dice and cast them, not +knowing how they shall fall. Not knowing how they shall fall, for good +or ill I cast," and she made a wild motion as of some desperate gamester +throwing his last throw. + +"So," Ayesha went on, "the thing is done and the number summed for aye, +though it be hidden from my sight. I have made an end of doubts and +fears, and come death, come life, I'll meet it bravely. + +"Say, how shall we be wed? I have it. Holly here must join our hands; +who else? He that ever was our guide shall give me unto thee, and thee +to me. This burning city is our altar, the dead and living are our +witnesses on earth and heaven. In place of rites and ceremonials for +this first time I lay my lips on thine, and when 'tis done, for music +I'll sing thee a nuptial chant of love such as mortal poet has not +written nor have mortal lovers heard. + +"Come, Holly, do now thy part and give this maiden to this man." + +Like one in a dream I obeyed her and took Ayesha's outstretched hand +and Leo's. As I held them thus, I tell the truth:--it was as though some +fire rushed through my veins from her to him, shaking and shattering me +with swift waves of burning and unearthly Bliss. With the fire too came +glorious visions and sounds of mighty music, and a sense as though my +brain, filled with over-flowing life, must burst asunder beneath its +weight. + +I joined their hands; I know not how; I blessed them, I know not in what +words. Then I reeled back against the wall and watched. + +This is what I saw. + +With an abandonment and a passion so splendid and intense that it seemed +more than human, with a murmured cry of "Husband!" Ayesha cast her arms +about her lover's neck and drawing down his head to hers so that the +gold hair was mingled with her raven locks, she kissed him on the lips. + +Thus they clung a little while, and as they clung the gentle diadem +of light from her brow spread to his brow also, and through the white +wrappings of her robe became visible her perfect shape shining with +faint fire. With a little happy laugh she left him, saying, + +"Thus, Leo Vincey, oh! thus for the second time do I give myself to +thee, and with this flesh and spirit all I swore to thee, there in the +dim Caves of Kor and here in the palace of Kaloon. Know thou this, come +what may, never, never more shall we be separate who are ordained one. +Whilst thou livest I live at thy side, and when thou diest, if die thy +must, I'll follow thee through worlds and firmaments, nor shall all the +doors of heaven or hell avail against my love. Where thou goest, thither +I will go. When thou sleepest, with thee will I sleep and it is my voice +that thou shalt hear murmuring through the dreams of life and death; my +voice that shall summon thee to awaken in the last hour of everlasting +dawn, when all this night of misery hath furled her wings for aye. + +"Listen now while I sing to thee and hear that song aright, for in its +melody at length thou shalt learn the truth, which unwed I might not +tell to thee. Thou shalt learn who and what _I_ am, and who and what +_thou_ art, and of the high purposes of our love, and this dead woman's +hate, and of all that I have hid from thee in veiled, bewildering words +and visions. + +"Listen then, my love and lord, to the burden of the Song of Fate." + +She ceased speaking and gazed heavenwards with a rapt look as though she +waited for some inspiration to fall upon her, and never, never--not even +in the fires of Kor had Ayesha seemed so divine as she did now in this +moment of the ripe harvest of her love. + +My eyes wandered from her to Leo, who stood before her pale and still, +still as the death-like figure of the Shaman, still as the Khania's +icy shape which stared upwards from the ground. What was passing in his +mind, I wondered, that he could remain thus insensible while in all her +might and awful beauty this proud being worshipped him. + +Hark! she began to sing in a voice so rich and perfect that its honied +notes seemed to cloy my blood and stop my breath. + + "The world was not, was not, and in the womb of Silence + Slept the souls of men. Yet I was and thou----" + +Suddenly Ayesha stopped, and I felt rather than saw the horror on her +face. + +Look! Leo swayed to and fro as though the stones beneath him were but +a rocking boat. To and fro he swayed, stretched out his blind arms to +clasp her--then suddenly fell backwards, and lay still. + +Oh! what a shriek was that she gave! Surely it must have wakened the +very corpses upon the plain. Surely it must have echoed in the stars. +One shriek only--then throbbing silence. + +I sprang to him, and there, withered in Ayesha's kiss, slain by the fire +of her love, Leo lay dead--lay dead upon the breast of dead Atene! + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE PASSING OF AYESHA + +I heard Ayesha say presently, and the words struck me as dreadful +in their hopeless acceptance of a doom against which even she had no +strength to struggle. + +"It seems that my lord has left me for awhile; I must hasten to my lord +afar." + +After that I do not quite know what happened. I had lost the man who was +all in all to me, friend and child in one, and I was crushed as I had +never been before. It seemed so sad that I, old and outworn, should +still live on whilst he in the flower of his age, snatched from joy and +greatness such as no man hath known, lay thus asleep. + +I think that by an afterthought, Ayesha and Oros tried to restore him, +tried without result, for here her powers were of no avail. Indeed my +conviction is that although some lingering life still kept him on his +feet, Leo had really died at the moment of her embrace, since when I +looked at him before he fell, his face was that of a dead man. + +Yes, I believe that last speech of hers, although she knew it not, was +addressed to his spirit, for in her burning kiss his flesh had perished. + +When at length I recovered myself a little, it was to hear Ayesha in +a cold, calm voice--her face I could not see for she had veiled +herself--commanding certain priests who had been summoned to "bear away +the body of that accursed woman and bury her as befits her rank." Even +then I bethought me, I remember, of the tale of Jehu and Jezebel. + +Leo, looking strangely calm and happy, lay now upon a couch, the arms +folded on his breast. When the priests had tramped away carrying their +royal burden, Ayesha, who sat by his body brooding, seemed to awake, for +she rose and said--"I need a messenger, and for no common journey, +since he must search out the habitations of the Shades," and she turned +herself towards Oros and appeared to look at him. + +Now for the first time I saw that priest change countenance a little, +for the eternal smile, of which even this scene had not quite rid it, +left his face and he grew pale and trembled. + +"Thou art afraid," she said contemptuously. "Be at rest, Oros, I will +not send one who is afraid. Holly, wilt thou go for me--and him?" + +"Aye," I answered. "I am weary of life and desire no other end. Only let +it be swift and painless." + +She mused a while, then said--"Nay, thy time is not yet, thou still hast +work to do. Endure, my Holly, 'tis only for a breath." + +Then she looked at the Shaman, the man turned to stone who all this +while had stood there as a statue stands, and cried--"Awake!" + +Instantly he seemed to thaw into life, his limbs relaxed, his breast +heaved, he was as he had always been: ancient, gnarled, malevolent. + +"I hear thee, mistress," he said, bowing as a man bows to the power that +he hates. + +"Thou seest, Simbri," and she waved her hand. + +"I see. Things have befallen as Atene and I foretold, have they not? +'Ere long the corpse of a new-crowned Khan of Kaloon,'" and he pointed +to the gold circlet that Ayesha had set on Leo's brow, "'will lie upon +the brink of the Pit of Flame'--as I foretold." An evil smile crept into +his eyes and he went on--"Hadst thou not smote me dumb, I who watched +could have warned thee that they would so befall; but, great mistress, +it pleased thee to smite me dumb. And so it seems, O Hes, that thou hast +overshot thyself and liest broken at the foot of that pinnacle which +step by step thou hast climbed for more than two thousand weary years. +See what thou hast bought at the price of countless lives that now +before the throne of Judgment bring accusations against thy powers +misused, and cry out for justice on thy head," and he looked at the dead +form of Leo. + +"I sorrow for them, yet, Simbri, they were well spent," Ayesha answered +reflectively, "who by their forewritten doom, as it was decreed, +held thy knife from falling and thus won me my husband. Aye and I am +happy--happier than such blind bats as thou can see or guess. For know +that now with him I have re-wed my wandering soul divorced by sin from +me, and that of our marriage kiss which burned his life away there shall +still be born to us children of Forgiveness and eternal Grace and all +things that are pure and fair. + +"Look thou, Simbri, I will honour thee. Thou shalt be my messenger, and +beware! beware I say how thou dost fulfil thine office, since of every +syllable thou must render an account. + +"Go thou down the dark paths of Death, and, since even my thought may +not reach to where he sleeps tonight, search out my lord and say to him +that the feet of his spouse Ayesha are following fast. Bid him have no +fear for me who by this last sorrow have atoned my crimes and am in his +embrace regenerate. Tell him that thus it was appointed, and thus is +best, since now he is dipped indeed in the eternal Flame of Life; now +for him the mortal night is done and the everlasting day arises. Command +him that he await me in the Gate of Death where it is granted that I +greet him presently. Thou hearest?" + +"I hear, O Queen, Mighty-from-of-Old." + +"One message more. Say to Atene that I forgive her. Her heart was high +and greatly did she play her part. There in the Gates we will balance +our account. Thou hearest?" + +"I hear, O Eternal Star that hath conquered Night." + +"Then, man, _begone!_" + +As the word left Ayesha's lips Simbri leapt from the floor, grasping at +the air as though he would clutch his own departing soul, staggered back +against the board where Leo and I had eaten, overthrowing it, and amid a +ruin of gold and silver vessels, fell down and died. + +She looked at him, then said to me--"See, though he ever hated me, this +magician who has known Ayesha from the first, did homage to my ancient +majesty at last, when lies and defiance would serve his end no more. +No longer now do I hear the name that his dead mistress gave to me. +The 'Star-that-hath-fallen' in his lips and in very truth is become the +'Star-which-hath-burst-the-bonds-of-Night,' and, re-arisen, shines for +ever--shines with its twin immortal to set no more--my Holly. Well, +he is gone, and ere now, those that serve me in the Under-world--dost +remember?--thou sawest their captains in the Sanctuary--bend the head at +great Ayesha's word and make her place ready near her spouse. + +"But oh, what folly has been mine. When even here my wrath can show such +power, how could I hope that my lord would outlive the fires of my love? +Still it was better so, for he sought not the pomp I would have given +him, nor desired the death of men. Yet such pomp must have been his +portion in this poor shadow of a world, and the steps that encircle an +usurper's throne are ever slippery with blood. + +"Thou art weary, my Holly, go rest thee. To-morrow night we journey to +the Mountain, there to celebrate these obsequies." + +I crept into the room adjoining--it had been Simbri's--and laid me down +upon his bed, but to sleep I was not able. Its door was open, and in the +light of the burning city that shone through the casements I could +see Ayesha watching by her dead. Hour after hour she watched, her head +resting on her hand, silent, stirless. She wept not, no sigh escaped +her; only watched as a tender woman watches a slumbering babe that she +knows will awake at dawn. + +Her face was unveiled and I perceived that it had greatly changed. All +pride and anger were departed from it; it was grown soft, wistful, yet +full of confidence and quietness. For a while I could not think of what +it reminded me, till suddenly I remembered. Now it was like, indeed the +counterpart almost, of the holy and majestic semblance of the statue +of the Mother in the Sanctuary. Yes, with just such a look of love and +power as that mother cast upon her frightened child new-risen from its +dream of death, did Ayesha gaze upon her dead, while her parted lips +also seemed to whisper "some tale of hope, sure and immortal." + +At length she rose and came into my chamber. + +"Thou thinkest me fallen and dost grieve for me, my Holly," she said in +a gentle voice, "knowing my fears lest some such fate should overtake my +lord." + +"Ay, Ayesha, I grieve for thee as for myself." + +"Spare then thy pity, Holly, since although the human part of me would +have kept him on the earth, now my spirit doth rejoice that for a while +he has burst his mortal bonds. For many an age, although I knew it not, +in my proud defiance of the Universal Law, I have fought against his +true weal and mine. Thrice have I and the angel wrestled, matching +strength with strength, and thrice has he conquered me. Yet as he bore +away his prize this night he whispered wisdom in my ear. This was his +message: That in death is love's home, in death its strength; that from +the charnel-house of life this love springs again glorified and pure, to +reign a conqueror forever. Therefore I wipe away my tears and, crowned +once more a queen of peace, I go to join him whom we have lost, there +where he awaits us, as it is granted to me that I shall do. + +"But I am selfish, and forgot. Thou needest rest. Sleep, friend, I bid +thee sleep." + +And I slept wondering as my eyes closed whence Ayesha drew this strange +confidence and comfort. I know not but it was there, real and not +assumed. I can only suppose therefore that some illumination had fallen +on her soul, and that, as she stated, the love and end of Leo in a way +unknown, did suffice to satisfy her court of sins. + +At the least those sins and all the load of death that lay at her door +never seemed to trouble her at all. She appeared to look upon them +merely as events which were destined to occur, as inevitable fruits of +a seed sowed long ago by the hand of Fate for whose workings she was not +responsible. The fears and considerations which weigh with mortals did +not affect or oppress her. In this as in other matters, Ayesha was a law +unto herself. + +When I awoke it was day, and through the window-place I saw the rain +that the people of Kaloon had so long desired falling in one straight +sheet. I saw also that Ayesha, seated by the shrouded form of Leo, was +giving orders to her priests and captains and to some nobles, who had +survived the slaughter of Kaloon, as to the new government of the land. +Then I slept again. + +It was evening, and Ayesha stood at my bedside. + +"All is prepared," she said. "Awake and ride with me." + +So we went, escorted by a thousand cavalry, for the rest stayed to +occupy, or perchance to plunder, the land of Kaloon. In front the body +of Leo was borne by relays of priests, and behind it rode the veiled +Ayesha, I at her side. + +Strange was the contrast between this departure, and our arrival. + +Then the rushing squadrons, the elements that raved, the perpetual sheen +of lightnings seen through the swinging curtains of the hail; the voices +of despair from an army rolled in blood beneath the chariot wheels of +thunder. + +Now the white-draped corpse, the slow-pacing horses, the riders with +their spears reversed, and on either side, seen in that melancholy +moonlight, the women of Kaloon burying their innumerable dead. + +And Ayesha herself, yesterday a Valkyrie crested with the star of flame, +to-day but a bereaved woman humbly following her husband to the tomb. + +Yet how they feared her! Some widow standing on the grave mould she +had dug, pointed as we passed to the body of Leo, uttering bitter words +which I could not catch. Thereon her companions flung themselves upon +her and felling her with fist and spade, prostrated themselves upon the +ground, throwing dust on their hair in token of their submission to the +priestess of Death. + +Ayesha saw them, and said to me with something of her ancient fire and +pride--"I tread the plain of Kaloon no more, yet as a parting gift have +I read this high-stomached people a lesson that they needed long. Not +for many a generation, O Holly, will they dare to lift spear against the +College of Hes and its subject Tribes." + +Again it was night, and where once lay that of the Khan, the man whom he +had killed, flanked by the burning pillars, the bier of Leo stood in +the inmost Sanctuary before the statue of the Mother whose gentle, +unchanging eyes seemed to search his quiet face. + +On her throne sat the veiled Hesea, giving commands to her priests and +priestesses. + +"I am weary," she said, "and it may be that I leave you for a while to +rest--beyond the mountains. A year, or a thousand years--I cannot say. +If so, let Papave, with Oros as her counsellor and husband and their +seed, hold my place till I return again. + +"Priests and priestesses of the College of Hes, over new territories +have I held my hand; take them as an heritage from me, and rule them +well and gently. Henceforth let the Hesea of the Mountain be also the +Khania of Kaloon. + +"Priests and priestesses of our ancient faith, learn to look through its +rites and tokens, outward and visible, to the in-forming Spirit. If Hes +the goddess never ruled on earth, still pitying Nature rules. If the +name of Isis never rang through the courts of heaven, still in heaven, +with all love fulfilled, nursing her human children on her breast, +dwells the mighty Motherhood where of this statue is the symbol, that +Motherhood which bore us, and, unforgetting, faithful, will receive us +at the end. + +"For of the bread of bitterness we shall not always eat, of the water +of tears we shall not always drink. Beyond the night the royal suns ride +on; ever the rainbow shines around the rain. Though they slip from our +clutching hands like melted snow, the lives we lose shall yet be found +immortal, and from the burnt-out fires of our human hopes will spring a +heavenly star." + +She paused and waved her hand as though to dismiss them, then added by +an after-thought, pointing to myself--"This man is my beloved friend and +guest. Let him be yours also. It is my will that you tend and guard him +here, and when the snows have melted and summer is at hand, that +you fashion a way for him through the gulf and bring him across the +mountains by which he came, till you leave him in safety. Hear and +forget not, for be sure that to me you shall give account of him." + +The night drew towards the dawn, and we stood upon the peak above the +gulf of fire, four of us only--Ayesha and I, and Oros and Papave. For +the bearers had laid down the body of Leo upon its edge and gone their +way. The curtain of flame flared in front of us, its crest bent over +like a billow in the gale, and to leeward, one by one, floated the +torn-off clouds and pinnacles of fire. By the dead Leo knelt Ayesha, +gazing at that icy, smiling face, but speaking no single word. At length +she rose, and said,--"Darkness draws near, my Holly, that deep darkness +which foreruns the glory of the dawn. Now fare thee well for one little +hour. When thou art about to die, but not before, call me, and I will +come to thee. Stir not and speak not till all be done, lest when I am no +longer here to be thy guard some Presence should pass on and slay thee. + +"Think not that I am conquered, for now my name is Victory! Think not +that Ayesha's strength is spent or her tale is done, for of it thou +readest but a single page. Think not even that I am today that thing of +sin and pride, the Ayesha thou didst adore and fear, I who in my lord's +love and sacrifice have again conceived my soul. For know that now once +more as at the beginning, his soul and mine are _one_." + +She thought awhile and added, + +"Friend take this sceptre in memory of me, but beware how thou usest it +save at the last to summon me, for it has virtues," and she gave me the +jewelled Sistrum that she bore--then said, + +"So kiss his brow, stand back, and be still." + +Now as once before the darkness gathered on the pit, and presently, +although I heard no prayer, though now no mighty music broke upon the +silence, through that darkness, beating up the gale, came the two-winged +flame and hovered where Ayesha stood. + +It appeared, it vanished, and one by one the long minutes crept away +until the first spear of dawn lit upon the point of rock. + +Lo! it was empty, utterly empty and lonesome. Gone was the corpse of +Leo, and gone too was Ayesha the imperial, the divine. + +Whither had she gone? I know not. But this I know, that as the light +returned and the broad sheet of flame flared out to meet it, I seemed to +see two glorious shapes sweeping upward on its bosom, and the faces that +they wore were those of Leo and of Ayesha. + +Often and often during the weary months that followed, whilst I wandered +through the temple or amid the winter snows upon the Mountain side, did +I seek to solve this question--Whither had She gone? I asked it of my +heart; I asked it of the skies; I asked it of the spirit of Leo which +often was so near to me. + +But no sure answer ever came, nor will I hazard one. As mystery wrapped +Ayesha's origin and lives--for the truth of these things I never +learned--so did mystery wrap her deaths, or rather her departings, for +I cannot think her dead. Surely she still is, if not on earth, then in +some other sphere? + +So I believe; and when my own hour comes, and it draws near swiftly, I +shall know whether I believe in vain, or whether she will appear to be +my guide as, with her last words, she swore that she would do. Then, +too, I shall learn what she was about to reveal to Leo when he died, the +purposes of their being and of their love. + +So I can wait in patience who must not wait for long, though my heart is +broken and I am desolate. + +Oros and all the priests were very good to me. Indeed, even had it been +their wish, they would have feared to be otherwise, who remembered and +were sure that in some time to come they must render an account of this +matter to their dread queen. By way of return, I helped them as I +was best able to draw up a scheme for the government of the conquered +country of Kaloon, and with my advice upon many other questions. + +And so at length the long months wore away, till at the approach of +summer the snows melted. Then I said that I must be gone. They gave me +of their treasures in precious stones, lest I should need money for my +faring, since the gold of which I had such plenty was too heavy to be +carried by one man alone. They led me across the plains of Kaloon, where +now the husbandmen, those that were left of them, ploughed the land and +scattered seed, and so on to its city. But amidst those blackened ruins +over which Atene's palace still frowned unharmed, I would not enter, +for to me it was, and always must remain, a home of death. So I camped +outside the walls by the river just where Leo and I had landed after +that poor mad Khan set us free, or rather loosed us to be hunted by his +death-hounds. + +Next day we took boat and rowed up the river, past the place where we +had seen Atene's cousin murdered, till we came to the Gate-house. Here +once again I slept, or rather did not sleep. + +On the following morning I went down into the ravine and found to my +surprise that the rapid torrent--shallow enough now--had been roughly +bridged, and that in preparation for my coming rude but sufficient +ladders were built on the face of the opposing precipice. At the foot of +these I bade farewell to Oros, who at our parting smiled benignantly as +on the day we met. + +"We have seen strange things together," I said to him, not knowing what +else to say. + +"Very strange," he answered. + +"At least, friend Oros," I went on awkwardly enough, "events have shaped +themselves to your advantage, for you inherit a royal mantle." + +"I wrap myself in a mantle of borrowed royalty," he answered with +precision, "of which doubtless one day I shall be stripped." + +"You mean that the great Ayesha is not dead?" + +"I mean that She never dies. She changes, that is all. As the wind blows +now hence, now hither, so she comes and goes, and who can tell at what +spot upon the earth, or beyond it, for a while that wind lies sleeping? +But at sunset or at dawn, at noon or at midnight, it will begin to blow +again, and then woe to those who stand across its path. + +"Remember the dead heaped upon the plains of Kaloon. Remember the +departing of the Shaman Simbri with his message and the words that she +spoke then. Remember the passing of the Hesea from the Mountain point. +Stranger from the West, surely as to-morrow's sun must rise, as she +went, so she will return again, and in my borrowed garment I await her +advent." + +"I also await her advent," I answered, and thus we parted. + +Accompanied by twenty picked men bearing provisions and arms, I climbed +the ladders easily enough, and now that I had food and shelter, crossed +the mountains without mishap. They even escorted me through the desert +beyond, till one night we camped within sight of the gigantic Buddha +that sits before the monastery, gazing eternally across the sands and +snows. + +When I awoke next morning the priests were gone. So I took up my pack +and pursued my journey alone, and walking slowly came at sunset to the +distant lamasery. At its door an ancient figure, wrapped in a tattered +cloak, was sitting, engaged apparently in contemplation of the skies. It +was our old friend Kou-en. Adjusting his horn spectacles on his nose he +looked at me. + +"I was awaiting you, brother of the Monastery called 'the World,'" he +said in a voice, measured, very ineffectually, to conceal his evident +delight. "Have you grown hungry there that you return to this poor +place?" + +"Aye, most excellent Kou-en," I answered, "hungry for rest." + +"It shall be yours for all the days of this incarnation. But say, where +is the other brother?" + +"Dead," I answered. + +"And therefore re-born elsewhere or perhaps, dreaming in Devachan for +a while. Well, doubtless we shall meet him later on. Come, eat, and +afterwards tell me your story." + +So I ate, and that night I told him all. Kou-en listened with respectful +attention, but the tale, strange as it might seem to most people, +excited no particular wonder in his mind. Indeed, he explained it to me +at such length by aid of some marvellous theory of re-incarnations, that +at last I began to doze. + +"At least," I said sleepily, "it would seem that we are all winning +merit on the Everlasting Plane," for I thought that favourite catchword +would please him. + +"Yes, brother of the Monastery called the World," Kou-en answered in +a severe voice, "doubtless you are all winning merit, but, if I may +venture to say so, you are winning it very slowly, especially the +woman--or the sorceress--or the mighty evil spirit--whose names I +understand you to tell me are She, Hes, and Ayesha upon earth and in +_Avitchi_, Star-that-hath-Fallen----" + +_(Here Mr. Holly's manuscript ends, its outer sheets having been burnt +when he threw it on to the fire at his house in Cumberland.)_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ayesha, by H. 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