diff options
Diffstat (limited to '711-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 711-h/711-h.htm | 12471 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 711-h/images/cover.jpg | bin | 0 -> 813544 bytes |
2 files changed, 12471 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/711-h/711-h.htm b/711-h/711-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3cc2d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/711-h/711-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12471 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Allan Quatermain, by H. Rider Haggard</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +.p1 {margin-top: 1em;} + +.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold;'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Allan Quatermain, by H. Rider Haggard</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Allan Quatermain</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Rider Haggard</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: November, 1996 [eBook #711]<br /> +[Most recently updated: December 29, 2020]</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Ng E-Ching, Singapore and David Widger</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN QUATERMAIN ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>Allan Quatermain</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by H. Rider Haggard</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#pref01">INTRODUCTION</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. THE CONSUL’S YARN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. THE BLACK HAND</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. THE MISSION STATION</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. ALPHONSE AND HIS ANNETTE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. UMSLOPOGAAS MAKES A PROMISE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. THE NIGHT WEARS ON</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. A SLAUGHTER GRIM AND GREAT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. ALPHONSE EXPLAINS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. INTO THE UNKNOWN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. THE ROSE OF FIRE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. THE FROWNING CITY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. THE SISTER QUEENS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. ABOUT THE ZU-VENDI PEOPLE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. THE FLOWER TEMPLE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. SORAIS’ SONG</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. BEFORE THE STATUE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. THE STORM BREAKS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII. WAR! RED WAR!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX. A STRANGE WEDDING</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX. THE BATTLE OF THE PASS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">CHAPTER XI. AWAY! AWAY!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">CHAPTER XII. HOW UMSLOPOGAAS HELD THE STAIR</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">CHAPTER XIII. I HAVE SPOKEN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">CHAPTER XIV. BY ANOTHER HAND</a><br /><br /></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap25">NOTE BY GEORGE CURTIS, Esq.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap26">AUTHORITIES</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<p class="center"> +I inscribe this book of adventure to my son<br />ARTHUR JOHN RIDER HAGGARD +</p> + +<p class="center"> +in the hope that in days to come he, and many other boys whom I shall never +know, may, in the acts and thoughts of Allan Quatermain and his companions, as +herein recorded, find something to help him and them to reach to what, with Sir +Henry Curtis, I hold to be the highest rank whereto we can attain—the +state and dignity of English gentlemen. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="pref01"></a>INTRODUCTION</h2> + +<p class="right"> +December 23 +</p> + +<p> +“I have just buried my boy, my poor handsome boy of whom I was so proud, +and my heart is broken. It is very hard having only one son to lose him thus, +but God’s will be done. Who am I that I should complain? The great wheel +of Fate rolls on like a Juggernaut, and crushes us all in turn, some soon, some +late—it does not matter when, in the end, it crushes us all. We do not +prostrate ourselves before it like the poor Indians; we fly hither and +thither—we cry for mercy; but it is of no use, the black Fate thunders on +and in its season reduces us to powder. +</p> + +<p> +“Poor Harry to go so soon! just when his life was opening to him. He was +doing so well at the hospital, he had passed his last examination with honours, +and I was proud of them, much prouder than he was, I think. And then he must +needs go to that smallpox hospital. He wrote to me that he was not afraid of +smallpox and wanted to gain the experience; and now the disease has killed him, +and I, old and grey and withered, am left to mourn over him, without a chick or +child to comfort me. I might have saved him, too—I have money enough for +both of us, and much more than enough—King Solomon’s Mines provided +me with that; but I said, ‘No, let the boy earn his living, let him +labour that he may enjoy rest.’ But the rest has come to him before the +labour. Oh, my boy, my boy! +</p> + +<p> +“I am like the man in the Bible who laid up much goods and builded +barns—goods for my boy and barns for him to store them in; and now his +soul has been required of him, and I am left desolate. I would that it had been +my soul and not my boy’s! +</p> + +<p> +“We buried him this afternoon under the shadow of the grey and ancient +tower of the church of this village where my house is. It was a dreary December +afternoon, and the sky was heavy with snow, but not much was falling. The +coffin was put down by the grave, and a few big flakes lit upon it. They looked +very white upon the black cloth! There was a little hitch about getting the +coffin down into the grave—the necessary ropes had been forgotten: so we +drew back from it, and waited in silence watching the big flakes fall gently +one by one like heavenly benedictions, and melt in tears on Harry’s pall. +But that was not all. A robin redbreast came as bold as could be and lit upon +the coffin and began to sing. And then I am afraid that I broke down, and so +did Sir Henry Curtis, strong man though he is; and as for Captain Good, I saw +him turn away too; even in my own distress I could not help noticing it.” +</p> + +<p class="p2"> +The above, signed “Allan Quatermain”, is an extract from my diary +written two years and more ago. I copy it down here because it seems to me that +it is the fittest beginning to the history that I am about to write, if it +please God to spare me to finish it. If not, well it does not matter. That +extract was penned seven thousand miles or so from the spot where I now lie +painfully and slowly writing this, with a pretty girl standing by my side +fanning the flies from my august countenance. Harry is there and I am here, and +yet somehow I cannot help feeling that I am not far off Harry. +</p> + +<p> +When I was in England I used to live in a very fine house—at least I call +it a fine house, speaking comparatively, and judging from the standard of the +houses I have been accustomed to all my life in Africa—not five hundred +yards from the old church where Harry is asleep, and thither I went after the +funeral and ate some food; for it is no good starving even if one has just +buried all one’s earthly hopes. But I could not eat much, and soon I took +to walking, or rather limping—being permanently lame from the bite of a +lion—up and down, up and down the oak-panelled vestibule; for there is a +vestibule in my house in England. On all the four walls of this vestibule were +placed pairs of horns—about a hundred pairs altogether, all of which I +had shot myself. They are beautiful specimens, as I never keep any horns which +are not in every way perfect, unless it may be now and again on account of the +associations connected with them. In the centre of the room, however, over the +wide fireplace, there was a clear space left on which I had fixed up all my +rifles. Some of them I have had for forty years, old muzzle-loaders that nobody +would look at nowadays. One was an elephant gun with strips of rimpi, or green +hide, lashed round the stock and locks, such as used to be owned by the +Dutchmen—a “roer” they call it. That gun, the Boer I bought +it from many years ago told me, had been used by his father at the battle of +the Blood River, just after Dingaan swept into Natal and slaughtered six +hundred men, women, and children, so that the Boers named the place where they +died “Weenen”, or the “Place of Weeping”; and so it is +called to this day, and always will be called. And many an elephant have I shot +with that old gun. She always took a handful of black powder and a three-ounce +ball, and kicked like the very deuce. +</p> + +<p> +Well, up and down I walked, staring at the guns and the horns which the guns +had brought low; and as I did so there rose up in me a great craving:—I +would go away from this place where I lived idly and at ease, back again to the +wild land where I had spent my life, where I met my dear wife and poor Harry +was born, and so many things, good, bad, and indifferent, had happened to me. +The thirst for the wilderness was on me; I could tolerate this place no more; I +would go and die as I had lived, among the wild game and the savages. Yes, as I +walked, I began to long to see the moonlight gleaming silvery white over the +wide veldt and mysterious sea of bush, and watch the lines of game travelling +down the ridges to the water. The ruling passion is strong in death, they say, +and my heart was dead that night. But, independently of my trouble, no man who +has for forty years lived the life I have, can with impunity go coop himself in +this prim English country, with its trim hedgerows and cultivated fields, its +stiff formal manners, and its well-dressed crowds. He begins to long—ah, +how he longs!—for the keen breath of the desert air; he dreams of the +sight of Zulu impis breaking on their foes like surf upon the rocks, and his +heart rises up in rebellion against the strict limits of the civilized life. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! this civilization, what does it all come to? For forty years and more I +lived among savages, and studied them and their ways; and now for several years +I have lived here in England, and have in my own stupid manner done my best to +learn the ways of the children of light; and what have I found? A great gulf +fixed? No, only a very little one, that a plain man’s thought may spring +across. I say that as the savage is, so is the white man, only the latter is +more inventive, and possesses the faculty of combination; save and except also +that the savage, as I have known him, is to a large extent free from the greed +of money, which eats like a cancer into the heart of the white man. It is a +depressing conclusion, but in all essentials the savage and the child of +civilization are identical. I dare say that the highly civilized lady reading +this will smile at an old fool of a hunter’s simplicity when she thinks +of her black bead-bedecked sister; and so will the superfine cultured idler +scientifically eating a dinner at his club, the cost of which would keep a +starving family for a week. And yet, my dear young lady, what are those pretty +things round your own neck?—they have a strong family resemblance, +especially when you wear that <i>very</i> low dress, to the savage +woman’s beads. Your habit of turning round and round to the sound of +horns and tom-toms, your fondness for pigments and powders, the way in which +you love to subjugate yourself to the rich warrior who has captured you in +marriage, and the quickness with which your taste in feathered head-dresses +varies—all these things suggest touches of kinship; and you remember that +in the fundamental principles of your nature you are quite identical. As for +you, sir, who also laugh, let some man come and strike you in the face whilst +you are enjoying that marvellous-looking dish, and we shall soon see how much +of the savage there is in <i>you</i>. +</p> + +<p> +There, I might go on for ever, but what is the good? Civilization is only +savagery silver-gilt. A vainglory is it, and like a northern light, comes but +to fade and leave the sky more dark. Out of the soil of barbarism it has grown +like a tree, and, as I believe, into the soil like a tree it will once more, +sooner or later, fall again, as the Egyptian civilization fell, as the Hellenic +civilization fell, and as the Roman civilization and many others of which the +world has now lost count, fell also. Do not let me, however, be understood as +decrying our modern institutions, representing as they do the gathered +experience of humanity applied for the good of all. Of course they have great +advantages—hospitals for instance; but then, remember, we breed the +sickly people who fill them. In a savage land they do not exist. Besides, the +question will arise: How many of these blessings are due to Christianity as +distinct from civilization? And so the balance sways and the story +runs—here a gain, there a loss, and Nature’s great average struck +across the two, whereof the sum total forms one of the factors in that mighty +equation in which the result will equal the unknown quantity of her purpose. +</p> + +<p> +I make no apology for this digression, especially as this is an introduction +which all young people and those who never like to think (and it is a bad +habit) will naturally skip. It seems to me very desirable that we should +sometimes try to understand the limitations of our nature, so that we may not +be carried away by the pride of knowledge. Man’s cleverness is almost +indefinite, and stretches like an elastic band, but human nature is like an +iron ring. You can go round and round it, you can polish it highly, you can +even flatten it a little on one side, whereby you will make it bulge out the +other, but you will <i>never</i>, while the world endures and man is man, +increase its total circumference. It is the one fixed unchangeable +thing—fixed as the stars, more enduring than the mountains, as +unalterable as the way of the Eternal. Human nature is God’s +kaleidoscope, and the little bits of coloured glass which represent our +passions, hopes, fears, joys, aspirations towards good and evil and what not, +are turned in His mighty hand as surely and as certainly as it turns the stars, +and continually fall into new patterns and combinations. But the composing +elements remain the same, nor will there be one more bit of coloured glass nor +one less for ever and ever. +</p> + +<p> +This being so, supposing for the sake of argument we divide ourselves into +twenty parts, nineteen savage and one civilized, we must look to the nineteen +savage portions of our nature, if we would really understand ourselves, and not +to the twentieth, which, though so insignificant in reality, is spread all over +the other nineteen, making them appear quite different from what they really +are, as the blacking does a boot, or the veneer a table. It is on the nineteen +rough serviceable savage portions that we fall back in emergencies, not on the +polished but unsubstantial twentieth. Civilization should wipe away our tears, +and yet we weep and cannot be comforted. Warfare is abhorrent to her, and yet +we strike out for hearth and home, for honour and fair fame, and can glory in +the blow. And so on, through everything. +</p> + +<p> +So, when the heart is stricken, and the head is humbled in the dust, +civilization fails us utterly. Back, back, we creep, and lay us like little +children on the great breast of Nature, she that perchance may soothe us and +make us forget, or at least rid remembrance of its sting. Who has not in his +great grief felt a longing to look upon the outward features of the universal +Mother; to lie on the mountains and watch the clouds drive across the sky and +hear the rollers break in thunder on the shore, to let his poor struggling life +mingle for a while in her life; to feel the slow beat of her eternal heart, and +to forget his woes, and let his identity be swallowed in the vast imperceptibly +moving energy of her of whom we are, from whom we came, and with whom we shall +again be mingled, who gave us birth, and will in a day to come give us our +burial also. +</p> + +<p> +And so in my trouble, as I walked up and down the oak-panelled vestibule of my +house there in Yorkshire, I longed once more to throw myself into the arms of +Nature. Not the Nature which you know, the Nature that waves in well-kept woods +and smiles out in corn-fields, but Nature as she was in the age when creation +was complete, undefiled as yet by any human sinks of sweltering humanity. I +would go again where the wild game was, back to the land whereof none know the +history, back to the savages, whom I love, although some of them are almost as +merciless as Political Economy. There, perhaps, I should be able to learn to +think of poor Harry lying in the churchyard, without feeling as though my heart +would break in two. +</p> + +<p> +And now there is an end of this egotistical talk, and there shall be no more of +it. But if you whose eyes may perchance one day fall upon my written thoughts +have got so far as this, I ask you to persevere, since what I have to tell you +is not without its interest, and it has never been told before, nor will again. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +THE CONSUL’S YARN</h2> + +<p> +A week had passed since the funeral of my poor boy Harry, and one evening I was +in my room walking up and down and thinking, when there was a ring at the outer +door. Going down the steps I opened it myself, and in came my old friends Sir +Henry Curtis and Captain John Good, RN. They entered the vestibule and sat +themselves down before the wide hearth, where, I remember, a particularly good +fire of logs was burning. +</p> + +<p> +“It is very kind of you to come round,” I said by way of making a +remark; “it must have been heavy walking in the snow.” +</p> + +<p> +They said nothing, but Sir Henry slowly filled his pipe and lit it with a +burning ember. As he leant forward to do so the fire got hold of a gassy bit of +pine and flared up brightly, throwing the whole scene into strong relief, and I +thought, What a splendid-looking man he is! Calm, powerful face, clear-cut +features, large grey eyes, yellow beard and hair—altogether a magnificent +specimen of the higher type of humanity. Nor did his form belie his face. I +have never seen wider shoulders or a deeper chest. Indeed, Sir Henry’s +girth is so great that, though he is six feet two high, he does not strike one +as a tall man. As I looked at him I could not help thinking what a curious +contrast my little dried-up self presented to his grand face and form. Imagine +to yourself a small, withered, yellow-faced man of sixty-three, with thin +hands, large brown eyes, a head of grizzled hair cut short and standing up like +a half-worn scrubbing-brush—total weight in my clothes, nine stone +six—and you will get a very fair idea of Allan Quatermain, commonly +called Hunter Quatermain, or by the natives +“Macumazahn”—Anglicè, he who keeps a bright look-out at +night, or, in vulgar English, a sharp fellow who is not to be taken in. +</p> + +<p> +Then there was Good, who is not like either of us, being short, dark, +stout—<i>very</i> stout—with twinkling black eyes, in one of which +an eyeglass is everlastingly fixed. I say stout, but it is a mild term; I +regret to state that of late years Good has been running to fat in a most +disgraceful way. Sir Henry tells him that it comes from idleness and +over-feeding, and Good does not like it at all, though he cannot deny it. +</p> + +<p> +We sat for a while, and then I got a match and lit the lamp that stood ready on +the table, for the half-light began to grow dreary, as it is apt to do when one +has a short week ago buried the hope of one’s life. Next, I opened a +cupboard in the wainscoting and got a bottle of whisky and some tumblers and +water. I always like to do these things for myself: it is irritating to me to +have somebody continually at my elbow, as though I were an eighteen-month-old +baby. All this while Curtis and Good had been silent, feeling, I suppose, that +they had nothing to say that could do me any good, and content to give me the +comfort of their presence and unspoken sympathy; for it was only their second +visit since the funeral. And it is, by the way, from the <i>presence</i> of +others that we really derive support in our dark hours of grief, and not from +their talk, which often only serves to irritate us. Before a bad storm the game +always herd together, but they cease their calling. +</p> + +<p> +They sat and smoked and drank whisky and water, and I stood by the fire also +smoking and looking at them. +</p> + +<p> +At last I spoke. “Old friends,” I said, “how long is it since +we got back from Kukuanaland?” +</p> + +<p> +“Three years,” said Good. “Why do you ask?” +</p> + +<p> +“I ask because I think that I have had a long enough spell of +civilization. I am going back to the veldt.” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Henry laid his head back in his arm-chair and laughed one of his deep +laughs. “How very odd,” he said, “eh, Good?” +</p> + +<p> +Good beamed at me mysteriously through his eyeglass and murmured, “Yes, +odd—very odd.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t quite understand,” said I, looking from one to the +other, for I dislike mysteries. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you, old fellow?” said Sir Henry; “then I will +explain. As Good and I were walking up here we had a talk.” +</p> + +<p> +“If Good was there you probably did,” I put in sarcastically, for +Good is a great hand at talking. “And what may it have been about?” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you think?” asked Sir Henry. +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head. It was not likely that I should know what Good might be +talking about. He talks about so many things. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it was about a little plan that I have formed—namely, that +if you were willing we should pack up our traps and go off to Africa on another +expedition.” +</p> + +<p> +I fairly jumped at his words. “You don’t say so!” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes I do, though, and so does Good; don’t you, Good?” +</p> + +<p> +“Rather,” said that gentleman. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, old fellow,” went on Sir Henry, with considerable +animation of manner. “I’m tired of it too, dead-tired of doing +nothing more except play the squire in a country that is sick of squires. For a +year or more I have been getting as restless as an old elephant who scents +danger. I am always dreaming of Kukuanaland and Gagool and King Solomon’s +Mines. I can assure you I have become the victim of an almost unaccountable +craving. I am sick of shooting pheasants and partridges, and want to have a go +at some large game again. There, you know the feeling—when one has once +tasted brandy and water, milk becomes insipid to the palate. That year we spent +together up in Kukuanaland seems to me worth all the other years of my life put +together. I dare say that I am a fool for my pains, but I can’t help it; +I long to go, and, what is more, I mean to go.” He paused, and then went +on again. “And, after all, why should I not go? I have no wife or parent, +no chick or child to keep me. If anything happens to me the baronetcy will go +to my brother George and his boy, as it would ultimately do in any case. I am +of no importance to any one.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” I said, “I thought you would come to that sooner or +later. And now, Good, what is your reason for wanting to trek; have you got +one?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have,” said Good, solemnly. “I never do anything without a +reason; and it isn’t a lady—at least, if it is, it’s +several.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked at him again. Good is so overpoweringly frivolous. “What is +it?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, if you really want to know, though I’d rather not speak of a +delicate and strictly personal matter, I’ll tell you: I’m getting +too fat.” +</p> + +<p> +“Shut up, Good!” said Sir Henry. “And now, Quatermain, tell +us, where do you propose going to?” +</p> + +<p> +I lit my pipe, which had gone out, before answering. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you people ever heard of Mt Kenia?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know the place,” said Good. +</p> + +<p> +“Did you ever hear of the Island of Lamu?” I asked again. +</p> + +<p> +“No. Stop, though—isn’t it a place about 300 miles north of +Zanzibar?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. Now listen. What I have to propose is this. That we go to Lamu and +thence make our way about 250 miles inland to Mt Kenia; from Mt Kenia on inland +to Mt Lekakisera, another 200 miles, or thereabouts, beyond which no white man +has to the best of my belief ever been; and then, if we get so far, right on +into the unknown interior. What do you say to that, my hearties?” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s a big order,” said Sir Henry, reflectively. +</p> + +<p> +“You are right,” I answered, “it is; but I take it that we +are all three of us in search of a big order. We want a change of scene, and we +are likely to get one—a thorough change. All my life I have longed to +visit those parts, and I mean to do it before I die. My poor boy’s death +has broken the last link between me and civilization, and I’m off to my +native wilds. And now I’ll tell you another thing, and that is, that for +years and years I have heard rumours of a great white race which is supposed to +have its home somewhere up in this direction, and I have a mind to see if there +is any truth in them. If you fellows like to come, well and good; if not, +I’ll go alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’m your man, though I don’t believe in your white +race,” said Sir Henry Curtis, rising and placing his arm upon my +shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“Ditto,” remarked Good. “I’ll go into training at once. +By all means let’s go to Mt Kenia and the other place with an +unpronounceable name, and look for a white race that does not exist. It’s +all one to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“When do you propose to start?” asked Sir Henry. +</p> + +<p> +“This day month,” I answered, “by the British India +steamboat; and don’t you be so certain that things have no existence +because you do not happen to have heard of them. Remember King Solomon’s +mines!” +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Some fourteen weeks or so had passed since the date of this conversation, and +this history goes on its way in very different surroundings. +</p> + +<p> +After much deliberation and inquiry we came to the conclusion that our best +starting-point for Mt Kenia would be from the neighbourhood of the mouth of the +Tana River, and not from Mombassa, a place over 100 miles nearer Zanzibar. This +conclusion we arrived at from information given to us by a German trader whom +we met upon the steamer at Aden. I think that he was the dirtiest German I ever +knew; but he was a good fellow, and gave us a great deal of valuable +information. “Lamu,” said he, “you goes to Lamu—oh ze +beautiful place!” and he turned up his fat face and beamed with mild +rapture. “One year and a half I live there and never change my +shirt—never at all.” +</p> + +<p> +And so it came to pass that on arriving at the island we disembarked with all +our goods and chattels, and, not knowing where to go, marched boldly up to the +house of Her Majesty’s Consul, where we were most hospitably received. +</p> + +<p> +Lamu is a very curious place, but the things which stand out most clearly in my +memory in connection with it are its exceeding dirtiness and its smells. These +last are simply awful. Just below the Consulate is the beach, or rather a mud +bank that is called a beach. It is left quite bare at low tide, and serves as a +repository for all the filth, offal, and refuse of the town. Here it is, too, +that the women come to bury coconuts in the mud, leaving them there till the +outer husk is quite rotten, when they dig them up again and use the fibres to +make mats with, and for various other purposes. As this process has been going +on for generations, the condition of the shore can be better imagined than +described. I have smelt many evil odours in the course of my life, but the +concentrated essence of stench which arose from that beach at Lamu as we sat in +the moonlit night—not under, but <i>on</i> our friend the Consul’s +hospitable roof—and sniffed it, makes the remembrance of them very poor +and faint. No wonder people get fever at Lamu. And yet the place was not +without a certain quaintness and charm of its own, though possibly—indeed +probably—it was one which would quickly pall. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, where are you gentlemen steering for?” asked our friend the +hospitable Consul, as we smoked our pipes after dinner. +</p> + +<p> +“We propose to go to Mt Kenia and then on to Mt Lekakisera,” +answered Sir Henry. “Quatermain has got hold of some yarn about there +being a white race up in the unknown territories beyond.” +</p> + +<p> +The Consul looked interested, and answered that he had heard something of that, +too. +</p> + +<p> +“What have you heard?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, not much. All I know about it is that a year or so ago I got a +letter from Mackenzie, the Scotch missionary, whose station, ‘The +Highlands’, is placed at the highest navigable point of the Tana River, +in which he said something about it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you the letter?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I destroyed it; but I remember that he said that a man had arrived +at his station who declared that two months’ journey beyond Mt +Lekakisera, which no white man has yet visited—at least, so far as I +know—he found a lake called Laga, and that then he went off to the +north-east, a month’s journey, over desert and thorn veldt and great +mountains, till he came to a country where the people are white and live in +stone houses. Here he was hospitably entertained for a while, till at last the +priests of the country set it about that he was a devil, and the people drove +him away, and he journeyed for eight months and reached Mackenzie’s +place, as I heard, dying. That’s all I know; and if you ask me, I believe +that it is a lie; but if you want to find out more about it, you had better go +up the Tana to Mackenzie’s place and ask him for information.” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Henry and I looked at each other. Here was something tangible. +</p> + +<p> +“I think that we will go to Mr Mackenzie’s,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” answered the Consul, “that is your best way, but I +warn you that you are likely to have a rough journey, for I hear that the Masai +are about, and, as you know, they are not pleasant customers. Your best plan +will be to choose a few picked men for personal servants and hunters, and to +hire bearers from village to village. It will give you an infinity of trouble, +but perhaps on the whole it will prove a cheaper and more advantageous course +than engaging a caravan, and you will be less liable to desertion.” +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately there were at Lamu at this time a party of Wakwafi Askari +(soldiers). The Wakwafi, who are a cross between the Masai and the Wataveta, +are a fine manly race, possessing many of the good qualities of the Zulu, and a +great capacity for civilization. They are also great hunters. As it happened, +these particular men had recently been on a long trip with an Englishman named +Jutson, who had started from Mombasa, a port about 150 miles below Lamu, and +journeyed right round Kilimanjaro, one of the highest known mountains in +Africa. Poor fellow, he had died of fever when on his return journey, and +within a day’s march of Mombasa. It does seem hard that he should have +gone off thus when within a few hours of safety, and after having survived so +many perils, but so it was. His hunters buried him, and then came on to Lamu in +a dhow. Our friend the Consul suggested to us that we had better try and hire +these men, and accordingly on the following morning we started to interview the +party, accompanied by an interpreter. +</p> + +<p> +In due course we found them in a mud hut on the outskirts of the town. Three of +the men were sitting outside the hut, and fine frank-looking fellows they were, +having a more or less civilized appearance. To them we cautiously opened the +object of our visit, at first with very scant success. They declared that they +could not entertain any such idea, that they were worn and weary with long +travelling, and that their hearts were sore at the loss of their master. They +meant to go back to their homes and rest awhile. This did not sound very +promising, so by way of effecting a diversion I asked where the remainder of +them were. I was told there were six, and I saw but three. One of the men said +they slept in the hut, and were yet resting after their +labours—“sleep weighed down their eyelids, and sorrow made their +hearts as lead: it was best to sleep, for with sleep came forgetfulness. But +the men should be awakened.” +</p> + +<p> +Presently they came out of the hut, yawning—the first two men being +evidently of the same race and style as those already before us; but the +appearance of the third and last nearly made me jump out of my skin. He was a +very tall, broad man, quite six foot three, I should say, but gaunt, with lean, +wiry-looking limbs. My first glance at him told me that he was no Wakwafi: he +was a pure bred Zulu. He came out with his thin aristocratic-looking hand +placed before his face to hide a yawn, so I could only see that he was a +“Keshla” or ringed man,<a href="#fn-1" name="fnref-1" id="fnref-1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> +and that he had a great three-cornered hole in his forehead. In another second +he removed his hand, revealing a powerful-looking Zulu face, with a humorous +mouth, a short woolly beard, tinged with grey, and a pair of brown eyes keen as +a hawk’s. I knew my man at once, although I had not seen him for twelve +years. “How do you do, Umslopogaas?” I said quietly in Zulu. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-1" id="fn-1"></a> <a href="#fnref-1">[1]</a> +Among the Zulus a man assumes the ring, which is made of a species of black gum +twisted in with the hair, and polished a brilliant black, when he has reached a +certain dignity and age, or is the husband of a sufficient number of wives. +Till he is in a position to wear a ring he is looked on as a boy, though he may +be thirty-five years of age, or even more.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +The tall man (who among his own people was commonly known as the +“Woodpecker”, and also as the “Slaughterer”) started, +and almost let the long-handled battleaxe he held in his hand fall in his +astonishment. Next second he had recognized me, and was saluting me in an +outburst of sonorous language which made his companions the Wakwafi stare. +</p> + +<p> +“Koos” (chief), he began, “Koos-y-Pagete! Koos-y-umcool! +(Chief from of old—mighty chief) Koos! Baba! (father) Macumazahn, old +hunter, slayer of elephants, eater up of lions, clever one! watchful one! brave +one! quick one! whose shot never misses, who strikes straight home, who grasps +a hand and holds it to the death (i.e. is a true friend) Koos! Baba! Wise is +the voice of our people that says, ‘Mountain never meets with mountain, +but at daybreak or at even man shall meet again with man.’ Behold! a +messenger came up from Natal, ‘Macumazahn is dead!’ cried he. +‘The land knows Macumazahn no more.’ That is years ago. And now, +behold, now in this strange place of stinks I find Macumazahn, my friend. There +is no room for doubt. The brush of the old jackal has gone a little grey; but +is not his eye as keen, and are not his teeth as sharp? Ha! ha! Macumazahn, +mindest thou how thou didst plant the ball in the eye of the charging +buffalo—mindest thou—” +</p> + +<p> +I had let him run on thus because I saw that his enthusiasm was producing a +marked effect upon the minds of the five Wakwafi, who appeared to understand +something of his talk; but now I thought it time to put a stop to it, for there +is nothing that I hate so much as this Zulu system of extravagant +praising—“bongering” as they call it. “Silence!” +I said. “Has all thy noisy talk been stopped up since last I saw thee +that it breaks out thus, and sweeps us away? What doest thou here with these +men—thou whom I left a chief in Zululand? How is it that thou art far +from thine own place, and gathered together with strangers?” +</p> + +<p> +Umslopogaas leant himself upon the head of his long battleaxe (which was +nothing else but a pole-axe, with a beautiful handle of rhinoceros horn), and +his grim face grew sad. +</p> + +<p> +“My Father,” he answered, “I have a word to tell thee, but I +cannot speak it before these low people (umfagozana),” and he glanced at +the Wakwafi Askari; “it is for thine own ear. My Father, this will I +say,” and here his face grew stern again, “a woman betrayed me to +the death, and covered my name with shame—ay, my own wife, a round-faced +girl, betrayed me; but I escaped from death; ay, I broke from the very hands of +those who came to slay me. I struck but three blows with this mine axe +Inkosikaas—surely my Father will remember it—one to the right, one +to the left, and one in front, and yet I left three men dead. And then I fled, +and, as my Father knows, even now that I am old my feet are as the feet of the +Sassaby,<a href="#fn-2" name="fnref-2" id="fnref-2"><sup>[2]</sup></a> and +there breathes not the man who, by running, can touch me again when once I have +bounded from his side. On I sped, and after me came the messengers of death, +and their voice was as the voice of dogs that hunt. From my own kraal I flew, +and, as I passed, she who had betrayed me was drawing water from the spring. I +fleeted by her like the shadow of Death, and as I went I smote with mine axe, +and lo! her head fell: it fell into the water pan. Then I fled north. Day after +day I journeyed on; for three moons I journeyed, resting not, stopping not, but +running on towards forgetfulness, till I met the party of the white hunter who +is now dead, and am come hither with his servants. And nought have I brought +with me. I who was high-born, ay, of the blood of Chaka, the great king—a +chief, and a captain of the regiment of the Nkomabakosi—am a wanderer in +strange places, a man without a kraal. Nought have I brought save this mine +axe; of all my belongings this remains alone. They have divided my cattle; they +have taken my wives; and my children know my face no more. Yet with this +axe”—and he swung the formidable weapon round his head, making the +air hiss as he clove it—“will I cut another path to fortune. I have +spoken.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-2" id="fn-2"></a> <a href="#fnref-2">[2]</a> +One of the fleetest of the African antelopes.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head at him. “Umslopogaas,” I said, “I know thee +from of old. Ever ambitious, ever plotting to be great, I fear me that thou +hast overreached thyself at last. Years ago, when thou wouldst have plotted +against Cetywayo, son of Panda, I warned thee, and thou didst listen. But now, +when I was not by thee to stay thy hand, thou hast dug a pit for thine own feet +to fall in. Is it not so? But what is done is done. Who can make the dead tree +green, or gaze again upon last year’s light? Who can recall the spoken +word, or bring back the spirit of the fallen? That which Time swallows comes +not up again. Let it be forgotten! +</p> + +<p> +“And now, behold, Umslopogaas, I know thee for a great warrior and a +brave man, faithful to the death. Even in Zululand, where all the men are +brave, they called thee the ‘Slaughterer’, and at night told +stories round the fire of thy strength and deeds. Hear me now. Thou seest this +great man, my friend”—and I pointed to Sir Henry; “he also is +a warrior as great as thou, and, strong as thou art, he could throw thee over +his shoulder. Incubu is his name. And thou seest this one also; him with the +round stomach, the shining eye, and the pleasant face. Bougwan (glass eye) is +his name, and a good man is he and a true, being of a curious tribe who pass +their life upon the water, and live in floating kraals. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, we three whom thou seest would travel inland, past Dongo Egere, the +great white mountain (Mt Kenia), and far into the unknown beyond. We know not +what we shall find there; we go to hunt and seek adventures, and new places, +being tired of sitting still, with the same old things around us. Wilt thou +come with us? To thee shall be given command of all our servants; but what +shall befall thee, that I know not. Once before we three journeyed thus, in +search of adventure, and we took with us a man such as thou—one Umbopa; +and, behold, we left him the king of a great country, with twenty Impis +(regiments), each of 3,000 plumed warriors, waiting on his word. How it shall +go with thee, I know not; mayhap death awaits thee and us. Wilt thou throw +thyself to Fortune and come, or fearest thou, Umslopogaas?” +</p> + +<p> +The great man smiled. “Thou art not altogether right, Macumazahn,” +he said; “I have plotted in my time, but it was not ambition that led me +to my fall; but, shame on me that I should have to say it, a fair woman’s +face. Let it pass. So we are going to see something like the old times again, +Macumazahn, when we fought and hunted in Zululand? Ay, I will come. Come life, +come death, what care I, so that the blows fall fast and the blood runs red? I +grow old, I grow old, and I have not fought enough! And yet am I a warrior +among warriors; see my scars”—and he pointed to countless +cicatrices, stabs and cuts, that marked the skin of his chest and legs and +arms. “See the hole in my head; the brains gushed out therefrom, yet did +I slay him who smote, and live. Knowest thou how many men I have slain, in fair +hand-to-hand combat, Macumazahn? See, here is the tale of them”—and +he pointed to long rows of notches cut in the rhinoceros-horn handle of his +axe. “Number them, Macumazahn—one hundred and three—and I +have never counted but those whom I have ripped open,<a href="#fn-3" name="fnref-3" id="fnref-3"><sup>[3]</sup></a> +nor have I reckoned those whom another man had struck.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-3" id="fn-3"></a> <a href="#fnref-3">[3]</a> +Alluding to the Zulu custom of opening the stomach of a dead foe. They have a +superstition that, if this is not done, as the body of their enemy swells up so +will the bodies of those who killed him swell up.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +“Be silent,” I said, for I saw that he was getting the blood-fever +on him; “be silent; well art thou called the ‘Slaughterer’. +We would not hear of thy deeds of blood. Remember, if thou comest with us, we +fight not save in self-defence. Listen, we need servants. These men,” and +I pointed to the Wakwafi, who had retired a little way during our +“indaba” (talk), “say they will not come.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will not come!” shouted Umslopogaas; “where is the dog who +says he will not come when my Father orders? Here, thou”—and with a +single bound he sprang upon the Wakwafi with whom I had first spoken, and, +seizing him by the arm, dragged him towards us. “Thou dog!” he +said, giving the terrified man a shake, “didst thou say that thou wouldst +not go with my Father? Say it once more and I will choke thee”—and +his long fingers closed round his throat as he said it—“thee, and +those with thee. Hast thou forgotten how I served thy brother?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, we will come with the white man,” gasped the man. +</p> + +<p> +“White man!” went on Umslopogaas, in simulated fury, which a very +little provocation would have made real enough; “of whom speakest thou, +insolent dog?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, we will go with the great chief.” +</p> + +<p> +“So!” said Umslopogaas, in a quiet voice, as he suddenly released +his hold, so that the man fell backward. “I thought you would.” +</p> + +<p> +“That man Umslopogaas seems to have a curious moral ascendency over his +companions,” Good afterwards remarked thoughtfully. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +THE BLACK HAND</h2> + +<p> +In due course we left Lamu, and ten days afterwards we found ourselves at a +spot called Charra, on the Tana River, having gone through many adventures +which need not be recorded here. Amongst other things we visited a ruined city, +of which there are many on this coast, and which must once, to judge from their +extent and the numerous remains of mosques and stone houses, have been very +populous places. These ruined cities are immeasurably ancient, having, I +believe, been places of wealth and importance as far back as the Old Testament +times, when they were centres of trade with India and elsewhere. But their +glory has departed now—the slave trade has finished them—and where +wealthy merchants from all parts of the then civilized world stood and +bargained in the crowded market-places, the lion holds his court at night, and +instead of the chattering of slaves and the eager voices of the bidders, his +awful note goes echoing down the ruined corridors. At this particular place we +discovered on a mound, covered up with rank growth and rubbish, two of the most +beautiful stone doorways that it is possible to conceive. The carving on them +was simply exquisite, and I only regret that we had no means of getting them +away. No doubt they had once been the entrances to a palace, of which, however, +no traces were now to be seen, though probably its ruins lay under the rising +mound. +</p> + +<p> +Gone! quite gone! the way that everything must go. Like the nobles and the +ladies who lived within their gates, these cities have had their day, and now +they are as Babylon and Nineveh, and as London and Paris will one day be. +Nothing may endure. That is the inexorable law. Men and women, empires and +cities, thrones, principalities, and powers, mountains, rivers, and unfathomed +seas, worlds, spaces, and universes, all have their day, and all must go. In +this ruined and forgotten place the moralist may behold a symbol of the +universal destiny. For this system of ours allows no room for standing +still—nothing can loiter on the road and check the progress of things +upwards towards Life, or the rush of things downwards towards Death. The stern +policeman Fate moves us and them on, on, uphill and downhill and across the +level; there is no resting-place for the weary feet, till at last the abyss +swallows us, and from the shores of the Transitory we are hurled into the sea +of the Eternal. +</p> + +<p> +At Charra we had a violent quarrel with the headman of the bearers we had hired +to go as far as this, and who now wished to extort large extra payment from us. +In the result he threatened to set the Masai—about whom more +anon—on to us. That night he, with all our hired bearers, ran away, +stealing most of the goods which had been entrusted to them to carry. Luckily, +however, they had not happened to steal our rifles, ammunition, and personal +effects; not because of any delicacy of feeling on their part, but owing to the +fact that they chanced to be in the charge of the five Wakwafis. After that, it +was clear to us that we had had enough of caravans and of bearers. Indeed, we +had not much left for a caravan to carry. And yet, how were we to get on? +</p> + +<p> +It was Good who solved the question. “Here is water,” he said, +pointing to the Tana River; “and yesterday I saw a party of natives +hunting hippopotami in canoes. I understand that Mr Mackenzie’s mission +station is on the Tana River. Why not get into canoes and paddle up to +it?” +</p> + +<p> +This brilliant suggestion was, needless to say, received with acclamation; and +I instantly set to work to buy suitable canoes from the surrounding natives. I +succeeded after a delay of three days in obtaining two large ones, each +hollowed out of a single log of some light wood, and capable of holding six +people and baggage. For these two canoes we had to pay nearly all our remaining +cloth, and also many other articles. +</p> + +<p> +On the day following our purchase of the two canoes we effected a start. In the +first canoe were Good, Sir Henry, and three of our Wakwafi followers; in the +second myself, Umslopogaas, and the other two Wakwafis. As our course lay +upstream, we had to keep four paddles at work in each canoe, which meant that +the whole lot of us, except Good, had to row away like galley-slaves; and very +exhausting work it was. I say, except Good, for, of course, the moment that +Good got into a boat his foot was on his native heath, and he took command of +the party. And certainly he worked us. On shore Good is a gentle, mild-mannered +man, and given to jocosity; but, as we found to our cost, Good in a boat was a +perfect demon. To begin with, he knew all about it, and we didn’t. On all +nautical subjects, from the torpedo fittings of a man-of-war down to the best +way of handling the paddle of an African canoe, he was a perfect mine of +information, which, to say the least of it, we were not. Also his ideas of +discipline were of the sternest, and, in short, he came the royal naval officer +over us pretty considerably, and paid us out amply for all the chaff we were +wont to treat him to on land; but, on the other hand, I am bound to say that he +managed the boats admirably. +</p> + +<p> +After the first day Good succeeded, with the help of some cloth and a couple of +poles, in rigging up a sail in each canoe, which lightened our labours not a +little. But the current ran very strong against us, and at the best we were not +able to make more than twenty miles a day. Our plan was to start at dawn, and +paddle along till about half-past ten, by which time the sun got too hot to +allow of further exertion. Then we moored our canoes to the bank, and ate our +frugal meal; after which we ate or otherwise amused ourselves till about three +o’clock, when we again started, and rowed till within an hour of sundown, +when we called a halt for the night. On landing in the evening, Good would at +once set to work, with the help of the Askari, to build a little +“scherm”, or small enclosure, fenced with thorn bushes, and to +light a fire. I, with Sir Henry and Umslopogaas, would go out to shoot +something for the pot. Generally this was an easy task, for all sorts of game +abounded on the banks of the Tana. One night Sir Henry shot a young +cow-giraffe, of which the marrow-bones were excellent; on another I got a +couple of waterbuck right and left; and once, to his own intense satisfaction, +Umslopogaas (who, like most Zulus, was a vile shot with a rifle) managed to +kill a fine fat eland with a Martini I had lent him. Sometimes we varied our +food by shooting some guinea-fowl, or bush-bustard (paau)—both of which +were numerous—with a shot-gun, or by catching a supply of beautiful +yellow fish, with which the waters of the Tana swarmed, and which form, I +believe, one of the chief food-supplies of the crocodiles. +</p> + +<p> +Three days after our start an ominous incident occurred. We were just drawing +in to the bank to make our camp as usual for the night, when we caught sight of +a figure standing on a little knoll not forty yards away, and intensely +watching our approach. One glance was sufficient—although I was +personally unacquainted with the tribe—to tell me that he was a Masai +Elmoran, or young warrior. Indeed, had I had any doubts, they would have +quickly been dispelled by the terrified ejaculation of +“<i>Masai!</i>” that burst simultaneously from the lips of our +Wakwafi followers, who are, as I think I have said, themselves bastard Masai. +</p> + +<p> +And what a figure he presented as he stood there in his savage war-gear! +Accustomed as I have been to savages all my life, I do not think that I have +ever before seen anything quite so ferocious or awe-inspiring. To begin with, +the man was enormously tall, quite as tall as Umslopogaas, I should say, and +beautifully, though somewhat slightly, shaped; but with the face of a devil. In +his right hand he held a spear about five and a half feet long, the blade being +two and a half feet in length, by nearly three inches in width, and having an +iron spike at the end of the handle that measured more than a foot. On his left +arm was a large and well-made elliptical shield of buffalo hide, on which were +painted strange heraldic-looking devices. On his shoulders was a huge cape of +hawk’s feathers, and round his neck was a “naibere”, or strip +of cotton, about seventeen feet long, by one and a half broad, with a stripe of +colour running down the middle of it. The tanned goatskin robe, which formed +his ordinary attire in times of peace, was tied lightly round his waist, so as +to serve the purposes of a belt, and through it were stuck, on the right and +left sides respectively, his short pear-shaped sime, or sword, which is made of +a single piece of steel, and carried in a wooden sheath, and an enormous +knobkerrie. But perhaps the most remarkable feature of his attire consisted of +a headdress of ostrich-feathers, which was fixed on the chin, and passed in +front of the ears to the forehead, and, being shaped like an ellipse, +completely framed the face, so that the diabolical countenance appeared to +project from a sort of feather fire-screen. Round the ankles he wore black +fringes of hair, and, projecting from the upper portion of the calves, to which +they were attached, were long spurs like spikes, from which flowed down tufts +of the beautiful black and waving hair of the Colobus monkey. Such was the +elaborate array of the Masai Elmoran who stood watching the approach of our two +canoes, but it is one which, to be appreciated, must be seen; only those who +see it do not often live to describe it. Of course I could not make out all +these details of his full dress on the occasion of this my first introduction, +being, indeed, amply taken up with the consideration of the general effect, but +I had plenty of subsequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the items +that went to make it up. +</p> + +<p> +Whilst we were hesitating what to do, the Masai warrior drew himself up in a +dignified fashion, shook his huge spear at us, and, turning, vanished on the +further side of the slope. +</p> + +<p> +“Hulloa!” holloaed Sir Henry from the other boat; “our friend +the caravan leader has been as good as his word, and set the Masai after us. Do +you think it will be safe to go ashore?” +</p> + +<p> +I did not think it would be at all safe; but, on the other hand, we had no +means of cooking in the canoes, and nothing that we could eat raw, so it was +difficult to know what to do. At last Umslopogaas simplified matters by +volunteering to go and reconnoitre, which he did, creeping off into the bush +like a snake, while we hung off in the stream waiting for him. In half an hour +he returned, and told us that there was not a Masai to be seen anywhere about, +but that he had discovered a spot where they had recently been encamped, and +that from various indications he judged that they must have moved on an hour or +so before; the man we saw having, no doubt, been left to report upon our +movements. +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon we landed; and, having posted a sentry, proceeded to cook and eat our +evening meal. This done, we took the situation into our serious consideration. +Of course, it was possible that the apparition of the Masai warrior had nothing +to do with us, that he was merely one of a band bent upon some marauding and +murdering expedition against another tribe. But when we recalled the threat of +the caravan leader, and reflected on the ominous way in which the warrior had +shaken his spear at us, this did not appear very probable. On the contrary, +what did seem probable was that the party was after us and awaiting a +favourable opportunity to attack us. This being so, there were two things that +we could do—one of which was to go on, and the other to go back. The +latter idea was, however, rejected at once, it being obvious that we should +encounter as many dangers in retreat as in advance; and, besides, we had made +up our minds to journey onwards at any price. Under these circumstances, +however, we did not consider it safe to sleep ashore, so we got into our +canoes, and, paddling out into the middle of the stream, which was not very +wide here, managed to anchor them by means of big stones fastened to ropes made +of coconut-fibre, of which there were several fathoms in each canoe. +</p> + +<p> +Here the mosquitoes nearly ate us up alive, and this, combined with anxiety as +to our position, effectually prevented me from sleeping as the others were +doing, notwithstanding the attacks of the aforesaid Tana mosquitoes. And so I +lay awake, smoking and reflecting on many things, but, being of a practical +turn of mind, chiefly on how we were to give those Masai villains the slip. It +was a beautiful moonlight night, and, notwithstanding the mosquitoes, and the +great risk we were running from fever from sleeping in such a spot, and +forgetting that I had the cramp very badly in my right leg from squatting in a +constrained position in the canoe, and that the Wakwafi who was sleeping beside +me smelt horribly, I really began to enjoy myself. The moonbeams played upon +the surface of the running water that speeded unceasingly past us towards the +sea, like men’s lives towards the grave, till it glittered like a wide +sheet of silver, that is in the open where the trees threw no shadows. Near the +banks, however, it was very dark, and the night wind sighed sadly in the reeds. +To our left, on the further side of the river, was a little sandy bay which was +clear of trees, and here I could make out the forms of numerous antelopes +advancing to the water, till suddenly there came an ominous roar, whereupon +they all made off hurriedly. Then after a pause I caught sight of the massive +form of His Majesty the Lion, coming down to drink his fill after meat. +Presently he moved on, then came a crashing of the reeds about fifty yards +above us, and a few minutes later a huge black mass rose out of the water, +about twenty yards from me, and snorted. It was the head of a hippopotamus. +Down it went without a sound, only to rise again within five yards of where I +sat. This was decidedly too near to be comfortable, more especially as the +hippopotamus was evidently animated by intense curiosity to know what on earth +our canoes were. He opened his great mouth, to yawn, I suppose, and gave me an +excellent view of his ivories; and I could not help reflecting how easily he +could crunch up our frail canoe with a single bite. Indeed, I had half a mind +to give him a ball from my eight-bore, but on reflection determined to let him +alone unless he actually charged the boat. Presently he sank again as +noiselessly as before, and I saw no more of him. Just then, on looking towards +the bank on our right, I fancied that I caught sight of a dark figure flitting +between the tree trunks. I have very keen sight, and I was almost sure that I +saw something, but whether it was bird, beast, or man I could not say. At the +moment, however, a dark cloud passed over the moon, and I saw no more of it. +Just then, too, although all the other sounds of the forest had ceased, a +species of horned owl with which I was well acquainted began to hoot with great +persistency. After that, save for the rustling of trees and reeds when the wind +caught them, there was complete silence. +</p> + +<p> +But somehow, in the most unaccountable way, I had suddenly become nervous. +There was no particular reason why I should be, beyond the ordinary reasons +which surround the Central African traveller, and yet I undoubtedly was. If +there is one thing more than another of which I have the most complete and +entire scorn and disbelief, it is of presentiments, and yet here I was all of a +sudden filled with and possessed by a most undoubted presentiment of +approaching evil. I would not give way to it, however, although I felt the cold +perspiration stand out upon my forehead. I would not arouse the others. Worse +and worse I grew, my pulse fluttered like a dying man’s, my nerves +thrilled with the horrible sense of impotent terror which anybody who is +subject to nightmare will be familiar with, but still my will triumphed over my +fears, and I lay quiet (for I was half sitting, half lying, in the bow of the +canoe), only turning my face so as to command a view of Umslopogaas and the two +Wakwafi who were sleeping alongside of and beyond me. +</p> + +<p> +In the distance I heard a hippopotamus splash faintly, then the owl hooted +again in a kind of unnatural screaming note,<a href="#fn-4" name="fnref-4" id="fnref-4"><sup>[4]</sup></a> +and the wind began to moan plaintively through the trees, making a +heart-chilling music. Above was the black bosom of the cloud, and beneath me +swept the black flood of the water, and I felt as though I and Death were +utterly alone between them. It was very desolate. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-4" id="fn-4"></a> <a href="#fnref-4">[4]</a> +No doubt this owl was a wingless bird. I afterwards learnt that the hooting of +an owl is a favourite signal among the Masai tribes.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly my blood seemed to freeze in my veins, and my heart to stand still. +Was it fancy, or were we moving? I turned my eyes to look for the other canoe +which should be alongside of us. I could not see it, but instead I saw a lean +and clutching black hand lifting itself above the gunwale of the little boat. +Surely it was a nightmare! At the same instant a dim but devilish-looking face +appeared to rise out of the water, and then came a lurch of the canoe, the +quick flash of a knife, and an awful yell from the Wakwafi who was sleeping by +my side (the same poor fellow whose odour had been annoying me), and something +warm spurted into my face. In an instant the spell was broken; I knew that it +was no nightmare, but that we were attacked by swimming Masai. Snatching at the +first weapon that came to hand, which happened to be Umslopogaas’ +battleaxe, I struck with all my force in the direction in which I had seen the +flash of the knife. The blow fell upon a man’s arm, and, catching it +against the thick wooden gunwale of the canoe, completely severed it from the +body just above the wrist. As for its owner, he uttered no sound or cry. Like a +ghost he came, and like a ghost he went, leaving behind him a bloody hand still +gripping a great knife, or rather a short sword, that was buried in the heart +of our poor servant. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly there arose a hubbub and confusion, and I fancied, rightly or +wrongly, that I made out several dark heads gliding away towards the right-hand +bank, whither we were rapidly drifting, for the rope by which we were moored +had been severed with a knife. As soon as I had realised this fact, I also +realised that the scheme had been to cut the boat loose so that it should drift +on to the right bank (as it would have done with the natural swing of the +current), where no doubt a party of Masai were waiting to dig their +shovel-headed spears into us. Seizing one paddle myself, I told Umslopogaas to +take another (for the remaining Askari was too frightened and bewildered to be +of any use), and together we rowed vigorously out towards the middle of the +stream; and not an instant too soon, for in another minute we should have been +aground, and then there would have been an end of us. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as we were well out, we set to work to paddle the canoe upstream again +to where the other was moored; and very hard and dangerous work it was in the +dark, and with nothing but the notes of Good’s stentorian shouts, which +he kept firing off at intervals like a fog-horn, to guide us. But at last we +fetched up, and were thankful to find that they had not been molested at all. +No doubt the owner of the same hand that severed our rope should have severed +theirs also, but was led away from his purpose by an irresistible inclination +to murder when he got the chance, which, while it cost us a man and him his +hand, undoubtedly saved all the rest of us from massacre. Had it not been for +that ghastly apparition over the side of the boat—an apparition that I +shall never forget till my dying hour—the canoe would undoubtedly have +drifted ashore before I realised what had happened, and this history would +never have been written by me. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +THE MISSION STATION</h2> + +<p> +We made the remains of our rope fast to the other canoe, and sat waiting for +the dawn and congratulating ourselves upon our merciful escape, which really +seemed to result more from the special favour of Providence than from our own +care or prowess. At last it came, and I have not often been more grateful to +see the light, though so far as my canoe was concerned it revealed a ghastly +sight. There in the bottom of the little boat lay the unfortunate Askari, the +sime, or sword, in his bosom, and the severed hand gripping the handle. I could +not bear the sight, so hauling up the stone which had served as an anchor to +the other canoe, we made it fast to the murdered man and dropped him overboard, +and down he went to the bottom, leaving nothing but a train of bubbles behind +him. Alas! when our time comes, most of us like him leave nothing but bubbles +behind, to show that we have been, and the bubbles soon burst. The hand of his +murderer we threw into the stream, where it slowly sank. The sword, of which +the handle was ivory, inlaid with gold (evidently Arab work), I kept and used +as a hunting-knife, and very useful it proved. +</p> + +<p> +Then, a man having been transferred to my canoe, we once more started on in +very low spirits and not feeling at all comfortable as to the future, but +fondly hoping to arrive at the “Highlands” station by night. To +make matters worse, within an hour of sunrise it came on to rain in torrents, +wetting us to the skin, and even necessitating the occasional baling of the +canoes, and as the rain beat down the wind we could not use the sails, and had +to get along as best as we could with our paddles. +</p> + +<p> +At eleven o’clock we halted on an open piece of ground on the left bank +of the river, and, the rain abating a little, managed to make a fire and catch +and broil some fish. We did not dare to wander about to search for game. At two +o’clock we got off again, taking a supply of broiled fish with us, and +shortly afterwards the rain came on harder than ever. Also the river began to +get exceedingly difficult to navigate on account of the numerous rocks, reaches +of shallow water, and the increased force of the current; so that it soon +became clear to us that we should not reach the Rev. Mackenzie’s +hospitable roof that night—a prospect that did not tend to enliven us. +Toil as we would, we could not make more than an average of a mile an hour, and +at five o’clock in the afternoon (by which time we were all utterly worn +out) we reckoned that we were still quite ten miles below the station. This +being so, we set to work to make the best arrangements we could for the night. +After our recent experience, we simply did not dare to land, more especially as +the banks of the Tana were clothed with dense bush that would have given cover +to five thousand Masai, and at first I thought that we were going to have +another night of it in the canoes. Fortunately, however, we espied a little +rocky islet, not more than fifteen miles or so square, situated nearly in the +middle of the river. For this we paddled, and, making fast the canoes, landed +and made ourselves as comfortable as circumstances would permit, which was very +uncomfortable indeed. As for the weather, it continued to be simply vile, the +rain coming down in sheets till we were chilled to the marrow, and utterly +preventing us from lighting a fire. There was, however, one consoling +circumstance about this rain; our Askari declared that nothing would induce the +Masai to make an attack in it, as they intensely disliked moving about in the +wet, perhaps, as Good suggested, because they hate the idea of washing. We ate +some insipid and sodden cold fish—that is, with the exception of +Umslopogaas, who, like most Zulus, cannot bear fish—and took a pull of +brandy, of which we fortunately had a few bottles left, and then began what, +with one exception—when we same three white men nearly perished of cold +on the snow of Sheba’s Breast in the course of our journey to +Kukuanaland—was, I think, the most trying night I ever experienced. It +seemed absolutely endless, and once or twice I feared that two of the Askari +would have died of the wet, cold, and exposure. Indeed, had it not been for +timely doses of brandy I am sure that they would have died, for no African +people can stand much exposure, which first paralyses and then kills them. I +could see that even that iron old warrior Umslopogaas felt it keenly; though, +in strange contrast to the Wakwafis, who groaned and bemoaned their fate +unceasingly, he never uttered a single complaint. To make matters worse, about +one in the morning we again heard the owl’s ominous hooting, and had at +once to prepare ourselves for another attack; though, if it had been attempted, +I do not think that we could have offered a very effective resistance. But +either the owl was a real one this time, or else the Masai were themselves too +miserable to think of offensive operations, which, indeed, they rarely, if +ever, undertake in bush veldt. At any rate, we saw nothing of them. +</p> + +<p> +At last the dawn came gliding across the water, wrapped in wreaths of ghostly +mist, and, with the daylight, the rain ceased; and then, out came the glorious +sun, sucking up the mists and warming the chill air. Benumbed, and utterly +exhausted, we dragged ourselves to our feet, and went and stood in the bright +rays, and were thankful for them. I can quite understand how it is that +primitive people become sun worshippers, especially if their conditions of life +render them liable to exposure. +</p> + +<p> +In half an hour more we were once again making fair progress with the help of a +good wind. Our spirits had returned with the sunshine, and we were ready to +laugh at difficulties and dangers that had been almost crushing on the previous +day. +</p> + +<p> +And so we went on cheerily till about eleven o’clock. Just as we were +thinking of halting as usual, to rest and try to shoot something to eat, a +sudden bend in the river brought us in sight of a substantial-looking European +house with a veranda round it, splendidly situated upon a hill, and surrounded +by a high stone wall with a ditch on the outer side. Right against and +overshadowing the house was an enormous pine, the top of which we had seen +through a glass for the last two days, but of course without knowing that it +marked the site of the mission station. I was the first to see the house, and +could not restrain myself from giving a hearty cheer, in which the others, +including the natives, joined lustily. There was no thought of halting now. On +we laboured, for, unfortunately, though the house seemed quite near, it was +still a long way off by river, until at last, by one o’clock, we found +ourselves at the bottom of the slope on which the building stood. Running the +canoes to the bank, we disembarked, and were just hauling them up on to the +shore, when we perceived three figures, dressed in ordinary English-looking +clothes, hurrying down through a grove of trees to meet us. +</p> + +<p> +“A gentleman, a lady, and a little girl,” ejaculated Good, after +surveying the trio through his eyeglass, “walking in a civilized fashion, +through a civilized garden, to meet us in this place. Hang me, if this +isn’t the most curious thing we have seen yet!” +</p> + +<p> +Good was right: it certainly did seem odd and out of place—more like a +scene out of a dream or an Italian opera than a real tangible fact; and the +sense of unreality was not lessened when we heard ourselves addressed in good +broad Scotch, which, however, I cannot reproduce. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do, sirs,” said Mr Mackenzie, a grey-haired, angular +man, with a kindly face and red cheeks; “I hope I see you very well. My +natives told me an hour ago they spied two canoes with white men in them coming +up the river; so we have just come down to meet you.” +</p> + +<p> +“And it is very glad that we are to see a white face again, let me tell +you,” put in the lady—a charming and refined-looking person. +</p> + +<p> +We took off our hats in acknowledgment, and proceeded to introduce ourselves. +</p> + +<p> +“And now,” said Mr Mackenzie, “you must all be hungry and +weary; so come on, gentlemen, come on, and right glad we are to see you. The +last white who visited us was Alphonse—you will see Alphonse +presently—and that was a year ago.” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile we had been walking up the slope of the hill, the lower portion of +which was fenced off, sometimes with quince fences and sometimes with rough +stone walls, into Kaffir gardens, just now full of crops of mealies, pumpkins, +potatoes, etc. In the corners of these gardens were groups of neat +mushroom-shaped huts, occupied by Mr Mackenzie’s mission natives, whose +women and children came pouring out to meet us as we walked. Through the centre +of the gardens ran the roadway up which we were walking. It was bordered on +each side by a line of orange trees, which, although they had only been planted +ten years, had in the lovely climate of the uplands below Mt Kenia, the base of +which is about 5,000 feet above the coastline level, already grown to imposing +proportions, and were positively laden with golden fruit. After a stiffish +climb of a quarter of a mile or so—for the hillside was steep—we +came to a splendid quince fence, also covered with fruit, which enclosed, Mr +Mackenzie told us, a space of about four acres of ground that contained his +private garden, house, church, and outbuildings, and, indeed, the whole +hilltop. And what a garden it was! I have always loved a good garden, and I +could have thrown up my hands for joy when I saw Mr Mackenzie’s. First +there were rows upon rows of standard European fruit-trees, all grafted; for on +top of this hill the climate was so temperate that nearly all the English +vegetables, trees, and flowers flourished luxuriantly, even including several +varieties of the apple, which, generally, runs to wood in a warm climate and +obstinately refuses to fruit. Then there were strawberries and tomatoes (such +tomatoes!), and melons and cucumbers, and, indeed, every sort of vegetable and +fruit. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, you have something like a garden!” I said, overpowered with +admiration not untouched by envy. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” answered the missionary, “it is a very good garden, +and has well repaid my labour; but it is the climate that I have to thank. If +you stick a peach-stone into the ground it will bear fruit the fourth year, and +a rose-cutting will bloom in a year. It is a lovely clime.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then we came to a ditch about ten feet wide, and full of water, on the +other side of which was a loopholed stone wall eight feet high, and with sharp +flints plentifully set in mortar on the coping. +</p> + +<p> +“There,” said Mr Mackenzie, pointing to the ditch and wall, +“this is my <i>magnum opus;</i> at least, this and the church, which is +the other side of the house. It took me and twenty natives two years to dig the +ditch and build the wall, but I never felt safe till it was done; and now I can +defy all the savages in Africa, for the spring that fills the ditch is inside +the wall, and bubbles out at the top of the hill winter and summer alike, and I +always keep a store of four months’ provision in the house.” +</p> + +<p> +Crossing over a plank and through a very narrow opening in the wall, we entered +into what Mrs Mackenzie called <i>her</i> domain—namely, the flower +garden, the beauty of which is really beyond my power to describe. I do not +think I ever saw such roses, gardenias, or camellias (all reared from seeds or +cuttings sent from England); and there was also a patch given up to a +collection of bulbous roots mostly collected by Miss Flossie, Mr +Mackenzie’s little daughter, from the surrounding country, some of which +were surpassingly beautiful. In the middle of this garden, and exactly opposite +the veranda, a beautiful fountain of clear water bubbled up from the ground, +and fell into a stone-work basin which had been carefully built to receive it, +whence the overflow found its way by means of a drain to the moat round the +outer wall, this moat in its turn serving as a reservoir, whence an unfailing +supply of water was available to irrigate all the gardens below. The house +itself, a massively built single-storied building, was roofed with slabs of +stone, and had a handsome veranda in front. It was built on three sides of a +square, the fourth side being taken up by the kitchens, which stood separate +from the house—a very good plan in a hot country. In the centre of this +square thus formed was, perhaps, the most remarkable object that we had yet +seen in this charming place, and that was a single tree of the conifer tribe, +varieties of which grow freely on the highlands of this part of Africa. This +splendid tree, which Mr Mackenzie informed us was a landmark for fifty miles +round, and which we had ourselves seen for the last forty miles of our journey, +must have been nearly three hundred feet in height, the trunk measuring about +sixteen feet in diameter at a yard from the ground. For some seventy feet it +rose a beautiful tapering brown pillar without a single branch, but at that +height splendid dark green boughs, which, looked at from below, had the +appearance of gigantic fern-leaves, sprang out horizontally from the trunk, +projecting right over the house and flower-garden, to both of which they +furnished a grateful proportion of shade, without—being so high +up—offering any impediment to the passage of light and air. +</p> + +<p> +“What a beautiful tree!” exclaimed Sir Henry. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, you are right; it is a beautiful tree. There is not another like it +in all the country round, that I know of,” answered Mr Mackenzie. +“I call it my watch tower. As you see, I have a rope ladder fixed to the +lowest bough; and if I want to see anything that is going on within fifteen +miles or so, all I have to do is to run up it with a spyglass. But you must be +hungry, and I am sure the dinner is cooked. Come in, my friends; it is but a +rough place, but well enough for these savage parts; and I can tell you what, +we have got—a French cook.” And he led the way on to the veranda. +</p> + +<p> +As I was following him, and wondering what on earth he could mean by this, +there suddenly appeared, through the door that opened on to the veranda from +the house, a dapper little man, dressed in a neat blue cotton suit, with shoes +made of tanned hide, and remarkable for a bustling air and most enormous black +mustachios, shaped into an upward curve, and coming to a point for all the +world like a pair of buffalo-horns. +</p> + +<p> +“Madame bids me for to say that dinnar is sarved. Messieurs, my +compliments;” then suddenly perceiving Umslopogaas, who was loitering +along after us and playing with his battleaxe, he threw up his hands in +astonishment. “<i>Ah, mais quel homme!</i>” he ejaculated in +French, “<i>quel sauvage affreux!</i> Take but note of his huge choppare +and the great pit in his head.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” said Mr Mackenzie; “what are you talking about, +Alphonse?” +</p> + +<p> +“Talking about!” replied the little Frenchman, his eyes still fixed +upon Umslopogaas, whose general appearance seemed to fascinate him; “why +I talk of him”—and he rudely pointed—“of <i>ce monsieur +noir</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +At this everybody began to laugh, and Umslopogaas, perceiving that he was the +object of remark, frowned ferociously, for he had a most lordly dislike of +anything like a personal liberty. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Parbleu!</i>” said Alphonse, “he is angered—he +makes the grimace. I like not his air. I vanish.” And he did with +considerable rapidity. +</p> + +<p> +Mr Mackenzie joined heartily in the shout of laughter which we indulged in. +“He is a queer character—Alphonse,” he said. “By and by +I will tell you his history; in the meanwhile let us try his cooking.” +</p> + +<p> +“Might I ask,” said Sir Henry, after we had eaten a most excellent +dinner, “how you came to have a French cook in these wilds?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh,” answered Mrs Mackenzie, “he arrived here of his own +accord about a year ago, and asked to be taken into our service. He had got +into some trouble in France, and fled to Zanzibar, where he found an +application had been made by the French Government for his extradition. +Whereupon he rushed off up-country, and fell in, when nearly starved, with our +caravan of men, who were bringing us our annual supply of goods, and was +brought on here. You should get him to tell you the story.” +</p> + +<p> +When dinner was over we lit our pipes, and Sir Henry proceeded to give our host +a description of our journey up here, over which he looked very grave. +</p> + +<p> +“It is evident to me,” he said, “that those rascally Masai +are following you, and I am very thankful that you have reached this house in +safety. I do not think that they will dare to attack you here. It is +unfortunate, though, that nearly all my men have gone down to the coast with +ivory and goods. There are two hundred of them in the caravan, and the +consequence is that I have not more than twenty men available for defensive +purposes in case they should attack us. But, still, I will just give a few +orders;” and, calling a black man who was loitering about outside in the +garden, he went to the window, and addressed him in a Swahili dialect. The man +listened, and then saluted and departed. +</p> + +<p> +“I am sure I devoutly hope that we shall bring no such calamity upon +you,” said I, anxiously, when he had taken his seat again. “Rather +than bring those bloodthirsty villains about your ears, we will move on and +take our chance.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will do nothing of the sort. If the Masai come, they come, and there +is an end on it; and I think we can give them a pretty warm greeting. I would +not show any man the door for all the Masai in the world.” +</p> + +<p> +“That reminds me,” I said, “the Consul at Lamu told me that +he had had a letter from you, in which you said that a man had arrived here who +reported that he had come across a white people in the interior. Do you think +that there was any truth in his story? I ask, because I have once or twice in +my life heard rumours from natives who have come down from the far north of the +existence of such a race.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr Mackenzie, by way of answer, went out of the room and returned, bringing +with him a most curious sword. It was long, and all the blade, which was very +thick and heavy, was to within a quarter of an inch of the cutting edge worked +into an ornamental pattern exactly as we work soft wood with a fret-saw, the +steel, however, being invariably pierced in such a way as not to interfere with +the strength of the sword. This in itself was sufficiently curious, but what +was still more so was that all the edges of the hollow spaces cut through the +substance of the blade were most beautifully inlaid with gold, which was in +some way that I cannot understand welded on to the steel.<a href="#fn-5" name="fnref-5" id="fnref-5"><sup>[5]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-5" id="fn-5"></a> <a href="#fnref-5">[5]</a> +Since I saw the above I have examined hundreds of these swords, but have never +been able to discover how the gold plates were inlaid in the fretwork. The +armourers who make them in Zu-vendis bind themselves by oath not to reveal the +secret.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +“There,” said Mr Mackenzie, “did you ever see a sword like +that?” +</p> + +<p> +We all examined it and shook our heads. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I have got it to show you, because this is what the man who said +he had seen the white people brought with him, and because it does more or less +give an air of truth to what I should otherwise have set down as a lie. Look +here; I will tell you all that I know about the matter, which is not much. One +afternoon, just before sunset, I was sitting on the veranda, when a poor, +miserable, starved-looking man came limping up and squatted down before me. I +asked him where he came from and what he wanted, and thereon he plunged into a +long rambling narrative about how he belonged to a tribe far in the north, and +how his tribe was destroyed by another tribe, and he with a few other survivors +driven still further north past a lake named Laga. Thence, it appears, he made +his way to another lake that lay up in the mountains, ‘a lake without a +bottom’ he called it, and here his wife and brother died of an infectious +sickness—probably smallpox—whereon the people drove him out of +their villages into the wilderness, where he wandered miserably over mountains +for ten days, after which he got into dense thorn forest, and was one day found +there by some <i>white men</i> who were hunting, and who took him to a place +where all the people were white and lived in stone houses. Here he remained a +week shut up in a house, till one night a man with a white beard, whom he +understood to be a ‘medicine-man’, came and inspected him, after +which he was led off and taken through the thorn forest to the confines of the +wilderness, and given food and this sword (at least so he said), and turned +loose.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Sir Henry, who had been listening with breathless +interest, “and what did he do then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! he seems, according to his account, to have gone through sufferings +and hardships innumerable, and to have lived for weeks on roots and berries, +and such things as he could catch and kill. But somehow he did live, and at +last by slow degrees made his way south and reached this place. What the +details of his journey were I never learnt, for I told him to return on the +morrow, bidding one of my headmen look after him for the night. The headman +took him away, but the poor man had the itch so badly that the headman’s +wife would not have him in the hut for fear of catching it, so he was given a +blanket and told to sleep outside. As it happened, we had a lion hanging about +here just then, and most unhappily he winded this unfortunate wanderer, and, +springing on him, bit his head almost off without the people in the hut knowing +anything about it, and there was an end of him and his story about the white +people; and whether or no there is any truth in it is more than I can tell you. +What do you think, Mr Quatermain?” +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head, and answered, “I don’t know. There are so many +queer things hidden away in the heart of this great continent that I should be +sorry to assert that there was no truth in it. Anyhow, we mean to try and find +out. We intend to journey to Lekakisera, and thence, if we live to get so far, +to this Lake Laga; and, if there are any white people beyond, we will do our +best to find them.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are very venturesome people,” said Mr Mackenzie, with a smile, +and the subject dropped. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +ALPHONSE AND HIS ANNETTE</h2> + +<p> +After dinner we thoroughly inspected all the outbuildings and grounds of the +station, which I consider the most successful as well as the most beautiful +place of the sort that I have seen in Africa. We then returned to the veranda, +where we found Umslopogaas taking advantage of this favourable opportunity to +clean all the rifles thoroughly. This was the only <i>work</i> that he ever did +or was asked to do, for as a Zulu chief it was beneath his dignity to work with +his hands; but such as it was he did it very well. It was a curious sight to +see the great Zulu sitting there upon the floor, his battleaxe resting against +the wall behind him, whilst his long aristocratic-looking hands were busily +employed, delicately and with the utmost care, cleaning the mechanism of the +breech-loaders. He had a name for each gun. One—a double four-bore +belonging to Sir Henry—was the Thunderer; another, my 500 Express, which +had a peculiarly sharp report, was “the little one who spoke like a +whip”; the Winchester repeaters were “the women, who talked so fast +that you could not tell one word from another”; the six Martinis were +“the common people”; and so on with them all. It was very curious +to hear him addressing each gun as he cleaned it, as though it were an +individual, and in a vein of the quaintest humour. He did the same with his +battle-axe, which he seemed to look upon as an intimate friend, and to which he +would at times talk by the hour, going over all his old adventures with +it—and dreadful enough some of them were. By a piece of grim humour, he +had named this axe “Inkosi-kaas”, which is the Zulu word for +chieftainess. For a long while I could not make out why he gave it such a name, +and at last I asked him, when he informed me that the axe was very evidently +feminine, because of her womanly habit of prying very deep into things, and +that she was clearly a chieftainess because all men fell down before her, +struck dumb at the sight of her beauty and power. In the same way he would +consult “Inkosi-kaas” if in any dilemma; and when I asked him why +he did so, he informed me it was because she must needs be wise, having +“looked into so many people’s brains”. +</p> + +<p> +I took up the axe and closely examined this formidable weapon. It was, as I +have said, of the nature of a pole-axe. The haft, made out of an enormous +rhinoceros horn, was three feet three inches long, about an inch and a quarter +thick, and with a knob at the end as large as a Maltese orange, left there to +prevent the hand from slipping. This horn haft, though so massive, was as +flexible as cane, and practically unbreakable; but, to make assurance doubly +sure, it was whipped round at intervals of a few inches with copper +wire—all the parts where the hands grip being thus treated. Just above +where the haft entered the head were scored a number of little nicks, each nick +representing a man killed in battle with the weapon. The axe itself was made of +the most beautiful steel, and apparently of European manufacture, though +Umslopogaas did not know where it came from, having taken it from the hand of a +chief he had killed in battle many years before. It was not very heavy, the +head weighing two and a half pounds, as nearly as I could judge. The cutting +part was slightly concave in shape—not convex, as is generally the case +with savage battle-axes—and sharp as a razor, measuring five and +three-quarter inches across the widest part. From the back of the axe sprang a +stout spike four inches long, for the last two of which it was hollow, and +shaped like a leather punch, with an opening for anything forced into the +hollow at the punch end to be pushed out above—in fact, in this respect +it exactly resembled a butcher’s pole-axe. It was with this punch end, as +we afterwards discovered, that Umslopogaas usually struck when fighting, +driving a neat round hole in his adversary’s skull, and only using the +broad cutting edge for a circular sweep, or sometimes in a <i>mĂŞlĂ©e</i>. I +think he considered the punch a neater and more sportsmanlike tool, and it was +from his habit of pecking at his enemy with it that he got his name of +“Woodpecker”. Certainly in his hands it was a terribly efficient +one. +</p> + +<p> +Such was Umslopogaas’ axe, Inkosi-kaas, the most remarkable and fatal +hand-to-hand weapon that I ever saw, and one which he cherished as much as his +own life. It scarcely ever left his hand except when he was eating, and then he +always sat with it under his leg. +</p> + +<p> +Just as I returned his axe to Umslopogaas, Miss Flossie came up and took me off +to see her collection of flowers, African liliums, and blooming shrubs, some of +which are very beautiful, many of the varieties being quite unknown to me and +also, I believe, to botanical science. I asked her if she had ever seen or +heard of the “Goya” lily, which Central African explorers have told +me they have occasionally met with and whose wonderful loveliness has filled +them with astonishment. This lily, which the natives say blooms only once in +ten years, flourishes in the most arid soil. Compared to the size of the bloom, +the bulb is small, generally weighing about four pounds. As for the flower +itself (which I afterwards saw under circumstances likely to impress its +appearance fixedly in my mind), I know not how to describe its beauty and +splendour, or the indescribable sweetness of its perfume. The flower—for +it has only one bloom—rises from the crown of the bulb on a thick fleshy +and flat-sided stem, the specimen that I saw measured fourteen inches in +diameter, and is somewhat trumpet-shaped like the bloom of an ordinary +“longiflorum” set vertically. First there is the green sheath, +which in its early stage is not unlike that of a water-lily, but which as the +bloom opens splits into four portions and curls back gracefully towards the +stem. Then comes the bloom itself, a single dazzling arch of white enclosing +another cup of richest velvety crimson, from the heart of which rises a +golden-coloured pistil. I have never seen anything to equal this bloom in +beauty or fragrance, and as I believe it is but little known, I take the +liberty to describe it at length. Looking at it for the first time I well +remember that I realised how even in a flower there dwells something of the +majesty of its Maker. To my great delight Miss Flossie told me that she knew +the flower well and had tried to grow it in her garden, but without success, +adding, however, that as it should be in bloom at this time of the year she +thought that she could procure me a specimen. +</p> + +<p> +After that I fell to asking her if she was not lonely up here among all these +savage people and without any companions of her own age. +</p> + +<p> +“Lonely?” she said. “Oh, indeed no! I am as happy as the day +is long, and besides I have my own companions. Why, I should hate to be buried +in a crowd of white girls all just like myself so that nobody could tell the +difference! Here,” she said, giving her head a little toss, “I am +<i>I;</i> and every native for miles around knows the +‘Water-lily’,—for that is what they call me—and is +ready to do what I want, but in the books that I have read about little girls +in England it is not like that. Everybody thinks them a trouble, and they have +to do what their schoolmistress likes. Oh! it would break my heart to be put in +a cage like that and not to be free—free as the air.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you not like to learn?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“So I do learn. Father teaches me Latin and French and arithmetic.” +</p> + +<p> +“And are you never afraid among all these wild men?” +</p> + +<p> +“Afraid? Oh no! they never interfere with me. I think they believe that I +am ‘Ngai’ (of the Divinity) because I am so white and have fair +hair. And look here,” and diving her little hand into the bodice of her +dress she produced a double-barrelled nickel-plated Derringer, “I always +carry that loaded, and if anybody tried to touch me I should shoot him. Once I +shot a leopard that jumped upon my donkey as I was riding along. It frightened +me very much, but I shot it in the ear and it fell dead, and I have its skin +upon my bed. Look there!” she went on in an altered voice, touching me on +the arm and pointing to some far-away object, “I said just now that I had +companions; there is one of them.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked, and for the first time there burst upon my sight the glory of Mount +Kenia. Hitherto the mountain had always been hidden in mist, but now its +radiant beauty was unveiled for many thousand feet, although the base was still +wrapped in vapour so that the lofty peak or pillar, towering nearly twenty +thousand feet into the sky, appeared to be a fairy vision, hanging between +earth and heaven, and based upon the clouds. The solemn majesty and beauty of +this white peak are together beyond the power of my poor pen to describe. There +it rose straight and sheer—a glittering white glory, its crest piercing +the very blue of heaven. As I gazed at it with that little girl I felt my whole +heart lifted up with an indescribable emotion, and for a moment great and +wonderful thoughts seemed to break upon my mind, even as the arrows of the +setting sun were breaking upon Kenia’s snows. Mr Mackenzie’s +natives call the mountain the “Finger of God”, and to me it did +seem eloquent of immortal peace and of the pure high calm that surely lies +above this fevered world. Somewhere I had heard a line of poetry, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +A thing of beauty is a joy for ever, +</p> + +<p> +and now it came into my mind, and for the first time I thoroughly understood +what it meant. Base, indeed, would be the man who could look upon that mighty +snow-wreathed pile— that white old tombstone of the years—and not +feel his own utter insignificance, and, by whatever name he calls Him, worship +God in his heart. Such sights are like visions of the spirit; they throw wide +the windows of the chamber of our small selfishness and let in a breath of that +air that rushes round the rolling spheres, and for a while illumine our +darkness with a far-off gleam of the white light which beats upon the Throne. +</p> + +<p> +Yes, such things of beauty are indeed a joy for ever, and I can well understand +what little Flossie meant when she talked of Kenia as her companion. As +Umslopogaas, savage old Zulu that he was, said when I pointed out to him the +peak hanging in the glittering air: “A man might look thereon for a +thousand years and yet be hungry to see.” But he gave rather another +colour to his poetical idea when he added in a sort of chant, and with a touch +of that weird imagination for which the man was remarkable, that when he was +dead he should like his spirit to sit upon that snow-clad peak for ever, and to +rush down the steep white sides in the breath of the whirlwind, or on the flash +of the lightning, and “slay, and slay, and slay”. +</p> + +<p> +“Slay what, you old bloodhound?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +This rather puzzled him, but at length he answered— +</p> + +<p> +“The other shadows.” +</p> + +<p> +“So thou wouldst continue thy murdering even after death?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“I murder not,” he answered hotly; “I kill in fair fight. Man +is born to kill. He who kills not when his blood is hot is a woman, and no man. +The people who kill not are slaves. I say I kill in fair fight; and when I am +‘in the shadow’, as you white men say, I hope to go on killing in +fair fight. May my shadow be accursed and chilled to the bone for ever if it +should fall to murdering like a bushman with his poisoned arrows!” And he +stalked away with much dignity, and left me laughing. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the spies whom our host had sent out in the morning to find out if +there were any traces of our Masai friends about, returned, and reported that +the country had been scoured for fifteen miles round without a single Elmoran +being seen, and that they believed that those gentry had given up the pursuit +and returned whence they came. Mr Mackenzie gave a sigh of relief when he heard +this, and so indeed did we, for we had had quite enough of the Masai to last us +for some time. Indeed, the general opinion was that, finding we had reached the +mission station in safety, they had, knowing its strength, given up the pursuit +of us as a bad job. How ill-judged that view was the sequel will show. +</p> + +<p> +After the spies had gone, and Mrs Mackenzie and Flossie had retired for the +night, Alphonse, the little Frenchman, came out, and Sir Henry, who is a very +good French scholar, got him to tell us how he came to visit Central Africa, +which he did in a most extraordinary lingo, that for the most part I shall not +attempt to reproduce. +</p> + +<p> +“My grandfather,” he began, “was a soldier of the Guard, and +served under Napoleon. He was in the retreat from Moscow, and lived for ten +days on his own leggings and a pair he stole from a comrade. He used to get +drunk—he died drunk, and I remember playing at drums on his coffin. My +father—” +</p> + +<p> +Here we suggested that he might skip his ancestry and come to the point. +</p> + +<p> +“Bien, messieurs!” replied this comical little man, with a polite +bow. “I did only wish to demonstrate that the military principle is not +hereditary. My grandfather was a splendid man, six feet two high, broad in +proportion, a swallower of fire and gaiters. Also he was remarkable for his +moustache. To me there remains the moustache and—nothing more. +</p> + +<p> +“I am, messieurs, a cook, and I was born at Marseilles. In that dear town +I spent my happy youth. For years and years I washed the dishes at the HĂ´tel +Continental. Ah, those were golden days!” and he sighed. “I am a +Frenchman. Need I say, messieurs, that I admire beauty? Nay, I adore the fair. +Messieurs, we admire all the roses in a garden, but we pluck one. <i>I</i> plucked +one, and alas, messieurs, it pricked my finger. She was a chambermaid, her name +Annette, her figure ravishing, her face an angel’s, her heart—alas, +messieurs, that I should have to own it!—black and slippery as a patent +leather boot. I loved to desperation, I adored her to despair. She transported +me—in every sense; she inspired me. Never have I cooked as I cooked (for +I had been promoted at the hotel) when Annette, my adored Annette, smiled on +me. Never”—and here his manly voice broke into a +sob—“never shall I cook so well again.” Here he melted into +tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, cheer up!” said Sir Henry in French, smacking him smartly on +the back. “There’s no knowing what may happen, you know. To judge +from your dinner today, I should say you were in a fair way to recovery.” +</p> + +<p> +Alphonse stopped weeping, and began to rub his back. “Monsieur,” he +said, “doubtless means to console, but his hand is heavy. To continue: we +loved, and were happy in each other’s love. The birds in their little +nest could not be happier than Alphonse and his Annette. Then came the +blow—sapristi!—when I think of it. Messieurs will forgive me if I +wipe away a tear. Mine was an evil number; I was drawn for the conscription. +Fortune would be avenged on me for having won the heart of Annette. +</p> + +<p> +“The evil moment came; I had to go. I tried to run away, but I was caught +by brutal soldiers, and they banged me with the butt-end of muskets till my +mustachios curled with pain. I had a cousin a linen-draper, well-to-do, but +very ugly. He had drawn a good number, and sympathized when they thumped me. +‘To thee, my cousin,’ I said, ‘to thee, in whose veins flows +the blue blood of our heroic grandparent, to thee I consign Annette. Watch over +her whilst I hunt for glory in the bloody field.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Make your mind easy,’ said he; ‘I will.’ As the +sequel shows, he did! +</p> + +<p> +“I went. I lived in barracks on black soup. I am a refined man and a poet +by nature, and I suffered tortures from the coarse horror of my surroundings. +There was a drill sergeant, and he had a cane. Ah, that cane, how it curled! +Alas, never can I forget it! +</p> + +<p> +“One morning came the news; my battalion was ordered to Tonquin. The +drill sergeant and the other coarse monsters rejoiced. I—I made enquiries +about Tonquin. They were not satisfactory. In Tonquin are savage Chinese who +rip you open. My artistic tastes—for I am also an artist—recoiled +from the idea of being ripped open. The great man makes up his mind quickly. I +made up my mind. I determined not to be ripped open. I deserted. +</p> + +<p> +“I reached Marseilles disguised as an old man. I went to the house of my +cousin—he in whom runs my grandfather’s heroic blood—and +there sat Annette. It was the season of cherries. They took a double stalk. At +each end was a cherry. My cousin put one into his mouth, Annette put the other +in hers. Then they drew the stalks in till their eyes met—and alas, alas +that I should have to say it!—they kissed. The game was a pretty one, but +it filled me with fury. The heroic blood of my grandfather boiled up in me. I +rushed into the kitchen. I struck my cousin with the old man’s crutch. He +fell—I had slain him. Alas, I believe that I did slay him. Annette +screamed. The gendarmes came. I fled. I reached the harbour. I hid aboard a +vessel. The vessel put to sea. The captain found me and beat me. He took an +opportunity. He posted a letter from a foreign port to the police. He did not +put me ashore because I cooked so well. I cooked for him all the way to +Zanzibar. When I asked for payment he kicked me. The blood of my heroic +grandfather boiled within me, and I shook my fist in his face and vowed to have +my revenge. He kicked me again. At Zanzibar there was a telegram. I cursed the +man who invented telegraphs. Now I curse him again. I was to be arrested for +desertion, for murder, and <i>que sais-je?</i> I escaped from the prison. I +fled, I starved. I met the men of Monsieur le CurĂ©. They brought me here. I am +full of woe. But I return not to France. Better to risk my life in these +horrible places than to know the Bagne.” +</p> + +<p> +He paused, and we nearly choked with laughter, having to turn our faces away. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! you weep, messieurs,” he said. “No wonder—it is a +sad story.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” said Sir Henry, “the heroic blood of your +grandparent will triumph after all; perhaps you will still be great. At any +rate we shall see. And now I vote we go to bed. I am dead tired, and we had not +much sleep on that confounded rock last night.” +</p> + +<p> +And so we did, and very strange the tidy rooms and clean white sheets seemed to +us after our recent experiences. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +UMSLOPOGAAS MAKES A PROMISE</h2> + +<p> +Next morning at breakfast I missed Flossie and asked where she was. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said her mother, “when I got up this morning I found +a note put outside my door in which—But here it is, you can read it for +yourself,” and she gave me the slip of paper on which the following was +written:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“D<small>EAREST</small> M—,—It is just dawn, and I am off to +the hills to get Mr Q—a bloom of the lily he wants, so don’t expect +me till you see me. I have taken the white donkey; and nurse and a couple of +boys are coming with me—also something to eat, as I may be away all day, +for I am determined to get the lily if I have to go twenty miles for +it.—F<small>LOSSIE</small>.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope she will be all right,” I said, a little anxiously; +“I never meant her to trouble after the flower.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Flossie can look after herself,” said her mother; “she +often goes off in this way like a true child of the wilderness.” But Mr +Mackenzie, who came in just then and saw the note for the first time, looked +rather grave, though he said nothing. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast was over I took him aside and asked him whether it would not be +possible to send after the girl and get her back, having in view the +possibility of there still being some Masai hanging about, at whose hands she +might come to harm. +</p> + +<p> +“I fear it would be of no use,” he answered. “She may be +fifteen miles off by now, and it is impossible to say what path she has taken. +There are the hills;” and he pointed to a long range of rising ground +stretching almost parallel with the course followed by the river Tana, but +gradually sloping down to a dense bush-clad plain about five miles short of the +house. +</p> + +<p> +Here I suggested that we might get up the great tree over the house and search +the country round with a spyglass; and this, after Mr Mackenzie had given some +orders to his people to try and follow Flossie’s spoor, we did. +</p> + +<p> +The ascent of the mighty tree was rather an alarming performance, even with a +sound rope-ladder fixed at both ends to climb up, at least to a landsman; but +Good came up like a lamplighter. +</p> + +<p> +On reaching the height at which the first fern-shaped boughs sprang from the +bole, we stepped without any difficulty upon a platform made of boards, nailed +from one bough to another, and large enough to accommodate a dozen people. As +for the view, it was simply glorious. In every direction the bush rolled away +in great billows for miles and miles, as far as the glass would show, only here +and there broken by the brighter green of patches of cultivation, or by the +glittering surface of lakes. To the northwest, Kenia reared his mighty head, +and we could trace the Tana river curling like a silver snake almost from his +feet, and far away beyond us towards the ocean. It is a glorious country, and +only wants the hand of civilized man to make it a most productive one. +</p> + +<p> +But look as we would, we could see no signs of Flossie and her donkey, so at +last we had to come down disappointed. On reaching the veranda I found +Umslopogaas sitting there, slowly and lightly sharpening his axe with a small +whetstone he always carried with him. +</p> + +<p> +“What doest thou, Umslopogaas?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“I smell blood,” was the answer; and I could get no more out of +him. +</p> + +<p> +After dinner we again went up the tree and searched the surrounding country +with a spyglass, but without result. When we came down Umslopogaas was still +sharpening Inkosi-kaas, although she already had an edge like a razor. Standing +in front of him, and regarding him with a mixture of fear and fascination, was +Alphonse. And certainly he did seem an alarming object—sitting there, +Zulu fashion, on his haunches, a wild look upon his intensely savage and yet +intellectual face, sharpening, sharpening, sharpening at the murderous-looking +axe. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, the monster, the horrible man!” said the little French cook, +lifting his hands in amazement. “See but the hole in his head; the skin +beats on it up and down like a baby’s! Who would nurse such a +baby?” and he burst out laughing at the idea. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment Umslopogaas looked up from his sharpening, and a sort of evil +light played in his dark eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“What does the little ‘buffalo-heifer’ [so named by +Umslopogaas, on account of his mustachios and feminine characteristics] say? +Let him be careful, or I will cut his horns. Beware, little man monkey, +beware!” +</p> + +<p> +Unfortunately Alphonse, who was getting over his fear of him, went on laughing +at “<i>ce drĂ´le d’un monsieur noir</i>”. I was about to warn +him to desist, when suddenly the huge Zulu bounded off the veranda on to the +open space where Alphonse was standing, his features alive with a sort of +malicious enthusiasm, and began swinging the axe round and round over the +Frenchman’s head. +</p> + +<p> +“Stand still,” I shouted; “do not move as you value your +life—he will not hurt you;” but I doubt if Alphonse heard me, +being, fortunately for himself, almost petrified with horror. +</p> + +<p> +Then followed the most extraordinary display of sword, or rather of axemanship, +that I ever saw. First of all the axe went flying round and round over the top +of Alphonse’s head, with an angry whirl and such extraordinary swiftness +that it looked like a continuous band of steel, ever getting nearer and yet +nearer to that unhappy individual’s skull, till at last it grazed it as +it flew. Then suddenly the motion was changed, and it seemed to literally flow +up and down his body and limbs, never more than an eighth of an inch from them, +and yet never striking them. It was a wonderful sight to see the little man +fixed there, having apparently realised that to move would be to run the risk +of sudden death, while his black tormentor towered over him, and wrapped him +round with the quick flashes of the axe. For a minute or more this went on, +till suddenly I saw the moving brightness travel down the side of +Alphonse’s face, and then outwards and stop. As it did so a tuft of +something black fell to the ground; it was the tip of one of the little +Frenchman’s curling mustachios. +</p> + +<p> +Umslopogaas leant upon the handle of Inkosi-kaas, and broke into a long, low +laugh; and Alphonse, overcome with fear, sank into a sitting posture on the +ground, while we stood astonished at this exhibition of almost superhuman skill +and mastery of a weapon. “Inkosi-kaas is sharp enough,” he shouted; +“the blow that clipped the ‘buffalo-heifer’s’ horn +would have split a man from the crown to the chin. Few could have struck it but +I; none could have struck it and not taken off the shoulder too. Look, thou +little heifer! Am I a good man to laugh at, thinkest thou? For a space hast +thou stood within a hair’s-breadth of death. Laugh not again, lest the +hair’s-breadth be wanting. I have spoken.” +</p> + +<p> +“What meanest thou by such mad tricks?” I asked of Umslopogaas, +indignantly. “Surely thou art mad. Twenty times didst thou go near to +slaying the man.” +</p> + +<p> +“And yet, Macumazahn, I slew not. Thrice as Inkosi-kaas flew the spirit +entered into me to end him, and send her crashing through his skull; but I did +not. Nay, it was but a jest; but tell the ‘heifer’ that it is not +well to mock at such as I. Now I go to make a shield, for I smell blood, +Macumazahn—of a truth I smell blood. Before the battle hast thou not seen +the vulture grow of a sudden in the sky? They smell the blood, Macumazahn, and +my scent is more keen than theirs. There is a dry ox-hide down yonder; I go to +make a shield.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is an uncomfortable retainer of yours,” said Mr Mackenzie, +who had witnessed this extraordinary scene. “He has frightened Alphonse +out of his wits; look!” and he pointed to the Frenchman, who, with a +scared white face and trembling limbs, was making his way into the house. +“I don’t think that he will ever laugh at ‘le monsieur +noir’ again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” answered I, “it is ill jesting with such as he. When +he is roused he is like a fiend, and yet he has a kind heart in his own fierce +way. I remember years ago seeing him nurse a sick child for a week. He is a +strange character, but true as steel, and a strong stick to rest on in +danger.” +</p> + +<p> +“He says he smells blood,” said Mr Mackenzie. “I only trust +he is not right. I am getting very fearful about my little girl. She must have +gone far, or she would be home by now. It is half-past three +o’clock.” +</p> + +<p> +I pointed out that she had taken food with her, and very likely would not in +the ordinary course of events return till nightfall; but I myself felt very +anxious, and fear that my anxiety betrayed itself. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after this, the people whom Mr Mackenzie had sent out to search for +Flossie returned, stating that they had followed the spoor of the donkey for a +couple of miles and had then lost it on some stony ground, nor could they +discover it again. They had, however, scoured the country far and wide, but +without success. +</p> + +<p> +After this the afternoon wore drearily on, and towards evening, there still +being no signs of Flossie, our anxiety grew very keen. As for the poor mother, +she was quite prostrated by her fears, and no wonder, but the father kept his +head wonderfully well. Everything that could be done was done: people were sent +out in all directions, shots were fired, and a continuous outlook kept from the +great tree, but without avail. +</p> + +<p> +And then it grew dark, and still no sign of fair-haired little Flossie. +</p> + +<p> +At eight o’clock we had supper. It was but a sorrowful meal, and Mrs +Mackenzie did not appear at it. We three also were very silent, for in addition +to our natural anxiety as to the fate of the child, we were weighed down by the +sense that we had brought this trouble on the head of our kind host. When +supper was nearly at an end I made an excuse to leave the table. I wanted to +get outside and think the situation over. I went on to the veranda and, having +lit my pipe, sat down on a seat about a dozen feet from the right-hand end of +the structure, which was, as the reader may remember, exactly opposite one of +the narrow doors of the protecting wall that enclosed the house and flower +garden. I had been sitting there perhaps six or seven minutes when I thought I +heard the door move. I looked in that direction and I listened, but, being +unable to make out anything, concluded that I must have been mistaken. It was a +darkish night, the moon not having yet risen. +</p> + +<p> +Another minute passed, when suddenly something round fell with a soft but heavy +thud upon the stone flooring of the veranda, and came bounding and rolling +along past me. For a moment I did not rise, but sat wondering what it could be. +Finally, I concluded it must have been an animal. Just then, however, another +idea struck me, and I got up quick enough. The thing lay quite still a few feet +beyond me. I put down my hand towards it and it did not move: clearly it was +not an animal. My hand touched it. It was soft and warm and heavy. Hurriedly I +lifted it and held it up against the faint starlight. +</p> + +<p> +<i>It was a newly severed human head!</i> +</p> + +<p> +I am an old hand and not easily upset, but I own that that ghastly sight made +me feel sick. How had the thing come there? Whose was it? I put it down and ran +to the little doorway. I could see nothing, hear nobody. I was about to go out +into the darkness beyond, but remembering that to do so was to expose myself to +the risk of being stabbed, I drew back, shut the door, and bolted it. Then I +returned to the veranda, and in as careless a voice as I could command called +Curtis. I fear, however, that my tones must have betrayed me, for not only Sir +Henry but also Good and Mackenzie rose from the table and came hurrying out. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it?” said the clergyman, anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +Then I had to tell them. +</p> + +<p> +Mr Mackenzie turned pale as death under his red skin. We were standing opposite +the hall door, and there was a light in it so that I could see. He snatched the +head up by the hair and held it against the light. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the head of one of the men who accompanied Flossie,” he said +with a gasp. “Thank God it is not hers!” +</p> + +<p> +We all stood and stared at each other aghast. What was to be done? +</p> + +<p> +Just then there was a knocking at the door that I had bolted, and a voice +cried, “Open, my father, open!” +</p> + +<p> +The door was unlocked, and in sped a terrified man. He was one of the spies who +had been sent out. +</p> + +<p> +“My father,” he cried, “the Masai are on us! A great body of +them have passed round the hill and are moving towards the old stone kraal down +by the little stream. My father, make strong thy heart! In the midst of them I +saw the white ass, and on it sat the Water-lily [Flossie]. An Elmoran [young +warrior] led the ass, and by its side walked the nurse weeping. The men who +went with her in the morning I saw not.” +</p> + +<p> +“Was the child alive?” asked Mr Mackenzie, hoarsely. +</p> + +<p> +“She was white as the snow, but well, my father. They passed quite close +to me, and looking up from where I lay hid I saw her face against the +sky.” +</p> + +<p> +“God help her and us!” groaned the clergyman. +</p> + +<p> +“How many are there of them?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“More than two hundred—two hundred and half a hundred.” +</p> + +<p> +Once more we looked one on the other. What was to be done? Just then there rose +a loud insistent cry outside the wall. +</p> + +<p> +“Open the door, white man; open the door! A herald—a herald to +speak with thee.” Thus cried the voice. +</p> + +<p> +Umslopogaas ran to the wall, and, reaching with his long arms to the coping, +lifted his head above it and gazed over. +</p> + +<p> +“I see but one man,” he said. “He is armed, and carries a +basket in his hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Open the door,” I said. “Umslopogaas, take thine axe and +stand thereby. Let one man pass. If another follows, slay.” +</p> + +<p> +The door was unbarred. In the shadow of the wall stood Umslopogaas, his axe +raised above his head to strike. Just then the moon came out. There was a +moment’s pause, and then in stalked a Masai Elmoran, clad in the full war +panoply that I have already described, but bearing a large basket in his hand. +The moonlight shone bright upon his great spear as he walked. He was physically +a splendid man, apparently about thirty-five years of age. Indeed, none of the +Masai that I saw were under six feet high, though mostly quite young. When he +got opposite to us he halted, put down the basket, and stuck the spike of his +spear into the ground, so that it stood upright. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us talk,” he said. “The first messenger we sent to you +could not talk;” and he pointed to the head which lay upon the paving of +the stoep—a ghastly sight in the moonlight; “but I have words to +speak if ye have ears to hear. Also I bring presents;” and he pointed to +the basket and laughed with an air of swaggering insolence that is perfectly +indescribable, and yet which one could not but admire, seeing that he was +surrounded by enemies. +</p> + +<p> +“Say on,” said Mr Mackenzie. +</p> + +<p> +“I am the ‘Lygonani’ [war captain] of a party of the Masai of +the Guasa Amboni. I and my men followed these three white men,” and he +pointed to Sir Henry, Good, and myself, “but they were too clever for us, +and escaped hither. We have a quarrel with them, and are going to kill +them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you, my friend?” said I to myself. +</p> + +<p> +“In following these men we this morning caught two black men, one black +woman, a white donkey, and a white girl. One of the black men we +killed—there is his head upon the pavement; the other ran away. The black +woman, the little white girl, and the white ass we took and brought with us. In +proof thereof have I brought this basket that she carried. Is it not thy +daughter’s basket?” +</p> + +<p> +Mr Mackenzie nodded, and the warrior went on. +</p> + +<p> +“Good! With thee and thy daughter we have no quarrel, nor do we wish to +harm thee, save as to thy cattle, which we have already gathered, two hundred +and forty head—a beast for every man’s father.”<a href="#fn-6" name="fnref-6" id="fnref-6"><sup>[6]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-6" id="fn-6"></a> <a href="#fnref-6">[6]</a> +The Masai Elmoran or young warriors can own no property, so all the booty they +may win in battle belongs to their fathers alone.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +Here Mr Mackenzie gave a groan, as he greatly valued this herd of cattle, which +he bred with much care and trouble. +</p> + +<p> +“So, save for the cattle, thou mayst go free; more especially,” he +added frankly, glancing at the wall, “as this place would be a difficult +one to take. But as to these men it is otherwise; we have followed them for +nights and days, and must kill them. Were we to return to our kraal without +having done so, all the girls would make a mock of us. So, however troublesome +it may be, they must die. +</p> + +<p> +“Now I have a proposition for thee. We would not harm the little girl; +she is too fair to harm, and has besides a brave spirit. Give us one of these +three men—a life for a life—and we will let her go, and throw in +the black woman with her also. This is a fair offer, white man. We ask but for +one, not for the three; we must take another opportunity to kill the other two. +I do not even pick my man, though I should prefer the big one,” pointing +to Sir Henry; “he looks strong, and would die more slowly.” +</p> + +<p> +“And if I say I will not yield the man?” said Mr Mackenzie. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, say not so, white man,” answered the Masai, “for then +thy daughter dies at dawn, and the woman with her says thou hast no other +child. Were she older I would take her for a servant; but as she is so young I +will slay her with my own hand—ay, with this very spear. Thou canst come +and see, an’ thou wilt. I give thee a safe conduct;” and the fiend +laughed aloud at his brutal jest. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile I had been thinking rapidly, as one does in emergencies, and had come +to the conclusion that I would exchange myself against Flossie. I scarcely like +to mention the matter for fear it should be misunderstood. Pray do not let any +one be misled into thinking that there was anything heroic about this, or any +such nonsense. It was merely a matter of common sense and common justice. My +life was an old and worthless one, hers was young and valuable. Her death would +pretty well kill her father and mother also, whilst nobody would be much the +worse for mine; indeed, several charitable institutions would have cause to +rejoice thereat. It was indirectly through me that the dear little girl was in +her present position. Lastly, a man was better fitted to meet death in such a +peculiarly awful form than a sweet young girl. Not, however, that I meant to +let these gentry torture me to death—I am far too much of a coward to +allow that, being naturally a timid man; my plan was to see the girl safely +exchanged and then to shoot myself, trusting that the Almighty would take the +peculiar circumstances of the case into consideration and pardon the act. All +this and more went through my mind in very few seconds. +</p> + +<p> +“All right, Mackenzie,” I said, “you can tell the man that I +will exchange myself against Flossie, only I stipulate that she shall be safely +in this house before they kill me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Eh?” said Sir Henry and Good simultaneously. “That you +don’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” said Mr Mackenzie. “I will have no man’s +blood upon my hands. If it please God that my daughter should die this awful +death, His will be done. You are a brave man (which I am not by any means) and +a noble man, Quatermain, but you shall not go.” +</p> + +<p> +“If nothing else turns up I shall go,” I said decidedly. +</p> + +<p> +“This is an important matter,” said Mackenzie, addressing the +Lygonani, “and we must think it over. You shall have our answer at +dawn.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, white man,” answered the savage indifferently; +“only remember if thy answer is late thy little white bud will never grow +into a flower, that is all, for I shall cut it with this,” and he touched +the spear. “I should have thought that thou wouldst play a trick and +attack us at night, but I know from the woman with the girl that your men are +down at the coast, and that thou hast but twenty men here. It is not wise, +white man,” he added with a laugh, “to keep so small a garrison for +your ‘boma’ [kraal]. Well, good night, and good night to you also, +other white men, whose eyelids I shall soon close once and for all. At dawn +thou wilt bring me word. If not, remember it shall be as I have said.” +Then turning to Umslopogaas, who had all the while been standing behind him and +shepherding him as it were, “Open the door for me, fellow, quick +now.” +</p> + +<p> +This was too much for the old chief’s patience. For the last ten minutes +his lips had been, figuratively speaking, positively watering over the Masai +Lygonani, and this he could not stand. Placing his long hand on the +Elmoran’s shoulder he gripped it and gave him such a twist as brought him +face to face with himself. Then, thrusting his fierce countenance to within a +few inches of the Masai’s evil feather-framed features, he said in a low +growling voice:— +</p> + +<p> +“Seest thou me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, fellow, I see thee.” +</p> + +<p> +“And seest thou this?” and he held Inkosi-kaas before his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, fellow, I see the toy; what of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou Masai dog, thou boasting windbag, thou capturer of little girls, +with this ‘toy’ will I hew thee limb from limb. Well for thee that +thou art a herald, or even now would I strew thy members about the +grass.” +</p> + +<p> +The Masai shook his great spear and laughed loud and long as he answered, +“I would that thou stoodst against me man to man, and we would +see,” and again he turned to go still laughing. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou shalt stand against me man to man, be not afraid,” replied +Umslopogaas, still in the same ominous voice. “Thou shalt stand face to +face with Umslopogaas, of the blood of Chaka, of the people of the Amazulu, a +captain in the regiment of the Nkomabakosi, as many have done before, and bow +thyself to Inkosi-kaas, as many have done before. Ay, laugh on, laugh on! +tomorrow night shall the jackals laugh as they crunch thy ribs.” +</p> + +<p> +When the Lygonani had gone, one of us thought of opening the basket he had +brought as a proof that Flossie was really their prisoner. On lifting the lid +it was found to contain a most lovely specimen of both bulb and flower of the +Goya lily, which I have already described, in full bloom and quite uninjured, +and what was more a note in Flossie’s childish hand written in pencil +upon a greasy piece of paper that had been used to wrap up some food in:— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +“D<small>EAREST</small> F<small>ATHER AND</small> +M<small>OTHER</small>,” ran the note, “The Masai caught us when we +were coming home with the lily. I tried to escape but could not. They killed +Tom: the other man ran away. They have not hurt nurse and me, but say that they +mean to exchange us against one of Mr Quatermain’s party. <i>I will have +nothing of the sort</i>. Do not let anybody give his life for me. Try and +attack them at night; they are going to feast on three bullocks they have +stolen and killed. I have my pistol, and if no help comes by dawn I will shoot +myself. They shall not kill me. If so, remember me always, dearest father and +mother. I am very frightened, but I trust in God. I dare not write any more as +they are beginning to notice. Goodbye.—F<small>LOSSIE</small>.” +</p> + +<p> +Scrawled across the outside of this was “Love to Mr Quatermain. They are +going to take the basket, so he will get the lily.” +</p> + +<p> +When I read those words, written by that brave little girl in an hour of danger +sufficiently near and horrible to have turned the brain of a strong man, I own +I wept, and once more in my heart I vowed that she should not die while my life +could be given to save her. +</p> + +<p> +Then eagerly, quickly, almost fiercely, we fell to discussing the situation. +Again I said that I would go, and again Mackenzie negatived it, and Curtis and +Good, like the true men that they are, vowed that, if I did, they would go with +me, and die back to back with me. +</p> + +<p> +“It is,” I said at last, “absolutely necessary that an effort +of some sort should be made before the morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then let us attack them with what force we can muster, and take our +chance,” said Sir Henry. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay,” growled Umslopogaas, in Zulu; “spoken like a man, +Incubu. What is there to be afraid of? Two hundred and fifty Masai, forsooth! +How many are we? The chief there [Mr Mackenzie] has twenty men, and thou, +Macumazahn, hast five men, and there are also five white men—that is, +thirty men in all—enough, enough. Listen now, Macumazahn, thou who art +very clever and old in war. What says the maid? These men eat and make merry; +let it be their funeral feast. What said the dog whom I hope to hew down at +daybreak? That he feared no attack because we were so few. Knowest thou the old +kraal where the men have camped? I saw it this morning; it is thus:” and +he drew an oval on the floor; “here is the big entrance, filled up with +thorn bushes, and opening on to a steep rise. Why, Incubu, thou and I with axes +will hold it against an hundred men striving to break out! Look, now; thus +shall the battle go. Just as the light begins to glint upon the oxen’s +horns—not before, or it will be too dark, and not later, or they will be +awakening and perceive us—let Bougwan creep round with ten men to the top +end of the kraal, where the narrow entrance is. Let them silently slay the +sentry there so that he makes no sound, and stand ready. Then, Incubu, let thee +and me and one of the Askari—the one with the broad chest—he is a +brave man—creep to the wide entrance that is filled with thorn bushes, +and there also slay the sentry, and armed with battle-axes take our stand also +one on each side of the pathway, and one a few paces beyond to deal with such +as pass the twain at the gate. It is there that the rush will come. That will +leave sixteen men. Let these men be divided into two parties, with one of which +shalt thou go, Macumazahn, and with one the ‘praying man’ [Mr +Mackenzie], and, all armed with rifles, let them make their way one to the +right side of the kraal and one to the left; and when thou, Macumazahn, lowest +like an ox, all shall open fire with the guns upon the sleeping men, being very +careful not to hit the little maid. Then shall Bougwan at the far end and his +ten men raise the war-cry, and, springing over the wall, put the Masai there to +the sword. And it shall happen that, being yet heavy with food and sleep, and +bewildered by the firing of the guns, the falling of men, and the spears of +Bougwan, the soldiers shall rise and rush like wild game towards the +thorn-stopped entrance, and there the bullets from either side shall plough +through them, and there shall Incubu and the Askari and I wait for those who +break across. Such is my plan, Macumazahn; if thou hast a better, name +it.” +</p> + +<p> +When he had done, I explained to the others such portions of his scheme as they +had failed to understand, and they all joined with me in expressing the +greatest admiration of the acute and skilful programme devised by the old Zulu, +who was indeed, in his own savage fashion, the finest general I ever knew. +After some discussion we determined to accept the scheme, as it stood, it being +the only one possible under the circumstances, and giving the best chance of +success that such a forlorn hope would admit of—which, however, +considering the enormous odds and the character of our foe, was not very great. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, old lion!” I said to Umslopogaas, “thou knowest how to +lie in wait as well as how to bite, where to seize as well as where to hang +on.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, Macumazahn,” he answered. “For thirty years have I +been a warrior, and have seen many things. It will be a good fight. I smell +blood—I tell thee, I smell blood.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +THE NIGHT WEARS ON</h2> + +<p> +As may be imagined, at the very first sign of a Masai the entire population of +the Mission Station had sought refuge inside the stout stone wall, and were now +to be seen—men, women, and countless children—huddled up together +in little groups, and all talking at once in awed tones of the awfulness of +Masai manners and customs, and of the fate that they had to expect if those +bloodthirsty savages succeeded in getting over the stone wall. +</p> + +<p> +Immediately after we had settled upon the outline of our plan of action as +suggested by Umslopogaas, Mr Mackenzie sent for four sharp boys of from twelve +to fifteen years of age, and despatched them to various points where they could +keep an outlook upon the Masai camp, with others to report from time to time +what was going on. Other lads and even women were stationed at intervals along +the wall in order to guard against the possibility of surprise. +</p> + +<p> +After this the twenty men who formed his whole available fighting force were +summoned by our host into the square formed by the house, and there, standing +by the bole of the great conifer, he earnestly addressed them and our four +Askari. Indeed, it formed a very impressive scene—one not likely to be +forgotten by anybody who witnessed it. Immediately by the tree stood the +angular form of Mr Mackenzie, one arm outstretched as he talked, and the other +resting against the giant bole, his hat off, and his plain but kindly face +clearly betraying the anguish of his mind. Next to him was his poor wife, who, +seated on a chair, had her face hidden in her hand. On the other side of her +was Alphonse, looking exceedingly uncomfortable, and behind him stood the three +of us, with Umslopogaas’ grim and towering form in the background, +resting, as usual, on his axe. In front stood and squatted the group of armed +men—some with rifles in their hands, and others with spears and +shields—following with eager attention every word that fell from the +speaker’s lips. The white light of the moon peering in beneath the lofty +boughs threw a strange wild glamour over the scene, whilst the melancholy +soughing of the night wind passing through the millions of pine needles +overhead added a sadness of its own to what was already a sufficiently tragic +occasion. +</p> + +<p> +“Men,” said Mr Mackenzie, after he had put all the circumstances of +the case fully and clearly before them, and explained to them the proposed plan +of our forlorn hope—“men, for years I have been a good friend to +you, protecting you, teaching you, guarding you and yours from harm, and ye +have prospered with me. Ye have seen my child—the Water-lily, as ye call +her—grow year by year, from tenderest infancy to tender childhood, and +from childhood on towards maidenhood. She has been your children’s +playmate, she has helped to tend you when sick, and ye have loved her.” +</p> + +<p> +“We have,” said a deep voice, “and we will die to save +her.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thank you from my heart—I thank you. Sure am I that now, in this +hour of darkest trouble; now that her young life is like to be cut off by cruel +and savage men—who of a truth ‘know not what they +do’—ye will strive your best to save her, and to save me and her +mother from broken hearts. Think, too, of your own wives and children. If she +dies, her death will be followed by an attack upon us here, and at the best, +even if we hold our own, your houses and gardens will be destroyed, and your +goods and cattle swept away. I am, as ye well know, a man of peace. Never in +all these years have I lifted my hand to shed man’s blood; but now I say +strike, strike, in the name of God, Who bade us protect our lives and homes. +Swear to me,” he went on with added fervour—“swear to me that +whilst a man of you remains alive ye will strive your uttermost with me and +with these brave white men to save the child from a bloody and cruel +death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Say no more, my father,” said the same deep voice, that belonged +to a stalwart elder of the Mission; “we swear it. May we and ours die the +death of dogs, and our bones be thrown to the jackals and the kites, if we +break the oath! It is a fearful thing to do, my father, so few to strike at so +many, yet will we do it or die in the doing. We swear!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, thus say we all,” chimed in the others. +</p> + +<p> +“Thus say we all,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“It is well,” went on Mr Mackenzie. “Ye are true men and not +broken reeds to lean on. And now, friends—white and black +together—let us kneel and offer up our humble supplication to the Throne +of Power, praying that He in the hollow of Whose hand lie all our lives, Who +giveth life and giveth death, may be pleased to make strong our arms that we +may prevail in what awaits us at the morning’s light.” +</p> + +<p> +And he knelt down, an example that we all followed except Umslopogaas, who +still stood in the background, grimly leaning on Inkosi-kaas. The fierce old +Zulu had no gods and worshipped nought, unless it were his battleaxe. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh God of gods!” began the clergyman, his deep voice, tremulous +with emotion, echoing up in the silence even to the leafy roof; +“Protector of the oppressed, Refuge of those in danger, Guardian of the +helpless, hear Thou our prayer! Almighty Father, to Thee we come in +supplication. Hear Thou our prayer! Behold, one child hast Thou given +us—an innocent child, nurtured in Thy knowledge—and now she lies +beneath the shadow of the sword, in danger of a fearful death at the hands of +savage men. Be with her now, oh God, and comfort her! Save her, oh Heavenly +Father! Oh God of battle, Who teacheth our hands to war and our fingers to +fight, in Whose strength are hid the destinies of men, be Thou with us in the +hour of strife. When we go forth into the shadow of death, make Thou us strong +to conquer. Breathe Thou upon our foes and scatter them; turn Thou their +strength to water, and bring their high-blown pride to nought; compass us about +with Thy protection; throw over us the shield of Thy power; forget us not now +in the hour of our sore distress; help us now that the cruel man would dash our +little ones against the stones! Hear Thou our prayer! And for those of us who, +kneeling now on earth in health before Thee, shall at the sunrise adore Thy +Presence on the Throne, hear our prayer! Make them clean, oh God; wash away +their offences in the blood of the Lamb; and when their spirits pass, oh +receive Thou them into the haven of the just. Go forth, oh Father, go forth +with us into the battle, as with the Israelites of old. Oh God of battle, hear +Thou our prayer!” +</p> + +<p> +He ceased, and after a moment’s silence we all rose, and then began our +preparations in good earnest. As Umslopogaas said, it was time to stop +“talking” and get to business. The men who were to form each little +party were carefully selected, and still more carefully and minutely instructed +as to what was to be done. After much consideration it was agreed that the ten +men led by Good, whose duty it was to stampede the camp, were not to carry +firearms; that is, with the exception of Good himself, who had a revolver as +well as a short sword—the Masai “sime” which I had taken from +the body of our poor servant who was murdered in the canoe. We feared that if +they had firearms the result of three cross-fires carried on at once would be +that some of our own people would be shot; besides, it appeared to all of us +that the work they had to do would best be carried out with cold +steel—especially to Umslopogaas, who was, indeed, a great advocate of +cold steel. We had with us four Winchester repeating rifles, besides half a +dozen Martinis. I armed myself with one of the repeaters—my own; an +excellent weapon for this kind of work, where great rapidity of fire is +desirable, and fitted with ordinary flap-sights instead of the cumbersome +sliding mechanism which they generally have. Mr Mackenzie took another, and the +two remaining ones were given to two of his men who understood the use of them +and were noted shots. The Martinis and some rifles of Mr Mackenzie’s were +served out, together with a plentiful supply of ammunition, to the other +natives who were to form the two parties whose duty it was to be to open fire +from separate sides of the kraal on the sleeping Masai, and who were +fortunately all more or less accustomed to the use of a gun. +</p> + +<p> +As for Umslopogaas, we know how he was armed—with an axe. It may be +remembered that he, Sir Henry, and the strongest of the Askari were to hold the +thorn-stopped entrance to the kraal against the anticipated rush of men +striving to escape. Of course, for such a purpose as this guns were useless. +Therefore Sir Henry and the Askari proceeded to arm themselves in like fashion. +It so happened that Mr Mackenzie had in his little store a selection of the +very best and English-made hammer-backed axe-heads. Sir Henry selected one of +these weighing about two and a half pounds and very broad in the blade, and the +Askari took another a size smaller. After Umslopogaas had put an extra edge on +these two axe-heads, we fixed them to three feet six helves, of which Mr +Mackenzie fortunately had some in stock, made of a light but exceedingly tough +native wood, something like English ash, only more springy. When two suitable +helves had been selected with great care and the ends of the hafts notched to +prevent the hand from slipping, the axe-heads were fixed on them as firmly as +possible, and the weapons immersed in a bucket of water for half an hour. The +result of this was to swell the wood in the socket in such a fashion that +nothing short of burning would get it out again. When this important matter had +been attended to by Umslopogaas, I went into my room and proceeded to open a +little tin-lined deal case, which contained—what do you +think?—nothing more or less than four mail shirts. +</p> + +<p> +It had happened to us three on a previous journey that we had made in another +part of Africa to owe our lives to iron shirts of native make, and remembering +this, I had suggested before we started on our present hazardous expedition +that we should have some made to fit us. There was a little difficulty about +this, as armour-making is pretty well an extinct art, but they can do most +things in the way of steel work in Birmingham if they are put to it and you +will pay the price, and the end of it was that they turned us out the loveliest +steel shirts it is possible to see. The workmanship was exceedingly fine, the +web being composed of thousands upon thousands of stout but tiny rings of the +best steel made. These shirts, or rather steel-sleeved and high-necked jerseys, +were lined with ventilated wash leather, were not bright, but browned like the +barrel of a gun; and mine weighed exactly seven pounds and fitted me so well +that I found I could wear it for days next to my skin without being chafed. Sir +Henry had two, one of the ordinary make, viz. a jersey with little dependent +flaps meant to afford some protection to the upper part of the thighs, and +another of his own design fashioned on the pattern of the garments advertised +as “combinations” and weighing twelve pounds. This combination +shirt, of which the seat was made of wash-leather, protected the whole body +down to the knees, but was rather more cumbersome, inasmuch as it had to be +laced up at the back and, of course, involved some extra weight. With these +shirts were what looked like four brown cloth travelling caps with ear pieces. +Each of these caps was, however, quilted with steel links so as to afford a +most valuable protection for the head. +</p> + +<p> +It seems almost laughable to talk of steel shirts in these days of bullets, +against which they are of course quite useless; but where one has to do with +savages, armed with cutting weapons such as assegais or battle-axes, they afford +the most valuable protection, being, if well made, quite invulnerable to them. +I have often thought that if only the English Government had in our savage +wars, and more especially in the Zulu war, thought fit to serve out light steel +shirts, there would be many a man alive today who, as it is, is dead and +forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +To return: on the present occasion we blessed our foresight in bringing these +shirts, and also our good luck, in that they had not been stolen by our +rascally bearers when they ran away with our goods. As Curtis had two, and +after considerable deliberation, had made up his mind to wear his combination +one himself—the extra three or four pounds’ weight being a matter +of no account to so strong a man, and the protection afforded to the thighs +being a very important matter to a fighting man not armed with a shield of any +kind—I suggested that he should lend the other to Umslopogaas, who was to +share the danger and the glory of his post. He readily consented, and called +the Zulu, who came bearing Sir Henry’s axe, which he had now fixed up to +his satisfaction, with him. When we showed him the steel shirt, and explained +to him that we wanted him to wear it, he at first declined, saying that he had +fought in his own skin for thirty years, and that he was not going to begin now +to fight in an iron one. Thereupon I took a heavy spear, and, spreading the +shirt upon the floor, drove the spear down upon it with all my strength, the +weapon rebounding without leaving a mark upon the tempered steel. This +exhibition half converted him; and when I pointed out to him how necessary it +was that he should not let any old-fashioned prejudices he might possess stand +in the way of a precaution which might preserve a valuable life at a time when +men were scarce, and also that if he wore this shirt he might dispense with a +shield, and so have both hands free, he yielded at once, and proceeded to +invest his frame with the “iron skin”. And indeed, although made +for Sir Henry, it fitted the great Zulu like a skin. The two men were almost of +a height; and, though Curtis looked the bigger man, I am inclined to think that +the difference was more imaginary than real, the fact being that, although he +was plumper and rounder, he was not really bigger, except in the arm. +Umslopogaas had, comparatively speaking, thin arms, but they were as strong as +wire ropes. At any rate, when they both stood, axe in hand, invested in the +brown mail, which clung to their mighty forms like a web garment, showing the +swell of every muscle and the curve of every line, they formed a pair that any +ten men might shrink from meeting. +</p> + +<p> +It was now nearly one o’clock in the morning, and the spies reported +that, after having drunk the blood of the oxen and eaten enormous quantities of +meat, the Masai were going to sleep round their watchfires; but that sentries +had been posted at each opening of the kraal. Flossie, they added, was sitting +not far from the wall in the centre of the western side of the kraal, and by +her were the nurse and the white donkey, which was tethered to a peg. Her feet +were bound with a rope, and warriors were lying about all round her. +</p> + +<p> +As there was absolutely nothing further that could be done then we all took +some supper, and went to lie down for a couple of hours. I could not help +admiring the way in which old Umslopogaas flung himself upon the floor, and, +unmindful of what was hanging over him, instantly sank into a deep sleep. I do +not know how it was with the others, but I could not do as much. Indeed, as is +usual with me on these occasions, I am sorry to say that I felt rather +frightened; and, now that some of the enthusiasm had gone out of me, and I +began to calmly contemplate what we had undertaken to do, truth compels me to +add that I did not like it. We were but thirty men all told, a good many of +whom were no doubt quite unused to fighting, and we were going to engage two +hundred and fifty of the fiercest, bravest, and most formidable savages in +Africa, who, to make matters worse, were protected by a stone wall. It was, +indeed, a mad undertaking, and what made it even madder was the exceeding +improbability of our being able to take up our positions without attracting the +notice of the sentries. Of course if we once did that—and any slight +accident, such as the chance discharge of a gun, might do it—we were done +for, for the whole camp would be up in a second, and our only hope lay in +surprise. +</p> + +<p> +The bed whereon I lay indulging in these uncomfortable reflections was near an +open window that looked on to the veranda, through which came an extraordinary +sound of groaning and weeping. For a time I could not make out what it was, but +at last I got up and, putting my head out of the window, stared about. +Presently I saw a dim figure kneeling on the end of the veranda and beating his +breast—in which I recognized Alphonse. Not being able to understand his +French talk or what on earth he was at, I called to him and asked him what he +was doing. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, monsieur,” he sighed, “I do make prayer for the souls of +those whom I shall slay tonight.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” I said, “then I wish that you would do it a little +more quietly.” +</p> + +<p> +Alphonse retreated, and I heard no more of his groans. And so the time passed, +till at length Mr Mackenzie called me in a whisper through the window, for of +course everything had now to be done in the most absolute silence. “Three +o’clock,” he said: “we must begin to move at +half-past.” +</p> + +<p> +I told him to come in, and presently he entered, and I am bound to say that if +it had not been that just then I had not got a laugh anywhere about me, I +should have exploded at the sight he presented armed for battle. To begin with, +he had on a clergyman’s black swallow-tail and a kind of broad-rimmed +black felt hat, both of which he had donned on account, he said, of their dark +colour. In his hand was the Winchester repeating rifle we had lent him; and +stuck in an elastic cricketing belt, like those worn by English boys, were, +first, a huge buckhorn-handled carving knife with a guard to it, and next a +long-barrelled Colt’s revolver. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, my friend,” he said, seeing me staring at his belt, “you +are looking at my ‘carver’. I thought it might come in handy if we +came to close quarters; it is excellent steel, and many is the pig I have +killed with it.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time everybody was up and dressing. I put on a light Norfolk jacket +over my mail shirt in order to have a pocket handy to hold my cartridges, and +buckled on my revolver. Good did the same, but Sir Henry put on nothing except +his mail shirt, steel-lined cap, and a pair of “veldt-schoons” or +soft hide shoes, his legs being bare from the knees down. His revolver he +strapped on round his middle outside the armoured shirt. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Umslopogaas was mustering the men in the square under the big tree +and going the rounds to see that each was properly armed, etc. At the last +moment we made one change. Finding that two of the men who were to have gone +with the firing parties knew little or nothing of guns, but were good +spearsmen, we took away their rifles, supplied them with shields and long +spears of the Masai pattern, and took them off to join Curtis, Umslopogaas, and +the Askari in holding the wide opening; it having become clear to us that three +men, however brave and strong, were too few for the work. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +A SLAUGHTER GRIM AND GREAT</h2> + +<p> +Then there was a pause, and we stood there in the chilly silent darkness +waiting till the moment came to start. It was, perhaps, the most trying time of +all—that slow, slow quarter of an hour. The minutes seemed to drag along +with leaden feet, and the quiet, the solemn hush, that brooded over +all—big, as it were, with a coming fate, was most oppressive to the +spirits. I once remember having to get up before dawn to see a man hanged, and +I then went through a very similar set of sensations, only in the present +instance my feelings were animated by that more vivid and personal element +which naturally appertains rather to the person to be operated on than to the +most sympathetic spectator. The solemn faces of the men, well aware that the +short passage of an hour would mean for some, and perhaps all of them, the last +great passage to the unknown or oblivion; the bated whispers in which they +spoke; even Sir Henry’s continuous and thoughtful examination of his +woodcutter’s axe and the fidgety way in which Good kept polishing his +eyeglass, all told the same tale of nerves stretched pretty nigh to +breaking-point. Only Umslopogaas, leaning as usual upon Inkosi-kaas and taking +an occasional pinch of snuff, was to all appearance perfectly and completely +unmoved. Nothing could touch his iron nerves. +</p> + +<p> +The moon went down. For a long while she had been getting nearer and nearer to +the horizon. Now she finally sank and left the world in darkness save for a +faint grey tinge in the eastern sky that palely heralded the dawn. +</p> + +<p> +Mr Mackenzie stood, watch in hand, his wife clinging to his arm and striving to +stifle her sobs. +</p> + +<p> +“Twenty minutes to four,” he said, “it ought to be light +enough to attack at twenty minutes past four. Captain Good had better be +moving, he will want three or four minutes’ start.” +</p> + +<p> +Good gave one final polish to his eyeglass, nodded to us in a jocular sort of +way—which I could not help feeling it must have cost him something to +muster up—and, ever polite, took off his steel-lined cap to Mrs Mackenzie +and started for his position at the head of the kraal, to reach which he had to +make a detour by some paths known to the natives. +</p> + +<p> +Just then one of the boys came in and reported that everybody in the Masai +camp, with the exception of the two sentries who were walking up and down in +front of the respective entrances, appeared to be fast asleep. Then the rest of +us took the road. First came the guide, then Sir Henry, Umslopogaas, the +Wakwafi Askari, and Mr Mackenzie’s two mission natives armed with long +spears and shields. I followed immediately after with Alphonse and five natives +all armed with guns, and Mr Mackenzie brought up the rear with the six +remaining natives. +</p> + +<p> +The cattle kraal where the Masai were camped lay at the foot of the hill on +which the house stood, or, roughly speaking, about eight hundred yards from the +Mission buildings. The first five hundred yards of this distance we traversed +quietly indeed, but at a good pace; after that we crept forward as silently as +a leopard on his prey, gliding like ghosts from bush to bush and stone to +stone. When I had gone a little way I chanced to look behind me, and saw the +redoubtable Alphonse staggering along with white face and trembling knees, and +his rifle, which was at full cock, pointed directly at the small of my back. +Having halted and carefully put the rifle at “safety”, we started +again, and all went well till we were within one hundred yards or so of the +kraal, when his teeth began to chatter in the most aggressive way. +</p> + +<p> +“If you don’t stop that I will kill you,” I whispered +savagely; for the idea of having all our lives sacrificed to a tooth-chattering +cook was too much for me. I began to fear that he would betray us, and heartily +wished we had left him behind. +</p> + +<p> +“But, monsieur, I cannot help it,” he answered, “it is the +cold.” +</p> + +<p> +Here was a dilemma, but fortunately I devised a plan. In the pocket of the coat +I had on was a small piece of dirty rag that I had used some time before to +clean a gun with. “Put this in your mouth,” I whispered again, +giving him the rag; “and if I hear another sound you are a dead +man.” I knew that that would stifle the clatter of his teeth. I must have +looked as if I meant what I said, for he instantly obeyed me, and continued his +journey in silence. +</p> + +<p> +Then we crept on again. +</p> + +<p> +At last we were within fifty yards of the kraal. Between us and it was an open +space of sloping grass with only one mimosa bush and a couple of tussocks of a +sort of thistle for cover. We were still hidden in fairly thick bush. It was +beginning to grow light. The stars had paled and a sickly gleam played about +the east and was reflected on the earth. We could see the outline of the kraal +clearly enough, and could also make out the faint glimmer of the dying embers +of the Masai camp-fires. We halted and watched, for the sentry we knew was +posted at the opening. Presently he appeared, a fine tall fellow, walking idly +up and down within five paces of the thorn-stopped entrance. We had hoped to +catch him napping, but it was not to be. He seemed particularly wide awake. If +we could not kill that man, and kill him silently, we were lost. There we +crouched and watched him. Presently Umslopogaas, who was a few paces ahead of +me, turned and made a sign, and next second I saw him go down on his stomach +like a snake, and, taking an opportunity when the sentry’s head was +turned, begin to work his way through the grass without a sound. +</p> + +<p> +The unconscious sentry commenced to hum a little tune, and Umslopogaas crept +on. He reached the shelter of the mimosa bush unperceived and there waited. +Still the sentry walked up and down. Presently he turned and looked over the +wall into the camp. Instantly the human snake who was stalking him glided on +ten yards and got behind one of the tussocks of the thistle-like plant, +reaching it as the Elmoran turned again. As he did so his eye fell upon this +patch of thistles, and it seemed to strike him that it did not look quite +right. He advanced a pace towards it—halted, yawned, stooped down, picked +up a little pebble and threw it at it. It hit Umslopogaas upon the head, +luckily not upon the armour shirt. Had it done so the clink would have betrayed +us. Luckily, too, the shirt was browned and not bright steel, which would +certainly have been detected. Apparently satisfied that there was nothing +wrong, he then gave over his investigations and contented himself with leaning +on his spear and standing gazing idly at the tuft. For at least three minutes +did he stand thus, plunged apparently in a gentle reverie, and there we lay in +the last extremity of anxiety, expecting every moment that we should be +discovered or that some untoward accident would happen. I could hear +Alphonse’s teeth going like anything on the oiled rag, and turning my +head round made an awful face at him. But I am bound to state that my own heart +was at much the same game as the Frenchman’s castanets, while the +perspiration was pouring from my body, causing the wash-leather-lined shirt to +stick to me unpleasantly, and altogether I was in the pitiable state known by +schoolboys as a “blue fright”. +</p> + +<p> +At last the ordeal came to an end. The sentry glanced at the east, and appeared +to note with satisfaction that his period of duty was coming to an end—as +indeed it was, once and for all—for he rubbed his hands and began to walk +again briskly to warm himself. +</p> + +<p> +The moment his back was turned the long black snake glided on again, and +reached the other thistle tuft, which was within a couple of paces of his +return beat. +</p> + +<p> +Back came the sentry and strolled right past the tuft, utterly unconscious of +the presence that was crouching behind it. Had he looked down he could scarcely +have failed to see, but he did not do so. +</p> + +<p> +He passed, and then his hidden enemy erected himself, and with outstretched +hand followed in his tracks. +</p> + +<p> +A moment more, and, just as the Elmoran was about to turn, the great Zulu made +a spring, and in the growing light we could see his long lean hands close round +the Masai’s throat. Then followed a convulsive twining of the two dark +bodies, and in another second I saw the Masai’s head bent back, and heard +a sharp crack, something like that of a dry twig snapping, and he fell down +upon the ground, his limbs moving spasmodically. +</p> + +<p> +Umslopogaas had put out all his iron strength and broken the warrior’s +neck. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment he knelt upon his victim, still gripping his throat till he was +sure that there was nothing more to fear from him, and then he rose and +beckoned to us to advance, which we did on all fours, like a colony of huge +apes. On reaching the kraal we saw that the Masai had still further choked this +entrance, which was about ten feet wide—no doubt in order to guard +against attack—by dragging four or five tops of mimosa trees up to it. So +much the better for us, I reflected; the more obstruction there was the slower +would they be able to come through. Here we separated; Mackenzie and his party +creeping up under the shadow of the wall to the left, while Sir Henry and +Umslopogaas took their stations one on each side of the thorn fence, the two +spearmen and the Askari lying down in front of it. I and my men crept on up the +right side of the kraal, which was about fifty paces long. +</p> + +<p> +When I was two-thirds up I halted, and placed my men at distances of four paces +from one another, keeping Alphonse close to me, however. Then I peeped for the +first time over the wall. It was getting fairly light now, and the first thing +I saw was the white donkey, exactly opposite to me, and close by it I could +make out the pale face of little Flossie, who was sitting as the lad had +described, some ten paces from the wall. Round her lay many warriors, sleeping. +At distances all over the surface of the kraal were the remains of fires, round +each of which slept some five-and-twenty Masai, for the most part gorged with +food. Now and then a man would raise himself, yawn, and look at the east, which +was turning primrose; but none got up. I determined to wait another five +minutes, both to allow the light to increase, so that we could make better +shooting, and to give Good and his party—of whom we could see or hear +nothing—every opportunity to make ready. +</p> + +<p> +The quiet dawn began to throw her ever-widening mantle over plain and forest +and river—mighty Kenia, wrapped in the silence of eternal snows, looked +out across the earth—till presently a beam from the unrisen sun lit upon +his heaven-kissing crest and purpled it with blood; the sky above grew blue, +and tender as a mother’s smile; a bird began to pipe his morning song, +and a little breeze passing through the bush shook down the dewdrops in +millions to refresh the waking world. Everywhere was peace and the happiness of +arising strength, everywhere save in the heart of cruel man! +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, just as I was nerving myself for the signal, having already selected +my man on whom I meant to open fire—a great fellow sprawling on the +ground within three feet of little Flossie—Alphonse’s teeth began +to chatter again like the hoofs of a galloping giraffe, making a great noise in +the silence. The rag had dropped out in the agitation of his mind. Instantly a +Masai within three paces of us woke, and, sitting up, gazed about him, looking +for the cause of the sound. Moved beyond myself, I brought the butt-end of my +rifle down on to the pit of the Frenchman’s stomach. This stopped his +chattering; but, as he doubled up, he managed to let off his gun in such a +manner that the bullet passed within an inch of my head. +</p> + +<p> +There was no need for a signal now. From both sides of the kraal broke out a +waving line of fire, in which I myself joined, managing with a snap shot to +knock over my Masai by Flossie, just as he was jumping up. Then from the top +end of the kraal there rang an awful yell, in which I rejoiced to recognize +Good’s piercing notes rising clear and shrill above the din, and in +another second followed such a scene as I have never seen before nor shall +again. With an universal howl of terror and fury the brawny crowd of savages +within the kraal sprang to their feet, many of them to fall again beneath our +well-directed hail of lead before they had moved a yard. For a moment they +stood undecided, and then hearing the cries and curses that rose unceasingly +from the top end of the kraal, and bewildered by the storm of bullets, they as +by one impulse rushed down towards the thorn-stopped entrance. As they went we +kept pouring our fire with terrible effect into the thickening mob as fast as +we could load. I had emptied my repeater of the ten shots it contained and was +just beginning to slip in some more when I bethought me of little Flossie. +Looking up, I saw that the white donkey was lying kicking, having been knocked +over either by one of our bullets or a Masai spear-thrust. There were no living +Masai near, but the black nurse was on her feet and with a spear cutting the +rope that bound Flossie’s feet. Next second she ran to the wall of the +kraal and began to climb over it, an example which the little girl followed. +But Flossie was evidently very stiff and cramped, and could only go slowly, and +as she went two Masai flying down the kraal caught sight of her and rushed +towards her to kill her. The first fellow came up just as the poor little girl, +after a desperate effort to climb the wall, fell back into the kraal. Up +flashed the great spear, and as it did so a bullet from my rifle found its home +in the holder’s ribs, and over he went like a shot rabbit. But behind him +was the other man, and, alas, I had only that one cartridge in the magazine! +Flossie had scrambled to her feet and was facing the second man, who was +advancing with raised spear. I turned my head aside and felt sick as death. I +could not bear to see him stab her. Glancing up again, to my surprise I saw the +Masai’s spear lying on the ground, while the man himself was staggering +about with both hands to his head. Suddenly I saw a puff of smoke proceeding +apparently from Flossie, and the man fell down headlong. Then I remembered the +Derringer pistol she carried, and saw that she had fired both barrels of it at +him, thereby saving her life. In another instant she had made an effort, and +assisted by the nurse, who was lying on the top, had scrambled over the wall, +and I knew that she was, comparatively speaking, safe. +</p> + +<p> +All this takes time to tell, but I do not suppose that it took more than +fifteen seconds to enact. I soon got the magazine of the repeater filled again +with cartridges, and once more opened fire, not on the seething black mass +which was gathering at the end of the kraal, but on fugitives who bethought +them to climb the wall. I picked off several of these men, moving down towards +the end of the kraal as I did so, and arriving at the corner, or rather the +bend of the oval, in time to see, and by means of my rifle to assist in, the +mighty struggle that took place there. +</p> + +<p> +By this time some two hundred Masai—allowing that we had up to the +present accounted for fifty—had gathered together in front of the +thorn-stopped entrance, driven thither by the spears of Good’s men, whom +they doubtless supposed were a large force instead of being but ten strong. For +some reason it never occurred to them to try and rush the wall, which they +could have scrambled over with comparative ease; they all made for the fence, +which was really a strongly interwoven fortification. With a bound the first +warrior went at it, and even before he touched the ground on the other side I +saw Sir Henry’s great axe swing up and fall with awful force upon his +feather head-piece, and he sank into the middle of the thorns. Then with a yell +and a crash they began to break through as they might, and ever as they came +the great axe swung and Inkosi-kaas flashed and they fell dead one by one, each +man thus helping to build up a barrier against his fellows. Those who escaped +the axes of the pair fell at the hands of the Askari and the two Mission +Kaffirs, and those who passed scatheless from them were brought low by my own +and Mackenzie’s fire. +</p> + +<p> +Faster and more furious grew the fighting. Single Masai would spring upon the +dead bodies of their comrades, and engage one or other of the axemen with their +long spears; but, thanks chiefly to the mail shirts, the result was always the +same. Presently there was a great swing of the axe, a crashing sound, and +another dead Masai. That is, if the man was engaged with Sir Henry. If it was +Umslopogaas that he fought with the result indeed would be the same, but it +would be differently attained. It was but rarely that the Zulu used the +crashing double-handed stroke; on the contrary, he did little more than tap +continually at his adversary’s head, pecking at it with the pole-axe end +of the axe as a woodpecker<a href="#fn-7" name="fnref-7" id="fnref-7"><sup>[7]</sup></a> +pecks at rotten wood. Presently a peck would go home, and his enemy would drop +down with a neat little circular hole in his forehead or skull, exactly similar +to that which a cheese-scoop makes in a cheese. He never used the broad blade +of the axe except when hard pressed, or when striking at a shield. He told me +afterwards that he did not consider it sportsmanlike. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-7" id="fn-7"></a> <a href="#fnref-7">[7]</a> +As I think I have already said, one of Umslopogaas’s Zulu names was the +“Woodpecker”. I could never make out why he was called so until I +saw him in action with Inkosi-kaas, when I at once recognized the +resemblance.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +Good and his men were quite close by now, and our people had to cease firing +into the mass for fear of killing some of them (as it was, one of them was +slain in this way). Mad and desperate with fear, the Masai by a frantic effort +burst through the thorn fence and piled-up dead, and, sweeping Curtis, +Umslopogaas, and the other three before them, into the open. And now it was +that we began to lose men fast. Down went our poor Askari who was armed with +the axe, a great spear standing out a foot behind his back; and before long the +two spearsmen who had stood with him went down too, dying fighting like tigers; +and others of our party shared their fate. For a moment I feared the fight was +lost—certainly it trembled in the balance. I shouted to my men to cast +down their rifles, and to take spears and throw themselves into the +<i>mĂŞlĂ©e</i>. They obeyed, their blood being now thoroughly up, and Mr +Mackenzie’s people followed their example. +</p> + +<p> +This move had a momentary good result, but still the fight hung in the balance. +</p> + +<p> +Our people fought magnificently, hurling themselves upon the dark mass of +Elmoran, hewing, thrusting, slaying, and being slain. And ever above the din +rose Good’s awful yell of encouragement as he plunged to wherever the +fight was thickest; and ever, with an almost machine-like regularity, the two +axes rose and fell, carrying death and disablement at every stroke. But I could +see that the strain was beginning to tell upon Sir Henry, who was bleeding from +several flesh wounds: his breath was coming in gasps, and the veins stood out +on his forehead like blue and knotted cords. Even Umslopogaas, man of iron that +he was, was hard pressed. I noticed that he had given up +“woodpecking”, and was now using the broad blade of Inkosi-kaas, +“browning” his enemy wherever he could hit him, instead of drilling +scientific holes in his head. I myself did not go into the <i>mĂŞlĂ©e</i>, but +hovered outside like the swift “back” in a football scrimmage, +putting a bullet through a Masai whenever I got a chance. I was more use so. I +fired forty-nine cartridges that morning, and I did not miss many shots. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, do as we would, the beam of the balance began to rise against us. We +had not more than fifteen or sixteen effectives left now, and the Masai had at +least fifty. Of course if they had kept their heads, and shaken themselves +together, they could soon have made an end of the matter; but that is just what +they did not do, not having yet recovered from their start, and some of them +having actually fled from their sleeping-places without their weapons. Still by +now many individuals were fighting with their normal courage and discretion, +and this alone was sufficient to defeat us. To make matters worse just then, +when Mackenzie’s rifle was empty, a brawny savage armed with a +“sime”, or sword, made a rush for him. The clergyman flung down his +gun, and drawing his huge carver from his elastic belt (his revolver had +dropped out in the fight), they closed in desperate struggle. Presently, locked +in a close embrace, missionary and Masai rolled on the ground behind the wall, +and for some time I, being amply occupied with my own affairs, and in keeping +my skin from being pricked, remained in ignorance of his fate or how the duel +had ended. +</p> + +<p> +To and fro surged the fight, slowly turning round like the vortex of a human +whirlpool, and the matter began to look very bad for us. Just then, however, a +fortunate thing happened. Umslopogaas, either by accident or design, broke out +of the ring and engaged a warrior at some few paces from it. As he did so, +another man ran up and struck him with all his force between his shoulders with +his great spear, which, falling on the tough steel shirt, failed to pierce it +and rebounded. For a moment the man stared aghast—protective armour being +unknown among these tribes—and then he yelled out at the top of his +voice— +</p> + +<p> +“<i>They are devils—bewitched, bewitched!</i>” And seized by +a sudden panic, he threw down his spear, and began to fly. I cut short his +career with a bullet, and Umslopogaas brained his man, and then the panic +spread to the others. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Bewitched, bewitched!</i>” they cried, and tried to escape in +every direction, utterly demoralized and broken-spirited, for the most part +even throwing down their shields and spears. +</p> + +<p> +On the last scene of that dreadful fight I need not dwell. It was a slaughter +great and grim, in which no quarter was asked or given. One incident, however, +is worth detailing. Just as I was hoping that it was all done with, suddenly +from under a heap of slain where he had been hiding, an unwounded warrior +sprang up, and, clearing the piles of dying dead like an antelope, sped like +the wind up the kraal towards the spot where I was standing at the moment. But +he was not alone, for Umslopogaas came gliding on his tracks with the peculiar +swallow-like motion for which he was noted, and as they neared me I recognized +in the Masai the herald of the previous night. Finding that, run as he would, +his pursuer was gaining on him, the man halted and turned round to give battle. +Umslopogaas also pulled up. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, ah,” he cried, in mockery, to the Elmoran, “it is thou +whom I talked with last night—the Lygonani! the Herald! the capturer of +little girls—he who would kill a little girl! And thou didst hope to +stand man to man and face to face with Umslopogaas, an Induna of the tribe of +the Maquilisini, of the people of the Amazulu? Behold, thy prayer is granted! +And I didst swear to hew thee limb from limb, thou insolent dog. Behold, I will +do it even now!” +</p> + +<p> +The Masai ground his teeth with fury, and charged at the Zulu with his spear. +As he came, Umslopogaas deftly stepped aside, and swinging Inkosi-kaas high +above his head with both hands, brought the broad blade down with such fearful +force from behind upon the Masai’s shoulder just where the neck is set +into the frame, that its razor edge shore right through bone and flesh and +muscle, almost severing the head and one arm from the body. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Ou!</i>” ejaculated Umslopogaas, contemplating the corpse of +his foe; “I have kept my word. It was a good stroke.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +ALPHONSE EXPLAINS</h2> + +<p> +And so the fight was ended. On returning from the shocking scene it suddenly +struck me that I had seen nothing of Alphonse since the moment, some twenty +minutes before—for though this fight has taken a long while to describe, +it did not take long in reality—when I had been forced to hit him in the +wind with the result of nearly getting myself shot. Fearing that the poor +little man had perished in the battle, I began to hunt among the dead for his +body, but, not being able either to see or hear anything of it, I concluded +that he must have survived, and walked down the side of the kraal where we had +first taken our stand, calling him by name. Now some fifteen paces back from +the kraal wall stood a very ancient tree of the banyan species. So ancient was +it that all the inside had in the course of ages decayed away, leaving nothing +but a shell of bark. +</p> + +<p> +“Alphonse,” I called, as I walked down the wall. +“Alphonse!” +</p> + +<p> +“Oui, monsieur,” answered a voice. “Here am I.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked round but could see nobody. “Where?” I cried. +</p> + +<p> +“Here am I, monsieur, in the tree.” +</p> + +<p> +I looked, and there, peering out of a hole in the trunk of the banyan about +five feet from the ground, I saw a pale face and a pair of large mustachios, +one clipped short and the other as lamentably out of curl as the tail of a +newly whipped pug. Then, for the first time, I realised what I had suspected +before—namely, that Alphonse was an arrant coward. I walked up to him. +“Come out of that hole,” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it finished, monsieur?” he asked anxiously; “quite +finished? Ah, the horrors I have undergone, and the prayers I have +uttered!” +</p> + +<p> +“Come out, you little wretch,” I said, for I did not feel amiable; +“it is all over.” +</p> + +<p> +“So, monsieur, then my prayers have prevailed? I emerge,” and he +did. +</p> + +<p> +As we were walking down together to join the others, who were gathered in a +group by the wide entrance to the kraal, which now resembled a veritable +charnel-house, a Masai, who had escaped so far and been hiding under a bush, +suddenly sprang up and charged furiously at us. Off went Alphonse with a howl +of terror, and after him flew the Masai, bent upon doing some execution before +he died. He soon overtook the poor little Frenchman, and would have finished +him then and there had I not, just as Alphonse made a last agonized double in +the vain hope of avoiding the yard of steel that was flashing in his immediate +rear, managed to plant a bullet between the Elmoran’s broad shoulders, +which brought matters to a satisfactory conclusion so far as the Frenchman was +concerned. But just then he tripped and fell flat, and the body of the Masai +fell right on the top of him, moving convulsively in the death struggle. +Thereupon there arose such a series of piercing howls that I concluded that +before he died the savage must have managed to stab poor Alphonse. I ran up in +a hurry and pulled the Masai off, and there beneath him lay Alphonse covered +with blood and jerking himself about like a galvanized frog. Poor fellow! +thought I, he is done for, and kneeling down by him I began to search for his +wound as well as his struggles would allow. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, the hole in my back!” he yelled. “I am murdered. I am +dead. Oh, Annette!” +</p> + +<p> +I searched again, but could see no wound. Then the truth dawned on me—the +man was frightened, not hurt. +</p> + +<p> +“Get up!” I shouted, “Get up. Aren’t you ashamed of +yourself? You are not touched.” +</p> + +<p> +Thereupon he rose, not a penny the worse. “But, monsieur, I thought I +was,” he said apologetically; “I did not know that I had +conquered.” Then, giving the body of the Masai a kick, he ejaculated +triumphantly, “Ah, dog of a black savage, thou art dead; what +victory!” +</p> + +<p> +Thoroughly disgusted, I left Alphonse to look after himself, which he did by +following me like a shadow, and proceeded to join the others by the large +entrance. The first thing that I saw was Mackenzie, seated on a stone with a +handkerchief twisted round his thigh, from which he was bleeding freely, +having, indeed, received a spear-thrust that passed right through it, and still +holding in his hand his favourite carving knife now bent nearly double, from +which I gathered that he had been successful in his rough and tumble with the +Elmoran. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Quatermain!” he sang out in a trembling, excited voice, +“so we have conquered; but it is a sorry sight, a sorry sight;” and +then breaking into broad Scotch and glancing at the bent knife in his hand, +“It fashes me sair to have bent my best carver on the breastbone of a +savage,” and he laughed hysterically. Poor fellow, what between his wound +and the killing excitement he had undergone his nerves were much shaken, and no +wonder! It is hard upon a man of peace and kindly heart to be called upon to +join in such a gruesome business. But there, fate puts us sometimes into very +comical positions! +</p> + +<p> +At the kraal entrance the scene was a strange one. The slaughter was over by +now, and the wounded men had been put out of their pain, for no quarter had +been given. The bush-closed entrance was trampled flat, and in place of bushes +it was filled with the bodies of dead men. Dead men, everywhere dead +men—they lay about in knots, they were flung by ones and twos in every +position upon the open spaces, for all the world like the people on the grass +in one of the London parks on a particularly hot Sunday in August. In front of +this entrance, on a space which had been cleared of dead and of the shields and +spears which were scattered in all directions as they had fallen or been thrown +from the hands of their owners, stood and lay the survivors of the awful +struggle, and at their feet were four wounded men. We had gone into the fight +thirty strong, and of the thirty but fifteen remained alive, and five of them +(including Mr Mackenzie) were wounded, two mortally. Of those who held the +entrance, Curtis and the Zulu alone remained. Good had lost five men killed, I +had lost two killed, and Mackenzie no less than five out of the six with him. +As for the survivors they were, with the exception of myself who had never come +to close quarters, red from head to foot—Sir Henry’s armour might +have been painted that colour—and utterly exhausted, except Umslopogaas, +who, as he grimly stood on a little mound above a heap of dead, leaning as +usual upon his axe, did not seem particularly distressed, although the skin +over the hole in his head palpitated violently. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Macumazahn!” he said to me as I limped up, feeling very sick, +“I told thee that it would be a good fight, and it has. Never have I seen +a better, or one more bravely fought. As for this iron shirt, surely it is +‘tagati’ [bewitched]; nothing could pierce it. Had it not been for +the garment I should have been <i>there</i>,” and he nodded towards the +great pile of dead men beneath him. +</p> + +<p> +“I give it thee; thou art a brave man,” said Sir Henry, briefly. +</p> + +<p> +“Koos!” answered the Zulu, deeply pleased both at the gift and the +compliment. “Thou, too, Incubu, didst bear thyself as a man, but I must +give thee some lessons with the axe; thou dost waste thy strength.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then Mackenzie asked about Flossie, and we were all greatly relieved when +one of the men said he had seen her flying towards the house with the nurse. +Then bearing such of the wounded as could be moved at the moment with us, we +slowly made our way towards the Mission-house, spent with toil and bloodshed, +but with the glorious sense of victory against overwhelming odds glowing in our +hearts. We had saved the life of the little maid, and taught the Masai of those +parts a lesson that they will not forget for ten years—but at what a +cost! +</p> + +<p> +Painfully we made our way up the hill which, just a little more than an hour +before, we had descended under such different circumstances. At the gate of the +wall stood Mrs Mackenzie waiting for us. When her eyes fell upon us, however, +she shrieked out, and covered her face with her hands, crying, “Horrible, +horrible!” Nor were her fears allayed when she discovered her worthy +husband being borne upon an improvised stretcher; but her doubts as to the +nature of his injury were soon set at rest. Then when in a few brief words I +had told her the upshot of the struggle (of which Flossie, who had arrived in +safety, had been able to explain something) she came up to me and solemnly +kissed me on the forehead. +</p> + +<p> +“God bless you all, Mr Quatermain; you have saved my child’s +life,” she said simply. +</p> + +<p> +Then we went in and got our clothes off and doctored our wounds; I am glad to +say I had none, and Sir Henry’s and Good’s were, thanks to those +invaluable chain shirts, of a comparatively harmless nature, and to be dealt +with by means of a few stitches and sticking-plaster. Mackenzie’s, +however, were serious, though fortunately the spear had not severed any large +artery. After that we had a bath, and what a luxury it was! And having clad +ourselves in ordinary clothes, proceeded to the dining-room, where breakfast +was set as usual. It was curious sitting down there, drinking tea and eating +toast in an ordinary nineteenth-century sort of way just as though we had not +employed the early hours in a regular primitive hand-to-hand Middle-Ages kind +of struggle. As Good said, the whole thing seemed more as though one had had a +bad nightmare just before being called, than as a deed done. When we were +finishing our breakfast the door opened, and in came little Flossie, very pale +and tottery, but quite unhurt. She kissed us all and thanked us. I +congratulated her on the presence of mind she had shown in shooting the Masai +with her Derringer pistol, and thereby saving her own life. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, don’t talk of it!” she said, beginning to cry +hysterically; “I shall never forget his face as he went turning round and +round, never—I can see it now.” +</p> + +<p> +I advised her to go to bed and get some sleep, which she did, and awoke in the +evening quite recovered, so far as her strength was concerned. It struck me as +an odd thing that a girl who could find the nerve to shoot a huge black ruffian +rushing to kill her with a spear should have been so affected at the thought of +it afterwards; but it is, after all, characteristic of the sex. Poor Flossie! I +fear that her nerves will not get over that night in the Masai camp for many a +long year. She told me afterwards that it was the suspense that was so awful, +having to sit there hour after hour through the livelong night utterly ignorant +as to whether or not any attempt was to be made to rescue her. She said that on +the whole she did not expect it, knowing how few of us, and how many of the +Masai—who, by the way, came continually to stare at her, most of them +never having seen a white person before, and handled her arms and hair with +their filthy paws. She said also that she had made up her mind that if she saw +no signs of succour by the time the first rays of the rising sun reached the +kraal she would kill herself with the pistol, for the nurse had heard the +Lygonani say that they were to be tortured to death as soon as the sun was up +if one of the white men did not come in their place. It was an awful resolution +to have to take, but she meant to act on it, and I have little doubt but what +she would have done so. Although she was at an age when in England girls are in +the schoolroom and come down to dessert, this “child of the +wilderness” had more courage, discretion, and power of mind than many a +woman of mature age nurtured in idleness and luxury, with minds carefully +drilled and educated out of any originality or self-resource that nature may +have endowed them with. +</p> + +<p> +When breakfast was over we all turned in and had a good sleep, only getting up +in time for dinner; after which meal we once more adjourned, together with all +the available population—men, women, youths, and girls—to the scene +of the morning’s slaughter, our object being to bury our own dead and get +rid of the Masai by flinging them into the Tana River, which ran within fifty +yards of the kraal. On reaching the spot we disturbed thousands upon thousands +of vultures and a sort of brown bush eagle, which had been flocking to the +feast from miles and miles away. Often have I watched these great and repulsive +birds, and marvelled at the extraordinary speed with which they arrive on a +scene of slaughter. A buck falls to your rifle, and within a minute high in the +blue ether appears a speck that gradually grows into a vulture, then another, +and another. I have heard many theories advanced to account for the wonderful +power of perception nature has given these birds. My own, founded on a good +deal of observation, is that the vultures, gifted as they are with powers of +sight greater than those given by the most powerful glass, quarter out the +heavens among themselves, and hanging in mid-air at a vast +height—probably from two to three miles above the earth—keep watch, +each of them, over an enormous stretch of country. Presently one of them spies +food, and instantly begins to sink towards it. Thereon his next neighbour in +the airy heights sailing leisurely through the blue gulf, at a distance perhaps +of some miles, follows his example, knowing that food has been sighted. Down he +goes, and all the vultures within sight of him follow after, and so do all +those in sight of them. In this way the vultures for twenty miles round can be +summoned to the feast in a few minutes. +</p> + +<p> +We buried our dead in solemn silence, Good being selected to read the Burial +Service over them (in the absence of Mr Mackenzie, confined to bed), as he was +generally allowed to possess the best voice and most impressive manner. It was +melancholy in the extreme, but, as Good said, it might have been worse, for we +might have had “to bury ourselves”. I pointed out that this would +have been a difficult feat, but I knew what he meant. +</p> + +<p> +Next we set to work to load an ox-wagon which had been brought round from the +Mission with the dead bodies of the Masai, having first collected the spears, +shields, and other arms. We loaded the wagon five times, about fifty bodies to +the load, and emptied it into the Tana. From this it was evident that very few +of the Masai could have escaped. The crocodiles must have been well fed that +night. One of the last bodies we picked up was that of the sentry at the upper +end. I asked Good how he managed to kill him, and he told me that he had crept +up much as Umslopogaas had done, and stabbed him with his sword. He groaned a +good deal, but fortunately nobody heard him. As Good said, it was a horrible +thing to have to do, and most unpleasantly like cold-blooded murder. +</p> + +<p> +And so with the last body that floated away down the current of the Tana ended +the incident of our attack on the Masai camp. The spears and shields and other +arms we took up to the Mission, where they filled an outhouse. One incident, +however, I must not forget to mention. As we were returning from performing the +obsequies of our Masai friends we passed the hollow tree where Alphonse had +secreted himself in the morning. It so happened that the little man himself was +with us assisting in our unpleasant task with a far better will than he had +shown where live Masai were concerned. Indeed, for each body that he handled he +found an appropriate sarcasm. Alphonse throwing Masai into the Tana was a very +different creature from Alphonse flying for dear life from the spear of a live +Masai. He was quite merry and gay, he clapped his hands and warbled snatches of +French songs as the grim dead warriors went “splash” into the +running waters to carry a message of death and defiance to their kindred a +hundred miles below. In short, thinking that he wanted taking down a peg, I +suggested holding a court-martial on him for his conduct in the morning. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly we brought him to the tree where he had hidden, and proceeded to +sit in judgment on him, Sir Henry explaining to him in the very best French the +unheard-of cowardice and enormity of his conduct, more especially in letting +the oiled rag out of his mouth, whereby he nearly aroused the Masai camp with +teeth-chattering and brought about the failure of our plans: ending up with a +request for an explanation. +</p> + +<p> +But if we expected to find Alphonse at a loss and put him to open shame we were +destined to be disappointed. He bowed and scraped and smiled, and acknowledged +that his conduct might at first blush appear strange, but really it was not, +inasmuch as his teeth were not chattering from fear—oh, dear no! oh, +certainly not! he marvelled how the “messieurs” could think of such +a thing—but from the chill air of the morning. As for the rag, if +monsieur could have but tasted its evil flavour, being compounded indeed of a +mixture of stale paraffin oil, grease, and gunpowder, monsieur himself would +have spat it out. But he did nothing of the sort; he determined to keep it +there till, alas! his stomach “revolted”, and the rag was ejected +in an access of involuntary sickness. +</p> + +<p> +“And what have you to say about getting into the hollow tree?” +asked Sir Henry, keeping his countenance with difficulty. +</p> + +<p> +“But, monsieur, the explanation is easy; oh, most easy! it was thus: I +stood there by the kraal wall, and the little grey monsieur hit me in the +stomach so that my rifle exploded, and the battle began. I watched whilst +recovering myself from monsieur’s cruel blow; then, messieurs, I felt the +heroic blood of my grandfather boil up in my veins. The sight made me mad. I +ground my teeth! Fire flashed from my eyes! I shouted ‘En avant!’ +and longed to slay. Before my eyes there rose a vision of my heroic +grandfather! In short, I was mad! I was a warrior indeed! But then in my heart +I heard a small voice: ‘Alphonse,’ said the voice, ‘restrain +thyself, Alphonse! Give not way to this evil passion! These men, though black, +are brothers! And thou wouldst slay them? Cruel Alphonse!’ The voice was +right. I knew it; I was about to perpetrate the most horrible cruelties: to +wound! to massacre! to tear limb from limb! And how restrain myself? I looked +round; I saw the tree, I perceived the hole. ‘Entomb thyself,’ said +the voice, ‘and hold on tight! Thou wilt thus overcome temptation by main +force!’ It was bitter, just when the blood of my heroic grandfather +boiled most fiercely; but I obeyed! I dragged my unwilling feet along; I +entombed myself! Through the hole I watched the battle! I shouted curses and +defiance on the foe! I noted them fall with satisfaction! Why not? I had not +robbed them of their lives. Their gore was not upon my head. The blood of my +heroic—” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, get along with you, you little cur!” broke out Sir Henry, with +a shout of laughter, and giving Alphonse a good kick which sent him flying off +with a rueful face. +</p> + +<p> +In the evening I had an interview with Mr Mackenzie, who was suffering a good +deal from his wounds, which Good, who was a skilful though unqualified doctor, +was treating him for. He told me that this occurrence had taught him a lesson, +and that, if he recovered safely, he meant to hand over the Mission to a +younger man, who was already on his road to join him in his work, and return to +England. +</p> + +<p> +“You see, Quatermain,” he said, “I made up my mind to it, +this very morning, when we were creeping down those benighted savages. +‘If we live through this and rescue Flossie alive,’ I said to +myself, ‘I will go home to England; I have had enough of savages.’ +Well, I did not think that we should live through it at the time; but thanks be +to God and you four, we have lived through it, and I mean to stick to my +resolution, lest a worse thing befall us. Another such time would kill my poor +wife. And besides, Quatermain, between you and me, I am well off; it is thirty +thousand pounds I am worth today, and every farthing of it made by honest trade +and savings in the bank at Zanzibar, for living here costs me next to nothing. +So though it will be hard to leave this place, which I have made to blossom +like a rose in the wilderness, and harder still to leave the people I have +taught, I shall go.” +</p> + +<p> +“I congratulate you on your decision,” answered I, “for two +reasons. The first is, that you owe a duty to your wife and daughter, and more +especially to the latter, who should receive some education and mix with girls +of her own race, otherwise she will grow up wild, shunning her kind. The other +is, that as sure as I am standing here, sooner or later the Masai will try to +avenge the slaughter inflicted on them today. Two or three men are sure to have +escaped the confusion who will carry the story back to their people, and the +result will be that a great expedition will one day be sent against you. It +might be delayed for a year, but sooner or later it will come. Therefore, if +only for that reason, I should go. When once they have learnt that you are no +longer here they may perhaps leave the place alone.”<a href="#fn-8" name="fnref-8" id="fnref-8"><sup>[8]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-8" id="fn-8"></a> <a href="#fnref-8">[8]</a> +By a sad coincidence, since the above was written by Mr Quatermain, the Masai +have, in April 1886, massacred a missionary and his wife—Mr and Mrs +Houghton—on this very Tana River, and at the spot described. These are, I +believe, the first white people who are known to have fallen victims to this +cruel tribe.—Editor. +</p> + +<p> +“You are quite right,” answered the clergyman. “I will turn +my back upon this place in a month. But it will be a wrench, it will be a +wrench.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +INTO THE UNKNOWN</h2> + +<p> +A week had passed, and we all sat at supper one night in the Mission +dining-room, feeling very much depressed in spirits, for the reason that we +were going to say goodbye to our kind friends, the Mackenzies, and depart upon +our way at dawn on the morrow. Nothing more had been seen or heard of the +Masai, and save for a spear or two which had been overlooked and was rusting in +the grass, and a few empty cartridges where we had stood outside the wall, it +would have been difficult to tell that the old cattle kraal at the foot of the +slope had been the scene of so desperate a struggle. Mackenzie was, thanks +chiefly to his being so temperate a man, rapidly recovering from his wound, and +could get about on a pair of crutches; and as for the other wounded men, one +had died of gangrene, and the rest were in a fair way to recovery. Mr +Mackenzie’s caravan of men had also returned from the coast, so that the +station was now amply garrisoned. +</p> + +<p> +Under these circumstances we concluded, warm and pressing as were the +invitations for us to stay, that it was time to move on, first to Mount Kenia, +and thence into the unknown in search of the mysterious white race which we had +set our hearts on discovering. This time we were going to progress by means of +the humble but useful donkey, of which we had collected no less than a dozen, +to carry our goods and chattels, and, if necessary, ourselves. We had now but +two Wakwafis left for servants, and found it quite impossible to get other +natives to venture with us into the unknown parts we proposed to +explore—and small blame to them. After all, as Mr Mackenzie said, it was +odd that three men, each of whom possessed many of those things that are +supposed to make life worth living—health, sufficient means, and +position, etc.—should from their own pleasure start out upon a wild-goose +chase, from which the chances were they never would return. But then that is +what Englishmen are, adventurers to the backbone; and all our magnificent +muster-roll of colonies, each of which will in time become a great nation, +testify to the extraordinary value of the spirit of adventure which at first +sight looks like a mild form of lunacy. “Adventurer”—he that +goes out to meet whatever may come. Well, that is what we all do in the world +one way or another, and, speaking for myself, I am proud of the title, because +it implies a brave heart and a trust in Providence. Besides, when many and many +a noted Croesus, at whose feet the people worship, and many and many a +time-serving and word-coining politician are forgotten, the names of those +grand-hearted old adventurers who have made England what she is, will be +remembered and taught with love and pride to little children whose unshaped +spirits yet slumber in the womb of centuries to be. Not that we three can +expect to be numbered with such as these, yet have we done +something—enough, perhaps, to throw a garment over the nakedness of our +folly. +</p> + +<p> +That evening, whilst we were sitting on the veranda, smoking a pipe before +turning in, who should come up to us but Alphonse, and, with a magnificent bow, +announce his wish for an interview. Being requested to “fire away”, +he explained at some length that he was anxious to attach himself to our +party—a statement that astonished me not a little, knowing what a coward +the little man was. The reason, however, soon appeared. Mr Mackenzie was going +down to the coast, and thence on to England. Now, if he went down country, +Alphonse was persuaded that he would be seized, extradited, sent to France, and +to penal servitude. This was the idea that haunted him, as King Charles’s +head haunted Mr Dick, and he brooded over it till his imagination exaggerated +the danger ten times. As a matter of fact, the probability is that his offence +against the laws of his country had long ago been forgotten, and that he would +have been allowed to pass unmolested anywhere except in France; but he could +not be got to see this. Constitutional coward as the little man was, he +infinitely preferred to face the certain hardships and great risks and dangers +of such an expedition as ours, than to expose himself, notwithstanding his +intense longing for his native land, to the possible scrutiny of a police +officer—which is after all only another exemplification of the truth +that, to the majority of men, a far-off foreseen danger, however shadowy, is +much more terrible than the most serious present emergency. After listening to +what he had to say, we consulted among ourselves, and finally agreed, with Mr +Mackenzie’s knowledge and consent, to accept his offer. To begin with, we +were very short-handed, and Alphonse was a quick, active fellow, who could turn +his hand to anything, and cook—ah, he <i>could</i> cook! I believe that +he would have made a palatable dish of those gaiters of his heroic grandfather +which he was so fond of talking about. Then he was a good-tempered little man, +and merry as a monkey, whilst his pompous, vainglorious talk was a source of +infinite amusement to us; and what is more, he never bore malice. Of course, +his being so pronounced a coward was a great drawback to him, but now that we +knew his weakness we could more or less guard against it. So, after warning him +of the undoubted risks he was exposing himself to, we told him that we would +accept his offer on condition that he would promise implicit obedience to our +orders. We also promised to give him wages at the rate of ten pounds a month +should he ever return to a civilized country to receive them. To all of this he +agreed with alacrity, and retired to write a letter to his Annette, which Mr +Mackenzie promised to post when he got down country. He read it to us +afterwards, Sir Henry translating, and a wonderful composition it was. I am +sure the depth of his devotion and the narration of his sufferings in a +barbarous country, “far, far from thee, Annette, for whose adored sake I +endure such sorrow,” ought to have touched the feelings of the +stoniest-hearted chambermaid. +</p> + +<p> +Well, the morrow came, and by seven o’clock the donkeys were all loaded, +and the time of parting was at hand. It was a melancholy business, especially +saying goodbye to dear little Flossie. She and I were great friends, and often +used to have talks together—but her nerves had never got over the shock +of that awful night when she lay in the power of those bloodthirsty Masai. +“Oh, Mr Quatermain,” she cried, throwing her arms round my neck and +bursting into tears, “I can’t bear to say goodbye to you. I wonder +when we shall meet again?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know, my dear little girl,” I said, “I am at +one end of life and you are at the other. I have but a short time before me at +best, and most things lie in the past, but I hope that for you there are many +long and happy years, and everything lies in the future. By-and-by you will +grow into a beautiful woman, Flossie, and all this wild life will be like a +far-off dream to you; but I hope, even if we never do meet again, that you will +think of your old friend and remember what I say to you now. Always try to be +good, my dear, and to do what is right, rather than what happens to be +pleasant, for in the end, whatever sneering people may say, what is good and +what is happy are the same. Be unselfish, and whenever you can, give a helping +hand to others—for the world is full of suffering, my dear, and to +alleviate it is the noblest end that we can set before us. If you do that you +will become a sweet and God-fearing woman, and make many people’s lives a +little brighter, and then you will not have lived, as so many of your sex do, +in vain. And now I have given you a lot of old-fashioned advice, and so I am +going to give you something to sweeten it with. You see this little piece of +paper. It is what is called a cheque. When we are gone give it to your father +with this note—not before, mind. You will marry one day, my dear little +Flossie, and it is to buy you a wedding present which you are to wear, and your +daughter after you, if you have one, in remembrance of Hunter +Quatermain.” +</p> + +<p> +Poor little Flossie cried very much, and gave me a lock of her bright hair in +return, which I still have. The cheque I gave her was for a thousand pounds +(which being now well off, and having no calls upon me except those of charity, +I could well afford), and in the note I directed her father to invest it for +her in Government security, and when she married or came of age to buy her the +best diamond necklace he could get for the money and accumulated interest. I +chose diamonds because I think that now that King Solomon’s Mines are +lost to the world, their price will never be much lower than it is at present, +so that if in after-life she should ever be in pecuniary difficulties, she will +be able to turn them into money. +</p> + +<p> +Well, at last we got off, after much hand-shaking, hat-waving, and also +farewell saluting from the natives, Alphonse weeping copiously (for he has a +warm heart) at parting with his master and mistress; and I was not sorry for it +at all, for I hate those goodbyes. Perhaps the most affecting thing of all was +to witness Umslopogaas’ distress at parting with Flossie, for whom the +grim old warrior had conceived a strong affection. He used to say that she was +as sweet to see as the only star on a dark night, and was never tired of loudly +congratulating himself on having killed the Lygonani who had threatened to +murder her. And that was the last we saw of the pleasant Mission-house—a +true oasis in the desert—and of European civilization. But I often think +of the Mackenzies, and wonder how they got down country, and if they are now +safe and well in England, and will ever see these words. Dear little Flossie! I +wonder how she fares there where there are no black folk to do her imperious +bidding, and no sky-piercing snow-clad Kenia for her to look at when she gets +up in the morning. And so goodbye to Flossie. +</p> + +<p> +After leaving the Mission-house we made our way, comparatively unmolested, past +the base of Mount Kenia, which the Masai call “Donyo Egere”, or the +“speckled mountain”, on account of the black patches of rock that +appear upon its mighty spire, where the sides are too precipitous to allow of +the snow lying on them; then on past the lonely lake Baringo, where one of our +two remaining Askari, having unfortunately trodden on a puff-adder, died of +snake-bite, in spite of all our efforts to save him. Thence we proceeded a +distance of about a hundred and fifty miles to another magnificent snow-clad +mountain called Lekakisera, which has never, to the best of my belief, been +visited before by a European, but which I cannot now stop to describe. There we +rested a fortnight, and then started out into the trackless and uninhabited +forest of a vast district called Elgumi. In this forest alone there are more +elephants than I ever met with or heard of before. The mighty mammals literally +swarm there entirely unmolested by man, and only kept down by the natural law +that prevents any animals increasing beyond the capacity of the country they +inhabit to support them. Needless to say, however, we did not shoot many of +them, first because we could not afford to waste ammunition, of which our stock +was getting perilously low, a donkey loaded with it having been swept away in +fording a flooded river; and secondly, because we could not carry away the +ivory, and did not wish to kill for the mere sake of slaughter. So we let the +great beasts be, only shooting one or two in self-protection. In this district, +the elephants, being unacquainted with the hunter and his tender mercies, would +allow one to walk up to within twenty yards of them in the open, while they +stood, with their great ears cocked for all the world like puzzled and gigantic +puppy-dogs, and stared at that new and extraordinary phenomenon—man. +Occasionally, when the inspection did not prove satisfactory, the staring ended +in a trumpet and a charge, but this did not often happen. When it did we had to +use our rifles. Nor were elephants the only wild beasts in the great Elgumi +forest. All sorts of large game abounded, including lions—confound them! +I have always hated the sight of a lion since one bit my leg and lamed me for +life. As a consequence, another thing that abounded was the dreadful tsetse +fly, whose bite is death to domestic animals. Donkeys have, together with men, +hitherto been supposed to enjoy a peculiar immunity from its attacks; but all I +have to say, whether it was on account of their poor condition, or because the +tsetse in those parts is more poisonous than usual, I do not know, but ours +succumbed to its onslaught. Fortunately, however, that was not till two months +or so after the bites had been inflicted, when suddenly, after a two +days’ cold rain, they all died, and on removing the skins of several of +them I found the long yellow streaks upon the flesh which are characteristic of +death from bites from the tsetse, marking the spot where the insect had +inserted his proboscis. On emerging from the great Elgumi forest, we, still +steering northwards, in accordance with the information Mr Mackenzie had +collected from the unfortunate wanderer who reached him only to die so +tragically, struck the base in due course of the large lake, called Laga by the +natives, which is about fifty miles long by twenty broad, and of which, it may +be remembered, he made mention. Thence we pushed on nearly a month’s +journey over great rolling uplands, something like those in the Transvaal, but +diversified by patches of bush country. +</p> + +<p> +All this time we were continually ascending at the rate of about one hundred +feet every ten miles. Indeed the country was on a slope which appeared to +terminate at a mass of snow-tipped mountains, for which we were steering, and +where we learnt the second lake of which the wanderer had spoken as the lake +without a bottom was situated. At length we arrived there, and, having +ascertained that there <i>was</i> a large lake on top of the mountains, +ascended three thousand feet more till we came to a precipitous cliff or edge, +to find a great sheet of water some twenty miles square lying fifteen hundred +feet below us, and evidently occupying an extinct volcanic crater or craters of +vast extent. Perceiving villages on the border of this lake, we descended with +great difficulty through forests of pine trees, which now clothed the +precipitous sides of the crater, and were well received by the people, a +simple, unwarlike folk, who had never seen or even heard of a white man before, +and treated us with great reverence and kindness, supplying us with as much +food and milk as we could eat and drink. This wonderful and beautiful lake lay, +according to our aneroid, at a height of no less than 11,450 feet above +sea-level, and its climate was quite cold, and not at all unlike that of +England. Indeed, for the first three days of our stay there we saw little or +nothing of the scenery on account of an unmistakable Scotch mist which +prevailed. It was this rain that set the tsetse poison working in our remaining +donkeys, so that they all died. +</p> + +<p> +This disaster left us in a very awkward position, as we had now no means of +transport whatever, though on the other hand we had not much to carry. +Ammunition, too, was very short, amounting to but one hundred and fifty rounds +of rifle cartridges and some fifty shot-gun cartridges. How to get on we did +not know; indeed it seemed to us that we had about reached the end of our +tether. Even if we had been inclined to abandon the object of our search, +which, shadow as it was, was by no means the case, it was ridiculous to think +of forcing our way back some seven hundred miles to the coast in our present +plight; so we came to the conclusion that the only thing to be done was to stop +where we were—the natives being so well disposed and food +plentiful—for the present, and abide events, and try to collect +information as to the countries beyond. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, having purchased a capital log canoe, large enough to hold us all +and our baggage, from the headman of the village we were staying in, presenting +him with three empty cold-drawn brass cartridges by way of payment, with which +he was perfectly delighted, we set out to make a tour of the lake in order to +find the most favourable place to make a camp. As we did not know if we should +return to this village, we put all our gear into the canoe, and also a quarter +of cooked water-buck, which when young is delicious eating, and off we set, +natives having already gone before us in light canoes to warn the inhabitants +of the other villages of our approach. +</p> + +<p> +As we were paddling leisurely along Good remarked upon the extraordinary deep +blue colour of the water, and said that he understood from the natives, who +were great fishermen—fish, indeed, being their principal food—that +the lake was supposed to be wonderfully deep, and to have a hole at the bottom +through which the water escaped and put out some great fire that was raging +below. +</p> + +<p> +I pointed out to him that what he had heard was probably a legend arising from +a tradition among the people which dated back to the time when one of the +extinct parasitic volcanic cones was in activity. We saw several round the +borders of the lake which had no doubt been working at a period long subsequent +to the volcanic death of the central crater which now formed the bed of the +lake itself. When it finally became extinct the people would imagine that the +water from the lake had run down and put out the big fire below, more +especially as, though it was constantly fed by streams running from the +snow-tipped peaks about, there was no visible exit to it. +</p> + +<p> +The farther shore of the lake we found, on approaching it, to consist of a vast +perpendicular wall of rock, which held the water without any intermediate +sloping bank, as elsewhere. Accordingly we paddled parallel with this +precipice, at a distance of about a hundred paces from it, shaping our course +for the end of the lake, where we knew that there was a large village. +</p> + +<p> +As we went we began to pass a considerable accumulation of floating rushes, +weed, boughs of trees, and other rubbish, brought, Good supposed, to this spot +by some current, which he was much puzzled to account for. Whilst we were +speculating about this, Sir Henry pointed out a flock of large white swans, +which were feeding on the drift some little way ahead of us. Now I had already +noticed swans flying about this lake, and, having never come across them before +in Africa, was exceedingly anxious to obtain a specimen. I had questioned the +natives about them, and learnt that they came from over the mountain, always +arriving at certain periods of the year in the early morning, when it was very +easy to catch them, on account of their exhausted condition. I also asked them +what country they came from, when they shrugged their shoulders, and said that +on the top of the great black precipice was stony inhospitable land, and beyond +that were mountains with snow, and full of wild beasts, where no people lived, +and beyond the mountains were hundreds of miles of dense thorn forest, so thick +that even the elephants could not get through it, much less men. Next I asked +them if they had ever heard of white people like ourselves living on the +farther side of the mountains and the thorn forest, whereat they laughed. But +afterwards a very old woman came and told me that when she was a little girl +her grandfather had told her that in his youth <i>his</i> grandfather had +crossed the desert and the mountains, and pierced the thorn forest, and seen a +white people who lived in stone kraals beyond. Of course, as this took the tale +back some two hundred and fifty years, the information was very indefinite; but +still there it was again, and on thinking it over I grew firmly convinced that +there was some truth in all these rumours, and equally firmly determined to +solve the mystery. Little did I guess in what an almost miraculous way my +desire was to be gratified. +</p> + +<p> +Well, we set to work to stalk the swans, which kept drawing, as they fed, +nearer and nearer to the precipice, and at last we pushed the canoe under +shelter of a patch of drift within forty yards of them. Sir Henry had the +shot-gun, loaded with No. 1, and, waiting for a chance, got two in a line, and, +firing at their necks, killed them both. Up rose the rest, thirty or more of +them, with a mighty splashing; and, as they did so, he gave them the other +barrel. Down came one fellow with a broken wing, and I saw the leg of another +drop and a few feathers start out of his back; but he went on quite strong. Up +went the swans, circling ever higher till at last they were mere specks level +with the top of the frowning precipice, when I saw them form into a triangle +and head off for the unknown north-east. Meanwhile we had picked up our two +dead ones, and beautiful birds they were, weighing not less than about thirty +pounds each, and were chasing the winged one, which had scrambled over a mass +of driftweed into a pool of clear water beyond. Finding a difficulty in forcing +the canoe through the rubbish, I told our only remaining Wakwafi servant, whom +I knew to be an excellent swimmer, to jump over, dive under the drift, and +catch him, knowing that as there were no crocodiles in this lake he could come +to no harm. Entering into the fun of the thing, the man obeyed, and soon was +dodging about after the winged swan in fine style, getting gradually nearer to +the rock wall, against which the water washed as he did so. +</p> + +<p> +Presently he gave up swimming after the swan, and began to cry out that he was +being carried away; and, indeed, we saw that, though he was swimming with all +his strength towards us, he was being drawn slowly to the precipice. With a few +desperate strokes of our paddles we pushed the canoe through the crust of drift +and rowed towards the man as hard as we could, but, fast as we went, he was +drawn faster to the rock. Suddenly I saw that before us, just rising eighteen +inches or so above the surface of the lake, was what looked like the top of the +arch of a submerged cave or railway tunnel. Evidently, from the watermark on +the rock several feet above it, it was generally entirely submerged; but there +had been a dry season, and the cold had prevented the snow from melting as +freely as usual; so the lake was low and the arch showed. Towards this arch our +poor servant was being sucked with frightful rapidity. He was not more than ten +fathoms from it, and we were about twenty when I saw it, and with little help +from us the canoe flew along after him. He struggled bravely, and I thought +that we should have saved him, when suddenly I perceived an expression of +despair come upon his face, and there before our eyes he was sucked down into +the cruel swirling blue depths, and vanished. At the same moment I felt our +canoe seized as with a mighty hand, and propelled with resistless force towards +the rock. +</p> + +<p> +We realised our danger now and rowed, or rather paddled, furiously in our +attempt to get out of the vortex. In vain; in another second we were flying +straight for the arch like an arrow, and I thought that we were lost. Luckily I +retained sufficient presence of mind to shout out, instantly setting the +example by throwing myself into the bottom of the canoe, “Down on your +faces—down!” and the others had the sense to take the hint. In +another instant there was a grinding noise, and the boat was pushed down till +the water began to trickle over the sides, and I thought that we were gone. But +no, suddenly the grinding ceased, and we could again feel the canoe flying +along. I turned my head a little—I dared not lift it—and looked up. +By the feeble light that yet reached the canoe, I could make out that a dense +arch of rock hung just over our heads, and that was all. In another minute I +could not even see as much as that, for the faint light had merged into shadow, +and the shadows had been swallowed up in darkness, utter and complete. +</p> + +<p> +For an hour or so we lay there, not daring to lift our heads for fear lest the +brains should be dashed out of them, and scarcely able to speak even, on +account of the noise of the rushing water which drowned our voices. Not, +indeed, that we had much inclination to speak, seeing that we were overwhelmed +by the awfulness of our position and the imminent fear of instant death, either +by being dashed against the sides of the cavern, or on a rock, or being sucked +down in the raging waters, or perhaps asphyxiated by want of air. All of these +and many other modes of death presented themselves to my imagination as I lay +at the bottom of the canoe, listening to the swirl of the hurrying waters which +ran whither we knew not. One only other sound could I hear, and that was +Alphonse’s intermittent howl of terror coming from the centre of the +canoe, and even that seemed faint and unnatural. Indeed, the whole thing +overpowered my brain, and I began to believe that I was the victim of some +ghastly spirit-shaking nightmare. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> +THE ROSE OF FIRE</h2> + +<p> +On we flew, drawn by the mighty current, till at last I noticed that the sound +of the water was not half so deafening as it had been, and concluded that this +must be because there was more room for the echoes to disperse in. I could now +hear Alphonse’s howls much more distinctly; they were made up of the +oddest mixture of invocations to the Supreme Power and the name of his beloved +Annette that it is possible to conceive; and, in short, though their evident +earnestness saved them from profanity, were, to say the least, very remarkable.<a href="#fn-9" name="fnref-9" id="fnref-9"><sup>[9]</sup></a> +Taking up a paddle I managed to drive it into his ribs, whereon he, thinking +that the end had come, howled louder than ever. Then I slowly and cautiously +raised myself on my knees and stretched my hand upwards, but could touch no +roof. Next I took the paddle and lifted it above my head as high as I could, +but with the same result. I also thrust it out laterally to the right and left, +but could touch nothing except water. Then I bethought me that there was in the +boat, amongst our other remaining possessions, a bull’s-eye lantern and a +tin of oil. I groped about and found it, and having a match on me carefully lit +it, and as soon as the flame had got a hold of the wick I turned it on down the +boat. As it happened, the first thing the light lit on was the white and scared +face of Alphonse, who, thinking that it was all over at last, and that he was +witnessing a preliminary celestial phenomenon, gave a terrific yell and was +with difficulty reassured with the paddle. As for the other three, Good was +lying on the flat of his back, his eyeglass still fixed in his eye, and gazing +blankly into the upper darkness. Sir Henry had his head resting on the thwarts +of the canoe, and with his hand was trying to test the speed of the water. But +when the beam of light fell upon old Umslopogaas I could really have laughed. I +think I have said that we had put a roast quarter of water-buck into the canoe. +Well, it so happened that when we all prostrated ourselves to avoid being swept +out of the boat and into the water by the rock roof, Umslopogaas’s head +had come down uncommonly near this roast buck, and so soon as he had recovered +a little from the first shock of our position it occurred to him that he was +hungry. Thereupon he coolly cut off a chop with Inkosi-kaas, and was now +employed in eating it with every appearance of satisfaction. As he afterwards +explained, he thought that he was going “on a long journey”, and +preferred to start on a full stomach. It reminded me of the people who are +going to be hanged, and who are generally reported in the English daily papers +to have made “an excellent breakfast”. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-9" id="fn-9"></a> <a href="#fnref-9">[9]</a> +Sir Henry afterwards wrote down one of Alphonse’s prayers as he overheard +it. It ran thus: “Oh, save me! lake me out of this hole! I will promise +never to go exploring again! Oh, Annette, why did I leave thee? Oh, my false +cousin! Oh, deliver me from this horrible main drain! Never mind the others! +Let them drown; they are more used to it than I am, and they cannot cook! Oh +Annette! Annette [<i>cresendo</i>]! Annette [<i>fortissimo</i>]!” +</p> + +<p> +As soon as the others saw that I had managed to light the lamp, we bundled +Alphonse into the farther end of the canoe with a threat which calmed him down +wonderfully, that if he would insist upon making the darkness hideous with his +cries we would put him out of suspense by sending him to join the Wakwafi and +wait for Annette in another sphere, and began to discuss the situation as well +as we could. First, however, at Good’s suggestion, we bound two paddles +mast-fashion in the bows so that they might give us warning against any sudden +lowering of the roof of the cave or waterway. It was clear to us that we were +in an underground river or, as Alphonse defined it, “main drain”, +which carried off the superfluous waters of the lake. Such rivers are well +known to exist in many parts of the world, but it has not often been the evil +fortune of explorers to travel by them. That the river was wide we could +clearly see, for the light from the bull’s-eye lantern failed to reach +from shore to shore, although occasionally, when the current swept us either to +one side or the other, we could distinguish the rock wall of the tunnel, which, +as far as we could make out, appeared to arch about twenty-five feet above our +heads. As for the current itself, it ran, Good estimated, at least eight knots, +and, fortunately for us, was, as is usual, fiercest in the middle of the +stream. Still, our first act was to arrange that one of us, with the lantern +and a pole there was in the canoe, should always be in the bows ready, if +possible, to prevent us from being stove in against the side of the cave or any +projecting rock. Umslopogaas, having already dined, took the first turn. This +was absolutely, with one exception, all that we could do towards preserving our +safety. The exception was that another of us took up a position in the stern +with a paddle by means of which it was possible to steer the canoe more or less +and to keep her from the sides of the cave. These matters attended to, we made +a somewhat sparing meal off the cold buck’s meat (for we did not know how +long it might have to last us), and then feeling in rather better spirits I +gave my opinion that, serious as it undoubtedly was, I did not consider our +position altogether without hope, unless, indeed, the natives were right, and +the river plunged straight down into the bowels of the earth. If not, it was +clear that it must emerge somewhere, probably on the other side of the +mountains, and in that case all we had to think of was to keep ourselves alive +till we got there, wherever “there” might be. But, of course, as +Good lugubriously pointed out, on the other hand we might fall victims to a +hundred unsuspected horrors—or the river might go on winding away inside +the earth till it dried up, in which case our fate would indeed be an awful +one. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, let us hope for the best and prepare ourselves for the +worst,” said Sir Henry, who is always cheerful and even spirited—a +very tower of strength in the time of trouble. “We have come out of so +many queer scrapes together, that somehow I almost fancy we shall come out of +this,” he added. +</p> + +<p> +This was excellent advice, and we proceeded to take it each in our separate +way—that is, except Alphonse, who had by now sunk into a sort of +terrified stupor. Good was at the helm and Umslopogaas in the bows, so there +was nothing left for Sir Henry and myself to do except to lie down in the canoe +and think. It certainly was a curious, and indeed almost a weird, position to +be placed in—rushing along, as we were, through the bowels of the earth, +borne on the bosom of a Stygian river, something after the fashion of souls +being ferried by Charon, as Curtis said. And how dark it was! The feeble ray +from our little lamp did but serve to show the darkness. There in the bows sat +old Umslopogaas, like Pleasure in the poem,<a href="#fn-10" name="fnref-10" id="fnref-10"><sup>[10]</sup></a> +watchful and untiring, the pole ready to his hand, and behind in the shadow I +could just make out the form of Good peering forward at the ray of light in +order to make out how to steer with the paddle that he held and now and again +dipped into the water. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-10" id="fn-10"></a> <a href="#fnref-10">[10]</a> +Mr Allan Quatermain misquotes—Pleasure sat at the helm.—Editor. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well,” thought I, “you have come in search of +adventures, Allan my boy, and you have certainly got them. At your time of +life, too! You ought to be ashamed of yourself; but somehow you are not, and, +awful as it all is, perhaps you will pull through after all; and if you +don’t, why, you cannot help it, you see! And when all’s said and +done an underground river will make a very appropriate burying-place.” +</p> + +<p> +At first, however, I am bound to say that the strain upon the nerves was very +great. It is trying to the coolest and most experienced person not to know from +one hour to another if he has five minutes more to live, but there is nothing +in this world that one cannot get accustomed to, and in time we began to get +accustomed even to that. And, after all, our anxiety, though no doubt natural, +was, strictly speaking, illogical, seeing that we never know what is going to +happen to us the next minute, even when we sit in a well-drained house with two +policemen patrolling under the window—nor how long we have to live. It is +all arranged for us, my sons, so what is the use of bothering? +</p> + +<p> +It was nearly midday when we made our dive into darkness, and we had set our +watch (Good and Umslopogaas) at two, having agreed that it should be of a +duration of five hours. At seven o’clock, accordingly, Sir Henry and I +went on, Sir Henry at the bow and I at the stern, and the other two lay down +and went to sleep. For three hours all went well, Sir Henry only finding it +necessary once to push us off from the side; and I that but little steering was +required to keep us straight, as the violent current did all that was needed, +though occasionally the canoe showed a tendency which had to be guarded against +to veer and travel broadside on. What struck me as the most curious thing about +this wonderful river was: how did the air keep fresh? It was muggy and thick, +no doubt, but still not sufficiently so to render it bad or even remarkably +unpleasant. The only explanation that I can suggest is that the water of the +lake had sufficient air in it to keep the atmosphere of the tunnel from +absolute stagnation, this air being given out as it proceeded on its headlong +way. Of course I only give the solution of the mystery for what it is worth, +which perhaps is not much. +</p> + +<p> +When I had been for three hours or so at the helm, I began to notice a decided +change in the temperature, which was getting warmer. At first I took no notice +of it, but when, at the expiration of another half-hour, I found that it was +getting hotter and hotter, I called to Sir Henry and asked him if he noticed +it, or if it was only my imagination. “Noticed it!” he answered; +“I should think so. I am in a sort of Turkish bath.” Just about +then the others woke up gasping, and were obliged to begin to discard their +clothes. Here Umslopogaas had the advantage, for he did not wear any to speak +of, except a moocha. +</p> + +<p> +Hotter it grew, and hotter yet, till at last we could scarcely breathe, and the +perspiration poured out of us. Half an hour more, and though we were all now +stark naked, we could hardly bear it. The place was like an antechamber of the +infernal regions proper. I dipped my hand into the water and drew it out almost +with a cry; it was nearly boiling. We consulted a little thermometer we +had—the mercury stood at 123 degrees. From the surface of the water rose +a dense cloud of steam. Alphonse groaned out that we were already in purgatory, +which indeed we were, though not in the sense that he meant it. Sir Henry +suggested that we must be passing near the seat of some underground volcanic +fire, and I am inclined to think, especially in the light of what subsequently +occurred, that he was right. Our sufferings for some time after this really +pass my powers of description. We no longer perspired, for all the perspiration +had been sweated out of us. We simply lay in the bottom of the boat, which we +were now physically incapable of directing, feeling like hot embers, and I +fancy undergoing very much the same sensations that the poor fish do when they +are dying on land—namely, that of slow suffocation. Our skins began to +crack, and the blood to throb in our heads like the beating of a steam-engine. +</p> + +<p> +This had been going on for some time, when suddenly the river turned a little, +and I heard Sir Henry call out from the bows in a hoarse, startled voice, and, +looking up, saw a most wonderful and awful thing. About half a mile ahead of +us, and a little to the left of the centre of the stream—which we could +now see was about ninety feet broad—a huge pillar-like jet of almost +white flame rose from the surface of the water and sprang fifty feet into the +air, when it struck the roof and spread out some forty feet in diameter, +falling back in curved sheets of fire shaped like the petals of a full-blown +rose. Indeed this awful gas jet resembled nothing so much as a great flaming +flower rising out of the black water. Below was the straight stalk, a foot or +more thick, and above the dreadful bloom. And as for the fearfulness of it and +its fierce and awesome beauty, who can describe it? Certainly I cannot. +Although we were now some five hundred yards away, it, notwithstanding the +steam, lit up the whole cavern as clear as day, and we could see that the roof +was here about forty feet above us, and washed perfectly smooth with water. The +rock was black, and here and there I could make out long shining lines of ore +running through it like great veins, but of what metal they were I know not. +</p> + +<p> +On we rushed towards this pillar of fire, which gleamed fiercer than any +furnace ever lit by man. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep the boat to the right, Quatermain—to the right,” +shouted Sir Henry, and a minute afterwards I saw him fall forward senseless. +Alphonse had already gone. Good was the next to go. There they lay as though +dead; only Umslopogaas and I kept our senses. We were within fifty yards of it +now, and I saw the Zulu’s head fall forward on his hands. He had gone +too, and I was alone. I could not breathe; the fierce heat dried me up. For +yards and yards round the great rose of fire the rock-roof was red-hot. The +wood of the boat was almost burning. I saw the feathers on one of the dead +swans begin to twist and shrivel up; but I would not give in. I knew that if I +did we should pass within three or four yards of the gas jet and perish +miserably. I set the paddle so as to turn the canoe as far from it as possible, +and held on grimly. +</p> + +<p> +My eyes seemed to be bursting from my head, and through my closed lids I could +see the fierce light. We were nearly opposite now; it roared like all the fires +of hell, and the water boiled furiously around it. Five seconds more. We were +past; I heard the roar behind me. +</p> + +<p> +Then I too fell senseless. The next thing that I recollect is feeling a breath +of air upon my face. My eyes opened with great difficulty. I looked up. Far, +far above me there was light, though around me was great gloom. Then I +remembered and looked. The canoe still floated down the river, and in the +bottom of it lay the naked forms of my companions. “Were they +dead?” I wondered. “Was I left alone in this awful place?” I +knew not. Next I became conscious of a burning thirst. I put my hand over the +edge of the boat into the water and drew it up again with a cry. No wonder: +nearly all the skin was burnt off the back of it. The water, however, was cold, +or nearly so, and I drank pints and splashed myself all over. My body seemed to +suck up the fluid as one may see a brick wall suck up rain after a drought; but +where I was burnt the touch of it caused intense pain. Then I bethought myself +of the others, and, dragging myself towards them with difficulty, I sprinkled +them with water, and to my joy they began to recover—Umslopogaas first, +then the others. Next they drank, absorbing water like so many sponges. Then, +feeling chilly—a queer contrast to our recent sensations—we began +as best we could to get into our clothes. As we did so Good pointed to the port +side of the canoe: it was all blistered with heat, and in places actually +charred. Had it been built like our civilized boats, Good said that the planks +would certainly have warped and let in enough water to sink us; but fortunately +it was dug out of the soft, willowy wood of a single great tree, and had sides +nearly three inches and a bottom four inches thick. What that awful flame was +we never discovered, but I suppose that there was at this spot a crack or hole +in the bed of the river through which a vast volume of gas forced its way from +its volcanic home in the bowels of the earth towards the upper air. How it +first became ignited is, of course, impossible to say—probably, I should +think, from some spontaneous explosion of mephitic gases. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as we had got some things together and shaken ourselves together a +little, we set to work to make out where we were now. I have said that there +was light above, and on examination we found that it came from the sky. Our +river that was, Sir Henry said, a literal realization of the wild vision of the +poet,<a href="#fn-11" name="fnref-11" id="fnref-11"><sup>[11]</sup></a> was no +longer underground, but was running on its darksome way, not now through +“caverns measureless to man”, but between two frightful cliffs +which cannot have been less than two thousand feet high. So high were they, +indeed, that though the sky was above us, where we were was dense +gloom—not darkness indeed, but the gloom of a room closely shuttered in +the daytime. Up on either side rose the great straight cliffs, grim and +forbidding, till the eye grew dizzy with trying to measure their sheer height. +The little space of sky that marked where they ended lay like a thread of blue +upon their soaring blackness, which was unrelieved by any tree or creeper. Here +and there, however, grew ghostly patches of a long grey lichen, hanging +motionless to the rock as the white beard to the chin of a dead man. It seemed +as though only the dregs or heavier part of the light had sunk to the bottom of +this awful place. No bright-winged sunbeam could fall so low: they died far, +far above our heads. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +<a name="fn-11" id="fn-11"></a> <a href="#fnref-11">[11]</a><br /> +In Kubla Khan a river ran<br /> +Through caverns measureless to man<br /> +Down to a sunless sea +</p> + +<p> +By the river’s edge was a little shore formed of round fragments of rock +washed into this shape by the constant action of water, and giving the place +the appearance of being strewn with thousands of fossil cannon balls. Evidently +when the water of the underground river is high there is no beach at all, or +very little, between the border of the stream and the precipitous cliffs; but +now there was a space of seven or eight yards. And here, on this beach, we +determined to land, in order to rest ourselves a little after all that we had +gone through and to stretch our limbs. It was a dreadful place, but it would +give an hour’s respite from the terrors of the river, and also allow of +our repacking and arranging the canoe. Accordingly we selected what looked like +a favourable spot, and with some little difficulty managed to beach the canoe +and scramble out on to the round, inhospitable pebbles. +</p> + +<p> +“My word,” called out Good, who was on shore the first, “what +an awful place! It’s enough to give one a fit.” And he laughed. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly a thundering voice took up his words, magnifying them a hundred +times. “<i>Give one a fit—Ho! ho! ho!”—“A fit, +Ho! ho! ho!</i>” answered another voice in wild accents from far up the +cliff—<i>a fit! a fit! a fit!</i> chimed in voice after voice—each +flinging the words to and fro with shouts of awful laughter to the invisible +lips of the other till the whole place echoed with the words and with shrieks +of fiendish merriment, which at last ceased as suddenly as they had begun. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, mon Dieu!” yelled Alphonse, startled quite out of such +self-command as he possessed. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!</i>” the Titanic echoes +thundered, shrieked, and wailed in every conceivable tone. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” said Umslopogaas calmly, “I clearly perceive that +devils live here. Well, the place looks like it.” +</p> + +<p> +I tried to explain to him that the cause of all the hubbub was a very +remarkable and interesting echo, but he would not believe it. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” he said, “I know an echo when I hear one. There was one +lived opposite my kraal in Zululand, and the Intombis [maidens] used to talk +with it. But if what we hear is a full-grown echo, mine at home can only have +been a baby. No, no—they are devils up there. But I don’t think +much of them, though,” he added, taking a pinch of snuff. “They can +copy what one says, but they don’t seem to be able to talk on their own +account, and they dare not show their faces,” and he relapsed into +silence, and apparently paid no further attention to such contemptible fiends. +</p> + +<p> +After this we found it necessary to keep our conversation down to a +whisper—for it was really unbearable to have every word one uttered +tossed to and fro like a tennis-ball, as precipice called to precipice. +</p> + +<p> +But even our whispers ran up the rocks in mysterious murmurs till at last they +died away in long-drawn sighs of sound. Echoes are delightful and romantic +things, but we had more than enough of them in that dreadful gulf. +</p> + +<p> +As soon as we had settled ourselves a little on the round stones, we went on to +wash and dress our burns as well as we could. As we had but a little oil for +the lantern, we could not spare any for this purpose, so we skinned one of the +swans, and used the fat off its breast, which proved an excellent substitute. +Then we repacked the canoe, and finally began to take some food, of which I +need scarcely say we were in need, for our insensibility had endured for many +hours, and it was, as our watches showed, midday. Accordingly we seated +ourselves in a circle, and were soon engaged in discussing our cold meat with +such appetite as we could muster, which, in my case at any rate, was not much, +as I felt sick and faint after my sufferings of the previous night, and had +besides a racking headache. It was a curious meal. The gloom was so intense +that we could scarcely see the way to cut our food and convey it to our mouths. +Still we got on pretty well, till I happened to look behind me—my +attention being attracted by a noise of something crawling over the stones, and +perceived sitting upon a rock in my immediate rear a huge species of black +freshwater crab, only it was five times the size of any crab I ever saw. This +hideous and loathsome-looking animal had projecting eyes that seemed to glare +at one, very long and flexible antennae or feelers, and gigantic claws. Nor was +I especially favoured with its company. From every quarter dozens of these +horrid brutes were creeping up, drawn, I suppose, by the smell of the food, +from between the round stones and out of holes in the precipice. Some were +already quite close to us. I stared quite fascinated by the unusual sight, and +as I did so I saw one of the beasts stretch out its huge claw and give the +unsuspecting Good such a nip behind that he jumped up with a howl, and set the +“wild echoes flying” in sober earnest. Just then, too, another, a +very large one, got hold of Alphonse’s leg, and declined to part with it, +and, as may be imagined, a considerable scene ensued. Umslopogaas took his axe +and cracked the shell of one with the flat of it, whereon it set up a horrid +screaming which the echoes multiplied a thousandfold, and began to foam at the +mouth, a proceeding that drew hundreds more of its friends out of unsuspected +holes and corners. Those on the spot perceiving that the animal was hurt fell +upon it like creditors on a bankrupt, and literally rent it limb from limb with +their huge pincers and devoured it, using their claws to convey the fragments +to their mouths. Seizing whatever weapons were handy, such as stones or +paddles, we commenced a war upon the monsters—whose numbers were +increasing by leaps and bounds, and whose stench was overpowering. So fast as +we cracked their armour others seized the injured ones and devoured them, +foaming at the mouth, and screaming as they did so. Nor did the brutes stop at +that. When they could they nipped hold of us—and awful nips they +were—or tried to steal the meat. One enormous fellow got hold of the swan +we had skinned and began to drag it off. Instantly a score of others flung +themselves upon the prey, and then began a ghastly and disgusting scene. How +the monsters foamed and screamed, and rent the flesh, and each other! It was a +sickening and unnatural sight, and one that will haunt all who saw it till +their dying day—enacted as it was in the deep, oppressive gloom, and set +to the unceasing music of the many-toned nerve-shaking echoes. Strange as it +may seem to say so, there was something so shockingly human about these +fiendish creatures—it was as though all the most evil passions and +desires of man had got into the shell of a magnified crab and gone mad. They +were so dreadfully courageous and intelligent, and they looked as if they +<i>understood</i>. The whole scene might have furnished material for another +canto of Dante’s “Inferno”, as Curtis said. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, you fellows, let’s get out of this or we shall all go off +our heads,” sung out Good; and we were not slow to take the hint. Pushing +the canoe, around which the animals were now crawling by hundreds and making +vain attempts to climb, off the rocks, we bundled into it and got out into +mid-stream, leaving behind us the fragments of our meal and the screaming, +foaming, stinking mass of monsters in full possession of the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“Those are the devils of the place,” said Umslopogaas with the air +of one who has solved a problem, and upon my word I felt almost inclined to +agree with him. +</p> + +<p> +Umslopogaas’ remarks were like his axe—very much to the point. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s to be done next?” said Sir Henry blankly. +</p> + +<p> +“Drift, I suppose,” I answered, and we drifted accordingly. All the +afternoon and well into the evening we floated on in the gloom beneath the +far-off line of blue sky, scarcely knowing when day ended and night began, for +down in that vast gulf the difference was not marked, till at length Good +pointed out a star hanging right above us, which, having nothing better to do, +we observed with great interest. Suddenly it vanished, the darkness became +intense, and a familiar murmuring sound filled the air. “Underground +again,” I said with a groan, holding up the lamp. Yes, there was no doubt +about it. I could just make out the roof. The chasm had come to an end and the +tunnel had recommenced. And then there began another long, long night of danger +and horror. To describe all its incidents would be too wearisome, so I will +simply say that about midnight we struck on a flat projecting rock in +mid-stream and were as nearly as possible overturned and drowned. However, at +last we got off, and went upon the uneven tenor of our way. And so the hours +passed till it was nearly three o’clock. Sir Henry, Good, and Alphonse +were asleep, utterly worn out; Umslopogaas was at the bow with the pole, and I +was steering, when I perceived that the rate at which we were travelling had +perceptibly increased. Then, suddenly, I heard Umslopogaas make an exclamation, +and next second came a sound as of parting branches, and I became aware that +the canoe was being forced through hanging bushes or creepers. Another minute, +and the breath of sweet open air fanned my face, and I felt that we had emerged +from the tunnel and were floating upon clear water. I say felt, for I could see +nothing, the darkness being absolutely pitchy, as it often is just before the +dawn. But even this could scarcely damp my joy. We were out of that dreadful +river, and wherever we might have got to this at least was something to be +thankful for. And so I sat down and inhaled the sweet night air and waited for +the dawn with such patience as I could command. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +THE FROWNING CITY</h2> + +<p> +For an hour or more I sat waiting (Umslopogaas having meanwhile gone to sleep +also) till at length the east turned grey, and huge misty shapes moved over the +surface of the water like ghosts of long-forgotten dawns. They were the vapours +rising from their watery bed to greet the sun. Then the grey turned to +primrose, and the primrose grew to red. Next, glorious bars of light sprang up +across the eastern sky, and through them the radiant messengers of the dawn +came speeding upon their arrowy way, scattering the ghostly vapours and awaking +the mountains with a kiss, as they flew from range to range and longitude to +longitude. Another moment, and the golden gates were open and the sun himself +came forth as a bridegroom from his chamber, with pomp and glory and a flashing +as of ten million spears, and embraced the night and covered her with +brightness, and it was day. +</p> + +<p> +But as yet I could see nothing save the beautiful blue sky above, for over the +water was a thick layer of mist exactly as though the whole surface had been +covered with billows of cotton wool. By degrees, however, the sun sucked up the +mists, and then I saw that we were afloat upon a glorious sheet of blue water +of which I could not make out the shore. Some eight or ten miles behind us, +however, there stretched as far as the eye could reach a range of precipitous +hills that formed a retaining wall of the lake, and I have no doubt but that it +was through some entrance in these hills that the subterranean river found its +way into the open water. Indeed, I afterwards ascertained this to be the fact, +and it will be some indication of the extraordinary strength and directness of +the current of the mysterious river that the canoe, even at this distance, was +still answering to it. Presently, too, I, or rather Umslopogaas, who woke up +just then, discovered another indication, and a very unpleasant one it was. +Perceiving some whitish object upon the water, Umslopogaas called my attention +to it, and with a few strokes of the paddle brought the canoe to the spot, +whereupon we discovered that the object was the body of a man floating face +downwards. This was bad enough, but imagine my horror when Umslopogaas having +turned him on to his back with the paddle, we recognized in the sunken features +the lineaments of—whom do you suppose? None other than our poor servant +who had been sucked down two days before in the waters of the subterranean +river. It quite frightened me. I thought that we had left him behind for ever, +and behold! borne by the current, he had made the awful journey with us, and +with us had reached the end. His appearance also was dreadful, for he bore +traces of having touched the pillar of fire—one arm being completely +shrivelled up and all his hair being burnt off. The features were, as I have +said, sunken, and yet they preserved upon them that awful look of despair that +I had seen upon his living face as the poor fellow was sucked down. Really the +sight unnerved me, weary and shaken as I felt with all that we had gone +through, and I was heartily glad when suddenly and without any warning the body +began to sink just as though it had had a mission, which having been +accomplished, it retired; the real reason no doubt being that turning it on its +back allowed a free passage to the gas. Down it went to the transparent +depths—fathom after fathom we could trace its course till at last a long +line of bright air-bubbles, swiftly chasing each other to the surface, alone +remained where it had passed. At length these, too, were gone, and that was an +end of our poor servant. Umslopogaas thoughtfully watched the body vanish. +</p> + +<p> +“What did he follow us for?” he asked. “’Tis an ill +omen for thee and me, Macumazahn.” And he laughed. +</p> + +<p> +I turned on him angrily, for I dislike these unpleasant suggestions. If people +have such ideas, they ought in common decency to keep them to themselves. I +detest individuals who make on the subject of their disagreeable presentiments, +or who, when they dream that they saw one hanged as a common felon, or some +such horror, will insist upon telling one all about it at breakfast, even if +they have to get up early to do it. +</p> + +<p> +Just then, however, the others woke up and began to rejoice exceedingly at +finding that we were out of that dreadful river and once more beneath the blue +sky. Then followed a babel of talk and suggestions as to what we were to do +next, the upshot of all of which was that, as we were excessively hungry, and +had nothing whatsoever left to eat except a few scraps of biltong (dried +game-flesh), having abandoned all that remained of our provisions to those +horrible freshwater crabs, we determined to make for the shore. But a new +difficulty arose. We did not know where the shore was, and, with the exception +of the cliffs through which the subterranean river made its entry, could see +nothing but a wide expanse of sparkling blue water. Observing, however, that +the long flights of aquatic birds kept flying from our left, we concluded that +they were advancing from their feeding-grounds on shore to pass the day in the +lake, and accordingly headed the boat towards the quarter whence they came, and +began to paddle. Before long, however, a stiffish breeze sprang up, blowing +directly in the direction we wanted, so we improvised a sail with a blanket and +the pole, which took us along merrily. This done, we devoured the remnants of +our biltong, washed down with the sweet lake water, and then lit our pipes and +awaited whatever might turn up. +</p> + +<p> +When we had been sailing for an hour, Good, who was searching the horizon with +the spy-glass, suddenly announced joyfully that he saw land, and pointed out +that, from the change in the colour of the water, he thought we must be +approaching the mouth of a river. In another minute we perceived a great golden +dome, not unlike that of St Paul’s, piercing the morning mists, and while +we were wondering what in the world it could be, Good reported another and +still more important discovery, namely, that a small sailing-boat was advancing +towards us. This bit of news, which we were very shortly able to verify with +our own eyes, threw us into a considerable flutter. That the natives of this +unknown lake should understand the art of sailing seemed to suggest that they +possessed some degree of civilization. In a few more minutes it became evident +that the occupant or occupants of the advancing boat had made us out. For a +moment or two she hung in the wind as though in doubt, and then came tacking +towards us with great swiftness. In ten more minutes she was within a hundred +yards, and we saw that she was a neat little boat—not a canoe “dug +out”, but built more or less in the European fashion with planks, and +carrying a singularly large sail for her size. But our attention was soon +diverted from the boat to her crew, which consisted of a man and a woman, +<i>nearly as white as ourselves</i>. +</p> + +<p> +We stared at each other in amazement, thinking that we must be mistaken; but +no, there was no doubt about it. They were not fair, but the two people in the +boat were decidedly of a white as distinguished from a black race, as white, +for instance, as Spaniards or Italians. It was a patent fact. So it was true, +after all; and, mysteriously led by a Power beyond our own, we had discovered +this wonderful people. I could have shouted for joy when I thought of the glory +and the wonder of the thing; and as it was, we all shook hands and +congratulated each other on the unexpected success of our wild search. All my +life had I heard rumours of a white race that existed in the highlands of this +vast continent, and longed to put them to the proof, and now here I saw it with +my own eyes, and was dumbfounded. Truly, as Sir Henry said, the old Roman was +right when he wrote “Ex Africa semper aliquid novi”, which he tells +me means that out of Africa there always comes some new thing. +</p> + +<p> +The man in the boat was of a good but not particularly fine physique, and +possessed straight black hair, regular aquiline features, and an intelligent +face. He was dressed in a brown cloth garment, something like a flannel shirt +without the sleeves, and in an unmistakable kilt of the same material. The legs +and feet were bare. Round the right arm and left leg he wore thick rings of +yellow metal that I judged to be gold. The woman had a sweet face, wild and +shy, with large eyes and curling brown hair. Her dress was made of the same +material as the man’s, and consisted, as we afterwards discovered, first +of a linen under-garment that hung down to her knee, and then of a single long +strip of cloth, about four feet wide by fifteen long, which was wound round the +body in graceful folds and finally flung over the left shoulder so that the +end, which was dyed blue or purple or some other colour, according to the +social standing of the wearer, hung down in front, the right arm and breast +being, however, left quite bare. A more becoming dress, especially when, as in +the present case, the wearer was young and pretty, it is quite impossible to +conceive. Good (who has an eye for such things) was greatly struck with it, and +so indeed was I. It was so simple and yet so effective. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, if we had been astonished at the appearance of the man and woman, it +was clear that they were far more astonished at us. As for the man, he appeared +to be overcome with fear and wonder, and for a while hovered round our canoe, +but would not approach. At last, however, he came within hailing distance, and +called to us in a language that sounded soft and pleasing enough, but of which +we could not understand one word. So we hailed back in English, French, Latin, +Greek, German, Zulu, Dutch, Sisutu, Kukuana, and a few other native dialects +that I am acquainted with, but our visitor did not understand any of these +tongues; indeed, they appeared to bewilder him. As for the lady, she was busily +employed in taking stock of us, and Good was returning the compliment by +staring at her hard through his eyeglass, a proceeding that she seemed rather +to enjoy than otherwise. At length, the man, being unable to make anything of +us, suddenly turned his boat round and began to head off for the shore, his +little boat skimming away before the wind like a swallow. As she passed across +our bows the man turned to attend to the large sail, and Good promptly took the +opportunity to kiss his hand to the young lady. I was horrified at this +proceeding, both on general grounds and because I feared that she might take +offence, but to my delight she did not, for, first glancing round and seeing +that her husband, or brother, or whoever he was, was engaged, she promptly +kissed hers back. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said I. “It seems that we have at last found a language +that the people of this country understand.” +</p> + +<p> +“In which case,” said Sir Henry, “Good will prove an +invaluable interpreter.” +</p> + +<p> +I frowned, for I do not approve of Good’s frivolities, and he knows it, +and I turned the conversation to more serious subjects. “It is very clear +to me,” I said, “that the man will be back before long with a host +of his fellows, so we had best make up our minds as to how we are going to +receive them.” +</p> + +<p> +“The question is how will they receive us?” said Sir Henry. +</p> + +<p> +As for Good he made no remark, but began to extract a small square tin case +that had accompanied us in all our wanderings from under a pile of baggage. Now +we had often remonstrated with Good about this tin case, inasmuch as it had +been an awkward thing to carry, and he had never given any very explicit +account as to its contents; but he had insisted on keeping it, saying +mysteriously that it might come in very useful one day. +</p> + +<p> +“What on earth are you going to do, Good?” asked Sir Henry. +</p> + +<p> +“Do—why dress, of course! You don’t expect me to appear in a +new country in these things, do you?” and he pointed to his soiled and +worn garments, which were however, like all Good’s things, very tidy, and +with every tear neatly mended. +</p> + +<p> +We said no more, but watched his proceedings with breathless interest. His +first step was to get Alphonse, who was thoroughly competent in such matters, +to trim his hair and beard in the most approved fashion. I think that if he had +had some hot water and a cake of soap at hand he would have shaved off the +latter; but he had not. This done, he suggested that we should lower the sail +of the canoe and all take a bath, which we did, greatly to the horror and +astonishment of Alphonse, who lifted his hands and ejaculated that these +English were indeed a wonderful people. Umslopogaas, who, though he was, like +most high-bred Zulus, scrupulously cleanly in his person, did not see the fun +of swimming about in a lake, also regarded the proceeding with mild amusement. +We got back into the canoe much refreshed by the cold water, and sat to dry in +the sun, whilst Good undid his tin box, and produced first a beautiful clean +white shirt, just as it had left a London steam laundry, and then some garments +wrapped first in brown, then in white, and finally in silver paper. We watched +this undoing with the tenderest interest and much speculation. One by one Good +removed the dull husks that hid their splendours, carefully folding and +replacing each piece of paper as he did so; and there at last lay, in all the +majesty of its golden epaulettes, lace, and buttons, a Commander of the Royal +Navy’s full-dress uniform—dress sword, cocked hat, shiny patent +leather boots and all. We literally gasped. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>What!</i>” we said, “<i>what!</i> Are you going to put +those things on?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly,” he answered composedly; “you see so much depends +upon a first impression, especially,” he added, “as I observe that +there are ladies about. One at least of us ought to be decently dressed.” +</p> + +<p> +We said no more; we were simply dumbfounded, especially when we considered the +artful way in which Good had concealed the contents of that box for all these +months. Only one suggestion did we make—namely, that he should wear his +mail shirt next his skin. He replied that he feared it would spoil the set of +his coat, now carefully spread in the sun to take the creases out, but finally +consented to this precautionary measure. The most amusing part of the affair, +however, was to see old Umslopogaas’s astonishment and Alphonse’s +delight at Good’s transformation. When at last he stood up in all his +glory, even down to the medals on his breast, and contemplated himself in the +still waters of the lake, after the fashion of the young gentleman in ancient +history, whose name I cannot remember, but who fell in love with his own +shadow, the old Zulu could no longer restrain his feelings. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, Bougwan!” he said. “Oh, Bougwan! I always thought thee +an ugly little man, and fat—fat as the cows at calving time; and now thou +art like a blue jay when he spreads his tail out. Surely, Bougwan, it hurts my +eyes to look at thee.” +</p> + +<p> +Good did not much like this allusion to his fat, which, to tell the truth, was +not very well deserved, for hard exercise had brought him down three inches; +but on the whole he was pleased at Umslopogaas’s admiration. As for +Alphonse, he was quite delighted. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! but Monsieur has the beautiful air—the air of the warrior. It +is the ladies who will say so when we come to get ashore. Monsieur is complete; +he puts me in mind of my heroic grand—” +</p> + +<p> +Here we stopped Alphonse. +</p> + +<p> +As we gazed upon the beauties thus revealed by Good, a spirit of emulation +filled our breasts, and we set to work to get ourselves up as well as we could. +The most, however, that we were able to do was to array ourselves in our spare +suits of shooting clothes, of which we each had several, all the fine clothes +in the world could never make it otherwise than scrubby and insignificant; but +Sir Henry looked what he is, a magnificent man in his nearly new tweed suit, +gaiters, and boots. Alphonse also got himself up to kill, giving an extra turn +to his enormous moustaches. Even old Umslopogaas, who was not in a general way +given to the vain adorning of his body, took some oil out of the lantern and a +bit of tow, and polished up his head-ring with it till it shone like +Good’s patent leather boots. Then he put on the mail shirt Sir Henry had +given him and his “moocha”, and, having cleaned up Inkosi-kaas a +little, stood forth complete. +</p> + +<p> +All this while, having hoisted the sail again as soon as we had finished +bathing, we had been progressing steadily for the land, or, rather, for the +mouth of a great river. Presently—in all about an hour and a half after +the little boat had left us—we saw emerging from the river or harbour a +large number of boats, ranging up to ten or twelve tons burden. One of these +was propelled by twenty-four oars, and most of the rest sailed. Looking through +the glass we soon made out that the row-boat was an official vessel, her crew +being all dressed in a sort of uniform, whilst on the half-deck forward stood +an old man of venerable appearance, and with a flowing white beard, and a sword +strapped to his side, who was evidently the commander of the craft. The other +boats were apparently occupied by people brought out by curiosity, and were +rowing or sailing towards us as quickly as they could. +</p> + +<p> +“Now for it,” said I. “What is the betting? Are they going to +be friendly or to put an end to us?” +</p> + +<p> +Nobody could answer this question, and, not liking the warlike appearance of +the old gentleman and his sword, we felt a little anxious. +</p> + +<p> +Just then Good spied a school of hippopotami on the water about two hundred +yards off us, and suggested that it would not be a bad plan to impress the +natives with a sense of our power by shooting some of them if possible. This, +unluckily enough, struck us as a good idea, and accordingly we at once got out +our eight-bore rifles, for which we still had a few cartridges left, and +prepared for action. There were four of the animals, a big bull, a cow, and two +young ones, one three parts grown. We got up to them without difficulty, the +great animals contenting themselves with sinking down into the water and rising +again a few yards farther on; indeed, their excessive tameness struck me as +being peculiar. When the advancing boats were about five hundred yards away, +Sir Henry opened the ball by firing at the three parts grown young one. The +heavy bullet struck it fair between the eyes, and, crashing through the skull, +killed it, and it sank, leaving a long train of blood behind it. At the same +moment I fired at the cow, and Good at the old bull. My shot took effect, but +not fatally, and down went the hippopotamus with a prodigious splashing, only +to rise again presently blowing and grunting furiously, dyeing all the water +round her crimson, when I killed her with the left barrel. Good, who is an +execrable shot, missed the head of the bull altogether, the bullet merely +cutting the side of his face as it passed. On glancing up, after I had fired my +second shot, I perceived that the people we had fallen among were evidently +ignorant of the nature of firearms, for the consternation caused by our shots +and their effect upon the animals was prodigious. Some of the parties in the +boats began to cry out in fear; others turned and made off as hard as they +could; and even the old gentleman with the sword looked greatly puzzled and +alarmed, and halted his big row-boat. We had, however, but little time for +observation, for just then the old bull, rendered furious by the wound he had +received, rose fair within forty yards of us, glaring savagely. We all fired, +and hit him in various places, and down he went, badly wounded. Curiosity now +began to overcome the fear of the onlookers, and some of them sailed on up +close to us, amongst these being the man and woman whom we had first seen a +couple of hours or so before, who drew up almost alongside. Just then the great +brute rose again within ten yards of their base, and instantly with a roar of +fury made at it open-mouthed. The woman shrieked, and the man tried to give the +boat way, but without success. In another second I saw the huge red jaws and +gleaming ivories close with a crunch on the frail craft, taking an enormous +mouthful out of its side and capsizing it. Down went the boat, leaving its +occupants struggling in the water. Next moment, before we could do anything +towards saving them, the huge and furious creature was up again and making +open-mouthed at the poor girl, who was struggling in the water. Lifting my +rifle just as the grinding jaws were about to close on her, I fired over her +head right down the hippopotamus’s throat. Over he went, and commenced +turning round and round, snorting, and blowing red streams of blood through his +nostrils. Before he could recover himself, however, I let him have the other +barrel in the side of the throat, and that finished him. He never moved or +struggled again, but instantly sank. Our next effort was directed towards +saving the girl, the man having swum off towards another boat; and in this we +were fortunately successful, pulling her into the canoe (amidst the shouts of +the spectators) considerably exhausted and frightened, but otherwise unhurt. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the boats had gathered together at a distance, and we could see that +the occupants, who were evidently much frightened, were consulting what to do. +Without giving them time for further consideration, which we thought might +result unfavourably to ourselves, we instantly took our paddles and advanced +towards them, Good standing in the bow and taking off his cocked hat politely +in every direction, his amiable features suffused by a bland but intelligent +smile. Most of the craft retreated as we advanced, but a few held their ground, +while the big row-boat came on to meet us. Presently we were alongside, and I +could see that our appearance—and especially Good’s and +Umslopogaas’s—filled the venerable-looking commander with +astonishment, not unmixed with awe. He was dressed after the same fashion as +the man we first met, except that his shirt was not made of brown cloth, but of +pure white linen hemmed with purple. The kilt, however, was identical, and so +were the thick rings of gold around the arm and beneath the left knee. The +rowers wore only a kilt, their bodies being naked to the waist. Good took off +his hat to the old gentleman with an extra flourish, and inquired after his +health in the purest English, to which he replied by laying the first two +fingers of his right hand horizontally across his lips and holding them there +for a moment, which we took as his method of salutation. Then he also addressed +some remarks to us in the same soft accents that had distinguished our first +interviewer, which we were forced to indicate we did not understand by shaking +our heads and shrugging our shoulders. This last Alphonse, being to the manner +born, did to perfection, and in so polite a way that nobody could take any +offence. Then we came to a standstill, till I, being exceedingly hungry, +thought I might as well call attention to the fact, and did so first by opening +my mouth and pointing down it, and then rubbing my stomach. These signals the +old gentleman clearly understood, for he nodded his head vigorously, and +pointed towards the harbour; and at the same time one of the men on his boat +threw us a line and motioned to us to make it fast, which we did. The row-boat +then took us in tow, and went with great rapidity towards the mouth of the +river, accompanied by all the other boats. In about twenty minutes more we +reached the entrance to the harbour, which was crowded with boats full of +people who had come out to see us. We observed that all the occupants were more +or less of the same type, though some were fairer than others. Indeed, we +noticed certain ladies whose skin was of a most dazzling whiteness; and the +darkest shade of colour which we saw was about that of a rather swarthy +Spaniard. Presently the wide river gave a sweep, and when it did so an +exclamation of astonishment and delight burst from our lips as we caught our +first view of the place that we afterwards knew as Milosis, or the Frowning +City (from the prefix <i>mi</i>, which means city, and <i>losis</i>, a frown). +</p> + +<p> +At a distance of some five hundred yards from the river’s bank rose a +sheer precipice of granite, two hundred feet or so in height, which had no +doubt once formed the bank itself—the intermediate space of land now +utilized as docks and roadways having been gained by draining, and deepening +and embanking the stream. +</p> + +<p> +On the brow of this precipice stood a great building of the same granite that +formed the cliff, built on three sides of a square, the fourth side being open, +save for a kind of battlement pierced at its base by a little door. This +imposing place we afterwards discovered was the palace of the queen, or rather +of the queens. At the back of the palace the town sloped gently upwards to a +flashing building of white marble, crowned by the golden dome which we had +already observed. The city was, with the exception of this one building, +entirely built of red granite, and laid out in regular blocks with splendid +roadways between. So far as we could see also the houses were all one-storied +and detached, with gardens round them, which gave some relief to the eye +wearied with the vista of red granite. At the back of the palace a road of +extraordinary width stretched away up the hill for a distance of a mile and a +half or so, and appeared to terminate at an open space surrounding the gleaming +building that crowned the hill. But right in front of us was the wonder and +glory of Milosis—the great staircase of the palace, the magnificence of +which took our breath away. Let the reader imagine, if he can, a splendid +stairway, sixty-five feet from balustrade to balustrade, consisting of two vast +flights, each of one hundred and twenty-five steps of eight inches in height by +three feet broad, connected by a flat resting-place sixty feet in length, and +running from the palace wall on the edge of the precipice down to meet a +waterway or canal cut to its foot from the river. This marvellous staircase was +supported upon a single enormous granite arch, of which the resting-place +between the two flights formed the crown; that is, the connecting open space +lay upon it. From this archway sprang a subsidiary flying arch, or rather +something that resembled a flying arch in shape, such as none of us had seen in +any other country, and of which the beauty and wonder surpassed all that we had +ever imagined. Three hundred feet from point to point, and no less than five +hundred and fifty round the curve, that half-arc soared touching the bridge it +supported for a space of fifty feet only, one end resting on and built into the +parent archway, and the other embedded in the solid granite of the side of the +precipice. +</p> + +<p> +This staircase with its supports was, indeed, a work of which any living man +might have been proud, both on account of its magnitude and its surpassing +beauty. Four times, as we afterwards learnt, did the work, which was commenced +in remote antiquity, fail, and was then abandoned for three centuries when +half-finished, till at last there rose a youthful engineer named Rademas, who +said that he would complete it successfully, and staked his life upon it. If he +failed he was to be hurled from the precipice he had undertaken to scale; if he +succeeded, he was to be rewarded by the hand of the king’s daughter. Five +years was given to him to complete the work, and an unlimited supply of labour +and material. Three times did his arch fall, till at last, seeing failure to be +inevitable, he determined to commit suicide on the morrow of the third +collapse. That night, however, a beautiful woman came to him in a dream and +touched his forehead, and of a sudden he saw a vision of the completed work, +and saw too through the masonry and how the difficulties connected with the +flying arch that had hitherto baffled his genius were to be overcome. Then he +awoke and once more commenced the work, but on a different plan, and behold! he +achieved it, and on the last day of the five years he led the princess his +bride up the stair and into the palace. And in due course he became king by +right of his wife, and founded the present Zu-Vendi dynasty, which is to this +day called the “House of the Stairway”, thus proving once more how +energy and talent are the natural stepping-stones to grandeur. And to +commemorate his triumph he fashioned a statue of himself dreaming, and of the +fair woman who touched him on the forehead, and placed it in the great hall of +the palace, and there it stands to this day. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the great stair of Milosis, and such the city beyond. No wonder they +named it the “Frowning City”, for certainly those mighty works in +solid granite did seem to frown down upon our littleness in their sombre +splendour. This was so even in the sunshine, but when the storm-clouds gathered +on her imperial brow Milosis looked more like a supernatural dwelling-place, or +some imagining of a poet’s brain, than what she is—a mortal city, +carven by the patient genius of generations out of the red silence of the +mountain side. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +THE SISTER QUEENS</h2> + +<p> +The big rowing-boat glided on up the cutting that ran almost to the foot of the +vast stairway, and then halted at a flight of steps leading to the +landing-place. Here the old gentleman disembarked, and invited us to do so +likewise, which, having no alternative, and being nearly starved, we did +without hesitation—taking our rifles with us, however. As each of us +landed, our guide again laid his fingers on his lips and bowed deeply, at the +same time ordering back the crowds which had assembled to gaze on us. The last +to leave the canoe was the girl we had picked out of the water, for whom her +companion was waiting. Before she went away she kissed my hand, I suppose as a +token of gratitude for having saved her from the fury of the hippopotamus; and +it seemed to me that she had by this time quite got over any fear she might +have had of us, and was by no means anxious to return in such a hurry to her +lawful owners. At any rate, she was going to kiss Good’s hand as well as +mine, when the young man interfered and led her off. As soon as we were on +shore, a number of the men who had rowed the big boat took possession of our +few goods and chattels, and started with them up the splendid staircase, our +guide indicating to us by means of motions that the things were perfectly safe. +This done, he turned to the right and led the way to a small house, which was, +as I afterwards discovered, an inn. Entering into a good-sized room, we saw +that a wooden table was already furnished with food, presumably in preparation +for us. Here our guide motioned us to be seated on a bench that ran the length +of the table. We did not require a second invitation, but at once fell to +ravenously on the viands before us, which were served on wooden platters, and +consisted of cold goat’s-flesh, wrapped up in some kind of leaf that gave +it a delicious flavour, green vegetables resembling lettuces, brown bread, and +red wine poured from a skin into horn mugs. This wine was peculiarly soft and +good, having something of the flavour of Burgundy. Twenty minutes after we sat +down at that hospitable board we rose from it, feeling like new men. After all +that we had gone through we needed two things, food and rest, and the food of +itself was a great blessing to us. Two girls of the same charming cast of face +as the first whom we had seen waited on us while we ate, and very nicely they +did it. They were also dressed in the same fashion namely, in a white linen +petticoat coming to the knee, and with the toga-like garment of brown cloth, +leaving bare the right arm and breast. I afterwards found out that this was the +national dress, and regulated by an iron custom, though of course subject to +variations. Thus, if the petticoat was pure white, it signified that the wearer +was unmarried; if white, with a straight purple stripe round the edge, that she +was married and a first or legal wife; if with a black stripe, that she was a +widow. In the same way the toga, or “kaf”, as they call it, was of +different shades of colour, from pure white to the deepest brown, according to +the rank of the wearer, and embroidered at the end in various ways. This also +applies to the “shirts” or tunics worn by the men, which varied in +material and colour; but the kilts were always the same except as regards +quality. One thing, however, every man and woman in the country wore as the +national insignia, and that was the thick band of gold round the right arm +above the elbow, and the left leg beneath the knee. People of high rank also +wore a torque of gold round the neck, and I observed that our guide had one on. +</p> + +<p> +So soon as we had finished our meal our venerable conductor, who had been +standing all the while, regarding us with inquiring eyes, and our guns with +something as like fear as his pride would allow him to show, bowed towards +Good, whom he evidently took for the leader of the party on account of the +splendour of his apparel, and once more led the way through the door and to the +foot of the great staircase. Here we paused for a moment to admire two colossal +lions, each hewn from a single block of pure black marble, and standing rampant +on the terminations of the wide balustrades of the staircase. These lions are +magnificently executed, and it is said were sculptured by Rademas, the great +prince who designed the staircase, and who was without doubt, to judge from the +many beautiful examples of his art that we saw afterwards, one of the finest +sculptors who ever lived, either in this or any other country. Then we climbed +almost with a feeling of awe up that splendid stair, a work executed for all +time and that will, I do not doubt, be admired thousands of years hence by +generations unborn unless an earthquake should throw it down. Even Umslopogaas, +who as a general rule made it a point of honour not to show astonishment, which +he considered undignified, was fairly startled out of himself, and asked if the +“bridge had been built by men or devils”, which was his vague way +of alluding to any supernatural power. But Alphonse did not care about it. Its +solid grandeur jarred upon the frivolous little Frenchman, who said that it was +all “tres magnifique, mais triste—ah, triste!” and went on to +suggest that it would be improved if the balustrades were <i>gilt</i>. +</p> + +<p> +On we went up the first flight of one hundred and twenty steps, across the +broad platform joining it to the second flight, where we paused to admire the +glorious view of one of the most beautiful stretches of country that the world +can show, edged by the blue waters of the lake. Then we passed on up the stair +till at last we reached the top, where we found a large standing space to which +there were three entrances, all of small size. Two of these opened on to rather +narrow galleries or roadways cut in the face of the precipice that ran round +the palace walls and led to the principal thoroughfares of the city, and were +used by the inhabitants passing up and down from the docks. These were defended +by gates of bronze, and also, as we afterwards learnt, it was possible to let +down a portion of the roadways themselves by withdrawing certain bolts, and +thus render it quite impracticable for an enemy to pass. The third entrance +consisted of a flight of ten curved black marble steps leading to a doorway cut +in the palace wall. This wall was in itself a work of art, being built of huge +blocks of granite to the height of forty feet, and so fashioned that its face +was concave, whereby it was rendered practically impossible for it to be +scaled. To this doorway our guide led us. The door, which was massive, and made +of wood protected by an outer gate of bronze, was closed; but on our approach +it was thrown wide, and we were met by the challenge of a sentry, who was armed +with a heavy triangular-bladed spear, not unlike a bayonet in shape, and a +cutting sword, and protected by breast and back plates of skilfully prepared +hippopotamus hide, and a small round shield fashioned of the same tough +material. The sword instantly attracted our attention; it was practically +identical with the one in the possession of Mr Mackenzie which he had obtained +from the ill-starred wanderer. There was no mistaking the gold-lined fretwork +cut in the thickness of the blade. So the man had told the truth after all. Our +guide instantly gave a password, which the soldier acknowledged by letting the +iron shaft of his spear fall with a ringing sound upon the pavement, and we +passed on through the massive wall into the courtyard of the palace. This was +about forty yards square, and laid out in flower-beds full of lovely shrubs and +plants, many of which were quite new to me. Through the centre of this garden +ran a broad walk formed of powdered shells brought from the lake in the place +of gravel. Following this we came to another doorway with a round heavy arch, +which is hung with thick curtains, for there are no doors in the palace itself. +Then came another short passage, and we were in the great hall of the palace, +and once more stood astonished at the simple and yet overpowering grandeur of +the place. +</p> + +<p> +The hall is, as we afterwards learnt, one hundred and fifty feet long by eighty +wide, and has a magnificent arched roof of carved wood. Down the entire length +of the building there are on either side, and at a distance of twenty feet from +the wall, slender shafts of black marble springing sheer to the roof, +beautifully fluted, and with carved capitals. At one end of this great place +which these pillars support is the group of which I have already spoken as +executed by the King Rademas to commemorate his building of the staircase; and +really, when we had time to admire it, its loveliness almost struck us dumb. +The group, of which the figures are in white, and the rest is black marble, is +about half as large again as life, and represents a young man of noble +countenance and form sleeping heavily upon a couch. One arm is carelessly +thrown over the side of this couch, and his head reposes upon the other, its +curling locks partially hiding it. Bending over him, her hand resting on his +forehead, is a draped female form of such white loveliness as to make the +beholder’s breath stand still. And as for the calm glory that shines upon +her perfect face—well, I can never hope to describe it. But there it +rests like the shadow of an angel’s smile; and power, love, and divinity +all have their part in it. Her eyes are fixed upon the sleeping youth, and +perhaps the most extraordinary thing about this beautiful work is the success +with which the artist has succeeded in depicting on the sleeper’s worn +and weary face the sudden rising of a new and spiritual thought as the spell +begins to work within his mind. You can see that an inspiration is breaking in +upon the darkness of the man’s soul as the dawn breaks in upon the +darkness of night. It is a glorious piece of statuary, and none but a genius +could have conceived it. Between each of the black marble columns is some such +group of figures, some allegorical, and some representing the persons and wives +of deceased monarchs or great men; but none of them, in our opinion, comes up +to the one I have described, although several are from the hand of the sculptor +and engineer, King Rademas. +</p> + +<p> +In the exact centre of the hall was a solid mass of black marble about the size +of a baby’s arm-chair, which it rather resembled in appearance. This, as +we afterwards learnt, was the sacred stone of this remarkable people, and on it +their monarchs laid their hand after the ceremony of coronation, and swore by +the sun to safeguard the interests of the empire, and to maintain its customs, +traditions, and laws. This stone was evidently exceedingly ancient (as indeed +all stones are), and was scored down its sides with long marks or lines, which +Sir Henry said proved it to have been a fragment that at some remote period in +its history had been ground in the iron jaws of glaciers. There was a curious +prophecy about this block of marble, which was reported among the people to +have fallen from the sun, to the effect that when it was shattered into +fragments a king of alien race should rule over the land. As the stone, +however, looked remarkably solid, the native princes seemed to have a fair +chance of keeping their own for many a long year. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of the hall is a dais spread with rich carpets, on which two thrones +are set side by side. These thrones are shaped like great chairs, and made of +solid gold. The seats are richly cushioned, but the backs are left bare, and on +each is carved the emblem of the sun, shooting out his fiery rays in all +directions. The footstools are golden lions couchant, with yellow topazes set +in them for eyes. There are no other gems about them. +</p> + +<p> +The place is lighted by numerous but narrow windows, placed high up, cut on the +principle of the loopholes to be seen in ancient castles, but innocent of +glass, which was evidently unknown here. +</p> + +<p> +Such is a brief description of this splendid hall in which we now found +ourselves, compiled of course from our subsequent knowledge of it. On this +occasion we had but little time for observation, for when we entered we +perceived that a large number of men were gathered together in front of the two +thrones, which were unoccupied. The principal among them were seated on carved +wooden chairs ranged to the right and the left of the thrones, but not in front +of them, and were dressed in white tunics, with various embroideries and +different coloured edgings, and armed with the usual pierced and gold-inlaid +swords. To judge from the dignity of their appearance, they seemed one and all +to be individuals of very great importance. Behind each of these great men +stood a small knot of followers and attendants. +</p> + +<p> +Seated by themselves, in a little group to the left of the throne, were six men +of a different stamp. Instead of wearing the ordinary kilt, they were clothed +in long robes of pure white linen, with the same symbol of the sun that is to +be seen on the back of the chairs, emblazoned in gold thread upon the breast. +This garment was girt up at the waist with a simple golden curb-like chain, +from which hung long elliptic plates of the same metal, fashioned in shiny +scales like those of a fish, that, as their wearers moved, jingled and +reflected the light. They were all men of mature age and of a severe and +impressive cast of features, which was rendered still more imposing by the long +beards they wore. +</p> + +<p> +The personality of one individual among them, however, impressed us at once. He +seemed to stand out among his fellows and refuse to be overlooked. He was very +old—eighty at least—and extremely tall, with a long snow-white +beard that hung nearly to his waist. His features were aquiline and deeply cut, +and his eyes were grey and cold-looking. The heads of the others were bare, but +this man wore a round cap entirely covered with gold embroidery, from which we +judged that he was a person of great importance; and indeed we afterwards +discovered that he was Agon, the High Priest of the country. As we approached, +all these men, including the priests, rose and bowed to us with the greatest +courtesy, at the same time placing the two fingers across the lips in +salutation. Then soft-footed attendants advanced from between the pillars, +bearing seats, which were placed in a line in front of the thrones. We three +sat down, Alphonse and Umslopogaas standing behind us. Scarcely had we done so +when there came a blare of trumpets from some passage to the right, and a +similar blare from the left. Next a man with a long white wand of ivory +appeared just in front of the right-hand throne, and cried out something in a +loud voice, ending with the word <i>Nyleptha</i>, repeated three times; and +another man, similarly attired, called out a similar sentence before the other +throne, but ending with the word <i>Sorais</i>, also repeated thrice. Then came +the tramp of armed men from each side entrance, and in filed about a score of +picked and magnificently accoutred guards, who formed up on each side of the +thrones, and let their heavy iron-handled spears fall simultaneously with a +clash upon the black marble flooring. Another double blare of trumpets, and in +from either side, each attended by six maidens, swept the two Queens of +Zu-Vendis, everybody in the hall rising to greet them as they came. +</p> + +<p> +I have seen beautiful women in my day, and am no longer thrown into transports +at the sight of a pretty face; but language fails me when I try to give some +idea of the blaze of loveliness that then broke upon us in the persons of these +sister Queens. Both were young—perhaps five-and-twenty years of +age—both were tall and exquisitely formed; but there the likeness +stopped. One, Nyleptha, was a woman of dazzling fairness; her right arm and +breast bare, after the custom of her people, showed like snow even against her +white and gold-embroidered “kaf”, or toga. And as for her sweet +face, all I can say is, that it was one that few men could look on and forget. +Her hair, a veritable crown of gold, clustered in short ringlets over her +shapely head, half hiding the ivory brow, beneath which eyes of deep and +glorious grey flashed out in tender majesty. I cannot attempt to describe her +other features, only the mouth was most sweet, and curved like Cupid’s +bow, and over the whole countenance there shone an indescribable look of +loving-kindness, lit up by a shadow of delicate humour that lay upon her face +like a touch of silver on a rosy cloud. +</p> + +<p> +She wore no jewels, but on her neck, arm, and knee were the usual torques of +gold, in this instance fashioned like a snake; and her dress was of pure white +linen of excessive fineness, plentifully embroidered with gold and with the +familiar symbols of the sun. +</p> + +<p> +Her twin sister, Sorais, was of a different and darker type of beauty. Her hair +was wavy like Nyleptha’s but coal-black, and fell in masses on her +shoulders; her complexion was olive, her eyes large, dark, and lustrous; the +lips were full, and I thought rather cruel. Somehow her face, quiet and even +cold as it is, gave an idea of passion in repose, and caused one to wonder +involuntarily what its aspect would be if anything occurred to break the calm. +It reminded me of the deep sea, that even on the bluest days never loses its +visible stamp of power, and in its murmuring sleep is yet instinct with the +spirit of the storm. Her figure, like her sister’s, was almost perfect in +its curves and outlines, but a trifle more rounded, and her dress was +absolutely the same. +</p> + +<p> +As this lovely pair swept onwards to their respective thrones, amid the deep +attentive silence of the Court, I was bound to confess to myself that they did +indeed fulfil my idea of royalty. Royal they were in every way—in form, +in grace, and queenly dignity, and in the barbaric splendour of their attendant +pomp. But methought that they needed no guards or gold to proclaim their power +and bind the loyalty of wayward men. A glance from those bright eyes or a smile +from those sweet lips, and while the red blood runs in the veins of youth women +such as these will never lack subjects ready to do their biddings to the death. +</p> + +<p> +But after all they were women first and queens afterwards, and therefore not +devoid of curiosity. As they passed to their seats I saw both of them glance +swiftly in our direction. I saw, too, that their eyes passed by me, seeing +nothing to charm them in the person of an insignificant and grizzled old man. +Then they looked with evident astonishment on the grim form of old Umslopogaas, +who raised his axe in salutation. Attracted next by the splendour of +Good’s apparel, for a second their glance rested on him like a humming +moth upon a flower, then off it darted to where Sir Henry Curtis stood, the +sunlight from a window playing upon his yellow hair and peaked beard, and +marking the outlines of his massive frame against the twilight of the somewhat +gloomy hall. He raised his eyes, and they met the fair Nyleptha’s full, +and thus for the first time the goodliest man and woman that it has ever been +my lot to see looked one upon another. And why it was I know not, but I saw the +swift blood run up Nyleptha’s skin as the pink lights run up the morning +sky. Red grew her fair bosom and shapely arm, red the swanlike neck; the +rounded cheeks blushed red as the petals of a rose, and then the crimson flood +sank back to whence it came and left her pale and trembling. +</p> + +<p> +I glanced at Sir Henry. He, too, had coloured up to the eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my word!” thought I to myself, “the ladies have come on +the stage, and now we may look to the plot to develop itself.” And I +sighed and shook my head, knowing that the beauty of a woman is like the beauty +of the lightning—a destructive thing and a cause of desolation. By the +time that I had finished my reflections both the Queens were on the thrones, +for all this had happened in about six seconds. Once more the unseen trumpets +blared out, and then the Court seated itself, and Queen Sorais motioned to us +to do likewise. +</p> + +<p> +Next from among the crowd whither he had withdrawn stepped forward our guide, +the old gentleman who had towed us ashore, holding by the hand the girl whom we +had seen first and afterwards rescued from the hippopotamus. Having made +obeisance he proceeded to address the Queens, evidently describing to them the +way and place where we had been found. It was most amusing to watch the +astonishment, not unmixed with fear, reflected upon their faces as they +listened to his tale. Clearly they could not understand how we had reached the +lake and been found floating on it, and were inclined to attribute our presence +to supernatural causes. Then the narrative proceeded, as I judged from the +frequent appeals that our guide made to the girl, to the point where we had +shot the hippopotami, and we at once perceived that there was something very +wrong about those hippopotami, for the history was frequently interrupted by +indignant exclamations from the little group of white-robed priests and even +from the courtiers, while the two Queens listened with an amazed expression, +especially when our guide pointed to the rifles in our hands as being the means +of destruction. And here, to make matters clear, I may as well explain at once +that the inhabitants of Zu-Vendis are sun-worshippers, and that for some reason +or another the hippopotamus is sacred among them. Not that they do not kill it, +because at a certain season of the year they slaughter thousands—which +are specially preserved in large lakes up the country—and use their hides +for armour for soldiers; but this does not prevent them from considering these +animals as sacred to the sun.<a href="#fn-12" name="fnref-12" id="fnref-12"><sup>[12]</sup></a> +Now, as ill luck would have it, the particular hippopotami we had shot were a +family of tame animals that were kept in the mouth of the port and daily fed by +priests whose special duty it was to attend to them. When we shot them I +thought that the brutes were suspiciously tame, and this was, as we afterwards +ascertained, the cause of it. Thus it came about that in attempting to show off +we had committed sacrilege of a most aggravated nature. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-12" id="fn-12"></a> <a href="#fnref-12">[12]</a> +Mr Quatermain does not seem to have been aware that it is common for +animal-worshipping people to annually sacrifice the beasts they adore. See +Herodotus, ii. 45.—Editor. +</p> + +<p> +When our guide had finished his tale, the old man with the long beard and round +cap, whose appearance I have already described, and who was, as I have said, +the High Priest of the country, and known by the name of Agon, rose and +commenced an impassioned harangue. I did not like the look of his cold grey eye +as he fixed it on us. I should have liked it still less had I known that in the +name of the outraged majesty of his god he was demanding that the whole lot of +us should be offered up as a sacrifice by means of being burnt alive. +</p> + +<p> +After he had finished speaking the Queen Sorais addressed him in a soft and +musical voice, and appeared, to judge from his gestures of dissent, to be +putting the other side of the question before him. Then Nyleptha spoke in +liquid accents. Little did we know that she was pleading for our lives. +Finally, she turned and addressed a tall, soldierlike man of middle age with a +black beard and a long plain sword, whose name, as we afterwards learnt, was +Nasta, and who was the greatest lord in the country; apparently appealing to +him for support. Now when Sir Henry had caught her eye and she had blushed so +rosy red, I had seen that the incident had not escaped this man’s notice, +and, what is more, that it was eminently disagreeable to him, for he bit his +lip and his hand tightened on his sword-hilt. Afterwards we learnt that he was +an aspirant for the hand of this Queen in marriage, which accounted for it. +This being so, Nyleptha could not have appealed to a worse person, for, +speaking in slow, heavy tones, he appeared to confirm all that the High Priest +Agon had said. As he spoke, Sorais put her elbow on her knee, and, resting her +chin on her hand, looked at him with a suppressed smile upon her lips, as +though she saw through the man, and was determined to be his match; but +Nyleptha grew very angry, her cheek flushed, her eyes flashed, and she did +indeed look lovely. Finally she turned to Agon and seemed to give some sort of +qualified assent, for he bowed at her words; and as she spoke she moved her +hands as though to emphasize what she said; while all the time Sorais kept her +chin on her hand and smiled. Then suddenly Nyleptha made a sign, the trumpets +blew again, and everybody rose to leave the hall save ourselves and the guards, +whom she motioned to stay. +</p> + +<p> +When they were all gone she bent forward and, smiling sweetly, partially by +signs and partially by exclamations made it clear to us that she was very +anxious to know where we came from. The difficulty was how to explain, but at +last an idea struck me. I had my large pocket-book in my pocket and a pencil. +Taking it out, I made a little sketch of a lake, and then as best I could I +drew the underground river and the lake at the other end. When I had done this +I advanced to the steps of the throne and gave it to her. She understood it at +once and clapped her hands with delight, and then descending from the throne +took it to her sister Sorais, who also evidently understood. Next she took the +pencil from me, and after examining it with curiosity proceeded to make a +series of delightful little sketches, the first representing herself holding +out both hands in welcome, and a man uncommonly like Sir Henry taking them. +Next she drew a lovely little picture of a hippopotamus rolling about dying in +the water, and of an individual, in whom we had no difficulty in recognizing +Agon the High Priest, holding up his hands in horror on the bank. Then followed +a most alarming picture of a dreadful fiery furnace and of the same figure, +Agon, poking us into it with a forked stick. This picture perfectly horrified +me, but I was a little reassured when she nodded sweetly and proceeded to make +a fourth drawing—a man again uncommonly like Sir Henry, and of two women, +in whom I recognized Sorais and herself, each with one arm around him, and +holding a sword in protection over him. To all of these Sorais, who I saw was +employed in carefully taking us all in—especially Curtis—signified +her approval by nodding. +</p> + +<p> +At last Nyleptha drew a final sketch of a rising sun, indicating that she must +go, and that we should meet on the following morning; whereat Sir Henry looked +so disappointed that she saw it, and, I suppose by way of consolation, extended +her hand to him to kiss, which he did with pious fervour. At the same time +Sorais, off whom Good had never taken his eyeglass during the whole indaba +[interview], rewarded him by giving him her hand to kiss, though, while she did +so, her eyes were fixed upon Sir Henry. I am glad to say that I was not +implicated in these proceedings; neither of them gave <i>me</i> her hand to +kiss. +</p> + +<p> +Then Nyleptha turned and addressed the man who appeared to be in command of the +bodyguard, apparently from her manner and his frequent obeisances, giving him +very stringent and careful orders; after which, with a somewhat coquettish nod +and smile, she left the hall, followed by Sorais and most of the guards. +</p> + +<p> +When the Queens had gone, the officer whom Nyleptha had addressed came forward +and with many tokens of deep respect led us from the hall through various +passages to a sumptuous set of apartments opening out of a large central room +lighted with brazen swinging lamps (for it was now dusk) and richly carpeted +and strewn with couches. On a table in the centre of the room was set a +profusion of food and fruit, and, what is more, flowers. There was a delicious +wine also in ancient-looking sealed earthenware flagons, and beautifully chased +golden and ivory cups to drink it from. Servants, male and female, also were +there to minister to us, and whilst we ate, from some recess outside the +apartment +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“The silver lute did speak between<br /> +The trumpet’s lordly blowing;” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +and altogether we found ourselves in a sort of earthly paradise which was only +disturbed by the vision of that disgusting High Priest who intended to commit +us to the flames. But so very weary were we with our labours that we could +scarcely keep ourselves awake through the sumptuous meal, and as soon as it was +over we indicated that we desired to sleep. As a further precaution against +surprise we left Umslopogaas with his axe to sleep in the main chamber near the +curtained doorways leading to the apartments which we occupied respectively, +Good and I in the one, and Sir Henry and Alphonse in the other. Then throwing +off our clothes, with the exception of the mail shirts, which we considered it +safer to keep on, we flung ourselves down upon the low and luxurious couches, +and drew the silk-embroidered coverlids over us. +</p> + +<p> +In two minutes I was just dropping off when I was aroused by Good’s +voice. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Quatermain,” he said, “did you ever see such +eyes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Eyes!” I said, crossly; “what eyes?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, the Queen’s, of course! Sorais, I mean—at least I think +that is her name.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I don’t know,” I yawned; “I didn’t notice +them much: I suppose they are good eyes,” and again I dropped off. +</p> + +<p> +Five minutes or so elapsed, and I was once more awakened. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Quatermain,” said the voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” I answered testily, “what is it now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Did you notice her ankle? The shape—” +</p> + +<p> +This was more than I could stand. By my bed stood the veldtschoons I had been +wearing. Moved quite beyond myself, I took them up and threw them straight at +Good’s head—and hit it. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwards I slept the sleep of the just, and a very heavy sleep it must be. As +for Good, I don’t know if he went to sleep or if he continued to pass +Sorais’ beauties in mental review, and, what is more, I don’t care. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +ABOUT THE ZU-VENDI PEOPLE</h2> + +<p> +And now the curtain is down for a few hours, and the actors in this novel drama +are plunged in dewy sleep. Perhaps we should except Nyleptha, whom the reader +may, if poetically inclined, imagine lying in her bed of state encompassed by +her maidens, tiring women, guards, and all the other people and appurtenances +that surround a throne, and yet not able to slumber for thinking of the +strangers who had visited a country where no such strangers had ever come +before, and wondering, as she lay awake, who they were and what their past has +been, and if she was ugly compared to the women of their native place. I, +however, not being poetically inclined, will take advantage of the lull to give +some account of the people among whom we found ourselves, compiled, needless to +state, from information which we subsequently collected. +</p> + +<p> +The name of this country, to begin at the beginning, is Zu-Vendis, from Zu, +“yellow”, and Vendis, “place or country”. Why it is +called the Yellow Country I have never been able to ascertain accurately, nor +do the inhabitants themselves know. Three reasons are, however, given, each of +which would suffice to account for it. The first is that the name owes its +origin to the great quantity of gold that is found in the land. Indeed, in this +respect Zu-Vendis is a veritable Eldorado, the precious metal being +extraordinarily plentiful. At present it is collected from purely alluvial +diggings, which we subsequently inspected, and which are situated within a +day’s journey from Milosis, being mostly found in pockets and in nuggets +weighing from an ounce up to six or seven pounds in weight. But other diggings +of a similar nature are known to exist, and I have besides seen great veins of +gold-bearing quartz. In Zu-Vendis gold is a much commoner metal than silver, +and thus it has curiously enough come to pass that silver is the legal tender +of the country. +</p> + +<p> +The second reason given is, that at certain times of the year the native +grasses of the country, which are very sweet and good, turn as yellow as ripe +corn; and the third arises from a tradition that the people were originally +yellow skinned, but grew white after living for many generations upon these +high lands. Zu-Vendis is a country about the size of France, is, roughly +speaking, oval in shape; and on every side cut off from the surrounding +territory by illimitable forests of impenetrable thorn, beyond which are said +to be hundreds of miles of morasses, deserts, and great mountains. It is, in +short, a huge, high tableland rising up in the centre of the dark continent, +much as in southern Africa flat-topped mountains rise from the level of the +surrounding veldt. Milosis itself lies, according to my aneroid, at a level of +about nine thousand feet above the sea, but most of the land is even higher, +the greatest elevation of the open country being, I believe, about eleven +thousand feet. As a consequence the climate is, comparatively speaking, a cold +one, being very similar to that of southern England, only brighter and not so +rainy. The land is, however, exceedingly fertile, and grows all cereals and +temperate fruits and timber to perfection; and in the lower-lying parts even +produces a hardy variety of sugar-cane. Coal is found in great abundance, and +in many places crops out from the surface; and so is pure marble, both black +and white. The same may be said of almost every metal except silver, which is +scarce, and only to be obtained from a range of mountains in the north. +</p> + +<p> +Zu-Vendis comprises in her boundaries a great variety of scenery, including two +ranges of snow-clad mountains, one on the western boundary beyond the +impenetrable belt of thorn forest, and the other piercing the country from +north to south, and passing at a distance of about eighty miles from Milosis, +from which town its higher peaks are distinctly visible. This range forms the +chief watershed of the land. There are also three large lakes—the +biggest, namely that whereon we emerged, and which is named Milosis after the +city, covering some two hundred square miles of country—and numerous +small ones, some of them salt. +</p> + +<p> +The population of this favoured land is, comparatively speaking, dense, +numbering at a rough estimate from ten to twelve millions. It is almost purely +agricultural in its habits, and divided into great classes as in civilized +countries. There is a territorial nobility, a considerable middle class, formed +principally of merchants, officers of the army, etc.; but the great bulk of the +people are well-to-do peasants who live upon the lands of the lords, from whom +they hold under a species of feudal tenure. The best bred people in the country +are, as I think I have said, pure whites with a somewhat southern cast of +countenance; but the common herd are much darker, though they do not show any +negro or other African characteristics. As to their descent I can give no +certain information. Their written records, which extend back for about a +thousand years, give no hint of it. One very ancient chronicler does indeed, in +alluding to some old tradition that existed in his day, talk of it as having +probably originally “come down with the people from the coast”, but +that may mean little or nothing. In short, the origin of the Zu-Vendi is lost +in the mists of time. Whence they came or of what race they are no man knows. +Their architecture and some of their sculptures suggest an Egyptian or possibly +an Assyrian origin; but it is well known that their present remarkable style of +building has only sprung up within the last eight hundred years, and they +certainly retain no traces of Egyptian theology or customs. Again, their +appearance and some of their habits are rather Jewish; but here again it seems +hardly conceivable that they should have utterly lost all traces of the Jewish +religion. Still, for aught I know, they may be one of the lost ten tribes whom +people are so fond of discovering all over the world, or they may not. I do not +know, and so can only describe them as I find them, and leave wiser heads than +mine to make what they can out of it, if indeed this account should ever be +read at all, which is exceedingly doubtful. +</p> + +<p> +And now after I have said all this, I am, after all, going to hazard a theory +of my own, though it is only a very little one, as the young lady said in +mitigation of her baby. This theory is founded on a legend which I have heard +among the Arabs on the east coast, which is to the effect that “more than +two thousand years ago” there were troubles in the country which was +known as Babylonia, and that thereon a vast horde of Persians came down to +Bushire, where they took ship and were driven by the north-east monsoon to the +east coast of Africa, where, according to the legend, “the sun and fire +worshippers” fell into conflict with the belt of Arab settlers who even +then were settled on the east coast, and finally broke their way through them, +and, vanishing into the interior, were no more seen. Now, I ask, is it not at +least possible that the Zu-Vendi people are the descendants of these “sun +and fire worshippers” who broke through the Arabs and vanished? As a +matter of fact, there is a good deal in their characters and customs that +tallies with the somewhat vague ideas that I have of Persians. Of course we +have no books of reference here, but Sir Henry says that if his memory does not +fail him, there was a tremendous revolt in Babylon about 500 BC, whereon a vast +multitude were expelled from the city. Anyhow, it is a well-established fact +that there have been many separate emigrations of Persians from the Persian +Gulf to the east coast of Africa up to as lately as seven hundred years ago. +There are Persian tombs at Kilwa, on the east coast, still in good repair, +which bear dates showing them to be just seven hundred years old.<a href="#fn-13" name="fnref-13" id="fnref-13"><sup>[13]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-13" id="fn-13"></a> <a href="#fnref-13">[13]</a> +There is another theory which might account for the origin of the Zu-Vendi +which does not seem to have struck my friend Mr Quatermain and his companions, +and that is, that they are descendants of the PhĹ“nicians. The cradle of the +PhĹ“nician race is supposed to have been on the western shore of the Persian +Gulf. Thence, as there is good evidence to show, they emigrated in two streams, +one of which took possession of the shores of Palestine, while the other is +supposed by savants to have immigrated down the coast of Eastern Africa where, +near Mozambique, signs and remains of their occupation are not wanting. Indeed, +it would have been very extraordinary if they did not, when leaving the Persian +Gulf, make straight for the East Coast, seeing that the north-east monsoon +blows for six months in the year dead in that direction, while for the other +six months it blows back again. And, by the way of illustrating the +probability, I may add that to this day a very extensive trade is carried on +between the Persian Gulf and Lamu and other East African ports as far south as +Madagascar, which is of course the ancient Ebony Isle of the “Arabian +Nights”.—Editor. +</p> + +<p> +In addition to being an agricultural people, the Zu-Vendi are, oddly enough, +excessively warlike, and as they cannot from the exigencies of their position +make war upon other nations, they fight among each other like the famed +Kilkenny cats, with the happy result that the population never outgrows the +power of the country to support it. This habit of theirs is largely fostered by +the political condition of the country. The monarchy is nominally an absolute +one, save in so far as it is tempered by the power of the priests and the +informal council of the great lords; but, as in many other institutions, the +king’s writ does not run unquestioned throughout the length and breadth +of the land. In short, the whole system is a purely feudal one (though absolute +serfdom or slavery is unknown), all the great lords holding nominally from the +throne, but a number of them being practically independent, having the power of +life and death, waging war against and making peace with their neighbours as +the whim or their interests lead them, and even on occasion rising in open +rebellion against their royal master or mistress, and, safely shut up in their +castles and fenced cities, as far from the seat of government, successfully +defying them for years. +</p> + +<p> +Zu-Vendis has had its king-makers as well as England, a fact that will be well +appreciated when I state that eight different dynasties have sat upon the +throne in the last one thousand years, every one of which took its rise from +some noble family that succeeded in grasping the purple after a sanguinary +struggle. At the date of our arrival in the country things were a little better +than they had been for some centuries, the last king, the father of Nyleptha +and Sorais, having been an exceptionally able and vigorous ruler, and, as a +consequence, he kept down the power of the priests and nobles. On his death, +two years before we reached Zu-Vendis, the twin sisters, his children, were, +following an ancient precedent, called to the throne, since an attempt to +exclude either would instantly have provoked a sanguinary civil war; but it was +generally felt in the country that this measure was a most unsatisfactory one, +and could hardly be expected to be permanent. Indeed, as it was, the various +intrigues that were set on foot by ambitious nobles to obtain the hand of one +or other of the queens in marriage had disquieted the country, and the general +opinion was that there would be bloodshed before long. +</p> + +<p> +I will now pass on to the question of the Zu-Vendi religion, which is nothing +more or less than sun-worship of a pronounced and highly developed character. +Around this sun-worship is grouped the entire social system of the Zu-Vendi. It +sends its roots through every institution and custom of the land. From the +cradle to the grave the Zu-Vendi follows the sun in every sense of the saying. +As an infant he is solemnly held up in its light and dedicated to “the +symbol of good, the expression of power, and the hope of Eternity”, the +ceremony answering to our baptism. Whilst still a tiny child, his parents point +out the glorious orb as the presence of a visible and beneficent god, and he +worships it at its up-rising and down-setting. Then when still quite small, he +goes, holding fast to the pendent end of his mother’s “kaf” +(toga), up to the temple of the Sun of the nearest city, and there, when at +midday the bright beams strike down upon the golden central altar and beat back +the fire that burns thereon, he hears the white-robed priests raise their +solemn chant of praise and sees the people fall down to adore, and then, amidst +the blowing of the golden trumpets, watches the sacrifice thrown into the fiery +furnace beneath the altar. Here he comes again to be declared “a +man” by the priests, and consecrated to war and to good works; here +before the solemn altar he leads his bride; and here too, if differences shall +unhappily arise, he divorces her. +</p> + +<p> +And so on, down life’s long pathway till the last mile is travelled, and +he comes again armed indeed, and with dignity, but no longer a man. Here they +bear him dead and lay his bier upon the falling brazen doors before the eastern +altar, and when the last ray from the setting sun falls upon his white face the +bolts are drawn and he vanishes into the raging furnace beneath and is ended. +</p> + +<p> +The priests of the Sun do not marry, but are recruited as young men specially +devoted to the work by their parents and supported by the State. The nomination +to the higher offices of the priesthood lies with the Crown, but once appointed +the nominees cannot be dispossessed, and it is scarcely too much to say that +they really rule the land. To begin with, they are a united body sworn to +obedience and secrecy, so that an order issued by the High Priest at Milosis +will be instantly and unhesitatingly acted upon by the resident priest of a +little country town three or four hundred miles off. They are the judges of the +land, criminal and civil, an appeal lying only to the lord paramount of the +district, and from him to the king; and they have, of course, practically +unlimited jurisdiction over religious and moral offences, together with a right +of excommunication, which, as in the faiths of more highly civilized lands, is +a very effective weapon. Indeed, their rights and powers are almost unlimited, +but I may as well state here that the priests of the Sun are wise in their +generation, and do not push things too far. It is but very seldom that they go +to extremes against anybody, being more inclined to exercise the prerogative of +mercy than run the risk of exasperating the powerful and vigorous-minded people +on whose neck they have set their yoke, lest it should rise and break it off +altogether. +</p> + +<p> +Another source of the power of the priests is their practical monopoly of +learning, and their very considerable astronomical knowledge, which enables +them to keep a hold on the popular mind by predicting eclipses and even comets. +In Zu-Vendis only a few of the upper classes can read and write, but nearly all +the priests have this knowledge, and are therefore looked upon as learned men. +</p> + +<p> +The law of the country is, on the whole, mild and just, but differs in several +respects from our civilized law. For instance, the law of England is much more +severe upon offences against property than against the person, as becomes a +people whose ruling passion is money. A man may half kick his wife to death or +inflict horrible sufferings upon his children at a much cheaper rate of +punishment than he can compound for the theft of a pair of old boots. In +Zu-Vendis this is not so, for there they rightly or wrongly look upon the +person as of more consequence than goods and chattels, and not, as in England, +as a sort of necessary appendage to the latter. For murder the punishment is +death, for treason death, for defrauding the orphan and the widow, for +sacrilege, and for attempting to quit the country (which is looked on as a +sacrilege) death. In each case the method of execution is the same, and a +rather awful one. The culprit is thrown alive into the fiery furnace beneath +one of the altars to the Sun. For all other offences, including the offence of +idleness, the punishment is forced labour upon the vast national buildings +which are always going on in some part of the country, with or without +periodical floggings, according to the crime. +</p> + +<p> +The social system of the Zu-Vendi allows considerable liberty to the +individual, provided he does not offend against the laws and customs of the +country. They are polygamous in theory, though most of them have only one wife +on account of the expense. By law a man is bound to provide a separate +establishment for each wife. The first wife also is the legal wife, and her +children are said to be “of the house of the Father”. The children +of the other wives are of the houses of their respective mothers. This does +not, however, imply any slur upon either mother or children. Again, a first +wife can, on entering into the married state, make a bargain that her husband +shall marry no other wife. This, however, is very rarely done, as the women are +the great upholders of polygamy, which not only provides for their surplus +numbers but gives greater importance to the first wife, who is thus practically +the head of several households. Marriage is looked upon as primarily a civil +contract, and, subject to certain conditions and to a proper provision for +children, is dissoluble at the will of both contracting parties, the divorce, +or “unloosing”, being formally and ceremoniously accomplished by +going through certain portions of the marriage ceremony backwards. +</p> + +<p> +The Zu-Vendi are on the whole a very kindly, pleasant, and light-hearted +people. They are not great traders and care little about money, only working to +earn enough to support themselves in that class of life in which they were +born. They are exceedingly conservative, and look with disfavour upon changes. +Their legal tender is silver, cut into little squares of different weights; +gold is the baser coin, and is about of the same value as our silver. It is, +however, much prized for its beauty, and largely used for ornaments and +decorative purposes. Most of the trade, however, is carried on by means of sale +and barter, payment being made in kind. Agriculture is the great business of +the country, and is really well understood and carried out, most of the +available acreage being under cultivation. Great attention is also given to the +breeding of cattle and horses, the latter being unsurpassed by any I have ever +seen either in Europe or Africa. +</p> + +<p> +The land belongs theoretically to the Crown, and under the Crown to the great +lords, who again divide it among smaller lords, and so on down to the little +peasant farmer who works his forty “reestu” (acres) on a system of +half-profits with his immediate lord. In fact the whole system is, as I have +said, distinctly feudal, and it interested us much to meet with such an old +friend far in the unknown heart of Africa. +</p> + +<p> +The taxes are very heavy. The State takes a third of a man’s total +earnings, and the priesthood about five per cent on the remainder. But on the +other hand, if a man through any cause falls into <i>bona fide</i> misfortune +the State supports him in the position of life to which he belongs. If he is +idle, however, he is sent to work on the Government undertakings, and the State +looks after his wives and children. The State also makes all the roads and +builds all town houses, about which great care is shown, letting them out to +families at a small rent. It also keeps up a standing army of about twenty +thousand men, and provides watchmen, etc. In return for their five per cent the +priests attend to the service of the temples, carry out all religious +ceremonies, and keep schools, where they teach whatever they think desirable, +which is not very much. Some of the temples also possess private property, but +priests as individuals cannot hold property. +</p> + +<p> +And now comes a question which I find some difficulty in answering. Are the +Zu-Vendi a civilized or barbarous people? Sometimes I think the one, sometimes +the other. In some branches of art they have attained the very highest +proficiency. Take for instance their buildings and their statuary. I do not +think that the latter can be equalled either in beauty or imaginative power +anywhere in the world, and as for the former it may have been rivalled in +ancient Egypt, but I am sure that it has never been since. But, on the other +hand, they are totally ignorant of many other arts. Till Sir Henry, who +happened to know something about it, showed them how to do it by mixing silica +and lime, they could not make a piece of glass, and their crockery is rather +primitive. A water-clock is their nearest approach to a watch; indeed, ours +delighted them exceedingly. They know nothing about steam, electricity, or +gunpowder, and mercifully for themselves nothing about printing or the penny +post. Thus they are spared many evils, for of a truth our age has learnt the +wisdom of the old-world saying, “He who increaseth knowledge, increaseth +sorrow.” +</p> + +<p> +As regards their religion, it is a natural one for imaginative people who know +no better, and might therefore be expected to turn to the sun and worship him +as the all-Father, but it cannot justly be called elevating or spiritual. It is +true that they do sometimes speak of the sun as the “garment of the +Spirit”, but it is a vague term, and what they really adore is the fiery +orb himself. They also call him the “hope of eternity”, but here +again the meaning is vague, and I doubt if the phrase conveys any very clear +impression to their minds. Some of them do indeed believe in a future life for +the good—I know Nyleptha does firmly—but it is a private faith +arising from the promptings of the spirit, not an essential of their creed. So +on the whole I cannot say that I consider this sun-worship as a religion +indicative of a civilized people, however magnificent and imposing its ritual, +or however moral and high-sounding the maxims of its priests, many of whom, I +am sure, have their own opinions on the whole subject; though of course they +have nothing but praise for a system which provides them with so many of the +good things of this world. +</p> + +<p> +There are now only two more matters to which I need allude—namely, the +language and the system of calligraphy. As for the former, it is soft-sounding, +and very rich and flexible. Sir Henry says that it sounds something like modern +Greek, but of course it has no connection with it. It is easy to acquire, being +simple in its construction, and a peculiar quality about it is its euphony, and +the way in which the sound of the words adapts itself to the meaning to be +expressed. Long before we mastered the language, we could frequently make out +what was meant by the ring of the sentence. It is on this account that the +language lends itself so well to poetical declamation, of which these +remarkable people are very fond. The Zu-Vendi alphabet seems, Sir Henry says, +to be derived, like every other known system of letters, from a PhĹ“nician +source, and therefore more remotely still from the ancient Egyptian hieratic +writing. Whether this is a fact I cannot say, not being learned in such +matters. All I know about it is that their alphabet consists of twenty-two +characters, of which a few, notably B, E, and O, are not very unlike our own. +The whole affair is, however, clumsy and puzzling.<a href="#fn-14" name="fnref-14" id="fnref-14"><sup>[14]</sup></a> +But as the people of Zu-Vendi are not given to the writing of novels, or of +anything except business documents and records of the briefest character, it +answers their purpose well enough. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-14" id="fn-14"></a> <a href="#fnref-14">[14]</a> +There are twenty-two letters in the PhĹ“nician alphabet (<i>see</i> Appendix, +Maspero’s <i>Histoire ancienne des peuples de l’Orient</i>, etc.) +Unfortunately Mr Quatermain gives us no specimen of the Zu-Vendi writing, but +what he here states seems to go a long way towards substantiating the theory +advanced in the note on p. 139.—Editor. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +THE FLOWER TEMPLE</h2> + +<p> +It was half-past eight by my watch when I woke on the morning following our +arrival at Milosis, having slept almost exactly twelve hours, and I must say +that I did indeed feel better. Ah, what a blessed thing is sleep! and what a +difference twelve hours of it or so makes to us after days and nights of toil +and danger. It is like going to bed one man and getting up another. +</p> + +<p> +I sat up upon my silken couch—never had I slept upon such a bed +before—and the first thing that I saw was Good’s eyeglass fixed on +me from the recesses of his silken couch. There was nothing else of him to be +seen except his eyeglass, but I knew from the look of it that he was awake, and +waiting till I woke up to begin. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Quatermain,” he commenced sure enough, “did you +observe her skin? It is as smooth as the back of an ivory hairbrush.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now look here, Good,” I remonstrated, when there came a sound at +the curtain, which, on being drawn, admitted a functionary, who signified by +signs that he was there to lead us to the bath. We gladly consented, and were +conducted to a delightful marble chamber, with a pool of running crystal water +in the centre of it, into which we gaily plunged. When we had bathed, we +returned to our apartment and dressed, and then went into the central room +where we had supped on the previous evening, to find a morning meal already +prepared for us, and a capital meal it was, though I should be puzzled to +describe the dishes. After breakfast we lounged round and admired the +tapestries and carpets and some pieces of statuary that were placed about, +wondering the while what was going to happen next. Indeed, by this time our +minds were in such a state of complete bewilderment that we were, as a matter +of fact, ready for anything that might arrive. As for our sense of +astonishment, it was pretty well obliterated. Whilst we were still thus +engaged, our friend the captain of the guard presented himself, and with many +obeisances signified that we were to follow him, which we did, not without +doubts and heart-searchings—for we guessed that the time had come when we +should have to settle the bill for those confounded hippopotami with our +cold-eyed friend Agon, the High Priest. However, there was no help for it, and +personally I took great comfort in the promise of the protection of the sister +Queens, knowing that if ladies have a will they can generally find a way; so +off we started as though we liked it. A minute’s walk through a passage +and an outer court brought us to the great double gates of the palace that open +on to the wide highway which runs uphill through the heart of Milosis to the +Temple of the Sun a mile away, and thence down the slope on the farther side of +the temple to the outer wall of the city. +</p> + +<p> +These gates are very large and massive, and an extraordinarily beautiful work +in metal. Between them—for one set is placed at the entrance to an +interior, and one at that of the exterior wall—is a fosse, forty-five +feet in width. This fosse is filled with water and spanned by a drawbridge, +which when lifted makes the palace nearly impregnable to anything except siege +guns. As we came, one half of the wide gates were flung open, and we passed +over the drawbridge and presently stood gazing up one of the most imposing, if +not the most imposing, roadways in the world. It is a hundred feet from curb to +curb, and on either side, not cramped and crowded together, as is our European +fashion, but each standing in its own grounds, and built equidistant from and +in similar style to the rest, are a series of splendid, single-storied +mansions, all of red granite. These are the town houses of the nobles of the +Court, and stretch away in unbroken lines for a mile or more till the eye is +arrested by the glorious vision of the Temple of the Sun that crowns the hill +and heads the roadway. +</p> + +<p> +As we stood gazing at this splendid sight, of which more anon, there suddenly +dashed up to the gateway four chariots, each drawn by two white horses. These +chariots are two-wheeled, and made of wood. They are fitted with a stout pole, +the weight of which is supported by leathern girths that form a portion of the +harness. The wheels are made with four spokes only, are tired with iron, and +quite innocent of springs. In the front of the chariot, and immediately over +the pole, is a small seat for the driver, railed round to prevent him from +being jolted off. Inside the machine itself are three low seats, one at each +side, and one with the back to the horses, opposite to which is the door. The +whole vehicle is lightly and yet strongly made, and, owing to the grace of the +curves, though primitive, not half so ugly as might be expected. +</p> + +<p> +But if the chariots left something to be desired, the horses did not. They were +simply splendid, not very large but strongly built, and well ribbed up, with +small heads, remarkably large and round hoofs, and a great look of speed and +blood. I have often wondered whence this breed, which presents many distinct +characteristics, came, but like that of its owners, its history is obscure. +Like the people the horses have always been there. The first and last of these +chariots were occupied by guards, but the centre two were empty, except for the +driver, and to these we were conducted. Alphonse and I got into the first, and +Sir Henry, Good, and Umslopogaas into the one behind, and then suddenly off we +went. And we did go! Among the Zu-Vendi it is not usual to trot horses either +riding or driving, especially when the journey to be made is a short +one—they go at full gallop. As soon as we were seated the driver called +out, the horses sprang forward, and we were whirled away at a speed sufficient +to take one’s breath, and which, till I got accustomed to it, kept me in +momentary fear of an upset. As for the wretched Alphonse, he clung with a +despairing face to the side of what he called this “devil of a +fiacre”, thinking that every moment was his last. Presently it occurred +to him to ask where we were going, and I told him that, as far as I could +ascertain, we were going to be sacrificed by burning. You should have seen his +face as he grasped the side of the vehicle and cried out in his terror. +</p> + +<p> +But the wild-looking charioteer only leant forward over his flying steeds and +shouted; and the air, as it went singing past, bore away the sound of +Alphonse’s lamentations. +</p> + +<p> +And now before us, in all its marvellous splendour and dazzling loveliness, +shone out the Temple of the Sun—the peculiar pride of the Zu-Vendi, to +whom it was what Solomon’s, or rather Herod’s, Temple was to the +Jews. The wealth, and skill, and labour of generations had been given to the +building of this wonderful place, which had been only finally completed within +the last fifty years. Nothing was spared that the country could produce, and +the result was indeed worthy of the effort, not so much on account of its +size—for there are larger fanes in the world—as because of its +perfect proportions, the richness and beauty of its materials, and the +wonderful workmanship. The building (that stands by itself on a space of some +eight acres of garden ground on the hilltop, around which are the +dwelling-places of the priests) is built in the shape of a sunflower, with a +dome-covered central hall, from which radiate twelve petal-shaped courts, each +dedicated to one of the twelve months, and serving as the repositories of +statues reared in memory of the illustrious dead. The width of the circle +beneath the dome is three hundred feet, the height of the dome is four hundred +feet, and the length of the rays is one hundred and fifty feet, and the height +of their roofs three hundred feet, so that they run into the central dome +exactly as the petals of the sunflower run into the great raised heart. Thus +the exact measurement from the centre of the central altar to the extreme point +of any one of the rounded rays would be three hundred feet (the width of the +circle itself), or a total of six hundred feet from the rounded extremity of +one ray or petal to the extremity of the opposite one.<a href="#fn-15" name="fnref-15" id="fnref-15"><sup>[15]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-15" id="fn-15"></a> <a href="#fnref-15">[15]</a> +These are internal measurements.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +The building itself is of pure and polished white marble, which shows out in +marvellous contrast to the red granite of the frowning city, on whose brow it +glistens indeed like an imperial diadem upon the forehead of a dusky queen. The +outer surface of the dome and of the twelve petal courts is covered entirely +with thin sheets of beaten gold; and from the extreme point of the roof of each +of these petals a glorious golden form with a trumpet in its hand and +widespread wings is figured in the very act of soaring into space. I really +must leave whoever reads this to imagine the surpassing beauty of these golden +roofs flashing when the sun strikes—flashing like a thousand fires aflame +on a mountain of polished marble—so fiercely that the reflection can be +clearly seen from the great peaks of the range a hundred miles away. +</p> + +<p> +It is a marvellous sight—this golden flower upborne upon the cool white +marble walls, and I doubt if the world can show such another. What makes the +whole effect even more gorgeous is that a belt of a hundred and fifty feet +around the marble wall of the temple is planted with an indigenous species of +sunflower, which were at the time when we first saw them a sheet of golden +bloom. +</p> + +<p> +The main entrance to this wonderful place is between the two northernmost of +the rays or petal courts, and is protected first by the usual bronze gates, and +then by doors made of solid marble, beautifully carved with allegorical +subjects and overlaid with gold. When these are passed there is only the +thickness of the wall, which is, however, twenty-five feet (for the Zu-Vendi +build for all time), and another slight wall also of white marble, introduced +in order to avoid causing a visible gap in the inner skin of the wall, and you +stand in the circular hall under the great dome. Advancing to the central altar +you look upon as beautiful a sight as the imagination of man can conceive. You +are in the middle of the holy place, and above you the great white marble dome +(for the inner skin, like the outer, is of polished marble throughout) arches +away in graceful curves something like that of St Paul’s in London, only +at a slighter angle, and from the funnel-like opening at the exact apex a +bright beam of light pours down upon the golden altar. At the east and the west +are other altars, and other beams of light stab the sacred twilight to the +heart. In every direction, “white, mystic, wonderful”, open out the +ray-like courts, each pierced through by a single arrow of light that serves to +illumine its lofty silence and dimly to reveal the monuments of the dead.<a href="#fn-16" name="fnref-16" id="fnref-16"><sup>[16]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-16" id="fn-16"></a> <a href="#fnref-16">[16]</a> +Light was also admitted by sliding shutters under the eaves of the dome and in +the roof.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +Overcome at so awe-inspiring a sight, the vast loveliness of which thrills the +nerves like a glance from beauty’s eyes, you turn to the central golden +altar, in the midst of which, though you cannot see it now, there burns a pale +but steady flame crowned with curls of faint blue smoke. It is of marble +overlaid with pure gold, in shape round like the sun, four feet in height, and +thirty-six in circumference. Here also, hinged to the foundations of the altar, +are twelve petals of beaten gold. All night and, except at one hour, all day +also, these petals are closed over the altar itself exactly as the petals of a +water-lily close over the yellow crown in stormy weather; but when the sun at +midday pierces through the funnel in the dome and lights upon the golden +flower, the petals open and reveal the hidden mystery, only to close again when +the ray has passed. +</p> + +<p> +Nor is this all. Standing in semicircles at equal distances from each other on +the north and south of the sacred place are ten golden angels, or female winged +forms, exquisitely shaped and draped. These figures, which are slightly larger +than life-size, stand with bent heads in an attitude of adoration, their faces +shadowed by their wings, and are most imposing and of exceeding beauty. +</p> + +<p> +There is but one thing further which calls for description in this altar, which +is, that to the east the flooring in front of it is not of pure white marble, +as elsewhere throughout the building, but of solid brass, and this is also the +case in front of the other two altars. +</p> + +<p> +The eastern and western altars, which are semicircular in shape, and placed +against the wall of the building, are much less imposing, and are not enfolded +in golden petals. They are, however, also of gold, the sacred fire burns on +each, and a golden-winged figure stands on either side of them. Two great +golden rays run up the wall behind them, but where the third or middle one +should be is an opening in the wall, wide on the outside, but narrow within, +like a loophole turned inwards. Through the eastern loophole stream the first +beams of the rising sun, and strike right across the circle, touching the +folded petals of the great gold flower as they pass till they impinge upon the +western altar. In the same way at night the last rays of the sinking sun rest +for a while on the eastern altar before they die away into darkness. It is the +promise of the dawn to the evening and the evening to the dawn. +</p> + +<p> +With the exception of those three altars and the winged figures about them, the +whole space beneath the vast white dome is utterly empty and devoid of +ornamentation—a circumstance that to my fancy adds greatly to its +splendour. +</p> + +<p> +Such is a brief description of this wonderful and lovely building, to the +glories of which, to my mind so much enhanced by their complete simplicity, I +only wish I had the power to do justice. But I cannot, so it is useless talking +more about it. But when I compare this great work of genius to some of the +tawdry buildings and tinsel ornamentation produced in these latter days by +European ecclesiastical architects, I feel that even highly civilized art might +learn something from the Zu-Vendi masterpieces. I can only say that the +exclamation which sprang to my lips as soon as my eyes first became accustomed +to the dim light of that glorious building, and its white and curving beauties, +perfect and thrilling as those of a naked goddess, grew upon me one by one, +was, “Well! a dog would feel religious here.” It is vulgarly put, +but perhaps it conveys my meaning more clearly than any polished utterance. +</p> + +<p> +At the temple gates our party was received by a guard of soldiers, who appeared +to be under the orders of a priest; and by them we were conducted into one of +the ray or “petal” courts, as the priests call them, and there left +for at least half-an-hour. Here we conferred together, and realizing that we +stood in great danger of our lives, determined, if any attempt should be made +upon us, to sell them as dearly as we could—Umslopogaas announcing his +fixed intention of committing sacrilege on the person of Agon, the High Priest, +by splitting his head with Inkosi-kaas. From where we stood we could perceive +that an immense multitude were pouring into the temple, evidently in +expectation of some unusual event, and I could not help fearing that we had to +do with it. And here I may explain that every day, when the sunlight falls upon +the central altar, and the trumpets sound, a burnt sacrifice is offered to the +Sun, consisting generally of the carcase of a sheep or ox, or sometimes of +fruit or corn. This event comes off about midday; of course, not always exactly +at that hour, but as Zu-Vendis is situated not far from the Line, +although—being so high above the sea it is very temperate—midday +and the falling of the sunlight on the altar were generally simultaneous. Today +the sacrifice was to take place at about eight minutes past twelve. +</p> + +<p> +Just at twelve o’clock a priest appeared, and made a sign, and the +officer of the guard signified to us that we were expected to advance, which we +did with the best grace that we could muster, all except Alphonse, whose +irrepressible teeth instantly began to chatter. In a few seconds we were out of +the court and looking at a vast sea of human faces stretching away to the +farthest limits of the great circle, all straining to catch a glimpse of the +mysterious strangers who had committed sacrilege; the first strangers, mind +you, who, to the knowledge of the multitude, had ever set foot in Zu-Vendis +since such time that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary. +</p> + +<p> +As we appeared there was a murmur through the vast crowd that went echoing away +up the great dome, and we saw a visible blush of excitement grow on the +thousands of faces, like a pink light on a stretch of pale cloud, and a very +curious effect it was. On we passed down a lane cut through the heart of the +human mass, till presently we stood upon the brazen patch of flooring to the +east of the central altar, and immediately facing it. For some thirty feet +around the golden-winged figures the space was roped off, and the multitudes +stood outside the ropes. Within were a circle of white-robed gold-cinctured +priests holding long golden trumpets in their hands, and immediately in front +of us was our friend Agon, the High Priest, with his curious cap upon his head. +His was the only covered head in that vast assemblage. We took our stand upon +the brazen space, little knowing what was prepared for us beneath, but I +noticed a curious hissing sound proceeding apparently from the floor for which +I could not account. Then came a pause, and I looked around to see if there was +any sign of the two Queens, Nyleptha and Sorais, but they were not there. To +the right of us, however, was a bare space that I guessed was reserved for +them. +</p> + +<p> +We waited, and presently a far-off trumpet blew, apparently high up in the +dome. Then came another murmur from the multitude, and up a long lane, leading +to the open space to our right, we saw the two Queens walking side by side. +Behind them were some nobles of the Court, among whom I recognized the great +lord Nasta, and behind them again a body of about fifty guards. These last I +was very glad to see. Presently they had all arrived and taken their stand, the +two Queens in the front, the nobles to the right and left, and the guards in a +double semicircle behind them. +</p> + +<p> +Then came another silence, and Nyleptha looked up and caught my eye; it seemed +to me that there was meaning in her glance, and I watched it narrowly. From my +eye it travelled down to the brazen flooring, on the outer edge of which we +stood. Then followed a slight and almost imperceptible sidelong movement of the +head. I did not understand it, and it was repeated. Then I guessed that she +meant us to move back off the brazen floor. One more glance and I was sure of +it—there was danger in standing on the floor. Sir Henry was placed on one +side of me, Umslopogaas on the other. Keeping my eyes fixed straight before me, +I whispered to them, first in Zulu and then in English, to draw slowly back +inch by inch till half their feet were resting on the marble flooring where the +brass ceased. Sir Henry whispered on to Good and Alphonse, and slowly, very +very slowly, we shifted backwards; so slowly that nobody, except Nyleptha and +Sorais, who saw everything, seemed to notice the movement. Then I glanced again +at Nyleptha, and saw that, by an almost imperceptible nod, she indicated +approval. All the while Agon’s eyes were fixed upon the altar before him +apparently in an ecstasy of contemplation, and mine were fixed upon the small +of his back in another sort of ecstasy. Suddenly he flung up his long arm, and +in a solemn and resounding voice commenced a chant, of which for +convenience’ sake I append a rough, a <i>very</i> rough, translation +here, though, of course, I did not then comprehend its meaning. It was an +invocation to the Sun, and ran somewhat as follows:— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +There is silence upon the face of the Earth and the waters thereof!<br /> +Yea, the silence doth brood on the waters like a nesting bird;<br /> +The silence sleepeth also upon the bosom of the profound darkness,<br /> +Only high up in the great spaces star doth speak unto star,<br /> +The Earth is faint with longing and wet with the tears of her desire;<br /> +The star-girdled night doth embrace her, but she is not comforted.<br /> +She lies enshrouded in mists like a corpse in the grave-clothes,<br /> +And stretches her pale hands to the East.<br /> +<br /> +Lo! away in the farthest East there is the shadow of a light;<br /> +The Earth seeth and lifts herself. She looks out from beneath<br /> +the hollow of her hand.<br /> +Then thy great angels fly forth from the Holy Place, oh Sun,<br /> +They shoot their fiery swords into the darkness and shrivel it up.<br /> +They climb the heavens and cast down the pale stars from their thrones;<br /> +Yea, they hurl the changeful stars back into the womb of the night;<br /> +They cause the moon to become wan as the face of a dying man,<br /> +And behold! Thy glory comes, oh Sun!<br /> +<br /> +Oh, Thou beautiful one, Thou drapest thyself in fire.<br /> +The wide heavens are thy pathway: thou rollest o’er them as a +chariot.<br /> +The Earth is thy bride. Thou dost embrace her and<br /> +she brings forth children;<br /> +Yea, Thou favourest her, and she yields her increase.<br /> +Thou art the All Father and the giver of life, oh Sun.<br /> +The young children stretch out their hands and grow in thy brightness;<br /> +The old men creep forth and seeing remember their strength.<br /> +Only the dead forget Thee, oh Sun!<br /> +<br /> +When Thou art wroth then Thou dost hide Thy face;<br /> +Thou drawest around Thee a thick curtain of shadows.<br /> +Then the Earth grows cold and the Heavens are dismayed;<br /> +They tremble, and the sound thereof is the sound of thunder:<br /> +They weep, and their tears are outpoured in the rain;<br /> +They sigh, and the wild winds are the voice of their sighing.<br /> +The flowers die, the fruitful fields languish and turn pale;<br /> +The old men and the little children go unto their appointed place<br /> +When Thou withdrawest thy light, oh Sun!<br /> +<br /> +Say, what art Thou, oh Thou matchless Splendour—<br /> +Who set Thee on high, oh Thou flaming Terror?<br /> +When didst Thou begin, and when is the day of Thy ending?<br /> +Thou art the raiment of the living Spirit.<a href="#fn-17" name="fnref-17" id="fnref-17"><sup>[17]</sup></a><br /> +None did place Thee on high, for Thou wast the Beginning.<br /> +Thou shalt not be ended when thy children are forgotten;<br /> +Nay, Thou shalt never end, for thy hours are eternal.<br /> +Thou sittest on high within thy golden house and<br /> +measurest out the centuries.<br /> +Oh Father of Life! oh dark-dispelling Sun! +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-17" id="fn-17"></a> <a href="#fnref-17">[17]</a> +This line is interesting as being one of the few allusions to be found in the +Zu-Vendi ritual to a vague divine essence independent of the material splendour +of the orb they worship. “<i>Ptia</i>”, the word used here, has a +very indeterminate meaning, and signifies <i>essence, vital principle, +spirit</i>, or even <i>God</i>. +</p> + +<p> +He ceased this solemn chant, which, though it seems a poor enough thing after +going through my mill, is really beautiful and impressive in the original; and +then, after a moment’s pause, he glanced up towards the funnel-sloped +opening in the dome and added— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Oh Sun, descend upon thine Altar! +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke a wonderful and a beautiful thing happened. Down from on high +flashed a splendid living ray of light, cleaving the twilight like a sword of +fire. Full upon the closed petals it fell and ran shimmering down their golden +sides, and then the glorious flower opened as though beneath the bright +influence. Slowly it opened, and as the great petals fell wide and revealed the +golden altar on which the fire ever burns, the priests blew a blast upon the +trumpets, and from all the people there rose a shout of praise that beat +against the domed roof and came echoing down the marble walls. And now the +flower altar was open, and the sunlight fell full upon the tongue of sacred +flame and beat it down, so that it wavered, sank, and vanished into the hollow +recesses whence it rose. As it vanished, the mellow notes of the trumpets +rolled out once more. Again the old priest flung up his hands and called +aloud— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +We sacrifice to thee, oh Sun! +</p> + +<p> +Once more I caught Nyleptha’s eye; it was fixed upon the brazen flooring. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out,” I said, aloud; and as I said it, I saw Agon bend +forward and touch something on the altar. As he did so, the great white sea of +faces around us turned red and then white again, and a deep breath went up like +a universal sigh. Nyleptha leant forward, and with an involuntary movement +covered her eyes with her hand. Sorais turned and whispered to the officer of +the royal bodyguard, and then with a rending sound the whole of the brazen +flooring slid from before our feet, and there in its place was suddenly +revealed a smooth marble shaft terminating in a most awful raging furnace +beneath the altar, big enough and hot enough to heat the iron stern-post of a +man-of-war. +</p> + +<p> +With a cry of terror we sprang backwards, all except the wretched Alphonse, who +was paralysed with fear, and would have fallen into the fiery furnace which had +been prepared for us, had not Sir Henry caught him in his strong hand as he was +vanishing and dragged him back. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly there arose the most fearful hubbub, and we four got back to back, +Alphonse dodging frantically round our little circle in his attempts to take +shelter under our legs. We all had our revolvers on—for though we had +been politely disarmed of our guns on leaving the palace, of course these +people did not know what a revolver was. Umslopogaas, too, had his axe, of +which no effort had been made to deprive him, and now he whirled it round his +head and sent his piercing Zulu war-shout echoing up the marble walls in fine +defiant fashion. Next second, the priests, baffled of their prey, had drawn +swords from beneath their white robes and were leaping on us like hounds upon a +stag at bay. I saw that, dangerous as action might be, we must act or be lost, +so as the first man came bounding along—and a great tall fellow he +was—I sent a heavy revolver ball through him, and down he fell at the +mouth of the shaft, and slid, shrieking frantically, into the fiery gulf that +had been prepared for us. +</p> + +<p> +Whether it was his cries, or the, to them, awful sound and effect of the pistol +shot, or what, I know not, but the other priests halted, paralysed and +dismayed, and before they could come on again Sorais had called out something, +and we, together with the two Queens and most of the courtiers, were being +surrounded with a wall of armed men. In a moment it was done, and still the +priests hesitated, and the people hung in the balance like a herd of startled +buck as it were, making no sign one way or the other. +</p> + +<p> +The last yell of the burning priest had died away, the fire had finished him, +and a great silence fell upon the place. +</p> + +<p> +Then the High Priest Agon turned, and his face was as the face of a devil. +“Let the sacrifice be sacrificed,” he cried to the Queens. +“Has not sacrilege enough been done by these strangers, and would ye, as +Queens, throw the cloak of your majesty over evildoers? Are not the creatures +sacred to the Sun dead? And is not a priest of the Sun also dead, but now slain +by the magic of these strangers, who come as the winds out of heaven, whence we +know not, and who are what we know not? Beware, oh Queens, how ye tamper with +the great majesty of the God, even before His high altar! There is a Power that +is more than your power; there is a Justice that is higher than your justice. +Beware how ye lift an impious hand against it! Let the sacrifice be sacrificed, +oh Queens.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Sorais made answer in her deep quiet tones, that always seemed to me to +have a suspicion of mockery about them, however serious the theme: “Oh, +Agon, thou hast spoken according to thy desire, and thou hast spoken truth. But +it is thou who wouldst lift an impious hand against the justice of thy God. +Bethink thee the midday sacrifice is accomplished; the Sun hath claimed his +priest as a sacrifice.” +</p> + +<p> +This was a novel idea, and the people applauded it. +</p> + +<p> +“Bethink thee what are these men? They are strangers found floating on +the bosom of a lake. Who brought them here? How came they here? How know you +that they also are not servants of the Sun? Is this the hospitality that ye +would have our nation show to those whom chance brings to them, to throw them +to the flames? Shame on you! Shame on you! What is hospitality? To receive the +stranger and show him favour. To bind up his wounds, and find a pillow for his +head, and food for him to eat. But thy pillow is the fiery furnace, and thy +food the hot savour of the flame. Shame on thee, I say!” +</p> + +<p> +She paused a little to watch the effect of her speech upon the multitude, and +seeing that it was favourable, changed her tone from one of remonstrance to one +of command. +</p> + +<p> +“Ho! place there,” she cried; “place, I say; make way for the +Queens, and those whom the Queens cover with their ‘kaf’ +(mantle).” +</p> + +<p> +“And if I refuse, oh Queen?” said Agon between his teeth. +</p> + +<p> +“Then will I cut a path with my guards,” was the proud answer; +“ay, even in the presence of thy sanctuary, and through the bodies of thy +priests.” +</p> + +<p> +Agon turned livid with baffled fury. He glanced at the people as though +meditating an appeal to them, but saw clearly that their sympathies were all +the other way. The Zu-Vendi are a very curious and sociable people, and great +as was their sense of the enormity that we had committed in shooting the sacred +hippopotami, they did not like the idea of the only real live strangers they +had seen or heard of being consigned to a fiery furnace, thereby putting an end +for ever to their chance of extracting knowledge and information from, and +gossiping about us. Agon saw this and hesitated, and then for the first time +Nyleptha spoke in her soft sweet voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Bethink thee, Agon,” she said, “as my sister Queen has said, +these men may also be servants of the Sun. For themselves they cannot speak, +for their tongues are tied. Let the matter be adjourned till such time as they +have learnt our language. Who can be condemned without a hearing? When these +men can plead for themselves, then it will be time to put them to the +proof.” +</p> + +<p> +Here was a clever loophole of escape, and the vindictive old priest took it, +little as he liked it. +</p> + +<p> +“So be it, oh Queens,” he said. “Let the men go in peace, and +when they have learnt our tongue then let them speak. And I, even I, will make +humble supplication at the altar lest pestilence fall on the land by cause of +the sacrilege.” +</p> + +<p> +These words were received with a murmur of applause, and in another minute we +were marching out of the temple surrounded by the royal guards. +</p> + +<p> +But it was not till long afterwards that we learnt the exact substance of what +had passed, and how hardly our lives had been wrung out of the cruel grip of +the Zu-Vendi priesthood, in the face of which even the Queens were practically +powerless. Had it not been for their strenuous efforts to protect us we should +have been slain even before we set foot in the Temple of the Sun. The attempt +to drop us bodily into the fiery pit as an offering was a last artifice to +attain this end when several others quite unsuspected by us had already failed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +SORAIS’ SONG</h2> + +<p> +After our escape from Agon and his pious crew we returned to our quarters in +the palace and had a very good time. The two Queens, the nobles and the people +vied with each other in doing us honour and showering gifts upon us. As for +that painful little incident of the hippopotami it sank into oblivion, where we +were quite content to leave it. Every day deputations and individuals waited on +us to examine our guns and clothing, our chain shirts, and our instruments, +especially our watches, with which they were much delighted. In short, we +became quite the rage, so much so that some of the fashionable young swells +among the Zu-Vendi began to copy the cut of some of our clothes, notably Sir +Henry’s shooting jacket. One day, indeed, a deputation waited on us and, +as usual, Good donned his full-dress uniform for the occasion. This deputation +seemed somehow to be a different class to those who generally came to visit us. +They were little insignificant men of an excessively polite, not to say +servile, demeanour; and their attention appeared to be chiefly taken up with +observing the details of Good’s full-dress uniform, of which they took +copious notes and measurements. Good was much flattered at the time, not +suspecting that he had to deal with the six leading tailors of Milosis. A +fortnight afterwards, however, when on attending court as usual he had the +pleasure of seeing some seven or eight Zu-Vendi “mashers” arrayed +in all the glory of a very fair imitation of his full-dress uniform, he changed +his mind. I shall never forget his face of astonishment and disgust. It was +after this, chiefly to avoid remark, and also because our clothes were wearing +out and had to be saved up, that we resolved to adopt the native dress; and a +very comfortable one we found it, though I am bound to say that I looked +sufficiently ridiculous in it, and as for Alphonse! Only Umslopogaas would have +none of these things; when his moocha was worn out the fierce old Zulu made him +a new one, and went about unconcerned, as grim and naked as his own battleaxe. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile we pursued our study of the language steadily and made very good +progress. On the morning following our adventure in the temple, three grave and +reverend signiors presented themselves armed with manuscript books, ink-horns +and feather pens, and indicated that they had been sent to teach us. So, with +the exception of Umslopogaas, we all buckled to with a will, doing four hours a +day. As for Umslopogaas, he would have none of that either. He did not wish to +learn that “woman’s talk”, not he; and when one of the +teachers advanced on him with a book and an ink-horn and waved them before him +in a mild persuasive way, much as a churchwarden invitingly shakes the +offertory bag under the nose of a rich but niggardly parishioner, he sprang up +with a fierce oath and flashed Inkosi-kaas before the eyes of our learned +friend, and there was an end of the attempt to teach <i>him</i> Zu-Vendi. +</p> + +<p> +Thus we spent our mornings in useful occupation which grew more and more +interesting as we proceeded, and the afternoons were given up to recreation. +Sometimes we made trips, notably one to the gold mines and another to the +marble quarries both of which I wish I had space and time to describe; and +sometimes we went out hunting buck with dogs trained for that purpose, and a +very exciting sport it is, as the country is full of agricultural enclosures +and our horses were magnificent. This is not to be wondered at, seeing that the +royal stables were at our command, in addition to which we had four splendid +saddle horses given to us by Nyleptha. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes, again, we went hawking, a pastime that is in great favour among the +Zu-Vendi, who generally fly their birds at a species of partridge which is +remarkable for the swiftness and strength of its flight. When attacked by the +hawk this bird appears to lose its head, and, instead of seeking cover, flies +high into the sky, thus offering wonderful sport. I have seen one of these +partridges soar up almost out of sight when followed by the hawk. Still better +sport is offered by a variety of solitary snipe as big as a small woodcock, +which is plentiful in this country, and which is flown at with a very small, +agile, and highly-trained hawk with an almost red tail. The zigzagging of the +great snipe and the lightning rapidity of the flight and movements of the +red-tailed hawk make the pastime a delightful one. Another variety of the same +amusement is the hunting of a very small species of antelope with trained +eagles; and it certainly is a marvellous sight to see the great bird soar and +soar till he is nothing but a black speck in the sunlight, and then suddenly +come dashing down like a cannon-ball upon some cowering buck that is hidden in +a patch of grass from everything but that piercing eye. Still finer is the +spectacle when the eagle takes the buck running. +</p> + +<p> +On other days we would pay visits to the country seats at some of the great +lords’ beautiful fortified places, and the villages clustering beneath +their walls. Here we saw vineyards and corn-fields and well-kept park-like +grounds, with such timber in them as filled me with delight, for I do love a +good tree. There it stands so strong and sturdy, and yet so beautiful, a very +type of the best sort of man. How proudly it lifts its bare head to the winter +storms, and with what a full heart it rejoices when the spring has come again! +How grand its voice is, too, when it talks with the wind: a thousand aeolian +harps cannot equal the beauty of the sighing of a great tree in leaf. All day +it points to the sunshine and all night to the stars, and thus passionless, and +yet full of life, it endures through the centuries, come storm, come shine, +drawing its sustenance from the cool bosom of its mother earth, and as the slow +years roll by, learning the great mysteries of growth and of decay. And so on +and on through generations, outliving individuals, customs, dynasties—all +save the landscape it adorns and human nature—till the appointed day when +the wind wins the long battle and rejoices over a reclaimed space, or decay +puts the last stroke to his fungus-fingered work. +</p> + +<p> +Ah, one should always think twice before one cuts down a tree! +</p> + +<p> +In the evenings it was customary for Sir Henry, Good, and myself to dine, or +rather sup, with their Majesties—not every night, indeed, but about three +or four times a week, whenever they had not much company, or the affairs of +state would allow of it. And I am bound to say that those little suppers were +quite the most charming things of their sort that I ever had to do with. How +true is the saying that the very highest in rank are always the most simple and +kindly. It is from your half-and-half sort of people that you get pomposity and +vulgarity, the difference between the two being very much what one sees every +day in England between the old, out-at-elbows, broken-down county family, and +the overbearing, purse-proud people who come and “take the place”. +I really think that Nyleptha’s greatest charm is her sweet simplicity, +and her kindly genuine interest even in little things. She is the simplest +woman I ever knew, and where her passions are not involved, one of the +sweetest; but she can look queenly enough when she likes, and be as fierce as +any savage too. +</p> + +<p> +For instance, never shall I forget that scene when I for the first time was +sure that she was really in love with Curtis. It came about in this +way—all through Good’s weakness for ladies’ society. When we +had been employed for some three months in learning Zu-Vendi, it struck Master +Good that he was getting rather tired of the old gentlemen who did us the +honour to lead us in the way that we should go, so he proceeded, without saying +a word to anybody else, to inform them that it was a peculiar fact, but that we +could not make any real progress in the deeper intricacies of a foreign +language unless we were taught by ladies—young ladies, he was careful to +explain. In his own country, he pointed out, it was habitual to choose the very +best-looking and most charming girls who could be found to instruct any +strangers who happened to come that way, etc. +</p> + +<p> +All of this the old gentlemen swallowed open-mouthed. There was, they admitted, +reason in what he said, since the contemplation of the beautiful, as their +philosophy taught, induced a certain porosity of mind similar to that produced +upon the physical body by the healthful influences of sun and air. Consequently +it was probable that we might absorb the Zu-Vendi tongue a little faster if +suitable teachers could be found. Another thing was that, as the female sex was +naturally loquacious, good practice would be gained in the <i>viva voce</i> +department of our studies. +</p> + +<p> +To all of this Good gravely assented, and the learned gentlemen departed, +assuring him that their orders were to fall in with our wishes in every way, +and that, if possible, our views should be met. +</p> + +<p> +Imagine, therefore the surprise and disgust of myself, and I trust and believe +Sir Henry, when, on entering the room where we were accustomed to carry on our +studies the following morning, we found, instead of our usual venerable tutors, +three of the best-looking young women whom Milosis could produce—and that +is saying a good deal—who blushed and smiled and curtseyed, and gave us +to understand that they were there to carry on our instruction. Then Good, as +we gazed at one another in bewilderment, thought fit to explain, saying that it +had slipped his memory before—but the old gentlemen had told him, on the +previous evening, that it was absolutely necessary that our further education +should be carried on by the other sex. I was overwhelmed, and appealed to Sir +Henry for advice in such a crisis. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” he said, “you see the ladies are here, ain’t +they? If we sent them away, don’t you think it might hurt their feelings, +eh? One doesn’t like to be rough, you see; and they look regular +<i>blues</i>, don’t they, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +By this time Good had already begun his lessons with the handsomest of the +three, and so with a sigh I yielded. That day everything went very well: the +young ladies were certainly very clever, and they only smiled when we +blundered. I never saw Good so attentive to his books before, and even Sir +Henry appeared to tackle Zu-Vendi with a renewed zest. “Ah,” +thought I, “will it always be thus?” +</p> + +<p> +Next day we were much more lively, our work was pleasingly interspersed with +questions about our native country, what the ladies were like there, etc., all +of which we answered as best as we could in Zu-Vendi, and I heard Good assuring +his teacher that her loveliness was to the beauties of Europe as the sun to the +moon, to which she replied with a little toss of the head, that she was a plain +teaching woman and nothing else, and that it was not kind “to deceive a +poor girl so”. Then we had a little singing that was really charming, so +natural and unaffected. The Zu-Vendi love-songs are most touching. On the third +day we were all quite intimate. Good narrated some of his previous love affairs +to his fair teacher, and so moved was she that her sighs mingled with his own. +I discoursed with mine, a merry blue-eyed girl, upon Zu-Vendian art, and never +saw that she was waiting for an opportunity to drop a specimen of the cockroach +tribe down my back, whilst in the corner Sir Henry and his governess appeared, +so far as I could judge, to be going through a lesson framed on the great +educational principles laid down by Wackford Squeers Esq., though in a very +modified or rather spiritualized form. The lady softly repeated the Zu-Vendi +word for “hand”, and he took hers; “eyes”, and he gazed +deep into her brown orbs; “lips”, and—but just at that moment +<i>my</i> young lady dropped the cockroach down my back and ran away laughing. +Now if there is one thing I loathe more than another it is cockroaches, and +moved quite beyond myself, and yet laughing at her impudence, I took up the +cushion she had been sitting on and threw it after her. Imagine then my +shame—my horror, and my distress—when the door opened, and, +attended by two guards only, in walked <i>Nyleptha</i>. The cushion could not +be recalled (it missed the girl and hit one of the guards on the head), but I +instantly and ineffectually tried to look as though I had not thrown it. Good +ceased his sighing, and began to murder Zu-Vendi at the top of his voice, and +Sir Henry whistled and looked silly. As for the poor girls, they were utterly +dumbfounded. +</p> + +<p> +And Nyleptha! she drew herself up till her frame seemed to tower even above +that of the tall guards, and her face went first red, and then pale as death. +</p> + +<p> +“Guards,” she said in a quiet choked voice, and pointing at the +fair but unconscious disciple of Wackford Squeers, “slay me that +woman.” +</p> + +<p> +The men hesitated, as well they might. +</p> + +<p> +“Will ye do my bidding,” she said again in the same voice, +“or will ye not?” +</p> + +<p> +Then they advanced upon the girl with uplifted spears. By this time Sir Henry +had recovered himself, and saw that the comedy was likely to turn into a +tragedy. +</p> + +<p> +“Stand back,” he said in a voice of thunder, at the same time +getting in front of the terrified girl. “Shame on thee, +Nyleptha—shame! Thou shalt not kill her.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless thou hast good reason to try to protect her. Thou couldst +hardly do less in honour,” answered the infuriated Queen; “but she +shall die—she shall die,” and she stamped her little foot. +</p> + +<p> +“It is well,” he answered; “then will I die with her. I am +thy servant, oh Queen; do with me even as thou wilt.” And he bowed +towards her, and fixed his clear eyes contemptuously on her face. +</p> + +<p> +“I could wish to slay thee too,” she answered; “for thou dost +make a mock of me;” and then feeling that she was mastered, and I suppose +not knowing what else to do, she burst into such a storm of tears and looked so +royally lovely in her passionate distress, that, old as I am, I must say I +envied Curtis his task of supporting her. It was rather odd to see him holding +her in his arms considering what had just passed—a thought that seemed to +occur to herself, for presently she wrenched herself free and went, leaving us +all much disturbed. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, however, one of the guards returned with a message to the girls that +they were, on pain of death, to leave the city and return to their homes in the +country, and that no further harm would come to them; and accordingly they +went, one of them remarking philosophically that it could not be helped, and +that it was a satisfaction to know that they had taught us a little serviceable +Zu-Vendi. Mine was an exceedingly nice girl, and, overlooking the cockroach, I +made her a present of my favourite lucky sixpence with a hole in it when she +went away. After that our former masters resumed their course of instruction, +needless to say to my great relief. +</p> + +<p> +That night, when in fear and trembling we attended the royal supper table, we +found that Nyleptha was laid up with a bad headache. That headache lasted for +three whole days; but on the fourth she was present at supper as usual, and +with the most gracious and sweet smile gave Sir Henry her hand to lead her to +the table. No allusion was made to the little affair described above beyond her +saying, with a charming air of innocence, that when she came to see us at our +studies the other day she had been seized with a giddiness from which she had +only now recovered. She supposed, she added with a touch of the humour that was +common to her, that it was the sight of people working so hard which had +affected her. +</p> + +<p> +In reply Sir Henry said, dryly, that he had thought she did not look quite +herself on that day, whereat she flashed one of those quick glances of hers at +him, which if he had the feelings of a man must have gone through him like a +knife, and the subject dropped entirely. Indeed, after supper was over Nyleptha +condescended to put us through an examination to see what we had learnt, and to +express herself well satisfied with the results. Indeed, she proceeded to give +us, especially Sir Henry, a lesson on her own account, and very interesting we +found it. +</p> + +<p> +And all the while that we talked, or rather tried to talk, and laughed, Sorais +would sit there in her carven ivory chair, and look at us and read us all like +a book, only from time to time saying a few words, and smiling that quick +ominous smile of hers which was more like a flash of summer lightning on a dark +cloud than anything else. And as near to her as he dared would sit Good, +worshipping through his eyeglass, for he really was getting seriously devoted +to this sombre beauty, of whom, speaking personally, I felt terribly afraid. I +watched her keenly, and soon I found out that for all her apparent +impassibility she was at heart bitterly jealous of Nyleptha. Another thing I +found out, and the discovery filled me with dismay, and that was, that she +<i>also</i> was growing devoted to Sir Henry Curtis. Of course I could not be +sure; it is not easy to read so cold and haughty a woman; but I noticed one or +two little things, and, as elephant hunters know, dried grass shows which way +the wind has set. +</p> + +<p> +And so another three months passed over us, by which time we had all attained +to a very considerable mastery of the Zu-Vendi language, which is an easy one +to learn. And as the time went on we became great favourites with the people, +and even with the courtiers, gaining an enormous reputation for cleverness, +because, as I think I have said, Sir Henry was able to show them how to make +glass, which was a national want, and also, by the help of a twenty-year +almanac that we had with us, to predict various heavenly combinations which +were quite unsuspected by the native astronomers. We even succeeded in +demonstrating the principle of the steam-engine to a gathering of the learned +men, who were filled with amazement; and several other things of the same sort +we did. And so it came about that the people made up their minds that we must +on no account be allowed to go out of the country (which indeed was an apparent +impossibility even if we had wished it), and we were advanced to great honour +and made officers to the bodyguards of the sister Queens while permanent +quarters were assigned to us in the palace, and our opinion was asked upon +questions of national policy. +</p> + +<p> +But blue as the sky seemed, there was a cloud, and a big one, on the horizon. +We had indeed heard no more of those confounded hippopotami, but it is not on +that account to be supposed that our sacrilege was forgotten, or the enmity of +the great and powerful priesthood headed by Agon appeased. On the contrary, it +was burning the more fiercely because it was necessarily suppressed, and what +had perhaps begun in bigotry was ending in downright direct hatred born of +jealousy. Hitherto, the priests had been the wise men of the land, and were on +this account, as well as from superstitious causes, looked on with peculiar +veneration. But our arrival, with our outlandish wisdom and our strange +inventions and hints of unimagined things, dealt a serious blow to this state +of affairs, and, among the educated Zu-Vendi, went far towards destroying the +priestly prestige. A still worse affront to them, however, was the favour with +which we were regarded, and the trust that was reposed in us. All these things +tended to make us excessively obnoxious to the great sacerdotal clan, the most +powerful because the most united faction in the kingdom. +</p> + +<p> +Another source of imminent danger to us was the rising envy of some of the +great lords headed by Nasta, whose antagonism to us had at best been but thinly +veiled, and which now threatened to break out into open flame. Nasta had for +some years been a candidate for Nyleptha’s hand in marriage, and when we +appeared on the scene I fancy, from all I could gather, that though there were +still many obstacles in his path, success was by no means out of his reach. But +now all this had changed; the coy Nyleptha smiled no more in his direction, and +he was not slow to guess the cause. Infuriated and alarmed, he turned his +attention to Sorais, only to find that he might as well try to woo a mountain +side. With a bitter jest or two about his fickleness, that door was closed on +him for ever. So Nasta bethought himself of the thirty thousand wild swordsmen +who would pour down at his bidding through the northern mountain passes, and no +doubt vowed to adorn the gates of Milosis with our heads. +</p> + +<p> +But first he determined, as I learned, to make one more attempt and to demand +the hand of Nyleptha in the open Court after the formal annual ceremony of the +signing of the laws that had been proclaimed by the Queens during the year. +</p> + +<p> +Of this astounding fact Nyleptha heard with simulated nonchalance, and with a +little trembling of the voice herself informed us of it as we sat at supper on +the night preceding the great ceremony of the law-giving. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Henry bit his lip, and do what he could to prevent it plainly showed his +agitation. +</p> + +<p> +“And what answer will the Queen be pleased to give to the great +Lord?” asked I, in a jesting manner. +</p> + +<p> +“Answer, Macumazahn” (for we had elected to pass by our Zulu names +in Zu-Vendis), she said, with a pretty shrug of her ivory shoulder. “Nay, +I know not; what is a poor woman to do, when the wooer has thirty thousand +swords wherewith to urge his love?” And from under her long lashes she +glanced at Curtis. +</p> + +<p> +Just then we rose from the table to adjourn into another room. +“Quatermain, a word, quick,” said Sir Henry to me. “Listen. I +have never spoken about it, but surely you have guessed: I love Nyleptha. What +am I to do?” +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately, I had more or less already taken the question into consideration, +and was therefore able to give such answer as seemed the wisest to me. +</p> + +<p> +“You must speak to Nyleptha tonight,” I said. “Now is your +time, now or never. Listen. In the sitting-chamber get near to her, and whisper +to her to meet you at midnight by the Rademas statue at the end of the great +hall. I will keep watch for you there. Now or never, Curtis.” +</p> + +<p> +We passed on into the other room. Nyleptha was sitting, her hands before her, +and a sad anxious look upon her lovely face. A little way off was Sorais +talking to Good in her slow measured tones. +</p> + +<p> +The time went on; in another quarter of an hour I knew that, according to their +habit, the Queens would retire. As yet, Sir Henry had had no chance of saying a +word in private: indeed, though we saw much of the royal sisters, it was by no +means easy to see them alone. I racked my brains, and at last an idea came to +me. +</p> + +<p> +“Will the Queen be pleased,” I said, bowing low before Sorais, +“to sing to her servants? Our hearts are heavy this night; sing to us, oh +Lady of the Night” (Sorais’ favourite name among the people). +</p> + +<p> +“My songs, Macumazahn, are not such as to lighten the heavy heart, yet +will I sing if it pleases thee,” she answered; and she rose and went a +few paces to a table whereon lay an instrument not unlike a zither, and struck +a few wandering chords. +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly, like the notes of some deep-throated bird, her rounded voice +rang out in song so wildly sweet, and yet with so eerie and sad a refrain, that +it made the very blood stand still. Up, up soared the golden notes, that seemed +to melt far away, and then to grow again and travel on, laden with all the +sorrow of the world and all the despair of the lost. It was a marvellous song, +but I had not time to listen to it properly. However, I got the words of it +afterwards, and here is a translation of its burden, so far as it admits of +being translated at all. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +SORAIS’ SONG<br /> +<br /> +As a desolate bird that through darkness its lost way is winging,<br /> +As a hand that is helplessly raised when Death’s sickle is swinging,<br /> +So is life! ay, the life that lends passion and breath to my singing.<br /> +<br /> +As the nightingale’s song that is full of a sweetness unspoken,<br /> +As a spirit unbarring the gates of the skies for a token,<br /> +So is love! ay, the love that shall fall when his pinion is broken.<br /> +<br /> +As the tramp of the legions when trumpets their challenge are sending,<br /> +As the shout of the Storm-god when lightnings the black sky are rending,<br /> +So is power! ay, the power that shall lie in the dust at its ending.<br /> +<br /> +So short is our life; yet with space for all things to forsake us,<br /> +A bitter delusion, a dream from which nought can awake us,<br /> +Till Death’s dogging footsteps at morn or at eve shall o’ertake +us. +</p> + +<p> +Refrain +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Oh, the world is fair at the dawning—dawning—dawning,<br /> +But the red sun sinks in blood—the red sun sinks in blood. +</p> + +<p> +I only wish that I could write down the music too. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Curtis, now,” I whispered, when she began the second verse, +and turned my back. +</p> + +<p> +“Nyleptha,” he said—for my nerves were so much on the stretch +that I could hear every word, low as it was spoken, even through Sorais’ +divine notes—“Nyleptha, I must speak with thee this night, upon my +life I must. Say me not nay; oh, say me not nay!” +</p> + +<p> +“How can I speak with thee?” she answered, looking fixedly before +her; “Queens are not like other people. I am surrounded and +watched.” +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, Nyleptha, thus. I will be before the statue of Rademas in the +great hall at midnight. I have the countersign and can pass in. Macumazahn will +be there to keep guard, and with him the Zulu. Oh come, my Queen, deny me +not.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not seemly,” she murmured, “and tomorrow—” +</p> + +<p> +Just then the music began to die in the last wail of the refrain, and Sorais +slowly turned her round. +</p> + +<p> +“I will be there,” said Nyleptha, hurriedly; “on thy life see +that thou fail me not.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +BEFORE THE STATUE</h2> + +<p> +It was night—dead night—and the silence lay on the Frowning City +like a cloud. +</p> + +<p> +Secretly, as evildoers, Sir Henry Curtis, Umslopogaas, and myself threaded our +way through the passages towards a by-entrance to the great Throne Chamber. +Once we were met by the fierce rattling challenge of the sentry. I gave the +countersign, and the man grounded his spear and let us pass. Also we were +officers of the Queens’ bodyguard, and in that capacity had a right to +come and go unquestioned. +</p> + +<p> +We gained the hall in safety. So empty and so still was it, that even when we +had passed the sound of our footsteps yet echoed up the lofty walls, vibrating +faintly and still more faintly against the carven roof, like ghosts of the +footsteps of dead men haunting the place that once they trod. +</p> + +<p> +It was an eerie spot, and it oppressed me. The moon was full, and threw great +pencils and patches of light through the high windowless openings in the walls, +that lay pure and beautiful upon the blackness of the marble floor, like white +flowers on a coffin. One of these silver arrows fell upon the statue of the +sleeping Rademas, and of the angel form bent over him, illumining it, and a +small circle round it, with a soft clear light, reminding me of that with which +Catholics illumine the altars of their cathedrals. +</p> + +<p> +Here by the statue we took our stand, and waited. Sir Henry and I close +together, Umslopogaas some paces off in the darkness, so that I could only just +make out his towering outline leaning on the outline of an axe. +</p> + +<p> +So long did we wait that I almost fell asleep resting against the cold marble, +but was suddenly aroused by hearing Curtis give a quick catching breath. Then +from far away there came a little sound as though the statues that lined the +walls were whispering to each other some message of the ages. +</p> + +<p> +It was the faint sweep of a lady’s dress. Nearer it grew, and nearer yet. +We could see a figure steal from patch to patch of moonlight, and even hear the +soft fall of sandalled feet. Another second and I saw the black silhouette of +the old Zulu raise its arm in mute salute, and Nyleptha was before us. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, how beautiful she looked as she paused a moment just within the circle of +the moonlight! Her hand was pressed upon her heart, and her white bosom heaved +beneath it. Round her head a broidered scarf was loosely thrown, partially +shadowing the perfect face, and thus rendering it even more lovely; for beauty, +dependent as it is to a certain extent upon the imagination, is never so +beautiful as when it is half hid. There she stood radiant but half doubting, +stately and yet so sweet. It was but a moment, but I then and there fell in +love with her myself, and have remained so to this hour; for, indeed, she +looked more like an angel out of heaven than a loving, passionate, mortal +woman. Low we bowed before her, and then she spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“I have come,” she whispered, “but it was at great risk. Ye +know not how I am watched. The priests watch me. Sorais watches me with those +great eyes of hers. My very guards are spies upon me. Nasta watches me too. Oh, +let him be careful!” and she stamped her foot. “Let him be careful; +I am a woman, and therefore hard to drive. Ay, and I am a Queen, too, and can +still avenge. Let him be careful, I say, lest in place of giving him my hand I +take his head,” and she ended the outburst with a little sob, and then +smiled up at us bewitchingly and laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou didst bid me come hither, my Lord Incubu” (Curtis had taught +her to call him so). “Doubtless it is about business of the State, for I +know that thou art ever full of great ideas and plans for my welfare and my +people’s. So even as a Queen should I have come, though I greatly fear +the dark alone,” and again she laughed and gave him a glance from her +grey eyes. +</p> + +<p> +At this point I thought it wise to move a little, since secrets “of the +State” should not be made public property; but she would not let me go +far, peremptorily stopping me within five yards or so, saying that she feared +surprise. So it came to pass that, however unwillingly, I heard all that +passed. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou knowest, Nyleptha,” said Sir Henry, “that it was for +none of these things that I asked thee to meet me at this lonely place. +Nyleptha, waste not the time in pleasantry, but listen to me, for—I love +thee.” +</p> + +<p> +As he said the words I saw her face break up, as it were, and change. The +coquetry went out of it, and in its place there shone a great light of love +which seemed to glorify it, and make it like that of the marble angel overhead. +I could not help thinking that it must have been a touch of prophetic instinct +which made the long dead Rademas limn, in the features of the angel of his +inspiring vision, so strange a likeness of his own descendant. Sir Henry, also, +must have observed and been struck by the likeness, for, catching the look upon +Nyleptha’s face, he glanced quickly from it to the moonlit statue, and +then back again at his beloved. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou sayest thou dost love me,” she said in a low voice, +“and thy voice rings true, but how am I to know that thou dost speak the +truth?” +</p> + +<p> +“Though,” she went on with proud humility, and in the stately third +person which is so largely used by the Zu-Vendi, “I be as nothing in the +eyes of my lord,” and she curtseyed towards him, “who comes from +among a wonderful people, to whom my people are but children, yet here am I a +queen and a leader of men, and if I would go to battle a hundred thousand +spears shall sparkle in my train like stars glimmering down the path of the +bent moon. And although my beauty be a little thing in the eyes of my +lord,” and she lifted her broidered skirt and curtseyed again, “yet +here among my own people am I held right fair, and ever since I was a woman the +great lords of my kingdom have made quarrel concerning me, as though +forsooth,” she added with a flash of passion, “I were a deer to be +pulled down by the hungriest wolf, or a horse to be sold to the highest bidder. +Let my lord pardon me if I weary my lord, but it hath pleased my lord to say +that he loves me, Nyleptha, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi, and therefore would I say +that though my love and my hand be not much to my lord, yet to me are they +all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” she cried, with a sudden and thrilling change of voice, and +modifying her dignified mode of address. “Oh, how can I know that thou +lovest but me? How can I know that thou wilt not weary of me and seek thine own +place again, leaving me desolate? Who is there to tell me but that thou lovest +some other woman, some fair woman unknown to me, but who yet draws breath +beneath this same moon that shines on me tonight? Tell me <i>how</i> am I to +know?” And she clasped her hands and stretched them out towards him and +looked appealingly into his face. +</p> + +<p> +“Nyleptha,” answered Sir Henry, adopting the Zu-Vendi way of +speech; “I have told thee that I love thee; how am I to tell thee how +much I love thee? Is there then a measure for love? Yet will I try. I say not +that I have never looked upon another woman with favour, but this I say that I +love thee with all my life and with all my strength; that I love thee now and +shall love thee till I grow cold in death, ay, and as I believe beyond my +death, and on and on for ever: I say that thy voice is music to my ear, and thy +touch as water to a thirsty land, that when thou art there the world is +beautiful, and when I see thee not it is as though the light was dead. Oh, +Nyleptha, I will never leave thee; here and now for thy dear sake I will forget +my people and my father’s house, yea, I renounce them all. By thy side +will I live, Nyleptha, and at thy side will I die.” +</p> + +<p> +He paused and gazed at her earnestly, but she hung her head like a lily, and +said never a word. +</p> + +<p> +“Look!” he went on, pointing to the statue on which the moonlight +played so brightly. “Thou seest that angel woman who rests her hand upon +the forehead of the sleeping man, and thou seest how at her touch his soul +flames up and shines out through his flesh, even as a lamp at the touch of the +fire, so is it with me and thee, Nyleptha. Thou hast awakened my soul and +called it forth, and now, Nyleptha, it is not mine, not mine, but <i>thine</i> +and thine only. There is no more for me to say; in thy hands is my life.” +And he leaned back against the pedestal of the statue, looking very pale, and +his eyes shining, but proud and handsome as a god. +</p> + +<p> +Slowly, slowly she raised her head, and fixed her wonderful eyes, all alight +with the greatness of her passion, full upon his face, as though to read his +very soul. Then at last she spoke, low indeed, but clearly as a silver bell. +</p> + +<p> +“Of a truth, weak woman that I am, I do believe thee. Ill will be the day +for thee and for me also if it be my fate to learn that I have believed a lie. +And now hearken to me, oh man, who hath wandered here from far to steal my +heart and make me all thine own. I put my hand upon thy hand thus, and thus I, +whose lips have never kissed before, do kiss thee on the brow; and now by my +hand and by that first and holy kiss, ay, by my people’s weal and by my +throne that like enough I shall lose for thee—by the name of my high +House, by the sacred Stone and by the eternal majesty of the Sun, I swear that +for thee will I live and die. And I swear that I will love thee and thee only +till death, ay, and beyond, if as thou sayest there be a beyond, and that thy +will shall be my will, and thy ways my ways. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh see, see, my lord! thou knowest not how humble is she who loves; I, +who am a Queen, I kneel before thee, even at thy feet I do my homage;” +and the lovely impassioned creature flung herself down on her knees on the cold +marble before him. And after that I really do not know, for I could stand it no +longer, and cleared off to refresh myself with a little of old +Umslopogaas’ society, leaving them to settle it their own way, and a very +long time they were about it. +</p> + +<p> +I found the old warrior leaning on Inkosi-kaas as usual, and surveying the +scene in the patch of moonlight with a grim smile of amusement. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Macumazahn,” he said, “I suppose it is because I am +getting old, but I don’t think that I shall ever learn to understand the +ways of you white people. Look there now, I pray thee, they are a pretty pair +of doves, but what is all the fuss about, Macumazahn? He wants a wife, and she +wants a husband, then why does he not pay his cows down<a href="#fn-18" name="fnref-18" id="fnref-18"><sup>[18]</sup></a> +like a man and have done with it? It would save a deal of trouble, and we +should have had our night’s sleep. But there they go, talk, talk, talk, +and kiss, kiss, kiss, like mad things. Eugh!” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-18" id="fn-18"></a> <a href="#fnref-18">[18]</a> +Alluding to the Zulu custom.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +Some three-quarters of an hour afterwards the “pair of doves” came +strolling towards us, Curtis looking slightly silly, and Nyleptha remarking +calmly that the moonlight made very pretty effects on the marble. Then, for she +was in a most gracious mood, she took my hand and said that I was “her +Lord’s” dear friend, and therefore most dear to her—not a +word for my own sake, you see. Next she lifted Umslopogaas’ axe, and +examined it curiously, saying significantly as she did so that he might soon +have cause to use it in defence of her. +</p> + +<p> +After that she nodded prettily to us all, and casting a tender glance at her +lover, glided off into the darkness like a beautiful vision. +</p> + +<p> +When we got back to our quarters, which we did without accident, Curtis asked +me jocularly what I was thinking about. +</p> + +<p> +“I am wondering,” I answered, “on what principle it is +arranged that some people should find beautiful queens to fall in love with +them, while others find nobody at all, or worse than nobody; and I am also +wondering how many brave men’s lives this night’s work will +cost.” It was rather nasty of me, perhaps, but somehow all the feelings +do not evaporate with age, and I could not help being a little jealous of my +old friend’s luck. Vanity, my sons; vanity of vanities! +</p> + +<p> +On the following morning, Good was informed of the happy occurrence, and +positively rippled with smiles that, originating somewhere about the mouth, +slowly travelled up his face like the rings in a duckpond, till they flowed +over the brim of his eyeglass and went where sweet smiles go. The fact of the +matter, however, was that not only was Good rejoiced about the thing on its own +merits but also for personal reasons. He adored Sorais quite as earnestly as +Sir Henry adored Nyleptha, and his adoration had not altogether prospered. +Indeed, it had seemed to him and to me also that the dark Cleopatra-like queen +favoured Curtis in her own curious inscrutable way much more than Good. +Therefore it was a relief to him to learn that his unconscious rival was +permanently and satisfactorily attached in another direction. His face fell a +little, however, when he was told that the whole thing was to be kept as secret +as the dead, above all from Sorais for the present, inasmuch as the political +convulsion which would follow such an announcement at the moment would be +altogether too great to face and would very possibly, if prematurely made, +shake Nyleptha from her throne. +</p> + +<p> +That morning we again attended in the Throne Hall, and I could not help smiling +to myself when I compared the visit to our last, and reflecting that, if walls +could speak, they would have strange tales to tell. +</p> + +<p> +What actresses women are! There, high upon her golden throne, draped in her +blazoned “kaf” or robe of state, sat the fair Nyleptha, and when +Sir Henry came in a little late, dressed in the full uniform of an officer of +her guard and humbly bent himself before her, she merely acknowledged his +salute with a careless nod and turned her head coldly aside. It was a very +large Court, for not only did the signing of the laws attract many outside of +those whose duty it was to attend, but also the rumour that Nasta was going to +publicly ask the hand of Nyleptha in marriage had gone abroad, with the result +that the great hall was crowded to its utmost capacity. There were our friends +the priests in force, headed by Agon, who regarded us with a vindictive eye; +and a most imposing band they were, with their long white embroidered robes +girt with a golden chain from which hung the fish-like scales. There, too, were +a number of the lords, each with a band of brilliantly attired attendants, and +prominent among them was Nasta, stroking his black beard meditatively and +looking unusually pleasant. It was a splendid and impressive sight, especially +when the officer after having read out each law handed them to the Queens to +sign, whereon the trumpets blared out and the Queens’ guard grounded +their spears with a crash in salute. This reading and signing of the laws took +a long time, but at length it came to an end, the last one reciting that +“whereas distinguished strangers, etc.”, and proceeding to confer +on the three of us the rank of “lords”, together with certain +military commands and large estates bestowed by the Queen. When it was read the +trumpets blared and the spears clashed down as usual, but I saw some of the +lords turn and whisper to each other, while Nasta ground his teeth. They did +not like the favour that was shown to us, which under all the circumstances was +not perhaps unnatural. +</p> + +<p> +Then there came a pause, and Nasta stepped forward and bowing humbly, though +with no humility in his eye, craved a boon at the hands of the Queen Nyleptha. +</p> + +<p> +Nyleptha turned a little pale, but bowed graciously, and prayed the +“well-beloved lord” to speak on, whereon in a few straightforward +soldier-like words he asked her hand in marriage. +</p> + +<p> +Then, before she could find words to answer, the High Priest Agon took up the +tale, and in a speech of real eloquence and power pointed out the many +advantages of the proposed alliance; how it would consolidate the kingdom, for +Nasta’s dominions, of which he was virtually king, were to Zu-Vendis much +what Scotland used to be to England; how it would gratify the wild mountaineers +and be popular among the soldiery, for Nasta was a famous general; how it would +set her dynasty firmly on the throne, and would gain the blessing and approval +of the “Sun”, <i>i.e.</i>, of the office of the High Priest, and so +on. Many of his arguments were undoubtedly valid, and there was, looking at it +from a political point of view, everything to be said for the marriage. But +unfortunately it is difficult to play the game of politics with the persons of +young and lovely queens as though they were ivory effigies of themselves on a +chessboard. Nyleptha’s face, while Agon spouted away, was a perfect +study; she smiled indeed, but beneath the smile it set like a stone, and her +eyes began to flash ominously. +</p> + +<p> +At last he stopped, and she prepared herself to answer. Before she did so, +however, Sorais leant towards her and said in a voice sufficiently loud for me +to catch what she said, “Bethink thee well, my sister, ere thou dost +speak, for methinks that our thrones may hang upon thy words.” +</p> + +<p> +Nyleptha made no answer, and with a shrug and a smile Sorais leant back again +and listened. +</p> + +<p> +“Of a truth a great honour has been done to me,” she said, +“that my poor hand should not only have been asked in marriage, but that +Agon here should be so swift to pronounce the blessing of the Sun upon my +union. Methinks that in another minute he would have wed us fast ere the bride +had said her say. Nasta, I thank thee, and I will bethink me of thy words, but +now as yet I have no mind for marriage, that is a cup of which none know the +taste until they begin to drink it. Again I thank thee, Nasta,” and she +made as though she would rise. +</p> + +<p> +The great lord’s face turned almost as black as his beard with fury, for +he knew that the words amounted to a final refusal of his suit. +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks be to the Queen for her gracious words,” he said, +restraining himself with difficulty and looking anything but grateful, +“my heart shall surely treasure them. And now I crave another boon, +namely, the royal leave to withdraw myself to my own poor cities in the north +till such time as the Queen shall say my suit nay or yea. Mayhap,” he +added, with a sneer, “the Queen will be pleased to visit me there, and to +bring with her these stranger lords,” and he scowled darkly towards us. +“It is but a poor country and a rough, but we are a hardy race of +mountaineers, and there shall be gathered thirty thousand swordsmen to shout a +welcome to her.” +</p> + +<p> +This speech, which was almost a declaration of rebellion, was received in +complete silence, but Nyleptha flushed up and answered it with spirit. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, surely, Nasta, I will come, and the strange lords in my train, and +for every man of thy mountaineers who calls thee Prince, will I bring two from +the lowlands who call me Queen, and we will see which is the staunchest breed. +Till then farewell.” +</p> + +<p> +The trumpets blared out, the Queens rose, and the great assembly broke up in +murmuring confusion, and for myself I went home with a heavy heart foreseeing +civil war. +</p> + +<p> +After this there was quiet for a few weeks. Curtis and the Queen did not often +meet, and exercised the utmost caution not to allow the true relation in which +they stood to each other to leak out; but do what they would, rumours as hard +to trace as a buzzing fly in a dark room, and yet quite as audible, began to +hum round and round, and at last to settle on her throne. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +THE STORM BREAKS</h2> + +<p> +And now it was that the trouble which at first had been but a cloud as large as +a man’s hand began to loom very black and big upon our horizon, namely, +Sorais’ preference for Sir Henry. I saw the storm drawing nearer and +nearer; and so, poor fellow, did he. The affection of so lovely and +highly-placed a woman was not a thing that could in a general way be considered +a calamity by any man, but, situated as Curtis was, it was a grievous burden to +bear. +</p> + +<p> +To begin with, Nyleptha, though altogether charming, was, it must be admitted, +of a rather jealous disposition, and was sometimes apt to visit on her +lover’s head her indignation at the marks of what Alphonse would have +called the “distinguished consideration” with which her royal +sister favoured him. Then the enforced secrecy of his relation to Nyleptha +prevented Curtis from taking some opportunity of putting a stop, or trying to +put a stop, to this false condition of affairs, by telling Sorais, in a casual +but confidential way, that he was going to marry her sister. A third sting in +Sir Henry’s honey was that he knew that Good was honestly and sincerely +attached to the ominous-looking but most attractive Lady of the Night. Indeed, +poor Bougwan was wasting himself to a shadow of his fat and jolly self about +her, his face getting so thin that his eyeglass would scarcely stick in it; +while she, with a sort of careless coquetry, just gave him encouragement enough +to keep him going, thinking, no doubt, that he might be useful as a +stalking-horse. I tried to give him a hint, in as delicate a way as I could, +but he flew into a huff and would not listen to me, so I was determined to let +ill alone, for fear of making it worse. Poor Good, he really was very ludicrous +in his distress, and went in for all sorts of absurdities, under the belief +that he was advancing his suit. One of them was the writing—with the +assistance of one of the grave and revered signiors who instructed us, and who, +whatever may have been the measure of his erudition, did not understand how to +scan a line—of a most interminable Zu-Vendi love-song, of which the +continually recurring refrain was something about “I will kiss thee; oh +yes, I will kiss thee!” Now among the Zu-Vendi it is a common and most +harmless thing for young men to serenade ladies at night, as I believe they do +in the southern countries of Europe, and sing all sorts of nonsensical songs to +them. The young men may or may not be serious; but no offence is meant and none +is taken, even by ladies of the highest rank, who accept the whole thing as an +English girl would a gracefully-turned compliment. +</p> + +<p> +Availing himself of this custom, Good bethought him that he would serenade +Sorais, whose private apartments, together with those of her maidens, were +exactly opposite our own, on the further side of a narrow courtyard which +divided one section of the great palace from another. Accordingly, having armed +himself with a native zither, on which, being an adept with the light guitar, +he had easily learned to strum, he proceeded at midnight—the fashionable +hour for this sort of caterwauling—to make night hideous with his amorous +yells. I was fast asleep when they began, but they soon woke me up—for +Good possesses a tremendous voice and has no notion of time—and I ran to +my window-place to see what was the matter. And there, standing in the full +moonlight in the courtyard, I perceived Good, adorned with an enormous ostrich +feather head-dress and a flowing silken cloak, which it is the right thing to +wear upon these occasions, and shouting out the abominable song which he and +the old gentleman had evolved, to a jerky, jingling accompaniment. From the +direction of the quarters of the maids of honour came a succession of faint +sniggerings; but the apartments of Sorais herself—whom I devoutly pitied +if she happened to be there—were silent as the grave. There was +absolutely no end to that awful song, with its eternal “I will kiss +thee!” and at last neither I nor Sir Henry, whom I had summoned to enjoy +the sight, could stand it any longer; so, remembering the dear old story, I put +my head to the window opening, and shouted, “For Heaven’s sake, +Good, don’t go on talking about it, but <i>kiss</i> her and let’s +all go to sleep!” That choked him off, and we had no more serenading. +</p> + +<p> +The whole thing formed a laughable incident in a tragic business. How deeply +thankful we ought to be that even the most serious matters have generally a +silver lining about them in the shape of a joke, if only people could see it. +The sense of humour is a very valuable possession in life, and ought to be +cultivated in the Board schools—especially in Scotland. +</p> + +<p> +Well, the more Sir Henry held off the more Sorais came on, as is not uncommon +in such cases, till at last things got very queer indeed. Evidently she was, by +some strange perversity of mind, quite blinded to the true state of the case; +and I, for one, greatly dreaded the moment of her awakening. Sorais was a +dangerous woman to be mixed up with, either with or without one’s +consent. At last the evil moment came, as I saw it must come. One fine day, +Good having gone out hawking, Sir Henry and I were sitting quietly talking over +the situation, especially with reference to Sorais, when a Court messenger +arrived with a written note, which we with some difficulty deciphered, and +which was to the effect that “the Queen Sorais commanded the attendance +of the Lord Incubu in her private apartments, whither he would be conducted by +the bearer”. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh my word!” groaned Sir Henry. “Can’t you go instead, +old fellow?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not if I know it,” I said with vigour. “I had rather face a +wounded elephant with a shot-gun. Take care of your own business, my boy. If +you will be so fascinating you must take the consequences. I would not be in +your place for an empire.” +</p> + +<p> +“You remind me of when I was going to be flogged at school and the other +boys came to console me,” he said gloomily. “What right has this +Queen to command my attendance, I should like to know? I won’t go.” +</p> + +<p> +“But you must; you are one of her officers and bound to obey her, and she +knows it. And after all it will soon be over.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s just what they used to say,” he said again. “I +only hope she won’t put a knife into me. I believe that she is quite +capable of it.” And off he started very faintheartedly, and no wonder. +</p> + +<p> +I sat and waited, and at the end of about forty-five minutes he returned, +looking a good deal worse than when he went. +</p> + +<p> +“Give me something to drink,” he said hoarsely. +</p> + +<p> +I got him a cup of wine, and asked what was the matter. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter? Why if ever there was trouble there’s trouble +now. You know when I left you? Well, I was shown straight into Sorais’ +private chamber, and a wonderful place it is; and there she sat, quite alone, +upon a silken couch at the end of the room, playing gently upon that zither of +hers. I stood before her, and for a while she took no notice of me, but kept on +playing and singing a little, and very sweet music it was. At last she looked +up and smiled. +</p> + +<p> +“‘So thou art come,’ she said. ‘I thought perchance +thou hadst gone about the Queen Nyleptha’s business. Thou art ever on her +business, and I doubt not a good servant and a true.’ +</p> + +<p> +“To this I merely bowed, and said I was there to receive the +Queen’s word. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Ah yes, I would talk with thee, but be thou seated. It wearies me +to look so high,’ and she made room for me beside her on the couch, +placing herself with her back against the end, so as to have a view of my face. +</p> + +<p> +“‘It is not meet,’ I said, ‘that I should make myself +equal with the Queen.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘I said be seated,’ was her answer, so I sat down, and she +began to look at me with those dark eyes of hers. There she sat like an +incarnate spirit of beauty, hardly talking at all, and when she did, very low, +but all the while looking at me. There was a white flower in her black hair, +and I tried to keep my eyes on it and count the petals, but it was of no use. +At last, whether it was her gaze, or the perfume in her hair, or what I do not +know, but I almost felt as though I was being mesmerized. At last she roused +herself. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Incubu,’ she said, ‘lovest thou power?’ +</p> + +<p> +“I replied that I supposed all men loved power of one sort or another. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Thou shalt have it,’ she said. ‘Lovest thou +wealth?’ +</p> + +<p> +“I said I liked wealth for what it brought. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Thou shalt have it,’ she said. ‘And lovest thou +beauty?’ +</p> + +<p> +“To this I replied that I was very fond of statuary and architecture, or +something silly of that sort, at which she frowned, and there was a pause. By +this time my nerves were on such a stretch that I was shaking like a leaf. I +knew that something awful was going to happen, but she held me under a kind of +spell, and I could not help myself. +</p> + +<p> +“‘Incubu,’ she said at length, ‘wouldst thou be a king? +Listen, wouldst thou be a king? Behold, stranger, I am minded to make thee king +of all Zu-Vendis, ay and husband of Sorais of the Night. Nay, peace and hear +me. To no man among my people had I thus opened out my secret heart, but thou +art an outlander and therefore I speak without shame, knowing all I have to +offer and how hard it had been thee to ask. See, a crown lies at thy feet, my +lord Incubu, and with that fortune a woman whom some have wished to woo. Now +mayst thou answer, oh my chosen, and soft shall thy words fall upon mine +ears.’ +</p> + +<p> +“‘Oh Sorais,’ I said, ‘I pray thee speak not +thus’—you see I had not time to pick and choose my +words—‘for this thing cannot be. I am betrothed to thy sister +Nyleptha, oh Sorais, and I love her and her alone.’ +</p> + +<p> +“Next moment it struck me that I had said an awful thing, and I looked up +to see the results. When I spoke, Sorais’ face was hidden in her hands, +and as my words reached her she slowly raised it, and I shrank back dismayed. +It was ashy white, and her eyes were flaming. She rose to her feet and seemed +to be choking, but the awful thing was that she was so quiet about it all. Once +she looked at a side table, on which lay a dagger, and from it to me, as though +she thought of killing me; but she did not take it up. At last she spoke one +word, and one only— +</p> + +<p> +“‘<i>Go!</i>’ +</p> + +<p> +“And I went, and glad enough I was to get out of it, and here I am. Give +me another cup of wine, there’s a good fellow, and tell me, what is to be +done?” +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head, for the affair was indeed serious. As one of the poets says, +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” +</p> + +<p class="noindent"> +more especially if the woman is a queen and a Sorais, and indeed I feared the +very worst, including imminent danger to ourselves. +</p> + +<p> +“Nyleptha had better be told of this at once,” I said, “and +perhaps I had better tell her; she might receive your account with +suspicion.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who is captain of her guard tonight?” I went on. +</p> + +<p> +“Good.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well then, there will be no chance of her being got at. Don’t +look surprised. I don’t think that her sister would stick at that. I +suppose one must tell Good of what has happened.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I don’t know,” said Sir Henry. “It would hurt his +feelings, poor fellow! You see, he takes a lively personal interest in +Sorais.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s true; and after all, perhaps there is no need to tell him. +He will find out the truth soon enough. Now, you mark my words, Sorais will +throw in her lot with Nasta, who is sulking up in the North there, and there +will be such a war as has not been known in Zu-Vendis for centuries. Look +there!” and I pointed to two Court messengers, who were speeding away +from the door of Sorais’ private apartments. “Now follow me,” +and I ran up a stairway into an outlook tower that rose from the roof of our +quarters, taking the spyglass with me, and looked out over the palace wall. The +first thing we saw was one of the messengers speeding towards the Temple, +bearing, without any doubt, the Queen’s word to the High Priest Agon, but +for the other I searched in vain. Presently, however, I spied a horseman riding +furiously through the northern gate of the city, and in him I recognized the +other messenger. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” I said, “Sorais is a woman of spirit. She is acting at +once, and will strike quick and hard. You have insulted her, my boy, and the +blood will flow in rivers before the stain is washed away, and yours with it, +if she can get hold of you. Well, I’m off to Nyleptha. Just you stop +where you are, old fellow, and try to get your nerves straight again. +You’ll need them all, I can tell you, unless I have observed human nature +in the rough for fifty years for nothing.” And off I went accordingly. +</p> + +<p> +I gained audience of the Queen without trouble. She was expecting Curtis, and +was not best pleased to see my mahogany-coloured face instead. +</p> + +<p> +“Is there aught wrong with my Lord, Macumazahn, that he waits not upon +me? Say, is he sick?” +</p> + +<p> +I said that he was well enough, and then, without further ado, I plunged into +my story and told it from beginning to end. Oh, what a rage she flew into! It +was a sight to see her, she looked so lovely. +</p> + +<p> +“How darest thou come to me with such a tale?” she cried. “It +is a lie to say that my Lord was making love to Sorais, my sister.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon me, oh Queen,” I answered, “I said that Sorais was +making love to thy lord.” +</p> + +<p> +“Spin me no spiders’ webs of words. Is not the thing the same +thing? The one giveth, the other taketh; but the gift passes, and what matters +it which is the most guilty? Sorais! oh, I hate her—Sorais is a queen and +my sister. She had not stooped so low had he not shown the way. Oh, truly hath +the poet said that man is like a snake, whom to touch is poison, and whom none +can hold.” +</p> + +<p> +“The remark, oh Queen, is excellent, but methinks thou hast misread the +poet. Nyleptha,” I went on, “thou knowest well that thy words are +empty foolishness, and that this is no time for folly.” +</p> + +<p> +“How darest thou?” she broke in, stamping her foot. “Hast my +false lord sent thee to me to insult me also? Who art thou, stranger, that thou +shouldst speak to me, the Queen, after this sort? How darest thou?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yea, I dare. Listen. The moments which thou dost waste in idle anger may +well cost thee thy crown and all of us our lives. Already Sorais’ +horsemen go forth and call to arms. In three days’ time Nasta will rouse +himself in his fastnesses like a lion in the evening, and his growling will be +heard throughout the North. The ‘Lady of the Night’ (Sorais) hath a +sweet voice, and she will not sing in vain. Her banner will be borne from range +to range and valley to valley, and warriors will spring up in its track like +dust beneath a whirlwind; half the army will echo her war-cry; and in every +town and hamlet of this wide land the priests will call out against the +foreigner and will preach her cause as holy. I have spoken, oh Queen!” +</p> + +<p> +Nyleptha was quite calm now; her jealous anger had passed; and putting off the +character of a lovely headstrong lady, with a rapidity and completeness that +distinguished her, she put on that of a queen and a woman of business. The +transformation was sudden but entire. +</p> + +<p> +“Thy words are very wise, Macumazahn. Forgive me my folly. Ah, what a +Queen I should be if only I had no heart! To be heartless—that is to +conquer all. Passion is like the lightning, it is beautiful, and it links the +earth to heaven, but alas it blinds! +</p> + +<p> +“And thou thinkest that my sister Sorais would levy war upon me. So be +it. She shall not prevail against me. I, too, have my friends and my retainers. +There are many, I say, who will shout ‘Nyleptha!’ when my pennon +runs up on peak and pinnacle, and the light of my beacon fires leaps tonight +from crag to crag, bearing the message of my war. I will break her strength and +scatter her armies. Eternal night shall be the portion of Sorais of the Night. +Give me that parchment and the ink. So. Now summon the officer in the +ante-room. He is a trusty man.” +</p> + +<p> +I did as I was bid! and the man, a veteran and quiet-looking gentleman of the +guard, named Kara, entered, bowing low. +</p> + +<p> +“Take this parchment,” said Nyleptha; “it is thy warrant; and +guard every place of in and outgoing in the apartments of my sister Sorais, the +‘Lady of the Night’, and a Queen of the Zu-Vendi. Let none come in +and none go out, or thy life shall pay the cost.” +</p> + +<p> +The man looked startled, but he merely said, “The Queen’s word be +done,” and departed. Then Nyleptha sent a messenger to Sir Henry, and +presently he arrived looking uncommonly uncomfortable. I thought that another +outburst was about to follow, but wonderful are the ways of woman; she said not +a word about Sorais and his supposed inconstancy, greeting him with a friendly +nod, and stating simply that she required his advice upon high matters. All the +same there was a look in her eye, and a sort of suppressed energy in her manner +towards him, that makes me think that she had not forgotten the affair, but was +keeping it for a private occasion. +</p> + +<p> +Just after Curtis arrived the officer returned, and reported that Sorais was +<i>gone</i>. The bird had flown to the Temple, stating that she was going, as +was sometimes the custom among Zu-Vendi ladies of rank, to spend the night in +meditation before the altar. We looked at each other significantly. The blow +had fallen very soon. +</p> + +<p> +Then we set to work. +</p> + +<p> +Generals who could be trusted were summoned from their quarters, and as much of +the State affairs as was thought desirable was told to each, strict injunctions +being given to them to get all their available force together. The same was +done with such of the more powerful lords as Nyleptha knew she could rely on, +several of whom left that very day for distant parts of the country to gather +up their tribesmen and retainers. Sealed orders were dispatched to the rulers +of far-off cities, and some twenty messengers were sent off before nightfall +with instructions to ride early and late till they reached the distant chiefs +to whom their letters were addressed: also many spies were set to work. All the +afternoon and evening we laboured, assisted by some confidential scribes, +Nyleptha showing an energy and resource of mind that astonished me, and it was +eight o’clock before we got back to our quarters. Here we heard from +Alphonse, who was deeply aggrieved because our non-return had spoilt his dinner +(for he had turned cook again now), that Good had come back from his hawking +and gone on duty. As instructions had already been given to the officer of the +outer guard to double the sentries at the gate, and as we had no reason to fear +any immediate danger, we did not think it worth while to hunt him up and tell +him anything of what had passed, which at best was, under the peculiar +circumstances of the case, one of those tasks that one prefers to postpone, so +after swallowing our food we turned in to get some much-needed rest. Before we +did so, however, it occurred to Curtis to tell old Umslopogaas to keep a +look-out in the neighbourhood of Nyleptha’s private apartments. +Umslopogaas was now well known about the place, and by the Queen’s order +allowed to pass whither he would by the guards, a permission of which he often +availed himself by roaming about the palace during the still hours in a +nocturnal fashion that he favoured, and which is by no means uncommon amongst +black men generally. His presence in the corridors would not, therefore, be +likely to excite remark. Without any comment the Zulu took up his axe and +departed, and we also departed to bed. +</p> + +<p> +I seemed to have been asleep but a few minutes when I was awakened by a +peculiar sensation of uneasiness. I felt that somebody was in the room and +looking at me, and instantly sat up, to see to my surprise that it was already +dawn, and that there, standing at the foot of my couch and looking peculiarly +grim and gaunt in the grey light, was Umslopogaas himself. +</p> + +<p> +“How long hast thou been there?” I asked testily, for it is not +pleasant to be aroused in such a fashion. +</p> + +<p> +“Mayhap the half of an hour, Macumazahn. I have a word for thee.” +</p> + +<p> +“Speak on,” I said, now wide enough awake. +</p> + +<p> +“As I was bid I went last night to the place of the White Queen and hid +myself behind a pillar in the second anteroom, beyond which is the +sleeping-place of the Queen. Bougwan (Good) was in the first anteroom alone, +and outside the curtain of that room was a sentry, but I had a mind to see if I +could pass in unseen, and I did, gliding behind them both. There I waited for +many hours, when suddenly I perceived a dark figure coming secretly towards me. +It was the figure of a woman, and in her hand she held a dagger. Behind that +figure crept another unseen by the woman. It was Bougwan following in her +tracks. His shoes were off, and for so fat a man he followed very well. The +woman passed me, and the starlight shone upon her face.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who was it?” I asked impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +“The face was the face of the ‘Lady of the Night’, and of a +truth she is well named. +</p> + +<p> +“I waited, and Bougwan passed me also. Then I followed. So we went slowly +and without a sound up the long chamber. First the woman, then Bougwan, and +then I; and the woman saw not Bougwan, and Bougwan saw not me. At last the +‘Lady of the Night’ came to the curtains that shut off the sleeping +place of the White Queen, and put out her left hand to part them. She passed +through, and so did Bougwan, and so did I. At the far end of the room is the +bed of the Queen, and on it she lay very fast asleep. I could hear her breathe, +and see one white arm lying on the coverlid like a streak of snow on the dry +grass. The ‘Lady of the Night’ doubled herself thus, and with the +long knife lifted crept towards the bed. So straight did she gaze thereat that +she never thought to look behind her. When she was quite close Bougwan touched +her on the arm, and she caught her breath and turned, and I saw the knife +flash, and heard it strike. Well was it for Bougwan that he had the skin of +iron on him, or he had been pierced. Then for the first time he saw who the +woman was, and without a word he fell back astonished, and unable to speak. +She, too, was astonished, and spoke not, but suddenly she laid her finger on +her lip, thus, and walked towards and through the curtain, and with her went +Bougwan. So close did she pass to me that her dress touched me, and I was nigh +to slaying her as she went. In the first outer room she spoke to Bougwan in a +whisper and, clasping her hands thus, she pleaded with him, but what she said I +know not. And so they passed on to the second outer room, she pleading and he +shaking his head, and saying, ‘Nay, nay, nay’. And it seemed to me +that he was about to call the guard, when she stopped talking and looked at him +with great eyes, and I saw that he was bewitched by her beauty. Then she +stretched out her hand and he kissed it, whereon I gathered myself together to +advance and take her, seeing that now had Bougwan become a woman, and no longer +knew the good from the evil, when behold! she was gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Gone!” I ejaculated. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, gone, and there stood Bougwan staring at the wall like one asleep, +and presently he went too, and I waited a while and came away also.” +</p> + +<p> +“Art thou sure, Umslopogaas,” said I, “that thou hast not +been a dreamer this night?” +</p> + +<p> +In reply he opened his left hand, and produced about three inches of a blade of +a dagger of the finest steel. “If I be, Macumazahn, behold what the dream +left with me. The knife broke upon Bougwan’s bosom and as I passed I +picked this up in the sleeping-place of the White Queen.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> +WAR! RED WAR!</h2> + +<p> +Telling Umslopogaas to wait, I tumbled into my clothes and went off with him to +Sir Henry’s room, where the Zulu repeated his story word for word. It was +a sight to watch Curtis’ face as he heard it. +</p> + +<p> +“Great Heavens!” he said: “here have I been sleeping away +while Nyleptha was nearly murdered—and all through me, too. What a fiend +that Sorais must be! It would have served her well if Umslopogaas had cut her +down in the act.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” said the Zulu. “Fear not; I should have slain her ere +she struck. I was but waiting the moment.” +</p> + +<p> +I said nothing, but I could not help thinking that many a thousand doomed lives +would have been saved if he had meted out to Sorais the fate she meant for her +sister. And, as the issue proved, I was right. +</p> + +<p> +After he had told his tale Umslopogaas went off unconcernedly to get his +morning meal, and Sir Henry and I fell to talking. +</p> + +<p> +At first he was very bitter against Good, who, he said, was no longer to be +trusted, having designedly allowed Sorais to escape by some secret stair when +it was his duty to have handed her over to justice. Indeed, he spoke in the +most unmeasured terms on the matter. I let him run on awhile, reflecting to +myself how easy we find it to be hard on the weaknesses of others, and how +tender we are to our own. +</p> + +<p> +“Really, my dear fellow,” I said at length, “one would never +think, to hear you talk, that you were the man who had an interview with this +same lady yesterday, and found it rather difficult to resist her fascinations, +notwithstanding your ties to one of the loveliest and most loving women in the +world. Now suppose it was Nyleptha who had tried to murder Sorais, and +<i>you</i> had caught her, and she had pleaded with you, would you have been so +very eager to hand her over to an open shame, and to death by fire? Just look +at the matter through Good’s eyeglass for a minute before you denounce an +old friend as a scoundrel.” +</p> + +<p> +He listened to this jobation submissively, and then frankly acknowledged that +he had spoken hardly. It is one of the best points in Sir Henry’s +character that he is always ready to admit it when he is in the wrong. +</p> + +<p> +But, though I spoke up thus for Good, I was not blind to the fact that, however +natural his behaviour might be, it was obvious that he was being involved in a +very awkward and disgraceful complication. A foul and wicked murder had been +attempted, and he had let the murderess escape, and thereby, among other +things, allowed her to gain a complete ascendency over himself. In fact, he was +in a fair way to become her tool—and no more dreadful fate can befall a +man than to become the tool of an unscrupulous woman, or indeed of any woman. +There is but one end to it: when he is broken, or has served her purpose, he is +thrown away—turned out on the world to hunt for his lost self-respect. +Whilst I was pondering thus, and wondering what was to be done—for the +whole subject was a thorny one—I suddenly heard a great clamour in the +courtyard outside, and distinguished the voice of Umslopogaas and Alphonse, the +former cursing furiously, and the latter yelling in terror. +</p> + +<p> +Hurrying out to see what was the matter, I was met by a ludicrous sight. The +little Frenchman was running up the courtyard at an extraordinary speed, and +after him sped Umslopogaas like a great greyhound. Just as I came out he caught +him, and, lifting him right off his legs, carried him some paces to a beautiful +but very dense flowering shrub which bore a flower not unlike the gardenia, but +was covered with short thorns. Next, despite his howls and struggles, he with +one mighty thrust plunged poor Alphonse head first into the bush, so that +nothing but the calves of his legs and heels remained in evidence. Then, +satisfied with what he had done, the Zulu folded his arms and stood grimly +contemplating the Frenchman’s kicks, and listening to his yells, which +were awful. +</p> + +<p> +“What art thou doing?” I said, running up. “Wouldst thou kill +the man? Pull him out of the bush!” +</p> + +<p> +With a savage grunt he obeyed, seizing the wretched Alphonse by the ankle, and +with a jerk that must have nearly dislocated it, tearing him out of the heart +of the shrub. Never did I see such a sight as he presented, his clothes half +torn off his back, and bleeding as he was in every direction from the sharp +thorns. There he lay and yelled and rolled, and there was no getting anything +out of him. +</p> + +<p> +At last, however, he got up and, ensconcing himself behind me, cursed old +Umslopogaas by every saint in the calendar, vowing by the blood of his heroic +grandfather that he would poison him, and “have his revenge”. +</p> + +<p> +At last I got to the truth of the matter. It appeared that Alphonse habitually +cooked Umslopogaas’s porridge, which the latter ate for breakfast in the +corner of the courtyard, just as he would have done at home in Zululand, from a +gourd, and with a wooden spoon. Now Umslopogaas had, like many Zulus, a great +horror of fish, which he considered a species of water-snake; so Alphonse, who +was as fond of playing tricks as a monkey, and who was also a consummate cook, +determined to make him eat some. Accordingly he grated up a quantity of white +fish very finely, and mixed it with the Zulu’s porridge, who swallowed it +nearly all down in ignorance of what he was eating. But, unfortunately for +Alphonse, he could not restrain his joy at this sight, and came capering and +peering round, till at last Umslopogaas, who was very clever in his way, +suspected something, and, after a careful examination of the remains of his +porridge, discovered “the buffalo heifer’s trick”, and, in +revenge, served him as I have said. Indeed, the little man was fortunate not to +get a broken neck for his pains; for, as one would have thought, he might have +learnt from the episode of his display of axemanship that “le Monsieur +noir” was an ill person to play practical jokes upon. +</p> + +<p> +This incident was unimportant enough in itself, but I narrate it because it led +to serious consequences. As soon as he had stanched the bleeding from his +scratches and washed himself, Alphonse went off still cursing, to recover his +temper, a process which I knew from experience would take a very long time. +When he had gone I gave Umslopogaas a jobation and told him that I was ashamed +of his behaviour. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, well, Macumazahn,” he said, “you must be gentle with me, +for here is not my place. I am weary of it, weary to death of eating and +drinking, of sleeping and giving in marriage. I love not this soft life in +stone houses that takes the heart out of a man, and turns his strength to water +and his flesh to fat. I love not the white robes and the delicate women, the +blowing of trumpets and the flying of hawks. When we fought the Masai at the +kraal yonder, ah, then life was worth the living, but here is never a blow +struck in anger, and I begin to think I shall go the way of my fathers and lift +Inkosi-kaas no more,” and he held up the axe and gazed at it in sorrow. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” I said, “that is thy complaint, is it? Thou hast the +blood-sickness, hast thou? And the Woodpecker wants a tree. And at thy age, +too. Shame on thee! Umslopogaas.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, Macumazahn, mine is a red trade, yet is it better and more honest +than some. Better is it to slay a man in fair fight than to suck out his +heart’s blood in buying and selling and usury after your white fashion. +Many a man have I slain, yet is there never a one that I should fear to look in +the face again, ay, many are there who once were friends, and whom I should be +right glad to snuff with. But there! there! thou hast thy ways, and I mine: +each to his own people and his own place. The high-veldt ox will die in the fat +bush country, and so is it with me, Macumazahn. I am rough, I know it, and when +my blood is warm I know not what to do, but yet wilt thou be sorry when the +night swallows me and I am utterly lost in blackness, for in thy heart thou +lovest me, my father, Macumazahn the fox, though I be nought but a broken-down +Zulu war-dog—a chief for whom there is no room in his own kraal, an +outcast and a wanderer in strange places: ay, I love thee, Macumazahn, for we +have grown grey together, and there is that between us that cannot be seen, and +yet is too strong for breaking;” and he took his snuff-box, which was +made of an old brass cartridge, from the slit in his ear where he always +carried it, and handed it to me for me to help myself. +</p> + +<p> +I took the pinch of snuff with some emotion. It was quite true, I was much +attached to the bloodthirsty old ruffian. I do not know what was the charm of +his character, but it had a charm; perhaps it was its fierce honesty and +directness; perhaps one admired his almost superhuman skill and strength, or it +may have been simply that he was so absolutely unique. Frankly, with all my +experience of savages, I never knew a man quite like him, he was so wise and +yet such a child with it all; and though it seems laughable to say so, like the +hero of the Yankee parody, he “had a tender heart”. Anyway, I was +very fond of him, though I should never have thought of telling him so. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, old wolf,” I said, “thine is a strange love. Thou +wouldst split me to the chin if I stood in thy path tomorrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou speakest truth, Macumazahn, that would I if it came in the way of +duty, but I should love thee all the same when the blow had gone fairly home. +Is there any chance of some fighting here, Macumazahn?” he went on in an +insinuating voice. “Methought that what I saw last night did show that +the two great Queens were vexed one with another. Else had the ‘Lady of +the Night’ not brought that dagger with her.” +</p> + +<p> +I agreed with him that it showed that more or less pique and irritation existed +between the ladies, and told him how things stood, and that they were +quarrelling over Incubu. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, is it so?” he exclaimed, springing up in delight; “then +will there be war as surely as the rivers rise in the rains—war to the +end. Women love the last blow as well as the last word, and when they fight for +love they are pitiless as a wounded buffalo. See thou, Macumazahn, a woman will +swim through blood to her desire, and think nought of it. With these eyes have +I seen it once, and twice also. Ah, Macumazahn, we shall see this fine place of +houses burning yet, and hear the battle cries come ringing up the street. After +all, I have not wandered for nothing. Can this folk fight, think ye?” +</p> + +<p> +Just then Sir Henry joined us, and Good arrived, too, from another direction, +looking very pale and hollow-eyed. The moment Umslopogaas saw the latter he +stopped his bloodthirsty talk and greeted him. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Bougwan,” he cried, “greeting to thee, Inkoos! Thou art +surely weary. Didst thou hunt too much yesterday?” Then, without waiting +for an answer, he went on— +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, Bougwan, and I will tell thee a story; it is about a woman, +therefore wilt thou hear it, is it not so? +</p> + +<p> +“There was a man and he had a brother, and there was a woman who loved +the man’s brother and was beloved of the man. But the man’s brother +had a favourite wife and loved not the woman, and he made a mock of her. Then +the woman, being very cunning and fierce-hearted for revenge, took counsel with +herself and said to the man, ‘I love thee, and if thou wilt make war upon +thy brother I will marry thee.’ And he knew it was a lie, yet because of +his great love of the woman, who was very fair, did he listen to her words and +made war. And when many people had been killed his brother sent to him, saying, +‘Why slayest thou me? What hurt have I done unto thee? From my youth up +have I not loved thee? When thou wast little did I not nurture thee, and have +we not gone down to war together and divided the cattle, girl by girl, ox by +ox, and cow by cow? Why slayest thou me, my brother, son of my own +mother?’ +</p> + +<p> +“Then the man’s heart was heavy, and he knew that his path was +evil, and he put aside the tempting of the woman and ceased to make war on his +brother, and lived at peace in the same kraal with him. And after a time the +woman came to him and said, ‘I have lost the past, I will be thy +wife.’ And in his heart he knew that it was a lie and that she thought +the evil thing, yet because of his love did he take her to wife. +</p> + +<p> +“And the very night that they were wed, when the man was plunged into a +deep sleep, did the woman arise and take his axe from his hand and creep into +the hut of his brother and slay him in his rest. Then did she slink back like a +gorged lioness and place the thong of the red axe back upon his wrist and go +her ways. +</p> + +<p> +“And at the dawning the people came shouting, ‘Lousta is slain in +the night,’ and they came unto the hut of the man, and there he lay +asleep and by him was the red axe. Then did they remember the war and say, +‘Lo! he hath of a surety slain his brother,’ and they would have +taken and killed him, but he rose and fled swiftly, and as he fleeted by he +slew the woman. +</p> + +<p> +“But death could not wipe out the evil she had done, and on him rested +the weight of all her sin. Therefore is he an outcast and his name a scorn +among his own people; for on him, and him only, resteth the burden of her who +betrayed. And, therefore, does he wander afar, without a kraal and without an +ox or a wife, and therefore will he die afar like a stricken buck and his name +be accursed from generation to generation, in that the people say that he slew +his brother, Lousta, by treachery in the night-time.” +</p> + +<p> +The old Zulu paused, and I saw that he was deeply agitated by his own story. +Presently he lifted his head, which he had bowed to his breast, and went on: +</p> + +<p> +“I was the man, Bougwan. Ou! <i>I</i> was that man, and now hark thou! +Even as I am so wilt thou be—a tool, a plaything, an ox of burden to +carry the evil deeds of another. Listen! When thou didst creep after the +‘Lady of the Night’ <i>I</i> was hard upon thy track. When she +struck thee with the knife in the sleeping place of the White Queen <i>I</i> +was there also; when thou didst let her slip away like a snake in the stones +<i>I</i> saw thee, and I knew that she had bewitched thee and that a true man +had abandoned the truth, and he who aforetime loved a straight path had taken a +crooked way. Forgive me, my father, if my words are sharp, but out of a full +heart are they spoken. See her no more, so shalt thou go down with honour to +the grave. Else because of the beauty of a woman that weareth as a garment of +fur shalt thou be even as I am, and perchance with more cause. I have +said.” +</p> + +<p> +Throughout this long and eloquent address Good had been perfectly silent, but +when the tale began to shape itself so aptly to his own case, he coloured up, +and when he learnt that what had passed between him and Sorais had been +overseen he was evidently much distressed. And now, when at last he spoke, it +was in a tone of humility quite foreign to him. +</p> + +<p> +“I must say,” he said, with a bitter little laugh, “that I +scarcely thought that I should live to be taught my duty by a Zulu; but it just +shows what we can come to. I wonder if you fellows can understand how +humiliated I feel, and the bitterest part of it is that I deserve it all. Of +course I should have handed Sorais over to the guard, but I could not, and that +is a fact. I let her go and I promised to say nothing, more is the shame to me. +She told me that if I would side with her she would marry me and make me king +of this country, but thank goodness I did find the heart to say that even to +marry her I could not desert my friends. And now you can do what you like, I +deserve it all. All I have to say is that I hope that you may never love a +woman with all your heart and then be so sorely tempted of her,” and he +turned to go. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, old fellow,” said Sir Henry, “just stop a minute. +I have a little tale to tell you too.” And he went on to narrate what had +taken place on the previous day between Sorais and himself. +</p> + +<p> +This was a finishing stroke to poor Good. It is not pleasant to any man to +learn that he has been made a tool of, but when the circumstances are as +peculiarly atrocious as in the present case, it is about as bitter a pill as +anybody can be called on to swallow. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know,” he said, “I think that between you, you +fellows have about worked a cure,” and he turned and walked away, and I +for one felt very sorry for him. Ah, if the moths would always carefully avoid +the candle, how few burnt wings there would be! +</p> + +<p> +That day was a Court day, when the Queens sat in the great hall and received +petitions, discussed laws, money grants, and so forth, and thither we adjourned +shortly afterwards. On our way we were joined by Good, who was looking +exceedingly depressed. +</p> + +<p> +When we got into the hall Nyleptha was already on her throne and proceeding +with business as usual, surrounded by councillors, courtiers, lawyers, priests, +and an unusually strong guard. It was, however, easy to see from the air of +excitement and expectation on the faces of everybody present that nobody was +paying much attention to ordinary affairs, the fact being that the knowledge +that civil war was imminent had now got abroad. We saluted Nyleptha and took +our accustomed places, and for a little while things went on as usual, when +suddenly the trumpets began to call outside the palace, and from the great +crowd that was gathered there in anticipation of some unusual event there rose +a roar of “<i>Sorais! Sorais!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +Then came the roll of many chariot wheels, and presently the great curtains at +the end of the hall were drawn wide and through them entered the “Lady of +the Night” herself. Nor did she come alone. Preceding her was Agon, the +High Priest, arrayed in his most gorgeous vestments, and on either side were +other priests. The reason for their presence was obvious—coming with them +it would have been sacrilege to attempt to detain her. Behind her were a number +of the great lords, and behind them a small body of picked guards. A glance at +Sorais herself was enough to show that her mission was of no peaceful kind, for +in place of her gold embroidered “kaf” she wore a shining tunic +formed of golden scales, and on her head a little golden helmet. In her hand, +too, she bore a toy spear, beautifully made and fashioned of solid silver. Up +the hall she came, looking like a lioness in her conscious pride and beauty, +and as she came the spectators fell back bowing and made a path for her. By the +sacred stone she halted, and laying her hand on it, she cried out with a loud +voice to Nyleptha on the throne, “Hail, oh Queen!” +</p> + +<p> +“All hail, my royal sister!” answered Nyleptha. “Draw thou +near. Fear not, I give thee safe conduct.” +</p> + +<p> +Sorais answered with a haughty look, and swept on up the hall till she stood +right before the thrones. +</p> + +<p> +“A boon, oh Queen!” she cried again. +</p> + +<p> +“Speak on, my sister; what is there that I can give thee who hath half +our kingdom?” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou canst tell me a true word—me and the people of Zu-Vendis. Art +thou, or art thou not, about to take this foreign wolf,” and she pointed +to Sir Henry with her toy spear, “to be a husband to thee, and share thy +bed and throne?” +</p> + +<p> +Curtis winced at this, and turning towards Sorais, said to her in a low voice, +“Methinks that yesterday thou hadst other names than wolf to call me by, +oh Queen!” and I saw her bite her lips as, like a danger flag, the blood +flamed red upon her face. As for Nyleptha, who is nothing if not original, she, +seeing that the thing was out, and that there was nothing further to be gained +by concealment, answered the question in a novel and effectual manner, inspired +thereto, as I firmly believe, by coquetry and a desire to triumph over her +rival. +</p> + +<p> +Up she rose and, descending from the throne, swept in all the glory of her +royal grace on to where her lover stood. There she stopped and untwined the +golden snake that was wound around her arm. Then she bade him kneel, and he +dropped on one knee on the marble before her, and next, taking the golden snake +with both her hands, she bent the pure soft metal round his neck, and when it +was fast, deliberately kissed him on the brow and called him her “dear +lord”. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou seest,” she said, when the excited murmur of the spectators +had died away, addressing her sister as Sir Henry rose to his feet, “I +have put my collar round the ‘wolf’s’ neck, and behold! he +shall be my watchdog, and that is my answer to thee, Queen Sorais, my sister, +and to those with thee. Fear not,” she went on, smiling sweetly on her +lover, and pointing to the golden snake she had twined round his massive +throat, “if my yoke be heavy, yet is it of pure gold, and it shall not +gall thee.” +</p> + +<p> +Then, turning to the audience, she continued in a clear proud tone, “Ay, +Lady of the Night, Lords, Priests, and People here gathered together, by this +sign do I take the foreigner to husband, even here in the face of you all. +What, am I a Queen, and yet not free to choose the man whom I will love? Then +should I be lower than the meanest girl in all my provinces. Nay, he hath won +my heart, and with it goes my hand, and throne, and all I have—ay, had he +been a beggar instead of a great lord fairer and stronger than any here, and +having more wisdom and knowledge of strange things, I had given him all, how +much more so being what he is!” And she took his hand and gazed proudly +on him, and holding it, stood there boldly facing the people. And such was her +sweetness and the power and dignity of her person, and so beautiful she looked +standing hand in hand there at her lover’s side, so sure of him and of +herself, and so ready to risk all things and endure all things for him, that +most of those who saw the sight, which I am sure no one of them will ever +forget, caught the fire from her eyes and the happy colour from her blushing +face, and cheered her like wild things. It was a bold stroke for her to make, +and it appealed to the imagination; but human nature in Zu-Vendis, as +elsewhere, loves that which is bold and not afraid to break a rule, and is +moreover peculiarly susceptible to appeals to its poetical side. +</p> + +<p> +And so the people cheered till the roof rang; but Sorais of the Night stood +there with downcast eyes, for she could not bear to see her sister’s +triumph, which robbed her of the man whom she had hoped to win, and in the +awfulness of her jealous anger she trembled and turned white like an aspen in +the wind. I think I have said somewhere of her that she reminded me of the sea +on a calm day, having the same aspect of sleeping power about her. Well, it was +all awake now, and like the face of the furious ocean it awed and yet +fascinated me. A really handsome woman in a royal rage is always a beautiful +sight, but such beauty and such a rage I never saw combined before, and I can +only say that the effect produced was well worthy of the two. +</p> + +<p> +She lifted her white face, the teeth set, and there were purple rings beneath +her glowing eyes. Thrice she tried to speak and thrice she failed, but at last +her voice came. Raising her silver spear, she shook it, and the light gleamed +from it and from the golden scales of her cuirass. +</p> + +<p> +“And thinkest thou, Nyleptha,” she said in notes which pealed +through the great hall like a clarion, “thinkest thou that I, Sorais, a +Queen of the Zu-Vendi, will brook that this base outlander shall sit upon my +father’s throne and rear up half-breeds to fill the place of the great +House of the Stairway? Never! never! while there is life in my bosom and a man +to follow me and a spear to strike with. Who is on my side? Who? +</p> + +<p> +“Now hand thou over this foreign wolf and those who came hither to prey +with him to the doom of fire, for have they not committed the deadly sin +against the sun? or, Nyleptha, I give thee War—red War! Ay, I say to thee +that the path of thy passion shall be marked out by the blazing of thy towns +and watered with the blood of those who cleave to thee. On thy head rest the +burden of the deed, and in thy ears ring the groans of the dying and the cries +of the widows and those who are left fatherless for ever and for ever. +</p> + +<p> +“I tell thee I will tear thee, Nyleptha, the White Queen, from thy +throne, and that thou shalt be hurled—ay, hurled even from the topmost +stair of the great way to the foot thereof, in that thou hast covered the name +of the House of him who built it with black shame. And I tell ye +strangers—all save Bougwan, whom because thou didst do me a service I +will save alive if thou wilt leave these men and follow me” (here poor +Good shook his head vigorously and ejaculated “Can’t be done” +in English)—“that I will wrap you in sheets of gold and hang you +yet alive in chains from the four golden trumpets of the four angels that fly +east and west and north and south from the giddiest pinnacles of the Temple, so +that ye may be a token and a warning to the land. And as for thee, Incubu, thou +shalt die in yet another fashion that I will not tell thee now.” +</p> + +<p> +She ceased, panting for breath, for her passion shook her like a storm, and a +murmur, partly of horror and partly of admiration, ran through the hall. Then +Nyleptha answered calmly and with dignity: +</p> + +<p> +“Ill would it become my place and dignity, oh sister, so to speak as thou +hast spoken and so to threat as thou hast threatened. Yet if thou wilt make +war, then will I strive to bear up against thee, for if my hand seem soft, yet +shalt thou find it of iron when it grips thine armies by the throat. Sorais, I +fear thee not. I weep for that which thou wilt bring upon our people and on +thyself, but for myself I say—I fear thee not. Yet thou, who but +yesterday didst strive to win my lover and my lord from me, whom today thou +dost call a ‘foreign wolf’, to be <i>thy</i> lover and <i>thy</i> +lord” (here there was an immense sensation in the hall), “thou who +but last night, as I have learnt but since thou didst enter here, didst creep +like a snake into my sleeping-place—ay, even by a secret way, and wouldst +have foully murdered me, thy sister, as I lay asleep—” +</p> + +<p> +“It is false, it is false!” rang out Agon’s and a score of +other voices. +</p> + +<p> +“It is <i>not</i> false,” said I, producing the broken point of the +dagger and holding it up. “Where is the haft from which this flew, oh +Sorais?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not false,” cried Good, determined at last to act like a +loyal man. “I took the Lady of the Night by the White Queen’s bed, +and on my breast the dagger broke.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who is on my side?” cried Sorais, shaking her silver spear, for +she saw that public sympathy was turning against her. “What, Bougwan, +thou comest not?” she said, addressing Good, who was standing close to +her, in a low, concentrated voice. “Thou pale-souled fool, for a reward +thou shalt eat out thy heart with love of me and not be satisfied, and thou +mightest have been my husband and a king! At least I hold <i>thee</i> in chains +that cannot be broken. +</p> + +<p> +“<i>War! war! war!</i>” she cried. “Here, with my hand upon +the sacred stone that shall endure, so runs the prophecy, till the Zu-Vendi set +their necks beneath an alien yoke, I declare war to the end. Who follows Sorais +of the Night to victory and honour?” +</p> + +<p> +Instantly the whole concourse began to break up in indescribable confusion. +Many present hastened to throw in their lot with the “Lady of the +Night”, but some came from her following to us. Amongst the former was an +under officer of Nyleptha’s own guard, who suddenly turned and made a run +for the doorway through which Sorais’ people were already passing. +Umslopogaas, who was present and had taken the whole scene in, seeing with +admirable presence of mind that if this soldier got away others would follow +his example, seized the man, who drew his sword and struck at him. Thereon the +Zulu sprang back with a wild shout, and, avoiding the sword cuts, began to peck +at his foe with his terrible axe, till in a few seconds the man’s fate +overtook him and he fell with a clash heavily and quite dead upon the marble +floor. +</p> + +<p> +This was the first blood spilt in the war. +</p> + +<p> +“Shut the gates,” I shouted, thinking that we might perhaps catch +Sorais so, and not being troubled with the idea of committing sacrilege. But +the order came too late, her guards were already passing through them, and in +another minute the streets echoed with the furious galloping of horses and the +rolling of her chariots. +</p> + +<p> +So, drawing half the people after her, Sorais was soon passing like a whirlwind +through the Frowning City on her road to her headquarters at M’Arstuna, a +fortress situated a hundred and thirty miles to the north of Milosis. +</p> + +<p> +And after that the city was alive with the endless tramp of regiments and +preparations for the gathering war, and old Umslopogaas once more began to sit +in the sunshine and go through a show of sharpening Inkosi-kaas’s razor +edge. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> +A STRANGE WEDDING</h2> + +<p> +One person, however, did not succeed in getting out in time before the gates +were shut, and that was the High Priest Agon, who, as we had every reason to +believe, was Sorais’ great ally, and the heart and soul of her party. +This cunning and ferocious old man had not forgiven us for those hippopotami, +or rather that was what he said. What he meant was that he would never brook +the introduction of our wider ways of thought and foreign learning and +influence while there was a possibility of stamping us out. Also he knew that +we possessed a different system of religion, and no doubt was in daily terror +of our attempting to introduce it into Zu-Vendis. One day he asked me if we had +any religion in our country, and I told him that so far as I could remember we +had ninety-five different ones. You might have knocked him down with a feather, +and really it is difficult not to pity a high priest of a well-established cult +who is haunted by the possible approach of one or all of ninety-five new +religions. +</p> + +<p> +When we knew that Agon was caught, Nyleptha, Sir Henry, and I discussed what +was to be done with him. I was for closely incarcerating him, but Nyleptha +shook her head, saying that it would produce a disastrous effect throughout the +country. “Ah!” she added, with a stamp of her foot, “if I win +and am once really Queen, I will break the power of those priests, with their +rites and revels and dark secret ways.” I only wished that old Agon could +have heard her, it would have frightened him. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Sir Henry, “if we are not to imprison him, I +suppose that we may as well let him go. He is of no use here.” +</p> + +<p> +Nyleptha looked at him in a curious sort of way, and said in a dry little +voice, “Thinkest thou so, my lord?” +</p> + +<p> +“Eh?” said Curtis. “No, I do not see what is the use of +keeping him.” +</p> + +<p> +She said nothing, but continued looking at him in a way that was as shy as it +was sweet. +</p> + +<p> +Then at last he understood. +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me, Nyleptha,” he said, rather tremulously. “Dost +thou mean that thou wilt marry me, even now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, I know not; let my lord say,” was her rapid answer; +“but if my lord wills, the priest is there and the altar is +there”—pointing to the entrance to a private +chapel—“and am I not ready to do the will of my lord? Listen, oh my +lord! In eight days or less thou must leave me and go down to war, for thou +shalt lead my armies, and in war—men sometimes fall, and so I would for a +little space have had thee all my own, if only for memory’s sake;” +and the tears overflowed her lovely eyes and rolled down her face like heavy +drops of dew down the red heart of a rose. +</p> + +<p> +“Mayhap, too,” she went on, “I shall lose my crown, and with +my crown my life and thine also. Sorais is very strong and very bitter, and if +she prevails she will not spare. Who can read the future? Happiness is the +world’s White Bird, that alights seldom, and flies fast and far till one +day he is lost in the clouds. Therefore should we hold him fast if by any +chance he rests for a little space upon our hand. It is not wise to neglect the +present for the future, for who knows what the future will be, Incubu? Let us +pluck our flowers while the dew is on them, for when the sun is up they wither +and on the morrow will others bloom that we shall never see.” And she +lifted her sweet face to him and smiled into his eyes, and once more I felt a +curious pang of jealousy and turned and went away. They never took much notice +of whether I was there or not, thinking, I suppose, that I was an old fool, and +that it did not matter one way or the other, and really I believe that they +were right. +</p> + +<p> +So I went back to our quarters and ruminated over things in general, and +watched old Umslopogaas whetting his axe outside the window as a vulture whets +his beak beside a dying ox. +</p> + +<p> +And in about an hour’s time Sir Henry came tearing over, looking very +radiant and wildly excited, and found Good and myself and even Umslopogaas, and +asked us if we should like to assist at a real wedding. Of course we said yes, +and off we went to the chapel, where we found Agon looking as sulky as any High +Priest possibly could, and no wonder. It appeared that he and Nyleptha had a +slight difference of opinion about the coming ceremony. He had flatly refused +to celebrate it, or to allow any of his priests to do so, whereupon Nyleptha +became very angry and told him that she, as Queen, was head of the Church, and +meant to be obeyed. Indeed, she played the part of a Zu-Vendi Henry the Eighth +to perfection, and insisted that, if she wanted to be married, she would be +married, and that he should marry her.<a href="#fn-19" name="fnref-19" id="fnref-19"><sup>[19]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-19" id="fn-19"></a> <a href="#fnref-19">[19]</a> +In Zu-Vendis members of the Royal House can only be married by the High Priest +or a formally appointed deputy.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +He still refused to go through the ceremony, so she clinched her argument +thus— +</p> + +<p> +“Well, I cannot execute a High Priest, because there is an absurd +prejudice against it, and I cannot imprison him because all his subordinates +would raise a crying that would bring the stars down on Zu-Vendis and crush it; +but I <i>can</i> leave him to contemplate the altar of the Sun without anything +to eat, because that is his natural vocation, and if thou wilt not marry me, O +Agon! thou shalt be placed before the altar yonder with nought but a little +water till such time as thou hast reconsidered the matter.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, as it happened, Agon had been hurried away that morning without his +breakfast, and was already exceedingly hungry, so he presently modified his +views and consented to marry them, saying at the same time that he washed his +hands of all responsibility in the matter. +</p> + +<p> +So it chanced that presently, attended only by two of her favourite maidens, +came the Queen Nyleptha, with happy blushing face and downcast eyes, dressed in +pure white, without embroidery of any sort, as seems to be the fashion on these +occasions in most countries of the world. She did not wear a single ornament, +even her gold circlets were removed, and I thought that if possible she looked +more lovely than ever without them, as really superbly beautiful women do. +</p> + +<p> +She came, curtseyed low to Sir Henry, and then took his hand and led him up +before the altar, and after a little pause, in a slow, clear voice uttered the +following words, which are customary in Zu-Vendis if the bride desires and the +man consents:— +</p> + +<p> +“Thou dost swear by the Sun that thou wilt take no other woman to wife +unless I lay my hand upon her and bid her come?” +</p> + +<p> +“I swear it,” answered Sir Henry; adding in English, “One is +quite enough for me.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Agon, who had been sulking in a corner near the altar, came forward and +gabbled off something into his beard at such a rate that I could not follow it, +but it appeared to be an invocation to the Sun to bless the union and make it +fruitful. I observed that Nyleptha listened very closely to every word, and +afterwards discovered that she was afraid lest Agon should play her a trick, +and by going through the invocations backwards divorce them instead of marry +them. At the end of the invocations they were asked, as in our service, if they +took each other for husband and wife, and on their assenting they kissed each +other before the altar, and the service was over, so far as their rites were +concerned. But it seemed to me that there was yet something wanting, and so I +produced a Prayer-Book, which has, together with the “Ingoldsby +Legends”, that I often read when I lie awake at night, accompanied me in +all my later wanderings. I gave it to my poor boy Harry years ago, and after +his death I found it among his things and took it back again. +</p> + +<p> +“Curtis,” I said, “I am not a clergyman, and I do not know if +what I am going to propose is allowable—I know it is not legal—but +if you and the Queen have no objection I should like to read the English +marriage service over you. It is a solemn step which you are taking, and I +think that you ought, so far as circumstances will allow, to give it the +sanction of your own religion.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have thought of that,” he said, “and I wish you would. I +do not feel half married yet.” +</p> + +<p> +Nyleptha raised no objection, fully understanding that her husband wished to +celebrate the marriage according to the rites prevailing in his own country, +and so I set to work and read the service, from “Dearly beloved” to +“amazement”, as well as I could; and when I came to “I, +Henry, take thee, Nyleptha,” I translated, and also “I, Nyleptha, +take thee, Henry,” which she repeated after me very well. Then Sir Henry +took a plain gold ring from his little finger and placed it on hers, and so on +to the end. The ring had been Curtis’ mother’s wedding-ring, and I +could not help thinking how astonished the dear old Yorkshire lady would have +been if she could have foreseen that her wedding-ring was to serve a similar +purpose for Nyleptha, a Queen of the Zu-Vendi. +</p> + +<p> +As for Agon, he was with difficulty kept calm while this second ceremony was +going on, for he at once understood that it was religious in its nature, and +doubtless bethought him of the ninety-five new faiths which loomed so ominously +in his eyes. Indeed, he at once set me down as a rival High Priest, and hated +me accordingly. However, in the end off he went, positively bristling with +indignation, and I knew that we might look out for danger from his direction. +</p> + +<p> +And off went Good and I, and old Umslopogaas also, leaving the happy pair to +themselves, and very low we all felt. Marriages are supposed to be cheerful +things, but my experience is that they are very much the reverse to everybody, +except perhaps the two people chiefly interested. They mean the breaking-up of +so many old ties as well as the undertaking of so many new ones, and there is +always something sad about the passing away of the old order. Now to take this +case for instance: Sir Henry Curtis is the best and kindest fellow and friend +in the world, but he has never been quite the same since that little scene in +the chapel. It is always Nyleptha this and Nyleptha that—Nyleptha, in +short, from morning till night in one way or another, either expressed or +understood. And as for the old friends—well, of course they have taken +the place that old friends ought to take, and which ladies are as a rule very +careful to see they do take when a man marries, and that is, the second place. +Yes, he would be angry if anybody said so, but it is a fact for all that. He is +not quite the same, and Nyleptha is very sweet and very charming, but I think +that she likes him to understand that she has married <i>him</i>, and not +Quatermain, Good, and Co. But there! what is the use of grumbling? It is all +very right and proper, as any married lady would have no difficulty in +explaining, and I am a selfish, jealous old man, though I hope I never show it. +</p> + +<p> +So Good and I went and ate in silence and then indulged in an extra fine flagon +of old Zu-Vendian to keep our spirits up, and presently one of our attendants +came and told a story that gave us something to think about. +</p> + +<p> +It may, perhaps, be remembered that, after his quarrel with Umslopogaas, +Alphonse had gone off in an exceedingly ill temper to sulk over his scratches. +Well, it appears that he walked right past the Temple to the Sun, down the wide +road on the further side of the slope it crowns, and thence on into the +beautiful park, or pleasure gardens, which are laid out just beyond the outer +wall. After wandering about there for a little he started to return, but was +met near the outer gate by Sorais’ train of chariots, which were +galloping furiously along the great northern road. When she caught sight of +Alphonse, Sorais halted her train and called to him. On approaching he was +instantly seized and dragged into one of the chariots and carried off, +“crying out loudly”, as our informant said, and as from my general +knowledge of him I can well believe. +</p> + +<p> +At first I was much puzzled to know what object Sorais could have had in +carrying off the poor little Frenchman. She could hardly stoop so low as to try +to wreak her fury on one whom she knew was only a servant. At last, however, an +idea occurred to me. We three were, as I think I have said, much revered by the +people of Zu-Vendis at large, both because we were the first strangers they had +ever seen, and because we were supposed to be the possessors of almost +supernatural wisdom. Indeed, though Sorais’ cry against the +“foreign wolves”—or, to translate it more accurately, +“foreign hyenas”—was sure to go down very well with the +nobles and the priests, it was not as we learnt, likely to be particularly +effectual amongst the bulk of the population. The Zu-Vendi people, like the +Athenians of old, are ever seeking for some new thing, and just because we were +so new our presence was on the whole acceptable to them. Again, Sir +Henry’s magnificent personal appearance made a deep impression upon a +race who possess a greater love of beauty than any other I have ever been +acquainted with. Beauty may be prized in other countries, but in Zu-Vendis it +is almost worshipped, as indeed the national love of statuary shows. The people +said openly in the market-places that there was not a man in the country to +touch Curtis in personal appearance, as with the exception of Sorais there was +no woman who could compete with Nyleptha, and that therefore it was meet that +they should marry; and that he had been sent by the Sun as a husband for their +Queen. Now, from all this it will be seen that the outcry against us was to a +considerable extent fictitious, and nobody knew it better than Sorais herself. +Consequently it struck me that it might have occurred to her that down in the +country and among the country people, it would be better to place the reason of +her conflict with her sister upon other and more general grounds than +Nyleptha’s marriage with the stranger. It would be easy in a land where +there had been so many civil wars to rake out some old cry that would stir up +the recollection of buried feuds, and, indeed, she soon found an effectual one. +This being so, it was of great importance to her to have one of the strangers +with her whom she could show to the common people as a great Outlander, who had +been so struck by the justice of her cause that he had elected to leave his +companions and follow her standard. +</p> + +<p> +This, no doubt, was the cause of her anxiety to get a hold of Good, whom she +would have used till he ceased to be of service and then cast off. But Good +having drawn back she grasped at the opportunity of securing Alphonse, who was +not unlike him in personal appearance though smaller, no doubt with the object +of showing him off in the cities and country as the great Bougwan himself. I +told Good that I thought that that was her plan, and his face was a sight to +see—he was so horrified at the idea. +</p> + +<p> +“What,” he said, “dress up that little wretch to represent +me? Why, I shall have to get out of the country! My reputation will be ruined +for ever.” +</p> + +<p> +I consoled him as well as I could, but it is not pleasant to be personated all +over a strange country by an arrant little coward, and I can quite sympathize +with his vexation. +</p> + +<p> +Well, that night Good and I messed as I have said in solitary grandeur, feeling +very much as though we had just returned from burying a friend instead of +marrying one, and next morning the work began in good earnest. The messages and +orders which had been despatched by Nyleptha two days before now began to take +effect, and multitudes of armed men came pouring into the city. We saw, as may +be imagined, but very little of Nyleptha and not too much of Curtis during +those next few days, but Good and I sat daily with the council of generals and +loyal lords, drawing up plans of action, arranging commissariat matters, the +distribution of commands, and a hundred and one other things. Men came in +freely, and all the day long the great roads leading to Milosis were spotted +with the banners of lords arriving from their distant places to rally round +Nyleptha. +</p> + +<p> +After the first few days it became clear that we should be able to take the +field with about forty thousand infantry and twenty thousand cavalry, a very +respectable force considering how short was the time we had to collect it, and +that about half the regular army had elected to follow Sorais. +</p> + +<p> +But if our force was large, Sorais’ was, according to the reports brought +in day by day by our spies, much larger. She had taken up her headquarters at a +very strong town called M’Arstuna, situated, as I have said, to the north +of Milosis, and all the countryside was flocking to her standard. Nasta had +poured down from his highlands and was on his way to join her with no less than +twenty-five thousand of his mountaineers, the most terrible soldiers to face in +all Zu-Vendis. Another mighty lord, named Belusha, who lived in the great +horse-breeding district, had come in with twelve thousand cavalry, and so on. +Indeed, what between one thing and another, it seemed certain that she would +gather a fully armed host of nearly one hundred thousand men. +</p> + +<p> +And then came news that Sorais was proposing to break up her camp and march on +the Frowning City itself, desolating the country as she came. Thereon arose the +question whether it would be best to meet her at Milosis or to go out and give +her battle. When our opinion was asked upon the subject, Good and I +unhesitatingly gave it in favour of an advance. If we were to shut ourselves up +in the city and wait to be attacked, it seemed to us that our inaction would be +set down to fear. It is so important, especially on an occasion of this sort, +when a very little will suffice to turn men’s opinions one way or the +other, to be up and doing something. Ardour for a cause will soon evaporate if +the cause does not move but sits down to conquer. Therefore we cast our vote +for moving out and giving battle in the open, instead of waiting till we were +drawn from our walls like a badger from a hole. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Henry’s opinion coincided with ours, and so, needless to say, did +that of Nyleptha, who, like a flint, was always ready to flash out fire. A +great map of the country was brought and spread out before her. About thirty +miles this side of M’Arstuna, where Sorais lay, and ninety odd miles from +Milosis, the road ran over a neck of land some two and a half miles in width, +and flanked on either side by forest-clad hills which, without being lofty, +would, if the road were blocked, be quite impracticable for a great +baggage-laden army to cross. She looked earnestly at the map, and then, with a +quickness of perception that in some women amounts almost to an instinct, she +laid her finger upon this neck of rising ground, and turning to her husband, +said, with a proud air of confidence and a toss of the golden head— +</p> + +<p> +“Here shalt thou meet Sorais’ armies. I know the spot, here shalt +thou meet them, and drive them before thee like dust before the storm.” +</p> + +<p> +But Curtis looked grave and said nothing. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br /> +THE BATTLE OF THE PASS</h2> + +<p> +It was on the third morning after this incident of the map that Sir Henry and I +started. With the exception of a small guard, all the great host had moved on +the night before, leaving the Frowning City very silent and empty. Indeed, it +was found impossible to leave any garrison with the exception of a personal +guard for Nyleptha, and about a thousand men who from sickness or one cause or +another were unable to proceed with the army; but as Milosis was practically +impregnable, and as our enemy was in front of and not behind us, this did not +so much matter. +</p> + +<p> +Good and Umslopogaas had gone on with the army, but Nyleptha accompanied Sir +Henry and myself to the city gates, riding a magnificent white horse called +Daylight, which was supposed to be the fleetest and most enduring animal in +Zu-Vendis. Her face bore traces of recent weeping, but there were no tears in +her eyes now, indeed she was bearing up bravely against what must have been a +bitter trial to her. At the gate she reined in her horse and bade us farewell. +On the previous day she had reviewed and addressed the officers of the great +army, speaking to them such high, eloquent words, and expressing so complete a +confidence in their valour and in their ultimate victory, that she quite +carried their hearts away, and as she rode from rank to rank they cheered her +till the ground shook. And now today the same mood seemed to be on her. +</p> + +<p> +“Fare thee well, Macumazahn!” she said. “Remember, I trust to +thy wits, which are as a needle to a spear-handle compared to those of my +people, to save us from Sorais. I know that thou wilt do thy duty.” +</p> + +<p> +I bowed and explained to her my horror of fighting, and my fear lest I should +lose my head, at which she laughed gently and turned to Curtis. +</p> + +<p> +“Fare thee well, my lord!” she said. “Come back with victory, +and as a king, or on thy soldiers’ spears.”<a href="#fn-20" name="fnref-20" id="fnref-20"><sup>[20]</sup></a> +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-20" id="fn-20"></a> <a href="#fnref-20">[20]</a> +Alluding to the Zu-Vendi custom of carrying dead officers on a framework of +spears. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Henry said nothing, but turned his horse to go; perhaps he had a bit of a +lump in his throat. One gets over it afterwards, but these sort of partings are +trying when one has only been married a week. +</p> + +<p> +“Here,” added Nyleptha, “will I greet thee when ye return in +triumph. And now, my lords, once more, farewell!” +</p> + +<p> +Then we rode on, but when we had gone a hundred and fifty yards or so, we +turned and perceived her still sitting on her horse at the same spot, and +looking out after us beneath her hand, and that was the last we saw of her. +About a mile farther on, however, we heard galloping behind us, and looking +round, saw a mounted soldier coming towards us, leading Nyleptha’s +matchless steed—Daylight. +</p> + +<p> +“The Queen sends the white stallion as a farewell gift to her Lord +Incubu, and bids me tell my lord that he is the fleetest and most enduring +horse in all the land,” said the soldier, bending to his saddle-bow +before us. +</p> + +<p> +At first Sir Henry did not want to take the horse, saying that he was too good +for such rough work, but I persuaded him to do so, thinking that Nyleptha would +be hurt if he did not. Little did I guess at the time what service that noble +horse would render in our sorest need. It is curious to look back and realise +upon what trivial and apparently coincidental circumstances great events +frequently turn as easily and naturally as a door on its hinges. +</p> + +<p> +Well, we took the horse, and a beauty he was, it was a perfect pleasure to see +him move, and Curtis having sent back his greetings and thanks, we proceeded on +our journey. +</p> + +<p> +By midday we overtook the rear-guard of the great army of which Sir Henry then +formally took over the command. It was a heavy responsibility, and it oppressed +him very much, but the Queen’s injunctions on the point were such as did +not admit of being trifled with. He was beginning to find out that greatness +has its responsibilities as well as its glories. +</p> + +<p> +Then we marched on without meeting with any opposition, almost indeed without +seeing anybody, for the populations of the towns and villages along our route +had for the most part fled, fearing lest they should be caught between the two +rival armies and ground to powder like grain between the upper and the nether +stones. +</p> + +<p> +On the evening of the fourth day, for the progress of so great a multitude was +necessarily slow, we camped two miles this side of the neck or ridge I have +spoken of, and our outposts brought us word that Sorais with all her power was +rolling down upon us, and had pitched her camp that night ten miles the farther +side of the neck. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly before dawn we sent forward fifteen hundred cavalry to seize the +position. Scarcely had they occupied it, however, before they were attacked by +about as many of Sorais’ horsemen, and a very smart little cavalry fight +ensued, with a loss to us of about thirty men killed. On the advance of our +supports, however, Sorais’ force drew off, carrying their dead and +wounded with them. +</p> + +<p> +The main body of the army reached the neck about dinner-time, and I must say +that Nyleptha’s judgment had not failed her, it was an admirable place to +give battle in, especially to a superior force. +</p> + +<p> +The road ran down a mile or more, through ground too broken to admit of the +handling of any considerable force, till it reached the crest of a great green +wave of land, that rolled down a gentle slope to the banks of a little stream, +and then rolled away again up a still gentler slope to the plain beyond, the +distance from the crest of the land-wave down to the stream being a little over +half a mile, and from the stream up to the plain beyond a trifle less. The +length of this wave of land at its highest point, which corresponded exactly +with the width of the neck of the land between the wooded hills, was about two +miles and a quarter, and it was protected on either side by dense, rocky, +bush-clad ground, that afforded a most valuable cover to the flanks of the army +and rendered it almost impossible for them to be turned. +</p> + +<p> +It was on the hither slope of this neck of land that Curtis encamped his army +in the same formation that he had, after consultation with the various +generals, Good, and myself, determined that they should occupy in the great +pitched battle which now appeared to be imminent. +</p> + +<p> +Our force of sixty thousand men was, roughly speaking, divided as follows. In +the centre was a dense body of twenty thousand foot-soldiers, armed with +spears, swords, and hippopotamus-hide shields, breast and back plates.<a href="#fn-21" name="fnref-21" id="fnref-21"><sup>[21]</sup></a> +These formed the chest of the army, and were supported by five thousand foot, +and three thousand horse in reserve. On either side of this chest were +stationed seven thousand horse arranged in deep, majestic squadrons; and beyond +and on either side but slightly in front of them again were two bodies, each +numbering about seven thousand five hundred spearmen, forming the right and +left wings of the army, and each supported by a contingent of some fifteen +hundred cavalry. This makes in all sixty thousand men. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-21" id="fn-21"></a> <a href="#fnref-21">[21]</a> +The Zu-Vendi people do not use bows.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +Curtis commanded in chief, I was in command of the seven thousand horse between +the chest and right wing, which was commanded by Good, and the other battalions +and squadrons were entrusted to Zu-Vendis generals. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely had we taken up our positions before Sorais’ vast army began to +swarm on the opposite slope about a mile in front of us, till the whole place +seemed alive with the multitude of her spearpoints, and the ground shook with +the tramp of her battalions. It was evident that the spies had not exaggerated; +we were outnumbered by at least a third. At first we expected that Sorais was +going to attack us at once, as the clouds of cavalry which hung upon her flanks +executed some threatening demonstrations, but she thought better of it, and +there was no fight that day. As for the formation of her great forces I cannot +now describe it with accuracy, and it would only serve to bewilder if I did, +but I may say, generally, that in its leading features it resembled our own, +only her reserve was much greater. +</p> + +<p> +Opposite our right wing, and forming Sorais’ left wing, was a great army +of dark, wild-looking men, armed with sword and shield only, which, I was +informed, was composed of Nasta’s twenty-five thousand savage hillsmen. +</p> + +<p> +“My word, Good,” said I, when I saw them, “you will catch it +tomorrow when those gentlemen charge!” whereat Good not unnaturally +looked rather anxious. +</p> + +<p> +All day we watched and waited, but nothing happened, and at last night fell, +and a thousand watch-fires twinkled brightly on the slopes, to wane and die one +by one like the stars they resembled. As the hours wore on, the silence +gradually gathered more deeply over the opposing hosts. +</p> + +<p> +It was a very wearying night, for in addition to the endless things that had to +be attended to, there was our gnawing suspense to reckon with. The fray which +tomorrow would witness would be so vast, and the slaughter so awful, that stout +indeed must the heart have been that was not overwhelmed at the prospect. And +when I thought of all that hung upon it, I own I felt ill, and it made me very +sad to reflect that these mighty forces were gathered for destruction, simply +to gratify the jealous anger of a woman. This was the hidden power which was to +send those dense masses of cavalry, flashing like human thunderbolts across the +plain, and to roll together the fierce battalions as clouds when hurricane +meets hurricane. It was a dreadful thought, and set one wondering about the +responsibilities of the great ones of the earth. Deep into the night we sat, +with pale faces and heavy hearts, and took counsel, whilst the sentries tramped +up and down, down and up, and the armed and plumed generals came and went, grim +and shadow-like. +</p> + +<p> +And so the time wore away, till everything was ready for the coming slaughter; +and I lay down and thought, and tried to get a little rest, but could not sleep +for fear of the morrow—for who could say what the morrow would bring +forth? Misery and death, this was certain; beyond that we knew not, and I +confess I was very much afraid. But as I realised then, it is useless to +question that eternal Sphinx, the future. From day to day she reads aloud the +riddles of the yesterday, of which the puzzled wordlings of all ages have not +answered one, nor ever will, guess they never so wildly or cry they never so +loud. +</p> + +<p> +And so at length I gave up wondering, being forced humbly to leave the issue in +the balancing hands of Providence and the morrow. +</p> + +<p> +And at last up came the red sun, and the huge camps awoke with a clash, and a +roar, and gathered themselves together for battle. It was a beautiful and +awe-inspiring scene, and old Umslopogaas, leaning on his axe, contemplated it +with grim delight. +</p> + +<p> +“Never have I seen the like, Macumazahn, never,” he said. +“The battles of my people are as the play of children to what this will +be. Thinkest thou that they will fight it out?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” I answered sadly, “to the death. Content thyself, +‘Woodpecker’, for once shalt thou peck thy fill.” +</p> + +<p> +Time went on, and still there was no sign of an attack. A force of cavalry +crossed the brook, indeed, and rode slowly along our front, evidently taking +stock of our position and numbers. With this we did not attempt to interfere, +as our decision was to stand strictly on the defensive, and not to waste a +single man. The men breakfasted and stood to their arms, and the hours wore on. +About midday, when the men were eating their dinner, for we thought they would +fight better on full stomachs, a shout of “<i>Sorais, Sorais</i>” +arose like thunder from the enemy’s extreme right, and taking the glass, +I was able to clearly distinguish the “Lady of the Night” herself, +surrounded by a glittering staff, and riding slowly down the lines of her +battalions. And as she went, that mighty, thundering shout rolled along before +her like the rolling of ten thousand chariots, or the roaring of the ocean when +the gale turns suddenly and carries the noise of it to the listener’s +ears, till the earth shook, and the air was full of the majesty of sound. +</p> + +<p> +Guessing that this was a prelude to the beginning of the battle, we remained +still and made ready. +</p> + +<p> +We had not long to wait. Suddenly, like flame from a cannon’s mouth, out +shot two great tongue-like forces of cavalry, and came charging down the slope +towards the little stream, slowly at first, but gathering speed as they came. +Before they got to the stream, orders reached me from Sir Henry, who evidently +feared that the shock of such a charge, if allowed to fall unbroken upon our +infantry, would be too much for them, to send five thousand sabres to meet the +force opposite to me, at the moment when it began to mount the stiffest of the +rise about four hundred yards from our lines. This I did, remaining behind +myself with the rest of my men. +</p> + +<p> +Off went the five thousand horsemen, drawn up in a wedge-like form, and I must +say that the general in command handled them very ably. Starting at a hand +gallop, for the first three hundred yards he rode straight at the tip of the +tongue-shaped mass of cavalry which, numbering, so far as I could judge, about +eight thousand sabres, was advancing to charge us. Then he suddenly swerved to +the right and put on the pace, and I saw the great wedge curl round, and before +the foe could check himself and turn to meet it, strike him about halfway down +his length, with a crashing rending sound, like that of the breaking-up of vast +sheets of ice. In sank the great wedge, into his heart, and as it cut its way +hundreds of horsemen were thrown up on either side of it, just as the earth is +thrown up by a ploughshare, or more like still, as the foaming water curls over +beneath the bows of a rushing ship. In, yet in, vainly does the tongue twist +its ends round in agony, like an injured snake, and strive to protect its +centre; still farther in, by Heaven! right through, and so, amid cheer after +cheer from our watching thousands, back again upon the severed ends, beating +them down, driving them as a gale drives spray, till at last, amidst the +rushing of hundreds of riderless horses, the flashing of swords, and the +victorious clamour of their pursuers, the great force crumples up like an empty +glove, then turns and gallops pell-mell for safety back to its own lines. +</p> + +<p> +I do not think it reached them more than two-thirds as strong as it went out +ten minutes before. The lines which were now advancing to the attack, opened +and swallowed them up, and my force returned, having only suffered a loss of +about five hundred men—not much, I thought, considering the fierceness of +the struggle. I could also see that the opposing bodies of cavalry on our left +wing were drawing back, but how the fight went with them I do not quite know. +It is as much as I can do to describe what took place immediately around me. +</p> + +<p> +By this time the dense masses of the enemy’s left, composed almost +entirely of Nasta’s swordsmen, were across the little stream, and with +alternate yells of “Nasta” and “Sorais”, with dancing +banners and gleaming swords, were swarming up towards us like ants. +</p> + +<p> +Again I received orders to try and check this movement, and also the main +advance against the chest of our army, by means of cavalry charges, and this I +did to the best of my ability, by continually sending squadrons of about a +thousand sabres out against them. These squadrons did the enemy much damage, +and it was a glorious sight to see them flash down the hillside, and bury +themselves like a living knife in the heart of the foe. But, also, we lost many +men, for after the experience of a couple of these charges, which had drawn a +sort of bloody St Andrew’s cross of dead and dying through the centre of +Nasta’s host, our foes no longer attempted to offer an unyielding front +to their irresistible weight, but opened out to let the rush go through, +throwing themselves on the ground and hamstringing hundreds of horses as they +passed. +</p> + +<p> +And so, notwithstanding all that we could do, the enemy drew nearer, till at +last he hurled himself upon Good’s force of seven thousand five hundred +regulars, who were drawn up to receive them in three strong squares. About the +same time, too, an awful and heartshaking roar told me that the main battle had +closed in on the centre and extreme left. I raised myself in my stirrups and +looked down to my left; so far as the eye could see there was a long dazzling +shimmer of steel as the sun glanced upon falling sword and thrusting spear. +</p> + +<p> +To and fro swung the contending lines in that dread struggle, now giving way, +now gaining a little in the mad yet ordered confusion of attack and defence. +But it was as much as I could do to keep count of what was happening to our own +wing; and, as for the moment the cavalry had fallen back under cover of +Good’s three squares, I had a fair view of this. +</p> + +<p> +Nasta’s wild swordsmen were now breaking in red waves against the sullen +rock-like squares. Time after time did they yell out their war-cries, and hurl +themselves furiously against the long triple ridges of spear points, only to be +rolled back as billows are when they meet the cliff. +</p> + +<p> +And so for four long hours the battle raged almost without a pause, and at the +end of that time, if we had gained nothing we had lost nothing. Two attempts to +turn our left flank by forcing a way through the wood by which it was protected +had been defeated; and as yet Nasta’s swordsmen had, notwithstanding +their desperate efforts, entirely failed to break Good’s three squares, +though they had thinned their numbers by quite a third. +</p> + +<p> +As for the chest of the army where Sir Henry was with his staff and +Umslopogaas, it had suffered dreadfully, but it had held its own with honour, +and the same may be said of our left battle. +</p> + +<p> +At last the attacks slackened, and Sorais’ army drew back, having, I +began to think, had enough of it. On this point, however, I was soon +undeceived, for splitting up her cavalry into comparatively small squadrons, +she charged us furiously with them, all along the line, and then once more +sullenly rolled her tens of thousands of sword and spearmen down upon our +weakened squares and squadrons; Sorais herself directing the movement, as +fearless as a lioness heading the main attack. On they came like an +avalanche—I saw her golden helm gleaming in the van—our counter +charges of cavalry entirely failing to check their forward sweep. Now they had +struck us, and our centre bent in like a bow beneath the weight of their +rush—it parted, and had not the ten thousand men in reserve charged down +to its support it must have been utterly destroyed. As for Good’s three +squares, they were swept backwards like boats upon an incoming tide, and the +foremost one was burst into and lost half its remaining men. But the effort was +too fierce and terrible to last. Suddenly the battle came, as it were, to a +turning-point, and for a minute or two stood still. +</p> + +<p> +Then it began to move towards Sorais’ camp. Just then, too, Nasta’s +fierce and almost invincible highlanders, either because they were disheartened +by their losses or by way of a ruse, fell back, and the remains of Good’s +gallant squares, leaving the positions they had held for so many hours, cheered +wildly, and rashly followed them down the slope, whereon the swarms of +swordsmen turned to envelop them, and once more flung themselves upon them with +a yell. Taken thus on every side, what remained of the first square was quickly +destroyed, and I perceived that the second, in which I could see Good himself +mounted on a large horse, was on the point of annihilation. A few more minutes +and it was broken, its streaming colours sank, and I lost sight of Good in the +confused and hideous slaughter that ensued. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, however, a cream-coloured horse with a snow-white mane and tail +burst from the ruins of the square and came rushing past me riderless and with +wide streaming reins, and in it I recognized the charger that Good had been +riding. Then I hesitated no longer, but taking with me half my effective +cavalry force, which now amounted to between four and five thousand men, I +commended myself to God, and, without waiting for orders, I charged straight +down upon Nasta’s swordsmen. Seeing me coming, and being warned by the +thunder of my horses’ hoofs, the majority of them faced round, and gave +us a right warm welcome. Not an inch would they yield; in vain did we hack and +trample them down as we ploughed a broad red furrow through their thousands; +they seemed to re-arise by hundreds, driving their terrible sharp swords into +our horses, or severing their hamstrings, and then hacking the troopers who +came to the ground with them almost into pieces. My horse was speedily killed +under me, but luckily I had a fresh one, my own favourite, a coal-black mare +Nyleptha had given me, being held in reserve behind, and on this I afterwards +mounted. Meanwhile I had to get along as best I could, for I was pretty well +lost sight of by my men in the mad confusion of the moment. My voice, of +course, could not be heard in the midst of the clanging of steel and the +shrieks of rage and agony. Presently I found myself mixed up with the remnants +of the square, which had formed round its leader Good, and was fighting +desperately for existence. I stumbled against somebody, and glancing down, +caught sight of Good’s eyeglass. He had been beaten to his knee. Over him +was a great fellow swinging a heavy sword. Somehow I managed to run the man +through with the sime I had taken from the Masai whose hand I had cut off; but +as I did so, he dealt me a frightful blow on the left side and breast with the +sword, and though my chain shirt saved my life, I felt that I was badly hurt. +For a minute I fell on to my hands and knees among the dead and dying, and +turned sick and faint. When I came to again I saw that Nasta’s spearmen, +or rather those of them who remained, were retreating back across the stream, +and that Good was there by me smiling sweetly. +</p> + +<p> +“Near go that,” he shouted; “but all’s well that ends +well.” +</p> + +<p> +I assented, but I could not help feeling that it had not ended well for me. I +was sorely hurt. +</p> + +<p> +Just then we saw the smaller bodies of cavalry stationed on our extreme right +and left, and which were now reinforced by the three thousand sabres which we +had held in reserve, flash out like arrows from their posts and fall upon the +disordered flanks of Sorais’ forces, and that charge decided the issue of +the battle. In another minute or two the enemy was in slow and sullen retreat +across the little stream, where they once more re-formed. Then came another +lull, during which I managed to get a second horse, and received my orders to +advance from Sir Henry, and then with one fierce deep-throated roar, with a +waving of banners and a wide flashing of steel, the remains of our army took +the offensive and began to sweep down, slowly indeed, but irresistibly from the +positions they had so gallantly held all day. +</p> + +<p> +At last it was our turn to attack. +</p> + +<p> +On we moved, over the piled-up masses of dead and dying, and were approaching +the stream, when suddenly I perceived an extraordinary sight. Galloping wildly +towards us, his arms tightly clasped around his horse’s neck, against +which his blanched cheek was tightly pressed, was a man arrayed in the full +costume of a Zu-Vendi general, but in whom, as he came nearer, I recognized +none other than our lost Alphonse. It was impossible even then to mistake those +curling mustachios. In a minute he was tearing through our ranks and narrowly +escaped being cut down, till at last somebody caught his horse’s bridle, +and he was brought to me just as a momentary halt occurred in our advance to +allow what remained of our shattered squares to form into line. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, monsieur,” he gasped out in a voice that was nearly +inarticulate with fright, “grace to the sky, it is you! Ah, what I have +endured! But you win, monsieur, you win; they fly, the lâches. But listen, +monsieur—I forget, it is no good; the Queen is to be murdered tomorrow at +the first light in the palace of Milosis; her guards will leave their posts, +and the priests are going to kill her. Ah yes! they little thought it, but I +was ensconced beneath a banner, and I heard it all.” +</p> + +<p> +“What?” I said, horror-struck; “what do you mean?” +</p> + +<p> +“What I say, monsieur; that devil of a Nasta he went last night to settle +the affair with the Archbishop [Agon]. The guard will leave open the little +gate leading from the great stair and go away, and Nasta and Agon’s +priests will come in and kill her. Themselves they would not kill her.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come with me,” I said, and, shouting to the staff-officer next to +me to take over the command, I snatched his bridle and galloped as hard as I +could for the spot, between a quarter and half a mile off, where I saw the +royal pennon flying, and where I knew that I should find Curtis if he were +still alive. On we tore, our horses clearing heaps of dead and dying men, and +splashing through pools of blood, on past the long broken lines of spearmen to +where, mounted on the white stallion Nyleptha had sent to him as a parting +gift, I saw Sir Henry’s form towering above the generals who surrounded +him. +</p> + +<p> +Just as we reached him the advance began again. A bloody cloth was bound around +his head, but I saw that his eye was as bright and keen as ever. Beside him was +old Umslopogaas, his axe red with blood, but looking quite fresh and uninjured. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s wrong, Quatermain?” he shouted. +</p> + +<p> +“Everything. There is a plot to murder the Queen tomorrow at dawn. +Alphonse here, who has just escaped from Sorais, has overheard it all,” +and I rapidly repeated to him what the Frenchman had told me. +</p> + +<p> +Curtis’ face turned deadly pale and his jaw dropped. +</p> + +<p> +“At dawn,” he gasped, “and it is now sunset; it dawns before +four and we are nearly a hundred miles off—nine hours at the outside. +What is to be done?” +</p> + +<p> +An idea entered into my head. “Is that horse of yours fresh?” I +said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I have only just got on to him—when my last was killed, and +he has been fed.” +</p> + +<p> +“So is mine. Get off him, and let Umslopogaas mount; he can ride well. We +will be at Milosis before dawn, or if we are not—well, we cannot help it. +No, no; it is impossible for you to leave now. You would be seen, and it would +turn the fate of the battle. It is not half won yet. The soldiers would think +you were making a bolt of it. Quick now.” +</p> + +<p> +In a moment he was down, and at my bidding Umslopogaas sprang into the empty +saddle. +</p> + +<p> +“Now farewell,” I said. “Send a thousand horsemen with +remounts after us in an hour if possible. Stay, despatch a general to the left +wing to take over the command and explain my absence.” +</p> + +<p> +“You will do your best to save her, Quatermain?” he said in a +broken voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, that I will. Go on; you are being left behind.” +</p> + +<p> +He cast one glance at us, and accompanied by his staff galloped off to join the +advance, which by this time was fording the little brook that now ran red with +the blood of the fallen. +</p> + +<p> +As for Umslopogaas and myself, we left that dreadful field as arrows leave a +bow, and in a few minutes had passed right out of the sight of slaughter, the +smell of blood, and the turmoil and shouting, which only came to our ears as a +faint, far-off roaring like the sound of distant breakers. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER XXI.<br /> +AWAY! AWAY!</h2> + +<p> +At the top of the rise we halted for a second to breathe our horses; and, +turning, glanced at the battle beneath us, which, illumined as it was by the +fierce rays of the sinking sun staining the whole scene red, looked from where +we were more like some wild titanic picture than an actual hand-to-hand combat. +The distinguishing scenic effect from that distance was the countless distinct +flashes of light reflected from the swords and spears, otherwise the panorama +was not so grand as might have been expected. The great green lap of sward in +which the struggle was being fought out, the bold round outline of the hills +behind, and the wide sweep of the plain beyond, seemed to dwarf it; and what +was tremendous enough when one was in it, grew insignificant when viewed from +the distance. But is it not thus with all the affairs and doings of our race +about which we blow the loud trumpet and make such a fuss and worry? How +utterly antlike, and morally and physically insignificant, must they seem to +the calm eyes that watch them from the arching depths above! +</p> + +<p> +“We win the day, Macumazahn,” said old Umslopogaas, taking in the +whole situation with a glance of his practised eye. “Look, the Lady of +the Night’s forces give on every side, there is no stiffness left in +them, they bend like hot iron, they are fighting with but half a heart. But +alas! the battle will in a manner be drawn, for the darkness gathers, and the +regiments will not be able to follow and slay!”—and he shook his +head sadly. “But,” he added, “I do not think that they will +fight again. We have fed them with too strong a meat. Ah! it is well to have +lived! At last I have seen a fight worth seeing.” +</p> + +<p> +By this time we were on our way again, and as we went side by side I told him +what our mission was, and how that, if it failed, all the lives that had been +lost that day would have been lost in vain. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” he said, “nigh on a hundred miles and no horses but +these, and to be there before the dawn! Well—away! away! man can but try, +Macumazahn; and mayhap we shall be there in time to split that old +‘witch-finder’s’ [Agon’s] skull for him. Once he wanted +to burn us, the old ‘rain-maker’, did he? And now he would set a +snare for my mother [Nyleptha], would he? Good! So sure as my name is the name +of the Woodpecker, so surely, be my mother alive or dead, will I split him to +the beard. Ay, by T’Chaka’s head I swear it!” and he shook +Inkosi-kaas as he galloped. By now the darkness was closing in, but fortunately +there would be a moon later, and the road was good. +</p> + +<p> +On we sped through the twilight, the two splendid horses we bestrode had got +their wind by this, and were sweeping along with a wide steady stride that +neither failed nor varied for mile upon mile. Down the side of slopes we +galloped, across wide vales that stretched to the foot of far-off hills. Nearer +and nearer grew the blue hills; now we were travelling up their steeps, and now +we were over and passing towards others that sprang up like visions in the far, +faint distance beyond. +</p> + +<p> +On, never pausing or drawing rein, through the perfect quiet of the night, that +was set like a song to the falling music of our horses’ hoofs; on, past +deserted villages, where only some forgotten starving dog howled a melancholy +welcome; on, past lonely moated dwellings; on, through the white patchy +moonlight, that lay coldly upon the wide bosom of the earth, as though there +was no warmth in it; on, knee to knee, for hour after hour! +</p> + +<p> +We spake not, but bent us forward on the necks of those two glorious horses, +and listened to their deep, long-drawn breaths as they filled their great +lungs, and to the regular unfaltering ring of their round hoofs. Grim and black +indeed did old Umslopogaas look beside me, mounted upon the great white horse, +like Death in the Revelation of St John, as now and again lifting his fierce +set face he gazed out along the road, and pointed with his axe towards some +distant rise or house. +</p> + +<p> +And so on, still on, without break or pause for hour after hour. +</p> + +<p> +At last I felt that even the splendid animal that I rode was beginning to give +out. I looked at my watch; it was nearly midnight, and we were considerably +more than half way. On the top of a rise was a little spring, which I +remembered because I had slept by it a few nights before, and here I motioned +to Umslopogaas to pull up, having determined to give the horses and ourselves +ten minutes to breathe in. He did so, and we dismounted—that is to say, +Umslopogaas did, and then helped me off, for what with fatigue, stiffness, and +the pain of my wound, I could not do so for myself; and then the gallant horses +stood panting there, resting first one leg and then another, while the sweat +fell drip, drip, from them, and the steam rose and hung in pale clouds in the +still night air. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving Umslopogaas to hold the horses, I hobbled to the spring and drank deep +of its sweet waters. I had had nothing but a single mouthful of wine since +midday, when the battle began, and I was parched up, though my fatigue was too +great to allow me to feel hungry. Then, having laved my fevered head and hands, +I returned, and the Zulu went and drank. Next we allowed the horses to take a +couple of mouthfuls each—no more; and oh, what a struggle we had to get +the poor beasts away from the water! There were yet two minutes, and I employed +it in hobbling up and down to try and relieve my stiffness, and in inspecting +the condition of the horses. My mare, gallant animal though she was, was +evidently much distressed; she hung her head, and her eye looked sick and dull; +but Daylight, Nyleptha’s glorious horse—who, if he is served +aright, should, like the steeds who saved great Rameses in his need, feed for +the rest of his days out of a golden manger—was still comparatively +speaking fresh, notwithstanding the fact that he had had by far the heavier +weight to carry. He was “tucked up”, indeed, and his legs were +weary, but his eye was bright and clear, and he held his shapely head up and +gazed out into the darkness round him in a way that seemed to say that whoever +failed <i>he</i> was good for those five-and-forty miles that yet lay between +us and Milosis. Then Umslopogaas helped me into the saddle and—vigorous +old savage that he was!—vaulted into his own without touching a stirrup, +and we were off once more, slowly at first, till the horses got into their +stride, and then more swiftly. So we passed over another ten miles, and then +came a long, weary rise of some six or seven miles, and three times did my poor +black mare nearly come to the ground with me. But on the top she seemed to +gather herself together, and rattled down the slope with long, convulsive +strides, breathing in gasps. We did that three or four miles more swiftly than +any since we had started on our wild ride, but I felt it to be a last effort, +and I was right. Suddenly my poor horse took the bit between her teeth and +bolted furiously along a stretch of level ground for some three or four hundred +yards, and then, with two or three jerky strides, pulled herself up and fell +with a crash right on to her head, I rolling myself free as she did so. As I +struggled to my feet the brave beast raised her head and looked at me with +piteous bloodshot eyes, and then her head dropped with a groan and she was +dead. Her heart was broken. +</p> + +<p> +Umslopogaas pulled up beside the carcase, and I looked at him in dismay. There +were still more than twenty miles to do by dawn, and how were we to do it with +one horse? It seemed hopeless, but I had forgotten the old Zulu’s +extraordinary running powers. +</p> + +<p> +Without a single word he sprang from the saddle and began to hoist me into it. +</p> + +<p> +“What wilt thou do?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Run,” he answered, seizing my stirrup-leather. +</p> + +<p> +Then off we went again, almost as fast as before; and oh, the relief it was to +me to get that change of horses! Anybody who has ever ridden against time will +know what it meant. +</p> + +<p> +Daylight sped along at a long stretching hand-gallop, giving the gaunt Zulu a +lift at every stride. It was a wonderful thing to see old Umslopogaas run mile +after mile, his lips slightly parted and his nostrils agape like the +horse’s. Every five miles or so we stopped for a few minutes to let him +get his breath, and then flew on again. +</p> + +<p> +“Canst thou go farther,” I said at the third of these stoppages, +“or shall I leave thee to follow me?” +</p> + +<p> +He pointed with his axe to a dim mass before us. It was the Temple of the Sun, +now not more than five miles away. +</p> + +<p> +“I reach it or I die,” he gasped. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, that last five miles! The skin was rubbed from the inside of my legs, and +every movement of my horse gave me anguish. Nor was that all. I was exhausted +with toil, want of food and sleep, and also suffering very much from the blow I +had received on my left side; it seemed as though a piece of bone or something +was slowly piercing into my lung. Poor Daylight, too, was pretty nearly +finished, and no wonder. But there was a smell of dawn in the air, and we might +not stay; better that all three of us should die upon the road than that we +should linger while there was life in us. The air was thick and heavy, as it +sometimes is before the dawn breaks, and—another infallible sign in +certain parts of Zu-Vendis that sunrise is at hand—hundreds of little +spiders pendant on the end of long tough webs were floating about in it. These +early-rising creatures, or rather their webs, caught upon the horse’s and +our own forms by scores, and, as we had neither the time nor the energy to +brush them off, we rushed along covered with hundreds of long grey threads that +streamed out a yard or more behind us—and a very strange appearance they +must have given us. +</p> + +<p> +And now before us are the huge brazen gates of the outer wall of the Frowning +City, and a new and horrible doubt strikes me: What if they will not let us in? +</p> + +<p> +“<i>Open! open!</i>” I shout imperiously, at the same time giving +the royal password. “<i>Open! open!</i> a messenger, a messenger with +tidings of the war!” +</p> + +<p> +“What news?” cried the guard. “And who art thou that ridest +so madly, and who is that whose tongue lolls out”—and it actually +did—“and who runs by thee like a dog by a chariot?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is the Lord Macumazahn, and with him is his dog, his black dog. +<i>Open! open!</i> I bring tidings.” +</p> + +<p> +The great gates ran back on their rollers, and the drawbridge fell with a +rattling crash, and we dashed on through the one and over the other. +</p> + +<p> +“What news, my lord, what news?” cried the guard. +</p> + +<p> +“Incubu rolls Sorais back, as the wind a cloud,” I answered, and +was gone. +</p> + +<p> +One more effort, gallant horse, and yet more gallant man! +</p> + +<p> +So, fall not now, Daylight, and hold thy life in thee for fifteen short minutes +more, old Zulu war-dog, and ye shall both live for ever in the annals of the +land. +</p> + +<p> +On, clattering through the sleeping streets. We are passing the Flower Temple +now—one mile more, only one little mile—hold on, keep your life in +thee, see the houses run past of themselves. Up, good horse, up, +there—but fifty yards now. Ah! you see your stables and stagger on +gallantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank God, the palace at last!” and see, the first arrows of the +dawn are striking on the Temple’s golden dome.<a href="#fn-22" name="fnref-22" id="fnref-22"><sup>[22]</sup></a> +But shall I get in here, or is the deed done and the way barred? +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-22" id="fn-22"></a> <a href="#fnref-22">[22]</a> +Of course, the roof of the Temple, being so high, caught the light some time +before the breaking of the dawn.—A. Q. +</p> + +<p> +Once more I give the password and shout “<i>Open! open!</i>” +</p> + +<p> +No answer, and my heart grows very faint. +</p> + +<p> +Again I call, and this time a single voice replies, and to my joy I recognize +it as belonging to Kara, a fellow-officer of Nyleptha’s guards, a man I +know to be as honest as the light—indeed, the same whom Nyleptha had sent +to arrest Sorais on the day she fled to the temple. +</p> + +<p> +“Is it thou, Kara?” I cry; “I am Macumazahn. Bid the guard +let down the bridge and throw wide the gate. Quick, quick!” +</p> + +<p> +Then followed a space that seemed to me endless, but at length the bridge fell +and one half of the gate opened and we got into the courtyard, where at last +poor Daylight fell down beneath me, as I thought, dead. Except Kara, there was +nobody to be seen, and his look was wild, and his garments were all torn. He +had opened the gate and let down the bridge alone, and was now getting them up +and shut again (as, owing to a very ingenious arrangement of cranks and levers, +one man could easily do, and indeed generally did do). +</p> + +<p> +“Where are the guard?” I gasped, fearing his answer as I never +feared anything before. +</p> + +<p> +“I know not,” he answered; “two hours ago, as I slept, was I +seized and bound by the watch under me, and but now, this very moment, have I +freed myself with my teeth. I fear, I greatly fear, that we are +betrayed.” +</p> + +<p> +His words gave me fresh energy. Catching him by the arm, I staggered, followed +by Umslopogaas, who reeled after us like a drunken man, through the courtyards, +up the great hall, which was silent as the grave, towards the Queen’s +sleeping-place. +</p> + +<p> +We reached the first ante-room—no guards; the second, still no guards. +Oh, surely the thing was done! we were too late after all, too late! The +silence and solitude of those great chambers was dreadful, and weighed me down +like an evil dream. On, right into Nyleptha’s chamber we rushed and +staggered, sick at heart, fearing the very worst; we saw there was a light in +it, ay, and a figure bearing the light. Oh, thank God, it is the White Queen +herself, the Queen unharmed! There she stands in her night gear, roused, by the +clatter of our coming, from her bed, the heaviness of sleep yet in her eyes, +and a red blush of fear and shame mantling her lovely breast and cheek. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is it?” she cries. “What means this? Oh, Macumazahn, is +it thou? Why lookest thou so wildly? Thou comest as one bearing evil +tidings—and my lord—oh, tell me not my lord is dead—not +dead!” she wailed, wringing her white hands. +</p> + +<p> +“I left Incubu wounded, but leading the advance against Sorais last night +at sundown; therefore let thy heart have rest. Sorais is beaten back all along +her lines, and thy arms prevail.” +</p> + +<p> +“I knew it,” she cried in triumph. “I knew that he would win; +and they called him Outlander, and shook their wise heads when I gave him the +command! Last night at sundown, sayest thou, and it is not yet dawn? +Surely—” +</p> + +<p> +“Throw a cloak around thee, Nyleptha,” I broke in, “and give +us wine to drink; ay, and call thy maidens quick if thou wouldst save thyself +alive. Nay, stay not.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus adjured she ran and called through the curtains towards some room beyond, +and then hastily put on her sandals and a thick cloak, by which time a dozen or +so of half-dressed women were pouring into the room. +</p> + +<p> +“Follow us and be silent,” I said to them as they gazed with +wondering eyes, clinging one to another. So we went into the first ante-room. +</p> + +<p> +“Now,” I said, “give us wine to drink and food, if ye have +it, for we are near to death.” +</p> + +<p> +The room was used as a mess-room for the officers of the guards, and from a +cupboard some flagons of wine and some cold flesh were brought forth, and +Umslopogaas and I drank, and felt life flow back into our veins as the good red +wine went down. +</p> + +<p> +“Hark to me, Nyleptha,” I said, as I put down the empty tankard. +“Hast thou here among these thy waiting-ladies any two of +discretion?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” she said, “surely.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then bid them go out by the side entrance to any citizens whom thou +canst bethink thee of as men loyal to thee, and pray them come armed, with all +honest folk that they can gather, to rescue thee from death. Nay, question not; +do as I say, and quickly. Kara here will let out the maids.” +</p> + +<p> +She turned, and selecting two of the crowd of damsels, repeated the words I had +uttered, giving them besides a list of the names of the men to whom each should +run. +</p> + +<p> +“Go swiftly and secretly; go for your very lives,” I added. +</p> + +<p> +In another moment they had left with Kara, whom I told to rejoin us at the door +leading from the great courtyard on to the stairway as soon as he had made fast +behind the girls. Thither, too, Umslopogaas and I made our way, followed by the +Queen and her women. As we went we tore off mouthfuls of food, and between them +I told her what I knew of the danger which encompassed her, and how we found +Kara, and how all the guards and men-servants were gone, and she was alone with +her women in that great place; and she told me, too, that a rumour had spread +through the town that our army had been utterly destroyed, and that Sorais was +marching in triumph on Milosis, and how in consequence thereof all men had +fallen away from her. +</p> + +<p> +Though all this takes some time to tell, we had not been but six or seven +minutes in the palace; and notwithstanding that the golden roof of the temple +being very lofty was ablaze with the rays of the rising sun, it was not yet +dawn, nor would be for another ten minutes. We were in the courtyard now, and +here my wound pained me so that I had to take Nyleptha’s arm, while +Umslopogaas rolled along after us, eating as he went. +</p> + +<p> +Now we were across it, and had reached the narrow doorway through the palace +wall that opened on to the mighty stair. +</p> + +<p> +I looked through and stood aghast, as well I might. The door was gone, and so +were the outer gates of bronze—entirely gone. They had been taken from +their hinges, and as we afterwards found, hurled from the stairway to the +ground two hundred feet beneath. There in front of us was the semicircular +standing-space, about twice the size of a large oval dining-table, and the ten +curved black marble steps leading on to the main stair—and that was all. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER XXII.<br /> +HOW UMSLOPOGAAS HELD THE STAIR</h2> + +<p> +We looked at one another. +</p> + +<p> +“Thou seest,” I said, “they have taken away the door. Is +there aught with which we may fill the place? Speak quickly for they will be on +us ere the daylight.” I spoke thus, because I knew that we must hold this +place or none, as there were no inner doors in the palace, the rooms being +separated one from another by curtains. I also knew that if we could by any +means defend this doorway the murderers could get in nowhere else; for the +palace is absolutely impregnable, that is, since the secret door by which +Sorais had entered on that memorable night of attempted murder had, by +Nyleptha’s order, been closed up with masonry. +</p> + +<p> +“I have it,” said Nyleptha, who, as usual with her, rose to the +emergency in a wonderful way. “On the farther side of the courtyard are +blocks of cut marble—the workmen brought them there for the bed of the +new statue of Incubu, my lord; let us block the door with them.” +</p> + +<p> +I jumped at the idea; and having despatched one of the remaining maidens down +the great stair to see if she could obtain assistance from the docks below, +where her father, who was a great merchant employing many men, had his +dwelling-place, and set another to watch through the doorway, we made our way +back across the courtyard to where the hewn marble lay; and here we met Kara +returning from despatching the first two messengers. There were the marble +blocks, sure enough, broad, massive lumps, some six inches thick, and weighing +about eighty pounds each, and there, too, were a couple of implements like +small stretchers, that the workmen used to carry them on. Without delay we got +some of the blocks on to the stretchers, and four of the girls carried them to +the doorway. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen, Macumazahn,” said Umslopogaas, “if those low fellows +come, it is I who will hold the stair against them till the door is built up. +Nay, nay, it will be a man’s death: gainsay me not, old friend. It has +been a good day, let it now be good night. See, I throw myself down to rest on +the marble there; when their footsteps are nigh, wake thou me, not before, for +I need my strength,” and without a word he went outside and flung himself +down on the marble, and was instantly asleep. +</p> + +<p> +At this time, I too was overcome, and was forced to sit down by the doorway, +and content myself with directing operations. The girls brought the block, +while Kara and Nyleptha built them up across the six-foot-wide doorway, a +triple row of them, for less would be useless. But the marble had to be brought +forty yards and then there were forty yards to run back, and though the girls +laboured gloriously, even staggering along alone, each with a block in her +arms, it was slow work, dreadfully slow. +</p> + +<p> +The light was growing now, and presently, in the silence, we heard a commotion +at the far-bottom of the stair, and the faint clinking of armed men. As yet the +wall was only two feet high, and we had been eight minutes at the building of +it. So they had come. Alphonse had heard aright. +</p> + +<p> +The clanking sound came nearer, and in the ghostly grey of the dawning we could +make out long files of men, some fifty or so in all, slowly creeping up the +stair. They were now at the half-way standing place that rested on the great +flying arch; and here, perceiving that something was going on above, they, to +our great gain, halted for three or four minutes and consulted, then slowly and +cautiously advanced again. +</p> + +<p> +We had been nearly a quarter of an hour at the work now, and it was almost +three feet high. +</p> + +<p> +Then I woke Umslopogaas. The great man rose, stretched himself, and swung +Inkosi-kaas round his head. +</p> + +<p> +“It is well,” he said. “I feel as a young man once more. My +strength has come back to me, ay, even as a lamp flares up before it dies. Fear +not, I shall fight a good fight; the wine and the sleep have put a new heart +into me. +</p> + +<p> +“Macumazahn, I have dreamed a dream. I dreamed that thou and I stood +together on a star, and looked down on the world, and thou wast as a spirit, +Macumazahn, for light flamed through thy flesh, but I could not see what was +the fashion of mine own face. The hour has come for us, old hunter. So be it: +we have had our time, but I would that in it I had seen some more such fights +as yesterday’s. +</p> + +<p> +“Let them bury me after the fashion of my people, Macumazahn, and set my +eyes towards Zululand;” and he took my hand and shook it, and then turned +to face the advancing foe. +</p> + +<p> +Just then, to my astonishment, the Zu-Vendi officer Kara clambered over our +improvised wall in his quiet, determined sort of way, and took his stand by the +Zulu, unsheathing his sword as he did so. +</p> + +<p> +“What, comest thou too?” laughed out the old warrior. +“Welcome—a welcome to thee, brave heart! Ow! for the man who can +die like a man; ow! for the death grip and the ringing of steel. Ow! we are +ready. We wet our beaks like eagles, our spears flash in the sun; we shake our +assegais, and are hungry to fight. Who comes to give greeting to the +Chieftainess [Inkosi-kaas]? Who would taste her kiss, whereof the fruit is +death? I, the Woodpecker, I, the Slaughterer, I the Swiftfooted! I, +Umslopogaas, of the tribe of the Maquilisini, of the people of Amazulu, a +captain of the regiment of the Nkomabakosi: I, Umslopogaas, the son of +Indabazimbi, the son of Arpi the son of Mosilikaatze, I of the royal blood of +T’Chaka, I of the King’s House, I the Ringed Man, I the Induna, I +call to them as a buck calls, I challenge them, I await them. Ow! it is thou, +it is thou!” +</p> + +<p> +As he spake, or rather chanted, his wild war-song, the armed men, among whom in +the growing light I recognized both Nasta and Agon, came streaming up the stair +with a rush, and one big fellow, armed with a heavy spear, dashed up the ten +semicircular steps ahead of his comrades and struck at the great Zulu with the +spear. Umslopogaas moved his body but not his legs, so that the blow missed +him, and next instant Inkosi-kaas crashed through headpiece, hair and skull, +and the man’s corpse was rattling down the steps. As he dropped, his +round hippopotamus-hide shield fell from his hand on to the marble, and the +Zulu stooped down and seized it, still chanting as he did so. +</p> + +<p> +In another second the sturdy Kara had also slain a man, and then began a scene +the like of which has not been known to me. +</p> + +<p> +Up rushed the assailants, one, two, three at a time, and as fast as they came, +the axe crashed and the sword swung, and down they rolled again, dead or dying. +And ever as the fight thickened, the old Zulu’s eye seemed to get quicker +and his arm stronger. He shouted out his war-cries and the names of chiefs whom +he had slain, and the blows of his awful axe rained straight and true, shearing +through everything they fell on. There was none of the scientific method he was +so fond of about this last immortal fight of his; he had no time for it, but +struck with his full strength, and at every stroke a man sank in his tracks, +and went rattling down the marble steps. +</p> + +<p> +They hacked and hewed at him with swords and spears, wounding him in a dozen +places till he streamed red with blood; but the shield protected his head and +the chain-shirt his vitals, and for minute after minute, aided by the gallant +Zu-Vendi, he still held the stair. +</p> + +<p> +At last Kara’s sword broke, and he grappled with a foe, and they rolled +down together, and he was cut to pieces, dying like the brave man that he was. +</p> + +<p> +Umslopogaas was alone now, but he never blenched or turned. Shouting out some +wild Zulu battle-cry, he beat down a foe, ay, and another, and another, till at +last they drew back from the slippery blood-stained steps, and stared at him +with amazement, thinking that he was no mortal man. +</p> + +<p> +The wall of marble block was four feet six high now, and hope rose in my heart +as I leaned there against it a miserable helpless log, and ground my teeth, and +watched that glorious struggle. I could do no more for I had lost my revolver +in the battle. +</p> + +<p> +And old Umslopogaas, he leaned too on his good axe, and, faint as he was with +wounds, he mocked them, he called them “women”—the grand old +warrior, standing there one against so many! And for a breathing space none +would come against him, notwithstanding Nasta’s exhortations, till at +last old Agon, who, to do him justice, was a brave man, mad with baffled rage, +and seeing that the wall would soon be built and his plans defeated, shook the +great spear he held, and rushed up the dripping steps. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, ah!” shouted the Zulu, as he recognized the priest’s +flowing white beard, “it is thou, old ‘witch-finder’! Come +on! I await thee, white ‘medicine man’; come on! come on! I have +sworn to slay thee, and I ever keep my faith.” +</p> + +<p> +On he came, taking him at his word, and drave the big spear with such force at +Umslopogaas that it sunk right through the tough shield and pierced him in the +neck. The Zulu cast down the transfixed shield, and that moment was +Agon’s last, for before he could free his spear and strike again, with a +shout of “<i>There’s for thee, Rain-maker!</i>” Umslopogaas +gripped Inkosi-kaas with both hands and whirled on high and drave her right on +to his venerable head, so that Agon rolled down dead among the corpses of his +fellow-murderers, and there was an end to him and his plots altogether. And +even as he fell, a great cry rose from the foot of the stair, and looking out +through the portion of the doorway that was yet unclosed, we saw armed men +rushing up to the rescue, and called an answer to their shouts. Then the +would-be murderers who yet remained on the stairway, and amongst whom I saw +several priests, turned to fly, but, having nowhere to go, were butchered as +they fled. Only one man stayed, and he was the great lord Nasta, +Nyleptha’s suitor, and the father of the plot. For a moment the +black-bearded Nasta stood with bowed face leaning on his long sword as though +in despair, and then, with a dreadful shout, he too rushed up at the Zulu, and, +swinging the glittering sword around his head, dealt him such a mighty blow +beneath his guard, that the keen steel of the heavy blade bit right through the +chain armour and deep into Umslopogaas’ side, for a moment paralysing him +and causing him to drop his axe. +</p> + +<p> +Raising the sword again, Nasta sprang forward to make an end of him, but little +he knew his foe. With a shake and a yell of fury, the Zulu gathered himself +together and sprang straight at Nasta’s throat, as I have sometimes seen +a wounded lion spring. He struck him full as his foot was on the topmost stair, +and his long arms closing round him like iron bands, down they rolled together +struggling furiously. Nasta was a strong man and a desperate, but he could not +match the strongest man in Zululand, sore wounded though he was, whose strength +was as the strength of a bull. In a minute the end came. I saw old Umslopogaas +stagger to his feet—ay, and saw him by a single gigantic effort swing up +the struggling Nasta and with a shout of triumph hurl him straight over the +parapet of the bridge, to be crushed to powder on the rocks two hundred feet +below. +</p> + +<p> +The succour which had been summoned by the girl who had passed down the stair +before the assassins passed up was at hand, and the loud shouts which reached +us from the outer gates told us that the town was also aroused, and the men +awakened by the women were calling to be admitted. Some of Nyleptha’s +brave ladies, who in their night-shifts and with their long hair streaming down +their backs, just as they had been aroused from rest, went off to admit them at +the side entrance, whilst others, assisted by the rescuing party outside, +pushed and pulled down the marble blocks they had placed there with so much +labour. +</p> + +<p> +Soon the wall was down again, and through the doorway, followed by a crowd of +rescuers, staggered old Umslopogaas, an awful and, in a way, a glorious figure. +The man was a mass of wounds, and a glance at his wild eye told me that he was +dying. The “keshla” gum-ring upon his head was severed in two +places by sword-cuts, one just over the curious hole in his skull, and the +blood poured down his face from the gashes. Also on the right side of his neck +was a stab from a spear, inflicted by Agon; there was a deep cut on his left +arm just below where the mail shirt-sleeve stopped, and on the right side of +his body the armour was severed by a gash six inches long, where Nasta’s +mighty sword had bitten through it and deep into its wearer’s vitals. +</p> + +<p> +On, axe in hand, he staggered, that dreadful-looking, splendid savage, and the +ladies forgot to turn faint at the scene of blood, and cheered him, as well +they might, but he never stayed or heeded. With outstretched arms and tottering +gait he pursued his way, followed by us all along the broad shell-strewn walk +that ran through the courtyard, past the spot where the blocks of marble lay, +through the round arched doorway and the thick curtains that hung within it, +down the short passage and into the great hall, which was now filling with +hastily-armed men, who poured through the side entrance. Straight up the hall +he went, leaving behind him a track of blood on the marble pavement, till at +last he reached the sacred stone, which stood in the centre of it, and here his +strength seemed to fail him, for he stopped and leaned upon his axe. Then +suddenly he lifted up his voice and cried aloud— +</p> + +<p> +“I die, I die—but it was a kingly fray. Where are they who came up +the great stair? I see them not. Art thou there, Macumazahn, or art thou gone +before to wait for me in the dark whither I go? The blood blinds me—the +place turns round—I hear the voice of waters.” +</p> + +<p> +Next, as though a new thought had struck him, he lifted the red axe and kissed +the blade. +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell, Inkosi-kaas,” he cried. “Nay, nay, we will go +together; we cannot part, thou and I. We have lived too long one with another, +thou and I. +</p> + +<p> +“One more stroke, only one! A good stroke! a straight stroke! a strong +stroke!” and, drawing himself to his full height, with a wild +heart-shaking shout, he with both hands began to whirl the axe round his head +till it looked like a circle of flaming steel. Then, suddenly, with awful force +he brought it down straight on to the crown of the mass of sacred stone. A +shower of sparks flew up, and such was the almost superhuman strength of the +blow, that the massive marble split with a rending sound into a score of +pieces, whilst of Inkosi-kaas there remained but some fragments of steel and a +fibrous rope of shattered horn that had been the handle. Down with a crash on +to the pavement fell the fragments of the holy stone, and down with a crash on +to them, still grasping the knob of Inkosi-kaas, fell the brave old +Zulu—<i>dead</i>. And thus the hero died. +</p> + +<p> +A gasp of wonder and astonishment rose from all those who witnessed the +extraordinary sight, and then somebody cried, “<i>The prophecy! the +prophecy!</i> He has shattered the sacred stone!” and at once a murmuring +arose. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay,” said Nyleptha, with that quick wit which distinguishes her. +“Ay, my people, he has shattered the stone, and behold the prophecy is +fulfilled, for a stranger king rules in Zu-Vendis. Incubu, my lord, hath beat +Sorais back, and I fear her no more, and to him who hath saved the Crown it +shall surely be. And this man,” she said, turning to me and laying her +hand upon my shoulder, “wot ye that, though wounded in the fight of +yesterday, he rode with that old warrior who lies there, one hundred miles +“twixt sun set and rise to save me from the plots of cruel men. Ay, and +he has saved me, by a very little, and therefore because of the deeds that they +have done—deeds of glory such as our history cannot show the +like—therefore I say that the name of Macumazahn and the name of dead +Umslopogaas, ay, and the name of Kara, my servant, who aided him to hold the +stair, shall be blazoned in letters of gold above my throne, and shall be +glorious for ever while the land endures. I, the Queen, have said it.” +</p> + +<p> +This spirited speech was met with loud cheering, and I said that after all we +had only done our duty, as it is the fashion of both Englishmen and Zulus to +do, and there was nothing to make an outcry about; at which they cheered still +more, and then I was supported across the outer courtyard to my old quarters, +in order that I might be put to bed. As I went, my eyes lit upon the brave +horse Daylight that lay there, his white head outstretched on the pavement, +exactly as he had fallen on entering the yard; and I bade those who supported +me take me near him, that I might look on the good beast once more before he +was dragged away. And as I looked, to my astonishment he opened his eyes and, +lifting his head a little, whinnied faintly. I could have shouted for joy to +find that he was not dead, only unfortunately I had not a shout left in me; but +as it was, grooms were sent for and he was lifted up and wine poured down his +throat, and in a fortnight he was as well and strong as ever, and is the pride +and joy of all the people of Milosis, who, whenever they see him, point him out +to the little children as the “horse which saved the White Queen’s +life”. +</p> + +<p> +Then I went on and got off to bed, and was washed and had my mail shirt +removed. They hurt me a great deal in getting it off, and no wonder, for on my +left breast and side was a black bruise the size of a saucer. +</p> + +<p> +The next thing that I remember was the tramp of horsemen outside the palace +wall, some ten hours later. I raised myself and asked what was the news, and +they told me that a large body of cavalry sent by Curtis to assist the Queen +had arrived from the scene of the battle, which they had left two hours after +sundown. When they left, the wreck of Sorais’ army was in full retreat +upon M’Arstuna, followed by all our effective cavalry. Sir Henry was +encamping the remains of his worn-out forces on the site (such is the fortune +of war) that Sorais had occupied the night before, and proposed marching to +M’Arstuna on the morrow. Having heard this, I felt that I could die with +a light heart, and then everything became a blank. +</p> + +<p> +When next I awoke the first thing I saw was the round disc of a sympathetic +eyeglass, behind which was Good. +</p> + +<p> +“How are you getting on, old chap?” said a voice from the +neighbourhood of the eyeglass. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing here?” I asked faintly. “You ought to be +at M’Arstuna—have you run away, or what?” +</p> + +<p> +“M’Arstuna,” he replied cheerfully. “Ah, +M’Arstuna fell last week—you’ve been unconscious for a +fortnight, you see—with all the honours of war, you know—trumpets +blowing, flags flying, just as though they had had the best of it; but for all +that, weren’t they glad to go. Israel made for his tents, I can tell +you—never saw such a sight in my life.” +</p> + +<p> +“And Sorais?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Sorais—oh, Sorais is a prisoner; they gave her up, the +scoundrels,” he added, with a change of tone—“sacrificed the +Queen to save their skins, you see. She is being brought up here, and I +don’t know what will happen to her, poor soul!” and he sighed. +</p> + +<p> +“Where is Curtis?” I asked. +</p> + +<p> +“He is with Nyleptha. She rode out to meet us today, and there was a +grand to-do, I can tell you. He is coming to see you tomorrow; the doctors (for +there is a medical ‘faculty’ in Zu-Vendis as elsewhere) thought +that he had better not come today.” +</p> + +<p> +I said nothing, but somehow I thought to myself that notwithstanding the +doctors he might have given me a look; but there, when a man is newly married +and has just gained a great victory, he is apt to listen to the advice of +doctors, and quite right too. +</p> + +<p> +Just then I heard a familiar voice informing me that “Monsieur must now +couch himself,” and looking up perceived Alphonse’s enormous black +mustachios curling away in the distance. +</p> + +<p> +“So you are here?” I said. +</p> + +<p> +“Mais oui, Monsieur; the war is now finished, my military instincts are +satisfied, and I return to nurse Monsieur.” +</p> + +<p> +I laughed, or rather tried to; but whatever may have been Alphonse’s +failings as a warrior (and I fear that he did not come up to the level of his +heroic grandfather in this particular, showing thereby how true is the saying +that it is a bad thing to be overshadowed by some great ancestral name), a +better or kinder nurse never lived. Poor Alphonse! I hope he will always think +of me as kindly as I think of him. +</p> + +<p> +On the morrow I saw Curtis and Nyleptha with him, and he told me the whole +history of what had happened since Umslopogaas and I galloped wildly away from +the battle to save the life of the Queen. It seemed to me that he had managed +the thing exceedingly well, and showed great ability as a general. Of course, +however, our loss had been dreadfully heavy—indeed, I am afraid to say +how many perished in the desperate battle I have described, but I know that the +slaughter has appreciably affected the male population of the country. He was +very pleased to see me, dear fellow that he is, and thanked me with tears in +his eyes for the little that I had been able to do. I saw him, however, start +violently when his eyes fell upon my face. +</p> + +<p> +As for Nyleptha, she was positively radiant now that “her dear +lord” had come back with no other injury than an ugly scar on his +forehead. I do not believe that she allowed all the fearful slaughter that had +taken place to weigh ever so little in the balance against this one fact, or +even to greatly diminish her joy; and I cannot blame her for it, seeing that it +is the nature of loving woman to look at all things through the spectacles of +her love, and little does she reck of the misery of the many if the happiness +of the <i>one</i> be assured. That is human nature, which the Positivists tell +us is just perfection; so no doubt it is all right. +</p> + +<p> +“And what art thou going to do with Sorais?” I asked her. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly her bright brow darkened to a frown. +</p> + +<p> +“Sorais,” she said, with a little stamp of the foot; “ah, but +Sorais!” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Henry hastened to turn the subject. +</p> + +<p> +“You will soon be about and all right again now, old fellow,” he +said. +</p> + +<p> +I shook my head and laughed. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t deceive yourselves,” I said. “I may be about for +a little, but I shall never be all right again. I am a dying man, Curtis. I may +die slow, but die I must. Do you know I have been spitting blood all the +morning? I tell you there is something working away into my lung; I can feel +it. There, don’t look distressed; I have had my day, and am ready to go. +Give me the mirror, will you? I want to look at myself.” +</p> + +<p> +He made some excuse, but I saw through it and insisted, and at last he handed +me one of the discs of polished silver set in a wooden frame like a +hand-screen, which serve as looking-glasses in Zu-Vendis. I looked and put it +down. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” I said quietly, “I thought so; and you talk of my +getting all right!” I did not like to let them see how shocked I really +was at my own appearance. My grizzled stubby hair was turned snow-white, and my +yellow face was shrunk like an aged woman’s and had two deep purple rings +painted beneath the eyes. +</p> + +<p> +Here Nyleptha began to cry, and Sir Henry again turned the subject, telling me +that the artists had taken a cast of the dead body of old Umslopogaas, and that +a great statue in black marble was to be erected of him in the act of splitting +the sacred stone, which was to be matched by another statue in white marble of +myself and the horse Daylight as he appeared when, at the termination of that +wild ride, he sank beneath me in the courtyard of the palace. I have since seen +these statues, which at the time of writing this, six months after the battle, +are nearly finished; and very beautiful they are, especially that of +Umslopogaas, which is exactly like him. As for that of myself, it is good, but +they have idealized my ugly face a little, which is perhaps as well, seeing +that thousands of people will probably look at it in the centuries to come, and +it is not pleasant to look at ugly things. +</p> + +<p> +Then they told me that Umslopogaas’ last wish had been carried out, and +that, instead of being cremated, as I shall be, after the usual custom here, he +had been tied up, Zulu fashion, with his knees beneath his chin, and, having +been wrapped in a thin sheet of beaten gold, entombed in a hole hollowed out of +the masonry of the semicircular space at the top of the stair he defended so +splendidly, which faces, as far as we can judge, almost exactly towards +Zululand. There he sits, and will sit for ever, for they embalmed him with +spices, and put him in an air-tight stone coffer, keeping his grim watch +beneath the spot he held alone against a multitude; and the people say that at +night his ghost rises and stands shaking the phantom of Inkosi-kaas at phantom +foes. Certainly they fear during the dark hours to pass the place where the +hero is buried. +</p> + +<p> +Oddly enough, too, a new legend or prophecy has arisen in the land in that +unaccountable way in which such things do arise among barbarous and +semi-civilized people, blowing, like the wind, no man knows whence. According +to this saying, so long as the old Zulu sits there, looking down the stairway +he defended when alive, so long will the New House of the Stairway, springing +from the union of the Englishman and Nyleptha, endure and flourish; but when he +is taken from thence, or when, ages after, his bones at last crumble into dust, +the House will fall, and the Stairway shall fall, and the Nation of the +Zu-Vendi shall cease to be a Nation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br /> +I HAVE SPOKEN</h2> + +<p> +It was a week after Nyleptha’s visit, when I had begun to get about a +little in the middle of the day, that a message came to me from Sir Henry to +say that Sorais would be brought before them in the Queen’s first +antechamber at midday, and requesting my attendance if possible. Accordingly, +greatly drawn by curiosity to see this unhappy woman once more, I made shift, +with the help of that kind little fellow Alphonse, who is a perfect treasure to +me, and that of another waiting-man, to reach the antechamber. I got there, +indeed, before anybody else, except a few of the great Court officials who had +been bidden to be present, but I had scarcely seated myself before Sorais was +brought in by a party of guards, looking as beautiful and defiant as ever, but +with a worn expression on her proud face. She was, as usual, dressed in her +royal “kaf”, emblazoned with the emblem of the Sun, and in her +right hand she still held the toy spear of silver. A pang of admiration and +pity went through me as I looked at her, and struggling to my feet I bowed +deeply, at the same time expressing my sorrow that I was not able, owing to my +condition, to remain standing before her. +</p> + +<p> +She coloured a little and then laughed bitterly. “Thou dost forget, +Macumazahn,” she said, “I am no more a Queen, save in blood; I am +an outcast and a prisoner, one whom all men should scorn, and none show +deference to.” +</p> + +<p> +“At least,” I replied, “thou art still a lady, and therefore +one to whom deference is due. Also, thou art in an evil case, and therefore it +is doubly due.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” she answered, with a little laugh, “thou dost forget +that I would have wrapped thee in a sheet of gold and hung thee to the +angel’s trumpet at the topmost pinnacle of the Temple.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” I answered, “I assure thee that I forgot it not; +indeed, I often thought of it when it seemed to me that the battle of the Pass +was turning against us; but the trumpet is there, and I am still here, though +perchance not for long, so why talk of it now?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” she went on, “the battle! the battle! Oh, would that I +were once more a Queen, if only for one little hour, and I would take such a +vengeance on those accursed jackals who deserted me in my need; that it should +only be spoken of in whispers; those women, those pigeon-hearted half-breeds +who suffered themselves to be overcome!” and she choked in her wrath. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, and that little coward beside thee,” she went on, pointing at +Alphonse with the silver spear, whereat he looked very uncomfortable; “he +escaped and betrayed my plans. I tried to make a general of him, telling the +soldiers it was Bougwan, and to scourge valour into him” (here Alphonse +shivered at some unhappy recollection), “but it was of no avail. He hid +beneath a banner in my tent and thus overheard my plans. I would that I had +slain him, but, alas! I held my hand. +</p> + +<p> +“And thou, Macumazahn, I have heard of what thou didst; thou art brave, +and hast a loyal heart. And the black one too, ah, he was <i>a man</i>. I would +fain have seen him hurl Nasta from the stairway.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thou art a strange woman, Sorais,” I said; “I pray thee now +plead with the Queen Nyleptha, that perchance she may show mercy unto +thee.” +</p> + +<p> +She laughed out loud. “<i>I</i> plead for mercy!” she said and at +that moment the Queen entered, accompanied by Sir Henry and Good, and took her +seat with an impassive face. As for poor Good, he looked intensely ill at ease. +</p> + +<p> +“Greeting, Sorais!” said Nyleptha, after a short pause. “Thou +hast rent the kingdom like a rag, thou hast put thousands of my people to the +sword, thou hast twice basely plotted to destroy my life by murder, thou hast +sworn to slay my lord and his companions and to hurl me from the Stairway. What +hast thou to say why thou shouldst not die? Speak, O Sorais!” +</p> + +<p> +“Methinks my sister the Queen hath forgotten the chief count of the +indictment,” answered Sorais in her slow musical tones. “It runs +thus: ‘Thou didst strive to win the love of my lord Incubu.’ It is +for this crime that my sister will slay me, not because I levied war. It is +perchance happy for thee, Nyleptha, that I fixed my mind upon his love too +late. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen,” she went on, raising her voice. “I have nought to +say save that I would I had won instead of lost. Do thou with me even as thou +wilt, O Queen, and let my lord the King there” (pointing to Sir +Henry)—“for now will he be King—carry out the sentence, as it +is meet he should, for as he is the beginning of the evil, let him also be the +end.” And she drew herself up and shot one angry glance at him from her +deep fringed eyes, and then began to toy with her spear. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Henry bent towards Nyleptha and whispered something that I could not catch, +and then the Queen spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Sorais, ever have I been a good sister to thee. When our father died, +and there was much talk in the land as to whether thou shouldst sit upon the +throne with me, I being the elder, I gave my voice for thee and said, +‘Nay, let her sit. She is twin with me; we were born at a birth; +wherefore should the one be preferred before the other?’ And so has it +ever been “twixt thee and me, my sister. But now thou knowest in what +sort thou hast repaid me, but I have prevailed, and thy life is forfeit, +Sorais. And yet art thou my sister, born at a birth with me, and we played +together when we were little and loved each other much, and at night we slept +in the same cot with our arms each around the other’s neck, and therefore +even now does my heart go out to thee, Sorais. +</p> + +<p> +“But not for that would I spare thy life, for thy offence has been too +heavy; it doth drag down the wide wings of my mercy even to the ground. Also, +while thou dost live the land will never be at peace. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet shalt thou not die, Sorais, because my dear lord here hath begged +thy life of me as a boon; therefore as a boon and as a marriage gift give I it +to him, to do with even as he wills, knowing that, though thou dost love him, +he loves thee not, Sorais, for all thy beauty. Nay, though thou art lovely as +the night in all her stars, O Lady of the Night, yet it is me his wife whom he +loves, and not thee, and therefore do I give thy life to him.” +</p> + +<p> +Sorais flushed up to her eyes and said nothing, and I do not think that I ever +saw a man look more miserable than did Sir Henry at that moment. Somehow, +Nyleptha’s way of putting the thing, though true and forcible enough, was +not altogether pleasant. +</p> + +<p> +“I understood,” stammered Curtis, looking at Good, “I +understood that you were attached—eh—attached to—to the Queen +Sorais. I am—eh—not aware what the—in short, the state of +your feelings may be just now; but if they happened to be that way inclined, it +has struck me that—in short, it might put a satisfactory end to an +unpleasant business. The lady also has ample private estates, where I am sure +she would be at liberty to live unmolested as far as we are concerned, eh, +Nyleptha? Of course, I only suggest.” +</p> + +<p> +“So far as I am concerned,” said Good, colouring up, “I am +quite willing to forget the past; and if the Lady of the Night thinks me worth +the taking I will marry her tomorrow, or when she likes, and try to make her a +good husband.” +</p> + +<p> +All eyes were now turned to Sorais, who stood with that same slow smile upon +her beautiful face which I had noticed the first time that I ever saw her. She +paused a little while, and cleared her throat, and then thrice she curtseyed +low, once to Nyleptha, once to Curtis, and once to Good, and began to speak in +measured tones. +</p> + +<p> +“I thank thee, most gracious Queen and royal sister, for the +loving-kindness thou hast shown me from my youth up, and especially in that +thou hast been pleased to give my person and my fate as a gift to the Lord +Incubu—the King that is to be. May prosperity, peace and plenty deck the +life-path of one so merciful and so tender, even as flowers do. Long mayst thou +reign, O great and glorious Queen, and hold thy husband’s love in both +thy hands, and many be the sons and daughters of thy beauty. And I thank thee, +my Lord Incubu—the King that is to be—I thank thee a thousand times +in that thou hast been pleased to accept that gracious gift, and to pass it on +to thy comrade in arms and in adventure, the Lord Bougwan. Surely the act is +worthy of thy greatness, my Lord Incubu. And now, lastly, I thank thee also, my +Lord Bougwan, who in thy turn hast deigned to accept me and my poor beauty. I +thank thee a thousand times, and I will add that thou art a good and honest +man, and I put my hand upon my heart and swear that I would that I could say +thee ‘yea’. And now that I have rendered thanks to all in +turn”—and again she smiled—“I will add one short word. +</p> + +<p> +“Little can you understand of me, Queen Nyleptha and my lords, if ye know +not that for me there is no middle path; that I scorn your pity and hate you +for it; that I cast off your forgiveness as though it were a serpent’s +sting; and that standing here, betrayed, deserted, insulted, and alone, I yet +triumph over you, mock you, and defy you, one and all, and <i>thus</i> I answer +ye.” And then, of a sudden, before anybody guessed what she intended to +do, she drove the little silver spear she carried in her hand into her side +with such a strong and steady aim that the keen point projected through her +back, and she fell prone upon the pavement. +</p> + +<p> +Nyleptha shrieked, and poor Good almost fainted at the sight, while the rest of +us rushed towards her. But Sorais of the Night lifted herself upon her hand, +and for a moment fixed her glorious eyes intently on Curtis’ face, as +though there were some message in the glance, then dropped her head and sighed, +and with a sob her dark but splendid spirit passed. +</p> + +<p> +Well, they gave her a royal funeral, and there was an end of her. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +It was a month after the last act of the Sorais tragedy that a great ceremony +was held in the Flower Temple, and Curtis was formally declared King-Consort of +Zu-Vendis. I was too ill to go myself; and indeed, I hate all that sort of +thing, with the crowds and the trumpet-blowing and banner-waving; but Good, who +was there (in his full-dress uniform), came back much impressed, and told me +that Nyleptha had looked lovely, and Curtis had borne himself in a right royal +fashion, and had been received with acclamations that left no doubt as to his +popularity. Also he told me that when the horse Daylight was led along in the +procession, the populace had shouted “<i>Macumazahn, +Macumazahn!</i>” till they were hoarse, and would only be appeased when +he, Good, rose in his chariot and told them that I was too ill to be present. +</p> + +<p> +Afterwards, too, Sir Henry, or rather the King, came to see me, looking very +tired, and vowing that he had never been so bored in his life; but I dare say +that that was a slight exaggeration. It is not in human nature that a man +should be altogether bored on such an extraordinary occasion; and, indeed, as I +pointed out to him, it was a marvellous thing that a man, who but little more +than one short year before had entered a great country as an unknown wanderer, +should today be married to its beautiful and beloved Queen, and lifted, amidst +public rejoicings, to its throne. I even went the length to exhort him in the +future not to be carried away by the pride and pomp of absolute power, but +always to strive to remember that he was first a Christian gentleman, and next +a public servant, called by Providence to a great and almost unprecedented +trust. These remarks, which he might fairly have resented, he was so good as to +receive with patience, and even to thank me for making them. +</p> + +<p> +It was immediately after this ceremony that I caused myself to be moved to the +house where I am now writing. It is a very pleasant country seat, situated +about two miles from the Frowning City, on to which it looks. That was five +months ago, during the whole of which time I have, being confined to a kind of +couch, employed my leisure in compiling this history of our wanderings from my +journal and from our joint memories. It is probable that it will never be read, +but it does not much matter whether it is or not; at any rate, it has served to +while away many hours of suffering, for I have suffered a deal of pain lately. +Thank God, however, there will not be much more of it. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +It is a week since I wrote the above, and now I take up my pen for the last +time, for I know that the end is at hand. My brain is still clear and I can +manage to write, though with difficulty. The pain in my lung, which has been +very bad during the last week, has suddenly quite left me, and been succeeded +by a feeling of numbness of which I cannot mistake the meaning. And just as the +pain has gone, so with it all fear of that end has departed, and I feel only as +though I were going to sink into the arms of an unutterable rest. Happily, +contentedly, and with the same sense of security with which an infant lays +itself to sleep in its mother’s arms, do I lay myself down in the arms of +the Angel Death. All the tremors, all the heart-shaking fears which have +haunted me through a life that seems long as I look back upon it, have left me +now; the storms have passed, and the Star of our Eternal Hope shines clear and +steady on the horizon that seems so far from man, and yet is so very near to me +tonight. +</p> + +<p> +And so this is the end of it—a brief space of troubling, a few restless, +fevered, anguished years, and then the arms of that great Angel Death. Many +times have I been near to them, and now it is my turn at last, and it is well. +Twenty-four hours more and the world will be gone from me, and with it all its +hopes and all its fears. The air will close in over the space that my form +filled and my place know me no more; for the dull breath of the world’s +forgetfulness will first dim the brightness of my memory, and then blot it out +for ever, and of a truth I shall be dead. So is it with us all. How many +millions have lain as I lie, and thought these thoughts and been +forgotten!—thousands upon thousands of years ago they thought them, those +dying men of the dim past; and thousands on thousands of years hence will their +descendants think them and be in their turn forgotten. “As the breath of +the oxen in winter, as the quick star that runs along the sky, as a little +shadow that loses itself at sunset,” as I once heard a Zulu called Ignosi +put it, such is the order of our life, the order that passeth away. +</p> + +<p> +Well, it is not a good world—nobody can say that it is, save those who +wilfully blind themselves to facts. How can a world be good in which Money is +the moving power, and Self-interest the guiding star? The wonder is not that it +is so bad, but that there should be any good left in it. +</p> + +<p> +Still, now that my life is over, I am glad to have lived, glad to have known +the dear breath of woman’s love, and that true friendship which can even +surpass the love of woman, glad to have heard the laughter of little children, +to have seen the sun and the moon and the stars, to have felt the kiss of the +salt sea on my face, and watched the wild game trek down to the water in the +moonlight. But I should not wish to live again! +</p> + +<p> +Everything is changing to me. The darkness draws near, and the light departs. +And yet it seems to me that through that darkness I can already see the shining +welcome of many a long-lost face. Harry is there, and others; one above all, to +my mind the sweetest and most perfect woman that ever gladdened this grey +earth. But of her I have already written elsewhere, and at length, so why speak +of her now? Why speak of her after this long silence, now that she is again so +near to me, now that I go where she has gone? +</p> + +<p> +The sinking sun is turning the golden roof of the great Temple to a fiery +flame, and my fingers tire. +</p> + +<p> +So to all who have known me, or known of me, to all who can think one kindly +thought of the old hunter, I stretch out my hand from the far-off shore and bid +a long farewell. +</p> + +<p> +And now into the hands of Almighty God, who sent it, do I commit my spirit. +</p> + +<p> +“I have spoken,” as the Zulus say. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br /> +BY ANOTHER HAND</h2> + +<p> +A year has elapsed since our most dear friend Allan Quatermain wrote the words +“<i>I have spoken</i>” at the end of his record of our adventures. +Nor should I have ventured to make any additions to the record had it not +happened that by a most strange accident a chance has arisen of its being +conveyed to England. The chance is but a faint one, it is true; but, as it is +not probable that another will arise in our lifetimes, Good and myself think +that we may as well avail ourselves of it, such as it is. During the last six +months several Frontier Commissions have been at work on the various boundaries +of Zu-Vendis, with a view of discovering whether there exists any possible +means of ingress or egress from the country, with the result that a channel of +communication with the outer world hitherto overlooked has been discovered. +This channel, apparently the only one (for I have discovered that it was by it +that the native who ultimately reached Mr Mackenzie’s mission station, +and whose arrival in the country, together with the fact of his +expulsion—for he <i>did</i> arrive about three years before +ourselves—was for reasons of their own kept a dead secret by the priests +to whom he was brought), is about to be effectually closed. But before this is +done, a messenger is to be despatched bearing with him this manuscript, and +also one or two letters from Good to his friends, and from myself to my brother +George, whom it deeply grieves me to think I shall never see again, informing +them, as our next heirs, that they are welcome to our effects in England, if +the Court of Probate will allow them to take them,<a href="#fn-23" name="fnref-23" id="fnref-23"><sup>[23]</sup></a>} +inasmuchas as we have made up our minds never to return to Europe. Indeed, it +would be impossible for us to leave Zu-Vendis even if we wished to do so. +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-23" id="fn-23"></a> <a href="#fnref-23">[23]</a> +Of course the Court of Probate would allow nothing of the sort.—Editor. +</p> + +<p> +The messenger who is to go—and I wish him joy of his journey—is +Alphonse. For a long while he has been wearied to death of Zu-Vendis and its +inhabitants. “Oh, oui, c’est beau,” he says, with an +expressive shrug; “mais je m’ennuie; ce n’est pas +chic.” Again, he complains dreadfully of the absence of cafes and +theatres, and moans continually for his lost Annette, of whom he says he dreams +three times a week. But I fancy his secret cause of disgust at the country, +putting aside the homesickness to which every Frenchman is subject, is that the +people here laugh at him so dreadfully about his conduct on the occasion of the +great battle of the Pass about eighteen months ago, when he hid beneath a +banner in Sorais’s tent in order to avoid being sent forth to fight, +which he says would have gone against his conscience. Even the little boys call +out at him in the streets, thereby offending his pride and making his life +unbearable. At any rate, he has determined to brave the horrors of a journey of +almost unprecedented difficulty and danger, and also to run the risk of falling +into the hands of the French police to answer for a certain little indiscretion +of his own some years old (though I do not consider that a very serious +matter), rather than remain in <i>ce triste pays</i>. Poor Alphonse! we shall +be very sorry to part with him; but I sincerely trust, for his own sake and +also for the sake of this history, which is, I think, worth giving to the +world, that he may arrive in safety. If he does, and can carry the treasure we +have provided him with in the shape of bars of solid gold, he will be, +comparatively speaking, a rich man for life, and well able to marry his +Annette, if she is still in the land of the living and willing to marry her +Alphonse. +</p> + +<p> +Anyhow, on the chance, I may as well add a word or two to dear old +Quatermain’s narrative. +</p> + +<p> +He died at dawn on the day following that on which he wrote the last words of +the last chapter. Nyleptha, Good and myself were present, and a most touching +and yet in its way beautiful scene it was. An hour before the daybreak it +became apparent to us that he was sinking, and our distress was very keen. +Indeed, Good melted into tears at the idea—a fact that called forth a +last gentle flicker of humour from our dying friend, for even at that hour he +could be humorous. Good’s emotion had, by loosening the muscles, +naturally caused his eyeglass to fall from its accustomed place, and +Quatermain, who always observed everything, observed this also. +</p> + +<p> +“At last,” he gasped, with an attempt at a smile, “I have +seen Good without his eyeglass.” +</p> + +<p> +After that he said no more till the day broke, when he asked to be lifted up to +watch the rising of the sun for the last time. +</p> + +<p> +“In a very few minutes,” he said, after gazing earnestly at it, +“I shall have passed through those golden gates.” +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes afterwards he raised himself and looked us fixedly in the face. +</p> + +<p> +“I am going a stranger journey than any we have ever taken together. +Think of me sometimes,” he murmured. “God bless you all. I shall +wait for you.” And with a sigh he fell back dead. +</p> + +<p> +And so passed away a character that I consider went as near perfection as any +it has ever been my lot to encounter. +</p> + +<p> +Tender, constant, humorous, and possessing of many of the qualities that go to +make a poet, he was yet almost unrivalled as a man of action and a citizen of +the world. I never knew any one so competent to form an accurate judgment of +men and their motives. “I have studied human nature all my life,” +he would say, “and I ought to know something about it,” and he +certainly did. He had but two faults—one was his excessive modesty, and +the other a slight tendency which he had to be jealous of anybody on whom he +concentrated his affections. As regards the first of these points, anybody who +reads what he has written will be able to form his own opinion; but I will add +one last instance of it. +</p> + +<p> +As the reader will doubtless remember, it is a favourite trick of his to talk +of himself as a timid man, whereas really, though very cautious, he possessed a +most intrepid spirit, and, what is more, never lost his head. Well, in the +great battle of the Pass, where he got the wound that finally killed him, one +would imagine from the account which he gives of the occurrence that it was a +chance blow that fell on him in the scrimmage. As a matter of fact, however, he +was wounded in a most gallant and successful attempt to save Good’s life, +at the risk and, as it ultimately turned out, at the cost of his own. Good was +down on the ground, and one of Nasta’s highlanders was about to dispatch +him, when Quatermain threw himself on to his prostrate form and received the +blow on his own body, and then, rising, killed the soldier. +</p> + +<p> +As regards his jealousy, a single instance which I give in justice to myself +and Nyleptha will suffice. The reader will, perhaps, recollect that in one or +two places he speaks as though Nyleptha monopolised me, and he was left by both +of us rather out in the cold. Now Nyleptha is not perfect, any more than any +other woman is, and she may be a little <i>exigeante</i> at times, but as +regards Quatermain the whole thing is pure imagination. Thus when he complains +about my not coming to see him when he is ill, the fact was that, in spite of +my entreaties, the doctors positively forbade it. Those little remarks of his +pained me very much when I read them, for I loved Quatermain as dearly as +though he were my own father, and should never have dreamed of allowing my +marriage to interfere with that affection. But let it pass; it is, after all, +but one little weakness, which makes no great show among so many and such +lovable virtues. +</p> + +<p> +Well, he died, and Good read the Burial Service over him in the presence of +Nyleptha and myself; and then his remains were, in deference to the popular +clamour, accorded a great public funeral, or rather cremation. I could not help +thinking, however, as I marched in that long and splendid procession up to the +Temple, how he would have hated the whole thing could he have been there to see +it, for he had a horror of ostentation. +</p> + +<p> +And so, a few minutes before sunset, on the third night after his death, they +laid him on the brazen flooring before the altar, and waited for the last ray +of the setting sun to fall upon his face. Presently it came, and struck him +like a golden arrow, crowning the pale brows with glory, and then the trumpets +blew, and the flooring revolved, and all that remained of our beloved friend +fell into the furnace below. +</p> + +<p> +We shall never see his like again if we live a hundred years. He was the ablest +man, the truest gentleman, the firmest friend, the finest sportsman, and, I +believe, the best shot in all Africa. +</p> + +<p> +And so ended the very remarkable and adventurous life of Hunter Quatermain. +</p> + +<hr /> + +<p> +Since then things have gone very well with us. Good has been, and still is, +busily employed in the construction of a navy on Lake Milosis and another of +the large lakes, by means of which we hope to be able to increase trade and +commerce, and also to overcome some very troublesome and warlike sections of +the population who live upon their borders. Poor fellow! he is beginning to get +over the sad death of that misguided but most attractive woman, Sorais, but it +is a sad blow to him, for he was really deeply attached to her. I hope, +however, that he will in time make a suitable marriage and get that unhappy +business out of his head. Nyleptha has one or two young ladies in view, +especially a daughter of Nasta’s (who was a widower), a very fine +imperial-looking girl, but with too much of her father’s intriguing, and +yet haughty, spirit to suit my taste. +</p> + +<p> +As for myself, I should scarcely know where to begin if I set to work to +describe my doings, so I had best leave them undescribed, and content myself +with saying that, on the whole, I am getting on very well in my curious +position of King-Consort—better, indeed, than I had any right to expect. +But, of course, it is not all plain sailing, and I find the responsibilities +very heavy. Still, I hope to be able to do some good in my time, and I intend +to devote myself to two great ends—namely, to the consolidation of the +various clans which together make up the Zu-Vendi people, under one strong +central government, and to the sapping of the power of the priesthood. The +first of these reforms will, if it can be carried out, put an end to the +disastrous civil wars that have for centuries devastated this country; and the +second, besides removing a source of political danger, will pave the road for +the introduction of true religion in the place of this senseless Sun worship. I +yet hope to see the shadow of the Cross of Christ lying on the golden dome of +the Flower Temple; or, if I do not, that my successors may. +</p> + +<p> +There is one more thing that I intend to devote myself to, and that is the +total exclusion of all foreigners from Zu-Vendis. Not, indeed, that any more +are ever likely to get here, but if they do, I warn them fairly that they will +be shown the shortest way out of the country. I do not say this from any sense +of inhospitality, but because I am convinced of the sacred duty that rests upon +me of preserving to this, on the whole, upright and generous-hearted people the +blessings of comparative barbarism. Where would all my brave army be if some +enterprising rascal were to attack us with field-guns and Martini-Henrys? I +cannot see that gunpowder, telegraphs, steam, daily newspapers, universal +suffrage, etc., etc., have made mankind one whit the happier than they used to +be, and I am certain that they have brought many evils in their train. I have +no fancy for handing over this beautiful country to be torn and fought for by +speculators, tourists, politicians and teachers, whose voice is as the voice of +Babel, just as those horrible creatures in the valley of the underground river +tore and fought for the body of the wild swan; nor will I endow it with the +greed, drunkenness, new diseases, gunpowder, and general demoralization which +chiefly mark the progress of civilization amongst unsophisticated peoples. If +in due course it pleases Providence to throw Zu-Vendis open to the world, that +is another matter; but of myself I will not take the responsibility, and I may +add that Good entirely approves of my decision. Farewell. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +H<small>ENRY</small> C<small>URTIS</small>. +</p> + +<p> +December 15, 18—. +</p> + +<p class="p1"> +PS—I quite forgot to say that about nine months ago Nyleptha (who is very +well and, in my eyes at any rate, more beautiful than ever) presented me with a +son and heir. He is a regular curly-haired, blue-eyed young Englishman in +looks, and, though he is destined, if he lives, to inherit the throne of +Zu-Vendis, I hope I may be able to bring him up to become what an English +gentleman should be, and generally is—which is to my mind even a prouder +and a finer thing than being born heir apparent to the great House of the +Stairway, and, indeed, the highest rank that a man can reach upon this earth. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +H. C. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>NOTE BY GEORGE CURTIS, Esq.</h2> + +<p> +The MS of this history, addressed to me in the handwriting of my dear brother +Henry Curtis, whom we had given up for dead, and bearing the Aden postmark, +reached me in safety on December 20, 18—, or a little more than two years +after it left his hands in the far centre of Africa, and I hasten to give the +astonishing story it contains to the world. Speaking for myself, I have read it +with very mixed feelings; for though it is a great relief to know that he and +Good are alive and strangely prosperous, I cannot but feel that for me and for +all their friends they might as well be dead, since we can never hope to see +them more. +</p> + +<p> +They have cut themselves off from old England and from their homes and their +relations for ever, and perhaps, under the circumstances, they were right and +wise to do so. +</p> + +<p> +How the MS came to be posted I have been quite unable to discover; but I +presume, from the fact of its being posted at all, that the little Frenchman, +Alphonse, accomplished his hazardous journey in safety. I have, however, +advertised for him and caused various inquiries to be made in Marseilles and +elsewhere with a view of discovering his whereabouts, but so far without the +slightest success. Possibly he is dead, and the packet was posted by another +hand; or possibly he is now happily wedded to his Annette, but still fears the +vengeance of the law, and prefers to remain incognito. I cannot say, I have not +yet abandoned my hopes of finding him, but I am bound to say that they grow +fainter day by day, and one great obstacle to my search is that nowhere in the +whole history does Mr Quatermain mention his surname. He is always spoken of as +“Alphonse”, and there are so many Alphonses. The letters which my +brother Henry says he is sending with the packet of manuscript have never +arrived, so I presume that they are lost or destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +George Curtis +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>AUTHORITIES</h2> + +<p> +A novelist is not usually asked, like a historian, for his +“Quellen”. As I have, however, judging from certain experiences in +the past, some reason to anticipate such a demand, I wish to acknowledge my +indebtedness to Mr Thomson’s admirable history of travel “Through +Masai Land” for much information as to the habits and customs of the +tribes inhabiting that portion of the East Coast, and the country where they +live; also to my brother, John G. Haggard, RN, HBM’s consul at +Madagascar, and formerly consul at Lamu, for many details furnished by him of +the mode of life and war of those engaging people the Masai; also to my +sister-in-law, Mrs John Haggard, who kindly put the lines of p. 183 into rhyme +for me; also to an extract in a review from some book of travel of which I +cannot recollect the name, to which I owe the idea of the great crabs in the +valley of the subterranean river.<a href="#fn-24" name="fnref-24" id="fnref-24"><sup>[24]</sup></a> +But if I remember right, the crabs in the book when irritated projected their +eyes quite out of their heads. I regret that I was not able to +“plagiarize” this effect, but I felt that, although crabs may, and +doubtless do, behave thus in real life, in romance they “will not do +so.” +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn-24" id="fn-24"></a> <a href="#fnref-24">[24]</a> +It is suggested to me that this book is The Cruise of the ‘Falcon’, +with which work I am personally unacquainted. +</p> + +<p> +There is an underground river in “Peter Wilkins”, but at the time +of writing the foregoing pages I had not read that quaint but entertaining +work. +</p> + +<p> +It has been pointed out to me that there exists a similarity between the scene +of Umslopogaas frightening Alphonse with his axe and a scene in Far from the +Madding Crowd. I regret this coincidence, and believe that the talented author +of that work will not be inclined to accuse me of literary immorality on its +account. +</p> + +<p> +Finally, I may say that Mr Quatermain’s little Frenchman appears to +belong to the same class of beings as those English ladies whose long yellow +teeth and feet of enormous size excite our hearty amusement in the pages of the +illustrated Gallic press. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +The Writer of “Allan Quatermain.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ALLAN QUATERMAIN ***</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 711-h.htm or 711-h.zip</div> +<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/7/1/711/</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part +of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ +concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, +and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following +the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use +of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for +copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very +easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation +of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project +Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may +do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected +by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark +license, especially commercial redistribution. +</div> + +<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br /> +<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br /> +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full +Project Gutenberg™ License available with this file or online at +www.gutenberg.org/license. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg™ +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or +destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in your +possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a +Project Gutenberg™ electronic work and you do not agree to be bound +by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person +or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg™ electronic works if you follow the terms of this +agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the +Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection +of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works. Nearly all the individual +works in the collection are in the public domain in the United +States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the +United States and you are located in the United States, we do not +claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, +displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as +all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope +that you will support the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting +free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg™ +works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the +Project Gutenberg™ name associated with the work. You can easily +comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the +same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg™ License when +you share it without charge with others. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are +in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, +check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this +agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, +distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any +other Project Gutenberg™ work. The Foundation makes no +representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any +country other than the United States. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other +immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg™ License must appear +prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg™ work (any work +on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the +phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed, +performed, viewed, copied or distributed: +</div> + +<blockquote> + <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> + This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most + other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions + whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms + of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online + at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you + are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws + of the country where you are located before using this eBook. + </div> +</blockquote> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is +derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not +contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the +copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in +the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are +redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project +Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply +either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or +obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg™ +trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg™ electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any +additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms +will be linked to the Project Gutenberg™ License for all works +posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the +beginning of this work. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg™ +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg™. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg™ License. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including +any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access +to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg™ work in a format +other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official +version posted on the official Project Gutenberg™ website +(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense +to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means +of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain +Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the +full Project Gutenberg™ License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg™ works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +provided that: +</div> + +<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'> + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg™ works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed + to the owner of the Project Gutenberg™ trademark, but he has + agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid + within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are + legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty + payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project + Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in + Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg + Literary Archive Foundation.” + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™ + License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all + copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue + all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™ + works. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of + any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of + receipt of the work. + </div> + + <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'> + • You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works. + </div> +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than +are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing +from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of +the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set +forth in Section 3 below. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project +Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may +contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate +or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or +other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or +cannot be read by your equipment. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right +of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium +with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you +with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in +lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person +or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second +opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If +the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing +without further opportunities to fix the problem. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO +OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of +damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement +violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the +agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or +limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or +unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the +remaining provisions. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in +accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the +production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™ +electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, +including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of +the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this +or any Project Gutenberg™ work, (b) alteration, modification, or +additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg™ work, and (c) any +Defect you cause. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg™ +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of +computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It +exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations +from people in all walks of life. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg™’s +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg™ collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg™ and future +generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see +Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by +U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation’s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, +Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up +to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website +and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread +public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND +DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state +visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To +donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate +</div> + +<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'> +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg™ electronic works +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project +Gutenberg™ concept of a library of electronic works that could be +freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and +distributed Project Gutenberg™ eBooks with only a loose network of +volunteer support. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Project Gutenberg™ eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in +the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not +necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper +edition. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Most people start at our website which has the main PG search +facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This website includes information about Project Gutenberg™, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. +</div> + +</body> + +</html> + + diff --git a/711-h/images/cover.jpg b/711-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..099b69c --- /dev/null +++ b/711-h/images/cover.jpg |
