by Frank Aubrey
CHAPTER XXXVI.
THE END.
Templemore was carried, with much difficulty, to 'Monella Lodge,' wherean attack of fever supervened, and it was nearly two weeks before thedoctor pronounced him out of danger.
Carenna came over from her village to nurse him, and tended him asdevotedly as she had Leonard. In the height of the fever he ravedconstantly of the great devil-tree, of gigantic serpents, of Monella,and of 'lost souls'; and, mixed up with all, were a number of namesstrange to those who listened to him; for he had been too ill whenfound in the cavern to give more than a brief idea of the adventures hehad passed through.
While he lay upon his bed of sickness, anxious friends watched fromthe mountain top for tidings of his fate, but received no intelligibleanswers to their signals; for none of those now with Templemore knewhow to reply to them. Thus it was not till he was convalescent andwell enough to be taken out into the open air, that any interchange ofmessages became possible.
Those below, looking up, day after day had seen little flashes oflight, of which they could make nothing; but now Templemore explainedtheir meaning. A search in the cabin brought to light the mirrorMonella had thoughtfully packed up and hidden carefully away; andTemplemore was thus able at last to open communication with his Roraimafriends.
His first signalled message to them brought back the reply:--
"_Heaven be praised! We are all so thankful! We have mourned you as dead! And we are in great affliction, besides, for Monella, the great, great-hearted Mellenda, is dead! He died peacefully the day after you went away._"
Then, presently, when Templemore had sent back a message of sorrow andcondolence, another came.
"_The whole valley at the bottom of the canyon is half-filled up. It would take years to clear it. And we pictured you as lying dead beneath it all!_"
Many messages passed to and fro during the remainder of the travellers'stay; and then, after a time, Templemore having thoroughly recovered,preparations were made for the journey back to the coast.
Both Carenna and Matava were grieved at the thought that Leonard hadremained on the mountain for good, and that they were never likely tosee him more. Carenna, alone, however, expressed no surprise. She toldTemplemore that the deception as to Leonard she had practised uponthe good people who had received them so hospitably in their lonelymountain retreat had, all her life, been a sore trouble to her. It wassome consolation to her, therefore, to know that he had, after all,been led back to his own people. She at first refused the valuablepresent Leonard had sent her, saying that to receive forgiveness was initself more than she had hoped for. But, needless to say, Templemorepersuaded her into accepting it. Matava's delight with what hadbeen sent him was unbounded; especially when Templemore told himwhat treasures he could purchase with it: rifles, pistols, unboundedsupplies of powder, and unlimited tobacco, and other things thatIndians prize.
Meanwhile, Doctor Lorien and his son had been assiduous in collectingspecimens of all the botanical and zoological treasures with which theneighbourhood of Roraima abounds; and, when the time for starting came,they had good reason to be satisfied with the result. They might havedone still better, perhaps, if they had gone more into Roraima Forest;but this they could not make up their minds to do. Indeed, they couldnot venture far without an Indian guide; and this they could not get.Neither Matava nor any one of the other Indians could be prevailed uponto go into the wood again; and even the doctor was not very pressing.All had had quite enough of the 'haunted wood.' For it now came out,too, that Templemore had become a believer in the 'didi.' He declaredthat more than once during his imprisonment in the cavern he had seen,either at early morning or at dusk, strange human-like shapes--giganticapes--standing watching within the shadow of the trees.
Nothing, he said, would induce him to enter that wood again. And hefelt certain that only the fact that the entrance to the cavern was sohigh from the ground had enabled him to escape with his life.
'Nea,' the puma, alone showed no fear of the gloomy forest. She wenthunting there daily, and nearly always returned with something toreward her enterprise.
When all was ready for the start, two or three last messages passedbetween the travellers and their friends upon the mountain.
"_Heaven keep you and all those dear to you! Your memory will alwaysbe cherished by all here_," came from Leonard. To which Templemorereplied:--
"_Long life and happiness to you and your dear wife and all yourpeople._"
"_God bless you, Jack!_"
"_God bless you, Leonard!_"
Thus they finally parted; and a few hours later the homeward-boundfriends looked their last upon Roraima from the ridge near Daranato.The mountain was lighted with the red rays of the setting sun andtowered up in glowing splendour. The greens of the wood at its base,varied and vivid in colouring, as they were, contrasted with the pinks,and purples, and reds of the precipitous walls above, that now lookedagain like a fairy fortress in the clouds, smiling, and fascinating inits light, aerial beauty.
"What a pity the city does not show!" said Harry. "What a glorioussight it would make!"
"At least you have conquered the secret the mysterious mountain has solong and so well concealed," Doctor Lorien observed to Templemore.
The latter gazed on the mountain gloomily. His mind went back to themorning when he saw it first and the vague forebodings that had thencome into his mind.
"I don't know," he said doubtfully. "I have not brought away with methe most wonderful secret of all--the 'Plant of Life.' When I think howI was cheated out of that, by the mountain itself, as you may trulysay--for its very rocks came crashing down to prevent my escape, orto kill me if I persisted; or at least, to insure my leaving nearlyeverything behind--when I think of this, it seems to me that Roraimahas guarded most of its secrets pretty effectually, and I am almostpersuaded there is something uncanny about it."
Harry laughed at this; the more so that it came from Jack.
"That's very fanciful--for you," he returned. "If it had been Leonard,now, I should not have been surprised."
"I am afraid my ideas of what is precisely practical and what isfanciful have been a good deal modified," Jack confessed. "So wouldyours, if you had passed through my experiences."
"Well, after all, perhaps you haven't lost much," Harry returned. "Asmall bundle of dried plants wouldn't have been of much use, and as tothe seeds, if, as I understand you, they only thrive high up on themountains, I don't see what you were going to do with them. Moreover,very likely they would have been eaten up by insects, or lost, or gotwetted and spoiled, or something, before you got back or could haveplanted them in a likely spot."
Then they continued their journey, staying that night in Daranato,where the great puma at first created a scare among the duskyinhabitants, but, showing friendliness towards all, she was soon theobject of unbounded wonder and interest on every side.
Some two months later there was again a little dinner party at'Meldona,' Mr. Kingsford's residence, and the same faces were gatheredround the hospitable board--all but Leonard Elwood's. Maud lookedcharming and happy as she glanced, now and again, first at JackTemplemore's bronzed face, and then at her brother, listening, not forthe first time now, to her lover's wondrous tale.
She and Stella had shuddered before at the accounts of the great treeand its victims, and of the horrors of the 'haunted wood'; and hadtalked of Ulama and Zonella, and wondered, again and again, what theywere like.
"Poor Leonard! I am sorry to lose him," Maud said. "Yet, I suppose,he does not need pity; for he is to be envied in many ways. Fancy hisdreamings--about which we used to tease him so--coming true after all!"
"It is just a year ago to-day," observed Mr. Kingsford to the doctor,"that you were at dinner here and first told us about that wondrousstranger, Monella. We've had an anxious time ever since."
"I have never known a happy moment till you all came back the otherday," said Maud sadly. "I am so thankful that the cruel suspense isended at l
ast. I have often recalled the words Dr. Lorien used aboutRoraima; that 'its very name had come to be surrounded by a halo ofdread and indefinable fear.' I can truly declare that it has been sowith me. I, too, had come to hate and dread the very name. It hasseemed to me like a great, remorseless ogre that had swallowed up twoof our friends, and, as I feared, was going to swallow up my brotherand two more. Yet," she added, looking at Jack, "had I known how thingsreally were, had I known of your lying lamed, and ill, and alone in theden in that horrible forest, I think I should have gone mad! What acomfort to you this dear, faithful animal must have been!"
'Nea' was by her side, and she put her tear-stained face affectionatelydown to the animal's head. The big puma had already established herselfas a favourite with every one in the house.
"Truly," returned Jack, "such thoughts occurred to me while I wascooped up there. I couldn't help going over things in my mind; and,when I considered how the mountain itself, and all the horrors of theforest, seemed to have combined against me to prevent my escape, I wasseized with a sort of hate and detestation of the place. And, eversince, my sleep has been disturbed--and will be for years to come, Ifeel convinced--by nightmare dreams of the sights and sounds that hauntmy memory!"
"I feel that I have a grudge against it, too," the doctor avowed."Consider all the wonderful things you have told us that are to befound inside! Then, just when I got so near, to be shut out in thatway! That 'Plant of Life,' too! I'd have given a good deal to have somespecimens of that, and some seeds. _I_ would have got them to grow,somehow, if the thing could be done!"
"I'm precious glad, then, that you didn't," the irreverent Harry putin. "I'm hoping to be a physician--one day--remember! And what chancewould there be for me and the rest of the profession, if you taughtpeople how to live for hundreds of years without so much as an illness?"
This very unexpected view of the matter from the vivacious 'buddingdoctor' had the effect of turning the thoughts of the others from thesomewhat gloomy channel into which they seemed to have drifted.
After dinner, the belt, and the purses, and their glittering contents,were brought in and spread out to view.
"Whatever else may be said," Mr. Kingsford declared, with emotion,"there is not one here who will not have cause to remember the strangerMonella, and Leonard, and their friends, with grateful feelings. Andyou, Jack, above all; for, if I am any judge of the value of your shareof these things, you are a millionaire. And that brings back to mymind the thought that is now constantly perplexing me, Who _was_ thiswondrous Monella after all? I really cannot bring myself to believe hewas--what was his name?--Mellenda, you know."
"No," assented the doctor. "As a man, I have the greatest liking andrespect for him; but, as a scientist, I am bound to disbelieve in thatpart."
"Since I have no claim yet to be considered a scientist," said Harry,"I suppose I am free to believe what I like. So I go the whole ticket.I believe he was what I first pronounced him to be--a magician--and--Iswallow the Mellenda legend--whole! So there!" This very emphatically.
"Oh dear, _yes_!" Stella exclaimed, her blue eyes opening wide at thedoubting ones. "Why, of course, it _must_ be true. It is so much moreromantic and poetic, you know!"
Robert shook his head gravely.
"No!" he said, very decidedly. "I honour and respect the man, andhis memory, from all I have heard of him, but--I cannot accept thatwonderful part of it."
"Well, _I_ do," Maud exclaimed, looking round with a pretty airof defiance, more particularly directed against Jack. "So thatmakes opinion even, so far--three for, and three against. Now," toTemplemore, "of course, I know _you_ will side with the others."
To every one's surprise, however, Jack also shook his head.
"I don't know that," he answered, with a comically bewildered air."I've really had all my old notions so mixed up and blown about, that Ihonestly admit I really cannot make up my mind. The whole thing is anenigma that I cannot solve as yet--probably never shall. So you may putme down as neutral--undecided--whatever you like to call it."
Maud clapped her hands; and upon that the puma gave a loud roar,evidently signifying _her_ assent and approbation.
"Three for, three against, and one neutral," Maud cried "That's betterthan I hoped for!"
The doctor laughed, and his good-natured eyes twinkled.
"You've all but beaten us," he said good-humouredly. "But, going awayfrom that part of the subject, I feel truly sorry to think that heshould have died so soon after he had accomplished the work he had hadso much at heart."
"There again I am inclined to differ," Templemore answered slowly. "Ihonestly believe that nothing could have happened to please him more.All his later talk clearly showed that. He said he was utterly wearyof life, and anxious to be 'released,' as he called it; yet his lovefor his people was so great, he let no sign of this appear till he feltsure all had been finally achieved. It was the fear that that workmight be upset after he had gone--and that alone--that made him soanxious to shut out all future communication with the world outside;of that I feel convinced. It was that that influenced him too, I haveno doubt, in making me promise to keep my adventures there a secretfrom the world in general. But, just at the last, almost when I wascoming away, a doubt seemed to come into his mind, and he said to me,'I release you from that promise, if circumstances should arise inwhich you conscientiously believe it would be conducive to the good ofmy country to tell the story of your sojourn here.' What he meant Icannot conceive; I only tell you what he said. Possibly time may show.He seemed to have the 'gift of prophecy' to some extent in those days;certainly, everything went to show that he foresaw, or expected, hisown approaching death."
* * * * *
This was all some years ago.
Maud Kingsford and Templemore were married shortly after; and Stellaand Harry Lorien are now married too. And, when the two sisters appearin society, they excite admiration, not only by their beauty, but alsoby their matchless jewels--that once glittered on the bosom of Ulama,Princess of Manoa, and that had adorned, probably, the persons ofgenerations of descendants of former mighty kings of that once mightyempire.
But of this nothing is known to the general public. Templemore and hisfriends have kept the promise he gave, and preserved the secret ofRoraima. It was only a short time ago that circumstances arose thatseemed to him to justify a departure from the course he had hithertoobserved. This was when the dispute which has been dormant for justupon a hundred years respecting the boundaries of British Guianasuddenly reached an acute stage.
"Truly," he said to his wife, then, "I think this is the contingencyour friend Monella must have had in his mind when he intimated thatin certain circumstances I was to be free to depart from the silencehe had enjoined. It seems to me more than ever the case that he musthave had 'the gift of prophecy' at that time. I cannot doubt that,if he were alive now, and saw that the future international positionof Roraima was hanging in the balance, he would wish it to becomepermanently British territory, rather than Venezuelan. And, if he couldknow of the present state of indifference--or want of information--thatseems to prevail in England, I feel satisfied he would wish me to dowhat I could to awaken the English nation to the true facts of thequestion that is at stake."
And that is how it has come about that, after some years of silence,this strange story of Roraima and the ancient city of El Dorado is nowgiven to the world.
THE END.
Transcriber's note
Words in italics have been surrounded with _underscores_, and smallcapitals changed to all capitals.
Errors in punctuation have been corrected without note. The footnoteshave been placed directly after the paragraph they belong to. Missingpunctuation of the poem in footnote 6 was found on the internet. Somewords were hard to read but could be guessed from the context. Entirelymissing words were filled in and mentioned in the list underneath. Alsothe following changes were made, on page
vii "noet" changed to "not" (the aut
hor did not actually visit)
xiii pagenumber "xii" changed to "xiii"
27 "that" changed to "than" (far more sparsely populated than)
29 "Thoughout" changed to "Throughout" (Throughout the country)
31 "scarely" changed to "scarcely" (I can scarcely believe)
51 "Morover" changed to "Moreover" (Moreover, the Indians)
83 "Gorgetown" changed to "Georgetown" (do not alarm our friends in Georgetown)
95 "o" changed to "of" (some kind of)
126 missing word guessed "to" (repay you to some measure)
202 "mysel" changed to "myself" (For myself I do not wonder)
381 "entertaintment" changed to "entertainment" (for my especial entertainment).
Otherwise the original has been preserved, including inconsistentspelling and hyphenation.