The Ivory Child

by H. Rider Haggard

  As soon as she was gone the congregation, if I may call it so, leavingtheir seats, swarmed down into the outer court of the temple throughits eastern gate, which was now opened. Here the priests proceeded todistribute among them the offerings taken from the altar, giving a grainof corn to each of the men to eat and a flower to each of the women,which flower she kissed and hid in the bosom of her robe. Evidently itwas a kind of sacrament.

  Ragnall lifted himself a little upon his hands and knees, and I saw thathis eyes glowed and his face was very pale.

  "What are you going to do?" I asked.

  "Demand that those people give me back my wife, whom they have stolen.Don't try to stop me, Quatermain, I mean what I say."

  "But, but," I stammered, "they never will and we are but three unarmedmen."

  Hans lifted up his little yellow face between us.

  "Baas," he hissed, "I have a thought. The Lord Baas wishes to get thelady dressed like a bird as to her head and like one for burial as toher body, who is, he says, his wife. But for us to take her from amongso many is impossible. Now what did that old witch-doctor Harut declarejust now? He declared, speaking for his fetish, that by our help alonethe White Kendah can resist the hosts of the Black Kendah and that noharm must be done to us if the White Kendah would continue to live. Soit seems, Baas, that we have something to sell which the White Kendahmust buy, namely our help against the Black Kendah, for if we will notfight for them, they believe that they cannot conquer their enemies andkill the devil Jana. Well now, supposing that the Baas says that ourprice is the white woman dressed like a bird, to be delivered over to uswhen we have defeated the Black Kendah and killed Jana--after which theywill have no more use for her. And supposing that the Baas says that ifthey refuse to pay that price we will burn all our powder and cartridgesso that the rifles are no use? Is there not a path to walk on here?"

  "Perhaps," I answered. "Something of the sort was working in my mind butI had no time to think it out."

  Turning, I explained the idea to Ragnall, adding:

  "I pray you not to be rash. If you are, not only may we be killed, whichdoes not so much matter, but it is very probable that even if they spareus they will put an end to your wife rather than suffer one whom theylook upon as holy and who is necessary to their faith in its laststruggle to be separated from her charge of the Child."

  This was a fortunate argument of mine and one which went home.

  "To lose her now would be more than I could bear," he muttered.

  "Then will you promise to let me try to manage this affair and not tointerfere with me and show violence?"

  He hesitated a moment and answered:

  "Yes, I promise, for you two are cleverer than I am and--I cannot trustmy judgment."

  "Good," I said, assuming an air of confidence which I did not feel. "Nowwe will go down to call upon Harut and his friends. I want to have acloser look at that temple."

  So behind our screen of bushes we wriggled back a little distance tillwe knew that the slope of the ground would hide us when we stood up.Then as quickly as we could we made our way eastwards for something overa quarter of a mile and after this turned to the north. As I expected,beyond the ring of the crater we found ourselves on the rising,tree-clad bosom of the mountain and, threading our path through thecedars, came presently to that track or roadway which led to the easterngate of the amphitheatre. This road we followed unseen until presentlythe gateway appeared before us. We walked through it without attractingany attention, perhaps because all the people were either talkingtogether, or praying, or perhaps because like themselves we were wrappedin white robes. At the mouth of the tunnel we stopped and I called outin a loud voice:

  "The white lords and their servant have come to visit Harut, as heinvited them to do. Bring us, we pray you, into the presence of Harut."

  Everyone wheeled round and stared at us standing there in the shadow ofthe gateway tunnel, for the sun behind us was still low. My word, howthey did stare! A voice cried:

  "Kill them! Kill these strangers who desecrate our temple."

  "What!" I answered. "Would you kill those to whom your high-priest hasgiven safe-conduct; those moreover by whose help alone, as your Oraclehas just declared, you can hope to slay Jana and destroy his hosts?"

  "How do they know that?" shouted another voice. "They are magicians!"

  "Yes," I remarked, "all magic does not dwell in the hearts of the WhiteKendah. If you doubt it, go to look at the Watcher in the Cave whom yourOracle told you is dead. You will find that it did not lie."

  As I spoke a man rushed through the gates, his white rob streaming onthe wind, shouting as he emerged from the tunnel:

  "O Priests and Priestesses of the Child, the ancient serpent is dead. Iwhose office it is to feed the serpent on the day of the new moon havefound him dead in his house."

  "You hear," I interpolated calmly. "The Father of Snakes is dead. If youwant to know how, I will tell you. We looked on it and it died."

  They might have answered that poor Savage also looked on it with theresult that _he_ died, but luckily it did not occur to them to do so.On the contrary, they just stood still and stared at us like a flock ofstartled sheep.

  Presently the sheep parted and the shepherd in the shape of Harutappeared looking, I reflected, the very picture of Abraham softened bya touch of the melancholia of Job, that is, as I have always imaginedthose patriarchs. He bowed to us with his usual Oriental courtesy, andwe bowed back to him. Hans' bow, I may explain, was of the most peculiarnature, more like a _skulpat_, as the Boers call a land-tortoise,drawing its wrinkled head into its shell and putting it out again thananything else. Then Harut remarked in his peculiar English, which Isuppose the White Kendah took for some tongue known only to magicians:

  "So you get here, eh? Why you get here, how the devil you get here, eh?"

  "We got here because you asked us to do so if we could," I answered,"and we thought it rude not to accept your invitation. For the rest, wecame through a cave where you kept a tame snake, an ugly-looking reptilebut very harmless to those who know how to deal with snakes and are notafraid of them as poor Bena was. If you can spare the skin I should liketo have it to make myself a robe."

  Harut looked at me with evident respect, muttering:

  "Oh, Macumazana, you what you English call cool, quite cool! Is thatall?"

  "No," I answered. "Although you did not happen to notice us, we havebeen present at your church service, and heard and seen everything. Forinstance, we saw the wife of the lord here whom you stole away in Egypt,her that, being a liar, Harut, you swore you never stole. Also we heardher words after you had made her drunk with your tobacco smoke."

  Now for once in his life Harut was, in sporting parlance, knocked out.He looked at us, then turning quite pale, lifted his eyes to heaven androcked upon his feet as though he were about to fall.

  "How you do it? How you do it, eh?" he queried in a weak voice.

  "Never you mind how we did it, my friend," I answered loftily. "Whatwe want to know is when you are going to hand over that lady to herhusband."

  "Not possible," he answered, recovering some of his tone. "First we killyou, first we kill her, she Nurse of the Child. While Child there, shestop there till she die."

  "See here," broke in Ragnall. "Either you give me my wife or someoneelse will die. You will die, Harut. I am a stronger man than you areand unless you promise to give me my wife I will kill you now with thisstick and my hands. Do not move or call out if you want to live."

  "Lord," answered the old man with some dignity, "I know you can kill me,and if you kill me, I think I say thank you who no wish to live in somuch trouble. But what good that, since in one minute then you die too,all of you, and lady she stop here till Black Kendah king take her towife or she too die?"

  "Let us talk," I broke in, treading warningly upon Ragnall's foot. "Wehave heard your Oracle and we know that you believe its words. It issaid that we alone can help you to conquer the Black Kendah. If you wi
llnot promise what we ask, we will not help you. We will burn our powderand melt our lead, so that the guns we have cannot speak with Jana andwith Simba, and after that we will do other things that I need not tellyou. But if you promise what we ask, then we will fight for you againstJana and Simba and teach your men to use the fifty rifles which we havehere with us, and by our help you shall conquer. Do you understand?"

  He nodded and stroking his long beard, asked:

  "What you want us promise, eh?"

  "We want you to promise that after Jana is dead and the Black Kendahare driven away, you will give up to us unharmed that lady whom you havestolen. Also that you will bring her and us safely out of your countryby the roads you know, and meanwhile that you will let this lord see hiswife."

  "Not last, no," replied Harut, "that not possible. That bring us all tograve. Also no good, 'cause her mind empty. For rest, you come to otherplace, sit down and eat while I talk with priests. Be afraid nothing;you quite safe."

  "Why should we be afraid? It is you who should be afraid, you who stolethe lady and brought Bena to his death. Do you not remember the words ofyour own Oracle, Harut?"

  "Yes, I know words, but how _you_ know them _that_ I not know," hereplied.

  Then he issued some orders, as a result of which a guard formed itselfabout us and conducted us through the crowd and along the passage to thesecond court of the temple, which was now empty. Here the guard left usbut remained at the mouth of the passage, keeping watch. Presently womenbrought us food and drink, of which Hans and I partook heartily thoughRagnall, who was so near to his lost wife and yet so far away, could eatbut little. Mingled joy because after these months of arduous search hefound her yet alive, and fear lest she should again be taken from himfor ever, deprived him of all appetite.

  While we ate, priests to the number of about a dozen, who I suppose hadbeen summoned by Harut, were admitted by the guard and, gathering out ofearshot of us between the altar and the sanctuary, entered on an earnestdiscussion with him. Watching their faces I could see that there was astrong difference of opinion between them, about half taking one viewon the matter of which they disputed, and half another. At length Harutmade some proposition to which they all agreed. Then the door of thesanctuary was opened with a strange sort of key which one of the priestsproduced, showing a dark interior in which gleamed a white object, Isuppose the statue of the Child. Harut and two others entered, the doorbeing closed behind them. About five minutes later they appeared againand others, who listened earnestly and after renewed consultationsignified assent by holding up the right hand. Now one of the priestswalked to where we were and, bowing, begged us to advance to the altar.This we did, and were stood in a line in front of it, Hans being set inthe middle place, while the priests ranged themselves on either side.Next Harut, having once more opened the door of the sanctuary, took hisstand a little to the right of it and addressed us, not in English butin his own language, pausing at the end of each sentence that I mighttranslate to Ragnall.

  "Lords Macumazana and Igeza, and yellow man who is namedLight-in-Darkness," he said, "we, the head priests of the Child,speaking on behalf of the White Kendah people with full authority so todo, have taken counsel together and of the wisdom of the Child as to thedemands which you make of us. Those demands are: First, that after youhave killed Jana and defeated the Black Kendah we should give over toyou the white lady who was born in a far land to fill the office ofGuardian of the Child, as is shown by the mark of the new moon uponher breast, but who, because for the second time we could not take her,became the wife of you, the Lord Igeza. Secondly, that we should conductyou and her safely out of our land to some place whence you can returnto your own country. Both of these things we will do, because we knowfrom of old that if once Jana is dead we shall have no cause to fear theBlack Kendah any more, since we believe that then they will leave theirhome and go elsewhere, and therefore that we shall no longer need anOracle to declare to us in what way Heaven will protect us from Jana andfrom them. Or if another Oracle should become necessary to us, doubtlessin due season she will be found. Also we admit that we stole away thislady because we must, although she was the wife of one of you. But if weswear this, you on your part must also swear that you will stay with ustill the end of the war, making our cause your cause and, if need be,giving your lives for us in battle. You must swear further that none ofyou will attempt to see or to take hence that lady who is named Guardianof the Child until we hand her over to you unharmed. If you will notswear these things, then since no blood may be shed in this holy place,here we will ring you round until you die of hunger and of thirst, or ifyou escape from this temple, then we will fall upon you and put you todeath and fight our own battle with Jana as best we may."

  "And if we make these promises how are we to know that you will keepyours?" I interrupted.

  "Because the oath that we shall give you will be the oath of the Childthat may not be broken."

  "Then give it," I said, for although I did not altogether like thesecurity, obviously it was the best to be had.

  So very solemnly they laid their right hands upon the altar and "in thepresence of the Child and the name of the Child and of all the WhiteKendah people," repeated after Harut a most solemn oath of which Ihave already given the substance. It called down on their heads a verydreadful doom in this world and the next, should it be broken either inthe spirit or the letter; the said oath, however, to be only binding ifwe, on our part, swore to observe their terms and kept our engagementalso in the spirit and the letter.

  Then they asked us to fulfil our share of the pact and veryconsiderately drew out of hearing while we discussed the matter; Harut,the only one of them who understood a word of English, retiring behindthe sanctuary. At first I had difficulties with Ragnall, who was mostunwilling to bind himself in any way. In the end, on my pointing outthat nothing less than our lives were involved and probably that of hiswife as well, also that no other course was open to us, he gave way, tomy great relief.

  Hans announced himself ready to swear anything, adding blandly thatwords mattered nothing, as afterwards we could do whatever seemed bestin our own interests, whereon I read him a short moral lecture on theheinousness of perjury, which did not seem to impress him very much.

  This matter settled, we called back the priests and informed them of ourdecision. Harut demanded that we should affirm it "by the Child," whichwe declined to do, saying that it was our custom to swear only in thename of our own God. Being a liberal-minded man who had travelled, Harutgave way on the point. So I swore first to the effect that I would fightfor the White Kendah to the finish in consideration of the promises thatthey had made to us. I added that I would not attempt either to see orto interfere with the lady here known as the Guardian of the Child untilthe war was over or even to bring our existence to her knowledge, endingup, "so help me God," as I had done several times when giving evidencein a court of law.

  Next Ragnall with a great effort repeated my oath in English, Harutlistening carefully to every word and once or twice asking me to explainthe exact meaning of some of them.

  Lastly Hans, who seemed very bored with the whole affair, swore, alsorepeating the words after me and finishing on his own account with"so help me the reverend Predikant, the Baas's father," a form that heutterly declined to vary although it involved more explanations. Whenpressed, indeed, he showed considerable ingenuity by pointing out tothe priests that to his mind my poor father stood in exactly the samerelation to the Power above us as their Oracle did to the Child. Heoffered generously, however, to throw in the spirits of his grandfatherand grandmother and some extraordinary divinity they worshipped, I thinkit was a hare, as an additional guarantee of good faith. This proposalthe priests accepted gravely, whereon Hans whispered into my ear inDutch:

  "Those fools do not remember that when pressed by dogs the hare oftendoubles on its own spoor, and that your reverend father will be verypleased if I can play them the same trick with the white lady that theyplayed with t
he Lord Igeza."

  I only looked at him in reply, since the morality of Hans was pastargument. It might perhaps be summed up in one sentence: To get thebetter of his neighbour in his master's service, honestly if possible;if not, by any means that came to his hand down to that of murder. Atthe bottom of his dark and mysterious heart Hans worshipped only onegod, named Love, not of woman or child, but of my humble self. Hisprinciples were those of a rather sly but very high-class and exclusivedog, neither better nor worse. Still, when all is said and done, thereare lower creatures in the world than high-class dogs. At least sothe masters whom they adore are apt to think, especially if theirwatchfulness and courage have often saved them from death or disaster.