The Ivory Child

by H. Rider Haggard

  I dragged myself from the ground. As I gained my tottering feet, for nowthat all was over I felt as if I were made of running water, I saw themen who held Ragnall loose their grip of him. He sprang to where hiswife was and stood before her as though confused, much as Jana hadstood, Jana against whose head he rested, his left hand holding to thebrute's gigantic tusk, for I think that he also was weak with toil,terror, loss of blood and emotion.

  "Luna," he gasped, "Luna!"

  Leaning on the shoulder of a Kendah man, I drew nearer to see whatpassed between them, for my curiosity overcame my faintness. For quite along while she stared at him, till suddenly her eyes began to change. Itwas as though a soul were arising in their emptiness as the moon arisesin the quiet evening sky, giving them light and life. At length shespoke in a slow, hesitating voice, the tones of which I remembered wellenough, saying:

  "Oh! George, that dreadful brute," and she pointed to the dead elephant,"has killed our baby. Look at it! Look at it! We must be everything toeach other now, dear, as we were before it came--unless God sends usanother."

  Then she burst into a flood of weeping and fell into his arms, afterwhich I turned away. So, to their honour be it said, did the Kendah,leaving the pair alone behind the bulk of dead Jana.

  Here I may state two things: first, that Lady Ragnall, whose bodilyhealth had remained perfect throughout, entirely recovered her reasonfrom that moment. It was as though on the shattering of the Ivory Childsome spell had been lifted off her. What this spell may have been I amquite unable to explain, but I presume that in a dim and unknown way sheconnected this effigy with her own lost infant and that while she heldand tended it her intellect remained in abeyance. If so, she must alsohave connected its destruction with the death of her own child which,strangely enough, it will be remembered, was likewise killed by anelephant. The first death that occurred in her presence took away herreason, the second seeming death, which also occurred in her presence,brought it back again!

  Secondly, from the moment of the destruction of her boy in the streetsof the English country town to that of the shattering of the Ivory Childin Central Africa her memory was an utter blank, with one exception.This exception was a dream which a few days later she narrated toRagnall in my presence. That dream was that she had seen him and Savagesleeping together in a native house one night. In view of a certainincident recorded in this history I leave the reader to draw his ownconclusions as to this curious incident. I have none to offer, or if Ihave I prefer to keep them to myself.

  Leaving Ragnall and his wife, I staggered off to look for Hans and foundhim lying senseless near the north wall of the temple. Evidently he wasbeyond human help, for Jana seemed to have crushed most of his ribs inhis iron trunk. We carried him to one of the priest's cells and there Iwatched him till the end, which came at sundown.

  Before he died he became quite conscious and talked with me a good deal.

  "Don't grieve about missing Jana, Baas," he said, "for it wasn't you whomissed him but some devil that turned your bullets. You see, Baas, hewas bewitched against you white men. When you look at him closely youwill find that the Lord Igeza missed him also" (strange as it may seem,this proved to be the case), "and when you managed to hit the tip of histusk with the last ball the magic was wearing off him, that's all.But, Baas, those Black Kendah wizards forgot to bewitch him againstthe little yellow man, of whom they took no account. So I hit him sureenough every time I fired at him, and I hope he liked the taste of mybullets in that great mouth of his. He knew who had sent them there verywell. That's why he left you alone and made for me, as I had hoped hewould. Oh! Baas, I die happy, quite happy since I have killed Jana andhe caught me and not you, me who was nearly finished anyhow. For, Baas,though I didn't say anything about it, a thrown spear struck my groinwhen I went down among the Black Kendah this morning. It was only asmall cut, which bled little, but as the fighting went on something gaveway and my inside began to come through it, though I tied it up with abit of cloth, which of course means death in a day or two." (Subsequentexamination showed me that Hans's story of this wound was perfectlytrue. He could not have lived for very long.)

  "Baas," he went on after a pause, "no doubt I shall meet that Zulu ladyMameena to-night. Tell me, is she really entitled to the royal salute?Because if not, when I am as much a spook as she is I will not give itto her again. She never gave me my titles, which are good ones in theirway, so why should I give her the _Bayete_, unless it is hers by rightof blood, although I am only a little 'yellow dog' as she chose to callme?"

  As this ridiculous point seemed to weigh upon his mind I told him thatMameena was not even of royal blood and in nowise entitled to the saluteof kings.

  "Ah!" he said with a feeble grin, "then now I shall know how to dealwith her, especially as she cannot pretend that I did not play my partin the battle, as she bade me do. Did you see anything of her when Janacharged, Baas, because I thought I did?"

  "I seemed to see something, but no doubt it was only a fancy."

  "A fancy? Explain to me, Baas, where truths end and fancies begin andwhether what we think are fancies are not sometimes the real truths.Once or twice I have thought so of late, Baas."

  I could not answer this riddle, so instead I gave him some water whichhe asked for, and he continued:

  "Baas, have you any messages for the two Shining ones, for her whosename is holy and her sister, and for the child of her whose name isholy, the Missie Marie, and for your reverend father, the Predikant? Ifso, tell it quickly before my head grows too empty to hold the words."

  I will confess, however foolish it may seem, that I gave him certainmessages, but what they were I shall not write down. Let them remainsecret between me and him. Yes, between me and him and perhaps those towhom they were to be delivered. For after all, in his own words, whocan know exactly where fancies end and truth begin, and whether at timesfancies are not the veritable truths in this universal mystery of whichthe individual life of each of us is so small a part?

  Hans repeated what I had spoken to him word for word, as a native does,repeated it twice over, after which he said he knew it by heart andremained silent for a long while. Then he asked me to lift him up inthe doorway of the cell so that he might look at the sun setting forthe last time, "for, Baas," he added, "I think I am going far beyond thesun."

  He stared at it for a while, remarking that from the look of the skythere should be fine weather coming, "which will be good for yourjourney towards the Black Water, Baas, with all that ivory to carry."

  I answered that perhaps I should never get the ivory from the graveyardof the elephants, as the Black Kendah might prevent this.

  "No, no, Baas," he replied, "now that Jana is dead the Black Kendah willgo away. I know it, I know it!"

  Then he wandered for a space, speaking of sundry adventures we hadshared together, till quite before the last indeed, when his mindreturned to him.

  "Baas," he said, "did not the captain Mavovo name me Light-in-Darkness,and is not that my name? When you too enter the Darkness, look for thatLight; it will be shining very close to you."

  He only spoke once more. His words were:

  "Baas, I understand now what your reverend father, the Predikant, meantwhen he spoke to me about Love last night. It had nothing to do withwomen, Baas, at least not much. It was something a great deal bigger,Baas, something as big as what I feel for you!"

  Then Hans died with a smile on his wrinkled face.

  I wept!