Reflecting thus I went to sleep and did not wake until the sun wassetting. Finding that Hans was also sleeping at my feet just like afaithful dog, I woke him up and we went back together to the rest-house,which we reached as the darkness fell with extraordinary swiftness, asit does in those latitudes, especially in a place surrounded by cliffs.
Not finding Robertson in the house, I concluded that he was somewhereoutside, possibly making a reconnaissance on his own account, and toldHans to get supper ready for both of us. While he was doing so, by aidof the Amahagger lamps, Umslopogaas suddenly appeared in the circle oflight, and looking about him, said,
"Where is Red-Beard, Macumazahn?"
I answered that I did not know and waited, for I felt sure that he hadsomething to say.
"I think that you had better keep Red-Beard close to you, Macumazahn,"he went on. "This afternoon, when you had returned from visiting thewhite doctoress and having eaten, had gone to sleep under the wallyonder, I saw Red-Beard come out of the house carrying a gun and a bagof cartridges. His eyes rolled wildly and he turned first this way andthen that, sniffing at the air, like a buck that scents danger. Then hebegan to talk aloud in his own tongue and as I saw that he was speakingwith his Spirit, as those do who are mad, I went away and left him."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because, as you know, Macumazahn, it is a law among us Zulus never todisturb one who is mad and engaged in talking with his Spirit. Moreover,had I done so, probably he would have shot me, nor should I havecomplained who would have thrust myself in where I had no right to be."
"Then why did you not come to call me, Umslopogaas?"
"Because then he might have shot you, for, as I have seen for some timehe is inspired of heaven and knows not what he does upon the earth,thinking only of the Lady Sad-Eyes who has been stolen away from him, asis but natural. So I left him walking up and down, and when I returnedlater to look, saw that he was gone, as I thought into this walled hut.Now when Hansi tells me that he is not here, I have come to speak to youabout him."
"No, certainly he is not here," I said, and I went to look at the bedwhere Robertson slept to see if it had been used that evening.
Then for the first time I saw lying on it a piece of paper torn from apocketbook and addressed to myself. I seized and read it. It ran thus:
"The merciful Lord has sent me a vision of Inez and shown me where sheis over the cliff-edge away to the west, also the road to her. Inmy sleep I heard her talking to me. She told me that she is in greatdanger--that they are going to marry her to some brute--and called tome to come at once and save her; yes, and to come alone without sayinganything to anyone. So I am going at once. Don't be frightened ortrouble about me. All will be well, all will be quite well. I will tellyou the rest when we meet."
Horrorstruck I translated this insane screed to Umslopogaas and Hans.The former nodded gravely.
"Did I not tell you that he was talking with his Spirit, Macumazahn?" (Ihad rendered "the merciful Lord" as the Good Spirit.) "Well, he has goneand doubtless his Spirit will take care of him. It is finished."
"At any rate we cannot, Baas," broke in Hans, who I think feared that Imight send him out to look for Robertson. "I can follow most spoors, butnot on such a night as this when one could cut the blackness into lumpsand build a wall of it."
"Yes," I answered, "he has gone and nothing can be done at present,"though to myself I reflected that probably he had not gone far and wouldbe found when the moon rose, or at any rate on the following morning.
Still I was most uneasy about the man who, as I had noted for a longwhile, was losing his balance more and more. The shock of the barbarousand dreadful slaughter of his half-breed children and of the abductionof Inez by these grim, man-eating savages began the business, and Ithink that it was increased and accentuated by his sudden conversion tocomplete temperance after years of heavy drinking.
When I persuaded him to this course I was very proud of myself, thinkingthat I had done a clever thing, but now I was not so sure. Perhaps itwould have been better if he had continued to drink something, atany rate for a while, but the trouble is that in such cases there isgenerally no half-way house. A man, or still more a woman, given to thisfrailty either turns aggressively sober or remains very drunken. Atany rate, even if I had made a mess of it, I had acted for the best andcould not blame myself.
For the rest it was clear that in his new phase the religiousassociations of his youth had re-asserted themselves with remarkablevigour, for I gathered that he had been brought up almost as aCalvinist, and in the rush of their return, had overset his equilibrium.As I have said, he prayed night and day without any of those reserveswhich most people prefer in their religious exercises, and when hetalked of matters outside our quest, his conversation generally revolvedround the devil, or hell and its torments, which, to say the truth, didnot make him a cheerful companion. Indeed in this respect I liked himmuch better in his old, unregenerate days, being, I fear, myself asomewhat worldly soul.
Well, the sum of it was that the poor fellow had gone mad and given usthe slip, and as Hans said, to search for him at once in that darknesswas impossible. Indeed, even if it had been lighter, I do not think thatit would have been safe among these Amahagger nightbirds whom I did nottrust. Certainly I could not have asked Hans to undertake the task, andif I had, I do not think he would have gone since he was afraid of theAmahagger. Therefore there was nothing to be done except wait and hopefor the best.
So I waited till at last the moon came and with it Ayesha, as she hadpromised. Clad in a rich, dark cloak she arrived in some pomp, heraldedby Billali, followed by women, also cloaked, and surrounded by a guardof tall spearmen. I was seated outside the house, smoking, when suddenlyshe arrived from the shadows and stood before me.
I rose respectfully and bowed, while Umslopogaas, Goroko and the otherZulus who were with me, gave her the royal salute, and Hans cringed likea dog that is afraid of being kicked.
After a swift glance at them, as I guessed by the motion of her veiledhead, she seemed to fix her gaze upon my pipe that evidently excitedher curiosity, and asked me what it was. I explained as well as I could,expatiating on the charms of smoking.
"So men have learned another useless vice since I left the world, andone that is filthy also," she said, sniffing at the smoke and waving herhand before her face, whereon I dropped the pipe into my pocket, where,being alight, it burnt a hole in my best remaining coat.
I remember the remark because it showed me what a clever actress she waswho, to keep up her character of antiquity, pretended to be astonishedat a habit with which she must have been well acquainted, although Ibelieve that it was unknown in the ancient world.
"You are troubled," she went on, swiftly changing the subject, "I readit in your face. One of your company is missing. Who is it? Ah! I see,the white man you name Avenger. Where is he gone?"
"That is what I wish to ask you, Ayesha," I said.
"How can I tell you, Allan, who in this place lack any glass into whichto look for things that pass afar. Still, let me try," and pressing herhands to her forehead, she remained silent for perhaps a minute, thenspoke slowly.
"I think that he has gone over the mountain lip towards the worshippersof Rezu. I think that he is mad; sorrow and something else which I donot understand have turned his brain; something that has to do with theHeavens. I think also that we shall recover him living, if only for alittle while, though of this I cannot be sure since it is not given tome to read the future, but only the past, and sometimes the things thathappen in the present though they be far away."
"Will you send to search for him, O Ayesha?" I asked anxiously.
"Nay, it is useless, for he is already distant. Moreover those who wentmight be taken by the outposts of Rezu, as perchance has happened toyour companion wandering in his madness. Do you know what he went toseek?"
"More or less," I answered and translated to her the letter thatRobertson had left for me.
"It may be a
s the man writes," she commented, "since the mad often seewell in their dreams, though these are not sent by a god as he imagines.The mind in its secret places knows all things, O Allan, although itseems to know little or nothing, and when the breath of vision or thefury of a soul distraught blows away the veils or burns through thegates of distance, then for a while it sees and learns, since, whateverfools may think, often madness is true wisdom. Now follow me with thelittle yellow man and the Warrior of the Axe. Stay, let me look uponthat axe."
I interpreted her wish to Umslopogaas who held it out to her but refusedto loose it from his wrist to which it was attached by the leathernthong.
"Does the Black One think that I shall cut him down with his own weapon,I who am so weak and gentle?" she asked, laughing.
"Nay, Ayesha, but it is his law not to part with this Drinker of Lives,which he names 'Chieftainess and Groan-maker,' and clings to closer byday and night than a man does to his wife."
"There he is wise, Allan, since a savage captain may get more wives butnever such another axe. The thing is ancient," she added musingly afterexamining its every detail, "and who knows? It may be that whereof thelegend tells which is fated to bring Rezu to the dust. Now ask thisfierce-eyed Slayer whether, armed with his axe he can find courage toface the most terrible of all men and the strongest, one who is a wizardalso, of whom it is prophesied that only by such an axe as this can hebe made to bite the dust."
I obeyed. Umslopogaas laughed grimly and answered,
"Say to the White Witch that there is no man living upon the earth whomI would not face in war, I who have never been conquered in fair fight,though once a chance blow brought me to the doors of death," and hetouched the great hole in his forehead. "Say to her also that I have nofear of defeat, I from whom doom is, as I think, still far away, thoughthe Opener-of-Roads has told me that among a strange people I shall diein war at last, as I desire to do, who from my boyhood have lived inwar."
"He speaks well," she answered with a note of admiration in her voice."By Isis, were he but white I would set him to rule these Amahaggerunder me. Tell him, Allan, that if he lays Rezu low he shall have agreat reward."
"And tell the White Witch, Macumazahn," Umslopogaas replied when I hadtranslated, "that I seek no reward, save glory only, and with it thesight of one who is lost to me but with whom my heart still dwells, ifindeed this Witch has strength to break the wall of blackness that isbuilt between me and her who is 'gone down.'"
"Strange," reflected Ayesha when she understood, "that this grimDestroyer should yet be bound by the silken bonds of love and yearn forone whom the grave has taken. Learn from it, Allan, that all humanityis cast in the same mould, since my longings and your longings are hisalso, though the three of us be far apart as are the sun and the moonand the earth, and as different in every other quality. Yet it is truethat sun and moon and earth are born of the same black womb of chaos.Therefore in the beginning they were identical, as doubtless they willbe in the end when, their journeyings done, they rush together to lightspace with a flame at which the mocking gods that made them may warmtheir hands. Well, so it is with men, Allan, whose soul-stuff is drawnfrom the gulf of Spirit by Nature's hand, and, cast upon the cold air ofthis death-driven world, freezes into a million shapes each different tothe other and yet, be sure, the same. Now talk no more, but follow me.Slave" (this was addressed to Billali), "bid the guards lead on to thecamp of the servants of Lulala."
So we went through the silent ruins. Ayesha walked, or rather glided apace or two ahead, then came Umslopogaas and I side by side, while atour heels followed Hans, very close at our heels since he did not wishto be out of reach of the virtue of the Great Medicine and incidentallyof the protection of axe and rifle.
Thus we marched surrounded by the solemn guard for something betweena quarter and half a mile, till at length we climbed the debris of amighty wall that once had encompassed the city, and by the moonlight sawbeneath us a vast hollow which clearly at some unknown time had been thebed of an enormous moat and filled with water.
Now, however, it was dry and all about its surface were dotted numerouscamp-fires round which men were moving, also some women who appeared tobe engaged in cooking food. At a little distance too, upon thefurther edge of the moat-like depression were a number of white-robedindividuals gathered in a circle about a large stone upon whichsomething was stretched that resembled the carcase of a sheep or goat,and round these a great number of spectators.
"The priests of Lulala who make sacrifice to the moon, as they do nightby night, save when she is dead," said Ayesha, turning back towardsme as though in answer to the query which I had conceived but leftunuttered.
What struck me about the whole scene was its extraordinary animation andbriskness. All the folk round the fires and outside of them moved aboutquickly and with the same kind of liveliness which might animate a campof more natural people at the rising of the sun. It was as though theyhad just got up full of vigour to commence their daily, or rather theirnightly round, which in truth was the case, since as Hans discovered,by habitude these Amahagger preferred to sleep during the day unlesssomething prevented them, and to carry on the activities of life atnight. It only remains to add that there seemed to be a great numberof them, for their fires following the round of the dry moat, stretchedfurther than I could see.
Scrambling down the crumpled wall by a zig-zag pathway, we came upon theoutposts of the army beneath us who challenged, then seeing with whomthey had to do, fell flat upon their faces, leaving their great spears,which had iron spikes on their shafts like to those of the Masai,sticking in the ground beside them.
We passed on between some of the fires and I noted how solemn andgloomy, although handsome, were the countenances of the folk by whomthese were surrounded. Indeed, they looked like denizens of a differentworld to ours, one alien to the kindly race of men. There was nothingsocial about these Amahagger, who seemed to be a people labouring undersome ancient ancestral curse of which they could never shake offthe memory. Even the women rarely smiled; their clear-cut, statelycountenances remained stern and set, except when they glowered at usincuriously. Only when Ayesha passed they prostrated themselves like therest.
We went on through them and across the moat, climbing its further slopeand here suddenly came upon a host of men gathered in a hollow square,apparently in order to receive us. They stood in ranks of five or sixdeep and their spear-points glimmering in the moonlight looked likelong bands of level steel. As we entered the open side of the square allthese spears were lifted. Thrice they were lifted and at each upliftingthere rose a deep-throated cry of _Hiya_, which is the Arabic for She,and I suppose was a salutation to Ayesha.
She swept on taking no heed, till we came to the centre of the squarewhere a number of men were gathered who prostrated themselves in theusual fashion. Motioning to them to rise she said,
"Captains, this very night within two hours we march against Rezu andthe sun-worshippers, since otherwise as my arts tell me, they marchagainst us. She-who-commands is immortal, as your fathers have knownfrom generation to generation, and cannot be destroyed; but you, herservants, can be destroyed, and Rezu, who also has drunk of the Cup ofLife, out-numbers you by three to one and prepares a queen to set up inmy place over his own people and such of you as remain. As though,"she added with a contemptuous laugh, "any woman of a day could take myplace."
She paused and the spokesman of the captains said,
"We hear, O Hiya, and we understand. What wouldst thou have us do,O Lulala-come-to-earth? The armies of Rezu are great and from thebeginning he has hated thee and us, also his magic is as thy magic andhis length of days as thy length of days. How then can we who are few,three thousand men at the most, match ourselves against Rezu, Son ofthe Sun? Would it not be better that we should accept the terms of Rezu,which are light, and acknowledge him as our king?"
As she heard these words I saw the tall shape of Ayesha quiver beneathher robes, as I think, not with fear but with rage, because the
meaningof them was clear enough, namely that rather than risk a battle withRezu, these people were contemplating surrender and her own deposition,if indeed she could be deposed. Still she answered in a quiet voice,
"It seems that I have dealt too gently with you and with your fathers,Children of Lulala, whose shadow I am here upon the earth, so thatbecause you only see the scabbard, you have forgotten the sword withinand that it can shine forth and smite. Well, why should I be wrathbecause the brutish will follow the law of brutes, though it be truethat I am minded to slay you where you stand? Hearken! Were I lessmerciful I would leave you to the clutching hands of Rezu, who woulddrag you one by one to the stone of sacrifice and there offer up yourhearts to his god of fire and devour your bodies with his heat. But Ibethink me of your wives and children and of your forefathers whom Iknew in the dead days, and therefore, if I may, I still would save youfrom yourselves and your heads from the glowing pot.
"Take counsel together now and say--Will you fight against Rezu, or willyou yield? If that is your desire, speak it, and by to-morrow's sun Iwill begone, taking these with me," and she pointed to us, "whom I havesummoned to help us in the war. Aye, I will begone, and when you arestretched upon the stone of sacrifice, and your women and children arethe slaves of the men of Rezu, then shall you cry,
"'Oh, where is Hiya whom our fathers knew? Oh, will she not return andsave us from this hell?'
"Yes, so shall you cry but there shall come no answer, since then shewill have departed to her own habitations in the moon and thence appearno more. Now consult together and answer swiftly, since I weary of youand your ways."
The captains drew apart and began to talk in low voices, while Ayeshastood still, apparently quite unconcerned, and I considered thesituation.
It was obvious to me that these people were almost in rebellion againsttheir strange ruler, whose power over them was of a purely moral nature,one that emanated from her personality alone. What I wondered was, beingwhat she seemed to be, why she thought it worth while to exercise it atall. Then I remembered her statement that here and nowhere else she mustabide for some secret reason, until a certain mystical gentleman witha Greek name came to fetch her away from this appointed _rendezvous_.Therefore I supposed she had no choice, or rather, suffering as she didfrom hallucinations, believed herself to have no choice and was obligedto put up with a crowd of disagreeable savages in quarters which weresadly out of repair.
Presently the spokesman returned, saluted with his spear, and asked,
"If we go up to fight against Rezu, who will lead us in the battle, OHiya?"
"My wisdom shall be your guide," she answered, "this white man shall beyour General and there stands the warrior who shall meet Rezu face toface and bring him to the dust," and she pointed to Umslopogaas leaningupon his axe and watching them with a contemptuous smile.
This reply did not seem to please the man for he withdrew to consultagain with his companions. After a debate which I suppose was animatedfor the Amahagger, men of few words who did not indulge in oratory, allof them advanced on us and the spokesman said,
"The choice of a General does not please us, Hiya. We know that thewhite man is brave because of the fight he made against the men of Rezuover the mountain yonder; also that he and his followers have weaponsthat deal death from afar. But there is a prophecy among us of whichnone know the beginning, that he who commands in the last great battlebetween Lulala and Rezu must produce before the eyes of the People ofLulala a certain holy thing, a charm of power, without which defeat willbe the portion of Lulala. Of this holy thing, this spirit-haunted shapeof power, we know the likeness and the fashion, for these have come downamong our priests, though who told it to them we cannot tell, but of itI will say this only, that it speaks both of the spirit and the body, ofman and yet of more than man."
"And if this wondrous charm, this talisman of might, cannot be shown bythe white lord here, what then?" asked Ayesha coldly.
"Then, Hiya, this is the word of the People of Lulala, that we will notserve under him in the battle, and this also is their word that we willnot go up against Rezu. That thou art mighty we know well, Hiya,also that thou canst slay if thou wilt, but we know also that Rezu ismightier and that against him thou hast no power. Therefore kill us ifthou dost so desire, until thy heart is satisfied with death. For itis better that we should perish thus than upon the altar of sacrificewearing the red-hot crowns of Rezu."
"So say we all," exclaimed the rest of the company when he had finished.
"The thought comes to me to begin to satisfy my heart with thy cowardblood and that of thy companions," said Ayesha contemptuously. Then shepaused and turning to me, added, "O Watcher-by-Night, what counsel? Isthere aught that will convince these chicken-hearted ones over whom Ihave spread my feathers for so long?"
I shook my head blankly, whereat they murmured together and made asthough they would go.
Then it was that Hans, who understood something of Arabic as he did ofmost African tongues, pulled my sleeve and whispered in my ear.
"The Great Medicine, Baas! Show them Zikali's Great Medicine."
Here was an idea. The description of the article required, a"spirit-haunted shape of power" that spoke "both of the spirit and thebody of man and yet of more than man," was so vague that it might meananything or nothing. And yet----
I turned to Ayesha and prayed her to ask them if what they wanted shouldbe produced, whether they would follow me bravely and fight Rezu to thedeath. She did so and with one voice they replied,
"Aye, bravely and to the death, him and the Bearer of the Axe of whomalso our legend tells."
Then with deliberation I opened my shirt and holding out the image ofZikali as far as the chain of elephant hair would allow, I asked,
"Is this the holy thing, the charm of power, of which your legend tells,O People of the Amahagger and worshippers of Lulala?"
The spokesman glanced at it, then snatching a brand from a watch-firethat burnt near by held it over the carving and stared, and staredagain; and as he did, so did the others bending over him.
"Dog! would you singe my beard?" I cried in affected rage, and seizingthe brand from his hand I smote him with it over the head.
But he took no heed of the affront which I had offered to him merelyto assert my authority. Still for a few moments he stared although thesparks from the wood were frizzling in his greasy hair, then of a suddenwent down on his face before me, as did all the others and cried out,
"It is the Holy Thing! It is the spirit-haunted Shape of Power itself,and we the Worshippers of Lulala will follow thee to the death, O whitelord, Watcher-by-Night. Yes, where thou goest and he goes who bears theAxe, thither will we follow till not one of us is left upon his feet."
"Then that's settled," I said, yawning, since it is never wise to showconcern about anything before savages. Indeed personally I had no wishto be the leader of this very peculiar tribe in an adventure of which Iknew nothing, and therefore had hoped that they would leave that honourto someone else. Then I turned and told Umslopogaas what had passed, atale at which he only shrugged his great shoulders, handling his axe asthough he were minded to try its edge upon some of these "Dark-lovers,"as he named the Amahagger people because of their nocturnal habits.
Meanwhile Ayesha gave certain orders. Then she came to me and said,
"These men march at once, three thousand strong, and by dawn will campon the northern mountain crest. At sunrise litters will come to bear youand those with you if they will, to join them, which you should do bymidday. In the afternoon marshall them as you think wise, for the battlewill take place in the small hours of the following morning, since thePeople of Lulala only fight at night. I have said."
"Do you not come with us?" I asked, dismayed.
"Nay, not in a war against Rezu, why it matters not. Yet my Spirit willgo with you, for I shall watch all that passes, how it matters notand perchance you may see it there--I know not. On the third day fromto-morrow we shall meet again in t
he flesh or beyond it, but as I thinkin the flesh, and you can claim the reward which you journeyed here toseek. A place shall be prepared for the white lady whom Rezu would haveset up as a rival queen to me. Farewell, and farewell also to yonderBearer of the Axe that shall drink the blood of Rezu, also to the littleyellow man who is rightly named Light-in-Darkness, as you shall learnere all is done."
Then before I could speak she turned and glided away, swiftly surroundedby her guards, leaving me astonished and very uncomfortable.
She and Allan Page 26