Chapter XI. Resurrection
We reached the sepulchre without stopping to look at the parked machinesor even the marvelous statue that stood above it, for what did we careabout machines or statues now? As we approached we were astonished tohear low and cavernous growlings.
"There is some wild beast in there," said Bickley, halting. "No, byGeorge! it's Tommy. What can the dog be after?"
We peeped in, and there sure enough was Tommy lying on the top ofthe Glittering Lady's coffin and growling his very best with the hairstanding up upon his back. When he saw who it was, however, he jumpedoff and frisked round, licking my hand.
"That's very strange," I exclaimed.
"Not stranger than everything else," said Bickley.
"What are you going to do?" I asked.
"Open these coffins," he answered, "beginning with that of the old god,since I would rather experiment on him. I expect he will crumble intodust. But if by chance he doesn't I'll jam a little strychnine, mixedwith some other drugs, of which you don't know the names, into one ofhis veins and see if anything happens. If it doesn't, it won't hurt him,and if it does--well, who knows? Now give me a hand."
We went to the left-hand coffin and by inserting the hook on the back ofmy knife, of which the real use is to pick stones out of horses' hoofs,into one of the little air-holes I have described, managed to raise theheavy crystal lid sufficiently to enable us to force a piece of woodbetween it and the top. The rest was easy, for the hinges being ofcrystal had not corroded. In two minutes it was open.
From the chest came an overpowering spicy odour, and with it a veritablebreath of warm air before which we recoiled a little. Bickley took apocket thermometer which he had at hand and glanced at it. It marked atemperature of 82 degrees in the sepulchre. Having noted this, he thrustit into the coffin between the crystal wall and its occupant. Then wewent out and waited a little while to give the odours time to dissipate,for they made the head reel.
After five minutes or so we returned and examined the thermometer. Ithad risen to 98 degrees, the natural temperature of the human body.
"What do you make of that if the man is dead?" he whispered.
I shook my head, and as we had agreed, set to helping him to lift thebody from the coffin. It was a good weight, quite eleven stone I shouldsay; moreover, it was not stiff, for the hip joints bent. We got it outand laid it on a blanket we had spread on the floor of the sepulchre.Whilst I was thus engaged I saw something that nearly caused me to loosemy hold from astonishment. Beneath the head, the centre of the back andthe feet were crystal boxes about eight inches square, or rather crystalblocks, for in them I could see no opening, and these boxes emitted afaint phosphorescent light. I touched one of them and found that it wasquite warm.
"Great heavens!" I exclaimed, "here's magic."
"There's no such thing," answered Bickley in his usual formula. Then anexplanation seemed to strike him and he added, "Not magic but radiumor something of the sort. That's how the temperature was kept up. Insufficient quantity it is practically indestructible, you see. My word!this old gentleman knew a thing or two."
Again we waited a little while to see if the body begun to crumble onexposure to the air, I taking the opportunity to make a rough sketch ofit in my pocket-book in anticipation of that event. But it did not; itremained quite sound.
"Here goes," said Bickley. "If he should be alive, he will catch cold inhis lungs after lying for ages in that baby incubator, as I suppose hehas done. So it is now or never."
Then bidding me hold the man's right arm, he took the sterilized syringewhich he had prepared, and thrusting the needle into a vein he selectedjust above the wrist, injected the contents.
"It would have been better over the heart," he whispered, "but I thoughtI would try the arm first. I don't like risking chills by uncoveringhim."
I made no answer and again we waited and watched.
"Great heavens, he's stirring!" I gasped presently.
Stirring he was, for his fingers began to move.
Bickley bent down and placed his ear to the heart--I forgot to say thathe had tested this before with a stethoscope, but had been unable todetect any movement.
"I believe it is beginning to beat," he said in an awed voice.
Then he applied the stethoscope, and added, "It is, it is!"
Next he took a filament of cotton wool and laid it on the man's lips.Presently it moved; he was breathing, though very faintly. Bickley tookmore cotton wool and having poured something from his medicine-chest onto it, placed it over the mouth beneath the man's nostrils--I believe itwas sal volatile.
Nothing further happened for a little while, and to relieve the strainon my mind I stared absently into the empty coffin. Here I saw what hadescaped our notice, two small plates of white metal and cut upon themwhat I took to be star maps. Beyond these and the glowing boxes which Ihave mentioned, there was nothing else in the coffin. I had no time toexamine them, for at that moment the old man opened his mouth and beganto breathe, evidently with some discomfort and effort, as his emptylungs filled themselves with air. Then his eyelids lifted, revealing awonderful pair of dark glowing eyes beneath. Next he tried to sit up butwould have fallen, had not Bickley supported him with his arm.
I do not think he saw Bickley, indeed he shut his eyes again as thoughthe light hurt them, and went into a kind of faint. Then it was thatTommy, who all this while had been watching the proceedings with graveinterest, came forward, wagging his tail, and licked the man's face.At the touch of the dog's red tongue, he opened his eyes for the secondtime. Now he saw--not us but Tommy, for after contemplating him for afew seconds, something like a smile appeared upon his fierce but nobleface. More, he lifted his hand and laid it on the dog's head, asthough to pat it kindly. Half a minute or so later his awakening sensesappreciated our presence. The incipient smile vanished and was replacedby a somewhat terrible frown.
Meanwhile Bickley had poured out some of the hot coffee laced withbrandy into the cup that was screwed on the top of the thermos flask.Advancing to the man whom I supported, he put it to his lips. He tastedand made a wry face, but presently he began to sip, and ultimatelyswallowed it all. The effect of the stimulant was wonderful, for ina few minutes he came to life completely and was even able to sit upwithout support.
For quite a long while he gazed at us gravely, talking us in andeverything connected with us. For instance, Bickley's medicine-casewhich lay open showing the little vulcanite tubes, a few instruments andother outfit, engaged his particular attention, and I saw at once thathe understood what it was. Thus his arm still smarted where the needlehad been driven in and on the blanket lay the syringe. He looked athis arm, then looked at the syringe, and nodded. The paraffin hurricanelamps also seemed to interest and win his approval. We two men, asI thought, attracted him least of all; he just summed us up and ourgarments, more especially the garments, with a few shrewd glances, andthen seemed to turn his thoughts to Tommy, who had seated himself quitecontentedly at his side, evidently accepting him as a new addition toour party.
I confess that this behaviour on Tommy's part reassured me not a little.I am a great believer in the instincts of animals, especially of dogs,and I felt certain that if this man had not been in all essentials humanlike ourselves, Tommy would not have tolerated him. In the same way thesleeper's clear liking for Tommy, at whom he looked much oftener andwith greater kindness than he did at us, suggested that there wasgoodness in him somewhere, since although a dog in its wonderfultolerance may love a bad person in whom it smells out hidden virtue, noreally bad person ever loved a dog, or, I may add, a child or a flower.
As a matter of fact, the "old god," as we had christened him while hewas in his coffin, during all our association with him, cared infinitelymore for Tommy than he did for any of us, a circumstance that ultimatelywas not without its influence upon our fortunes. But for this there wasa reason as we learned afterwards, also he was not really so amiable asI hoped.
When we had
looked at each other for a long while the sleeper beganto arrange his beard, of which the length seemed to surprise him,especially as Tommy was seated on one end of it. Finding this out andapparently not wishing to disturb Tommy, he gave up the occupation, andafter one or two attempts, for his tongue and lips still seemed to bestiff, addressed us in some sonorous and musical language, unlike anythat we had ever heard. We shook our heads. Then by an afterthought Isaid "Good day" to him in the language of the Orofenans. He puzzledover the word as though it were more or less familiar to him, and whenI repeated it, gave it back to me with a difference indeed, but in away which convinced us that he quite understood what I meant. Theconversation went no further at the moment because just then some memoryseemed to strike him.
He was sitting with his back against the coffin of the Glittering Lady,whom therefore he had not seen. Now he began to turn round, and beingtoo weak to do so, motioned me to help him. I obeyed, while Bickley,guessing his purpose, held up one of the hurricane lamps that he mightsee better. With a kind of fierce eagerness he surveyed her who laywithin the coffin, and after he had done so, uttered a sigh as ofintense relief.
Next he pointed to the metal cup out of which he had drunk. Bickleyfilled it again from the thermos flask, which I observed excited hiskeen interest, for, having touched the flask with his hand and foundthat it was cool, he appeared to marvel that the fluid coming from itshould be hot and steaming. Presently he smiled as though he had gotthe clue to the mystery, and swallowed his second drink of coffee andspirit. This done, he motioned to us to lift the lid of the lady'scoffin, pointing out a certain catch in the bolts which at first wecould not master, for it will be remembered that on this coffin thesewere shot.
In the end, by pursuing the same methods that we had used in theinstance of his own, we raised the coffin lid and once more were drivento retreat from the sepulchre for a while by the overpowering odour liketo that of a whole greenhouse full of tuberoses, that flowed out of it,inducing a kind of stupefaction from which even Tommy fled.
When we returned it was to find the man kneeling by the side of thecoffin, for as yet he could not stand, with his glowing eyes fixed uponthe face of her who slept therein and waving his long arms above her.
"Hypnotic business! Wonder if it will work," whispered Bickley. Thenhe lifted the syringe and looked inquiringly at the man, who shook hishead, and went on with his mesmeric passes.
I crept round him and took my stand by the sleeper's head, that I mightwatch her face, which was well worth watching, while Bickley, withhis medicine at hand, remained near her feet, I think engaged indisinfecting the syringe in some spirit or acid. I believe he wasabout to make an attempt to use it when suddenly, as though beneath theinfluence of the hypnotic passes, a change appeared on the GlitteringLady's face. Hitherto, beautiful as it was, it had been a dead facethough one of a person who had suddenly been cut off while in fullhealth and vigour a few hours, or at the most a day or so before. Nowit began to live again; it was as though the spirit were returning fromafar, and not without toil and tribulation.
Expression after expression flitted across the features; indeed theseseemed to change so much from moment to moment that they might havebelonged to several different individuals, though each was beautiful.The fact of these remarkable changes with the suggestion of multiformpersonalities which they conveyed impressed both Bickley and myself verymuch indeed. Then the breast heaved tumultuously; it even appeared tostruggle. Next the eyes opened. They were full of wonder, even of fear,but oh! what marvelous eyes. I do not know how to describe them, Icannot even state their exact colour, except that it was dark, somethinglike the blue of sapphires of the deepest tint, and yet not black;large, too, and soft as a deer's. They shut again as though the lighthurt them, then once more opened and wandered about, apparently withoutseeing.
At length they found my face, for I was still bending over her, and,resting there, appeared to take it in by degrees. More, it seemed totouch and stir some human spring in the still-sleeping heart. At leastthe fear passed from her features and was replaced by a faint smile,such as a patient sometimes gives to one known and well loved, as theeffects of chloroform pass away. For a while she looked at me with anearnest, searching gaze, then suddenly, for the first time moving herarms, lifted them and threw them round my neck.
The old man stared, bending his imperial brows into a little frown,but did nothing. Bickley stared also through his glasses and sniffedas though in disapproval, while I remained quite still, fighting witha wild impulse to kiss her on the lips as one would an awakening andbeloved child. I doubt if I could have done so, however, for reallyI was immovable; my heart seemed to stop and all my muscles to beparalysed.
I do not know for how long this endured, but I do know how it ended.Presently in the intense silence I heard Bastin's heavy voice andlooking round, saw his big head projecting into the sepulchre.
"Well, I never!" he said, "you seem to have woke them up with avengeance. If you begin like that with the lady, there will becomplications before you have done, Arbuthnot."
Talk of being brought back to earth with a rush! I could have killedBastin, and Bickley, turning on him like a tiger, told him to be off,find wood and light a large fire in front of the statue. I think he wasabout to argue when the Ancient gave him a glance of his fierce eyes,which alarmed him, and he departed, bewildered, to return presently withthe wood.
But the sound of his voice had broken the spell. The Lady let her armsfall with a start, and shut her eyes again, seeming to faint. Bickleysprang forward with his sal volatile and applied it to her nostrils, theAncient not interfering, for he seemed to recognise that he had to dealwith a man of skill and one who meant well by them.
In the end we brought her round again and, to omit details, Bickley gaveher, not coffee and brandy, but a mixture he compounded of hot water,preserved milk and meat essence. The effect of it on her was wonderful,since a few minutes after swallowing it she sat up in the coffin. Thenwe lifted her from that narrow bed in which she had slept for--ah! howlong? and perceived that beneath her also were crystal boxes ofthe radiant, heat-giving substance. We sat her on the floor of thesepulchre, wrapping her also in a blanket.
Now it was that Tommy, after frisking round her as though in welcome ofan old friend, calmly established himself beside her and laid hisblack head upon her knee. She noted it and smiled for the first time,a marvelously sweet and gentle smile. More, she placed her slender handupon the dog and stroked him feebly.
Bickley tried to make her drink some more of his mixture, but sherefused, motioning him to give it to Tommy. This, however, he would notdo because there was but one cup. Presently both of the sleepers beganto shiver, which caused Bickley anxiety. Abusing Bastin beneath hisbreath for being so long with the fire, he drew the blankets closerabout them.
Then an idea came to him and he examined the glowing boxes in thecoffin. They were loose, being merely set in prepared cavities in thecrystal. Wrapping our handkerchiefs about his hand, he took them outand placed them around the wakened patients, a proceeding of which theAncient nodded approval. Just then, too, Bastin returned with his firstload of firewood, and soon we had a merry blaze going just outside thesepulchre. I saw that they observed the lighting of this fire by meansof a match with much interest.
Now they grew warm again, as indeed we did also--too warm. Then in myturn I had an idea. I knew that by now the sun would be beating hotlyagainst the rock of the mount, and suggested to Bickley, that, ifpossible, the best thing we could do would be to get them into itslife-giving rays. He agreed, if we could make them understand and theywere able to walk. So I tried. First I directed the Ancient's attentionto the mouth of the cave which at this distance showed as a white circleof light. He looked at it and then at me with grave inquiry. I mademotions to suggest that he should proceed there, repeating the word"Sun" in the Orofenan tongue. He understood at once, though whetherhe read my mind rather than what I said I am not sure. Apparently theGlittering Lady understood al
so and seemed to be most anxious to go.Only she looked rather pitifully at her feet and shook her head. Thisdecided me.
I do not know if I have mentioned anywhere that I am a tall man and verymuscular. She was tall, also, but as I judged not so very heavy afterher long fast. At any rate I felt quite certain that I could carry herfor that distance. Stooping down, I lifted her up, signing to her toput her arms round my neck, which she did. Then calling to Bickley andBastin to bring along the Ancient between them, with some difficulty Istruggled out of the sepulchre, and started down the cave. She was moreheavy than I thought, and yet I could have wished the journey longer. Tobegin with she seemed quite trustful and happy in my arms, where she laywith her head against my shoulder, smiling a little as a child might do,especially when I had to stop and throw her long hair round my neck likea muffler, to prevent it from trailing in the dust.
A bundle of lavender, or a truss of new-mown hay, could not have beenmore sweet to carry and there was something electric about the touch ofher, which went through and through me. Very soon it was over, and wewere out of the cave into the full glory of the tropical sun. At first,that her eyes might become accustomed to its light and her awakened bodyto its heat, I set her down where shadow fell from the overhanging rock,in a canvas deck chair that had been brought by Marama with the otherthings, throwing the rug about her to protect her from such wind asthere was. She nestled gratefully into the soft seat and shut her eyes,for the motion had tired her. I noted, however, that she drew in thesweet air with long breaths.
Then I turned to observe the arrival of the Ancient, who was being bornebetween Bickley and Bastin in what children know as a dandy-chair, whichis formed by two people crossing their hands in a peculiar fashion. Itsays much for the tremendous dignity of his presence that even thus,with one arm round the neck of Bickley and the other round that ofBastin, and his long white beard falling almost to the ground, he stilllooked most imposing.
Unfortunately, however, just as they were emerging from the cave,Bastin, always the most awkward of creatures, managed to leave hold withone hand, so that his passenger nearly came to the ground. Never shall Iforget the look that he gave him. Indeed, I think that from this momenthe hated Bastin. Bickley he respected as a man of intelligence andlearning, although in comparison with his own, the latter was infantileand crude; me he tolerated and even liked; but Bastin he detested.The only one of our party for whom he felt anything approaching realaffection was the spaniel Tommy.
We set him down, fortunately uninjured, on some rugs, and also in theshadow. Then, after a little while, we moved both of them into the sun.It was quite curious to see them expand there. As Bickley said,what happened to them might well be compared to the development of abutterfly which has just broken from the living grave of its chrysalisand crept into the full, hot radiance of the light. Its crinkled wingsunfold, their brilliant tints develop; in an hour or two it is perfect,glorious, prepared for life and flight, a new creature.
So it was with this pair, from moment to moment they gathered strengthand vigour. Near-by to them, as it happened, stood a large basket ofthe luscious native fruits brought that morning by the Orofenans, and atthese the Lady looked with longing. With Bickley's permission, I offeredthem to her and to the Ancient, first peeling them with my fingers. Theyate of them greedily, a full meal, and would have gone on had not thestern Bickley, fearing untoward consequences, removed the basket. Againthe results were wonderful, for half an hour afterwards they seemed tobe quite strong. With my assistance the Glittering Lady, as I still callher, for at that time I did not know her name, rose from the chair, and,leaning on me, tottered a few steps forward. Then she stood looking atthe sky and all the lovely panorama of nature beneath, and stretchingout her arms as though in worship. Oh! how beautiful she seemed with thesunlight shining on her heavenly face!
Now for the first time I heard her voice. It was soft and deep, yet init was a curious bell-like tone that seemed to vibrate like the sound ofchimes heard from far away. Never have I listened to such another voice.She pointed to the sun whereof the light turned her radiant hair andgarments to a kind of golden glory, and called it by some name that Icould not understand. I shook my head, whereon she gave it a differentname taken, I suppose, from another language. Again I shook my head andshe tried a third time. To my delight this word was practically the samethat the Orofenans used for "sun."
"Yes," I said, speaking very slowly, "so it is called by the people ofthis land."
She understood, for she answered in much the same language:
"What, then, do you call it?"
"Sun in the English tongue," I replied.
"Sun. English," she repeated after me, then added, "How are you named,Wanderer?"
"Humphrey," I answered.
"Hum-fe-ry!" she said as though she were learning the word, "and those?"
"Bastin and Bickley," I replied.
Over these patronymics she shook her head; as yet they were too much forher.
"How are you named, Sleeper?" I asked.
"Yva," she answered.
"A beautiful name for one who is beautiful," I declared with enthusiasm,of course always in the rich Orofenan dialect which by now I could talkwell enough.
She repeated the words once or twice, then of a sudden caught theirmeaning, for she smiled and even coloured, saying hastily with a wave ofher hand towards the Ancient who stood at a distance between Bastin andBickley, "My father, Oro; great man; great king; great god!"
At this information I started, for it was startling to learn thathere was the original Oro, who was still worshipped by the Orofenans,although of his actual existence they had known nothing for uncountedtime. Also I was glad to learn that he was her father and not her oldhusband, for to me that would have been horrible, a desecration too deepfor words.
"How long did you sleep, Yva?" I asked, pointing towards the sepulchrein the cave.
After a little thought she understood and shook her head hopelessly,then by an afterthought, she said,
"Stars tell Oro to-night."
So Oro was an astronomer as well as a king and a god. I had guessed asmuch from those plates in the coffin which seemed to have stars engravedon them.
At this point our conversation came to an end, for the Ancient himselfapproached, leaning on the arm of Bickley who was engaged in an animatedargument with Bastin.
"For Heaven's sake!" said Bickley, "keep your theology to yourself atpresent. If you upset the old fellow and put him in a temper he maydie."
"If a man tells me that he is a god it is my duty to tell him that he isa liar," replied Bastin obstinately.
"Which you did, Bastin, only fortunately he did not understand you. Butfor your own sake I advise you not to take liberties. He is not one, Ithink, with whom it is wise to trifle. I think he seems thirsty. Go andget some water from the rain pool, not from the lake."
Bastin departed and presently returned with an aluminum jug full of purewater and a glass. Bickley poured some of it into a glass and handed itto Yva who bent her head in thanks. Then she did a curious thing. Havingfirst lifted the glass with both hands to the sky and held it so for afew seconds, she turned and with an obeisance poured a little of it onthe ground before her father's feet.
A libation, thought I to myself, and evidently Bastin agreed with me,for I heard him mutter,
"I believe she is making a heathen offering."
Doubtless we were right, for Oro accepted the homage by a little motionof the head. After this, at a sign from him she drank the water. Thenthe glass was refilled and handed to Oro who also held it towards thesky. He, however, made no libation but drank at once, two tumblers of itin rapid succession.
By now the direct sunlight was passing from the mouth of the cave, andthough it was hot enough, both of them shivered a little. They spoketogether in some language of which we could not understand a word, asthough they were debating what their course of action should be. Thedispute was long and earnest. Had we known what was passing,
which Ilearned afterwards, it would have made us sufficiently anxious, for thepoint at issue was nothing less than whether we should or should not beforthwith destroyed--an end, it appears, that Oro was quite capable ofbringing about if he so pleased. Yva, however, had very clear views ofher own on the matter and, as I gather, even dared to threaten that shewould protect us by the use of certain powers at her command, thoughwhat these were I do not know.
While the event hung doubtful Tommy, who was growing bored with theselong proceedings, picked up a bough still covered with flowers which,after their pretty fashion, the Orofenans had placed on the top of oneof the baskets of food. This small bough he brought and laid at the feetof Oro, no doubt in the hope that he would throw it for him to fetch, agame in which the dog delighted. For some reason Oro saw an omen inthis simple canine performance, or he may have thought that the dogwas making an offering to him, for he put his thin hand to his brow andthought a while, then motioned to Bastin to pick up the bough and giveit to him.
Next he spoke to his daughter as though assenting to something, for Isaw her sigh in relief. No wonder, for he was conveying his decision tospare our lives and admit us to their fellowship.
After this again they talked, but in quite a different tone and manner.Then the Glittering Lady said to me in her slow and archaic Orofenan:
"We go to rest. You must not follow. We come back perhaps tonight,perhaps next night. We are quite safe. You are quite safe under thebeard of Oro. Spirit of Oro watch you. You understand?"
I said I understood, whereon she answered:
"Good-bye, O Humfe-ry."
"Good-bye, O Yva," I replied, bowing.
Thereon they turned and refusing all assistance from us, vanished intothe darkness of the cave leaning upon each other and walking slowly.
When the World Shook Page 11