CHAPTER XXI
THE FOLLY OF OTTER
Juanna and Otter gained the circle of rocks where the little band laywatching and wonder-struck; that is, all except Soa, who sat apartbrooding, her arms clasped upon her breast. Things had befallen asshe expected, as they must befall indeed, provided that Juanna did notforget her lesson or show fear, and that the dwarf did nothing foolish.But Soa knew well enough that this was but the beginning of thestruggle, and that, though it might be comparatively easy for Juannaand Otter to enter the city, and impose themselves upon itssuperstition-haunted people as the incarnations of their fabled gods,the maintenance of the imposture was a very different matter. Moreover,she knew, should they be discovered, that escape would be impossible, orat the best, that it must be most difficult. Therefore she sat apart andbrooded, for, notwithstanding their present triumph, her heart forebodedevil.
But with the others it was different: they had heard the singing, theyhad seen the regiment of great men prostrate themselves, and the soundof worshipping had come to their ears like thunder; but of the why andwherefore of it all they could only guess.
"What has happened?" said Leonard eagerly; "your initiation seems tohave come off well."
"Bid the men fall back and I will tell you," Juanna answered.
Leonard did so, but instead of speaking she broke into hystericallaughter. Her nerves had been over-strained, and now they sought reliefthus.
"You must all be very respectful to Otter and myself," she said atlength, "for we really are gods--don't look shocked, Francisco, I beginto believe in it myself. We have only just found it out, but I assureyou it is a fact; they accepted us fully, and that after not more thanfive minutes' cross-examination. Listen!" And she told them all that hadpassed.
While she was speaking the regiment began to move, no longer in asquare, but in a formation of companies. Company by company it rushedpast them, shaking the earth with its footsteps, and as each sectionwent by it tossed its spears into the air as a salute, crying: "Glory tothe Mother! glory to the Snake!" and fled on towards the city.
At length the story was done and the regiment was gone.
"Well," said Leonard, "so far so good. Juanna, you are the bravest andcleverest girl in the whole world. Most young women would have forgotteneverything and gone into hysterics at the critical point."
"I kept them till afterwards," she answered demurely. "And as for beingbrave and clever, I only repeated what Soa taught me like a parrot;you see I knew that I should be killed if I made any mistake, and suchknowledge sharpens the memory. All I have to say is, if the Snake theytalk so much about is anything like those which are tattooed upon theold priests' breasts, I have no wish to make a nearer acquaintance withit. I hate snakes. There, don't say any more"--for both Leonard andFrancisco were breaking out into fresh protestations of gratitude andadmiration; "if you want to thank anybody, thank Soa!"
"And so I do," said Leonard heartily, for his spirits had risen in amost wonderful manner. "Soa, you have told us the truth, and you havemanaged well and I thank you."
"Did you then take me for a liar?" the woman answered, fixing her gloomyeyes upon Leonard's face. "I told you the truth, Deliverer, when I saidthat my people would accept the Shepherdess and this black dog of yoursas their gods. But did I not tell you also that the death of the rest ofus lies in the matter? If not, I say so now. _You_ have not been named agod, Deliverer, nor has yonder Bald-pate"--the natives called Franciscothus because of his tonsure--"and your black dog will betray you by hisyapping. When you look down the jaws of the Snake, remember then thatSoa told you the truth, Deliverer. Perchance you shall find the redstones you seek hidden in his belly, White Man."
"Be silent," said Juanna indignantly, and Soa slunk back like a whippedhound.
"Confound the old woman!" put in Leonard with a shiver. "She is a blackJonah, and if I have to go inside this snake I hope that it will be acase of ladies first, that is all."
"I am sure I don't know what has happened to Soa," said Juanna. "Hernative air has a very bad effect upon her temper."
"Well, the future must look after itself," answered Leonard, "snake orno snake. At present we must follow our luck. Otter, listen to me. Doyou understand that you are a god, the god of this people?"
"The god, Baas? What is a god?"
"Have I not told you, thickhead? You are not a man any more, you are aspirit. Once, so it seems, you ruled this people in the past, and nowyou will rule them again. You and the Shepherdess are both gods. She isyour mother and you are her child."
"Yes, Baas, no doubt; but once I had another mother, a much uglier one."
"Otter, cease to talk folly, else when you are no more a god I willbeat you. Now you are a god, and we are all your servants, except theShepherdess. When you speak to us you must speak roughly, like a greatchief to the lowest of his people, calling us dogs and slaves. If youname me 'Baas' in public, I will beat you privately when you are no morea god. You will do best to speak little or not at all, so that none cantake hold of your words, which are always foolish."
"If you say that I am a god, Baas, it is enough, for doubtless you havemet the gods and know their ways, though it is strange that none havetold me this before. They must be an ugly people, the gods! But how willit be with the Settlement men when they hear that I am a great spirit?They will say: 'Does a spirit wait upon a man and call him chief? Doesa spirit clean the guns and cook the food of a man?' They will ask manysuch things, and the Great people will hear them. And will they thinkthen that I am a god? No, they will know me for a liar, and will kill meand all of us."
"That is true," said Leonard. Then he summoned Peter and the Settlementmen and addressed them. He told them that the plot had succeeded, andthat Otter and the Shepherdess were accepted as the gods of the Peopleof the Mist. Because of this they were left alive and held in honour,who, but for it, would now be dead, riddled through with the arrows ofthe Great People. He explained to them for the second time that it wasnecessary to the safety of all that this delusion as to the divinity ofOtter and the Shepherdess should be maintained, since, if the slightestsuspicion of the fraud crossed the minds of the Great People, withoutdoubt they would all be sacrificed as impostors.
This was the tale that they must tell:--They should say that all of themwere hunting game in a far country with himself, Soa, and Francisco,when one night they heard a singing, and by the light of the moon theysaw the Shepherdess and the dwarf Otter coming towards them. Then theShepherdess and Otter commanded them to be their servants and travelwith them to a new land, and they obeyed them, black and white together,for they saw that they were not mortals.--This was the tale that theymust tell; moreover, they must act up to their words if they wouldcontinue to look upon the sun.
But their first surprise was past, the Settlement men, who werequick-witted people, entered into the spirit of the plot readily enough;indeed, Peter caused them to repeat the story to him, so that he mightbe sure that they had its details by heart.
Then they continued their march towards the city on the hill. The twowhite men went first, next came Juanna and Otter followed by Soa, andlast of all walked the Settlement men. An hour's journey brought them tothe bank of the river, which, dividing above it, engirdled the town, toreunite near the roadway that they followed. Here canoes were ready totake them across to the island, or rather the peninsula, on whichthe city was built. On the other side of the river they found priestswaiting in the great gateway with two litters that had been prepared forJuanna and Otter respectively. This, the further bank, was lined withsome thousands of spectators, who, when the divine pair set their feetupon its shores, prostrated themselves, men, women, and children, andburst into a shout of welcome.
Juanna and Otter took no heed. With such dignity as they could command,and in the dwarf's case it was not much, they entered the litters,drew the hide curtains, and were borne forward swiftly. After them cameLeonard, Francisco, and the others, while the population followed insilence.
; Now the sun was sinking, but enough of daylight was left to show howstrange were the place and the people among which they found themselves.The city, indeed, was rudely built of like materials and in similarfashion to the house in the plain that has been described already. Butthe streets were roughly paved; each habitation stood apart from theother in its own garden, and the gates were of wood, fastened togetherwith primitive iron bolts. There were drinking-shops, or rather booths,and a large market-place, which they crossed as they ascended the hill,and where, as they afterwards discovered, this people carried on theirtrade, if trade it could be called, for they had no money, and conductedall transactions like other savages, upon a principle of barter.
As they went Leonard took note of these things, which, to his mind,showed clearly that the inhabitants of this city were the degenerateinheritors of some ancient and forgotten civilisation. Theirfortifications, stone-built houses, drinking-shops, and marketsindicated this, just as their rude system of theology, with itsdivinities of Light and Darkness, or of Death and Life, each springingfrom the other, engaged in an eternal struggle, and yet one, wasprobably the survival of some elaborate nature-myth of the early world.
But nothing struck him so much as the appearance of the people. In sizethey were almost giants, a peculiarity which was shared by thewomen, some of whom measured six feet in height. In common with otheruncivilised races most of these women were little except a girdle and agoat-skin cloak that hung loosely upon their shoulders, displaying theirmagnificent proportions somewhat freely. They were much handsomer thanthe men, having splendid solemn eyes, very white teeth, and a remarkabledignity of gait. Their faces, however, wore the same sombre look asthose of their husbands and brothers, and they did not chatter afterthe manner of their sex, but contented themselves with pointing out thepeculiarities of the strangers in a few brief words to their children orto one another.
After crossing the market-place the party came to a long and gentleascent, which terminated at a wall surrounding the lower of the twogreat buildings that they had seen from the plain. Passing its gatesthey halted at the doors of the first of these edifices. Here priestsstood with torches--at least, they judged them to be priests from thesymbol of the snake's head tattooed upon their naked breasts--ready toconduct them to their lodging, for now the night was closing in rapidly.Soon they found themselves within the walls of a great house, built inthe usual way with rough boulders, but on three sides of a square, andenclosing a courtyard in which a fountain bubbled. The furniture ofthe house was rude but grotesquely carved, and in the courtyard stooda throne, sheltered by a roof of turf, and fashioned of black wood andivory, with feet shaped like those of a human being. Indeed, as theyafterwards discovered, this was the palace of the king, Olfan, who hadbeen summarily ejected by the priests to make room for the newcomers.
Here in this strange dwelling the attendant priests assigned them allquarters, the Settlement men in one wing, Leonard, Francisco and Soa inthe other, and Juanna and Otter in two separate apartments in the bodyof the building. This arrangement involved the separation of theparty, but it was difficult to offer objections, so they were forced toacquiesce in it. Presently women entered bearing food, boiled corn, milkin bowls, and roasted flesh in plenty, of which Leonard and Franciscoate with thankfulness.
Before they went to sleep Leonard looked into the courtyard, and wassomewhat alarmed to find that guards were stationed at every door, whilein front of those leading to the apartments of Juanna and Otter stood abody of priests with torches in their hands. He made an effort to passthrough these guards in order to visit Juanna, but without a wordthey lifted their great spears and stopped him, and for that time heabandoned the attempt.
"Why do the priests stand before the door of the Shepherdess, Soa?"asked Leonard.
"They guard the place of the gods," she answered. "Unless the gods willit, none may enter there."
"Say, Soa," Leonard asked again, "are you not afraid of being here inyour own land?"
"I am much afraid, Deliverer, for if I am found out then I die. Yet manyyears have gone by since I fled; few live who knew me, and, perchance,none remember me. Also now I do not wear my hair after the fashion ofmy people, and therefore I may escape, unless the priests discover me bytheir magic. And now I would sleep."
On the following morning at dawn Leonard rose and, accompanied byFrancisco, walked into the courtyard. This time the soldiers did not tryto stop them, but the priests were still standing in front of Juanna'sdoor, looking like spectres in the grey mist. They went to them andsignified by signs that they would worship the Queen, but were sternlyrefused admission in words which they could not understand, but thatSoa, who was listening, afterwards translated to them.
"The Mother had come to her home," said the spokesman, "and might beprofaned no more by the eyes of the vulgar. The Snake also was in hishome, and none should look upon him."
When arguments failed Leonard tried to force his way through, and wasmet by a huge spear pointed at his throat. How things would have endedit is difficult to say had not Juanna herself appeared at this juncture,standing between the curtains of the doorway. At the sight of her thepriests and soldiers fell upon their faces, and Leonard had sufficientpresence of mind to follow their example, dragging Francisco down besidehim.
"What is this tumult?" she asked the guards in their own tongue.
"I tell you what it is, Juanna," said Leonard, rubbing his head upon theground and speaking in English. "If you do not come to an understandingwith these scoundrels, you will soon be cut of from all communicationwith us, and what is more, we shall be cut off too in another way. Willyou be so good as to issue an order that we are to be admitted when welike?"
Juanna turned towards the priest and spoke angrily:
"Who has dared to forbid my servants to come before me and worship me?My will is my own, and I only make it known. It is my will that thesewhite men and yonder black woman pass in before me at their pleasure."
"Your will is our will, Mother," said the priests humbly.
So they went in, and the curtains were closed behind them.
"I am so thankful to see you," said Juanna. "You don't know howdreadfully lonely it has been in this great room all night, and I amafraid of those solemn-eyed priests who stand round the doors. The womenwho brought me food last evening crawled about the place on all fourslike dogs; it was horrible!"
"I am sorry that you have been left alone," said Leonard, "but you musttry to make better arrangements. Soa might sleep with you, at any rate.Where is Otter? Let us pay him a visit; I want to see how the god isgetting on."
Juanna went to the door and addressed the priests, saying that shedesired to be led before the Snake, and her servants with her. Theydemurred a little, then gave way, and all four of them were conducted,first into the courtyard, in which no human being was to be seen, andthence to an adjoining chamber, where a curious sight awaited them. In ahuge chair set upon a dais sat Otter, looking furious and by no means atease; while stretched upon the ground in front of him lay four priests,who muttered prayers unceasingly.
"Welcome, Baas!" he cried in rapture at the sight of Leonard. "Welcome,Shepherdess!"
"You idiot!" answered Leonard in Dutch, but speaking in the most humblevoice, and sinking to his knees. "If you will not remember that you area god, I will pay you out so soon as we are alone. Bid these fellowsbegone; the Shepherdess will translate for you."
"Go, dogs!" said Otter, taking the hint; "go, and bring me food. I wouldspeak with my servant, who is named Baas, and with my mother."
"These are the words of the Snake that he speaks in the holy tongue,"said Juanna, and she translated them.
The four priests rose, and bowing to the earth, crept backwards from theroom. So soon as they were gone, Otter leaped from his throne with anexclamation of rage that caused the others to burst out laughing.
"Laugh, Baas, laugh if you will!" said the dwarf, "for you have neverbeen a god, and don't know what it is. What think you, Baas?--all
nightlong I have sat upon that great stool, while those accursed dogs burntstinking stuff beneath my nostrils and muttered nonsense. One hour moreand I should have fallen on them and killed them, for I have had nomeat, and hunger makes me mad."
"Hush!" said Leonard, "I hear footsteps! On to your throne, Otter!Quick, Juanna! stand by his side; we will kneel!"
They had barely time to obey when the curtains were drawn, and a priestentered, holding a vessel of wood covered with a cloth. Slowly hecrept towards the throne, with his head bent almost to his knees; then,straightening himself suddenly, he lifted up the wooden vessel and criedaloud:
"We bring you food, O Snake. Eat and be satisfied."
Otter took the dish, and, lifting the cloth, gazed upon its contentshungrily, but with an ever-growing dissatisfaction.
"Son of a dog!" he cried in his own tongue, "is this food to set beforea man?" And he held the platter downwards, exposing its contents.
They were simple, consisting of various sorts of vegetables andwatercress--poor in quality, for the season was winter, and all ofthem uncooked. In the centre of this fodder--whether placed there inobedience to some religious tradition or by way of ornament, or perhapsto assist the digestive process of the god, as a tenpenny nail is saidto assist that of an ostrich--was a fine ruby stone; not so big, indeed,as that which Soa had given to Leonard, but still of considerablesize and value. Leonard saw it with delight, but not so the dwarf, theselfish promptings of whose stomach caused him to forget that hismaster had journeyed far to seek such gems as this. In the fury of hisdisappointed appetite he stood upon the footstool of the throne, and,seizing the ruby, he hurled it at the priest, hitting him fair betweenthe eyes.
"Am I an eel?" he roared, "that I should live on water-grass, and redgravel?"
Then the priest, terrified at the behaviour of this strange divinity,picked up the offending gem--to the presence of which he attributed hisanger--and fled, never looking behind him.
Juanna and Francisco were seized with uncontrollable laughter, whileeven Soa deigned to smile. But Leonard did not smile.
"Oh, you last descendant of generations of asses!" he said bitterly."You ass with four ears and a tenfold bray! What have you done? You havehurled the precious stone at the head of him who brought it, and now hewill bring no more. Had it not been for you, doubtless with every mealsuch stones would have been offered to you, and though you grew thin weshould all of us have become rich, and that without trouble, tricks, orviolence."
"Forgive me, Baas," lamented Otter, "but my rage took away my reason,and I forgot. See now what it is to be a god. It is to be fed upon stuffsuch as would gripe an ox. Oh, Baas, I would that these wild men hadmade you a god and left me your servant!" And again he gazed withdisgust upon the watercress and rows of leathery vegetables resemblingturnips.
"You had better eat them, Otter," said Juanna, who was still chokingwith laughter. "If you don't you may get nothing more for days.Evidently you are supposed to have a small appetite."
Then, driven to it by his ravening hunger, the wretched Otter fell uponthe turnips and munched them sullenly, Leonard rating him all the whilefor his unequalled stupidity.
Scarcely had he finished his meal when there was a stir without, andonce again priests entered, headed on this occasion by that same agedman who had acted as a spokesman when Juanna declared herself on theprevious day, and who, as they had discovered, was named Nam. In facthe had many other and much longer names, but as this was the shortest admost convenient of them, they adopted it.
It chanced that Leonard was standing by Soa, and when this priestentered, whom she now saw face to face for the first time, he noticedthat she started, trembled, and then drew back into the shadow of thethrone.
"Some friend of the old lady's youth," thought Leonard to himself. "Ihope he won't recognise her, that is all."
Nam bent himself in adoration before the gods, then began an address,the substance of which Juanna translated from time to time. Bitterly didhe grieve, he said, that such an insult had been offered to the Snakeas the presenting to him among his food of the red stone, known as theBlood of Aca. That man who had done this folly was doomed to die, if,indeed, he were not already dead. Well could they understand that, theMother and Snake having become reconciled, the proffering to Jal of thatwhich reminded him of the sin of long ago was a wickedness that mightbring a curse upon the land. Let the Snake be appeased. Command had beengiven that all such stones should be hidden in a secret place by him whohad wrought the crime, and, as he had said, if the man returned alivefrom that place he should be slain. But he would not return alive,for to go thither was death, as it should be death henceforth even tomention that stone, of which but one should now be seen in the land,that which the Mother wore in memory of the past.
"O Otter, my friend," murmured Leonard to himself, "if I don't make youpay for this, my name is not Outram!"
But enough of the stones, went on Nam; he had come upon a more importantmatter. That night an assembly of all the tribe would be held in thegreat temple an hour before moonrise, that the Mother and the Snakemight take up their royalty in the presence of the people. Thither theywould come to lead them and their servants at the appointed time. Wasthis pleasing to the gods?
Juanna bent her head in assent, and the priest turned to go with manyobeisances; but before he went he spoke again, asking if all things wereas the gods desired.
"Not altogether, my servant," answered Juanna. "It is our will thatthese, our other servants, should have free access to us at all timesand without question. Also, it is our will that their food should bebrought to them with our food. Moreover, it is the desire of the Snakethat no more grass should be given to him to eat; for now, in theselatter days, having put on the flesh of men, he needs that which willsupport the flesh. One thing more, my servant; the Snake forgives theaffront that was offered him, and I command that some of the greatestof the holy stones should be brought to me, that I may look on the bloodwhich I shed so long ago."
"Alas! it may not be, Mother," answered the priest in tones of sorrow."All the stones, both red and blue, have been placed in bags of hide andcast into that place whence they can be brought no more, together withhim who offended. Nor can others be gathered at this season of the year,seeing that deep snow covers the place where they lie buried. In thesummer, when the sun has melted the snow, more can be found, if youreyes still desire the sight of them."
Juanna made no reply, and the priest went.
"Here is a pretty business," said Leonard. "That idiot Otter has upseteverything. We might have become millionaires for the asking, and nowwe must wait for months before we so much as get sight of a ruby or asapphire."
Nobody answered. Indeed, the whole party were plunged into consternationat the fatal effects of this accident. As for Otter himself, when heunderstood fully what he had done, he almost wept for grief.
"Who could have known, Baas?" he groaned. "It was the sight of the greenfood that bewitched me, who have always hated the taste of grass. Andnow my folly has undone all, and it seems that I must be a god for manymonths, if, indeed, they do not find me out."
"Never mind, Otter," said Leonard, moved to pity by the dwarf's genuinegrief. "You have lost the stones and you will have to find them againsomehow. By the way, Soa, why did you start so when the old priest camein?"
"Because he is my father, Deliverer," she answered.
Leonard whistled; here was a new complication. What if Nam shouldrecognise her?
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