by Sarban
‘Lastly, they fastened on her hands gloves made of this same material, fashioned all in one piece without fingers, shaped externally like a broad, pointed leaf and tight-fitting and rigid enough to hold her fingers and thumbs close and extended within them. These served at once to convert her hands into members as effective for swimming as a turtle’s paddles and also prevented her tearing off the float and shoes. But for further security, until she should be tamed, Tathnarzuk had devised a mask of thin bronze to cover her face; and this he had fancifully wrought in the shape of a fish’s head with curling lip and big round eyes of clear glass and a spiny crest which curved back over her head, and which, being hollow and open at its extremity, allowed her to breathe in complete ease though her face might be submerged.
‘Before fitting the mask they sheared her thick hair short—as short as yours; then, when she was fully accoutred they carried her, a dozen or more of them gripping her and preventing her struggling, and launched her into the pool.
‘Tathnarzuk and all his people stood upon the edges of the pool and watched. They had often watched the threshing and leaping of great fish netted and dragged into shallows by the lake shore: they knew also the struggles of antelope caught in their snares, but this was something they had never seen; a thing that seemed to their excited eyes part maiden, part fish, part frog and even, so powerful and yet so graceful were those long, kicking legs, part wild white mare. They scrambled and hopped along the rocks, following her as she floundered blindly about the pool in her first frantic efforts to free herself from the equipment. Some shouted that she would drown herself in spite of the buoyant float, so madly did she twist and throw herself over on her back and roll and try to rear and fall back again. But Tathnarzuk bade them have patience. He had studied his devices well. She was a practised swimmer; habit and instinct prevailed over her alarm and the equipment itself prompted her how to dispose her body and move her limbs. She found that the float supported her high in the water without effort and that with her frog-feet and paddle-hands she could drive herself powerfully along. She rested and then, instead of exhausting herself in useless fighting to rid herself of the harness, she swam strongly away to the other side of the pool and tried to climb out. But her buoyant keel was an encumbrance when she tried to rise erect, and she could obtain no grip on the rocks with hands or feet. Tathnarzuk’s contrivances had changed her into a water creature, light and swift while she kept to the water in the horizontal position, half-submerged, that he had designed for her, but helpless when she tried to move on land.
‘At length she too understood that she was helpless, and, tired with her struggles, she floated quietly.
‘Then Tathnarzuk put off his own garments and lowering himself into the pool, swam paddling with his arms in the slow, laborious fashion of the dwarfs, but quietly and cautiously, so that he approached her before she was aware of him. Suddenly he seized her and with a heave of his arms, mounted her.
‘She fought like a wild animal, first furiously, and then, by every trick she knew and that the equipment would permit, seeking to throw him, to seize him and to drown him. But her shame and rage were all one to Tathnarzuk. His short, crooked legs which could not stride the hills or leap the brooks or grip a horse could nevertheless grip her slim flanks. She could not dislodge him; she could not dive for the air-filled keel beneath her; though she could strike at him with her hands she could not seize him; if she rolled on her back her mask filled with water and she was forced to turn over on her face again to breathe. Still she fought, fought as she had seen young mares fight when the herdsmen brought them in and backed them first, wild from the plain. Many a time Tathnarzuk came near to drowning, and others of his people threw themselves into the pool and came paddling about to help him; but always he regained his hold, and by strength and persistence and patience he in the end subdued her. He made her swim to the edge, close under the eyes of all the admiring and excited dwarfs, and held her there beneath him, tired and trembling. He stroked her long, smooth back.
‘ “So, Herali,” he said, “you and your people shall serve me and mine for ever: noble maidens of Mauritania no more, but schooled, sleek water-mares.”
VI
‘I wonder if it really would have worked,’ said Nicola, when their host ceased speaking. ‘I suppose it might, seeing the dwarfs were so small. That was the idea of the keel I suppose, to keep the dwarf’s weight from making the girl sink in the water. Still, even so, I don’t think I could swim with someone on my back. I’d have to see it done before I believed it.’
The man smiled.
‘The legend is very circumstantial. It does not say that they encountered no difficulties. But it is very positive that the dwarfs used this method of locomotion for many generations. Not only did they use their slaves to carry them by water, but by land also, and through the yielding marsh which is neither land nor water. I have told you that when Tathnarzuk was a boy he invented a harness by which a servant could carry him on his shoulders. Now, these maidens of the Mauritanian bodyguard were all chosen for their height and strength, and from their childhood up they had all been trained in martial exercises. I dare say you yourselves have climbed mountains with knapsacks on your backs weighing as much as one of Tathnarzuk’s people did. The dwarfs improved the harness and learned to ride their two-legged steeds very expertly, accommodating themselves to their motions exactly as a man of the Tall People does to a horse’s action. So mounted they ranged easily and speedily about their forest and their marsh and became masters of their own country as they could never have become on their own unserviceable little legs. True, the legend does make some mention of the dangers of breaking in the new steeds; and I fear a few of the maidens did not survive the methods the dwarfs used to tame them, but the example appears to have been salutary, for the dwarfs undoubtedly succeeded. And it is in the character of the Mauritanians, especially their women, that once taught who is their master, they are an obedient, faithful and devoted people.
‘But, above all, through their water-mares, the dwarfs became masters of the Lake and all its islands and its thickets of reeds, its deeps and its shallow, its rocks and strands and the caverns beneath the cliffs where the quiet water flows far under the mountain in tunnels of changing twilight. By the lessons of experience they modified and brought to perfection the harness that Tathnarzuk had designed, and they came to love the beautiful creatures that bore them about their water kingdom with a love as passionate as that of the desert nomad for his mare. In time they reared a second generation, and these, having never known any home but the lake or any masters but the dwarfs, were most docile and willing and tractable. Being bred up from their earliest infancy to swim in their equipment or to run with their harness on, they grew up into creatures of wonderful strength and endurance. The people still recite old poems the dwarfs made describing the beauty of their favourites and recording famous performances.
‘The legend maintains, however, that none in later days ever matched Herali, for beauty, grace and strength and speed. Tathnarzuk made many songs praising her, and in the ancient words I can see him now, riding her through the smooth blue plains of water, under the broad golden day, out, far out in the glory of light and warmth and silence, to secret islands of tall flowering reeds, and resting there, feeling the sentient power quietly controlled between his knees, a prince of the wide waters, tranquil in his dominion.’
‘That is what happened to Herali.’
‘I expect she loved it when she got used to it!’ said Nicola. ‘But what about Thelou? What happened to him?’
‘Ah, Thelou,’ said their host, leaning back his head on his pillow and smiling. ‘Thelou stayed on his islet, and I believe he was not wholly unhappy. Certainly, he became so tame that after a time they were able to take his chain off. They would have had to change his anklet in any case because he became so fat. He never tried to escape, because he could not swim and he was far too lazy to learn. Besides, why should he have bothered? His appe
tites were abundantly satisfied. All these people of mine whom you have seen call him their ancestor.’
Alison had reflected a long time on the story.
‘The strangest thing about it all to me,’ she said, ‘is the way the legend goes into detail about the equipment the dwarfs made. Is it purely legend, or have some bits of ancient things been found—I mean, say, the bronze mask—which nobody could account for and so they invented the story to explain them?’
Their host looked at her thoughtfully.
‘That is a shrewd guess,’ he said. ‘As a matter of fact, some of the old equipment has been preserved. I have some of it here. You shall see it. I like to keep relics of the olden time, just as I like to keep up some of the old customs, the ancient dress, the ancient manners. I confess that the legends of the Lake fascinate me so much that I have even done what you seemed to suggest you would like to see done: that is I have experimented with Tathnarzuk’s devices. I do not think the legend was invented to explain them. Indeed, if you stay here long I can show you many things. I should like to take you to one of Tathnarzuk’s favourite grottoes, a place where the stalactites hang like curtains and glitter as if they were faced with many tiny mirrors; in one of his poems Tathnarzuk says the water there is so still and clear and every pebble on the bottom far below as sharp and unwavering as the crystalline pendants of the roof high above him that he cannot believe that he and his water-mare are floating on a liquid element, but fancies himself rather an embodied spirit of the air riding some fabulous pale bird of the winds. Ah!’ he raised his head with a jerk. ‘But if I begin to translate poetry I shall keep you here till dark and I am already keeping you from your swim.’
He spoke to the dimly-seen figure behind the curtain and then gave directions to the other girl who had been sitting in the alcove with them for some time past.
‘It is just the right time now. My people will show you where to go, and I have ordered them to provide you with swimming things. Meanwhile I will see what news there is of the storm and of your companions. I hear that some more of my people have come in from the desert. I shall see you again.’
***
The girl in the helmet, their original guide, led them out of the circular chamber and through a series of rock galleries and passages of which some were lit only by the tiny flames of oil-lamps wavering behind green glasses. Then the light brightened ahead of them once more and they came out in a wide cavern hung with stalactites and pillared, too, with slender-waisted columns where stalactite and stalagmite had fused. Nature seemed to have wildly and freakishly sketched out a cathedral there, and with apparent casualness art had furthered the illusion, supplying pillars where nature had left them wanting; it was possible to see some rough design dividing the cavern into a nave and two aisles. The floor, however, sloped gently down towards the great arch by which the light came in and through which the girls had a glimpse of the open waters of the lake beyond a wide pool enclosed by flat rocks. Water flowed down the nave of the cavern, splashing over the lips of a series of shallow basins.
The afternoon sunlight was softening over the lake outside. In the aisles of the cavern and in its far recesses it was almost dark; but the great arch was brightly illuminated and the pool beyond flashed with a brilliant invitation.
Their guide made them a sign to wait, just inside the shadow of the cavern’s roof. She moved away among the pillars; the girls could hear light footsteps coming and going and caught glimpses of pale garments among the shadows; there were other people outside, too; some dark heads of swimmers could be seen in the pool.
Nicola looked about her.
‘I wonder what they’ll find for us to wear? Those people out there seem to have waived the formality of a costume. If they don’t hurry up I shall do the same. The sun will be down soon and I’m not going to miss my swim. What do you say?’
Alison had leaned against one of the rough white pillars. She was looking down at the smooth rock floor.
‘What?’ she said, starting a little at Nicola’s question. ‘Oh, I don’t mind. Anything’ll do for me. I say, Nicola, what do you think our host is?’
‘Lord! What a question! That’s just what I was going to ask him, only I didn’t want to stay in there all afternoon. We’ll ask him tonight. I suppose he’s the local chieftain who’s been educated in Europe and then decided he likes the old life best. A cripple, though, I suppose. You could detect a sort of envy in the way he described how the little dwarfs enjoyed riding their slave-girls. I suppose the whole legend is a sort of myth?’
‘I suppose so,’ Alison answered in a preoccupied way.
‘My goodness,’ Nicola exclaimed suddenly in a low voice. ‘We’re being well attended. I suppose this is to do us honour?’
Alison looked round. Among the pillars behind and beside them there had assembled very quietly at least a score of girls, most of them wearing clinging tunics of metallic-gleaming scales which gave their bodies a look of lizard-like suppleness and smoothness; all had discarded their outer gowns and flowing cloaks. They stood silently and unobtrusively in the shadows; but while Alison and Nicola, a little embarrassed by the steady gaze of all those dark, interested eyes, wondered whether to move further away, more girls slipped behind the pillars beyond them and closed the circle round them.
‘Do you suppose this is to shield us from profane eyes while we disrobe, or what?’ Nicola muttered, uneasily. They stood side by side, looking anxiously round for their guide. More girls came and joined the circle and it seemed that some of those who had been bathing in the pool had also come to look at the strangers, for some naked forms could be seen between the shining tunics.
‘I don’t know,’ murmured Alison. ‘They seem . . .’ She broke off and suddenly seized Nicola’s arm. Both swung round, startled to hear their host’s deep voice speaking close to them in the shadows.
‘I must tell you,’ he said, ‘that the wind-genii are in a bad mood. Your stay here will be a long one. A very pleasant one for me; and for you too, once you are used to it. I believe you listened carefully to my story this afternoon. It was a manner of introducing you to your new life. To set your minds at rest before we begin—for you are going to be much occupied with other matters shortly, I will tell you that your companions are quite safe, though very troubled, I have no doubt, at losing you. However, they will find your vehicle sooner or later when we persuade the storm spirits to withdraw a little towards our borders. You they will not find. You are curtained for ever now from your own tall people. I sent out the dark storm to snare you and now I have work for you.’
The circle of girls opened a little on the side towards the light. Before Alison and Nicola could move or speak many hands gripped them and held them, without violence, but with unbreakable firmness, so that they could neither turn nor struggle. Into the gap of the circle there stepped a tall, naked girl about whose shoulders and chest there was some kind of harness. Above her own dark head there appeared their host’s brown face with the strange, light eyes and the wide mouth curving in a smile.
One of his hands lightly held a plait of his mount’s black mane. He turned her slightly and Alison and Nicola saw his muscular shoulders, broad as a well-grown boys, and then, nothing but an absurd little body like a small, tailless ape’s cradled in broad leather straps, and two short, crooked legs that bent, pressing long toes into the softness of his mount’s flanks between ribs and hips, gripping her body like a crab’s pincers.
He made his mount step aside to admit three or four more girls into the circle. These carried two float-like objects with curiously curved and shaped upper surfaces, long shoes like the hind feet of enormous frogs and shining masks with great goggle eyes like golden fish’s heads.
The hands that held Nicola lifted her brusquely and bore her down to the rocks at the pool’s edge and there held her from writhing while many others went busily to work about her.
VII
Capitaine Duncan laid the papers back on the Colonel’s desk a
nd sat for a long time frowning and looking at his nails. De l’Aubespine answered. ‘He had an abstract of the first report, the one from our people in the Niger, and a copy of Viljoen’s statement.’ He shifted round to face his friend and drummed on the edge of the desk lightly with his fingers.
‘You know,’ he said, ‘I feel it is a little unfortunate that Lieutenant Charvel’s zeal, or just pure hazard, has led to this new discovery. It may re-open an enquiry which we know perfectly well can only lead to the same conclusion as was drawn from the first reports, but which is bound to start speculations that can only distress the girls’ families.’
Duncan nodded.
‘Viljoen’s statement was full enough. It had all the marks of truth, too, for someone who knows that region. Besides, the evidence of the patrol confirmed it. Viljoen and Riggs escaped the storm. They thought the girls in the jeep had done too for some time. Then, when they missed them and returned, they find the storm still blowing over the area. It took them two days to find the jeep. After two days of sandstorm not even a Bedouin tracker could have followed up the girls’ traces. Yes, it was a clear case of the desert’s exaggerated mercilessness—punishing a first offence with death. Anyone with any experience at all of the desert would have stayed by the vehicle, by their water and food and by something that a man could see and identify from a long way off. Ah!’ He shook his head. ‘They wandered away. Panic? Sudden possession by devils? We’ve known it happen so often; yet one never thinks to warn someone of the greatest of all the dangers in the desert, the danger of losing your head.’