CHAPTER XXIII
At last, after fixing a lighted torch between the logs of each raft, theMulgars began to get aboard. On the first Ghibba and Thimble embarked,squatting the one in front and the other astern, to keep their craftsteady. With big torches smoking in the sunshine, they pushed off.Tugging on a long strand of Samarak which they had looped around thesmooth branch of a Boobab, they warped themselves free. Soon welladrift, with water singing in their green twigs, they slid swiftly intothe stream, shoving and pulling at their long poles, beating the greenwater to foam, as they neared the fork, to keep their dancing catamaranfrom drifting into the surge that would have toppled them over thecataract. The rest of the travellers stood stock-still by thewater-side, gazing beneath their hands after the green ship and its twosailors, dark and light, brandishing their poles. They followed alongthe bank as far as they could, standing lean in the evening beams,wheezing shrilly, "Illaloothi, Illaloothi!" as Moona and Mulla-mulgarfloated into the mouth of the cavern and vanished from sight.
One after another the rest swept off, their rafts dancing light as corkson the emerald water, each with its flaming torch fast fixed, and itstwo struggling Mulgars tugging at their long water-poles. And as eachraft drifted beneath the lowering arch of the cavern, the Mulgars aboardher raised aloft their poles for farewell to Mulgarmeerez. Last of allThumb loosed his mooring-rope, and with the baggage-raft in tow cast offwith Nod into the stream. Pale sunshine lay on the evening frost andgloom of the forests, and far in the distance wheeled Kippel, cappedwith snow, as the raft rocked round the curve and floated nearer andnearer to the cavern. Nod squatted low at the stern, his pole now idlydrifting, while behind him bobbed the baggage-raft, tethered by its ropeof Cullum. He stared into the flowing water, and it seemed out of itsdeeps, faintly echoing, rang the voice of the sorrowful Water-midden,bidding him farewell. And when Thumb's back was for a moment turned, hetore out of the tousled wool of his jacket another of his ivory buttons,and, lying flat in the leafy twigs, dropped it softly into the stream."There, little brother," he whispered to the button, "tell the beautifulMidden I remembered her last of all things when the hoarse-voicedMulgars sailed away!"
Green and dark and utterly still Arakkaboa's southern forests drewbackward, with the westering sun beaming hazily behind their namelesspeaks. Nod heard a sullen wash of water, the picture narrowed, faded,darkened, and in a moment they were floating in an inky darkness, litonly by the dim and wavering light of the torches.
The cavern widened as the rafts drew inward. But the Mulgars with theirpoles drove them into the middle of the stream, for here the current ranfaster, and they feared their leafy craft might be caught by overhangingrocks near the cavern walls. A host of long-eared bats, startled fromsleep by the echoing cries and splashings, and the smoke of the torches,unhooked their leathery hoods, and, mousily glancing, came flitting thisway, that way, squeaking shrilly as if scolding the hairy sailors. Theyreminded Nod of the chattering troops of Skeetoes swinging on theirfrosty ropes in the gloom of Munza-mulgar. When with smoother water theraftsmen's shouts were hushed, a strange silence swept down upon thetravellers. Nod glanced up uneasily at the faintly shimmering roof hungwith pale spars. Only the sip and whisper of the water could be heard,and the faint crackle of the dry torch-wood. Thumb flapped the waterimpatiently with his long pole. "Ugh, Ummanodda, this hole of darknesschills my bones. Sing, child, sing!"
"What shall I sing, Thumb?"
"Sing that jingling lingo the blood-supping Oomgar-mulgar taught you.How goes it?--'Pore Benoleben.'"
So in the dismal water-caverns of Arakkaboa Nod sang out in his seesawvoice, to please his brother, Battle's old English song, "Poor Ben, oldBen."
"Widecks awas' Widevry sea, An' flyin' scud For companee, Ole Benporben Keepz watcherlone: Boatz, zails, helmaimust, Compaz gone.
"Not twone ovall 'Is shippimuts can Pipe pup ta prove 'Im livin' man: One indescuppers Flappziz 'and, Fiss-like, as you May yunnerstand.
"An' one bracedup Azzif to weat, 'Az aldy deck For watery zeat; Andwidda zteep Unwonnerin' eye Ztares zon tossed sea An' emputy zky. Pore Benoleben, Pore-Benn-ole-Ben!"
When Nod's last quavering drawl had died away, Thumb lifted up his ownhoarse, grating voice in the silence that followed, and as if with oneconsent, the travellers broke into "Dubbuldideery."
It seemed as if the walls would shatter and the roof come tumbling downat their prodigious hullabaloo. The bats raced to and fro. Scores offishes pushed up their snouts round Nod's raft, and gazed with curiousfaces into the torchlight. The water was all astir with theirdisquietude. But in the midst of the song there sounded a shrill andhasty cry: "Down all!"
Only just in time had Ghibba seen their danger, and almost before theshrill echo had died away, and Thimble had cast himself flat, their raftwas swirled under a huge rock, blossoming with quartz, that hung downalmost to the surface of the water. Thimble's jacket was ripped collarto hem as he slid under, lying as close as he could. And the bobbingraft of baggage behind them was torn away in a twinkling, so that nowall the food and torches the Mulgars had was what each carried forhimself. They dared not stir nor lift their heads, for still the frettedroof arched close above the water. And so they drifted on and on, theirtorches luckily burnt low, until at length the cavern widened, the rooflifted, and they burst one by one into a great chamber of smooth water,its air filled strangely with a faint phosphorescence, so that everyspar and jag of rock gleamed softly with coloured light as they paddledtheir course slowly through. In this great chamber they stayed awhile,for there was scarcely any current of water against its pillared sides.With their rafts clustering and moored together, they shared out equallywhat nuts, dry fruit, and unutterably mouldy cheese remained, anddivided the torches equally between them, except that Ghibba, who ledthe way, had two for every one of the others.
These thin grey waters swarmed with fish, but all, it seemed, nearlyblind, with scarcely visible eyes above their snouts. Some of the biggerfish, with clapping jaws, cast themselves in range or hunger against therafts. And the Mulgars, seeing their teeth, took good heed to couchthemselves close in the midst of their rafts. The longer they stayed,the thicker grew the concourse of fish drawn together by the noise andsmell of the travellers, until the cavern echoed with their restlessfins and a kind of supping whisper, as if the fish had speech. So theMulgars pushed off again, laying about them with their poles to scarethe bolder monsters off as they gilded softly into the sluggish current,until the channel narrowed again, and their speed freshened.
On and on they drifted. On and on the shimmering walls floated pastthem, now near, now distant. They lost all time. Some said night must begone; some said nay, night must have come again; and to some it seemedlike an evil dream, this drifting, without beginning or end. When sleepbegan to hang heavily on Thumb's eyelids, he bade Nod lie down and takehis fill of it first, while he himself kept watch. Nod very gladly laydown as comfortably as he could on the rough and narrow raft, and Thumbfor safety tied him close with a strand of Cullum. He dreamed a hundreddreams, rocked softly on the sliding raft, all of burning sunshine, orwild white moonlight, or of icy and dazzling Witzaweelw[=u]lla; but theWater-midden's beauty haunted all.
He woke into almost pitch-black gloom, and, starting up, could countonly four torches staining the unrippling water with their flare. And,being very thirsty, he stooped over with hollowed hand, as if to drink.
"No, no," said Thumb drowsily; "not drink, Nod. Sleepy water--sleepywater. Moona-mulgars there, drunk and drunk; thirstier and thirstier,torches out--all dead asleep--all dead asleep."
"But my tongue's crackling dry, Thumb. Drink I must, Thumb."
"Nutshells," said Thumb--"suck nutshells, suck them."
Nod took out the last few nuts he had. And in the faint glowing of thedistant torches he could see Thumb's great broad-nosed face turnedhungrily towards them.
; "How many nuts left have you, my brother?" Nod said.
Thumb tapped his stomach. "Safe, safe all," he said. "Nod slept on andon."
"Why did you not wake me, Thumb? Lie down now. I am not hungry, only alittle thirsty. Have these few crackle-shells before you sleep, oldThumb." He gave Thumb nine out of his thirteen nuts, and partly becausehe was ravenously hungry, partly because their oiliness a littleassuaged his thirst, Thumb crunched them up hastily, shells and all.Then he lay down on the raft, and Nod tied his great body on as safelyas he could.
There seemed to be some tribe of creatures dwelling in this darkness.For Thumb had but a little while lain down, when the stream bore therafts along a smoother wall of rock, which rose, as it were, to a ledgeor shelf; and all along this rocky shelf Nod could see dim, roundedholes, of a breadth to take with ease the body of a Mullabruk orManquabee. He fancied even he saw here and there shadowy figuresstooping out. And now and then in the hush he heard a flappity rustle,as of some hairy creature scampering quickly along the ledge on fournaked feet. But he called and called in vain. No answer followed, excepta feeble hail from Thimble's raft far ahead, with its torches feeblytwinkling.
Only three of the nine rafts now showed lights, and the last of thesehad drifted in, and become entangled in some jutting rock or in thelong, leathery weed that hung like lichen-coloured grass along the sidesof the cavern. As Nod drew slowly near, he saw that on this raft bothits Mulgars lay flat on their faces, lost in their second sleep fromdrinking of the water. He pushed hard at his long pole, and, leaningover, caught their strand of trailing Samarak, and hauled the raftsafely into mid-stream again. He stirred and pommelled the Mulgars withhis pole. But they made no sign of feeling, except that their mouthsfell a little ajar. Then he lit the last but one of his own torches bythe failing flame of theirs. But it hovered sullen and blue. The air wasthick. Each breath he took was heavy as a sigh. He was shrunk verymeagre with travel, and his little breathing bosom was nothing but aslender cage of bones above his heart. He crouched down in thewhispering solitude. His lips were cracked, his tongue like tinder. Hemumbled his shells in vain between his teeth. But from first sleep tothe second sleep is but a little journey, and thence to the last the wayruns all downhill.
He chafed his eyes, he clenched his teeth, he crooned wheezily all thesongs Battle had taught him. And now once more the cavern opened into awide and still lagoon, over whose grey floor phantom lights movedcloudily before the advancing rafts. Its roof wanly blazed withcrystals. And there was no doubt now of Mulgar inhabitants. They satunmoved upon their rocky ledges and parapets, with puffed-out, furrybodies and immense round, lustrous eyes, with which they steadilysurveyed the worn and matted Mulgars, some stretched in stupid slumber,some fevered and famished, with burning eyes, drifting slowly past theirglistening grottoes. But none so much as stirred a finger or paid anyheed to the Mulgars' entreaties for food. Only their long ears, whichpeaked well out of their wool, twitched and nodded, as if theirducketings were a kind of secret language between them.
Nod's raft swam last across this weed-mantled lagoon amid the movinglight-wisps. He called with swollen tongue: "O ubjar moose soofree!ubjar, ubjar, moose soofree!" But there came no answer, not the leaststir in the creatures; only the owl-eyes stared steadily on. He liftedhimself on trembling legs, and called: "Walla, walla!"
These Arakkaboans only gloated on him, and slowly turned their roundheads, still twitching their ears at one another, as if in some strangetalk.
And Nod fell into a Munza rage at sight of them. He danced and gibbered,and at last caught up his long water-pole, as if to strike at them; butit was too heavy for him after his long thirst; he over-balanced, threwout the pole, and fell headlong on to the raft. Thumb muttered in hissleep, wagging his head. And with parched lips, so close to thatfaint-smelling water, Nod could bear his thirst no longer. He leanedover, cupped his hands, and sucked in one, two, three deliciousmouthfuls. Water, cavern, staring Arakkaboans, seemed to float away intothe distance, as in a dream. And in a little while, with head lolling atThumb's feet, he lay faintly snoring beside his brother.
* * * * *
Out of the heaviness of that long sleep Nod opened his eyes, to findThumb's great body stooping over him with anxious face, shaking andpommelling him, and muttering harshly: "Wake, wake, Nugget of clay!Wake, Mulla-slugga! The Valleys! The Valleys, little Ummanodda! Taste,taste! Ummuz, ummuz, UMMUZ!"
Something sweeter than honey, something that at one taste wakened inmemory Mutta, and Seelem, and the little Portingal's hut, and Glint'stowering Ukka-tree, and all his childhood, was pushed between his teeth.Nod sneezed three times, struggled, and sat up.
For a moment the light blinded him. Then at last he saw all among a longlow stretch of rushes, in still, green water, between the rafts, apicture of the sky. A crescent moon hung like a shell in the pale greenquiet of daybreak. He scrambled to his feet, still gnawing hisUmmuz-cane. He saw Thimble mumbling like a hungry dog over his food, andthe lean shapes of the Moona-mulgars shuffling to and fro. On one siderose the forests of the northern slopes of Arakkaboa. A warm, sweet windwas moving with daybreak, and only on the heights next the green of thesky shone Tishnar's unchanging snows. Flowers bloomed everywhere aroundhim, not vanishing flowers of magic now. And as far as his round eyescould see, golden with Ummuz and Immamoosa, and silver with dreamingwaters, stretched the long-sought, lovely Valleys of Tishnar. This,then, was the Mulgars' journey's end!
Nod flung himself down in the long grasses, and cried as if his heartwould break. And still with his oozy stick of Ummuz clutched between hisfingers, he fell asleep.
But soon came Ghibba to waken him. Thumb and Thimble and all theMoona-mulgars were squatting together round a little fire they hadkindled beneath an enormous tree by the water-side. Bees, that might,indeed, be honey-makers from Assasimmon's hives, were droning in thetree-blossoms overhead, and tiny Tominiscoes flitting among thebranches. It was a wonder, indeed, that birds should draw near suchscarecrow travellers. More like the N[=o][=o]mad of Jack-Alls they satthan honest Mulgars; some toasting the last paring of their belovedcheese to eat with their Nanoes, some with stones pounding Ummuz, someat their scratching and combing, and one or two worn out, bonilysprawling in the comfort of the sunbeams streaming upon them now fromfar across Arakkaboa.
Beneath them lay the shallows of the green lagoon in the morning. Butnear at hand rose up a gigantic grove of Ollacondas into the windlesssky, so that beyond these the travellers could see nothing of thefarther country.
When they had eaten and drunk, and were well rested, Thumb and Nod,taking again cudgels in their hands, started off towards the hills thatrose above the cavern, of purpose, if need be, to climb into the higherbranches of some tree, from which they might descry, perhaps, what layon the other side of this great grove.
Through the thick dews they stumped along together, their eyes rovingthis way and that, in wonder and curiosity of their way. And in a whilethey had climbed up through the thick undergrowth on to a wide greenledge, on which were playing and scampering in the fresh shadows a hostof a kind of Weddervols, but smaller and furrier than those of Munza.And now they could see beneath them the huge arch through which theirrafts had floated out while they lay snoring.
White flocks of long-legged water-birds were preening their wings in theshadows, in which rock and boughs and farthest snow stood glassed. Therethe two Mulgars stood, ragged and worn, snuffing the sweet air, while afaint surge of singing rose from the forests above their heads.
"It is a big nest Tishnar's water-birds build," said Nod suddenly.
Thumb's great head turned on his stooping shoulders, and, with mouthajar, he stared long and closely at what seemed to be a heap of tangledboughs washed up in the water far beneath them.
"No nest, Ummanodda," he said at last; "it is some Mulgar's tree-roostfallen into the water. Its leaves are dry, and the feet of thatlong-legs stand deep in Spider-flower."
"To my eyes," said Nod slowl
y, "it looks to me, Thumb, just like suchanother as one of our water-rafts."
"Wait here a little while, Nizza-neela," grunted Thumb suddenly; "I godown to look for eggs."
Nod watched his brother pushing his way down through the sedge andtrailing Samarak. "Eggs," he whispered--"eggs!" and broke out into hislittle yapping laughter, though he knew not why he laughed.
Up, up, on sounding wings flew a bird as white as snow from its lodgingas Thumb drew near. And there he was, stooping, paddling, pushing withhis cudgel, and peering into the tangle at the water-side.
Nod turned his head, filled with a sudden weariness and loneliness. Andin the silence of the beautiful mountains he fell sad, and a littleafraid, as do even Oomgar travellers resting awhile in the journey thathas no end.
Out of his Mulgar dreams he was startled by a sudden, sharp, shortMulgar bark from far beneath, that might be fear or might be suddengladness.
And, in a moment, Thumb, having cast down his cudgel, and with somethingclutched in his great hand, was swinging and scrambling back through thethick, flowery undergrowth of the hillside by the way he had come.
Nod watched him, with head thrust forward and side-long, and at last hedrew near, sweating and coughing.
"S[=o][=o]tli, s[=o][=o]tli!" he muttered. "Magic, magic!" and held outin the sunlight an old red, rotted gun.
Rusty, choked with earth, its butt smashed, its lock long gone, the twoMulgars stood with the gun between them.
"Oomgar's gun, Thumb?--Oomgar's?" grunted Nod at last.
Thumb opened wide his mouth, still panting and trembling.
"Noos unga unka, Portingal, Ummanodda. Seelem arggutchkin! Seelem! kara,kara! Seelem mugleer!"
And even as that last Seelem was uttered, and back to Nod's mind camethat morning leagues, leagues away, and himself sitting on his father'sshoulder, clutching the long cold barrel of the little Portingal'sgun--even at that moment a faint halloo came echoing across the steeps,and, turning, the Mulla-mulgars saw climbing towards them between thetrees Thimble and Ghibba. But not only these. For between them walkedon high in a high, hairy cup, with a band of woven scarlet about hisloins, and a basket of honeycombs over his shoulder, a Mulgar of apresence and a strangeness, who was without doubt of the Kingdom ofAssasimmon.
... A MULGAR OF A PRESENCE AND A STRANGENESS, WHO WASWITHOUT DOUBT OF THE KINGDOM OF ASSASIMMON.]
ENVOY
"Long--long is Time, though books be brief: Adventures strange--ay, past belief-- Await the Reader's drowsy eye; But, wearied out, he'd lay them by.
"But, if so be he'd some day hear All that befell these brothers dear In Tishnar's lovely Valleys--well, Poor pen, thou must that story tell!
"But farewell, now, you Mulgars three! Farewell, your faithful company! Farewell, the heart that loved unbidden-- Nod's dark-eyed, beauteous Water-midden!"
A NOTE ON THE TYPE IN WHICH THIS BOOK IS SET
_This book is composed (on the Linotype), in Scotch. There is adivergence of opinion regarding the exact origin of this face, someauthorities holding that it was first cut by Alexander Wilson & Son, ofGlasgow, in 1837; others trace it back to a modernized Caslon old stylebrought out by Mrs. Henry Caslon in 1796 to meet the demand for modernfaces brought about by the popularity of the Bodoni types. Whatever itsorigin, it is certain that the face was widely used in Scotland, whereit was called Modern Roman, and since its introduction into America ithas been known as Scotch. The essential characteristics of the Scotchface are its sturdy capitals, its full rounded lower case, the gracefulfillet of its serifs and the general effect of crispness._
SET UP, ELECTROTYPED, PRINTED, AND BOUND BY THE VAIL-BALLOU PRESS, INC., BINGHAMPTON, N.Y. . ILLUSTRATION PLATES ENGRAVED AND PRINTED BY ZEESE-WILKINSON COMPANY, INC., LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y. . PAPER MANUFACTURED BY THE TICONDEROGA PULP AND PAPER CO., TICONDEROGA, N.Y., AND FURNISHED BY W. F. ETHERINGTON & CO., NEW YORK.
Transcriber's Note:
In the List of Illustrations, closing quotation marks have been added to "with fingers of frost" and "enchanted orchards of Tishnar".
Spelling and punctuation have been retained as in the original publication except as follows:
Page 23
sibbetha eena manga Moh!" _changed to_ sibbetha eena manga Moh!'"
Page 45
through the green twlight _changed to_ through the green twilight
Page 62
as for the Water-midden's song _changed to_ as for the Water-middens' song
Page 73
said the Fish-catcher." _changed to_ said the Fish-catcher.
Page 113
awhile with this Oongar _changed to_ awhile with this Oomgar
Page 128
shakes noonday with fear _changed to_ shakes noonday with fear,
shakes noonday with fear changed to shakes noonday with fear.
Page 233
and runing over with _changed to_ and running over with
Page 245
and your brothers, wander _changed to_ and your brothers wander
Page 258
seven time round Nod's left _changed to_ seven times round Nod's left
Page 273
as do even Ooomgar _changed to_ as do even Oomgar
The Three Mulla-mulgars Page 23