CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
DICK AND PHIL PROSPER.
Determined to afford Her Majesty neither time nor opportunity to repentof her sudden decision, Malachi hastened out of the palace as speedilyas his poor old limbs would carry him, and, making the best of his wayback to the enormous building in which the strangers were lodged,presented himself in their apartment, which he found them in the act ofreturning to by way of the window after a stroll round the roof gardenoutside. Almost incoherent from want of breath and his eagerness toimpress upon the pair the necessity to seize the present favourableopportunity, the Elder hastily explained that his mission to the Queenhad been successful, and entreated Dick and Grosvenor to accompany himto the palace forthwith; with which request they were of courseperfectly ready to comply. The palace was but a bare hundred yards fromthe larger building, both in fact being built on the same plot ofground, and a few minutes sufficed the trio to pass from the onebuilding to the other, to traverse the noble entrance hall of thepalace, and to make their way to the Queen's private suite ofapartments, outside the door of which two soldiers armed with spear andtarget stood on guard. The next moment they were in the presence of theQueen, who, surrounded by some half a dozen ladies, reclined listlesslyupon a couch of solid gold gorgeously upholstered in richly embroideredsilk.
As the trio entered and bowed low before her, the young Queen glancedlistlessly at her visitors for a moment, and then a look of interestcrept into her eyes, such as Malachi had not seen there for months,causing his heart to leap within him as he wondered whether this youngdoctor had indeed the power to perform a miracle and effect the cure ofthe lovely young creature upon whom the hopes of the whole nationdepended.
For lovely the Queen most certainly was, indeed it is the only wordwhich adequately expresses the perfection of her charms. The Izreelitewomen were, as the young Englishmen had already had opportunity toobserve, mostly of more than prepossessing appearance, tall, stately,statuesque creatures of Juno-like proportions, with melting dark eyes,and luxuriant tresses of dark, curly hair. But Queen Myra's beauty wasof a totally different type, for she was _petite_ yet exquisitelyformed, fair as the dawn of a summer's day, with golden-brown locks, andeyes as blue as the sapphire sky overhead. So lovely indeed was shethat Grosvenor, surprised out of his manners, whistled softly, andremarked to Dick, in quite audible tones:
"Phew! Dick, my boy, did you ever see such a beauty in all your borndays? No wonder that these old jossers the Elders are anxious to keepthe darling alive--eh, what?"
As he spoke the faintest suspicion of a smile seemed to flicker for amoment in the eyes of the Queen, but Dick, who noticed it, thought itmust have been provoked by Malachi's genuflexions as he performed theceremony of introduction, pointing to Dick first as the physician, andthen to Grosvenor as the friend who had journeyed with him across theGreat Water, and who, happening in some mysterious way--which he,Malachi, did not pretend to understand--to possess some slight knowledgeof the Izreelite tongue, would act as interpreter between Her Majestyand the physician.
By the time that Malachi had finished his speech the terriblelistlessness and indifference of the Queen's manner, which had for somany months been a source of anxiety to the nation in general and theElders and nobles in particular, had completely vanished, and sheelectrified the chief Elder by raising herself upon her couch andbidding him imperiously to be gone and to leave her alone with herladies and the two strangers. The poor old gentleman, his head dizzywith many conflicting emotions, hastily bowed himself out, and washalfway back to his own quarters in the Legislature before he well knewwhether he was on his head or his heels.
The door had no sooner closed upon Malachi than an extraordinary changetook place in the appearance and demeanour of the Queen; the languor ofher attitude and the absolute listlessness and indifference with whichshe had regarded her chief Elder vanished as if by magic. Her eyes litup eagerly, a wave of colour suffused her hitherto marble-white cheeksand brow, and, turning to her two visitors, she astounded them byexclaiming in excellent English, with only a trace of accent, as shestretched out her hands toward them:
"Gentlemen--gentlemen, are you indeed English, or has my poor brain atlast given way under the strain of my terrible trouble?"
For a moment the friends were literally smitten speechless byastonishment; then Grosvenor, who was the first to recover fullpossession of his faculties, sprang forward and, sinking upon one knee,raised one of the little outstretched hands respectfully to his lips.
"Madam," he said, absent-mindedly retaining the Queen's hand in his ownas he still knelt before her, "we are indeed Englishmen, and entirely atyour service. There are but two of us, as you see; but you have only tocommand us, and whatever two Englishmen in the midst of thousands ofenemies can do, that will we do for you. Isn't that so, Dick?"
"It is, indeed," answered Dick, smiling at the passionate fervour of hisfriend's speech. "Your Majesty has but to explain to us the nature ofyour trouble, and it shall go hard indeed with us if we do not devisesome means to help you, especially as, unless I am entirely mistaken,you are a countrywoman of our own. Get up, Phil, and let Her Majestytell us her story. And mind your `P's' and `Q's', old man," he added ina low tone; "don't let your sympathy and enthusiasm run away with you,or you will be apt to excite possibly awkward comment on the part of HerMajesty's ladies. You have made some of them open their eyes prettywide already, I can assure you."
With a muttered ejaculation Grosvenor hastily scrambled to his feet,while the Queen, beckoning to two of her ladies, directed them to placea couple of settees for her visitors close to her couch. Upon these thetwo Englishmen seated themselves, in obedience to a sign from HerMajesty, who thereupon addressed them:
"I fear," said she, "that I shall find it quite impossible to make youunderstand how astonished and how glad I am to see you both. I amastonished, because it is a law of this land that no aliens are everpermitted to enter it--and live; and I am glad because you, like myself,are English, and my dear mother taught me to believe that Englishmen arealways ready to help their countrywomen in distress under allcircumstances. And I am in distress, the greatest distress that Isuppose it is possible for a woman to be in. But let me tell you mystory--it will not take long--and then perhaps you will understand.
"I am twenty-three years of age, and of English parentage. My fatherwas an officer in the Indian army, and for nearly four years my motherresided with him at a little frontier post called Bipur. Then troublearose; the hill tribes in the neighbourhood of Bipur committed certainexcesses, and an expedition was dispatched under my father's command.Fighting ensued, and my father was killed in one of the earliestengagements that took place. There was now nothing to keep my mother inIndia, therefore, as the climate did not suit her, she made immediatearrangements to return to England, taking passage in a sailing ship thatwas proceeding home by way of the Cape, a long sea voyage having beenprescribed for the benefit of her health.
"I do not know how it happened, nor did my mother, but the ship waswrecked on the African coast, and many lives were lost. My mother,however, happened to be one of the saved; and she, with the rest of thesurvivors, fell into the hands of certain natives who surprised theircamp on the beach in the dead of night. The men of the party were allslain; and what became of the few women who survived I do not know, formy mother never told me; but she was brought by her captors to thiscountry and presented to King Geshuri, who made her his queen. Twomonths later I was born; and my mother never had any other children.
"Five years ago King Geshuri died; and my mother became the reigningmonarch of the country, in accordance with the Izreelite law. But shewas never strong; and three years ago she, too, died, leaving meabsolutely alone to govern this fierce, headstrong people as best Icould."
Here the Queen's emotion overcame her for a moment, and she hid her facein her hands, while the tears welled over and trickled through herfingers. Her distress moved the young Englishmen powerfully, and theybegan
to murmur expressions of sympathy and assurances of help. But,quickly recovering her composure, the Queen resumed her narrative.
"That, however, is not what is troubling me, for my mother, realisingthat I must one day become a queen, devoted herself entirely toeducating me in such a manner as to prepare me, as well as she could,for the discharge of my difficult duties. Unfortunately, we had nobooks, so my mother was compelled to rely entirely upon her ownknowledge and experience in the matter of my education and training; butshe not only taught me the English language, but also how to read andwrite it, spending many hours in printing with her own hand longpassages containing maxims for my guidance, simply that I might have themeans of learning to read English books, should ever any such fall intomy hands.
"And now I come to the matter that is troubling me. The Elders tell methat the time has arrived when I must take to myself a husband; and theyhave suggested--oh, I cannot tell you how many men!--Izreelite nobles,of course--from whom I may make my choice. But I do not like any ofthem; there is not one among them all whom I do not thoroughly detest,for they are all fierce, arrogant, overbearing men who do not evenpretend that they have any desire to make me happy. All they want is tobe king, so that they may enjoy the absolute power and authority of amonarch; for, if I marry, my husband will at once become the ruler ofthe country, according to the Izreelite law, and I shall merely be hiswife. Fortunately, I cannot be compelled to marry, and I won't--Iwon't," with a passionate little stamp of the foot, "until I meet with aman whom I can--can--love. But I know I shall have no peace until Iconsent to marry somebody; the Elders are wild with anxiety that Ishould choose a husband; they worry me every day, ay, and almost everyhour of the day, about it, until I am driven very nearly out of mysenses by the thought that, sooner or later, I shall be constrained tobecome the wife of some man whom I detest. That is my trouble,gentlemen; I wonder if you are clever enough to devise a means ofhelping me."
"Yes, Your Majesty, we are," answered Dick confidently. "I don't saythat we already have a plan; for that would be asserting far too much.But you have told us the nature of your trouble, which of course is thefirst thing that it is necessary for us to know; and now we will lose notime in thinking out a remedy. Trust to us, madam; we will not failyou. We have practically pledged ourselves to spend the remainder ofour lives in your country--your Elders compelled us to do that--and theremoval of your trouble and the securing of your happiness shall haveprecedence of every other consideration with us."
The Queen's gratitude was so great that she seemed scarcely able to findwords in which to express herself adequately; it was almost painful towitness, so eloquently did it testify to the desperation with which shehad been compelled to combat the suggestions of unwelcome alliances withwhich she had been perpetually harassed; but she contrived to make itquite clear that the arrival of the two Englishmen filled her withrenewed hope and a revived zest in life. "I know," she said, "that itmust sound unkind of me to say so, but I cannot help being glad that youare here; for now at last I feel that I have two friends who will standby me and help me to the utmost of their ability. Besides," she addeddelightedly, as the thought came to her, "you will be companions for me.I have been utterly lonely and friendless since my mother died; but youwill come to see me often--every day--won't you? And we can walk andtalk together, and I can again be happy."
"Of course," answered Grosvenor eagerly. "You may absolutely dependupon us both to do anything and everything that you may ask of us. Ibelieve we are each to be assigned certain duties, which I suppose weshall be expected to perform; but our first duty is to you, our firstcare must be for your happiness, and, so far as we can prevent it, youshall never again be worried by those old jossers the Elders, or anybodyelse. We have a few books among our baggage, and as soon as it isdelivered to us I will turn them out and bring them over to you; and asto coming to see you, why of course we shall be delighted to do so; wewill come over every evening after our day's work is over. Eh, Dick?"
"Certainly," answered Dick; "or at least as often as it may be prudentto do so. And now, madam," he continued, addressing the Queen, "I thinkit will be well that we should retire, for above all things else we mustcarefully avoid anything and everything that may excite suspicion orjealousy, and I imagine that both might easily be aroused by a too-sudden appearance of friendship between ourselves and Your Majesty.Besides, Malachi the Elder will be anxiously awaiting our report. But,as my friend has said, you may absolutely rely upon our loyal friendshipand our best help at all times and seasons. Possibly we may be able toarrange another call before the day is over; meanwhile I crave YourMajesty's permission for us to retire."
As Dick anticipated, they found the chief Elder anxiously awaiting theirreturn, eager to learn the young doctor's opinion relative to the mentaland physical condition of the Queen; and Dick, with Phil for hisinterpreter, was not slow to give it. Of course, to his practised eyeit had at once been evident that Queen Myra was simply being worried andbadgered and terrified out of her senses by these old men who, with thatidiotic prophecy dominating their minds, desired one thing and one only,namely to see the Queen married as speedily as possible to somebody; butto whom it seemed that they cared very little. Dick intended to put astop to that at once; he therefore directed Grosvenor to inform theElder, Malachi, that the Queen was in a most critical condition, butthat he could cure her, provided that his instructions were allimplicitly obeyed, but not otherwise. This last statement set the poorold Elder absolutely quivering with apprehension; but Dick was notworrying overmuch about him or anybody else save the Queen, and hecontrived to frighten the unhappy Elder so thoroughly that at length heunreservedly promised, both for himself and everybody else, that theword "marriage" should never again be spoken in Her Majesty's presenceuntil Dick gave permission; and he also agreed that Dick should have anabsolutely free hand with regard to the Queen's treatment, the visitorsshe should receive, the exercise she should take, and so on; thusproviding for Dick's and Grosvenor's free admission to the palace andthe Queen's presence as often as they chose.
This important matter settled, the friends retired to their own quartersto talk matters over. They found that all their various belongings hadbeen brought from the cell in which they had passed the previous night,and were now carefully arranged in their own private apartment.Grosvenor at once went to his trunk, opened it, bundled its contentsupon the floor, and feverishly proceeded to sort out the half-dozenbooks--novels, and two volumes of poems--which it contained, exhortingDick to do the same, in order that "that poor girl" might be providedwith a new form of amusement with the least possible delay. It was easyfor Dick to perceive, from his companion's talk, that the latter hadbeen profoundly impressed by the charms and the lonely state of theyoung Queen; and Maitland quietly chuckled, as he reflected thatGrosvenor would never have seen her had he not fled to South Africa fordistraction from the smart of a heart severely lacerated by some ficklefair one, who, by the way, seemed now to be completely forgotten. Buthe shook his head with sudden gravity, as his thoughts travelled on intothe future and he foresaw the possibility of a mutual attachmentspringing up between Phil and the Queen. That would be a complicationwith a vengeance, and he determined quietly to do everything in hispower to prevent it.
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The ensuing six months passed with the rapidity of a dream; for nosooner had the two Englishmen arranged matters relating to the Queenupon a satisfactory basis than they discovered that there was anothercause for anxiety of the gravest character in the behaviour of thesavage nations that hemmed in Izreel on every side. Hitherto these hadbeen too busily engaged in fighting each other to do more than makedesultory war upon the Izreelites; but now news of an apparentlyreliable character came to Bethalia, the island city, to the effect thata certain king, named Mokatto--a very shrewd fellow by all accounts--hadentered into friendly communication with the rulers of the other nationswhose countries borde
red on Izreel, and had pointed out the folly offighting each other for no particular reason, when, by uniting theirforces, they could attack the Izreelites, overwhelm them, and dividetheir country equally among the victors. This counsel, there was everyreason to believe, had been accepted; for reports were almost dailycoming to hand of preparations which pointed to nothing less than animpending attack upon Izreel by the confederated kingdoms.
This was precisely what the Izreelites had always feared more than anyother earthly thing; and when authentic intelligence began to arrive,pointing to the conclusion that the long-feared attack was about to bemade, the Izreelites grew almost crazy with panic, some of themcontending that their gods were angry at the admission of two aliensinto the country, and that the only way by which their anger could beappeased was by offering the strangers as a sacrifice upon the greataltar of the temple which formed the top story of the Legislativebuilding. This theory took a very strong hold upon certain of the mostinfluential of the nobles, who quickly developed extreme jealousy of thetwo strangers, whom they vaguely suspected of being in some unexplainedway inimical to them and their interests; and for a time Dick andGrosvenor undoubtedly went in danger of their lives.
At length, however, this peril became so imminent that the pair agreedto take the bull by the horns and deal with it forthwith. Theyaccordingly convened a meeting of the Seven Elders and all the nobility,at which Dick delivered an address, graphically describing the danger inwhich the nation stood, and boldly asserting that only he and Grosvenorcould possibly avert it.
This, of course, was rather a staggering statement, and one which theIzreelites were not at all disposed to accept unquestioningly, orwithout proof. But Dick was equal to the occasion. He and Grosvenorhad discussed the matter together, had decided upon their plan ofcampaign, and the Opposition were silenced by his first question.
"What do you suppose would happen to your Queen," he demanded, "if youwere unwise enough to put us to death? I will tell you. She is now onthe highroad to recovery; but, deprived of our ministrations, she wouldsuffer an immediate relapse, and die! Do you need to be reminded ofwhat would follow upon that? If there is any truth in your ancientprophecy the very thing that you most dread would immediately happen.In other words, our destruction would immediately be followed by that ofthe entire nation.
"But, apart from that, our destruction would be the gravest mistake thatyou could possibly make; for we, who are natives of the greatestfighting nation that the world has ever known, can teach you much in theart of war, your knowledge of which is of the slightest. Your weaponsare poor and inefficient, and you know nothing of strategy andgeneralship; but we can instruct you in those important matters, andalso teach you how to make new and powerful weapons, by means of whichyou will be able effectually to subjugate the nations which now threatenyou. Say, then, will you destroy us, and so involve yourselves inirretrievable ruin? Or shall we teach you how to emerge victoriouslyfrom the coming struggle with your enemies?"
There could be but one answer to such a question; the jealousy of thenobles gave way to fear. They no longer clamoured for the death of theEnglishmen, but, on the contrary, were as willing as the rest that thestrangers should be afforded every opportunity to make good their boast,and from that moment Dick and Grosvenor became virtually the Dictatorsof the nation.
Their victory was perhaps the easier from the fact that during the sixmonths of their sojourn they had already accomplished much. The Queen,for example, enlivened and encouraged by the intimate companionship ofher two fellow countrymen, had gradually thrown off the incubus of herterror, and was now almost her former self again; while Grosvenor hadfound congenial occupation in fitting the few craft upon the lake withsails, and designing and building other craft of greatly improved model,including half a dozen cutters of the racing-yacht type, which heconceived would be exceedingly useful should the savages ever againattempt, as they had done on several previous occasions, to attack theisland city. As for Dick, the densely populated city alone provided himwith more patients than he could conveniently deal with; and he hadeffected many remarkable cures.
One of the first things that particularly attracted the attention of thetwo friends immediately upon their arrival in Izreel was the inadequacyof the weapons--a spear, or sheaf of spears, and a small round shield ortarget--with which the people were armed; and this they now proceeded torectify by the general introduction of bows and arrows as an auxiliaryto the spear and shield. There was an abundance of suitable wood forbows to be found in a forest on the inner slope of the mountains on themainland, while reeds suitable for the shafts of arrows grew ininexhaustible quantities along the margin of the lake; and when once apattern bow and arrow had been made, and a sufficiency of wood and reedsprovided, the furnishing of every man with a good bow and quiverful ofarrows was speedily accomplished. There had at first been a difficultyin the matter of arrowheads, but this had been overcome by the discoveryof an enormous deposit of flints--in searching for which a rich mine ofdiamonds had come to light.
The construction of his fleet and the training of their crews havingbeen accomplished, Grosvenor next took the army in hand and proceeded totrain it in the use of the bow, succeeding at length, by dint ofindefatigable perseverance, in converting the soldiers into an army ofreally brilliant marksmen.
This achievement brought the time on to nearly nine months from the dateof the adventurers' arrival in Izreel, during the first eight months ofwhich information had come in from time to time which left no room todoubt that the savages of the adjoining nations had combined togetherand were making the most elaborate preparations for a simultaneousattack upon Izreel from all sides. Then the sources of informationseemed to suddenly dry up, and no news of any description relative tothe movements of the savages could be obtained.
The Izreelites were disposed to regard this as a favourable omen, manyeven asserting their conviction that the savages had quarrelled amongthemselves, and that attack from them was no longer to be feared; butDick and Grosvenor took quite another view of the matter. They regardedthe cessation of news as ominous in the extreme, and dispatchedimperative orders to the frontier for the maintenance of the utmostvigilance, night and day. They also organised strong relays of swiftrunners, radiating from various points along the shore of the lake tothose points where attack might first be expected, in order thatintelligence of an invasion might be brought to the capital with theutmost promptitude. The strength of the garrisons in the outlyingblockhouses was also doubled, which were put under the command of themost resolute and intelligent captains that could be found, withinstructions that each post was to be stubbornly defended until theenemy should threaten to surround it, when it was to be abandoned, andthe garrison--or what might remain of it--was to retire inward to thenext post, and so on; the various garrisons contesting every inch ofground, cutting up the enemy as severely as possible, and graduallyretiring inward toward the lake and Bethalia if they could not maintaintheir ground. These preparations did not take long to make, since itwas merely a matter of marching supplementary troops to the frontier,and the provisioning of the various blockhouses, fortified farms,castles, and strongholds generally; and as the preparations had all beenmade beforehand, a week sufficed to place the entire nation on thedefensive.
Still the task was accomplished none too soon, for on the very daysucceeding that upon which the preparations for defence were completed,news arrived in Bethalia that large bodies of savages had been seenmassing upon various parts of the border, while the next day broughtintelligence of attacks upon almost every one of the outlyingblockhouses, and of the retirement of their respective garrisons aftersevere fighting in which heavy loss had been sustained by both sides.The invasion of Izreel had begun, and was being prosecuted withrelentless determination and energy.
The Adventures of Dick Maitland: A Tale of Unknown Africa Page 16