The Great White Queen: A Tale of Treasure and Treason

by William Le Queux

  CHAPTER XXXV.

  INTO THE MIST.

  OUR troops had, we found, withdrawn from the burning city and wereencamped about a mile away, taking a well-earned rest, and watching withsatisfaction the destruction of the once powerful capital of the "Pirateof the Niger." The presence of Liola, together with the announcement ofthe discovery of the treasure of the Sanoms, that we made to Konasecretly, caused him the wildest delight. His barbaric instinct overcamehim, and seizing his spear he executed a kind of war-dance around us,bestowing upon us the most adulatory phrases of the Dagomba vocabulary.Afterwards he addressed the assembled soldiers, omitting at my desireall mention of the jewels of Mo, and three days later, having secured allthe gems and golden ornaments, together with Samory's hidden wealth, weset forth on our triumphant return to the mysterious far-off land.

  Rapidly and pleasantly we accomplished the long journey, re-crossing thetreacherous Way of the Thousand Steps without a single mishap, andascended to the lofty plateau of Omar's kingdom until, high up in thegrey morning mist, we saw looming before us with almost spectralindistinctness the gigantic battlements and domes of the City in theClouds. On ascending the rope steps at the Gate of Mo a few dayspreviously we had ascertained that the expedition to the HomboriMountains had been entirely successful, for the enemy had been met in thepass by the defenders and mercilessly overwhelmed and slaughtered.Against the lightweight Maxim guns, weighing only about twenty-fivepounds each and firing 600 to 700 shots per minute with an effectiverange of two miles, the old-fashioned rifles and field-pieces of theforce under the traitor Kouaga had been powerless, hence the wholeexpedition had been utterly routed, followed up after their flight andmassacred almost to a man, Kouaga himself being shot dead by Niaro whilestrenuously endeavouring to rally his men for a final onslaught. Omar, atthe head of his victorious army, had re-entered the city only the daybefore our arrival, therefore on our return we found ourselves in themidst of feasting and merry-making of a most enthusiastic character.

  Little wonder was it that when the news of the complete victory we hadsecured spread through the city the joy of the people knew no bounds, forespecially welcome was the information that, in addition to utterlydestroying Samory's city we had secured the whole of his treasure. Kona,Liola and myself held back the fact that we had also recovered the stolenjewels, and we also took elaborate precautions that the knowledge ofLiola's safety should not be conveyed prematurely to Omar.

  During the formal welcome that the young Naba, resplendent in hismagnificent bejewelled robes of state and surrounded by his sages andofficers, accorded us at the great palace-gate, now fully restored, Liolaheld back, hiding herself. Not until evening, when I was sitting withOmar in his luxurious private pavilion after eating a sumptuous mealserved on the royal dishes of chased gold, I told him confidentially ofthe recovery of the lost jewels.

  "Impossible, Scars!" he cried in English, starting suddenly to his feet."Where did you find them? How?"

  Brief words were required to explain how I had discovered them hidden inSamory's secret cavern beyond the lion's lair.

  "I understood that only the wealth of the old Arab's Kasbah was hiddenthere," he exclaimed quickly. "This news is indeed as astounding as it iswelcome."

  "Your subjects are unaware that your treasure has ever been removed fromMo, therefore I have not enlightened them," I answered. "Come with me andsee if you recognize any of the jewels."

  Eagerly he followed me into a small adjoining apartment where the loothad been deposited, and as we opened pack after pack he utteredejaculations of surprise and complete gratification, recognizing in therecovered gems the wonderful incomparable heirlooms of his royal house.

  He turned to thank me when we had finished, and as he did so I placed myhand firmly on his arm, saying in a serious voice:

  "In addition to these, Omar, I have also recovered a jewel of even fargreater worth than all this magnificent collection; one that will shineas the brightest and most beautiful gem in the diadem of Mo."

  A genuine look of bewilderment crossed his pale refined features for aninstant, as he answered:

  "I really don't understand, Scars. No jewel can be of greater intrinsicvalue than the Treasure of the Sanoms. What is it?"

  For answer, Liola, a veritable vision of classic beauty in her loosewhite robe, gold-embroidered at the hem, and broad girdle of fieryrubies, stepped from behind the heavy curtain of blue silk where she hadbeen concealed, and stood before him.

  Rigid in speechless amazement he stood for a moment, then recognizingthat his lost love was actually present, alive and well, he boundedtowards her, and with a loud cry of joy embraced her, brushing back hersoft hair and covering her white open brow with passionate kisses.

  It was indeed a joyous reunion, but as I turned intending to withdrawdiscreetly and leave them alone together to continue their exchange ofconfidences, my friend promptly called me back, saying:

  "Stay, Scars, old fellow! Let me hear from your own lips the solution ofthis mystery of the return of the dead to life. Truly you have recovereda jewel worth to me a hundred times all the treasures of Mo."

  Crossing again towards him I described briefly the revoltingcircumstances in which I had discovered her, a harem slave of our Arabenemy; how we had both narrowly escaped being burned to death, oursubsequent adventures in the damp subterranean burrow, and the finding ofthe secreted treasure.

  "Liola herself also made one discovery," I said in conclusion, laughingand turning towards her.

  Gently disengaging herself from her lover's fond arms she went behind thecurtain where she had hidden, and on coming forth again held in her slimwhite hands a round package still securely wrapped in untanned hide,which she handed to Omar.

  "The Rock Diadem of the Naya!" he cried in joy, when his trembling, eagerhands had opened it. "The most valued of all our possessions!" Then,turning towards Liola, he tenderly placed upon her head the historic markof royalty, saying in his own tongue:

  "Now that the days of our sorrow have passed like the shadow of a cloudupon a sunlit sea, we will be wed as soon as it is meet for us so to do,and upon thy brow thus shalt rest the diadem of the first Naya, theupright queen to whom Mo oweth her magnificence, her power, and herpresent prosperity. Thou shalt sit beside me upon the Emerald Throne;thou shalt be known as the Naya Liola."

  Again he embraced her with ineffable tenderness, and with her handsomehead pillowed heavily upon his shoulder her breast heaved, and from herdeep blue fathomless eyes there fell tears of joy.

  At last, having received the warmest thanks from my old companion throughmany misfortunes and from the woman he loved, I turned and sought thesage Goliba, to whom I told the good news of his daughter's safety andbetrothal to Omar.

  Three days later the marriage took place amid the most gorgeous pomp andthe wildest popular rejoicings, the strange ceremony being performed bythe high-priest of the Temple of Zomara beneath the golden figure of theCrocodile-god that hung suspended above the Emerald Throne. Feasts andmerry-making continued throughout a whole moon, and the mystic city,decorated with flags and flowers, was agog by day and brilliantlyilluminated by night. Never in the long history of the ancient kingdomhad such costly banquets been served; never had the royal entertainmentsbeen on such lavish scale; never had the sounds of revelry contained sucha true genuine ring, for never before had the people been so happy andcontent. Though on the day of the marriage Liola was solemnly crownedwith the wonderful Rock Diadem of Mo, I, as keeper of the royal treasure,allowed no word to go forth regarding the theft and recovery of the Sanomjewels, which had already been deposited in their original hiding-placebeneath the lake. Samory's treasure was, however, given to Liola by Omar,and she ordered half of it to be distributed to the poor, an act ofgenerosity that won for her intense popularity.

  Her action was, she told me in confidence, a thank-offering to Zomara forher timely rescue from a terrible fate.

  CONCLUSION.

  SAMORY, the truculent old Arab, escaped. By
some means he eluded us inthe dark intricacies of that subterranean way, and groping along in asimilar manner to ourselves, he evidently fled to the forest, for he hassince collected the scattered remnant of his nomadic bands, and althoughhe has never since troubled us, yet he now and then commits depredationson the borders of the English and French spheres of influence. Ere longhe will overstep the bounds, and one Power or another will certainly senda punitive expedition to crush and humiliate him, as they have crushedthe arrogant Prempeh of Ashanti.

  During many months the means by which the theft of the Treasure of theSanoms had been effected remained an inscrutable mystery, and it was onlyon the day previous to my departure from the mysterious land for England,or rather more than six months ago, that the problem was solved and in amanner entirely unexpected.

  In preparation for the annual feast in honour of the Crocodile-god I hadoccasion to go secretly and alone to the submerged Treasure-house, inorder to obtain certain jewels which tradition decreed should be worn onthat day by the reigning sovereign. I had emptied the lake, unsealed thecover of the well-like aperture, locked the mechanism fatal to intruders,descended and obtained what I sought, when on ascending I was dismayed tofind water pouring in upon me in increasing volumes. Upwards I climbed,struggling desperately against the inrushing flood thundering down uponme, and was aghast to find, when I gained the surface, that thesluice-gates that held back the waters feeding the lake had been opened,and that it was rapidly refilling. Instantly it occurred to me to replacethe cover, and in breathless haste I succeeded in screwing it down anddashing for my life back to the bank, the water being up to my arm-pitsere I reached it.

  When next second I glanced upward to the mound where the mechanism wasconcealed, I saw standing thereon the wild-looking figure of a womanwith her soiled, tattered garments fluttering in the wind.

  Her long scraggy arms were raised high above her head, and she was cryingaloud to me.

  Without a moment's hesitation I dashed forward up the hill to secure theperson who had apparently discovered the secret of the Treasure-house,but on approaching her closely I suddenly halted in astonishment.

  The wretched, fiendish-looking virago, upon whose face were the mosthideous distortions of insanity I had ever witnessed, was none other thanthe once-powerful tyrannical autocrat, the Great White Queen!

  Across her narrow, withered brow, brown almost as a toad's back, a singlewisp of thin grey hair strayed; in her eyes was the unmistakeable lightof madness, while the nails of her outstretched fingers were as sharp andlong as the talons of some beast of prey. So weird and repulsive-lookingwas she that I stood before her dumbfounded.

  "Ah!" she shrieked to me exultantly, in a harsh, rasping voice, "I havekilled them--drowned them all, the accursed spies and renegades! Thetraitor Kouaga captured me as I fled for life from the city-gate, andpromising me release and safe escort from this land of evil spirits inreturn for the secret of the Treasure-house, I recklessly gave it to him,on condition that his armed men should assist me to recover my lostposition as Queen of Mo. I promised to forget the past and take him backinto my favour. But, securing my jewels, he conveyed them to his Arabmaster at Koussan, and left me alone, deposed and ruined. May Zomaracrush and torture him, the traitor!" Then, turning with wild gesturetowards the lake, now a great sheet of placid water, her hands clutchedconvulsively, her eyes starting as if she saw, in her disorderedimagination, a host of her enemies, she cried: "This, at last, is thehour of my revenge! I have drawn the lever, and while they were belowwith you they were drowned like rats in a hole!" And she gave vent to ashort, dry laugh, exclaiming: "They refused to assist me to tear theusurper from the Emerald Throne, so I have killed them. My work isfinished! I have reigned and have been deposed; I have striven for thepeople, and have been rewarded by their curses; I have----"

  At this moment, determined to carry her back to the city, I sprangforward and gripped her lean, bony arms. With colossal strength,engendered by insanity, she fought and bit, shrieking and showeringimprecations upon me, it requiring all my strength to hold her; butpresently she became quiet again, uttering long strings of rapidincoherent words that plainly showed the hopeless state of her mind.

  Thus walking, we gained the edge of the lake, and having passed thecascade were skirting the river when, with a suddenness that took mecompletely by surprise, she slipped from my grasp, and with a wildexclamation dashed towards the warm, oozy bank.

  Next second I noticed that the waters were alive with the sacredreptiles, but ere I could reach her she threw up her long, thin arms, anduttering an unearthly yell, plunged in.

  A dozen hideous, hungry jaws snapped viciously as she cast herselfamongst them, and an instant later where, with a shriek of horror, shedisappeared for ever beneath the waters, the swiftly-flowing current wastinged red by long streaks of human blood.

  In an excess of religious fervour she had sacrificed herself to her godZomara.

  * * * * *

  This is no apologue. Little there remains to tell. Under the beneficentrule of Omar and Liola power, prosperity and contentment have nowreturned to the mysterious ancient realm, within which I have been thefirst stranger to set foot. As principal official of the ruler of theland that, although familiar to me, is still a mystery to the RoyalGeographical Society, I left for England a few months ago on a mission tothe greatest White Queen, Victoria, offering her assistance in her effortto crush the cruel sway of our mutual enemies the Ashantis. Our offer wascordially accepted, and the successful issue of the campaign which causedthe downfall of Prempeh is now well known. Before returning to resume myduties as Governor of Mo, the far-off spectral City in the Clouds, intowhich no stranger may enter, I have, however, written down, at theinstigation of the publishers whose name this volume bears upon itstitle-page, this plain tale of travel, treason and treasure as a recordof the first successful journey to the high-up, inaccessible land of theNaya, the once-dreaded Great White Queen.

  THE END.

  Transcriber's Notes.

  1. Inconsistencies in hyphenation & spelling left intact.

  2. Missing quotation marks and periods have been added, see HTML versionfor more details.

  3. Errors corrected: "CHAPTER III" changed to "CHAPTER XIII" "After some futher discussion" changed to "After some further discussion"