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diff --git a/2857-h/2857-h.htm b/2857-h/2857-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfc52ca --- /dev/null +++ b/2857-h/2857-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13074 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Yellow God, by H. Rider Haggard</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Yellow God, by H. Rider Haggard</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Yellow God<br /> +An Idol of Africa</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: H. Rider Haggard</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: October, 2001 [eBook #2857]<br /> +[Most recently updated: November 8, 2021]</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> +<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: John Bickers, Dagny, Emma Dudding and David Widger</div> +<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YELLOW GOD ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>THE YELLOW GOD</h1> + +<h3>AN IDOL OF AFRICA</h3> + +<h2 class="no-break">By H. Rider Haggard</h2> + +<hr></hr> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. SAHARA, LIMITED.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. THE YELLOW GOD.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. JEEKIE TELLS A TALE.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. ALAN AND BARBARA.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. BARBARA MAKES A SPEECH.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. MR. HASWELL LOSES HIS TEMPER.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. THE DIARY.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. THE DWARF FOLK.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. THE DAWN.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. BONSA TOWN.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. THE HALL OF THE DEAD.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. THE GOLD HOUSE.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. THE FEAST OF LITTLE BONSA.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. THE MOTHER OF JEEKIE.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. ALAN FALLS ILL.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. WHAT THE ASIKA SHOWED ALAN.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. THE END OF THE MUNGANA.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII. A MEETING IN THE FOREST.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX. THE LAST OF THE ASIKI.</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX. THE ASIKA’S MESSAGE.</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /> +SAHARA, LIMITED.</h2> + +<p> +Sir Robert Aylward, Bart., M.P., sat in his office in the City of London. It +was a very magnificent office, quite one of the finest that could be found +within half a mile of the Mansion House. Its exterior was built of Aberdeen +granite, a material calculated to impress the prospective investor with a +comfortable sense of security. Other stucco, or even brick-built, offices might +crumble and fall in an actual or a financial sense, but this rock-like edifice +of granite, surmounted by a life-sized statue of Justice with her scales, +admired from either corner by pleasing effigies of Commerce and of Industry, +would surely endure any shock. Earthquake could scarcely shake its strong +foundations; panic and disaster would as soon affect the Bank of England. That +at least was the impression which it had been designed to convey, and not +without success. +</p> + +<p> +“There is so much in externals,” Mr. Champers-Haswell, Sir +Robert’s partner, would say in his cheerful voice. “We are all of +us influenced by them, however unconsciously. Impress the public, my dear +Aylward. Let solemnity without suggest opulence within, and the bread, or +rather the granite, which you throw upon the waters will come back to you after +many days.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Aylward, for this conversation occurred before his merits or the depth of +his purse had been rewarded by a baronetcy, looked at his partner in the +impassive fashion for which he was famous, and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“You mix your metaphors, Haswell, but if you mean that the public are +fools who must be caught by advertisement, I agree with you. Only this +particular advertisement is expensive and I do not want to wait many days for +my reward. However, £20,000 one way or the other is a small matter, so tell +that architect to do the thing in granite.” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert Aylward sat in his own quiet room at the back of this enduring +building, a very splendid room that any Secretary of State might have envied, +but arranged in excellent taste. Its walls were panelled with figured teak, a +rich carpet made the footfall noiseless, an antique Venus stood upon a marble +pedestal in the corner, and over the mantelpiece hung a fine portrait by +Gainsborough, that of a certain Miss Aylward, a famous beauty in her day, with +whom, be it added, its present owner could boast no connection whatsoever. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert was seated at his ebony desk playing with a pencil, and the light +from a cheerful fire fell upon his face. +</p> + +<p> +In its own way it was a remarkable face, as he appeared then in his four and +fortieth year; very pale but with a natural pallor, very well cut and on the +whole impressive. His eyes were dark, matching his black hair and pointed +beard, and his nose was straight and rather prominent. Perhaps the mouth was +his weakest feature, for there was a certain shiftiness about it, also the lips +were thick and slightly sensuous. Sir Robert knew this, and therefore he grew a +moustache to veil them somewhat. To a careful observer the general impression +given by this face was such as is left by the sudden sight of a waxen mask. +“How strong! How lifelike!” he would have said, “but of +course it isn’t real. There may be a man behind, or there may be wood, +but that’s only a mask.” Many people of perception had felt like +this about Sir Robert Aylward, namely, that under the mask of his pale +countenance dwelt a different being whom they did not know or appreciate. +</p> + +<p> +If these had seen him at this moment of the opening of our story, they might +have held that Wisdom was justified of her children. For now in the solitude of +his splendid office, of a sudden Sir Robert’s mask seemed to fall from +him. His face broke up like ice beneath a thaw. He rose from his table and +began to walk up and down the room. He talked to himself aloud. +</p> + +<p> +“Great Heavens!” he muttered, “what a game to have played, +and it will go through. I believe that it will go through.” +</p> + +<p> +He stopped at the table, switched on an electric light and made a rapid +calculation on the back of a letter with a blue pencil. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he said, “that’s my share, a million and +seventeen thousand pounds in cash, and two million in ordinary shares which can +be worked off at a discount—let us say another seven hundred and fifty +thousand, plus what I have got already—put that at only two hundred and +fifty thousand net. Two millions in all, which of course may or may not be +added to, probably not, unless the ordinaries boom, for I don’t mean to +speculate any more. That’s the end of twenty years’ work, Robert +Aylward. And to think of it, eighteen months ago, although I seemed so rich, I +was on the verge of bankruptcy—the very verge, not worth five thousand +pounds. Now what did the trick? I wonder what did the trick?” +</p> + +<p> +He walked down the room and stopped opposite the ancient marble, staring at +it— +</p> + +<p> +“Not Venus, I think,” he said, with a laugh, “Venus never +made any man rich.” He turned and retraced his steps to the other end of +the room, which was veiled in shadow. Here upon a second marble pedestal stood +an object that gleamed dimly through the gloom. It was about ten inches or a +foot high, but in that place nothing more could be seen of it, except that it +was yellow and had the general appearance of a toad. For some reason it seemed +to attract Sir Robert Aylward, for he halted to stare at it, then stretched out +his hand and switched on another lamp, in the hard brilliance of which the +thing upon the pedestal suddenly declared itself, leaping out of the darkness +into light. It was a terrible object, a monstrosity of indeterminate sex and +nature, but surmounted by a woman’s head and face of extraordinary, if +devilish loveliness, sunk back between high but grotesquely small shoulders, +like to those of a lizard, so that it glared upwards. The workmanship of the +thing was rude yet strangely powerful. Whatever there is cruel, whatever there +is devilish, whatever there is inhuman in the dark places of the world, shone +out of the jewelled eyes which were set in that yellow female face, yellow +because its substance was of gold, a face which seemed not to belong to the +embryonic legs beneath, for body there was none, but to float above them. A +hollow, life-sized mask with two tiny frog-like legs, that was the fashion of +it. +</p> + +<p> +“You are an ugly brute,” muttered Sir Robert, contemplating this +effigy, “but although I believe in nothing in heaven above or earth +below, except the abysmal folly of the British public, I am bothered if I +don’t believe in you. At any rate from the day when Vernon brought you +into my office, my luck turned, and to judge from the smile on your sweet +countenance, I don’t think it is done with yet. I wonder what those +stones are in your eyes. Opals, I suppose, from the way they change colour. +They shine uncommonly to-day, I never remember them so bright. +I——” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment a knock came on the door. Sir Robert turned off the lamp and +walked back to the fireplace. +</p> + +<p> +“Come in,” he said, and as he spoke once more his pale face grew +impassive and expressionless. +</p> + +<p> +The door opened and a clerk entered, an imposing-looking clerk with iron-grey +hair, who wore an irreproachable frock coat and patent leather boots. Advancing +to his master, he stood respectfully silent, waiting to be addressed. For quite +a long while Sir Robert looked over his head as though he did not see him; it +was a way of his. Then his eyes rested on the man dreamily and he remarked in +his cold, clear voice: +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think I rang, Jeffreys.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Sir Robert,” answered the clerk, bowing as though he spoke to +Royalty, “but there is a little matter about that article in <i>The +Cynic</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +“Press business,” said Sir Robert, lifting his eyebrows; “you +should know by this time that I do not attend to such details. See Mr. +Champers-Haswell, or Major Vernon.” +</p> + +<p> +“They are both out at the moment, Sir Robert.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go on, then, Jeffreys,” replied the head of the firm with a +resigned sigh, “only be brief. I am thinking.” +</p> + +<p> +The clerk bowed again. +</p> + +<p> +“The <i>Cynic</i> people have just telephoned through about that article +we sent them. I think you saw it, sir, and you may remember it +begins——” and he read from a typewritten copy in his hand +which was headed “Sahara, Limited”: +</p> + +<p> +“‘We are now privileged to announce that this mighty scheme which +will turn a desert into a rolling sea bearing the commerce of nations and cause +the waste places of the earth to teem with population and to blossom like the +rose, has been completed in its necessary if dull financial details and will +within a few days be submitted to investors among whom it has already caused so +much excitement. These details we will deal with fully in succeeding articles, +and therefore now need only pause to say that the basis of capitalization +strikes us as wonderfully advantageous to the fortunate public who are asked to +participate in its vast prospective prosperity. Our present object is to speak +of its national and imperial aspects——’” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert lifted his eyes in remonstrance: +</p> + +<p> +“How much more of that exceedingly dull and commonplace puff do you +propose to read, Jeffreys?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“No more, Sir Robert. We are paying <i>The Cynic</i> thirty guineas to +insert this article, and the point is that they say that if they have to put in +the ‘national and imperial’ business they must have twenty +more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, Jeffreys? Why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, Sir Robert—I will tell you, as you always like to hear +the truth—their advertisement-editor is of opinion that Sahara Limited is +a national and imperial swindle. He says that he won’t drag the nation +and the empire into it in an editorial under fifty guineas.” +</p> + +<p> +A faint smile flickered on Sir Robert’s face. +</p> + +<p> +“Does he, indeed?” he asked. “I wonder at his moderation. Had +I been in his place I should have asked more, for really the style is a little +flamboyant. Well, we don’t want to quarrel with them just now—feed +the sharks. But surely, Jeffreys, you didn’t come to disturb me about +such a trifle?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not altogether, Sir Robert. There is something more important. <i>The +Daily Judge</i> not only declines to put any article whatsoever, but refuses +our advertisement, and states that it means to criticize the prospectus +trenchantly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said his master after a moment’s thought, “that +<i>is</i> rather serious, since people believe in the <i>Judge</i> even when it +is wrong. Offer them the advertisement at treble rates.” +</p> + +<p> +“It has been done, sir, and they still refuse.” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert walked to the corner of the room where the yellow object squatted on +its pedestal, and contemplated it a while, as a man often studies one thing +when he is thinking of another. It seemed to give him an idea, for he looked +over his shoulder and said: +</p> + +<p> +“That will do, Jeffreys. When Major Vernon comes in, give him my +compliments and say that I should be obliged by a word or two with him.” +</p> + +<p> +The clerk bowed and went as noiselessly as he had entered. +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s see,” added Sir Robert to himself. “Old Jackson, +the editor of <i>The Judge</i>, was a great friend of Vernon’s father, +the late Sir William Vernon, G.C.B. I believe that he was engaged to be married +to his sister years ago, only she died or something. So the Major ought to be +able to get round him if anybody can. Only the worst of it is I don’t +altogether trust that young gentleman. It suited us to give him a share in the +business because he is an engineer who knows the country, and this Sahara +scheme was his notion, a very good one in a way, and for other reasons. Now he +shows signs of kicking over the traces, wants to know too much, is developing a +conscience, and so forth. As though the promoters of speculative companies had +any business with consciences. Ah! here he comes.” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert seated himself at his desk and resumed his calculations upon a +half-sheet of note-paper, and that moment a clear, hearty voice was heard +speaking to the clerks in the outer office. Then came the sound of a strong, +firm footstep, the door opened and Major Alan Vernon appeared. +</p> + +<p> +He was still quite a young man, not more than thirty-two or three years of age, +though he lacked the ultra robust and rubicund appearance which is typical of +so many Englishmen of his class at this period of life. A heavy bout of +blackwater fever acquired on service in West Africa, which would have killed +anyone of weaker constitution, had robbed his face of its bloom and left it +much sallower, if more interesting than once it had been. For in a way there +was interest about the face; also a certain charm. It was a good and honest +face with a rather eager, rather puzzled look, that of a man who has +imagination and ideas and who searches for the truth but fails to find it. As +for the charm, it lay for the most part in the pleasant, open smile and in the +frank but rather round brown eyes overhung by a somewhat massive forehead which +projected a little, or perhaps the severe illness already alluded to had caused +the rest of the face to sink. Though thin, the man was bigly built, with broad +shoulders and well-developed limbs, measuring a trifle under six feet in height. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the outward appearance of Alan Vernon. As for his mind, it was able +enough in certain fashions, for instance those of engineering, and the +soldier-like faculties to which it had been trained; frank and kindly also, but +in other respects not quick, perhaps from its unsuspiciousness. Alan Vernon was +a man slow to discover ill and slower still to believe in it even when it +seemed to be discovered, a weakness that may have gone far to account for his +presence in the office of those eminent and brilliant financiers, Messrs. +Aylward & Champers-Haswell. Just now he looked a little worried, like a +fish out of water, or rather a fish which has begun to suspect the quality of +the water, something in its smell or taste. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeffreys tells me that you want to see me, Sir Robert,” he said in +his low and pleasant voice, looking at the baronet rather anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, my dear Vernon, I wish to ask you to do something, if you kindly +will, although it is not quite in your line. Old Jackson, the editor of <i>The +Judge</i>, is a friend of yours, isn’t he?” +</p> + +<p> +“He was a friend of my father’s, and I used to know him +slightly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, that’s near enough. As I daresay you have heard, he is an +unreasonable old beggar, and has taken a dislike to our Sahara scheme. Someone +has set him against it and he refuses to receive advertisements, threatens +criticisms, etc. Now the opposition of <i>The Judge</i> or any other paper +won’t kill us, and if necessary we can fight, but at the same time it is +always wise to agree with your enemy while he is in the way, and in +short—would you mind going down and explaining his mistake to him?” +</p> + +<p> +Before answering Major Vernon walked to the window leisurely and looked out. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t like asking favours from family friends,” he replied +at length, “and, as you said, I think it isn’t quite my line. +Though of course if it has anything to do with the engineering possibilities, I +shall be most happy to see him,” he added, brightening. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what it has to do with; that is what I shall be +obliged if you will find out,” answered Sir Robert with some asperity. +“One can’t divide a matter of this sort into watertight +compartments. It is true that in so important a concern each of us has charge +of his own division, but the fact remains that we are jointly and severally +responsible for the whole. I am not sure that you bear this sufficiently in +mind, my dear Vernon,” he added with slow emphasis. +</p> + +<p> +His partner moved quickly; it might almost have been said that he shivered, +though whether the movement, or the shiver, was produced by the argument of +joint and several liability or by the familiarity of the “my dear +Vernon,” remains uncertain. Perhaps it was the latter, since although the +elder man was a baronet and the younger only a retired Major of Engineers, the +gulf between them, as any one of discernment could see, was wide. They were +born, lived, and moved in different spheres unbridged by any common element or +impulse. +</p> + +<p> +“I think that I do bear it in mind, especially of late, Sir +Robert,” answered Alan Vernon slowly. +</p> + +<p> +His partner threw a searching glance on him, for he felt that there was meaning +in the words, but only said: +</p> + +<p> +“That’s all right. My motor is outside and will take you to Fleet +Street in no time. Meanwhile you might tell them to telephone that you are +coming, and perhaps you will just look in when you get back. I haven’t +got to go to the House to-night, so shall be here till dinner time, and so, I +think, will your cousin Haswell. Muzzle that old bulldog, Jackson, somehow. No +doubt he has his price like the rest of them, in meal or malt, and you +needn’t stick at the figure. We don’t want him hanging on our +throat for the next week or two.” +</p> + +<p> +Ten minutes later the splendid, two-thousand guinea motor brougham drew up at +the offices of the <i>Judge</i> and the obsequious motor-footman bowed Major +Vernon through its rather grimy doorway. Within, a small boy in a kind of box +asked his business, and when he heard his name, said that the +“Guvnor” had sent down word that he was go up at once—third +floor, first to the right and second to the left. So up he went, and when he +reached the indicated locality was taken possession of by a worried-looking +clerk who had evidently been waiting for him, and almost thrust through a door +to find himself in a big, worn, untidy room. At a huge desk in this room sat an +elderly man, also big, worn, and untidy-looking, who waved a long slip of +galley-proof in his hand, and was engaged in scolding a sub-editor. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is that?” he said, wheeling round. “I’m busy, +can’t see anyone.” +</p> + +<p> +“I beg your pardon,” answered the Major with humility, “your +people told me to come up. My name is Alan Vernon.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I remember. Sit down for a moment, will you, and—Mr. Thomas, +oblige me by taking away this rot and rewriting it entirely in the sense I have +outlined.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Thomas snatched his rejected copy and vanished through another door, +whereon his chief remarked in an audible voice: +</p> + +<p> +“That man is a perfect fool. Lucky I thought to look at his stuff. Well, +he is no worse than the rest, in this weary world,” and he burst into a +hearty laugh and swung his chair round, adding, “Now then, Alan, what is +it? I have a quarter of an hour at your service. Why, bless me! I was +forgetting that it’s more than a dozen years since we met; you were still +a boy then, and now you have left the army with a D.S.O. and gratuity, and +turned financier, which I think wouldn’t have pleased your old father. +Come, sit down here and let us talk.” +</p> + +<p> +“I didn’t leave the army, Mr. Jackson,” answered his visitor; +“it left me; I was invalided out. They said I should never get my health +back after that last go of fever, but I did.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! bad luck, very bad luck, just at the beginning of what should have +been a big career, for I know they thought highly of you at the War Office, +that is, if they can think. Well, you have grown into a fine-looking fellow, +like your father, very, and someone else too,” and he sighed, running his +fingers through his grizzled hair. “But you don’t remember her; she +was before your time. Now let us get to business; there’s no time for +reminiscences in this office. What is it, Alan, for like other people I suppose +that you want something?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is about that Sahara flotation, Mr. Jackson,” he began rather +doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +The old editor’s face darkened. “The Sahara flotation! That +accursed——” and he ceased abruptly. “What have you, of +all people in the world, got to do with it? Oh! I remember. Someone told me +that you had gone into partnership with Aylward the company promoter, and that +little beast, Champers-Haswell, who really is the clever one. Well, set it out, +set it out.” +</p> + +<p> +“It seems, Mr. Jackson, that <i>The Judge</i> has refused not only our +article, but also the advertisement of the company. I don’t know much +about this side of the affair myself, but Sir Robert asked me if I would come +round and see if things couldn’t be arranged.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean that the man sent you to try and work on me because he knew +that I used to be intimate with your family. Well, it is a poor errand and will +have a poor end. You can’t—no one on earth can, while I sit in this +chair, not even my proprietors.” +</p> + +<p> +There was silence broken at last by Alan, who remarked awkwardly: +</p> + +<p> +“If that is so, I must not take up your time any longer.” +</p> + +<p> +“I said that I would give you a quarter of an hour, and you have only +been here four minutes. Now, Alan Vernon, tell me as your father’s old +friend, why you have gone to herd with these gilded swine?” +</p> + +<p> +There was something so earnest about the man’s question that it did not +even occur to his visitor to resent its roughness. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course it is not original,” he answered, “but I had this +idea about flooding the Desert; I spent a furlough up there a few years ago and +employed my time in making some rough surveys. Then I was obliged to leave the +Service and went down to Yarleys after my father’s death—it’s +mine now, you know, but worth nothing except a shooting rent, which just pays +for the repairs. There I met Champers-Haswell, who lives near and is a kind of +distant cousin of mine—my mother was a Champers—and happened to +mention the thing to him. He took it up at once and introduced me to Aylward, +and the end of it was, that they offered me a partnership with a small share in +the business, because they said I was just the man they wanted.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just the man they wanted,” repeated the editor after him. +“Yes, the last of the Vernons, an engineer with an old name in his +county, a clean record and plenty of ability. Yes, you would be just the man +they wanted. And you accepted?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes. I was on my beam ends with nothing to do; I wanted to make some +money. You see Yarleys has been in the family for over five hundred years, and +it seemed hard to have to sell it. Also—also——” and he +paused. +</p> + +<p> +“Ever meet Barbara Champers?” asked Mr. Jackson inconsequently. +“I did once. Wonderfully nice girl, and very good-looking too. But of +course you know her, and she is her uncle’s ward, and their place +isn’t far off Yarleys, you say. Must be a connection of yours also.” +</p> + +<p> +Major Vernon started a little at the name and his face seemed to redden. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he said, “I have met her and she is a +connection.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will be a big heiress one day, I think,” went on Mr. Jackson, +“unless old Haswell makes off with her money. I think Aylward knows that; +at any rate he was hanging about when I saw her.” +</p> + +<p> +Vernon started again, this time very perceptibly. +</p> + +<p> +“Very natural—your going into the business, I mean, under all the +circumstances,” went on Mr. Jackson. “But now, if you will take my +advice, you’ll go out of it as soon as you can.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, Alan Vernon, I am sure you don’t want to see your name +dragged in the dirt, any more than I do.” He fumbled in a drawer and +produced a typewritten document. “Take that,” he said, “and +study it at your leisure. It’s a sketch of the financial career of +Messrs. Aylward and Champers-Haswell, also of the companies which they have +promoted and been connected with, and what has happened to them and to those +who invested in them. A man got it out for me yesterday and I’m going to +use it. As regards this Sahara business, you think it all right, and so it may +be from an engineering point of view, but you will never live to sail upon that +sea which the British public is going to be asked to find so many millions to +make. Look here. We have only three minutes more, so I will come to the point +at once. It’s Turkish territory, isn’t it, and putting aside +everything else, the security for the whole thing is a Firman from the +Sultan?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Sir Robert Aylward and Haswell procured it in Constantinople. I +have seen the document.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, and are you well acquainted with the Sultan’s signature? I +know when they were there last autumn that potentate was very +ill——” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean——” said Major Vernon, looking up. +</p> + +<p> +“I mean, Alan, that I like not the security. I won’t say any more, +as there is a law of libel in this land. But <i>The Judge</i> has certain +sources of information. It may be that no protest will be made at once, for +baksheesh can stop it for a while, but sooner or later the protest or +repudiation will come, and perhaps some international bother; also much +scandal. As to the scheme itself, it is shamelessly over-capitalized for the +benefit of the promoters—of whom, remember, Alan, you will appear as one. +Now time’s up. Perhaps you will take my advice, and perhaps you +won’t, but there it is for what it’s worth as that of a man of the +world and an old friend of your family. As for your puff article and your +prospectus, I wouldn’t put them in <i>The Judge</i> if you paid me a +thousand pounds, which I daresay your friend, Aylward, would be quite ready to +do. Good-bye. Come and see me again sometime, and tell me what has +happened—and, I say”—this last was shouted through the +closing door,—“give my kind regards to Miss Barbara, for wherever +she happens to live, she is an honest woman.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /> +THE YELLOW GOD.</h2> + +<p> +Alan Vernon walked thoughtfully down the lead-covered stairs, hustled by eager +gentlemen hurrying up to see the great editor, whose bell was already ringing +furiously, and was duly ushered by the obsequious assistant-chauffeur back into +the luxurious motor. There was an electric lamp in this motor, and by the light +of it, his mind being perplexed, he began to read the typewritten document +given to him by Mr. Jackson, which he still held in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +As it chanced they were blocked for a quarter of an hour near the Mansion +House, so that he found time, if not to master it, at least to gather enough of +its contents to make him open his brown eyes very wide before the motor pulled +up at the granite doorway of his office. Alan descended from the machine, which +departed silently, and stood for a moment wondering what he should do. His +impulse was to jump into a bus and go straight to his rooms or his club, to +which Sir Robert did not belong, but being no coward, he dismissed it from his +mind. +</p> + +<p> +His fate hung in the balance, of that he was well aware. Either he must +disregard Mr. Jackson’s warning, confirmed as it was by many secret fears +and instincts of his own, and say nothing except that he had failed in his +mission, or he must take the bull by the horns and break with the firm. To do +the latter meant not only a good deal of moral courage, but practical ruin, +whereas if he chose the former course, probably within a fortnight he would +find himself a rich man. Whatever Jackson and a few others might say in its +depreciation, he was certain that the Sahara flotation would go through, for it +was underwritten, of course upon terms, by responsible people, moreover the +unissued preferred shares had already been dealt in at a heavy premium. Now to +say nothing of the allotment to which he was entitled upon his holding in the +parent Syndicate, the proportion of cash due to him as a partner, would amount +to quite a hundred thousand pounds. In other words, he, who had so many reasons +for desiring money, would be wealthy. After working so hard and undergoing so +much that he felt to be humiliating and even degrading, why should he not take +his reward and clear out afterwards? +</p> + +<p> +This he remembered he could do, since probably by some oversight of +Aylward’s, who left such matters to his lawyers, his deed of partnership +did not bind him to a fixed term. It could be broken at any moment. To this +argument there was only one possible answer, that of his conscience. If once he +were convinced that things were not right, it would be dishonest to participate +in their profits. And he was convinced. Mr. Jackson’s arguments and his +damning document had thrown a flood of light upon many matters which he had +suspected but never quite understood. He was the partner of, well, adventurers, +and the money which he received would, in fact, be filched from the pockets of +unsuspecting persons. He would vouch for that of which he was doubtful and +receive the price of sharp practice. In other words he, Alan Vernon, who had +never uttered a wilful untruth or taken a halfpenny that was not his own, would +before the tribunal of his own mind, stand convicted as a liar and a thief. The +thing was not to be borne. At whatever cost it must be ended. If he were fated +to be a beggar, at least he would be an honest beggar. +</p> + +<p> +With a firm step and a high head he walked straight into Sir Robert’s +room, without even going through the formality of knocking, to find Mr. +Champers-Haswell seated at the ebony desk by his partner’s side examining +some document through a reading-glass, which on his appearance, was folded over +and presently thrust away into a drawer. It seemed, Alan noticed, to be of an +unusual shape and written in some strange character. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Haswell, a stout, jovial-looking little man with a florid complexion and +white hair, rose at once to greet him. +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do, Alan,” he said in a cheerful voice, for as a cousin +by marriage he called him by his Christian name. “I am just this minute +back from Paris, and you will be glad to learn that they are going to support +us very well there; in fact I may say that the Government has taken up the +scheme, of course under the rose. You know the French have possessions all +along that coast and they won’t be sorry to find an opportunity of +stretching out their hand a little further. Our difficulties as to capital are +at an end, for a full third of it is guaranteed in Paris, and I expect that +small investors and speculators for the rise will gobble a lot more. We shall +plant £10,000,000 worth of Sahara scrip in sunny France, my boy, and foggy +England has underwritten the rest. It will be a case of ‘letters of +allotment and regret,’ <i>and</i> regret, Alan, financially the most +successful issue of the last dozen years. What do you say to that?” and +in his elation the little man puffed out his chest and pursing up his lips, +blew through them, making a sound like that of wind among wires. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know, Mr. Haswell. If we are all alive I would prefer to +answer the question twelve months hence, or later, when we see whether the +company is going to be a practical success as well, or not.” +</p> + +<p> +Again Mr. Haswell made the sound of wind among wires, only this time there was +a shriller note in it; its mellowness was gone, it was as though the air had +suddenly been filled with frost. +</p> + +<p> +“A practical success!” he repeated after him. “That is +scarcely our affair, is it? Promoters should not bother themselves with long +views, Alan. These may be left to the investing public, the speculative parson +and the maiden lady who likes a flutter—those props of modern enterprise. +But what do you mean? You originated this idea and always said that the profits +should be great.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Mr. Haswell, on a moderate capitalization and provided that we are +sure of the co-operation of the Porte.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Haswell looked at him very searchingly and Sir Robert, who had been +listening, said in his cold voice: +</p> + +<p> +“I think that we thrashed out these points long ago, and to tell you the +truth I am rather tired of them, especially as it is too late to change +anything. How did you get on with Jackson, Vernon?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did not get on at all, Sir Robert. He will not touch the thing on any +terms, and indeed means to oppose it tooth and nail.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then he will find himself in a minority when the articles come out +to-morrow. Of course it is a bore, but we are strong enough to snap our fingers +at him. You see they don’t read <i>The Judge</i> in France, and no one +has ever heard of it in Constantinople. Therefore we have nothing to +fear—so long as we stick together,” he added meaningly. +</p> + +<p> +Alan felt that the crisis had come. He must speak now or for ever hold his +peace; indeed Aylward was already looking round for his hat. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir Robert and Mr. Haswell,” he broke in rather nervously, +“I have something to say to you, something unpleasant,” and he +paused. +</p> + +<p> +“Then please say it at once, Vernon. I want to dress for dinner, I am +going to the theatre to-night and must dine early,” replied Aylward in a +voice of the utmost unconcern. +</p> + +<p> +“It is, Sir Robert,” went on Alan with a rush, “that I do not +like the lines upon which this business is being worked, and I wish to give up +my interest in it and retire from the firm, as I have a right to do under our +deed of partnership.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you?” said Aylward. “Really, I forget. But, my dear +fellow, do not think that we should wish to keep you for one moment against +your will. Only, might I ask, has that old puritan, Jackson, hypnotized you, or +is it a case of sudden madness after influenza?” +</p> + +<p> +“Neither,” answered Alan sternly, for although he might be +diffident on matters that he did not thoroughly understand, he was not a man to +brook trifling or impertinence. “It is what I have said, no more nor +less. I am not satisfied either as to the capitalization or as to the guarantee +that the enterprise can be really carried out. Further”—and he +paused,—“Further, I should like what I have never yet been able to +obtain, more information as to that Firman under which the concession is +granted.” +</p> + +<p> +For one moment a sort of tremor passed over Sir Robert’s impassive +countenance, while Mr. Haswell uttered his windy whistle, this time in a tone +of plaintive remonstrance. +</p> + +<p> +“As you have formally resigned your membership of the firm, I do not see +that any useful purpose can be served by discussing such matters. The fullest +explanations, of course, we should have been willing to +give——” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Alan,” broke in Mr. Champers-Haswell, who was quite upset, +“I do implore you to reflect for one moment, for your own sake. In a +single week you would have been a wealthy man; do you really mean to throw away +everything for a whim?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps Vernon remembers that he holds over 1700 of the Syndicate shares +which we have worked up to £18, and thinks it wiser to capture the profit in +sight, generally speaking a very sound principle,” interrupted Aylward +sarcastically. +</p> + +<p> +“You are mistaken, Sir Robert,” replied Alan, flushing. “The +way that those shares have been artificially put up is one of the things to +which I most object. I shall only ask for mine the face value which I paid for +them.” +</p> + +<p> +Now notwithstanding their experience, both of the senior partners did for a +moment look rather scared. Such folly, or such honesty, was absolutely +incredible to them. They felt that there must be much behind. Sir Robert, +however, recovered instantly. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” he said; “it is not for us to dictate to you; +you must make your own bed and lie on it. To argue or remonstrate would only be +rude.” He put out his hand and pushed the button of an electric bell, +adding as he did so, “Of course we understand one thing, Vernon, namely, +that as a gentleman and a man of honour you will make no public use of the +information which you have acquired during your stay in this office, either to +our detriment, personal or financial, or to your own advantage.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly you may understand that,” replied Vernon. “Unless +my character is attacked and it becomes necessary for me to defend myself, my +lips are sealed.” +</p> + +<p> +“That will never happen—why should it?” said Sir Robert with +a polite bow. +</p> + +<p> +The door opened and the head clerk, Jeffreys, appeared. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Jeffreys,” said Sir Robert, “please find us the deed of +partnership between Major Vernon and ourselves, and bring it here. One moment. +Please make out also a transfer of Major Vernon’s parcel of Sahara +Syndicate shares to Mr. Champers-Haswell and myself at par value, and fill in a +cheque for the amount. Please remove also Major Vernon’s name wherever it +appears in the proof prospectus, and—yes—one thing more. Telephone +to Specton—the Right Honourable the Earl of Specton, I mean, and say that +after all I have been able to arrange that he shall have a seat on the Board +and a block of shares at a very moderate figure, and that if he will wire his +assent, his name shall be put into the prospectus. You approve, don’t +you, Haswell?—yes—then that is all, I think, Jeffreys, only please +be as quick as you can, for I want to get away.” +</p> + +<p> +Jeffreys, the immaculate and the impassive, bowed, and casting one swift glance +at Vernon out of the corner of his eye, departed. +</p> + +<p> +What is called an awkward pause ensued; in fact it was a very awkward pause. +The die was cast, the matter ended, and what were the principals to do until +the ratifications had been exchanged or, a better simile perhaps, the <i>decree +nisi</i> pronounced absolute. Mr. Champers-Haswell remarked that the weather +was very cold for April, and Alan agreed with him, while Sir Robert found his +hat and brushed it with his sleeve. Then Mr. Haswell, in desperation, for in +minor matters he was a kindly sort of man who disliked scenes and +unpleasantness, muttered something as to seeing him—Alan—at his +house, “The Court,” in Hertfordshire, from Saturday to Monday. +</p> + +<p> +“That was the arrangement,” answered Alan bluntly, “but +possibly after what has happened you will not wish that it should be +kept.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! why not, why not?” said Mr. Haswell. “Sunday is a day of +rest when we make it a rule not to talk business, and if we did, perhaps we +might all change our minds about these matters. Sir Robert is coming, and I am +sure that your cousin Barbara will be very disappointed if you do not turn up, +for she understands nothing about these city things which are Greek to +her.” +</p> + +<p> +At the mention of the name of Barbara Sir Robert Aylward looked up from the +papers which he affected to be tidying, and Alan thought that there was a kind +of challenge in his eyes. A moment before he had made up his mind that no power +on earth would induce him to spend a Sunday with his late partners at The +Court. Now, acting upon some instinct or impulse, he reversed his opinion. +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks,” he said, “if that is understood, I shall be happy +to come. I will drive over from Yarleys in time for dinner to-morrow. Perhaps +you will say so to Barbara.” +</p> + +<p> +“She will be glad, I am sure,” answered Mr. Haswell, “for she +told me the other day that she wants to consult you about some outdoor +theatricals that she means to get up in July.” +</p> + +<p> +“In July!” answered Alan with a little laugh. “I wonder where +I shall be in July.” +</p> + +<p> +Then came another pause, which seemed to affect even Sir Robert’s nerves, +for, abandoning the papers, he walked down the room till he came to the golden +object that has been described, and for the second time that day stood there +contemplating it. +</p> + +<p> +“This thing is yours, Vernon,” he said, “and now that our +relations are at an end, I suppose that you will want to take it away. What is +its history? You never told me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! that’s a long story,” answered Alan in an absent voice. +“My uncle, who was a missionary, brought it from West Africa. I rather +forget the facts, but Jeekie, my negro servant, knows them all, for as a lad my +uncle saved him from sacrifice, or something, in a place where they worship +these things, and he has been with us ever since. It is a fetish with magical +powers and all the rest of it. I believe they call it the Swimming Head and +other names. If you look at it, you will see that it seems to swim between the +shoulders, doesn’t it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” said Sir Robert, “and I admire the beautiful beast. +She is cruel and artistic, like—like finance. Look here, Vernon, we have +quarrelled, and of course henceforth are enemies, for it is no use mincing +matters, only fools do that. But in a way you are being hardly treated. You +could get £10 apiece to-day for those shares of yours in a block on the market, +and I am paying you £1. I understand your scruples, but there is no reason why +we should not square things. This fetish of yours has brought me luck, so +let’s do a deal. Leave it here, and instead of a check for £1700, I will +make you one out for £17,000.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a very liberal offer,” said Vernon. “Give me a +moment to think it over.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he also walked into the corner of the room and contemplated the golden +mask that seemed to float between the frog-like shoulders. The shimmering eyes +drew his eyes, though what he saw in them does not matter. Indeed he could +never remember. Only when he straightened himself again there was left on his +mind a determination that not for seventeen or for seventy thousand pounds +would he part with his ownership in this very unique fetish. +</p> + +<p> +“No, thank you,” he said presently. “I don’t think I +will sell the Yellow God, as Jeekie calls it. Perhaps you will kindly keep her +here for a week or so, until I make up my mind where to stow her.” +</p> + +<p> +Again Mr. Champers-Haswell uttered his windy whistle. That a man should refuse +£17,000 for a bit of African gold worth £100 or so, struck him as miraculous. +But Sir Robert did not seem in the least surprised, only very disappointed. +</p> + +<p> +“I quite understand your dislike to selling,” he said. “Thank +you for leaving it here for the present to see us through the flotation,” +and he laughed. +</p> + +<p> +At that moment Jeffreys entered the room with the documents. Sir Robert handed +the deed of partnership to Alan, and when he had identified it, took it from +him again and threw it on the fire, saying that of course the formal letter of +release would be posted and the dissolution notified in the <i>Gazette</i>. +Then the transfer was signed and the cheque delivered. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, good-bye till Saturday,” said Alan when he had received the +latter, and nodding, to them both, he turned and left the room. +</p> + +<p> +The passage ran past the little room in which Mr. Jeffreys, the head clerk, sat +alone. Catching sight of him through the open door, Alan entered, shutting it +behind him. Finding his key ring he removed from it the keys of his desk and of +the office strongroom, and handed them to the clerk who, methodical in +everything, proceeded to write a formal receipt. +</p> + +<p> +“You are leaving us, Major Vernon?” he said interrogatively as he +signed the paper. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Jeffreys,” answered Alan, then prompted by some impulse, +added, “Are you sorry?” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Jeffreys looked up and there were traces of unwonted emotion upon his hard, +regulated face. +</p> + +<p> +“For myself, yes, Major—for you, on the whole, no.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean, Jeffreys? I do not quite understand.” +</p> + +<p> +“I mean, Major, that I am sorry because you have never tried to shuffle +off any shady business on to my back and leave me to bear the brunt of it; also +because you have always treated me as a gentleman should, not as a machine to +be used until a better can be found, and kicked aside when it goes out of +order.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is very kind of you to say so, Jeffreys, but I can’t remember +having done anything particular.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Major, you can’t remember what comes natural to you. But I and +the others remember, and that’s why I am sorry. But for yourself I am +glad, since although Aylward and Haswell have put a big thing through and are +going to make a pot of money, this is no place for the likes of you, and now +that you are going I will make bold to tell you that I always wondered what you +were doing here. By and by, Major, the row will come, as it has come more than +once in the past, before your time.” +</p> + +<p> +“And then?” said Alan, for he was anxious to get to the bottom of +this man’s mind, which hitherto he had always found so secret. +</p> + +<p> +“And then, Major, it won’t matter much to Messrs. Aylward and +Champers-Haswell, who are used to that kind of thing and will probably dissolve +partnership and lie quiet for a bit, and still less to folk like myself, who +are only servants. But if you were still here it would have mattered a great +deal to you, for it would blacken your name and break your heart, and then +what’s the good of the money? I tell you, Major,” the clerk went on +with quiet intensity, “though I am nobody and nothing, if I could afford +it I would follow your example. But I can’t, for I have a sick wife and a +family of delicate children who have to live half the year on the south coast, +to say nothing of my old mother, and—I was fool enough to be taken in and +back Sir Robert’s last little venture, which cost me all I had saved. So +you see I must make a bit before the machine is scrapped, Major. But I tell you +this, that if I can get £5000 together, as I hope to do out of Saharas before I +am a month older, for they had to give me a look-in, as I knew too much, I am +off to the country, where I was born, to take a farm there. No more of Messrs. +Aylward & Haswell for Thomas Jeffreys. That’s my bell. Good-bye, +Major, I’ll take the liberty to write you a line sometimes, for I know you +won’t give me away. Good-bye and God bless you, as I am sure He will in +the long run,” and stretching out his hand, he took that of the +astonished Alan and wrung it warmly. +</p> + +<p> +When he was gone Alan went also, noticing that the clerks, whom some rumour of +these events seemed to have reached, eyed him curiously through the glass +screens behind which they sat at their desks, as he thought not without regret +and a kind of admiration. Even the magnificent be-medalled porter at the door +emerged from the carved teak box where he dwelt and touching his cap asked if +he should call a cab. +</p> + +<p> +“No, thank you, Sergeant,” answered Alan, “I will take a bus, +and, Sergeant, I think I forgot to give you a present last Xmas. Will you +accept this?—I wish I could make it more,” and he presented him +with ten shillings. +</p> + +<p> +The Sergeant drew himself up and saluted. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you kindly, Major,” he said. “I’d rather take +that from you than £10 from the other gentlemen. But, Major, I wish we were out +on the West Coast again together. It’s a stinking, barbarous hole, but +not so bad as this ’ere city.” +</p> + +<p> +For once these two had served as comrades, and it was through Alan that the +sergeant obtained his present lucrative but somewhat uncongenial post. +</p> + +<p> +He was outside at last. The massive granite portal vanished behind him in the +evening mists, much as a nightmare vanishes. He, Alan Vernon, who for a year or +more had been in bondage, was a free man again. All his dreams of wealth had +departed; indeed if anything, save in experience, he was poorer than when first +the shadow of yonder doorway fell upon him. But at least he was safe, safe. The +deed of partnership which had been as a chain about his neck, was now white +ashes; his name was erased from that fearful prospectus of Sahara Limited, +wherein millions which someone would provide were spoken of like silver in the +days of Solomon, as things of no account. The bitterest critic could not say +that he had made a halfpenny out of the venture, in fact, if trouble came, his +voluntary abandonment of the profits due to him must go to his credit. He had +plunged into the icy waters of renunciation and come up clean if naked. Never +since he was a boy could Alan remember feeling so utterly light-hearted and +free from anxiety. Not for a million pounds would he have returned to gather +gold in that mausoleum of reputations. As for the future, he did not in the +least care what happened. There was no one dependent on him, and in this way or +in that he could always earn a crust, a nice, honest crust. +</p> + +<p> +He ran down the street and danced for joy like a child, yes, and presented a +crossing-sweeper against whom he butted with a whole sixpence in compensation. +Thus he reached the Mansion House, not unsuspected of inebriety by the police, +and clambered to the top of a bus crowded with weary and anxious-looking City +clerks returning home after a long day’s labour at starvation wage. In +that cold company and a chilling atmosphere some of his enthusiasm evaporated. +He remembered that this step of his meant that sooner or later, within a year +or two at most, Yarleys, where his family had dwelt for centuries, must go to +the hammer. Why had he not accepted Aylward’s offer and sold that old +fetish to him for £17,000? There was no question of share-dealing there, and if +a very wealthy man chose to give a fancy price for a curiosity, he could take +it without doubt or shame. At least it would have sufficed to save Yarleys, +which after all was only mortgaged for £20,000. For the life of him he could +not tell. He had acted on impulse, a very curious impulse, and there was an end +of it perhaps; it might be because his uncle had told him as a boy that the +thing was unique, or perhaps because old Jeekie, his negro servant, venerated +it so much and swore that it was “lucky.” At any rate he had +declined and there was an end. +</p> + +<p> +But another and a graver matter remained. He had desired wealth to save +Yarleys, but he desired it still more for a different purpose. Above everything +on earth he loved Barbara, his distant cousin and the niece of Mr. +Champers-Haswell, who until an hour ago had been his partner. Now she was a +great heiress, and without fortune he could not marry her, even if she would +marry him, which remained in doubt. For one thing her uncle and guardian +Haswell, under her father’s will, had absolute discretion in this matter +until she reached the age of twenty-five, and for another he was too proud. +Therefore it would seem that, in abandoning his business, he had abandoned his +chance of Barbara also, which was a truly dreadful thought. +</p> + +<p> +Well, it was in order that he might see her, that he had agreed to visit The +Court on the morrow, even though it meant a meeting with his late partners, who +were the last people with whom he desired to foregather again so soon. Then and +there he made up his mind that before he bade Barbara farewell, he would tell +her the whole story, so that she might not misjudge him. After that he would go +off somewhere—to Africa perhaps. Meanwhile he was quite tired out, as +tired as though he had lain a week in the grip of fever. He must eat some food +and get to bed. Sufficient unto the day was the evil thereof, yet on the whole +he blessed the name of Jackson, editor of <i>The Judge</i> and his +father’s old friend. +</p> + +<p> +When Alan had left the office Sir Robert turned to Mr. Champers-Haswell and +asked him abruptly, “What the devil does this mean?” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Haswell looked up at the ceiling and whistled in his own peculiar fashion, +then answered: +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot say for certain, but our young friend’s strange conduct +seems to suggest that he has smelt a rat, possibly even that Jackson, the old +beast, has shown him a rat—of a large Turkish breed.” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“Vernon is a fellow who doesn’t like rats; they seem to haunt his +sleep,” he said; “but do you think that having seen it, he will +keep it in the bag?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! certainly, certainly,” answered Mr. Haswell with cheerfulness; +“the man is the soul of honour; he will never give us away. Look how he +behaved about those shares. Still, I think that perhaps we are well rid of him. +Too much honour, like too much zeal, is a very dangerous quality in any +business.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know that I agree with you,” answered Sir Robert. +“I am not sure that in the long run we should not do better for a little +more of the article. For my part, although it will not hurt us publicly, for +the thing will never be noticed, I am sorry that we have lost Vernon, very +sorry indeed. I don’t think him a fool, and awkward as they may be, I +respect his qualities.” +</p> + +<p> +“So do I, so do I,” answered Mr. Haswell, “and of course we +have acted against his advice throughout, which must have been annoying to him. +The scheme as he suggested it was a fair business proposition that might have +paid ten per cent. on a small capital, but what is the good of ten per cent. to +you and me? We want millions and we are going to get them. Well, he is coming +to The Court to-morrow, and perhaps after all we shall be able to arrange +matters. I’ll give Barbara a hint; she has great influence with him, and +you might do the same, Aylward.” +</p> + +<p> +“Miss Champers has great influence with everyone who is fortunate enough +to know her,” answered Sir Robert courteously. “But even if she +chooses to use it, I doubt if it will avail in this case. Vernon has been +making up his mind for a long while. I have watched him and am sure of that. +To-night he determined to take the plunge and I do not think that we shall see +any more of him in this office. Haswell,” he added with sudden energy, +“I tell you that of late our luck has been too good to last. The boom, +the real boom, came in with Vernon, and with Vernon I think that it will +go.” +</p> + +<p> +“At any rate it must leave something pretty substantial behind it this +time, Aylward, my friend. Whatever happens, within a week we shall be rich, +really rich for life.” +</p> + +<p> +“For life, Haswell, yes, for life. But what is life? A bubble that any +pin may prick. Oh! I know that you do not like the subject, but it is as well +to look it in the face sometimes. I’m no church-goer, but if I remember +right we were taught to pray the good Lord to deliver us especially ‘in +all times of our wealth,’ which is followed by something about +tribulation and sudden death, for when they wrote that prayer the wheel of +human fortune went round just as it does to-day. There, let’s get out of +this before I grow superstitious, as men who believe in nothing sometimes do, +because after all they must believe in something, I suppose. Got your hat and +coat? So have I, come on,” and he switched off the light, so that the +room was left in darkness except for the faint glimmering of the fire. +</p> + +<p> +His partner grumbled audibly, for in turning he had knocked his hand against +the desk. +</p> + +<p> +“Leave me my only economy, Haswell,” he answered with a hard little +laugh. “Electricity is strength and I hate to see strength burning to +waste. Why do you mind?” he went on as he stepped towards the door. +“Is it the contrast? In all times of our wealth, in all times of our +tribulation, from sickness and from sudden death——” +</p> + +<p> +“Good Lord deliver us,” chimed in Mr. Haswell in a shaking voice +behind him. “What the devil’s that?” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert looked round and saw, or thought that he saw, something very +strange. From the pillar on which it stood the golden fetish with a +woman’s face, appeared to have floated. The firelight showed it gliding +towards them across, but a few inches above the floor of the great room. It +came very slowly, but it came. Now it reached them and paused, and now it rose +into the air until it attained the height of Mr. Champers-Haswell and stayed +there, staring into his face and not a hand’s breadth away, just as +though it were a real woman glaring at him. +</p> + +<p> +He uttered a sound, half whistle and half groan, and fell back, as it chanced +on to a morocco-covered seat behind him. For a moment or two the gleaming, +golden mask floated in the air. Then it turned very deliberately, rose a little +way, and moving sidelong to where Sir Robert stood, hung in front of <i>his</i> +face. +</p> + +<p> +Presently Aylward staggered to the mantelpiece and began to fumble for the +switch; in the silence his nails scratching at the panelling made a sound like +to that of a gnawing mouse. He found it at last, and next instant the office +broke into a blaze of light, showing Mr. Haswell, his rubicund face quite pale, +his hat and umbrella on the floor, gasping like a dying man upon the couch, and +Sir Robert himself clinging to the mantel-shelf as a person might do who had +received a mortal wound, while the golden fetish reposed calmly on its pillar, +to all appearance as immovable and undisturbed as the antique Venus which +matched it at the other end of the room. For a while there was silence. Then +Sir Robert, recovering himself, asked: +</p> + +<p> +“Did you notice anything unusual just now, Haswell?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” whispered his partner. “I thought that hideous African +thing which Vernon brought here, came sliding across the floor and stared into +my face with its glittering eyes, and in the eyes——” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what was in the eyes?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t remember. It was a kind of picture and the meaning of it +was Sudden Death—oh Lord! Sudden Death. Tell me it was a fancy bred of +that ill-omened talk of yours?” +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t tell you anything of the sort,” answered Aylward in +a hollow voice, “for I saw something also.” +</p> + +<p> +“What?” asked his partner. +</p> + +<p> +“Death that wasn’t sudden, and other things.” +</p> + +<p> +Again the silence fell till it was broken by Aylward. +</p> + +<p> +“Come,” he said, “we have been over-working—too much +strain, and now the reaction. Keep this rubbish to yourself, or they will lock +you up in an asylum.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, Aylward, certainly. But can’t you get rid of that +beastly image?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not on any account, Haswell, even if it haunts us all day. Here it shall +stop until the Saharas are floated on Monday, if I have to lock it in the +strongroom and throw the keys into the Thames. Afterwards Vernon can take it, +as he has a right to do, and I am sure that with it will go our luck.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then the sooner our luck goes, the better,” replied Haswell, with +a mere ghost of his former whistle. “Life is better than luck, +and—Aylward, that Yellow God you are so fond of means to murder us. We +are being fatted for the sacrifice, that is all. I remember now, that was one +of the things I saw written in its eyes!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /> +JEEKIE TELLS A TALE.</h2> + +<p> +The Court, Mr. Champers-Haswell’s place, was a very fine house indeed, of +a sort. That is, it contained twenty-nine bedrooms, each of them with a +bathroom attached, a large number of sitting-rooms, ample garages, stables, and +offices, the whole surrounded by several acres of newly-planted gardens. +Incidentally it may be mentioned that it was built in the most atrocious taste +and looked like a suburban villa seen through a magnifying glass. +</p> + +<p> +It was in this matter of taste that it differed from Sir Robert Aylward’s +home, Old Hall, a few miles away. Not that this was old either, for the +original house had fallen down or been burnt a hundred years before. But Sir +Robert, being gifted with artistic perception, had reared up in place of it a +smaller but really beautiful dwelling of soft grey stone, long and low, and +built in the Tudor style with many gables. +</p> + +<p> +This house, charming as it was, could not of course compare with Yarleys, the +ancient seat of the Vernons in the same neighbourhood. Yarleys was pure +Elizabethan, although it contained an oak-roofed hall which was said to date +back to the time of King John, a remnant of a former house. There was no +electric light or other modern convenience at Yarleys, yet it was a place that +everyone went to see because of its exceeding beauty and its historical +associations. The moat by which it was surrounded, the grass court within, for +it was built on three sides of a square, the mullioned windows, the towered +gateway of red brick, the low-panelled rooms hung with the portraits of +departed Vernons, the sloping park and the splendid oaks that stood about, +singly or in groups, were all of them perfect in their way. It was one of the +most lovely of English homes, and oddly enough its neglected gardens and the +air of decay that pervaded it, added to rather than decreased its charm. +</p> + +<p> +But it is with The Court that we have to do at present, not with Yarleys. Mr. +Champers-Haswell had a week-end party. There were ten guests, all men, and with +the exception of Alan, who it will be remembered was one of them, all rich and +in business. They included two French bankers and three Jews, everyone a prop +of the original Sahara Syndicate and deeply interested in the forthcoming +flotation. To describe them is unnecessary, for they have no part in our story, +being only financiers of a certain class, remarkable for the riches they had +acquired by means that for the most part would not bear examination. The riches +were evident enough. Ever since the morning the owners of this wealth had +arrived by ones or twos in their costly motorcars, attended by smart chauffeurs +and valets. Their fur coats, their jewelled studs and rings, something in their +very faces suggested money, which indeed was the bond that brought and held +them together. +</p> + +<p> +Alan did not come until it was time to dress for dinner, for he knew that +Barbara would not appear before that meal, and it was her society he sought, +not that of his host or fellow guests. Accompanied by his negro servant, +Jeekie, for in a house like this it was necessary to have someone to wait upon +him, he drove over from Yarleys, a distance of ten miles, arriving about eight +o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Haswell has gone up to dress, Major, and so have the other +gentlemen,” said the head butler, Mr. Smith, “but Miss Champers +told me to give you this note and to say that dinner is at half-past +eight.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan took the note and asked to be shown to his room. Once there, although he +had only five-and-twenty minutes, he opened it eagerly, while Jeekie unpacked +his bag. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear Alan,” it ran: “Don’t be late for dinner, or I +may not be able to keep a place next to me. Of course Sir Robert takes me in. +They are a worse lot than usual this time, odious—odious!—and I +can’t stand one on the left hand as well as on the right. Yours, +</p> + +<p> +“B. +</p> + +<p> +“P.S. What <i>have</i> you been doing? Our distinguished guests, to say +nothing of my uncle, seem to be in a great fuss about you. I overheard them +talking when I was pretending to arrange some flowers. One of them called you a +sanctimonious prig and an obstinate donkey, and another answered—I think +it was Sir Robert —‘No doubt, but obstinate donkeys can kick and +have been known to upset other people’s applecarts ere now.’ Is the +Sahara Syndicate the applecart? If so, I’ll forgive you. +</p> + +<p> +“P.P.S. Remember that we will walk to church together to-morrow, but come +down to breakfast in knickerbockers or something to put them off, and +I’ll do the same—I mean I’ll dress as if I were going to +golf. We can turn into Christians later. If we don’t—dress like +that, I mean—they’ll guess and all want to come to church, except +the Jews, which would bring the judgment of Heaven on us. +</p> + +<p> +“P.P.P.S. Don’t be careless and leave this note lying about, for +the under-footman who waits upon you reads all the letters. He steams them over +a kettle. Smith the butler is the only respectable man in this house.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan laughed outright as he finished this peculiar and outspoken epistle, which +somehow revived his spirits, that since the previous day had been low enough. +It refreshed him. It was like a breath of frosty air from an open window +blowing clean and cold into a scented, overheated room. He would have liked to +keep it, but remembering Barbara’s injunctions and the under-footman, +threw it onto the fire and watched it burn. Jeekie coughed to intimate that it +was time for his master to dress, and Alan turned and looked at him in an +absent-minded fashion. +</p> + +<p> +He was worth looking at, was Jeekie. Let the reader imagine a very tall and +powerfully-built negro with a skin as black as a well-polished boot, woolly +hair as white as snow, a little tufted beard also white, a hand like a leg of +mutton, but with long delicate fingers and pink, filbert-shaped nails, an +immovable countenance, but set in it beneath a massive brow, two extraordinary +humorous and eloquent black eyes which expressed every emotion passing through +the brain behind them, that is when their owner chose to allow them to do so. +Such was Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I unlace your boots, Major?” he said in his full, melodious +voice and speaking the most perfect English. “I expect that the gong will +sound in nine and a half minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then let it sound and be hanged to it,” answered Alan; “no, +I forgot—I must hurry. Jeekie, put that fire out and open all the windows +as soon as I go down. This room is like a hot-house.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, the fire shall be extinguished and the sleeping-chamber +ventilated. The other boot, if you please, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Alan, “who is stopping in this place? Have you +heard?” +</p> + +<p> +“I collected some names on my way upstairs, Major. Three of the gentlemen +you have never met before, but,” he added suddenly breaking away from his +high-flown book-learned English, as was his custom when in earnest, +“Jeekie think they just black niggers like the rest, thief people. There +ain’t a white man in this house, except you and Miss Barbara and me, +Major. Jeekie learnt all that in servant’s hall palaver. No, not now, +other time. Everyone tell everything to Jeekie, poor old African fool, and he +look up an answer, ‘O law! you don’t say so?’ but keep his +eyes and ears open all the same.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll be bound you do, Jeekie,” replied Alan, laughing again. +“Well, go on keeping them open, and give me those trousers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major,” answered Jeekie, reassuming his grand manner, +“I shall continue to collect information which may prove to your +advantage, but personally I wish that you were clear of the whole caboodle, +except Miss Barbara.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hear, hear,” ejaculated Alan, “there goes the gong. Mind you +come in and help to wait,” and hurrying into his coat he departed +downstairs. +</p> + +<p> +The guests were gathered in the hall drinking sherry and bitters, a proceeding +that to Alan’s mind set a stamp upon the house. His host, Mr. +Champers-Haswell, came forward and greeted him with much affectionate +enthusiasm, and Alan noticed that he looked very pale, also that his thoughts +seemed to be wandering, for he introduced a French banker to him as a noted +Jew, and the noted Jew as the French banker, although the distinction between +them was obvious and the gentlemen concerned evidently resented the mistake. +Sir Robert Aylward, catching sight of him, came across the hall in his usual, +direct fashion, and shook him by the hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Glad to see you, Vernon,” he said, fixing his piercing eyes upon +Alan as though he were trying to read his thoughts. “Pleasant change this +from the City and all that eternal business, isn’t it? Ah! you are +thinking that one is not quite clear of business after all,” and he +glanced round at the company. “That’s one of your cousin +Haswell’s faults; he can never shake himself free of the thing, never get +any real recreation. I’d bet you a sovereign that he has a stenographer +waiting by a telephone in the next room, just in case any opportunity should +arise in the course of conversation. That is magnificent, but it is not wise. +His heart can’t stand it; it will wear him out before his time. Listen, +they are all talking about the Sahara. I wish I were there; it must be quiet at +any rate. The sands beneath, the eternal stars above. Yes, I wish I were +there,” he repeated with a sigh, and Alan noted that although his face +could not be more pallid than its natural colour, it looked quite worn and old. +</p> + +<p> +“So do I,” he answered with enthusiasm. +</p> + +<p> +Then a French gentleman on his left, having discovered that he was the engineer +who had formulated the great flooding scheme, began to address him as +“Cher maitre,” speaking so rapidly in his own language that Alan, +whose French was none of the best, struggled after him in vain. Whilst he was +trying to answer a question which he did not understand, the door at the end of +the hall opened, and through it appeared Barbara Champers. +</p> + +<p> +It was a large hall and she was a long way off, which caused her to look small, +who indeed was only of middle height. Yet even at that distance it was +impossible to mistake the dignity of her appearance. A slim woman with brown +hair, cheerful brown eyes, a well-modelled face, a rounded figure and an +excellent complexion, such was Barbara. Ten thousand young ladies could be +found as good, or even better looking, yet something about her differentiated +her from the majority of her sex. There was determination in her step, and +overflowing health and vigour in her every movement. Her eyes had a trick of +looking straight into any other eyes they met, not boldly, but with a kind of +virginal fearlessness and enterprise that people often found embarrassing. +Indeed she was extremely virginal and devoid of the usual fringe of feminine +airs and graces, a nymph of the woods and waters, who although she was three +and twenty, as yet recked little of men save as companions whom she liked or +disliked according to her instincts. For the rest she was sweetly dressed in a +white robe with silver on it, and wore no ornaments save a row of small pearls +about her throat and some lilies of the valley at her breast. +</p> + +<p> +Barbara came straight onwards, looking neither to the right nor to the left, +till she reached her uncle, to whom she nodded. Then she walked to Alan and, +offering him her hand, said: +</p> + +<p> +“How do you do! Why did you not come over at lunch time? I wanted to play +a round of golf with you this afternoon.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan answered something about being busy at Yarleys. +</p> + +<p> +“Yarleys!” she replied. “I thought that you lived in the City +now, making money out of speculations, like everyone else that I know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, Miss Champers,” broke in Sir Robert reproachfully, “I +asked you to play a round of golf before tea and you would not.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” she answered, “because I was waiting for my cousin. We +are better matched, Sir Robert.” +</p> + +<p> +There was something in her voice, usually so soft and pleasant, as she spoke +these words, something of steeliness and defiance that caused Alan to feel at +once happy and uncomfortable. Apparently also it caused Aylward to feel angry, +for he flashed a glance at Alan over her head of which the purport could not be +mistaken, though his pale face remained as immovable as ever. “We are +enemies. I hate you,” said that glance. Probably Barbara saw it; at any +rate before either of them could speak again, she said: +</p> + +<p> +“Thank goodness, there is dinner at last. Sir Robert, will you take me +in, and, Alan, will you sit on the other side of me? My uncle will show the +rest their places.” +</p> + +<p> +The meal was long and magnificent; the price of each dish of it would have kept +a poor family for a month, and on the cost of the exquisite wines they might +have lived for a year or two. Also the last were well patronized by everyone +except Barbara, who drank water, and Alan, who since his severe fever took +nothing but weak whiskey and soda and a little claret. Even Aylward, a +temperate person, absorbed a good deal of champagne. As a consequence the +conversation grew animated, and under cover of it, while Sir Robert was arguing +with his neighbour on the left, Barbara asked in a low voice: +</p> + +<p> +“What is the row, Alan? Tell me, I can’t wait any longer.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have quarrelled with them,” he answered, staring at his mutton +as though he were criticizing it. “I mean, I have left the firm and have +nothing more to do with the business.” +</p> + +<p> +Barbara’s eyes lit up as she whispered back: +</p> + +<p> +“Glad of it. Best news I have heard for many a day. But then, may I ask +why you are here?” +</p> + +<p> +“I came to see you,” he replied humbly—“thought perhaps +you wouldn’t mind,” and in his confusion he let his knife fall into +the mutton, whence it rebounded, staining his shirt front. +</p> + +<p> +Barbara laughed, that happy, delightful little laugh of hers, presumably at the +accident with the knife. Whether or no she “minded” did not appear, +only she handed her handkerchief, a costly, lace-fringed trifle, to Alan to +wipe the gravy off his shirt, which he took thinking it was a napkin, and as +she did so, touched his hand with a little caressing movement of her fingers. +Whether this was done by chance or on purpose did not appear either. At least +it made Alan feel extremely happy. Also when he discovered what it was, he kept +that gravy-stained handkerchief, nor did she ever ask for it back again. Only +once in after days when she happened to come across it stuffed away in the +corner of a despatch-box, she blushed all over, and said that she had no idea +that any man could be so foolish out of a book. +</p> + +<p> +“Now that <i>you</i> are really clear of it, I am going for them,” +she said presently when the wiping process was finished. “I have only +restrained myself for your sake,” and, leaning back in her chair she +stared at the ceiling, lost in meditation. +</p> + +<p> +Presently there came one of those silences which will fall upon dinner-parties +at times, however excellent and plentiful the champagne. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir Robert Aylward,” said Barbara in that clear, carrying voice of +hers, “will you, as an expert, instruct a very ignorant person? I want a +little information.” +</p> + +<p> +“Miss Champers,” he answered, “am I not always at your +service?” and all listened to hear upon what point their hostess desired +to be enlightened. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir Robert,” she went on calmly, “everyone here is, I +believe, what is called a financier, that is except myself and Major Vernon, +who only tries to be and will, I am sure, fail, since Nature made him something +else, a soldier and—what else did Nature make you, Alan?” +</p> + +<p> +As he vouchsafed no answer to this question, although Sir Robert muttered an +uncomplimentary one between his lips which Barbara heard, or read, she +continued: +</p> + +<p> +“And you are all very rich and successful, are you not, and are going to +be much richer and much more successful—next week. Now what I want to ask +you is—how is it done?” +</p> + +<p> +“Accepting the premises for the sake of argument, Miss Champers,” +replied Sir Robert, who felt that he could not refuse the challenge, “the +answer is that it is done by finance.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am still in the dark,” she said. “Finance, as I have heard +of it, means floating companies, and companies are floated to earn money for +those who invest in them. Now this afternoon as I was dull, I got hold of a +book called the Directory of Directors, and looked up all your names in it, +except those of the gentlemen from Paris, and the companies that you +direct—I found out about those in another book. Well, I could not make +out that any of these companies have ever earned any money, a dividend, +don’t you call it? Therefore how do you all grow so rich, and why do +people invest in them?” +</p> + +<p> +Now Sir Robert frowned, Alan coloured, two or three of the company laughed +outright, and one of the French gentlemen who understood English and had +already drunk as much as was good for him, remarked loudly to his neighbour, +“Ah! she is charming. She do touch the spot, like that ointment you give +me to-day. How do we grow rich and why do the people invest? <i>Mon Dieu!</i> +why do they invest? That is the great mystery. I say that <i>cette belle +demoiselle, votre nièce, est ravissante. Elle a d’esprit, mon ami +Haswell.</i>” +</p> + +<p> +Apparently her uncle did not share these sentiments, for he turned as red as +any turkey-cock, and said across the great round table: +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Barbara, I wish that you would leave matters which you do not +understand alone. We are here to dine, not to talk about finance.” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, Uncle,” she answered sweetly. “I stand, or rather +sit, reproved. I suppose that I have put my foot into it as usual, and the +worst of it is,” she added, turning to Sir Robert, “that I am just +as ignorant as I was before.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you want to master these matters, Miss Champers,” said Aylward +with a rather forced laugh, “you must go into training and worship at the +shrine of”—he meant to say Mammon, then thinking that the word +sounded unpleasant, substituted—“the Yellow God as we do.” +</p> + +<p> +At these words Alan, who had been studying his plate, looked up quickly, and +her uncle’s face turned from red to white. But the irrepressible Barbara +seized upon them. +</p> + +<p> +“The Yellow God,” she repeated. “Do you mean money or that +fetish thing of Major Vernon’s with the terrible woman’s face that +I saw at the office in the City. Well, to change the subject, tell us, Alan, +what is that yellow god of yours and where did it come from?” +</p> + +<p> +“My uncle Austin, who was my mother’s brother and a missionary, +brought it from West Africa a great many years ago. He was the first to visit +the tribe who worship it; in fact I do not think that anyone has ever visited +them since. But really I do not know all the story. Jeekie can tell you about +it if you want to know, for he is one of that people and escaped with my +uncle.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Jeekie having left the room, some of the guests wished to send for him, but +Mr. Champers-Haswell objected. The end of it was that a compromise was +effected, Alan undertaking to produce his retainer afterwards when they went to +play billiards or cards. +</p> + +<p> +Dinner was over at length and the diners, who had dined well, were gathered in +the billiard room to smoke and amuse themselves as they wished. It was a very +large room, sixty feet long indeed, with a wide space in the centre between the +two tables, which was furnished as a lounge. When the gentlemen entered it they +found Barbara standing by the great fireplace in this central space, a little +shape of white and silver in its emptiness. +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me for intruding on you,” she said, “and please do +not stop smoking, for I like the smell. I have sat up expressly to hear +Jeekie’s story of the Yellow God. Alan, produce Jeekie, or I shall go to +bed at once.” +</p> + +<p> +Her uncle made a movement as though to interfere, but Sir Robert said something +to him which appeared to cause him to change his mind, while the rest in some +way or another signified an enthusiastic assent. All of them were anxious to +see this Jeekie and hear his tale, if he had one to tell. So Jeekie was sent +for and presently arrived clad in the dress clothes which are common to all +classes in England and America. There he stood before them white-headed, +ebony-faced, gigantic, imperturbable. There is no doubt that his appearance +produced an effect, for it was unusual and indeed striking. +</p> + +<p> +“You sent for me, Major?” he said, addressing his master, to whom +he gave a military salute, for he had been Alan’s servant when he was in +the Army. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Jeekie. Miss Barbara here and these gentlemen, wish you to tell +them all that you know about the Yellow God.” +</p> + +<p> +The negro started and rolled his round eyes upwards till the whites of them +showed, then began in his school-book English: +</p> + +<p> +“That is a private subject, Major, upon which I should prefer not to +discourse before this very public company.” +</p> + +<p> +A chorus of remonstrance arose and one of the Jewish gentlemen approaching +Jeekie, slipped a couple of sovereigns into his great hand, which he promptly +transferred to his pocket without seeming to notice them. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Barbara, “don’t disappoint me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, miss, I fall in with your wishes. The Yellow God that all +these gentlemen worship, quite another god to that of which you desire that I +should tell you. You know all about him. My god is of female sex.” +</p> + +<p> +At this statement his audience burst into laughter while Jeekie rolled his eyes +again and waited till they had finished. “My god,” he went on +presently, “I mean, gentlemen, the god I used to pray to, for I am a good +Christian now, has so much gold that she does not care for any more,” and +he paused. +</p> + +<p> +“Then what does she care for?” asked someone. +</p> + +<p> +“Blood,” answered Jeekie. “She is god of Death. Her name is +Little Bonsa or Small Swimming Head; she is wife of Big Bonsa or Great Swimming +Head.” +</p> + +<p> +Again there was laughter, though less general—for instance, neither Sir +Robert nor Mr. Champers-Haswell laughed. This merriment seemed to excite +Jeekie. At any rate it caused him to cease his stilted talk and relapse into +the strange vernacular that is common to all negroes, tinctured with a racy +slang that was all his own. +</p> + +<p> +“You want to hear Yellow God palaver?” he said rapidly. “Very +well, I tell you, you cocksure white men who think you know everything, but +know nothing at all. My people, people of the Asiki, that mean people of +Spirits, what you call ghosts and say you no believe in, but always look for +behind door, they worship Yellow God, Bonsa Big and Bonsa Little, worship both +and call them one; only Little Bonsa on trip to this country just now and sit +and think in City office. Yellow God live long way up a great river, then turn +to the left and walk six days through big forest where dwarf people shoot you +with poisoned arrow. Then turn to the right, walk up stream where many wild +beasts. Then turn to the left again and go in canoe through swamp where you die +of fever, and across lake. Then walk over grassland and mountains. Then in +kloof of the mountains where big black trees make a roof and river fall like +thunder, find Asiki and gold house of the Yellow God. All that mountain gold, +full of gold and beneath gold house Yellow God afloat in water. She what you +call Queen, priestess, live there also, always there, very beautiful woman +called Asika with face like Yellow God, cruel, cruel. She take a husband every +year, and every year he die because she always hunt for right man but never +find him.” +</p> + +<p> +“How does she kill him then?” asked Barbara. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! no, she no kill him, Miss, he kill himself at end of year, glad to +get away from Asika and go to spirits. While he live he have a very good time, +plenty to eat, plenty wives, fine house, much gold as he like, only nothing to +spend it on, pretty necklace, nice paint for face. But Asika, little bit by +little bit she eat up his spirit. He see too many ghosts. The house where he +sleep with dead men who once have his billet, full of ghosts and every night +there come more and sit with him, sit all round him, look at him with great +eyes, just like you look at me, till at last when Asika finish eating up his +spirit, he go crazy, he howl like man in hell, he throw away all the gold they +give him, and then, sometimes after one week, sometimes after one month, +sometimes after one year if he be strong but never more, he run out at night +and jump into canal where Yellow God float and god get him, while Asika sit on +the bank and laugh, ’cause she hungry for new man to eat up his spirit +too.” +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie’s big voice died away to a whisper and ceased. There was a silence +in the room, for even in the shine of the electric light and through the fumes +of champagne, in more than one imagination there rose a vision of that haunted +water in which floated the great Yellow God, and of some mad being casting +himself to his death beneath the moon, while his beautiful witch wife who was +“hungry for more spirits” sat upon its edge and laughed. Although +his language was now commonplace enough, even ludicrous at times, the negro had +undoubtedly the art of narration. His auditors felt that he spoke of what he +knew, or had seen, that the very recollection of it frightened him, therefore +he frightened them. +</p> + +<p> +Again Barbara broke the silence which she felt to be awkward. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do more ghosts come very night to sit with the queen’s +husband, Jeekie?” she asked. “Where do they come from?” +</p> + +<p> +“Out of the dead, miss, dead husbands of Asika from beginning of the +world; what they call Munganas. Also always they make sacrifice to Yellow God. +From far, far away them poor niggers send people to be sacrifice that their +house or tribe get luck. Sometimes they send kings, sometimes great men, +sometimes doctors, sometimes women what have twin babies. Also the Asiki bring +people what is witches, or have drunk poison stuff which blacks call +<i>muavi</i> and have not been sick, or perhaps son they love best to take +curse off their roof. All these come to Yellow God. Then Asiki doctor, they +have Death-palaver. On night of full moon they beat drum, and drum go Wow! Wow! +Wow! and doctors pick out those to die that month. Once they pick out Jeekie, +oh! good Lord, they pick out <i>me</i>,” and as he said the words he +gasped and with his great hand wiped off the sweat that started from his brow. +“But Yellow God no take Jeekie that time, no want him and I escape.” +</p> + +<p> +“How?” asked Sir Robert. +</p> + +<p> +“With my master, Major’s uncle, Reverend Austin, he who come try to +make Asiki Christian. He snap his fingers, put on small mask of Yellow God +which he prig, Little Bonsa herself, that same face which sit in your office +now,” and he pointed to Sir Robert, “like one toad upon a stone. +Priests think that god make herself into man, want holiday, take me out into +forest to kill me and eat my life. So they let us go by and we go just as +though devil kick us—fast, fast, and never see the Asiki any more. But +Little Bonsa I bring with me for luck, tell truth I no dare leave her behind, +she not stand that; and now she sit in your office and think and think and make +magic there. That why you grow rich, because she know you worship her.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s a nice way for a baptized Christian to talk,” said +Barbara, adding, “But Jeekie, what do you mean when you say that the god +did not take you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I mean this, miss; when victim offered to Big Yellow God, priest-men +bring him to edge of canal where the great god float. Then if Yellow God want +him, it turn and swim across water.” +</p> + +<p> +“Swim across water! I thought you said it was only a mask of gold?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know, miss, perhaps man inside the mask, perhaps spirit. I +say it swim across water in the night, always in the night, and lift itself up +and look in victim’s face. Then priest take him and kill him, sometimes +one way—sometimes another. Or if he escape and they not kill him, all +same for that Johnnie, he die in about one year, always die, no one ever live +long if Yellow God swim to him in dark and rise up and smile in his face. No +matter if it Big Bonsa or Little Bonsa, for they man and wife joined in holy +matrimony and either do trick.” +</p> + +<p> +As these words left Jeekie’s lips Alan became aware of some unusual +movement on his left and looking round, saw that Mr. Champers-Haswell, who +stood by him, had dropped the cigar which he held and, white as a sheet, was +swaying to and fro. Indeed in another instant he would have fallen had not Alan +caught him in his arms and supported him till others came to his assistance, +when between them they carried him to a sofa. On their way they passed a table +where spirits and soda water were set out, and to his astonishment Alan noticed +that Sir Robert Aylward, looking little if at all better than his partner, had +helped himself to half a tumbler of cognac, which he was swallowing in great +gulps. Then there was confusion and someone went to telephone the doctor, while +the deep voice of Jeekie was heard exclaiming: +</p> + +<p> +“That Yellow God at work—oh yes, Little Bonsa on the job. Jeekie +Christian man but no doubt she very powerful fetish and can do anything she +like to them that worship her, and you see, she sit in office of these +gentlemen. ’Spect she make Reverend Austin and me bring her to England +because she got eye on firm of Messrs. Aylward & Haswell, London, E.C. Oh, +shouldn’t wonder at all, for Bonsa know everything.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, confound you and your fetish! Be off, you old donkey,” almost +shouted Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Major,” replied the offended Jeekie, assuming his grand manner and +language, “it was not I who wished to narrate this history of +blood-stained superstitions of poor African. Mustn’t blame old Jeekie if +they make Christian gents sick as Channel steamer.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be off!” repeated Alan, stamping his foot. +</p> + +<p> +So Jeekie went, but outside the door, as it chanced, he encountered one of the +Jew gentlemen who also appeared to be a little “sick.” An idea +striking him, he touched his white hair with his finger and said: +</p> + +<p> +“You like Jeekie’s pretty story, sir? Well, Jeekie think that if +you make little present to him, like your brother in there, it please Yellow +God very much, and bring you plenty luck.” +</p> + +<p> +Then acting upon some unaccustomed impulse, that Jew became exceedingly +generous. In his pocket was a handful of sovereigns which he had been prepared +to stake at bridge. He grasped them all and thrust them into Jeekie’s +outstretched palm, where they seemed to melt. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, sir,” said Jeekie. “Now I sure you have plenty +luck, just like your grandpa Jacob in Book when he do his brudder in eye.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /> +ALAN AND BARBARA.</h2> + +<p> +There was no bridge or billiards at the Court that night, where ordinarily the +play ran high enough. After Mr. Haswell had been carried to his room, some of +the guests, among them Sir Robert Aylward, went to bed, remarking that they +could do no good by sitting up, while others, more concerned, waited to hear +the verdict of the doctor, who must drive from six miles away. He came, and +half an hour later Barbara entered the billiard room and told Alan, who was +sitting there smoking, that her uncle had recovered from his faint, and that +the doctor, who was to stay all night, said that he was in no danger, only +suffering from a heart attack brought on apparently by over-work or excitement. +</p> + +<p> +When Alan woke next morning the first thing that he heard through his open +window was the sound of the doctor’s departing dogcart. Then Jeekie +appeared and told him that Mr. Haswell was all right again, but that all night +he had shaken “like one jelly.” Alan asked what had been the matter +with him, but Jeekie only shrugged his shoulders and said that he did not +know—“perhaps Yellow God touch him up.” +</p> + +<p> +At breakfast, as in her note she had said she would, Barbara appeared wearing a +short skirt. Sir Robert, who was there, looking extremely pale even for him +and with black rims round his eyes, asked her if she were going to golf, to +which she answered that she would think it over. It was a somewhat melancholy +meal, and as though by common consent no mention was made of Jeekie’s +tale of the Yellow God, and beyond the usual polite inquiries, very little of +their host’s seizure. +</p> + +<p> +As Barbara went out she whispered to Alan, who opened the door for her, +“Meet me at half-past ten in the kitchen garden.” +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, having changed his clothes surreptitiously, Alan, avoiding the +others, made his way by a circuitous route to this kitchen garden, which after +the fashion of modern places was hidden behind a belt of trees nearly a quarter +of a mile from the house. Here he wandered about till presently he heard +Barbara’s pleasant voice behind him saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t dawdle so, we shall be late for church.” +</p> + +<p> +So they started, somewhat furtively like runaway children. As they went Alan +asked how her uncle was. +</p> + +<p> +“All right now,” she answered, “but he has had a bad shake. +It was that Yellow God story which did it. I know, for I was there when he was +coming to, with Sir Robert. He kept talking about it in a confused manner, +saying that it was swimming to him across the floor, till at last Sir Robert +bent over him and told him to be quiet quite sternly. Do you know, Alan, I +believe that your pet fetish has been manifesting itself in some unpleasant +fashion up there in the office?” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed. If so, it must be since I left, for I never heard of anything of +the sort, nor are Aylward and your uncle likely people to see ghosts. In fact +Sir Robert wished to give me about £17,000 for the thing only the day before +yesterday, which doesn’t look as though it had been frightening +him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, he won’t repeat the offer, Alan, for I heard him promise my +uncle only this morning that it should be sent back to Yarleys at once. But why +did he want to buy it for such a lot of money? Tell me quickly, Alan, I am +dying to hear the whole story.” +</p> + +<p> +So he began and told her, omitting nothing, while she listened eagerly to every +word, hardly interrupting him at all. As he finished his tale they reached the +door of the quaint old village church just as the clock was striking eleven. +</p> + +<p> +“Come in, Alan,” she said gently, “and thank Heaven for all +its mercies, for you should be a grateful man to-day.” +</p> + +<p> +Then without giving him time to answer she entered the church and they took +their places in the great square pew that for generations had been occupied by +the owners of the ancient house which Mr. Haswell pulled down when he built The +Court. There were their monuments upon the wall and their gravestones in the +chancel floor. But now no one except Barbara ever sat in their pew; even the +benches set aside for the servants were empty, for those who frequented The +Court were not church-goers and “like master, like man.” Indeed the +gentle-faced old clergyman looked quite pleased and surprised when he saw two +inhabitants of that palatial residence amongst his congregation, although it is +true that Barbara was his friend and helper. +</p> + +<p> +The simple service went on; the first lesson was read. It cried woe upon them +that joined house to house and field to field, that draw iniquity with cords of +vanity and sin as it were with a cart-rope; that call evil good and good evil, +that put darkness for light and light for darkness, that justify the wicked for +reward; that feast full but regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider +the operation of His hand, for of such it prophesied that their houses great +and fair should be without inhabitant and desolate. +</p> + +<p> +It was very well read, and Alan, listening, thought that the denunciations of +the old seer of thousands of years ago were not inappropriate to the dwellers +in some houses great and fair of his own day, who, whatever they did or left +undone, regarded not the work of the Lord, neither considered the operation of +His hand. Perhaps Barbara thought so too; at any rate a rather sad little smile +appeared once or twice upon her sweet, firm face as the immortal poem echoed +down the aisle. +</p> + +<p> +The peace that passeth understanding was invoked upon their heads, and rising +with the rest of the scanty congregation they went away. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall we walk home by the woods, Alan?” asked Barbara. “It +is three miles round, but we don’t lunch till two.” +</p> + +<p> +He nodded, and presently they were alone in those woods, the beautiful woods +through which the breath of spring was breathing, treading upon carpets of +bluebell, violet, and primrose; quite alone, unaccompanied save by the wild +things that stole across their path, undisturbed save by the sound of the +singing birds and of the wind among the trees. +</p> + +<p> +“What did you mean, Barbara, when you said that I should be a grateful +man to-day?” asked Alan presently. +</p> + +<p> +Barbara looked him in the eyes in that open, virginal fashion of hers and +answered in the words of the lesson, “‘Woe unto them that draw +iniquity with the cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart-rope, that lay +house to house,’” and through an opening in the woods she pointed +to the roof of The Court standing on one hill, and to the roof of Old Hall +standing upon another—“‘and field to field,’” and +with a sweep of her hand she indicated all the country round, “‘for +many houses great and fair that have music in their feasts shall be left +desolate.’” Then turning she said: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you understand now, Alan?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think so,” he answered. “You mean that I have been in bad +company.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very bad, Alan. One of them is my own uncle, but the truth remains the +truth. Alan, they are no better than thieves; all this wealth is stolen, and I +thank God that you have found it out in time before you became one of them in +heart as well as in name.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you refer to the Sahara Syndicate,” he said, “the idea is +sound enough; indeed, I am responsible for it. The thing can be done, great +benefits would result, too long to go into.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, Alan, but you know that they never mean to do it, they only +mean to get the millions from the public. I have lived with my uncle for ten +years, ever since my poor father died, and I know the backstairs of the +business. There have been half a dozen schemes like this, and although they +have had their bad times, very bad times, he and Sir Robert have grown richer +and richer. But what has happened to those who have invested in them? Oh! let +us drop the subject, it is unpleasant. For myself it doesn’t matter, +because although it isn’t under my control, I have money of my own. You +know we are a plebeian lot on the male side, my grandfather was a draper in a +large way of business, my father was a coal-merchant who made a great fortune. +His brother, my uncle, in whom my father always believed implicitly, took to +what is called Finance, and when my father died he left me, his only child, in +his guardianship. Until I am five-and-twenty I cannot even marry or touch a +halfpenny without his consent; in fact if I should marry against his will the +most of my money goes to him.” +</p> + +<p> +“I expect that he has got it already,” said Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I think not. I found out that, although it is not mine, it is not +his. He can’t draw it without my signature, and I steadily refuse to sign +anything. Again and again they have brought me documents, and I have always +said that I would consider them at five-and-twenty, when I came of age under my +father’s will. I went on the sly to a lawyer in Kingswell and paid him a +guinea for his advice, and he put me up to that. ‘Sign nothing,’ he +said, and I have signed nothing, so, except by forgery nothing can have gone. +Still for all that it may have gone. For anything I know I am not worth more +than the clothes I stand in, although my father was a very rich man.” +</p> + +<p> +“If so, we are about in the same boat, Barbara,” Alan answered with +a laugh, “for my present possessions are Yarleys, which brings in about +£100 a year less than the interest on its mortgages and cost of upkeep, and the +£1700 that Aylward paid me back on Friday for my shares. If I had stuck to them +I understand that in a week or two I should have been worth £100,000, and now +you see, here I am, over thirty years of age without a profession, invalided +out of the army and having failed in finance, a mere bit of driftwood without +hope and without a trade.” +</p> + +<p> +Barbara’s brown eyes grew soft with sympathy, or was it tears? +</p> + +<p> +“You are a curious creature, Alan,” she said. “Why +didn’t you take the £17,000 for that fetish of yours? It would have been +a fair deal and have set you on your legs.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” he answered dejectedly. “It went +against the grain, so what is the use of talking about it? I think my old uncle +Austin told me it wasn’t to be parted with—no, perhaps it was +Jeekie. Bother the Yellow God! it is always cropping up.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” replied Barbara, “the Yellow God is always cropping +up, especially in this neighbourhood.” +</p> + +<p> +They walked on a while in silence, till suddenly Barbara sat down upon a bole +of felled oak and began to cry. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter with you?” asked Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” she answered. “Everything goes wrong. I +live in a kind of gilded hell. I don’t like my uncle and I loathe the men +he brings about the place. I have no friends, I scarcely know a woman +intimately, I have troubles I can’t tell you and—I am wretched. You +are the only creature I have left to talk to, and I suppose that after this row +you must go away too to make your living.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan looked at her there weeping on the log and his heart swelled within him, +for he had loved this girl for years. +</p> + +<p> +“Barbara,” he gasped, “please don’t cry, it upsets me. +You know you are a great heiress——” +</p> + +<p> +“That remains to be proved,” she answered. “But anyway, what +has it to do with the case?” +</p> + +<p> +“It has everything to do with it, at least so far as I am concerned. If +it hadn’t been for that I should have asked you to marry me a long while +ago, because I love you, as I would now, but of course it is impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +Barbara ceased her weeping, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and +looked up at him. +</p> + +<p> +“Alan,” she said, “I think that you are the biggest fool I +ever knew—not but that a fool is rather refreshing when one lives among +knaves.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know I am a fool,” he answered. “If I wasn’t I +should not have mentioned my misfortune to you, but sometimes things are too +much for one. Forget it and forgive me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! yes,” she said; “I forgive you; a woman can generally +forgive a man for being fond of her. Whatever she may be, she is ready to take +a lenient view of his human weakness. But as to forgetting, that is a different +matter. I don’t exactly see why I should be so anxious to forget, who +haven’t many people to care about me,” and she looked at him in +quite a new fashion, one indeed which gave him something of a shock, for he had +not thought the nymph-like Barbara capable of such a look as that. She and any +sort of passion had always seemed so far apart. +</p> + +<p> +Now after all Alan was very much a man, if a modest one, with all a man’s +instincts, and therefore there are appearances of the female face which even +such as he could not entirely misinterpret. +</p> + +<p> +“You—don’t—mean,” he said doubtfully, “you +don’t really mean——” and he stood hesitating before her. +</p> + +<p> +“If you would put your question a little more clearly, Alan, I might be +able to give you an answer,” she replied, that quaint little smile of +hers creeping to the corners of her mouth like sunshine through a mist of rain. +</p> + +<p> +“You don’t really mean,” he went on, “that you care +anything about me, like, like I have cared for you for years?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! Alan,” she said, laughing outright, “why in the name of +goodness shouldn’t I care about you? I don’t say that I do, mind, +but why shouldn’t I? What is the gulf between us?” +</p> + +<p> +“The old one,” he answered, “that between Dives and +Lazarus—that between the rich and the poor.” +</p> + +<p> +“Alan,” said Barbara, looking down, “I don’t know what +has come over me, but for some unexplained and inexplicable reason I am +inclined to give Lazarus a lead—across that gulf, the first one, I mean, +not the second!” +</p> + +<p> +Like the glance which preceded it, this was a saying that even Alan could not +misunderstand. He sat himself on the log beside her, while she, still looking +down, watched him out of the corners of her eyes. He went red, he went white, +his heart beat very violently. Then he stretched out his big brown hand and +took her small white one, and as this familiarity produced no remonstrance, let +it fall, and passing his arm about her, drew her to him and embraced her, not +once, but often, with such vigour that a squirrel which had been watching these +proceedings from a neighbouring tree, bolted round it scandalized and was seen +no more. +</p> + +<p> +“I love you, I love you,” he said huskily. +</p> + +<p> +“So I gather,” she answered in a feeble voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you care for me?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“It would seem that I must, Alan, otherwise I should scarcely—oh! +you foolish Alan,” and heedless of her Sunday hat, which never recovered +from this encounter, but was kept as a holy relic, she let her head fall upon +his shoulder and began to cry again, this time for very happiness. +</p> + +<p> +He kissed her tears away; then, as he could think of nothing else to say, asked +her if she would marry him. +</p> + +<p> +“It is the general sequel to this kind of thing, I believe,” she +answered; “or at any rate it ought to be. But if you want a direct +answer—yes, I will, if my uncle will let me, which he won’t, as you +have quarrelled with him, or at any rate two years hence, when I am +five-and-twenty and my own mistress; that is if we have anything to marry on, +for one must eat. At present our worldly possessions seem to consist chiefly of +a large store of mutual affection, a good stock of clothes and one Yellow God, +which after what happened last night, I do not think you will get another chance +of turning into cash.” +</p> + +<p> +“I must make money somehow,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Alan, but I am afraid it is not easy to do—honestly. Nobody +wants people without capital whose only stock in trade is a brief but +distinguished military career, and a large experience of African fever.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan groaned at this veracious but discouraging remark, and she went on quickly: +</p> + +<p> +“I mean to spend another guinea upon my friend the lawyer at Kingswell. +Perhaps he can raise the wind, by a post-obit, or something,” she added +vaguely, “I mean a post-uncle-obit.” +</p> + +<p> +“If he does, Barbara, I can’t live on your money alone, it +isn’t right.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! don’t you trouble about that, Alan. If once I can get hold of +those dim thousands you will soon be able to make more, for unto him that hath +shall be given. But at present they are very dim, and for all I know may be +represented by stock in deceased companies. In short, the financial position is +extraordinarily depressed, as they say in the Market Intelligence in <i>The +Times</i>. But that’s no reason why we should be depressed also.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Barbara, for at any rate we have got each other.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she answered, springing up, “we have got each other, +dear, until Death do us part, and somehow I don’t think he’ll do +that yet awhile; it comes into my heart that he won’t do that, Alan, that +you and I are going to live out our days. So what does the rest matter? In two +years I shall be a free woman. In fact, if the worst comes to the worst, +I’ll defy them all,” and she set her little mouth like a rock, +“and marry you straight away, as being over age, I can do, even if it +costs me every halfpenny that I’ve got.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” he said, “it would be wrong, wrong to yourself and +wrong to your descendants.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Alan, then, we will wait, or perhaps luck will come our +way—why shouldn’t it? At any rate for my part I never felt so happy +in my life; for, dear Alan, we have found what we were born to find, found it +once and for always, and the rest is mere etceteras. What would be the use of +all the gold of the Asiki people that Jeekie was talking about last night, to +either of us, if we had not each other? We can get on without the wealth, but +we couldn’t get on apart, or at least I couldn’t and I don’t +mind saying so.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, my darling, no,” he answered, turning white at the very +thought, “we couldn’t get on apart—now. In fact I don’t +know how I have done it so long already, except that I was always hoping that a +time would come when we shouldn’t be apart. That is why I went into that +infernal business, to make enough money to be able to ask you to marry me. And +now I have gone out of the business and asked you just when I +shouldn’t.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, so you see you might as well have done it a year or two ago when +perhaps things would have been simpler. Well, it is a fine example of the +vanity of human plans, and, Alan, we must be going home to lunch. If we +don’t, Sir Robert will be organizing a search party to look for us; in +fact, I shouldn’t wonder if he is doing that already, in the wrong +direction.” +</p> + +<p> +The mention of Sir Robert Aylward’s name fell on them both like a blast +of cold wind in summer, and for a while they walked in silence. +</p> + +<p> +“You are afraid of that man, Barbara,” said Alan presently, +guessing her thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +“A little,” she answered, “so far as I can be afraid of +anything any more. And you?” +</p> + +<p> +“A little also. I think that he will give us trouble. He can be very +malevolent and resourceful.” +</p> + +<p> +“Resourceful, Alan; well, so can I. I’ll back my wits against his +any day. He shan’t separate us by anything short of murder, which he +won’t go in for. Men like that don’t like to break the law; they +have too much to lose. But no doubt he will make things uncomfortable for you, +if he can, for several reasons.” +</p> + +<p> +Again they walked on lost in reflections, when Barbara suddenly saw her +lover’s face brighten. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it, Alan?” she asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Something that is rare enough with me, Barbara—an idea. You +remember speaking about that Asiki gold just now. Well, why shouldn’t I +go and get it?” +</p> + +<p> +She stared at him. +</p> + +<p> +“It sounds a little speculative,” she said; “something like +one of my uncle’s companies.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not half so speculative as you think. I have no doubt it is there and +Jeekie knows the way. Also I seem to remember that there is a map and an +account of the whole thing in Uncle Austin’s diaries, though to tell you +the truth the old fellow wrote such a fearful hand, that I have never taken the +trouble to read it. You see,” he went on with enthusiasm, “it is +the kind of business that I can do. I am thoroughly salted to fever, I know the +West Coast, where I spent three years on that Boundary Commission, I have +studied the natives and can talk several of their dialects. Of course there +would be a risk, but there are risks in everything, and like you I am not +afraid about that, for I believe that we have got our lives before us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Read up those diaries, Alan, and we will talk the thing over again. +I’ll pump Jeekie, who will tell me anything by coaxing, and try to get at +the truth. Meanwhile what are you going to do about my uncle?” +</p> + +<p> +“Speak to him, of course, and have the row over.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she answered, “that is the best and the most honest. +Of course he can turn you out, but he can’t prevent my seeing you. If he +does, go home to Yarleys and I’ll come over and call. Here we are, let us +go in by the back door,” and she pointed to her crushed hat, and laughed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /> +BARBARA MAKES A SPEECH.</h2> + +<p> +While Alan and Barbara, on the most momentous occasion of their lives, were +seated upon the fallen oak in the woods that thrilled with the breath of +spring, another interview was taking place in Mr. Champers-Haswell’s +private suite at The Court, the decorations of which, as he was wont to inform +his visitors, had cost nearly £2000. Sir Robert, whose taste at any rate was +good, thought them so appalling that while waiting for his host and partner, +whom he had come to see, he took a seat in the bow window of the sitting-room +and studied the view that nobody had been able to spoil. Presently Mr. Haswell +emerged from his bedroom, wrapped in a dressing gown and looking very pale and +shaky. +</p> + +<p> +“Delighted to see you all right again,” said Sir Robert as he +wheeled up a chair into which Mr. Haswell sank. +</p> + +<p> +“I am not all right, Aylward,” he answered; “I am not all +right at all. Never had such an upset in my life; thought I was going to die +when that accursed savage told his beastly tale. Aylward, you are a man of the +world, tell me, what is the meaning of the thing? You remember what we thought +we saw in the office, and then—that story.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” he answered; “frankly I don’t +know. I am a man who has never believed in anything I cannot see and test, one +who utterly lacks faith. In my leisure I have examined into the various +religious systems and found them to be rubbish. I am convinced that we are but +highly-developed mammals born by chance, and when our day is done, departing +into the black nothingness out of which we came. Everything else, that is, what +is called the higher and spiritual part, I attribute to the superstitions +incident to the terror of the hideous position in which we find ourselves, that +of gods of a sort hemmed in by a few years of fearful and tormented life. But +you know the old arguments, so why should I enter on them? And now I am +confronted with an experience which I cannot explain. I certainly thought that +in the office on Friday evening I saw that gold mask to which I had taken so +strange a fancy that I offered to give Vernon £17,000 for it because I thought +that it brought us luck, swim across the floor of our room and look first into +your face and then into mine. Well, the next night that negro tells his story. +What am I to make of it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t tell you,” answered Mr. Champers-Haswell with a groan. +“All I know is that it nearly made a corpse of me. I am not like you, +Aylward, I was brought up as an Evangelical, and although I haven’t given +much thought to these matters of late years—well, we don’t shake +them off in a hurry. I daresay there is something somewhere, and when the black +man was speaking, that something seemed uncommonly near. It got up and gripped +me by the throat, shaking the mortal breath out of me, and upon my word, +Aylward, I have been wishing all the morning that I had led a different kind of +life, as my old parents and my brother John, Barbara’s father, who was a +very religious kind of man, did before me.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is rather late to think of all that now, Haswell,” said Sir +Robert, shrugging his shoulders. “One takes one’s line and +there’s an end. Personally I believe that we are overstrained with the +fearful and anxious work of this flotation, and have been the victims of an +hallucination and a coincidence. Although I confess that I came to look upon +the thing as a kind of mascot, I put no trust in any fetish. How can a bit of +gold move, and how can it know the future? Well, I have written to them to +clear it out of the office to-morrow, so it won’t trouble us any more. +And now I have come to speak to you on another matter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not business,” said Mr. Haswell with a sigh. “We have that +all the week and there will be enough of it on Monday.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” he answered, “something more important. About your +niece Barbara.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Haswell glanced at him with those little eyes of his which were so sharp +that they seemed to bore like gimlets. +</p> + +<p> +“Barbara?” he said. “What of Barbara?” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t you guess, Haswell? You are pretty good at it, generally. +Well, it is no use beating about the bush; I want to marry her.” +</p> + +<p> +At this sudden announcement his partner became exceedingly interested. Leaning +back in the chair he stared at the decorated ceiling, and uttered his favourite +wind-in-the-wires whistle. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” he said. “I never knew that matrimony was in your +line, Aylward, any more than it has been in mine, especially as you are always +preaching against it. Well, has the young lady given her consent?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, I have not spoken to her. I meant to do so this morning, but she has +slipped off somewhere, with Vernon, I suppose.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Haswell whistled again, but on a new note. +</p> + +<p> +“Pray do stop that noise,” said Sir Robert; “it gets upon my +nerves, which are shaky this morning. Listen: It is a curious thing, one less +to be understood even than the coincidence of the Yellow God, but at my present +age of forty-four, for the first time in my life I have committed the folly of +what is called falling in love. It is not the case of a successful, middle-aged +man wishing to <i>ranger</i> himself and settle down with a desirable +<i>partie</i>, but of sheer, stark infatuation. I adore Barbara; the worse she +treats me the more I adore her. I had rather that the Sahara flotation should +fail than that she should refuse me. I would rather lose three-quarters of my +fortune than lose her. Do you understand?” +</p> + +<p> +His partner looked at him, pursed up his lips to whistle, then remembered and +shook his head instead. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” he answered. “Barbara is a nice girl, but I should not +have imagined her capable of inspiring such sentiments in a man almost old +enough to be her father. I think that you are the victim of a kind of mania, +which I have heard of but never experienced. Venus—or is it +Cupid?—has netted you, my dear Aylward.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! pray leave gods and goddesses out of it, we have had enough of them +already,” he answered, exasperated. “That is my case at any rate, +and what I want to know now is if I have your support in my suit. Remember, I +have something to offer, Haswell, for instance, a large fortune of which I will +settle half—it is a good thing to do in our business,—and a +baronetcy that will be a peerage before long.” +</p> + +<p> +“A peerage! Have you squared that?” +</p> + +<p> +“I think so. There will be a General Election within the next three +months, and on such occasions a couple of hundred thousand in cool cash come in +useful to a Party that is short of ready money. I think I may say that it is +settled. She will be the Lady Aylward, or any other name she may fancy, and one +of the richest women in England. Now have I your support?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, my dear friend, why not, though Barbara does not want money, for +she has plenty of her own, in first-class securities that I could never +persuade her to vary, for she is shrewd in that way and steadily refuses to +sign anything. Also she will probably be my heiress—and, Aylward,” +here a sickly look of alarm spread itself over his face, “I don’t +know how long I have to live. That infernal doctor examined my heart this +morning and told me that it was weak. Weak was his word, but from the tone in +which he said it, I believe that he meant more. Aylward, I gather that I may +die any day.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense, Haswell, so may we all,” he replied, with an affectation +of cheerfulness which failed to carry conviction. +</p> + +<p> +Presently Mr. Haswell, who had hidden his face in his hand, looked up with a +sigh and said: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! yes, of course you have my support, for after all she is my only +relation and I should be glad to see her safely married. Also, as it happens, +she can’t marry anyone without my consent, at any rate until she is +five-and-twenty, for if she does, under her father’s will all her property +goes away, most of it to charities, except a beggarly £200 a year. You see my +brother John had a great horror of imprudent marriages and a still greater +belief in me, which as it chances, is a good thing for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Had he?” said Sir Robert. “And pray why is it a good thing +for me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, my dear Aylward, unless my observation is at fault, there is +another Richard in the field, our late partner, Vernon, of whom, by the way, +Barbara is extremely fond, though it may only be in a friendly fashion. At any +rate she pays more attention to his wishes and opinions than to mine and yours +put together.” +</p> + +<p> +At the mention of Alan’s name Aylward started violently. +</p> + +<p> +“I feared it,” he said, “and he is more than ten years my +junior and a soldier, not a man of business. Also there is no use disguising +the truth, although I am a baronet and shall be a peer and he is nothing but a +beggarly country gentleman with a D.S.O. tacked on to his name, he belongs to a +different class to us, as she does too on her mother’s side. Well, I can +smash him up, for you remember I took over that mortgage on Yarleys, and +I’ll do it if necessary. Practically our friend has not a shilling that +he can call his own. Therefore, Haswell, unless you play me false, which I +don’t think you will, for I can be a nasty enemy,” he added with a +threat in his voice, “Alan Vernon hasn’t much chance in that +direction.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know, Aylward, I don’t know,” replied Haswell, +shaking his white head. “Barbara is a strong-willed woman and she might +choose to take the man and let the money go, and then—who can stop her? +Also I don’t like your idea of smashing Vernon. It isn’t right, and +it may come back on our own heads, especially yours. I am sorry that he has +left us, as you were on Friday night, for somehow he was a good, honest stick +to lean on, and we want such a stick. But I am tired now, I really can’t +talk any more. The doctor warned me against excitement. Get the girl’s +consent, Aylward, and we’ll see. Ah! here comes my soup. Good-bye for the +present.” +</p> + +<p> +When Sir Robert came down to luncheon he found Barbara looking particularly +radiant and charming, already presiding at that meal and conversing in her best +French to the foreign gentlemen, who were paying her compliments. +</p> + +<p> +“Forgive me for being late,” he said; “first of all I have +been talking to your uncle, and afterwards skimming through the articles in +yesterday’s papers on our little venture which comes out to-morrow. A +cheerful occupation on the whole, for with one or two exceptions they are all +favourable.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mon Dieu,” said the French gentlemen on the right, “seeing +what they did cost, that is not strange. Your English papers they are so +expensive; in Paris we have done it for half the money.” +</p> + +<p> +Barbara and some of the guests laughed outright, finding this frankness +charming. +</p> + +<p> +“But where have you been, Miss Champers? I thought that we were going to +have a round of golf together. The caddies were there, I was there, the greens +had been specially rolled this morning, but there was no You.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” she answered, “because Major Vernon and I walked to +church and heard a very good sermon upon the observance of the Sabbath.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are severe,” he said. “Do you think it wrong for men who +work hard all the week to play a harmless game on Sunday?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all, Sir Robert.” Then she looked at him and, coming to a +sudden decision, added, “If you like I will play you nine holes this +afternoon and give you a stroke a hole, or would you prefer a foursome?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, let us fight alone and let the best player win.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Sir Robert; but you mustn’t forget that I am +handicapped.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t look angry,” she whispered to Alan as they strolled +out into the garden after lunch, “I must clear things up and know what we +have to face. I’ll be back by tea-time, and we will have it out with my +uncle.” +</p> + +<p> +The nine holes had been played, and by a single stroke Barbara had won the +match, which pleased her very much, for she had done her best, and with such +heavy odds in his favour Sir Robert, who had also done his best, was no mean +opponent, even for a player of her skill. Indeed the fight had been quite +earnest, for each party knew that it was but a prelude to another and more +serious fight, and looked upon the result as in some sense an omen. +</p> + +<p> +“I am conquered,” he said in a voice in which vexation struggled +with a laugh, “and by a woman over whom I had an advantage. It is +humiliating, for I confess I do not like being beaten.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you think that women generally win if they mean to?” +asked Barbara. “I believe that when they fail, which is often enough, it +is because they don’t care, or can’t make up their minds. A woman +in earnest is a dangerous antagonist.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he answered, “or the best of allies.” Then he +gave the clubs and half-a-crown to the caddies, and when they were out of +hearing, added, “Miss Champers, I have been wondering for some time +whether it is possible that you would become such an ally to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know nothing of business, Sir Robert; my tastes do not lie that +way.” +</p> + +<p> +“You know well that I was not speaking of business, Miss Champers. I was +speaking of another kind of partnership, that which Nature has ordained between +men and women—marriage. Will you accept me as a husband?” +</p> + +<p> +She opened her lips to speak, but he lifted his hand and went on. “Listen +before you give that ready answer which it is so hard to recall, or smooth +away. I know all my disadvantages, my years, which to you may seem many; my +modest origin; my trade, which, not altogether without reason, you despise and +dislike. Well, the first two cannot be changed except for the worse; the second +can be, and already is, buried beneath the gold and ermine of wealth and +titles. What does it matter if I am the son of a City clerk who never earned +more than £2 a week and was born in a tenement at Battersea, when I am one of +the rich men of this rich land and shall die a peer in a palace, leaving +millions and honours to my children? As for the third, my occupation, I am +prepared to give it up. It has served my turn, and after next week I shall have +earned the amount that years ago I determined to earn. Thenceforth, set above +the accidents of fortune, I propose to devote myself to higher aims, those of +legitimate ambition. So far as my time would allow I have already taken some +share in politics as a worker; I intend to continue in them as a ruler which I +still have the health and ability to do. I mean to be one of the first men in +this Empire, to ride to power over the heads of all the nonentities whose only +claim upon the confidence of their countrymen is that they were born in a +certain class, with money in their pockets and without the need to spend the +best of their manhood in work. With you at my side I can do all these things +and more, and such is the future that I have to offer you.” +</p> + +<p> +Again she would have broken in upon his speech and again he stopped her, +reading the unspoken answer on her lips. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen: I have not told you all. Perhaps I have put first what should +have come last. I have not told you that I love you earnestly and sincerely, +with the settled, unalterable love that sometimes comes to men in middle-age +who have never turned their thought that way before. I will not attempt the +rhapsodies of passion which at my time of life might sound foolish or out of +place; yet it is true that I am filled with this passion which has descended on +me and taken possession of me. I who often have laughed at such things in other +men, adore you. You are a joy to my eyes. If you are not in the room, for me it +is empty. I admire the uprightness of your character, and even your prejudices, +and to your standard I desire to approximate my own. I think that no man can +ever love you quite so well as I do, Barbara Champers. Now speak. I am ready to +meet the best or the worst.” +</p> + +<p> +After her fashion Barbara looked him straight in the face with her steady eyes, +and answered gently enough, for the man’s method of presenting his case, +elaborate and prepared though it evidently was, had touched her. +</p> + +<p> +“I fear it is the worst, Sir Robert. There are hundreds of women superior +to myself in every way who would be glad to give you the help and companionship +you ask, with their hearts thrown in. Choose one of them, for I cannot do +so.” +</p> + +<p> +He heard and for the first time his face broke, as it were. All this while it +had remained masklike and immovable, even when he spoke of his love, but now it +broke as ice breaks at the pressure of a sudden flood beneath, and she saw the +depths and eddies of his nature and understood their strength. Not that he +revealed them in speech, angry or pleading, for that remained calm and measured +enough. She did not hear, she saw, and even then it was marvellous to her that +a mere change in a man’s expression could explain so much. +</p> + +<p> +“Those are very cruel words,” he said. “Are they +unalterable?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite. I do not play in such matters, it would be wicked.” +</p> + +<p> +“May I ask you one question, for if the answer is in the negative, I +shall still continue to hope? Do you care for any other man?” +</p> + +<p> +Again she looked at him with her fearless eyes and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, I am engaged to another man.” +</p> + +<p> +“To Alan Vernon?” +</p> + +<p> +She nodded. +</p> + +<p> +“When did that happen? Some years ago?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, this morning.” +</p> + +<p> +“Great Heavens!” he muttered in a hoarse voice turning his head +away, “this morning. Then last night it might not have been too late, and +last night I should have spoken to you, I had arranged it all. Yes, if it had +not been for the story of that accursed fetish and your uncle’s illness, +I should have spoken to you, and perhaps succeeded.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think not,” she said. +</p> + +<p> +He turned upon her and notwithstanding the tears in his eyes they burned like +fire. +</p> + +<p> +“You think—you think,” he gasped, “but I know. Of +course after this morning it was impossible. But, Barbara, I say that I will +win you yet. I have never failed in any object that I set before myself, and do +not suppose that I shall fail in this. Although in a way I liked and respected +him, I have always felt that Vernon was my enemy, one destined to bring grief +and loss upon me, even if he did not intend to do so. Now I understand why, and +he shall learn that I am stronger than he. God help him! I say.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think He will,” Barbara answered, calmly. “You are +speaking wildly, and I understand the reason and hope that you will forget your +words, but whether you forget or remember, do not suppose that you frighten me. +You men who have made money,” she went on with swelling indignation, +“who have made money somehow, and have bought honours with the moneys +somehow, think yourselves great, and in your little day, your little, little +day that will end with three lines in small type in <i>The Times</i>, you are +great in this vulgar land. You can buy what you want and people creep round you +and ask you for doles and favours, and railway porters call you ‘my +Lord’ at every other step. But you forget your limitations in this world, +and that which lies above you. You say you will do this and that. You should +study a book which few of you ever read, where it tells you that you do not +know what you will be on the morrow; that your life is even as a vapour +appearing for a little time and then vanishing away. You think that you can +crush the man to whom I have given my heart because he is honest and you are +dishonest, because you are rich and he is poor, and because he chances to have +succeeded where you have not. Well, for myself and for him I defy you. Do your +worst and fail, and when you have failed, in the hour of your extremity +remember my words to-day. If I have given you pain by refusing you it is not my +fault and I am sorry, but when you threaten the man who has honoured me with +his love and whom I honour above every creature upon the earth, then I threaten +back, and may the Power that made us all judge between you and me, as judge it +will,” and bursting into tears she turned and left him. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Robert watched her go. +</p> + +<p> +“What a woman!” he said meditatively, “what a woman—to +have lost. Well she has set the stakes and we will play out the game. The cards +all seem to be in my hands, but it would not in the least surprise me if she +won the rubber, for the element that I call Chance and she would call something +else, may come in. Still, I never refused a challenge yet and we will play the +game out without pity to the loser.” +</p> + +<p> +That night the first trick was played. When he got back to The Court Sir Robert +ordered his motorcar and departed on urgent business, either to his own place, +Old Hall, or to London, saying only that he had been summoned away by telegram. +As the 70-horse-power Mercedes glided out of the gates a pencilled note was put +into Mr. Haswell’s hand. +</p> + +<p> +It ran: “I have tried and failed—for the present. By ill-luck A.V. +had been before me, only this morning. If I had not missed my chance last night +owing to your illness, it would have been different. I do not, however, in the +least abandon my plan, in which of course I rely on and expect your support. +Keep V. in the office or let him go as you like. Perhaps it would be better if +you could prevail upon him to stop there until after the flotation. But +whatever you say at the moment, I trust to you to absolutely veto any +engagement between him and your niece, and to that end to use all your powers +and authority as her guardian. Burn this note. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /> +MR. HASWELL LOSES HIS TEMPER.</h2> + +<p> +Alan and Barbara sat in Mr. Champers-Haswell’s private sitting-room with +the awful decorations, and before them by the fire Mr. Champers-Haswell +reclined upon his couch. Alan in a few, brief, soldier-like words had just +informed him of his engagement to Barbara. During the recital of this +interesting fact Barbara said nothing, but Mr. Haswell had whistled several +times. Now at length he spoke, in that tone of forced geniality which he +generally adopted towards his cousin. +</p> + +<p> +“You are asking for the hand of a considerable heiress, Alan my +boy,” he said, “but you have neglected to inform me of your own +position.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where is the use of telling you what you know already, Mr. Haswell? I +have left the firm, therefore I have practically nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have practically nothing, and yet——Well, in my young +days men were more delicate, they did not like being called fortune-hunters, +but of course times have changed.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan bit his lip and Barbara sat up quite straight in her chair, observing +which indications, Mr. Haswell went on hurriedly: +</p> + +<p> +“Now if you had stopped in the firm and earned the very handsome +competence in a small way which would have become due to you this week, instead +of throwing us over at the last moment for some quixotic reasons of your own, +it might have been a different matter. I do not say it would have been, I say +it might have been, and you may remember a proverb about winks and nods and +blind horses. So I ask you whether you are inclined to withdraw that +resignation of yours and bring up this question again let us say, next +Sunday?” +</p> + +<p> +Alan thought a while before he answered. As he understood Mr. Haswell +practically was promising to assent to the engagement upon these terms. The +temptation was enormously great, the fiercest that he had ever been called upon +to face. He looked at Barbara. She had closed her eyes and made absolutely no +sign. For some reason of her own she had elected that he should determine this +vital point without the slightest assistance from her. And it must be +determined at once; procrastination was impossible. For a moment he hesitated. +On the one side was Barbara, on the other his conscience. After long doubts he +had come to a certain conclusion which he quite understood to be inconvenient +to his partners. Should he throw it over now? Should he even try to make a sure +and certain bargain as the price of his surrender? Probably he would not suffer +if he did. The flotation was underwritten and bound to go through; the scandal +would come afterwards, months or years hence, long before which he might get +out, as most of the others meant to do. No, he could not. His conscience was +too much for him. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not see any use in reconsidering that question, Mr. Haswell,” +he said quietly; “we settled it on Friday night.” +</p> + +<p> +Barbara reopened her brown eyes and stared amiably at the painted ceiling, and +Mr. Haswell whistled. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I am afraid,” he said, “that I do not see any use in +discussing your kind proposal for my niece’s hand. Listen—I will be +quite open with you. I have other views for Barbara, and as it happens I have +the power to enforce them, or at any rate to prevent their frustration by you. +If Barbara marries against my will before she is five-and-twenty, that is +within the next two years, her entire fortune, with the exception of a +pittance, goes elsewhere. This I am sure is a fact that will influence you, who +have nothing and even if it did not, I presume that you are scarcely so selfish +as to wish to beggar her.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” answered Alan, “you need not fear that, for it would be +wrong. I understand that you absolutely refuse to sanction my suit on the +ground of my poverty, which under the circumstances is perhaps not wonderful. +Well, the only thing to do is to wait for two years, a long time, but not +endless, and meanwhile I can try to better my position.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do what you will, Alan,” said Mr. Haswell harshly, for now all his +<i>faux bonhomme</i> manner had gone, leaving him revealed in his true +character of an unscrupulous tradesman with dark ends of his own to serve. +“Do what you will, but understand that I forbid all communication between +you and my niece, and that the sooner you cease to trespass upon a hospitality +which you have abused, the better I shall be pleased.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will go at once,” said Alan, rising, “before my temper +gets the better of me and I tell you some truths that I might regret, for after +all you are Barbara’s uncle. But on your part I ask you to understand +that I refuse to cut off from my cousin, who is of full age and has promised to +be my wife,” and he turned to go. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop a minute, Alan,” said Barbara, who all this while had sat +silent. “I have something to say which I wish you to hear. You told us +just now, uncle, that you have other views for me, by which you meant that you +wish me to marry Sir Robert Aylward, whom, as you are probably aware, I refused +definitely this afternoon. Now I wish to make it clear at once that no earthly +power will induce me to take as a husband a man whom I dislike, and whose +wealth, of which you think so much, has in my opinion been dishonestly +acquired.” +</p> + +<p> +“What are you saying?” broke in her uncle furiously. “He has +been my partner for years, you are reflecting upon me.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry, uncle, but I withdraw nothing. Even if Alan here were dead, +I would not marry that man, and perhaps you will make him understand +this,” she added with emphasis. “Indeed I had sooner die myself. +You told us also that if I marry against your will, you can take away all the +property that my father left to me. Uncle, I shall not give you that +satisfaction. I shall wait until I am twenty-five and do what I please with +myself and my fortune. Lastly, you said that you forbade us to see each other +or to correspond. I answer that I shall both write to and see Alan as often as +I like. If you attempt to prevent me from doing so, I shall go to the Court of +Chancery, lay all the facts before it, as I have been advised that I can +do—not by Alan—please remember, <i>all</i> the facts, and ask for +its protection and for a separate maintenance out of my estate until I am +twenty-five. I am sure that the Court would grant me this and would declare +that considering his distinguished family and record Alan is a perfectly proper +person to be my affianced husband. I think that is all I have to say.” +</p> + +<p> +“All you have to say!” gasped Mr. Haswell, “all you have to +say, you impertinent and ungrateful minx!” Then he fell into a furious +fit of rage and in language that need not be repeated, poured a stream of +threats and abuse upon Alan and herself. Barbara waited until he ceased from +exhaustion. +</p> + +<p> +“Uncle,” she said, “you should remember that your heart is +weak and you must not overexcite yourself, also when you are calmer, that if +you speak to me like that again, I shall go to the Court at once, for I will +not be sworn at by you or by any other man. I apologize to you, Alan; I am +afraid I have brought you into strange company. Come, my dear, we will go and +order your dogcart,” and putting her arm affectionately through his, she +went with him from the room. +</p> + +<p> +“I wonder who put her up to all this?” gasped Haswell, as the door +closed behind them. “Some infernal lawyer, I’ll be bound. Well, she +has got the whip hand of me, and I can’t face an investigation in +Chancery, especially as the only thing against Vernon is that the value of his +land has fallen. But I swear that she shall never marry him while I +live,” he ended in a kind of shout and the domed and painted ceiling +echoed back his words—“<i>while I live</i>” after which the +room was silent, save for the heavy thumping of his heart. +</p> + +<p> +When Alan reached home that night after his ten-mile drive he sent Jeekie to +tell the housekeeper to find him some food. In his mysterious African fashion +the negro had already collected much intelligence as to the events of the day, +mostly in the servants’ hall, and more particularly from the two +golf-caddies, sons of one of the gardeners, who it seemed instead of retiring +with the clubs, had taken shelter in some tall whins and thence followed the +interview between Barbara and Sir Robert with the intensest interest. +Reflecting that this was not the time to satisfy his burning curiosity, Jeekie +went and in due course returned with some cold mutton and a bottle of claret. +Then came his chance, for Alan could scarcely touch the mutton and demanded +toast and butter. +</p> + +<p> +“Very inferior chop”—that was his West African word for +food—“for a gentleman, Major,” he said, shaking his white +head sympathetically and pointing to the mutton,—“specially when he +has unexpectedly departed from magnificent eating of The Court. Why did you not +wait till after dinner, Major, before retiring?” +</p> + +<p> +Alan laughed at the man’s inflated English, and answered in a more +nervous and colloquial style: +</p> + +<p> +“Because I was kicked out, Jeekie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I gathered that kicking was in the wind, Major. Sir Robert Aylward, +Bart., he also was kicked out, but by smaller toe.” +</p> + +<p> +Again Alan laughed and, as it was a relief to talk even to Jeekie, asked him: +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know that?” +</p> + +<p> +“I gathered it out of atmosphere, Major; from Sir Robert’s +gentleman, from two youths who watch Sir Robert and Miss Barbara talking upon +golf green No. 9, from the machine driver of Sir Robert whose eyes he damn in +public, and last but not least from his own noble countenance.” +</p> + +<p> +“I see that you are observant, Jeekie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Observation, Major, it is art of life. I see Miss Barbara’s eyes +red like morning sky and I deduct. I see you shot out and gloomy like evening +cloud, and I deduct. I listen at door of Mr. Haswell’s room, I hear him +curse and swear like holy saint in Book, and you and Miss Barbara answer him +not like saint, though what you speak I cannot hear, and I deduct. Jeekie +deduct this—that you make love to Miss Barbara in proper gentlemanlike, +’nogamous, Christian fashion such as your late Reverend Uncle approve, +and Miss Barbara, she make love to you with ten per cent. compound interest, +but old gent with whistle, he <i>not</i> approve; he say, ‘Where +corresponding cash!’ He say ‘Noble Sir Robert have much cash and +interested in identical business. I prefer Sir Robert. Get out, you +Cashless.’ Often I see this same thing when boy in West Africa, very +common wherever sun shine. I note all these matters and I deduct—that +Jeekie’s way and Jeekie seldom wrong.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan laughed for the third time, until the tears ran down his face indeed. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” he said, “you are a great +rascal——” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” interrupted Jeekie, “great rascal. Best thing to +be in this world, Major. Honourable Sir Robert, Bart., M.P., and Mr. +Champers-Haswell, D.L., J.P., they find that out long ago and sit on top of +tree of opulent renown. Jeekie great rascal and therefore have Savings Bank +account—go on, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Jeekie, because if you are a rascal you are kind-hearted and +because I believe that you care for me——” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! Major,” broke in Jeekie again, “that most +’utterably true. Honour bright I love you, Major, better than anyone on +earth, except my late old woman, now happily dead, gone and forgotten in best +oak coffin, £4 10 without fittings but polished, and perhaps your holy uncle, +Reverend Mr. Austin, also coffined and departed, who saved me from early +extinction in a dark place. Major, I no like graves, I see too much of them, +and can’t tell what lie on other side. Though everyone say they know, +Jeekie not quite sure. May be all light and crowns of glory, may be damp black +hole and no way out. But this at least true, that I love you better, yes, +better than Miss Barbara, for love of woman very poor, uncertain thing, quick +come, quick go. Jeekie find that out—often. Yes, if need be, though death +most nasty, if need be I say I die for you, which great unpleasant +sacrifice,” and Jeekie in the genuine enthusiasm of his warm heart, +throwing himself upon his knees after the African fashion, seized his +master’s hand and kissed it. +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks, Jeekie,” said Alan, “very kind of you, I am sure. +But we haven’t come to that yet, though no one knows what may happen +later on. Now sit upon that chair and take a little whisky—not too +much—for I am going to ask your advice.” +</p> + +<p> +“Major,” said Jeekie, “I obey,” and seizing the whisky +bottle in a casual manner, he poured out half a tumbler full, for Jeekie was +fond of whisky. Indeed before now this taste had brought him into conflict with +the local magistrates. +</p> + +<p> +“Put back three parts of that,” said Alan, and Jeekie did so. +“Now,” he went on, “listen: this is the case, Miss Barbara +and I are——” and he hesitated. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! I know; like me and Mrs. Jeekie once,” said Jeekie, gulping +down some of the neat whisky. “Go on, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +“And Sir Robert Aylward is——” +</p> + +<p> +“Same thing, Major. Continue.” +</p> + +<p> +“And Mr. Haswell has——” +</p> + +<p> +“Those facts all ascertained, Major,” said Jeekie, contemplating +his glass with a mournful eye. “Now come to the point, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, the point is, Jeekie, that I am what you called just now cashless, +and therefore——” +</p> + +<p> +“Therefore,” interrupted Jeekie again, “stick fast in +honourable intention towards Miss Barbara owing to obstinate opposition of Mr. +Haswell, legal uncle with control of property fomented by noble Sir Robert who +desire same girl.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite right, Jeekie, but if you would talk a little less and let me talk +a little more, we might get on better.” +</p> + +<p> +“I henceforth silent, Major,” and lifting his empty tumbler Jeekie +looked through it as if it were a telescope, a hint that Alan ignored. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie, you infernal old fool, I want money.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, I understand, Major. Forgive me for breaking conspiracy of +silence, but if £500 in Savings Bank any use, very much at your service, Major; +also £20 more extracted last night from terror of wealthy Jew who fear +fetish.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie, you old donkey, I don’t want your £500; I want a great +deal more, £50,000 or £500,000. Tell me how to get it.” +</p> + +<p> +“City best place, Major. But you chuck City, too much honest man, great +mistake to be honest in this terrestrial sphere. Often notice that in West +Africa.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps, Jeekie, but I have done with the City. As you would say, for me +it is ‘wipe out, finish.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, too much pickpocket, too much dirt. Bottom always drop out +of bucket shop at last. I understand, end in police court and severe +magistrate, or perhaps even ‘Gentlemen of Jury’; etcetera.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Jeekie, then what remains? Now last night when you told us that +amazing yarn of yours, you said something about a mountain full of gold, and +houses full of gold, among your people. Jeekie, do you +think——” and he paused, looking at him. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie rolled his black eyes round the room and in a fit of absentmindedness +helped himself to some more whisky. +</p> + +<p> +“Do I think, Major, that this useless lucre could be converted into coin +of gracious King Edward? Not at all, Major, by no one, Major, by no one +whatsoever, except possibly by Major Alan Vernon, D.S.O., and by one, Jeekie, +Christian surname Smith.” +</p> + +<p> +“Proceed, Jeekie,” said Alan, removing the whisky bottle, +“proceed and explain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Major, thus: The Asiki tribe care nothing about all that gold, it no +good to them. Dead people who live long, long ago, no one know when, dig it up +and store it there and make the great fetish which they call Bonsa to keep away +enemy who want to steal. Also old custom when any one in country round find big +nugget, or pretty stone, like ladies wear on bosom, to bring it as offering to +Bonsa, so that there now great plenty of all this stuff. But no one use it for +anything except to set on walls of house of Asiki, or to make basin, stool, +table and pot to cook with. Once Arab come there and I see the priests give him +weight in gold for iron hoe, though afterwards they murder him, not for the +gold, but lest he go away and tell their secret.” +</p> + +<p> +“One might trade with them then, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +He shook his white head doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, perhaps, if you find anything they want buy and can carry it +Asiki-Land. But I think there only one thing they want, and you got that, +Major.” +</p> + +<p> +“I, Jeekie! What have I got?” +</p> + +<p> +The negro leant forward and tapped his master on the knee, saying in a +portentous whisper: +</p> + +<p> +“You got Little Bonsa, which much more holy than anything, even than Big +Bonsa her husband, I mean greater, more powerful devil. That Little Bonsa sit +in front room Asika’s house, and when she want see things, she put it in +big basin of gold, but I no tell you what it float in. Also once or twice every +year they take out Little Bonsa; Asika wear it on head as mask, and whoever +they meet they kill as offering to Little Bonsa, so that spirit come back to +world to be priest of Bonsa. I tell you, Major, that Yellow God see many +thousand of people die.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Alan. “A pleasing fetish truly. I should think +that the Asiki must be glad it is gone.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, not glad, very sorry. No luck for them when Little Bonsa go away, +but plenty luck for those who got her. That why firm Aylward & Haswell make +so much money when you join them and bring her to office. She drop green in eye +of public so they no smell rat. That why you so lucky, not die of blackwater +fever when you should; get safe out of den of thieves in City with good name; +win love of sweet maiden, Miss Barbara. Little Bonsa do all those things for +you, and by and by do plenty more, as Little Bonsa bring my old master, your +holy uncle, safe out of that country because all the Asiki run away when they +see him wear her on head, for they think she come sacrifice them after she eat +up my life.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t wonder that they ran,” said Alan, laughing, for the +vision of a missionary with Little Bonsa on his head caught his fancy. +“But come to the point, you old heathen. What do you mean that I should +do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie not heathen now, Major, but plenty other things true in this +world, besides Christian religion. I no want you do anything, but I say +this—you go back to Asiki wearing Little Bonsa on head and dressed like +Reverend uncle whom you very like, for he just your age then thirty years ago, +and they give you all the gold you want, if you give them back Little Bonsa +whom they love and worship for ever and ever, for Little Bonsa very, very +old.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan sat up in his chair and stared at Jeekie, while Jeekie nodded his head at +him. +</p> + +<p> +“There is something in it,” he said slowly, speaking more to +himself than to the negro, “and perhaps that is why I would not sell the +fetish, for as you say, there are plenty of true things in the world besides +those which we believe. But, Jeekie, how should I find the way?” +</p> + +<p> +“No trouble, Major, Little Bonsa find way, want to get back home, very +hungry by now, much need sacrifice. Think it good thing kill pig to Little +Bonsa—or even lamb. She know you do your best, since human being not to +be come at in Christian land, and say ‘thank you for life of +pig.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Stop that rubbish,” said Alan. “I want a guide; if I go, +will you come with me?” +</p> + +<p> +At this suggestion the negro looked exceedingly uncomfortable. +</p> + +<p> +“Not like to, not like to at all,” he said, rolling his eyes. +“Asiki-land very funny place for native-born. But,” he added sadly, +“if you go Jeekie must, for I servant of Little Bonsa and if I stay +behind, she angry and kill me because I not attend her where she walk. But +perhaps if I go and take her to Gold House again, she pleased and let me off. +Also I able help you there. Yes, if you and Little Bonsa go, think I go +too.” +</p> + +<p> +After this announcement Jeekie rose and walked down the room, carrying the cold +mutton in his hand. Then he returned, replaced it on the table and standing in +front of Alan, said earnestly: +</p> + +<p> +“Major, I tell you all truth, just this once. Jeekie believe he +<i>got</i> go with you to Asiki-land. Jeekie have plenty bad dream lately, +Little Bonsa come in middle of the night and sit on his stomach and scratch his +face with her gold leg, and say, ‘Jeekie, Jeekie, you son of Bonsa, you +get up quick and take me back Bonsa Town, for I darned tired of City fog and +finished all I come here to do. Now I want jolly good sacrifice and got plenty +business attend to there at home, things you not understand just yet. You take +me back sharp, or I make you sit up, Jeekie, my boy;’” and he +paused. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” said Alan; “and did she tell you anything else in +her midnight visitations?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major. She say, ‘You take that white master of yours along +also, for I want come back Asiki-land on his head, and someone wish see him +there, old pal what he forgot but what not forget him. You tell him Little +Bonsa got score she wants settle with that party and wish use him to square +account. You tell him too that she pay him well for trip; he lose nothing if he +play her game ’cause she got no score against him. But if he not go, that +another matter, then he look out, for Little Bonsa very nasty customer if she +riled, as his late partners find out one day.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! shut up, Jeekie. What’s the use of wasting time telling me +your nightmares?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Major, just as you like, Major. But I got other reasons why I +willing go. Jeekie want see his ma.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your ma? I never heard you had a ma. Besides she must be dead long +ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Major, ’cause she turn up in dream too, very much alive, swear +at me ’cause I bag her blanket. Also she tough old woman, take lot kill +her.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps you have a pa too,” suggested Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Think not, Major, my ma always say she forget him. What she mean, she +not like talk about him, he such a swell. Why Jeekie so strong, so clever and +with such beautiful face? No doubt because he is son of very great man. All +this true reason why he want to go with you, Major. Still, p’raps poor +old Jeekie make mistake, p’raps he dream ’cause he eat too much +supper, p’raps his ma dead, after all. If so, p’raps better stay at +home—not know.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” answered Alan, “not know. What between Little Bonsa and +one thing and another my head is swimming—like Little Bonsa in the +water.” +</p> + +<p> +“Big Bonsa swim in water,” interrupted Jeekie. “Little Bonsa +swim in gold tub.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Big Bonsa, or Little Bonsa, I don’t care which. I’m +going to bed and you had better clear away these things and do the same. But, +Jeekie, if you say a word of our talk to anyone, I shall be very angry. Do you +understand?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, I understand. I understand that if I tell secrets of Little +Bonsa to anyone except you with whom she live in strange land far away from +home, Little Bonsa come at me like one lion, and cut my throat. No fear Jeekie +split on Little Bonsa, oh! no fear at all,” and still shaking his head +solemnly, for the second time he seized the cold mutton and vanished from the +room. +</p> + +<p> +“A farrago of superstitious nonsense,” thought Alan to himself when +he had gone. “But still there may be something to be made out of it. +Evidently there is lots of gold in this Asiki country, if only one can persuade +the people to deal.” +</p> + +<p> +Then weary of Jeekie and his tribal gods, Alan lit his pipe and sat a while +thinking of Barbara and all the events of that tumultuous day. Notwithstanding +his rebuff at the hands of Mr. Haswell and the difficulties and dangers which +threatened, he felt even then that it had been a happy and a fortunate day. For +had he not discovered that Barbara loved him with all her heart and soul as he +loved Barbara? And as this was so, he did not care a—Little Bonsa about +anything else. The future must look to itself, sufficient to the day was the +abiding joy thereof. +</p> + +<p> +So he went to bed and for a while to sleep, but he did not sleep very long, for +presently he fell to dreaming, something about Big Bonsa and Little Bonsa which +sat, or rather floated on either side of his couch and held an interminable +conversation over him, while Jeekie and Sir Robert Aylward, perched +respectively at its head and its foot, like the symbols of the good and evil +genii on a Mohammedan tomb, acted as a kind of insane chorus. He struck his +repeater, it was only one o’clock, so he tried to go to sleep again, but +failed utterly. Never had he been more painfully awake. +</p> + +<p> +For an hour or more Alan persevered, then at last in despair he jumped out of +bed wondering what he could do to occupy his mind. Suddenly he remembered the +diary of his uncle, the Rev. Mr. Austin, which he had inherited with the Yellow +God and a few other possessions, but never examined. They had been put away in +a box in the library about fifteen years before, just at the time he entered +the army, and there doubtless they remained. Well, as he could not sleep, why +should he not examine them now, and thus get through some of this weary night? +</p> + +<p> +He lit a candle and went down to the library, an ancient and beautiful +apartment with black oak panelling between the bookcases, set there in the time +of Elizabeth. In this panelling there were cupboards, and in one of the +cupboards was the box he sought, made of teak wood. On its lid was painted, +“The Reverend Henry Austin. Passenger to Acra,” showing that it had +once been his uncle’s cabin box. The key hung from the handle, and having +lit more candles, Alan drew it out and unlocked it, to be greeted by a smell of +musty documents done up in great bundles. One by one he placed them on the +floor. It was a dreary occupation alone there in that great, silent room at the +dead of night, one indeed with which he was soon satisfied, for somehow it +reminded him of rifling coffins in a vault. Before him so carefully put away +lay the records of a good if not a distinguished life, and until this moment he +had never found the energy even to look through them. +</p> + +<p> +At length he came to the end of the bundles and saw that beneath lay a number +of manuscript books packed closely with their backs upwards, +marked—“Journal”—and with the year and sometimes the +place of the author’s residence. As he glanced at them in dismay, for +they were many, his eye caught the title of one inscribed—as were several +others—“West Africa,” and written in brackets +beneath—“This vol. contains all that is left of the notes of my +escape with Jeekie from the Asiki Devil-worshippers.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan drew it out, and having refilled and closed the box, bore it off to his +room, where he proceeded to read it in bed. As a matter of fact he found that +there was not very much to read, for the reason that most of the +closely-written volume had been so damaged by water, that the pencilled writing +had run and become utterly illegible. The centre pages, however, not having +been soaked, could still be deciphered, at any rate in part, also there was a +large manuscript map, executed in ink, apparently at a later date, on the back +of which was written: “I purpose, D.V., to re-write at some convenient +time all the history of my visit to the unknown Asiki people, as my original +notes were practically destroyed when the canoe overset in the rapids and most +of our few possessions were lost, except this book and the gold fetish mask +which is called Little Bonsa or Small Swimming Head. This I think I can do with +the aid of Jeekie from memory, but as the matter has only a personal and no +religious interest, seeing that I was not able even to preach the Word among +those benighted and bloodthirsty savages in whose country, as I verily +believe, the Devil has one of his principal habitations, it must stand over +till a convenient season, such as the time of old age or sickness. H.A.” +</p> + +<p> +“P.S. I ought to add with gratitude that even out of this hell fire I was +enabled to snatch one brand from the burning, namely, the negro lad, Jeekie, to +whose extraordinary resource and faithfulness I owe my escape. After a long +hesitation I have been able to baptize him, although I fear that the taint of +heathenism still clings to him. Thus not six months ago I caught him +sacrificing a white cock to the image, Little Bonsa, in gratitude, as to my +horror he explained, for my having been appointed an Honorary Canon of the +Cathedral. I have told him to take that ugly mask which has been so often +soaked in human blood, and melt it down over the kitchen stove, after picking +out the gems in the eyes, that the proceeds may be given to the poor. +<i>Note.</i> I had better see to this myself, as where Little Bonsa is +concerned, Jeekie is not to be trusted. He says (with some excuse) that it has +magic, and that if he melts it down, he will melt down too, and so shall I. How +dark and ridiculous are the superstitions of the heathen! Perhaps, however, +instead of destroying the thing, which is certainly unique, I might sell it to +a museum, and thus spare the feelings of that weak vessel, Jeekie, who +otherwise would very likely take it into his head to waste away and die, as +these Africans do when their nerves are affected by terror of their +fetish.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /> +THE DIARY.</h2> + +<p> +Reflecting that time evidently had made little change in Jeekie, Alan studied +this route map with care, and found that it started from Old Calabar, in the +Bight of Biafra, on the west coast of Africa, whence it ran up to the Great Qua +River, which it followed for a long way. Then it struck across country marked +“dense forest,” northwards, and came to a river called Katsena, +along the banks of which the route went eastwards. Thence it turned northward +again through swamps, and ended in mountains called Shaku. In the middle of +these mountains was written “Asiki People live here on Raaba River.” +</p> + +<p> +The map was roughly drawn to scale, and Alan, who was an engineer accustomed to +such things, easily calculated that the distance of this Raaba River from Old +Calabar was about 350 miles as the crow flies, though probably the actual route +to be travelled was nearer five hundred miles. +</p> + +<p> +Having mastered the map, he opened the water-soaked diary. Turning page after +page, only here and there could he make out a sentence, such as “so I +defied that beautiful but terrific woman. I, a Christian minister, the husband +of a heathen priestess! Perish the thought. Sooner would I be sacrificed to +Bonsa.” +</p> + +<p> +Then came more illegible pages and again a paragraph that could be +read—“They gave me ‘The Bean’ in a gold cup, and +knowing its deadly nature I prepared myself for death. But happily for me my +stomach, always delicate, rejected it at once, though I felt queer for days +afterwards. Whereon they clapped their hands and said I was evidently innocent +and a great medicine man.” +</p> + +<p> +And again, further on—“never did I see so much gold whether in +dust, nuggets, or worked articles. I imagine it must be worth millions, but at +that time gold was the last thing with which I wished to trouble myself.” +</p> + +<p> +After this entry many pages were utterly effaced. +</p> + +<p> +The last legible passage ran as follows—“So guided by the lad +Jeekie, and wearing the gold mask, Little Bonsa, on my head, I ran through them +all, holding him by the hand as though I were dragging him away. A strange +spectacle I must have been with my old black clergyman’s coat buttoned +about me, my naked legs and the gold mask, as pretending to be a devil such as +they worship, I rushed through them in the moonlight, blowing the whistle in +the mask and bellowing like a bull. . . . Such was the beginning of my dreadful +six months’ journey to the coast. Setting aside the mercy of Providence +that preserved me for its own purposes, I could never have lived to reach it +had it not been for Little Bonsa, since curiously enough I found this fetish +known and dreaded for hundreds of miles, and that by people who had never seen +it, yes, even by the wild cannibals. Whenever it was produced food, bearers, +canoes, or whatever else I might want were forthcoming as though by magic. +Great is the fame of Big and Little Bonsa in all that part of West Africa, +although, strange as it may seem, the outlying tribes seldom mention them by +name. If they must speak of either of these images which are supposed to be man +and wife, they call it the ‘Yellow-God-who-lives-yonder.’” +</p> + +<p> +Not another word of all this strange history could Alan decipher, so with +aching eyes he shut up the stained and tattered volume, and at last, just as +the day was breaking, fell asleep. +</p> + +<p> +At eleven o’clock on that same morning, for he had slept late, Alan rose +from his breakfast and went to smoke his pipe at the open door of the beautiful +old hall in Yarleys that was clad with brown Elizabethan oak for which any +dealer would have given hundreds of pounds. It was a charming morning, one of +those that comes to us sometimes in an English April when the air is soft like +that of Italy and the smell of the earth rises like that of incense, and little +clouds float idly across a sky of tender blue. Standing thus he looked out upon +the park where the elms already showed a tinge of green and the ash-buds were +coal black. Only the walnuts and the great oaks, some of them pollards of a +thousand years of age, remained stark and stern in their winter dress. +</p> + +<p> +Alan was in a reflective mood and involuntarily began to wonder how many of his +forefathers had stood in that same spot upon such April mornings and looked out +upon those identical trees wakening in the breath of spring. Only the trees and +the landscape knew, those trees which had seen every one of them borne to +baptism, to bridal and to burial. The men and women themselves were forgotten. +Their portraits, each in the garb of his or her generation, hung here and there +upon the walls of the ancient house which once they had owned or inhabited, but +who remembered anything of them to-day? In many cases their names even were +lost, for believing that they, so important in their time, could never sink +into oblivion, they had not thought it necessary to record them upon their +pictures. +</p> + +<p> +And now the thing was coming to an end. Unless in this way or in that he could +save it, what remained of the old place, for the outlying lands had long since +been sold, must go to the hammer and become the property of some pushing and +successful person who desired to found a family, and perhaps in days to be +would claim these very pictures that hung upon the walls as those of his own +ancestors, declaring that he had brought in the estate because he was a +relative of the ancient and ruined race. +</p> + +<p> +Well, it was the way of the world, and perhaps it must be so, but the thought +of it made Alan Vernon sad. If he could have continued that business, it might +have been otherwise. By this hour his late partners, Sir Robert Aylward and Mr. +Champers-Haswell, were doubtless sitting in their granite office in the City, +probably in consultation with Lord Specton, who had taken his place upon the +Board of the great Company which was being subscribed that day. No doubt +applications for shares were pouring in by the early posts and by telegram, and +from time to time Mr. Jeffreys respectfully reported their number and amount, +while Sir Robert looked unconcerned and Mr. Haswell rubbed his hands and +whistled cheerfully. Almost he could envy them, these men who were realizing +great fortunes amidst the bustle and excitement of that fierce financial life, +whilst he stood penniless and stared at the trees and the ewes which wandered +among them with their lambs, he who, after all his work, was but a failure. +With a sigh he turned away to fetch his cap and go out walking—there was +a tenant whom he must see, a shifty, new-fangled kind of man who was always +clamouring for fresh buildings and reductions in his rent. How was he to pay +for more buildings? He must put him off, or let him go. +</p> + +<p> +Just then a sharp sound caught his ear, that of an electric bell. It came from +the telephone which, since he had been a member of a City firm, he had caused +to be put into Yarleys at considerable expense in order that he might be able +to communicate with the office in London. “Were they calling him up from +force of habit?” he wondered. He went to the instrument which was fixed +in a little room he used as a study, and took down the receiver. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is it?” he asked. “I am Yarleys. Alan Vernon.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I am Barbara,” came the answer. “How are you, dear? Did +you sleep well?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, very badly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nerves—Alan, you have got nerves. Now although I had a worse day +than you did, I went to bed at nine, and protected by a perfect conscience, +slumbered till nine this morning, exactly twelve hours. Isn’t it clever +of me to think of this telephone, which is more than you would ever have done? +My uncle has departed to London vowing that no letter from you shall enter this +house, but he forgot that there is a telephone in every room, and in fact at +this moment I am speaking round by his office within a yard or two of his head. +However, he can’t hear, so that doesn’t matter. My blessing be on +the man who invented telephones, which hitherto I have always thought an awful +nuisance. Are you feeling cheerful, Alan?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very much the reverse,” he answered; “never was more gloomy +in my life, not even when I thought I had to die within six hours of blackwater +fever. Also I have lots that I want to talk to you about and I can’t do +it at the end of this confounded wire that your uncle may be tapping.” +</p> + +<p> +“I thought it might be so,” answered Barbara, “so I just rang +you up to wish you good-morning and to say that I am coming over in the motor +to lunch with my maid Snell as chaperone. All right, don’t remonstrate, I +<i>am coming</i> over to lunch—I can’t hear you—never mind +what people will say. I am coming over to lunch at one o’clock, mind you +are in. Good-bye, I don’t want much to eat, but have something for Snell +and the chauffeur. Good-bye.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the wire went dead, nor could all Alan’s “Hello’s” +and “Are you there’s?” extract another syllable. +</p> + +<p> +Having ordered the best luncheon that his old housekeeper could provide Alan +went off for his walk in much better spirits, which were further improved by +his success in persuading the tenant to do without the new buildings for +another year. In a year, he reflected, anything might happen. Then he returned +by the wood where a number of new-felled oaks lay ready for barking. This was +not a cheerful sight; it seemed so cruel to kill the great trees just as they +were pushing their buds for another summer of life. But he consoled himself by +recalling that they had been too crowded and that the timber was really needed +on the estate. As he reached the house again carrying a bunch of white violets +which he had plucked in a sheltered place for Barbara, he perceived a motor +travelling at much more than the legal speed up the walnut avenue which was the +pride of the place. In it sat that young lady herself, and her maid, Snell, a +middle-aged woman with whom, as it chanced, he was on very good terms, as once, +at some trouble to himself, he had been able to do her a kindness. +</p> + +<p> +The motor pulled up at the front door and out of it sprang Barbara, laughing +pleasantly and looking fresh and charming as the spring itself. +</p> + +<p> +“There will be a row over this, dear,” said Alan, shaking his head +doubtfully when at last they were alone together in the hall. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course, there’ll be a row,” she answered. “I mean +that there shall be a row. I mean to have a row every day if necessary, until +they leave me alone to follow my own road, and if they won’t, as I said, +to go to the Court of Chancery for protection. Oh! by the way, I have brought +you a copy of <i>The Judge</i>. There’s a most awful article in it about +that Sahara flotation, and among other things it announces that you have left +the firm and congratulates you upon having done so.” +</p> + +<p> +“They’ll think I have put it in,” groaned Alan as he glanced +at the head lines, which were almost libellous in their vigour, and the +summaries of the financial careers of Sir Robert Aylward and Mr. +Champers-Haswell. “It will make them hate me more than ever, and I say, +Barbara, we can’t live in an atmosphere of perpetual warfare for the next +two years.” +</p> + +<p> +“I can, if need be,” answered that determined young woman. +“But I admit that it would be trying for you, if you stay here.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s just the point, Barbara. I must not stay here, I must go +away, the further the better, until you are your own mistress.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where to, Alan?” +</p> + +<p> +“To West Africa, I think.” +</p> + +<p> +“To West Africa?” repeated Barbara, her voice trembling a little. +“After that treasure, Alan?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Barbara. But first come and have your lunch, then we will talk. I +have got lots to tell and show you.” +</p> + +<p> +So they lunched, speaking of indifferent things, for the servant was there +waiting on them. Just as they were finishing their meal Jeekie entered the room +carrying a box and a large envelope addressed to his master, which he said had +been sent by special messenger from the office in London. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s in the box?” asked Alan, looking somewhat nervously +at the envelope, which was addressed in a writing that he knew. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know for certain, Major,” answered Jeekie, “but +think Little Bonsa; think I smell her through wood.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, look and see,” replied Alan, while he broke the seal of the +envelope and drew out its contents. They proved to be sundry documents sent by +the firm’s lawyers, among which were a notice of the formal dissolution +of partnership to be approved by him before it appeared in the <i>Gazette</i>, +a second notice calling in a mortgage for fifteen thousand and odd pounds on +Yarleys, which as a matter of business had been taken over by the firm while he +was a partner; a cash account showing a small balance against him, and finally +a receipt for him to sign acknowledging the return of the gold image that was +his property. +</p> + +<p> +“You see,” said Alan with a sigh, pushing over the papers to +Barbara, who read them carefully one by one. +</p> + +<p> +“I see,” she answered presently. “It is war to the knife. +Alan, I hate the idea of it, but perhaps you had better go away. While you are +here they will harass the life out of you.” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile with the aid of a big jack-knife and the dining-room poker, Jeekie +had prised off the lid of the box. Chancing to look round Barbara saw him on +his knees muttering something in a strange tongue, and bowing his white head +until it touched an object that lay within the box. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you doing, Jeekie?” she asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Make bow to Little Bonsa, Miss Barbara, tell her how glad I am see her +come back from town. She like feel welcome. Now you come bow too, Little Bonsa +take that as compliment.” +</p> + +<p> +“I won’t bow, but I will look, Jeekie, for although I have heard so +much about it I have never really examined this Yellow God.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good, you come look, miss,” and Jeekie propped up the case +upon the end of the dining-room table. As from its height and position she +could not see its contents very well whilst standing above it, Barbara knelt +down to get a better view of it. +</p> + +<p> +“My goodness!” she exclaimed, “what a terrible face, +beautiful too in its way.” +</p> + +<p> +Hardly had the words left her lips when for some reason unexplained that +probably had to do with the shifting of the centre of gravity, Little Bonsa +appeared to glide or fall out of her box with a startling suddenness, and +project herself straight at Barbara, who, with a faint scream, fearing lest the +precious thing should be injured, caught it in her arms and for a moment hugged +it to her breast. +</p> + +<p> +“Saved!” she exclaimed, recovering herself and placing it on the +table, whereon Jeekie, to their astonishment, began to execute a kind of war +dance. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! yes,” he said, “saved, very much saved. All saved, most +magnificent omen. Lady kneel to Little Bonsa and Little Bonsa nip out of box, +make bow and jump in lady’s arms. That splendid, first-class luck, for +miss and everybody. When Little Bonsa do that need fear nothing no more. All +come right as rain.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense,” said Barbara, laughing. Then from a cautious distance +she continued her examination of the fetish. +</p> + +<p> +“See,” said Jeekie, pointing to the misshapen little gold legs +which were yet so designed that it could be stood up upon them, “when +anyone wear Little Bonsa, tie her on head behind by these legs; look, here same +old leather string. Now I put her on, for she like to be worn again,” and +with a quick movement he clapped the mask on to his face, manipulated the +greasy black leather thongs and made them fast. Thus adorned the great negro +looked no less than terrific. +</p> + +<p> +“I see you, miss,” he said, turning the fixed eyes of opal-like +stone, bloodshot with little rubies, upon Barbara, “I see you, though +you no see me, for these eyes made very cunning. But listen, you hear +me,” and suddenly from the mask, produced by some contrivance set within +it, there proceeded an awful, howling sound that made her shiver. +</p> + +<p> +“Take that thing off, Jeekie,” said Alan, “we don’t +want any banshees here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Banshees? Not know him, he poor English fetish p’raps,” said +Jeekie, as he removed the mask. “This real African god, howl banshee and +all that sort into middle of next week. This Little Bonsa and no mistake, ten +thousand years old and more, eat up lives, so many that no one can count them, +and go on eating for ever, yes unto the third and fourth generation, as Ten +Commandments lay it down for benefit of Christian man, like me. Look at her +again, Miss Barbara.” +</p> + +<p> +Miss Barbara took the hateful, ancient thing in her hands and studied it. No +one could doubt its antiquity, for the gold plate of which it was made was +literally worn away wherever it had touched the foreheads of the high priests +or priestesses who donned it upon festive occasions or days of sacrifice, +showing that hundreds and hundreds of them must have used it thus in +succession. So was the vocal apparatus within the mouth, and so were the little +toad-like feet upon which it was stood up. Also the substance of the gold +itself was here and there pitted as though with acid or salts, though what +those salts were she did not inquire. And yet, so consummate was the art with +which it had originally been fashioned, that the battered beautiful face of +Little Bonsa still peered at them with the same devilish smile that it had worn +when it left the hands of its maker, perhaps before Mohammed preached his holy +war, or even earlier. +</p> + +<p> +“What is all that writing on the back of it?” asked Barbara, +pointing to the long lines of rune-like characters which were inscribed within +it. +</p> + +<p> +“Not know, miss, think they dead tongue cut in the beginning when black +men could write. But Asiki priests swear they remember every one of them, and +that why no one can copy Little Bonsa, for they look inside and see if marks +all right. They say they names of those who died for Little Bonsa, and when +they all done, Little Bonsa begin again, for Little Bonsa never die. But +p’raps priests lie.” +</p> + +<p> +“I daresay,” said Barbara, “but take Little Bonsa away, for +however lucky she may be, she makes me feel sick.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where I put her, Major?” asked Jeekie of Alan. “In box in +library where she used to live, or in plate-safe with spoons? Or under your bed +where she always keep eye on you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! put her with the spoons,” said Alan angrily, and Jeekie +departed with his treasure. +</p> + +<p> +“I think, dear,” remarked Barbara as the door closed behind him, +“that if I come to lunch here any more, I shall bring my own christening +present with me, for I can’t eat off silver that has been shut up with +that thing. Now let us get to business—show me the diary and the +map.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dearest Alan,” wrote Barbara from The Court two days later, +“I have been thinking everything over, and since you are so set upon it, +I suppose that you had better go. To me the whole adventure seems perfectly +mad, but at the same time I believe in our luck, or rather in the Providence +which watches over us, and I don’t believe that you, or I either, will +come to any harm. If you stop here, you will only eat your heart out and +communication between us must become increasingly difficult. My uncle is +furious with you, and since he discovered that we were talking over the +telephone, to his own great inconvenience he has had the wires cut outside the +house. That horrid letter of his to you saying that you had +‘compromised’ me in pursuance of a ‘mercenary scheme’ +is all part and parcel of the same thing. How are you to stop here and submit +to such insults? I went to see my friend the lawyer, and he tells me that of +course we can marry if we like, but in that case my father’s will, which +he has consulted at Somerset House, is absolutely definite, and if I do so in +opposition to my uncle’s wishes, I must lose everything except £200 a +year. Now I am no money-grubber, but I will not give my uncle the satisfaction +of robbing me of my fortune, which may be useful to both of us by and by. The +lawyer says also that he does not think that the Court of Chancery would +interfere, having no power to do so as far as the will is concerned, and not +being able to make a ward of a person like myself who is over age and has the +protection of the common law of the country. So it seems to me that the only +thing to do is to be patient, and wait until time unties the knot. +</p> + +<p> +“Meanwhile, if you can make some money in Africa, so much the better. So +go, Alan, go as soon as you like, for I do not wish to prolong this agony, or +to see you exposed daily to all you have to bear. Whenever you return you will +find me waiting for you, and if you do not return, still I shall wait, as you +in like circumstances will wait for me. But I think you will return.” +</p> + +<p> +Then followed much that need not be written, and at the end a postscript which +ran: +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad to hear that you have succeeded in shifting the mortgage on +Yarleys, although the interest is so high. Write to me whenever you get a +chance, to the care of the lawyer, for then the letters will reach me, but +never to this house, or they may be stopped. I will do the same to you to the +address you give. Good-bye, dearest Alan, my true and only lover. I wonder +where and when we shall meet again. God be with us both and enable us to bear +our trial. +</p> + +<p> +“P.P.S. I hear that the Sahara flotation was <i>really</i> a success, +notwithstanding the <i>Judge</i> attacks. Sir Robert and my uncle have made +millions. I wonder how long they will keep them.” +</p> + +<p> +A week after he received this letter Alan was on the seas heading for the +shores of Western Africa. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /> +THE DWARF FOLK.</h2> + +<p> +It was dawn at last. All night it had rained as it can rain in West Africa, +falling on the wide river with a hissing splash, sullen and continuous. Now, +towards morning, the rain had ceased and everywhere rose a soft and pearly mist +that clung to the face of the waters and seemed to entangle itself like strands +of wool among the branches of the bordering trees. On the bank of the river at +a spot that had been cleared of bush, stood a tent, and out of this tent +emerged a white man wearing a sun helmet and grey flannel shirt and trousers. +It was Alan Vernon, who in these surroundings looked larger and more commanding +than he had done at the London office, or even in his own house of Yarleys. +Perhaps the moustache and short brown beard which he had grown, or his skin, +already altered and tanned by the tropics, had changed his appearance for the +better. At any rate it was changed. So were his manner and bearing, whereof all +the diffidence had gone. Now they were those of a man accustomed to command who +found himself in his right place. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” he called, “wake up those fellows and come and +light the oil-stove. I want my coffee.” +</p> + +<p> +Thereon a deep voice was heard speaking in some native tongue and saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Cease your snoring, you black hogs, and arouse yourselves, for your lord +calls you,” an invocation that was followed by the sound of kicks, +thumps, and muttered curses. +</p> + +<p> +A minute or two later Jeekie himself appeared, and he also was much changed in +appearance, for now instead of his smart, European clothes, he wore a white +robe and sandals that gave him an air at once dignified and patriarchal. +</p> + +<p> +“Good-morning, Major,” he said cheerfully. “I hope you sleep +well, Major, in this low-lying and accursed situation, which is more than we do +in boat that half full of water, to say nothing of smell of black man and +prevalent mosquito. But the rain it over and gone, and presently the sun shine +out, so might be much worse, no cause at all complain.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” answered Alan, with a shiver. “I +believe that I am fever proof, but otherwise I should have caught it last +night, and—just give me the quinine, I will take five grains for +luck.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, for luck,” answered Jeekie as he opened the medicine +chest and found the quinine, at the same time glancing anxiously out of the +corner of his eye at his master’s face, for he knew that the spot where +they had slept was deadly to white men at this season of the year. “You +not catch fever, Little Bonsa,” here he dropped his voice and looked down +at the box which had served Alan for a pillow, “see to that. But quinine +give you appetite for breakfast. Very good chop this morning. Which you like +best? Cold ven’son, or fish, or one of them ducks you shoot +yesterday?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! some of the cold meat, I think. Give the ducks to the boatmen, I +don’t fancy them in this hot place. By the way, Jeekie, we leave the Qua +River here, don’t we?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, Major, just here. I ’member spot well, for your uncle he +pray on it one whole hour; I pretend pray too, but in heart give thanks to +Little Bonsa, for heathen in those days, quite different now. This morning we +begin walk through forest where it rather dark and cool and comfortable, that +is if we no see dwarf people from whom good Lord deliver us,” and he +bowed towards the box containing Little Bonsa. +</p> + +<p> +“Will those four porters come with us through the forest, Jeekie, as they +promised?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, they come. Last night they say they not come, too much afraid +of dwarf. But I settle their hash. I tell them I save up bits of their hair and +toe nails when they no thinking, and I mix it with medicine, and if they not +come, they die every one before they get home. They think me great doctor and +they believe. Perhaps they die if they go on. If so, I tell them that because +they want show white feather, and they think me greater doctor still. Oh! they +come, they come, no fear, or else Jeekie know reason why. Now, here coffee, +Major. Drink him hot before you go take tub, but keep in shallow water, because +crocodile he very early riser.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan laughed, and departed to “take tub.” Notwithstanding the +mosquitoes that buzzed round him in clouds, the water was cool and pleasant by +comparison with the hot, sticky air, and the feel of it seemed to rid him of +the languor resulting from his disturbed night. +</p> + +<p> +A month had passed since he had left Old Calabar, and owing to the incessant +rains the journeying had been hard. Indeed the white men there thought that he +was mad to attempt to go up the river at this season. Of course he had said +nothing to them of the objects of his expedition, hinting only that he wished +to explore and shoot, and perhaps prospect for mines. But knowing as they did, +that he was an Engineer officer with a good record and much African experience, +they soon made up their minds that he had been sent by Government upon some +secret mission that for reasons of his own he preferred to keep to himself. +This conclusion, which Jeekie zealously fostered behind his back, in fact did +Alan a good turn, since owing to it he obtained boatmen and servants at a +season when, had he been supposed to be but a private person, these would +scarcely have been forthcoming at any price. Hitherto his journey had been one +long record of mud, mosquitoes, and misery, but otherwise devoid of incident, +except the eating of one of his boatmen by a crocodile which was a particularly +“early riser,” for it had pulled the poor fellow out of the canoe +in which he lay asleep at night. Now, however, the real dangers were about to +begin, since at this spot he left the great river and started forward through +the forest on foot with Jeekie and the four bearers whom he had paid highly to +accompany him. +</p> + +<p> +He could not conceal from himself that the undertaking seemed somewhat +desperate. But of this he said nothing in the long letter he had written to +Barbara on the previous night, sighing as he sealed it, at the thought that it +might well be the last which would ever reach her from him, even if the boatmen +got safely back to Calabar and remembered to put it in the post. The enterprise +had been begun and must be carried through, until it ended in success—or +death. +</p> + +<p> +An hour later they started. First walked Alan as leader of the expedition, +carrying a double-barrelled gun that could be used either for ball or shot, +about fifty cartridges with brass cases to protect them from the damp, a +revolver, a hunting-knife, a cloth mackintosh, and lastly, strapped upon his +back like a knapsack, a tin box containing the fetish, Little Bonsa, which was +too precious to be trusted to anyone else. It was quite a sufficient load for +any white man in that climate, but being very wiry, Alan did not feel its +weight, at any rate at first. +</p> + +<p> +After him in single file came the four porters, laden with a small tent, some +tinned provisions and brandy, ammunition, a box containing beads, watches, etc. +for presents, blankets, spare clothing and so forth. These were stalwart +fellows enough, who knew the forest, but their dejected air showed that now +they had come face to face with its dangers, they heartily wished themselves +anywhere else. Indeed, notwithstanding their terror of Jeekie’s medicine, +at the last moment they threw down their loads intending to make a wild rush +for the departing boat, only to be met by Jeekie himself who, anticipating some +such move, was waiting for them on the bank with a shotgun. Here he remained +until the canoe was too far out in the stream for them to reach it by swimming. +Then he asked them if they wished to sit and starve there with the devils he +would leave them for company, of if they would carry out their bargain like +honest men? +</p> + +<p> +The end of it was they took up their loads again and marched, while behind them +walked the terrible and gigantic Jeekie, the barrels of the shotgun which he +carried at full cock and occasionally used to prod them, pointing directly at +their backs. A strange object he looked truly, for in addition to the weapons +with which he bristled, several cooking-pots were slung about him, to say +nothing of a cork mattress and a mackintosh sheet tied in a flat bundle to his +shoulders, a box containing medicines and food which he carried on his head, +and fastened to the top of it with string like a helmet on a coffin, an +enormous solar-tope stuffed full of mosquito netting, of which the ends fell +about him like a green veil. When Alan remonstrated with him as to the cork +mattress, suggesting that it should be thrown away as too hot to wear, Jeekie +replied that he had been cold for thirty years, and wished to get warm again. +Guessing that his real reason for declining to part with the article, was that +his master should have something to lie on, other than the damp ground, Alan +said no more at the time, which, as will be seen, was fortunate enough for +Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +For a mile or more their road ran through fantastic-looking mangrove trees +rooted in the mud, that in the mist resembled, Alan thought, many-legged +arboreal octopi feeling for their food, and tall reeds on the tops of which sat +crowds of chattering finches. Then just as the sun broke out, strongly, +cheering them with its warmth and sucking up the vapours, they entered sparse +bush with palms and great cotton trees growing here and there, and so at length +came to the borders of the mighty forest. +</p> + +<p> +Oh! dark, dark was that forest; he who entered it from the cheerful sunshine +felt as though suddenly and without preparation he had wandered out of the +light we know into some dim Hades such as the old Greek fancy painted, where +strengthless ghosts flit aimlessly, mourning the lost light. Everywhere the +giant boles of trees shooting the height of a church tower into the air without +a branch; great rib-rooted trees, and beneath them a fierce and hungry growth +of creepers. Where a tree had fallen within the last century or so, these +creepers ramped upwards in luxuriance, their stems thick as the body of a man, +drinking the shaft of light that pierced downwards, drinking it with eagerness +ere the boughs above met again and starved them. Where no tree had fallen the +creepers were thin and weak; from year to year they lived on feebly, biding +their time, but still they lived, knowing that some day it would come. And +always it was coming to those expectant parasites, since from minute to minute, +somewhere in the vast depths, miles and miles away perhaps, a great crash +echoed in the stillness, the crash of a tree that, sown when the Saxons ruled +in England, or perhaps before Cleopatra bewitched Anthony, came to its end at +last. +</p> + +<p> +On the second day of their march in the forest Alan chanced to see such a tree +fall, and the sight was one that he never could forget. As it happened, owing +to the vast spread of its branches which had killed out all rivals beneath, for +in its day it had been a very successful tree embued with an excellent +constitution by its parent, it stood somewhat alone, so that from several +hundred yards away as these six human beings crept towards it like ants towards +a sapling in a cornfield, its mighty girth and bulk set upon a little mound and +the luxuriant greenness of its far-reaching boughs made a kind of landmark. +Then in the hot noon when no breath of wind stirred, suddenly the end came. +Suddenly that mighty bole seemed to crumble; suddenly those far-reaching arms +were thrown together as their support failed, gripping at each other like +living things, flogging the air, screaming in their last agony, and with an +awful wailing groan sinking, a tumbled ruin, to the earth. +</p> + +<p> +Silence again, and in the midst of the silence Jeekie’s cheerful voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Old tree go flop! Glad he no flop on us, thanks be to Little Bonsa. Get +on, you lazy nigger dog. Who pay you stand there and snivel? Get on or I blow +out your stupid skull,” and he brought the muzzle of the full-cocked, +double-barrelled gun into sharp contact with that part of the terrified +porter’s anatomy. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the forest. Of their march through it for the first four days, there +is nothing to tell. Its depths seemed to be devoid of life, although +occasionally they heard the screaming of parrots in the treetops a couple of +hundred feet above, or caught sight of the dim shapes of monkeys swinging +themselves from bough to bough. That was in the daytime, when, although they +could not see it, they knew that the sun was shining somewhere. But at night +they heard nothing, since beasts of prey do not come where there is no food. +What puzzled Alan was that all through these impenetrable recesses there ran a +distinct road which they followed. To the right and left rose a wall of +creepers, but between them ran this road, an ancient road, for nothing grew on +it, and it only turned aside to avoid the biggest of the trees which must have +stood there from time immemorial, such a tree as that which he had seen fall; +indeed it was one of those round which the road ran. +</p> + +<p> +He asked Jeekie who made the road. +</p> + +<p> +“People who come out Noah’s Ark,” answered Jeekie, “I +think they run up here to get out of way of water, and sent them two elephants +ahead to make path. Or perhaps dwarf people make it. Or perhaps those who go up +to Asiki-land to do sacrifice like old Jews.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean you don’t know,” said Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“No, of course don’t know. Who know about forest path made before +beginning of world. You ask question, Major, I answer. More lively answer than +to shake head and roll eyes like them silly fool porters.” +</p> + +<p> +It was on the fourth night that the trouble began. As usual they had lit a huge +fire made of the fallen boughs and rotting tree trunks that lay about in +plenty. There was no reason why the fire should be so large, since they had +little to cook and the air was hot, but they made it so for the same reason +that Jeekie answered questions, for the sake of cheerfulness. At least it gave +light in the darkness, leaping up in red tongues of flame twenty or thirty feet +high, and its roar and crackle were welcome in the primeval silence. +</p> + +<p> +Alan lay upon the cork mattress in the open, for here there was no need to +pitch the tent; if any rain fell above, the canopy of leaves absorbed it. He +was amusing himself while he smoked his pipe with watching the reflection of +the fire-light against a patch of darkness caused probably by some bush about +twenty yards away, and by picturing in his own mind the face of Barbara, that +strong, pleasant English face, as it might appear on such a background. +Suddenly there, on the identical spot he did see a face, though one of a very +different character. It was round and small and hideous, resembling in its +general outline that of a bloated child. At this distance he could not +distinguish the features, except the lips, which were large and pendulous, and +between them the flash of white teeth. +</p> + +<p> +“Look here,” he whispered to Jeekie in English, and Jeekie looked, +then without saying a word, lifted the shotgun that lay at his side and fired +straight at the bush. Instantly there arose a squeaking noise, such as might be +made by a wounded animal, and the four porters sprang up in alarm. +</p> + +<p> +“Sit down,” said Jeekie to them in their own tongue, “a +leopard was stalking us and I fired to frighten it away. Don’t go near +the place, as it may be wounded and angry, but drag up some boughs and make a +fence round the fire, for fear of others.” +</p> + +<p> +The men who dreaded leopards, looking on these animals, indeed, with +superstitious reverence, obeyed readily enough, and as there was plenty of wood +lying within a few yards, soon constructed a <i>boma</i> fence that, rough as +it was, would serve for protection. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Alan presently as they laboured at the fence, +“that was not a leopard, it was a man.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, Major, not man, little dwarf devil, him that have poisoned +arrow. I shoot at once to make him sit up. Think he no come back to-night, too +much afraid of shot fetish. But to-morrow, can’t say. Not tell those +fellows anything,” and he nodded towards the porters, “or perhaps +they bolt.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think you would have done better to leave the dwarf alone,” said +Alan, “and they might have left us alone. Now they will have a blood feud +against us.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not agree, Major, only chance for us put him in blue funk. If I not +shoot, presently he shoot,” and he made a sound that resembled the +whistling of an arrow, then added, “Now you go sleep. I not tired, I +watch, my eyes see in dark better than yours. Only two more days of this damn +forest, then open land with tree here and there, where dwarf no come because he +afraid of lion and cannibal man, who like eat him.” +</p> + +<p> +As there was nothing else to be done Alan took Jeekie’s advice and in +time fell fast asleep, nor did he wake again till the faint light which, for the +want of a better name, they called dawn, was filtering down to them through the +canopy of boughs. +</p> + +<p> +“Been to look,” said Jeekie as he handed him his coffee. “Hit +that dwarf man, see his blood, but think others carry him away. Jeekie very +good shot, stone, spear, arrow, or gun, all same to him. Now get off as quick +as we can before porters smell a rat. You eat chop, Major, I pack.” +</p> + +<p> +Presently they started on their trudge through those endless trees, with Fear +for a companion. Even the porters, who had been told nothing, seemed more +afraid than usual, though whether this was because they “smell +rat,” as Jeekie called it, or owing to the progressive breakdown of their +nervous systems, Alan did not know. About midday they stopped to eat because +the men were too tired to walk further without rest. For an hour or more they +had been looking for a comparatively open place, but as it chanced could find +none, so were obliged to halt in dense forest. Just as they had finished their +meal and were preparing to proceed, that which they had feared, happened, since +from somewhere behind the tree boles came a volley of reed arrows. One struck a +porter in the neck, one fixed itself in Alan’s helmet without touching +him, and no less than three hit Jeekie on the back and stuck there, +providentially enough in the substance of the cork mattress that he still +carried on his shoulders, which the feeble shafts had not the strength to +pierce. +</p> + +<p> +Everybody sprang up and with a curious fascination instead of attempting to do +anything, watched the porter who had been hit in the neck somewhere in the +region of the jugular vein. The poor man rose to his feet with great +deliberation, reminding Alan in some grotesque way of a speaker who has +suddenly been called on to address a meeting and seeks to gain time for the +gathering of his thoughts. Then he turned towards that vast audience of the +trees, stretched out his hand with a declamatory gesture, said something in a +composed voice, and fell upon his face stone dead! The swift poison had reached +his heart and done its work. +</p> + +<p> +His three companions looked at him for a moment and the next with a yell of +terror, rushed off into the forest, hurling down their loads as they ran. What +became of them Alan never learned, for he saw them no more, and the dwarf +people keep their secrets. At the time indeed he scarcely noticed their +departure, for he was otherwise engaged. +</p> + +<p> +One of their hideous little assailants, made bold by success, ventured to run +across an open space between two trees, showing himself for a moment. Alan had +a gun in his hand, and mad with rage at what had happened, he raised it and +swung on him as he would upon a rabbit. He was a quick and practised shot and +his skill did not fail him now, for just as the dwarf was vanishing behind a +tree, the bullet caught him and next instant he was seen rolling over and over +upon its further side. +</p> + +<p> +“That very nice,” said Jeekie reflectively, “very nice +indeed, but I think we best move out of this.” +</p> + +<p> +“Aren’t you hurt?” gasped Alan. “Your back is full of +arrows.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t feel nothing, Major,” he answered, “best cork +mattress, 25/3 at Stores, very good for poisoned arrow, but leave him behind +now, because perhaps points work through as I run, one scratch do trick,” +and as he spoke Jeekie untied a string or several strings, letting the little +mattress fall to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +“Great pity leave all those goods,” said Jeekie, surveying the +loads that the porters had cast away, “but what says Book? Life more than +raiment. Also take no thought for morrow. Dwarf people do that for us. Come, +Major, make tracks,” and dashing at a bag of cartridges which he cast +about his neck, a trifling addition to his other impedimenta, and a small case +of potted meats that he hitched under his arm, he poked his master in the back +with the muzzle of his full-cocked gun as a signal that it was time to start. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep that cursed thing off me,” said Alan furiously. “How +often have I told you never to carry firearms at full cock?” +</p> + +<p> +“About one thousand times, Major,” answered Jeekie imperturbably, +“but on such occasion forget discreetness. My ma just same, it run in +family, but story too long tell you now. Cut, Major, cut like hell. Them dwarfs +be back soon, but,” he puffed, “I think, I think Little Bonsa come +square with them one day.” +</p> + +<p> +So Alan “cut” and the huge Jeekie blundered along after him, the +paraphernalia with which he was hung about rattling like the hoofs of a +galloping giraffe. Nor for all his load did he ever turn a hair. Whether it +were fear within or a desire to save his master, or a belief in the virtues of +Little Bonsa, or that his foot was, as it were, once more upon his native +heath, the fact remained that notwithstanding the fifty years, almost, that had +whitened his wool, Jeekie was absolutely inexhaustible. At least at the end of +that fearful chase, which lasted all the day, and through the night also, for +they dared not camp, he appeared to be nearly as fresh as when he started from +Old Calabar, nor did his spirits fail him for one moment. +</p> + +<p> +When the light came on the following morning, however, they perceived by many +signs and tokens that the dwarf people were all about them. Some arrows were +shot even, but these fell short. +</p> + +<p> +“Pooh!” said Jeekie, “all right now, they much afraid. Still, +no time for coffee, we best get on.” +</p> + +<p> +So they got on as they could, till towards midday the forest began to thin out. +Now as the light grew stronger they could see the dwarfs, of whom there +appeared to be several hundred, keeping a parallel course to their own on +either side of them at what they thought to be a safe distance. +</p> + +<p> +“Try one shot, I think,” said Jeekie, kneeling down and letting fly +at a clump of the little men, which scattered like a covey of partridges, +leaving one of its number kicking on the ground. “Ah! my boy,” +shouted Jeekie in derision, “how you like bullet in tummy? You not know +Paradox guaranteed flat trajectory 250 yard. You remember that next time, +sonny.” Then off they went again up a long rise. +</p> + +<p> +“River other side of that rise,” said Jeekie. “Think those +tree-monkeys no follow us there.” +</p> + +<p> +But the “monkeys” appeared to be angry and determined. They would +not come any more within the range of the Paradox, but they still marched on +either side of the two fugitives, knowing well that at last their strength must +fail and they would be able to creep up and murder them. So the chase went on +till Alan began to wonder whether it would not be better to face the end at +once. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, if say die, can’t change mind to-morrow morning,” +gasped Jeekie in a hoarse voice. “Here top rise, much nearer than I +thought. Oh, my aunt! who those?” and he pointed to a large number of big +men armed with spears who were marching up the further side of the hill from +the river that ran below. +</p> + +<p> +At the same moment these savages, who were not more than two hundred yards +away, caught sight of them and of their pursuers, who just then appeared on the +ridge to the right and left. The dwarfs, on perceiving these strangers, uttered +a shrill yell of terror, and wheeled about to fly to their fastnesses in the +forest, which evidently they regretted ever having left. It was too late. With +an answering shout the spearsmen, who were extended in a long line, apparently +hunting for game, charged after them at full speed. They were fresh and their +legs were long. Therefore very soon they overtook the dwarfs and even got in +front of them, heading them off from the forest. The end may be +guessed,—save a few whom they reserved alive, they killed them +mercilessly, and almost without loss to themselves, since the little forest +folk were too terrified and exhausted to shoot at them with their poisoned +arrows, and they had no other weapons. +</p> + +<p> +In fact, as Alan discovered afterwards, for generations there had been war +between them, since all the other tribes hate the dwarfs, whom they look upon +as dangerous human monkeys, and never before had the big men found such a +chance of squaring their account. +</p> + +<p> +When Jeekie saw this fearful-looking company, for the first time his spirits +seemed to fail him. +</p> + +<p> +“Ogula!” he exclaimed with a groan and sat himself upon a flat +rock, pulling Alan down beside him. “Ogula! Know them by hair and +spears,” he repeated. “Up gum tree now, say good-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why? Who are they?” gasped Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Great cannibal, Major, eat man, eat us to-night, or perhaps to-morrow +morning when we nice and cool. Say prayers, Major, quick no time waste.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think I will shoot an Ogula or two first,” said Alan grimly, as +he stood up and lifted his gun. +</p> + +<p> +“No, not shoot, no good. Pretend not be afraid, best chance. Let Jeekie +think, let Jeekie think,” and he slapped his forehead with his large hand. +</p> + +<p> +Apparently the action brought inspiration, for next instant he grabbed his +master by the arm and dragged him back behind the shelter of a big boulder +which they had just passed. Then with really marvellous swiftness he cut the +straps of the tin box that Alan wore upon his back, and since there was no time +to find the key and unlock it, seized the little padlock with which it was +fastened between his finger and thumb, and putting out his great strength, with +a single wrench twisted it off. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you——” began Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Hold tongue,” he answered savagely, “make you god, I priest. +Ogula know Little Bonsa. Quick, quick!” +</p> + +<p> +In a minute it was done, the golden mask was clapped on to Alan’s head, +and the leather thongs were fastened. Moreover, Jeekie himself was arrayed in +the solar-tope to which all this while he had clung, allowing streams of green +mosquito netting to hang down over his white robe. +</p> + +<p> +“Come out now, Major,” he said, “and play god. You whistle, I +do palaver.” +</p> + +<p> +Then hand in hand they walked from behind the rock. By this time the particular +company of the cannibals that was opposite to them, which happened to include +their chief, had climbed the steep slope of the hill and arrived within a +distance of twenty yards. Having seen the two men and guessed that they had +taken refuge behind the rock, their spears were lifted to kill them, since when +he beholds anything strange, the first impulse of a savage is to bring it to +its death. They looked; they saw. Of a sudden down went the raised spears. +</p> + +<p> +Some of those who held them fell upon their faces, while others turned to fly, +appalled by the vision of this strangely clad man with the head of gold. Only +their chief, a great yellow-toothed fellow who wore a necklace of baboon claws, +remained erect, staring at them with open mouth. +</p> + +<p> +Alan blew the whistle that was set between the lips of the mask, and they +shivered. Then Jeekie spoke to them in some tongue which they understood, +saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you, O Ogula, dare to offer violence to Little Bonsa and her priests? +Say now, why should we not strike you dead with the magic of the god which she +has borrowed from the white man?” and he tapped the gun he held. +</p> + +<p> +“This is witchcraft,” answered the chief. “We saw two men +running, hunted by the dwarfs, not three minutes ago, and now we see—what +we see,” and he put his hand before his eyes, then after a pause went +on—“As for Little Bonsa, she left this country in my father’s +day. He gave her passage upon the head of a white man and the Asiki wizards +have mourned her ever since, or so I hear.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fool,” answered Jeekie, “as she went, so she returns, on the +head of a white man. Yonder I see an elder with grey hair who doubtless knew of +Little Bonsa in his youth. Let him come up and look and say whether or no this +is the god.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” exclaimed the chief, “go up, old man, go +up,” and he jabbed at him with his spear until, unwillingly enough, he +went. +</p> + +<p> +The elder arrived, making obeisance, and when he was near, Alan blew the +whistle in his face, whereon he fell to his knees. +</p> + +<p> +“It is Little Bonsa,” he said in a trembling voice, “Little +Bonsa without a doubt. I should know, as my father and my elder brother were +sacrificed to her, and I only escaped because she rejected me. Down on your +face, Chief, and do honour to the Yellow God before she slay you.” +</p> + +<p> +Instantly every man within hearing prostrated himself and lay still. Then +Jeekie strode up and down among them shouting out: +</p> + +<p> +“Little Bonsa has come back and brought to you, Man-eaters, a fat +offering, an offering of the dwarf-people whom you hate, of the treacherous +dwarf-people who when you walk the ancient forest path, murder you with their +poisoned arrows. Praise Little Bonsa who delivers you from your foes, and +hearken to her bidding. Send on messengers to the Asiki saying that Little +Bonsa comes home again from across the Black Water bringing the White Preacher, +whom she led away in the day of their fathers. Say to them that the Asiki must +send out a company that Little Bonsa and the Magician with whom she ran away, +may be escorted back to her house with the state which has been hers from the +beginning of time. Say to them also that they must prepare a great offering of +pure gold out of their store, as much gold as fifty strong men can carry, not +one handful less, to be given to the White Magician who brings back Small +Swimming Head, for if they withhold such an offering, he and Little Bonsa will +vanish never to be seen again, and curses and desolation will fall upon their +land. Rise and obey, Chief of the Ogula.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the man scrambled to his feet and answered: +</p> + +<p> +“It shall be done, O Priest of the Yellow God. To-morrow at the dawn +swift messengers will start for the Gold House of the Asiki. To-night they +cannot leave, as we are all very hungry and must eat.” +</p> + +<p> +“What must you eat?” asked Jeekie suspiciously. +</p> + +<p> +“O Priest,” answered the chief with a deprecatory gesture, +“when first we saw you we hoped that it would be the white man and +yourself, for we have never tasted white man. But now we fear that you will not +consent to this, and as you are holy and the guardian of the god, we cannot eat +you without your own consent. Therefore fat dwarf must be our food, of which, +however, there will be plenty for you as well as us.” +</p> + +<p> +“You dog!” exclaimed Jeekie in a voice of furious indignation. +“Do you think that white men and their high-born companions, such as +myself, were made to fill your vile stomachs? I tell you that a meal of the +deadly Bean would agree better with you, for if you dare so much as to look on +us, or on any of the white race with hunger, agony shall seize your vitals and +you and all your tribe shall die as though by poison. Moreover, we do not touch +the flesh of men, nor will we see it eaten. It is our +‘<i>orunda</i>,’ it is consecrate to us, it must not pass our lips, +nor may our eyes behold it. Therefore we will camp apart from you further up +the stream and find our own food. But to-morrow at the dawn the messengers must +leave as we have commanded. Also you shall provide strong men and a large canoe +to bear Little Bonsa forward towards her own home until she finds her people +coming out to greet her. +</p> + +<p> +“It shall be done,” answered the chief humbly, “Everything +shall be done according to the will of Little Bonsa spoken by her priest, that +she may leave a blessing and not a curse upon the heads of the tribe of the +Ogula. Say where you wish to camp and men shall run to build a house of reeds +for the god to dwell in.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /> +THE DAWN.</h2> + +<p> +Jeekie looked up and down the river, and saw that in the centre of it about half +a mile away, there was an island on which grew some trees. +</p> + +<p> +“Little Bonsa will camp yonder,” he said. “Go, make her house +ready, light fire and bring canoe to paddle us across. Now leave us, all of +you, for if you look too long upon the face of the Yellow God she will ask a +sacrifice, and it is not lawful that you should see where she hides herself +away.” +</p> + +<p> +At this saying the cannibals departed as one man, and at top speed, some to the +canoes and others to warn their fellows who were engaged in the congenial work +of hunting and killing the dwarfs, not to dare to approach the white man and +his companion. A third party ran to the bank of the river that was opposite to +the island to make ready as they had been bidden, so that presently Alan and +Jeekie were left quite alone. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said Jeekie, with a gasp of satisfaction, “<i>that</i> +all right, everything arranged quite comfortable. Thought Little Bonsa come out +top somehow and score off dirty dwarf monkeys. <i>They</i> never get home to +tea anyway—stay and dine with Ogula.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stop chattering, Jeekie, and untie this infernal mask, I am almost +choked,” broke in Alan in a hollow voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Not say ‘infernal mask,’ Major, say ‘face of +angel.’ Little Bonsa woman and like it better, also true, if on this +occasion only, for she save our skins,” said Jeekie as he unknotted the +thongs and reverently replaced the fetish in its tin box. “My!” he +added, contemplating his master’s perspiring countenance, “you +blush like garden carrot; well, gold hot wear in afternoon sun beneath Tropic +of Cancer. Now we walk on quietly and I tell you all I arrange for +night’s lodging and future progress of joint expedition.” +</p> + +<p> +So gathering together what remained of their few possessions, they started +leisurely down the slope towards the island, and as they went Jeekie explained +all that had happened, since Ogula was not one of the African languages with +which Alan was acquainted and he had only been able to understand a word here +and there. +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” said Jeekie when he had finished, and turning, he pointed +to the cannibals who were driving the few survivors of the dwarfs before them +to the spot where their canoes were beached. “Those dwarfs done for; +capital business, forest road quite safe to travel home by; Ogula best friends +in world; very remarkable escape from delicate situation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very remarkable indeed,” said Alan; “I shall soon begin to +believe in the luck of Little Bonsa.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, you see she anxious to get home and make path clear. +But,” he added gloomily, “how she behave when she reach there, +can’t say.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor can I, Jeekie, but meanwhile I hope she will provide us with some +dinner, for I am faint for want of food and all the tinned meat is lost.” +</p> + +<p> +“Food,” repeated Jeekie. “Yes, necessity for human stomach, +which unhappily built that way, so Ogula find out, and so dwarfs find out +presently.” Then he looked about him and in a kind of aimless manner +lifted his gun and fired. “There we are,” he said, “Little +Bonsa understand bodily needs,” and he pointed to a fat buck of the sort +that in South Africa is called Duiker, which his keen eyes had discovered in +its form against a stone where it now lay shot through the head and dying. +“No further trouble on score of grub for next three day,” he added. +“Come on to camp, Major. I send one savage skin and bring that +buck.” +</p> + +<p> +So on they went to the river bank, Alan so tired now that the excitement was +over, that he was not sorry to lean upon Jeekie’s arm. Reaching the +stream they drank deep of its water, and finding that it was shallow at this +spot, waded through it to the island without waiting for a canoe to ferry them +over. Here they found a party of the cannibals already at work clearing reeds +with their large, curved knives, in order to make a site for the hut. Another +party under the command of their chief himself had gone to the top end of the +island, to cut the stems of a willow-like shrub to serve as uprights. These +people stared at Alan, which was not strange, as they had never before seen the +face of a white man, and were wondering, doubtless, what had become of the +ancient and terrible fetish that he had worn. Without entering into +explanations Jeekie in a great voice ordered two of them to fetch the buck, +which the white man, whom he described as “husband of the goddess,” +had “slain by thunder.” When these had departed upon their errand, +leaving Jeekie to superintend the building operations, Alan sat down upon a +fallen tree, watching one of the savages making fire with a pointed stick and +some tinder. +</p> + +<p> +Just then from the head of the island where the willows were being cut, rose +the sound of loud roarings and of men crying out in affright. Seizing his gun +Alan ran towards the spot whence the noise came. Forcing his way through a +brake of reeds, he saw a curious sight. The Ogula in cutting the willows which +grew about some tumbled rocks, had disturbed a lioness that had her lair there, +and being fearless savages, had tried to kill her with their spears. The brute, +rendered desperate by wounds, and the impossibility of escape, for here the +surrounding water was deep, had charged them boldly, and as it chanced, felled +to the ground their chief, that yellow-toothed man to whom Jeekie gave his +orders. Now she was standing over him looking round her royally, her great paw +upon his breast, which it seemed almost to cover, while the Ogula ran round and +round shouting, for they feared that if they tried to attack her, she would +kill the chief. This indeed she seemed about to do, for just as Alan arrived +she dropped her head as though to tear out the man’s throat. Instantly he +fired. It was a snap shot, but as it chanced a good one, for the bullet struck +the lioness in the back of the neck just forward of and between the shoulders, +severing the spine so that without a sound or any further movement she sank +stone dead upon the prostrate cannibal. For a while his followers stood +astonished. They might have heard of guns from the coast people, but living as +they did in the interior where white folk did not dare to travel, they had +never seen their terrible effects. +</p> + +<p> +“Magic!” they cried. “Magic!” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course,” exclaimed Jeekie, who by now had arrived upon the +scene. “What else did you expect from the husband of Little Bonsa? Magic, +the greatest of magic. Go, roll that beast away before your chief is crushed to +death.” +</p> + +<p> +They obeyed, and the man sat up, a fearful spectacle, for he was smothered with +the blood of the lion and somewhat cut by her claws, though otherwise unhurt. +Then feeling that the life was still whole in him, he crept on his hands and +knees to where Alan stood, and kissed his feet. +</p> + +<p> +“Aha!” said Jeekie, “Little Bonsa score again. Cannibal tribe +our slave henceforth for evermore. Yes, till kingdom come. Come on, Major, and +cook supper in perfect peace.” +</p> + +<p> +The supper was cooked and eaten with gratitude, for seldom had two men needed a +square meal more, and never did venison taste better. By the time that it was +finished darkness had fallen, and before they turned in to sleep in the neat +reed hut that the Ogula had built, Alan and Jeekie walked up the island to see +if the lioness had been skinned, as they directed. This they found was done; +even the carcase itself had been removed to serve as meat for these +foul-feeding people. They climbed on to the pile of rocks in which the beast +had made her lair, and looked down the river to where, two hundred yards away, +the Ogula were encamped. From this camp there rose a sound of revelry, and by +the light of the great fires that burned there, they perceived that the hungry +savages were busy feasting, for some of them sat in circles, whilst others, +their naked forms looking at that distance like those of imps in the infernal +regions, flitted to and fro against the glowing background of the fires, +bearing strange-looking joints on prongs of wood. +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose they are eating the lioness,” said Alan doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, Major, not lioness; eat dwarf by dozen—just like oysters +at seaside. But for Little Bonsa <i>we</i> sit on those forks now and look +uncommon small.” +</p> + +<p> +“Beasts!” said Alan in disgust; “they make me feel uncommon +sick. Let us go to bed. I suppose they won’t murder us in our sleep, will +they?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not they, Major, too much afraid. Also we their blood-brothers now, +because we bring them first-class dinner and save chief from lion’s fury. +No blame them too much, Major, good fellows really with gentle heart, but grub +like that from generation to generation. Every mother’s son of them have +many men inside, that why they so big and strong. Ogula people cover great +multitude like Charity in Book. No doubt sent by Prov’dence to keep +down extra pop’lation. Not right to think too hard of poor fellows who, +as I say, very kind and gentle at heart and most loving in family relation, +except to old women whom they eat also, so that they no get bored with too +long life.” +</p> + +<p> +Weary and disgusted by this abominable sight though he was, Alan burst out +laughing at his retainer’s apology for the sweet-natured Ogula, who +struck him as the most repulsive blackguards that he had ever met or heard of +in all his experience of African savages. Then wishing to see and hear no more +of them that night, he retreated rapidly to the hut and was soon fast asleep +with his head pillowed on the box that hid the charms of Little Bonsa. When he +awoke it was broad daylight. Rising he went down to the river to wash, and +never had a bath been more welcome, for during all their journey through the +forest no such thing was obtainable. On his return he found his garments well +brushed with dry reeds and set upon a rock in the hot sun to air, while Jeekie +in a cheerful mood, was engaged cooking breakfast in the frying-pan, to which +he had clung through all the vicissitudes of their flight. +</p> + +<p> +“No coffee, Major,” he said regretfully, “that stop in +forest. But never mind, hot water better for nerve. Ogula messengers gone in +little canoe to Asiki at break of day. Travel slow till they work off dwarf, +but afterwards go quick. I send lion skin with them as present from you to +great high-priestess Asika, also claws for necklace. No lions there and she +think much of that. Also it make her love mighty man who can kill fierce lion +like Samson in Book. Love of head woman very valuable ally among beastly savage +peoples.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sure I hope it won’t,” said Alan with earnestness, +“but no doubt it is as well to keep on the soft side of the good lady if +we can. What time do we start?” +</p> + +<p> +“In one hour, Major. I been to camp already, chosen best canoe and finest +men for rowers. Chief—he called Fanny—so grateful that he come with +them himself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed. That is very kind of him, but I say, Jeekie, what are these +fellows going to live on? I can’t stand what you call their +‘favourite chop.’” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, Major, that all right. I tell them that when they travel with +Little Bonsa, they must keep Lent like pious Roman Cath’lic family that +live near Yarleys. They catch plenty fish in river, and perhaps we shoot game, +or rich ’potamus, which they like ’cause he fat.” +</p> + +<p> +Evidently the Ogula chief, Fahni by name, not Fanny, as Jeekie called him, was +a man of his word, for before the hour was up he appeared at the island in +command of a large canoe manned by twelve splendid-looking savages. Springing +to land, he prostrated himself before Alan, kissing his feet as he had done on +the previous night, and making a long speech. +</p> + +<p> +“That very good spirit,” exclaimed Jeekie. “Like to see +heathen in his darkness lick white gentleman’s boot. He say you his lord +and great magician who save his life, and know all Little Bonsa’s +secrets, which many and unrepeatable. He say he die for you twice a day if need +be, and go on dying to-morrow and all next year. He say he take you safe till +you meet Asiki and for your sake, though he hungry, eat no man for one whole +month, or perhaps longer. Now we start at once.” +</p> + +<p> +So they started up the river that was called Katsena, Alan and Jeekie seated in +a lordly fashion near the stern of the canoe beneath an awning made out of some +sticks and a grass mat. In truth after their severe toil and adventures in the +forest, this method of journeying proved quite luxurious. Except for a rapid +here and there over or round which the canoe must be dragged, the river was +broad and the scenery on its banks park-like and beautiful. Moreover the +country, perhaps owing to the appetites of the Ogula, appeared to be +practically uninhabited except by vast herds of every sort of game. +</p> + +<p> +All day they sat in the canoe which the stalwart rowers propelled, in silence +for the most part, since they were terribly afraid of the white man, and still +more so of the renowned fetish which they knew he carried with him. Then when +evening came they moored their craft to the bank and camped till the following +morning. Nor did they lack for food, since game being so plentiful, it was only +necessary for Alan to walk a few hundred yards and shoot a fat eland, or +hartebeest, or other buck which in its ignorance of guns would allow him to +approach quite close. Elephants, rhinoceros, and buffalo were also common, +while great herds of giraffe might be seen wandering between the scattered +trees, but as they were not upon a hunting trip and their ammunition was very +limited, with these they did not interfere. +</p> + +<p> +Having their daily fill of meat which their souls loved, the Ogula oarsmen +remained in an excellent mood, indeed the chief, Fahni, informed Alan that if +only they had such magic tubes wherewith to slaughter game, he and his tribe +would gladly give up cannibalism—except on feast days. He added sadly +that soon they would be obliged to do so, or die, since in those parts there +were now few people left to eat, and they hated vegetables. Moreover, they kept +no cattle, it was not the custom of that tribe, except a very few for milk. +Alan advised them to increase their herds, since, as he pointed out to them, +“dog should not eat dog” or the human being his own kind. +</p> + +<p> +The chief answered that there was a great deal in what he said, which on his +return he would lay before his head men. Indeed Alan, to his astonishment, +discovered that Jeekie had been quite right when he alleged that these people, +so terrible in their mode of life, were yet “kind and gentle at +heart.” They preyed upon mankind because for centuries it had been their +custom so to do, but if anyone had been there to show them a better way, he +grew sure that they would follow it gladly. At least they were brave and loyal +and even after their first fear of the white man had worn off, fulfilled their +promises without a murmur. Once, indeed, when he chanced to have gone for a +walk unarmed and to be charged by a bull elephant, these Ogula ran at the brute +with their spears and drove it away, a rescue in which one of them lost his +life, for the “rogue” caught and killed him. +</p> + +<p> +So the days went on while they paddled leisurely up the river, Alan employing +the time by taking lessons in the Asiki tongue from Jeekie, a language which he +had been studying ever since he left England. The task was not easy, as he had +no books and Jeekie himself after some thirty years of absence, was doubtful as +to many of its details. Still being a linguist by nature and education and +finding in the tongue similarities to other African dialects which he knew, he +was now able to speak it a little, in a halting fashion. +</p> + +<p> +On the fifth day of their ascent of the river, they came to a tributary that +flowed into it from the north, up which the Ogula said they must proceed to +reach Asiki-land. The stream was narrow and sluggish, widening out here and +there into great swamps through which it was not easy to find a channel. Also +the district was so unhealthy that even several of the Ogula contracted fever, +of which Alan cured them by heavy doses of quinine, for fortunately his +travelling medicine chest remained to him. These cures were effected after +their chief suggested that they should be thrown overboard, or left to die in +the swamp as useless, with the result that the white man’s magical powers +were thenceforth established beyond doubt or cavil. Indeed the poor Ogula now +looked on him as a god superior even to Little Bonsa, whose familiar he was +supposed to be. +</p> + +<p> +The journey through that swamp was very trying, since in this wet season often +they could find no place on which to sleep at night, but must stay in the canoe +tormented by mosquitoes, and in constant danger of being upset by the +hippopotami that lived there. Moreover, as no game was now available, they were +obliged to live on these beasts, fish when they could catch them, and wildfowl, +which sometimes they were unable to cook for lack of fuel. This did not trouble +the Ogula, who ate them raw, as did Jeekie when he was hungry. But Alan was +obliged to starve until they could make a fire. This it was only possible to do +when they found drift or other wood, since at that season the rank vegetation +was in full growth. Also the fearful thunderstorms which broke continually and +in a few minutes half filled their canoe with water, made the reeds and the +soil on which they grew, sodden with wet. As Jeekie said: +</p> + +<p> +“This time of year only fit for duck and crocodile. Human should remember +uncontrollable forces of nature and wait till winter come in due course, when +quagmire bear sole of his foot.” +</p> + +<p> +This elaborate remark he made to Alan during the progress of a particularly +fearful tempest. The lightning blazed in the black sky and seemed to strike all +about them like stabbing swords of fire, the thunder crashed and bellowed as it +may be supposed that it will do on that day when the great earth, worn out at +last, shall reel and stagger to its doom. The rain fell in a straight and solid +sheet; the tall reeds waved confusedly like millions of dim arms and while they +waved, uttered a vast and groaning noise; the scared wildfowl in their terror, +with screams and the sough of wings, rushed past them in flocks a thousand +strong, now seen and now lost in the vapours. To keep their canoe afloat the +poor, naked Ogula oarsmen, shivering with cold and fear, baled furiously with +their hands, or bowls of hollowed wood, and called back to Alan to save them as +though he were the master of the elements. Even Jeekie was depressed and +appeared to be offering up petitions, though whether these were directed to +Little Bonsa or elsewhere it was impossible to know. +</p> + +<p> +As for Alan, the heart was out of him. It is true that so far he had escaped +fever or other sickness, which in itself was wonderful, but he was chilled +through and through and practically had eaten nothing for two days, and very +little for a week, since his stomach turned from half-cooked hippopotamus fat +and wildfowl. Moreover, they had lost the channel and seemed to be wandering +aimlessly through a wilderness of reeds broken here and there by lines of +deeper water. +</p> + +<p> +According to the Ogula they should have reached the confines of the great lake +several days before and landed on healthful rising ground that was part of the +Asiki territory. But this had not happened, and now he doubted whether it ever +would happen. It was more likely that they would come to their deaths, there in +the marsh, especially as the few ball and shot cartridges which they had saved +in their flight were now exhausted. Not one was left; nothing was left except +their revolvers with some charges, which of course were quite useless for the +killing of game. Therefore they were in a fair way to die of hunger, for here +if fish existed, they refused to be caught and nought remained for them to fill +themselves with except water slugs, and snails which the boatmen were already +gathering and crunching up in their great teeth. Or, perhaps the Ogula, +forgetting friendship under the pressure of necessity, would murder them as +they slept and—revert to their usual diet. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie was right, he should have remembered the “uncontrollable forces of +Nature.” Only a madman would have undertaken such an expedition in the +rains. No wonder that the Asiki remained a secret and hidden people when their +frontier was protected by such a marsh as this upon the one side and, as he +understood, by impassable mountains upon the other. +</p> + +<p> +There came a lull in the tempest and the boatmen began to get the better of the +water, which now was up to their knees. Alan asked Jeekie if he thought it was +over, but that worthy shook his white head mournfully, causing the spray to fly +as from a twirling mop, and replied: +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t say, cats and dogs not tumble so many for present, only pups +and kitties left, so to speak, but think there plenty more up there,” and +he nodded at the portentous fire-laced cloud which seemed to be spreading over +them, its black edges visible even through the gloom. +</p> + +<p> +“Bad business, I am afraid, Jeekie. Shouldn’t have brought you +here, or those poor beggars either,” and he looked at the scared, frozen +Ogula. “I begin to wonder——” +</p> + +<p> +“Never wonder, Major,” broke in Jeekie in alarm. “If wonder, +not live, if wonder, not be born, too much wonder about everywhere. Can’t +understand nothing, so give it up. Say, ‘Right-O and devil +hindermost!’ Very good motto for biped in tight place. Better drown here +than in City bucket shop. But no drown. Should be dead long ago, but Little +Bonsa play the game, she not want to sink in stinking swamp when so near her +happy home. Come out all right somehow, as from dwarf. Every cloud have silver +lining, Major, even that black chap up there. Oh! my golly!” +</p> + +<p> +This last exclamation was wrung from Jeekie’s lips by a sudden +development of “forces of Nature” which astonished even him. +Instead of a silver lining the “black chap” exhibited one of gold. +In an instant it seemed to turn to acres of flame; it was as though the heavens +had taken fire. A flash or a thunderbolt struck the water within ten yards of +their canoe, causing the boatmen to throw themselves upon their faces through +shock or terror. Then came the hurricane, which fortunately was so strong that +it permitted no more rain to fall. The tall reeds were beaten flat beneath its +breath; the canoe was seized in its grip and whirled round and round, then +driven forward like an arrow. Only the weight of the men and the water in it +prevented it from oversetting. Dense darkness fell upon them and although they +could see no star, they knew that it must be night. On they rushed, driven by +that shrieking gale, and all about and around them this wall of darkness. No +one spoke, for hope was abandoned, and if they had, their voices could not have +been heard. The last thing that Alan remembered was feeling Jeekie dragging a +grass mat over him to protect him a little if he could. Then his senses +wavered, as does a dying lamp. He thought that he was back in what Jeekie had +rudely called “City bucket shop,” bargaining across the telephone +wire, upon which came all the sounds of the infernal regions, with a financial +paper for an article on a Little Bonsa Syndicate that he proposed to float. He +thought he was in The Court woods with Barbara, only the birds in the trees +sang so unnaturally loud that he could not hear her voice, and she wore Little +Bonsa on her head as a bonnet. Then she departed in flame, leaving him and +Death alone. +</p> + +<p> +Alan awoke. Above the sun shone hotly, warming him back to life, but in front +was a thick wall of mist and rising beyond it in the distance he saw the rugged +swelling forms of mountains. Doubtless these had been visible before, but the +tall reeds through which they travelled had hid the sight of them. He looked +behind him and there in a heap lay the Ogula around their chief, insensible or +sleeping. He counted them and found that two were gone, lost in the tempest, +how or where no man ever learned. He looked forward and saw a peculiar sight, +for in the prow of the drifting canoe stood Jeekie clad in the remains of his +white robe and wearing on his head the battered helmet and about his shoulders +the torn fragments of green mosquito net. While Alan was wondering strangely +why he had adopted this ceremonial garb, from out of the mist there came a +sound of singing, of wild and solemn singing. Jeekie seemed to listen to it; +then he lifted up his great musical voice and sang as though in answer. What he +sang Alan could not understand, but he recognized that the language which he +used was that of the Asiki people. +</p> + +<p> +A pause and a confused murmuring, and now again the wild song rose and again +Jeekie answered. +</p> + +<p> +“What the deuce are you doing? Where are we?” asked Alan faintly. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie turned and beamed upon him; although his teeth were chattering and his +face was hollow, still he beamed. +</p> + +<p> +“You awake, Major?” he said. “Thought good old sun do trick. +Feel your heart now and find it beat. Pulse, too, strong, though +temp’rature not normal. Well, good news this morning. Little Bonsa come +out top as usual. Asiki priests on bank there. Can’t see them, but know +their song and answer. Same old game as thirty years ago. Asiki never change, +which good business when you been away long while.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hang the Asiki,” said Alan feebly, “I think all these poor +beggars are dead,” and he pointed to the rowers. +</p> + +<p> +“Look like it, Major, but what that matter now since you and I alive? +Plenty more where they come from. Not dead though, think only sleep, no like +cold, like dormouse. But never mind cannibal pig. They serve our turn, if they +live, live; if they die, die and God have mercy on souls, if cannibal have +soul. Ah! here we are,” and from beneath six inches of water he dragged +up the tin box containing Little Bonsa, from which he extracted the fetish, wet +but uninjured. +</p> + +<p> +“Put her on now, Major. Put her on at once and come sit in prow of canoe. +Must reach Asiki-land in proper style. Priests think it your reverend uncle +come back again, just as he leave. Make very good impression.” +</p> + +<p> +“I can’t,” said Alan feebly. “I am played out, +Jeekie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! buck up, Major, buck up!” he replied imploringly. “One +kick more and you win race, mustn’t spoil ship for ha’porth of tar. +You just wear fetish, whistle once on land, and then go to sleep for whole week +if you like. I do rest, say it all magic, and so forth—that you been dead +and just come out of grave, or anything you like. No matter if you turn up as +announced on bill and God bless hurricane that blow us here when we expect die. +Come, Major, quick, quick! mist melt and soon they see you.” Then without +waiting for an answer Jeekie clapped the wet mask on his master’s head, +tied the thongs and led Alan to the prow of the canoe, where he set him down on +a little cross bench, stood behind supporting him and again began to sing in a +great triumphant voice. +</p> + +<p> +The mist cleared away, rolling up like a curtain and revealing on the shore a +number of men and women clad in white robes, who were martialled in ranks +there, chanting and staring out at the dim waters of the lagoon. Yonder upon +the waters, driven forward by the gentle breeze, floated a canoe and lo! in the +prow of that canoe sat a white man and on his head the god which they had lost +a whole generation gone. On the head of a white man it had departed; on the +head of a white man it returned. They saw and fell upon their knees. +</p> + +<p> +“Blow, Major, blow!” whispered Jeekie, and Alan blew a feeble note +through the whistle in the mouth of the mask. It was enough, they knew it. They +sprang into the water and dragged the canoe to land. They set Alan on the shore +and worshipped him. They haled up a lad as though for sacrifice, for a priest +flourished a great knife above his head, but Jeekie said something that caused +them to let him go. Alan thought it was to the effect that Little Bonsa had +changed her habits across the Black Water, and wanted no blood, only food. Then +he remembered no more; again the darkness fell upon him. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /> +BONSA TOWN.</h2> + +<p> +When consciousness returned to Alan, the first thing of which he became dimly +aware was the slow, swaying motion of a litter. He raised himself, for he was +lying at full length, and in so doing felt that there was something over his +face. +</p> + +<p> +“That confounded Little Bonsa,” he thought. “Am I expected to +spend the rest of my life with it on my head like the man in the iron +mask?” +</p> + +<p> +Then he put up his hand and felt the thing, to find that it was not Little +Bonsa, but something made apparently of thin, fine linen, fitted to the shape +of his face, for there was a nose on it, and eyeholes through which he could +see, yes, and a mouth whereof the lips by some ingenious contrivance could be +moved up and down. +</p> + +<p> +“Little Bonsa’s undress uniform, I expect,” he muttered, and +tried to drag it off. This, however, proved to be impossible, for it was fitted +tightly to his head and laced or fastened at the back of his neck so securely +that he could not undo it. Being still weak, soon he gave up the attempt and +began to look about him. +</p> + +<p> +He was in a litter, a very fine litter hung round with beautifully woven and +coloured grass mats, inside of which were a kind of couch and cushions of soft +wool or hair, so arranged that he could either sit up or lie down. He peeped +between two of these mats and saw that they were travelling in a mountainous +country over a well-beaten road or trail, and that his litter was borne upon +the shoulders of a double line of white-robed men, while all around him marched +numbers of other men. They seemed to be soldiers, for they were arranged in +companies and carried large spears and shields. Also some of them wore torques +and bracelets of yellow metal that might be either brass or gold. Turning +himself about he found an eyehole in the back of the litter so contrived that +its occupant could see without being seen, and perceived that his escort +amounted to a veritable army of splendid-looking, but sombre-faced savages of a +somewhat Semitic cast of countenance. Indeed many of them had aquiline features +and hair that, although crisped, was long and carefully arranged in something +like the old Egyptian fashion. Also he saw that about thirty yards behind and +separated from him by a bodyguard, was borne a second litter. By means of a +similar aperture in front he discovered yet more soldiers, and beyond them, at +the head of the procession, was what appeared to be a body of white-robed men +and women bearing strange emblems and banners. These he took to be priests and +priestesses. +</p> + +<p> +Having examined everything that was within reach of his eye, Alan sank back +upon his cushions and began to realize that he was very faint and hungry. It +was just then that the sound of a familiar voice reached his ears. It was the +voice of Jeekie, and he did not speak; he chanted in English to a melody which +Alan at once recognized as a Gregorian tone, apparently from the second litter. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, Major,” he sang, “have you yet awoke from refre-e-eshing +sleep? If so, please answer me in same tone of voice, for remember that you +de-e-evil of a swell, Lord of the Little Bonsa, and must not speak like +co-o-ommon cad.” +</p> + +<p> +Feeble as he was Alan nearly burst out laughing, then remembering that probably +he was expected not to laugh, chanted his answer as directed, which having a +good tenor voice, he did with some effect, to the evident awe and delight of +all the escort within hearing. +</p> + +<p> +“I am awake, most excellent Jee-e-ekie, and feel the need of food, if you +have such a thing abou-ou-out you and it is lawful for the Lord of Little Bonsa +to take nu-tri-ment.” +</p> + +<p> +Instantly Jeekie’s deep voice rose in reply. +</p> + +<p> +“That good tidings upon the mountain tops, Ma-ajor. Can’t come out +to bring you chop because too i-i-infra dig, for now I also biggish bug, the +little bird what sit upon the rose, as poet sa-a-ays. I tell these Johnnies +bring you grub, which you eat without qualm, for Asiki A1 coo-o-ook.” +</p> + +<p> +Then followed loud orders issued by Jeekie to his immediate <i>entourage</i>, +and some confusion. +</p> + +<p> +As a result presently Alan’s litter was halted, the curtains were opened +and kneeling women thrust through them platters of wood upon which, wrapped up +in leaves, were the dismembered limbs of a bird which he took to be chicken or +guinea-fowl, and a gold cup containing water pleasantly flavoured with some +essence. This cup interested him very much both on account of its shape and +workmanship, which if rude, was striking in design, resembling those drinking +vessels that have been found in Mycenian graves. Also it proved to him that +Jeekie’s stories of the abundance of the precious metal among the Asiki +had not been exaggerated. If it were not very plentiful, they would scarcely, +he thought, make their travelling cups of gold. Evidently there was wealth in +the land. +</p> + +<p> +After the food had been handed to him the litter went on again, and seated upon +his cushions, he ate and drank heartily enough, for now that the worst of his +fatigue had passed away, his hunger was great. In some absurd fashion this meal +reminded him of that which a traveller makes out of a luncheon basket upon a +railway line in Europe or America. Only there the cups are not of gold and +among the Asiki were no paper napkins, no salt and mustard, and no three and +sixpence or dollar to pay. Further, until he got used to it, luncheon in a +linen mask with a moveable mouth was not easy. This difficulty he overcame at +last by propping the imitation lips apart with a piece of bone, after which +things were easier. +</p> + +<p> +When he had finished he threw the platter and the remains out of the litter, +retaining the cup for further examination, and recommenced his intoned and +poetical converse with Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +To set it out at length would be wearisome, but in the course of an hour or so +he collected a good deal of information. Thus he learned that they were due to +arrive at the Asiki city, which was called Bonsa Town, by nightfall, or a +little after. Also he was informed that the mask he wore was, as he had +guessed, a kind of undress uniform without which he must never appear, since +for anyone except the Asika herself to look upon the naked countenance of an +individual so mysteriously mixed up with Little Bonsa, was sacrilege of the +worst sort. Indeed Jeekie assured him that the priests who had put on the +head-dress when he was insensible were first blindfolded. +</p> + +<p> +This news depressed Alan very much, since the prospect of living in a linen +mask for an indefinite period was not cheerful. Recovering, he chanted a query +as to the fate of the Ogula crew and their chief Fahni. +</p> + +<p> +“Not de-ad,” intoned Jeekie in reply, “and not gone back. +A-all alive-O, somewhere behind there. Fanny very sick about it, for he think +Asiki bring them along for sacrifice, poo-or beg-gars.” +</p> + +<p> +Finally he inquired where Little Bonsa was and was answered that he himself as +its lawful guardian, was sitting on the fetish in its tin box, tidings that he +was able to verify by groping beneath the cushions. +</p> + +<p> +After this his voice gave out, though Jeekie continued to sing items of +interesting news from time to time. Indeed there were other things that +absorbed Alan’s attention. Looking through the peepholes and cracks in +the curtains, he saw that at last they had reached the crest of a ridge up +which they had been climbing for hours. Before them lay a vast and fertile +valley, much of which seemed to be under cultivation, and down it flowed a +broad and placid river. Opposite to him and facing west a great tongue of land +ran up to a wall of mountains with stark precipices of black rock that seemed +to be hundreds, or even thousands, of feet high, and at the tip of this tongue +a mighty waterfall rushed over the precipice, looking at that distance like a +cascade of smoke. This torrent, which he remembered was called Raaba, fell into +a great pool and there divided itself into two rushing branches that enclosed +an ellipse of ground, surrounded on all sides by water, for on its westernmost +extremity the branches met again and after flowing a while as one river, +divided once more and wound away quietly to north and south further than the +eye could reach. On the island thus formed, which may have been three miles +long by two in breadth, stood thousands of straw-roofed, square-built huts with +verandas, neatly arranged in blocks and lines and having between them streets +that were edged with palms. +</p> + +<p> +On the hither side of the pool was what looked like a park, for here grew +great, black trees, which from their flat shape Alan took to be some variety of +cedar, and standing alone in the midst of this park where no other habitations +could be discovered, was a large, low building with dark-coloured walls and +gabled roofs that flashed like fire. +</p> + +<p> +“The Gold House!” said Alan to himself with a gasp. “So it is +not a dream or a lie.” +</p> + +<p> +The details at that distance he could not discover, nor did he try to do so, +for the general glory of the scene held him in its grip. At this evening hour, +for a little while, the level rays of the setting sun poured straight up the +huge, water-hollowed kloof. They struck upon the face of the fall, staining it +and the clouds of mist that hung above, to a hundred glorious hues; indeed the +substance of the foaming water seemed to be interlaced with rainbows whereof +the arch reached their crest and the feet were lost in the sullen blackness of +the pool beneath. Beautiful too was the valley, glowing in the quiet light of +evening, and even the native town thus gilded and glorified, looked like some +happy home of peace. +</p> + +<p> +The sun was sinking rapidly, and before the litter reached the foot of the hill +and began to cross the rich valley, all the glory had departed and only the +cataract showed white and ghost-like through the gloom. But still the light, +which seemed to gather to itself, gleamed upon that golden roof amid the cedar +trees; then the moon rose and the gold was turned to silver. Alan lay back upon +his cushions full of wonder, almost of awe. It was a marvellous thing that he +should have lived to reach this secret place hidden in the heart of Africa and +defended by swamps, mountains and savages to which, so far as he knew, only one +white man had ever penetrated. And to think of it! That white man, his own +uncle, had never even held it worth while to make public any account of its +wonders, which apparently had seemed to him of no importance. Or perhaps he +thought that if he did he would not be believed. Well, there they were before +and about him, and now the question was, what would be his fate in this Gold +House where the great fetish dwelt with its priestess? +</p> + +<p> +Ah! that priestess! Somehow he shivered a little when he thought of her; it was +as though her influence were over him already. Next moment he forgot her for a +while, for they had come to the river brink and the litter was being carried on +to a barge or ferry, about which were gathered many armed men. Evidently the +Gold House was well defended both by Nature and otherwise. The ferry was pulled +or rowed across the river, he could not see which, and they passed through a +gateway into the town and up a broad street where hundreds of people watched +his advent. They did not seem to speak, or if they spoke their voices were lost +in the sound of the thunder of the great cataract which dominated the place +with its sullen, continuous roar. It took Alan days to become accustomed to +that roar, but by the inhabitants of Asiki-land apparently it was not noticed; +their ears and voices were attuned to overcome its volume which their fathers +had known from the beginning. +</p> + +<p> +Presently they were through the town and a wooden gate in an inner wall which +surrounded the park where the cedars grew. At this spot Alan noted that +everybody left them except the bearers and a few men whom he took to be +priests. On they stole like ghosts beneath the mighty trees, from whose limbs +hung long festoons of moss. It was very dark there, only in places where a +bough was broken the moonlight lay in white gules upon the ground. Another wall +and another gate, and suddenly the litter was set down. Its curtains opened, +torches flashed, women appeared clad in white robes, veiled and mysterious, who +bowed before him, then half led and half lifted him from his litter. He could +feel their eyes on him through their veils, but he could not see their faces. +He could see nothing except their naked, copper-coloured arms and long thin +hands stretched out to assist him. +</p> + +<p> +Alan descended from the litter as slowly as he could, for somehow he shrank +from the quaint, carved portal which he saw before him. He did not wish to pass +it; its aspect filled him with reluctance. The women drew him on, their hands +pulled at his arms, their shoulders pressed him from behind. Still he hung +back, looking about him, till to his delight he saw the other litter arrive and +out of it emerge Jeekie, still wearing his sun-helmet with its fringe of +tattered mosquito curtain. +</p> + +<p> +“Here we are, Major,” he said in his cheerful voice, “turned +up all right like a bad ha’penny, but in odd situation.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very odd,” echoed Alan. “Could you persuade these ladies to +let go of me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know,” answered Jeekie. “’Spect they +doubtfully your wives; ’spect you have lots of wives here; don’t +get white man every day, so make most of him. Best thing you do, kick out and +teach them place. Rub nose in dirt at once and make them good, that first-class +plan with female. I no like interfere in such delicate matter.” +</p> + +<p> +Terrified by this information, Alan put out his strength and shook the women +off him, whereon without seeming to take any offence, they drew back to a little +distance and began to bow, like automata. Then Jeekie addressed them in their +own language, asking them what they meant by defiling this mighty lord, born of +the Heavens, with the touch of their hands, whereat they went on bowing more +humbly than before. Next he threw aside the cushions of the litter and finding +the tin box containing Little Bonsa, held it before him in both hands and bade +the women lead on. +</p> + +<p> +The march began, a bewildering march. It was like a nightmare. Veiled women +with torches before and behind, Jeekie stalking ahead carrying the battered tin +box, long passages lined with gold, a vision of black water edged with a wide +promenade, and finally a large lamp-lit room whereof the roof was supported by +gilded columns, and in the room couches of cushions, wooden stools inlaid with +ivory, vessels of water, great basins made of some black, hard wood, and in the +centre a block of stone that looked like an altar. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie set down the tin box upon the altar-like stone, then he turned to the +crowd of women and said, “Bring food.” Instantly they departed, +closing the door of the room behind them. +</p> + +<p> +“Now for a wash,” said Alan, “unlace this confounded mask, +Jeekie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mustn’t, Major, mustn’t. Priests tell me that. If those +girls see you without mask, perhaps they kill them. Wait till they gone after +supper, then take it off. No one allowed see you without mask except Asika +herself.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan stepped to one of the wooden bowls full of water which stood under a lamp, +and gazed at his own reflection. The mask was gilded; the sham lips were +painted red and round the eye-holes were black lines. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, it is horrible,” he exclaimed, starting back. “I look +like a devil crossed with Guy Fawkes. Do you mean to tell me that I have got to +live in this thing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Afraid so, Major, upon all public occasion. At least they say that. You +holy, not lawful see your sacred face.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who do the Asiki think I am, then, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +“They think you your reverend uncle come back after many, many year. You +see, Major, they not believe uncle run away with Little Bonsa; they believe +Little Bonsa run away with uncle just for change of air and so on, and that +now, when she tired of strange land, she bring him back again. That why you so +holy, favourite of Little Bonsa who live with you all this time and keep you +just same age, bloom of youth.” +</p> + +<p> +“In Heaven’s name,” asked Alan, exasperated, “what is +Little Bonsa, beyond an ancient and ugly gold fetish?” +</p> + +<p> +“Hush,” said Jeekie, “mustn’t call her names here in +her own house. Little Bonsa much more than fetish, Little Bonsa alive, or +so,” he added doubtfully, “these silly niggers say. She wife of Big +Bonsa, who you see, to-morrow p’raps. But their story this, that she get +dead sick of Big Bonsa and bolt with white Medicine man, who dare preach she +nothing but heathen idol. She want show him whether or no she only idol. That +the yarn, priests tell it me to-day. They always watch for her there by the +edge of the lake. They always sure Little Bonsa come back. Not at all +surprised, but as she love you once, you stop holy; and I holy also, thank +goodness, because she take me too as servant. Therefore we sleep in peace, for +they not cut our throats, at any rate at present, though I think,” he +added mournfully, “they not let us go either.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan sat down on a stool and groaned at the appalling prospect suggested by +this information. +</p> + +<p> +“Cheer up, Major,” said Jeekie sympathetically. “Perhaps +manage hook it somehow, and meanwhile make best of bad business and have high +old time. You see you want to come Asiki-land, though I tell you it rum place, +and,” he added with certitude and a circular sweep of his hand, “by +Jingo! you here now and I daresay they give you all the gold you want.” +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the good of gold unless one can get away with it? +What’s the good of anything if we are prisoners among these devils?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps time show, Major. Hush! here come dinner. You sit still on stool +and look holy.” +</p> + +<p> +The door opened and through it appeared four of the women bearing dishes and +cups full of drink, fashioned of gold like that which had been given to Alan in +the litter. He noticed at once that they had removed their veils and outer +garments, if indeed they were the same women, and now, like many other +Africans, were but lightly clad in linen capes open in front that hung over +their shoulders, short petticoats or skirts about their middles, and sandals. +Such was their attire which, scanty as it might be, was yet becoming enough and +extremely rich. Thus the cape was fastened with a brooch of worked gold, so +were the sandal straps, while the petticoat was adorned with beads of gold that +jingled as they walked, and amongst them strings of other beads of various and +beautiful colours, that might be glass or might be precious stones. Moreover, +these women were young and handsome, having splendid figures and well-cut +features, soft, dark eyes and rather long hair worn in the formal and +attractive fashion that has been described. +</p> + +<p> +Advancing to Alan two of them knelt before him, holding out the trays upon +which was the food. So they remained while he ate, like bronze statues, nor +would they consent to change their posture even when he told them in their +language to be pleased to go away. On hearing themselves addressed in the Asiki +language, they seemed surprised, for their faces changed a little, but go they +would not. The result was that Alan grew extremely nervous and ate and drank so +rapidly that he scarcely noted what he was putting into his mouth. Then before +Jeekie, to whom the women did not kneel, had half finished his dinner, Alan +rose and walked away, whereon two of the women gathered up everything, +including the dishes that had been given to Jeekie, and in spite of his +remonstrances carried them out of the room. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, Major,” said Jeekie, “if you gobble chop so fast you +go ill inside. Poor nigger like me can’t keep up with you and sleep +hungry to-night.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry, Jeekie,” said Alan with a little laugh, “but I +can’t eat off living tables, especially when they stare at one like that. +You tell them that to-morrow we will breakfast alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes, I tell them, Major, but I don’t know if they listen. They +mean it great compliment and only think you not like those girls and send +others.” +</p> + +<p> +“Look here, Jeekie,” exclaimed Alan, turning his masked face +towards the two who remained, “let us come to an understanding at once. +Clear them out. Tell them I am so holy that Little Bonsa is enough for me. Say +I can’t bear the sight of females, and that if they stop here I will +sacrifice them. Say anything you like, only get rid of them and lock the +door.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus adjured, Jeekie began to reason with the women, and as they treated his +remarks with lofty disdain, at last seized first one and then the other by the +elbows and literally ran them out of the room. +</p> + +<p> +“There,” he said, “baggage gone since you make such fuss +about it, though I ’spect they try to give me Bean for this job” +(here he spoke not in figurative English slang, but of the Calabar bean, which +is a favourite native poison). “Well, dinner gone and girls gone, and we +tired, so best go to bed. Think we all private here now, though in Gold House +never can be sure,” and he looked round him suspiciously, adding, +“rummy place, Gold House, full of all sort of holes made by old fellows +thousand year ago, which no one know but Bonsa priests. Still, best risk it and +take off your face so that you have decent wash,” and he began to unlace +the mask on his master’s head. +</p> + +<p> +Never has a City clerk dressed up for a fancy ball in the armour of a Norman +knight, been more glad to get rid of his costume than was Alan of that hateful +head-dress. At length it was gone with his other garments and the much-needed +wash accomplished, after which he clothed himself in a kind of linen gown which +apparently had been provided for him, and lay down on one of the couches, +placing his revolver by his side. +</p> + +<p> +“Will those lamps burn all night, Jeekie?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Hope so, Major, as we haven’t got no match. Not fond of dark in +Gold House,” answered Jeekie sleepily. Then he began to snore. +</p> + +<p> +Alan fell asleep, but was too excited and tired to rest very soundly. All sorts +of dreams came to him, one of which he remembered on awakening, perhaps because +it was the last. He dreamed that he heard some noise and opened his eyes, to +see that they were no longer alone in the room. The oil lamps had burned quite +low, indeed some of them were out, but by the light of those that remained he +saw a tall figure which seemed to appear at the edge of the surrounding +blackness, a woman’s figure. It walked forward to the altar-like stone +upon which lay the tin box containing Little Bonsa, and after several rather +awkward attempts, succeeded in opening it, thereby making a noise which, in his +dream, finally awoke Alan. For a while the figure gazed at the fetish. Then it +shut the box, glided to his bed and bent down as though to study him. Out of +the corners of his eyes he peered up at it, pretending all the while to be fast +asleep. +</p> + +<p> +It was that of a woman wonderfully clad in gold-spangled, veil-like garments +with round bosses shaped to the breast, covered with thin plates of gold +fashioned like the scales of a fish which showed off the extraordinary elegance +of her lithe form. The low lamp-light shone upon her face and the coronet of +gold set upon her dark hair. What a face it was! Never in all his days had he +seen its like for evil loveliness. The great, languid, oblong eyes, the rich +red lips bent like a bow, the cruel smile of the mouth, the broad forehead on +which the hair grew low, the delicately arched eyebrows and the long curving +lashes of the heavy lids beneath them, the rounded cheeks, smooth as a ripe +fruit, the firm, shapely chin, the snake-like poise of the head, the long +bending neck, and the feline smile; all of these combined made such a +dream-vision as he had never seen before, and to tell the truth, +notwithstanding its beauty, for that could not be doubted, never wished to see +again. Somehow he felt that if Satan should happen to have a copper-coloured +wife, the exact picture of that lady had projected itself upon his sleeping +senses. +</p> + +<p> +She seemed to study him very earnestly, with a kind of passionate eagerness, +indeed, moving a little now and again to let the light fall upon some part that +was in shadow. Once even she stretched out her rounded arm and just lifted the +edge of the blanket so as to expose his hand, the left. As it chanced on the +little finger of this hand Alan wore a plain gold ring which Barbara had given +him; once it had been her grandfather’s signet. This ring, which had a +coat of arms cut upon its bezel seemed to interest her very much as she +examined it for a long while. Then she drew off from her own finger another +ring of gold fashioned of two snakes curiously intertwined, and gently, so +gently that in his sleep he scarcely felt it, slipped it on to his finger above +Barbara’s ring. +</p> + +<p> +After this she seemed to vanish away, and Alan slept soundly until the morning, +when he awoke to find the light of the sun pouring into the room through the +high-set latticed window places. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br /> +THE HALL OF THE DEAD.</h2> + +<p> +Alan rose and stretched himself, and hearing him, Jeekie, who had a dog’s +faculty of instantly awaking from what seemed to be the deepest sleep, sat up +also. +</p> + +<p> +“You rest well, Major? No dream, eh?” he asked curiously. +</p> + +<p> +“Not very,” answered Alan, “and I had a dream, of a woman who +stood over me and vanished away, as dreams do.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said Jeekie. “But where you find that new ring on +finger, Major?” +</p> + +<p> +Alan stared at his hand and started, for there set on it above that of Barbara, +was the little circlet formed of twisted snakes which he had seen in his sleep. +</p> + +<p> +“Then it must have been true,” he said in a low and rather +frightened voice. “But how did she come and go?” +</p> + +<p> +“Funny place, Gold House. I tell you that yesterday, Major. People come +up through hole, like rat. Never quite sure you alone in Gold House. But what +this lady like?” +</p> + +<p> +Alan described his visitor to the best of his ability. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said Jeekie, “pretty girl. Big eyes, gold crown, gold +stays which fit tight in front, very nice and decent; sort of night-shirt with +little gold stars all over—by Jingo! I think that Asika herself. If +so—great compliment.” +</p> + +<p> +“Confound the compliment, I think it great cheek,” answered Alan +angrily. “What does she mean by poking about here at night and putting +rings on my finger?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know, Major, but p’raps she wish make you understand +that she like cut of your jib. Find out by and by. Meanwhile you wear ring, for +while that on finger no one do you any harm.” +</p> + +<p> +“You told me that this Asika is a married woman, did you not?” +remarked Alan gloomily. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, yes, Major, always married; one down, other come on, you see. But +she not always like her husband, and then she make him sit up, poor devil, and +he die double quick. Great honour to be Asika’s husband, but soon all +finished. P’raps——” +</p> + +<p> +Then he checked himself and suggested that Alan should have a bath while he +cleaned his clothes, an attention that they needed. +</p> + +<p> +Scarcely had Alan finished his toilet, donned the Arab-looking linen robe over +his own fragmentary flannels, and above it the hateful mask which Jeekie +insisted he must wear, when there came a knocking on the door. Motioning to +Alan to take his seat upon a stool, Jeekie undid the bars, and as before women +appeared with food and waited while they ate, which this time, having overcome +his nervousness, Alan did more leisurely. Their meal done, one of the women +asked Jeekie, for to his master they did not seem to dare to speak, whether the +white lord did not wish to walk in the garden. Without waiting for an answer +she led him to the end of the large room and, unbarring another door that they +had not noticed, revealed a passage, beyond which appeared trees and flowers. +Then she and her companions went away with the fragments of the meal. +</p> + +<p> +“Come on,” said Alan, taking up the box containing Little Bonsa, +which he did not dare to leave behind, “and let us get into the +air.” +</p> + +<p> +So they went down the passage and at the end of it through gates of copper or +gold, they knew not which, that had evidently been left open for them, into the +garden. It was a large place, a good many acres in extent indeed, and kept with +some care, for there were paths in it and flowers that seemed to have been +planted. Also here grew certain of the mighty cedar trees that they had seen +from far off, beneath whose spreading boughs twilight reigned, while beyond, +not more than half a mile away, the splendid river-fall thundered down the +precipice. For the rest they could find no exit to that garden which on one +side was enclosed by a sheer cliff of living rock, and on the others with steep +stone walls beyond which ran a torrent, and by the buildings of the Gold House +itself. +</p> + +<p> +For a while they walked up and down the rough paths, till at last Jeekie, +wearying of this occupation, remarked: +</p> + +<p> +“Melancholy hole this, Major. Remind me of Westminster Abbey in London +fog, where your uncle of blessed mem’ry often take me pray and look at +fusty tomb of king. S’pose we go back Gold House and see what happen. +Anything better than stand about under cursed old cedar tree.” +</p> + +<p> +“All right,” said Alan, who through the eyeholes of his mask had +been studying the walls to seek a spot in them that could be climbed if +necessary, and found none. +</p> + +<p> +So they returned to the room, which had been swept and garnished in their +absence. No sooner had they entered it than the door opened and through it came +long lines of Asiki priests, each of whom staggered beneath the weight of a +hide bag that he bore upon his shoulder, which bags they piled up about the +stone altar. Then, as though at some signal, each priest opened the mouth of +his bag and Alan saw that they wee filled with gold, gold in dust, gold in +nuggets, gold in vessels perfect or broken; more gold than Alan had ever seen +before. +</p> + +<p> +“Why do they bring all this stuff here?” he asked, and Jeekie +translated his question. +</p> + +<p> +“It is an offering to the lord of Little Bonsa,” answered the head +priest, bowing, “a gift from the Asika. The heaven-born white man sent +word by his Ogula messengers that he desired gold. Here is the gold that he +desired.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan stared at the treasure, which after all was what he had come to seek. If +only he had it safe in England, he would be a rich man and his troubles ended. +But how could he get it to England? Here it was worthless as mud. +</p> + +<p> +“I thank the Asika,” he said. “I ask for porters to bear her +gift back to my own country, since it is too heavy for me and my servant to +carry alone.” +</p> + +<p> +At these words the priest smiled a little, then said that the Asika desired to +see the white lord and to receive from him Little Bonsa in return for the gold, +and that he could proffer his request to her. +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” replied Alan, “lead me to the Asika.” +</p> + +<p> +Then they started, Alan bearing the box containing Little Bonsa, and Jeekie +following after him. They went down passages and through sundry doors till at +length they came to a long and narrow hall that seemed to be lined with plates +of gold. At the end of this hall was a large chair of black wood and ivory +placed upon a daïs, and sitting in this chair with the light pouring on her +from some opening above, was the woman of Alan’s dream, beautiful to look +on in her crown and glittering garments. Upon a stool at the foot of the daïs +sat a man, a handsome and melancholy man. His hair was tied behind his head in +a pigtail and gilded, his face was painted red, white and yellow; he wore ropes +of bright-coloured stones about his neck, middle, arms and ankles, and held a +kind of sceptre in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is that creature?” asked Alan over his shoulder to Jeekie. +“The Court fool?” +</p> + +<p> +“That husband of Asika, Major. He not fool, very big gun, but look a +little low now because his time soon up. Come on, Major, Asika beckon us. Get +on stomach and crawl; that custom here,” he added, going down on to his +hands and knees, as did all the priests who followed them. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll see her hanged first,” answered Alan in English. +</p> + +<p> +Then, accompanied by the creeping Jeekie and the train of prostrate priests, he +marched up the long hall to the edge of the daïs and there stood still and +bowed to the woman in the chair. +</p> + +<p> +“Greeting, white man,” she said in a low voice when she had studied +him for a while. “Do you understand my tongue?” +</p> + +<p> +“A little,” he answered in Asiki, “moreover, my servant here +knows it well and can translate.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am glad,” she said. “Tell me then, in your country do not +people go on to their knees before their queen, and if not, how do they greet +her?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” answered Alan with the help of Jeekie. “They greet her +by raising their head-dress or kissing her hand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” she said. “Well, you have no head-dress, so kiss +<i>my</i> hand,” and she stretched it out towards him, at the same time +prodding the man whom Jackie had said was her husband, in the back with her +foot, apparently to make him get out of the way. +</p> + +<p> +Not knowing what else to do, Alan stepped on to the daïs, the painted man +scowling at him as he passed. Then he halted and said: +</p> + +<p> +“How can I kiss your hand through this mask, Asika?” +</p> + +<p> +“True,” she answered, then considered a little and added, +“White man, you have brought back Little Bonsa, have you not, Little +Bonsa who ran away with you a great many years ago?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have,” he said, ignoring the rest of the question. +</p> + +<p> +“Your messengers said that you required a present of gold in return for +Little Bonsa. I have sent you one, is it sufficient? If not, you can have +more.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot say, O Asika, I have not examined it. But I thank you for the +present and desire porters to enable me to carry it away.” +</p> + +<p> +“You desire porters,” she repeated meditatively. “We will +talk of that when you have rested here a moon or two. Meanwhile, give me Little +Bonsa that she may be restored to her own place.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan opened the tin box and lifting out the fetish, gave it to the priestess, +who took it and with a serpentine movement of extraordinary grace glided from +her chair on to her knees, holding the mask above her head in both hands, then +thrice covered her face with it. This done, she called to the priests, bidding +them take Little Bonsa to her own place and give notice throughout the land +that she was back again. She added that the ancient Feast of Little Bonsa would +be held on the night of the full moon within three days, and that all +preparations must be made for it as she had commanded. +</p> + +<p> +Then the head medicine-man, raising himself upon his knees, crept on to the +daïs, took the fetish from her hands, and breaking into a wild song of triumph, +he and his companions crawled down the hall and vanished through the door, +leaving them alone save for the Asika’s husband. +</p> + +<p> +When they had gone the Asika looked at this man in a reflective way, and Alan +looked at him also through the eyeholes of his mask, finding him well worth +studying. As has been said, notwithstanding his paint and grotesque +decorations, he was very good-looking for a native, with well-cut features of +an Arab type. Also he was tall and muscular and not more than thirty years of +age. What struck Alan most, however, was none of these things, nor his jewelled +chains, nor even his gilded pigtail, but his eyes, which were full of terrors. +Seeing them, Alan remembered Jeekie’s story, which he had told to Mr. +Haswell’s guests at The Court, of how the husband of the Asika was driven +mad by ghosts. +</p> + +<p> +Just then she spoke to the man, addressing him by name and saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Leave us alone, Mungana, I wish to speak with this white lord.” +</p> + +<p> +He did not seem to hear her words, but continued to stare at Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Hearken!” she exclaimed in a voice of ice. “Do my bidding +and begone, or you shall sleep alone to-night in a certain chamber that you +know of.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Mungana rose, looked at her as a dog sometimes does at a cruel master who +is about to beat it, yes, with just that same expression, put his hands before +his eyes for a little while, and turning, left the hall by a side door which +closed behind him. The Asika watched him go, laughed musically and said: +</p> + +<p> +“It is a very dull thing to be married,—but how are you named, +white man?” +</p> + +<p> +“Vernon,” he answered. +</p> + +<p> +“Vernoon, Vernoon,” she repeated, for she could not pronounce the O +as we do. “Are <i>you</i> married, Vernoon?” +</p> + +<p> +He shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“Have you been married?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” he answered, “never, but I am going to be.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” she repeated, “you are going to be. You remember that +you were near to it many years ago, when Little Bonsa got jealous and ran away +with you. Well, she won’t do that again, for doubtless she is tired of +you now, and besides,” she added with a flash of ferocity, +“I’d melt her with fire first and set her spirit free.” +</p> + +<p> +While Jeekie was trying to explain this mysterious speech to Alan, the Asika +broke in, asking: +</p> + +<p> +“Do you always want to wear that mask?” +</p> + +<p> +He answered, “Certainly not,” whereon she bade Jeekie take it off, +which he did. +</p> + +<p> +“Understand me,” she said, fixing her great languid eyes upon his +in a fashion that made him exceedingly uncomfortable, “understand, +Vernoon, that if you go out anywhere, it must be in your mask, which you can +only put off when you are alone with <i>me.</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Why?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, Vernoon, I do not choose that any other woman should see your +face. If a woman looks upon your uncovered face, remember that she +dies—not nicely.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan stared at her blankly, being unable to find appropriate Asiki words in +which to reply to this threat. But the Asika only leaned back in her chair and +laughed at his evident confusion and dismay, till a new thought struck her. +</p> + +<p> +“Your lips are free now,” she said; “kiss my hand after the +fashion of your own country,” and she stretched it out to Alan, leaving +him no choice but to obey her. +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” she went on mischievously, taking his hand and in turn +touching it with her red lips, “why, are you a thief, Vernoon? That ring +was mine and you have stolen it. How did you steal that ring?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know,” he answered, through Jeekie, “I found +it on my finger. I cannot understand how it came there. I understand nothing of +all this talk.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, well, keep it, Vernoon, only give me that other ring of yours in +exchange.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot,” he replied, colouring. “I promised to wear it +always.” +</p> + +<p> +“Whom did you promise?” she asked with a flash of rage. “Was +it a woman? Nay, I see, it is a man’s ring, and that is well, for +otherwise I would bring a curse on her, however far off she may be dwelling. +Say no more and forgive my anger. A vow is a vow—keep your ring. But +where is that one you used to wear in bygone days? I recall that it had a cross +upon it, not this star and figure of an eagle.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Alan remembered that his uncle owned such a ring with a cross upon it, and +was frightened, for how did this woman know these things? +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” he said, “ask the Asika if I am mad, or if she is. +How can she know what I used to wear, seeing that I was never in this place +till yesterday, and certainly I have not met her anywhere else.” +</p> + +<p> +“She mean when you your reverend uncle,” said Jeekie, wagging his +great head, “she think you identical man.” +</p> + +<p> +“What troubles you, Vernoon,” the Asika asked softly, then added +anything but softly to Jeekie, “Translate, you dog, and be swift.” +</p> + +<p> +So Jeekie translated in a great hurry, telling her what Alan had said, and +adding on his own account that he, silly white man that he was, could not +understand how, as she was quite a young woman, she could have seen him before +she was born. If that were so, she would be old and ugly now, not beautiful as +she was. +</p> + +<p> +“I never saw you before, and you never saw me, Lady, yet you talk as +though we had been friends,” broke in Alan in his halting Asiki. +</p> + +<p> +“So we were in the spirit, Vernoon. It was she who went before me who +loved that white man whose face was as your face is, but her ghost lives on in +me and tells me the tale. There have been many Asikas, for thousands of years +they have ruled in this land, yet but one spirit belongs to them all; it is the +string upon which the beads of their lives are threaded. White man, I, whom you +think young, know everything back to the beginning of the world, back to the +time when I was a monkey woman sitting in those cedar trees, and if you wish, I +can tell it you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should like to hear it very much indeed,” answered Alan, when he +had mastered her meaning, “though it is strange that none of the rest of +us remember such things. Meanwhile, O Asika, I will tell you that I desire to +return to my own land, taking with me that gift of gold that you have given me. +When will it please you to allow me to return?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet a while, I think,” she said, smiling at him weirdly, for +no other word will describe that smile. “My spirit remembers that it was +always thus. Those wanderers who came hither always wished to return again to +their own country, like the birds in spring. Once there was a white man among +them, that was more than twenty hundred years ago; he was a native of a country +called Roma, and wore a helmet. He wished to return, but my mother of that day, +she kept him and by and by I will show him to you if you like. Before that +there was a brown man who came from a land where a great river overflows its +banks every year. He was a prince of his own country, who had fled from his +king and the desert folk made a slave of him, and so he drifted hither. He +wished to return also, for my mother of that day, or my spirit that dwelt in +her, showed to him that if he could but be there they would make him king in +his own land. But my mother of that day, she would not let him go, and by and +by I will show him to you, if you wish.” +</p> + +<p> +Bewildered, amazed, Alan listened to her. Evidently the woman was mad, or else +she played some mystical part for reasons of her own. +</p> + +<p> +“When will you let me go, O Asika?” he repeated. +</p> + +<p> +“Not yet a while, I think,” she said again. “You are too +comely and I like you,” and she smiled at him. There was nothing coarse +in the smile, indeed it had a certain spiritual quality which thrilled him. +“I like you,” she went on in her dreamy voice, “I would keep +you with me until your spirit is drawn up into my spirit, making it strong and +rich as all the spirits that went before have done, those spirits that my +mothers loved from the beginning, which dwell in me to-day.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Alan grew alarmed, desperate even. +</p> + +<p> +“Queen,” he said, “but just now your husband sat here, is it +right then that you should talk to me thus?” +</p> + +<p> +“My husband,” she answered, laughing. “Why, that man is but a +slave who plays the part of husband to satisfy an ancient law. Never has he so +much as kissed my finger tips; my women—those who waited on you last +night—are his wives, not I,—or may be, if he will. Soon he will die +of love for me, and then when he is dead, though not before, I may take another +husband, any husband that I choose, and I think that no black man shall be my +lord, who have other, purer blood in me. Vernoon, five centuries have gone by +since an Asika was really wed to a foreign man who wore a green turban and +called himself a son of the Prophet, a man with a hooked nose and flashing +eyes, who reviled our gods until they slew him, even though he was the beloved +of their priestess. She who went before me also would have married that white +man whose face was like your face, but he fled with Little Bonsa, or rather +Little Bonsa fled with him. So she passed away unwed, and in her place I +came.” +</p> + +<p> +“How did you come, if she whom you call your mother was not your +mother?” asked Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“What is that to you, white man?” she replied haughtily. “I +am here, as my spirit has been here from the first. Oh! I see you think I lie +to you, come then, come, and I will show you those who from the beginning have +been the husbands of the Asika,” and rising from her chair she took him +by the hand. +</p> + +<p> +They went through doors and by long, half-lit passages till they came to great +gates guarded by old priests armed with spears. As they drew near to these +priests the Asika loosed a scarf that she wore over her breast-plate of gold +fish scales, and threw the star-spangled thing over Alan’s head, that +even these priests should not see his face. Then she spoke a word to them and +they opened the gates. Here Jeekie evinced a disposition to remain, remarking +to his master that he thought that place, into which he had never entered, +“much too holy for poor nigger like him.” +</p> + +<p> +The Asika asked him what he had said and he explained his sense of unworthiness +in her own tongue. +</p> + +<p> +“Come, fellow,” she exclaimed, “to translate my words and to +bear witness that no trick is played upon your lord.” +</p> + +<p> +Still Jeekie lingered bashfully, whereon at a sign from her, one of the priests +pricked him behind with his great spear, and uttering a low howl he sprang +forward. +</p> + +<p> +The Asika led the way down a passage, which they saw ended in a big hall lit +with lamps. Now they were in it and Alan became aware that they had entered the +treasure house of the Asiki, since here were piled up great heaps of gold, gold +in ingots, gold in nuggets, in stone jars filled with dust, in vessels plain or +embossed with monstrous shapes in fetishes and in little squares and discs that +looked as though they had served as coins. Never had he seen so much gold +before. +</p> + +<p> +“You are rich here, Lady,” he said, gazing at the piles astonished. +</p> + +<p> +She shrugged her shoulders. “Yes, as I have heard that some people count +wealth. These are the offerings brought to our gods from the beginning; also +all the gold found in the mountains belongs to the gods, and there is much of +it there. The gift I sent to you was taken from this heap, but in truth it is +but a poor gift, seeing that although this stuff is bright and serves for cups +and other things, it has no use at all and is only offered to the gods because +it is harder to come by than other metals. Look, these are prettier than the +gold,” and from a stone table she picked up at hazard a long necklace of +large, uncut stones, red and white in colour and set alternatively, that Alan +judged to be crystals and spinels. +</p> + +<p> +“Take it,” she said, “and examine it at your leisure. It is +very old. For hundreds of years no more of these necklaces have been +made,” and with a careless movement she threw the chain over his head so +that it hung upon his shoulders. +</p> + +<p> +Alan thanked her, then remembered that the man called Mungana, who was the +husband, real or official, of this priestess, had been somewhat similarly +adorned, and shivered a little as though at a presage of advancing fate. Still +he did not return the thing, fearing lest he should give offence. +</p> + +<p> +At this moment his attention was taken from the treasure by the sound of a +groan behind him. Turning round he perceived Jeekie, his great eyes rolling as +though in an extremity of fear. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh my golly! Major,” he ejaculated, pointing to the wall, +“look there.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan looked, but at first in that dim light could only discover long rows of +gleaming objects which reached from the floor to the roof. +</p> + +<p> +“Come and see,” said the Asika, and taking a lamp from that table +on which lay the gems, she led him past the piles of gold to one side of the +vault or hall. Then he saw, and although he did not show it, like Jeekie he was +afraid. +</p> + +<p> +For there, each in his own niche and standing one above the other, were what +looked like hundreds of golden men with gleaming eyes. At first until the utter +stillness undeceived him, he thought that they <i>must</i> be men. Then he +understood that this was what they had been; now they were corpses wrapped in +sheets of thin gold and wearing golden masks with eyes of crystal, each mask +being beaten out to a hideous representation of the man in life. +</p> + +<p> +“All these are the husbands of my spirit,” said the priestess, +waving the lamp in front of the lowest row of them, “Munganas who were +married to the Asikas in the past. Look, here is he who said that he ought to +be king of that rich land where year after year the river overflows its +banks,” and going to one of the first of the figures in the bottom row, +she drew out a fastening and suffered the gold mask to fall forward on a hinge, +exposing the face within. +</p> + +<p> +Although it had evidently been treated with some preservative, this head now +was little more than a skull still covered with dark hair, but set upon its +brow appeared an object that Alan recognized at once, a simple band of plain +gold, and rising from it the head of an asp. Without doubt it was the +<i>uraeus</i>, that symbol which only the royalties of Old Egypt dared to wear. +Without doubt also either this man had brought it with him from the Nile, or in +memory of his rank and home he had fashioned it of the gold that was so +plentiful in the place of his captivity. So this woman’s story was true, +an ancient Egyptian had once been husband to the Asika of his day. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile his guide had passed a long way down the line and halting in front of +another gold-wrapped figure, opened its mask. +</p> + +<p> +“This is that man,” she said, “who told us he came from a +land called Roma. Look, the helmet still rests upon his head, though time has +eaten into it, and that ring upon your hand was taken from his finger. I have a +head-dress made upon the model of that helmet which I wear sometimes in memory +of this man who, my soul remembers, was brave and pleasant and a gallant +lover.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” answered Alan, looking at the sunken face above which a +rim of curls appeared beneath the rusting helmet. “Well, he doesn’t +look very gallant now, does he?” Then he peered down between the body and +its gold casing and saw that in his bony hand the man still held a short Roman +sword, lifted as though in salute. So she had not lied in this matter either. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile the Asika had glided on to the end of the hall behind the heaps of +treasure. +</p> + +<p> +“There is one more white man,” she said, “though we know +little of him, for he was fierce and barbarous and died without learning our +tongue, after killing a great number of the priests of that day because they +would not let him go; yes, died cutting them down with a battle-axe and singing +some wild song of his own country. Come hither, slave, and bend yourself so, +resting your hands upon the ground.” +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie obeyed, and actively as a cat the priestess leaped on to his back, and +reaching up opened the mask of a corpse in the second row and held her lamp +before its face. +</p> + +<p> +It was better preserved than the others, so that its features remained +comparatively perfect, and about them hung a tangle of golden hair. Moreover, a +broad battle-axe appeared resting on the shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“A viking,” thought Alan. “I wonder how <i>he</i> came +here.” +</p> + +<p> +When he had looked the Asika leaped from Jeekie’s back to the ground and, +waving her arm around her, began to talk so rapidly that Alan could understand +nothing of her words, and asked Jeekie to translate them. +</p> + +<p> +“She say,” explained Jeekie between his chattering teeth, +“that all rest these Johnnies very poor crew, natives and that lot except +one who worship false Prophet and cut throat of Asika of that time, because she +infidel and he teach her better; also eat his dinner out of Little Bonsa and +chuck her into water. Very wild man, that Arab, but priests catch him at last +and fill him with hot gold before Little Bonsa because he no care a damn for +ghosts. So he die saying Hip, hip, hurrah! for houri and green field of Prophet +and to hell with Asika and Bonsa, Big and Little! Now he sit up there and at +night time worst ghost of all the crowd, always come to finish off Mungana. +That all she say, and quite enough too. Come on quick, she want you and no like +wait.” +</p> + +<p> +By now the Asika had passed almost round the hall, and was standing opposite to +an empty niche beyond and above which there were perhaps a score of bodies +gold-plated in the usual fashion. +</p> + +<p> +“That is your place, Vernoon,” she said gently, contemplating him +with her soft and heavy eyes, “for it was prepared for the white man with +whom Little Bonsa fled away, and since then, as you see, there have been many +Munganas, some of whom belong to me; indeed, that one,” and she touched a +corpse on which the gold looked very fresh, “only left me last year. But +we always knew that Little Bonsa would bring you back again, and so you see, we +have kept your place empty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” remarked Alan, “that is very kind of you,” +and feeling that he would faint if he stayed longer in this horrible and +haunted vault, he pushed past her with little ceremony and walked out through +the gates into the passage beyond. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /> +THE GOLD HOUSE.</h2> + +<p> +“How you like Asiki-land, Major?” asked Jeekie, who had followed +him and was now leaning against a wall fanning himself feebly with his great +hand. “Funny place, isn’t it, Major? I tell you so before you come, +but you no believe me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very funny,” answered Alan, “so funny that I want to get +out.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! Major, that what eel say in trap where he go after lob-worm, but he +only get out into frying pan after cook skin him alive-o. Ah! here come +cook—I mean Asika. She only stop shut up those stiff ’uns, who all +love lob-worm one day. Very pretty woman, Asika, but thank God she not set cap +at me, who like to be buried in open like Christian man.” +</p> + +<p> +“If you don’t stop it, Jeekie,” replied Alan in a +concentrated rage, “I’ll see that you are buried just where you +are.” +</p> + +<p> +“No offence, Major, no offence, my heart full and bubble up. I wonder +what Miss Barbara say if she see you mooing and cooing with dark-eyed girl in +gold snake skin?” +</p> + +<p> +Just then the Asika arrived and by way of excuse for his flight, Alan remarked +to her that the treasure-hall was hot. +</p> + +<p> +“I did not notice it,” she answered, “but he who is called my +husband, the Mungana, says the same. The Mungana is guardian of the dead,” +she explained, “and when he is required so to do, he sleeps in the Place +of the Treasure and gathers wisdom from the spirits of those Munganas who were +before him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed. And does he like that bed-chamber?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Mungana likes what I like, not what he likes,” she replied +haughtily. “Where I send him to sleep, there he sleeps. But come, +Vernoon, and I will show you the Holy Water where Big Bonsa dwells; also the +house in which I have my home, where you shall visit me when you please.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who built this place?” asked Alan as she led him through more dark +and tortuous passages. “It is very great.” +</p> + +<p> +“My spirit does not remember when it was built, Vernoon, so old is it, +but I think that the Asiki were once a big and famous people who traded to the +water upon the west, and even to the water on the east, and that was how those +white men became their slaves and the Munganas of their queens. Now they are +small and live only by the might and fame of Big and Little Bonsa, not half +filling the rich land which is theirs. But,” she added reflectively and +looking at him, “I think also that this is because in the past fools have +been thrust upon my spirit as Munganas. What it needs is the wisdom of the +white man, such wisdom as yours, Vernoon. If that were added to my magic, then +the Asiki would grow great again, seeing that they have in such plenty the gold +which you have shown me the white man loves. Yes, they would grow great, and +from coast to coast the people should bow at the name of Bonsa and send him +their sons for sacrifice. Perhaps you will live to see that day, Vernoon. +Slave,” she added, addressing Jeekie, “set the mask upon your +lord’s head, for we come where women are.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan objected, but she stamped her foot and said it must be so, having once +worn Little Bonsa, as her people told her he had done, his naked face might not +be seen. So Alan submitted to the hideous head-dress and they entered the +Asika’s house by some back entrance. +</p> + +<p> +It was a place with many rooms in it, but they were all remarkable for extreme +simplicity. With a single exception no gilding or gold was to be seen, although +the food vessels were made of this material here as everywhere. The chambers, +including those in which the Asika lived and slept, were panelled, or rather +boarded with cedar wood that was almost black with age, and their scanty +furniture was mostly made of ebony. They were very insufficiently lighted, like +his own room, by means of barred openings set high in the wall. Indeed gloom +and mystery were the keynotes of this place, amongst the shadows of which +handsome, half-naked servants or priestesses flitted to and fro at their tasks, +or peered at them out of dark corners. The atmosphere seemed heavy with secret +sin; Alan felt that in those rooms unnameable crimes and cruelties had been +committed for hundreds or perhaps thousands of years, and that the place was +yet haunted by the ghosts of them. At any rate it struck a chill to his healthy +blood, more even than had that Hall of the Dead and of heaped-up golden +treasure. +</p> + +<p> +“Does my house please you?” the Asika asked of him. +</p> + +<p> +“Not altogether,” he answered, “I think it is dark.” +</p> + +<p> +“From the beginning my spirit has ever loved the dark, Vernoon. I think +that it was shaped in some black midnight.” +</p> + +<p> +They passed through the chief entrance of the house which had pillars of +woodwork grotesquely carved, down some steps into a walled and roofed-in yard +where the shadows were even more dense than in the house they had left. Only at +one spot was there light flowing down through a hole in the roof, as it did +apparently in that hall where Alan had found the Asika sitting in state. The +light fell on to a pedestal or column made of gold which was placed behind an +object like a large Saxon font, also made of gold. The shape of this column +reminded Alan of something, namely of a very similar column, although fashioned +of a different material which stood in the granite-built office of Messrs. +Aylward & Haswell in the City of London. Nor did this seem wonderful to +him, since on top of it, squatting on its dwarf legs, stood a horrid but +familiar thing, namely Little Bonsa herself come home at last. There she sat +smiling cruelly, as she had smiled from the beginning, forgetful doubtless of +her wanderings in strange lands, while round her stood a band of priests armed +with spears. +</p> + +<p> +Followed by the Asika and Jeekie, Alan walked up and looked her in the face, and +to his excited imagination she appeared to grin at him in answer. Then while +the priests prostrated themselves, he examined the golden basin or laver, and +saw that at the further side of it was a little platform approached by steps. +On the top of these golden steps were two depressions such as might have been +worn out in the course of ages by persons kneeling there. Also the flat edge of +the basin which stood about thirty inches above the level of the topmost step, +was scored as though by hundreds of sword cuts which had made deep lines in the +pure metal. The basin itself was empty. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing that these things interested him, the Asika volunteered the information +through Jeekie, that this was a divining-bowl, and that if those who went +before her had wished to learn the future, they caused Little Bonsa to float in +it and found out all they wanted to know by her movements. She, however, she +added, had other and better methods of learning things that were predestined. +</p> + +<p> +“Where does the water come from?” asked Alan thoughtlessly +searching the bowl for some tap or inlet. +</p> + +<p> +“Out of the hearts of men,” she answered with a low and dreadful +laugh. “These marks are those of swords and every one of them means a +life.” Then seeing that he looked incredulous she added, “Stay, I +will show you. Little Bonsa must be thirsty who has fasted so long, also there +are matters that I desire to know. Come hither—you, and you,” and +she pointed at hazard to the two priests who knelt nearest to her, “and +do you bid the executioner bring his axe,” she went on to a third. +</p> + +<p> +The dark faces of the men turned ashen, but they made no effort to escape their +doom. One of them crept up the steps and laid his neck upon the edge of gold, +while the other, uttering no word, threw himself on his face at the foot of +them, waiting his turn. Then a door opened and there appeared a great and +brutal-looking fellow, naked except for a loin cloth, who bore in his hand a +huge weapon, half knife and half axe. +</p> + +<p> +First he looked at the Asika, who nodded almost imperceptibly, then sprang on +to a prolongation of the golden steps, bowed to Little Bonsa on her column +behind and heaved up his knife. +</p> + +<p> +Now for the first time Alan really understood what was about to happen, and +that what he had imagined a stage rehearsal, was to become a hideous murder. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop!” he shouted in English, being unable to remember the native +word. +</p> + +<p> +The executioner paused with his axe poised in mid-air; the victim turned his +head and looked, as though surprised; the second victim and the priests their +companions looked also. Jeekie fell on to his knees and burst into fervent +prayer addressed apparently to Little Bonsa. The Asika smiled and did nothing. +</p> + +<p> +Again the weapon was lifted and as he felt that words were no longer of any +use, even if he could find them, Alan took refuge in action. Springing on to +the other side of the little platform, he hit out with all his strength across +the kneeling man. Catching the executioner on the point of the chin, he knocked +him straight backwards in such fashion that his head struck upon the floor +before any other portion of his body, so that he lay there either dead or +stunned. Alan never learned which, since the matter was not thought of +sufficient importance to be mentioned. +</p> + +<p> +At this sight the Asika burst into a low laugh, then asked Alan why he had +felled the executioner. He answered because he would not stand by and see two +innocent men butchered. +</p> + +<p> +“Why not,” she said in an astonished voice; “if Little Bonsa, +whose priests they are, needs them, and I, who am the Mouth of the gods declare +that they should die? Still, she has been in your keeping for a long while and +you may know her will, so if you wish it, let them live. Or perhaps you require +other victims,” and she fixed her eyes upon Jeekie with a glance of +suggestive hope. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh my golly!” gasped Jeekie in English, “tell her not for +Joe, Major, tell her most improper. Say Yellow God my dearest friend and go mad +as hatter if my throat cut——” +</p> + +<p> +Alan stopped his protestations with a secret kick. +</p> + +<p> +“I choose no victims,” he broke in, “nor will I see +man’s blood shed—to me it is <i>orunda</i>—unholy; I may not +look on human blood, and if you cause me to do so, Asika, I shall hate you +because you make me break my oath.” +</p> + +<p> +The Asika reflected for a moment, while Jeekie behind muttered between his +chattering teeth: +</p> + +<p> +“Good missionary talk that, Major. Keep up word in season, Major. If she +make Christian martyr of Jeekie, who get you out of this confounded hole?” +</p> + +<p> +Then the Asika spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“Be it as you will, for I desire neither that you should hate me, nor +that you should look on that which is unlawful for your eyes to see. The feasts +and ceremonies you must attend, but if I can help it, no victim shall be slain +in your presence, not even that whimpering hound, your servant,” she +added with a contemptuous glance at Jeekie, “who it seems, fears to give +his life for the glory of the god, but who because he is yours, is safe now and +always.” +</p> + +<p> +“That <i>very</i> satisfactory,” said Jeekie, rising from his +knees, his face wreathed in smiles, for he knew well that a decree of the Asika +could not be broken. Then he began to explain to the priestess that it was not +fear of losing his own life that had moved him, but the certainty that this +occurrence would disagree morally with Little Bonsa, whose entire confidence he +possessed. +</p> + +<p> +Taking no notice of his words, with a slight reverence to the fetish, she +passed on, beckoning to Alan. As he went by the two prostrate priests whose +lives he had saved, lifted their heads a little and looked at him with +heartfelt gratitude in their eyes; indeed one of them kissed the place where +his foot had trodden. Jeekie, following, gave him a kick to intimate that he +was taking a liberty, but at the same time stooped down and asked the man his +name. It occurred to him that these rescued priests might some day be useful. +</p> + +<p> +Alan followed her through a kind of swing door which opened into another of the +endless halls, but when he looked for her there she was nowhere to be seen. A +priest who was waiting beyond the door bowed and informed him that the Asika +had gone to her own place, and would see him that evening. Then bowing again he +led them back by various passages to the room where they had slept. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Alan after their food had been brought to them, this +time, he observed, by men, for it was now past midday, “you were born in +Asiki-land; tell me the truth of this business. What does that woman mean when +she talks about her spirit having been here from the beginning.” +</p> + +<p> +“She mean, Major, that every time she die her soul go into someone else, +whom priests find out by marks. Also Asika always die young, they never let her +become old woman, but how she die and where they bury her, no one know +’cept priests. Sometimes she have girl child who become Asika after her, +but if they have boy child, they kill him. I think this Asika daughter of her +who make love to your reverend uncle. All that story ’bout her mother not +being married, lies, and all her story lies too, she often marry.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how about the spirit coming back, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +“’Spect that lie too, Major, though she think it solemn fact. +Priests teach her all those old things. Still,” he added doubtfully, +“Asika great medicine-woman, and know a lot we don’t know, +can’t say how. Very awkward customer, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so, Jeekie, I agree with you. But to come to the point, what is +her game with me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! Major,” he answered with a grin, “<i>that</i> simple +enough. She tired of black man, want change, mean to marry you according to +law, that is when Mungana dies, and he die jolly quick now. She mustn’t +kill him, but polish him off all the same, stick him to sleep with those dead +’uns, till he go like drunk man and see things and drown himself. Then +she marry you. But till he dead, you all right, she only talk and make eyes, +’cause of Asiki law, not ’cause she want to stop there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, Jeekie, and how long do you think that Mungana will last?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps three months, Major, and perhaps two. Think not more than two. +Strong man, but he look devilish dicky this morning. Think he begin see +snakes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, Jeekie. Now listen to me—you’ve got to get us out +of Asiki-land by this day two months. If you don’t, that lady will do +anything to oblige me and no doubt there are more executioners left.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! Major, don’t talk like silly fool. Jeekie always hate fools +and suffer them badly—like holy first missionary bishop. You know very +well this no place for ultra-Christian man like Jeekie, who only come here to +please you. Both in same bag, Major, if I die, you die and leave Miss Barbara +up gum tree. I get you out if I can. But this stuff the trouble,” and he +pointed to the bags of gold. “Not want to leave all that behind after +such arduous walk. No, no, I try get you out, meanwhile you play game.” +</p> + +<p> +“The game! What game, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +“What game? Why, Asika-game of course. If she sigh, you sigh; if she look +at you, you look at her; if she squeeze hand, you squeeze hand; if she kiss, +you kiss.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am hanged if I do, Jeekie.” +</p> + +<p> +“Must, Major; must or never get out of Asiki-land. What all that +matter?” he added confidentially. “Miss Barbara never know. Jeekie +doesn’t split, also quite necessary in situation, and you can’t be +married till that Mungana dead. All matter business, Major; make time pass +pleasant as well. Asika jolly enough if you stroke her fur right way, but if +you put her back up—oh Lor’! No trouble, sit and smile and say, +‘Oh, ducky, how beautiful you are!’ <i>that</i> not hurt +anybody.” +</p> + +<p> +In spite of himself Alan burst out laughing. +</p> + +<p> +“But how about the Mungana?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Mungana, he got take that with rest. Also I try make friends with that +poor devil. Tell him it all my eye. Perhaps he believe me—not sure. If he +me, I no believe <i>him</i>. Mungana,” he added oracularly, +“Mungana take his chance. What matter? In two months’ time he +nothing but gold figure, No. 2403; just like one mummy in museum. Now I try +catch my ma. I hear she alive somewhere. They tell me she used keep lodging +house for Bonsa pilgrim, but steal grub, say it cat, all that sort of thing, +and get run in as thief. Afraid my ma come down very much in world, not society +lady now, shut up long way off in suburb. Still p’raps she useful so best +send her message by p’liceman, say how much I love her; say her dear +little Jeekie turn up again just to see her sweet face. Only don’t know +if she swallow that or if they let her out prison unless I pay for all she +prig.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /> +THE FEAST OF LITTLE BONSA.</h2> + +<p> +It was the night of full moon and of the great feast of the return of Little +Bonsa. Alan sat in his chamber waiting to be summoned to take part in this +ceremony and listening the while to that <i>Wow! Wow! Wow!</i> of the death +drums, whereof Jeekie had once spoken in England, which could be clearly heard +even above the perpetual boom of the cataract tumbling down its cliff behind +the town. By now he had recovered from the fatigue of his journey and his +health was good, but the same could not be said of his spirits, for never in +his life had he felt more downhearted, not even when he was sickening for +blackwater fever, or lay in bondage in the City, expecting every morning to +wake up and find his reputation blasted. He was a prisoner in this dreadful, +gloomy place where he must live like a second Man in the Iron Mask, without +recreation or exercise other than he could find in the walled garden where grew +the black cedar trees, and, so far as he could see, a prisoner without hope of +escape. +</p> + +<p> +Moreover, he could no longer disguise from himself the truth; Jeekie was right. +The Asika had fallen in love with him, or at any rate made up her mind that he +should be her next husband. He hated the sight of the woman and her sinuous, +evil beauty, but to be free of her was impossible, and to offend her, death. +All day long she kept him about her, and from his sleep he would wake up and as +on the night of his arrival, distinguish her leaning over him studying his face +by the light of the faintly-burning lamps, as a snake studies the bird it is +about to strike. He dared not stir or give the slightest sign that he saw her. +Nor indeed did he always see her, for he kept his eyes closely shut. But even +in his heaviest slumber some warning sense told him of her presence, and then +above Jeekie’s snores (for on these occasions Jeekie always snored his +loudest) he would hear a soft footfall, as cat-like, she crept towards him, or +the sweep of her spangled robe, or the tinkling of the scales of her golden +breastplate. For a long while she would stand there, examining him greedily and +even the few little belongings that remained to him, and then with a hungry +sigh glide away and vanish in the shadows. How she came or how she vanished +Alan could not discover. Clearly she did not use the door, and he could find no +other entrance to the room. Indeed at times he thought he must be suffering +from delusion, but Jeekie shook his great head and did not agree with him. +</p> + +<p> +“She there right enough,” he said. “She walk over me as +though I log and I smell stuff she put on hair, but I think she come and go by +magic. Asika do that if she please.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I wish she would teach me the secret, Jeekie. I should soon be out +of Asiki-land, I can tell you.” +</p> + +<p> +All that day Alan had been in her company, answering her endless questions +about his past, the lands that he had visited, and especially the women that he +had known. He had the tact to tell her that none of these were half so +beautiful as she was, which was true in a sense and pleased her very much, for +in whatever respects she differed from them, in common with the rest of her sex +she loved a compliment. Emboldened by her good humour, he had ventured to +suggest that being rested and having restored Little Bonsa, he would be glad to +return with her gifts to his own country. Next instant he was sorry, for as +soon as she understood his meaning she grew almost white with rage. +</p> + +<p> +“What!” she said; “you desire to leave me? Know, Vernoon, +that I will see you dead first and myself also, for then we shall be born again +together and can never more be separated.” +</p> + +<p> +Nor was this all, for she burst into weeping, threw her arms about him, drew +him to her, kissed him on the forehead, and then thrust him away, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Curses on the priests’ law that makes us wait so long, and curses +on that Mungana who will not die and may not be killed. Well, he shall pay for +it and within two months, Vernoon, oh! within two months——” +and she stretched out her arms with a gesture of infinite passion, then turned +and left him. +</p> + +<p> +“My!” said Jeekie afterwards, for he had watched all this scene +open-mouthed, “my! but she mean business. Mrs. Jeekie never kiss me like +that, nor any other female either. She dead nuts on you, Major. Very great +compliment! ’Spect when you Mungana, she keep you alive a long time, four +or five years perhaps, if no other white man come this way. Pity you +can’t take it on a bit, Major,” he added insidiously, +“because then she grow careless and make you chief and we get chance +scoop out that gold house and bolt with bally lot. Miss Barbara sensible woman, +when she see all that cash she not mind, she say ‘Bravo, old boy, quite +right spoil Lady Potiphar in land of bondage, but Jeekie must have ten per +cent. because he show you how do it.’” +</p> + +<p> +Alan was so depressed, and indeed terrified by this demonstration on the part +of his fearful hostess, that he could neither laugh at Jeekie, nor swear at +him. He only sat still and groaned, feeling that bad as things were they were +bound to become worse. +</p> + +<p> +Above the perpetual booming of the death drums rose a sound of wild music. The +door burst open, and through it came a number of priests, their nearly naked +bodies hideously painted and on their heads the most devilish-looking masks. +Some of them clashed cymbals, some blew horns and some beat little drums all to +time which was given to them by a bandmaster with a golden rod. In front of +them with painted face and decked in his gorgeous apparel, walked the Mungana +himself. +</p> + +<p> +“They come to take us to Bonsa worship,” explained Jeekie. +“Cheer up, Major, very exciting business, no go to sleep there, as in +English church. See the god all time and no sermon.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan, who wore a linen robe over the remains of his European garments, and +whose mask was already on his head, rose listlessly and bowed to the gorgeous +Mungana who, poor man, answered him with a stare of hate, knowing that this +wanderer was destined to fill his place. Then they started, Jeekie accompanying +them, and walked a long way through various halls and passages, bearing first +to the left and then to the right again, till suddenly through some side door +they emerged upon a marvellous scene. The first impressions that reached +Alan’s mind were those of a long stretch of water, very black and still +and not more than eighty feet in width. On the hither edge of this canal, +seated upon a raised daïs in the midst of a great open space of polished rock, +was the Asika, or so he gathered from her gold breastplate and sparkling +garments, for her fierce and beautiful features were hid beneath an object +familiar enough to him, the yellow, crystal-eyed mask of Little Bonsa. Arranged +in companies about and behind her were hundreds of people, male and female, +clad in hideous costumes to resemble demons, with masks to match. Some of these +masks were semi-human and some of them bore a likeness to the heads of animals +and had horns on them, while their wearers were adorned with skins and tails. +To describe them in their infinite variety would be impossible; indeed the +recollection that Alan carried away was one of a mediæval hell as it is +occasionally to be found portrayed upon “Doom pictures” in old +churches. +</p> + +<p> +On the further side of the water the entire Asiki people seemed to be gathered; +at least there were thousands of them seated upon a rising rocky slope as in an +amphitheatre, clad only in the ordinary costume of the Western African native, +and in some instances in linen cloaks. This great amphitheatre was surrounded +by a high wall with gates, but in the moonlight he found it difficult to +discern its exact limits. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie nudged Alan and pointed to the centre of the canal or pool. He looked +and saw floating there a huge and hideous golden head, twenty times as large as +life perhaps, with great prominent eyes that glared up to the sky. Its +appearance was quite unlike anything else in the world, more loathsome, more +horrible, man, fish and animal, all seemed to have their part in it, human +mouth and teeth, fish-like eyes and snout, bestial expression. +</p> + +<p> +“Big Bonsa,” whispered Jeekie. “Just the same as when I sweet +little boy.—He live here for thousand of years.” +</p> + +<p> +Preceded by the Mungana and followed by Jeekie and the priests, the band +bringing up the rear, Alan was marched down a lane left open for him till he +came to some steps leading to the daïs, upon which in addition to that occupied +by the Asika, stood two empty chairs. These steps the Mungana motioned him to +mount, but when Jeekie tried to follow him he turned and struck him +contemptuously in the face. At once the Asika, who was watching Vernon’s +approach through the eye-holes in the Little Bonsa mask, said fiercely: +</p> + +<p> +“Who bade you strike the servant of my guest, O Mungana? Let him come +also, that he may stand behind us and interpret.” +</p> + +<p> +Her wretched husband, who knew that this public slight was put upon him +purposely, but did not dare to protest against it, bowed his head. Then all +three of them climbed to the daïs, the priests and the musicians remaining +below. +</p> + +<p> +“Welcome, Vernoon,” said the Asika through the lips of the mask, +which to Alan, notwithstanding the dreadful cruelty of its expression, looked +less hateful than the lovely, tigerish face it hid. “Welcome and be +seated here on my left hand, since on my right you may not sit—as +yet.” +</p> + +<p> +He bowed and took the chair to which she pointed, while her husband placed +himself in the other chair upon her right, and Jeekie stood behind, his great +shape towering above them all. +</p> + +<p> +“This is a festival of my people, Vernoon,” she went on, +“such a festival as has not been seen for years, celebrated because +Little Bonsa has come back to them.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is to happen?” he asked uneasily. “I have told you, +Lady, that blood is <i>orunda</i> to me. I must not witness it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I know, be not afraid,” she answered. “Sacrifice there must +be, since it is the custom and we may not defraud the gods, but you shall not +see the deed. Judge from this, Vernoon, how greatly I desire to please +you.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Alan, looking about him, saw that immediately beneath the daïs and between +them and the edge of the water, were gathered his cannibal friends, the Ogula +and Fahni their chief who had rowed him to Asiki-land, and with them the +messengers whom they had sent on ahead. Also he saw that their arms were tied +behind them and that they were guarded by men dressed like devils and armed +with spears. +</p> + +<p> +“Ask Fahni why he and his people are bound, Jeekie,” said Alan, +“and why have they not returned to their own country.” +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie obeyed, putting the question in the Ogula language, whereon the poor men +turned and began to implore Alan to save their lives, Fahni adding that he had +been told they were to be killed that night. +</p> + +<p> +“Why are these men to be slain?” asked Alan of the Asika. +</p> + +<p> +“Because I have learned that they attacked you in their own country, +Vernoon,” she answered, “and would have killed you had it not been +for Little Bonsa. It is therefore right that they should die as an offering to +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I refuse the offering since afterwards they dealt well with me. Set them +free and let them return to their own land, Asika.” +</p> + +<p> +“That cannot be,” she replied coldly. “Here they are and here +they remain. Still, their lives are yours to take or to spare, so keep them as +your servants if you will,” and bending down she issued a command which +was instantly obeyed, for the men dressed like devils cut the bonds of the +Ogula and brought them round to the back of the daïs, where they stood blessing +Alan loudly in their own tongue. +</p> + +<p> +Then the ceremonies began with a kind of infernal ballet. On the smooth space +between them and the water’s edge appeared male and female bands of +dancers who emerged from the shadows. For the most part they were dressed up +like animals and imitated the cries of the beasts that they represented, +although some of them wore little or no clothing. To the sound of wild music of +horns and drums these creatures danced a kind of insane quadrille which seemed +to suggest everything that is cruel and vile upon the earth. They danced and +danced in the moonlight till the madness spread from them to the thousands who +were gathered upon the farther side of the water, for presently all of these +began to dance also. Nor did it stop there, since at length the Asika rose from +her chair upon the daïs and joined in the performance with the Mungana her +husband. Even Jeekie began to prance and shout behind, so that at last Alan and +the Ogula alone remained still and silent in the midst of a scene and a noise +which might have been that of hell let loose. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving go of her husband, the Asika bounded up to Alan and tried to drag him +from his chair, thrusting her gold mask against his mask. He refused to move +and after a while she left him and returned to Mungana. Louder and louder +brayed the music and beat the drums, wilder and wilder grew the shrieks. +Individuals fell exhausted and were thrown into the water where they sank or +floated away on the slow moving stream, as part of some inexplicable play that +was being enacted. +</p> + +<p> +Then suddenly the Asika stood still and threw up her arms, whereon all +the thousands present stood still also. Again she threw up her arms and they +fell upon their faces and lay as though they were dead. A third time she threw +up her arms and they rose and remained so silent that the only sound to be +heard was that of their thick breathing. Then she spoke, or rather screamed, +saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Little Bonsa has come back again, bringing with her the white man whom +she led away,” and all the audience answered, “Little Bonsa has +come back again. Once more we see her on the head of the Asika as our fathers +did. Give her a sacrifice. Give her the white man.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay,” she screamed back, “the white man is mine. I name him +as the next Mungana.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oho!” roared the audience, “Oho! she names him as the next +Mungana. Good-bye, old Mungana! Greeting, new Mungana! When will be the +marriage feast?” +</p> + +<p> +“Tell us, Mungana, tell us,” cried the Asika, patting her wretched +husband on the cheek. “Tell us when you mean to die, as you are bound to +do.” +</p> + +<p> +“On the night of the second full moon from now,” he answered with a +terrible groan that seemed to be wrung out of his heavy heart; “on that +night my soul will be eaten up and my day done. But till then I am lord of the +Asika, and if she forgets it, death shall be her portion, according to the +ancient law.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” shouted the multitude, “death shall be her +portion, and her lover we will sacrifice. Die in honour, Mungana, as all those +died that went before you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank Heaven!” muttered Alan to himself, “I am safe from +that witch for the next two months,” and through the eye-holes of his +mask he contemplated her with loathing and alarm. +</p> + +<p> +At the moment, indeed, she was not a pleasing spectacle, for in the heat and +excitement of her mad dance she had cast off her gold breast-plate or +stomacher, leaving herself naked except for her kirtle and the thin, +gold-spangled robe upon her shoulders over which streamed her black, disordered +hair. Contrasting strangely in the silver moonlight with her glistening, +copper-coloured body, the mask of Little Bonsa on her head glared round with +its fixed crystal eyes and fiendish smile as she turned her long neck from side +to side. Seen thus she scarcely looked human, and Alan’s heart was filled +with pity for the poor bedizened wretch she named her husband, who had just +been forced to announce the date of his own suicide. +</p> + +<p> +Soon, however, he forgot it, for a new act in the drama had begun. Two priests +clad in horns and tails leapt on to the daïs and at a signal unlaced the mask +of Little Bonsa. Now the Asika lifted it from her streaming face and held it on +high, then she lowered it to the level of her breast, and holding it in both +hands, walked to the edge of the daïs, whereon priests, disguised as fiends, +began to leap at it, striving to reach it with their fingers and snatch it from +her grasp. One by one they leapt with the most desperate energy, each man being +allowed to make three attempts, and Alan noted that this novel jumping +competition was watched with the deepest interest by all the audience, at the +time he knew not why. +</p> + +<p> +The first two, who were evidently elderly men, who failed to come anywhere near +the mark. Their failure was received with shouts of derision. They sank +exhausted to the ground and from the motion of his body Alan could see that one +of them was weeping, while the other remained sullenly silent. Then a younger +man advanced and at the third try almost grasped the fetish. Indeed he would +have grasped it had he not met with foul play, for the Asika, seeing that he +was about to succeed, lifted it an inch or two, so that he also missed and with +a groan joined the band of the defeated. Next appeared a fourth priest, even +more horribly arrayed than those before him, but Alan noticed that his mask was +of the lightest, and that his garments consisted chiefly of paint, the main +idea of his make-up being that of a skeleton. He was a thin active fellow, and +all the watching thousands greeted him with a shout. For a few seconds he stood +back gazing at the mask as a wolf might at an unapproachable bone. Then +suddenly he ran forward and sprang into the air. Such an amazing jump Alan had +never seen before. So high was it indeed that his head came level with that of +the fetish, which he snatched with both hands tearing it from Asika’s +grasp. Coming to the ground again with a thud, he began to caper to and fro, +kissing the mask, while the audience shouted: +</p> + +<p> +“Little Bonsa has chosen. What fate for the fallen? Ask her, +priest?” +</p> + +<p> +The man stopped his capering and held the mouth of Little Bonsa to his ear, +nodding from time to time as though she were speaking to him and he heard what +she said. Then he passed round the daïs where Alan could not see him, and +presently reappeared holding Little Bonsa in his right hand and in his left a +great gold cup. A silence fell upon the place. He advanced to the first man who +had jumped and offered him the cup. He turned his head away, but a thousand +voices thundered “Drink!” Then he took it and drank, passing it to +a companion in misfortune, who in turn drank also and gave it to the third +priest, he who would have snatched the mask had not the Asika lifted it out of +his reach. +</p> + +<p> +This man drained it to the dregs, and with an exclamation of rage dashed the +empty vessel into the face of the chosen priest with such fury that the man +rolled upon the ground and for a while lay there stunned. Now he who had drunk +first began to spring about in a ludicrous fashion, and presently was joined in +his dance by the other two. So absurd were their motions and tumblings and +clownlike grimaces, for they had dragged off their masks, that roars of brutal +laughter rose from the audience, in which the Asika joined. +</p> + +<p> +At first Alan thought that the thing was a joke, and that the men had merely +been made mad drunk, till catching sight of their eyes in the moonlight, he +perceived that they were in great pain and turned indignantly to remonstrate +with the Asika. +</p> + +<p> +“Be silent, Vernoon,” she said savagely, “blood is your +<i>orunda</i> and I respect it. Therefore by decree of the god these die of +poison,” and again she fell to laughing at the contortions of the victims. +</p> + +<p> +Alan shut his eyes, and when at length, drawn by some fearful fascination, he +opened them once more, it was to see that the three poor creatures had thrown +themselves into the water, where they rolled over and over like wounded +porpoises, till presently they sank and vanished there. +</p> + +<p> +This farce, for so they considered it, being ended and the stage, so to speak, +cleared, the audience having laughed itself hoarse, set itself to watch the +proceedings of the newly chosen high-priest of Little Bonsa, who by now had +recovered from the blow dealt to him by one of the murdered men. With the help +of some other priests he was engaged in binding the fetish on to a little raft +of reeds. This done he laid himself flat upon a broad plank which had been made +ready for him at the edge of the water, placing the mask in front of him and +with a few strokes of his feet that hung over the sides of the plank, paddled +himself out to the centre of the canal where the god called Big Bonsa floated, +or was anchored. Having reached it he pushed the little raft off the plank into +the water, and in some way that Alan could not see, made it fast to Big Bonsa, +so that now the two of them floated one behind the other. Then while the people +cheered, shouting out that husband and wife had come together again at last, he +paddled his plank back to the water’s edge, sat down and waited. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, at a sign from the Asika, all the scores of priests and priestesses +who were dressed as devils had filed off to right and left, and vanished, +presumably to cross the water by bridges or boats that were out of sight. At +any rate now they began to appear upon its further side and to wind their way +singly among the thousands of the Asiki people who were gathered upon the rocky +slope beyond in order to witness this fearsome entertainment. Alan observed +that the spectators did not appear to appreciate the arrival amongst them of +these priests, from whom they seemed to edge away. Indeed many of them rose and +tried to depart altogether, only to be driven back to their places by a double +line of soldiers armed with spears, who now for the first time became visible, +ringing in the audience. Also other soldiers and with them bodies of men who +looked like executioners, showed themselves upon the further brink of the water +and then marched off, disappearing to left and right. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter now?” Alan asked of Jeekie over his +shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“All in blue funk,” whispered Jeekie back, “joke done. Get to +business now. Silly fools forget that when they laugh so much. Both Bonsas very +hungry and Asika want wipe out old scores. Presently you see.” +</p> + +<p> +Presently Alan did see, for at some preconcerted signal the devil priests, each +of them, jumped with a yell at a person near to them, gripping him or her by +the hair, whereon assistants rushed in and dragged them down to the bank of the +canal. Here to the number of a hundred or more, a wailing, struggling mass, +they were confined in a pen like sheep. Then a bar was lifted and one of them +allowed to escape, only to find himself in a kind of gangway which ran down +into shallow water. Being forced along this he came to an open space of water +exactly opposite to the floating fetishes, and there was kept a while by men +armed with spears. As nothing happened they lifted their spears and the man +bolted up an incline and was lost among the thousands of spectators. +</p> + +<p> +The next one, evidently a person of rank, was not so fortunate. Jumping into +the pool off the gangway, he stood there like a sheep about to be washed, the +water reaching up to his middle. Then Alan saw a terrifying thing, for suddenly +the horrid, golden head of Big Bonsa, towing Little Bonsa behind it, began to +swim with a deliberate motion across the stream until, reaching the man, it +seemed to rear itself up and poke him with its snout in the chest as a turtle +might do. Then it sank again into the water and slowly floated back to its +station, directed by some agency or power that Alan could not discover. +</p> + +<p> +At the touch of the fetish the man screamed like a horse in pain or terror, and +soldiers leaping on him with a savage shout, dragged him up another gangway +opposite to that by which he had descended, whereon, to all appearances more +dead than alive, he departed into the shadows. The horns and drums set up a +bray of triumph, the Asika clapped her hands approvingly, the spectators +cheered, and another victim was bundled down the gangway and submitted to the +judgment of the Bonsas, which came at him like hungry pikes at a frog. Then +followed more and more, some being chosen and some let go, till at last, +growing weary, the priests directed the soldiers to drive the prisoners down in +batches until the pen in the water was full as though with huddled sheep. If +the horrible golden masks swam at them and touched one of their number, they +were all dragged away; if these remained quiescent they were let go. +</p> + +<p> +So the thing went on until at length Alan could bear no more of it. +</p> + +<p> +“Lady,” he said to the Asika when she paused for a moment from her +hand-clapping, “I am weary, I would sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +“What!” she exclaimed, “do you wish to sleep on such a +glorious night when so many evil doers are coming to their just doom? Well, +well, go if you will, for then my promise is off me and I can hasten this +business and deal with the wicked before the people according to our custom. +Good-night to you, Vernoon, to-morrow we will meet,” and she called to +some priests to lead him away, and with him the Ogula cannibals whom she had +given to him as servants. +</p> + +<p> +Alan went thankfully enough. As he plunged into one of the passages the sound +of frightful yelling reached his ears, followed by loud, triumphant shouts. +</p> + +<p> +“Now you gone they kill those who Bonsa smell out,” said Jeekie. +“Why you no wait and see? Very interesting sight.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold your tongue,” answered Alan savagely. “Did you think so +years ago when you were put into that pen to be butchered?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Major,” replied the unabashed Jeekie, “not think at all +then, too far gone. But see other people in there and know it not <i>you</i>, +quite different matter.” +</p> + +<p> +They reached their room. At the door of it Fahni and his followers were led off +to some quarters near by, blessing Alan as they went because he had saved their +lives. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” he said when they were alone, “tell me, what makes +that hellish idol swim about in the water picking out some people and leaving +others alone?” +</p> + +<p> +“Major, I not know, no one know except top priest and Asika. Perhaps +there man underneath, perhaps they pull string, or perhaps fetish alive and he +do what he like. Please don’t call him names, Major, or he remember and +come after us one time, and that bad job,” and Jeekie shivered visibly. +</p> + +<p> +“Bosh!” answered Alan, but all the same he shivered also. +“Jeekie,” he asked again, “what happens to those people whom +the Bonsas smell out?” +</p> + +<p> +“Case of good-bye, Major. Sometimes they chop off nut, sometimes they +spiflicate in gold tub, sometimes priest-man make hole in what white doctor +call <i>diagram</i>—and shake hands with heart.—All matter of +taste, Major, just as Asika please. If she like victim or they old friends, +chop off head; if she not like him—do worse things.” +</p> + +<p> +More than satisfied with his information Alan went to bed. For hour after hour +that night he lay tossing and turning, haunted by the recollections of the +dreadful sights that he had seen and of the horrible Asika, beautiful and +half-naked, glaring at him amorously through the crystal eyes of Little Bonsa. +When at last he fell asleep it was to dream that he was alone in the water with +the god which pursued him as a shark pursues a shipwrecked sailor. Never did he +experience a nightmare that was half so awful. Only one thing could be more +awful, the reality itself. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br /> +THE MOTHER OF JEEKIE.</h2> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Alan next morning, “I tell you again that I +have had enough of this place, I want to get out.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, that just what mouse say when he finish cheese in trap, but +missus come along, call him ‘Pretty, pretty,’ and drown him all the +same,” and he nodded in the direction of the Asika’s house. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie, it has got to be done—do you hear me? I had rather die +trying to get away than stop here till the next two months are up. If I am here +on the night of the next full moon but one, I shall shoot that Asika and then +shoot myself, and you must take your chance. Do you understand?” +</p> + +<p> +“Understand that foolish game and poor lookout for Jeekie, Major, but +can’t think of any plan.” Then he rubbed his big nose reflectively +and added, “Fahni and his people your slaves now, ’spose we have +talk with him. I tell priests to bring him along when they come with breakfast. +Leave it to me, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan did leave it to him, with the result that after long argument the priests +consented or obtained permission to produce Fahni and his followers, and a +little while after the great men arrived looking very dejected, and saluted +Alan humbly. Bidding the rest of them be seated, he called Fahni to the end of +the room and asked him through Jeekie if he and his men did not wish to return +home. +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed we do, white lord,” answered the old chief, “but how +can we? The Asika has a grudge against our tribe and but for you would have +killed every one of us last night. We are snared and must stop here till we +die.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would not your people help you if they knew, Fahni?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, lord, I think so. But how can I tell them who doubtless believe us +dead? Nor can I send a messenger, for this place is guarded and he would be +killed at once. We came here for your sake because you had Little Bonsa, a god +that is known in the east and the west, in the north and the south, and because +you saved me from the lion, and here, alas! we must perish.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Alan, “can you not find a messenger? Have you, +who were born of this people, no friend among them at all?” +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie shook his white head and rolled his eyes. Then suddenly an idea struck +him. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” he said, “I think one, p’raps. I mean my +ma.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your ma!” said Alan. “Oh! I remember. Have you heard +anything more about her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major. Very old girl now, but strong on leg, so they say. Believe +she glad go anywhere, because she public nuisance; they tired of her in prison +and there no workhouse here, so they want turn her out starve, which of course +break my heart. Perhaps she take message. Some use that way. Only think she +afraid go Ogula-land because they nasty cannibal and eat old woman.” +</p> + +<p> +When all this was translated to Fahni he assured Jeekie with earnestness that +nothing would induce the Ogula people to eat his mother; moreover, that for her +sake they would never look carnivorously on another old woman, fat or thin. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Jeekie, “I try again to get hold of old lady and +we see. I pray priests, whom you save other day, let her out of chokey as I +sick to fall upon bosom, which quite true, only so much to think of that no +time to attend to domestic relation till now.” +</p> + +<p> +That very afternoon, on returning to his room from walking in the dismal cedar +garden, Alan’s ears were greeted by a sound of shrill quarrelling. +Looking up he saw an extraordinary sight. A tall, gaunt, withered female who +might have been of any age between sixty and a hundred, had got Jeekie’s +ear in one hand, and with the other was slapping him in the face while she +exclaimed: +</p> + +<p> +“O thief, whom by the curse of Bonsa I brought into the world, what have +you done with my blanket? Was it not enough that you, my only son, should leave +me to earn my own living? Must you also take my best blanket with you, for +which reason I have been cold ever since. Where is it, thief, where is +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Worn out, my mother, worn out,” he answered, trying to free +himself. “You forget, honourable mother, that I grow old and you should +have been dead years ago. How can you expect a blanket to last so long? Leave +go of my ear, beloved mother, and I will give you another. I have travelled +across the world to find you and I want to hear news of your husband.” +</p> + +<p> +“My husband, thief, which husband? Do you mean your father, the one with +the broken nose, who was sacrificed because you ran away with the white man +whom Bonsa loved? Well, you look out for him when you get into the world of +ghosts, for he said that he was going to wait for you there with the biggest +stick that he could find. Why I haven’t thought of him for years, but +then I have had three other husbands since his time, bad enough, but better +than he was, so who would? And now Bonsa has got the lot, and I have no +children alive, and they say I am to be driven out of the prison to starve next +week as they won’t feed me any longer, I who can still work against any +one of them, and—you’ve got my blanket, you ugly old rascal,” +and collapsing beneath the weight of her recited woes, the hag burst into a +melancholy howl. +</p> + +<p> +“Peace, my mother,” said Jeekie, patting her on the head. “Do +what I tell you and you shall have more blankets than you can wear and, as you +are still so handsome, another husband too if you like, and a garden and slaves +to work for you and plenty to eat.” +</p> + +<p> +“How shall I get all these things, my son?” asked the old woman, +looking up. “Will you take me to your home and support me, or will that +white lord marry me? They told me that the Asika had named him as the Mungana, +and she is very jealous, the most jealous Asika that I have ever known.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, mother, he would like to, but he dare not, and I cannot support you +as I should wish, as here I have no house or property. You will get all this by +taking a walk and holding your tongue. You see this man here, he is Fahni, king +of a great tribe, the Ogula. He wants you to carry a message for him, and by +and by he will marry you, won’t you, Fahni?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! yes, yes,” said Fahni; “I will do anything she likes. No +one shall be so rich and honoured in my country, and for her sake we will never +eat another old woman, whereas if she stays here she will be driven to the +mountains to starve in a week.” +</p> + +<p> +“Set out the matter,” said the mother of Jeekie, who was by no +means so foolish as she seemed. +</p> + +<p> +So they told her what she must do, namely, travel down to the Ogula and tell +them of the plight of their chief, bidding them muster all their fighting men +and when the swamps were dry enough, advance as near as they dared to the Asiki +country and, if they could not attack it, wait till they had further news. +</p> + +<p> +The end of it was that the mother of Jeekie, who knew her case to be desperate +at home, where she was in no good repute, promised to attempt the journey in +consideration of advantages to be received. Since she was to be turned adrift +to meet her fate with as much food as she could carry, this she could do +without exciting any suspicion, for who would trouble about the movements of a +useless old thief? Meanwhile Jeekie gave her one of the robes which the Asika +had provided for Alan, also various articles which she desired and, having +learned Fahni’s message by heart and announced that she considered +herself his affianced bride, the gaunt old creature departed happy enough after +exchanging embraces with her long lost son. +</p> + +<p> +“She will tell somebody all about it and we shall only get our throats +cut,” said Alan wearily, for the whole thing seemed to him a foolish +farce. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, Major. I make her swear not split on ghosts of all her husbands +and by Big Bonsa hisself. She sit tight as wax, because she think they haunt +her if she don’t and I too by and by when I dead. P’raps she get to +Ogula country and p’raps not. If she don’t, can’t help it and +no harm done. Break my heart, but only one old woman less. Anyhow she hold +tongue, that main point, and I really very glad find my ma, who never hoped to +see again. Heaven very kind to Jeekie, give him back to family bosom,” he +added, unctuously. +</p> + +<p> +That day there were no excitements, and to Alan’s intense relief he saw +nothing of the Asika. After its orgy of witchcraft and bloodshed on the +previous night, weariness and silence seemed to have fallen upon the town. At +any rate no sound came from it that could be heard above the low, constant +thunder of the great waterfall rushing down its precipice, and in the +cedar-shadowed garden where Alan walked till he was weary, attended by Jeekie +and the Ogula savages, not a soul was to be seen. +</p> + +<p> +On the following morning, when he was sitting moodily in his room, two priests +came to conduct him to the Asika. Having no choice, followed by Jeekie, he +accompanied them to her house, masked as usual, for without this hateful +disguise he was not allowed to stir. He found her lying upon a pile of cushions +in a small room that he had never seen before, which was better lighted than +most in that melancholy abode, and seemed to serve as her private chamber. In +front of her lay the skin of the lion that he had sent as a present, and about +her throat hung a necklace made of its claws, heavily set in gold, with which +she was playing idly. +</p> + +<p> +At the opening of the door she looked up with a swift smile that turned to a +frown when she saw that he was followed by Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +“Say, Vernoon,” she asked in her languorous voice, “can you +not stir a yard without that ugly black dog at your heels? Do you bring him to +protect your back? If so, what is the need? Have I not sworn that you are safe +in my land?” +</p> + +<p> +Alan made Jeekie interpret this speech, then answered that the reason was that +he knew but little of her tongue. +</p> + +<p> +“Can I not teach it to you alone, then, without this low fellow hearing +all my words? Well, it will not be for long,” and she looked at Jeekie in +a way that made him feel very uncomfortable. “Get behind us, dog, and +you, Vernoon, come sit on these cushions at my side. Nay, not there, I said +upon the cushions—so. Now I will take off that ugly mask of yours, for I +would look into your eyes. I find them pleasant, Vernoon,” and, without +waiting for his permission, she sat up and did so. “Ah!” she went +on, “we shall be happy when we are married, shall we not? Do not be +afraid, Vernoon, I will not eat out your heart as I have those of the men that +went before you. We will live together until we are old, and die together at +last, and together be born again, and so on and on till the end which even I +cannot foresee. Why do you not smile, Vernoon, and say that you are pleased, +and that you will be happy with me who loved you from the moment that my eyes +fell upon you in sleep? Speak, Vernoon, lest I should grow angry with +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know what to say,” answered Alan despairingly +through Jeekie, “the honour is too great for me, who am but a wandering +trader who came here to barter Little Bonsa against the gold I +need”—to support my wife and family, he was about to add, then +remembering that this statement might not be well received, substituted, +“to support my old parents and eight brothers and sisters who are +dependent upon me, and remain hungry until I return to them.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then I think they will remain hungry a long time, Vernoon, for while I +live you shall never return. Much as I love you I would kill you first,” +and her eyes glittered as she said the words. “Still,” she added, +noting the fall in his face, “if it is gold that they need, you shall +send it them. Yes, my people shall take all that I gave you down to the coast, +and there it can be put in a big canoe and carried across the water. See to the +packing of the stuff, you black dog,” she said to Jeekie over her +shoulder, “and when it is ready I will send it hence.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan began to thank her, though he thought it more than probable that even if +she kept her word, this bullion would never get to Old Calabar, and much less +to England. But she waived the matter aside as one in which she was not +interested. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me,” she asked; “would you have me other than I am? +First, do you think me beautiful?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” answered Alan honestly, “very beautiful when you are +quiet as now, not when you are dancing as you did the other night without your +robes.” +</p> + +<p> +When she understood what he meant the Asika actually blushed a little. +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry,” she answered in a voice that for her was quite +humble. “I forget that it might seem strange in your eyes. It has always +been the custom for the Asika to do as I did at feasts and sacrifices, but +perhaps that is not the fashion among your women; perhaps they always remain +veiled, as I have heard the worshippers of the Prophet do, and therefore you +thought me immodest. I am very, very sorry, Vernoon. I pray you to forgive me +who am ignorant and only do what I have been taught.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, they always remain veiled,” stammered Alan, though he was not +referring to their faces, and as the words passed his lips he wondered what the +Asika would think if she could see a ballet at a London music-hall. +</p> + +<p> +“Is there anything else wrong?” she went on gently. “If so, +tell me that I may set it right.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not like cruelty or sacrifices, O Asika. I have told you that +bloodshed is <i>orunda</i> to me, and at the feast those men were poisoned and +you mocked them in their pain; also many others were taken away to be killed +for no crime.” +</p> + +<p> +She opened her beautiful eyes and stared at him, answering: +</p> + +<p> +“But, Vernoon, all this is not my fault; they were sacrifices to the +gods, and if I did not sacrifice, I should be sacrificed by the priests and +wizards who live to sacrifice. Yes, myself I should be made to drink the poison +and be mocked at while I died like a snake with a broken back. Or even if I +escaped the vengeance of the people, the gods themselves would kill me and +raise up another in my place. Do they not sacrifice in your country, +Vernoon?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Asika, they fight if necessary and kill those who commit murder. But +they have no fetish that asks for blood, and the law they have from heaven is a +law of mercy.” +</p> + +<p> +She stared at him again. +</p> + +<p> +“All this is strange to me,” she said. “I was taught +otherwise. Gods are devils and must be appeased, lest they bring misfortune on +us; men must be ruled by terror, or they would rebel and pull down the great +House; doctors must learn magic, or how could they avert spells? wizards must +be killed, or the people would perish in their net. May not we who live in a +hell, strive to beat back its flame with the wisdom our forefathers have handed +on to us? Tell me, Vernoon, for I would know.” +</p> + +<p> +“You make your own hell,” answered Alan when with the help of +Jeekie he understood her talk. +</p> + +<p> +She pondered over his words for a while, then said: +</p> + +<p> +“I must think. The thing is big. I wander in blackness; I will speak with +you again. Say now, what else is wrong with me?” +</p> + +<p> +Now Alan thought that he saw opportunity for a word in season and made a great +mistake. +</p> + +<p> +“I think that you treat your husband, that man whom you call Mungana, +very badly. Why should you drive him to his death?” +</p> + +<p> +At these words the Asika leapt up in a rage, and seeking something to vent her +temper on, violently boxed Jeekie’s ears and kicked him with her +sandalled foot. +</p> + +<p> +“The Mungana!” she exclaimed, “that beast! What have I to do +with him? I hate him, as I hated the others. The priests thrust him on me. He +has had his day, let him go. In your country do they make women live with men +whom they loathe? I love <i>you</i>, Bonsa himself knows why. Perhaps because +you have a white skin and white thoughts. But I hate that man. What is the use +of being Asika if I cannot take what I love and reject what I hate? Go away, +Vernoon, go away, you have angered me, and if it were not for what you have +said about that new law of mercy, I think that I would cut your throat,” +and again she boxed Jeekie’s ears and kicked him in the shins. +</p> + +<p> +Alan rose and bowed himself towards the door while she stood with her back +towards him, sobbing. As he was about to pass it she wheeled round, wiping the +tears from her eyes with her hand, and said: +</p> + +<p> +“I forgot, I sent for you to thank you for your presents; that,” +and she pointed to the lion skin, “which they tell me you killed with +some kind of thunder to save the life of that old cannibal, and this,” +and she pulled off the necklace of claws, then added, “as I am too bad to +wear it, you had better take it back again,” and she threw it with all +her strength straight into Jeekie’s face. +</p> + +<p> +Fearing worse things, the much maltreated Jeekie uttered a howl and bolted +through the door, while Alan, picking up the necklace, returned it to her with +a bow. She took it. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop,” she said. “You are leaving the room without your mask +and my women are outside. Come here,” and she tied the thing upon his +head, setting it all awry, then pushed him from the place. +</p> + +<p> +“Very poor joke, Major, very poor indeed,” said Jeekie when they +had reached their own apartment. “Lady make love to <i>you</i>; +<i>you</i> play prig and lecture lady about holy customs of her country and she +box <i>my</i> ear till head sing, also kick me all over and throw sharp claws +in face. Please you do it no more. The next time, who knows? she stick knife in +<i>my</i> gizzard, then kiss <i>you</i> afterward and say she so sorry and hope +she no hurt <i>you</i>. But how that help poor departed Jeekie who get all +kicks, while you have ha’pence?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! be quiet,” said Alan; “you are welcome to the halfpence +if you would only leave me the kicks. The question is, how am I to get out of +this mess? While she was a beautiful savage devil one could deal with the +thing, but if she is going to become human it is another matter.” +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie looked at him with pity in his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Always thought white man mad at bottom,” he said, shaking his big +head. “To benighted black nigger thing so very simple. All you got to do, +make love and cut when you get chance. Then she pleased as Punch, everything go +smooth and Jeekie get no more kicks. Christian religion business very good, but +won’t wash in Asiki-land. Your reverend uncle find out that.” +</p> + +<p> +Not wishing to pursue the argument, Alan changed the subject by asking his +indignant retainer if he thought that the Asika had meant what she said when +she offered to send the gold down to the coast. +</p> + +<p> +“Why not, Major? That good lady always mean what she say, and what she do +too,” and he dabbed wrathfully at the scratches made by the lion’s +claws on his face, then added, “She know her own mind, not like +shilly-shally, see-saw white woman, who get up one thing and go to bed another. +If she love she love, if she hate she hate. If she say she send gold, she send +it, though pity to part with all that cash, because ’spect someone bag +it.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan reflected a while. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you see, Jeekie, that here is a chance, if a very small one, +of getting a message to the coast. Also it is quite clear that if we are ever +able to escape, it will be impossible for us to carry this heavy stuff, whereas +if we send it on ahead, perhaps some of it might get through. We will pack it +up, Jeekie, at any rate it will be something to do. Go now and send a message +to the Asika, and ask her to let us have some carpenters, and a lot of +well-seasoned wood.” +</p> + +<p> +The message was sent and an hour later a dozen of the native craftsmen arrived +with their rude tools and a supply of planks cut from a kind of iron-wood or +ebony tree. They prostrated themselves to Alan, then the master of them rising, +instantly began to measure Jeekie with a marked reed. That worthy sprang back +and asked what in the name of Bonsa, Big and Little, they were doing, whereon +the man explained with humility that the Asika had said that she thought the +white lord wanted the wood to make a box to bury his servant in, as he, the +said servant, had offended her that morning, and doubtless the white lord +wished to kill him on that account, or perhaps to put him away under ground +alive. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, my golly!” said Jeekie, shaking till his great knees knocked +together, “oh! my golly! here pretty go. She think you want bury me all +alive. That mean she want to be rid of Jeekie, because he got sit there and +play gooseberry when she wish talk alone with you. Oh, yes! I see her little +game.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Jeekie,” said Alan, bursting into such a roar of laughter +that he nearly shook off his mask, “you had better be careful, for you +just told me that the Asika is not like a see-saw white woman and never changes +her mind. Say to this man that he must tell the Asika there is a mistake, and +that however much I should like to oblige her, I can’t bury you because +it has been prophesied to me that on the day you are buried, I shall be buried +also, and that therefore you must be kept alive.” +</p> + +<p> +“Capital notion that, Major,” said Jeekie, much relieved. +“She not want bury you just at present; next year perhaps, but not now. I +tell him.” And he did with much vigour. +</p> + +<p> +This slight misconception having been disposed of, they explained to the +carpenters what was wanted. First, all the gold was emptied out of the sacks in +which it remained as the priests had brought it, and divided into heaps, each +of which weighed about forty pounds, a weight that with its box Alan considered +would be a good load for a porter. Of these heaps there proved to be +fifty-three, their total value, Alan reckoned, amounting to about £100,000 +sterling. Then the carpenters were set to work to make a model box, which they +did quickly enough and with great ingenuity, cutting the wood with their native +saws, dovetailing it as a civilized craftsman would do, and finally securing it +everywhere with ebony pegs, driven into holes which they bored with a hot iron. +The result was a box that would stand any amount of rough usage and when +finally pegged down, one that could only be opened with a hammer and a cold +chisel. +</p> + +<p> +This box-making went on for two whole days. As each of them was filled and +pegged down, the gold within being packed in sawdust to keep it from rattling, +Alan amused himself in adding an address with a feather brush and a supply of +red paint such as the Asiki priests used to decorate their bodies. At first he +was puzzled to know what address to put, but finally decided upon the following: +</p> + +<p> +<i>Major A. Vernon, care of Miss Champers, The Court, near Kingswell, +England.</i> Adding in the corner, <i>From A. V., Asiki Land, Africa.</i> +</p> + +<p> +It was all childish enough, he knew, yet when it was done he regarded his +handiwork with a sort of satisfaction. For, reflected Alan, if but one of those +boxes should chance to get through to England, it would tell Barbara a great +deal, and if it were addressed to himself, her uncle could scarcely dare to +take possession of it. +</p> + +<p> +Then he bethought him of sending a letter, but was obliged to abandon the idea, +as he had neither pen, pencil, ink, nor paper left to him. Whatever arts +remained to them, that of any form of writing was now totally unknown to the +Asiki, although marks that might be writing, it will be remembered, did appear +on the inner side of the Little Bonsa mask, an evidence of its great antiquity. +Even in the days when they had wrapped up the Egyptian, the Roman, and other +early Munganas in sheets of gold and set them in their treasure-house, +apparently they had no knowledge of it, for not even an hieroglyph or a rune +appeared upon the imperishable metal shrouds. Since that time they had +evidently decreased, not advanced, in learning till at the present day, except +for these relics and some dim and meaningless survival of rites that once had +been religious and were still offered to the same ancient idols, there was +little to distinguish them from other tribes of Central African savages. Still +Alan did something, for obtaining a piece of white wood, which he smoothed as +well as he was able with a knife, he painted on it this message: +</p> + +<p> +“Messrs. Aston, Old Calabar. Please forward accompanying fifty-three +packages, or as many as arrive, and cable as follows (all costs will be +remitted): Miss Champers, Kingswell, England. Prisoner among Asiki. No present +prospect of escape, but hope for best. Jeekie and I well. Allowed send this, +but perhaps no future message possible. Good-bye. Alan.” +</p> + +<p> +As it happened just as Alan was finishing this scrawl with a sad heart, he +heard a movement and glancing up, perceived standing at his side the Asika, of +whom he had seen nothing since the interview when she had beaten Jeekie: +</p> + +<p> +“What are those marks that you make upon the board, Vernoon?” she +asked suspiciously. +</p> + +<p> +With the assistance of Jeekie, who kept at a respectful distance, he informed +her that they were a message in writing to tell the white men at the coast to +forward the gold to his starving family. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” she said, “I never heard of writing. You shall teach it +me. It will serve to pass the time till we are married, though it will not be +of much use afterwards, as we shall never be separated any more and words are +better than marks upon a board. But,” she added cheerfully, “I can +send away this black dog of yours,” and she looked at Jeekie, “and +he can write to us. No, I cannot, for an accident might happen to him, and they +tell me you say that if he dies, you die also, so he must stop here always. +What have you in those little boxes?” +</p> + +<p> +“The gold you gave me, Asika, packed in loads.” +</p> + +<p> +“A small gift enough,” she answered contemptuously; “would +you not like more, since you value that stuff? Well, another time you shall +send all you want. Meanwhile the porters are waiting, fifty men and three, as +you sent me word, and ten spare ones to take the place of any who die. But how +they will find their way, I know not, since none of them have ever been to the +coast.” +</p> + +<p> +An idea occurred to Alan, who had small faith in Jeekie’s +“ma” as a messenger. +</p> + +<p> +“The Ogula prisoners could show them,” he said; “at any rate +as far as the forest, and after that they could find out. May they not go, +Asika?” +</p> + +<p> +“If you will,” she answered carelessly. “Let them be ready to +start to-morrow at the dawn, all except their chief, Fahni, who must stop here +as a hostage. I do not trust those Ogula, who more than once have threatened to +make war upon us,” she added, then turned and bade the priests bring in +the bearers to receive their instructions. +</p> + +<p> +Presently they came, picked men all of them, under the command of an Asiki +captain, and with them the Ogula, whom she summoned also. +</p> + +<p> +“Go where the white lord sends you,” she said in an indifferent +voice, “carrying with you these packages. I do not know where it is, but +these man-eaters will show you some of the way, and if you fail in the business +but live to come back again, you shall be sacrificed to Bonsa at the next +feast; if you run away then your wives and children will be sacrificed. Food +shall be given you for your journey, and gold to buy more when it is gone. Now, +Vernoon, tell them what they have to do.” +</p> + +<p> +So Alan, or rather Jeekie, told them, and these directions were so long and +minute, that before they were finished the Asika grew tired of listening and +went away, saying as she passed the captain of the company: +</p> + +<p> +“Remember my words, man, succeed or die, but of your land and its secrets +say nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hear,” answered the captain, prostrating himself. +</p> + +<p> +That night Alan summoned the Ogula and spoke to them through Jeekie in their +own language. At first they declared that they would not leave their chief, +preferring to stay and die with him. +</p> + +<p> +“Not so,” said Fahni; “go, my children, that I may live. Go +and gather the tribe, all the thousands of them who are men and can fight, and +bring them up to attack Asiki-land, to rescue me if I still live, or to avenge +me if I am dead. As for these bearers, do them no harm, but send them on to the +coast with the white man’s goods.” +</p> + +<p> +So in the end the Ogula said that they would go, and when Alan woke up on the +following morning, he was informed that they and the Asiki porters had already +departed upon their journey. Then he dismissed the matter from his mind, for to +tell the truth he never expected to hear of them any more. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /> +ALAN FALLS ILL.</h2> + +<p> +After the departure of the messengers a deep melancholy fell upon Alan, who was +sure that he had now no further hope of communicating with the outside world. +Bitterly did he reproach himself for his folly in having ever journeyed to this +hateful place in order to secure—what? About £100,000 worth of gold which +of course he never could secure, as it would certainly vanish or be stolen on +its way to the coast. For this gold he had become involved in a dreadful +complication which must cost him much misery, and sooner or later life itself, +since he could not marry that beautiful savage Asika, and if he refused her she +would certainly kill him in her outraged pride and fury. +</p> + +<p> +Day by day she sent for him, and when he came, assumed a new character, that of +a woman humbled by a sense of her own ignorance, which she was anxious to +amend. So he must play the role of tutor to her, telling her of civilized +peoples, their laws, customs and religions, and instructing her how to write +and read. She listened and learned submissively enough, but all the while Alan +felt as one might who is called upon to teach tricks to a drugged panther. The +drug in this case was her passion for him, which appeared to be very genuine. +But when it passed off, or when he was obliged to refuse her, what, he +wondered, would happen then? +</p> + +<p> +Anxiety and confinement told on him far more than all the hardships of his +journey. His health ran down, he began to fall ill. Then as bad luck would have +it, walking in that damp, unwholesome cedar garden, out of which he might not +stray, he contracted the germ of some kind of fever which in autumn was very +common in this poisonous climate. Three days later he became delirious, and for +a week after that hung between life and death. Well was it for him that his +medicine-chest still remained intact, and that recognizing his own symptoms +before his head gave way, he was able to instruct Jeekie what drugs to give him +at the different stages of the disease. +</p> + +<p> +For the rest his memories of that dreadful illness always remained very vague. +He had visions of Jeekie and of a robed woman whom he knew to be the Asika, +bending over him continually. Also it seemed to him that from time to time he +was talking with Barbara, which even then he knew must be absurd, for how could +they talk across thousands of miles of land and sea. +</p> + +<p> +At length his mind cleared suddenly, and he awoke as from a nightmare to find +himself lying in the hall or room where he had always been, feeling quite cool +and without pain, but so weak that it was an effort to him to lift his hand. He +stared about him and was astonished to see the white head of Jeekie rolling +uneasily to and fro upon the cushions of another bed near by. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” he said, “are you ill too, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +At the sound of that voice his retainer started up violently. +</p> + +<p> +“What, Major, you awake?” he said. “Thanks be to all gods, +white and black, yes, and yellow too, for I thought your goose cooked. No, no, +Major, I not ill, only Asika say so. You go to bed, so she make me go to bed. +You get worse, she treat me cruel; you seem better, she stuff me with food till +I burst. All because you tell her that you and I die same day. Oh, Lord! poor +Jeekie think his end very near just now, for he know quite well that she not +let him breathe ten minutes after you peg out. Jeekie never pray so hard for +anyone before as he pray this week for you, and by Jingo! I think he do the +trick, he and that medicine stuff which make him feel very bad in +stomach,” and he groaned under the weight of his many miseries. +</p> + +<p> +Weak as he was Alan began to laugh, and that laugh seemed to do him more good +than anything that he could remember, for after it he was sure that he would +recover. +</p> + +<p> +Just then an agonized whisper reached him from Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +“Look out!” it said, “here come Asika. Go sleep and seem +better, Major, please, or I catch it hot.” +</p> + +<p> +So Alan almost shut his eyes and lay still. In another moment she was standing +over him and he noticed that her hair was dishevelled and her eyes were red as +though with weeping. She scanned him intently for a little while, then passed +round to where Jeekie lay, and appeared to pinch his ear so hard that he +wriggled and uttered a stifled groan. +</p> + +<p> +“How is your lord, dog?” she whispered. +</p> + +<p> +“Better, O Asika, I think that last medicine do us good, though it make +me very sick inside. Just now he spoke to me and said that he hoped that your +heart was not sad because of him and that all this time in his dreams he had +seen and thought of nobody but you, O Asika.” +</p> + +<p> +“Did he?” asked that lady, becoming intensely interested. +“Then tell me, dog, why is he ever calling upon one Bar-bar-a? Surely +that is a woman’s name?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, O Asika, that is the name of his mother, also of one of his +sisters, whom, after you, he loves best of anyone in the whole world. When you +are here he talks of them, but when you are not here he talks of no one but +you. Although he is so sick he remembers white man’s custom, which tells +him that it is very wrong to say sweet things to lady’s face till he is +quite married to her. After <i>that</i> they say them always.” +</p> + +<p> +She looked at him suspiciously and muttering, “Here it is otherwise. For +your own sake, man, I trust that you do not lie,” left him, and drawing a +stool up beside Alan’s bed, sat herself down and examined him carefully, +touching his face and hands with her long thin fingers. Then noting how white +and wasted he was, of a sudden she began to weep, saying between her sobs: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! if you should die, Vernoon, I will die also and be born again not as +Asika, as I have been for so many generations, but as a white woman that I may +be with you. Only first,” she added, setting her teeth, “I will +sacrifice every wizard in this land, for they have brought the sickness on you +by their magic, and I will burn Bonsa Town and cast its gods to melt in the +flames, and the Mungana with them. And then amid their ashes I will let out my +life,” and again she began to weep very piteously and to call him by +endearing names and pray him that he would not die. +</p> + +<p> +Now Alan thought it time to wake up. He opened his eyes, stared at her +vacantly, and asked if it were raining, which indeed it might have been, for +her big tears were falling on his face. She uttered a gasp of joy. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” she answered, “the weather is very fine. It is +I—I who have rained because I thought you die.” She wiped his +forehead with the soft linen of her robe, then went on, “But you will not +die; say that you will live, say that you will live for me, Vernoon.” +</p> + +<p> +He looked at her, and feeble though he was, the awfulness of the situation sank +into his soul. +</p> + +<p> +“I hope that I shall live,” he answered. “I am hungry, please +give me some food.” +</p> + +<p> +Next instant there was a tumult near by, and when Alan looked up again it was +to see Jeekie, very lightly clad, risen from his bed of sympathetic sickness +and flying through the door. +</p> + +<p> +“It will be here presently,” she said. “Oh! if you knew what +I have suffered, if you only knew. Now you will recover whom I thought dead, +for this fever passes quickly, and there shall be such a sacrifice—no, I +forgot, you hate sacrifices—there shall be no sacrifice, there shall be a +thanksgiving, and every woman in the land shall break her bonds to husband or +to lover and take him whom she desires without reproach or loss. I will do as I +would be done by, that is the law you taught me, is it not?” +</p> + +<p> +This novel interpretation of a sacred doctrine, worthy of Jeekie himself, so +paralyzed Alan’s enfeebled brain that he could make no answer, nor do +anything except wonder what would happen in Asiki-land when the decree of its +priestess took effect. Then Jeekie arrived with something to drink which he +swallowed with the eagerness of the convalescent and almost immediately went to +sleep in good earnest. +</p> + +<p> +Alan’s recovery was rapid, since as the Asika had told him, if a patient +lives through it, the kind of fever that he had taken did not last long enough +to exhaust his vital forces. When she asked him if he needed anything to make +him well, he answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, air and exercise.” +</p> + +<p> +She replied that he should have both, and next morning his hated mask was put +upon his face and he was supported by priests to a door where a litter, or +rather litters were waiting, one for himself and another for Jeekie who, +although in robust health, was still supposed to be officially ill and not +allowed to walk upon his own legs. They entered these litters and were borne +off till presently they met a third litter of particularly gorgeous design +carried by masked bearers, wherein was the Asika herself, wearing her coronet +and a splendid robe. +</p> + +<p> +Into this litter, which was fitted with a second seat, Alan was transferred, +the Mungana, for whom it was designed, being placed in that vacated by Alan, +which either by accident or otherwise, was no more seen that day. They went up +the mountain side and to the edge of the great fall and watched the waters +thunder down, though the crest of them they could not reach. Next they wandered +off into the huge forests that clothed the slopes of the hills and there halted +and ate. Then as the sun sank they returned to the gloomy Bonsa Town beneath +them. +</p> + +<p> +For Alan, notwithstanding his weakness and anxieties, it was a heavenly day. +The Asika was passive, some new mood being on her, and scarcely troubled him at +all except to call his attention to a tree, a flower, or a prospect of the +scenery. Here on the mountain side, too, the air was sweet, and for the +rest—well, he who had been so near to death, was escaped for an hour from +that gloomy home of bloodshed and superstition, and saw God’s sky again. +</p> + +<p> +This journey was the first of many. Every day the litters were waiting and they +visited some new place, although into the town itself they never went. +Moreover, if they passed through outlying villages, though Alan was forced to +wear his mask, their inhabitants had been warned to absent themselves, so that +they saw no one. The crops were left untended and the cattle and sheep lowed +hungrily in their kraals. On certain days, at Alan’s request, they were +taken to the spots where the gold was found in the gravel bed of an almost dry +stream that during the rains was a torrent. +</p> + +<p> +He descended from the litter and with the help of the Asika and Jeekie, dug a +little in this gravel, not without reward, for in it they found several +nuggets. Above, too, where they went afterwards, was a huge quartz reef denuded +by water, which evidently had been worked in past ages and was still so rich +that in it they saw plenty of visible gold. Looking at it Alan bethought him of +his City days and of the hundreds of thousands of pounds capital with which +this unique proposition might have been floated. Afterwards they were carried +to the places where the gems were found, stuck about in the clay, like plums in +a pudding, though none ever sought them now. But all these things interested +the Asika not at all. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the good of gold,” she asked of Alan, “except to +make things of, or the bright stones except to play with? What is the good of +anything except food to eat and power and wisdom that can open the secret doors +of knowledge, of things seen and things unseen, and love that brings the lover +joy and forgetfulness of self and takes away the awful loneliness of the soul, +if only for a little while?” +</p> + +<p> +Not wishing to drift into discussion on the matter of love, Alan asked the +priestess to define her “soul,” whence it came and whither she +believed it to be going. +</p> + +<p> +“My soul is I, Vernoon,” she answered, “and already very, +very old. Thus it has ruled amongst this people for thousands of years.” +</p> + +<p> +“How is that?” he asked, “seeing that the Asika dies?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! no, Vernoon, she does not die; she only changes. The old body dies, +the spirit enters into another body which is waiting. Thus until I was fourteen +I was but a common girl, the daughter of a headman of that village yonder, at +least so they tell me, for of this time I have no memory. Then the Asika died +and as I had the secret marks and the beauty that is hers the priests burnt her +body before Big Bonsa and suffocated me, the child, in the smoke of the +burning. But I awoke again and when I awoke the past was gone and the soul of +the Asika filled me, bringing with it its awful memories, its gathered wisdom, +its passion of love and hate, and its power to look backward and before.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you ever do these things?” asked Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Backward, yes, before very little; since you came, not at all, because +my heart is a coward and I fear what I might see. Oh! Vernoon, Vernoon, I know +you and your thoughts. You think me a beautiful beast who loves like a beast, +who loves you because you are white and different from our men. Well, what +there is of the beast in me the gods of my people gave, for they are devils and +I am their servant. But there is more than that, there is good also which I +have won for myself. I knew you would come even before I had seen your face, I +knew you would come,” she went on passionately, “and that is why I +was yours already. But what would befall after you came, that I neither knew, +nor know, because I will not seek, who could learn it all.” +</p> + +<p> +He looked at her and she saw the doubt in his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“You do not believe me, Vernoon. Very well, this night you shall see, you +and that black dog of yours, that you may know I do not trick you, and he shall +tell me what you see, for he being but a low-born pig will speak the truth, not +minding if it hurts me, whereas you are gentle and might spare, and myself I +have sworn not to search the future by an oath that I may not break.” +</p> + +<p> +“What of the past?” asked Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“We will not waste time on it, for I know it all. Vernoon, have you no +memories of Asiki-land? Do you think you never visited it before?” +</p> + +<p> +“Never,” said Alan; “it was my uncle who came and ran away +with Little Bonsa on his head.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is news indeed,” she replied mockingly. “Did you then +think that I believed it to be you, though it is true that she who went before, +or my spirit that was in her, fell into error for an hour, and thought that +fool-uncle of yours was <i>the Man</i>. When she found her mistake she let him +go, and bade the god go with him that it might bring back the appointed Man, as +it has done; yes, that Little Bonsa, who knew him of old, might search him out +from among all the millions of men, born or unborn, and bring him back to me. +Therefore also she chose a young black dog who would live for many years, and +bade the god to take him with her, and told him of the wealth of our people +that it might be a bait upon the hook. Do you see, Vernoon, that yellow dirt +was the bait, that I—I am the hook? Well, you have felt it before, so it +should not gall you overmuch.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Alan was more frightened than he had been since he set foot in Asiki-land, +for of a sudden this woman became terrible to him. He felt that she knew things +which were hidden from him. For the first time he believed in her, believed, +that she was more than a mere passionate savage set by chance to rule over a +bloodthirsty tribe; that she was one who had a part in his destiny. +</p> + +<p> +“Felt the hook?” he muttered. “I do not understand.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are very forgetful,” she answered. “Vernoon, we have +lived and loved before, who were twin souls from the first. That man now, whom +I told you lived once on the great river called the Nile, have you no memory of +him? Well, well, let it be, I will tell you afterwards. Here we are at the Gold +House again, to-night when I am ready I will send for you, and this I promise, +you shall leave me wiser than you were.” +</p> + +<p> +When they were alone in their room Alan told Jeekie of the expected +entertainment of crystal gazing, or whatever it might be, and the part that he +was to play in it. +</p> + +<p> +“You say that again, Major,” said Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +Alan repeated the information, giving every detail that he could remember. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh!” said Jeekie, “I see Asika show us things, ’cause +she afraid to look at them herself, or take oath, or can’t, or something. +She no ask you tell her what she see, because you too kind hurt her feeling, if +happen to be something beastly. But Jeekie just tell her because he so truthful +and not care curse about her feeling. Well, that all right, Jeekie tell her +sure enough. Only, Major, don’t you interrupt. Quite possible these magic +things, I see one show, you see another. So don’t you go say, +‘Jeekie, that a lie,’ and give me away to Asika just because you +think you see different, ‘cause if so you put me into dirty hole, and of +course I catch it afterwards. You promise, Major?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! yes, I promise. But, Jeekie, do you really think we are going to see +anything?” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t say, Major,” and he shook his head gloomily. +“P’raps all put up job. But lots of rum things in world, Major, +specially among beastly African savage who very curious and always ready pay +blood to bad Spirit. Hope Asika not get this into her head, because no one know +what happen. P’raps we see too much and scared all our lives; but +p’raps all tommy rot.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s it—tommy rot,” answered Alan, who was not +superstitious. “Well, I suppose that we must go through with it. But oh! +Jeekie, I wish you would tell me how to get out of this.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know, Major, p’raps never get out; p’raps learn +how to-night. Have to do something soon if want to go. Mungana’s time +nearly up, and then—oh my eye!” +</p> + +<p> +It was night, about ten o’clock indeed, the hour at which Alan generally +went to bed. No message had come and he began to hope that the Asika had +forgotten, or changed her mind, and was just going to say so to Jeekie when a +light coming from behind him attracted his attention and he turned to see her +standing in a corner of the great room, holding a lamp in her hand and looking +towards him. Her gold breastplate and crown were gone, with every other +ornament, and she was clad, or rather muffled in robes of pure white fitted +with a kind of nun’s hood which lay back upon her shoulders. Also on her +arm she carried a shawl or veil. Standing thus, all undecked, with her long +hair fastened in a simple knot, she still looked very beautiful, more so than +she had ever been, thought Alan, for the cruelty of her face had faded and was +replaced by a mystery very strange to see. She did not seem quite like a +natural woman, and that was the reason, perhaps, that Alan for the first time +felt attracted by her. Hitherto she had always repelled him, but this night it +was otherwise. +</p> + +<p> +“How did you come here?” he asked in a more gentle voice than he +generally used towards her. +</p> + +<p> +Noting the change in his tone, she smiled shyly and even coloured a little, +then answered: +</p> + +<p> +“This house has many secrets, Vernoon. When you are lord of it you shall +learn them all, till then I may not tell them to you. But, come, there are +other secrets which I hope you shall see to-night, and, Jeekie, come you also, +for you shall be the mouth of your lord, so that you may tell me what perhaps +he would hide.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will tell you everything, everything, O Asika,” answered Jeekie, +stretching out his hands and bowing almost to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Then they started and following many long passages as before, although whether +they were the same or others Alan could not tell, came at last to a door which +he recognized, that of the Treasure House. As they approached this door it +opened and through it, like a hunted thing, ran the bedizened Mungana, husband +of the Asika, terror, or madness, shining in his eyes. Catching sight of his +wife, who bore the lamp, he threw himself upon his knees and snatching at her +robe, addressed some petition to her, speaking so rapidly that Alan could not +follow his words. +</p> + +<p> +For a moment she listened, then dragged her dress from his hand and spurned him +with her foot. There was something so cruel in the gesture and the action, so +full of deadly hate and loathing, that Alan, who witnessed it, experienced a +new revulsion of feeling towards the Asika. What kind of a woman must she be, +he wondered, who could treat a discarded lover thus in the presence of his +successor? +</p> + +<p> +With a groan or a sob, it was difficult to say which, the poor man rose and +perceived Alan, whose face he now beheld for the first time, since the Asika +had told him not to mask himself as they would meet no one. The sight of it +seemed to fill him with jealous fury; at any rate he leapt at his rival, +intending, apparently, to catch him by the throat. Alan, who was watching him, +stepped aside, so that he came into violent contact with the wall of the +passage and, half-stunned by the shock, reeled onwards into the darkness. +</p> + +<p> +“The hog!” said the Asika, or rather she hissed it, “the hog, +who dared to touch me and to strike at you. Well, his time is short—would +that I could make it shorter! Did you hear what he sought of me?” +</p> + +<p> +Alan, who wished for no confidences, replied by asking what the Mungana was +doing in the Treasure House, to which she answered that the spirits who dwelt +there were eating up his soul, and when they had devoured it all he would go +quite mad and kill himself. +</p> + +<p> +“Does this happen to all Munganas?” inquired Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Vernoon, if the Asika hates them, but if she loves them it is +otherwise. Come, let us forget the wretch, who would kill you if he +could,” and she led the way into the hall and up it, passing between the +heaps of gold. +</p> + +<p> +On the table where lay the necklaces of gems she set down her lamp, whereof the +light, all there was in that great place, flickered feebly upon the mask of +Little Bonsa, which had been moved here apparently for some ceremonial purpose, +and still more feebly upon the hideous, golden countenances and winding sheets +of the ancient, yellow dead who stood around in scores placed one above the +other, each in his appointed niche. It was an awesome scene and one that +oppressed Jeekie very much, for he murmured to Alan: +</p> + +<p> +“Oh my! Major, family vault child’s play to this hole, just +like——” here his comparison came to an end, for the Asika cut +it short with a single glance. +</p> + +<p> +“Sit here in front of me,” she said to Alan, “and you, +Jeekie, sit at your lord’s side, and be silent till I bid you +speak.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she crouched down in a heap behind them, threw the cloth or veil she +carried over her head, and in some way that they did not see, suddenly +extinguished the lamp. +</p> + +<p> +Now they were in deep darkness, the darkness of death, and in utter silence, +the silence of the dead. No glimmer of light, and yet to Alan it seemed as +though he could feel the flash of the crystal eyes of Little Bonsa, and of all +the other eyes set in the masks of those departed men who once had been the +husbands of the blood-stained priestess of the Asiki, till one by one, as she +wearied of them, they were bewitched to madness and to doom. In that utter +quiet he thought even that he could hear them stir within their winding sheets, +or it may have been that the Asika had risen and moved among them on some +errand of her own. Far away something fell to the floor, a very light object, +such as a flake of rock or a scale of gold. Yet the noise of it struck his +nerves loud as a clap of thunder, and those of Jeekie also, for he felt him +start at his side and heard the sudden hammerlike beat of his heart. +</p> + +<p> +What was the woman doing in this dreadful place, he wondered. Well, it was easy +to guess. Doubtless she had brought them here to scare and impress them. +Presently a voice, that of some hidden priest, would speak to them, and they +would be asked to believe it a message from the spirit world, or a spirit +itself might be arranged—what could be easier in their mood and these +surroundings? +</p> + +<p> +Now the Asika was speaking behind them in a muffled voice. From the tone of it +she appeared to be engaged in argument or supplication in some strange tongue. +At any rate Alan could not understand a word of what she said. The argument, or +prayer, went on for a long while, with pauses as though for answers. Then +suddenly it ceased and once more they were plunged into that unfathomable +silence. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br /> +WHAT THE ASIKA SHOWED ALAN.</h2> + +<p> +It seemed to Alan that he went to sleep and dreamed. +</p> + +<p> +He dreamed that it was late autumn in England. Leaves drifted down from the +trees beneath the breath of a strong, damp wind, and ran or floated along the +road till they vanished into a ditch, or caught against a pile of stones that +had been laid ready for its repair. He knew the road well enough; he even knew +the elm tree beneath which he seemed to stand on the crest of a hill. It was +that which ran from Mr. Champers-Haswell’s splendid house, The Court, to +the church; he could see them both, the house to the right, the church to the +left, and his eyesight seemed to have improved, since he was able to observe +that at either place there was bustle and preparation as though for some big +ceremony. +</p> + +<p> +Now the big gates of The Court opened and through them came a funeral. It +advanced toward him with unnatural swiftness, as though it floated upon air, +the whole melancholy procession of it. In a few seconds it had come and gone +and yet during those seconds he suffered agony, for there arose in his mind a +horrible terror that this was Barbara’s burying. He could not have +endured it for another moment; he would have cried out or died, only now the +mourners passed him, following the coffin, and in the first carriage he saw +Barbara seated, looking sad and somewhat troubled, but well. A little further +down the line came another carriage, and in it was Sir Robert Aylward, staring +before him with cold, impassive face. +</p> + +<p> +In his dream Alan thought to himself that he must have borrowed this carriage, +which would not be strange, as he generally used motors, for there was a +peer’s coronet upon the panels and the silver-mounted harness. +</p> + +<p> +The funeral passed and suddenly vanished into the churchyard gates, leaving +Alan wondering why his cousin Haswell was not seated at Barbara’s side. +Then it occurred to him that it might be because he was in the coffin, and at +that moment in his dream he heard the Asika asking Jeekie what he saw; heard +Jeekie answering also, “A burying in the country called England.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of whom, Jeekie?” Then after some hesitation, the answer: +</p> + +<p> +“Of a lady whom my lord loves very much. They bury her.” +</p> + +<p> +“What was her name, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +“Her name was Barbara.” +</p> + +<p> +“Bar-bara, why that you told me was the name of his mother and his +sister. Which of them is buried?” +</p> + +<p> +“Neither, O Asika. It was another lady who loved him very much and wanted +to marry him, and that was why he ran away to Africa. But now she is dead and +buried.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are all women in England called Bar-bara, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, O Asika, Barbara means woman.” +</p> + +<p> +“If your lord loved this Barbara, why then did he run away from her? +Well, it matters not since she is dead and buried, for whatever their spirits +may feel, no man cares for a woman that is dead until she clothes herself in +flesh again. That was a good vision and I will reward you for it.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have earned nothing, O Asika,” answered Jeekie modestly, +“who only tell you what I see as I must. Yet, O Asika,” he added +with a note of anxiety in his voice, “why do you not read these magic +writings for yourself?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because I dare not, or rather because I can not,” she answered +fiercely. “Be silent, slave, for now the power of the good broods upon my +soul.” +</p> + +<p> +The dream went on. A great forest appeared, such a forest as they had passed +before they met the cannibals, and set beneath one of the trees, a tent and in +that tent Barbara, Barbara weeping. Someone began to lift the flap of the tent. +She sprang up, snatching at a pistol that lay beside her, turning its muzzle +towards her breast. A man entered the tent. Alan saw his face, it was his own. +Barbara let fall the pistol and fell backwards as though a bullet from it had +pierced her heart. He leapt towards her, but before he came to where she lay +everything had vanished and he heard Jeekie droning out his lies to the Asika, +telling her that the vision he had seen was one of her and his master seated +with their arms about each other in a chamber of the Golden House. +</p> + +<p> +A third time the dream descended on Alan like a cloud. It seemed to him that he +was borne beyond the flaming borders of the world. Everything around was new +and unfamiliar, vast, changing, lovely, terrible. He stood alone upon a pearly +plain and the sky above him was lit with red moons, many and many of them that +hung there like lamps. Spirits began to pass him. He could catch something of +their splendour as they sped by with incredible swiftness; he could hear the +music of their laughter. One rose up at his side. It was the Asika, only a +thousand times more splendid; clothed in all the glory of hell. Majestically +she bent towards him, her glowing eyes held his, the deadly perfume of her +breath beat upon his brow and made him drunken. +</p> + +<p> +She spoke to him and her voice sounded like distant bells. +</p> + +<p> +“Through many a life, through many a life,” she said, “bought +with much blood, paid for with a million tears, but mine at last, the soul that +I have won to comfort my soul in the eternal day. Come to the place I have made +ready for you, the hell that shall turn to heaven at your step, come, you by +whom I am redeemed, and drive away those gods that torture me because I was +their servant that I might win you.” +</p> + +<p> +So she spoke, and though all his soul revolted, yet the fearful strength that +was in her seemed to draw him onward whither she would go. Then a light shone, +and that light was the face of Barbara, and with a suddenness which was almost +awful, the wild dream came to an end. +</p> + +<p> +Alan was in his own room again, though how he got there he did not recollect. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” he said, “what has happened? I seem to have had a +very curious dream, there in the Treasure-place, and to have heard you telling +the Asika a string of incredible falsehoods.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! no, Major, Jeekie can’t lie, too good Christian; he tell her +what <i>he</i> see, or what he think she see if she look, ’cause though +p’raps he see nothing, she never believe that. And,” he added with +a burst of confidence, “what the dickens it matter what he tell her, so +long as she swallow same and keep quiet? Nasty things always make women like +Asika quite outrageous. Give them sweet to suck, say Jeekie, and if they ill +afterwards, that no fault of his. They had sweet.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite so, Jeekie, quite so, only I should advise you not to play too +many tricks upon the Asika, lest she should happen to find you out. How did I +get back here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Like man that walk in his sleep, Major. She go first, you follow, just +as little lamb after Mary in hymn.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie, did you really see anything at all?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Major, nothing partic’lar, except ghost of Mrs. Jeekie and of +your reverend uncle, both of them very angry. That magic all stuff, Major. +Asika put something in your grub make you drunk, so that you think her very +wise. Don’t think of it no more, Major, or you go off your chump. If +Jeekie see nothing, depend on it there nothing to see.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps so, Jeekie, but I wish I could be sure you had seen nothing. +Listen to me; we must get out of this place somehow, or as you say, I shall go +off my chump. It’s haunted, Jeekie, it’s haunted, and I think that +Asika is a devil, not a woman.” +</p> + +<p> +“That what priests say, Major, very old devil—part of Bonsa,” +he answered, looking at his master anxiously. “Well, don’t you +fret, Jeekie not afraid of devils, Jeekie get you out in good time. Go to bed +and leave it all to Jeekie.” +</p> + +<p> +Fifteen more days had gone by, and it was the eve of the night of the second +full moon when Alan was destined to become the husband of the Asika. She had +sent for him that morning and he found her radiant with happiness. Whether or +no she believed Jeekie’s interpretation of the visions she had called up, +it seemed quite certain that her mind was void of fears and doubts. She was +sure that Alan was about to become her husband, and had summoned all the people +of the Asiki to be present at the ceremony of their marriage, and incidentally +of the death of the Mungana who, poor wretch, was to be forced to kill himself +upon that occasion. +</p> + +<p> +Before they parted she had spoken to Alan sweetly enough. +</p> + +<p> +“Vernoon,” she said, “I know that you do not love me as I +love you, but the love will come, since for your sake I will change myself. I +will grow gentle; I will shed no more blood; that of the Mungana shall be the +last, and even him I would spare if I could, only while he lives I may not +marry you; it is the one law that is stronger than I am, and if I broke it I +and you would die at once. You shall even teach me your faith, if you will, for +what is good to you is henceforth good to me. Ask what you wish of me, and as +an earnest I will do it if I can.” +</p> + +<p> +Now Alan looked at her. There was one thing that he wished above all +others—that she would let him go. But this he did not dare to ask; +moreover, it would have been utterly useless. After all, if the Asika’s +love was terrible, what would be the appearance of her outraged hate? What +could he ask? More gold? He hated the very name of the stuff, for it had +brought him here. He remembered the old cannibal chief, Fahni, who, like +himself, languished a prisoner, daily expecting death. Only that morning he had +implored him to obtain his liberty. +</p> + +<p> +“I thank you, Asika,” he said. “Now, if your words are true, +set Fahni free and let him return to his own country, for if he stays here he +will die.” +</p> + +<p> +“Surely, Vernoon, that is a small thing,” she answered, smiling, +“though it is true that when he gets there he will probably make war upon +us. Well, let him, let him.” Then she clapped her hands and summoned +priests, whom she bade go at once and conduct Fahni out of Bonsa Town. Also she +bade them loose certain slaves who were of the Ogula tribe, that they might +accompany him laden with provisions, and send on orders to the outposts that +Fahni and his party should be furnished with a canoe and pass unmolested from +the land. +</p> + +<p> +This done, she began to talk to Alan about many matters, however little he +might answer her. Indeed it seemed almost as though she feared to let him leave +her side; as though some presentiment of loss oppressed her. +</p> + +<p> +At length, to Alan’s great relief, the time came when they must part, +since it was necessary for her to attend a secret ceremony of preparation or +purification that was called “Putting-off-the-Past.” Although she +had been thrice summoned, still she would not let him go. +</p> + +<p> +“They call you, Asika,” said Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, they call me,” she replied, springing up. “Leave +me, Vernoon, till we meet to-morrow to part no more. Oh! why is my heart so +heavy in me? That black dog of yours read the visions that I summoned but might +not look on, and they were good visions. They showed that the woman who loved +you is dead; they showed us wedded, and other deeper things. Surely he would +not dare to lie to me, knowing that if he did I would flay him living and throw +him to the vultures. Why, then, is my heart so heavy in me? Would you escape +me, Vernoon? Nay, you are not so cruel, nor could you do it except by death. +Moreover, man, know that even in death you cannot escape me, for there be sure +I shall follow you and claim you, to whose side my spirit has toiled for ages, +and what is there so strong that it can snatch you from my hand?” +</p> + +<p> +She looked at him a moment, then of a sudden burst into a flood of tears, and, +seizing his hand threw herself upon her knees and kissed it again and again. +</p> + +<p> +“Go now,” she said, “go, and let my love go with you, through +lives and deaths, and all the dreams beyond, oh! let my love go with you, as it +shall, Vernoon.” +</p> + +<p> +So he went, leaving her weeping on her knees. +</p> + +<p> +During the dark hours that followed Alan and madness were not far apart. What +could he do? Escape was utterly impossible. For weeks he and Jeekie had +considered it in vain. Even if they could win out of the Gold House fortress, +what hope had they of making their way through the crowded, tortuous town +where, after the African fashion, peopled walked about all night, every one of +whom would recognize the white man, whether he were masked or no? Besides, +beyond the town were the river and the guarded walls and gates and beyond them +open country where they would be cut off or run down. No, to attempt escape was +suicide. Suicide! That gave him an idea, why should he not kill himself? It +would be easy enough, for he still had his revolver and a few cartridges, and +surely it was better than to enter on such a life as awaited him as the +plaything of a priestess of a tribe of fetish-worshipping savages. +</p> + +<p> +But if he killed himself, how about Barbara and how about poor old Jeekie, who +would certainly be killed also? Besides, it was not the right thing to do, and +while there is life there is always hope. +</p> + +<p> +Alan paused in his walk up and down the room and looked at Jeekie, who sat upon +the floor with his back resting against the stone altar, reflectively pulling +down his thick under-lip and letting it fly back, negro-fashion. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” he said, “time’s up. What am I to do?” +</p> + +<p> +“Do, Major?” he replied with affected cheerfulness. “Oh! that +quite simple. Jeekie arrange everything. You marry Asika and by and by, when +you master here and tired of her, you give her slip. Very interesting +experience; no white man ever have such luck before. Asika not half bad, +<i>if</i> she fond of you; she like little girl in song, when she good, she +very, very good. At any rate, nothing else to do. Marry Asika or spiflicate, +which mean, Major, that Jeekie spiflicate too, and,” he added, shaking +his white head sadly, “he no like <i>that</i>. One or two little things +on his mind that no get time to square up yet. Daren’t pray like +Christian here, ’cause afraid of Bonsas, and Bonsas come even with him by +and by, ’cause he been Christian, so poor Jeekie fall down bump between +two stools. ’Postles kick him out of heaven and Bonsas kick him out of +hell, and where Jeekie go to then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know, I am sure,” answered Alan, smiling a little in +spite of his sorrow, “but I think the Bonsas might find a corner for you +somewhere. Look here, Jeekie, you old scamp, I am sorry for you, for you have +been a good friend to me and we are fond of each other. But just understand +this, I am not going to marry that woman if I can help it. It’s against +my principles. So I shall wait till to-morrow and then I shall walk out of this +place. If the guards try to stop me I shall shoot them while I have any +cartridges. Then I shall go on until they kill me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! But Major, they not kill you—never; they chuck blanket over +your head and take you back to Asika. It Jeekie they kill, skin him alive-o, +and all the rest of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hope not, Jeekie, because they think we shall die the same day. But if +so, I can’t help it. To-morrow morning I shall walk out, and now +that’s settled. I am tired and going to sleep,” and he threw +himself down upon the bed and, being worn out with weariness and anxiety, soon +fell fast asleep. +</p> + +<p> +But Jeekie did not sleep, although he too lay down upon his bed. On the +contrary, he remained wide awake and reflected, more deeply perhaps than he had +ever done before, being sure the superstition as to the dependence of +Alan’s life upon his own was now worn very thin, and that his hour was at +hand. He thought of making Alan’s wild attempt to depart impossible by +the simple method of warning the Asika, but, notwithstanding his native +selfishness, was too loyal to let that idea take root in his mind. No, there +was nothing to be done; if the Major wished to start, the Major must start, and +he, Jeekie, must pay the price. Well, he deserved it, who had been fool enough +to listen to the secret promptings of Little Bonsa and conduct him to +Asiki-land. +</p> + +<p> +Thus he passed several hours, for the most part in melancholy speculations as +to the exact fashion of his end, until at length weariness overcame him also +and, shutting his eyes, Jeekie began to doze. Suddenly he grew aware of the +presence of some other person in the room, but thinking that it was only the +Asika prowling about in her uncanny fashion, or perhaps her spirit, for how her +body entered the place he could not guess, he did not stir, but lay breathing +heavily and watching out of the corner of his eye. +</p> + +<p> +Presently a figure emerged from the shadows into the faint light thrown by the +single lamp that burned above, and though it was wrapped in a dark cloak, +Jeekie knew at once that it was not the Asika. Very stealthily the figure crept +towards him, as a leopard might creep, and bent down to examine him. The +movement caused the cloak to slip a little, and for an instant Jeekie caught +sight of the wasted, half-crazed face of the Mungana, and of a long, curved +knife that glittered in his hand. Paralyzed with fear, he lay quite still, +knowing that should he show the slightest sign of consciousness that knife +would pierce his heart. +</p> + +<p> +The Mungana watched him a while, then satisfied that he slept, turned round +and, bending himself almost double, glided with infinite precautions towards +Alan’s bed, which stood some twelve or fourteen feet away. Silently as a +snake that uncoils itself, Jeekie slipped from between his blankets and crept +after him, his naked feet making no noise upon the mat-strewn floor. So intent +was the Mungana upon the deed which he had come to do that he never looked +back, and thus it happened that the two of them reached the bed one immediately +behind the other. +</p> + +<p> +Alan was lying on his back with his throat exposed, a very easy victim. For a +moment the Mungana stared. Then he erected himself like a snake about to +strike, and lifted the great curved knife, taking aim at Alan’s naked +breast. Jeekie erected himself also, and even as the knife began to fall, with +one hand he caught the arm that drove it and with the other the +murderer’s throat. The Mungana fought like a wild-cat, but Jeekie was too +strong for him. His fingers held the man’s windpipe like a vise. He +choked and weakened; the knife fell from his hand. He sank to the ground and +lay there helpless, whereon Jeekie knelt upon his chest and, possessing himself +of the knife, held it within an inch of his heart. +</p> + +<p> +It was at this juncture that Alan woke up and asked sleepily what was the +matter. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, Major,” answered Jeekie in low and cheerful tones. +“Snake just going to bite you and I catch him, that all,” and he +gave an extra squeeze to the Mungana’s throat, who turned black in the +face and rolled his eyes. +</p> + +<p> +“Be careful, Jeekie, or you will kill the man,” exclaimed Alan, +recognizing the Mungana and taking in the situation. +</p> + +<p> +“Why not, Major? He want kill you, and me too afterwards. Good riddance +of bad rubbish, as Book say.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not so sure, Jeekie. Give him air and let me think. Tell him that +if he makes any noise, he dies.” +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie obeyed, and the Mungana’s darkening eyes grew bright again as he +drew his breath in great sobs. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, friend,” said Alan in Asiki, “why did you wish to stab +me?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because I hate you,” answered the man, “who to-morrow will +take my place and the wife I love.” +</p> + +<p> +“As a year or two ago you took someone else’s place, eh? Well, +suppose now that I don’t want either your place or your wife.” +</p> + +<p> +“What would that matter even it if were true, white man, since she wants +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am thinking, friend, that there is someone else she will want when she +hears of this. How do you suppose that you will die to-morrow? Not so easily as +you hope, perhaps.” +</p> + +<p> +The Mungana’s eyes seemed to sink into his head, and his face to sicken +with terror. That shaft had gone home. +</p> + +<p> +“Suppose I make a bargain with you,” went on Alan slowly. +“Supposing I say: ‘Mungana, show me the way out of this place, as +you can, now at once. Or if you prefer it, refuse and be given up to the +Asika?’ Come, you are not too mad to understand. Answer—and +quickly.” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you kill me afterwards?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Not I. Why should I wish to kill you? You can come with us and go where +you will. Or you can stay here and die as the Asika directs.” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot believe you, white man. It is not possible that you should wish +to run away from so much love and glory, or to spare one who would have slain +you. Also it would be difficult to get you out of Bonsa Town.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Alan, “this fellow is mad after all, I think +you had better go to the door and shout for the priests.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, lord,” begged the wretched creature, “I will trust +you; I will try, though it is you who must be mad.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good. Stand over him, Jeekie, while I put on my things and, yes, +give me that mask. If he stirs, kill him at once.” +</p> + +<p> +So Alan made himself ready. Then he mounted guard over the Mungana, as did +Jeekie, although he shook his head over their prospect of escape. +</p> + +<p> +“No go,” he muttered, “no go! If we get past priests, Asika +catch us with her magic. When I bolt with your reverend uncle last time, Little +Bonsa arrange business because she go abroad fetch you. Now likely as not she +bowl you out, and then good-bye Jeekie.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan sternly bade him be quiet and stop behind if he did not wish to come. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, Major,” he answered, “I come all right. Asika very +prejudiced beggar, and if she find me here alone—oh my! Better die double +after all, Two’s company, Major. Now, all ready, <i>March!</i>” and +he gave the unfortunate Mungana a fearful kick as a hint to proceed, adding +reflectively “Everything come square in end, Major. You ’member once +this chap bump Jeekie’s head at feast of Little Bonsa. Well, now I bump +his tail,” and he kicked him again. +</p> + +<p> +So utterly crushed was the poor wretch that even this insult did not stir him +to resentment. +</p> + +<p> +“Follow me, white man,” he said, “and if you desire to live, +be silent. Throw your cloaks about your heads.” +</p> + +<p> +They did so, and holding their revolvers in their right hands, glided after the +Mungana. In the corner of the big room they came to a little stair. How it +opened in that place where no stair had been, they could not see or even guess, +for it was too dark, only now they knew the means by which the Asika had been +able to visit them at night. +</p> + +<p> +The Mungana went first down the stair. Jeekie followed, grasping him by the arm +with one hand, while in the other he kept his own knife ready to stab him at +the first sign of treachery. Alan brought up the rear, keeping hold of +Jeekie’s cloak. They passed down twelve steps of stair, then turned to +the right along a tunnel, then to the left, then to the right again. In the +pitch darkness it was an awful journey, since they knew not whither they were +being led, and expected that every moment would be their last. At length, quite +of a sudden, they emerged into moonlight. +</p> + +<p> +Alan looked about him and knew the place. It was where the feast had been held +two months before, when the priests were poisoned and the Bonsas chose the +victims for sacrifice. Already it was prepared for the great festival of +to-morrow, when the Mungana should drown himself and Alan be married to the +Asika. There on the daïs were the gold chairs in which they were to sit, and +green branches of trees mixed with curious flags decked the vast amphitheatre +beyond. Moreover, there was the broad canal, and floating in the midst of it +the hideous gold fetish, Big Bonsa. The moon shone on its glaring, deathly +eyes, its fish-like snout and its huge, pale teeth. Alan looked at it and +shivered, for the thing was horrid and uncanny, and the utter loneliness in +which it lay staring up at the moon, seemed to accentuate the horror. +</p> + +<p> +The Mungana noticed his fear and whispered: +</p> + +<p> +“We must swim the water. If you have a god, white man, pray him to +protect you from Bonsa.” +</p> + +<p> +“Lead on,” answered Alan, “I do not dread a foul fetish, only +the look of it. But is there no way round?” +</p> + +<p> +The Mungana shook his head and began to enter the canal. Jeekie, whose teeth +were chattering, hung back, but Alan pushed him from behind, so sharply that he +stumbled and made a splash. Then Alan followed, and as the cold, black water +rose to his chest, looked again at Big Bonsa. +</p> + +<p> +It seemed to him that the thing had turned round and was staring at them. +Surely a few seconds ago its snout pointed the other way. No, that must be +fancy. He was swimming now, they were all swimming, Alan and Jeekie holding +their pistols and little stock of cartridges above their heads to keep them +dry. The gold head of Big Bonsa appeared to be lifting itself up in the water, +as a reptile might, in order to get a better view of these proceedings, but +doubtless it was the ripples that they caused which gave it this appearance. +Only why did the ripples make it come towards them, quite gently, like an +investigating fish? +</p> + +<p> +It was about ten yards off and they were in the middle of the canal. The +Mungana had passed it. It was in a line with Alan’s head. Oh Heavens! a +sudden smother of foam, a rush like that of a torpedo, and set low down between +two curving waves, a flash of gold. Then a gurgling, inhuman laugh and a weight +upon his back. Down went Alan, down and down! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /> +THE END OF THE MUNGANA.</h2> + +<p> +The moonlight above vanished. Alan was alone in the depths with this devil, or +whatever it might be. He could feel hands and feet gripping and treading on +him, but they did not seem to be human, for there were too many of them. Also +they were very cold. He gave himself up for dead and thought of Barbara. +</p> + +<p> +Then something flashed into his mind. In his hand he still held the revolver. +He pressed it upwards against the thing that was smothering him, and pulled the +trigger. Again he pulled it, and again, for it was a self-cocking weapon, and +even there deep down in the water he heard the thud of the explosion of the +damp-proof copper cartridges. His lungs were bursting, his senses reeled, only +enough of them remained to tell him that he was free of that strangling grip +and floating upwards. His head rose above the surface, and through the mouth of +his mask he drew in the sweet air with quick gasps. Down below him in the clear +water he saw the yellow head of Big Bonsa rocking and quivering like a great +reflected moon, saw too that it was beginning to rise. Yet he could not swim +away from it, the fetish seemed to have hypnotized him. He heard Jeekie calling +to him from the shallow water near the further bank, but still he floated there +like a log and stared down at Big Bonsa wallowing beneath. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie plunged back into the canal and with a few strong strokes reached him, +gripped him by the arm and began to tow him to the shore. Before they came +there Big Bonsa rose like a huge fish and tried to follow them, but could not, +or so it seemed. At any rate it only whirled round and round upon the surface, +while from it poured a white fluid that turned the black water to the hue of +milk. Then it began to scream, making a thin and dreadful sound more like that +of an infant in pain than anything they had ever heard, a very sickening sound +that Alan never could forget. He staggered to the bank and stood staring at it +where it bled, rolled and shrieked, but because of the milky foam could make +nothing out in that light. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it, Jeekie?” he said with an idiotic laugh. “What is +it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! don’t know. Devil and all, perhaps. Come on, Major, before it +catch us.” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t think it will catch anyone just at present. Devil or not +hollow-nosed bullets don’t agree with it. Shall I give it another, +Jeekie?” and he lifted the pistol. +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, Major, don’t play tomfool,” and Jeekie grabbed him +by the arm and dragged him away. +</p> + +<p> +A few paces further on stood the Mungana like a man transfixed, and even then +Alan noticed that he regarded him with something akin to awe. +</p> + +<p> +“Stronger than the god,” he muttered, “stronger than the +god,” and bounded forward. +</p> + +<p> +Following the path that ran beside the canal, they plunged into a tunnel, +holding each other as before. In a few minutes they were through it and in a +place full of cedar trees outside the wall of the Gold House, under which +evidently the tunnel passed, for there it rose behind them. Beneath these cedar +trees they flitted like ghosts, now in the moonlight and now in the shadow. +</p> + +<p> +The great fall to the back of the town was on their left, and in front of them +lay one of the arms of the river, at this spot a raging torrent not much more +than a hundred feet in width, spanned by a narrow suspension bridge which +seemed to be supported by two fibre ropes. On the hither side of this bridge +stood a guard hut, and to their dismay out of this hut ran three men armed with +spears, evidently to cut them off. One of these men sped across the bridge and +took his stand at the further end, while the other two posted themselves in +their path at the entrance to it. +</p> + +<p> +The Mungana slacked his speed and said one word—“Finished!” +and Jeekie also hesitated, then turned and pointed behind them. +</p> + +<p> +Alan looked back and flitting in and out between the cedar trees, saw the white +robes of the priests of Bonsa. Then despair seized them all, and they rushed at +the bridge. Jeekie reached it first and dodging beneath the spears of the two +guards, plunged his knife into the breast of one of them, and butted the other +with his great head, so that he fell over the side of the bridge on to the +rocks below. +</p> + +<p> +“Cut, Major, cut!” he said to Alan, who pushed past him. “All +right now.” +</p> + +<p> +They were on the narrow swaying bridge—it was but a single +plank—Alan first, then the Mungana, then Jeekie. When they were half way +across Alan looked before him and saw a sight he could never forget. +</p> + +<p> +The third guard at the further side was sawing through one of the fibre ropes +with his spear. There they were on the middle of the bridge with the torrent +raving fifty feet beneath them, and the man had nearly severed the rope! To get +over before it parted was impossible; behind were the priests; beneath the +roaring river. All three of them stopped as though paralyzed, for all three had +seen. Something struck against Alan’s leg, it was his pistol that still +remained fastened to his wrist by its leather thong. He cocked and lifted it, +took aim and fired. The shot missed, which was not wonderful considering the +light and the platform on which the shooter stood. It missed, but the man, +astonished, for he had never seen or heard such a thing before, stopped his +sawing for a moment, and stared at them. Then as he began again Alan fired once +more, and this time by good fortune the bullet struck the man somewhere in the +body. He fell, and as he fell grasped the nearly separated rope and hung to it. +</p> + +<p> +“Get hold of the other rope and come on,” yelled Alan, and once +more they bounded forward. +</p> + +<p> +“My God! it’s going!” he yelled again. “Hold fast, +Jeekie, hold fast!” +</p> + +<p> +Next instant the rope parted and the man vanished. The bridge tipped over, and +supported by the remaining rope, hung edgeways up. To this rope the three of +them clung desperately, resting their feet upon the edge of the swaying plank. +For a few seconds they remained thus, afraid to stir, then Jeekie called out: +</p> + +<p> +“Climb on, Major, climb on like one monkey. Look bad, but quite safe +really.” +</p> + +<p> +As there was nothing else to be done Alan began to climb, shifting his feet +along the plank edge and his hands along the rope, which creaked and stretched +beneath their threefold weight. +</p> + +<p> +It was a horrible journey, and in his imagination took at least an hour. Yet +they accomplished it, for at last they found themselves huddled together but +safe upon the further bank. The sweat pouring down from his head almost blinded +Alan; a deadly nausea worked within him, sickly tremors shot up and down his +spine; his brain swam. Yet he could hear Jeekie, in whom excitement always took +the form of speech, saying loudly: +</p> + +<p> +“Think that man no liar what say our great papas was monkeys. Never look +down on monkey no more. Wake up, Major, those priests monkey-men too, for we +all brothers, you know. Wait a bit, I stop their little game,” and +springing up with three or four cuts of the big curved knife, he severed the +remaining rope just as their pursuers reached the further side of the chasm. +</p> + +<p> +They shouted with rage as the long bridge swung back against the rock, the cut +end of it falling into the torrent, and waved their spears threateningly. To +this demonstration Jeekie replied with gestures of contempt such as are known +to street Arabs. Then he looked at the Mungana, who lay upon the ground a +melancholy and dilapidated spectacle, for the perspiration had washed lines of +paint off his face and patches of dye from his hair, also his gorgeous robes +were water-stained and his gem necklaces broken. Having studied him a while +Jeekie kicked him meditatively till he got up, then asked him to set out the +exact situation. The Mungana answered that they were safe for a while, since +that torrent could only be crossed by the broken bridge and was too rapid to +swim. The Asiki, he added, must go a long journey round through the city in +order to come at them, though doubtless they would hunt them down in time. +</p> + +<p> +Here Jeekie cut him short, since he knew all that country well and only wished +to learn whether any more bridges had been built across the torrent since he +was a boy. +</p> + +<p> +“Now, Major,” he said, “you get up and follow me, for I know +every inch of ground, also by and by good short cut over mountains. You see +Jeekie very clever boy, and when he herd sheep and goat he made note of +everything and never forget nothing. He pull you out of this hole, never +fear.” +</p> + +<p> +“Glad to hear it, I am sure,” answered Alan as he rose. “But +what’s to become of the Mungana?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know and don’t care,” said Jeekie; “no +more good to us. Can go and see how Big Bonsa feel, if he like,” and +stretching out his big hand as though in a moment of abstraction, he removed +the costly necklaces from their guide’s neck and thrust them into the +pouch he wore. Also he picked up the gilded linen mask which Alan had removed +from his head and placed it in the same receptacle, remarking, that he +“always taught that it wicked to waste anything when so many poor in the +world.” +</p> + +<p> +Then they started, the Mungana following them. Jeekie paused and waved him off, +but the poor wretch still came on, whereon Jeekie produced the big, crooked +knife, Mungana’s own knife. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you going to do?” said Alan, awaking to the situation. +</p> + +<p> +“Cut off head of that cocktail man, Major, and so save him lot of +trouble. Also we got no grub, and if we find any he want eat a lot. Chop what +do for two p’raps, make very short commons for three. Also he might play +dirty trick, so much best dead.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nonsense,” said Alan sternly; “let the poor devil come along +if he likes. One good turn deserves another.” +</p> + +<p> +“Just so, Major; that hello-swello want cut our throats, so I want cut +his—one good turn deserve another, as wise king say in Book, when he give +half baby to woman what wouldn’t have it. Well, so be, Major, specially +as it no matter, for he not stop with us long.” +</p> + +<p> +“You mean that he will run away, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! no, he not run away, he in too blue funk for that. But something run +away with him, because he ought die to-morrow night. Oh! yes, you see, you see, +and Jeekie hope that something not run away with you too, Major, because you +ought be married at same time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hope not, I am sure,” answered Alan, and bethinking him of Big +Bonsa wallowing and screaming on the water and bleeding out white blood, he +shivered a little. +</p> + +<p> +By this time, advancing at a trot, the Mungana running after them like a dog, +they had entered the bush pierced with a few wandering paths. Along these paths +they sped for hour after hour, Jeekie leading them without a moment’s +hesitation. They met no man and heard nothing, except occasional weird sounds +which Alan put down to wild beasts, but Jeekie and the Mungana said were +produced by ghosts. Indeed it appeared that all this jungle was supposed to be +haunted, and no Asiki would enter it at night, or unless he were very bold and +protected by many charms, by day either. Therefore it was an excellent place +for fugitives who sorely needed a good start. +</p> + +<p> +At length the day began to dawn just as they reached the main road where it +crossed the hills, whence on his journey thither Alan had his first view of +Bonsa Town. Peering from the edge of the bush, they perceived a fire burning +near the road and round it five or six men, who seemed to be asleep. Their +first thought was to avoid them, but the Mungana, creeping up to Alan, for +Jeekie he would not approach, whispered: +</p> + +<p> +“Not Asiki, Ogula chief and slaves who left Bonsa Town yesterday.” +</p> + +<p> +They crept nearer the fire and saw that this was so. Then rejoicing +exceedingly, they awoke the old chief, Fahni, who at first thought they must be +spirits. But when he recognized Alan, he flung himself on his knees and kissed +his hand, because to him he owed his liberty. +</p> + +<p> +“No time for all that, Fahni,” said Alan. “Give us +food.” +</p> + +<p> +Now of this as it chanced there was plenty, since by the Asika’s orders +the slaves had been laden with as much as they could carry. They ate of it +ravenously, and while they ate, told Fahni something of the story of their +escape. The old chief listened amazed, but like Jeekie asked Alan why he had +not killed the Mungana, who would have killed him. +</p> + +<p> +Alan, who was in no mood for long explanations, answered that he had kept him +with them because he might be useful. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes, friend, I see,” exclaimed the old cannibal, +“although he is so thin he will always make a meal or two at a pinch. +Truly white men are wise and provident. Like the ants, you take thought for the +morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +As soon as they had swallowed their food they started all together, for +although Alan pointed out to Fahni that he might be safer apart, the old chief +who had a real affection for him, would not be persuaded to leave him. +</p> + +<p> +“Let us live or die together,” he said. +</p> + +<p> +Now Jeekie, abandoning the main road, led them up a stream, walking in the +water so that their footsteps might leave no trace, and thus away into the +barren mountains which rose between them and the great swamp. On the crest of +these mountains Alan turned and looked back towards Bonsa Town. There far +across the fertile valley was the hateful, river-encircled place. There fell +the great cataract in the roar of which he had lived for so many weeks. There +were the black cedars and there gleamed the roofs of the Gold House, his prison +where dwelt the Asika and the dreadful fetishes of which she was the priestess. +To him it was like the vision of a nightmare, he could scarcely think it real. +And yet by this time doubtless they sought him far and wide. What mood, he +wondered, would the Asika be in when she learned of his escape and the fashion +of it, and how would she greet him if he were recaptured and taken back to her? +Well, he would not be recaptured. He had still some cartridges and he would +fight till they killed him, or failing that, save the last of them for himself. +Never, never could he endure to be dragged back to Bonsa Town there to live and +die. +</p> + +<p> +They went on across the mountains, till in the afternoon once more they saw the +road running beneath them like a ribbon, and at the end of it the lagoon. Now +they rested a while and held a consultation while they ate. Across that lagoon +they could not escape without a canoe. +</p> + +<p> +“Lord,” said the Mungana presently, “yesterday when these +cannibals were let go a swift runner was sent forward, commanding that a good +boat should be provisioned and made ready for them, and by now doubtless this +has been done. Let them descend to the road, walk on to the bay and ask for the +boat. Look, yonder, far away a tongue of land covered with trees juts out into +the lake. We will make our way thither and after nightfall this chief can row +back to it and take us into the canoe.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan said that the plan was good, but Jeekie shook his head, asking what would +happen if Fahni, finding himself safe upon the water, thought it wisest not to +come to fetch them. +</p> + +<p> +Alan translated his words to the old chief, whereon Fahni wanted to fight +Jeekie because of the slur that he had cast upon his honour. This challenge +Jeekie resolutely declined, saying that already there were plenty of ways to +die in Asiki-land without adding another to them. Then Fahni swore by his +tribal god and by the spirit of every man he had ever eaten, that he would come +to that promontory after dark, if he were still alive. +</p> + +<p> +So they separated, Fahni and his men slipping down to the road, which they did +without being seen by anyone, while Alan, Jeekie and the Mungana bore away to +the right towards the promontory. The road was long and rough and, though by +good fortune they met no one, since the few who dwelt in these wild parts had +gone up to Bonsa Town to be present at the great feast, the sun was sinking +before ever they reached the place. Moreover, this promontory proved to be +covered with dense thorn scrub, through which they must force a way in the +gathering darkness, not without hurt and difficulty. Still they accomplished it +and at length, quite exhausted, crept to the very point, where they hid +themselves between some stones at the water’s edge. +</p> + +<p> +Here they waited for three long hours, but no boat came. +</p> + +<p> +“All up a gum-tree now, Major,” said Jeekie. “Old blackguard, +Fanny, bolt and leave us here. <i>He</i> play hookey-walker, and to-morrow +morning Asika nobble <i>us.</i> Better have gone down to bay, steal his boat +and leave him behind, because Asika no want <i>him</i>. That only common +sense.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan made no answer. He was too tired, and although he trusted Fahni, it seemed +likely enough that Jeekie was right, or perhaps the cannibals had not been able +to get the boat. Well, he had done his best, and if Fate overtook them it was +no fault of his. He began to doze, for even their imminent peril could not keep +his eyes open, then presently awoke with a start, for in his sleep he thought +he heard the sounds of paddles beating the quiet water. Yes, there dimly seen +through the mist, was a canoe, and seated in the stern of it Fahni. So that +danger had gone by also. +</p> + +<p> +He woke his companions, who slept at his side, and very silently they rose, +stepping from rock to rock till they reached the canoe and entered it. It was +not a large craft, barely big enough to hold them all indeed, but they found +room, and then at a sign from Fahni the oarsmen gave way so heartily that +within half an hour they had lost sight of the accursed shores of Asiki-land, +although presently its mountains showed up clearly beneath the moon. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Fahni had told his tale. It appeared that when he reached the bay he +found the Asiki headman who dwelt there, and those under him, in a state of +considerable excitement. +</p> + +<p> +Rumours had reached them that someone had escaped from Bonsa Town; they thought +it was the Mungana. Fahni asked who had brought the rumour, whereon the headman +answered that it came “in a dream,” and would say no more. Then he +demanded the canoe which had been promised to him and his people, and the +headman admitted that it was ready in accordance with orders received from the +Asika, but demurred to letting him have it. A long argument followed, in the +midst of which Fahni and his men got into the canoe, the headman apparently not +daring to use force to prevent him. Just as they were pushing off a messenger +arrived from Bonsa Town, reeling with exhaustion and his tongue hanging from +his jaws, who called out that it was the white man who had escaped with his +servant and the Mungana, and that although they were believed to be still +hidden in the holy woods near Bonsa Town, none were to be allowed to leave the +bay. So the headman shouted to Fahni to return, but he pretended not to hear +and rowed away, nor did anyone attempt to follow him. Still it was only after +nightfall that he dared to put the boat about and return to the headland to +pick up Alan and the others as he had promised. That was all he had to say. +</p> + +<p> +Alan thanked him heartily for his faithfulness and they paddled on steadily, +putting mile after mile of water between them and Asiki-land. He wondered +whether he had seen the last of that country and its inhabitants. Something +within him answered No. He was sure that the Asika would not allow him to +depart in peace without making some desperate effort to recapture him. Far as +he was away, it seemed to him that he could feel her fury hanging over him like +a cloud, a cloud that would burst in a rain of blood. Doubtless it would have +burst already had it not been for the accident that he and his companions were +still supposed to be hiding in the woods. But that error must be discovered, +and then would come the pursuit. +</p> + +<p> +He looked at the full moon shining upon him and reflected that at this very +hour he should have been seated upon the chair of state, wedding, or rather +being wedded by the Asika in the presence of Big and Little Bonsa and all the +people. His eye fell upon the Mungana, who had also been destined to play a +prominent part in that ceremony. At once he saw that there was something wrong +with the man. A curious change had come over his emaciated face. It was working +like that of a maniac. Foam appeared upon his dyed lips, his haunted eyes +rolled, his thin hands gripped the side of the canoe and he began to sing, or +rather howl like a dog baying at the stars. Jeekie hit him on the head and bade +him be silent, but he took no notice, even when he hit him again more heavily. +Presently came the climax. The man sprang up in the canoe, causing it to rock +from side to side. He pointed to the full moon above and howled more loudly +than before; he pointed to something that he seemed to see in the air near by +and gibbered as though in terror. Then his eyes fixed themselves upon the water +at which he stared. +</p> + +<p> +Harder and harder he stared, his head sinking lower every moment, till at +length without another sound, very quietly and unexpectedly he went over the +side of the boat. For a few seconds they saw his bright-coloured garments +sinking to the depths, then he vanished. +</p> + +<p> +They waited a while, expecting that he would rise again. But he never rose. A +shot-weighted corpse could not have disappeared more finally and completely. +The thing was very awful, and for a while there was silence, which as usual was +broken by Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +“That gay dog gone,” he said in a reflective voice. “All +those old ghosts come to fetch him at proper time. No good run away from +ghosts; they travel too quick; one jump, and pop up where you no expect. Well, +more place for Jeekie now,” and he spread himself out comfortably in the +empty seat, adding, “like hello-swello’s room much better than +company, he go in scent-bath every day and stink too much, all that water never +wash <i>him</i> clean.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus died the Mungana, and such was the poor wretch’s requiem. With a +shiver Alan reflected that had it not been for him and his insane jealousy, he +too might have been expected to go into that same scent-bath and have his face +painted like a chorus girl. Only would he escape the spell that had destroyed +his predecessor in the affections of the priestess of the Bonsas? Or would some +dim power such as had drawn Mungana to the death drag him back to the arms of +the Asika or to the torture pit of “Great Swimming Head.” He +remembered his dream in the Treasure Hall and shuddered at the very thought of +it, for all he had undergone and seen made him superstitious; then bade the men +paddle faster, ever faster. +</p> + +<p> +All that night they rowed on, taking turns to rest, except Alan and Jeekie, who +slept a good deal and as a consequence awoke at dawn much refreshed. When the +sun rose they found themselves across the lagoon, over thirty miles from the +borders of Asiki-land, almost at the spot where the river up which they had +travelled some months before, flowed out of the lake. Whether by chance or +skill Fahni had steered a wonderfully straight course. Now, however, they were +face to face with a new trouble, for scarcely had they begun to descend the +river when they discovered that at this dry season of the year it was in many +places too shallow to allow the canoe to pass over the sand and mud banks. +Evidently there was but one thing to be done—abandon it and walk. +</p> + +<p> +So they landed, ate from their store of food and began a terrible and toilsome +journey. On either side of the river lay desiccated swamp covered with dead +reeds ten or twelve feet high. Doubtless beyond the swamp there was high land, +but in order to reach this, if it existed, they would be obliged to force a +path through miles of reeds. Therefore they thought it safer to follow the +river bank. Their progress was very slow, since continually they must make +detours to avoid a quicksand or a creek, also the stones and scrubby growth +delayed them so that fifteen or at most twenty miles was a good day’s +march. +</p> + +<p> +Still they went on steadily, seeing no man, and when their food was exhausted, +living on the fish which they caught in plenty in the shallows, and on young +flapper ducks that haunted the reeds. So at length they came to the main river +into which this tributary flowed, and camped there thankfully, believing that +if any pursuit of them had been undertaken, it was abandoned. At least Alan and +the rest believed this, but Jeekie did not. +</p> + +<p> +On the following morning, shortly after dawn, Jeekie awoke his master. +</p> + +<p> +“Come here, Major,” he said in a solemn voice, “I got +something pretty show you,” and he led him to the foot of an old willow +tree, adding, “now up you go, Major, and look.” +</p> + +<p> +So Alan went up and from the topmost fork of that tree saw a sight at which his +blood turned cold. For there, not five miles behind them, on either side of the +river bank, the light gleaming on their spears, marched two endless columns of +men, who from their head-dresses he took to be Asiki. For a minute he looked, +then descended the tree and approaching the others, asked what was to be done. +</p> + +<p> +“Hook, scoot, bolt, leg it!” exclaimed Jeekie emphatically; then he +licked his finger, held it up to the wind, and added, “but first fire +reeds and make it hot for Bonsa crowd.” +</p> + +<p> +This was a good suggestion and one on which they acted without delay. Taking +red embers, they blew them into a flame and lit torches, which they applied to +the reeds over a width of several hundred yards. The strong northward wind soon +did the rest; indeed with a quarter of an hour a vast sheet of flame twenty or +thirty feet in height was rushing towards the Asiki columns. Then they began +their advance along the river bank, running at a steady trot, for here the +ground was open. +</p> + +<p> +All that day they ran, pausing at intervals to get their breath, and at night +rested because they must. When the light came upon the following morning they +looked back from a little hill and saw the outposts of the Asiki advancing not +a mile behind. Doubtless some of the army had been burned, but the rest, +guessing their route, had forced a way through the reeds and cut across +country. So they began to run again harder than before, and kept their lead +during the morning. But when afternoon came the Asika gained on them. Now they +were breasting a long rise, the river running in the cleft beneath, and Jeekie, +who seemed to be absolutely untiring, held Alan by the hand, Fahni following +close behind. Two of their men had fallen down and been abandoned, and the rest +straggled. +</p> + +<p> +“No go, Jeekie,” gasped Alan, “they will catch us at the top +of the hill.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never say die, Major, never say die,” puffed Jeekie; “they +get blown too, and who know what other side of hill?” +</p> + +<p> +Somehow they struggled to the crest and behold! there beneath them was a great +army of men. +</p> + +<p> +“Ogula!” yelled Jeekie, “Ogula! Just what I tell you, Major, +who know what other side of <i>any</i> hill.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> +A MEETING IN THE FOREST.</h2> + +<p> +In five minutes more Alan and Jeekie were among the Ogula, who, having +recognized their chief while he was yet some way off, greeted him with +rapturous cheers and the clapping of hands. Then as there was no time for +explanation, they retreated across a little stream which ran down the valley, +four thousand or more of them, and prepared for battle. That evening, however, +there was no fighting, for when the first of the Asiki reached the top of the +rise and saw that the fugitives had escaped to the enemy, who were in strength, +they halted and finally retired. +</p> + +<p> +Now Alan, and Fahni also, hoped that the pursuit was abandoned, but again +Jeekie shook his big head, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all, Major, I know Asiki and their little ways. While one of them +alive, not dare go back to Asika without <i>you</i>, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps she is with them herself,” suggested Alan, “and we +might treat with her.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Major, Asika never leave Bonsa Town, that against law, and if she do +so, priests make another Asika and kill her when they catch her.” +</p> + +<p> +After this a council of war was held, and it was decided to camp there that +night, since the position was good to meet an attack if one should be made, and +the Ogula were afraid of being caught on the march with their backs towards the +enemy. Alan was glad enough to hear this decision, for he was quite worn out +and ready to take any risk for a few hours’ rest. At this council he +learned also that the Asiki bearers carrying his gold with their Ogula guides +had arrived safely among the Ogula, who had mustered in answer to their +chief’s call and were advancing towards Asiki-land, though the business +was one that did not please them. As for these Asiki bearers, it seemed that +they had gone on into the forest with the gold, and nothing more had been heard +of them. +</p> + +<p> +As they were leaving the council Alan asked Jeekie if he had any tidings of his +mother, who had been their first messenger. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Major,” he answered gloomily, “can’t learn nothing +of my ma, don’t know where she is. Ogula camp no place for old girl if +they short of chop and hungry. But p’raps she never get there; I nose +round and find out.” +</p> + +<p> +Apparently Jeekie did “nose round” to some purpose, for just as +Alan was dropping off to sleep in his bough shelter a most fearful din arose +without, through which he recognized the vociferations of Jeekie. Running out +of the shelter he discovered his retainer and a great Ogula whom he knew again +as the headman who had been imprisoned with him and freed by the Asika to guide +the bearers, rolling over and over on the ground, watched by a curious crowd. +Just as he arrived Jeekie, who, notwithstanding his years, was a man of enormous +strength, got the better of the Ogula and kneeling on his stomach, was +proceeding to throttle him. Rushing at him, Alan dragged him off and asked what +was the matter. +</p> + +<p> +“Matter, Major!” yelled the indignant Jeekie. “My ma inside +this black villain, <i>that</i> the matter. Dirty cannibal got digestion of one +ostrich and eat her up with all his mates, all except one who not like her +taste and tell me. They catch poor old lady asleep by road so stop and lunch at +once when Asiki bearers not looking. Let me get at him, Major, let me get at +him. If I can’t bury my ma, as all good son ought to do, I bury him, +which next best thing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie, Jeekie,” said Alan, “exercise a Christian spirit and +let bygones be bygones. If you don’t, you will make a quarrel between us +and the Ogula, and they will give us up to the Asiki. Perhaps the man did not +eat your mother; I understand that he denies it, and when you remember what she +was like, it seems incredible. At any rate he has a right to a trial, and I +will speak to Fahni about it to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +So they were separated, but as it chanced that case never came on, for next +morning this Ogula was killed in the fighting together with two of his +companions, while the others involved in the charge kept themselves out of +sight. Whether Jeekie’s “ma” was or was not eaten by the +Ogula no one ever learned for certain. At least she was never heard of any more. +</p> + +<p> +Alan was sleeping heavily when a sound of rushing feet and of strange, +thrilling battle-cries awoke him. He sprang up, snatching at a spear and shield +which Jeekie had provided for him, and ran out to find from the position of the +moon that dawn was near. +</p> + +<p> +“Come on, Major,” said Jeekie, “Asiki make night attack; they +always like do everything at night who love darkness, because their eye evil. +Come on quick, Major,” and he began to drag him off toward the rear. +</p> + +<p> +“But that’s the wrong way,” said Alan presently. “They +are attacking over there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you think Jeekie fool, Major, that he don’t know that? He take +you where they <i>not</i> attacking. Plenty Ogula to be killed, but not +<i>many</i> white men like you, and in all world only <i>one</i> Jeekie!” +</p> + +<p> +“You cold-blooded old scoundrel!” ejaculated Alan as he turned and +bolted back towards the noise of fighting, followed by his reluctant servant. +</p> + +<p> +By the time that he reached the first ranks, which were some way off, the worst +of the attack was over. It had been short and sharp, for the Asiki had hoped to +find the Ogula unprepared and to take their camp with a rush. But the Ogula, +who knew their habits, were waiting for them, so that presently they withdrew, +carrying off their wounded and leaving about fifty dead upon the ground. As +soon as he was quite sure that the enemy were all gone, Jeekie, armed with a +large battle-axe, went off to inspect these fallen soldiers. Alan, who was +helping the Ogula wounded, wondered why he took so much interest in them. Half +an hour later his curiosity was satisfied, for Jeekie returned with over twenty +heavy gold rings, torques, and bracelets slung over his shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +“Where did you get those, Jeekie?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Off poor chaps that peg out just now, Major. Remember Asiki soldiers +nearly always wear these things, and that filthy lucre no more use where they +gone to, ’cause they melt there. But if ever he get out of this Jeekie +want spend his old age in respectable peace. So he fetch them. Hard work, +though, for rings all in one bit and Asiki very tough to chop. Don’t look +cross, Major; you remember what ’postle say, that he who no provide for +his own self worse than cannibal.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then Fahni came up and announced that the Asiki general had sent a +messenger into the camp proposing terms of peace. +</p> + +<p> +“What terms?” asked Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“These, white man: that we should surrender you and your servant and go +our way unharmed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed, Fahni, and what did you answer?” +</p> + +<p> +“White man, I refused; but I tell you,” he added warningly, +“that my captains wished to accept. They said that I had come back to +them safe and that they fear the Asiki, who are devils, not men, and who will +bring the curse of Bonsa on us if we go on fighting with them. Still I refused, +saying that if they gave you up I would go with you, who saved my life from the +lion and afterwards from the priests of Bonsa. So the messenger went back and, +white man, we march at once, and I pray you always to keep close to me that I +may watch over you.” +</p> + +<p> +Then began that long tramp down the river, which Alan always thought afterwards +tried him more than any of the terrible events of his escape. For although +there was but little fighting, only rearguard actions indeed, every day the +Asiki sent messengers renewing their offers of peace on the sole condition of +the surrender of himself and Jeekie. At last one evening they came to that +place where Alan first met the Ogula, and once more he camped upon the island +on which he had shot the lion. At nightfall, after he had eaten, Fahni visited +him here and Alan boded evil from his face. +</p> + +<p> +“White man,” he said, “I can protect you no longer. The Asiki +messengers have been with us again and they say that unless we give you up +to-morrow at the dawn, their army will push on ahead of us and destroy my town, +which is two days’ march down the river, and all the women and children +in it, and that afterwards they will fight a great battle with us. Therefore my +people say that I must give you up, or that if I do not they will elect another +chief and do so themselves.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you will give up a dead man, Fahni.” +</p> + +<p> +“Friend,” said the old chief in a low voice, “the night is +dark and the forest not so far away. Moreover, I have set no guards on that +side of the river, and Jeekie here does not forget a road that he has +travelled. Lastly, I have heard it said that there are some other white people +with soldiers camped in the edge of the forest. Now, if you were not here in +the morning, how could I give you up?” +</p> + +<p> +“I understand, Fahni. You have done your best for me, and now, +good-night. Jeekie and I are going to take a walk. Sometimes you will think of +the months we spent together in Bonsa Town, will you not?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and of you also, white man, for so long as I shall live. Walk fast +and far, for the Asiki are clever at following a spoor. Good-night, Friend, and +to you, Jeekie the cunning, good-night also. I go to tell my captains that I +will surrender you at dawn,” and without more words he vanished out of +their sight and out of their lives. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Jeekie, foreseeing the issue of this talk, was already engaged in +doing up their few belongings, including the gold rings, some food, and a +native cooking pot, in a bundle surrounded by a couple of bark blankets. +</p> + +<p> +“Come on, Major,” he said, handing Alan one spear and taking +another himself. “Old cannibal quite right, very nice night for a walk. +Come on, Major, river shallow just here. I think this happen and try it before +dark. You just follow Jeekie, that all you got to do.” +</p> + +<p> +So leaving the fire burning in front of their bough shelter, they waded the +stream and started up the opposing slope, meeting no man. Dark as it was, +Jeekie seemed to have no difficulty in finding the way, for as Fahni said, a +native does not forget the path he has once travelled. All night long they +walked rapidly, and when dawn broke found themselves at the edge of the forest. +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Alan, “what did Fahni mean by that tale about +white people?” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know, Major, think perhaps he lie to let you down easy. My +golly! what that?” +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke a distant echo reached their ears, the echo of a rifle shot. +“Think Fanny not lie after all,” went on Jeekie; “that white +man’s gun, sharp crack, smokeless powder, but wonder how he come in this +place. Well, we soon find out. Come on, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +Tired as they were they broke into a run; the prospect of seeing a white face +again was too much for them. Half a mile or so further on they caught sight of +a figure evidently engaged in stalking game among the trees, or so they judged +from his cautious movements. +</p> + +<p> +“White man!” said Jeekie, and Alan nodded. +</p> + +<p> +They crept forward silently and with care, for who knew what this white man +might be after, keeping a great tree between them and the man, till at length, +passing round its bole, they found themselves face to face with him and not +five yards away. Notwithstanding his unaccustomed tropical dress and his face +burnt copper colour by the sun, Alan knew the man at once. +</p> + +<p> +“Aylward!” he gasped; “Aylward! You here?” +</p> + +<p> +He started. He stared at Alan. Then his countenance changed. Its habitual calm +broke up as it was wont to do in moments of deep emotion. It became very evil, +as though some demon of hate and jealousy were at work behind it. The thin lips +quivered, the eyes glared, and without spoken word or warning, he lifted the +rifle and fired straight at Alan. The bullet missed him, for the aim was high. +Passing over Alan’s head, it cut a neat groove through the hair of the +taller Jeekie who was immediately behind him. +</p> + +<p> +Next instant, with a spring like that of a tiger Jeekie was on Aylward. The +weight of his charge knocked him backwards to the ground, and there he lay, +pinned fast. +</p> + +<p> +“What for you do that?” exclaimed the indignant Jeekie. “What +for you shoot through wool of respectable nigger, Sir Robert Aylward, Bart.? +Now I throttle you, you dirty hog-swine. No Magistrates’ Court here in +Dwarf Forest,” and he began to suit the action to the word. +</p> + +<p> +“Let him go, Jeekie. Take his rifle and let him go,” exclaimed +Alan, who all this while had stood amazed. “There must be some mistake, +he cannot have meant to murder me.” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t know what he mean, but know his bullet go through my hair, +Major, and give me new parting,” grumbled Jeekie as he obeyed. +</p> + +<p> +“Of course it was a mistake, Vernon, for I suppose it is Vernon,” +said Aylward, as he rose. “I do not wonder that your servant is angry, +but the truth is that your sudden appearance frightened me out of my wits and I +fired automatically. We have been living in some danger here, and my nerves are +not as strong as they used to be.” +</p> + +<p> +“Indeed,” answered Alan. “No, Jeekie will carry the rifle for +you; yes, and I think that pistol also, every ounce makes a difference walking +in a hot climate, and I remember that you always were dangerous with firearms. +There, you will be more comfortable so. And now, who do you mean by +‘we’?” +</p> + +<p> +“I mean Barbara and myself,” he answered slowly. +</p> + +<p> +Alan’s jaw dropped, he shook upon his feet. +</p> + +<p> +“Barbara and yourself!” he said. “Do I +understand——” +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t you understand nothing, Major,” broke in Jeekie. +“Don’t you believe one word what this pig dog say. If Miss Barbara +marry him he no want shoot you; he ask you to tea to see the Missus and how +much she love him, ducky! We just go on and call on Miss Barbara and hear the +news. Walk up, Sir Robert Aylward, Bart., and show us which way.” +</p> + +<p> +“I do not choose to receive you and your impertinent servant at my +camp,” said Aylward, grinding his teeth. +</p> + +<p> +“We quite understand that, Sir Robert Aylward——” +</p> + +<p> +“Lord Aylward, if you please, Major Vernon.” +</p> + +<p> +“I beg your pardon—Lord Aylward. I was aware of the contemplated +purchase of that title, I did not know that it had been completed. I was about +to add that all the same we mean to go to that camp, and that if any violence +towards us is attempted as we approach it, you will remember that you are in +our hands.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, my Lord,” added Jeekie, bowing, “and that monkeys +don’t tell no tales, my Lord, and that here there ain’t no twelve +Good-Trues to sit on noble corpse unhappily deceased, my Lord, and to bring in +Crowner’s verdict of done to death lawful or unlawful, according as +evidence may show when got, my Lord. So march on, for we no breakfast yet. No, +not that way, round here to left, where I think I hear kettle sing.” +</p> + +<p> +So having no choice, Aylward came, marching between the other two and saying +nothing. When they had gone a couple of hundred yards Alan also heard +something, and to him it sounded like a man crying out in pain. Then suddenly +they passed round some great trees and reached a glade in the forest where +there was a spring of water which Alan remembered. In this glade the camp had +been built, surrounded by a “boma” or palisade of rough wood, +within which stood two tents and some native shelters made of tall grass and +boughs. Outside of this camp a curious and unpleasant scene was in progress. +</p> + +<p> +To a small tree that grew there was tied a man, whom from the fashion of his +hair Alan knew to belong to the Coast negroes, while two great fellows, +evidently of another tribe, flogged him unmercifully with hide whips. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” exclaimed Jeekie, “that the kettle I hear sing. Think +you better taken him off the fire, my Lord, or he boil over. Also his brothers +no seem like that music,” and he pointed to a number of other men who +were standing round watching the scene with sullen dissatisfaction. +</p> + +<p> +“A matter of camp discipline,” muttered Aylward. “This man +has disobeyed orders.” +</p> + +<p> +By now Jeekie was shouting something to the natives in an unknown tongue, which +they seemed to understand well enough. At any rate the flogging ceased, the two +fellows who were inflicting it slunk away, and the other men ran towards them, +shouting back as they came. +</p> + +<p> +“All right, Major. You please stop here one minute with my Lord, late +Bart. of Bloody Hand. Some of these chaps friends of mine, I meet them Old +Calabar while we get ready to march last rains. Now I have little talk with +them and find out thing or two.” +</p> + +<p> +Aylward began to bluster about interference with his servants and so forth. +Jeekie turned on him with a very ugly grin, and showing his white teeth, as was +his fashion when he grew fierce. +</p> + +<p> +“Beg pardon, Right Honourable Lord,” he said, or rather snarled, +“you do what I tell you just to please Jeekie. Jeekie no one in England, +but Jeekie damn big Lord too out here, great medicine man, pal of Little Bonsa. +You remember Little Bonsa, eh! These chaps think it great honour to meet +Jeekie, so, Major, if he stir, please shoot him through head; Jeekie +’sponsible, not you. Or if you not like do it, I come back and see to job +myself and don’t think those fellows cry very much.” +</p> + +<p> +There was something about Jeekie’s manner that frightened Aylward, who +understood for the first time that beneath all the negro’s grotesque talk +lay some dreadful, iron purpose, as courage lay under his affected cowardice +and under his veneer of selfishness, fidelity. At any rate he halted with Alan, +who stood beside him, the revolver of which Aylward had been relieved by +Jeekie, in his hand. Meanwhile Jeekie, who held the rifle which he had +reloaded, went on and met the natives about twenty yards away. +</p> + +<p> +“We always disliked each other, Vernon, but I must say that I never +thought a day would come when you proposed to murder me in my own camp,” +said Aylward. +</p> + +<p> +“Odd thing,” answered Alan, “but a very similar idea was in +my mind. I never thought, Lord Aylward, that however unscrupulous you might +be—financially—a day would come when you would attempt to shoot +down an unarmed man in an African forest. Oh! don’t waste breath in +lying; I saw you recognize me, aim, and fire, after which Jeekie would have had +the other barrel, and who then would have remained to tell the story, Lord +Aylward?” +</p> + +<p> +Aylward made no answer, but Alan felt that if wishes could kill him he would +not live long. His eye fell upon a long, unmistakable mound of fresh earth, +beneath a tree. He calculated its length, and with a thrill of terror noticed +that it was too small for a negro. +</p> + +<p> +“Who is buried there?” he asked. +</p> + +<p> +“Find out for yourself,” was the sneering answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Don’t be afraid, Lord Aylward; I shall find out everything in +time.” +</p> + +<p> +The conversation between Jeekie and the natives proceeded, their heads were +close together; it grew animated. They seemed to be coming to some decision. +Presently one of them ran and cut the lashings of the man who had been bound to +the tree, and he staggered towards them and joined in the talk, pointing to his +wounds. Then the two fellows who had been engaged in flogging him, accompanied +by eight companions of the same type—they appeared to be soldiers, for +they carried guns—swaggered towards the group who were being addressed by +Jeekie, of whom Alan counted twenty-three. As they approached Jeekie made some +suggestion which, after one hesitating moment, the others seemed to accept, for +they nodded their heads and separated out a little. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie stepped forward and asked a question of the guards, to which they +replied with a derisive shout. Then without a word of warning he lifted +Aylward’s express rifle which he carried, and fired first one barrel and +then the other, shooting the two leading soldiers dead. Their companions halted +amazed, but before they could lift their guns, Jeekie and those with him rushed +at them and began stabbing them with spears and striking them with sticks. In +three minutes it was over without another shot being fired. Most of them were +despatched, and the others, throwing down their guns, had fled wounded into the +forest. +</p> + +<p> +Now, shouting in jubilation, some of the men began to drag away the dead +bodies, while others collected the rifles and the remainder, headed by Jeekie, +advanced towards Alan and Aylward, waving their red spears. Alan stood staring, +for he did not in the least understand the meaning of what had happened, but +Aylward, who had turned very pale, addressed Jeekie, saying: +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose that you have come to murder me also, you black villain.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no, my Lord,” answered Jeekie politely, “not at present. +Also that wrong word, execute, not murder, just what you do to some of these +poor devils,” and he pointed to the mob of porters. “Besides, +mustn’t kill holy white man, poor black chap don’t matter, plenty +more where he come from. Think we all go see Miss Barbara now. You come too, my +Lord Bart., but p’raps best tie your hands behind you first; if you want +scratch head, I do it for you. That only fair, you scratch mine this +morning.” +</p> + +<p> +Then at a word from Jeekie some of the natives sprang on Aylward and tied his +hands behind his back. +</p> + +<p> +“Is Miss Barbara alive?” said Alan to Jeekie in an agonized +whisper, at the same time nodding towards the grave that was so ominously short. +</p> + +<p> +“Hope so, think so, these cards say so, but God He know alone,” +answered Jeekie. “Go and look, that best way to find out.” +</p> + +<p> +So they advanced into the camp through a narrow gateway made of a V-shaped +piece of wood, to where the two tents were placed in its inner division. Of +these tents, the first was open, whereas the second was closed. As the open +tent was obviously empty, they went to the second, whereof Jeekie began to +loosen the lashings of the flap. It was a long business, for they seemed to +have been carefully knotted inside; indeed at last, growing impatient, Jeekie +cut the cord, using the curved knife with which the Mungana had tried to kill +Alan. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile Alan was suffering torments, being convinced that Barbara was dead +and buried in that new-made grave beneath the trees. He could not speak, he +could scarcely stand, and yet a picture began to form in his numb mind. He saw +himself seated in the dark in the Treasure House at Bonsa Town; he saw a vision +in the air before him. +</p> + +<p> +Lo! the tent door opened and that vision reappeared. +</p> + +<p> +There was the pale Barbara seated, weeping. There again, as he entered she +sprang up and snatching the pistol that lay beside her, turned it to her +breast. Then she perceived him and the pistol sank downwards till from her +relaxed hand it dropped to the ground. She threw up her arms and without a +sound fell backwards, or would have fallen, had he not caught her. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /> +THE LAST OF THE ASIKI.</h2> + +<p> +Barbara had recovered. She sat upon her bed in the tent and by her sat Alan, +holding her hand, while before them stood Aylward like a prisoner in the dock, +and behind him the armed Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell me the story, Barbara,” said Alan, “and tell it +briefly, for I cannot bear much more of this.” +</p> + +<p> +She looked at him and began in a slow, even voice: +</p> + +<p> +“After you had gone, dear, things went on as usual for a month or two. +Then came the great Sahara Company trouble. First there were rumours and the +shares began to go down. My uncle bought them in by tens and hundreds of +thousands, to hold up the market, because he was being threatened, but of +course he did not know then that Lord Aylward—for I forgot to tell you, +he had become a lord somehow—was secretly one of the principal sellers, +let him deny it if he can. At last the Ottoman Government, through the English +ambassador, published its repudiation of the concession, which it seems was a +forgery, actually executed or obtained in Constantinople by my uncle. Well, +there was a fearful smash. Writs were taken out against my uncle, but before +they could be served, he died suddenly of heart disease. I was with him at the +time, and he kept saying he saw that gold mask which Jeekie calls Bonsa, the +thing you took back to Africa. He had a fine funeral, for what he had done was +not publicly known, and when his will was opened I found that he had left me +his fortune, but made Lord Aylward there my trustee until I came to the full +age of twenty-five under my father’s will. Alan, don’t force me to +tell you what sort of a guardian he was to me; also there was no fortune, it +had all gone; also I had very, very little left, for almost all my own money +had gone too. In his despair he had forged papers to get it in order to support +those Sahara Syndicate shares. Still I managed to borrow about £2000 from that +little lawyer out of the £5000 that remain to me, an independent sum which he +was unable to touch, and, Alan, with it I came to find you. +</p> + +<p> +“Alan, Lord Aylward followed me; although everybody else was ruined, he +remained rich, very, very rich, they say, and his fancy was to marry me, also I +think it was not comfortable for him in England. It is a long tale, but I got +up here with about five-and-twenty servants, and Snell, my maid, whom you +remember. Then we were both taken ill with some dreadful fever and had it not +been for those good black people, I should have died, for I have been very +sick, Alan. But they nursed me and I recovered; it was poor Snell who died, +they buried her a few days ago. I thought that she would live, but she had a +relapse. Next Lord Aylward appeared with twelve soldiers and some porters who, +I believe, have run away now,—oh! you can guess, you can guess. He wanted +my people to carry me off somewhere, to the coast, I suppose, but they were +faithful to me and would not. Then he set his soldiers on to maltreat them. +They shot several of them and flogged them on every opportunity; they were +flogging one of them just now, I heard them. Well, the poor men made me +understand that they could bear it no longer and must do what he told them. +</p> + +<p> +“And so, Alan, as I was quite hopeless and helpless, I made up my mind to +kill myself, hoping that God would forgive me and that I should find you +somewhere, perhaps after sleeping a while, for it was better to die than to be +given into the power—of that man. I thought that he was coming for me +just now and I was about to do it, but it was you instead, Alan, <i>you</i>, +and only just in time. That is all the story, and I hope you will not think +that I have acted very foolishly, but I did it for the best. If you only knew +what I have suffered, Alan, what I have gone through in one way and another, I +am sure that you would not judge me harshly; also I kept dreaming that you were +in trouble and wanted me to come to you, and of course I knew where you were +gone and had that map. Send him away, Alan, for I am still so weak and I cannot +bear the sight of his face. If you knew everything, you would understand.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan turned on Aylward and in a cold, quiet voice asked him what he had to say +to this story. +</p> + +<p> +“I have to say, Major Vernon, that it is a clever mixture of truth and +falsehood. It is true that your cousin, Champers-Haswell, had been proved +guilty of some very shameful conduct. For instance, it appears that he did +forge, or rather cause to be forged that Firman from the Sultan, although I +knew nothing of this until it was publicly repudiated. It is also true that +fearing exposure he entirely lost his head and spent not only his own great +fortune but that of Miss Champers also, in trying to support Sahara shares. I +admit also that I sold many hundreds of thousands of those shares in the +ordinary way, having made up my mind to retire from business when I was raised +to the peerage. I admit further, what you knew before, that I was attached to +Miss Champers and wished to marry her. Why should I not, especially as I had a +good deal to offer to a lady who has been proved to be almost without fortune? +</p> + +<p> +“For the rest she set out secretly on this mad journey to Africa, whither +both my duty as her trustee and my affection prompted me to follow her. I found +her here recovering from an illness, and since she has dwelt upon the point, in +self-defence I must tell you that whatever has taken place between us, has been +with her full consent and encouragement. Of course I allude only to those +affectionate amenities which are common between people who purpose to marry as +soon as opportunity may offer.” +</p> + +<p> +At this declaration poor Barbara gasped and leaned back against her pillow. +Alan stood silent, though his lips turned white, while Jeekie thrust his big +head through the tent opening and stared upwards. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you looking at, Jeekie?” asked Alan irritably. +</p> + +<p> +“Seem to want air, Major, also look to see if clouds tumble. Believe +partickler big lie do that sometimes. Please go on, O good Lord, for Jeekie +want his breakfast.” +</p> + +<p> +“As regards the execution of two of Miss Champers’ bearers and the +flogging of some others, these punishments were inflicted for mutiny,” +went on Aylward. “It was obviously necessary that she should be moved +back to the coast, but I found out that they were trying to desert her in a +body and to tamper with my own servants, and so was obliged to take strong +measures.” +</p> + +<p> +“Sure those clouds come down now,” soliloquized Jeekie, “or +least something rummy happen.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have only to add, Major Vernon, that unless you make away with me +first, as I daresay you will, as soon as we reach civilization again I shall +proceed against you and this fellow for the cold-blooded murder of my men, in +punishment of which I hope yet to live to see you hanged. Meanwhile, I have +much pleasure in releasing Miss Champers from her engagement to me which, +whatever she may have said to you in England, she was glad enough to enter on +here in Africa, a country of which I have been told the climate frequently +deteriorates the moral character.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hear, hear!” ejaculated Jeekie, “he say something true at +last; by accident, I think, like pig what find pearl in muck-heap.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold your tongue, Jeekie,” said Alan. “I do not intend to +kill you, Lord Aylward, or to do you any harm——” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor I neither,” broke in Jeekie, “all I do to my Lord just +for my Lord’s good; who Jeekie that he wish to hurt noble British +’ristocrat?” +</p> + +<p> +“But I do intend that it shall be impossible that Miss Champers should be +forced to listen to more of your insults,” went on Alan, “and to +make sure that your gun does not go off again as it did this morning. So, Lord +Aylward, until we have settled what we are going to do, I must keep you under +arrest. Take him to his tent, Jeekie, and put a guard over him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, certainly, Major. Right turn, march! my Lord, and quick, +please, since poor, common Jeekie not want dirty his black finger touching +you.” +</p> + +<p> +Aylward obeyed, but at the door of the tent swung round and favoured Alan with +a very evil look. +</p> + +<p> +“Luck is with you for the moment, Major Vernon,” he said, +“but if you are wise you will remember that you never have been and never +will be my match. It will turn again, I have no doubt, and then you may look to +yourself, for I warn you I am a bad enemy.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan did not answer, but for the first time Barbara sprang to her feet and +spoke. +</p> + +<p> +“You mean that you are a bad man, Lord Aylward, and a coward too, or +otherwise you would not have tortured me as you have done. Well, when it seemed +impossible that I should escape from you except in one way, I was saved by +another way of which I never dreamed. Now I tell you that I do not fear you any +more. But I think,” she added slowly, “that you would do well to +fear for yourself. I don’t know why, but it comes into my mind that +though neither Alan nor I shall lift a finger against you, you have a great +deal of which to be afraid. Remember what I said to you months ago when you +were angry because I would not marry you. I believe it is all coming true, Lord +Aylward.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Barbara turned her back upon him, and that was the last time that either +she or Alan ever saw his face. +</p> + +<p> +He was gone, and Barbara, her head upon her lover’s shoulder and her +sweet eyes filled with tears of joy and gratitude, was beginning to tell him +everything that had befallen her when suddenly they heard a loud cough outside +the tent. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s that confounded Jeekie,” said Alan, and he called to +him to come in. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter now?” he asked crossly. +</p> + +<p> +“Breakfast, Major. His lordship got plenty good stores, borrow some from +him and give him chit. Coming in one minute—hot coffee, kipper herring, +rasher bacon, also butter (best Danish), and Bath Oliver biscuit.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” said Alan, but Jeekie did not move. +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” repeated Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Major, not very well, very ill. Thought those lies bring down +clouds.” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mean, Major, that Asiki smelling about this camp. Porter-man what go to +fetch water see them. Also believe they catch rest of those soldier chaps and +polish them, for porter-man hear the row.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan sprang up with an exclamation; in his new-found joy he had forgotten all +about the Asiki. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep hair on, Major,” said Jeekie cheerfully; “don’t +think they attack yet, plenty of time for breakfast first. When they come we +make it very hot for them, lots of rifle and cartridge now.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can’t we run away?” asked Barbara. +</p> + +<p> +“No, Missy, can’t run; must stop here and do best. Camp well built, +open all round, don’t think they take it. You leave everything to Jeekie, +he see you through, but p’raps you like come breakfast outside, where you +know all that go on.” +</p> + +<p> +Barbara did like, but as it happened they were allowed to consume their meal in +peace, since no Asiki appeared. As soon as it was swallowed she returned to her +tent, while Alan and Jeekie set to work to strengthen the defences of the +little camp as well as they were able, and to make ready and serve out the arms +and ammunition. +</p> + +<p> +About midday a man whom they had posted in a tree that grew inside the camp +announced that he saw the enemy, and next moment a company of them rushed +towards them across the open and were greeted by a volley which killed and +wounded several men. At this exhibition of miraculous power, for none of these +soldiers had ever heard the report of firearms or seen their effect, they +retreated rapidly, uttering shouts of dismay and carrying their dead and +wounded with them. +</p> + +<p> +“Do you suppose they have gone, Jeekie?” asked Alan anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +He shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +“Think not, Major, think they frightened, by big bullet magic, and go +consult priest. Also only a few of them here, rest of army come later and try +rush us to-morrow morning before dawn. That Asiki custom.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then what shall we do, Jeekie? Run for it or stop here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Think must stop here, Major. If we bolt, carrying Miss Barbara, who +can’t walk much, they follow on spoor and catch us. Best stick inside +this fence and see what happen. Also once outside p’raps porters desert +and leave us.” +</p> + +<p> +So as there was nothing else to do they stayed, labouring all day at the +strengthening of their fortifications till at length the boma or fence of +boughs, supported by earth, was so high and thick that while any were left to +fire through the loopholes, it would be very difficult to storm by men armed +with spears. +</p> + +<p> +It was a dreadful and arduous day for Alan, who now had Barbara’s safety +to think of, Barbara with whom as yet he had scarcely found time to exchange a +word. By sunset indeed he was so worn out with toil and anxiety that he could +scarcely stand upon his feet. Jeekie, who all that afternoon had been strangely +quiet and reflective, surveyed him critically, then said: +</p> + +<p> +“You have good drink and go sleep a bit, Major. Very good little shelter +there by Miss Barbara’s tent, and you hold her hand if you like +underneath the canvas, which comforting and all correct. Jeekie never get +tired, he keep good lookout and let you know if anything happen, and then you +jump up quite fresh and fight like tom-cat in corner.” +</p> + +<p> +At first Alan refused to listen, but when Barbara added her entreaties to those +of Jeekie he gave way, and ten minutes later was as soundly asleep as he had +ever been in his life. +</p> + +<p> +“Keep eye on him, Miss Barbara, and call me if he wake. Now I go give +noble lord his supper and see that he quite comfortable. Jeekie seem very busy +to-night, just like when Major have dinner-party at Yarleys and old cook get +drunk in kitchen.” +</p> + +<p> +If Barbara could have followed Jeekie’s movements for the next few hours, +she would probably have agreed that he was busy. First he went to +Aylward’s tent, and as he had said he would, gave him his supper, and +with it half a bottle of whisky from the stores which he had been carrying +about with him for some time, as he said, to prevent the porters from getting +at it. Aylward would drink little, though as his arms were tied to the +tent-pole, Jeekie sat beside him and fed him like a baby, conversing pleasantly +with him all the while, informing him amongst other things that he had better +say “big prayer,” because the Asiki would probably cut his throat +before morning. +</p> + +<p> +Aylward, who was in a state of sullen fury, scarcely replied to this talk, +except to say that if so, there was one comfort, they would cut his and his +master’s also. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Lord,” answered Jeekie, “that quite true, so drink +to next meeting, though I think you go different place to me, and when you got +tail and I wing, you horn and I crown of glory, of course we not talk much +together,” and he held a mug of whisky and water—a great deal of +whisky and a very little water—to his prisoner’s mouth. +</p> + +<p> +Aylward drained it, feeling a need for stimulant. +</p> + +<p> +“There,” said Jeekie, holding it upside down, “you drink +every drop and not offer one to poor old Jeekie. Well, he turned teetotaller, +so no matter. Good-night, my Lord, I call you if Asiki come.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who are the Asiki?” asked Aylward drowsily. +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! you want to know? I tell you,” and he began a long, rambling +story. +</p> + +<p> +Before he ever came to the end of it Aylward had fallen on his side and was +fast asleep. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear me!” said Jeekie, contemplating him, “that whisky very +strong, though bottle say same as they drink in House of Common. That whisky so +strong I think I pour away rest of it,” and he did to the last drop, even +taking the trouble to wash out the bottle with water. “Now you no tempt +anyone,” he said, addressing the said bottle with a very peculiar smile, +“or if you tempt, at least do no harm—like kiss down +telephone!” Then he laid down the bottle on its side and left the tent. +</p> + +<p> +Outside of it three of the head porters, who appeared to be friends of his, +were waiting for him, and with these men he engaged in low and earnest +conversation. Next, after they had arrived at some agreement, which they seemed +to ratify by a curious oath that involved their crossing and clasping hands in +an odd fashion, and other symbols known to West African secret societies, +Jeekie went the round of the camp to see that everyone was at his post. Then he +did what most people would have thought a very curious and strange thing, +namely climbed the fence and vanished into the forest, where presently a sound +was heard as of an owl hooting. +</p> + +<p> +A little while later and another owl began to hoot in the distance, whereat the +three head porters nudged each other. Perhaps they had heard such owls hoot +before at night, and perhaps they knew that Jeekie, who had “passed +Bonsa,” could only be harmed by the direct command of Bonsa speaking +through the mouth of the Asika herself. Still they might have been interested +in the nocturnal conversation of those two owls, which, as is common with such +magical fowl in West Africa, had transformed themselves into human shapes, the +shape of Jeekie and the shape of an Asiki priest, who was, as it happened, a +blood relation of Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +“Very good, Brother,” said Owl No. 1; “all you want is this +white man whom the Asika desires for a husband. Well, I have done my best for +him, but I must think of myself and others, and he goes to great happiness. I +have given him something to make him sleep; do you come presently with eight +men, no more, or we shall kill you, to the fence of the camp, and we will hand +over the white man, Vernoon, to you to take back to the Asika, who will give +you a wonderful reward, such a reward as you have never imagined. Now let me +hear your word.” +</p> + +<p> +Then Owl No. 2 answered: +</p> + +<p> +“Brother, I make the bargain on behalf of the army, and swear to it by +the double Swimming Head of Bonsa. We will come and take the white man, +Vernoon, who is to be Mungana, and carry him away. In return we promise not to +follow or molest you, or any others in your camp. Indeed, why should we, who do +not desire to be killed by the dreadful magic that you have, a magic that makes +a noise and pierces through our bodies from afar? What were the words of the +Asika? ’Bring back Vernoon, or perish. I care for nothing else, bring +back Vernoon to be my husband.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” said Owl No. 1, “within the half of an hour Vernoon +shall be ready for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” answered Owl No. 2, “within half an hour eight of us +will be without the east face of your camp to receive him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Silently?” +</p> + +<p> +“Silently, my brother in Bonsa. If he cries out we will gag him. Fear +not, none shall know your part in this matter.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good, my brother in Bonsa. By the way, how is Big Bonsa? I fear that the +white man, Vernoon, hurt him very much, and that is why I give him +up—because of his sacrilege.” +</p> + +<p> +“When I left the god was very sick and all the people mourned, but +doubtless he is immortal.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless he is immortal, my brother, a little hard magic in his +stomach—if he has one—cannot hurt <i>him</i>. Farewell, dear +brother in Bonsa, I wish that I were you to get the great reward that the Asika +will give to you. Farewell, farewell.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the two owls flitted apart again, hooting as they went, till they came to +their respective camps. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie was in the tent performing a strange toilet upon the sleeping Aylward by +the light of a single candle. From his pouch he produced the mask of linen +painted with gold that Alan used to be forced to wear, and tied it securely +over Aylward’s face, murmuring: +</p> + +<p> +“You always love gold, my Lord Aylward, and Jeekie promise you see plenty +of it now.” +</p> + +<p> +Then he proceeded to remove his coat, his waistcoat, his socks, and his boots +and to replace these articles of European attire by his own worn Asiki sandals +and his own dirty Asiki robe. +</p> + +<p> +“There,” he said, “think that do,” and he studied him +by the light of the candle. “Same height, same colour hair, same dirty +clothes, and as Asiki never see Major’s face because he always wear mask +in public, like as two peas on shovel. Oh my! Jeekie clever chap, Jeekie +devilish clever chap. But when Asika pull off that mask to give him true lover +kiss, OH MY! wonder that happen then? Think whole of Bonsa Town bust up; think +big waterfall run backwards; think she not quite pleased; think my good Lord +find himself in false position; think Jeekie glad to be on coast; think he not +go back to Bonsa Town no more. Oh my aunt! no, he stop in England and go church +twice on Sunday,” and, pressing his big hands on the pit of his stomach he +rocked and rolled in fierce, silent laughter. +</p> + +<p> +Then an owl hooted again immediately beneath the fence and Jeekie, blowing out +the candle, opened the flap of the tent and tapped the head porter, who stood +outside, on the shoulder. He crept in and between them they lifted the +senseless Aylward and bore him to the V-shaped entrance of the boma which was +immediately opposite to the tent and, oddly enough, half open. Here the two +other porters with whom Jeekie had performed some ceremony, chanced to be on +guard, the rest of their company being stationed at a distance. Jeekie and the +head porter went through the gap like men carrying a corpse to midnight burial, +and presently in the darkness without two owls began to hoot. +</p> + +<p> +Now Aylward was laid upon a litter that had been prepared, and eight +white-robed Asiki bearers stared at his gold mask in the faint starlight. +</p> + +<p> +“I suppose he is not dead, brother,” said Owl No. 2 doubtfully. +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, brother,” said Owl No. 1, “feel his heart and his +pulse. Not dead, only drunk. He will wake up by daylight, by which time you +should be far upon your way. Be good and gentle to the white man Vernoon, who +has been my master. Be careful, too, that he does not escape you, brother, for +as you know he is very strong and cunning. Say to the Asika that Jeekie her +servant makes his reverence to her, and hopes that she will have many, many +happy years with the husband that he sends her; also that she will remember +him whom she called ‘black dog,’ and whose face she often smacked, +in her prayers to the gods and spirits of our people.” +</p> + +<p> +“It shall be done, brother, but why do you not return with us?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because, brother, I have ties across the Black Water—dear +children, almost white—whom I love so much that I cannot leave them. +Farewell, brethren, the blessings of the Bonsas be on you, and may you grow fat +and prosper in the love and favour of our lady the Asika.” +</p> + +<p> +“Farewell,” they murmured in answer. “Good fortune be your +bedfellow.” +</p> + +<p> +Another minute and they had lifted up the litter and vanished at a swinging +trot into the shadow of the trees. Jeekie returned to the camp and ordered the +three men to re-stop the gateway with thorns, muttering in their ears: +</p> + +<p> +“Remember, brethren, one word of this and you die, all of you, as those +die who break the oath.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have we not sworn?” they whispered, as they went back to their +posts. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie stood a while in front of the empty tent and if any had been there to +note him, they might have seen a shadow as of compunction creep over his +powerful black face. +</p> + +<p> +“When he wake up he won’t know where he are,” he reflected, +“and when he get to Bonsa Town he’ll wonder where he is, and when +he meet Asika! Well, he very big blackguard; try to murder Major, whom Jeekie +nurse as baby, the only thing that Jeekie care for—except—Jeekie; +try to make love to Miss Barbara against will when he catch her alone in +forest, which not playing game. Jeekie self not such big blackguard as that +dirt-born noble Lord; Jeekie never murder no one—not quite; Jeekie never +make love to girl what not want him—no need, so many what do that he have +to shove them off, like good Christian man. Mrs. Jeekie see to that while she +live. Also better that mean white man go call on Bonsas than Major and Missy +Barbara and all porters, and Jeekie—specially Jeekie—get throat +cut. No, no, Jeekie nothing to be ashamed of, Jeekie do good day’s work, +though Jeekie keep it tight as wax since white folk such silly people, and when +Major in a rage, he very nasty customer and see everything upside down. Now, +Jeekie quite tired, so say his prayers and have nap. No, think not in tent, +though very comfortable. Major might wake up, poke his nose in there, and if he +see black face instead of white one, ask ugly question, which if Jeekie half +asleep he no able to answer nice and neat. Still he just arrange things a +little so they look all right.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br /> +THE ASIKA’S MESSAGE.</h2> + +<p> +Dawn began to break in the forest, and Alan woke in his shelter and stretched +himself. He had slept soundly all the night, so soundly that the innocent +Jeekie wondered much whether by any chance he also had taken a tot out of that +particular whisky bottle, as indeed he had recommended him to do. People who +drink whisky after long abstinence from spirits are apt to sleep long, he +reflected. +</p> + +<p> +Alan crept out of the shelter and gazed affectionately at the tent in which +Barbara slumbered. Thank Heaven she was safe so far, as for some unknown +reason, evidently the Asiki had postponed their attack. Just then a clamour +arose in the air, and he perceived Jeekie striding towards him waving one arm +in an excited fashion, while with the other he dragged along the captain of the +porters, who appeared to be praying for mercy. +</p> + +<p> +“Here pretty go, Major,” he shouted, “devil and all to pay! +That my Lord, he gone and bolted. This silly fool say that three hours ago he +hear something break through fence and think it only hyæna what come to steal, +so take no notice. Well, that hyæna, you guess who he is. You come look, +Major, you come look, and then we tie this fellow up and flog him.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan ran to Aylward’s tent, to find it empty. +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” said Jeekie, who had followed, “see how he do +business, that jolly clever hyæna,” and he pointed to a broken whisky +bottle and some severed cords. “You see he manage break bottle and rub +rope against cut glass till it come in two. Then he do hyæna dodge and hook +it.” +</p> + +<p> +Alan inspected the articles, nor did any shadow of doubt enter his mind. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly he managed very well,” he said, “especially for a +London-bred man, but, Jeekie, what can have been his object?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh! who know, Major? Mind of man very strange and various thing; +p’raps he no bear to see you and Miss Barbara together; p’raps he +bolt coast, get ear of local magistrate before you; p’raps he sit up tree +to shoot you; p’raps nasty temper make him mad. But he gone anyway, and +I hope he no meet Asiki, poor fellow, ’cause if so, who know? +P’raps they knock him on head, or if they think him you, they make him +prisoner and keep him quite long while before they let him go again.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said Alan, “he has gone of his own free will, so we +have no responsibility in the matter, and I can’t pretend that I am sorry +to see the last of him, at any rate for the present. Let that poor beggar +loose, there seems to have been enough flogging in this place, and after all he +isn’t much to blame.” +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie obeyed, apparently with much reluctance, and just then they saw one of +their own people running towards the camp. +</p> + +<p> +“’Fraid he going to tell us Asiki come attack,” said Jeekie, +shaking his head. “Hope they give us time breakfast first.” +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt,” answered Alan nervously, for he feared the result of +that attack. +</p> + +<p> +Then the man arrived breathless and began to gasp out his news, which filled +Alan with delight and caused a look of utter amazement to appear upon the broad +face of Jeekie. It was to the effect that he had climbed a high tree as he had +been bidden to do, and from the top of that tree by the light of the first rays +of the rising sun, miles away on the plain beyond the forest, he had seen the +Asiki army in full retreat. +</p> + +<p> +“Thank God!” exclaimed Alan. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, but that very rum story. Jeekie can’t swallow it all +at once. Must send out see none of them left behind. P’raps they play +trick, but if they really gone, ’spose it ’cause guns frightens +them so much. Always think powder very great ’vention, especially when +enemy hain’t got none, and quite sure of it now. Jeekie very, very seldom +wrong. Soon believe,” he added with a burst of confidence, “that +Jeekie never wrong at all. He look for truth so long that at last he find it +<i>always</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +Something more than a month had gone by and Major and Mrs. Vernon, the latter +fully restored to health and the most sweet and beautiful of brides, stood upon +the steamship <i>Benin</i>, and as the sun sank, looked their last upon the +coast of Western Africa. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, dear,” Alan was saying to his wife, “from first to last +it has been a very queer story, but I really think that our getting that Asiki +gold after all was one of the queerest parts of it; also uncommonly convenient, +as things have turned out.” +</p> + +<p> +“Namely that you have got a little pauper for a wife instead of a great +heiress, Alan. But tell me again about the gold. I have had so much to think of +during the last few days,” and she blushed, “that I never quite +took it all in.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, love, there isn’t much to tell. When that forwarding agent, +Mr. Aston, knew that we were in the town, he came to me and said that he had +about fifty cases full of something heavy, as he supposed samples of ore, +addressed to me to your care in England which he was proposing to ship on by +the <i>Benin</i>. I answered ‘Yes, that was all right,’ and did not +undeceive him about their contents. Then I asked how they had arrived, and if +he had not received a letter with them. He replied that one morning before the +warehouse was open, some natives had brought them down in a canoe, and dumped +them at the door, telling the watchman that they had been paid to deliver them +there by some other natives whom they met a long way up the river. Then they +went away without leaving any letter or message. Well, I thanked Aston and paid +his charges and there’s an end of the matter. Those fifty-three cases are +now in the hold invoiced as ore samples and, as I inspected them myself and am +sure that they have not been tampered with, besides the value of the necklace +the Asika gave me we’ve got £100,000 to begin our married life upon with +something over for old Jeekie, and I daresay we shall do very well on +that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Alan, very well indeed.” Then she reflected a while, for the +mention of Jeekie’s name seemed to have made her thoughtful, and added, +“Alan, what <i>do</i> you think became of Lord Aylward?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sure I don’t know. Jeekie and I and some of the porters went +to see the Old Calabar officials and made affidavits as to the circumstances of +his disappearance. We couldn’t do any more, could we?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Alan. But do you think that Jeekie quite understands the meaning of +an oath? I mean it seems so strange that we should never have found the +slightest trace of him, and, Alan, I don’t know if you noticed it, but +why did Jeekie appear that morning wearing Lord Aylward’s socks and +boots?” +</p> + +<p> +“He ought to know all about oaths, he has heard enough of them in +Magistrates’ Courts, but as regards the boots, I am sure I can’t +say, dear,” answered Alan uneasily. “Here he comes, we will ask +him,” and he did. +</p> + +<p> +“Sock and boot,” replied Jeekie, with a surprised air, “why, +Mrs. Major, if that good lord go mad and cut off into forest leaving them +behind, of course I put them on, as they no more use to him, and I just burn my +dirty old Asiki dress and sandal and got nothing to keep jigger out of toe. +Don’t you sit up here in this damp, cold, Mrs. Major, else you get more +fever. You go down and dress dinner, which at half-past six to-night. I just +come tell you that.” +</p> + +<p> +So Barbara went, leaving the other two talking about various matters, for they +were alone together on the deck, all the passengers, of whom there were but +few, having gone below. +</p> + +<p> +The short African twilight had come, a kind of soft blue haze that made the +ship look mysterious and unnatural. By degrees their conversation died away. +They lapsed into a silence, which Alan was the first to break. +</p> + +<p> +“What are you thinking of, Jeekie?” he asked nervously. +</p> + +<p> +“Thinking of Asika, Major,” he answered in a scared whisper. +“Seem to me that she about somewhere, just as she use pop up in room in +Gold House; seem to me I feel her all down my back, likewise in head wool, +which stand up.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s very odd, Jeekie,” replied Alan, “but so do +I.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Major, ’spect she thinking of us, specially of you, and just +throw what she think at us, like boy throw stones at bird what fly away out of +cage. Asika do all that, you know, she not quite human, full of plenty Bonsa +devil, from gen’ration to gen’rations, amen! P’raps she just +find out something what make her mad.” +</p> + +<p> +“What could she find out after all this time, Jeekie?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, don’t know. How I know? Jeekie can’t guess. Find out you +marry Miss Barbara, p’raps. Very sick that she lose you for this time, +p’raps. Kill herself that she keep near you, p’raps, while she wait +till you come round again, p’raps. Asika can do all these things if she +like, Major.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stuff and rubbish,” answered Alan uneasily, for Jeekie’s +suggestions were most uncomfortable, “I believe in none of your West +Coast superstitions.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite right, Major, nor don’t I. Only you ’member, Major, +what she show us there in Treasure-place—Mr. Haswell being buried, eh? +Miss Barbara in tent, eh? t’other job what hasn’t come off yet, eh? +Oh! my golly! Major, just you look behind you and say you see nothing, +please,” and the eyes of Jeekie grew large as Maltese oranges, while with +chattering teeth he pointed over the bulwark of the vessel. +</p> + +<p> +Alan turned and saw. +</p> + +<p> +This was what he saw or seemed to see: The figure of the Asika in her robes and +breastplate of gold, standing upon the air, just beyond the ship, as though on +it she might set no foot. Her waving black hair hung about her shoulders, but +the sharp wind did not seem to stir it nor did her white dress flutter, and on +her beautiful face was stamped a look of awful rage and agony, the rage of +betrayal, the agony of loss. In her right hand she held a knife, and from a +wound in her breast the red blood ran down her golden corselet. She pointed to +Jeekie with the knife, she opened her arms to Alan as though in unutterable +longing, then slowly raised them upwards towards the fading glory of the sky +above—and was gone. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie sat down upon the deck, mopping his brow with a red handkerchief, while +Alan, who felt faint, clung to the bulwarks. +</p> + +<p> +“Tell you, Major, that Asika can do all that kind of thing. Never know +where you find her next. ’Spect she come to live with us in England and +just call in now and again when it dark. Tell you, she very awkward customer, +think p’raps you done better stop there and marry her. Well, she gone +now, thank Heaven! seem to drop in sea and hope she stay there.” +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie,” said Alan, recovering himself, “listen to me; this +is all infernal nonsense; we have gone through a great deal and the nerves of +both of us are overstrained. We think we saw what we did not see, and if you +dare to say a single word of it to your mistress, I’ll break your neck. +Do you understand?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, think so. All ’fernal nonsense, nerves strained, +didn’t see what we see, and say nothing of what did see to Mrs. Major, if +either do say anything, t’other one break his neck. That all right, quite +understand. Anything else, Major?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Jeekie. We have had some wonderful adventures, but they are past +and done with and the less we talk or even think about them the better, for +there is a lot that would be rather difficult to explain, and that if explained +would scarcely be believed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, Major, for instance, very difficult explain Mrs. Barbara how Asika +so fond of you if you only tell her, ‘Go away, go away!’ all the +time, like old saint-gentleman to pretty girl in picture. P’raps she +smell rat.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stop your ribald talk,” said Alan in a stern voice. “It +would be better if instead of making jokes you gave thanks to Providence for +bringing both of us alive and well out of very dreadful dangers. Now I am going +to dress for dinner,” and with an anxious glance seaward into the +gathering darkness, he turned and went. +</p> + +<p> +Jeekie stood alone upon the empty deck, wagging his great white head to and fro +and soliloquizing thus: +</p> + +<p> +“Wonder if Major see what under lady Asika’s feet when she stand +out there over nasty deep. Think not or he say something. That noble lord not +look nice. No, private view for Jeekie only, free ticket and nothing to pay and +me hope it no come back when I go to bed. Major know nothing about it, so he +not see, but Jeekie know a lot. Hope that Aylward not write any letters home, +or if he write, hope no one post them. Ghost bad enough, but murder, oh +my!” +</p> + +<p> +He paused a while, then went on: +</p> + +<p> +“Jeekie do big sacrifice to Bonsa when he reach Yarleys, get lamb in back +kitchen at night, or if ghost come any more, calf in wood outside. Not steal +it, pay for it himself. Then think Jeekie turn Cath’lic; confess his +sins, they say them priest chaps not split, and after they got his sins, they +tackle Asika and Bonsas too,” and he uttered a series of penitent groans, +turning slowly round and round to be sure that nothing was behind him. +</p> + +<p> +Just then the full moon appeared out of a bank of clouds, and as it rose +higher, flooding the world with light, Jeekie’s spirits rose also. +</p> + +<p> +“Asika never come in moonshine,” he said, “that not the game, +against rule, and after all, what Jeekie done bad? He very good fellow really. +Aylward great villain, serve him jolly well right if Asika spiflicate him, that +not Jeekie’s fault. What Jeekie do, he do to save master and missus who +he love. Care nothing for his self, ready to die any day. Keep it dark to save +them too, ’cause they no like the story. If once they know, it always +leave taste in mouth, same as bad oyster. Also Jeekie manage very well, take +Major safe Asiki-land (’cause Little Bonsa make him), give him very +interesting time there, get him plenty gold, nurse him when he sick, nobble +Mungana, bring him out again, find Miss Barbara, catch hated rival and +bamboozle all Asiki army, bring happy pair to coast and marry them, arrange +first-class honeymoon on ship—Jeekie do all these things, and lots more +he could tell, if he vain and not poor humble nigger.” +</p> + +<p> +Once more he paused a while, lost in the contemplation of his own modesty and +virtues, then continued: +</p> + +<p> +“This very ungrateful world. Major there, he not say, ‘Thank you, +Jeekie, Jeekie, you great, wonderful man. Brave Jeekie, artful Jeekie. Jeekie +smart as paint who make all world believe just what he like, and one too many +for Asika herself.’ No, no, he say nothing like that. He say ‘thank +Prov’dence,’ not ‘Jeekie,’ as though Prov’dence +do all them things. White folk think they clever, but great fools, really, +don’t know nothing. Prov’dence all very well in his +way—p’raps, but Prov’dence not a patch on Jeekie. +</p> + +<p> +“Hullo! moon get behind cloud and there second bell; think Jeekie go down +and wait dinner; lonely up here and sure Asika never stand ’lectric +light.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YELLOW GOD ***</div> +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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